Tried to shoot the fireworks but done very badly. I took few through my dirty window.





I wasn't thought I would see many fireworks from different locations, I think at least 10 places were firing. I can hear people loudly said Happy New Year! and I have no idea where they were. Those fireworks consecutively lasted for about 20 minutes. 2009 has proved me that it is amazing from very beginning. And I never thought I could see so many beautiful fireworks at the same time from the window.

Again, Happy New Year to Everyone!

It's 2009! Oh yeah! A FlippyCat video is perfectly for the moment!

I saw few photos on Flickr use some different methods to write 2008 and this is my way! I use Mouse Track in KDE's Desktop Effects. The light source is five stars fly around mouse cursor. Few books to stack up for camera. B shutter and f/22. My chin to hold the shutter. Left hand to press Ctrl+Win and right hand moves the mouse to write. Background is an all black image created using GIMP. Showing in full-screen using Eye of GNOME. KDE on GNU/Linux from Fedora 10 distro.

Completely created in free way and that's my way.

Of course, there is a photo for 2009!



It's easy to welcome 2009, just hit the Enter key! (We enter 2009!)

Oh, just a reminder! Please don't celebrate too fast for 2009, we have an extra second to countdown! Hey, you can stay in 2008 for one more second (UTC or behind) or you can have extra second in 2009 (ahead UTC), isn't that great?

Today a thread got my attention. We now can have not only the Adobe 64-Bit Flash plugin but also the Sun's Java 64-Bit plugin. Of couse, IcedTea in OpenJDK has done a great job, but someone may still want the Sun's.

Installing

First is to download JRE (or JDK, but you have to change the paths). The version I downloaded is Linux x64 RPM in self-extracting JRE file Build b03.

su -
sh jre-6u12-ea-bin-b03-linux-amd64-22_dec_2008-rpm.bin

Then you need to create two alternative profiles, one for running normal Java application, the other for plugin.

alternatives --install /usr/bin/java java /usr/java/jre1.6.0_12/bin/java 0
alternatives --install /usr/lib64/mozilla/plugins/libjavaplugin.so libjavaplugin.so.x86_64 /usr/java/jre1.6.0_12/lib/amd64/libnpjp2.so 0

Note: The path may be different, please double check!

After creating two profiles, you need to choose to use them

alternatives --config java
alternatives --config libjavaplugin.so.x86_64

You should select the ones at the bottom of each list. alternative gives you flexibility if you need to frequently switch between OpenJDK or Sun JDK/JRE. You just run the commend above to choose.

Testing

• Open about:plugins, you should see libnpjp2.so. No IcedTea plugin shows up since we use alternative.
  
• Go to this Sun's page, you should see a dancing duke is dancing for you.
  

Removing?

su - 
alternatives --remove java /usr/java/jre1.6.0_12/bin/java
alternatives --remove libjavaplugin.so.x86_64 /usr/java/jre1.6.0_12/lib/amd64/libnpjp2.so
alternatives --auto java
alternatives --auto libjavaplugin.so.x86_64
yum remove jre

Note Again: The path may be different, please double check!

Do you like a rainy day if that day is last day of a year? Tomorrow is the last day of this year. If you could decide how that day feels, what would you like to have?

I say Show me the warmest sunshine!

A week ago, I re-installed Arch Linux on my one of my computers. At that time, I decided to use GNOME as usual. But I changed my mind, why not have another Desktop Environment? Then, I installed KDE4.

It's just as if you run QT applications in GNOME, it must be ugly if you do nothing. You would see ugly GTK applications in KDE, too. Here is steps to prettify by changing themes:

1. pacman -S gtk-qt-engine
2. systemsettings/Appearance/GTK Styles and Fonts/Use my KDE style in GTK applications.
3. Re-log in.
   

Matching the themes

1. pacman -S qtcurve-kde4 qtcurve-gtk2 gtk-chtheme
2. For QT applications: systemsettings/Appearance/Style/Choose QtCurve
3. For GTK applications: gtk-chtheme/Choose QtCurve
   

There is no Epiphany with WebKit backend package in official Fedora repo. Actually, I don't think I have run Epiphany ever, just want to try it out. Currently, Epiphany supports Mozilla, WebKit, and XULRunner engines. You probably have heard of that there would be only one engine supported in 2.26.

The official steps of building is at http://live.gnome.org/Epiphany/WebKit.



After tried, the middle button doesn't work for me. Ctrl+Click doesn't work, either. But it does have tabs. It seems to use Flash plugin from Mozilla's directory, I have Flash 64 Bit at /usr/lib64/mozilla/plugins/libflashplayer.so, but I couldn't be sure for this. I don't feel that it runs faster than Firefox, I guess -O3 is required?


The following is steps:

Preparing source

1. Download Epiphany source, the version I used is 2.24.2.
2. Installing WebKitGtk by yum install WebKit-gtk-devel. The verison I installed is WebKit-1.0.0-0.15.svn37790.fc10.
   

Configuring

./configure --with-engine=webkit --prefix=/usr

Notes:

• Python support (enable by default) needs PyGTK, you also need gnome-python2-devel.
• Zeroconf bookmarks support (enable by default) needs Avahi and avahi-gobject-devel.
• Desktop file plugin and Spellchecker are only for Mozilla engine.
• I don't like NetworkManager, so didn't try to enable it.
  

Additional note for Python support on x86_64:
I can't enable it if I didn't modify configure.ac. There seems to have path issue. Find

PYTHON_MAKEFILE="$PY_EXEC_PREFIX/lib/python$PYTHON_VERSION/config/Makefile"

Make it be

PYTHON_MAKEFILE="$PY_EXEC_PREFIX/lib64/python$PYTHON_VERSION/config/Makefile"

Run ./autogen, then configure again.

Compiling

make

Installing

su -c "make install"

Running

Epiphany should be in your GNOME menu or run epiphany.

Uninstalling

su -c "make uninstall"

Blah blah blah...

This whole thing is ridiculous! First, I don't have any solid knowledge of Java, but I think the problem is JDIC. It doesn't support GTK well, I suppose. Just my guess.

Anyway, the result is much better. I didn't dare to run Woopra at maximized window before, I could only open it with small window due to the speed. Now it runs just like a normal application. Notification alert sound also work and won't cause interruption. Notification window won't create another window item in GNOME Window List.

I have tried to understand what cause the slowness. Beside OpenJDK, I also tried Sun's JRE, same result. I replaced JDIC library came with Woopra with JDIC 0.9.5, same result.

So, I have no idea, what is the real cause. Some people say Don't blame Java running slow but the developers. Who should we blame in this case?

And how could I tolerate for months?

Installing Sun JRE for Windows

Okay, I was not really using WINE directly, but I think you should have met no problem. If you are using CrossOver like me (I got a free copy two month ago), you can do:

1. Download Sun JRE, I use 6u11 without any problem.
2. Install it into new bottle as unsupported program.
3. Download Woopra for Window. 
4. Install it into the same bottle as unsupported program.
5. Run it and enjoy the speed!
   

For all cats' staff like us, Cats are People, definitely. Every time, I want to comment about a cat photo on Flickr, I don't know how to start. IT is not a polite pronoun to use. HE or SHE would not be polite, either, if you guess wrong. So, I usually use Your cat ...

Is there any tips to say a cat is male or female by a photo?

Am I too over? Try those parents.

I want a section which lays three widgets horizontally, Recent Posts, Recent Comments, and Top Posts. If I have them at my sidebar, then the whole page length would be going to long when reading a single post. If I can line them up since they have close widget height, the result should look good. Note that I plan to place this new section just above the original footer section.



Only need to add two parts. One is the CSS, the other is the XML.



Here is the CSS part:

#above-footer-wrapper {
  width:840px;
  clear:both;
}
#above-footer-left {
  width:270px;
  float:left;
  margin-right:15px;
}
#above-footer-middle {
  width:270px;
  float:left;
  margin-right:15px;
}
#above-footer-right {
  width:270px;
  float:left;
}

My page width is 840 pixels, you need to change it to fit yours. I evenly distribute the space to three columns which is 840 = 270 * 3 + 15 * 2. The spacing between columns is 15 pixels.



For XML part, you need to find footer

<div id='footer-wrapper'>

Add new section to be:

    <div id='above-footer-wrapper'>
      <b:section class='footer' id='above-footer-left'>
      </b:section>
      <b:section class='footer' id='above-footer-middle'>
      </b:section>
      <b:section class='footer' id='above-footer-right'>
      </b:section>
    </div>

    <div id='footer-wrapper'>
      <b:section class='footer' id='footer'>
      </b:section>
    </div>

Once you done, save the template and switch to Page Element tab, that should look like:





Here is a screenshot about how it looks like:





Note that the color borders are for easy understanding only.



You can scroll down to see this 3-column section in practical  use.

Greatly disappointing... I want to say this film is completely for some fans. As you can see, they let Mulder and Scully be together. Is that a good arrangement? or I should yell finally? Did you notice the strange cast listing and the very end scene? rowing a boat? I can't get it... really can't.

I was a fan of The X Files, but I didn't watch every episode. Honestly, I don't remember much of the story. It's a movie, but it's actually worse than being a mini-episode. IMDb rating 6.0 is way too kind.

I Want to Believe that is The X Files!

Few years ago, when I was a student, it's not easy to get math displayed on browser. Now, the MathML works out-of-the-box in Firefox 3 (maybe also in Firefox2?). However, I couldn't directly use MathML in Blogger.com, they gets messed up. Besides, it's not easy to write on you own without an editor. LaTeX is much easier to write.



LaTeX MathML



LaTeXMathML, which is an JavaScript script, converts LaTeX to MathML on the fly. Isn't that good? Here is an example. if your browser supports:





$x=\frac{-b\pm\sqrt{b^2-4ac}}{2a}$



You may also want to know ASCIIMathML.



LaTeX Image



This may has the most compitable to old browsers, but no one can guarrentee that provider will last forever.



YouEquations.com provides similar way as LaTeXMathML does, but generates a image object not MathML object. If the JavaScript is turned off, viewer still can have LaTeX to read.



You can also try Texify. You need to enter your LaTeX to get the link to the image. Here is an example:







You may also want to know MathTran.

Have you tried to reach a blogger when you have a question but that's about a blog posting? When I have such need, I will check the About page, first. But the fact is not all blogs have that page. Some bloggers forgot to provide contact information, or simply they don't want to be bothered.



What if they want but couldn't have a good way to allow readers to send them messages? I recently added Get Satisfaction to my blogs. I believe it's a good channel but may be more like one for real company. It's not quite fitting as for a blog because of the terms that Get Satisfaction used, company, employee, product, or service. But I think I can live with those since I saw no other acceptable options.



There is another service I was thinking to adopt before Get Satisfaction, Skribit. It's only for getting blogging topic suggestions. Not so comprehensive as Get Satisfaction is. As of writing, you can only have one blog for an account. If you have many blogs, you need to create more accounts. Skribit is more friendly to blog reader by my feeling.



Of course, you can still provide very old way, the email. That is also a private way. The instant messaging is another way to do. But both of them may not be good idea because some people like spamming.



However, whatever way you are going to take, providing the information at About/Contact page is a must-do. It's like the index.html, a convention. People used to read that.



I think if you can provide a public channel to allow the communication and other people (not only you and the reader) can read and participate the conversation, that may be good for all.



Do you have any ideas or suggestions in you mind?

After the Operation CHC CHC stands for Christmas Hat for the Cat, I managed to get these Top Secret photos, make sure no one around before continuing.







Wish you have the best Christmas holidays!


(You probably are thinking what on earth made that hat...)

Operation CHC? Don't try to Google it, that would just waste your time. Here is a clue for you:


This operation is for making one thing. These two things in the photo above is all materials that needed. After making, I need a ***.

Updated: You can get the answer and this was one of my 43 Things.

My webcam gives me very dark image, so I tried to find out how to adjust.

v4l2ucp - Video4Linux Universal Control Panel


A GUI control panel. It's very easy to adjust.



v4lctl of Xawtv

This program is part of Xawtv, a command-line tool. You can do with it like:

$ v4lctl -c /dev/video0 list
attribute  | type   | current | default | comment
-----------+--------+---------+---------+-------------------------------------
norm       | choice | (null)  | (null)  |
input      | choice | tv8532  | tv8532  | tv8532
bright     | int    |     399 |     399 | range is 1 => 767
contrast   | int    |   32767 |   32767 | range is 0 => 65535
$ v4lctl -c /dev/video0 bright 80%
$ v4lctl -c /dev/video0 contrast 75%
$ v4lctl -c /dev/video0 list
attribute  | type   | current | default | comment
-----------+--------+---------+---------+-------------------------------------
norm       | choice | (null)  | (null)  |
input      | choice | tv8532  | tv8532  | tv8532
bright     | int    |     613 |     399 | range is 1 => 767
contrast   | int    |   49151 |   32767 | range is 0 => 65535

You can man v4lctl.

Unfortunately, my webcam has only small change on brightness and totally no difference on contrast.

I just read Dollars for Comments, which was inspired by NICE Assignment: Leave a Comment, and I want to do the same thing, but to different organization, World Vision.

• I will donate US$1 for each comment on my Blogger.com blogs, you can see a list on my Blogger.com profile. But comments from same commenter would only count once.
• Comments have to be left in between this posting's published date and 2009/01/10 23:59:59 UTC+0800.
• Donation will go to World Vision within 3 days after 2009/01/10 as soon as I finish the counting.
• I have set up a minimal and maximal donations. If I don't get many comments, I will still donate at minimal amount; if I get much more than I can afford, I'm sorry that I could not donate so much. I won't reveal the amounts now.
  

I strongly encourage you doing good actions, that doesn't have to be about money. Being nice is enough to be a good thing. If you have started same thing or will start, please must leave a comment with a link to your posting, then I can go to leave a comment!

Let's spread the spirit of giving!

---

You can read the results.

My Cat (not me) has first live show on Ustream.Tv!



I need to place a light but that seems to make the cat difficultly sleep. The audio capture of Flash doesn't work again, so you won't hear his snoring.

This broadcasting would only be available when he is sleeping in my room.

Today, I installed Adobe AIR 1.5 on Linux and I saw Google Analytics Reporting Suite, not made by Google.



It doesn't have full functionality and the latest dashboard as seen on website. To me, the latest dashboard is very useful, I only need to know few simple statistics over all my blogs at a glance.



Here is some screenshot of this AIR application:



Add a Profile





Dashboard of a Profile





Map view

I have tried to install the AIR 1.1 Beta (also appended after this post) but failed. AIR 1.5 installed smoothly. Here is a document about installing on 64-Bit Linux and "Tips on resolving application issues".

If you tried to install AIR application from Adobe AIR Marketplace with Flash 64-Bit, you may not be able to install normally. Open the source of page, then search for ".air". download it to desktop and double-click on the file you just download. Adobe AIR will install for you.

If you want the transparency, you need to enable the Desktop Effects and restart application.

I like Adobe AIR installs an application as a RPM package on Fedora, that's easy to uninstall.

I installed the AOL Top 100 Videos app, the CPU utilization is quite high, it has 2+ processes that takes almost one core (1.83 GHz) to process. However, I think this may not be an AIR issue only.

Wondering when we would have AIR 64-Bit...

---

Installing Adobe AIR 1.1 Beta on Fedora 10

Yu-Jie Lin
Tags: Adobe, AIR, beta, Linux, Fedora, Fedora 10

Download the binary installer for Linux. Currently, Adobe AIR only supports 32 Bit environment. Grant the permission to execute by running chmod +x adobeair*.bin, then run this installer as root or as normal user and make sure you have xterm.

x86_64 Only and missing libraries

If your system miss some libraries, you will be prompted as if follows:


I got this because my system is x86_64, therefore I need to install some 32 Bit libraries. In order to find out which package contains the library, in this case, you can run as root:


Now run yum install gtk2-devel.i386 nss.i386 libxml2-devel.i386 libxslt.i386 gnome-keyring.i386 rpm-devel.i386 rpmbuild (all dependencies needed on my Fedora) as root to install the missing libraries, you may need to install more than a hundred packages for dependencies.

libxslt.i386 (missing causes installer crashing, SIGSEGV) and gnome-keyring.i386 are necessary packages, if you are using KDE, you may need to use kwallet. rpm-devel.i386 and rpmbuild are necessary packages as well.

If you get this error when install gnome-keyring.i386:


You can install directly from Koji:


I also installed bug-buddy.i386, libcanberra-gtk2.i386, and gtk-nodoka-engine.386. They may not be necessary.

UNDONE

Links: Adobe AIR for Linux

---

• Appended the 1.1 installing notes after the post due to some people can't access to Google Docs.
  

A week ago, I firstly plugged an old webcam that came with Microsoft Keyboard/Mouse bundle. Unfortunately, I didn't get it to work. I intended to use it to stream this cat's snoring via Ustream.tv. Flash plugin can detect this webcam but couldn't get any image, nor Cheese, camE, or Xawtv could.

My webcam (Vender: IC Media Corp.) and driver:


Here is the errors I got from Cheese:


The temporary resolution is easy to do, please follow the steps by libv4l's author. It's for Fedora, I believe you can find the way (to install kernel source) on your distribution, or just wait for updated kernel.

After rebooted, I have:


Now, it's working but still not for Flash 64Bit (10.0.d21), Flash would display but distorted image. You can test with this. The resolution for Flash is to preload library, which is also mentioned on the same blog. Therefore, I have to run Firefox in this way:


Note that is for x86_64, remove 64 for 32Bit.

Now problem resolved, but where is the cat hiding?

I tried to search a movie, which I have watched its trailer only. I don't know the title, names, actors, actresses, release year, and production country at all. In other words, I almost know nothing about it.

Here is a list about what I can recall but may not correctly:

• Not an American movie, seems to be French movie.
• The leading male character is a veteran, or well-trained person with weapons and some other skills.
• A leading male character's female relative is kidnapped and he tries to save on his own.
  
• Seems to be a action, crime, and comedy movie. It's comedy because there seems to have a conversation like "Is that he is too good, or we like a sh*t?," says a bad guy when this bad guy sees the leading male character's skills.
• There is a scene like: the leading male character jumps off from a small airplane onto a dropping car. (Not really sure about the car part).
• Shooting.
• Should be released in the last 2 or 3 years.
  

Do you have any idea about what movie this is possibly? I have tried to search on IMDb, but no luck.

---

Updated on 2009-03-02: I finally saw this film on HBO, and I was so wrong only last two are correct. This film's name is Shoot 'Em Up.

Get Smart is not like Austin Powers, although there are some moments quite same playing like an idiot. Agent 86 does have something. The only (maybe not) twist is easy to expect and to guess whom is the double agent.

It's hilarious, of course. Ann Hathaway is another plus for this film, I don't mean her acting. Honestly, I don't have much to say about this kind of film. Just have fun to see it.

Has anyone tried the stapler? That must be very hurt.

I didn't think Wanted is a film I would like. After saw it, I think it's quite interesting and so is its title. Beside the action parts, it seems to knock you up for your life. Getting you to ponder how you live. Of course not to compare with the exciting life in this film. But remind you what you are doing or what have you been up to lately.

Wesley Gibson has a 9-to-5 boring job. Suddenly, the whole world changes in a night. Well, we don't need that such big change and that probably is just a daydream, but we can try to make few small changes to live our life vividly.

Once in a while, I would go into depression and cut some connections off. Then, I get boosted up. I must say that is not right to live but I can see at least. Every time I back, I usually would do something different. That is like small experiment to find out a better way to handle my life. Someday, I can really live.

This film wasn't named "Assassination" or something like that but "Wanted." That doesn't feel like FBI Wanted list when you see this film. It's more suitable to explain it as "wanted life" or "wanted things." He wanted to be an assassin and he did do it. Thinking is not enough, you also need doing.

What the fuck have you done lately?

PS. the ending is out of my imagination, I can guess the result but didn't think Fox would do in that way.

I got few suggestions from one of my blog posts. I wasn't really testing them but only some of them.

• Grooveshark: I think this one is the best. You can edit your playlist, though that isn't easy to build a playlist with Grooveshark's Flash interface in my opinion. The embedded code has only one Flashobject.


• Blip.fm: You can only embed one song only at a time.


• My Flash Fetish: This seems to have lots of users. It has many different skins. You can decided if you want it autoplay or shuffle the songs. You need to sign up in order to get the code.


• The Music Hutch 


• Gcast: This one seems to serve podcast shows, but I did see someone use this to play music.

Do you have any more suggestions? leave a comment!

A twitter tweeted about Viva Peace few days ago. That website and the idea are amazing. Each clip they made is pretty short, only second to dozens.

To me, this isn't the right question to ask yet but "how will you find peace?"

Hooray! What a great and wonderful holidays!

• Repo quota increases from 100MB to 1GB, 10X!
• Download quota from 100MB to 2GB, that is insanely 20X!
• and maximum file size from 20MB to 40MB.

Most of other hosting provider give about 100MB or 200MB repo quota, I am wondering if Google just started the first wave? Would they increase their quote after this?

Anyway, I hope someday I can use so much for my tiny projects.

Well, Live Like a Cat Day is not the day, January 10, 2009, for me because I have been living like a cat for two years. Check out this webcam (I have it in Prism, so I can watch it all day long along with kittens in previous post):


It's like Talk Like a Pirate Day, you do a Pirate in that day. So is for this Cat day, you do a Cat, you can do whatever you want or you don't need to do whatever you don't want. If you want to be a real cat: Sleeping all day, chasing mice, or hissing your dog (just kidding). If you want to be a cat person, having plenty of food and drinks and movies, using every postures you can sit on a cough to enjoy a day.

I think I will try to stare. You know, just staring something, usually the air I am at 9th floor, there are not many things I could really stare at.

Oh! You can also watch these Cats, do some social cativities with cat people in the chat room. If you still don't know what to do, consult your cats.

Live streaming video by Ustream

I have been watching this when I took short breaks from my tasks. When I watch it, I eat some food and keep laughing at those kittens. When they do funny pose, I even impersonate and laugh louder.

I am starting to wonder what's wrong with me or I shouldn't think that is a mistake? I just couldn't resist watching them.

I also want to set up one for my cat but I currently can't make my old webcam work.

GPG Signature Verification is more important step than md5sum checks when installing or updating a software, which can ensure you have real copy from the original distributor. But you must make sure you have correct public key.

I will use Slackware's Public Key to show steps because I am installing it.

First of all, the source of public key must be a trusted source. Like this one from its website, but you better to check if that public key can be used to verify some signed messages, those are believed real messages. A website being hacked isn't a news, you must double check!

You need to import the public key by

wget http://slackware.com/gpg-key
gpg --import gpg-key

You can also create a keyring, for example a keyring for all distro's public keys:

wget http://slackware.com/gpg-key
gpg --no-default-keyring --keyring linux --import gpg-key

You can store all linux distro's keys in that keyring. You will also need to specify the keyring when doing any operations if you choose to use keyring.

Next is to verify:

gpg --verify signed_stuff.asc

When you download something, there might be signed_stuff.sig or signed_stuff.asc aside. You need them to verify signed_stuff.

The results can be

gpg: Signature made Fri 05 Dec 2008 01:05:31 PM CST using DSA key ID 40102233
gpg: Can't check signature: public key not found

means that you need to import the public key first.

gpg: Signature made Fri 05 Dec 2008 01:05:31 PM CST using DSA key ID 40102233
gpg: BAD signature from "Slackware Linux Project <[email protected]>"

means that signed_stuff can be forged.

gpg: Signature made Fri 05 Dec 2008 01:05:31 PM CST using DSA key ID 40102233
gpg: Good signature from "Slackware Linux Project <[email protected]>"

means that signed_stuff is real.

gpg: Signature made Fri 05 Dec 2008 01:05:31 PM CST using DSA key ID 40102233
gpg: checking the trustdb
gpg: no ultimately trusted keys found
gpg: Good signature from "Slackware Linux Project <[email protected]>"
gpg: WARNING: This key is not certified with a trusted signature!
gpg:          There is no indication that the signature belongs to the owner.
Primary key fingerprint: EC56 49DA 401E 22AB FA67  36EF 6A44 63C0 4010 2233

means that signed_stuff is real but the public key isn't trusted.

If you believe that public key is real, then you can

$ gpg --list-keys
/home/livibetter/.gnupg/pubring.gpg
-----------------------------------
pub   1024D/40102233 2003-02-26 [expires: 2012-12-21]
uid                  Slackware Linux Project <[email protected]>
sub   1024g/4E523569 2003-02-26 [expires: 2012-12-21]

$gpg --edit-key 40102233

Then type trust and follow the instructions and type quit to leave. If you verify again, you won't get the warning message.

Last.fm just played What I Go to School For for me. This is performed by Busted, a UK band.

Be straight, I think this song should be banned. The lyrics is enough as reason and music video completely crosses the line. You probably think that's not a big deal, that is just fun or hilarious. No, that's not at all. It's an encouragement to minors who already have been prone to do such things.

I can openly admitted that I had admired three female teachers actually, only one for sure, the other two I am not quite sure. The admiration is from their professions. In my mind, that song is just nasty. I could say it's OK for adults, but not for minors.

I could understand if the song rewrote under my boundary, then no one would remember this song. The point is they are public people and their target include teenage even preteen children. It's fine if you talk with other adults about what fantasy you had when you were teenage, you can laugh at it and even make them more dirty. All these would be totally fine... but some lines should never be crossed!

Never post things like that in place where minors can easily access. That's your responsibility as an adult. Of course, they are smarter and smarter but what you should do is necessary and never be an optional because they are smart.

Had you ever wanted to add a Labels at footer, but it's too ugly to accept?





It's easy to fix with small piece of CSS:

/* BEGIN: Flattening Labels */
div.footer div.Label {
  text-transform:none;
  }
div.footer div.Label li {
  display: inline;
  }
/* END: Flattening Labels */

After inserting to your template, that would look like:

It's been for days that I couldn't connect to Google's services smoothly. I can't find any news reports talked about it, that seems to be my own problem.



My ISP is Hinet, the biggest ISP in Taiwan. This situation happened two or three times in the last few years, but all got resolved in hours except that an earthquake broke sea cables.



I didn't use proxy before, so I use Hinet's proxy server and didn't help. Then I tried to access an image from free image hosting service (xs.to), the proxy responded "host can't be resolved." That explains why I saw the error so many times in the last few days. At first, I thought those were remote servers' problems. Now, it's obvious that the problem is the nameservers.



I am using OpenDNS and all problems are gone.

From today, I started to try a new approach in order to stay in motivation every day. You probably have heard of PAD, Photo a Day. Some people convert it into a 365/6 Project whose goal is to take a photo each day in a year. It's a way to show and exercise your willpower, I suppose and I don't dare to start mine.

I transformed PAD into TAD. TAD is simple, all you need to is picking up a task from your list and do it your best in a day. Don't be distracted, only focus on it, and just do it. Once finishing the task, you are free for the rest of the day.

Obviously, tasks must be small, not too complicated; or you wouldn't be possible to accomplish within one day. Actually, somewhat, this sounds like GTD, the differences are one task done required and you don't need to start from top of the list. TAD is definitely only for keeping personal interests. If you apply it on your career, you better to pack up now. :)

Here is my tasks list. Will this work?

Moonlight 1.0 Beta 1 (Download) runs well in Firefox 3 on Fedora 10 x86_64, but many websites uses Silverlight 2.0. The roadmap of Moonlight says the 2.0 alpha release will be on 3/18/2009.

I picked up one site to test video and audio from test sites list. Moonlight prompted for installing Microsoft Media Pack, after installed, refreshed the page and it played. The INSTALL has more information about what Moonlight uses to play.

If you want to test 2.0, then you will have to compile on your own. It's at pre-alpha stage, probably not a good idea to do unless you are very interested in Silverlight. Besides, Flash still rules the world, I barely see websites use Silverlight. (I don't go to microsoft.com)

I just logged in WordPress.com to check up for falling snow. I saw Blavatar:







It's an avatar for your blog. That can be shown up as favicon.



Dear Blogger.com, I want that, too! (No, manual setting is different. Automation, FTW!)

If you were an ex-Ubuntu user, you should have already seen these:

username@hostname ~ > yum update
You need to be root to perform this command.
username@hostname ~ > sudo yum update
[sudo] password for username:
username is not in the sudoers file.  This incident will be reported.

And you can read that incident in /var/log/secure:

Dec  8 11:11:11 hostname sudo: username : user NOT in sudoers ; TTY=pts/3 ; PWD=/home/username ; USER=root ; COMMAND=/usr/bin/yum update

It's easy to turn on sudo support on Fedora. Run this command as root

visudo

The default editor is vi, if you don't like it you can run

EDITOR=myeditorcommand visudo

If you are not familiar with vi, you better run

EDITOR=gedit visudo

Once opening, find

root    ALL=(ALL)   ALL

and append

username  ALL=(ALL)   ALL

Save it and exit your editor. Do not try to directly edit /etc/sudoers, that won't work.

A successful sudo'd reads like in log:

Dec  8 11:22:33 hostname sudo: username : TTY=pts/3 ; PWD=/home/username ; USER=root ; COMMAND=/usr/bin/yum update

xsnow

Follow the instruction to download and to install. You need to turn off desktop icon. Open gconf-editor, uncheck show_desktop under /apps/nautilus/preferences.


Snow plugin of Compiz Fusion

The Compiz Fusion from official repo does not have Snow plugin. So install compiz-fusion from non-official repo.

Before you can use this plugin, you need a snow image, download the snowflakes or mine. In CompizConfig Settings Manager, type snow to search for snow plugin. Enable it and add images under Textures tab. Press Super+F3 to enjoy!

I asked a Snowman staying at bottom-left corner, but he hates IE6/IE7 as I do, so he ran away!

This should be very easy coding. Even it should be easy using CSS, it does with Firefox. All you need to do is

#snowman {
  position: fixed;
  left: 0;
  bottom: 0;
  }

Unfortunately, IE6's English is worse than mine, it can't understand what fixed means. My problem is this Snowman is built by JavaScript, so the CSS tricks can't be used. Later, I realized with or without doctype can very trouble you.

Basically, if you want an element to stay at bottom, you need information such:

1. Current Y of viewport,
2. Current Height of viewport, and
   
3. Height of the element, known and unchanged value. 300 pixel in my case.
   

I ended up with a code like:

snowman.style.top = ((window.pageYOffset ? window.pageYOffset : (document.body.scrollTop ? document.body.scrollTop : document.documentElement.scrollTop)) +
  (window.innerHeight ? window.innerHeight : (document.documentElement.clientHeight ? document.documentElement.clientHeight: document.body.clientHeight)) - 300) + 'px';

For Y of Viewport

window.pageYOffset ? window.pageYOffset : (document.body.scrollTop ? document.body.scrollTop : document.documentElement.scrollTop)

window.pageYOffset is for Firefox, that doesn't exist in IE6. If the document declares doctype, document.body.scrollTop is zero and you must get the viewport's Y from document.documentElement.scrollTop.

For Height of Viewport

window.innerHeight ? window.innerHeight : (document.documentElement.clientHeight ? document.documentElement.clientHeight: document.body.clientHeight)

window.innerHeight is for Firefox, that doesn't exist in IE6, either. If the document declares doctype, document.body.clientHeight is whole document height and you must get the viewport's from document.documentElement.clientHeight.

It's pain with IE.

The new born penguins will have migrated to a new and bigger continent, Tux Wears Fedora, and would never come back.



(This is also the post #50 on this blog.)

---

You can download the original DOC and RTF.

This is my new blog for exclusively writing about GNU/Linux  more precisely the Fedora distribution since I use Fedora day by day. My first working distribution is Fedora Core 2 or 3, then I left animal planet for a while. I was back on Fedora Core 6. I have used Arch Linux and Ubuntu for months, but they didn't taste good. I think Fedora is right distribution for me, even though I still have some complaints about it.

Anyway, because of Fedora, I named this blog with it. But, the posts on this blog will not only be for Fedora, they are suitable to other distributions in some degree. I will post things caught my eyes, so this blog is not a comprehensive blog for GNU/Linux or Fedora. This is a personal blog with own notes and experiences.

About the header image, I use this Tux and this Fedora. You can download the final GIMP format file.

Hope you would like this blog and give me some comments!

Adding an HTML/JavaScript gadget can make your blog rich. Here is the steps:







Here is a choice to make. You have to decide to input the code at sidebar or footer. If the code won't show any stuff to blog readers, then putting it at footer is right choice; if it do like a RSS gadget, then putting it at sidebar is correct.



If you change you mind after you creating one, you can still drag a gadget and drop onto the other section. Actually, in standard template, you can drop a gadget onto sidebar, footer, before Blog Posts, or after Blog Posts.







Scroll down to the half way.







Here is another note: If this code will be running at footer, then don't use Title.



Done!



I have tried to write this post as clear as possible, but if you still can't get it, please leave a comment.

I am collecting all ways to make Christmas feeling while using computer. Here is what I have so far:

• Blogs or websites
• Add Falling snow script
• WordPress.com: Go to you blog Dashboard/Appearance/Extras, then check Show falling snow on my blog.
  
• Google Docs Templates
  
• Music
• Last.fm
• Listen to tag: Chirstmas
• In Amarok 2.0, go to Playlists tab and click on Add Stream with stream URL: lastfm://globaltags/Christmas
• Web Browser Theme
  
• Let it snow on Firefox introduces three Firefox themes
  
• Wallpaper
• Google Images Tip: appending with your screen resolution would be more easier to find the appropirate one, e.g. 1680 1050.
• Mozilla Holiday Graphics also have animated snow globes, Christmas tree ornaments.
• Fun
• NORAD TRACKS SANTA
• ElfYourself (My Clip Smile)
• Merry Christmas in 4 (programming) languages
  

Feel free to leave related links!

I tried hard to recall what was the resolutions for 2008, search on my old blog and message logs, but I found nothing. That is what I expected. Year's resolution is promise to self, I am the person who can't keep a promise to self. When I promise someone else, 90% can fulfill it; when I promise myself, 90% can't.

Earlier, a msn contact asked me "any resolutions for new year?" I answered no. Hours later, I am writing this posting because I think I got to promise myself again (for the last time) and spread it out (kind of a forcibly measure).

Now, I am here to announce my only resolution for 2009:

Yes, you read it right and you are reading it from a blog posting. Ain't I a blogger? No, not yet. I am still not a blogger in my mind. There is an extra condition to this resolution if it calls success: Must be done before 2009-03-29. That date is a very important to me. If I couldn't make it before that day, the whole thing would be meaningless.

I have nearly four months, that should be enough. I got a goal, next is to have a plan.

PS. This actually is the first item of my 30 Before 30 uncompleted list.

I got NORAD TRACKS SANTA 2008 [via Official Google Blog ] and wanted to see how we can track. :) So I installed Google Earth. The installation still isn't smooth.





Download Google Earth, and grant the execution permission, then run it! I got the error because of my x86_64:





You need to install the right libGL library, in my case, for radeon open source driver:





Then I got another error:





By advise from setroubleshoot:





But you better to do with:





Here is a note: if you see the main window and tip dialog after launching Google Earth, but screen freezes and mouse cursor still moves. You probably turn off KMS, which you have nomodeset in your kernel booting parameter. Remove that, Google Earth will run.



REMEMBER: Check that website on Christmas Eve!

Your X probably doesn't have xorg.conf but automatically detect devices. Since Fedora 9, there is no xorg.conf after installing.



I just want to turn on the SHMConfig in order to change some settings of Synaptics touchpad. I then found out I need to create a configuration file, but the fact is not necessary. I only need to add a setting to /usr/share/hal/fdi/policy/20thirdparty/10-synaptics.fdi:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="ISO-8859-1"?>
<deviceinfo version="0.2">
  <device>
    <match key="info.capabilities" contains="input.touchpad">
      <match key="info.product" contains="Synaptics TouchPad">
    <merge key="input.x11_driver" type="string">synaptics</merge>
    <merge key="input.x11_options.SHMConfig" type="string">on</merge>
      </match>
      <match key="info.product" contains="AlpsPS/2 ALPS">
    <merge key="input.x11_driver" type="string">synaptics</merge>
      </match>
      <match key="info.product" contains="appletouch">
          <merge key="input.x11_driver" type="string">synaptics</merge>
      </match>
      <match key="info.product" contains="bcm5974">
          <merge key="input.x11_driver" type="string">synaptics</merge>
      </match>
    </match>
  </device>
</deviceinfo>

This file ships with Fedora 10 with an added line:





That will enable SHMConfig after your restart X.



By the way, if you want to auto-disable the touchpad while external mouse attached, add a /etc/udev/rules.d/50-synaptics.rules with content as follows:





You should see the touchpad being disabled/enabled if you plug/unplug a mouse without restart X.



You can read more about touchpad and input hotplugging on ArchWiki.



Updated on 2009-10-26: Added -s to synclient command, newer version requires specifying the use of SHM. Without that argument, the root account (or whom run the synclient) couldn't be able to set the touchpad's parameters.

This post may be a little bit late for reading at some places, but the point is to raise awareness of AIDS. I did have a thought to write this post few days ago since I have written about this day for last two years on my old blog. Somehow, this year, I only read one blog post by Direct2Dell in my feed reader. Maybe we have no time to care things which are not surrendering us?

I don't want to reiterate, so I give two links to my previous two posts: 2006, 2007.