Firefox vs Explorer-- Color

 EDIT: I HAVE FOUND A SOLUTION
The reason that select pictures looked really weird was because of 1) Firefox's color profile setting and 2) Windows XP. I didn't want to turn off color profile.... but I found a way to make firefox ignore it. All photos now functioning. Observe the magic:

Type about:congif into address bar.

Ignore the warning that pops up. You DO know what you're doing, because I'm telling you. :) Anyway, the warning does say its okay if you know what you are doing. :D


Find gfx.color_management.mode Change the integer to 0.


VOILA!


All pictures functioning.
~~~~~



Firefox is my preferred internet browser. I loves its features to no end. :) But I've noticed an odd thing happening with Firefox. Here is my evidence:

To the left are two windows in Explorer, to the right are the same in Firefox.

A pretty drastic difference, no? Much as I love Firefox, I might be forced to use Explorer when I want to look at pictures.

More Unicycle!

I haven't aquired many new skills since my last unicycling post nearly a month and a half ago. I simply can't go practice it every day.

I am having huge problems idling. Idling is rocking back and forth, so that you essentially stay in place. I am trying to learn a vertical idle, which I hear is the easiest. I'm leaning too much on my bottom foot, and turning in jerky circles rather than rocking.

Backwards riding also escapes me. I've traveled the length of the driveway once, but that was more of a fluke than a learned skill. I am already a catious rider, and the addition of not seeing where I am going does not help.

"I dun need ter know where Ah'm going-- I jerst need ter know where I've been," says Tow Mater-- "like tomato but without the 'ter'." That doesn't work for me. Most of the time, one of my siblings will run up behind me while I pedal uncontrollably backwards.

However, I have learned one new skill! Hopping!

I learned it without even knowing it.

I had just finished playing "hoola hoop catch" with my sister (I rode the unicycle, she threw the hoop at me, and I tried to either catch it or let it fall over my head-- then ride away as fast as I can so she had to come running to get her hula hoop back).

I rode from the driveway out to the middle of the street and attempted to idle. Now, our driveway, road, everything is a hill. In the past, I always learned new tricks by riding perpendicular to the slope. While I was idling, though, I accidentally twisted and found myself facing downhill mid-jerky-idle.

I told myself to hold on... I wasn't going to get that hurt if I fell... when I hit a rock. But somehow, instead of grabbing the unicycle as it flew out from under me, I grabbed it just in time to get my feet back on. Somehow, through all of this, I managed to leap into the air. I landed... and kept my balance!

I immediantly rode back and tried it again. After five minutes, I was able to control when and how I hopped. I could only hop in place, though, and only twice in a row.

But today I learned how to hop side to side (both directions) and front and back!!! I can also hop up almost four inches, and have enough control to jump over a peice of chalk without making it roll. I hope to be able to jump up things soon.

I  can also ride off curbs now. :) And I have gone on two couple-mile-long unicycle rides. And now, if I am close to a wall, I mount "silly foot" (aka, with my left foot instead of right.) Maybe I can learn how to freemount left-footed.

Mom's Birthday

Happy Birthday last week, Mom! :)

Getting presents for parents is always a bit hard. You can't possibly buy them anything, because they have to be the ones to take you to the store. After several years, though, the same old handmade presents (drawings, cards, handprints) get old.

This year I made Mom some "coupons". One of them is for a "spa night" when I take care of everyone and she gets to take a pampering bath. :) Another was meal I cook (I make alot of lunches, but those are generally just sandwhiches-- this is for a full dinner).

You can see Will's present in the picture here. It is a balloon with a drawing of our house-- with a sold sign.

I forgot what Nick and Ben did... Adelynn made a card and sang a song.

A couple of days before Mom's birthday, I babysat while she went shopping. Marcus, of course, was a pain.

"Do you want to make a present for Mommy?" I asked?

"Yes! Mommy wrist!" (He loves to make bracelets for Mom and Dad).

Marcus picked out all the beads ("Wed, so wed Mommy couwer," which translates to, "Red, because its Mom's favorite color.") Then then made a necklace with a red string and a teddy bear bead. Everyone knows that Mom loves teddy bears. :)

And he drew a picture!

The sweetest thing Marcus did, though, was to give Mom a "Pize" (Surprise). While Mom was opening her presents from everyone else, Marcus started shouting and then suddenly disapeared. He came back with his "special box."

His special box is a shoebox full of his favorite things: a hat I crocheted him, a birthday card, a dice (?), a pencil, and a few other random objects.

It was so touching to see him give his box to Mom! "You share me," he said. "You my pecil tuff." (You get my special suff.)

And then, when he saw how happy Mom was, he ran off and got Daddy Bear-- his teddy bear. "Pize! Pize! Mommy, you me Daddy Bear!"

Here is Will with his first balloon-drawing (it popped)

Mom's cake! My first time doing a double-decker. And the last time I will try to do individual petals for icing roses. Big blobs of red work just as well, and they don't cramp your hand. :)

April Fools!

I love April Fool's day. A whole day, in which you may do as many practical jokes as you like!

Except for this year. My brother was having a sleepover on the last day of March, and we were showing the house on April Fools. That meant... no loud and hyper jokes and no mess. Mom was particularly frazzled, so I realized I'd have to keep the jokes nice and calm.

I had this list of "possible jokes" in my notebook:

Cabinet Day   [My brothers and I name furniture-- Fred and George were two cabinets in the living room. Fred and George are the troublemakers in HP, and their birthday conveniently falls on April First. Thus the name Cabinet Day instead of April Fools']
Switch the clothes between the boys' closets 
Fake a spill of paint on the carpet  
Salt on my brothers' toothbrushes
Food color the milk so it looks spoiled
Buckle a gazillion stuffed animals in the van
Tape the ends of all the toilet paper/paper towel rolls
Move the showerheads so they spray the person turning the water on
Set all alarm clocks two hours early
Take a picture of the bathroom, and tape it over Mom's bathroom moving-mirror. She'd try to put on her makeup and wonder why she couldn't see her face! For a moment, at least.
Write on all the mirrors  (The Chamber of Secrets has Been Opened!)
...And LOTS more

But I couldn't be mean. I just couldn't. So I toned it down... and surprised everyone at breakfast.

"Poets have been mysteriously silent on the subject of cheese." G.K. Chesterton

Nick was smart enough to KEEP the food coloring in the bowl, and enjoy blue cereal.

I also did the classic "tape the sink sprayer down". Last year I tricked myself THREE separate times. This year I caught Ben's friend Andy. Lets see...

William and Nick were reading LotR. I switched the covers between Two Towers and Return of the King-- they started reading the wrong book!

I also did fake makeup on Nick so it looked like he had a cut. He scared Grandma. :)

Here is something I did a year or two ago for April Fools. We were having pizza... I decided to make an extra one.
I rolled out pie dough for the crust, used the juice from cherry pie filling for the sause, used food-colored coconut for the cheese, fruit snacks for the peppers, grape slices for the onions, and fruit roll ups cut into circles for pepperoni.

While we are on the topic... check out these April Fools jokes by Google!

Adelynn's Glasses

Adelynn got glasses! We think this should help with some of her learning-to-read problems-- she kept getting headaches after just a few minutes of reading.

Rambling on College

I'm in highschool now, and I actually have to start thinking about what I'm going to be doing when I grow up.
I have to figure out my strengths and weaknesses. This phenomenon is really weird. Anyone my age or older can attest to this, I am sure.
You see, I do not have the slightest clue of "what I'm going to do." I don't have to "figure it out" for awhile yet, but still.

Crinkly Yellow Paper

...I had a little too much time on my hands awhile ago (I don't even remember how long ago), and typed this whole thing up. Found it in a Word document, thought I'd share.

There is something so precious about a good book-- not just the story inside, but the book itself.

Ink and Fairydust

I just realized that I have not posted the more recent Ink & Fairydust newsletter/magazines! The Fairy Tale Novel Forum, which I am a part of, puts together this monthly publication. I've written and co-written several articles, have a monthly comic, work on some graphics, and have just started a monthly semi-column.

We've been working on some major changes-- slowly moving towards a far more organized, professional magazine. Within the next couple of months we should have reached that point. :)

Older issues can be found at Ink and Fairydust on Issuu.

Er... please ignore the links under the embeded magazines. Issuu has that in their code... its not part of the magazine.

March 2010-- Jane Austen

Open publication - Free publishing - More rosary

I think my Fine Linen Drama friends, who just finished Pride and Prejudice, will enjoy. :)

April 2010-- Spring

Open publication - Free publishing - More awakening

May 2010-- May/Mary

Open publication - Free publishing - More virgin mary

We have both Catholics and Protestants writing on the Blessed Mother. I have to say I was rather surprised and pleased by the Protestants' devotion to Mary. :)
>

How thrilling. I should be able to take the car from the driveway to parked on the side of the road, right? Apparently not. I hit the mirror into the mailbox and got in trouble because I didn't put the car in park. And now Dad's mad at me, and for some reason I got all emotional about it and just dug a deeper hole. How thrilling. How absolutely positively thrilling. And I still don't know how to get the car from the driveway, up the hill, turned the right way, and parked nicely. Today's just been a thrilling day...

How to Speak Shaylynnese

Shaylynnese, otherwise know as, “That funny way Shaylynn talks,” is simply English with some simple rules thrown in. There are no exceptions, exceptions to exceptions, or other idiotic language measures-- except, of course, for the "ordinary English" part.


The Great and Mighty Rules (in no particular order and by no means comprehensive):

1) use English grammar properly
2) adding “-ish” to the end of any noun automatically turns it into an adjective
3) adding “-ish” to the end of any word adds a degree of doubt to a statemen
4) use large/uncommon words in ordinary conversation
5)a comparative/superlative purposefully misused is done to illustrate a point 
6) randomly slip into a British accent (or any accent, real or imaginary) and use words that go with it ("rather, reckon, blimey, lorry," etc.)
7) talk half with your hands or facial expressions
8) use words like “randomly” and “actually” at least five times a day
9) use an awfully large number of adjectives or adverbs
10) when describing anything wonderful, speak in a slow, overly dramatic poetic voice
11) make up your own words
12) borrow made up words (thilly, bloopa, friendle, Chewbacca)
13) talk very fast
14) do not use cliché similes and metaphors, instead, compare everything to fictional/fantasy stories
15) use old fashioned slang (jolly, dickens, awfully)
16) use sound effects
17) latch onto random/weird/technical phrases, such as "skew divergent array" or "single sided bonding device" (ie, tape)
18) use quotes abundantly-- especially ones from Chesterton
19) don't forget to learn little bits and pieces of other languages, and include that vocabulary in everyday conversation-- notwithstanding the fact that you barely know what you are saying and are using no grammar. Be sure to include obscure languages such as Elvish and Ye Olde English.
20) Exaggerate. Alot. As in, every single word must be exaggerated.
21) When writing, make ample use of pictures, codes, ciphers, and made-up shorthand, so that enemy spies will never decipher the meaning of your diary or science study guide.