The Anatomy of an Icon (SimpleBits)

Since releasing some icons of my own, I've received quite a few messages asking "how do you create an icon?" Well, I can't tell you how to create an icon -- but I can tell you the steps I take to create an icon.

This is a useful mini-tutorial if you're a designer who needs to create icons. I've already successfully used the tips, and I want to make sure I have this page somewhere in my site so I can search for it later...

Here are someone's photos from the RNC protest march this weekend. This counter-protestor's sign in particular scares me: Bush, bombs, guns and Jesus...how nice.

How Long Can the Country Stay Scared?

Want to learn how to create and sustain psychosis on a national scale? Look carefully at the public statements made by the Department of Homeland Security...

The DHS's incessant warnings against any and every possible method of terrorist attack has nothing to do with security, and everything to do with politics. In 2002, Republican strategist Karl Rove instructed Republican legislators to make terrorism the mainstay of their campaign. Study after study has shown that Americans worried about terrorism are more likely to vote Republican. Strength in the face of the terrorist threat is the basis of Bush's reelection campaign.

Reports: Bush tax cuts help rich (CNN Money)

President George W. Bush's tax cuts have transferred the federal tax burden from the richest Americans to middle-class families, with one-third of the cuts benefiting people with the top 1 percent of income.

Thanks for taking care of your buddies, George!

About 10 years ago Brian Tunney gave me a tape of a live Jawbreaker show. Years later, I burned them to a CD and made MP3s of the songs. I also used to host them on eWire to download, but they kinda got lost over the years.

I noticed that some people are still searching for them, so I decided to make the show available again. So if you dig on Jawbreaker, get the live MP3s here...

This site has some flatland photos from the Final Exam Jam (covered here on eWire), including a cool kickflip hitchhiker shot of Brian used for the title graphic.

Iraqi soccer players angered by Bush campaign ads (Sports Illustrated)

"Iraq as a team does not want Mr. Bush to use us for the presidential campaign," [Iraqi midfielder Salih] Sadir told SI.com through a translator, speaking calmly and directly. "He can find another way to advertise himself."

...[T]hey also find it offensive that Bush is using Iraq for his own gain when they do not support his administration's actions. "My problems are not with the American people," says Iraqi soccer coach Adnan Hamad. "They are with what America has done in Iraq: destroy everything. The American army has killed so many people in Iraq. What is freedom when I go to the [national] stadium and there are shootings on the road?"

For friends & family: a new video of Amelia is available.

I've been busy working on a bunch of websites over the past few weeks...

Photos
Now that the Photos section is database-driven, it's easier to update. Now perhaps I'll update it more than once a year (or less)...here's my first attempt at reviving it.

Barbara Peavey
An update to my mother-in-law's website -- her paintings are beautiful, so take a look (and sign up for the newsletter for future updates). Now that I've switched it to MySQL, it's easier to find which paintings are available for purchase. Also, I tried out Todd Dominey's Flash slideshow open-source code on the home page, which I think works nicely.

Hofmann Joinery
A more-than-minor update to my friend's custom furniture site, doing some IA reorganizing in addition to some "tricks" I've been wanting to try, like the Flash slideshow (again) and CSS single-image rollovers. Plus he added new pieces to the site -- he does amazing work, so do check it out.

iPod411
This site was actually created by a sort of accident. I was playing around with an RSS-to-HTML tool, and in a burst of inspiration and energy I ended up with an iPod/iTunes news site. Although it's actually been live for over a month and I still have to tweak some minor design issues with it, I'll mention it here anyway as a sort of "official unveiling."

Merlin's Lists of Five Things
...with lists such as Five things that are always funny.

At-Bat Songs: Name That Tune in MLB
ESPN has a dumb little article about that song that's played over the PA when a player comes to bat or pitch. Not included on the Red Sox page is Bill Mueller: When we're at the game and he comes to bat -- with the live version of Rush's "Tom Sawyer" filling Fenway -- Jill always shoots me a look. (Sort of a "See? You're not the only one who likes that crappy band...")

And from what I've heard at the games, I'd wager that Mark Bellhorn has the best taste of music on the team (though the only specific thing I can remember offhand is The Clash).

This post is only for the web geeks out there (all two of you)...

I've always wanted to move away from flat web sites to database-driven sites to make my life easier, but figured that was too hard to learn. Well, over the past two weeks I've learned MySQL and PHP -- obviously not an expert-level amount, but enough to have a database populate web pages. In that time I've jumped feet-first into it, and now the never-updated Photos section on this site is MySQL-powered. (Hopefully I'll actually update it soon...)

Plus, the New England Flatland rider bios are now powered by MySQL, and I've switched Barbara Peavey's site over to MySQL/PHP (though I haven't launched it yet). Just try and stop me now!

The Case Against George W. Bush by Ron Reagan (Esquire)

It's one thing to get trashed by Michael Moore. But when Nobel laureates, a vast majority of the scientific community, and a host of current and former diplomats, intelligence operatives, and military officials line up against you, it becomes increasingly difficult to characterize the opposition as fringe wackos. ...

Does anyone really favor an administration that so shamelessly lies? One that so tenaciously clings to secrecy, not to protect the American people, but to protect itself? ...

Bush, who has always managed to fail upwards in his various careers, has never had a job the way you have a job -- where not showing up one morning gets you fired, costing you your health benefits. He may find it difficult to relate personally to any of the nearly two million citizens who've lost their jobs under his administration, the first administration since Herbert Hoover's to post a net loss of jobs. Mr. Bush has never had to worry that he couldn't afford the best available health care for his children. For him, forty-three million people without health insurance may be no more than a politically inconvenient abstraction. When Mr. Bush talks about the economy, he is not talking about your economy. His economy is filled with pals called Kenny-boy who fly around in their own airplanes. In Bush's economy, his world, friends relocate offshore to avoid paying taxes. Taxes are for chumps like you. ...

Beyond issues of fiscal irresponsibility and ill-advised militarism, there is a question of trust. George W. Bush and his allies don't trust you and me. Why on earth, then, should we trust them?

I finally got around to adding some new photos of Amelia to her site. A couple were taken by Grandma on our trip to Nantucket, including the one above which looks like Amelia landed in one of her paintings...

Trading in red socks for pinstripes (Boston.com)

Apparently, a bunch of Weston, MA fourth graders have become turncoats:

[Nine-year-old] Mark and his classmates here are abandoning the Red Sox for the New York Yankees... "I think I just got on to this big Yankee chain, because all my school friends are Yankees fans," he said, backed by his friend, Andrew Bromfield, 9, also a Yankees fan. "I like how they always win and they have good players."

Mark's father, Steven Fishman, sounds resigned. "We may be stuck with a Yankees fan, possibly for life," he said.

Speaking as an ex-Yankees fan -- that's right, I liked the Yankees (the Sox were my second-favorite team) when I was 6-7 years old, when the '77 and '78 Yanks were winning it all -- it's just that kids like rooting for a winning team with big-name players. I think these kids will come around eventually, just like I did. So Mr. Fishman can relax, and they can call off the psychoanalysis...

"The Gentleman Heckler"
While on the subject of rooting for "your" team, I have to admit that I'm a little excited that loudmouth Robert Szasz ("The Gentleman Heckler") will be coming to Boston when the Devil Rays are in town. I just think this guy is hilarious how he relentlessly and consistently heckles a single player from the opposing team. (Plus I have to admire someone who can be a die-hard Rays fan...) I wonder how his heckling of Johnny Damon will play at Fenway?

I'm sad to see the Sox trade Nomar (and not just because I own a #5 jersey), but at the same time I think it's for the best he move on...and it seems fitting he ended up with the Cubs.

There's a good article on ESPN -- The (cow)bell tolls for Nomar -- about the trade, and it raises some interesting points that fans probably want to overlook. How did the Cubs end up with both Nomar and prize prospect Matt Murton?

Then again, maybe it does make sense ... it tells you two things.

1. Nomar didn't have as much trade value as we thought.
2. The Red Sox were more desperate to get rid of him than we thought.

Then throw in this one:

3. Not a single teammate stepped up to A) defend him, or B) bash the trade as he was headed out the door.