Nice Translation Widget For Blogger Blog

The Google Translation Widget Looks Ugly In My Opinion(screenshot). Because Of The Bottom Right Aligned Gadget Powered By Google Text Link. So Its Time To Have A Modified Google Translation Widget For Your Blogger Blog. It Looks Nice And Simple.
This Widget Works With The Extracted Codes From The Google Translation Widget. Therefore The Output You Gets From Both Of The Widgets Will Be Same. Click To See The Example

Lets Start The Widget Installation...

* Go To The Layout Section Of Your Blogger Blog, And Select Edit HTML , Check Expand Widget Templates Is Ticked

note: For Backing Up Your Current Code Click Download Full Template On The Backup/Restore Template Section.

* Then Search For The Code </b:widget> , If You Are On Firefox Just Press Ctrl+F For Finding The Code. Then Add The Following Code Just Below </b:widget>
<b:widget id="'HTML200'" locked="'false'" title="'Language" type="'HTML'"><br /><b:includable id="'main'"><br /><!-- only display title if it's non-empty --><br /><b:if cond="'data:title"><br /><h2 class="'title'"><data:title/></h2><br /></b:if><br /><div class="'widget-content'"><br /><form action="'http://translate.google.com/translate_c?'"><br /><table id="'webtb'"><br /><tr><td> <select name="'tl'" style="'width:"><br /><option value="'ar'">Arabic</option><br /><option value="'bg'">Bulgarian</option><br /><option value="'ca'">Catalan</option><br /><option value="'zh-cn'">Chinese (Simplified)</option><br /><option value="'zh-tw'">Chinese (Traditional)</option><br /><option value="'hr'">Croatian</option><br /><option value="'cs'">Czech</option><br /><option value="'da'">Danish</option><br /><option value="'nl'">Dutch</option><br /><option value="'en'">English</option><br /><option value="'tl'">Filipino</option><br /><option value="'fi'">Finnish</option><br /><option value="'fr'">French</option><br /><option value="'de'">German</option><br /><option value="'el'">Greek</option><br /><option value="'iw'">Hebrew</option><br /><option value="'hi'">Hindi</option><br /><option value="'id'">Indonesian</option><br /><option value="'it'">Italian</option><br /><option value="'ja'">Japanese</option><br /><option value="'ko'">Korean</option><br /><option value="'lv'">Latvian</option><br /><option value="'lt'">Lithuanian</option><br /><option value="'no'">Norwegian</option><br /><option value="'pl'">Polish</option><br /><option value="'pt'">Portuguese</option><br /><option value="'ro'">Romanian</option><br /><option value="'ru'">Russian</option><br /><option value="'sr'">Serbian</option><br /><option value="'sk'">Slovak</option><br /><option value="'sl'">Slovenian</option><br /><option value="'es'">Spanish</option><br /><option value="'sv'">Swedish</option><br /><option value="'uk'">Ukrainian</option><br /><option selected="'en'" value="'fr'">English</option><br /></select><br /><input value="'data:blog.url'" id="'url'" name="'u'" type="'hidden'/"><br /><input name="'sl'" type="'hidden'" value="'en'/"><br /><input name="'hl'" type="'hidden'" value="'en'/"><br /><input name="'ie'" type="'hidden'" value="'UTF-8'/"><br /><input style="'width:" type="'submit'" value="'Go'/"><br /></td></tr></table></form><br /><h6>Widget by <u><a href="'http://1001-tricks.blogspot.com/'">1001-Tricks</a></u></h6><br /></div><br /><b:include name="'quickedit'/"><br /></b:includable><br /></b:widget><br />

* Then Click On SAVE TEMPLATE
* Go To Layout --> Page Elements , There You Could See Your New Translation Widget's Current Position On Your Blog, You Could Simply Change The Widget Position By Dragging It To The Position You Need. After Placing Your Widget Click Save.

Advanced Users Corner...

* This Widget Is Designed For The Bloggers Who Writes In English, Bloggers Who Writes In Other Languages Should Make Some Changes In The Widget Code.
ie, Bloggers Who Writes In Arabic Should Find And Change The Following Code From The Original Widget Code.
Change <option selected='en' value='vi'>English</option>
To <option selected='ar' value='vi'>Arabic</option>

And Also Change
<input name='sl' type='hidden' value='en'/>
To
<input name='sl' type='hidden' value='ar'/>

* For Changing The Word "Go" To Your Language Or Something Else, Find And Edit The Following Code.
<input style='width: auto;' type='submit' value='Go'/>

* If You Want Any Part Of Your Blog Post Remain Untranslated After The Conversion Do The Following
<span class='notranslate'>The Text Which Has To Remain Untranslated.</span>

alsoread: Add Favicon For Your Blog

bento box

i need someone to make me bento box lunches everyday! yum!

eclipse 2009 - 6m 42s

many people opt to jump on a cruise ship to view total solar eclipses since the mobile boats can, ideally, move quickly over the water to find clear patches of sky! unfortunately, reports i received from friends on boats last week were not all positive.

yesterday, APOD featured the panoramic image below, captured by babak tafreshi, as he cruised along on the deck of a boat at the point of maximum eclipse!


notice how the horizon, in every direction, resembles a sunset, as photons from the sun still scatter thru the atmosphere a hundred miles away!

there are some other artistic eclipse photos at spaceweather.com. i particularly like this one by alan dyer:

eclipse 2009 - behind the scenes

brady has put together a behind the scenes video series from our china trip to see the total solar eclipse. you can view the uncut totality footage from the 4m 21s event, some of the extra footage we recorded that didnt make it into the final cut, and of course, the full video.


click here to view, and enjoy!

yes, we landed on the moon.

will the moon landing conspiracy ever be officially defeated? i freaking hope so, because its quite annoying in my line of work to constantly encounter people who assume that humans faking the moon landing is a valid possibility. ugh. can we please stop instilling this nonsensical doubt into the minds of our children? humans landed on the moon... be proud, not asinine!

rant completed; now for informative humor!

to help people on the internet move in a positive direction, cracked.com provides a handy 'People Who Would Have to Be Full of Shit' conspiracy theory chart...


spotted by mike's meandering mind.

How To Convert A Jar File To Jad File

For Converting A Jar File To Jad File, You Just Have To Install Jadmaker.
Read more »

Twitter Modifies Its Homepage

Twitter Has Changed Its Homepage Look. The Old Twitter Home Was Quite Boring, Isn't It?

Now Have A Look At The Stylish Twitter Homepage.

The New Twitter Homepage Is Populated With The Latest Trends Which Has Been Categorized By:

*Popular Topics Right Now

*Popular Topics Today

*Popular Topics This Week

The New Twitter Tweet Search Looks Greate! I Think Its The Main Modification Made On Twitter. Because The New Search Helps To Search The Public Twitter Tweets Even If You Don't Have A Twitter Account. This Will Annoy The Search Engine Giants Like Google, Yahoo, Bing Etc.. Because Most Of Us Prefer Google Or Any Other Search Engine Even If We Have To Search Twitter Tweets.

alsoread: Twitter API Limit Increased

rubik's cubewich

introducing the deliciously creative rubik's cubewich, spotted under the headline... "Finally, a Rubik's Cube I Can 'Solve' in Under a Minute!"


trying to think of the best non-meat version... suggestions?

link via erin o'brien.

Moose Lake Agate Days -- Post 3

Here are a few more photos I took on Sunday of the Moose Lake Agate Days.

First: some HUGE Lake Superior agates for sale, ranging from 1-4 pounds. Notice the second from the right on top. It is 4.39 pounds that was selling for $1,756!



Some U.P. copper for ssle. Notice some of the huge float copper chunks!



More Lakers for sale, ranging from 1-2 pounders!



A view of some of the outside booths. I had to take this photo on Sunday when there weren't thousands of people. Since Moose Lake Agate Days was featured on the Travel Channel's Cash and Treasurers Show, the word is now out and attendance was way up at this year's show.



Some Argentina Condor Agate:



A miscellaneous inside booth.



In my new Gitche Gumee Geology talk (Summer Lecture Series on most Tuesday, Thursday, and Saturday nights in July and August -- see www.agatelady.com for more information), I mention about the Stromatolite formations. The ones in the U.P. are Kona Dolomite, which when polished is also beautiful. I must admit, though, that I like the Mary Ellen Jasper even better. If it were not for the stromatolites, we would not be here.





Shown below is Brian Costigan (Rockman69 on EBay), and his parents. Also is a photo of part of Brian's booth.





A view of some of the inside booths.



The Agatelady booth on Sunday morning, before the public was allowed in. On Saturday it was nuts. There were soooo many people in the gym that it was hard to move around. If you are smart, next year you might want to think about visiting on Sunday instead.

total solar eclipse 2009 - photos!

here are a few still shots from the total solar eclipse last week!

while riding in the taxi to ningbo, brady and i feared we were seeing our only glimpse of the sun for the rest of the week :(


the morning of the eclipse! the crazy-looking building is china's first zero-emissions building, which houses the center for sustainable energy technologies at the university of nottingham.


ready to go!


people slowly gathered around us and looked thru the glasses. our first visitor was from the campus's security department. the guy looked very serious and not at all happy to see us with video cameras! but as soon as we handed him the eclipse glasses and had him look at the sun, he got a huge grin on his face and went off to gather some friends to bring back!


all credit for the success of the video goes to this guy - brady haran! i was just happy (and giggly) to be along for the ride :)


getting closer...


almost there...


self portrait during totality!


i didnt get any good still shots of the sun itself amid my excitement, but you can watch our video of the whole event if you want! cosmos4u also has a nice summary of eclipse coverage to browse.

here's my quote from the university of nottingham press release:

Dr Amanda Bauer, from the School of Physics and Astronomy, who also travelled to China to see the eclipse said: “A total solar eclipse is the most spectacular astronomical event you can see with the naked eye. After travelling all the way from Nottingham to Ningbo, it looked like we might be thwarted by the weather. But the clouds cleared in time, and I was stunned by how spectacular it was. I'd seen pictures and video before, but I was not prepared for how big it looked and how dark and cool it became. For four minutes it felt like we were on a different planet.”

total solar eclipse 2009 - video!!

i just returned from the dark side!! i couldnt access this blog, facebook, twitter, or youtube while in china, so sorry for the delay!

without further ado, here is the video of the solar eclipse that i actually (and very surprisingly considering the weather) got to see from ningbo, china on july 22, 2009!!!!



the experience felt like i was on another planet for 4 minutes and 21 seconds! i completely understand now why people regularly travel around the world to experience a few minutes of surreal science non-fiction!

thanks a billion to the university of nottingham, the sixty symbols project, and especially brady haran, for inviting me to come along on this wild adventure and for brilliantly capturing and editing the footage!

see more photos here!

Is it Time to include China in International Human Space Effort? Some think so.

China is methodically building advanced space hardware for their own space station to be lofted to space sometime in the fall of next year, it will be sending the Asian nation's first interplanetary probe to Mars next year, the Chinese space agency will select its first female space-goers from a pool of 16 pilots next year; and it is planning further robot probes to the Moon as well. Clearly, China is building national pride in what is proving to be a solid national space program.

Already there are hints of Sino-American diplomatic space efforts within Washington political circles with discussion of the inclusion of China in the International Space Station partnership and perhaps seeking the opportunity to loft an American astronaut aboard a Chinese-made space capsule in the years ahead. Efforts to cooperate in space with the Chinese should be given serious attention by President Barack Obama some now say.

After seeing a full-scale mock-up of the Shenzhou/Long March 2F booster in Beijing this month, this blogger is impressed by the technology the Chinese are seeking to employ and develop for routine space access. Inquiry as to space facility tours in China by Americans now appears to be problematic however. Chinese officals will allow visits to the Xichang space launch facilities but as of yet will not agree to foreign nationals to visit the Jiuquan Space Launch Center where the Chinese boost their astronauts to space.

To build space cooperation between the United States and the Chinese, perhaps Washington insiders should seek to enable:

1. The launch of a Chinese astronaut to the International Space Station prior to the end of the space shuttle program next year; and, in return, the launch of an American astronaut on Shenzhou/Long March 2F in 2011 or 2012 to jump start greater space flight coperation for the coming decade.


2. The Chinese should enable more transparency at the Jiuquan Space Launch Center and enable foreign nationals to tour the human space launch facilities and bear witness to the Shenzhou/Long March 2F human-rated space launches while in turn allowing the Chinese space tourists to witness civil space flight launches at the Kennedy Space Center in a People-to-People-like space launch exchange.


3. The international space station partners should commence enabling the Chinese a birthing port at the orbiting lab and invite Chinese investment in the facility in the years ahead. The more capability to re-supply and provide two-way transport by humans to the $100-billion facility increases the return on investment in tangable and intangable ways to all of the international partners by adding the Chinese to the space access portfilio.

Reunion Time in Grand Marais

Saturday July 25th was a big day in Grand Marais. First, at noon there was a ribbon-cutting ceremony to open the new post office museum, located on main street. Last year, the people who bought the property on which the old post office was located decided to donate the rare 5-sided building to the Grand Marais Historical Society. The group paid to have the building moved down to main street. It was placed onto a new foundation and the building was renovated. This year, the historical society outfitted the building with graphics that trace the town's history. For any of you history buffs, there are now 4 museums in town including the 3 run by the historical society and the Gitche Gumee Museum. Congratulations to the historical society for a job well done!

The front of the post office museum features information about all the postmasters who have served in Grand Marais. Alfreda Mulligan served the longest by far, from 1917 until 1956. Probably not a coincidence, the Mulligan family had a family reunion in Grand Marais today (Sunday). From what I hear, there were over 150 family members in attendance. Below are some of the photos i took at the ceremony and open house for this newest museum















Later on Saturday, Burt Township School in Grand Marais held an all-class 80 year reunion. Although I did not attend school here (I was just a summer kid), I went to the dance to represent my family since my grandmother and mother (both deceased) and my two kids all graduated here. Unfortunately, neither of my sons could attend, but I did get to spend time with my uncle and aunt (Lynne and Doug Kane). I was not able to go to any of the festivities at the school since I was working at the museum most of the day. Approximately 200 people attended the reunion. Below are a few of the photos I took at the dance.

cat chillin

i travel entirely too much these days to have a pet, but this picture really makes me miss having cats around! so cute.