I needed some social media icons for a website I was working on the other day. These were too large but I liked the look of them: clean but also with the full name of the service in the icon. And you can't beat free...

Amplify’d from webtoolkit4.me

Polaroid icon set

Here’s another free icon set for you. 16 PNG icons on some of the most popular web services. YouTube, delicious, RSS, Twitter, Facebook, Flickr, Digg, stumpleupon, mySpace, Feedburner, Skype, Yahoo, Last.fm, Linkin, Reddit and Gmail. As always, these icons are free to use on any kind of project both personal or commercial. The only thing that you cannot do is sell them. Here it is. The Polaroid Icon set. Hope you like them. Read more at webtoolkit4.me

Starting to grok Amplify... The bookmark let is cool and I can use it with my iPad. But it is not posting constantly to FriendFeed and when it does none of the content is shared there. If that were working I think Amplify could be my new launch point for online sharing and even blogging. Right Now though my life/community is on FF so not being able to have things import there properly is a real barrier to entry for me. Wonder if the debs here can be convinced to fix that... http://amplify.com/u/72ot

As much as I am embarrassed to admit it, I have been sucked into the attention black hole that is FarmVille.  I blame Tad.  He drug me kicking and screaming in and now I can no longer escape it's pull.

So having surrendered to it, the tiny bit of geek cred left to me wanted to redeem itself.  I realized that the information on the crops was not really formatted in a way to help me make a good decisions about which ones to plant to gain the most coins and most XP efficiently to facilitate leveling up and buying more enhancements quickly.

Therefore, I put all the available info I have at my current level (14) into a number crunching Google Docs spreadsheet to produce these lovely informative graphs.  I figure a bunch of you other addicts out there might appreciate them as well.

You can find the live graphs here.  I will add to them as I level up and have access to more crops.  Below are captures of the graphs at post time:

Some interesting conclusions:

Raspberries are great if you want quick cash (and will be there every 2 hours to harvest), but won't help you level at all.

Aloe Vera is a good all around choice being a decent rate for both Profit and XP per hour.  And it only takes 6 hours to grow so relatively quick turnaround.

At time of post, White Grapes (a limited availability item) are a good second to Aloe Vera for all around leveling.  When they're no longer available Morning Glory will be the runner up.

And my tips to Andrew if you want to try your own:

• 
  Lindsay Donaghe

  Andrew, I saw part of the response to your photo retouch question last night and then rejaw crapped out... If you want to do nip and tuck kind of stuff use Filter->Liquify. If you want do do something more macro to, say, correct a fisheye lens type exaggeration, use the Barrel Distortion property on Filter->Distort->Lens Correction.

• 
  Andrew Trinh

  Oh thanks Lindsay, I'll have a go at it now.

• 
  Lindsay Donaghe

  The Liquify filter is fun to make anime-like distortions of people. :)

• 

  I'm not so good at this nip/tuck business. The skin textures are starting to distort. :P

• 
  Lindsay Donaghe

  The trick is to use the bloat and pucker tools and just click here and there... don't hold down the mouse for more than a click or it will go wonky.

• 
  Lindsay Donaghe

  oh, and it's also a good idea to make some adjustments and then exit the filter and duplicate your layer before you make some more... you can't undo more than once in the filter so if you get to something you like then best to "save" it at that point by duplicating the layer and then making more changes.

• 
  Andrew Trinh

  Thanks for the pointers, I'll have to give it some more practice later. It's a bit too early to right now (2:37 AM). ;) I'm off!

Here's the original:

Yuvi posted some pics on FriendFeed that his frind Sudar took of him and asked for some opinions on the post processing.  I made some suggestions but then decided to have a go at it myself.

Here are the results of my fidgeting:

The original, with some color adjustments, cleaning up the background and toning down the highlights on Yuvi's face:

The adjusted image with some gradient shading (he seemed to be going for a moody look):

And another with a sepia tone and some contrast adjustments to finish out the moody look:

What do you think?

Update - Akiva suggested that we superimpose Yuvi in some unlikely scenarios.  Here's one he suggested:

 

Tad posted our picture on FriendFeed and Cyndy said she wanted my hair.  Well, my friend, if you knew it like I do, you probably wouldn't want it after all.  I spend way too much time and effort on it every day just to tame it into an "acceptable state" for me to leave the house in.  It takes a good portion of my morning.

I wish I had nice, thick, straight hair that I could just wake up and brush through and go.  But alas, such is the stuff of dreams.  Without any products, it's very fine, limp and has the frustrating quality of being too naturally curly to be straight and too naturally straight to be curly.  So, if you want my hair, here's what you'll have to do to get it:

1. Wash first with Pantene Ice. Rinse. Repeat.
2. If your hair is feeling a bit dry (usually once every two weeks) then replace the second wash with KMS Moist Repair.
3. Condition with Joico K-Pak Deep-penetrating Reconstructor. Rinse.
4. Every few weeks, (usually when you switch to the KMS shampoo) use Bain de Terre Primrose Intense Reconstructor instead of the Joico conditioner.
5. Towel dry, comb and distribute two-squirts-worth of Kenra Creme Paste evenly through your hair with your fingers.
6. Put a decent amount of Kenra Root Serum on your fingers and rub it into the hair at the crown of your head and, wherever else you need some volume.
7. Dry your hair 90% completely with your head turned over and running your fingers through to separate. Helps to have an ionic hairdryer like my Conair Pro.
8. Flip your hair over and lift up the hair at the top of your head in sections, blasting each with a second or two spray of Kenra Volume Spray 25. Hold all the hairspray dampened hair in one hand and dry the roots with the other. At this point you look a little like the Bride of Frankenstein.
9. Pull most of your hair up except for a fringe around your neck. Twist and secure the rest at the top with pelican clips.
10. Smooth the hair in sections with your hairdryer and a brush like mine (this is my all-time favorite brush, by the way!), turning the hair under as you cook it with the dryer. Unclip and reclip hair on top to pull out more sections to smooth until you've done the rest of your head.
11. Use the brush to turn the hair next to your face underneath, letting it stay on the brush rolled next to your head until it's cooled a bit.  Brush it out until it looks ok and then spray at the temples to hold in place.
12. Put a nice coat of spray all over your head (maybe two if it's humid out!) and smooth down the fly-aways at the part.
13. Congratulations! You now have a nice brown football helmet bob just like me! Enjoy it until you go outside on a rainy day and it starts frizzing out and curling up on one side and not the other, or gets destroyed by a single puff of wind. Remember to carry a travel Kenra 25 spray and a pocket brush/mirror in your purse to repair the damage when you get back inside!

I wouldn't wish my routine on anyone else.  I often get chastized for the hour and a half I "waste" on it every couple of days.  But maybe it's because my hair was always one part of my appearance I feel I have control over that I am compelled to perform this ritual when necessary.  At least now you know, and knowing, (as they say) is half the battle.

I like the idea of posting via email.  Makes it easier to do from places I can't access WordPress.  Now let's see if I'll have anything interesting to say.

I suppose the first thing should be the obligatory "Hello World!".