Every year my twin brother and I have a fantasy baseball league with just the two of us. It's really weird, every year we alternate who wins.
1992 erik
1993 matt
2000 erik
2001 matt (thank you barry bonds)
2002 erik
2003 matt (erik gets distracted and married)
2004 erik
2005 matt (helton tanks)
Who's gonna win in 2006? matt.

This is the place where we will have our talk about the league. Feel free to listen in, or maybe even drop a comment.

The Chicago Cubs are allowing fans to buy a brick at Wrigley Field with any message on it. We are currently taking donations to buy a brick that says:

RUB THIS BRICK
AND THE CUBS
WILL WIN TODAY

You can donate any amount to the Donate to the Lucky Cubs Brick Fund.

The total cost is $160 to get a brick at Wrigley Field. What are the costs of other brick paver programs?

CURRENT PROGRAMS:

Chicago Cubs: Wrigley Field (Order Form)
$160.00 each: 4" x 8" Paver brick with up to a 3-line message
up to 15 characters per line

St. Louis Cardinals: Busch Stadium (Order Form)
$155.00 each: 4" x 8" Paver brick with up to a 3-line message
$305.00 each: 8" x 8" Paver brick with up to a 6-line message
$360.00 each: 8" x 8" STL logo Paver brick with up to a 4-line message

Houston Astros: Minute Maid Park (Order Form)
$100.00 each: 6" x 12" concrete paver with up to a 3-line message
up to 18 characters per line

Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim: Angel Stadium (Order Form)
$75.00 each: 4" x 8" Paver brick with up to a 2-line message
up to 14 characters per line.

FINISHED PROGRAMS:

Cincinnati Reds: Great American Ball Park (Brief Info)
7,000+ personalized pavers

San Diego Padres: Petco Park (Brick Locator)
10,000+ personalized bricks

Seattle Mariners: Safeco Field
12,500 personalized brick pavers

I found these pages by doing a google search for: brick site:mlb.com. I tried the same technique for the nfl, nba, nhl; but only came up with one program:

Indiana Pacers
$500 each: 7.5" x 2.25" brick with just one name

If you know of any other custom brick programs, please leave any info you find in the comments below. Thank you.

Here's some clips from the LEGO PressRoom, "LEGO Group on the Right Track."

The strategy is a continuation of the Action Plan implemented by the Group in 2004 05 to overcome its financial crisis.

The company will, therefore, continue to build on the LEGO brick, the building system, the LEGO brand and its substantial fan base. New products will be developed on the basis of the traditional core concepts – i.e. the brick and the building system.

So this sounds good, right? LEGO to focus on the simple building blocks.

But then they go pie in the sky with this:

the introduction of an online building universe where LEGO models can be built virtually, and the necessary bricks subsequently be ordered making it possible to also build the exact same LEGO model in the physical world

Uh, sounds kinda cool. But just give us a nice affordable BIG bucket of SIMPLE LEGO bricks. We don't need any fancy pancy parts. Just simple blocks, you blockhead.

There's a post on craigslist from an Art Institute Student:

fifteen minutes of (nominal) fame

march 31, april 1st

chicago student at art institute looking to rent (not necessarily a monetary exchange) out 8' by 8' floor space of a widely attended (collectors only night) opening reception of BFA show in fifteen minute intervals. what would you do with the audience?

So what would you do? I'd stand and hand out gummi bears.

This is the view from underneath planet Jupiter. It's kinda neat to see Jupiter from another angle. Note the famous Great Red Spot in the upper left.

It's like seeing the underside of earth.

Pantone, Inc., the global authority on color and provider of professional color standards for the design industries, unveiled PANTONEView Home 2007, the eight most directional color palettes for the home furnishings market for 2007. Here's one of the eight palettes:

2007 Pantone Home 1: Simply Elegant The first palette, Simply Elegant, is a prime example of the marriage of tradition and modern day, the continuing eclectic approach where new technologies, especially in fabrication, finishes and styling, adeptly enable (and encourage) the use of unexpected mixes and textures. Color treatments are equally unique in beautiful blends of mahogany silvered mink, silvery blues, elegant purples and deep bronzed tones set off by the glint of pale gold, frosty almond and copper. Download this set as Illustrator Swatches.
	Copper	#AD6C50	rgb(173, 108, 80)	PANTONE 16-1325
	Frosted Almond	#CCB89F	rgb(204, 184, 159)	PANTONE 13-1012
	Pale Gold	#B78C5F	rgb(183, 140, 95)	PANTONE 15-0927
	Antelope	#AC915C	rgb(172, 145, 92)	PANTONE 16-1126
	Purple Passion	#6D4568	rgb(109, 69, 104)	PANTONE 19-3223
	Silver Blue	#86989A	rgb(134, 152, 154)	PANTONE 16-4706
	Silver Mink	#998A77	rgb(153, 138, 119)	PANTONE 17-1312
	Mahogany	#543C3A	rgb(84, 60, 58)	PANTONE 19-1420

To view all eight palettes, click on the comments below:

A couple days ago I added 16 missing design and illustration items to spudart.org:

One of the reasons for low-voter turnout is that people just don't know. You often hear "I don't know who to vote for, because I don't really know anything about them." The Chicago Tribune does have some nice articles about the candidates, but for the general public, they want something simple and easy. It would be great to have a site that where you punch in your address and not only does it tell you where to vote, but it also gives you a list of your ballot, and it tells you a quick summary what their stances are and who endorses them. Ok, maybe that might be two pages. But we live in the age of not only technology, but great design. So surely we can make a very handy guide.

But in the meantime, here's some helpful links to assist you with your voting:

Chicago Sun-Times endorsements
very nice simple list
http://www.suntimes.com/output/endorse/cst-edt-edits21.html

Chicago Sun-Times judge endorsements
http://www.suntimes.com/output/endorse/cst-edt-edits16.html

Chicago Bar Association judicial evaluations
http://www.chicagobar.org/march2006judicialeval/findings/

Chicago Tribune endorsements
It sucks how they spread it out over 12 pages. click. click. click.
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/opinion/chi-
0603210003mar21,0,7289201.story?coll=chi-newsopinion-hed

Chicago Tribune's guide
Lots of info and articles. Too many for me.
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/elections/

Chicago's supposed site to tell us where to vote
It's barely loading today.
http://www.chicagoelections.com/

Suburbs voter info sites
Illinois
Suburban Cook County
DuPage County
Kane County
Lake County
McHenry County
Will County

Where to search for your elected officials
This gives you your CURRENT officials, not the ones on the ballot.
But it does give you what district you are in for your US Representative, State Disctrict, State Representative.
http://www.elections.state.il.us/DistrictLocator/SelectSearchType.aspx?NavLink=1

If you have any other helpful links, please add them to the comments below. Thank you.

The list of 47 is rather long, so here's my favorite eight.

• A state law in Illinois mandates that all bachelors should be called master, not mister, when addressed by their female counterparts.


• According to state law, it is illegal to speak English. The officially recognized language is "American".


• Des Plaines: Wheelbarrows with For-Sale signs may not be chained to trees.


• Eureka: A man with a moustache may not kiss a woman.


• Homer: It is against the law to use a slingshot unless your are a law enforcement officer.


• In Illinois it is illegal for barbers to use their fingers to apply shaving cream to a customer's face.


• In Illinois, it is illegal for anyone to give lighted cigars to dogs, cats, and other domesticated animal kept as pets.


• Joliet: Town fathers, reflecting the pet peeve of hearing their town's name mispronounced 'Jolly-ETTE' when all local folk know it's pronounced 'Joe-lee-ETTE', made pronouncing it Jolly-ette a misdemeanor, punishable by a $5 fine.

For the other 39 crazy Illinois laws, click on the comments.

I took all the letters from A through Z and piled them on top of each other with a little transparency so you can see through them. The beauty of the font comes out as the structure and repeated forms becomes apparent.

Which is your style?

The clean. The no-nonsense. The efficient. Helvetica. It is the quintessential sans serif font, timeless and neutral, and can be used for all types of communication--include tshirts and mugs. Bring the beauty of helvetica home onto a tshirt.
Helvetica A-Z Upper Case View large image Buy shirts/mugs	Helvetica A-Z Lower Case View large image Buy shirts/mugs	Helvetica 0-9 Numbers View large image Buy shirts/mugs
Take the classic helvetica and put it on diet and you got Helvetica Thin. The super cool light font. So light and airy, the delicate structures become even more apparent when every letter is stacked on top of each other.
Helvetica Thin A-Z Upper Case View large image Buy shirts/mugs	Helvetica Thin A-Z Lower Case View large image Buy shirts/mugs	Helvetica Thin 0-9 Numbers View large image Buy shirts/mugs
Know a geek? Maybe you are a geek. Courier is the font for you. It oozes in monospaced letterform geekiness. This font was designed so that every letter is the same width and that becomes even more apparent when all the letters are stacked on top of each other.
Courier A-Z Upper Case View large image Buy shirts/mugs	Courier A-Z Lower Case View large image Buy shirts/mugs	Courier 0-9 Numbers View large image Buy shirts/mugs
The classic. The ubiquitous. Times. The standard in newspapers worldwide. An office workhorse.
Times A-Z Upper Case View large image Buy shirts/mugs	Times A-Z Lower Case View large image Buy shirts/mugs	Times 0-9 Numbers View large image Buy shirts/mugs

If you buy a mug with one of these designs, why not get all three in one font series--upper case letters, lower case letters, and numbers. It would make such a handsome set.

WTTW Chicago has taken down the Wild Chicago Archives from their site. I have an archive of them, so I will post them here. Click on "comments" to read the entire list.
-----------------------------
ADVENTURES | ANIMALS | ARTISTS | EATS | EVENTS | GROUPS | MUSEUMS | MUSIC AND ENTERTAINMENT | PRODUCTS AND SERVICES | SHOPPING | SPORTS | WEIRDNESS AND MISCELLANEA
-----------------------------

Based on the video at dannychoo.com.

1) It would be fun to walk around in a Star Wars Storm Trooper suit and see people's reactions.

2) It would be interesting to surf the web to see how many photos of you were taken. Every time you walk around in the Storm Trooper suit, you'd have an archive of all the places you've been.

3) It's also funny that nobody tries to talk to him in the video.

4) It's funny when people see him and just ignore him, "oh it's just a Storm Trooper."

5) It makes sense that people don't talk to him, cuz people know that Storm Troopers don't really hang out and talk.

6) It would be sweet to see like ten of them walking in unison. Would it be more intimidating or cool?

7) But then, what would happen if he was real? Like the Empire took us over and he was a REAL trooper?

8) Or what would happen if a country to tried to take over Japan? They would just have to dress their soldiers in Storm Trooper suits and it would be a piece of cake.

9) George Lucas was brilliant, because the Storm Trooper looks cool in any scenery with that all white armor.

Buy a stockpile of tin foil and start making beanies for your neighbors cuz we are gonna be under major attack by solar flares in 2012.

Space scientists announced that they expect the next cycle of sunspots and associated solar activity to be as much as 50 percent stronger than the most recent one. Researchers used a model of solar activity that predicted the previous eight 11-year cycles with 98% accuracy to conclude that the upcoming cycle, which will peak in 2012, will start as much as a year late and be 30-50% stronger than the previous cycle. Periods of high sunspot counts are associated with strong solar activity, including storms that can disrupt power and communications systems on Earth and create brilliant auroral displays.

source: spacetoday.net

There's always been the problem of how to make a wire croquet wicket to stand up on the floor indoors. The bright folks at Everett, Washington have developed the technology the beer bottle stabilizer to hold the wicket upright. BRILLLIANT!

Glidden says there's a new trendy color to follow. Golden Kiwi. As one of the color experts says, it's a "sophisticated gold with a teeny bit of green in it."

And there's controversy over this color. Veteran color forecaster at Pantone, Leatrice Eiseman, says Glidden's marketing team may be overhyping golden kiwi. "To call it 'the color of the year' is really pushing it," says Eiseman, who patrols the fashion runways for the latest color inspirations of designers. "We've already done the yellow-greens."


Now you can buy a tshirt or mug that features the color of the year. There's over 25 different tshirt types such as ringer, fitted, baby, sweatshirt, and long-sleeve to choose from. Be the coolest kid on your block today!

A special power socket called Power Point that tells you how much power is being consumed by that socket. It will show you how much power individual appliances draws, so you you can re-evaluate how to consume power. Not yet released.

How much electricity do you use? And what type of place do you live in? I currently use an average of 6.5 kWh daily and I live in a 750sq ft one-bedroom apartment. I was shocked when looked at my electricity bills from the days when I lived in a 375 sq ft studio. Back then i used about 10.5 kWh daily. Ouch. I'm probably less now, because I now use fluorescent bulbs everywhere.

ComEd users, you can find your daily kWh average on your bill at the bottom right hand side:

So how much electricity do you use? I'm quite curious.

You can subscribe to spudart.org in many new ways now:

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When you go in sequence of the alphabet from A to Z, and look at where the keys are on a standard QWERTY keyboard, there is a very definite pattern. The first seven letters start on the left. Then the next nine letters are on the right. Then the rest of the 10 letters are on the left, except for just two right hand side interruptions.

A left
B left
C left
D left
E left
F left
G left
H right
I right
J right
K right
L right
M right
N right
O right
P right
Q left
R left
S left
T left
U right
V left
W left
X left
Y right
Z left

Maybe someone has realized this before, but it's kinda amazing.

Try searching your first name on google and see what is the number one result. Here's some fun ones:
#1 google result for matt is: Photo Matt, the founding developer of WordPress.
#1 google result for chris is: Chris Pirillo, "The life and times of the world's geekiest geek"
#1 google result for lisa is: The Localization Industry Standards Association, not even a person!

WHENYOUEMAILORINSTANTMESSAGESOMEONEMAKESUREYOUDONTUSEANYSPACES
ORPUNCTUATIONITSSOMUCHFUNYOUSHOULDTRYITINTHECOMMENTSBELOW

This is a post to test the comments. Thank you

Lego is going to be revamping their Mindstorms line--the robotic line of Lego. 9,600 people worldwide applied for Lego's Mindstorms call for great developers. Lego selected 100 people to work on the product line.

In Lego's image library for the Mindstorms is the super cool robot pictured above. However, doesn't he strike a striking similiarity to Johnny Five of "Short Circuit" fame?


While doing a search for Johnny Five, there are some other interesting notes. A couple years ago the creator of Johnny Five was considering releasing the blueprints to this adored robot, so people can build their own. Toy RC Johnny/Blueprints May Be Coming.

And the creator is even more recently interested in licensing Johnny Five.

And on a total side note, Daniele Benedettelli who made a real live working replica of Johnny Five in lego. It's not a kit, this is totally custom made. It's quite an incredible and beautiful work. You simply must check out Daniele's website to see the wonderful detail. Please remember, this is completely custom, and not a kit. Please do not ask Daniele about purchasing a kit, because it is not a kit.

Dinosaur History Rewritten with the Spinosaurus now the biggest carnivor dinosaur ever!

Tyrannosaurus rex
Length: 40-50 feet
Weight: 6 tons
Fear factor: teeth up to 13 inches long
Lived: 65 million years ago Where: North America

Giganotosaurus
Length: 47 feet
Weight: 8 tons
Fear factor: 8-inch-long serrated teeth
Lived: 95 million years ago
Where: Argentina

Spinosaurus
Length: 55 feet
Weight: 8 tons
Fear factor: long, crocodile-like jaws
Lived: 100 million years ago Where: Argentina, Morocco, Tunisia, Algeria scale)

Size comparisons like this Brachiosaurus Dinosaur Heart is just so neat. (I believe this is at the
Dinomation Dinosaur Discovery Museum in Fruita, Colorado)

That dinosaur needed a heart so big to pump blood through a 30 foot neck to its head. Biggest heart ever!

First off, what do you call that branch thing that the grape is attached to? Is is the grape branch or does it have a different term? Billy O'Keefe told me it's a grape antler, but there NO google hits for: "google antlers."

So whatever it's called, do people anywhere in the world eat the grape branches? I ate some a few days ago, and it wasn't TOO bad. It was very very sour. But oh so handy, I chased the flavor away with some sweet grapes. It's like the grapes stole all the sweet flavor away from the branches leaving them all sour.

If you ever decide to eat the branch, just make sure you are near a washroom about one hour and fifteen minutes later. You will surely need it!

Many people post funny instant message conversations online, but it can get quite difficult to follow the conversation when it's just all the same weight text. I made a little form that will put one of the usernames into bold and the other into italics:

Transform this:	Into this:
Bob: Hi there Mary: Hello Bob: How are you? Mary: Good. Thank you.	Bob: Hi there Mary: Hello Bob: How are you? Mary: Good. Thank you.

You can use it here: www.spudart.org/instant-message-convert

The image for MLB.com's fantasy opening day features photos of cubs players in 1985 Topps baseball card frames. Ahhh yes. That was the year that my brother and I collected the most baseball cards from our youth. That design is classic. I'm happy that MLB decided to use it.

Here's a handy ASCI art character toolbox of all the special characters you can make:

Á À Â Ä Ã Å á à â ä ã å É È Ê Ë é è ê ë Í Ì Î Ï í ì î ï  
Ó Ò Ô Ö Õ Ø ó ò ô ö õ ø Ú Ù Û Ü ú ù û ü Ÿ ÿ 
Ç ç Ñ ñ Æ æ Œ œ § € ¶ ¿ ¡ 
« » – — “ ” ‘ ’ ‹ › · ‚ „ ° ± ÷ ‰ µ ¬ ƒ ß ¢ £ ¥ ® © ´ ¨ – ˜ ¯ ¸ ª º
zʎxʍʌnʇsɹbdouɯ1ʞظıɥbɟǝpɔqɐ

Here's the standard characters too:

A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z
a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x y z

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0
! @ # $ % ^ & * ( )

` - = [ ] \ ; ' , . / 
~ _ + { } | : " < > ?

All aboard!

«dõõ-oo--o°°°o-o°°°o-o°°°o-o^^^o-o^^^o-o±±±o-o----o¬****
============================================

Anyone have any neat ideas on how to do a different engine or boxcars or even caboose?