Michael sent this improved version of Alan Becker’s popular stick figure Flash animation in his WeaklyWebWit email. I’d posted the earlier version on my AFP website a year or two ago, but this one does seem smoother.

As Alan describes the depicted battle, “An animator faces his own animation in deadly combat. The battlefield? The Flash interface itself. A stick figure is created by an animator with the intent to torture. The stick figure drawn by the animator will be using everything he can find - the brush tool, the eraser tool - to get back at his tormentor. It’s resourcefulness versus power. Who will win? You can find out yourself.”

Click on the stick figure below, then click “play” and enjoy.

Wicked fun, yes? Want more? Here’s the sequel. The first one took Alan three months to create; this one took five.

Okay, folks, here they are, the jack-o-lanterns and decorated pumpkins submitted by our creative and artistic readers presented here for your enjoyment and amazement! (Click thumbnails to view full size)

There’s still time… If you want your pumpkin displayed here, email it to me.

Michael sends this game for the holiday, guaranteed to drop your productivity a notch or two. Give it a try… if you dare!

Here’s an idea: Email me a photo of your decorated pumpkins. I’ll post them here on the site on Halloween! Share your artistic handiwork with the blogosphere!

This is clever. Type in commands and the dog does them. (He’s a little dog; complex commands like “Go to the fridge and get me a beer” won’t work.)

Thanks Barb!

Aye matey, it be…

Click on th’ image fer more information an’ t’ larn t’ talk like a buccaneer, ya scurvy cur whut deserves th’ black spot!

An’ har be some information linkin’ global warmin’ t’ th’ decreasin’ number o’ sea dogs, ya scallywag who ortin’ t’ be keel hauled!

An’ finally, har be a likeness (2005) of me very own grand-scallywag, a true buccaneer of the salty seas if ever thar was one…Cap’n Jake hisself!

Another mashup in search of a caption. Any ideas?

If you have kids, you remember with fondness many priceless moments like this. If you’re planning on having kids, well, enjoy the ride and keep a camera handy!

H.T. to Tim. Click on the image to see the entire series.

The 2007 Scripps National Spelling Bee was held May 30-31 at the Grand Hyatt Washington. The nation’s largest and longest running spelling bee was won by Evan O’Dorney, a 13-year-old speller from Danville, California. We congratulate Evan and all the contestants for their accomplishments.

What caught my eye, though, was a photo of young David Brokaw who, advancing to the third round, correctly spelled “marathon.” Notice anything unusual in the photo? Look closely…

David’s sponsor, Catapult Online, is the nation’s leading provider of live, at-home tutoring for NCLB supplemental educational services (SES). I suspect the Scripps organization provided the sponsorship signs.

Don’t ask. I have no idea. If you have an explanation, I’m all ears.

This image has been around for awhile. I wish I knew the story behind it. If you do, please share it. Or make something up…

This image has circulated the ‘Net for a few years, I believe, but Ted sent it again and I thought it was cool enough for a reprise…

A friend’s nephew is graduating this month from the United States Air Force Academy in Colorado Springs. I don’t yet have a photo of him or his graduating class of cadets, so I thought I’d meanwhile share this image…

Numerologists, your moment is about to arrive. Mathematicians and lottery players, you may want to pay attention, too. At three minutes and four seconds after 2 AM on Sunday, the 6th of May, time will align itself in a perfect pattern, 02:03:04 05/06/07.

For those who slept though last year’s 01:02:03 04/05/06 moment at 1:02 a.m. and three seconds on April, 5, 2006, this is your second chance. The moment  won’t come again for another century, in 2107. Of course, the times and dates will align sequentially once every year until 9:10 and 11 seconds on Dec. 13, 2014, or 09:10:11 12/13/14. After that, time will revert to its usual untidy mix of hours, minutes and seconds passing through the days of our lives.

For most of us, these sequences are little more than, well, coincidental sequences of numbers. Still, the phenomenon is giving some Internet chatrooms fodder for idle conversation. At digg.com, the impending moment sparked a lively exchange, including one nostalgic post by “uglyredhonda” that said, “Still nowhere near as cool as 12:34:56 on 7/8/90.” Oh yeah. That was way cooler.

Serious party mathematicians, though, won’t go to sleep. There’ll be a shots of tequila and a few high fives and then they’ll move on. That is, until we count from 1 to 6 at 01:02:03 on April, 5, 2106. Now that will be worth staying up for.