Parabolic Reflector

To deal with my poor wireless network, I downloaded the Ez-12 Parabolic Reflector Template, and made a signal reflector myself.

It is clever.

Studying QWERTY Like One of the Idiots

QWERTY, the most common English-language keyboard is used, while also the most inefficient in human history. It takes its name from the first 6 letters at the top of the keyboard. Test takers should practice on a QWERTY keyboard before taking the TOEFL iBT, and throw it away as soon as possible.

Official ETS website (modified by an angry Dvorak typist)

It seems that different keyboard layout is not allowed in any ETC test. It means that I have to re-study QWERTY keyboard which I have dropped three years ago. I feel depressed, disappointed and angry.

Freedom Comes Eventually

That is three hundred and forty-three days, the awful past makes people have nightmares.

I can get rid of them finally. My diary evokes me the memory from the first day I stepped into the training center to the last moment I stepped out the battalion unit. Someday I may be able to overturn it from old personal archives and tell stories to friends.

I realize there are some important things need to be done. I will get busy soon.

Er...

Mouse Gesture for Sharing on FriendFeed

Found a way to share a web site on FriendFeed without add a button to Firefox bookmark toolbar.

Put the following code into a new FireGesture script and render a mouse gesture to the script.

var document = FireGestures.sourceNode.ownerDocument;
var e=document.createElement('script');
e.setAttribute('type','text/javascript');
e.setAttribute('src','http://friendfeed.com/share/bookmarklet/javascript');
document.body.appendChild(e);

Surely you must have Firefox with FireGesture extension and a FriendFeed account first.

Dvorak Simplified Keyboard Layout

"Have you ever thought how the arrangement of the letters on our keyboard comes from?"

Every time I asked the new question to my friends, the answer was always no. I have tried so hard to convince my friends or family members to try Dvorak simplified keyboard layout. However, all of them were just listened quietly but never do a change themselves. I was tired and disappointed. They probably didn't know how much this can affect their life style. Here I found a marvelous comic book that describe the evolution of keyboard layout and sincerely convince you to TRY Dvorak keyboard layout. It does greater job than I could explain its advantages. Please enjoy and consider it.
DVzine.org - PDF Edition

Being very lucky, I learned typing when I was six grade in elementary school. It was very impressive that a ten-year-old boy could type faster than most of adults in that time. I neither knew nor asked why the keyboard layout was arranged so awkward. Maybe I thought it was just something there I couldn't understand on my age. On the first year of my college, I asked that question to myself and did a thorough research on the Internet. So I started to learn Dvorak keyboard layout. In the first few weeks, it really needed patient to look up the layout table whenever I forgot where a letter is, and the frequent typing error and re-typing also made people frustrated. Then I thought, "Haven't I just managed it when the first time I studied the QWERTY layout? What does make me not through this time? I just need to drop what I've learned, as though it's not easy." So I did make it.

The training ended up in fewer than two months, and since then I can enjoy the advantages of Dvorak keyboard layout completely. I have also tried to introduce Dvorak layout to the others. None of them have ever changed to it though. Maybe the human race just simply don't want to change, like what August Dvorak said before he died.

I'm tired of trying to do something worthwhile for the human race.
They simply don't want to change!

August Dvorak

I know that Dvorak layout may not be the best one to my use. It can be optimized better for programmers like me. However, once I know a general and efficient layout for programmer developed out there. I won't hesitate to have a try. Would you?