Welcome to tastypopsicle.com

I've decided to open up the weblog archive. At one point is was closed off except to registered members due to an incident, However, that company has since closed its doors so they can just eat it. Use the search to find something that youmight be looking for. Maybe you'll find it.

Yes, I'm 3 days late. But I still hope everyone has a prosperous and successful new year.

There have been so many things sitting in Google Reader that I've starred waiting to be looked at and shared. So it's time for another link dump just to get them all out there:

• Web design tools and resources I use
  Is a site put together by a guy named "Ethan" that aggregates all of the content, tools and resources he uses to create websites. There are some real gems in here especially if your Javascript framework of choice is jQuery, you're on a Mac, and you subscribe to MAMP development.
• AJAX APIs Playground
  I wish something like this was around when I first built my CTA Google Map. What a great way to play around with the different Google APIs before making a commitment to them.

GOP100 - Deconstructing Dumbo, self published book
As a fan on design and iconography (and pretty anti-republican in my thinking) this sample of interpretations of the Replican party's elephant logo as me cheering. I love how they took the recognizable mark of the beast and turned each one into a story; the stories of continued failure of the previous administration. Created by Thomas Fuchs and Felix Sockwell.

This is a fantastic story about how the "mystery" behind that iconic HOPE image created by Shepard Fairey was solved. Who was the photographer behind the image that Fairey created? The story started here: The Year in Pictures: Mystery Solved and ended here a week later Found - AGAIN - the Poster Source Photo (Scene on the Road) Inquirer photographer Tom Gralish

The photographer is MANNIE GARCIA, a Washington DC freelancer for the Associated Press.

I love this:

So, it looks like the image that poster artist Shepard Fairey said looked presidential, telling the Washington Post: "He is gazing off into the future, saying, 'I can guide you,'" actually showed our new president listening to George Clooney. Or, probably more likely, fellow Senator Sam Brownback (R-Kan.).

Speaking of the new President of the United States, once again The Boston Globe hits another home run with their "Big Picture" series. Some AMAZING shots from Tuesday, January 20, 2009 - Inauguration Day

And if you're curious as to what the front pages of nearly EVERY newspaper looked like the day Barack Obama was sworn in you have to check out http://c6.going.com/obama/inauguration_headlines.html

Lastly, on a lighter note, I'm in love with this t-shirt "I Do Mass Quantities of Code". It's a great play on multiple words. When one writes code they say they have written "lines of code" as in "How many lines of code is that function?" "About 4000 lines." And the lines are 0's and 1's (binary). Oh, and Code = Coke.

Way way way back in April 2008 I came across a Lifehacker article about a an award winning day-planner design called the Chronotebook by Wong Kok Keong [Orcadesign] (Singapore). I've lusted after it ever since I saw it. What I wouldn't do to have a notebook to carry with me every day. It's beautiful, it's elegant, it's so simple!

And that's the point. It's so simple. After I saw it the first thought I had was "I can do that." I knew that 15 minutes in Illustrator would be all that it would take to make a single page, 8.5 x 11 PDF. And nearly 8 months later I can finally say that it took me 15 minutes to do it. You can download a general PDF version to use for yourself (the version I use has my username on it for work in case a sheet gets left behind at a meeting).

I've been using a hand drawn version all week and I gotta say that I really like it. It's way more useful that the spiral notebook that I have been carrying around for the last year. As I flip through that notebook I have no context of the information that's contained in it. I admit that most of that could be easily fixed by better organizing it with dates and references. But without a specific format it's easy to stray. My mind works so much more efficiently when it follows a specific format and I think, for now at least, this day planner is the right solution for me.

If you use this please let me know.