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Ever find yourself using many different online tools as you make your way through your computing day? The popular ones have all loaded us up with magic toolbars with overlapping features that ultimately just clutter up the browser with lots of buttons you never click and severely reduce your browser window’s available page viewing space. Some tools are in your favorites or bookmarked. You get to others by going to a website first and then clicking on a link. Still others you remember, but have never found again. Doesn’t it make sense to be able to find everything from just one spot?

That’s what OiHoi does. It uses a variety of different online tools from one simple interface. And you have choices – prefer Google search results over Yahoo or Live? You choose. So simple to use, only one input box and a short list of commands to learn. The first word you type is the command, everything after that gets passed on to the online tool.

Examples:

• “word procrastination” searches dictionary.com for the word “procrastination”
• “stock mot” displays complete stock details on finance.yahoo.com. “quote mot” does exactly the same thing
• “search asimov” displays results on Google (by default)
• “map 07981” shows Whippany, NJ

And theres much more. OiHoi is still in development, and new features are being added regularly.

White as Milk is a clean wordpress theme that puts focus on the content rather than the design. Its easy to use and customize and the design stays out of your way. I started using this theme for a photoblog, but then realized that there wasn’t a good clean theme around for others to use, so here it is, download and enjoy!

Preview | Download

Due to the overwhelming number of questionsI get about White as Milk, I’ve created a system to submit support tickets. If you have a question/comment about White as Milk, please create a ticket and I will get back to you as soon as possible. Comments for this post has been disabled.

Version 1.8 is out and takes care of a few bugs and also has a few enhancements:

• Better IE6 support – fixed bug where the sidebar would collapse if a photo/image was too wide.
• Better mobile support – added support for Blackberry phones.
• Easier to customize – most of the popular elements have been moved to the top of the stylesheet making it easier to find and edit.
• Better widgets support.
• Added support for tags.
• Added Gravatar support
• Content and sidebar area now use percentage instead of fixed widths.

FAQ

Q: How do I center the blog title in the header?

A: Open up your styles.css file and look for this piece of code: #headerimg {margin-left:28%;} and replace it with #headerimg {text-align:center}

Q: How do I make the template stretch horizontally all the way?

A: Open up your styles.css file and look for this piece of code: #page {width:700px;} and replace it with #page {width:95%;}

Q: How do I add an image in the header?

A: Open up header.php and look for these lines:

<div id=”headerimg”>

<h1><a href=”<?php echo get_option(‘home’); ?>/”><?php bloginfo(‘name’); ?></a></h1>

<div class=”description”><?php bloginfo(‘description’); ?></div>

</div>

and replace it with this:

<div id=”headerimg”>

<p><a href=”<?php echo get_option(‘home’); ?>/”><img src=”MYIMAGEHERE.JPG” alt=”<?php bloginfo(‘name’); ?>” />

</a></p>

</div>

Got a Question? Contact me.

Variations

White as Milk is pretty easy to customize. Just open up the styles.css file from the wordpress admin area and the top few lines should tell you how to customize your copy of the template. I’ve created a few variations for you to try out. Just click on the variation you like, copy the code and replace it with the code on the top of your styles.css file.

Green (Download)	Pink (Download)
Purple (Download)	Black (Download)

Ubuntu has to be by far the easiest Linux based OS I have ever played with. Take a look at that screenshot. Its gorgeous! It takes less than 30 mintues to install on a decent computer and It comes with tons of applications (including OpenOffice, Firefox, an email client, the GIMP Image editor, and a wide selection of games), and best of all its free! Its very easy to use, and the GUI looks like its got references to the Mac OSX and Microsoft WIndows. But it looks like somebody finally actually sat down and figured out what needs to be in an OS. There is even a server version that comes with LAMP installed. Its perfect if you have a computer lying around missing an OS.

Even though I am only 21, I think I’ve gotten to a point in my life, where I’ve realized that I am old-ish. I think if you ever find yourself saying, “When I was a kid….” or “back in the day…”, it probably means you’re too old to be driving that tricycle. Its amazing when you look at these high school kids, with their odd sense in clothes, their awkwardness etc, you realize that not too long ago, you were exactly in their (ugly, colorful) shoes.

And also, its weird when you watch things like, “Tom and Jerry” or “The Pink Panther” and tell those kids from younger generations that this is what you watched as a kid; they look at you funny mainly since the cartoons I watched compares nothing to their fancy “Pokemon” or “Camp Lazlo” (Of course, there just had to be an elephant on that show, who just happens to be Indian). So yeah, if you ever find yourself going, “I used to fit into these things”, dont worry, we’re all in the same boat.

So looks like Ive been tagged again.

5 years ago: This was around the time that I was studying for my 10th grade CBSE exams back in high school. Also the time when we all had the most fun. Late night study sessions, eating nothing but shawarmas (gyros) for breakfast, lunch and dinner. Riding my bike with my friends everywhere we went. Getting in trouble with teachers for pulling pranks on the girls. Hating math and science. Had my first job teaching basic computer usage (not the best job Ive had, but I got paid). Started listening to hip-hop and electronic music. Put my first official website online (looked horrible, had only one page, but it was a start). Severely Injured my left pinky on my toe playing soccer. One of my favorite cousin sisters became one of my best friends. Learned to grind coffee,

1 year ago: Just got into my second year of college. Started working as a web designer. Got confused about what major to pursue in college. Fell in love with Modest Mouse. Brought my first fish. Drove a Jaguar for the first time. Met 3 amazing people, who now are my partners in crime. Met a friend I hadnt seen in 4 years. Learnt the basics about trading stocks. Team won foosball tournament. Team also won football tournament.

5 songs I know all the words to:

• I came as a Rat – Modest Mouse
• Trouble – Coldplay
• Shes Hearing Voices – Bloc Party
• Look What Youve Done – Jet
• Miami – Will Smith (not embarrassed)

5 snacks I enjoy: Snickers, Cookies, Pretzels, Jelly beans and Burfis.

5 things Id do with a million dollars: Invest in stocks, Invest in bonds, Invest in people who actually need it, Invest in world travel and buy a pink BMW (I seriously hope you know Im kidding about the Pink BMW part).

5 places I would run away to: Home, Gregs place, Home back in India, The Record Store or La la land.

5 things I would never wear: leotards, alligator suits, tie dye shirts, boot cut jeans and T-shirts with messages like, “I am a princess”.

5 favorite tv shows: The Daily show with Jon Stewart, Family Guy, Futurama, Will and Grace, Scrubs.

5 greatest joys: Finding good music, talking to friends, design, first day of spring and coffee.

5 favorite toys: Yo Yo, iPod, Playstation 2, Dominos and baseball.

This one is from the archives. I was going through some old photos last night, and came across this one. This photo was taken when I was like in 4th grade, and we were doing a class play or something. Yes, I know, a play without costumes? Don’t ask.

But doesn’t that look professional though? I mean 4th graders wearing ties and belts. Can you guess where I am in the picture?

I love Jazz. Before I moved to the U.S, I was never exposed to Jazz. So when I did move here and heard people like Miles Davis, Charles Mingus and even Ron Carter, I was like woah! this is nice.

So last week, I got to see the legendary Herbie Hancock. Now, if you dont know Herbie Hancock, you should atleast know who Miles Davis is. Well, Herbie Hancock played with Miles Davis back in the 60’s. So, that kinda gives you an idea of how good Hancock should be. And he is. He came up on stage, and the crowd went wild! Literally. People were hooting and clapping. I started tapping my feet when the show started, and stopped tapping them 110 minutes later.

Along with Hancock, the legendary Micheal Brecker (tenor saxophone) also played. He used this cool new instrument called the EWI (Electronic Wind Instrument). With this instrument, he would play small beats, record them, loop them, and then create another beat and then loop that, creating an awesome track at the end. He composed an R&B track as a sample, and it was just amazing. To think he did that live. After the whole concert, Herbie went around and introduced the memebers of the band, and even took time to introduce the 2 G5 Macs that they use.

I even got to meet the members of the band (Herbie Hancock, Micheal Brecker, Roy Hargrove,Scott Colley and Terri Carrington), and to top it all off, got Herbie Hancock to autograph an LP cover of his album called “Monsters” that he made 25 years ago. I love Jazz.

Franceys post on SoMinty

Although, music is more indicative of “what type of person” a person is than any other thing (taste in movies, food, etc…)

The “hating” if you will, is just a perpetuation of bias against various stereotypes.

What is the stereotype of someone who listens to country music? redneck

What is the stereotype of someone who listens to rap? black man

What is the stereotype of someone who listens to indie rock? Hipster

What is the stereotype of someone who listens to “pop” ? Well, popular people.

Who hates pop? People who listen to indie rock. Who hates popular people? Hipsters. Hipsters hate popular music, not because of the music itself, but because of the people who listen to it. Why else do you think people accuse bands of “selling out” when they become popular? Because all of a sudden, the music is being listened to by people the original audience would rather not associate with.

And you see how everything aligns.

So last night, I got to see Interpol play live in concert and its probably one of the best concerts Ive gone to this year. They played almost all of my favorite Interpol songs, and excited the crowd with their amazing light show (The name of their first album is, “Turn on the bright lights”. See a pattern here?). When they played “Public Pervert”, the crowd just went insane, because they did a special light effect at very section of that song. They would use very soft colors when the song just started out, and boom! bright white lights when they hit the chorus. Amazing.

Also, the band that opened for Interpol was this electronic band called, Boom Bip (Check out the website to listen to their stuff). Now obviously a lot of people at the concert didnt get them, since they didnt do any singing, so I dont think they got the support that they needed. Boom Bip, reminded me a lot of Radiohead, but more grungier and with a whole lot more bass (When they played their first track, I could feel my heart bump every time the drummer hit his drums).

I have a confession to make. I have not seen any of the Star War movies. In fact, I always thought it was "Dark" vader, instead of Darth, till about 2 months ago. The only line I know from that movie is, "Luke Skywalker, I am your father". Sigh, I know. You have no idea how many people have mocked and poked me with a stick because of that. Conversations at work are not the same, and my friends don't invite me to sci-fi movies.

But that's going to change. I've decided that I am going to watch the movies in the order of the progression of the story. So that means, Ill watch them in this order:

1. Star Wars: Episode I – The Phantom Menace
2. Star Wars: Episode II – Attack of the Clones
3. Star Wars: Episode III – Revenge of the Sith
4. Star Wars: Episode IV – A New Hope
5. Star Wars: Episode V – The Empire Strikes Back
6. Star Wars: Episode VI – Return of the Jedi

Now, obviously, this is going to take some time, but I am planning to do it. It is going to be long, it is going to be hard, but I will do it. If you've got any tips for me, let me know.