Yes, yes, let's talk about the weather

Apologies to Gilbert and Sullivan.

All this talk about impending storms got me thinking about snow globes. Well not really, but it reminded me of these beauties I first came across on Apartment Therapy.

Walter Martin and Paloma Muñoz are a Pennsylvania-based husband and wife team who gang up on the humble snow globe and drive a dagger into its heart. Precisely what art is supposed to do if you ask me. But check these things out. Who would think to take something so wholesome, so simple, so aw shucks American and turn it on its head? These things are brilliant. Beautiful to look at and painstakingly constructed.

Their art comes in two species; the globes themselves and then limited edition photographs of the globes. If you'd like to inquire about their art, you can contact the artists directly here. Or you can reach their representatives at the P.P.O.W. Gallery in Manhattan.

I'm going to start giving an award periodically: Kitchen and Residential Design Blog Award. Future generations will come to call it the KaRDB Award. I predict that in time, winning a KaRDBA will carry the kind of cachet that a Tony or Drama Desk award does today. So with that said, I hereby grant the first KaRDBA to Walter Martin and Paloma Muñoz.

You are now entering the NO PANIC zone.

Well it looks like Tropical Storm Fay will be Hurricane Fay by tomorrow morning. That storm is going to hit somewhere along Florida's Gulf Coast on Tuesday. So today's the day to decide how seriously to take these warnings. After having seen firsthand the damage that rained down on Florida in 2004, I'd recommend that you take this seriously. However, taking a storm warning seriously is not an excuse to freak out. Rather, it's an opportunity to prepare for what all of us who live in these climes know is an inevitability. Now that we know what's out there, we can come up with some concrete plans to get us through whatever the next couple of days will bring.

First, if you're going to leave the coast; leave now. Now if you plan to stay, find out what your evac zone is. Your evacuation zone also tell you how high above sea level you are. Pinellas County has a zone finder on their website that's really handy. All you do is write in your address ans hit send. It tells you your zone and it also tells you where the closest shelters are to you. Know where they are just in case we do get hit. That website is filled with other useful information on how to prepare in the days leading up to the arrival of a hurricane. That would be now.

Again, this isn't an excuse for a melt down. If we get spared the arrival of this storm, there will be plenty more over the next couple of weeks. Know where your important stuff is and know what you plan to do to prepare for it. Get gas today. Go to the ATM and get cash today. Tell your friends and family what your plans are. Today.

Hurricanes come with the territory and this is not news. They are a force of nature that no one can do a thing about. Knowing that you're completely impotent in the face of one is the key to defining what you can control. I can't stop a storm, but I don't have to sit back and do nothing either. So step to it!

Crap again!

Man, this thing keeps looking more ominous. If you're in the zone of this storm, please use the National Hurricane Center's website for storm projections. Their site is completely devoid of panic and fear-mongering and it's where the the local agents of unrest get their information. It's still a day or so early to go into storm mode, but this one definitely deserves some attention.

Crap!

It's that wacky time of year again kids. Batten down the hatches and go stand in line at Publix...

Quick-thaw McGraw

I came across a posting on Apartment Therapy's kitchen blog the other day that reminded me of another one of granite's many positive attributes.

We know granite isn't everyone's cup of tea around here, but it does have a remarkable ability to defrost things. We'll leave a frozen chicken breast out (in a plastic bag, for all of you ready to wave your disinfecting wipes in protest) and it'll be soft and pliable in half the time it would take sitting in the sink or on another surface.

The writer, Elizabeth Pasarella, goes on to ask her readers for an explanation. If you've never read Apartment Therapy's website, they regularly do this kind of call and response with their readers. It's usually pretty informative and entertaining. Anyhow, A physicist who calls himself tulpoeid wrote this in response:

Physicist here ... although I've never given granite a thought before... Katti is absolutely right, if something feels cold to the touch (at room temperature of course) then it conducts heat rather well. And if it quickly transfers heat away from your hand, then it can also quickly transfer heat to the frozen food. This is why metal feels cool etc. The heat conductivity depends on the molecular structure so each material has its own, and although granite's is lower than metals' it's still higher than many other materials'. In this case the smooth surface also helps: notice how coarser materials feel warmer to the touch (e.g., cotton vs. silk). This is due to their molecules being a bit farther part, so their individual motion cannot be as easily transferred from one to the next. And molecule motion = heat.

Other respondents continued to echo this theme of granite's abilities as a heat conductor. Interesting. Interesting to me at any rate. I've always been one to thaw frozen food under running water, but it's really wasteful to do so and I've stopped. This seems like a good, efficient alternative.