Weblog


As a librarian (yes, I still consider myself one), designer, and craftmaker, I was really excited to hear about Design*Sponge's collaboration with Brooklyn artists and the New York Public Library to create work inspired by materials in the libraries. This first episode introduces us to the artists and kicks off what looks to be a very exciting project. Can't wait for more.


I added inventory for Version 2 of the Wirefraframe Notepad to the store. This iteration simplifies the paper slightly towards a more minimal style. There is also a Basic Graph Paper Notepad that provides a 24 x 24 grid without gutters.

More info in the store.

These are going to go into holiday gift bags this year for a few lucky folks.

The above photo is from a Bill Cunningham multimedia piece on the NY Times. If only Bill Cunningham would have a drink of water before he recorded these voice overs.

I haven't been to this Halloween Jack O Lantern event in Central Park before, although we almost made it once when our son was little and we were in the park at the time. After seeing this photo, I have to make it a point to see this once in my lifetime.

For Halloween this year, my son went as a ghost because last year's hand made Kirby costume got too much attention in Manhattan. I went as a woopie cushion and my wife as an ice cream cone.

Belkin's TuneStudio looks pretty sick. Plug in mics and instruments and record to your ipod.

Do you think Sarah Palin is qualified to serve as Vice President of the United States? Take the poll.

If you build a better bagel, they will come. Well, I will at least.

I'm about 15 years late on this one, but I'd never seen a Flagel-a flattened bagel-until this week. So what is a Flagel and how is it made? Sauce Magazine tells us:

Skip the bagel, have a flagel
What the heck is a flagel? It’s a flat bagel. First created at Tasty Bagel in New York in 1993, a bagel becomes a flagel just after it is boiled. That’s when it’s flattened to be twice as wide but still have a hole in the middle. If you’ve ever seen someone dig out all the bready middle of a bagel, you know why this “slimmer” bagel is popular. Some might think it has fewer carbs and fewer calories, but what a flagel really does have is just lots of chewy crust. Flagels are very popular on the East Coast even though they are a pain to cut in half. (Please be careful with that serrated knife!)

It's very true that a flagel is a lot trickier to slice than a bagel. So do be careful if you try to slice them on your own. But I've been slicing bagels thin for years. More that below.

This reminds me of the muffin tops on Seinfeld. Elaine would discard the stumps of the muffins because the crisp tops are what she likes.


I totally agree on the muffin top thing, and think bagels are the same. I've noticed over the years that some people ask for the bready insides of the bagel to be removed. The person behind the counter will then pull out the bread, leaving mostly the crusts.

It might seem wierd for me to describe this, but I buy my bagels, bring them home, and then cut the bagel in 3 across the bagel, leaving 2 thin slices at the end and a fat bready middle. I save the middle for later and toast them up for bagel chips, but savor the crusty top and bottoms. Essentially what I'm left with is a flagel. But the only problem is that what I make with a sliced regular bagel is probably about half the size of a flagel, since a flagel contains the same amount of bread as a regular bagel. Not a really a problem, though since I can share with someone else!

So in case flagels haven't made it to your bagel shop, or to your part of the world, now you know what thy are. "Top of the bagel to ya!"

Thought it was time for a new art project. I'm calling this one the Weekly Notebook. The idea behind this project is to create a notebook a week. I'm going to use recycled papers for the covers, and various papers for the text block.

This is the first one in progress. It's got a page recycled from the Lomo book. It hasn't been bound yet, but I'm going to bind it with Wire-O double rings.

I'm watching the Drupal.org redesign efforts that are being reported by Leisa Reichelt and Mark Boulton. The visual design comps are looking interesting. Nice progress in iteration 5.