豪杰 (HaoJie) Part 1: "Christening"

This morning my friend, Tan LiYuan, gave me a Chinese name. I had read about this phenomenon before. Sometimes Chinese people once they get to know a Westerner very well, will give the Westerner a Chinese name that fits their character. And so it happened today and I was named 豪杰 (HaoJie). I have asked Tan LiYuan what it means, and perhaps I will be able to blog tomorrow about what exactly my Chinese name of 豪杰 (HaoJie) means. Nonetheless this is an exciting day for me since I have been given a name, which is a high honor for a Westerner in Chinese culture!

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Freedom!

Yesterday I took my daughter to my brother's house so that she can babysit her 3 1/2 year old cousin. Tomorrow I start a job that was beyond what I was expecting to get in this job hunt. So that leaves me with today. And today I am feeling complete and utter freedom and it feels good. Life feel good today, it feels really good, and for the first time in a long time, I am looking forward to me job and going in to work. I have also been invited to China, and with the money I earned through my eBay sales, I should be able to pay for a trip, as this money no longer has to be saved for possible future bills. The future looks bright and the present is very satisfying and that is a set of feelings that I could definitely get used to!

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My Icon Corners

Here are my 4 icon corners:

My family icon corner where we do Reader's Services. At the top is a hand painted cross, below that is our Slava icon, and the name of our former chapel, The Royal Martyrs; under that are icons of Christ the Pantocrator and the Theotokos by Mother Anastasia. On the sides are icons of our patron saints, Saint Anastasia the Great-Martyr and Saint Nicholas of Japan and an Icon of Saint Stephen the Protomartyr (who I feel close to because he was also one of the first deacons along with Saint Timothy) and The Hospitality of Abraham and Sarah. At the bottom with no home is the Menaion icon with an icon for every day and for all of the Great Feasts.


My living room icon corner made up of only hand painted icons. From left to right they are: Saint Nicholas of Myra in Lycia, a gift from Metropolitan VALENTINE and painted by a monk in Suzdal; Saint Euphrosynos by the hand of Mother Anastasia; Christ the Saviour, unknown iconographer; Tsar Martyr Nicholas Romanov by the hands of Archbishop GREGORY of and Archimandrite George of Dormition Skete. Under it is a hand sewn picture of the Church on the Blood and a cabinet bull of liturgical supplies which is on a book case of Orthodox books.


My personal icon corner, top to bottom, left to right: All Saints of America, Tsar Martyr Nicholas with icons of Saint Nicholas of Myra and Saint Seraphim of Sarov around him; The Theotokos; a Russian blessing cross; Christ the King, a gift from Juvenaly Martinka when I was ordained; Saint Nicholas of Myra in Lycia with icons of the Pantocrator and Theotokos, a gift from Vicar Bishop ANDREI; Christ blessing the children.


My daughter's personal icon corner. In the middle downward, in a Russian fashion: Her Guardian Angel; Christ the Pantocrator; Theotokos Sweet Kissing; her patron saint, Saint Anastasia the Great-Martyr; On the cross beam are: Saint Xenia who may get moved to my family icon corner after she helped me get this job; The Saints of Moscow; The Royal Martyrs; Saint Thecla, a gift to her from Justin and Mary Cecilia Kissel when we were Baptized.

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Thanksgiving for Answered Employment Prayers

Dear Friends in Christ,

I got the call this afternoon that the restaurant thought that the interview went really well and so they did not want to wait until Monday to make a decision and offered me the job as the restaurant manager today. I want to thank God, Saint Xenia, and all of you who have prayed for me during this time of my unemployment, job searching, and interview process. I know that all of your prayers helped me immensely! Glory Be To Thee O Lord, Glory Be To Thee!

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Yellow Dog Linux History as Seen by Google

Using Google Experimental tool, launched few days ago, you will find this. Quite interesting. Change the individual distro to see their history too.

read more | digg story

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China to replace USA and become 3rd biggest travel destination

China is likely to replace the United States as the world's third most popular tourism destination next year, a United Nations World Tourism Organization (UNWTO) official said. At present, China ranks fourth, after France, Spain and the United States. Last year, China accounted for 5.8 percent of the global tourism market, a growth of 0.3 percent.

read more | digg story

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The time of "Christian Society" is over. "Christendom" has ended…

George Oz says the sooner we learn this the better. "What the State does with Civil Unions has nothing to do with us. The only thing we can protest is if the State attempts to impose acceptance of Civil Unions on the Church. The Church began in Europe in societies which condoned homosexuality, and orgies, and idolarty. Yet the Church still managed to flourish."

read more | digg story

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Job Interview Prayer Request Update

Thank you all for all your prayers, the Monday interview was horrible but brief, but today's 45 minute interview I passed with flying colors. Not only that but I got a call this afternoon calling me in for an interview tomorrow to be a manager at a restaurant, so I would like to ask for continuing prayers please!

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Sushi Bar Camera

Camera on a conveyor at a Tokyo sushi bar. It was about midnight and the place was packed with great people.


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The Romeo and Juliet Effect: Why Christians Keep Having Sex Before Marriage

"In William Shakespeare's play, "Romeo and Juliet," the titular star cross'd lovers fatefully decide to pursue their love, despite the chaos and war unfolding around them. Their decision ends up being a fatal one. I suppose the ironic question that some people might want to ask the protagonists is why risk so much to violate the family rules?" From an essay by David Chen.

read more | digg story

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You 'can be fat' even if you are thin!?!

So you thought you could afford not to exercise if you were thin. Think again, for "being thin doesn't automatically mean you're not fat", says Jimmy Bell, a professor of molecular imaging at the Imperial College of London. If it really is what's on the inside that counts, then a lot of thin people might be in trouble!

read more | digg story

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Samples From the FREE Chinese Language Learning Site I Advertise!

I.《每日一播》Everyday Chinese POD


II.《每日一句中文》Everyday Chinese


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British girl feared abducted turns four

A British girl kidnapped in Portugal Has spent her fourth birthday still missing, prompting a call from her parents for redoubled efforts to find her.

DIGGERS, LET'S GET THIS GIRL'S PICTURE OUT EVERYWHERE (Please Blog It!) AND PERHAPS SAVE HER LIFE AND REUNITE HER WITH HER DEVASTATED PARENTS!

read more | digg story

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His Grace, The Right Reverend Titular Bishop Christodoulos of Theoupolis: Why Do We Pray?

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Enigma: Sadeness

Procedamus in pace
In nomine Christi, Amen

Cum angelis et pueris,
fideles inveniamur

Attollite portas, principes, vestras
et elevamini, portae aeternales
et introibit rex gloriae
Qius est iste Rex gloriae?

Sade dit moi
Sade donne moi

Procedamus in pace
In nomine Christi, Amen

Sade dit moi
qu'est ce que tu vas chercher ?
le bien par le mal
la vertu par le vice
Sade dit moi pourquoi l' 'evangile du mal ?
quelle est ta religion ou` sont tes fide`les ?
Si tu es contre Dieu, tu es contre l'homme

Sade dit moi pourquoi le sang pour le plaisir ?
Le plaisir sans l'amour.
N'y a t'il plus de sentiment dans le culte de l'homme ?

Sade es-tu diabolique ou divin?

Sade dit moi
Hosanna
Sade donne moi
Hosanna
Sade dit moi
Hosanna
Sade donne moi
Hosanna

In nomine Christi, Amen

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HOWTO: Get Chinese Characters to Appear Properly in Yellow Dog Linux v5

To get Chinese working properly in Yellow Dog Linux 5.0.1 (Phoenix):

First go to Add/Remove Programs and install Chinese.

Next install the RPM font packages from the following links (simply by clicking on the RPM download links in Firefox):

• http://wqy.sourceforge.net/cgi-bin/enindex.cgi
• http://www.altlinux.com/index.php?module=sisyphus&package=chinese-fonts-ttf

Then log out and log back in again, or reboot if you prefer.

Finally set Firefox so that it uses the 3 fonts you get from here, and now all your Chinese (and probably Japanese kanji too) characters will appear correctly!

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Up to 3 weeks: Works as advertised!

Well, they were right and I am surprised. The Gillette Fusion Power Cartridges really can last up to 3 weeks. A very good razor with very good blades indeed! That being said, I do like having a fresh bade in there again. :-)

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Manicure? Pedicure?

I am no metro— but yesterday when I took my daughter to the local Asian salon to get a manicure and pedicure as a reward for her getting a good progress report, they had a special for parent and child, so for the first time in my life I got both of these. It is actually a very enjoyable experience, and it probably is good to have well-manicured hands when interviewing at such a prestigious company like the one that I will be interviewing with again on the Feast of Ascension.

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Two Fifty Four

Well my weight is down to 254#, but I recently measured my waist and I have lost 4" from it. I have realized losing weight in numbers will be harder since I am also building muscle, but I am not changing my goal.

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Keith Oberman and Patrick Buchanan on why Ron Paul is the best candidate

Keith Oberman: Of the serious contenders this evening Pat, is there one who adheres closest to your conception of classic conservatism?

Pat Buchanan: I think the closest is Ron Paul who is a pro-life libertarian, who does not vote for big spending, who opposed the Medicare expansion, who opposed “no child left behind,” who opposed the war in Iraq…

read more | digg story


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Eat Mor Chikin!

That is indeed what I am doing. In my dieting I have cut out red meat from my diet completely, getting all of my protein from turkey, chicken, and fish except for fast days when I get my protein from seafood, beans, and almonds. Of course I do not get it from some fast food joint like Chik-Fil-A, but try to buy free-range, naturally raised, chemical and hormone free foods. Doing so, in addition to my change in how and when I eat, plus exercise has definitely made me feel better and it definitely helps the entire digestive system.

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Job Update With Flying Colors!

I just passed my first interview with a very respectable, preeminent firm, and am scheduled for my second interview on the Feast of Holy Ascension, so I ask your prayers please.

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Chinese use right side of brain more frequently than Westerners

After a series of studies on how Chinese people perceive tones in the language, a research team from the Life Sciences College at China Science and Technology University - led by Professor Chen Lin - recently showed that it is the right side of the brain that analyzes the tones in early stages of cognition - within about 200 milliseconds after the acoustic wave enters the ear. The study also suggested that people speaking Chinese use the right side of their brain more frequently than Westerners who speak English. Chinese should pay more attention to the potential development of the right brain. The results of the study were published in the internationally renowned academic journal, "Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America" on December 19.

According to reports, the two hemispheres of the human brain do different things in interpreting voice signals. Usually the left hemisphere dominates the understanding of semantics and the right hemisphere dominates the interpretation of music. However, the factors that determine the division of labor between the left and right sides of the brain is a problem that has long-perplexed academics, which is generally explained by two completely different hypotheses.

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Yellow Dog Linux 5 (Phoenix) > Mac OS X 10.5 (Leopard)

Google Fight!

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These Help When You Are Dieting. Really!

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Ultimate Wake-Up Pranks by the Japanese

Upload Video - Top 50 - Get Video Code

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"Hi, I'm a Mac." "I'm a PC." "And I'm Linux!"

From Novell, the "I'm a Mac, I'm a PC" spoof, starring Linux (Lass).

In the standard MP3 format:

1. http://cdn.novell.com/cached/video/bs_07/mac_pc_linux.mpg
2. http://cdn.novell.com/cached/video/bs_07/mac_pc_linux_2.mpg
3. http://cdn.novell.com/cached/video/bs_07/mac_pc_linux_3.mpg

In the superior OGG format:

1. http://cdn.novell.com/cached/video/bs_07/mac_pc_linux.OGG
2. http://cdn.novell.com/cached/video/bs_07/mac_pc_linux_2.OGG
3. http://cdn.novell.com/cached/video/bs_07/mac_pc_linux_3.OGG
   

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Nicaragua, Cuba, and Latin America

尼古拉 is Chinese for both Nicholas and Nikolai. It sounds more like Ni-Gu-La however. Wanting to know what the characters meant on their own, before they are combined to mean Nicholas, I separated them and asked Google Translator. And it said the symbols, in order, mean, Nicaragua, Cuba, and Latin America. I found that kind of funny.

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Good Dog!

Well I am posting from Yellow Dog Linux 5.0.1 on my Apple PowerBook and I am quite impressed. YDL 3.0 was excellent and I still have it on my 180MHz Apple 3400c PowerBook, and 4.0 that I had on my G4 iBook was not as good IMO, which caused me to switch to Ubuntu for a while (before they cancelled their PPC versions), but 4.1 brought me back to the Yellow Dog. 5.0.1 seems to be another winner. Of course with every first install of Linux or any operating system, you run in to some problems, but these are minor irritations and will be fixed in time. I am excited over the fact that the open-source driver for the graphics is much better than the excellent one included in Apple's Mac OS X Tiger! The colors are more vibrant and web sites look much better (other than ones created by "web masters" that have no idea what they are doing!) too! Like the drivers, I am very impressed with the Enlightenment E17 Desktop Manager, and so far am enjoying it a lot. Well back to my configs!

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Terra Soft Solutions Are Good People

This Too Was Dugg... is supposed to be my blog with Yellow Dog Linux stories, but 2 days in a row that is what this blog is all about! And for the 2 days before that this blog was all about sane Orthodox Ecclesiology. Go figure. Anyway today I traveled to Loveland, Colorado to visit the folks at Terra Soft Solutions. I met Kai Staats, the CEO and some of the ladies at work in the warehouse and picked up a DVD of Yellow Dog Linux 5.0.1. since I could not get a good download of the freely available ISOs. These people are just as great as their product and it was nice to meet them. So tomorrow I should be all upgraded and blogging from Yellow Dog Linux 5.0.1 on my Apple Macintosh 1.67 GHz PowerPC G4 15" PowerBook. And thankfully due to MOL: Mac-on-Linux I can access my Mac OS X 10.4.9 partition without having to boot back in to Mac OS X. 

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HOW-TO: PS3 Wifi on YDL.net Enhanced HowTo

1. Update the firmware on your PS3
This can be achieved from GameOS with the Software Update function
in settings.

2. Download the new PS3 wifi enabled kernel:
URL: http://ydl.net/enhanced/updates/yellowdog-5.0/RPMS/kernel-ps3-2.6.16-20070425.ydl.3.ppc64.rpm

3. Install the new kernel
rpm -ivh /path/to/kernel-ps3-2.6.16-20070425.ydl.3.ppc64.rpm

4. Edit /etc/kboot.conf
Take your default kernel line, and make a copy of it and then modify
the original line to point to the new kernel.

For example, if your default kernel line is:
ydl='/dev/sda1:/vmlinux-2.6.16-20061110.ydl.2ps3 initrd=/dev/sda1:/initrd-2.6.16-20061110.ydl.2ps3.img root=/dev/sda2 video=ps3fb:mode:3 rhgb'

The new section would like this:
ydl='/dev/sda1:/vmlinux-2.6.16-20070425.ydl.3ps3 initrd=/dev/sda1:/initrd-2.6.16-20070425.ydl.3ps3.img root=/dev/sda2 init=/sbin/init video=ps3fb:mode:3 rhgb'
oldydl='/dev/sda1:/vmlinux-2.6.16-20061110.ydl.2ps3 initrd=/dev/sda1:/initrd-2.6.16-20061110.ydl.2ps3.img root=/dev/sda2 video=ps3fb:mode:3 rhgb'

Where oldydl is your original kernel.

5. Reboot

6. Configuring Wireless
a) Unplug the ethernet cable, eth0 is both the wired and wireless
Ethernet port on PS3s.
b) Launch system-config-network (Network in the Settings menu)
c) Delete the eth0 (gelic_net) interface.
d) Create a Wireless connection.
e) You may now configure that wireless connection as you would with
other YDL versions. One note here that confused me when I did this
was that the ESSID specified as "Auto", when I actually needed to
remove that and select the Auto radio button.
f) You can now activate the interface.

7. Enjoy your new wireless enabled PS3.

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Bible Verse of the Day

"Every one who exalts himself will be humbled, but he who humbles himself will be exalted."

Luke 18:14

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