Tag Archives: art

Dark XP and Gmail

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For everyone who has followed me on the internet all these years, they know that I have a dark side. I absolutely LOVE dark-themed websites, for some reason. All my websites have been dark, save my very first Blogger template. I even wrote about the switch from light to dark back in 2002. Too bad I didn’t post a screenshot. I use dark desktop/wallpapers on all my computers, even the one at work. For my personal computers, I’ve been using a dark theme called Royale Noir. It looks exactly like Royale, the blue default XP theme, only it’s, uh, dark.

royalenoir Dark XP and Gmail

Download Royale Noir Windows XP theme:

Instructions:

  1. Extract files to “C:\windows\resources\themes\royale noir”
  2. Double click on “luna.msstyles”
  3. Select “Noir” from “Color Scheme”

Because this theme has been code-signed by Microsoft, No UXTheme.dll hack required.

More recently, I’ve been testing out a darkened version of Gmail. It requires the Stylish Firefox extension and the Gmail Redesigned user style by UneasySilence. Cool interface, eh? Has Gmail ever changed it’s look since it was launched?

darkgmaill Dark XP and Gmail

Oh, and I’m also trying out the dark Google web search. I wonder how many people out there are into dark skins/themes.

Just Launched: new Google Wake Up Kit!

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Just found this in my Google Calendar:

Do you have trouble getting out of bed in the morning? We do, too. In fact this problem became so serious at times that it sometimes resulted in lacklustre attendance at team meetings. To help solve the problem we’ve created an innovative solution called the Google Wake Up Kit.

“I could never wake up on time to get to our team meetings. But thanks to the new Google Wake Up Kit, I’m always on time now!”
Pedro C.

In combination with the kit, you can receive a new type of notification from Google Calendar, called the “wake up” notification. This notification is relentless in ensuring your timely awakening from restful slumber.

The “wake up” notification uses several progressively more annoying alerts to wake you up. First it will send an SMS message to your phone. If that fails, more coercive means will be used. The kit includes an industrial-sized bucket and is designed to be connected to your water main for automatic filling. In addition, a bed-flipping device is included for forceful removal from your sleeping quarters. Learn more.

Google Goes Black to Go Green

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blackgooglehomepage Google Goes Black to Go Green

Is black the new green? Google turned its home page black in support of Earth Hour. TechCrunch brings up a good point: Google, ironically, is causing more people to visit their site, using even more power to celebrate Earth Hour than they would on a normal day. It looks so funny that it almost made Christiana reboot her computer.

What’s this Twitter thing?

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Am I the only one out of all my friends who uses Twitter? Maybe it’s because I’m the biggest internet geek I know or it’s because of my unlimited free texting that comes with my phone plan. Either way, there’s so much hype about it nowadays that I finally had to see why people like it so much. I signed up for an account a few months ago, but it wasn’t until these last couple weeks that I decided to give it a second look.

Here’s a good introductory video on what it is (from Commoncraft.com):

I’ve included my latest updates under the “What am I doing?” section in the sidebar using Alex King’s Twitter Tools plugin for WordPress. I also use TwitterSync to make my Facebook status match my Twitter status.

People might be thinking “who really cares about that kind of mindless trivia about your day?” but for the techie-types out there like me, here’s a good article about why twitter isn’t a waste of time.

Anyone else out there using twitter?

City!N launches in China

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City!N (read CityIN), is a new China-based social networking site that launched earlier this month.

An article at VentureBeat explains why it’s a bit different from Facebook.

Users create profiles where they explain their interests such as favorite movies, cars, or celebrities. They rate items and then the site recommends other people in the same local areas who have similar interests.

Currently, the site is only in Chinese, but they plan to expand to English language support at some point in the future.

College Grads in Beijing to Leave Campus Earlier

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College grads in Beijing to leave campus earlier (March 9, 2008, Xinhua)
College graduates in Beijing will leave campus roughly a month earlier than the usual time this summer due to the Olympics which is scheduled to start on August 8 in the city. Beijing municipal education authorities required all colleges located in Beijing to have their graduates leave campus at least one month earlier than they are usually asked to do. Therefore, career service offices in local colleges sped up their paces in job counseling for would-be graduates. The majority of graduating students might find jobs before the end of April. Also reported in the Guardian.

Gilbert & George

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Gilbert & George put themselves at the center of their artwork. Identifying as “living sculptures” in art and daily life, they eliminate the distinction between artist and art. They began their career together with a tabletop vaudeville performance piece called The Singing Sculpture. Eventually, they began photographing their performance work to extend its reach and range. Over the years, their art has incorporated film and computer graphics.

Looks interesting, even though I know nothing about art. Anyone want to pay a visit to the de Young?

Events (September Edition)

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What: Survivor: China premiere
When: Thursday, September 20, 8pm ET/PT
Where: CBS
Why: The show claims to be the first full American television series to be filmed entirely within China. I’ve read that many aspects of Chinese culture and history have been included in this season. Each contestant was supposed to receive a copy of The Art of War by Sun Tzu (which is excellent, by the way–I just finished the audio book earlier this year). The show supposedly had “unprecedented access” to several historical Chinese monuments, including a Shaolin Temple and the Great Wall.

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What: PARK(ing) Day
When: Friday, September 21
Where: San Francisco and across the world
Why: It’s a one day event where people temporarily transform parking spaces into public parks.

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What: Mid-Autumn Festival (中秋节)
When: Tuesday, September 25
Where: Wherever there are Chinese people
Why: The mooncakes have landed! The Mid-Autumn Festival falls on the 15th day of the 8th lunar month each year. This is one of my favorite times of the year when I get to overdose on lard lotus seed paste.

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What: Special Olympics
When: October 2-11
Where: Shanghai
Why: There was a lot of hype for this during the summer when I visited a home for the mentally disabled. This is China’s beta testing for the Olympics next year. The Special Olympics will start almost as soon as the FIFA Women’s World Cup ends. Nearly 7,500 athletes from more than 160 countries, 40,000 volunteers and 3,500 event officials will descend upon Shanghai and athletes will compete in 25 Olympic-type sports in venues all across the city. Oooh, Arnold Schwarzenegger, Jackie Chan, Colin Farrell, Yo Yo Ma and Zhang Ziyi will be there at the opening ceremony on October 2 at the Shanghai Stadium!

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Oh, and happy talk like a pirate day.

Alfred Peet, 1920-2007

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Peet’s Coffee founder Alfred Peet died earlier this week (Wednesday) in Oregon.

When Alfred Peet opened his shop in Berkeley in April, 1966 he started a coffee revolution. Nobody had ever seen top-quality coffee like this roasted in this unique style in America. The corner of Walnut and Vine quickly became a gathering place for UC Berkeley grads, undergrads, and faculty as well as local intellectuals, radicals, writers, musicians, artisans and any number of the colorful people who still make up Berkeley today.

All my friends know that Peet’s is what I go for. (Check out the “About” section in the footer below!) Maybe that’s why I can’t sleep at night after coming back from Asia.  Not only do my taste buds love their coffee, but because I love the bay area so much, I really dig local companies and products (like my Timbuk2 bags and Scharffen Berger Chocolate, which has since been bought out by Hershey’s).

Recently, Jaime has introduced me to another exclusively San Francisco coffee company called Martha & Bros. I’m just waiting for them to open more locations closer to my neighborhood.

Thank you for your work, Mr. Peet. Coffee, dark chocolate, and something to carry them in. That’s all I need for life.

Crazy, but good

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I’m up typing this now because I can’t sleep. I think jet lag is settling in. I haven’t even stayed at home yet, because apparently there was a gas leak so they had to turn off the gas until Tuesday. Which means I have no hot water nor can I use the dryer. So I’ve been staying at other people’s houses. It stinks not to have a home to go back to. And I don’t have my car either! Oh well.

So I arrived back in SF on Friday evening because I had to bring one of the students back home.  I’ll be flying back out to Shanghai on Tuesday morning. Crazy, eh?

But that’s not all. I was able to attend Dustin and Valene’s wedding after all.  Yes, I have officially crashed a wedding now.  I even wrote in my name on the table place card.  After the wedding tonight, we were loading up my friend’s car in Oakland’s Chinatown and we had to transfer my stuff when a fight broke out at a party near our restaurant.  Everyone came rushing out toward’s my friend’s car. Half of us got in the car, while the other half had to walk to their cars. We couldntt drive off right away because people were running in the street, but we managed to get to the end of the block and as we turned the corner, we heard gunshots.  Welcome back to America…sheesh.

Well, I didn’t bust out my DSLR today, but here’s one of the pictures from the wedding.  Congratulations to the two of them.

Crazy, but good

Tomorrow, I’ll be going to church and to Benny and Julia’s shower. This has got to be the perfect weekend to be back.  What a blessing in disguise in the midst of all this traveling.

The Muslim Concept of Sin

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The Bible teaches that sin is a state of the heart. It separates us from God. The outward symptoms of sin are the individual sins we commit: lying, cheating, stealing, murder, adultery and so forth.

Islam, on the other hand, teaches that people do not have a fallen nature. There is no original sin. Adam was not rebellious; he just forgot and ate of the forbidden tree. So sin is not spiritual depravity nor is it rebellion against God.

How do Muslims believe they receive forgiveness of sins? By doing good works. For them, redemption is not necessary. Rather, prayer, alms-giving, fasting and so on are the Muslim means of securing forgiveness and gaining God’s favor. ~praying for Muslims/a spiritual warfare calendar

Check it:
We have been set free because of what Christ has done. Through his blood our sins have been forgiven. We have been set free because God’s grace is so rich. (Ephesians 1:7, NIRV)

We Believe!

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The Warriors made it to ROUND 2.

Check out my friend while we were watching last night’s game. For as long as I’ve known him (which is about the length of the Warrior’s drought), he was NEVER into sports. Look at him now:

We Believe!

My friend emailed an article about photoshopped Chucks to me this morning. Here’s my fave:

We Believe!

Oh, and something a little different, but still related. I really like the Houston Rockets’ logo.
rockets logo We Believe!
It falls in the same category of favorite images including the Space Needle logo and the outline of the Infiniti coupe.

January Memory Verse

Personal

Monthly memory verse for my high schoolers:

Philippians 4:6-7 (NKJV)

6 Be anxious for nothing,
but in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let
your requests be made known to God; 7 and the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.

It’s the start of a new year.  Bobby McFerrin had half of it right: Don’t worry.  Be prayerful.