Removing Spammy Templates From OpenOffice.org Templates Web Site

The OpenOffice.org templates web site had many templates that were kind of spammy. They didn't offer a whole lot. In 1 case, it was so poorly done, that using it would waste time, which is exactly opposite of what templates are supposed to do.

I manged to send a list to the web site admin, and most of my suggestions were used, so the web site should be better now.

There are still many improvements that I'd like to see, but the admins don't seem to have much incentive for it.

Opera 10.11 & Hotmail

I tried to use Hotmail with Opera 10.11, and it wouldn't let me reply to the emails. I found out that I could easily use their mobile version of the site. It's so speedy and easy. When I tried to login, I just clicked on the link that pointed me to their mobile version.

Almost Last Lulu.com ODF Template Is Uploaded

I finished making and uploading the last Lulu.com template that corresponds to Lulu.com's current offerings. I must say that it was a little anti-climactic. I don't know why, but I thought that it would almost be like...well, I don't know.

The reason that it wasn't the last Lulu.com template, is because we will need more than what Lulu.com offered. Keep reading to see what the future holds for the Lulu.com set of ODF templates.

Open Source & Free Software Failure

People like to say that many eyes make all bugs shallow. That's not true. It flies in the face of conventional wisdom: "Too many cooks spoil the broth.". The idea is that each set of eyes will bring a person who has different standards. Some have standards of excellence. Some have standards of innovation. Some are just bureaucrats.

I personally find it very insulting when I make a suggestion or report a bug, and nobody responds via messages, or by fix the bug.

Lulu.com Template Trivia

Would you believe that the image of the scissors on the Lulu.com book cover templates actually have 2 colours? I never noticed, because I never zoomed in very closely. It turns out that the handles are grey, and that there is a bit of black in them, to give a slight 3 dimensional effect.

It really makes me think about the effort that we put into projects. Do we put a lot of effort in, only to not be recognized?

The person went so far as to make the pivot screw a flat head screw.

I admire the detail, but I just feel sorry for the person who created that image.

Book Response: "The Upside Of Irrationality"

I finished reading "The Upside Of Irrationality", by Dan Ariely. I was hesitant to write about it, because I didn't want to take away any thunder from the book. I changed my mind, because I feel that my thoughts about his thoughts would help people to look into the issues further, and perhaps my thoughts might encourage you to consider reading his book.

You might be interested in his previous book, "Predictably Irrational, Revised And Expanded Edition". This book came before "The Upside Of Irrationality", and is very similar, in that he helps us to understand the decision making processes.

Keep reading my blog entry to see my response to the author, but please bear in mind that you probably won't understand all that I am saying, because I don't want to give away what he wrote in the book. Also, I don't want to try to explain things, since I probably would explain it incorrectly.

Learning To Program With GNUstep Libraries And Objects

I added a few more links to GNUstep to XCode. The guide and the 2 references should keep us busy for some time.

I have noticed that when tutorials and documentation use strange jargon, it is hard for me to keep track of what is what. I find that they do not specify whether or not something is part of Objective-C, or part of the GUI libraries, or part of the iPhone libraries. With the references, we should be able to see where most of the stuff fits, even if we do not understand what they are talking about.

These references should keep us satisfied, at least until we are intermediate GNUstep programmers.

I also rearranged the links in the Relevant Links section. I felt that creating subsections helped for speed reading, and clarity.

I also added a section on installing GNUstep, Gorm, & ProjectCenter.

Photos: Glowing Algae

Noctiluca Scintillans glows in the dark. It's very beautiful.

Glowing algae turn Australian lakes electric blue

Get Paid To Live In A Museum For 1 Month

It seems that there is an interesting contest: "Month at the Museum". The winner gets $10,000, and lives in the Museum of Science and Industry for 1 month. I think that that is a great deal, for somebody who has time on his hands. He needs to send in a bunch of stuff to enter the contest, but it'll be great. They'll get you to actually do some work, but it'll be mostly/only fun stuff. The contest entry must be in by Wednesday, August 11, 2010.

I'm interested in trying this out. I'm going to start planning on what to do. I'm excited.

Optimus Prime Replica Created In Beijing, China

This great stuff. Looks like some people in China built a replica of Optimus Prime. The blogger from the first link says that it weighs 6 tons and is 33 feet tall. The blogger got photos from People's Daily, which has 2 more photos.

• Bootleg Optimus Prime is actually the most badass Transformer ever
• Scrap metal Transformers statue debuts in Beijing

When I was young, I actually wanted to build my own Transformer. Looks like a lot of work. These guys did a great job.

More ODF Book Cover Book Templates

I uploaded a few more ODF templates to the OpenOffice.org templates web site.

• Lulu.com US Trade Sized Casewrap Cover
• Lulu.com 8.25 x 10.75 Sized Casewrap Cover
• Lulu.com 8.25" x 10.75" Sized Book

We'll only need 1 more book cover template to make the Lulu.com template set complete!

ODF Demonstration Template [contains a KDE's Oxygen colour palette]

I just wanted to update you on the ODF Demonstration template. I replaced that colour palette with KDE's Oxygen colour palette. Now you can make images with the exact same colours. Also, I added a grey colour palette, which contains more shades of grey, plus the shades of grey from Oxygen's colour palette.

Fixing ProjectCenter & Gorm

I finally compiled my first program in ProjectCenter and Gorm. Read about it in GNUstep to XCode.

I'll include the walk through for the dealing with the compile errors in the remainder of the blog entry, but the other walk through details will be mentioned in the above links.

Labels [a.k.a keywords] Are Available In 2 Places

I finally discovered that there were no keywords for you to click on. Sorry!

I figured out that I could list the labels in several different ways. Instead of doing it just once, I listed them twice.

The first way is at the top of the right column, at the time of writing. It lists only the most commonly used labels that are used more than once, and this list doesn't include, "misc". The idea is that any label that is used only once doesn't deserve your attention. The same goes for "misc". "misc" is used for topics that I will probably only write about once. The other labels that I wrote about only once are topics that I will probably write about again in the future. I hope that that clarifies things a bit.

That being said, the other list is at the bottom of the right column, at the time of writing. In this list, I listed all the tags, in alphabetical order.

I encourage you to click on "templates", because I sense that many of you are unaware of all the other blog entries that I have regarding ODF templates.

iPhone 4 Not Recommended By Consumer Reports

I trust Consumer Reports to come up with meaningful recommendations. They don't recommend iPhone 4. They recommend iPhone 3G S.

America And Its Right To Bear Arms

I think that everybody has a right to bear arms. There is a bit of a discussion on Slashdot.org on the right to bear arms, and how it relates to murder rates. Keep reading to see my response.

ODF Demonstration Template [contains a colour palette]

[Update: I wrote a new blog entry that should help you find things that are mentioned in the instructions.]

For those of you who don't follow the OpenOffice.org template site, I want to point out that I created a template, which contains a different colour palette. The template is meant to demonstrate that you could save a colour palette with the template.

Technically, you can't attach a colour palette to a OpenOffice.org document or template, but you can copy the colour pallet file's content into the template or document. The colour palette file's content is just text. There are instructions available in the demonstration template's properties.

Afterwards, be sure to check out that blog label, "templates", where you will find more of my discoveries on how to make use of templates.

I'll Own Up To The SMS Mistake

It turns out that the SMS service did require you to give out information. I didn't realize that. I seem to recall not needing to give out private data, when I first started using the service. I'm sorry about that. I apologize.

Please forgive me.

Anonymous Posting is Now Allowed

I didn't realize that readers could not post anonymously. My apologies. You should be able to post now.

The Bachelor[ette] And Broken Relationships

I saw a bit of the interview between the recent Bachelor, his ex-girl, and the host. Unfortunately, they can't see eye to eye anymore. I'd like to comment on why I think that they fail.

Adversity And A Woman Named Lizzie [50th Blog Entry]

I read Thu's blog entry about a woman, named Lizzie, with a rare disease. It causes her to not gain weight, which has more serious consequences than bulimia and anorexia, in my opinion.

This is my 50th blog entry, for this blog, and I think that it is very fitting to write about this very meaningful topic, even though it is only a small milestone. Read more to find out what this means to me.

[I'll also write about it in my hosiery advocacy blog.]

Niece Rode With Pedals

Well, we put the pedals on the for the first time. She was very happy to do it. She did well. I found that it was hard for her to build up enough momentum on her own. She needed to ride down the drive way, and into the cul-de-sac.

She did fall once, but she wasn't discouraged, and she didn't cry. It's good that she wasn't put off of biking, at all. She fell because she was getting too close to her brother, and she lost focus, and thus, she lost her balance. Also, I should have reminded her to put her feet down. So, 1 lesson is to remind her to stay away from others, and to put her feet down.

I guess that I get too excited, and forget that she is starting out for the first time.

It's good to see that she is growing up without losing her childhood innocence.

Temporary Work Around For Blogger Image And Photo Upload Problem

[Update: a Blogger employee said that the new editor is buggy, and that we must use the old editor, just as I suggest below]

Having trouble uploading images and photos to your Blogger blog entry? Feeling a little frustrated?

I found a way to do it. Honestly, though, I can't remember whose idea it was. We can use this temporary fix until Blogger/Google deals with it.

Home Entertainment Has Bright Future, As HDMI Might Be Phased Out While HDBaseT Is To Be Phased In

Another interesting Slashdot.org article came up. I think that you ought to know about this because it has to do with consumer electronics and standards. That means that if you are currently considering a purchase, then you might want to wait a short while, to consider buying home entertainment equipment with this new standard, to give you better value for your money.

TV business kisses HDMI goodbye

Read the rest of this blog entry for a couple of highlights, and a possible reason why you might not want it.

Unusual Linux Distributions

An interesting artcle came up on Slashdot.org, the other day. It presented 12 Linux Distributions.

12 of the most interesting, unusual and useful Linux distros

After reading their article, read the rest of this blog entry to see my favourites of the 12.

How To Ride A Bicycle [I taught my niece how to ride a bike.]

Remember all those painful experiences of falling down? Believe it or not, we didn't actually have to go through all of that. I put a lot of thought into it, and I discovered a way for us to teach our kids to ride without falling.

In this entry, I'll share with you my teaching technique on how to ride a bike, without any special attachments, and without falling. The teaching method is so safe that your child could learn without a helmet. That being said, I still recommend that your child wear the helmet, because none of us know how careful your child will be.