Found a fascinating color theory tutorial, including links to additional resources and a bibliography:

http://www.worqx.com/color/



This is general stuff, easy to read and organized so that it's amenable to topic hopping.  It's applicable to paper documents, application & web design, or simply making sure your chosen Windows color palette won't give you a siezure.

Simply reading the section about Perceptual Opposites led me to an "aha!" moment, when I finally understood why some colors just look nasty together, like they want to vibrate each other off the screen.  I'd subconciously recognized the phenomenon, but now I know why that happens.

Unfortunately none of this will not stop Mrs. Maximus from painting the kitchen green.

VectorMagic is an online experiment of Stanford University's Artificial Intelligence lab, taking bitmaps you upload and converting them to vector graphic files while-u-wait.  Vectorization really excels at simple logos and line art, but this bad boy will take anything you throw at it and deliver interesting results.  It has a clean and simple interface, with a Wizard that walks you through the process and then back again if the results make you go "meh".

http://vectormagic.stanford.edu/


They even include a brief tutorial for those new to vectorization, or why it's a Good Thing for certain applications.  Oh, and while the site has "Login" and "Signup" links in the upper right, rest assured you can vectorize all you want without registration.

I've included some before/after samples by way of demonstration.  Each took less than 4 minutes to process from beginning to end.  The first is an Audrey Maximus pencil sketch of the Mona Lisa:



Not bad.  Kind of screams "Impressionist", but it's a nice effect.  It's not a 100% perfect conversion, but I intentionally chose something that would be a challenge, and it worked out well.

Next up, the president of the RIAA:



Whoa!  It handles photographs well, don't you think? There's obvious problems with the reflection on his shoulder, but other than that most people wouldn't notice.  Note that while these samples are bitmaps (I converted them back again for posting) you can download your vector masterpiece in EPS format.

Vectors!  They're not just for making geometry students cry any more.

Courtesy of Buy My Drink comes this terrifyingly accurate (in my experience) flowchart.  I plan to start my day navigating its serpentine twistiness.  Soon.