Nothing really scares me.
Death will come when it may.
Depression is always around the corner.
Financial ills are a part of daily life.
Taxes, family, money, health - everything eventually balances out.
Everything just tumbles around my conscious mind.
World politics, natural disasters, all blur into one.
And I simply sigh and think: what may come, may come.
Nothing can scare me into submission and fear.
Nothing at all.
But a moth flies straight towards my face,
and I scream like a bloody two year old.
And I ask God why he hates me so much.
Why my face, always me, out of all the people to pick on.
Seriously, moths, fucking cut it out already!
You are all nothing but a bunch of bastards.
Don't blame me for squashing you all with my slippers.
And this is not a fucking poem.
Friday, 29 July 2011
Sexual tension [?] Part V
You know those horrid 80s movies, which involved a lot of shit action sequences; a bloated up Ken doll as the main lead; and a damsel in distress with bright red lipstick? Yeh, those kind of movies.
In "romantic" scenes they usually played this incredibly bad Jazz music, which made the scene twenty times more awkward for everybody. Usually the music played while the male lead and his romantic interest stare longingly at each other, he then touches her shoulder or something, and then the camera zooms out to some crappy lamp on the bedside and it is "subtly" implied that they probably shagged each other.
Find one of those Jazz songs and play them out loud, in your university atrium, or in a quiet study area full of freshmen. See how everyone reacts.
In "romantic" scenes they usually played this incredibly bad Jazz music, which made the scene twenty times more awkward for everybody. Usually the music played while the male lead and his romantic interest stare longingly at each other, he then touches her shoulder or something, and then the camera zooms out to some crappy lamp on the bedside and it is "subtly" implied that they probably shagged each other.
Find one of those Jazz songs and play them out loud, in your university atrium, or in a quiet study area full of freshmen. See how everyone reacts.
Sunday, 24 July 2011
Sexual tension [?] Part IV
Whenever you are in the middle of a meeting, and things get a bit too awkward, just yell out "SEXUAL TENSION!" at the top of your voice.
It is the perfect remedy for awkward business meetings, gatherings with "friends", lunch with distant relatives, etc. I guarantee you that it will make things 200 billion times more awkward.
It is the perfect remedy for awkward business meetings, gatherings with "friends", lunch with distant relatives, etc. I guarantee you that it will make things 200 billion times more awkward.
Sunday, 17 July 2011
How To Change Your Favicon Using the New Blogger Favicon Option
Blogger has just recently added a quick way to change your favicon for your blog.
A favicon (also known as shortcut icon, web site icon, URL icon, or bookmark icon) is a 16x16 pixel image, which appears in most browsers in the address bar; or in tabbed browsing next to the title of the website.
For all blogs hosted on Blogger, the default favicon is the Blogger logo (as shown in the right). The favicon is saved as a .ico file. You can find your website's favicon using the following site URL: "your website URL"/favicon.ico (replace "your website URL" with the root address of your blog). For example, this blog's favicon can be found under the following URL: http://flippy-doodle.blogspot.com/favicon.ico
Most people who use Blogger find the default orange Blogger logo very boring to use, or that their blog does not have an unique identity. Even people who have bought their own URL are still stuck with the default icon, which they find annoying.
Before, changing the favicon was a longer process, in which you had to go and edit the template code. And that was also only a quick hack, since the favicon would still not appear in RSS feeds, etc.
But just a few days ago, Blogger made it much easier to edit your favicon, simply by using the "Edit Template" under the design section. Here is a simple step-by-step on how to change your favicon on a Blogger blog.
The good thing about this option is that even in the RSS feeds of subscribers, your new favicon will appear. Even when someone displays a RSS feed to your blog on their website, and choses the "display icon" option, your new favicon will appear. This is much better than the old HTML code hacks.
1) Create a favicon
__________________________________________________
The good thing about this new option is that you don't need to go around making a favicon for yourself. Just pick the image you want to use, and when you try to install it, the widget will automatically re-size it for you as a 16x16 pixel image, as well as convert it to .ico type. You can use a PNG, ICO or JPEG file. The only limit is that the file has to be less than 100kb in size and that it should already be in a square shape.
Alternatively, you can also pick any square image, and adjust it's dimensions to be 16x16 pixel in most photo editing software.
If you do not have a good photo editing software, there are also online favicon generating tools, where you can edit and make your own favicon, like this one.
For this tutorial, I am using the following image to be used as my favicon:
2) Change your favicon on Blogger
__________________________________________________
a) Go to your Blogger Dashboard. Under your blog name (the blog for which you want to change your favicon), click on "Design"
 |
| Click on "Design" |
b) Go under the "Page Elements" tab. Here, you will find a field called "Favicon", at the very top (above "Navbar")
 |
| The "Favicon" option is at the very top. |
c) Click on "Edit" (next to that Favicon option)
d) In the pop-up window that comes up, click on "Choose File", and select the file which which you created in step (1). Then click "Save".
 |
| Choose the file you want to use as your favicon. |
 |
| Then click "Save" |
e) Now after the pop-up window has closed, you must click on the main orange "Save" button in "Page Elements" as well.
3) Extra details and then you are done!
__________________________________________________
Note that, at first you will not be able to see that your favicon has changed. The old Blogger one will still appear. This is probably due to stored cache of your blog on your browser.
Try deleting your cache and see if it appears.
For me, even after I deleted about 3 weeks worth of cache, I still couldn't see my new favicon. This will probably happen to you too, just be patient. Two days after I had changed my favicon, I opened my blog to find that I could now see my favicon.
Also note that Chrome only displays favicons in the tab, not in the address bar. Firefox displays favicons both in the tab and the address bar.
Also note that Chrome only displays favicons in the tab, not in the address bar. Firefox displays favicons both in the tab and the address bar.
Hope this helps. If you have any more questions, you can comment below.
Links Ahoy! (11)
Illustrations by Mikhail Romadin from the 1979 children's book Your Name? Robot.
Wonderful, wonderful illustrations of creative robots. Could you ask for more?
{50 Watts}
New Gel-Based Memory Could Be Used to Interface With Cells
Researchers from North Carolina State University have come up with a new sort of memory device that has a gelatinous consistency and an ability to work in wet environments that give it potential bio-electric applications.
{Wired, UK}
Are We Living in a Holographic Universe? This May Be the Greatest Revolution of the 21st Century
I remember that time when I first came across quantum entanglement (thank you, Philip Pullman), I jumped up and down and whirled around like an idiot. I don't know why it does not receive more attention from people - it has to be the most elegant and beautiful result in Physics.
{The Daily Galaxy}
One big yawn: boredom is not just a state of mind
A long article, discussing what exactly is boredom, and what it means for us.
{The Guardian}
The Processes of Death and Decomposition
Seems rather morbid, but it is a fantastically detailed look into the processes which take place after a human body dies.
{BBC h2g2 guide}
Thursday, 14 July 2011
Hello Hotmail B-day Greeting
It seems rather sad, but this automated greeting from my Hotmail inbox is the only thing which cheered me up today. It's the only thing which told me that today is a special day for me.
Happy Birthday to YOU!Hmph. I think I would have been better off just celebrating Bastille Day (le 14 juillet), at least I would have had the entire nation of France with me.
It's your special day, so enjoy it. And don't forget to share with
the friends in your life, what you are doing today.
Wednesday, 13 July 2011
The End of a Decade
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part II is coming out tomorrow (international release date), and tomorrow also happens to be my birthday. I feel like a pathetic nerd writing this post, but I must.
Just wanted to point out that it has almost been a decade since I first started reading the books. Our teacher in year six read The Philosopher's Stone and The Chamber of Secrets to our class. Since then I avidly followed each and every single one of the books on my own. Of course, I didn't queue up at midnight to buy it, but I did read every book with the dexterity of a psychopath disposing a body (sorry, that's the first analogy which popped into my head).
I still remember the excruciatingly long wait between the fourth book and the fifth book (during which time I must have read each of the previous books at least twelve times). And when the books came out, usually during the summer holidays, buying them and loving the feel of the pages and reading each page with relish. Visiting Mugglenet for every scrap of news I can find, as well as haunting J.K Rowling's site for any clues for the next books. Reading a ton of fan-fiction and reading each of the books over and over again. Then, just before the last book is about to come out, making predictions in my diary (hee hee hee, some of them actually happened in the book). After I finished reading the last book, I wasn't very emotional, because I I felt like it was time to move on. I have put away the books and haven't read them since. But they will always be special in my heart, because pretty much my whole childhood and teens were spent on being a Harry Potter dork :)
I wrote on my review blog how I didn't fancy the movies much. I liked the first and second movies, because I thought that Chris Columbus managed to pick the best, most accurate, actors to play the parts. All the actors looked pretty much exactly how I imagined them in my head. But from the third movie till the sixth movie, I was sorely disappointed - they were all way too stylised and not true to the book at all. It was only Deathly Hallows Part I which I really enjoyed and felt like it portrayed the depth of each character from the book accurately.
So after such a long time, I think I will genuinely be quite emotional , especially since in the movie many main characters will be portrayed dying. Early reviewers (those who attended the London premiere last week), said that the movie is quite sad and emotional. And I guess it feels sad to say goodbye to a series after it has been so close to you.
I don't know when I will be going for the movie. At first I was going to go this weekend with a friend, but I won't be able to since I will be spending time with my family. Plus, I think it will be impossible to get tickets this weekend, and even if by some miracle I do manage to get tickets, I will only get the really crappy ones. So I think I will wait till next week, until the craze has calmed down and the cinema halls are a bit empty.
Just wanted to point out that it has almost been a decade since I first started reading the books. Our teacher in year six read The Philosopher's Stone and The Chamber of Secrets to our class. Since then I avidly followed each and every single one of the books on my own. Of course, I didn't queue up at midnight to buy it, but I did read every book with the dexterity of a psychopath disposing a body (sorry, that's the first analogy which popped into my head).
I still remember the excruciatingly long wait between the fourth book and the fifth book (during which time I must have read each of the previous books at least twelve times). And when the books came out, usually during the summer holidays, buying them and loving the feel of the pages and reading each page with relish. Visiting Mugglenet for every scrap of news I can find, as well as haunting J.K Rowling's site for any clues for the next books. Reading a ton of fan-fiction and reading each of the books over and over again. Then, just before the last book is about to come out, making predictions in my diary (hee hee hee, some of them actually happened in the book). After I finished reading the last book, I wasn't very emotional, because I I felt like it was time to move on. I have put away the books and haven't read them since. But they will always be special in my heart, because pretty much my whole childhood and teens were spent on being a Harry Potter dork :)
I wrote on my review blog how I didn't fancy the movies much. I liked the first and second movies, because I thought that Chris Columbus managed to pick the best, most accurate, actors to play the parts. All the actors looked pretty much exactly how I imagined them in my head. But from the third movie till the sixth movie, I was sorely disappointed - they were all way too stylised and not true to the book at all. It was only Deathly Hallows Part I which I really enjoyed and felt like it portrayed the depth of each character from the book accurately.
So after such a long time, I think I will genuinely be quite emotional , especially since in the movie many main characters will be portrayed dying. Early reviewers (those who attended the London premiere last week), said that the movie is quite sad and emotional. And I guess it feels sad to say goodbye to a series after it has been so close to you.
I don't know when I will be going for the movie. At first I was going to go this weekend with a friend, but I won't be able to since I will be spending time with my family. Plus, I think it will be impossible to get tickets this weekend, and even if by some miracle I do manage to get tickets, I will only get the really crappy ones. So I think I will wait till next week, until the craze has calmed down and the cinema halls are a bit empty.
Dr. Skinny Pants or: How I Learned to Start Worrying and Hate the Look
Firstly, people use this Dr. Strangelove reference way too often, it crops up in newspaper columns all the time.
Secondly, do you remember that rant I wrote against skinny jeans all that time ago? At that time I was complaining about how all people wear is skinny jeans all the time, including men. As if that wasn't bad enough, nowadays the look is FORMAL SKINNY PANTS. Yes, things like this:
Oh my motherflipping god.
I have noticed that this style has been propping around for a while now, but before it only used to be early hipsters, bastards, or idiots adopting this look. Now, there are a lot of "normal" men queuing up to look like this. This look is considered very chic and metrosexual (and other terms that bastard yuppies made up in the '80s) and men who manage to "pull off" this look are considered fashionable.
Well baby, here's the thing: there is no man in this entire universe who can pull off this look (yes, this includes Alexander Skarsgard and any fashion-conscious Martian bacteria). Here is a relatively small list of things wrong with this look:
Now don't get me wrong, I am no fashionable person, in fact, I have the fashion sense of a common garden slug. But come on, you have to be an absolute idiot to think that this look actually makes you look smart/casual/sexy.
You know what it makes men who wear this look like? LEPRECHAUNS. Yes, those little green rainbow-chasing folk from Ireland. See for yourself:
Also, wearing shoes without socks is gross. I don't want these bastards approaching me with their stinky, hairy and swamped feet.
Look, I know that this look may be fashionable - but fuck fashion. Seriously, people in fashion can be real wankers. Every year they make hot male models walk the ramp in everything from floral skirts to Speedo+suit combos.
Secondly, do you remember that rant I wrote against skinny jeans all that time ago? At that time I was complaining about how all people wear is skinny jeans all the time, including men. As if that wasn't bad enough, nowadays the look is FORMAL SKINNY PANTS. Yes, things like this:
 |
| Via Note A Margin |
Oh my motherflipping god.
I have noticed that this style has been propping around for a while now, but before it only used to be early hipsters, bastards, or idiots adopting this look. Now, there are a lot of "normal" men queuing up to look like this. This look is considered very chic and metrosexual (and other terms that bastard yuppies made up in the '80s) and men who manage to "pull off" this look are considered fashionable.
Well baby, here's the thing: there is no man in this entire universe who can pull off this look (yes, this includes Alexander Skarsgard and any fashion-conscious Martian bacteria). Here is a relatively small list of things wrong with this look:
- It's not actually formal. If someone turned up to work like this, the security team will kindly escort them outside (I hope).
- They make your look your legs look really short and your top body look really bulky.
- Those glasses - you filthy hipster.
- Those shoes - they might look okay with normal pants, but with these, they make you look like a certain folklore creature (look below), or a clown.
- Don't skinny pants make your legs hurt? At least skinny jeans can be stretchable, but these pants - it's like an octopus is trying to make love to your legs.
- It makes you look like a lady.
Now don't get me wrong, I am no fashionable person, in fact, I have the fashion sense of a common garden slug. But come on, you have to be an absolute idiot to think that this look actually makes you look smart/casual/sexy.
You know what it makes men who wear this look like? LEPRECHAUNS. Yes, those little green rainbow-chasing folk from Ireland. See for yourself:
 |
| Via link |
Also, wearing shoes without socks is gross. I don't want these bastards approaching me with their stinky, hairy and swamped feet.
Look, I know that this look may be fashionable - but fuck fashion. Seriously, people in fashion can be real wankers. Every year they make hot male models walk the ramp in everything from floral skirts to Speedo+suit combos.
Sunday, 3 July 2011
People who annoy me because they don't read properly
Har har har har! Only kidding, not gonna waste my time writing this post.
Instead, watch this beautiful music video by Wild Beasts, for their single Albatross.
But seriously, don't piss me off by not reading my posts carefully and then commenting. It's almost as annoying as those "TL; DR" twatamaboobs.
Instead, watch this beautiful music video by Wild Beasts, for their single Albatross.
But seriously, don't piss me off by not reading my posts carefully and then commenting. It's almost as annoying as those "TL; DR" twatamaboobs.
Saturday, 2 July 2011
Woah! I'm So Judgmental and Bitchy: Thoughts On Google+
I can't even use an online service for 10 seconds without making sweeping judgement on it (this is not me exaggerating - I just suck that way). I don't know how, but I randomly managed to join into Google+ and here are a few preliminary thoughts on it.
But before you read this entry, it's better that you go and checkout this blog post from the Google blog. It discusses the Google+ project and talks about all the different functions available. Plus there are some really emotional/corny videos which remind you of life insurance ads.
1) Making my Picasa albums public
_________________________________________________
Woah there! When signing up, I have to connect my Picasa account with Google+ and make my images public. I don't really have a problem with that, since I don't post pictures of my tits in my Picasa account. In fact, my account is already public and I only use it to host the images I put up on my blogs. But I would still prefer it if Google did not try to merge all of the Google services I use into one giant blob.
On a similar note, my public Google username and my Google+ name has to be the same on sign up. That is why I did not use my real name during the sign up: I want to keep my blogs and my private social networking separate, and would feel uncomfortable if strangers, connecting to me via other Google services, can now know my real name. Which is why I avoid using my real name as often as I can and never give anyone links to my Facebook account.
This puts me in a bit of a dilemma: should I use my real name on my Blogger profile? (I have privacy issues with that.) Or should I use a nickname on my Google+ profile? (But then my friends won't be able to search for me to add me to their network.)
At first I thought to myself: it looks a tiny bit like Facebook. But then I told myself to shut up and think a bit more.
I rather like the layout, it's nice and simple and all clutter has been brushed away. Everything is so polished looking and sexy - like the shop front of a luxury car dealership. I have no complaints on layout.
And I hope they don't let people customise their layout - before you know it there will be sparkling puppies all over the place.
In writing, the Circle+ idea seems pretty neat - I can control what I share and with whom. I can form my own cliques, much like real life. On second thought, it seems rather complicated. I mean, call me a simpleton (don't do it to my face), but the whole idea of creating all sorts of different circles seems to tax too much on my mind when I am trying to share something.
I find it a bit hard to consider adding all the circles each and every single time I need to share anything (a status update, picture, etc). I understand the privacy idea behind this, but I feel like things are getting way too complicated with circles. If I don't want to share things with someone, I either simply delete them, or put them on a certain privacy list.
I understand that this is not Facebook, and the whole idea behind this project is to create an online sharing experience much like real life sharing. It is an interesting new paradigm, but I am not sure if in this fast paced online world, I am really bothered to create more intricate networks. Personally, social networking for me is black and white: either it is something I want to share, or I don't. If I don't want my mum to know something about me, I don't add her to my network at all, rather than add her to a special "circle".
(Sorry mum, but you were the first person who popped into my head.)
The main thing which excited me was the Hangout option. Video chatting with a group of friends in a cozy social networking environment would be great. Sure, there is Skype, but it never seems to like me for some reason and feels a bit dull. I like the look of the Hangout mode, and it makes chatting to a large group of people very simple.
The Sparks idea seems generic at first, but I rather like it. You can browse through different categories and see links to interesting things you would like to share. I am sure that when more users start using this, the content will get more dynamic and fun.
I am a bit confused as to how do you approach someone and add them. Right now, I seem to be able to add anyone I want (via adding them to a "circle) and am able to view their profile and everything.
I am not sure about the privacy settings, and everything seems to be public. Although, since this is just a trial, I don't think this is something which will not change. I am sure more privacy settings will be introduced soon.
Like I mentioned before, I don't like the idea of Google trying to join all of it's services into one giant blob of an account. It might help some people, since they might not want to log into a host of different services, but it doesn't help me. I would rather keep my social networking extremely private and only within close friends. The idea of an anonymous blog reader being able to find me and connect with me on my private social network makes me uncomfortable.
If Google+ takes off, and all my friends end up on it, and Google does not allow me the option to separate out my Google+ account from the rest of my Google account, I would either not use it, or shift my blogs to another hosting service, like Wordpress.
But before you read this entry, it's better that you go and checkout this blog post from the Google blog. It discusses the Google+ project and talks about all the different functions available. Plus there are some really emotional/corny videos which remind you of life insurance ads.
1) Making my Picasa albums public
_________________________________________________
Woah there! When signing up, I have to connect my Picasa account with Google+ and make my images public. I don't really have a problem with that, since I don't post pictures of my tits in my Picasa account. In fact, my account is already public and I only use it to host the images I put up on my blogs. But I would still prefer it if Google did not try to merge all of the Google services I use into one giant blob.
2) Changing my username
_________________________________________________
On a similar note, my public Google username and my Google+ name has to be the same on sign up. That is why I did not use my real name during the sign up: I want to keep my blogs and my private social networking separate, and would feel uncomfortable if strangers, connecting to me via other Google services, can now know my real name. Which is why I avoid using my real name as often as I can and never give anyone links to my Facebook account.
This puts me in a bit of a dilemma: should I use my real name on my Blogger profile? (I have privacy issues with that.) Or should I use a nickname on my Google+ profile? (But then my friends won't be able to search for me to add me to their network.)
3) Layout
_________________________________________________
At first I thought to myself: it looks a tiny bit like Facebook. But then I told myself to shut up and think a bit more.
I rather like the layout, it's nice and simple and all clutter has been brushed away. Everything is so polished looking and sexy - like the shop front of a luxury car dealership. I have no complaints on layout.
And I hope they don't let people customise their layout - before you know it there will be sparkling puppies all over the place.
4) Circles seem a bit complicated
_________________________________________________
In writing, the Circle+ idea seems pretty neat - I can control what I share and with whom. I can form my own cliques, much like real life. On second thought, it seems rather complicated. I mean, call me a simpleton (don't do it to my face), but the whole idea of creating all sorts of different circles seems to tax too much on my mind when I am trying to share something.
I find it a bit hard to consider adding all the circles each and every single time I need to share anything (a status update, picture, etc). I understand the privacy idea behind this, but I feel like things are getting way too complicated with circles. If I don't want to share things with someone, I either simply delete them, or put them on a certain privacy list.
I understand that this is not Facebook, and the whole idea behind this project is to create an online sharing experience much like real life sharing. It is an interesting new paradigm, but I am not sure if in this fast paced online world, I am really bothered to create more intricate networks. Personally, social networking for me is black and white: either it is something I want to share, or I don't. If I don't want my mum to know something about me, I don't add her to my network at all, rather than add her to a special "circle".
(Sorry mum, but you were the first person who popped into my head.)
5) Hangouts and Sparks look like fun
_________________________________________________
The main thing which excited me was the Hangout option. Video chatting with a group of friends in a cozy social networking environment would be great. Sure, there is Skype, but it never seems to like me for some reason and feels a bit dull. I like the look of the Hangout mode, and it makes chatting to a large group of people very simple.
The Sparks idea seems generic at first, but I rather like it. You can browse through different categories and see links to interesting things you would like to share. I am sure that when more users start using this, the content will get more dynamic and fun.
6) How to "add" someone
_________________________________________________
I am a bit confused as to how do you approach someone and add them. Right now, I seem to be able to add anyone I want (via adding them to a "circle) and am able to view their profile and everything.
I am not sure about the privacy settings, and everything seems to be public. Although, since this is just a trial, I don't think this is something which will not change. I am sure more privacy settings will be introduced soon.
7) Merging my whole Google account into Google+
_________________________________________________
Like I mentioned before, I don't like the idea of Google trying to join all of it's services into one giant blob of an account. It might help some people, since they might not want to log into a host of different services, but it doesn't help me. I would rather keep my social networking extremely private and only within close friends. The idea of an anonymous blog reader being able to find me and connect with me on my private social network makes me uncomfortable.
If Google+ takes off, and all my friends end up on it, and Google does not allow me the option to separate out my Google+ account from the rest of my Google account, I would either not use it, or shift my blogs to another hosting service, like Wordpress.
Bogus Art
Hmn, here is a strange thought: how much does it cost to produce each different bank note? Surely, a $100 dollar bank note (or whichever is the highest denomination) is one of the most economical to produce?
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