*WEDDING.BLOG.LINK*

I just want to take a minute, now that it's up, to bring everyone's attention to the amazing new banner graphic I put up a while ago. As I mentioned before, it came as a present from the most lovely lady of them all, and now rests atop the Sonic Infusion site, firmly implanted into it's html.

I couldn't have produced a decent banner graphic if there were 100 new iMacs in it for me. But beyond that, I think we (me, society in general, probably you) take design for granted far too often and then, when acknowledging it's importance, cheapen it with 'competitions' (etc) and expect this work to be done for free.

Though I didn't pay for the graphic above, I hope I can repay my lady fair in little ways on an ongoing basis for both the support she gives me and the graphics work she manages to squeeze in for me as well (I'm building her a backup server!?).

Perhaps semi-publicly thanking her can be one of those ways.

Thanks baby!

I've got to see some of this Lucky Louie show. For now though, I'll settle with this clip showing what to do (or not do?) when your kids get the "prepetual-whys":

I just read the best quote EVER.

Some of you may remember Rob Glaser from the old days when his company Real Networks reverse engineered the FairPlay DRM used to protect songs purchased on the iTMS, in order to allow those songs to be played using RealPlayer (and, potentially, their portable media player hardware - which I'm not sure even ever existed).

Every once in a while he pops his head out of wherever it is that he keeps it (I was looking for some witty noun or other to point out how ridiculous this guy's press statements usually are, but there aren't any existing words to handle the situation - I'll just move on) to make some stupid comment or awful analysis of the tech industry and totally humiliates himself. All the better for us I guess.

In this article on C|net Mr. Glaser makes one of my favourite grammar mistakes, providing me with at least a weekend worth of laughs. (The best part is that he was actually quoted as saying this. Do you suppose the reporter that submitted this article was quoting tongue-in-cheek style or did they not notice the glaring mistake either? We'll never know.)

Here's the telltale quotation that proves that Rob Glaser maybe doesn't have all his meubles : (emphasis added)

Glaser said, "We think this a case where our technology competitors, in this case specifically Microsoft, have literally thrown the baby out with the bath water."

All I've got to say is if MSFT is soaking babies in dirty bathwater and then hucking them out into the street, as this quote implies, they've got bigger worries than anti-trust...

I wonder if that would qualify as libel?

People of zee world - RELAX!

Everyone seems to have a lot going on lately. Cheer up wtih this video of a spooked-out owl:

Here's a neat video spoofing the new Mac vs PC ads.

And here's a funny picture:

One nice thing about having long(ish) hair is that when I decide to get it cut there are charities waiting to take it. I knew about the Cancer Society's hair donation program but didn't know how to access it - so I sent an email to the Cancer Society Of NB, and got this response:

Hi Joel,

Thank you for the e-mail. We do not actually make the wigs here but you can drop your hair off at any Canadian Cancer Society branch and we can forward the hair to a place that makes the wigs. Here is the requirements and everything for the hair and all the places in Canada that we send hair to:

http://www.cancer.ca/ccs/internet/standard/0,3182,3384_14519_84874484_langId-en,00.html

If that link does not work for any reason, just go to www.cancer.ca and you should be able to find information about hair donations there or you can call me at 634-6272

Thank you,

Shawna Doiron

Just thought I'd make the info available.

Yahoo! Music announced that they'll be selling personalized versions of a Jessica Simpson song called "A Public Affair". You go to the site, and if your name is on the list, you can buy a version of the song using your name in the chorus. Cool idea, I think.

I think it kind of shows how little creativity the 'artist' must have used to create the song - or at least how little control they have over their own music after they've created it and put it into the hands of the record company. Could you imagine David Crosby or Paul Simon or one of those old dudes selling their materpiece away with altered words? Not likely.

Still it's a good gimmick. One more example of how the internet and digital media are really reshaping how we access the market, and in this case how the market accesses us.

And for ONCE they're doing this in an accessible way! The download is an MP3! Unrestricted! No DRM! Good on you, Yahoo!! If only they would make their site work on something other than IE!!!

I've seen this before, but it's worth spreading around.

An autistic kid was put into the game for the last few minutes and was "as hot as a pistol".

Unedited version

My lovely lady has just conjured up an infusion header for the blog! Hail hail the designers!
Now I just need to figure out how to get it to go in up there....

This is the funniest thing I have seen in ages.

My favourite so far is lumbermansexchange.com (lumberman's exchange). Get the idea?

LMAO. You will too.

You've all got to check out this chic t-shirts place. Best shirts ever.

I know I've been over the whole "Che was a murdering authoritarian commie bastard who ravaged his nation and countrymen for personal fame and fortune" thing before. Anyone who bought in is going to love this stuff.

I believe that teh Fletchbot hosted a brief discussion about the cuteness of cartoon characters once (likely pertaining to video games).

Apparently (according to the link I followed from digg) this is Disney's take on the subject.

**UPDATE**
Thanks for the great link from Morg in the comments: it seems that this is not Disney's poster at all, but Warner Bros.

Don't even try to tell me you don't remember this 'Concerned Children's Advertisers' TV spot.

I'll be taking some vacation for the next few days, so this will have to hold you over till Monday or Tuesday.

Isn't little mario so cute jumping over little barrels and swinging his mighty cartoon hammer?!

Here is a neat page that administers a quick telemarketer style test to try to determine where you fit on the 'political compass' - which is something the people at this website seem to have made up, by using the typical left-right political spectrum and adding another axis to take social factors into account.

After you're done the test, be sure to read the page explaining how the compass works. It's very interesting. I think it's a good way of thinking about classifying these ideas (in as much as classification is useful...).

In case you wanted to know, I scored -9.13 on the left-right axis, which is almost all the way to the left, and -4.77 which is less than halfway down on the libertarian scale. I think it's probably pretty close. I'm almost right on top of Nelson Mandella's dot.

Let me know how you guys all score too! I'd be really interested to see where Dan scores (maybe not as far to the left, I have no idea where on the social factors scale) and of course all the rest of you. I won't expect anyone to post their results as I understand this can be a personal thing. People on the left often wear their politics on their sleeve, so that's maybe why I'm okay with sharing my scores.

Here's a great article about some of the ramifications of strict copyright law.

I think it's absolutely ridiculous that there's no exemption for parody works in Canada. That's totally stupid.

I also think it's completely irresponsible for legislators to be so cozy with one half of the equation (the recording industry and film industry, etc) and not the other half (the artists). I predict that if the current path is followed through to legislation we will end up with completely un-enforceable copyright law. (by the way, this is how I see the current laws in the US)

Comments?

A great little list of reasons why ladies shouldn't pass by the geeky boys for the 'ballers. (Though I guess some of us are both ?)

... don't dis Jamie in public or you'll get whacked.