Cafe Brasil, Santa Cruz

We visited Cafe Brasil in Santa Cruz over the weekend for lunch. We split a Feijoada Plate: "The traditional Brazilian specialty. A bowl of black bean stew simmered w/ various sausages. Served w/ a side plate w/ rice, farofa, slices of orange and sautéed greens. Plate served w/ rice, farofa, slices of orange& feijoada."

Black bean stew: great. Farofa: dry, felt nervous I might get some down my windpipe, but otherwise tasty.

Whiteboard cleaner

The best?

MB10W Whiteboard Cleaner from Solutions MB

Says some person on the internet.

NameChk

Noting just for reference:

http://namechk.com/

This service checks a given vanity username at dozens of sites.

PPAPI flash plugin in Chromium on Debian

Apparently I am one of the last to hear about Google's decision to end NPAPI plugin support and switch to PPAPI plugin support.

Noticed when Debian stable updated Chromium and flash support started falling apart.

Jarbraltar at Yellowbill cafe bakery

Saw this posted on their sidewalk sign and had to stop in and see. Photo credit to their Facebook page. Espresso and two ounces steamed milk.

Similar to the Gibraltar, but in a mason jar. : o ) An article claims Blue Bottle Coffee in San Francisco invented the Gibraltar.

Alchemy waiting area reading material

Dawn got her hair professionally styled recently at Alchemy Salon & Spa in Sacramento, for her graduation ceremony. (aside: months ago, we observed the owners hanging the sign over their shop...they seemed enthused and ebullient)

While I waited, I browsed a book, "Hair Heroes," by Michael Gordon. It mentioned some random stylists and I learned a few random facts:

• Jimi Hendrix grew up in a broken home...he rejected the ukulele given by his father for a second-hand electric guitar
• Gene Shacove, the stylist who screenwriter Robert Towne based the movie Shampoo on, really hates Warren Beatty...Beatty picked up the movie and ran with it but Shacove claims Beatty never really gave anything to him...even though he claimed Towne spent months at his salon

The salon featured coasters with two URLs on the bottom:

1. http://irongreymammoth.com/ (now http://www.jairustonel.com/)
2. http://meetthepressgang.com/ (currently not loading as of the writing of this post...but it seems related to https://pipl.com/n/Stefan_Burnett/)

The shop also had a 2006 book called WIG about fashion and hair, which I cannot find a reference to on the Internets.

Caputo tipo 00

The world's best pizza flour?

Google Search

(via)

Capitol Box Art

Applauding this effort: http://capitolboxart.com/

Wedding anniversary notes

We vacationed in Calistoga this weekend to celebrate our wedding anniversary.

• Colin Hay - what a voice!; we heard "Waiting For My Real Life to Begin" on the May 31 Prairie Home Companion. Link (audio @ 01:30:57)
• Utah Phillips - also Prairie Home Companion, which honored him with one or two songs, including "I Think of You" Link (audio @ 01:13:11)
• The Planetary Dance - on the way to Muir Woods, we passed a bunch of people dancing in a field next to Muir Woods Road, which turned out to represent the 34th Annual Planetary Dance 
• Hotel Room amenities
• iHome HiP42 MP3 Docking Alarm Clock Radio (now discontinued, we both liked the "Bedtime Beats" sounds, the first of which reminded me of a Hayao Miyazaki film and the second which reminded me of the Monterey Bay Aquarium's Open Sea Exhibit
• Speakman Anystream shower fixture (link)
• Curved shower curtain rail
• Shower splash guards
• Shower hand rails
• Hookless shower curtain by Focus Product Group (focuspg.com) with a clear horizontal panel near the top (sort of like the Vision at this link)
• Anti-slipmat which seemed glued to the tub floor...seems nicer than rubber ones which need cleaning (?)
• Spa amenities
• Stands for lotion/hair gel/deodorant dispensers
• Container for cotton swabs and disposable razors
• Zero-gravity SO Sound Solutions "Sound Lounger" (link); they had modified the lounger so it mechanically reclined and they provided Beats headphones and a cold compress, plus a comforter to stay cozy
• Castello di Amorosa
• Dawn liked a green lace skirt from the Melody O2 collection
• I tried these red wines:
• Pinot noir (Los Carneros)
• Zingaro (SF Chronicle Gold Medal)
• Sangiovese (SF Chronicle Gold Medal)
• Il Brigante (?)
• and a white one: Gewurztraminer
• The castle impresses...worth a visit to appreciate the attention to detail and planning...we just walked around the grounds
• We met the cat, Sir Lancelot, and also a peacock, and watched the other cat, Lady Guinevere, sheep, goats, and so forth
• Food
• Mishka's Cafe, Davis (link), for coffees--the owner was there on Sunday; it is named after his cat, Mishka
• Muir Woods Cafe (link)--we tried the grilled cheese and tomato soup ("to die for")
• Boskos Trattoria Italian Food, Calistoga (link): I had the "Godfather" (Italian Sausage, Roasted Eggplant, Garlic, Onions & Red Bell Peppers In A Spicy Herb Tomato Sauce On Spaghetti)...Dawn had the Vittorio (Bay Shrimp, Mushrooms And Garlic In An Asiago Cream Sauce On Fettuccine)...we both shared a bottle of Ca Di Rajo Valdobbiadene Prosecco Superiore 2012 (link)
• Free continental breakfast at the Calistoga Best Western Stevenson Manor: scrambled eggs, we split a waffle we made in the waffle iron, hardboiled egg, oatmeal, a bagel and cream cheese plus orange juice 
• Yo el Rey Roasting, Calistoga: coffees
• Woodhouse Chocolates, St. Helena
• Sogni Di Dolci: I had the Napoletano (mozzarella, tomatoes, basil, garlic, and oregano) and Dawn had the Club Panino (turkey, pancetta, provolone, tomato, lettuce, mayonaise--which tasted good and spicy, like mustard)

Maker Faire 2014 - San Mateo

Some memories / notes:

• 8x10 digital view camera; Sam Girvin (sgirv *remove this nonsensical phrase* in@stanford.edu)
• Flatbed scanner modified into an easy to focus, extremely high resolution B&W digital 8x10 view camera
• Max image resolution: 1,800 megapixels; limited in practice by lens resolving power and fineness of ground glass
• Key components: 
• Canon Canoscan LiDE 210
• Schneider Symmar-S 210mm f/5.6
• Custom bellows system
• Ground glass plate
• Documentation will be posted initially on PentaxForums.com
• SVVR2 (Silicon Valley Virtual Reality) conference and expo, May 19 & 20; svvr.com
• UC-Santa Cruz Art Department Chair, Jennifer Parker; parker *remove this nonsensical phrase but include the one* 1@ucsc_dot_edu ; Baskin Visual Arts
• Obtanium Works: "One man's junk is another man's vehicle" Shannon & Kathy O'Hare; obtaniumworks.net
• Genevieve Santos: illustrator, wanderluster; kid-at-heart; genevievesantos.com
• Sparki, the easy robot for everyone, arcbotics.com; and Hexy, the low-cost hexapod robot
• Isabelle Kung, illustrator: www.isabellakung.com
• Mars Exploration Program: www.nasa.gov/mars
• Proteins and Peppytides
• Peppytide is a 3D-printed, foldable molecular model (note: part of the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory)
• www.peppytides.com
• Darwin-mini robotis: www.robotis.us
• Novena open source laptop: novena.io; "back us on crowdsupply.com" (ends May 18)
• www.animalinstinctsapparel.com
• Consciousness Hacking: "Is inner-space the next great frontier?" consciousnesshacking.com
• WalkingBeans (Li-An, Yuki) @ sfwalkingbeans.com
• Skeletal Dropkick: www.skeletaldropkick.com : stoneware; monsters; handcrafted for daily use
• Curious Customs: Lamps, lanterns, and nightlights: http://curiouscustoms.com
• Nasa Centennial Challenges: www.nasa.gov/challenges
• RawrzToys.com