Some more Christmas resources

Cute snowmen, skyHDwallpaper

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Have you ever heard a song, then had it go round and round in your head most of the day? And if the song has lyrics, you can't remember all of them. Then you're stuck trying to remember. If this happens with the 12 Days of Christmas, you can find the lyrics to this and many songs at MetroLyrics. Here are the first 3 days worth:

On the first day of Christmas
my true love sent to me:
A Partridge in a Pear Tree

On the second day of Christmas
my true love sent to me:
Two Turtle Doves
and a Partridge in a Pear Tree

On the third day of Christmas
my true love sent to me:
Three French Hens
Two Turtle Doves
and a Partridge in a Pear Tree

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desktop Christmas images, hd-wallpapersdownload

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If you can't get enough fresh Christmas images, try this search: "Christmas 2015" or "Christmas wallpaper" in Google images.

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3 Fantastic Christmas Wallpapers, eskipaper

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Merry Christmas to you and yours.

-- Marge

Art and design: Christmas websites

Christmas wallpaper, iSkysoft

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Today's mission was to find some of the best non-commercial websites online in the last 2 years. I return empty-handed. If you want to buy something, be inspired with lovely Christmas templates (to buy), or go to church, you're in luck.

The recent lists of best websites mostly tout flat design anyway, which frankly I find flat. That is, without any visual interest. Perhaps the best list about Christmas in general is the Telegraph's Christmas 2015. Christmas.com may hold some treasures for you.

If you want a template for your own website, take a look at Christmas Templates 2015: A List Of 14 Best Templates For Professional Blogs And Websites. If Wordpress is your CMS (content management system) of choice, there's 10 Best WordPress Christmas themes 2015. (Note: some links at Design Maz point to discontinued themes. Go figure.) Here's a live demo of the Christmas Lights theme from TemplateMonster.

The site iSkysoft has a good list of free Christmas images. Many of the links point to wallpapers; these can be resized to be usable as smaller images, as shown here.

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Christmas wallpaper, iSkysoft

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Then there's Elf Yourself. It's up to 1.2 billion visitors and counting. With it you can take a photo with your webcam, save it to your desktop, and send it to Facebook. There are apps for iPhone and Android. (You must agree to the terms and conditions before you can operate the site options.)

-- Marge

DIY: smartphone holograms and other holographic effects

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If you're fascinated by holographic images--the ones that seem to hang in the air--you've come to the right place.

Hot on the web right now is how to turn your smartphone into a 3d hologram projector. The video below will tell you how to make the setup needed. After that, google "hologram video" for images to put on your smartphone.

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There is other holographic magic going on, as well. The Celluon Magic Cube will project a usable keyboard onto a flat surface. The cube connects with your computer via "infrared layer combined with an optical sensor." A video is available on YouTube.

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Celluon Magic Cube

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The Daily Mail reports Star Wars-style moving holograms, saying

Scientists at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology have cracked a major technological hurdle to make low-cost, high quality holographic videos a reality.

Until now, the video hologram has generally been confined to science fiction, the most famous example being the projected image of Princess Leia in the first Star Wars film.

Is the model in the photo reading backward?

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3D holographic video, Daily Mail

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Perhaps most amazing is this interactive live holography by RealView Imaging.

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In case you didn't know, lasers are used to produce holograms. Here's How holograms work.

-- Marge

Martin Luther King: visions of the man

It being Martin Luther King Day, a tribute to the man is in order. Many people have idolized him with their artwork, relatively few really knew him. In the images below I'm attempting to capture moments in his life rendered by artists he or his memory touched.

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cxard, Martin Luther King Jr., DeviantART

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Martin Luther King, Jr. Memorial, National Park Service

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Here is King when he gave his "I have a dream" speech in August, 1963. To me he looks lonely--a solitary man standing exposed above the crowd.

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Martin Luther King, Jr., I have a dream speech, MSNBC

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Shepard Fairey, Martin Luther King 2004, ObeyGiant

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The Graphic Design & Publishing Center site features a collection of Martin Luther King Jr. artwork you may enjoy.

-- Marge