Plead the First

One-Button Mouse was a site I started many years ago where I used to showcase my icons and desktop pictures – artwork for customizing your computer. I regularly and lovingly updated the site, but eventually One-Button Mouse began suffering from some serious neglect. I stopped returning its calls, and eventually suggested maybe we could just be friends. But the site was always in the back of my mind, and after several stalled attempts, I finally came up with a direction for it that felt right.

So this week I relaunched the site with a complete redesign. The focus now will hopefully be geared towards exhibiting more of my illustration work and sketches, though there are still areas for icon and desktop picture downloads. And of course, a blog on the home page, which should focus on art, design, the Mac, and other related things. Head on over and take a look if you’re so inclined.

onebuttonmouse.com

Apparently, the new penthouses at Center Pointe in downtown Greensboro are going to be rather posh. Having a waterfall installed is actually an option on some of them. I had a waterfall inside my house once … nothing I couldn’t take care of with the plunger. These sound a little nicer than that.

We’ve had a friend visiting us at the Iconfactory this week – Wolfgang Ante, the proprietor of ARTIS Software and fellow collaborator on xScope and Frenzic. Wolfgang flew over from Austria last week for WWDC in San Francisco, and stopped by Greensboro afterwards. He has some great photos of downtown Greensboro up on his Flickr page, so you can see what our city looks like through his viewfinder.

I received a great Father’s Day present today – my wife and kids had a book printed with all of my political cartoons from last year. I’ve included some pictures below (click on them to see larger versions if you’d like).

The cover:

Inside the cover:

Dedication page:

The first page has all of my early, pre-News and Record cartoons:

Inside the book:

A slightly closer view:

It’s very cool seeing them all together in print form. The only downside is that now Steph wants me to throw away all the newspapers I’ve been collecting in our office!

(As a side note, notice the lovely coffee table the book is resting upon. Early in our marriage, Steph and I bought it unfinished, dilligently sanded it smooth and carefully stained it. After 5 years of kids, it now looks like enraged baboons went at it with a pickaxe.

But they’re *our* enraged baboons, so it’s ok. One day, when they’re off at Baboon College, we’ll plane off the top quarter inch or so, and refinish it).

Fecund Stench has an update on the now-full-strength surge in Iraq. It’s not sounding too helpful, unfortunately.

There are some who attempt to wave away the fact that there is a correlation between being Republican and disbelieving the theory of evolution. However, a recent Gallup poll supports that correlation:

The majority of Republicans in the United States do not believe the theory of evolution is true and do not believe that humans evolved over millions of years from less advanced forms of life. This suggests that when three Republican presidential candidates at a May debate stated they did not believe in evolution, they were generally in sync with the bulk of the rank-and-file Republicans whose nomination they are seeking to obtain.

The poll also touched on respondents reasons for not believing in evolution. Most of the reasons given were religious in nature, with 19 percent giving, “I believe in Jesus Christ” as their reason for rejecting evolution, 16 percent responding, “I believe in the almighty God, creator of Heaven and Earth” and another 16 percent saying their rejection of evolution was “Due to my religion and faith”.

It’s strange that “Jesus Christ” and “Evolution” have become an either/or dichotomy for some folks – sort of like saying “I don’t believe in the germ theory of disease because I believe in Jesus Christ”.

(Via Pharyngula)

Just wanted to apologize (to the one or two people who actually check in here regularly) for the lack of updates. I’ve been away for the past two weeks, driving across the country and back again on vacation with my family. The two weeks or so before that when I wasn’t posting was simply old-fashioned blog neglect on my part.

I plan on getting back into posting over the next week or two. In the meantime, you can check out some of my vacation photos – I’ve posted a few on Flickr, and there will be more to come as I continue to sort through them.

As a side note, my condolences go out to the victims and survivors of the News and Record layoffs – that was some surprising news to return to, though I expect folks there were more taken aback by it than I was. Having twice been on the receiving end of layoffs, I certainly know how it feels.

On Wednesday, the North Carolina House voted against a proposed anti-smoking measure that, among other things, would have banned smoking in public restaurants and bars.

I was from Delaware before we moved down to North Carolina, and there has been a similar smoking ban in effect up there for quite some time. I can sympathize with the idea that a business owner should be able to do what he wants in his place of business; however, it was nice being able to enjoy a meal without choking down cigarette smoke at the same time.

Not sure who to blame for the Virginia Tech shootings? Need some fresh ideas on using the tragedy to push your agenda? Cynical-C has a convenient list of everyone that’s been blamed by someone.

(Via Ed Brayton)

Three GOP Presidential candidates – Brownback, Tancredo and Huckabee – that’s who.

(Pointed out to me by Ged)