bookofjoe

Little white houses for you and me make videoconferencing fun

You want pink, see John Mellencamp.

From Mariah comes news of Ryuji Nakamura's "Midget & Giant" paper house project, part of a workshop Nakamura did for Designeast.

[via Trendland]

Side hole salt & pepper shakers

It's been at least three weeks since I featured salt & pepper shakers: I don't know why the lapse or what I've been doing that deflected my attention — no matter, here's a new iteration.

"Clear glazed, slip cast, cone 6 high fired white porcelain."

3"H x 1.5"Ø.

$22.

[via Svpply]

Crocheted Starship Enterprise — "To boldly go where no ball of yarn has gone before"

From instructables:

"Here is my crocheted starship Enterprise,

it is based on the Constitution class vessel (NCC-1701) seen in the original series. 

I have to admit that I'm more of a Next Generation and Voyager fan

but the original Enterprise is most recognizable (and easier to make)."

"I used three colours of yarn and some red and black embroidery thread for detailing plus some wire

to provide support for the saucer section and warp nacelles."

Knit your own.

Hang Glider on Wheels

From TOXEL:

"StreetFlyer is a

human-powered vehicle

designed for people

who want to experience

hang gliding

without the associated risks."

I like it.

Who says internet publishing is difficult?

Not me, that's for sure, at least not any more.

Once upon a time I lamented the fact that I couldn't figure out how to create ebook versions of my real world paper books so that I could offer them on iBooks and Kindle, but not any more.

Ever since I had the idea a couple months ago of using Twitter as my publisher, it's been a slow but steady and satisfying road to electronic publication.

Why pay $10.84 for a book when you can read it free, the way we like.

Of course, you have to be willing to accept the sporadic appearance of tweets preceded by the letter "Q" followed by the sequence number of the the book-as-tweets to read it that way.

As of today I'm up to page 13 of a total of 67 pages, so at this rate I'm thinking the entire volume will be up by the end of the year.

The best part, from my perspective?

It's so low-key and relaxing to publish this way that I'm gonnna begin again next January with a 2012 edition, and continue with an annual reprise until I get bored, drop dead, or Twitter in its current incarnation goes dark.

Dogbrella

From the website:

............................

This inverted bumbershoot forms a waterproof cocoon around a small dog, enabling canine and master to maintain a walking regimen in inclement weather.

The umbrella's 29" diameter canopy is made from 8-gauge clear polypropylene that sheds rain, sleet, and snow while allowing an unfettered view of your walking companion.

Not only does the umbrella eliminate the excuse "it's too wet for a walk" from a dog owner's lexicon (to the delight of most canines and the amusement of most spouses), it prevents moisture from getting spread throughout the home, along with the unpleasant scent of a wet dog.

The tip of the umbrella hooks to your pet's leash to keep it from straying beyond its protective canopy.

Sturdy stainless steel shaft and ribs with a white plastic crook handle.

For leash-trained dogs up to 15 lbs. and less than 24" long.

Dogbrella is 24.75"L x 4" when collapsed.

Weighs one pound.

............................

$29.95 (dog not included).

[via Milena]

Welcome to Loserville — Population:1 (That's You)

I like to post this photo annually to supplement my daily in-person ration of humble pie, which I receive by keeping this wonderful beverage chiller in a prominent place in my abode.

"Modernist Cuisine" — Eat your heart out

Six volumes totaling 2,438 pages weighing 50 pounds for $467.62.

What's not to like?

Excerpts from Andreas Viestad's February 22, 2011 Washington Post Style section front page review follow.

..................................

The future of food is here, and it weighs 50 pounds.

In more than 2,400 pages, it is the answer to everything you wanted to know about cooking, not to mention so many things you never thought about.

Simply put, it is the most useful cookbook you'll probably never cook from.

The six volumes cover topics from traditional methods such as the discovery of fire and grilling to the fascination with such modern devices as sous-vide equipment and cream siphons. The authors share the latter infatuation, letting no machine stand unused in their quest for novelty and perfection.

The first thing that strikes you about "Modernist Cuisine" is that it is nearly impossible to compare with anything else in your bookshelf.

At the center of "Modernist Cuisine" is the revolution in cooking that has taken place in the past couple of decades.

"What we call traditional cooking is a convenient fiction. Culinary traditions have been changing constantly throughout history," Myhrvold writes.

A comprehensive, well-researched book is one thing. But what's in it for you as a home cook?

There are a few relatively simple recipes in the book.... But most demand special equipment and have multiple components, some as many as 12 sub-recipes, that can demand from 20 minutes to 60 hours of preparation. A "Breakfast Egg" that takes 4 hours and 20 minutes to prepare is not really meant for your breakfast.

Strangely enough, that does not make the books inaccessible. There might not be something you can make in every chapter, but there is something to learn and draw inspiration from on every page.

I grill on a regular basis, for instance, and have spent days, weeks and months experimenting with various grilling techniques. But I had never seen the inside of a grill the way the authors show it, dissected to reveal the organs and how they work: the role of the embers, the heat reflected by the grill itself, the effect of the drippings that combust and create the flavors and aromas.

Similarly, I have long been frustrated by bread's tendency to become stale, but I never knew that staleness starts when the bread absorbs moisture from the air, making the crust lose crispness and making starch granules crystallize and harden, and that the cure is to dry it in the oven for a few minutes.

These crumbs of knowledge are perhaps my favorite part of "Modernist Cuisine." I like culinary modernism for its ability to shock, please and tickle my senses when I visit a top restaurant. But what I appreciate just as much is the fact that having breakfast like a modernist means I can enjoy a slice of fresh-tasting, three-day-old bread.