Not all blog posts are made alike. That’s why you may have implemented a few plugins or adaptations on your blog to highlight some blog posts in a “featured” area. There are all kinds of ways to grant some special attention to your posts, but what about all of those great comments that your readers provide? There has to be a way to highlight them too, right?

Going beyond plugins like those that display most recent comments or the top commentators, Hikari Featured Comments allows you to add three custom fields to the comments posted on your blog. The three special properties are featured, buried, and children/threaded buried. You can change the semantics, but the default meanings sound like they would work just fine.

When a comment is flagged as “featured,” it will be highlighted above and beyond the other comments. You can add special CSS styles to these featured comments, making them more visible and more likely to be read by people browsing through the comments. By contrast, a “buried” comment is one that isn’t necessarily deleted, but it takes on nearly opposite characteristics of a featured comment. Perhaps the comment is faded out or put into a grey box. These are comments that aren’t really spam, so you don’t want to delete them, but they may be off-topic or not contributing to the conversation. The children/threaded buried comments work in a similar way, except they’re only applied to nested comments of the flagged comment.

Extensive documentation on the plug-in’s implementation and installation can be found at Hikari.ws. This is also where you find the download link to get the plug-in for free.

During the 2010 Winter Olympic Games in Vancouver, one of the most popular souvenir items were the red mittens. These mittens weren’t expensive, at just $10 a pair, and they featured a maple leaf on the palm. It helped to provide a sense of national unity for Canadians and it proved to be very lucrative for HBC, the official store for Olympic merchandise.

It seems that they are now prepared to re-release the mittens, but in a new form. The design is different, with the maple leaf wrapping around the side of the mitten rather than in the palm, but the concept is similar. It’s clear that Hudson’s Bay Company (HBC) is trying to capitalize on the existing popularity of the original mittens, which have since been discontinued. The Olympics may have only been earlier this year, but the nostalgia factor is certainly there.

Looking at your own business, did you have a very popular item that you think is worth re-inventing and re-releasing? Some customers may see this as a clear cash grab and, indeed, it really is. However, you still have to consider when you have opportunities to profit and you have to jump on these kinds of chances when you can. There is certainly something to be said about nostalgia.

From vintage sports jerseys to vintage-inspired cars, they can have huge sellers. What products in your lineup are worth re-launching in some renewed form? Would they be just as profitable as when they were first sold?

Winter is just around the corner. Depending on where you live and work, this could mean that it’s almost time to start bundling up with toques, scarves, and thick winter coats. You may also start wearing gloves and mittens to keep your hands warm. The trouble with this is that you may have some difficulty using your touchscreen-equipped devices, particularly those that use capacitive touchscreens.

If you happen to have something like an Apple iPhone 4, it may be worthwhile to consider picking up a silver touchscreen stylus. It’s far from the most advanced product on the market, but this stylus will allow you to interact with your favorite touchscreen handheld (like an iPad) without taking off your gloves in the bristling cold. Produced and marketed by GTMax, the stylus has a soft rubber tip on the end.

This allows you to have incredible precision on the touchscreen, tapping through virtual keyboards and clicking on website links with great accuracy and speed, without worrying about scratching the display. Use some other devices and you could end up with some rather unsightly scuffs. The soft rubber is combined with anti-oxidative medal, making it both durable and flexible.

Perhaps the best part is the price. You can find the universal silver touchscreen stylus on Amazon.ca for $1.38. That’s 86% off the regular price of $9.99!

Terms like “parliamentary procedure” can leave just about anyone groaning, but they are worth exploring if you are going to sit in on a board of directors, strata council, or any other kind of formal meeting where things have to get done. Cool Heads Publishing wants to ease that process for you.

Whether you’re going to be volunteering at a charity of your choice or this has something to do with your world of work, Democratic Rules of Order looks like it is very much a worthwhile read. It is the primary product being sold by Cool Heads Publishing, which just so happens to be a BlueFur hosting customer.

The book provides “a clear and common sense approach to the parliamentary standard without the confusion of jargon or unnecessary protocol. It provides guidelines in every day language to ensure that meetings are held in an orderly fashion, protecting every member’s right to equal participation.” Democratic Rules of Order is available in paperback, e-book, and Morph eViewer formats through the order page.

Do you use BlueFur to host your websites? Let us know and we can feature you in a future blog post. Send an email message to blogfeature@bluefur.com with your name, website URL, and a brief description of what you’d like to see highlighted.

Do you feel the need for speed? Do you get a chill down your spine every time someone mentions a Koenigsegg or a Dacia Sandero? If that’s the case, the Speed Theme for BuddyPress just might be a fantastic option for your automotive-related blog.

The theme has been designed to work in tandem with BuddyPress for your community-minded website, but it can also be implemented without BuddyPress as a regular WordPress theme. Among its features the three-column fluid layout, jQuery sliders, magazine style appearance, and an integrated options panel accessible through the main dashboard.

Other highlights include custom post options, social bookmarking integration, Flickr support, widgetized sidebars and footers, WP tag support, dropdown menus, and poll support. It also helps that it’s a very sleek looking design, partly inspired by the popular BBC television series Top Gear.

For more information, including screenshots, feature lists, and a download link, head over to the developer’s site at 3oneseven.com.

Shelly Tucker asks a very simple question. How many thumbtacks do you need if you don’t allow them to be used on your walls and you don’t have a bulletin board? Are they just junk if you’re never going to use them? There’s something to be said about changing your mindset on these early stages of hoarding.

Thursday Bram poses an entirely different kind of question: Should freelancers remain freelancers? Moving in the freelance realm certainly affords some freedoms compared to regular jobs, but it still has its limitations. At some point, should you move on to something else?

The Network Hub‘s Eriko is new to Vancouver and she’s excited to explore everything this city has to offer. One of the bigger highlights thus far is Korean pork barbecue. The delicious flavors entice her into the restaurants every time she walks by and she’s thinking of holding a BBQ session at her friend’s place too!

Bonnie Sainsbury of Left Brain Media knows a thing or two about marketing and promotion. She also happens to know three different ways to monetize your blog. There’s nothing wrong with making some money from your blog, so you may as well explore your options.

Trent Hamm of The Simple Dollar has worked out some math for us to consider. What are the mathematics of renting a movie. Going to the brick-and-mortar video store is not as affordable as it used to be, so does it make more sense to pay for an unlimited Netflix subscription instead? Or are there even cheaper options?