Back To AZ

There will be no blog posts tomorrow. We're driving back to Oro Valley to meet with the pool guy and the designer to put the finishing touches on the new house.

Back on Saturday.

Small Web Icons

Here are 300 Images From 1800 Sites.

I started gathering little, iconesque web images for myself so that I could compare, contrast, and study the techniques used by other graphic artists on the web. My initial pool of images looked so interesting that I decided to continue methodically hunting and capturing the icons for a public display piece.

Manure Pit Deaths

An heads-up from the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health: Preventing Deaths of Farm Workers in Manure Pits.

This Alert describes seven deaths from asphyxiation (suffocation) that occurred during two incidents involving entry into manure pits. The recommendations included in this Alert should be followed by all farm owners and operators who have manure pits on their property.

(via Reenhead)

Iraq War Photos

Here are four pages of photos identified only as some pictures a friend brought back from Iraq. As you might expect, some are very graphic.

(via MemoryBlog)

Make A Photo Book

This is a great idea: MyPublisher. Send them your digital photos, and they'll print them in a book. Prices start at $9.95 for a 20-page book with up to 80 photos.

I think I'll try this.

(via Tom McMahon)

A Day In The Life Of A Baseball Stadium

Check out this time-lapse video of the Anaheim Angels baseball stadium. It shows 16 hours (including a complete game), compressed to less than a minute.

(via Off On A Tangent)

Internet Research Scout

Some people might find this product useful: Internet Research Scout.

Handy tool especially designed for Internet researches. Program is able to save snippets from HTML web-pages (including images) from both Web and local documents and organize them in a handy way.

The company, Bytescout, also sells a Flash Movie Extractor Scout, which allows you to extract Flash content from Web sites.

What We Want

From Zefrank: What We Want. It's kind of like a slot machine to create human faces.

The Mystic Sink

Here's an unusual kitchen sink: the Mystic Sink.

"With faucet and drain positioned at opposite ends of the dramatic 48-inch-long sink span, water cascades through the 8-inch-wide tapered preparation/work area, much akin to a stream or river."

Kitchens have long been the informal gathering place for family get-togethers and entertaining. Elkay's four-foot-long sink design was developed to be the focal point of that activity. The under-mounted sink slopes from 4-1/2" to 2-1/8" and is made of #16 gauge nickel bearing stainless steel, undercoated to dampen sound and prevent condensation.

I like this -- but not enough to pay $1,755 for it.

(via List)

White List Spam Filters

I got another one of those "white list" spam emails today:

You just sent an email to my xxxxx@yyyyyy.com account, which is now being managed by my Mailblocks spam-free email service. (If you didn't recently send a message to me, please see the Note below.)

Because this is the first time you have sent to this email account, please confirm yourself so you'll be recognized when you send to me in the future.

Forget it.

I have never replied to one of these and I never will. Dealing with my own spam takes long enough. Why should I take extra time to help a total stranger reduce his spam? The most irritating part is that I was responding to an email that he sent me.

And I'm not the only one who feels so strongly about this. See Jeremy Zawodny's comments.

Inflatable Museum

The Inflatable Museum:

The Inflatable Museum is a gathering place for objects, performances and environments that are resigned to instability. Artists explore the structural parameters of a virtual exhibition space by contrasting flat "cyber" space with images of inflatability.

Shown here is an inflatable Mona Lisa.

Comes with "Mona Goes Dada!" stick-on moustache and goatee, and a patch kit.

This product not to be used as a floatation device.

(via Electric Venom)

The Men Commandments

37 rules for men: The Men Commandments.

Argument with these rules instantly revokes your identity as a man. You're no longer a man and you're out of the man club.

A few examples:

• Moaning about the brand of free beer in a friend's fridge is forbidden. Complain at will if the temperature is unsuitable.
• No Man shall ever be required to buy a birthday present for another Man. In fact, even remembering your friend's birthday is strictly optional.
• Under no circumstances may two men share an umbrella.

(via The Presurfer)

Mandala

Here's one of the most entertaining Flash thing-a-ma-jigs that I've seen in a long time. It's called Mandala.

Just use your mouse to create some amazing Spirograph-like drawings. Talent not required.

Worst Songs From Texas

The Dirty Thirty: The worst songs of all time from Texas.

...the 30 worst songs from Texas -- a score and ten of the most annoyingly catchy, most disappointing and downright bad music ever to emanate from between the Red River and the Rio Grande.

The list includes some of my favorites -- like� "Luckenbach, Texas", "Love the One You're With.", "Muskrat Love", and Lisa Loeb's "Stay".

Ask Pud

If you have a question, you can Ask Pud.

Pud is an expert in many things including money, sex, business, arts, music, food, fashion, technology, nightlife, travel -- almost everything except sports.

It's a good mixture of serious answers and joke answers -- and surprisingly entertaining. For example:

Q. I have 2.5 years left before I will get my degree in Computer Science. What kind of job market do you forecast? Should I just drop out now and get a head start working at McDonalds?

A. You should move to India. Seriously. I'm surprised more comp sci graduates don't do this -- lots of jobs, hot Indian chicks, green curry.

And this one:

Q. I'm 17, a senior in high school. What's the best way to get alcohol if you're underage?

A. That's what homeless people are for.

Just Mics

All about Microphones.

The following pages are designed to introduce you to the types of microphones used in broadcasting and in recording studios.

Shown here is Willie Nelson (with a microphone) in 1966.

Excel Ass-In?

I got an email from someone who bought a copy of my Excel 2002 Power Programming With VBA book:

First I must say that your book is outstanding.

Now to the error I am reporting: On the cover of the CD-ROM,� third item in the bullet list, it reads, "...version of John's audio proofreader ass-in."

Of course, we know it is supposed to read "add-in."

My copies of that book don't have the typo on the CD. If anyone else has that book, can you check the CD?

Jamaican Mento Music

I used to be a big reggae fan, yet I've never heard the term Mento Music. What is it?

It's a largely unknown Jamaican music that is the grandpappy of reggae. For a ska or reggae fan, mento sounds familiar and exotic and unfamiliar. Mento recordings are difficult to come by, but worth seeking out. It's music that lifts my spirits and relaxes my mind whenever I hear it.

Shown here is a photo of the Jolly Boys, taken in the 1960s.

You can hear some sound clips here. The quality is poor, but the spirit of the music certainly comes through.

(Thanks Distri)