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As an amateur photographer, I like to have a nice image as my desktop wallpaper to provide me with some inspiration throughout the day. Thanks to a post on freewaregenius, I just discovered that National Graphic magazine makes a huge selection of inspiring images available for desktop wallpaper use for free.

You can get National Geographic wallpapers from two locations. The first is in the main photography section of the site. Wallpapers here are handily categorized (Adventure & Exploration,  Nature & Weather, Underwater, etc). Unfortunately, the images available in this section are only a maximum of 1280 pixels wide, which isn’t big enough for many of today’s monitors, although they should be fine on most laptops.

Fortunately, you can also use images submitted to National Geographic’s International Photography Competition, and these are available in larger sizes (up to 1600 pixels wide). These photos aren’t categorized — you need to browse by month, but flicking through the range of beautiful images isn’t much of a chore. I currently have this image of melting ice set as my desktop background.

If you’re still looking for more images, another great location to try is Flickr’s Explore page, which always has a huge selection of interesting and inspiring pictures.

Where do you get wallpaper images from?

http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/boingboing/iBag/~3/QHVK_Mm74r4/galileos-fingers-fou.html

The museum plans to display the fingers and tooth in March 2010, after it re-opens following a renovation, Galluzzi said.

The museum has had the third Galileo finger since 1927, so the digits will be reunited for the first time in centuries, he added.

Removing body parts from the corpse was an echo of a practice common with saints, whose digits, tongues and organs were revered by Catholics as relics with sacred powers.

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http://dcist.com/2009/11/go_home_already_435.php

Photo by Command Z

• The Silver Spring Penguin covers the annual Silver Spring Thanksgiving parade, complete with local politico spotting.
• NPR's Carl Kasell to retire at the end of the year, Fishbowl DC reports. 'He will continue his second role as official judge and scorekeeper of the weekly NPR news quiz "Wait Wait...Don't Tell Me!",' though.
• WashTimes runs optimistic article about Howard Theatre renovations, despite reality reported therein: they've only raised $1.6 million of the estimated $22 million needed to get it done.
• Examiner covers D.C. Council proposal to abolish the oft-criticized Board of Real Property Assessments and Appeals and replace it with something more "professional."
• A D.C. man was shot and killed in Temple Hills, Md. Sunday evening, the Post reports. Deandre Smith, 22, suffered from a gunshot wound to his body and died later at a nearby hospital.
• One idea for Tuesday night: you can get $14 Wizards tickets, courtesy D.C. United. The Wizards are going to honor United's Ben Olsen, who recently announced he will retire.
• New blog, Anacostia QUE, to watch (via Congress Heights on the Rise.)

http://feeds.gothamistllc.com/click.phdo?i=3b5e62de30734dd9d5dabe9fc918d03a

http://dcist.com/2009/11/weekly_music_agenda_62.php

MONDAY
>> Sriram already offered plenty of reasons why you should head to the 9:30 tonight for Bebel Gilberto. Don't forget, it's an early show -- doors are at 6 p.m. $35.

>> One part of the Black Cat's description of tonight's act, Cub Country, really caught our eye. Yeah yeah, the music stuff sounds cool. But "spare second bedroom"?!?! That is the stuff of fantasies, right there. $8 on the backstage, with Velvet. 9 p.m.

WEDNESDAY
>> A dance night that features "everything from electro, indie, hip hop, punk & lo-fi to disco, new-wave, and international rainbow pop..." sounds just about right for the home-for-the-holidays, everybody-has-a-different-idea-of-what-a-fun-night-out-would-be kind of crowd. NOWHERE is free at the Rock and Roll Hotel, starting at 8 p.m., and even features drink specials (which we find always take the edge off those first few hours with the cousins you haven't seen since last year).

>> Also at the Hotel, experimental hip-hop duo Themselves helm a strong like-minded lineup, with eyedea & abilities and EDUCATED CONSUMERS. $12, show at 9 p.m.

>> Remember Matisyahu? Hasidic rap may not have caught on as a larger trend, but he's still around offering his hip-hop reggae stylings at the Sixth & I Synagogue. Sold out, doors at 7 p.m.

>> Philadelphia's Free Energy are about as happy go-lucky as you can find your way to with an electric guitar. With D.C.'s own Radio Fatale at DC9. $8/$10, 9 p.m. We're hard pressed to remember the last time two bands that were so completely and entirely incompatible shared a bill, but hey, sometimes these things work out.

THURSDAY
>> Play flag football, eat yourself sick, get a good spot on the couch and enjoy the company of your family, because there isn't a whole lot of music happening tonight. Happy Thanksgiving!

FRIDAY
>> The Mountain Goats and Final Fantasy might be the perfect lineup to summarize the '00s, musically. On the one hand, lo-fi, literary folk rock. On the other, experimental violin jams that bring indie rock songs to a different place. 8 p.m., $20.

>> Locals Loose Lips offer a softer side of new wave. Think Interpol with a Fischer Price keyboard. They're headlining a fun night of D.C. bands, featuring the poppy folk sounds of typefighter and something a little darker from The Maeda Vale. At the Rock and Roll Hotel, $10, 9 p.m.

SATURDAY
>> Still need to get into the groove and work off some of that Thanksgiving weight? Good news: you don't have to worry about weather stretch pants will still zip up. Throw some on and head to The Red and the Black for Last Saturdays, their regular '80s dance night with DJ Doc Rok. No time or cost are listed, so we're assuming it's free.

>> CHOPTEETH! At the Black Cat! $15, 9 p.m. Because anytime is the right time for some afrofunk.

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http://dcist.com/2009/11/grey_would_beat_fenty_poll_finds.php

Photo by KCIvey

According to a new poll conducted by the Clarus Research Group, Gray would narrowly beat Fenty in a head-to-head match up, with 41 percent of registered voters preferring Gray, to Fenty's 37. And in highlighting a burgeoning racial division in the city, 57 percent of African Americans would pick Gray, with Fenty only winning 20 percent of black voters. Fenty's strongest bases of support? Whites (51 percent). Also, Republicans (44 percent).

Gray might want to continue to exercise caution before deciding this poll means he should definitely run, however. In the two-way contest, 22 percent of voters remained undecided. And once the hypothetical election was expanded to include council members Kwame Brown (D-At Large) and Michael Brown (I-At Large), the anti-Fenty vote split, allowing the mayor to win a second term with just 34 percent of the vote.

What the poll makes clear is that while the majority of the District's residents (53 percent) say they are inclined to vote for someone new, a crowded field could allow Fenty to keep his job. And though Fenty and Gray share similar approval ratings (43 and 46 percent, respectively), Gray's disapproval ratings are substantially lower (16 percent compared to Fenty's 49 percent). Plus, fully 38 percent of respondents don't seem to know much about Gray. So while the chairman would need to make himself more known, Fenty will have to make himself more liked – not the easier of the two tasks.

In a statement responding to the poll, Gray played it coy: "I was pleased to learn that a poll by the Clarus Research Group reports my approval rating at 46 percent and disapproval at 16 percent. There is no greater calling than public service. And I am honored to serve the city in which I was born, raised and live. I look forward to even higher ratings, no matter what elected position I hold," he said.

Other interesting outtakes are that lots of folks like D.C. Police Chief Cathy Lanier (71 percent approve of her), while opinion on Schools Chancellor Michelle Rhee is closely split (47 percent like her, 39 percent don't). On Fenty's tenure, the sitting mayor got passing marks (above 50 percent) only on keeping crime down and maintaining streets and public places. On every other issue – ethics, taxes, leadership, finances – he got a thumbs down. And on his signature issue – education – 43 percent of respondents approved of Fenty, while 40 disapproved.

A couple of notes on the poll: Clarus says they spoke with registered voters, as opposed to likely voters, which is generally considered a less accurate measure. Also, the margin of error is listed at 4.4 percent, which puts the gap between Fenty and Gray well within that margin.

All told, this certainly means good things for Gray, should he choose to run as a consensus candidate aimed at the "Anyone but Fenty" crowd. Of course, his most recent potential ethics scandals could still be a factor in that decision. As for Fenty, well, he still has a year to change some minds. Otherwise, he might have to go on the offensive against Gray -- and soon. And that wouldn't bode well for those already strained mayoral-council relations.

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http://news.nationalgeographic.com/rss/article_id.pl?id=28857066

Bringing the balky "big bang machine" another step closer to full power, physicists now have two beams of protons stable and circulating though the Large Hadron Collider's main ring.

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http://webworkerdaily.com/?p=23339

It’s WebWorkerDaily’s fault that I’ve bought an iPod touch (s aapl). (That’s my excuse, anyway.) As I looked at potential subjects to write about, I kept seeing cool apps, and I need to be able to test them, right?

But why not buy an iPhone, or a Palm Pre, which I’d had my eye on for several months? The Pre seems to be a good phone, but it doesn’t yet have the apps that the iPhone does. And the monthly fees for Pre service are considerably higher than what I’m paying now. The iPhone’s monthly fees are even higher, and many folks I’ve talked to don’t find it to be a very good phone.

So, keeping my current phone and buying an iPod touch seemed like a good compromise. I can get good Wi-Fi coverage in most areas where I live, so I’ll be able to go online, even without the phone function.

Many of my WWD colleagues already have iPhones. Aliza has recently written about good apps for web workers. Dawn’s shared her favorites, too. But with the holidays coming up, here are some of my ideas for apps to put on that brand-new iPhone or iPod touch:

Communication

• eBuddy. A multi-service instant message client for MSN/Windows Live, AIM, Yahoo, Gtalk, ICQ, Facebook Chat and MySpace Chat. Supports multiple accounts on the same service. Versions for web, Android and other platforms also available. Free.
• Facebook. A well-designed way for Facebook users to keep up with their friends while on the road. The app has had its issues, but they are apparently fixed now. Free.
• Gist. Scott and I have both found Gist useful, and the Gist iPhone app does a pretty good job of presenting a lot of information in a small space. Free.
• LinkedIn. This app keeps LinkedIn users, er, “linked in” from their iPhones and iPod touches. The latest upgrade adds some nice features, including an inbox for LinkedIn messages. Free.
• Nimbuzz. You can use this app to make inexpensive international calls over Wi-Fi. The app also includes a chat function, but it’s pretty rudimentary compared to eBuddy. Free app; rates for calls vary.
• RingCentral. If you’re a RingCentral user, you can use this app to manage your phone messages and more. Free for RingCentral users.
• Tweetie. There are lots of Twitter apps, but so far, I like Tweetie the best. It has a clean interface, and supports multiple Twitter accounts. Thanks for the tip, Darrell! $2.99.
• Waveboard. Mobile access to Google Wave. Will hopes for better access soon; I imagine that this app will become more sophisticated as Wave does. $0.99.

File and Idea Management

• Dropbox. This app is another reason to love Dropbox, which many of us at WWD do. As one would expect from Dropbox, it just works. Free.
• Evernote. My colleagues at WWD like Evernote, too, and I’ve finally seen the light. It’s a great replacement for PhatNotes, which I used to use with various Palm products. (The Palm versions are apparently no longer available.) Free.

News

• Reeder. A very nice and elegant RSS reader that syncs with Google Reader. $0.99.

Just about every news source also has its own iPhone/iPod touch app these days. So far, I’ve been impressed with the ones from NPR and from some news outlets that have used the PodCurry platform.

Password Management

• 1Password. Manage and sync passwords. I’ve been playing with the brand-new version 3, and it’s good enough that I’ve moved from SplashID after many years. Use Dropbox with 1Password to make your password data available on multiple machines. $7.99.
• LastPass. Manage and sync passwords across multiple machines. The Firefox add-on for this service was included in WWD’s Add-Ons Collection. Apps for iPhones and other mobile devices available with premium membership, $12/year.

I’ve barely begun finding fun stuff, but I think I’m off to a good start with the Google Earth app, and TriPeaks Lite. I’m sure that I’ll find more, but I really need to get back to work now. Happy holidays!

What iPhone or iPod touch apps would you recommend for new users?

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http://dcist.com/2009/11/lane_closures_on_connecticut_ave_th.php

If you noticed that traffic was reduced to one lane in each direction on Connecticut Ave. NW today, be prepared for more of the same as the week continues. The DC Water and Sewer Authority is performing test pitting utility work between Calvert and Cathedral Streets, and the lane restrictions will continue in that area at least through Wednesday, November 25, with work resuming on November 30 if more time is needed to complete the project. WASA will limit its work to between the hours of 9:30 a.m. and 3 p.m. each day, so it shouldn't affect rush hour too much, but the closures also mean there will be no on-street parking available in those blocks at those times, according to DDOT.

http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/boingboing/iBag/~3/li2hBr8tf04/20000-leagues-under-1.html

http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/boingboing/iBag/~3/LmUOg6WobhM/rocky-and-balls-reco.html

The proceeds will go to The Prostate Cancer Charity and we would love it if you could all buy a copy since it is for a very very very good cause!

In addition, we will keep a track of your names, if you purchase the song, and feature them in our music video when we finally get together to record it!  Be part of Rocky and Balls history ;)

It is a minimum of $2 so everyone is donating about a british pound, but think of the good that could do!

The Mo Song by Rocky & Balls

http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/boingboing/iBag/~3/TXkdvYUk-jo/understanding-the-ps.html

I've read a couple chapters, and he's a funny and engaging writer who seems to have a lot of experimental evidence to present. Good stuff.

The second reason I can offer for reading what follows is that it is not chock full of opinions, but experimental evidence. Liberals have stereotypes about conservatives, and conservatives have stereotypes about liberals. Moderates have stereotypes about both. Anyone who has watched, or been a liberal arguing with a conservative (or vice versa) knows that personal opinion and rhetoric can be had a penny a pound. But arguing never seems to get anywhere. Whereas if you set up a fair and square experiment in which people can act nobly, fairly, and with integrity, and you find that most of one group does, and most of another group does not, that's a fact, not an opinion. And if you keep finding the same thing experiment after experiment, and other people do too, then that's a body of facts that demands attention.3 Some people, we have seen to our dismay, don't care a hoot what scientific investigation reveals; but most people do. If the data were fairly gathered and we let them do the talking, we should be on a higher plane than the current, "Sez you!"

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http://dcist.com/2009/11/compromise_uncertain_on_same-sex_ma.php

Photo by Kevin H.

Last week, D.C. Council members David Catania (I-At Large) and Phil Mendelson (D-At Large) sent a letter to Washington Archbishop Donald Wuerl proposing that the church follow the lead of Georgetown University in offering benefits to spouses or "legally domiciled adults." The proposal responded to concerns expressed by Wuerl that the legislation would force the church to violate its beliefs by offering benefits to same-sex couples it employs, notably through Catholic Charities, a social service provider serving 68,000 needy District residents. (The letter is available here in PDF format.)

But sources within the council say that the Archdiocese has yet to respond to the letter and has not proposed language of its own that could help resolve the stand-off. "The ball's in their court and they will have to decide what to do," said one staffer with knowledge of the issue. "We've asked them to put on paper what they want."

The question still remains if the Archdiocese has even left room for compromise. As we noted over the weekend, in a Post op-ed published online last week and printed in the paper on Sunday, Wuerl seemed to say so. "We are asking that new language be developed that more fairly balances different interests — those of the city to redefine marriage and those of faith groups so that they can continue to provide services without compromising their deeply held religious teachings and beliefs." But only a day later, he appeared at a press conference announcing the Manhattan Declaration, an ecumenical statement outlining Christian opposition to same-sex marriage and threatening civil disobedience to any laws legalizing it. "[Nor] will we bend to any rule purporting to force us to bless immoral sexual partnerships, treat them as marriages or the equivalent, or refrain from proclaiming the truth, as we know it, about morality and immorality and marriage and the family," stated the declaration.

We put in a call to the Archdiocese, and the best we could get on whether they have responded to Catania and Mendelson was, "Not yet." Regardless of what the Archdiocese decides to do, council staffers confirmed that the legislation will still go to the full council for a vote on December 1.

http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/boingboing/iBag/~3/n9UAVQn7gQA/good-news-from-the-l.html

Ladies and gentlemen, we have (hot, natch) particle-on-particle action. If the time-traveling, LHC-hating Higgs boson particles are really out there, they don't have a whole lot of time to get together another baked goods-based offensive.

The first protons collided in the Large Hadron Collider today at CERN outside Geneva, Switzerland. These first collisions are another milestone on the way to the ultimate goal: high-energy collisions of protons in the center of the LHC experiments. They follow a weekend of rapid progress for the LHC. After more than one year of repairs, on Friday evening, November 20, beams were once again circulating in the collider. Over the weekend, the LHC team carefully studied the beams one at a time. Today at approximately 1:30 local time, two beams circulated at the same time for the first time in the LHC. As the two circulating beams passed through each other, protons from each beam hit one another, and the resulting spray of particles registered in the ALICE, ATLAS, CMS, and LHCb detectors.

The first two protons collided at the relatively low energies with which they were injected into the LHC, 450 GeV each. Over the next few months, LHC scientists will raise the beam energy, aiming for collisions at the world-record energy of 3.5 TeV per beam in early 2010. With these high-energy collisions, the teams on the LHC experiments will embark on their quest to solve some of the mysteries of the universe.

Symmetry magazine, First Particles Collide in the Large Hadron Collider

http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/boingboing/iBag/~3/BLTbL9VGZ4g/tom-gauld-print-char.html

Tom Gauld, author of the astounding The Gigantic Robot book, has a new print available at Buenvaventura Press, called "Characters for an Epic Tale."

9.5 x 12.5 inches, 2 colors [note the apparition, done in a gray spot-color -- Mark], letterpress printed on Hahnemühle Mould-made Ingres paper. Signed and numbered edition of 150, half available through Buenaventura Press and half through Tom Gauld himself. This edition of 150 has been divided between BP and the artist. If you are in North America you can order direct from us here, for the rest of the world you can order it soon directly from the artist's website www.tomgauld.com

Buy yours now! These are going fast, and the price will increase to $150 when we are down to the last ten!

While you are at Buenaventura Press's website, note that they are having a 20% off sale on every book they publish!

Tom Gauld print: "Characters for an Epic Tale"

http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/boingboing/iBag/~3/bibFyKG51ng/carbonsilicons-lates.html

Carbon/Silicon (a band fronted by The Clash's Mick Jones and Generation X's Tony James) has a new album called The Carbon Bubble. They are giving it away in the MP3 format on their site.

Carbon/Silicon's The Carbon Bubble album

http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/boingboing/iBag/~3/Fyo-squzMoU/maker-shed-kiosks-at.html

If you find yourself at a Fry's in California, you might see one of these handsome Maker Shed kiosks. The Make team did a great job coming up with an attractive kiosk that took up just 4 square feet of floor space.

Gareth writes: "We think this is big news, not only for Maker Media, but for all indie makers -- a major retail chain is now giving small kit-makers this level of exposure. And, we think it's particularly cool that we designed and built these kiosks in-house, and even personally delivered them to the stores! What other publisher could claim that?"

Maker Shed kiosks at Fry's

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http://dcist.com/2009/11/outdoor_skating_at_the_national.php

Photo by christaki

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http://dcist.com/2009/11/gilbert_arenas_looking_for_1_millio.php