Quote: Creativity

Everyone is born creative; everyone is given a box of crayons in kindergarten. Then when you hit puberty they take the crayons away and replace them with books on algebra etc. Being suddenly hit years later with the creative bug is just a wee voice telling you, "I’d like my crayons back, please."

From tip 6 of How To Be Creative (PDF) by Hugh MacLeod.

Category: Quotes

Web: Firefox Browser

Let me be the latest to rave about the Firefox browser. I've been an Internet Explorer guy for years, but no more. Firefox really "empowers you to browse faster, more safely and more efficiently than with any other browser." It earned CNET's Editor's Choice designation and is just 4.7MB. Download extensions to add features:

• Bookmarks Synchronizer: Synchronize your bookmarks on multiple computers via FTP. This works great and is an essential extension for me. Activate automatic download on startup and upload on exit once you get both computers synched.
• BugMeNot: Bypass required free web registrations (used on some news websites) via BugMeNot.com.
  
• Mouse Gestures: I haven't installed this one yet but Eric tells me it is great.
  
• Right-click Enabler: Defeat most web sites' right-click prevention scripts (sometimes needed with the BugMeNot extension above).
  
• Sage: An RSS and Atom feed reader - loads linked titles in the Firefox sidebar.
  
• Many more are available.
  
• Here's the current list of Firefox extensions I use.
  

ActiveX and other common plugins come in handy. I also use the TinyURL Creator to convert long URLs into short ones more easily emailed.

Categories: Web, Firefox

Music: Jay-Z vs The Beatles

Download this Danger Mouse mashup (all 12 tracks) on Illegal Art:

DJ Danger Mouse remixed the vocals from Jay-Z's The Black Album and the Beatles' White Album and called his creation The Grey Album.

Check out illustrator Justin Hampton's great cover for the mix and read the review on Pitchfork Review.

Update: I was surprised to hear a track from this album on Sirius Satellite Radio.

Category: Music

Misc: Hack Yourself

From the Bloodletters self-improvement rant, Hack Yourself:

We're nothing but the stories we tell ourselves. We know in our hearts what kind of people we are, what we're capable of, because we've told ourselves what kind of people we are. You're a carefully-rehearsed list of weaknesses and strengths you've told yourself you have.

[via 43 Folders]

Web: Creating a Web Page with HTML

Jeffrey Zeldman strongly recommends the book Creating a Web Page with HTML: Visual QuickProject Guide for folks looking to build their first website:

With simple language and clear illustrations, Castro teaches budding web producers the basics of HTML and CSS in the context of a simple, hands-on project.

Find your copy on Amazon or Overstock for about 10 bucks.

Category: Web

Quote: Matrix Reloaded

Agent Thompson: You!
Agent Smith: Yes, me.
Agent Smith, turning Thompson
into another Smith: Me, me, me.
New Agent Smith Clone: Me too.

Category: Quotes

Design: Free Design Resources

• image*after: Raw photos and textures; free for personal or commercial use.
  
• DHD Multimedia Gallery: Images for free personal or commercial use.
  
• Texture Library
  
• 1001 Free Fonts
  
• Font Paradise

Category: Design

Design: The Man Behind the FedEx Logo

The FedEx logo is an amazingly simple and effective brand - a huge improvement over their old logo (pre-1994 pictured on the truck). TheSneeze.com interviewed the logo's creator, Mr. Lindon Leader.

Category: Design

Music: Modest Mouse, Grand National, Midlake

• I've discovered Modest Mouse's first two albums just a few years later. They're often compared to the Pixies.
  
• The debut Grand National album has an 80s retro rock sound. The harmonies and Reggae riffs on many tracks are reminiscent of early Police. Some of the guitar and bass riffs remind me of an old new wave favorite of mine, New Order.
  
• It is always fun to hear bands from Denton, Texas make some noise. Midlake's debut is tough to describe - you'll just have to check out the audio samples. Maybe they're a more subdued version of The Polyphonic Spree - another North Texas band.

Category: Music

Music - NBA Tells Player to Stop Listening to iPod

The NBA told Vince Carter to stop listening to his iPod:

The Toronto Raptors star was informed by the NBA that he no longer can listen to music on his iPod during the 20-minute warmup period before each game. Carter recently started listening to the music on his headphones, a violation of the league's rules on proper attire.

Category: Music

Design: 100% Handmade Friends

Order your 100% Handmade Friends, some cool Kubrick figures or a few pieces of Urban Vinyl.

Web: CSS Resources

• 456 Berea Street: Articles and demonstrations of CSS, web standards, accessibility, usability, etc.
  
• CSS Zen Garden: A wide variety of submitted stylesheets used with the same content, demonstrating the power of CSS. Select a design from their right column.
  
• Holy CSS Zeldman!: A ton of CSS, accessibility, and color links.
  
• HTML Utopia: Designing Without Tables Using CSS: The first 4 chapters of Dan Shafer's CSS book on Sitepoint.
  
• Style Gala: A CSS and web standards resource.

Categories: Web, CSS

Web: Usability Resources

• ChickenSkinners.com
  
• Digital Web Magazine
  
• Human Factors (training I attended)
  
• LucDesk Blog
  
• Sitepoint
  
• useit.com
  
• UIE.com
  
• UIE Roadshow

Category: Web

Web: HTML Email Newsletters

I haven't found much good information about coding HTML email newsletters - learning has been mostly through trial and error. Testing can be a pain for Hotmail, Yahoo! mail, and now Gmail. This looks like an interesting Sitepoint article on How To Code HTML Email Newsletters and I need to check out EmailUniverse too.

Category: Web

Web: Using Patterns in Web Design

I enjoyed 37signals' An Introduction to Using Patterns in Web Design and will follow it by digging into a ton of related resources on IAwiki.

We have to break our design problems up into small independent chunks based on the real issues within our requirements. Christopher Alexander, who came up with this stuff, calls these chunks patterns.

Category: Web