How to cheat drawing: scribbles into art

THE SCRIBBLER is an online application created by zefrank that will turn crappy scribbles into works of art.

The worse you are at drawing, the better the results. That means: less details, more "general shapes". Here are some examples of what I created:


Ballerina Before Scribbler


Ballerina After Scribbler

Just don't forget to click "Pause Scribbler" before taking a snap shot of your own creation so you can save it. Print screen works well. Or you can just follow the instructions on the site itself.



START SCRIBBLING!

Why are we happy?

Dan Gilbert says that people have the capacity to simulate an experience. This means that we don't have to actually experience something before we make decisions. For example: I don't have to actually eat poop before I can conclude that it would be a horrid, horrid experience.

He categorizes happiness between (1) Synthetic Happiness and (2) Natural Happiness. Synthetic Happiness is perceived when we don't get what we want but our psychological defense mechanisms convince us that whatever we have now is better than what could have been. Natural Happiness on the other hand is perceived when we feel happy when we get what we want: our goals, ambitions, dreams, etc.

However, Dan Gilbert also says that our ability to simulate happiness often leads us in less than ideal situations because we are delusioned to believe that Natural Happiness weighs better than Synthetic Happiness. In truth, both Synthetic and Natural happiness are experienced in the same manner, in the same duration, etc. This delusion stems from the belief that Natural Happiness can be achieved in the freedom to choose.

Freedom to choose which job would make us happier is believed to be beneficial to our happiness. In contrast to this belief, their research shows that people under irreversible conditions end up happier as compaired against people that were given the freedom to choose.

In the end, it's not about revoking freedom from people so that we can make them happier. We're wired to believe that freedom will lead to happiness, so that won't work at all. History will attest to that. It's simply about understanding happiness.

I can easily relate this video with one of the most important lessons I learned from my Theo professor, Fr. Dacanay, that commitment maximizes the potentials of freedom.

How to add multiple sidebars to you blogger layout

Here's how you add a main sidebar with two columns beside each other, and a wider one-column area below.



Having two sidebars beside your blog's article body maximizes the space of your site. This is especially helpful for bloggers who incorporate ads and multiple widgets for decoration and flavor. However, I found out that viewing a 180px width Blog Archive widget makes it virtually unreadable in small(er) screens. That is why I decided to maximize the total width of my two slim sidebars to host the wide Blog Archive widget.

Part I. Reduce the width of your existing sidebar to make room for an additional sidebar

1. Sign-in to you Blogger account.
2. On the upper right corner (the Blogger task bar) click on "Customize" to go to your Blogger editor.
3. On your Blogger editor view, click on "Layout" tab, then click on "HTML" sub header.
**Be sure to save a copy of your HTML layout before making any changes for back up.
4. Find (CTRL+F) the following text: #sidebar (you either have #sidebar or #sidebar-wrapper if you're using a regular Blogger template)
5. Inside the parentheses of #sidebar, edit float and width parameters into:

#sidebar-wrapper {
...
float: $startSide
width: 170px
...
}

Note: we reduced the width of your sidebar to make room for the second sidebar.

Part II. Add a second sidebar to your regular Blogger layout

1. Find the following text: <div id="sidebar-wrapper">

IMPORTANT: if you neither have <div id="sidebar-wrapper"> nor <div id="sidebar"> then try changing "sidebar-wrapper" into 'sidebar-wrapper'. If your Blogger Layout HTML code uses singe quotes instead, then be sure to adjust the codes presented here accordingly.

2. Beneath that div section, copy the following code:

<div id="sidebar-wrapper">
    <b:section class="sidebar" id="sidebar" preferred="yes">
    <b:widget .../>
    </b:section>
</div>

Widget Note: The b:widget line is where you put the content of your sidebar. One b:widget line per content, arrange them according to how you want to stack them on top of each other. Simply copy the format from your existing sidebar div. If you're wondering what HTML1, HTML2, etc. are, then switch to your Page Element view (sub header below Layout) to determine which of your widgets are HTML1, etc.

div ID Note: The <div id="sidebar-wrapper"> line tells your layout to follow the settings defined in #sidebar (padding, font, colors, width, etc.). If you have #sidebar then you should edit your code to <div id="sidebar">.

Part III. Wrap these 2 sidebars in one main sidebar element

1. Go back to your #sidebar-wrapper code
2. Above it, add the following code:

#sidebar-MainWrapper {
width: 350px;
float: $endSide;
word-wrap: break-word; /* fix for long text breaking sidebar float in IE */
overflow: auto; /* fix for long non-text content breaking IE sidebar float */
padding: 10px 0 0 0
}

#sidebar wrapper note: if your #sidebar definition has the padding attribute, edit it accordingly. Know that it will inherit whatever padding attributes are in your new #sidebar-MainWrapper when we're done.

Width attribute note: The defined width that I provided is 345 because 2 sidebar widths = 170px * 2 = 340px. The additional 10px is for the space you may want to put in between the sidebars. In order to incorporate this space, just edit your padding: 0 5px 0 0 in you #sidebar definition. (Notice that I removed the first 10px, because the #sidebar-mainWrapper already has it).

3. Look for the first occurence of <div id="sidebar-wrapper"> (there are two of these because we added an additional one a while ago)
4. Wrap the two <div id="sidebar-wrapper"> with <div id="sidebar-mainWrapper"> like the following:

<div id="sidebar-mainWrapper">
    <div id="sidebar-wrapper">
    ...
    <div/>
    <div id="sidebar-wrapper">
    ...
    <div/>
<div/>

Part IV. Add a wide, third sidebar element below the two narrow sidebars

1. Find <div id="sidebar-mainWrapper">
2. Below it, add the following:

<div id="sidebar-MainWrapper">
    <b:section class='sidebar' id='sidebarBelow' preferred='yes'>
    <b:widget id='BlogArchive1' locked='false' title='Archive' type='BlogArchive'/    >
    </b:section>
</div>

This code will add the blog archive beneath the two narrow sidebars in your layout.

Skinny Gyms

Here's a nifty BMI calculator widget I found from Widget Box. Information shown in the widget are:
1.) BMI (Body Mass Index) determines if you're in the healty weight range.
2.) BMR (Basal Metabolic Rate) also known as RMR (Resting Metabolic Rate) determines how much your body burns while at rest. The calculator shows daily caloric intake both for weight maintenance and weight loss. Captain Obvious says that you have to eat more than the suggested caloric intake in order to gain weight.
3.) IBW (Ideal Body Weight)

Restaurant City: Plant in your own backyard!

You basically buy and plant seeds each on plots that you unlock on certain, different levels. That means, you get a random vegetable/fruit/plant-product ingredient for 2000 coins.

It takes 45 hours for a plant to mature. You only have to water it every 9 hours max (ever 3 hours at least).

Here are the stages of plant growth:









MOAR!!!
Restaurant City by Playfish: Beginner Tips
Restaurant City Level 11 Tips
** You can now BUY ingredients in Restaurant City **

Books I've Read

Here's a record of the books (I remember) I've read.

Legend:

• Red: awful
• Blue: kinda boring (note the difference between blue font and link please)
  

Image Source: BBC

Harry Potter by J.K. Rowling
Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone
Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets
Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban
Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire
Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix
Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows

Olympus Service Center (Metro Manila, Philippines)

Servimax (Official Olympus Service Center)
2nd floor Unit-G Gilmore, Commercial Plaza, Gilmore Ave. New Manila

*image from servimax website*
Phone: (+632) 721-9102 and 722-2992
Fax: (+632) 721-6819
E-mail: info@servimaxtech.com
Business hours: Monday to Saturday, 9:00 AM to 6:00 PM

Important to note that for claiming warranty on items, their website states that they require any of the following:

- Sales Invoice (from the store the item was purchased)
- Official Receipt
- Warranty Card

Axis Global Technologies (Olympus' local distributor)
20 North Rd., Cor. 3rd Ave., Cubao,, Quezon City Philippines
Tel :(63) 2-724-3340 / (63) 2-721-8618
Fax :(63) 2-724-3353
E-mail: agt_sales@axisglobal.com

Note: Don't bother calling Axis Global for end user's concerns (consumer problems; YOUR problems) because they only cater to the needs of company customers. They'll refer you back to Servimax (see first contact details on this post).

-------

Update on 22 September 2009

This is me, saying thanks to Mr. Mina, the technician who fixed my Olympus mju1030

Because of a reader's comment on this post regarding his awful experience with Servimax, I decided to go to Greenhills, 2nd floor Cellphone tinagge area to have someone take a look at it. And besides, I was already way past my one year warranty coverage so I knew I'd be paying anyway.

Background: My Olympus mju1030 started acting weird a few weeks ago. It kept on displaying the error message "Card cover open" every time I turn it on. I figured it was a jam with the card cover sensor so it shouldn't be too much work to fix it.

When I brought it to Mr. Mina, the technician, he got it fixed in an hour. However, it got messed up again soon after that. I brought it back and left it overnight at his care. I got it the next day and it was all fixed and it's still working great today. I was guaranteed one month warranty.

Here's the contact information:
Technician: Godeng Mina
Number: +639274898500

He also fixes cellphones (he's in that same area).

Base 60 Transmutation Table

I wrote an Excel Spreadsheet grading table that references a Base60 Transmutation Table.

Here's the lookup table that I used for the grading sheet. The top column shows the total number of Items. The first column on the left is the equivalent final grade (1 being the highest, 5 the lowest). The second column from the left is the equivalent grade in percentage.

	%	100	90	80	70	60	50	40	30	20	10
5	60	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
	60	1	1	1	1	1	1	1
	60	2	2	2	2
	60	3
	61	4	3	3	3	2	2	2	1	1
	61	5	4	4	4	3	3		2
	61	6	5	5	5	4
	61	7	6
	62	8	7	6	6	5	4	3	3	2	1
	62	9	8	7	7	6	5	4
	62	10	9	8	8
	62	11	10	9
	63	12	11	10	8	7	6	5	4	3
	63	13	12	11	9	8	7	6
	63	14	13	12	10	9
	63	15
	64	16	14	13	11	10	8	7	5
	64	17	15	14	12	11	9
	64	18	16	15	13
	64	19	17		14
	65	20	18	16	14	12	10	8	6	4	2
	65	21	19	17	15	13	11	9
	65	22	20	18	16
	65	23	21
	66	24	22	19	17	14	12	10	7	5
	66	25	23	20	18	15	13		8
	66	26	24	21		16
	66	27
	67	28	25	22	19	17	14	11	9	6	3
	67	29	26	23	20	18	15	12
	67	30	27	24	21
	67	31		25
	68	32	28	26	22	19	16	13	10	7
	68	33	29	27	23	20	17	14
	68	34	30	28	24	21
	68	35	31
	69	36	32	29	25	22	18	15	11
	69	37	33	30	26	23	19
	69	38	34	31	27
	69	39	35
4	70	40	36	32	28	24	20	16	12	8	4
	70	41	37	33	29	25	21	17
	70	42	38	34	30
	70	43	39
	71	44	40	35	31	26	22	18	13	9
	71	45	41	36	32	27	23
	71	46	42	37		28
	71	47
	72	48	43	38	33	29	24	19	15	10	5
	72	49	44	39	34	30	25	20
	72	50	45	40
	72	51		41
	73	52	46	42	36	31	26	21	16	11
	73	53	47	43	37	32	27	22
	73	54	48	44	38	33
	73	55	49
	74	56	50	45	39	34	28	23	17
	74	57	51	46	40	35	39
	74	58	52	47	41
	74	59	53
3	75	60	54	48	42	36	30	24	18	12	6
	76	61	55	49	43	37	31
	76	62	56				32
2.75	77	63	57	50	44	38	33	25	19	13
	77	64	58	51	45
	78	65	59	52	46	39		26	20
	79	66	60	53	47	40
	79	67
2.5	80	68	61	54	48	41	34	27	21	14	7
	80	69	62	55
	81	70	63	56	49	42	35	28
2.25	82	71	64	57	50	43	36	29	22	15
	82	72	65
	83	73	66	58	51	44	37	30
	83	74	67	59	52
	84	75	68	60	53	45
2	85	76	69	61	54	46	38	31	23	16	8
	85	77
	86	78	70	62	55	47	39	32	24
	86	79	71	63
	87	80	72	64	56	48	40
1.75	88	81	73	65	57	49	41	33	25	17
	88	82	74
	89	83	75	66	58	50	42	34
	89	84		67	59
	90	85	76	68	60	51
1.5	91	86	77	69	61	52	43	35	26	18	9
	91	87	78
	92	88	79	70	62	53	44	36	27
	92	89	80	71
	93	90	81	72	63	54	45
1.25	94	91	82	73	64	55	46	37	28	19
	94	92	83
	95	93	84	74	65	56	47	38
	95	94	85	75	66
	96	95	86	76	67	57
1	97	96	87	77	68	58	48	39	29	20	10
	97	97
	98	98	88	78	69	59	49	40	30
	98	99	89	79
	99	100	90	80	70	60	50