Ran across Brand New when Googling for discussion of Google’s new favicon. It might have to go into stuff we like.

A story from the Daily Mail tells of a couple who married, divorced, and unioned (with intervening sex change). What is not explained is why “They had to divorce after the switch” though they continued living together and being in love. Seems like common law would be fine with them staying married. But it’s a human interest story rather than news, I guess, despite being in a “news” paper. Also unusual is that the subject looks quite nice as both genders.

Galia Melons are super-delicious! Top Foods is having some sort of melon special, featuring many types of melons I have never heard of (including Galia). I tried the Galia for breakfast, I am very impressed! I wish the side of fruit that comes with many restaurant meals had Galia instead of rock-hard cantaloupe and honeydew. Later, I try the Persian melon.

Another crane goes down in NYC. This one sounds like another climbing maneuver mishap: “Contractors were trying to lengthen the crane when a steel support broke.” I’m not looking forward to the start of construction on the high-rise right outside my office window.

The BBC News Magazine used to include images of the front pages of many of the dailies. Lawyers put an end to that, but they continue to have Paper Monitor, which occasionally gives us such a gem as this:

The [Telegraph] does today have the privilege of having a column by the man of the moment, Sebastian Faulks, who has written the new Bond novel. After a few observations about how remarkable Ian Fleming’s family are, he tells an awfully amusing tale about how he was watching his barrister brother appearing in court last week but then realised that he didn’t know if his phone was switched off and because it was a new phone (a device, you might say), he didn’t know how to check if it was on or not without making it beep or buzz. Anywaaaaayyyyy, as it turns out, the phone didn’t actually go off, but boy was that a close thing. That’s some anecdote.

G.W. Carver’s famous peanut recipes are very… peanutty. I really like peanuts, and skimming through these recipes makes me feel a little queasy. I’m almost frightened to see his (less famous) treatment of tomatoes and sweet potatoes.

From the 1920 book Manual of Library Economy, a description of an early hipster PDA:

The Card Diary.–A useful little card index is one which
may go on a desk, and is guided with the days of the week, and
has such other guides as “This Week,” “To-day,” “Next Week,”
“Miscellaneous matters,” etc., which serves as a reminder to its
user. Behind the appropriate guide are filed cards referring to
the matters which are to be dealt with at the time indicated.
These card-diaries are commonly known as “ticklers,” and can
be a most effective aid to methodical administration.

The next handy tip is how to make a card catalog to help you organize your office supplies. Really.

An edifying article on surveillance trends in China.
“What is most disconcerting about China’s surveillance state is how familiar it all feels. When I check into the Sheraton in Shenzhen, for instance, it looks like any other high-end hotel chain

It’s been pretty clear from recent quotes that Davies is on his way out of Doctor Who. Steven Moffat has just been tipped to replace him. He wrote “The Empty Child”, “The Girl in the Fireplace”, and “Blink”, so we may see a yet spookier vision moving forward. Or maybe The Doctor will start travelling with a girlfriend and his and her exes and best friends.

There’s so much to love about this story: A Chess champion, a flying penis, Russians, entertaining comments. It’s delightful.