“Colorado’s Flying Dog Ales is making a tribute beer to Hunter S. Thompson. Ralph Steadman, who did the artwork for Hunter’s books, is designing a unique four pack case for this limited edition brew. They are also going to donate some of the profits towards the giant Gonzo fist to be built in Aspen.” via Cory Doctorow

Fascinating:

Explore the sea of names, letter by letter…watch trends rise and fall, and dive in deeper to see your favorite name’s place in the historical tides.

Virginia Postrel, writing in Reason:

When customers enter the Ralphs supermarket near UCLA, they see a sign announcing how many different fruits and vegetables the produce department has on hand: “724 produce varieties available today,” it says, including 93 organic selections.
Sixty dozen varieties is a mind-boggling number. And that’s just in the produce department. Over in the cheese section, this pretty run-of-the-mill supermarket offers 14 types of feta alone. Not so long ago, finding feta of any type required a trip to a specialty shop.
During the last couple of decades, the American economy has undergone a variety revolution. Instead of simply offering mass-market goods, businesses of all sorts increasingly compete to give consumers more personalized products, more varied experiences, and more choice.
Average Americans order nonfat decaf iced vanilla lattes at Starbucks and choose from 1,500 drawer pulls at The Great Indoors. Amazon gives every town a bookstore with 2 million titles, while Netflix promises 35,000 different movies on DVD. Choice is everywhere, liberating to some but to others a new source of stress. “Stand in the corner of the toothpaste aisle with your eyes wide open and–I swear–it will make you dizzy,” writes design critic Karrie Jacobs. Maybe the sign in Ralphs is not an enticement but a warning.

Bob Tedeschi:

Lands’ End introduced its Swim Finder feature this spring. The online service lets a user view different versions of swimsuits on a three-dimensional body likeness.

Ben Stein:

AS I told them, we could do without Hollywood for a century. We could not do without them and their sacrifice for a week. Gratitude. As my pal Phil DeMuth says, it’s the only totally reliable get-rich-quick scheme. Gratitude. Losing the luxury of feeling aggrieved when, if you look closely, you have an opportunity. My father washed dishes at the Sigma Psi house so that he could build an education and a life for the family he did not even have yet.
At my house, I always insist on doing the dishes, and I feel a thrill of gratitude for what washing a dish can do with every swipe of the sponge. Wiping away the selfishness of the moment, building a life for my son. The zen of dishwashing. The zen of gratitude. The zen of riches. Thanks, Pop.

Check it out.

An amazing New York Metro article on child abuse at the Boychoir School. Prominent Stanford IP Lawyer Larry Lessig acknowledges the abuse he suffered at the School while taking a case to the New Jersey Supreme Court for another child abuse victim. Powerful stuff. Julie Leung has more.

Garrison Keillor’s Prairie Home Companion appeared at the Overture Center this past Saturday. Tune in to the whole show here.