cool

Ballard is totally cool with lots of great places to eat and lounge. Oaxaca (Mexican), Matador (Mexican/drinks), Volterra (Italian), Besalu (French Pastries, best in town), and Floating Leaves Tea. Love this neighborhood.

Quoted: The two most talked about restaurant openings in the city recently, hands down, not even up for debate: Bastille Café & Bar and Delancey, both in Ballard. Now Tom Douglas reportedly is looking to expand his mini-empire here.

Quoted: You're looking at the fastest, highest-performing amphibious vehicle ever built. The Python jets along at 60 mph on water, and on land, goes from 0 to 60 in 4.5 seconds. Oh, and it's actually now available for anyone to buy.

What the what? She'll be in Toronto while signing autographs in Vancouver and Halifax. There's a link to her invention's website. I haven't figured out how it works yet.

Quoted: Margaret Atwood will sign books for fans in Vancouver and Halifax using the LongPen, allowing her to talk with each fan via private video chat and to transmit a genuine, personalized autograph instantly to their copy of the book.

A 3-D view of Michael Jackson's home arcade. Pretty amazing. Its a flash based 3D Virtual Tour, so it loads a little slow. But its worth it.

Baseball visualizations galore.

Quoted: Flip Flop Fly Ball. Baseball infographics and other visual treats.

My friends in the puppeteering community were thrilled by this. I like it too. That's a shipping container he's sitting on.

Quoted: The remarkable French marionette street theatre Royal de Lux unveiled their latest creations this past weekend. As the highlight of the Estuary 2009 Arts Festival in Nantes, the theater drew a gigantic crowd to view a gigantic fairytale.

click to play

Japanese astronaut Koichi Wakata plays in space.

Quoted: In addition to attempting various physical exercises and gymnastics (including calisthenics, push-ups, flips, twirls, cartwheels, overhead soccer kicks, and swimming), Koichi folds clothes, rides a “magic carpet,” squirts water from a syringe, puts eyedrops in his eye, and attempts to propel himself through the room by flapping a fan. He also enlists the help of a fellow astronaut for some arm wrestling, hand-shaking, slap sumo, and tug of war.

Had a hard time finding a good quote to sum this story up. It's a fun read about an aging Manhattanite and his love of Red Ruffing and red shoes.

Quoted: Thirteen days a year: that would be the limit, he decided. These would be called “my watermelon days.”

Quoted: "Maps are useful but never neutral" I found this sliced up paper graphic incredibly amusing. From the work of Brain Banton.