The Force has a brief article and some snaps of some R2D2 mailboxes to celebrate the 30th anniversary of Star Wars. Checking the url on the sample mailboxes shows that the USPS has indeed registered the domain: uspsjedimaster.com. Check it out.

Tags: movies, cultural

Darel Rex Finley has written a nice tut on how to make the traditional Star Wars opening sequence. It is made even easier since there is a link to an app that does it all for you as part of the article. Does not have a lot to do with commercial development, but for fan stuff it is pretty cool.

Tags: movies, cultural, software

I just got an email from a friend with this link to a version of the Charlie Brown Christmas as performed by the cast of HBC TV's hit Scrubs. This is no simple reading of the script, but rather a re-interpretation by the cast. It is funny, a little blue, but mostly funny.If you are If you are a fan of the show, you are aren't you, you will love this version. With all due respects to Sparky.

Tags: tv, cultural, holiday, funny

Watching this cartoon as a kid, and countless times now that I am a father, I always wondered whatever happened to these puppets. A few years back I was at Kevin Smith's comic book shop in Red Bank, NJ and saw a couple of great books on the production of the cartoon, but it never really stated what happened to the puppets.

Well they were found last year. Well only a couple of puppets survived and they were in pretty bad shape. Here is a nice bit of info on their restoration and some nice pics.

Tags: tv, cultural, holiday, funny

As technology continues to march on, and information overloads us at all turns, I am reaching to the past. I am now awaiting delivery of a Graflex Crown Graphic camera…a camera made sometime in the '50s. It is a larger format, 4X5, camera that is capable of shooting medium format and Polaroid films as well.

I have never used a camera like this and am expecting a bit of a learning curve in order to get up to speed with this style of shooting. However, I am extremely excited to learn this manner of photography and incorporate it into my portfolio. I will recount issues here, as well as include shots in the plog. If you have any pointers, please feel free to pass them along to me.

Tags: photography, hardware, cultural

On Election Day, like every other day, there will be over 1 billion people around the world living on less than $1 a day.  But unlike every other day, your vote can set in motion something that will change that.  

1 billion people around the world do not have access to clean water. As a result every 15 seconds, a child dies from a disease associated with this lack of access to safe drinking water, inadequate sanitation and poor hygeine. What is your candidate prepared to do about this?

1 billion people are expected to die in this coming century from cigarettes. What is your candidate prepared to do about this?

1 billion people around the world are now considered overweight compared to the roughly 800 million who do not have enough to eat. Both extremes present problems for our country and our world. What is your candidate prepared to do about this?

1 billion people are purported to be online now, yet corporations want to control access to the internet. What is your candidate prepared to do about this?

1 billion people could be served by solar energy when today's generation reaches adulthood in 2020. What is your candidate prepared to do about this?

Your vote counts more than you think. Who you vote for will have an effect that reaches beyond our borders. Your vote lends your voice to the discussion to solve the problems of hunger, poverty, strife, war, AIDS...your vote is priceless.

Take your children to the poll with you to show them the importance of this civic responsibility we hold so dear.  Lead them today by your example for tomorrow they will lead us.

Tags: government, cultural, history

With the Halloween sugar buzz still resonating in my head, we begin the holiday season. Today we celebrate All Saints Day and march towards Thanksgiving. We will be inundated with countless lists of the best this or that gift for the holidays. I literally received a 3" stack of catalogues the other day and I can only expect it to get worse. Marketers trying to gain an edge over their competitors in a race to Q4 profits…ahhh that Christmas spirit just makes you all warm and snuggly doesn't it?

Tags: holiday, cultural

Happy Halloween! I remember watching the Charlie Brown Halloween special as a kid. It is a great holiday institution in our family and a wonderful memory of a simpler time.

These days my daughters trick-or-treat at a few friends houses and we have a special dinner together. There is not the care-free candy binge of my childhood due to the changing nature of the society we live in. But at least we still have It's the Great Pumpkin Charlie Brown!

Tags: holiday, tv, cultural

Been waiting 20 years since the last time they played this good. Although it has really nothing to do with design it is a good day to be a Mets fan. I have my tickets to Game 4 at Shea, if the series lasts that long. Go Mets!

Tags: sports, history, cultural

In conjunction with October being Breast Cancer Awareness Month, we will wear pink proudly on our site. The copy below is taken directly from Komen.org and promotes their new initiative in helping to find a cure for this disease.

Passionately Pink for the Cure™ is a new, year-round fundraising and education program kicking off October 1, 2006, in conjunction with National Breast Cancer Awareness Month. The program encourages companies, schools and organizations to take that promise, make it their own, and make a difference by supporting breast cancer research, education, screening and treatment.

Breast cancer touches millions of lives. It is expected that 211,200 women and 1,720 men in the U.S. will be diagnosed with breast cancer, and more than 41,000 people will die from breast cancer in 2006 alone. One by one, we can make a difference! Passionately Pink for the Cure™ is an easy, creative program we hope will have everyone seeing pink everywhere you look, every day in October, encouraging millions of people nationwide to get involved in the promise for the cure. We hope to raise $10 million through the Passionately Pink for the Cure™ program with your help.

Tags: cultural, history

"In this sad world of ours, sorrow comes to all; and, to the young, it comes with bitterest agony, because it takes them unawares."

President Abraham Lincoln
December 23, 1862 Letter to Fanny McCullough

Some of our fellow Americans who left us five years ago:

8:46 a.m. American Airlines Flight 11 crashes into the North tower of The World Trade Center.
9:02 a.m. United Airlines Flight 175 crashes in to the South tower of The World Trade Center.
9:43 a.m. American Airlines Flight 77 crashes into the Pentagon.
10:05 a.m. the South tower of The World Trade Center collapses.
10:10 a.m. United Airlines Flight 93 crashes in Somerset County, PA.
10:28 a.m. the North tower of the World Trade Center collapses.

(I have had requests for the original page that was posted on the anniversary and have made that available here)
Read More...

Tags: cultural, government, crisis

I have had Google Analytics running on this site for less than a week. It is interesting to take a look at the voluminous reports you can create as you analyze your site and the traffic it generates. In the week that I have had it running, I have come to discover more and more what a small planet we have and the need to communicate better through intelligent means like the web.

Just under half of the traffic to this site has been from non-English speaking countries; Japan, Slovakia, Italy, Germany, etc. As I write these opinions, insights, tutorials, they have seemed to make their way around the globe and back again. Read More...

Tags: software, web, cultural, insight

One of the greatest sporting events in the world starts in Germany today, The World Cup. The opening match is between Germany , the host country, and Costa Rico kicks off a month-long competition by the best 32 teams in the world. The first World Cup was held on July 18th, 1930 and quickly became a sporting and financial success that continues to this day. Most Americans cannot comprehend the fervor around this sporting event, but to compare it to our sensibilities it is the SuperBowl, World Series, NBA Championships, the Stanley Cup, Kentucky Derby and the Indy 500 all rolled into one package.

Our American team has played well and has the opportunity to do better than they have ever before. The Americans are in Group E, along with Italy, Ghana and the Czech Republic. We have a talented roster of great athletes but whatever the outcome, this will be a great series for any sports fan to watch. If you want to watch some great action plan on watching at least one game.

Tags: funny, sports, cultural

I admit it, I am addicted to the show. It has a great story that keeps me engaged; the only thing working against it is the frequency of repeats that ABC has been throwing into the mix. I remember when I was a kid, the new TV season would start and it would run its course, interrupted only by major sporting events and/or news events. Stations now feel they can string you along for with a new episode every few weeks, thereby increasing ad revenue and maintaining viewer-ship. I am not sure that is the way to tell a story, but at least ABC seems to have something smart going on…a viral campaign for the show. Read More...

Tags: viral, website, tv, cultural

This was one of the cooler sites I have found over the past year. It presents information in a very engaging manner. This is a great example of what Flash does well in the hands of a talented designer(s).

Tags: design, cultural

In an ever continuing struggle to maintain the freedoms we have here in the states, we must stand up for those who speak out. I am not partial to country music, but I defend the rights of those to speak their minds, especially artists in the pursuit of their vision. The Dixie Chicks have caught more than their fair share of flack and have spoken back with this album, Taking the Long Way (external link to the iTunes Music Store), which is a great album.

Rick Rubin produced this album and the women have written some tremendous music. I think that it leans more to the Rock Bluegrass genre than Country, but that is just my 2¢. Buy this album and support free speech.

Tags: government, review, music, cultural

It is nice when your team is doing well. Having been a lifelong fan, I have become used to the disappoint a season can bring. This year, however, they are playing very well and if they keep playing .500 ball odds are looking good for the fall.

Tags: sports, cultural