This is the first of a multi-part series detailing my Productive Desktop Project. Essentially, I’m outlining the logic/software/workflow I use to create a productivity-enhancing desktop.

In practice, I worked up a wireframe of how I wanted all my ‘real’ productivity components to be laid out on the desktop and then found a wallpaper that met the needs of my layout. But, as far as these Productive Desktop Project posts go, I’ve opted to start with the eye-candy!

Wallpaper: Striped Allegiance¹ (download)

1. I modified/merged the following two wallpapers: I Pledge Allegiance by mnmsfreak and Arrays by Citrus Moon [↩]

View Comments Tags: desktop, graphics, images, Politics, USA

While I prefer the flexibility and speed of the Opera browser, I decided to give Chromium (the open source code on which Google Chrome is built) a try.¹

I like Chromium based solely on its speed (Opera still wins for customizability).  And since I decided it was “dock-worthy” (i.e., I will be using it regularly), I needed an icon that matched my desktop color scheme. So, I sepia’d the default blue Chromium icon.

You can download the 256×256 icon and png below:

• GoogleChrome_Sepia.png
• GoogleChrome_Sepia.ico

1. Note: you can download the latest Chromium nightly builds here. [↩]

View Comments Tags: graphics, images, tweaks

I think Life of Pi pits the Dreamer verses the Realist. As Pi states to those who don’t believe his story, “I know what you want. You want a story that won’t suprise you. That will confirm what you already know. That won’t make you see higher or further or differently.” (pg. 381)

Martel states early in the book that Pi’s story “will make you believe in God.” There is certainly plenty of religious symbolism and I think it has the potential to inspire inquiry into religion if the reader is curious and searching; but, for me, it wasn’t a make-me-believe or reaffirm-my-beliefs kind of story.

I’d summarize the religious storyline as follows: There are many ways to explain the story of our life, our love, our universe; God always makes for the better story.

I recommend this as a great fiction read.

Some of my favorite quotes:

• “[Fear] is life’s only true opponent. Only fear can defeat life.” p161
• “It is important in life to conclude things properly. Only then can you let go. Otherwise you are left with words you should have said but never did, and your heart is heavy with remorse.” p316
• “Thank you. And so it goes with God.”
• “Love is hard to believe, ask any lover. Life is hard to believe, ask any scientist. God is hard to believe, ask any believer. What is your problem with hard to believe?… If you stumble at mere believability, what are you living for?” p297

View Comments Tags: books, children, images, religion

A Long Way Gone gives a completely new meaning to “casualties of war.” The stories Ishmael recalls in this book are some of the most gruesome I have ever heard. The suffering he describes makes me question how much any civilian policy-maker (or I) understands about suffering, sacrifice, and survival.

What happens to the psyche of a child who has no positive support structure? And, what good comes from a society that is afraid of its children? Children are supposed to be pure and innocent, right? Since war clearly corrupts that innocence, can a child of war every restore his/her sinlessness – at least mentally?

The primary things I take away from this book are that children should not to be faulted for the suffering they unjustly bear and that even the most tormented children should not be given up on. While this book is about Ishmael’s personal journey, perhaps the most inspiring element is the fact that the world is full of caring souls who make all the difference in the world to children a long way gone.

View Comments Tags: books, children, images, life, war

¹

1. Source: xkcd.com [↩]

View Comments Tags: comics, Humor, images, love, relationship, women