BrianAndPamela.com

…but there's a good chance the color needs to be tweaked a bit.  And it might look better if you nudged it a few pixels off center.

23 Signs That You're Becoming a Design Geek from Crestock.com Blog

I've been accused of getting a little over zealous about design elements, I admit.  And realistically, I understand that most people on the planet don't even know what leading and kerning are, much less care about them.  So when I found the linked article about signs you're becoming a design geek, I alternately laughed and grimaced.  Examples?

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Link to Jensen Harris: An Office User Interface Blog : New Fonts For Documents

Aldous Huxley wrote:

A type of revolutionary novelty may be extremely beautiful in itself; but, for the creatures of habit that we are, its very novelty tends to make it illegible, at any rate to begin with.
Typography for the Twentieth-Century Reader
Aldous Huxley

So we will see, at any rate.  The new versions of Microsoft Office now ship with new default fonts and type faces.  Added to the ubiquitous Arial, Verdana, Courier (New) and the loathsome Times New Roman are the new defaults of Calibri, Cambria, Consolas, Candara, Constantia and Corbel. (more…)

Didn't see the comet at night recently?  Try during the day. 

Comet McNaught (see our original story here) is so bright now as it passes through perihelion — that is to say closest to the sun — that observers around the world are reporting that it is visible during the day time.  according to SpaceWeather.com:

 Solar heat is causing the comet to vaporize furiously and brighten to daylight visibility. At magnitude -4 to -5, McNaught is the brightest comet since Ikeya-Seki in 1965.

To find the comet, you need to shield yourself from the sun by standing in the shadow of a building, then hold your fist at arms length.  The comet is 5 degrees east of the sun and your fist is about five degrees wide.  The standard warnings apply about not looking into the sun, you'll go blind and then how would you read this wonderful blog?

Full story at SpaceWeather.com you might need to check the archives for Jan 13th.

Somethings should write themselves.  They are so easy to talk about, to explain in person but getting them to make sense on the screen is different entirely.  My feelings on the iPhone should have been like that.  I wanted to love it.  I love my iPod, so what's not to like about the wide screen, wi-fi, touch controlled iPod I've been craving mixed with a cell phone?  Well, I'll tell you…

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 Link to Kilmer plans Genius return - Movie news - Movies - Virgin.net

"Something strange happened to me this morning."
"Was it a dream where you see yourself standing in sort of sun-god robes on a pyramid with a thousand naked women screaming and throwing little pickles at you?"
"No."
"Why am I the only person that has that dream?"

 Now… it's just a rumor, but Virgin.net (a British ISP, NOT a news source, mind you) is reporting that Val Kilmer has agreed to appear in a sequel to the 1985 movie "Real Genuis", which was perhaps one of the best movies of that era.  Certainly one of the funniest and most quotable.

A sequel after 22 years?  I mean, I'm very hopeful, but "This is water, it's what happens to ice when it gets too cold. This is Val Kilmer, this is what happens to actors when they long to return to their glory days." 

I admit it… I am a well of useless information.

Because of that I'm often answering questions. Sometimes, that's because someone sought my advice or knowledge of something. Often, it's because I have a pathological need to explain things.  More after the jump. (more…)

 Link to Triple "A" Battery Hack

Found on Digg: Ever needed a "normal" battery cell but you can only find a 9volt?  Have no fear… pull that 9volt apart to reveal six 1.5 volt cells that are a little smaller than AAA cells (they are, in fact AAAA size…).  With a little aluminum foil padding, you can make them work in a pinch. 

There's nothing special about batteries, you know, only the sizes.  In fact, if you have an adapter (or make one) you can substitute among the "common" sizes, they are all just 1.5 volts.  Now the life of a smaller battery will be reduced in a system with a larger power draw (Interesting link on the mAh ratings for each standard cell size) but it should work in a pinch.

So there you go.

You know, I'm not one to repeat press releases verbatim, but:

On Dec. 22, Nintendo and Opera Software bring the Internet to the living room couch with a free trial version of the Opera Web browser. Wii owners with a high-speed Internet connection can download a free trial Opera browser to activate the Internet Channel of the Wii Menu and begin surfing the Web. Link to NINTENDO press release

Pant pant drool drool… more after the click.

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Link to Digg the Blog » Blog Archive » New Digg Features O’ Plenty

Digg.com this morning launched a site redesign and added some really great new features.  See the linked story for Digg founder Kevin Rose's blog post.  more after the jump… (more…)

Cerulean Studios Previews Trillian Astra

I've been a big fan of the Trillian IM client for a long while now.  I have accounts on AIM, Y!M, MSN and Googletalk, and friends across all of those networks.  While the proprietary clients have gotten better over the years, I still need to use all of the networks to stay in touch.  Enter Trillian.  Instead of running individual clients for each IM network, Trillian interfaces with all of them, fairly seamlessly.  Now, a new version of Trillian is on the horizon, Trillian Astra, and it sounds like a winner. (more…)