July 16th
I got these tips as an email forward, but they’re originally from a Best Life article by Alec Applebaum: 10 Ways to Save the World with Your Trash.
My favorite is number 2: “As part of its Reuse-A-Shoe program, Nike will take your old funky-smelling sneakers and turn the rubber, foam, and fabric into three types of Nike Grind—a major ingredient in synthetic surfaces such as basketball courts, tennis courts, running tracks, and playgrounds. Niketown stores and Nike factory outlets will accept any brand of athletic shoes as long as they are not wet, are not cleats, and don’t contain metal.”
Visit this website for more information. And don’t forget to read the other tips, too!
July 14th
I made an impulse purchase at the garden center recently: a beautiful little dwarf pomegranate that I walked by and fell in love with. It’s too cold here in New York to let it winter outdoors, but for the moment it looks fabulous in its little pot on my patio.
Apparently, dwarf pomegranates are very popular bonsai plants. Right now, that seems like more work than I can handle (I’m still figuring out plant names and what I should and shouldn’t compost), but I’m very curious about it. The Brooklyn Botanic Garden has a whole greenhouse full of bonsai trees, and if I remember right, some of them are decades old.
Do any of you bonsai? (Can I use that as a verb?) How did you get into it?
July 10th
Last year, Karen wrote about the Surf Divas, all-girls surf school in La Jolla, CA. Their planner of choice: the Trinote, with blue club covers.
This year, however, they’re trying out a similar, but slightly larger format—the Prenote. (Karen found some extra Prenotes lying around the office and decided to donate them.)
Happy surfing (and planning), Surf Divas!
July 8th
Ribbon Farm is a blog about business & innovation.  Written by Venkatesh Rao, he often illustrates his ideas with whimsical and thoughtful drawings. He works at the Xerox Research Center, where his research is in the areas of the “Future of Documents” and “Future of Work.”
Here’s his illustration of the evolution of work-life balance patterns as shaped by changing cultural attitudes over the last century. 
July 7th
A reader from Ontario recently asked whether we had any kind of planner that extends more than 1 year ahead: “I do a lot of long-range planning as a promoter and would like to have a planner that would give me say, 2009 to 2014.”
We don’t, unfortunately, but I figured I would open up the question to the wisdom of crowds. Do you do much long-range planning? Is there a system that you use?
July 6th
The origin of the Tunguska blast a century ago has never been solved. 
The explosion near the Podkamennaya Tunguska River on June 30, 1908 flattened some 500,000 acres of Siberian forest. An eyewitness described flashes and thunder and everything (including their hut) flattered completely by a strong wind.
No one knows what caused it, but a long-standing theory is the crash of an asteroid or comet.
But other interesting theories abound.
Struck by the similarity of Tunguska and Hiroshima decades later, Alexander Kazantsev, a popular science fiction writer, wrote a story in which the Tunguska blast was the exploding nuclear power plant of a spaceship from Mars. Russian scientists took up the cause and claimed to find various bits of evidence–never proved–for a UFO crash. 
Another theory is the Nikola Tesla “death ray.” The man who pioneered radio and modern alternating currents claimed to have invented a device that could transmit energy over huge distances.
The story goes that Tesla tested it the evening of June 30, 1908. He aimed the death ray towards the Arctic and turned it on. At this time, Robert Peary was trekking to the North Pole and Tesla asked him to look out for any unusual disturbances. Tesla then watched the newspapers and sent telegrams to Peary, but didn’t hear about anything unusual in the Arctic.
But Telsa did hear the news about an unexplainable event in Siberia. He was thankful no one was killed, as it was clear to him his death ray had overshot its target. He then dismantled the machine, saying it was too dangerous to keep. Tesla claimed the plans for the death ray were stolen from his hotel room in the 1940s.
July 3rd
The long weekend of the 4th of July is almost upon us–and I’m beginning to think about my backyard picnic. Lobster rolls will be on the menu this year.
GoodMorningGloucester offers ”The World’s Greatest Lobster Roll.”  It looks great! If you don’t have the lobster roll on a toasted hot dog bun it’s not a real lobster roll. I also want tail meat–not just stuff from the claws. 
The Jedediah Hawkins Inn in Jamesport, NY also offers the “World’s Greatest Lobster Roll.” I have had one there, and it was indescribably delicious.Â
If it rains, I’ll go to Jedediah Hawkins; if the weather is good, the backyard with the Gloucester, Mass. recipe!
Have a good 4th!
July 2nd
My garden is small, and young, so everything seems precious. The bowlful or two of strawberries we harvested last month felt like the best I’d ever tasted; now, my first daylily blossom—pictured above just after a light summer rain—strikes me as beyond gorgeous. I even love its small asymmetries, because they make it seem more natural and less expertly cultivated.
The daylily offers a great lesson in appreciating the beauty of a moment. Most daylilies blossom only for a single day, opening in the morning and closing up at nightfall. (Each plant has several blossoms, though, so the pleasure’s not quite so ephemeral.)
July 1st
What’s the best book for left-handers? Does anyone want to offer an opinion?
Left-handed writers, myself included, grew up having to contend with ink smears and stains on our hand as we wrote. I have smeared on pocket and desk size planners, but finally settled on a Space 24, but that’s only because I write more notes than appointments.
Once at a pen show I asked one of the traders what was the best pen to use for writing, since my ink often smeared. He told me instead of a medium nib left-handers should use a fine or even extra fine nib, since the ink would dry faster. I made the switch, and rarely have that problem.
Many inks are marketed as “fast-drying.” While I certainly use J. Herbin inks (we distribute them), I also have to admit to a fondness for Noodlers Ink. I also like Swisher Pen’s own inks, which were made to be fast-drying. I have found them impossible to smear.
