Google just made the Google Friend Connect API available to developers. What made this interesting was that it would make it easier for site admins/developers to integrate Friend Connect into existing login systems. As a Wordpress user, I was excited to see that there was a plugin for my blogging platform of choice. An added bonus was that I knew some of the people involved in the development of the plugin.

I wrote that first paragraph with the understanding that readers would know what Friend Connect was and what it was for. However, it is not that widely in use so I can’t expect people to know what it is.

Google Friend Connect provides a simple means of one-click user authentication using a pre-existing Google, Yahoo, AIM, or OpenID account. This means that a user doesn’t need to create a new account for every site that he comes across.

After installing the plugin to enable Friend Connect authentication on my blog, I tried out the Friend Connect sign-in process while I was logged out to see what it would look like to non-admin visitors. I had a few moments of panic after seeing that logging into the Friend Connect system also logged me into my blog. The scary part about that was that I saw a link that said Site Admin, which only I as admin should see. It turned out that I was only logged in as a Subscriber, and the Site Admin showed the dashboard, but only as much as subscribers can see. Basically, regular visitors were not getting admin access. It was a false alarm. I was able to confirm by checking the list of Users and saw my Friend Connect user identity was appropriately marked as Subscriber.

That’s the other cool thing about this plugin; it is able to add users to a website’s database. A couple of weeks ago, I was working on a Friend Connect login solution for Coppermine Photo Gallery but got stuck due to CPG needing database access to the application’s users. If I or any CPG developer can work with the GFC API, we could enable visitors to login with their Friend Connect credentials, and have those accounts create new users in the gallery’s user table in the database.

Feel free to try it out here by logging into Friend Connect to leave a comment. Of course, comments are still open to visitors who are not logged in, but when logged in, you won’t have to enter the usual blog comment form fields.

If you installed the plugin for your site and noticed that the blog looked different in places you did not want it to look different, it is due to some css definitions that the plugin has.  You will need to delete or comment out the unwanted css definitions in fc_plugin.php

I have become a fan of epilating. I avoided it for years because I was afraid of the potential pain. However, when I researched it last month, it seemed the technology has improved a lot to minimize pain. I was sold on the Braun 5270 Silk-épil X’elle Body System Epilator due to the reviews that reassured me that it was not going to be a horrible experience.

In my research, I found lots of tips to help prevent too much pain. I’ve put them together for my own setup. I now look forward to my weekly epilation sessions.

Preparation Tips

• before the very first session, shave 1 to 3 days beforehand so that the hair is not too long and yet have something for the epilator tweezers to hold on to
• exfoliate to avoid seeing micro bits of dry skin flying
• take a hot/warm shower/bath to help open the pores
• per instructions, dry legs and do not apply cream/moisturizer

Process

The Braun 5270 comes with a beginner head. It would be a good idea to try using that for the first time. It massages the skin to help distract from the tweezing feeling. Sometimes, it even tickled but it was not uncomfortable. The scariest part of the process was the loud noise. Unfortunately, it meant that it was too loud to have the television on in the background. I played some music to help me relax.

Move the epilator slowly over the legs, going against the direction of hair growth. If you have experience tweezing eyebrows, you would likely know the trick to reducing or preventing pain is to stretch the skin around the hair follicle. This worked while epilating, too.

During the first session, I was able to move on to the advanced epilator head. That’s how practically painfree it ended up being. The results passed the smoothness test where I rubbed my legs together. It never felt that good when I shaved with a razor.

When done, moisturize. Use the included brush to clean the epilator head.

Electric Razor

The Silk-épil came with an electric razer head. It was useful for hair that I was too afraid to try to epilate. The results were better than using a regular razer because I did not get itchy bumps.

Conclusion

Epilating took longer than shaving, but it was more comfortable sitting in the living room instead of standing in a wet bathtub. What I really like about epilating is that it gave me smooth results that would last between weekly sessions. Because I could do it on a more convenient schedule in a more comfortable setting, I now have hairless legs even during the winter when most days I would wear jeans or pants. Then I can wear dresses/skirts without having to plan ahead.

Something to note is that I have fine hair. This could contribute to the lack of pain for me. It is possible that people who have thicker hair might experience more pain, but I do not know. Just a heads-up so readers do not go after me if they do not have as great an experience.

There’s a Facebook equivalent of a chain letter making the rounds, where people are asked to write 25 things and then tag 25 friends who are asked to repeat the process. As a personal policy I do not pass on things that require me to “pass it on” to X people. However, I enjoyed reading and learning 25 things about my friends so I thought it’s only fair to share 25 things about me, too. Plus, it’s another post to add to my lacking-in-frequent-updates blog.

1. I trained my cats to: sit, sit up, shake, high-five, gimme-five, gimme-ten, stand, say hello, say goodbye, wave, salute (my boyfriend helped with the last two)
2. My first home in America was in Colorado
3. I won two spelling bees in elementary school
4. I got to attend my dream university and was accepted via early action admission
5. I’m working at my dream company and had to apply at least two times
6. One of my first memories is of Las Vegas lights at night
7. I have a multinational family: I was born in Vietnam; my sister in Hong Kong (then under British rule); my brother in America
8. I need to have music when I’m driving or working out
9. I prefer donating money to animal causes because they get euthanized if there aren’t enough resources, and humans domesticated them for our needs/wants so we owe them
10. I generally have a very strong aversion toward cheesy chick flicks but once in a while reassure my boyfriend that I’m feminine enough to like a good girly movie
11. I’m a democrat but want the republicans to keep the hardcore liberals in check
12. I am proud to be a blood donor and cried when I was turned down when my blood iron level was too low one time
13. I prefer beautiful weather over seasons
14. I fell out of the raft in the rapids and survived to tell about it, with photographic evidence
15. I like taking photos
16. I like helping other people share their photos by volunteering for Coppermine Photo Gallery
17. Superman is my favorite hero
18. I’ve been a cradle robber a few times but not on purpose
19. I find negative people to be emotionally and mentally draining
20. I didn’t like roller coasters until I was peer pressured into riding one in junior high
21. I have not and will not do drugs but think people should be able to use them if they want
22. I love gadgets and I like to name them
23. Three of my favorite sounds are: the happy purr of a cat, the uncontrollable giggle of a young child, and the loving heartbeat of my boyfriend
24. I started college as a fuzzy (non techy) but ended up loving the natural and computer sciences thanks to awesome professors
25. I feel extremely fortunate and thankful for the people, cats, and comforts that I have in my life

I just uploaded to Google Code the source code of Picasa2Coppermine. This makes it possible to add a button in Picasa that when clicked will upload selected files into a Coppermine Photo Gallery running version 1.5. CPG 1.5 has not been officially released yet, so it is only available via subversion checkout.

The ability to import from Picasa to Coppermine is a frequent request and something that I personally really wanted to be able to do. I am excited to have been able to accomplish the basics of the task. However, there is still a lot remaining to be done to make this even better. If you are brave and tech-savvy enough to run a test installation of CPG 1.5 before it is released, and also use Picasa, I would appreciate that you try this out. Code contributions would be greatly appreciated.

Happy Martin Luther King, Jr. Day!

CodeWeavers is making Crossover licenses available for free for one day only, October 28, 2008. The site is currently unable to handle the load, but you can submit an email address in order to register for a serial number. The offer limits one license per email address.

Since the entire site now redirects to the one simple page to register for the license, it’s hard to get information on the products that are available for free. Enter Google’s cache of the products page. Basically, the Crossover products make it possible to run Windows applications on computers that run on Mac or Linux OS’s. The cool part is that it does not require a Windows license, unlike some virtualization applications.

For today only, they have put up fully unlocked builds that can be used without having to wait for registration:

Download CrossOver Mac Pro

Download CrossOver Games Mac

Download CrossOver Linux Pro

Download CrossOver Games Linux

Now I have to decide if I want the Mac or Linux version…

Update: I downloaded and installed CrossOver Linux Pro. It worked but not as I expected. It is able to install a pre-determined list of Windows applications. I was hoping to install Chrome rather than use CrossOver Chromium but it doesn’t seem to be possible. At least I was able to get Internet Explorer 6 installed in case I have to check out websites that don’t function in any browser other than IE.

A couple of years ago, I wrote about training my then-kittens to do tricks. Now that they are 3.5 years old cats, I am writing a follow-up post on the success and challenges I have experienced in training them to do additional tricks.

I can’t guarantee that older cats can be trained. The point is to get cats to do something they would already do, except on command. The following instructions will illustrate how to turn random, quirky behaviors into tricks, but are not intended to serve as examples of what all cats could/should be able to do. The key is to use positive reinforcement to encourage them to repeat the desired results.

Say “Hello”

One of my cats, Mr. Knightley, is pretty vocal and meows a lot. One day I decided it would be cool to be able to get him to do it on command. I had to come up with a phrase to associate with the desired behavior. I started with “say hi” but my boyfriend pointed out that could be confusing because it sounded like the other trick, “high five,” especially when I praised him by saying “good hi.” Saying “good hello” is easier and less confusing.

I started the training process by saying “Say hello” to Knightley while I was doing a tricks session. He was not very cooperative but I persisted. Since he is a frequent meower, the chances were good that he would randomly meow after I said “Say hello.” Whenever he meowed after I gave that command, I would shower praise on him and say “good hello” to reinforce the word with the behavior, along with the praise. After a few months, I can get him to meow quite consistently after saying “Say hello.” My boyfriend thought (and still thinks, actually) that I was crazy to try to attempt to train my cat for that trick, but now I have a pretty cool trick to show off.

Stand

This is similar to the “up” trick that I previously trained my cats to do except that I had them stand up higher, rather than just sit up on their haunches. I put the treat high above their heads which caused them to stand up higher to reach for the treat. Eventually, I was able to get them to stand and put their paws up in the air without having to put the treat way up high.

Wave

Until my boyfriend came along, I was only able to get my cats to do tricks when I rewarded them with treats. One night, he got Darcy to give him five with no other incentive than to pet him afterward. This evolved into a trick I now call “wave.” Usually, when I have my cats “gimme five,” they’re sitting. Since my boyfriend was doing impromptu tricks, Darcy would be standing on all fours when he was asked to give five. So he would reach out his paw while his remaining three feet stayed on the ground. When he reached out without a corresponding hand to give five to, we started to call it “wave” and would say “good wave” and pet him to train him to associate the behavior with the word.

Salute

Salute was a combination of stand and wave. In the beginning, we would ask Darcy to stand and not provide any feedback. While he waited for some response from us, he would do a slight downward motion of his paw to get us to acknowledge him. That was when we discovered that this was a new trick, called “salute.” It is friggin’ adorable and is one of my favorite tricks to see Darcy do.

Gimme 10

Mr Darcy has this quirk where he likes to put both paws in the palm of my hand, which I would then kind of lift up and down a few inches. We would often carry on for a few seconds doing this. I was eventually able to turn this into a trick by associating it with the phrase, “Gimme 10.” When he gave me two paws on command, I would pet him and praise him to show how pleased I was.

Say “Good-bye”

One time, as my friends were standing at the door to leave my apartment, Mr Darcy was hanging around them. On a whim, I said, “Say good-bye, Darcy.” He stood up and waved with his right paw! I immediately praised and petted him to provide positive reinforcement. Now, whenever my boyfriend leaves and Mr Darcy is loitering, I would say “Say good-bye” and when Darcy obliged, my boyfriend and I would shower him with praise.

Key points

• look for behaviors that the cat would do anyway
• provide positive reinforcement with treats, petting, and/or verbal praise
• have lots of patience

Spoiler Alert

You might not want to read this unless you have encountered the crash in the chapter, “Trouble in the Sky” in The Last Crusade in Lego Indiana Jones for Nintendo Wii. Then again, you might want to read this to prevent the game freezing at the point that it froze for me.

I was playing Lego Indiana Jones with my boyfriend and just as we finished the last part of the chapter, the game just froze, and buzzed. It was the part where we had to “scare off” three sets of sea gulls. Because it occurred before the end of the chapter, the game was not saved, and we had to do the chapter over.

I went online to search if anyone else had the same issue in that chapter, to see if it was an issue with my disk. It turned out I was not the only one.

Lego Indiana Jones Issues:

Hello,  that is the very same area the game froze up on my son.  I just bought him this game on Thursday and by Sunday when he reached that area it froze up. We tried shutting the system down and each time it still froze on that same Trouble in the Sky area and it makes a high pitched noise too.  I called Toysrus and they said it must be scratched but it’s not. Anyway I returned the game and they replaced it and so far he’s went past that area and it’s been just fine.

I didn’t know where or when I bought the game nor where the receipt was so exchanging the disk was not an easy option without some receipt-hunting.

My boyfriend and I played the chapter again and changed the order in which we went after the sea gulls, and that seemed to work. The first time when the game crashed, the last set of sea gulls that I went after was found on the cliff. The second time around, we went after the cliff sea gulls second, and the ones on the ship last.

After we successfully completed the chapter, I came across this page: Solution to Trouble in the Sky Freezes.

Use Henry (Indy’s dad) on controller one. Hooray! No horrible bzzzzzz…

Note: Order of the seagulls does not matter. Finishing them off with controller one matters. Possibly Henry has something to do with it too. Just play it safe and finish it with Henry on controller one.

I usually play with controller one and I think I was the one that went after the sea gulls although I don’t remember if I was playing as Henry (update: my boyfriend confirmed that I was playing as Indiana). However, I think when the game crashed, I was the one, as Indiana Jones, that went after the sea gulls on the cliff so perhaps the controller doesn’t matter.

Other than that bug (and another one), the game is fun to play with two players. It is one of those few games where the second player is pretty much an equal, and where multiplayer mode isn’t gimpy compared to single player mode. It actually helped a lot to have another player because it meant I did not have to switch characters as much.

The other bug occurred when we had a character that was riding an elephant, or some big animal, which fell down a ditch and was unable to get out of the ditch or drop out of the game, preventing us from moving on. We had to start that chapter over and avoided the ditch the second time around to complete the chapter.