Interesting Links for December 2008.

• The Worst Is Yet To Come: Anonymous Banker Weighs In On The Coming Credit Card Debacle – Someone with common sense is finally shining a light on the idiot policies of banks with their credit card offers. Thanks to @jwesley on Twitter for the link. On the New York Times Executive Suite blog.
• Final Cut sequences to DVDs: The high-quality way – Excellent tutorial explaining how to export high-quality digital video from Final Cut for use in DVD. Requires Final Cut Studio (not Express). Hat tip to @izzyvideo on Twitter for the link. On GeniusDV.com.
• Tips for Taking Better Photos of Christmas Lights – Great and simple article for anyone interested in taking photos of Christmas lights at night. On the Photo Notes blog.
• “Prop 8 – The Musical” starring Jack Black, John C. Reilly, and many more… – This isn’t just funny, it’s great. On FunnyOrDie.com.
• W(h)ither social networks? On the end of Pownce – Some thoughts on social networking and microblogging. On The lost outpost.
• 2.7 Gets Here in Two Days! – Thank heaven for this post, sent to me via tweet by @andypiper. I was just starting to worry about whether WordPress.com would be updated before I was scheduled to work on my training video.
• An Engineer Calculates Santa’s Trip – Santa’s one busy guy. On Digital Digressions.
• The difference between write and wrong – Dan Moren’s take on NaNoWriMo. Makes for interesting reading if you’re as cynical about the experiment as I am. On doombot.com.
• The Simpsons mocks (m)Apple – Article with embedded YouTube clips about the recent Simpsons episode that mocks Apple, Inc. On Engadget.
• George W Bush in pictures – Photos with captions. Enjoy; you will have tears of laughter running down your face. Many thanks to @blankbaby on Twitter for sharing this link.
• Win Ben Stein’s mind – Roger Ebert’s Journal – Roger Ebert tears apart Ben Stein and his comedy of errors, “eXpelled.” On Ebert’s blog. My question: when will enough bad reviews by real reviewers get Stein to crawl back into the hole the ID idiots found him in?
• 60 Really Cool and Creative Error 404 Pages – This will make you laugh. On Hongkiat.com/blog.
• The Evolution of Tech Companies’ Logos – Rounding out tonight’s trilogy of trivia, courtesy of Neatorama, is this excellent piece about the evolution of tech company logos.
• Evolution of Car Logos – Another excellent trivia piece. The illustrations make it clear how one logo led to another. The Cadillac story is particularly interesting. On Neatorama.
• The Stories Behind Hollywood Studio Logos – Excellent post with information and illustrations about the origins of Hollywood studio logos. On Neatorama.
• Woof! An iPhone-controlled dog treat dispenser – THIS is what makes technology cool. On The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW). Don’t forget to watch the video to see how it works.
• 40 Ways to Deliver Killer Blog Content – Excellent advice I need to start taking. On ChrisBrogan.com
• Principles and Guidelines for the Modern Photowalker – Must-read for anyone interested in Photowalking. On Thomas Hawk’s Digital Connection.
• Serious security flaw found in IE – Why doesn’t this surprise me? On BBC News.
• Getting Started With WordPress – Excellent post with links to other content of interest to new (or relatively new) self-hosted WordPress users. On Themetation.com.
• How to Take Off & Land a 747 at San Francisco International Airport – Great cockpit video landing a 747 at SFO. On Laughing Squid.
• Captain Smartypants sings Dreidel – This has got to be the funniest — yet tastefully done — holiday song this season. Especially funny for a transplanted New Yorker. With thanks to @heidihover and @MikeTRose on Twitter. On You Tube.
• Wall Street Lays Another Egg: Politics & Power – Why the economy is screwed. Hat tip to @KendrickDisch on Twitter for this Vanity Fair link.
• Holiday Books – 100 Notable Books of 2008 – Great list of books from 2008 — for holiday gift giving or personal consumption. Thanks to @BLG on Twitter for the link.
• GovTwit Directory – A directory of government agencies and individuals on Twitter. Hat tip to @elloyd74 on Twitter (where else?) for the link.
• Virginia man spends $1 million to let others attend inauguration – It’s heart-warming to see the selflessness of some people. Sure, the publicity is worth something, but it’s the gesture that makes this special. On the Detroit Free Press web site.
• Legal Rights of Photographers | Andrew Kantor’s Place – A clear explanation of what is and isn’t legal to take photos of. You may be surprised. By Andrew Kantor.
• 10 Essential Steps to Take BEFORE You’re Laid Off – This is actually pretty good advice for anyone who might just get laid off. It’s especially good for folks in tech fields. On GetRichSlowly.com.
• iPhone thief thwarted by MobileMe sync – Apple technology makes it easier to recover stolen Apple products. Again. On The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW).
• RandomMaccess | It’s the end of the world as we know it (and I feel fine) – Chuck LaTournous, long-time Apple user, writes about what he thinks of the Apple Macworld announcements. On Random Access.
• The year 2008 in photographs (part 1 of 3) – The Big Picture – Boston.com – This first 40 photos in the series. Excellent photography, moving subject matter. Hat tip to @JackPea on Twitter for the link.
• MacJury » Blog Archive » MacJury #831: Analysis of Apple’s Announcements and the Future of Macworld Expo – No Steve Jobs keynote and Apple’s qutting Macworld Expo after this year. The Mac Jurists discuss in this podcast episode of The Mac Jury.
• HTML-Ipsum – Need to check Web design with sample text? Here’s a good source of Ipsum text in HTML format.
• 45 Beautiful Free Fonts for Modern Design Trends – What can be more fun (and completely frivolous) than free fonts? On Six Revisions.
• Barack Obama Defeats Barack Hussein Obama – This piece on The Onion really hits the mark. Thanks to @MikeTRose on Twitter for sharing the link.
• Candied Bacon Ice Cream Recipe – It actually sounds pretty good. By David Lebovitz. Hat tip to @firehole on Twitter for the link.
• 50 websites you’ll wonder how you lived without – A list of 50 interesting Web sites, with descriptions. On Curious? Read.
• Apple Announces Last Year of Christmas – I wonder if Apple will allow this to stay online. If you click this link and get a 404, blame Apple.
• Apple Announces Its Last Year at Macworld – The end of an era. On Apple.com.
• My CSS Menu – Menu Generator – An online code-generation tool for creating horizontal or vertical menus with CSS. Might be useful to Web designers interested in creating customized menus for their blogs or sites.
• The 100 Most Popular Photoshop Tutorials 2008 – A list of 100 Photoshop Tutorials. On PhotoshopLady.com.
• Make A GIF – An online tool for creating animated GIF files. Just upload images in order and Make A GIF does the rest.
• 10 Steps to Improving Your Photoshop Skills – A list of ten things you can do to improve your Photoshop skills. On PSDTUTS.
• How To Use Your New Digital Camera – Tips for using a digital camera. Perfect for new or first-time users or for folks who never really gave the abilities of digital cameras a thought. On Gizmodo.
• 30 Excellent WordPress Video Tutorials – List of 30 WordPress video tutorials covering a variety of topics. On SixRevisions.com
• Plane crash geek Twitters from burning Denver aircraft – An example of when Twittering may have gone too far. I know that if I were in a plane crash, I wouldn’t want to see the guy between me and the exit texting on his cell phone. On the Times Online.
• Apple shocks world, reveals it is a huge corporation – Reality check by Scott McNulty. Thanks, Scott! We obviously needed this. On Macworld.com.
• National Geographic: Here’s Your Prize Cheaty McCheaterson – Stuff like this really bugs me — not only did this Photoshopped photo win a contest when retouched photos were not allowed, but it’s an unrealistic example of reflections. The kicker: it fooled National Geographic. Sheesh. On Photoshop Disasters.
• Steve Jobs didn’t make the first Macworld, either – An account by David Burnell of Steve Jobs and the first Macworld Expo. Hat tip to @LeVitus on Twitter for the link. On the San Francisco Chronicle Web site.
• 25 Photoshop Tutorials for Web Designers – The title says it all. On Six Revisions.
• 2008 in photographs (part 2 of 3) – The second 40 images in this 3-part series. Must be seen. On The Big Picture, Boston.com.
• 34 Essential Tutorials To Get Started With Digital Photography – Wow. This is a good list for anyone interested in photography. On PXLshots.com Blog.
• Area Woman Becomes Republican Vice Presidential Candidate – Part of The Onion’s summary of 2008.