You know when you're sure there's a word for something, but you don't know what it is?

The Wide World of Spatulas

Q. We have lost our Clyde spatula, which was a wedding gift 44 years ago. It had a blade about 12 inches long and a wooden handle. The name Clyde was on the blade. It was extremely flexible, just right for turning an egg. All the other spatulas we have seen have rigid blades. Can you suggest a replacement?

A. There are some very flexible kitchen tools on the market that may be good substitutes for your Clyde.

First, terminology: Spatulas are used in baking. Metal spatulas, long and flat, are used for spreading fillings and frostings. The spatula you describe sounds like an icing spatula. Rubber or silicon spatulas, short with rounded ends, are used for mixing batter and scraping bowls.

What many people call a spatula is actually a turner, perfect for flipping omelets and pancakes. With a short, wide, flexible blade and an offset handle, it would perhaps make the best replacement for your Clyde.

Also, the results of the Harvard dialect study, including my favorite question, What do you call the game wherein the participants see who can throw a knife closest to the other person (or alternately, get a jackknife to stick into the ground or a piece of wood)? Unfortunately, "stupid" was not one of the choices.

http://hcs.harvard.edu/~golder/dialect/maps.php

Nielsen, c'est moi!

Yes, that's right, I have been asked to be a Nielsen family. For one week. But during that one week, I will wield the power of 20,000 TV watching families! (November 20 - 26, in case anyone was interested.)

And, so, of course, it would happen to be the one week of the last 10 that my two favorite shows do not have new episodes on the air. Maybe it's time for me to start watching Angel reruns on TNT.

The Legend of the Peppermint Pig

Just so you all know, it is my life's goal to someday write product blurbs like this one. Reproduced without permission from the makers of the Peppermint Pig™:

In early Decembers long since past, while the quaint Victorian village of Saratoga Springs slept quietly through a chilled and moonlit eve, legend suggests that a bit of Christmas magic was in the making.  The first dusting of winter's snow gathered in the darkened downtown doorways; and twirled by night's wind seemed to dance and whirl like sugar plum fairies.  Behind the oaken doors of ginger bread-sized candy shops that dotted Saratoga, tireless old candy makers, bathed in the amber glow of crackling hearth and bubbling candy pots, labored on in to the night creating ... and continuing a holiday tradition known to all as the "Peppermint Pig"™

This "Peppermint Pig"™, as aptly it was named, was cast of hard candy, similar in fashion to candy cane and festive pink in colour.  And while the pig is honored in Victorian holiday tradition as a symbol of good health, happiness and prosperity, these special "Peppermint Pigs", unique to Saratoga Springs, came to represent much more.   They proudly stood for an old-fashioned Yuletide itself-a wonderful time when red-cheeked children laughed and rode old wooden sleds over fresh snow, when church bells pealed and warm memories were shared by a gathering of family and friends.  After the holiday dinner, the Pigs were broken and shared by all in the hopes of good fortune for the coming year.


As Christmas passed and time marched further into a new century, the tradition of the "Peppermint Pig" continued on in popularity... until Father Time could wait no longer.  One by one the candymakers of Saratoga Springs passed on to their reward and the "Peppermint Pig" became but a wonderful memory.  We, the Master Candymakers, at Saratoga Sweets are honored to revive this timeless tradition and invite you and your family to celebrate a "Peppermint Pig" holiday season.

iTunes sharing

It has been brought to my attention that some of the college students amongst us were not aware that there was a better reason to convince their Windows-using friends to switch to iTunes than spreading the gospel of Mac. So, today's public service announcement is about the cross-compatibility of iTunes sharing.
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iTunes includes a library sharing feature that allows people on the same network to share music. But did you know that it works whether you have a Mac OR a PC? Yes, music sharing is now available, no matter what kind of computer you use. So, switch now to iTunes, and activate sharing! It's good karma.

iTunes can be downloaded at double-u double-u double-u dot itunes dot com.
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Mary, please read this at the top of the half-hour on Wednesday. I think this will be of much greater service to your listeners than getting your flu shot.

Something fun for the apple users amongst us.

Panther added a bunch of nifty things to the Services menu (accessible under the application name menu), but the coolest one is definitely "Summarize", unless you are one of those people who love to make their Macs read stuff. (You know who you are.) Select a few paragraphs of text, then go to Services->Summarize. It will open it up in a new program, with a slider ranging from 100% (the whole selection) to 0 (the single most important sentence in your selection.) Whether it's accurate or not is debatable, but it's definitely fun.

Also, if you want to talk to someone and you aren't a very fast typer (hello, madre!), and you both have iChat AV, but the other person doesn't have a microphone (we don't all have laptops, you know), you can invite them to a One-way Audio chat. The little telephone icon only shows up next to people who have microphones, so you have to go to

Audio->Invite to One-Way Audio Chat

Use it to startle your parents!

A Classic, Revived

From the story about the 30 hour Senate filibuster:

Senate staffers added to what Democrats called the carnival atmosphere, printing up shirts that read: "We confirmed 98 percent of Bush's judges, and all we got were these lousy T-shirts."

With any luck, this will revive "lousy t-shirt" t-shirt sales nationwide. Down with "Somebody who loves me very much" t-shirts! Vive la louse!

All the things I haven't told you about recently....

Jane is funny: Sara, Jane and I went to the Panther opening night "party" at the Apple Store (because they offered us a 10% discount on anything we bought, ok?) They had a door prize, a set of dog tags with the apple logo on them. They were pretty cool and all, but I said to Sara and Jane, "I wonder why they chose dog tags? They don't really go with panthers." Jane said, "They are for their army of dorks."

Election Day Question: When Steven and I went to vote yesterday, an old man went into the voting booth to help his wife when he had finished voting. (In an attempt to emulate MA, there were about 12 ballot initiatives.) Steven was shocked, and thought you were never allowed to have anyone in the voting booth with you. I told him lots of little kids vote with their parents. But, is there some kind of age after which that is no longer acceptable, like little boys going into ladies' rooms with their mothers?

Astronomical Upate: There is a lunar eclipse Saturday, November 8th (THIS saturday) at 8 PM!

Radio Fame: This past weekend, 62.5% of the family took part in the fun that is Mary's radio show. Total air time winner was Daddy, who basically walked away from the show (and got Mary in trouble with the FCC. Bad doggie!) Most disoriented prize goes to Sara, who was awoken from a nap for her star turn. Wellesley, hurry up and get those web broadcasts up, so everyone can hear the madness.

Election Day!

Don't forget to get out there and rock the vote today! Max Baer (aka Bear) needs your support. 174 people in my polling place have already done their civic duty, so don't forget to do yours! Does anyone know how close campaigners can get to the voting booths?