Great 100% Free Icon Collections

This is a collection of 100% free icons that can be used however you want. Some of them have mild restrictions (if you use them, put a link to the creators website on the same page they are used on.

Have fun!

http://www.smashingmagazine.com/2008/05/21/40-professional-icon-sets-for-free-download/

The cheezburger does it again!

more cat pictures

Use Gmail for mailto links on webpages

A wonderful series of posts here and here show how to add a mailto handler to the newest version of firefox in order to click an "email me" link on a webpage and compose your email in gmail... then shoot it off. Here are the steps:

1. In Firefox’s address bar, copy and paste the following and hit enter: about:config
2. Click “I’ll be careful, I promise!” when the warning appears
3. In the “Filter:” field, copy and paste: gecko.handlerService.allowRegisterFromDifferentHost
4. Double click the found result to change the boolean value from false to true
5. In the address bar, copy and paste the following: javascript:window.navigator.registerProtocolHandler("mailto","http://mail.google.com/a/yourdomain.org/mail/?extsrc=mailto&url=%s","Google Apps")
6. Replace “yourdomain.org” with your own Google Apps hosted domain and hit enter
7. Click “Add Application” when it asks you a question
8. go to Edit > Preferences > Applications > mailto
9. Choose “Use Google Apps”

For those who use schwerzler.com the javascript string I used is this:

• javascript:window.navigator.registerProtocolHandler("mailto","http://mail.google.com/a/schwerzler.com/mail/?extsrc=mailto&url=%s","Schwerzler.com")
This is just flippin awesome!

Choice of running mates

In case you were wondering about the choices that Obama may have when it comes down to his vice presidential candidate... someone has KINDLY broken the potentials down into a pro/con analysis: http://mightygodking.com/index.php/2008/05/19/vice-presidential-prognosticatin/ Hilights: Optimus Prime PROS: - heroic - beloved by millions of people - doesn’t need his own Secret Service detail, as he is a giant battle robot - can voice over his own ads and it will be awesome CONS: - Energon needs may betray problematic views on energy policy - although technically able to assume presidency on grounds that adoption of current big-rig transformed form counts as a “rebirth” and it happened on American soil, expect a court challenge to his viability - predictable target of negative ads: “How Do We Know He Will Not Go Insane And Try To Exterminate Humanity?” - likely Megatron endorsement of John McCain in response it would have been perfect if not for Megatron :(

So I like transit! So What?

Imagine if you will driving to your local metropolitan area (Seattle for me) and hopping on a train that can whisk you ac cross the land incredibly fast. like 150MPH fast. For what seems like a trivial ($30 or so) amount you could live in a city like Portland, and work in a city like Seattle... with something like an hour's commute! http://www.cahighspeedrail.ca.gov/map.htm It is an intoxicating idea, I'll admit. In the California 800 mile track system is estimated to cost around $40Billion. Which is a lot of money, admittedly. However I think there is good reason to consider broadening such a project into something national. I'll give 3 reasons, though these are just the ones I can think of right now... I'm sure there are more that I haven't though of.

1. A national project would show a commitment by the U.S. to fundamentally change the way we consume energy.

   A serious change in the thought process and consumption patterns of Americans is needed in order to show to the world that we are serious about addressing the ways in which we impact the environment. A national mass transit solution that has been working well for Europe is one step towards that commitment.

2. A great opportunity to boost the economy

   Like all large public works projects such an undertaking would allow the US to employ a large number of skilled people, and foster an era of research into high speed rail related fields. We did this before with the Highway system in this country, why can't we do it again?

3. We deserve it

   We spend $620B or so on defense alone in this country. We nearly spend more on our defense then the rest of the world combined http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Military_budget_of_the_United_States. That is a lot of cash that we are spending... and I can't exactly figure out what our justification is for such a high limit... "defense" just is not cutting it. I would really like to see at least some of that money re-directed into some large public works projects around the country. Things that will impact many citizens and improve quality of life.
Why don't we have options like this in our country? Are we not dense enough (people/sq mile) to make this a good solution? Do we have other alternatives (airports & cars). Do we need to keep spending so much on war and defense? Or can we re-direct some of our spending into something that will more directly benefit citizens? *UPDATE* 5/21/08 While $40 B is a lot of money, be assured... it is not so much when you consider the amount it would cost to expand critical road infrastructure. According to the folks over at The Seattle Transit Blog the cost to add 1 lane of highway to I5 through Seattle would run roughly $25B. Compare that to an 800 mile high speed train track and cost is a drop in the bucket. The issue... we were not planning on spending $25B to expand I5... but it is good information to have when you are talking to people who want us to vote down any ST transit proposals that we put on the ballot this November

It's about time!

A California supreme court has ruled today that same sex marriage is legal. That's two down, and 48 to go... come on Washington... where you at? http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-gaymarriage16-2008may16,1,4027698.story