my thoughts

There's no reason why design patterns shouldn't be applied when you're using PHP:
www.phppatterns.com/index.php/article/articleview/13/1/1/

UML is a pretty comprehensive OO design language. I find myself using only a small subset of it, mostly while planning database schemas, objects & relationships. Have a look at this online UML modelling tool (written in Flash!) in which you can create basic class diagrams. It allows you to save and load your files in XML too. Handy!
www.gmodeler.com

I've found a fun website where you can make paper snowflakes without the paper and scissors - what seasonal fun!
snowflakes.lookandfeel.com/

Plain English is "a message, written with the reader in mind and with the right tone of voice, that is clear and concise."
www.plainenglish.co.uk/plainenglishguide.html

Shopping ethically isn't difficult! Here is a useful article offering a quick tour of websites covering ethically conscious organisations.

"Ruth Rosselson shows how to buy into a greener lifestyle, complete with solar-powered cappucino whisk: Thursday June 7, 2001 The Guardian"
shopping.guardian.co.uk/ethicalshopping/story/0,11951,689431,00.html

Old news perhaps, but google has a particularly useful calculator. It understands almost anything, type in a question or a sum and it provides you with the answer. My favourite query so far is "what is 100kph in furlongs per fortnight"!

Try these examples:
radius of the earth in meters
pounds in a kilogram
cube root (6 * 4) to the e times i
5 factorial factorial
www.google.com/help/features.html
The definitions feature looks handy too:
define website
define dominic

Not to be outdone...
Alltheweb provide a calculator too but it does not accept natural language queries.
Ever wondered how many drops in a dash?
www.alltheweb.com/help/faqs/convert

I've updated my Making a difference: Ethical Shopping page which is a summary of my choices as an ethical consumer, and why I made those choices. Why not take a look and see how you can make a difference too.
www.get2dom.com/pages/dominic/ethics.php

The Proactive Windows Security Explorer is a tool for evaluating the security of windows networks and passwords. It can recover passwords by brute-force: The password is considered to be insecure if it is recovered (guessed!) within a reasonable amount of time. The theory is that you can identify the users on your network who have a weak (guessable) password and tell them to change it. I wonder when proactive security analysis becomes outright hacking? Hmm. The program is freeware.
fileforum.betanews.com/detail.php3?fid=1068026081

"Aoccdrnig to a rscheearch sudty at Cmabrigde Uinervtisy*, it deosn't mttaer in waht oredr the ltteers in a wrod are, the olny iprmoetnt tihng is taht the frist and lsat ltteer be at the rghit pclae.

The rset can be a taotl mses and you can sitll raed it wouthit porbelm. Tihs is bcuseae the huamn mnid deos not raed ervey lteter by istlef, but the wrod as a wlohe."

More info:
A script to scamble words for you: www.lerfjhax.com/funky.php
A discussion on the linguistics: www.languagehat.com/archives/000840.php
A meme experiment: blogs.salon.com/0001092/2003/09/15.html
*It wasn't at Cambridge, it appears to be Kourosh Saberi at UC Irvine and David R. Perrott at Cal State Los Angeles, according to some sources.

Exploring the Singleton Design Pattern, an article on MSDN provides a simple and accessible introduction to software design patterns. The article also includes links to the Factory and Observer patterns.
msdn.microsoft.com/library/default.asp?url=/library/en-us/dnbda/html/singletondespatt.asp

There's an essential book on the subject:
www.amazon.co.uk/exec/obidos/ASIN/0201633612/ref=sr_aps_books_1_1/026-7788316-2939614