I'm sure they all have a story behind them. Taken at face value, they are funny!

Super Bowl XLIII Logo

Nice articles regarding the new Super Bowl Logo.

New York Times LINK
Landor Design LINK

SpeedTest

So you have broadband, and your sitting there one night thinking that this download is taking longer than it use to. Being smart you say to yourself, it could be the download server, it could be bad lines along the way, it could be a glitch somewhere in the city, or it could be on my side. Yikes! Water in buried cable lines, your wifi router could also be the cause.

It's time to track down that slow connection to its source. Start with SpeedTest and find out what the connection speed to your computer. It's easy... just click on the pyramid icon closest to where you live and the webpage will test your connection. Easy!

Review of Intel Core i7

Tom's Hardware did an extensive review of Intel's newest chip, the Core i7. In summary... fast and power hungry.

Just as Intel’s Core 2 has firmly established itself in the market, it is already being replaced by a completely new architecture. Unlike the switch from the Pentium 4 / Pentium D to the Core2—where the new CPUs worked as drop-in replacements on existing boards due to the fact that the processors were pin-compatible—Intel’s newest chip requires a completely new "ecosystem." But this transformation represents nothing less than a milestone for Intel.

Here’s the short version. Intel is introducing the Core i7, the successor to the Core 2 processor, which features both improved performance and higher efficiency. In our benchmark suite, the Core i7 is 16% faster clock-for-clock than the Core 2. Although all standard models are equipped with an overclocking lock, most motherboards will give enthusiasts the means to circumvent this mechanism, which Intel claims is in place to protect notebooks, servers, and other environment highly sensitive to heat. Since Intel is re-introducing Hyper-Threading to its desktop CPUs in the Core i7 line, the new processors show a marked performance boost in many modern multi-threaded applications. However, the Nehalem platform will not offer improvements where power consumption is concerned.

Make you own Ringtones for iPhone

Mac users have it easy, they can fire up garage band and make ringtones anytime they want. Unfortunately for us PC users it is more work.... until now. Upload your music to this website, edit it down to 30ish seconds and then download the ringtone. Sweet!

http://www.makeownringtone.com/

Iphone 2.2.1 Update

iTunes just informed me that a new update was avalable for my iPhone. After a quick search of the web, it appears to be some minor bug fixes. I'm going to wait a week before installing to make sure there are no ugly glitches hidden in the glitch-fix.

Still no copy-paste or better memory management. Ah well.

Jackson Pollock's Birthday

Paul Jackson Pollock (January 28, 1912 – August 11, 1956) was an influential American painter and a major force in the abstract expressionist movement.

Learn more here:  https://www.artsy.net/artist/jackson-pollock

Carl & Jody Wright's WebBlog

Nice art related articles from them and several 'how to' articles.

http://www.wsggallery.blogspot.com/

Wallpaper for 2 or more monitors

Do you have 2 ore more monitors hooked up to your computer? If so, go over to THIS site and download a few high resolution specially sized to display across your monitors.

President Obama

Welcome President Obama! As with everyone in the country we wish and pray for your success and that your leadership will raise America back up to the great nation it once was.

We also wish you the best in putting Americans back to work, back to school, and back on track.

Find Architects and Architecture Firms

The ArchitectureWeek professional directory includes thousands of architects and firms, large and small, local and global, from the US and internationally. To find architectural firms, enter the name or just a state or city.
Then click the Search button. It's that easy.

Good Online Spell Cehck

SpellCheck.net is a easy to use online spell checking service. Just copy and past in your text, and click "SpellCheck" It will return quickly with suggestions for the misspelled words.

There is even a box for checking single words.

Very solid and easy to use.

Metro north shopping mall on deaths bed.

Whatcha Doing Big Brother?

Shalla watches Max eat a rawhide bone. You can notice just to the top of the image, her bone is sitting unwanted... because what big brother has, MUST taste better.

I miss Greg the Bunny... bla

I really do miss Greg the Bunny. It was a funny show, but they had a few slow shows, and it got canned. Nice that you can buy the season on DVD. (language warning... but still dang funny!)

Concept Watch

A Concept watch which could be done today with existing tech. Parents everywhere would line up for one of these.

• Click the image to view it larger.
• Click HERE to go to the webpage

Apple iTunes to have DRM free music by the end of April.

Apple announced that iTunes will soon be selling nothing but DRM free music! Many believed (as did I) that the music industry was selling DRM free music to Amazon to try to break the Apple empire... it appears with this report that this thinking may not be the case.

This really is good news for consumers and for iPod users, as any existing DRM music purchased can be upgraded to the DRM free music. Only problem is it will cost 30 pennies for the privilege. Oh well... can't have it all.

Moving Building Facades.

How cool is this... buildings with facades that changes shape and move. NEAT, NEAT, NEAT!
LINK

Most Dangerous Roads

Check out the six part series from DRB. They show off the most dangerous roads (and some really fun roads) to drive on. LINK

High School Student Extract Revenge using Speeding Camera and Fake Plates

This in from John C Dvorak's blog...

As a prank, students from local high schools have been taking advantage of the county’s Speed Camera Program in order to exact revenge on people who they believe have wronged them in the past, including other students and even teachers.

Students from Richard Montgomery High School dubbed the prank the Speed Camera “Pimping” game, according to a parent of a student enrolled at one of the high schools.

Originating from Wootton High School, the parent said, students duplicate the license plates by printing plate numbers on glossy photo paper, using fonts from certain websites that “mimic” those on Maryland license plates. They tape the duplicate plate over the existing plate on the back of their car and purposefully speed through a speed camera, the parent said. The victim then receives a citation in the mail days later.

Students are even obtaining vehicles from their friends that are similar or identical to the make and model of the car owned by the targeted victim, according to the parent.
[...]
“I hope the public at large will complain loudly enough that local Montgomery County government officials will change their policy of using these cameras for monetary gain,” the parent said. “The practice of sending speeding tickets to faceless recipients without any type of verification is unwarranted and an exploitation of our rights.”

LINK 1
LINK 2

2009 New Year Wallpaper

Nice site with wallpaper celebrating the new year. Some are simple and didn't take much time to create, other look more detailed and creative and look to have taken a bit more effort. LINK

No... I'm not in the dog's bed.

When the dogs are away, the cats will play.... ummm... curl up in the dogs bed and sleep.

Google Calculator and 42

I love The Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy, a book by Douglas Adams. It is one of those cult favorites that everyone should have in their library. It really is a fun read!

For those who don't know, the entire book circles around an Earthling named Arthur Dent who is forcibly removed from Earth prior to its destruction. As Arthur travels the universe, one things keeps popping up. The number 42. It apparently is the answer to the question, 'What is the answer to life, the universe, and everything." It is so absurd and funny, that it launches everyone forward into finding the real question to the answer 42.... or the real answer... which is circular logic.

Now every good geek knows the fun of the book, and the buried humor when 42 creeps up during the day. The people at Google also have fun with this, and if you type in 'the answer to life the universe and everything' into Google's search box, you will discover that their deep thinking computers will return the value of 42. Good Job Google for inserting humor into our lives.

And another thing....

Polar Clock Screen Saver

An Oldie but a Goodie!

Polar clock screen saver came out in 2007, but is still my favorite screen saver. I really like the unique and fresh way of displaying the time and date. For those who don't know about the clock, the months, days, hours, etc. are displayed as portions of a circle. This circle puts a unique perspective on time and how much has lapsed.

The screen saver is free for download and is free of adware. Go download your copy over at PIXELBREAKER.

Check out my personal web page, PatrickHoesly.com

Come check out my personal webpage at patrickhoesly.com You can view my portfolio and if your interested in hiring me as a contractor or a full time job, download my resume. But if nothing else, keep coming back to this blog to download free tileable textures and read about the interesting things I blog about.

This can't be good.

Look Ma.... no han... auuughh!

Really Slick Screen Savers

I can't believe I just discovered Really Slick Screen Savers! They are free OpenGL screen savers which are very beautiful to look at and are free of advertisements. Most free SS are loaded with ads, or want all your personal info just to download.... not this.

One note of caution. These are OpenGL screen savers which demand a good deal of work from your video card. If you are a visual artist and your computer is crunching a lot when your not in front of it (rendering etc.) then these may not be the best thing to run. However, on the flip side... they are soooooo cool. Amazingly, you could get soooo wrapped up in viewing the visuals that you might forget about all that nasty work you have to get done...... this has never happen to me. LINK

Santa's Gone Centro

Wow! Palm has really been suffering from not upgrading their software or phones to keep up with the 'new' smart-phones. It really is sad, however, their marking department has kicked it up a notch and made a very good ad campaign this season.

UPDATE: They even made a Facebook page for Claus! Download the music (by the Rondo Brothers) & videos and leave a messages for Claus. Damn fine marketing job!