How to disable or turn off Google fade and missing buttons (permanently)

Google’s homepage is experimenting with a minimalist concept by removing the search and “I’m feeling lucky buttons ” and fading the crucial menu.  The fade is now a permanent part of the homepage as it was announce on 12/02/2009 at Google’s blog.  If it gets any more simpler the homepage may disappear altogether. Other experiments include an expandable sidebar on search result (screenshot).

Video: How to stop the fade with Stylish (Firefox only.)

get addons here: https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/2108
get styles to stop fade here: http://userstyles.org/styles/23032

Giant, huge ufo over shanghai china October 14 debunked

Interest in UFOs spike as Blossom Goodchild predicts a huge extra terrestrial space craft over the sky in the Earth’s southern hemisphere due to arrive on October 14th. Yet October 14 has come as pass without a reasonable size UFO reported on that date. However, the only UFO on the news is merely a fan made video depicting a large UFO (a quarter mile in length) above the skyline of Shanghai, China. Check out the video below this image.

Above: Photoshop manipulated ship of the Galactica Battleship over Shanghai. Raw image source.

Optical Illusion Paintings on Trucks – fake or real?

Here are seven photographs of trucks that have been circulating on the web and in people’s emails. This one below is bottle that appears to stick out onto the road. These photos are said to be real trucks painted to give an illusion the image is standing out but in fact none of them are real paintings. They might be another viral marketing trick similar to the cell phone popcorn hoax. You can still see the the original mail of the trucks I received here.

Below is a Photoshop comparison I made. Once a mask is drawn into the truck is it now much easer to insert any image onto the truck.

Happy Lao New Year

Today is a day to celebrate the Lao new year. The starting date is on the 9th of this month but some claim that the 13 is the official date. Unlike most countries, The the New year festival can last for days. It’s been wonderful so far. I’m testing out Vimeo’s high definition video hosting to remind me of Laos. The video is set to widescreen to fit in with HD standard but somehow stretched it, I’ll fix when time permits. The quality is great on slide-shows but isn’t an efficient way to make a slide-show, check it out.

All images are Lao except the bike on field. The soundtrack is chosen at random…it should have been a cultural music. This is my last slideshow. I’ll stick with video.

Check out this Radio (RFA) interview with Lao Children learning to read and write Lao in Virginia.

I came accross a facebook list of what makes Laotians… Laotians. Very funny, although not official. 😉

You know you’re Lao when…
1. You can name all the ingredients that go into thum mak hoong.
2. At least one person drives a Honda (or Toyota) in your family.

3. You got more than one generation living in your house.

4. Everyone in your house eats out of the same bowl.

5. Your gramps is making whiskey out of rocks and twigs.

6. You got a jar of fermenting fish heads in the bottom cabinet FOR THUM MAK HOONG.

7. You’ve climbed the neighbor’s tree while you were younger to satisfy the appetite for sour berries and hot sauce.

8. Your last name is a bazillion letters long and everyone jacks it up trying to pronounce it.

..

Chinese Photographer got caught Photoshopping

Photographer says “sorry” for faking Tibetan antelope picture [larger image] it’s been found to be a photoshopped fake was notice by a Chinese blooger read more at…

China Eats Crow Over Faked Photo Of Rare Antelope

View Costco’s  photo contest winners http://www.costcoconnection.ca/connectioncaeng/ (I believe some of the entries were Photoshopped.)

Howls’ Moving Castle is a classic

Howl’s Moving Castle is one of the best animation I’ve ever seen this year. This is the type of story line that has to be watched twice in order to understand and find the true meaning behind the inspirational animation. I’ve spent countless minutes watching it and it was worth it, I can’t say the same for anyone else. Howl’s Moving Castle is a stark contrast from The Shutter, the movie that could make us hear noise when we’re alone, but The Shutter is extremely cool when we need the suspense. ; )

hoewlsoundtrackmemory.mp3 A short soundtrack.

The second most significant thing that caught my attention is Calcifer. Calcifer is a fire demon whose job it is to be the soul, the heart, the butler and the pilot of the amazing castle.

Lovely Calcifer, the heart of the castle.

Calcifer runs, operates and controls almost every part of the castle. This is cool because this means that I’m not the only one that believe that there is a Calcifer behind each of my tools. Yes, I might sound crazy but I treat my property just like Howl treats Calcifer. I often speak to my property (in my mind.) I don’t abuse the things that I own, organic or inorganic materials. But every property are used to its full potential in extreme environment and used in extreme fashions. By showing that I appreciate everything I own, my “things” become very reliable and loyal to me. In fact, all our cars (one is 19 years old,) expensive tools and even machinery are called Mrs. Reliable (Khoon.)

Some of the things that caught my attention is the architecture of the buildings, the drawings of the scenes and the use of colors. The buildings are constructed using traditional wooden joints which are built much like furniture, like this building below which I’d screen captured from the DVD.

Howl’s home/business.

The castle (mansion) collapsing.

In this picture, Sophie is seen running in the flower field. Behind her is an example of the beautiful, joyful color in the lake. The use of color in this way from Hayao Miyazaki is rare.

Some of the scenes I don’t get is this one. He runs out of the bathroom screaming about his ruined hair color. It’s unlike Howl to be acting like that. 🙂

Disadvantages: The disadvantages about this movie that the story line goes on for a while without a clean plot. It isn’t a simple story. But may be a story that tells the stories of strange dimensional shifts, witchcraft, wizardry and the practical lives in that era. There are some shocking scenes, like Howl running out of the bathroom and nearly dying. And the witch being adopted by Sophie. Whatever shocking scenes there may be, they are still an experience. 🙂

Edit: misspelled howl, not howel’s .

Analog TV is out HDTV is in.

Analog TVs will be outdated by February 17, 2009 (now June 12,) according to the FCC. Recently we’d aquired an 32″ HDTV and a 22″ HD monitor to get ready for the change. The monitor was paid for by Microsoft I got from a settlement program. On a side note, Bill Gates, with his philanthropy program, isn’t so evil after all. The LCD TV will be the third most expensive item our family would ever own, but not the most important item.

If you have an antenna that recieves signals off the air you will need one of these converter boxes in this chart. If you want a $40 voucher go here.

The Tivocommunity has created a small poll. The poll shows that more people are choosing the $40 ECHOSTAR.

This poll chart is compiled by the Tivocommunity forum as seen here.

Pokemon on Ana Airlines

The popular Pokémon (Pocket Monsters) television series entered the fleet of All Nippon Airways* in late June. ANA had asked elementary school children to compete featuring Pokémon characters chosen from about 40,073 entries. Shota, the winner of the competition, signed his name on the aircraft’s door. In explaining how he chose his design, he said, “I wanted to give the Pokémon that usually live at sea a chance to experience the thrill of flying in the sky. I can’t believe that planes carrying my design are really going to fly.”

Interior of the Pokemon plane – this is a make believe interior photo.  It looks as though the cartoon is projected onto the plane’s interior panels.

Hello Kitty by Eva Air

It’s really fascinating to be able to board a flight where just everything is Hello Kitty – for Hello Kitty fans, maybe. Eva Air (of Taiwan) launched a new concept incorporating Hello Kitty in their fleet. This can be a dream come true for young Asian girls who prefer a Hello Kitty flight over a trip to Disney World while going somewhere at the same time.

Below stands two dolls and two stewardess. There is something strange about this photo. The dolls appear skinny compared to their original cartoon appearance. Their thin, flimsy shirts and hard angles faces make them look spooky. The Taiwanese appear to have some trouble copying the Japanese craftsmanship.

To solve their thin, flimsy shirt problem I would rather have them fluff up their shirts with more fluffs. The male kitty in the blue shirt reminds me of some freaky fantasy universe where the scene crosses between a cartoon and a real world and where the pimpster has taken control of a mysterious airliner.

Cartoon Art on Planes

Below: Here are various cartoon planes shot by contributors of Airliners.net. Fun in the sky for kids of all ages. Or the young at heart. Some of these cartoons look familiar to me, but some I have never seen before. Such as the DieMaus and the big pink and blue cats. Read more at the bottom.