Dennis Deery

Nassim Nicholas Taleb is a former stock trader and now author of a couple of great books - Fooled by Randomness and The Black Swan. I’ve read both books and they’re guaranteed to make you think. They’re especially timely in their discussion of how the stock markets work, or really, don’t work. Taleb recently did an interview with the Times Online where he discusses his books and his approach to life.

[ZoomProspector - Search best communities for business](http://www.zoomprospector.com/) Quickly find demographic and business information for any community. (tags: [property](http://delicious.com/ddeery/property) [economics](http://delicious.com/ddeery/economics)) [OnTheCommons.org](http://www.onthecommons.org/) A great site discussing the idea of the public commons. (tags: [commons](http://delicious.com/ddeery/commons) [copyright](http://delicious.com/ddeery/copyright) [cooperation](http://delicious.com/ddeery/cooperation)) [Font Generator](http://www.yourfonts.com/) Create a computer font of your very own handwriting. (tags: [handwriting](http://delicious.com/ddeery/handwriting) [typography](http://delicious.com/ddeery/typography) [fonts](http://delicious.com/ddeery/fonts)) [Sketchory](http://sketchory.com/) A collection of 250,000 Creative Commons-licensed sketches. (tags: [sketches](http://delicious.com/ddeery/sketches) [drawing](http://delicious.com/ddeery/drawing) [creativecommons](http://delicious.com/ddeery/creativecommons))

[BeFunky.com - Photo effects with one click, Turn your photos into artwork.](http://www.befunky.com/) Cool site to convert your photos into various forms of artwork. Automated and easy-to-use versions of Photoshop filters. (tags: [avatar](http://delicious.com/ddeery/avatar) [photo](http://delicious.com/ddeery/photo) [photoshop](http://delicious.com/ddeery/photoshop)) [SpokenWord.org](http://www.spokenword.org/) A new web site that aggregates free spoken word recordings from around the web. Includes audio books, presentations, etc. (tags: [podcasts](http://delicious.com/ddeery/podcasts) [speech](http://delicious.com/ddeery/speech) [audio](http://delicious.com/ddeery/audio))

Northern Ireland Lake My good friend Renie Howard has always been someone that, for me, defines simple grace in the way that she interacts with the world. She was diagnosed a few months back with a rare form of cancer. A couple of weeks ago she gave a talk at the Common Ground Meditation Center in Minneapolis (where she also chairs the board of directors). In her talk she discusses her journey since learning of her diagnosis.

[MSDN Code Gallery - Home](http://code.msdn.microsoft.com/) Microsoft's code samples. (tags: [msdn](http://delicious.com/ddeery/msdn) [source](http://delicious.com/ddeery/source) [code](http://delicious.com/ddeery/code)) [Dublin City Council Development Plan Issues](http://www.dublin.ie/devplan/wp-content/uploads/2009/01/issues-paper-booklet-english.pdf) An issues paper produced by Dublin City Council to start discussion on their 2011-2017 development plan. (tags: [planning](http://delicious.com/ddeery/planning) [Dublin](http://delicious.com/ddeery/Dublin)) [Photosynth](http://photosynth.net/) Use Microsoft's new Photosynth tool to create your own photo panoramas. (tags: [panorama](http://delicious.com/ddeery/panorama) [photosynth](http://delicious.com/ddeery/photosynth)) [CNN.com - Special Reports - The 44th President - The Moment](http://www.cnn.com/SPECIALS/2009/44.president/inauguration/themoment/) An amazing panorama stitched together from hundreds of viewer-submitted photos of the inauguration.

[2008 in photographs (part 2 of 3) - The Big Picture - Boston.com](http://www.boston.com/bigpicture/2008/12/2008_in_photographs_part_2_of.html) A bunch of great pics. (tags: [photography](http://delicious.com/ddeery/photography) [news](http://delicious.com/ddeery/news) [2008](http://delicious.com/ddeery/2008)) [The year 2008 in photographs (part 1 of 3) - The Big Picture - Boston.com](http://www.boston.com/bigpicture/2008/12/the_year_2008_in_photographs_p.html) A bunch of great pics. (tags: [photography](http://delicious.com/ddeery/photography) [2008](http://delicious.com/ddeery/2008))

Our good friend Connie Loden recently published an article titled “Localism - What’s the Attraction?” on the NewGeography web site. “So, what is the “local” appeal? It is the character and quality of life that provides a sense of place – a reminiscence feeling of authenticity and knowing the source of where things come from, who made it and how it was grown. There is a desire to make the personal connection and create an experience in the purchase of a product.

 We ventured out into the frozen evening last night to shoot some pictures at Menomonie's WinterDaze 2008 parade and fireworks. The parade was organized by our good friends at [Main Street Menomonie](http://www.mainstreetmenomonie.org). Congratulations to the whole crew of volunteers who made this event a great outing.

[Public Domain Clipart optimized for word processors](http://www.wpclipart.com/index.html) A repository of 23,000+ free, public domain clip art images. (tags: [clipart](http://delicious.com/ddeery/clipart) [publicdomain](http://delicious.com/ddeery/publicdomain) [pictures](http://delicious.com/ddeery/pictures))

[ReportToPDF](http://www.lebans.com/reporttopdf.htm) A library to allow exporting of Access reports to PDF via code. (tags: [access](http://delicious.com/ddeery/access) [pdf](http://delicious.com/ddeery/pdf))

[What Would God Say?](http://www.whatwouldgodsay.ie/) Offer your answers to the questions children ask God. The best answers will be used to create postcards for a fundraiser. (tags: [god](http://delicious.com/ddeery/god)) [Top NASA Photos of All Time | Space Exploration | Air & Space Magazine](http://www.airspacemag.com/space-exploration/Top_NASA_Photos_of_All_Time.html) A collection of 50 of NASA's best. (tags: [nasa](http://delicious.com/ddeery/nasa) [photography](http://delicious.com/ddeery/photography))

Well it’s been a week now. The words President-elect Barack Obama are becoming easier for pundits around the world to spit out. Our conversations and thoughts now turn (I hope) to our goals for the future. Last Tuesday I spent a good chunk of the day knocking on doors for the Obama campaign, encouraging people to get out and vote. I had donated to the campaign, and was happy to spend at least a little time volunteering for such a good cause.

[Learning @ Your Own Pace® - lynda.com](http://www.lynda.com/) <div class="delicious-tags">(tags: [training](http://delicious.com/ddeery/training) [online](http://delicious.com/ddeery/online))</div>

[WWdN: In Exile: "...or else we didn't win anything at all."](http://wilwheaton.typepad.com/wwdnbackup/2008/11/or-else-we-didn.html) A great write-up of one person's aftermath of the election. (tags: [politics](http://delicious.com/ddeery/politics))

[Check Browser Compatibility, Cross Platform Browser Test - Browsershots](https://browsershots.org/) An open-source project that allows you to preview your web site in a wide range of browsers. (tags: [screenshots](http://delicious.com/ddeery/screenshots) [webdev](http://delicious.com/ddeery/webdev)) [Drupal Developer's Toolbox | Developer's Toolbox | Smashing Magazine](http://www.smashingmagazine.com/2008/09/24/drupal-developers-toolbox/) A great list of resources for Drupal developers. (tags: [cms](http://delicious.com/ddeery/cms) [drupal](http://delicious.com/ddeery/drupal))

[Newseum - World's Front Pages from Nov. 5, 2008](http://www.newseum.org/todaysfrontpages/default_archive.asp?p_size=713) Check out what the world had to say about Obama's election. (tags: [News](http://delicious.com/ddeery/News)) [Fantastic Contraption: A fun online physics puzzle game](http://fantasticcontraption.com/) A very cool game. (tags: [physics](http://delicious.com/ddeery/physics) [puzzle](http://delicious.com/ddeery/puzzle) [game](http://delicious.com/ddeery/game)) [Stack Overflow](http://stackoverflow.com/) A web forum for programmers to ask questions and search for answers on programming problems. (tags: [questions](http://delicious.com/ddeery/questions) [forum](http://delicious.com/ddeery/forum) [programming](http://delicious.com/ddeery/programming)) [Entrepreneurship and Education at the Kauffman Foundation](http://www.kauffman.org/home.aspx) A great resource for entrepreneurs.

It’s time. Finally we’ve reached the end. Even for a political junkie like me this campaign has run on far too long. Get out and vote today. When you’re done, call a friend and remind them. I’m going to spend a good chunk of the day knocking on doors for the Obama campaign, reminding people to get out and vote. And at the end of the day, I hope, home to celebrate.

Kathleen and I visited city hall in Menomonie last week and took advantage of Wisconsin’s early voter option. I was happy to cast a vote for Barack Obama, who I think is the best candidate for president in this campaign, and possibly in my lifetime. He’s an eloquent speaker at a time when this country desperately needs one. It’s always frustrated me that the American people don’t seem to see that as a base qualification for President.

[The 25 Best News Photographs: Entertainment & Culture: vanityfair.com](http://www.vanityfair.com/culture/features/2008/11/25best_slideshow200811?slide=1#globalNav) <div class="delicious-tags">(tags: [photography](http://delicious.com/ddeery/photography) [photojournalism](http://delicious.com/ddeery/photojournalism))</div>