Chinese forum registration tips 中文論壇注冊秘訣

當我注冊某些中文論壇時,總是遇到了一個問題,就是驗證碼不會過。不管試了幾次,都不會過。
When I was trying to register on some Chinese forums, I always met a problem. The verification code could not pass. Even I tried many times.

我所遇過的中文論壇,通常都會有AJAX (Asynchronous Javascript and XML),所以當你一輸入驗證碼後,就會自動幫你檢查驗證碼是否正確。縱然那裡顯示正確,當我一提交資料,還是會有驗證碼錯誤的訊息。
Most of the Chinese forums I visited, they are using AJAX. Therefore, after you enter the verification code, the AJAX will help you to check the code. Though it showed me correct, when I submit the form, there is a message said that my verification code is incorrect.

之後,便查詢驗證碼錯誤的相關資料。這原來是跟cookie有關。既然如此,我就嘗試用各種方法,清除cookie等等。後來,我想到了用“代理服務器”,可能能解決cookie的問題。所以我用了Tor(我沒有嘗試用別的“代理服務器”)。終於解决了。
After that, I tried to search the information about the problem of verification code. The problem is related with the cookie. Therefore, I tried many ways, clean the cookies, etc. Finally, I thought about the “proxy server”, which might solve the cookie problem. Thus, I used Tor (I didn’t tried other proxy servers). And the problem is solved.

還有一些小秘訣。因為那些論壇使用AJAX,所以你可以打開原始碼,找一些Javascript function。因為當你無法識別驗證碼時,你可以點圖片來更換。但,一開始連圖片都沒有出來,你就無法點擊圖片了。所以,找到相關的function時,比如:updateseccode(),那你就在地址欄那裡,輸入:
javascript:updateseccode()
那么,圖片就會更換了,不需點擊圖片。
There is a small trick. Because those forums use AJAX, so you can open the source, and find some Javascript functions which are useful. Because, when you cannot recognise the verification code, you are able to click the image to update the image. However, if the image doesn’t shown when you visit the page, you cannot click the image (because no image to click). Therefore, find a related function, such as: updateseccode(). Then, at the address bar, enter the following:
javascript:updateseccode()
Then, the image is updated, no need to click the image.

Tor的相關下載 / Tor related download:
PortableTor
OperaTor
xB Browser

Free C++ IDE: Visual Studio Express 2008

If you are targeting Windows platform, I suggest using Visual Studio Express 2008. To make it fully function, you will need also Windows SDK (for Windows Server 2008 and .NET Framework 3.5). Both are very large files. If you want to download for offline installation, I suggest using a download manager, and use only one thread, do not use multi-segmented (or multi-thread) to download the file.

Unlike Windows Server 2003 SP1 Platform SDK, the Windows SDK (version 6.1) provides the project solution of DirectShow BaseClasses. So, you can compile the DirectShow using Visual Studio C++ Express 2008. Besides that, you can also download DirectX SDK.

Visual Studio Express doesn’t provide MFC and ATL. However, you can still using basic Win32 API and the COM without ATL. That means, you can still do a lot of thing.

However, the DirectShow doesn’t have the example “GrabBitmaps”. So, in order to study how to grab bitmaps using DirectShow, you might need to download the old DirectX9.0 SDK which includes the DirectShow. But you cannot compile the old DirectX9.0 SDK with Visual Studio Express and Windows SDK. Because there are some differences in the header file. So, you can search from internet the tutorial about grabbing bitmaps using DirectShow.

I just change to Visual Studio Express 2008 from Visual Studio 6.0. There are great differences. The interface and the usability are far more better than 6.0. And surely, Visual Studio 2008 uses more memory. But it provides better IntelliSense than 6.0. And I think, I might need newer compiler such as Visual Studio Express 2008 when compiling some open source libraries. That is why I start using VSE2008.

Portable OpenOffice 3 Math symbol problem

When I used OO3 Math, I found that the symbols like “equal” and “times” appeared as strange characters. And found that they are “windings font”. Therefore, I found the solution from the PortableApps.com forum. Click here to read the forum.

The solution is not difficult. You just need a file “opens___.ttf“. Yes, it is the filename “opens___.ttf”. You can get file from OO2 portable version. To solve the problem, you just copy “opens___.ttf” to OO3 as the path of OO2.

That is, copy the file to:
“[OpenOfficePortable]\App\openoffice\share\fonts\truetype\”

As a conclusion, you need to create the folder “fonts\truetype\” in “App\openoffice\share\”, and copy the “opens___.ttf” into it.

Then the problem is solved. Yeah~

Recycle your phone, adopt a tree

I read newspaper, in Malaysia, there are Nokia Kiosks, which you can recycle your unwanted mobile phones, any mobile phones, not only Nokia. Doing this, you can adopt a tree in Indonesia, and you no need to plant the tree by yourself. And, you can see your tree through Google Earth. What a great idea!

You can find the kiosks in several locations only. Click the link above to read more.

Delete Wizz RSS folder in Firefox 3 bookmark

Even I uninstalled the Wizz RSS extension, “Wizz RSS” folder was still existing in Firefox 3 bookmark. Then I found this forum which explains how to remove the folder.

To inform, I am using portable Firefox. And besides that, I always make my Firefox profile corrupted because simply changing the data in the file using a text editor. Therefore, make sure you backup the Firefox profile, so that can be recovered later. Otherwise you need to install all the extensions again.

Make sure you delete all the bookmarks within “Wizz RSS” folder.
1) Install SQLite Manager extension.
2) Backup “places.sqlite” file in the Firefox profile, so that you can recover if anything goes wrong. Backup when the Firefox is closed.
3) Run SQLite Manager, and open “places.sqlite”
4) Open “moz_bookmarks”
5) Go to “Browse & Search” tab
6) Search for the title “Wizz RSS” (I only found one item)
7) Delete it.

Some China freeware

Since recently, because of Beijing Olympic, China topic is very hot. Just want to share some freeware from China.

Maxthon, a web browser. Which can used as the replacement of IE, but don’t uninstall IE, since it is still based on IE. Has a built-in download manager. Move your mouse to the image, it will pop up a float bar, and you can grab the image. Besides that, it has also a file sniffer, can download the flv and wma files. Very good.

Sogou Pinyin IME (搜狗拼音輸入法), if you want to type in chinese characters, this is the best. It has several powerful features. You can start with stroke input (筆畫輸入法) by “u”. Besides that, you can also filter the character with stroke input if you know the pronunciation and the stroke of the character. Click here to read more. Currently, the website also provides cyber cafe version and portable version. Great!

TTPlayer (千千靜聽), an audio player which I use to replace Winamp. Use it if you always listen to chinese songs and like to read the lyrics. Because, with the internet connection, it will download the relevant lyric, then you can listen to the songs and read the lyrics together. Great!

Thunder (迅雷 Xunlei), an adware download manager. I seldom use it. But it can handle “thunder://” protocol. This thunder protocol often appeared in chinese website. It also has the p2p feature to accelerate the download.

Best free offline browser

When I wanted to find a free offline browser (or website copier, website grabber, website ripper), what I found is HTTrack. They said it is the best offline browser. I tried to use it many times, and found that very useless. But finally, I found it really useful, as they said, it is the best offline browser.

Why I said it was poor before?
Actually, the problem was, the website I wanted to grab was a very large site, with a lot of links. HTTrack always parses the links then download. Since there are too many links (about 18,000 files), the parsing used a lot of time. HTTrack unlike Teleport Pro, will not download the webpages immediately, so you cannot view the webpages immediately during parsing. That is why, I thought HTTrack didn’t download anything.

Secondly, since the website was too large, and I didn’t copy the website with one go. Therefore, I needed to stop the HTTrack task. The “cancel” can be clicked twice. I always clicked twice, to stop the task immediately. Then, the program said that the old cache has more complete information than the new cache. Whatever. Since HTTrack has the ability to continue the interrupted task, I just continue next time. However, everytime I continued, there was no progress. That was why, I thought HTTrack is too poor.

Now, I know how to use HTTrack correctly. First of all, must be very patient. Trust that HTTrack can finish download all the webpages of the large site. Another thing, always click “cancel” once. Because, HTTrack will store the information to “coninue the interrupted task”. But, if you really urgent to shutdown the computer, then you need to click “cancel” twice. Hope that the new cache has more information than the old cache, otherwise, it is just a waste. When the parsing job is finished, all the webpages will just immediately saved to your local drive.

Another good feature of HTTrack that I like is, we can update the downloaded website for the future. Besides that, you can copy the downloaded website to any other directory.

Right, HTTrack is really the best offline browser.

Diencephalon assumption

According to Shichida Makoto (七田真), adults’ brain wave is different from children’s brain wave [Click here to read more (chinese)]. That is why adult cannot use diencephalon to perceive like a child.

The followings are my opinions and assumptions.

1. When we were young, we might use the diencephalon (middle brain) to perceive. However, because most of the time, we are using the basic five sensory systems. Later by later, we didn’t use the diencephalon to sense or to perceive. Then we forgot how to use it anymore, or the diencephalon cannot function like before because it is weaker and weaker. Just like if we never do the physical exercise, our body becomes weak.

2. May be, diencephalon is still functioning, and still sensing. However, because of the perceptual organisation, we cannot give the meaning what we had sensed. Because since we are adult, we have a lot of knowledge in our mind.
For example:
天地玄黃宇宙洪荒
If you understand chinese characters, surely each character provides meaning to you. For those who don’t know chinese characters, these characters just like images with some strokes to them. For those who know chinese characters, they cannot pretend to not understand, because they already understand these characters.

3. Similar to the first assumption. We don’t know how to pay attention to the diencephalon. For example, when we are listening to the music, we might close the eyes and pay attention to what we are listening. But, when we are focus in doing calculation of a difficult mathematics, and someone is calling you, you might not heard it. But your audio sensory is still functioning. So, our diencephalon might still functioning, but we don’t know how to pay attention to the sensory input of the diencephalon. Our brain may be processing too much on other sensory inputs.

Just some questions, why most of the humans cannot use diencephalon? Is this the ability which needs to be surpressed innately due to some reasons? So, is it really good to use the diencephalon to perceive?

I am interested in qigong (氣功). And I read some books, said that meditation (靜坐) can open the inner power (人體潛能, don’t know how to translate). This includes open the eye of the forehead (開天眼). Maybe the eye of the forehead is just the diencephalon. So, I still think that, the adults are possible to use the diencephalon to perceive like children.