Speaking of soda bottles, I have never understood why there are some plastic soda bottles (especially here in Europe; I have never seen them in the U.S.) that have caps with rings that do not come off. The half-stuck rings are sharp, always in the way and they are just plain annoying. Check out these comparison pictures. More »

At the end of this month, Coca-Cola in the Netherlands will offer their products in a new type of bottle. Currently PET bottles are used, and then recycled to be used again by various bottling plants. The new bottle is meant for one-time use only. The bottles will have a deposit on them; after being returned to grocery stores the bottles will be recycled. Material from the recycled bottles will be used to make new PET bottles or other plastic products. More »

My dad always teases me when I buy a new pair of shoes. He calls me “Imelda”, after Imelda Marcos, former first lady and political figure of the Philippines. She is probably best remembered for her vast collection of shoes. Did you know that in 2003 director Ramona S. Diaz made the documentary Imelda, about the footwear fancier? More »

This week the new Mount Everest - Legend of the Forbidden Mountain at Disney’s Animal Kingdom in Florida pre-opens for cast members. Disney also launched a new website for the attraction: www.disneyeverest.com. More »

This week’s newly launched Google Video Store has been very badly received by the press and the blogosphere (”So far it’s just a really crap web site,” writes The Register’s Ashley Vance). Personally I am very disappointed that the TV shows available in the new video store (CSI, Survivor, Star Trek, to name a few) are not available outside the United States. More »

I always like to visit Chicago; walk along Michigan Avenue and see the lake from Navy Pier. Two weeks ago we saw the lights on the Magnificent Mile and the Christmas windows at Marshall Field’s on State Street. I thought it’d be fun to make a list of my favorite things to do in Chicago, so here is my list of top free (or cheap) things to do in and around the Windy City. More »

There are two ways to change the spacing between characters when doing digital typography, and programs like Microsoft Word and Adobe Photoshop use different units and methods to do this. The official word for defining the space between all characters in a text is tracking, not to be confused with kerning. More »

Today we had a drive around the Chicagoland area and had two interesting stops: we saw the spindle of cars in Berwyn, and toured the Eli’s Cheesecake World factory. More »

Illinois Beach State Park was established in 1948 and dedicated in 1965 as the nation’s first nature preserve. Today we visited the Southern Unit of this 4,100 acres state park near the Wisconsin border. More »