Some days, it feels so good to be a web geek. Earlier this week, I [two years late] discovered jQuery, a JavaScript library. It takes most of the pain out of making your fancified whiz-bang Web 2.0 pages go, go, go. Even better than that, their logo is based on the DEVO energy dome (their former tagline being “new wave JavaScript”.) I get the feeling they won’t end up getting sued over it, unlike some megacorporations.

Today, I find this:

Ajaxorized has released a GPL licensed image manipulation script called Phototype. Phototype is a client/server-side library, based on prototype, which provides image manipulation functionality. On the server, it uses the PHP/GD framework to render the image. While the client is an interface that makes these features easily accessible in JavaScript, including the ability to chain effects.

Phototype supports: image rotatation, resizing, flipping, drop shadows, effects, grey scale, captions, as well as an addChuckNorris() method [for all you Walker, Texas Ranger fans]

Woohoo!  This August 9th, 16th, and 23rd, Park Ave will be closed to motor vehicles.  The route will connect the Brooklyn Bridge to Central Park (at 72nd Street.)

NYC is becoming way more car-hostile in recent months, and as a walker/biker/subway-rider, I could not be happier. Maybe one day, in the future, people will work near where they live, rather than commute 2 hours each way. Maybe one day, in the future, people will dismiss wasteful things as wasteful.  Maybe one day, in the future, it will start getting easier to breathe, rather than harder.

While on our honeymoon we went to this 24-hour diner called MAC 24-7. Our friend JD passed on a recommendation from two of his trusted friends, also at UH Manoa, that the pancakes here were must-have. …AND RATHER GENEROUS. Nothing could have prepared us. As we ordered, the waiter asked us if we were aware that the pancakes were going to be pretty big. We were hungry, and happily agreed to be served what we figured were “big” pancakes. He went away to get them started.

The plates that arrived some minutes later could have held the largest pancake either of us had ever seen. But instead of that, the plates held THREE of the largest pancakes either of us had ever seen. EACH.

Even though the pancakes were very good, by the time we gave up, each final bite felt a bit like a punch to the face.