From Twitter 06-21-2010

• 09:13:44: Happy Solstice everyone, enjoy the longest day. Mine certainly started off beautifully. *grin*
  
• 09:26:48: RT @marypcbuk: artificial stupidity: using people to do things that computers find hard - like faking out the Hotmail junk mail filters ...
  
• 10:02:13: Hmm, US patent for a magic wand. US7445550 Magical wand and interactive play experience. Harry Potter gaming perhaps?
  
• 14:19:10: RT @librarianbyday: Information Literacy for the 21st Century « Libraries and Transliteracy http://bit.ly/a45sKu
  
• 14:49:55: RT @librarianbyday: This is a MUST watch - Philip Zimbardo on "The Secret Powers of Time" http://bit.ly/cnj2j1
  

Tweets copied by twittinesis.com

California coolers

Talondeep.jpg
Originally uploaded by rowanf.

This weekend we wandered across the street to look at the house that is for sale on the opposite corner. It has really been fixed up and looks nice. But what made the visit interesting is that we were chatting up the folks showing the house and invited them over to see ours. The woman looked at our kitchen and said "Oh, you have a California cooler." We had never heard of such a thing but it is a way that folks at the turn of the 19th century made their pantries. The bottom of the cabinet open to both the basement and attic. The shelves are mesh or wooden with holes in them and the cool air circulates and you can keep butter and cheese, wine and onions, and such foods cool. Ours has solid shelves now but is open to the attic and I am sure she is right. So I learnt something new about the house!