Images Become Patterns

I came across this new tool called repper tonight. You basically upload a photo that you have, choose a section of that photo, and the app turns it into a eye-catching and unique design by repeating the image. The images make great backgrounds for desktops or websites. Plus, its free to use and the designs are created with Creative Commons license for non-commercial use!



Visit the site and try your hand at creating a design!

States

Luke Mundy hasn't shared in a while which states have (or haven't) been visiting his blog. I finally took a look at my full statistics on Google Analytics from when I first started my blog, and here are the states that have visited my blog. (Most visits at the top)

1. California
2. Virginia
3. Washington
4. New York
5. District of Columbia
6. Illinois
7. Massachusetts
8. Ohio
9. Minnesota
10. North Carolina
11. North Carolina
12. New Jersey
13. Texas
14. Michigan
15. Oregon
16. (Unknown)
17. Georgia
18. Pennsylvania
19. Rhode Island
20. Tennessee
21. Florida
22. Kentucky
23. Arizona
24. Kansas
25. Colorado
26. Missouri
27. Mississippi
28. North Dakota
29. Indiana
30. Oklahoma
31. Maine
32. Wisconsin
33. Connecticut
34. Nebraska
35. Hawaii
36. Louisiana
37. Delaware

With 36 states represented (and a few people from (unknown)) I am only missing 14 states. Not too bad considering I've only been posting for about 7 months.

Downtown Association of Fresno

The Downtown Association of Fresno has their new website up and running.

Check it out at http://www.downtownfresno.org/



It appears to be running a little slowly, and some of the links have been timing out on me, but I do like the look of it.

I guess only time will tell how useful this site will be, and how much people can and will utilize it. The first thing I looked for was an RSS feed, but alas I couldn't find one. I'll keep checking.

Via Fresno Famous

Everything Simpsons

If you are a fan of the TV show The Simpsons I would like to share with you a website that will have you more excited than a kid in a candy shop.



The Simpsons Archive is

The Simpsons Archive is the Internet's clearinghouse of Simpsons guides, news, and information, voluntarily maintained by members of alt.tv.simpsons and other fans around the world.

The website address (http://snpp.com/) in itself is interesting (Springfield Nuclear Power Plant). Anything you ever wanted to know about any Simpsons episode, or really anything pertaining to The Simpsons can be found here.

Check it out, but be careful because you might spend too much time browsing.

PG&E

I have an issue with PG&E's website.

When I go to their website they ask me if I am there because of a Personal or Business Account, and whether or not I want them to remember my choice. The screen looks like this:

I think it's fantastic they ask me if I want them to remember why I am going there. The biggest problem is that every time I go there they have forgotten. I don't delete my cookies or anything, but I do only go about once a month to pay my electricity/gas bill.

It would be really nice that when they solicit a question such as this that they would actually follow through.

Hulu

I've mentioned before the online service of Hulu.com where you can watch a number of shows for free, all at one website.

I found today that they have all 4 seasons of Doogie Howser M.D. Now there is a trip down memory lane.

Website Recommendation - TreeHugger

It's time again for my website recommendation. Today I'd like to point you to TreeHugger.com.

I've linked to TreeHugger a number of times in past posts regarding the environment etc. I realized while reading through their RSS feed today that it is one of the most positive blogs that I read. I honestly get really excited and greatly look forward to the future just because there are so many exciting things happening in the "save the environment" section of industry and government. A lot of times, especially with the environment and climate change, we hear about how our world is dying and we are all screwed. TreeHugger has me less worried about the future of the environment and leaves me wanting to be proactive about the environment in everyday decisions.

I decided that I shouldn't keep this blog to myself, and that we can all benefit if we read this blog.

Website Recommendation - Hulu

If you are tired of the TV networks deciding when and where you watch their shows, here is a website for you.



Hulu is a site created by NBC Universal and News Corp that brings together streaming television video from all over the web. This includes shows from all the major networks as well as smaller cable networks, sporting events (like hockey!) and even full length movies.

No longer do you have to try to figure out which networks stream which shows, and where to find them on the websites. Hulu brings all of them together in one place. This website is the reason why I want a computer with Internet access dedicated for my living room TV.

For your viewing pleasure, here is one of the videos available on Hulu. Along with full episodes often times they will even have extras normally only found on the DVD. Here is "Let's Go To The Mall" by Robin Sparkles from one of my favorite TV shows How I Met Your Mother. If you don't watch this show here is a little background on this video. One of the main characters, Robin, is originally from Canada and had been very secretive about her past, until one episode where this video comes out and everyone finds out she was a pop star in Canada. There are a bunch of Canadianisms both in speech and reference in this video. See if you can find them all.

Website Recommendation - Chromasia

I love taking pictures, as I've mentioned before. I also really enjoy looking at pictures, as I think this can give a person many good ideas for their own photography, in a kind of inspiring way.

One of my favorite photography blogs is Chromasia, which is a photo blog created by David Nightingale from Blackpool, England.

Not only are the pictures amazing, but if you subscribe to the feed for his picture blog, he adds a lot of great commentary on photography, photo manipulation, photography ethics, and many other interesting subjects.

Blackpool is on the coast in England, and as such many of his photographs are of the beach, pier and other coastal subjects, but he also takes a lot of photos of his adorable children, buildings, and interesting people of his city. Recently he has been posting a lot of HDR images, which give his photos even more of a dream like quality to them.

Website Recommendation - Perry Bible Fellowship

While the title of this site might be a little misleading, Perry Bible Fellowship is another online comic strip. These comics, unlike Spamusement are fairly well drawn and are usually multi-pane.

What is so special about these comics is the "punchlines," which are some of the most random you will come across. As well, for some the humor is hidden deep within and it takes a read or two before you fully understand the comic. (Or maybe it just does for me). These comics aren't for everybody and a few have themes inappropriate for children.

Often times you will think the comic is going somewhere entirely different and then it will just smack you in the face with funny. They even have a book on amazon for sale with comics from the website and original ones.

Here are a couple of classics.

Todays My Birthday

Magic Eyes

Website Recommendation - Spamusement

One of my favorite web comics is Spamusement, which is self-described as "Poorly-drawn cartoons inspired by actual spam subject lines!"

The best part about these comics is how random and off the wall the interpretations of the spam subject lines are. Of course, there are many vulgar spam subjects but most of the actual cartoons are fairly PG rated (because of the interpretation)

One of my favorites is titled "today is the best day"



The author of these cartoons, Steven Frank, has not made any new additions in almost a year, but there are guest submissions in the forum, which have been inspired by this concept.

Website Recommendation - Etsy

In my continuing series of website recommendations I thought Etsy.com would be a good choice, especially since Mothers Day is coming up (Sunday May, 11th for those of you who probably forgot)



Etsy is a place where people can sell all sorts of handmade items. It's a community of buyers and sellers who have a love for handmade items in common. Here is their own description of their community.

"Etsy is an online marketplace for buying & selling all things handmade.

Our mission is to enable people to make a living making things, and to reconnect makers with buyers.

Our vision is to build a new economy and present a better choice:

Buy, Sell, and Live Handmade."

Most of what they have falls under the accessories, decor, clothing, and jewelery categories, but there is a lot of stuff to buy here. Whether for decorating your house or finding that perfect Mothers Day present, this can be a great resource for finding what you are looking for.

Website Recommendation - Kayak

There are many gems that can be found on the Internet, but part of the problem is the sheer size and magnitude of the web. As this blog progresses I will share with you websites that I use/enjoy/find interesting so you too can share in the joy I experience. I am not sponsored by any of these websites or companies and will always disclose any such conflicts of interest. (Of course, this may not include any Google Ads that appear on my page)

Today's website recommendation is Kayak the travel search website.

I use this website almost exclusively for travel search on the Internet. It uses a very simple interface and searches a large number of travel retailers on the Internet. My two favorite things about this site is its comprehensive list of flights and prices and the search result filtering.

Kayak.com searches both the websites of airlines and travel booking companies such as Orbitz.com and Expedia.com. As Kayak.com is not a place for purchasing travel but merely a search site, it gives you results from all these websites and gives you the prices of your travel request from these websites. So whether you want to book your flight from the airline itself to earn extra frequent flyer miles or maybe you want to use Orbitz.com because of the OrbitzTLC you can find out the price of each.

With all the search results the filtering functions in Kayak are very useful. Sliders, checkboxes, and tabs allow filtering for almost every aspect of the trip. This makes finding that perfect flight much easier.

Try it next time you're booking flights or a vacation.