The Lighthouse

*scratches 19" server rack frames*

Now that I have my new blog (bluewhitelv if you want to add) in place, I decided to turn this journal into a stream of silly one-liners.  So…

Meow.

Since my OpenID (blue.white.lv) does not control bluewhitelv—despite the similarity in the name—you have two choices, both/either/neither of which you can opt for:

• Click here to add blue.white.lv to your friends list.

  This lets me read your friends-locked entries.

• Click here to add bluewhitelv to your friends list.

  This lets you read my entries on your friends page.

In other words, blue.white.lv is my reader account, whereas bluewhitelv is my writer account (so to say).

Sorry for making the whole thing a bit more complicated, but this gives more flexibility.

Guys, feel free to add bluewhitelv to your friends page, add blue.white.lv to your bookmark, or subscribe to its RSS feed (and its child feed for comments); I am migrating to a new blog, powered by WordPress and hosted on my own server.

I am also looking for a way to migrate all the LiveJournal posts to WordPress.  WordPress already knows how to import posts that were exported from LiveJournal in XML format, but 1) it does not understand any of the LiveJournal-specific tags (such as <lj-cut text="…">…</lj-cut> and <lj user="…" />), and 2) it does not preserve HTML mark-ups on the subject line, which I happened to use a lot over the years. I also want to convert and import all your comments (using your OpenIDs), but it seems that there exists no plugin for that for now.  This journal will survive until a satisfactory solution is found, but otherwise it is largely doomed. : D  (Not that I'm gonna nuke it or anything, 'cause I will use it to leave comments on your journal, so don't take it off your friends list just yet.)

P.S.  Trying not to type “ ” is a challenge for me, especially after a period (“.”) at the end of a sentence.  XD

P.P.S.  In case you did not notice, you already have your own OpenID, which is the same as your journal URL (yourid.livejournal.com).  You can use it to leave a comment on my new blog.  (That is, if you didn't roll your own OpenID provider already—I'm looking in your direction, jeffreyatw, vxjasonxv and sherl0k.  XD)

Update: Apparently LiveJournal lets you do something it couldn't handle a couple of years ago: You can now add my OpenID account to your friends list!  : D

Some of you know how much I whore out HTML character entities, such as &ldquo;, &rdquo;, &hellip;, &mdash;, &copy; and so on.  It saves time and grief of having to consult the Character Map and copy/paste the characters.

Well, I think I have found a way to save time further: The English keyboard layout on Mac OS X assigns the vast majority of character entities that I often need to Alt/Option key combinations:

Character	Description	Unicode	HTML	Key
	non-breaking space	U+00A0	 	Alt–Space
…	horizontal ellipsis	U+2026	…	Alt-;
–	en dash	U+2013	–	Alt-Dash
—	em dash	U+2014	—	Alt-Shift-Dash
‘	left single quote	U+2018	‘	Alt-]
’	right single quote	U+2019	’	Alt-Shift-]
“	left double quote	U+201C	“	Alt-[
”	right double quote	U+201D	”	Alt-Shift-[
©	copyright symbol	U+00A9	©	Alt-G
®	registered mark symbol	U+00AE	®	Alt-R
™	trademark symbol	U+2122	™	Alt-2
€	Euro symbol	U+20AC	€	Alt-Shift-2

This post uses only the following character entities now: &amp; (&) and &hearts; (♥).  ♥  Oh and I'll probably have to stick a couple of others such as &lt; (<) and &gt; (>) because they are more or less required in order to escape those characters correctly in HTML; there is also &#8213; (―, or horizontal bar/quotation dash), but I'm a dork to insist upon using that symbol in the first place (instead of approximating it to em dash or double dash as others do), so it's all okay.  XD

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Originally known as Mujik Park 박무직, Boichi ボイチ (Japanese Wikipedia) is a graphic novelist who holds a unique position in the manhwa industry.  For one, he has a unique background for a shojo/josei manhwaga (Korean mangaka) which he debuted as—he holds a bachelor's degree in physics.  And he has largely been ostracized by fellow manhwagas (Korean mangakas)—there is a multitude of conflicting accounts about what caused this, but it is generally believed that his uncompromisingly blunt personality played a role—then moved to Japan, and has finally joined the rank of mainstream mangaka in Japan.

Although better known as a mangaka who caters to male tastes in general now, he still keeps his shojo/josei touch of style, which the two titles above embody well.  Some titles also manifests his original focus, sci-fi (he had a rare determination to specifically take a physics major in order to draw sci-fi manhwas); in fact, most of his works that I hold in high regards are of the genre, including the HOTEL above.  For years now I have been trying to get a hold of this collection of his short stories, titled 하늘 속 파람 별 and long out of print, which contains the short story that I count as “the” masterpiece of his of all time: LTU (Love That Universe), a story of lovers who have been parted literally by time-space (some people liken it to Voices of a Distant Star 星の声 by Makoto Shinkai, and I agree with the assessment).

Here's a chilling news article for those of you who are into bodybuilding.

Steroid Doping Can Cause Severe Acne Conglobata

Case report on bodybuilder shows condition can be treated, but lifelong scarring is likely

FRIDAY, Aug. 22 (HealthDay News) -- Doping with anabolic steroids -- a common practice in professional and amateur sports -- can cause severe skin lesions that result in permanent scarring, according to an article published in the Aug. 23 issue of The Lancet.

Peter Arne Gerber, M.D., of Heinrich-Heine-University in Duesseldorf, Germany, and colleagues describe an amateur 21-year-old bodybuilder who presented at their clinic with massive, deep ulcerations, abscesses and pustules on his chest and upper back.

After questioning the subject, the researchers determined that his severe acne conglobata resulted from long-time abuse of two anabolic steroids: testosterone enantate at a dosage of 250 milligrams plus metandienona at a dosage of 30 milligrams twice weekly. They also found that the subject had significantly reduced sperm concentration and testicular volume.

"Skin lesions showed rapid improvement after discontinuation of anabolic-androgenic steroid abuse and with antiseptic and antibiotic therapy," the authors write. "However, the extensive scarring is likely to remain with the young man for the rest of his life."

( And what it really means )

[ Vulva Original ]
WARNING: Not safe for work.  NSFW.  You've been warned.  Twice.

With one minute left until the game is over, Lim Young-Chul, the manager for the South Korean team, called for a time-out.  The score is 33 to 28.  S. Korea had a huge, 5-point lead, with which the leading team usually does not call for a last-minute time-out, out of respect for the losing team.  Mr. Lim too is well aware of that.  He did not want to talk about a strategy or something.

He began calling: “O Yeong-Ran” “O Seong-Ok” “Heo Sun-Yeong”, who are players in their 30s; “Hong Jeong-Ho, Park Jeong-Heui…”, who are old veterans, 34 and 33 years old.  “We went through rigorous training with these players in their 30s, some even being housewives.  And now these players can't play in the Olympics anymore even if they wanted to.  I wanted to let them grace the finalé,” said Mr. Lim.  “Manager, you don't have to do this,” said O Seong-Ok, who had a 11-year-old son.  But Lim shook his head, saying “Enjoy the last moment in the court” while asking for consideration from younger teammates.

With the one minute becoming 50 seconds, then 30, then 10, the older players' eyes began welling up.  When a whistle signaled the end of game, Park Jeong-Heui, 33, fell to her knees and broke into tears, face-down.  A junior teammate held her hand and tried to help her back to feet, but Park wouldn't easily straighten up.  The broadcast camera was in front of them, capturing and broadcasting the scene.

( Read more... )

Original article by Ho-Jin Song on Hankyeoreh.
English translation copyright © 2008 Eugene M. Kim.

Ever since I was introduced to the wild world of color printing, the issue of proper color calibration of the display has always been an issue for me.  Most poor man's calibration measures required visual calibration, sometimes known as “eyeballing,” which wasn't a viable option for me for a very OTLish reason: I am red-green color weak.

A couple of months ago when I bought this MacBook Pro, the first thing I noticed was that its white point was way off, almost looking like a 10-year-old CRT monitor with its yellowish hue.  Then I noticed that it was the factory color profile that Apple supplied with the monitor that was off, but unfortunately, reverting to the sRGB profile did not help.  Actually sRGB made things worse, by rendering everything in ghostly bluish tone.  I tried to run Apple's ColorSync calibration wizard, which didn't do even a remotely good job in the basic mode, and in the “expert mode” its control sliders didn't have a sufficient range to kick things back into normal gear (at the extreme that was closest to the “neutral” color, things were still distintively blue).

I saw other people complaining about the same thing on Apple's discussion forums, and concluded that it wasn't just my MBP but a widespread problem, and knowing Apple (as much as I love them) I knew it wasn't going to be fixed anytime soon—after, all, how many people are actually anal enough about the color balance to think about recalibrating their monitors?

Then I was on my way back from Davis (off-topic: MUGA has PIU NX2 and PIU Pro now) when I decided to check out the Apple Store at Northridge Mall (because I heard the store was pretty large and slick).  There I saw all these accessories that weren't on the display on other Apple Stores in the area; one of those accessories was Pantone huey™PRO, which I decided to buy, and I don't regret that decision at all.

( Details about the new gadget )

I am thinking about getting a new LCD monitor of those “high color” variants (the Gateway FHD2400 is my top pick for now, by the way, but if you are thinking about getting one too, you should hurry as it is being replaced by a stripped-down, bare-bone successor, FHD2401).  Once I have that, the first thing I am going to do is to run huey™PRO on it; then I believe I will feel the true power of that wide gamut the monitor is capable of.

The retail price of huey™PRO seems to be around $130.  Online vendors have it at around $90-$110.

P.S.  (Semi-)off-topic: On the box I saw “Pantone/x-rite” as the brand name, with “/x-rite” in small letters.  Knowing that X-Rite was a company that specialized in colorimetric devices, I thought Pantone has acquired it and assumed its product line (in fact, huey™—the predecessor of huey™PRO—was made by X-Rite).  But the result of some more research about it was quite surprising: It was X-Rite, not Pantone, that acquired the other; Pantone is now a wholly-owned subsidiary of X-Rite.  (Of course X-Rite did not dare to dissolve the company itself; who would dare to do it to a industry giant that became nearly synonymous with colorimetry and color matching?)

The SEME or UKE Quiz created with QuizFarm.com

You scored as The Gentle SEME You are the most loving, romantic, and loyal SEME but you also have a protective side that won't stop for anything. You are devoted to making your love and your friends happy but don't take it too far, being too trusting is a major flaw in your design and it is important to atleast TRY to deny the 'cute face'. You wish to be honest and only want to live happily ever after in a love-story all your own. You never say die and will do whatever it takes to help those you care for. You are, of course, best matched with the lovely and caring Optimistic UKE who will take any protection you are willing to give and who is sure to brighten your day. You would do well to stay clear of the Devilish UKE if you feel like staying alive anytime soon. Befriending the Breaker SEME would be your best bet. You aren't the kinkiest and you'd rather just kiss. The fire of love isn't meant to be destructive in your eyes - it's meant to be warm and relaxing. The Gentle SEME 60% The Optimistic UKE 55% The Breaker SEME 50% The Devilish UKE 50% The Homicidal SEME 35% The Sorrowful UKE 15%

Ho-hum.  Eugene will disagree a lot with this.  But there's at least one grain of truth in it: "being too trusting is a major flaw in your design."  XD

Since I know you the OG DDR (ex-)players abandoned DDR Freak (well, most of you anyway), here's a crosspost that might interest you:

Hi, My name's Rachel Knudsen and I'm a researcher for a television show, Glutton For Punishment, which is broadcast on the Food Network. I'm searching for a great DDR dancer in San Francisco or anywhere in Sonoma County who would be interested in showing our host, Bob Blumer, some DDR moves on camera!

Our host Bob will be competing in the Sonoma County Grape Stomp Competition, and we thought it would be fun, as part of his training for the stomp, to try out his stomping skills on DDR!

We're looking for fun, outgoing DDR pros who would not be afraid of the camera and would be into shooting a quick (approx. two hours) scene with us sometime in the first week of October.

It should be a fun shoot! If you're interested, or if you know of anyone who may be interested, I'd love to hear from you as soon as possible! You can reach me at rachel_k@papernyfilms.com or 604-873-9777 x275 (in Vancouver, Canada).

Thanks so much,
Rachel Knudsen
http://www.gluttonforpunishment.tv/

Any takers?

This is mostly for my own reference, but is posted in public just in case some of you are interested.  LJ-cut because it is rather long (and equally as boring).

( Constitution of Republic of Korea (English translation) )

Original text, found at the Constitutional Court of Korea.

And I thought I was never gonna find a LOLcat more awwwwish than “You eated my cookie?”….  ;_;

Edit: Honking fail ROFL:

I'm on American Airline 1612 to Chicago. When I entered the cabin, the pre-takeoff music they play happened to play on my iPhone at the same time. LOL

Happy birthday drhikaru, jas777 and astralblue!  XD

YAY

This is the first year I skipped AX in God knows how many years, yet I feel all good and dandy and relaxed at home.  :D

Oh, by the way, purple.the-7.net has seen the light and converted to ZFS (except for /boot, which needs to be still in UFS because the boot loader is too stupid to handle ZFS yet).  I'm amazed how its performance rivals that of UFS2, even with all the extra features comes with it.  Gotta commend Sun Microsystems for releasing this amazing piece of code in open source.  :D

The LTO-2 drives in purple.the-7.net and seerajeane.astralblue.net (my bedroom computer) are awesome.  I'm copying/restoring purple:/pub onto seerajeane:/pub (which is on a dedicated RAID5 array and runs ZFS too), and the bottleneck is not the tape drive but the hard drive.  Modern tape drive technologies never cease to amaze me….  I mean, LTO-2 isn't even the newest generation of LTO technology (there's LTO-4 now, which boasts the throughput of 120MB/sec, which is faster than usual hard drives these days can handle)!

Speaking of ZFS, it's godly also because it spreads writes across the entire disk over time (it's called “wear leveling”) can detect bad sectors on the fly and adjust accordingly; it means it can run on top of a flash drive, whose memory cells (sectors) has a finite lifetime in terms of write operations.  My home router is now a Soekris net5501 box with a CompactFlash disk in it, and I can safely use read-write filesystems without having to worry about wearing the disk off in 10 months (it had happened to me once), thanks to ZFS.  ♥

From Matt & Jen Simerson's blog:

The CF card is so old it was actually made in the USA!

Another anecdote that this country wouldn't be able to survive without its unhealthy dose of neoliberalism¹—it's already in a deep pile of shit.  XD

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It makes too much of a sense….  Especially theorochi who will go evil!  (Get it?  Hahahaha!)