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Zen Humidifier

How GORGEOUS is this humidifier? Made of Japanese Cypress, it uses no electricity; water is naturally drawn through the wood and evaporated into the air. And according to Okada, the Japanese firm that designed this piece of art, this process evaporates water six times faster than if left in glass. Okada calls this device "The Mast" because it resembles a sailboat. I discovered this lovely creation through the blog of one of my favorite writers, Clive Thompson, who calls the Google translation of the product page poetically mutilated: Like a yacht sail (mast) the wind, the natural moisture to dry air liberality, also allows them to subtle and refreshing fragrance of cypress. Its appearance, we thought a yacht floating in the cool...

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12 Days of Christmas

Last week's The Office featured a Secret Santa exchange wherein Andy literally gifts his crush Erin the "12 Days of Christmas." "Is it my fault that the first eight days is basically 30 birds?" Despite the fact that Erin suffers quite a bit from the presents (ie, being attacked by French Hens), I found the thought and effort put behind the gifts absolutely adorable — from Andy's begging Dwight and Jim to get Erin as his Secret Santa, to the orchestration of the "twelve drummers drumming" at the end of the episode. Most people would not go as all-out as Andy in celebration of the 12 Days of Christmas. However, I have found one company that can make the packaging of your twelve...

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A New Manifesto

Seek the lofty by reading, hearing and seeing great work at some moment every day.             ~ Thornton Wilder Last week, a friend posed the question Why I Blog. (Why Do You?) The post was perfectly timed, because I had been struggling with the premise behind this blog for the past few weeks. Technorati's 10 most popular blogs as of November 22, 2009 Lately I have become disenchanted with the blogsphere, by the mere corporatization of the blogging world and its community. I no longer consider the top blogs blogs. I consider them internet magazines, run by staff, featuring multiple writers, subject to corporate scrutiny, and driven by profit. Little by little, I found myself glancing over their headlines, ignoring them, then unsubscribing to some altogether. I...

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