Did you get enough to eat this Thanksgiving? I sure did. I was stuffed before the main course hit the table and that’s not even mentioning the two desserts my wife made.

But, I suppose you might still be hungry. And if you’re still hungry and you like flowcharts, then of course you’ll want to check out RecipeFlowCharts.

Yeah. I didn’t see that one coming either.

On this new (and perhaps already dead) blog, an unidentified author presents recipes in flowchart form. Two are currently posted; Chicken Tikka Masala and Cheddar Broccoli Lunch Muffins.

It’s an interesting idea. Having not yet tried out either recipe, it does look like this format may actually be easier to use. I’m the kind of cook who needs a recipe and who always needs to check and recheck it as I cook. I get lost. I can’t remember when I’m supposed to stir in the almonds or when I’m supposed to brown the onions.

What do you think?

While we’re talking about stuffing our faces, here’s another flowchart from Eating the Road, this one on which breakfast cereal is right for you.

This one is getting the big love over on Digg, but I’m still squarely in the not-impressed camp. If you think this is great, please share. I’m very curious.

Oooh look! It’s the elusive flowchart seen in its natural habitat! It isn’t often we get to see a flowchart out of it’s internet-burrow (they’re nocturnal), so let’s see what we can learn from this brave little fella.

This picture of a sign at Market Lane Coffee in Melbourne Australia is from Flick’r user MuteMonkey.

Market Lane in turn bounces credit for the inspiration for their sign to Volta Coffee in Florida. So hats doffed all around, gentlemen and ladies. Good idea. (Now, can you get Americans to learn how to make a flat white? Awesome.)

This flowchart isn’t complicated or anything, but it doesn’t need to be. It isn’t fancy; just chalk on board. It is, however, satisfyingly clear. It tells you what you want to know without any delay and that means you’re that much closer to a damn fine cup of coffee.

Make mine a double.

For those of you traveling, good luck with the lines. And for all y’all, happy Thanksgiving.

You may have seen this one already, as it’s covering the Internet like grease on a McNugget.

This flowchart from Eating the Road doesn’t do much for me. That may be because the only reason I’d eat fast food is if I’d been buried in a box under the highway for three days with nothing to eat. And even then, I’m thinking I could make it to a gas station for some peanuts or something.

But what do you think? Obviously this chart has sparked something in readers to warrant its being posted and reposted and Dugg and all that.

Tell me why you like it (if you do).

Personally, I don’t see the humor here. The background is pretty distracting. And, most importantly, I don’t really think anyone has any use whatsoever for a flowchart telling them what fast food to eat. If you’re hungry, and you consider fast food to be food, I think it’s reasonably safe to say that the time for high-level thinking has passed.

Hello flowchart aficionado!

Is this your first time on the Gliffy blog? I ask only because yesterday Gizmodo covered one of our original flowcharts and now, well, there are a lot of new faces around.

Welcome. What we’re trying to do here is collect the best flowcharts and diagrams that we can find — the funniest, the cleverest, the most interesting — and hold them up for adulation. (Or occasionally, criticism)

We also create original flowcharts to share, and we happily accept your submissions for consideration, whether or not they’re made using Gliffy’s flowchart software. (It’s free to try, though…)

Made something you think is worth posting? Found something on the web you want to share? Get me in the comments and I’ll get back to you.

Today’s example of flowchart excellence comes courtesy of Wired Magazine. Daniel Dumas posted this one on their website and I thought it might appeal to you.

It’s called:

Ask a Flowchart: Should I Delete My Tweet?

Not bad, Daniel. I think the Colombians might object to the depiction of their postal service, but otherwise funny.

I’m not sure how I feel about how the design, though. Is its old skool circuit diagram look a little hard to follow? What do you think?

We just released a quick update to the Gliffy JIRA Plugin that includes translations of non-editor text into French and German.

As with our last Gliffy Confluence Plugin release, this will likely be the last release of the Gliffy JIRA Plugin that includes Flash 7 support. All future release of the Gliffy Plugin for JIRA will require Flash 9 or better on the client side.

Happy Drawing!

My wife has forbidden me from growing a mustache — regardless of the fact that my growing a mustache could actually save lives!

Yes, it’s true. My (or your) lip-cozy could be at this very minute raising funds and awareness for men’s health as part of Movember.

So, assuming you are not forbidden from growing hair out of your face, you’ll want to know what kind of mustache to grow. Maxim has you covered.

In other fashion-related news, today our friends over at Hide Your Arms have been good enough to share our earlier advice about how to decide if your T-shirt is work appropriate. Thanks, Andy!

In case you’re not familiar with Hide Your Arms, you might want to click over and see what’s going on in the fantastic world of T-shirts and hoodies.

I am a professional writer. Occasionally, I click send on an email only to glance at it again and release a long, horrible, Skywalker-esque “noooooooooooooooo!’

I’ve missed an apostrophe.

Luckily, thanks to the flowchart created over at the Oatmeal, this ghastly happenstance need never occur again.

click image to see full flowchart

This is just a segment of the full flowchart. If you have a lot of trouble with rules like this, or teach English to the apostrophatically challenged, they also make a poster.

This flowchart is an interesting variant on the standard form. It blends the usual bubble/arrow layout with more extensive copy. In this case, I’d say their format works well. The flowchart is easy to read,  graphically engaging and plenty useful. Kudos Oatmeal.

So you need a new television? No problem! Just go down to the local electronics shop, choose one impulsively and then spend the rest of the year with buyer’s remorse.

Or maybe that doesn’t sound like a good plan to you?

Another option, then, is to do what I did; spend most of a month reading articles on CNET about subjects as fascinating as aspect ratios and up-conversions, plow through reviews of TV models that are no longer available, and cruise bargain websites obsessively trying to find a deal good enough to spur you into action.

Then, of course, once you remember to factor in shipping costs you’ll end up at Best Buy, being stared down by a wall of televisions. That’s the worst part. Those TVs sing an enchanting song. You will have no choice but to take the most expensive one home, regardless of your budget.

Fun!

Honestly, buying a new television is intimidating. HDMI, LCD, HDTV, PiP, Hz, ms, 1080p / 1080i / 720p yadda yadda yadda… head explode!!!

Luckily for you, I’ve made a flowchart to help simplify the television buying process. I’m not an expert, but this chart does capture the insights I gained through my own extensive research. It is, uh, a little long.

click image to see full size flowchart

Yeah. I told you it wasn’t easy choosing a television!

For the record, I bought a Samsung LN32B460, which is a 32″ 720p LCD HDTV with 3 HDMI ports. I mostly use it to watch stuff off my computer and it looks great, much better than I expected. I don’t at all miss having 1080p or some fancy anti-judder fooferaw. 32″ is, if anything, bigger than I need and I’ve got a decently sized living room. I bought it from one of the only non-Best Buy electronics shops left in San Francisco and got a deal that was good enough.

I hope your TV buying process is shorter, less painful, and as finally successful as mine! And I hope this flowchart helps!

Today we released the Gliffy Confluence Plugin version 2.0.2. This release includes nearly 20 bug fixes and improvements related to the Confluence integration. Download the latest version of the Gliffy Confluence Plugin here. Three major highlights of this release include:

• Confluence 3.1 compatibility – Atlassian hasn’t released Confluence 3.1 yet, but that hasn’t stopped us from making sure Gliffy works with this new version. If you’re planning on using Gliffy in Confluence 3.1, you need to upgrade to the Gliffy Confluence Plugin version 2.0.2 to ensure everything works smoothly.
• Improved workflow when adding diagrams – We’ve reduced the number of clicks by one when adding a new diagram through the ‘Add Diagram’ link.
• License Expiration Notifications – Administrators of your Confluence installation will now be notified when your Gliffy Confluence Plugin license has 30 days left before it expires. This should help ensure customers don’t get stuck unable to upgrade to a new version of Gliffy by accidentally letting their maintenance period slip by.

This will be our last Flash 7 compatible release -This will likely be our last release that includes a Gliffy Editor that works with Flash 7. Our next release will require that users are running Flash 9 or better. Buy adopting Flash 9, our users will see a significant performance improvement when using the Gliffy editor, and we’ll be able to take advantage of some new features in Flash 9 that will benefit everyone. We decided not to jump to Flash 10 since the most recent Flash Enterprise Penetration Statistics from Adobe suggest that Flash 10 is not widely deployed inside the Enterprise yet.

Detailed release notes for the Gliffy Confluence Plugin 2.0.2 are below:

• [GLIFFY-1360] – Editing diagrams not working anymore after updating to gliffy version 2.0.0
• [GLIFFY-1454] – The create diagram button text spills over the button on Firefox 3.0/3.5 on Mac
• [GLIFFY-1528] – Confluence 3.1 compatibility
• [GLIFFY-1612] – Document Manager does not show spaces in Confluence 3.1-m4 release
• [GLIFFY-1613] – Remove Pencil icon from Gliffy Plugin Admin link
• [GLIFFY-1614] – Creating diagram doesn’t work when confluence isn’t hosted at root context
• [GLIFFY-1660] – URL field is truncating/deleting characters
• [GLIFFY-1067] – Improve integration with Confluence
• [GLIFFY-1441] – Links truncated / limit at 100, previusly at least 117 allowed
• [GLIFFY-1521] – Change ‘Add Diagram’ link to show ‘Add Gliffy Diagram’
• [GLIFFY-1672] – Copying Confluence Pages causes user confusion when they then edit diagrams
• [GLIFFY-1415] – When there are only 5 days left in a plugin free trial, send an email to Administrators letting them know
• [GLIFFY-1416] – Automated emails from Confluence plugins to administrators
• [GLIFFY-1427] – Admin screen should report the number of Gliffy diagrams that exist in Confluence
• [GLIFFY-1339] – Let users know that the Gliffy Plugin Trial is about to expire in more locations
• [GLIFFY-1419] – i18n updates for 2.0.2 release
• [GLIFFY-1560] – Change references to http://www.gliffy.com/confluencePlugin to http://www.gliffy.com/confluence-plugin

flow chart also flow·chart (flchärt)n. A schematic representation of a sequence of operations, as in a manufacturing process or computer program

That’s according to the Free Dictionary.

And if we accept that definition (as we do) the only thing keeping this most-excellent map from being a flowchart is sequence.

This beautiful translation of the Eisenhower Interstate System into “London Tube” map style was done by Flick’r member Senex Prime. You really need to click through to the large version to appreciate it’s majesty.

It isn’t a flowchart though. It’s a map. If it had directionality built in, then it would qualify. It’s really too bad, since there’s no possible way I could post it on this blog unless it’s a flowchart…

Perhaps if we say this map was designed to get me from Boston to San Francisco? We could overlay a few arrows, highlight one preferred route?

Whatever. One must accept life as it presents itself.

I wanted to share it here because it is such a beautiful design (based on the work of H. C. Beck, who did the London Underground map). It’s visually pleasing and wholly useful. How many things can you say that about? Excellent work Senex Prime!

As Senex says on his Flick’r page:

“I have rendered the Interstate system in a much simpler form. I have made the “major” highways (those divisible by 5) the framework of the map, with the “minor” highways reduced in importance and rendered as thinner grey lines. Even with these highways, a difference in the greys indicates whether they are even-numbered (west-east) or odd-numbered (north-south). Dots on the highways indicate interchanges: large dots where major highways meet other major highways, smaller dots where major meets minor and tiny dots where minor highways begin or end. A full key at the bottom indicates clearly where each highway begins and ends.”

Honestly, I can imagine traversing the country with nothing more than this map and I’ve driven back and forth three times.