the burning house

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very interesting site. The Burning House lets you submit a photo of what you would take if your house was burning. We had a fire once and I had to leave scantly clad. What did I go back in for? Clothes? No. My laptop. Yes. I kept asking the firemen if I could go and get my wedding ring and they kept saying no. So if I had to do it again I would hope I was fully clothed and wearing my wedding ring. I would take my purse, hope my iPhone was in my pocket, grab my Canon G12 camera, my MacBookPro and my Air and that would probably be it for me.

This makes me seem very unsentimental but I guess I would want the things I'd need to get my life going again. I think I live in the here and now. Take a look at the site and see what other people would take. Better yet take a picture and send in what you would take. This website has given me a lot to think about.

 

dear photograph

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since it is still August Break I thought I share this charming photo site http://dearphotograph.com. And check out the YouTube video. http://youtu.be/IgiDtyEr6NQ Such a sweet idea.

I am delighted to report that I have made it thru the setting up and taking data off 3 laptops. This weekend we take my old laptop to the apple store where they will transfer John's data to that computer. Today I also attached my wireless keyboard and my magic trackpad using the Magic Wand. It is really a matching strip of metal that attaches one to the other. I also just opened the box on my intuos 4 wacom drawing tablet. More on that after I get that set up.

craftgawker.com

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Zillions of crafts, DIY projects, tutorials and interesting stuff. More than you can even look at. All at www.craftgawker.com. If you are crafty or want to be crafty this is the place for you. If you are bored you can just keep hitting the randomizer tab until you find something you want to do. You can even search by category. Fun.

pinterest

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Pinterest is an interesting new site. It is a virtual pinboard. It gives you a place to pin things you have found on the internet. You make categories or pinboards where you pin things. You can also follow other people's boards and repin cool things they have found. You need to request an invitation on their site to be allowed to start. Someone invited me to join but I heard there is a link to request an invitation.

These Doc Marten polka dot oxfords caught my eye. I pinned it on my Style pinboard. I can add a comment and the website so I can go back to it at a later date.

This is what my page looks like. It gives me a place to put examples of typography, graphics, home decorating, art related things.... Lots of people really go crazy and pin tons of stuff which is great. Those are interesting to look at. You can follow your friends or total strangers and see what they pin. I am trying to keep it simple because this could just become another big time suck for me. And I already spend more time at the computer than I want to. The way I will use it will be as another organization tool for all the visual info that is out there.

And of course there is also an app for Pinterest for the iPhone.

favicons...

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If you have a website (not a blog hosted by blogger or typepad etc.) you need a favicon. A favicon is that graphic that shows up in a browser address bar or in front of your bookmarks. It helps people visually identify your site. I mistakenly ended up with a green t-shirt as mine. I don't remember how I got it but I hated it.

I must add this is when I really hate it that software no longer comes packaged with a manual. I could have puzzled this out and changed this long before now. But my friend Laurie tipped me off to what a favicon was and how to make one. (Thanks Laurie!)

I made several graphics before I ended up with this one, whatever you use should be simple with a good contrast. No thin lines because you reduce it to 16 x 16 pixels which is tiny.

Once you have created your 16 x 16 pixel graphic save the file as a .png.

Before you can add the favicon to your website you need to convert it into a .ico format. To do this visit you will want to use the converter found at Faviconr.

Upload your .png file to faviconr.com

Faviconr will then convert your file into a .ico file. (you might have to hit Generate Favicon twice). Once your favicon is generated simply click Download Favicon. Remember where you saved it.

Once your .ico file is saved you need to upload it to your website. Make sure you put it in the root directory. This means if you visit http://www.yourwebsite.com/favicon.ico you will get your favicon.

Once you have your Favicon uploaded simply add this line of code within your tags.

<link rel=”shortcut icon” href=”/favicon.ico” type=”image/x-icon” />

If you are using Wordpress this tag will be found within your “header.php” file.

Add a Favicon to Thesis

favicon-thesis

If you are using Thesis Theme (see link on right) to mange your website the process of adding a favicon is even easier.

  1. Start by uploading your icon to your website “root.” Again, this means if you visit http://www.yourwebsite.com/favicon.ico you will get your favicon.
  2. Next login to Wordpress and visit your Thesis Options Panel and paste the code you see above into the “Header Scripts” box.
  3. Once you are done click the save button and visit your home page to see your new Favicon.

I am great at making graphics but awful at anything that has code in it but somehow I stumbled through this. That means you can too. I do use Thesis which I think made it easier.