Affinage in America: Cheese: A Coming-of-Age Story

The cave management at Murray’s has won praise from Adeline Druart, the cheese maker at the Vermont Butter and Cheese Creamery, which now sells Murray’s some of its rindless young crottins for a quick rumspringa in Greenwich Village.

Note: I’d have no clue what rumspringa meant had I not seen Sex Drive somewhere along the way during our adventure.

A few weeks ago I discovered a tweet from someone who was planning on using a photo of mine as the inspiration for a new tattoo. I was floored—what an honor. I reached out to the woman and asked if she wouldn’t mind sending me a photo of the finished work so I could post it to my blog. The appointment got delayed several times, and I forgot about the whole thing, that is until yesterday, when I got an email with a twitpic of the tattoo (inked by Ellen at Chameleon Tattoo & Body Piercing).

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Neat: Painting with gravity

So glad I’m with Schwab (which actually refunds all ATM “convenience” charges):

Bank of America is the latest bank to say it will begin charging a monthly fee for checking accounts that use debit cards. Starting early next year, the bank will charge $5 a month, in any month that the customer uses a debit card to make a purchase. (If customers have a debit card, but don’t use it, they won’t incur the fee.) The fee won’t apply to A.T.M. transactions, and it won’t be charged to customers with certain premium accounts.

Ouch.

Update, November 1, 2011: Wow, that was quick: Bank of America backs off debit card fee after consumer backlash

“This is a victory for consumers who are voting with their feet,” said Ed Mierzwinski, head of the consumer program at U.S. PIRG. “For the first time, a bank fee has bitten the bank.”

Beautiful and useless (and wish I had thought of it first): qrtime.com