Tired of the same old Christmas lights every year, one man married a video game (Guitar Hero) to his light display and came out with a playable version of Guitar Hero Christmas lights. Check out the link for video and his interview at Make. I love it!
Apparently, the committee feels that those connections on Facebook could lead people to believe that lawyers can influence judges they have friended. It looks like the ruling is not something judges and lawyers in Florida are required to follow without a mandate from the Florida Supreme Court, but there is some speculation that some will follow the rule out of caution.
Halloween is upon us already, and I haven't been much in the way of posting here. Here's a quick link to some really great punkins that some people have carved. (It seems to be a contest of sorts, so you can vote for your favourite.)
I am, like many people, a junkie for blank books. I collect them on my bookshelf. I have different sizes, colours, shapes... most of which I can't bear to write in because I'm afraid of "ruining" the book. I know, it's counterproductive. What's the point, right? Still, I'm compelled to collect them.
Also, like many people, I love the Moleskine notebooks with a passion that might seem a little odd for what basically amounts to a somewhat expensive blank book. Everyone who loves the Moleskine notebook has their own reason. They also have their own "favourite" type. Moleskines come in a variety of sizes (pocket, large, reporter, A4...), covers (hardcover and softcover) and page styles (watercolour, sketchbook, ruled, gridded, planners). While I have a number of different styles, ultimately the large hardcover sketchbook, with its thicker pages, is the one I love the most. It's handy for writing, sketching and drawing in both pencil and pen without any bleed through.
There are a lot of accessories for the Moleskines. Just a quick search on Etsy brings up a huge selection of crafty covers made for the notebooks. Sadly, most of them are made for the large cahier (softcover) or the smaller pocket size. So, I was pretty excited to see the Rickshaw Bagworks Moleskine Folio, made for the large hardcover size Moleskine. It's a durable nylon, zips up, and comes with a place to put your pens and loose index cards (of which I'm also an addict). It comes in a variety of colours, though if you're not happy with their selection, a post on their blog mentions they'll do custom exceptions.
"George [Lucas] came up to me the first day of filming, took one look at the dress and said: 'You can't wear a bra under that dress.'
'OK, I'll bite,' I said. 'Why?' And he said: 'Because ... there's no underwear in space.'
He said it with such conviction. Like he had been to space and looked around and he didn't see any bras or panties anywhere.
He explained. 'You go into space and you become weightless. Then your body expands but your bra doesn't, so you get strangled by your own underwear.' "
This is actually an article I wrote for a contest at Chris Pirillo's site. I'd had the article in mind for quite some time, but hadn't had an opportunity (or, I'll admit, the motivation) to write it. So, I thank Chris for helping kick me into gear. I'd really appreciate it if you'd go read and comment there, if you find it useful.
Blippr is a microblogging platform like Twitter or Plurk, but with a very specific focus. You have 160 characters to expound your thoughts on books, movies, music, and games. You can also rate whether you like or dislike a particular item, comment on others posts, and create lists of your favourite media. You can also connect it to a number of other social media or microblogging platforms, such as Twitter, Plurk, Jaiku, Pownce, and Facebook.
I found it easy to use and a little bit addictive. The only thing I wished it had at the moment was a "badge" or way to syndicate it to your weblog sidebar.
I probably shouldn't read articles about low fuel in airplanes a week before I'm about to be in one... especially since I have such a difficult time flying in them already.
CollegeHumor put out another hilarious original video: Font Conference. If you've ever werked with fonts, you'll love this one. (Except I think they cast Comic Sans in the wrong role....)
I don't have an iPhone - I'm pretty happy with my Sidekick LX - but if I did, I might like the iWood, a beautiful wooden case for the iPhone. I'm not sure that it neccessarily protects the phone, but it sure does look pretty.
I'd never given a lot of thought about the insides of my toys when I was a kid (except for that one time my dancing ballerina doll leaked battery acid everywhere), but now that I'm older this photographic comparison of children's toys both before and after they've been, well, for a lack of a better word, "skinned"... is kind of creepy. And at the same time, it's totally fascinating. Weird.
Of course, each of the sites has its own spin on the micro-blogging platform. It seems like most users have jumped on the Twitter bandwagon; most of my friends have accounts there, despite the recent server issues. While I also have Pownce and Jaiku accounts, which offer the ability to upload files or events (Pownce) or add my webfeeds (Jaiku), I don't use them nearly as often because my friends don't have accounts there. (They aren't all internet junkies like me.)
Plurk brings a slightly different approach: a horizontal timeline of updates. This can be a little bit confusing and overwhelming to some at first, but it didn't take too long to get used to. If you find that you really hate the timeline, you can always use the mobile interface, which is more Twitter-like.
You can reply/comment to your friends' plurks, as well as gain "karma" for updating more frequently or contributing by responding to other people's plurks. (Yes, I'm a sucker for useless "experience" points; see also: xbox gamer achievements.) More Karma brings you more ability to customise your page and dashboard, as well as gives you more emoticons.
The ability to reply and comment on other people's updates is a big draw. Whereas Twitter is akin to shouting in a crowded room (which has its uses), Plurk allows you to interact and hold conversations with others. The result has been amazing: a lot of my real life friends (who I made join the site) and my online friends from various locations are now all talking to each other. It was really weird at first, but it's actually quite entertaining now. The interactivity level encourages conversations much like a mini-IRC or the BBSes of old.
The Plurk FAQ isn't the best, but there's a great Plurk How-To/FAQ/Tutorial I highly recommend for anyone who plurks. And those interested in how their karma ranking compares to others can check out the Plurk Top Users ranking. (If you set your city, you can also check out how you rank vs. others in your city that have also made their location visible. Currently, I'm ranked fairly high in Seattle, but you can see how tight the karma ranking is!)
Plurk could be my new favourite... if I could just get my friends to move to it. (Don't worry, Twitter... I still love you, too.)
[updated 6/23: updated to remove AIM capability, which is currently down now, added some links and other commentary.]
Tired of the same old Christmas lights every year, one man married a video game (Guitar Hero) to his light display and came out with a 
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