Go Bonny!

Sometimes Bonny shows amazing (to her age) patience and strength - not just on fun things. Like, she biked all around the Burke Lake park (7.6 km course) in spring. This time, she finished a swimming race in a group with all older sisters. OK, she finished the last by far, but - hey she *finished*, with all the cheers from friends, little by little, not giving up. It was a touching moment for Soonho and I..

Huh, that was easy

Have a good weekend – my fellow citizens!  :D

Urghh, calling a tooth fairy..?

I love this workplace.

"Fail Whale" showed up next door

Door closed. Yeah, that happens..

SproutRobot

FYI - I found this yesterday, and wondered if/how we could apply a similar business model in developing countries..
http://techcrunch.com/2010/06/04/gardening-for-dummies-sproutrobot-sends-you-seeds-and-tells-you-when-to-plant-them/

 

Gardening For Dummies: SproutRobot Sends You Seeds And Tells You When To Plant Them

by Jason Kincaid on Jun 4, 2010 

"... SproutRobot: you tell it what you want to grow, and it sends you high quality seeds, automatic email updates instructing you when to plant them, and a guide to handling everything else.

To get started, you tell SproutRobot your zip code. From there you’re given two options: you can elect to either sign up for a free email version of the service, which tells you when to plant your seeds but doesn’t actually send you any (in other words you have to go to the store and buy seeds yourself). Or you can sign up for the premium option, which runs from $20/year for three varieties of seeds to $70/year for ten types of seeds.

Eventually you’re asked to choose what you want to grow. Again, this is pretty straightforward. If you want carrots, you click the box next to carrots — there aren’t a dozen kinds of each vegetable to confuse you. There are around thirty types of  fruit and vegetable seeds available, covering everything from beets to winter squash. All seeds are from Seeds of Change and are certified organic.

Once you’ve signed up, SproutRobot will send you bags of seeds at the appropriate time, and will tell you exactly when to plant them based on your local weather patterns. Erik Pukinskis, who heads the one-man company, says that this is based on the last five years of weather data, and that he hopes to include current weather conditions as a factor too. This would allow SproutRobot to shift planting dates if there was, say, an unusually dry month or cold snap. ..."

Last five years of weather data is certainly not enough to get around all the risk!

Designer Portfolio: Philippe Starck Inside Man | Apartment Therapy Boston

"..he has lately criticized the excess of mass-produced design. At the very least we're always curious what this self-aware, yet utterly un-self-conscious designer's unique vision will come up with next."

Dedon! :D

CIAT is not...

Mr. Hargrove, an agronomist, "specializes in rice," Mr. Morse says. "He goes around the world working on food problems. He felt very comfortable with his counterparts in Colombia. It was a total shock to be cast as a bad guy by the people who kidnapped him. He took a wrong turn and became a hostage for 11 months. . . . The initials of the company he worked for were CIAT. When the terrorists saw that, they chose to believe he was a CIA agent. The company essentially abandoned him. They were afraid that if they ransomed Tom, employees in other parts of the world would be kidnapped. He doesn't work there anymore.

It happened in 1994, and later filmed as "Proof of Life", starred Meg Ryan and Russell Crowe.