• Objectified – New documentary from the people that gave you Helvetica. Looks interesting.
• Georgia recalls Soviet crackdown – I visited ten years after this. It’s a really beautiful country and such a shame that it keeps descending into civil war or getting into a scuffle with its northern neighbour.
• Odds of Dying in a Terrorist Attack – “You are eight times more likely to be killed by a police officer than by a terrorist.” Maybe the government should start protecting us from the police instead? (via Kottke.org)

This weeks PhotoFriday theme is “Grandmother” and, unfortunately, I don’t have a suitable image this time. But please vote for my entry in last weeks challenge, “Extreme Closeup.” I’m entry number 180.

Instead here is a picture that I really like that I’ve not shown off as much as I should have done! It was taken in Sospel, France. This was the view from the front of the hotel we were staying in. My friend got this view, my room was looking out over a shed at the back.

There seem to have been a few food-related themes recently, and this week is no exception. The image above represents the PhotoFriday challenge “Edible.” It’s B digging into some more than merely edible food in Lisbon.

Please also vote for my entry in last weeks challenge, “The Weekend.” I’m entry number 187.

This weeks PhotoFriday theme is “Isolation.” It was tempting to use an image in the Himalayas or an empty snowscape in Norway, but I figured being alone and isolated in a crowd was worse. Okay, so this chap isn’t in a crowd but he is in the biggest city in Portugal and he is isolated, alone in his thoughts.

Please also vote for my entry in last weeks challenge, “City Life.” My entry is number 209.

• Ryanair’s New Emergency Instructions Could Be Real One Day – Funny. Though we probably shouldn’t give them ideas.
• Liberal Democrats – Freedom Bill 2009 – I didn’t hear about this first time around, but it sounds like a good idea. As one of the commenters noted, even if it doesn’t go anywhere it might make the Government justify why these laws are needed when there are perfectly good, less draconian one already in place.
• Among the Inept, Researchers Discover, Ignorance Is Bliss – “People who do things badly … are usually supremely confident of their abilities — more confident, in fact, than people who do things well.” I can’t actually remember how I stumbled across this link any more, but it makes fascinating reading. Does kind of make you a little paranoid, though.
• 10 Geeky Tricks for Getting Out of Bed in the Morning – I should probably read this more closely when I’m properly awake. I’m getting worse and worse at getting up in the morning…

I always consider one of the constants of “City Life” — this weeks PhotoFriday — are rows of taxis. In London they’re usually black. In New York they’re yellow. And there are a lot of them!

Please also vote for my entry in last weeks challenge, “Morning Routine.” I’m entry number 173.

• The League of Moveable Type – Most free or open source fonts I’ve seen have been pretty poor but these guys seem to have the right idea.
• Government plans travel database – “When your travel plans, who you are travelling with, where you are going to and when are being recorded you have to ask yourself just how free is this country?”
• Learning and Working in the Collaborative Age: A New Model for the Workplace – Fascinating ten minute video on what Pixar look for in candidates, summarised as Depth, Breadth, Communication and Collaboration. Given those criteria I’m guessing they’re very selective!

I didn’t have an exact picture in mind for this weeks PhotoFriday, “Costume,” but I did have an event: on the Norwegian Constitution Day there’s a huge parade in most major cities, including the biggest which is in Oslo.

So I fired up iPhoto to see which was the best image to use and… they weren’t there. So I spent much of this afternoon finding my negatives and scanning the whole, missing roll of film in. I’d forgotten why I’d moved to digital!

Petra and its Treasury are justly considered travel icons, which, I think, makes it a great candidate for this weeks PhotoFriday challenge, “Icon.” Shots like this are used almost everywhere Petra is mentioned (the other is the Treasury with a camel sat in front of it), which kind of makes it an iconic — in the sense of having a conventional formulaic style — photo, too.

A Tibetan monk spends a lot of his time meditating. Unfortunately I didn’t get a good picture of one so this weeks PhotoFriday, “Meditation,” is a picture of the many people who meditate, pray and prostrate outside the Jokhang Temple in Lhasa, Tibet.

Please also vote for my entry in last weeks challenge, “White.” I’m entry 266.