Author: shun

A Mild Case of Repetitive Strain Injuries

If anyone ever wondered if sitting in front of a computer can cause a repetitive strain injury, wonder no more. It got me.

Just out of the blue one day when I was typing, my pinkie suddenly stopped working. It felt as if the damn finger didn’t exist. Freaking stupid pinkie.

I ended up using the index finger to reach the pinkie keys —

1
delete

,

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return

,

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shift

… etc. You don’t really appreciate the pinkie until you’ve lost the use of it.

But not to worry. The finger came back a couple of days later.

Tactile Computing

TactaPad image

I read about this before but didn’t really pay attention. This may not make carpal tunnel syndrome a thing of the past, but it could take porn surfing personal computing to a whole new level. Imagine how much more effecient it would be to fully utilize both hands to perform the same tasks on the computer? Dang it, I want want one.

It uses a camera as well as the tactile pad to track both motion and action of user’s hands. Forced feedback on the pad allows more precision and control on what’s going on. The company, Taciva of California, is trying to find someone to license the technology for the mass market. My feeling is, “WHAT? It’s not licensed yet?”

A couple of video demos can be found on the site.

Thanks to Brian for the site.

WordPress Plugins — Related Posts, WP-Touched and Others

Installed “Related Posts” plugin. But the process wasn’t as easy as advertised.

I had to:

1. Edited

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/wp-content/themes/_theme_of_choice_/single.php

2. Manually added

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< ? php related_posts(); ? >

parameters in

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single.php

I also added the cute little Link out image image after all the links in the content. It looks okay now. But I have a feeling they’ll get old soon.

To get the effect, I did the following:

1. Edited

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/wp-content/themes/_theme_of_choice_/style.css

2. Added

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.entry a[href*="http"], .commentlist a[href*="http"] {
     padding-right: 7px;
     background: url('images/kubricklink-out.gif') right top no-repeat;
     }

But I noticed the above code did not apply the image to the links in the

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single.php

pages. So I added

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.entrytext a[target="_blank"]

to the code, making it look like this:

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.entry a[href*="http"], .commentlist a[href*="http"], .entrytext a[target="_blank"] {
     padding-right: 7px;
     background: url('images/kubricklink-out.gif') right top no-repeat;
     }

In addition, I also implemented WP-Touched plugin for inline post editing without having to go to the Admin panel. Works great!

Edited

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/wp-content/themes/_theme_of_choice_/index.php

by adding

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<?php twTouch(); ?>

Update:“WP-Touched” crashes browsers sometimes. I haven’t been able to consistently replicate the problem yet. But it’s been crashing Firefox 1.0.5 and Safari 2.0 (412.2).

PSP Porn

I guess it’s only a matter of time before everything else also turns into portable porn machines (via Tokyopia).

PSP Porn

But this is not the only thing “sexy” in the news. The Feds have been onto the “GTA: San Andreas” case for a couple of weeks now. To serve those of you who actually follow my blog, a video can be found at here along with mods.

GTA San Andreas Hot Coffee screenshot

Like I said, everything is going porn these days. A quick Google revealed a site that has everything to turn your game consoles into little pornertainment centers.

How Google Maps Got Me Out Of A Traffic Ticket

Months after Google saved the life of a hostage in Iraq, people continue to find new ways to make the most out of it.

Google Map helps fight traffic tickets

Lifehacker reported:

A New York City driver arguing a traffic ticket in court used Google Maps to get out of paying the ticket.

Thanks to a weak Wifi signal in the courtroom, he was able to prove the street in question was a two way street (not what the officer claimed) and the Judge dismissed the ticket.

The original article can be found here.

Google Moon Launched

The site was launched to celebrate the first moon landing by mankind. Google Moon highlights several key spots where previous landings were made.

But seriously, this is getting out of hand. Slow down, Google. Map the Earth’s ocean before you go into the outer space.

Tip: Zoom in really close to see the main ingredient that made up the moon. 🙂

Google Moon

Exposé for the Non-Macs

Apple’s Exposé (more info here) was probably one of the most important windows management breakthroughs since “Alt + Tab”. Not too long after Apple released it along with Panther, developers soon found ways to simulate the effects in Windows.

Case in point:

On the Opensource side, developers haven’t been standing idle. They also have come up with remarkable apps with similar tricks.

Before we jump the gun and accuse everyone else for stealing introducing Apple’s innovations in other platforms, I must confess that I first saw an Expos%uFFFD-like functionality on a Linux system even before the introduction of Panther. And according to this document at Microsoft’s very own UI Research lab, a similar functionality had been in existence long before Mac OSX. Unfortunately the project just never made it to various releases of Windows.

Fold n' Drop windows

Now let’s take it a step further and examine some up and coming technologies. First up is Fold n’ Drop project from a French lab. The idea is to treat windows as pieces of paper. A user can fold, flip and leaf through them. There’s demo video and a Java demo app you can test it out. Very neat. And someone’s already made it work on a Windows Machine.

Project Looking Glass

Another pretty cool application is from Sun Microsystems. Porject Looking Glass manipulates the Desktop and its windows each as 3D objects. It has features even a Mac user will envy. I was hoping to see some of them to be implemented in Tiger.

A demo is available for playback.

Other emerging implementations:

I am sure there are plenty more advanced UI projects in the labs. If anyone knows any that’s not here, please do share them with me.

Speaking of emerging technologies, IBM’s “alphaWorks: Emerging technologies” website has been in my bookmarks for the longest time. It’s a site that features the latest technologies at IBM labs that are available for licensing.

3D Resume

I have had this file for at least three years. I remain convinced that this is the most creative resume layout I have seen. And I have seen a whole damn lot of resumes back in the days…

3D Resume
Click to see the entire picture.

The only annoyance I have complaints about his site is the maximize browser window script. God damn it, I like the way my browser looks.

Heaven and Earth

Abandoned kittenAt first we noticed there were two kittens living under our neighbor’s boarded yard. But for the past few days, one of them never showed up. And we never saw the mother with the one remaining kitten anymore. So I decided to give the poor thing some treats despite my warning to Grace not to give any of the stray cats any in fear of them bringing dead squirrels as a token of their appreciation.

I guess that’s part of being human. It’s impossible to witness a kitten’s health deteriorate as we walk by her underground hideout on a daily basis. We decided we’d try to trap her the next time we see her and send her to the humane society.

I ended up giving her a small handful of cat food. For a kitten her size (about a month old), she sure could eat. She finished the whole damn pile!

And then we came home to this sight…
Lazy cat Lazy cat

Seriously, nature can’t be crueler. What a difference a home makes. One of my cats also has taken great interest in computers. It would be nice if she can get a job. What a dorky cat.

Mac cat

Babies Are Parasites

Brian had mentioned the other day that babies (including fetuses) are basically parasites. Come to think of it… yeah, they are! Fortunately this parasite is crucial to pass on our precious chromosomes.

Our baby should be a fully matured fetus now that’s it’s his 37th week in the womb. And Grace’s belly is really “popping” big. Sometimes it is mind boggling to try to comprehend how a single fertilized cell can be developed into a full grown human only to slowly self-destruct. And through all this, humans still manage to f*ck every other species over.

Another odd observation I made: Grace’s late pregnancy stage symptoms are manifesting themselves on to me as well — swollen fingers (and feet) and heartburns. Is that even normal?

And once again, Google proved to be a handy resource. Do dads-to-be experience hormonal changes? pretty much answered my question. It’s been documented that father-to-bes can also go through hormonal changes and share some of the experiences as the expecting mother.

Recently researchers at Queen’s University in Kingston, Canada have demonstrated that fathers-to-be undergo hormonal changes as the birth of their child approaches.

And we thought we had it easy… Damn it! Stupid hormonal changes.

Over the weekend, I also strapped in the infant car seat, put up the “Baby Onboard” sign and installed the rear windshield shade. We also did some last minute baby shopping for the remaining items on our baby registry.

Materially, we should be ready. But mentally, something tells me we I can never be ready.