Edit: I’ve updated the script to it works again. Flickr must have updated the image element class from photoImgDiv to photo-div.

<?php
$doc = new DOMDocument();
@$doc->loadHTMLFile("http://www.flickr.com/explore/interesting/7days/");
$xpath = new DOMXpath($doc);
if($xpath){
   $url = $xpath->query("//td[@class='Photo']/span/a/@href");

   @$doc->loadHTMLFile("http://www.flickr.com".$url->item(0)->nodeValue);
   $xpath = new DOMXpath($doc);

   if($xpath){
      $url = $xpath->query("//div[@class='photo-div']/img/@src");
      $im = @imagecreatefromjpeg($url->item(0)->nodeValue);
      if($im){
         header('content-type: image/jpeg');
         imagejpeg($im);
      }else
         echo "error";
   }
}
?>

The show was currently in the final stage of choosing the top 48 contestants to go on to Hollywood. I was actually really impressed with some of the talent, but what really caught my attention is the passion and drive that many of the contestants have.  More often than not, their emotions seemed to be on overdrive, like they were literally putting their lives on the line.

One act, in particular, really drew me in. Jeremy does mountain bike tricks – hops and stalls and stuff.  His first audition of small bike hops over people lying on the ground impressed the judges enough to send him on to Vegas for audition number 2.  But doing the same routine again in the second audition probably wouldn’t have been enough to propel him to the top of his category.  He knew he needed to up his game.  So Jeremy decides to jump two feet in. He quits his job and goes broke building a better obstacle course for the stage.  He gives up everything to focus on training for his next audition, in an attempt to make it to the top of a talent show with what is little more than a novelty act!!

Jeremy has a determination that I will possibly never know.

What he does that many of us fail to do is to not only dream, not only set a goal, but to actually put things on the line to reach that goal, and take action, full bore, in a big way.  He knows that if he fails, he has no money or job to go back to.  Despite everything that he pours into his act, he knows that he’s up against big competition and there’s a good chance that he won’t be put through to the finals.  He knows this but there’s no questioning him – he is dead serious – he is going for it.

It made me realize that some of the things I want in life I probably will not achieve, or succeed as well as I could if I were only willing to put the necessary things on the line – take the risks; realize that some of the things that I would otherwise see as a means to an end are also possibly obstacles in the way of me attaining some of my dreams.

I can remember leaving the theater and listening to other people’s reactions. I was amazed how many people thought it to be a “meh” kind of film. They obviously hadn’t seen the same move as I did. I mean, they may have seen the same film as I did, but I must have read into the story a bit more or something. I was absolutely energized afterward.

It was “Yes Man” – a modest movie about a very cynical, socially inept man who, after begrudgingly attending a motivational seminar, is struck with the inability to say “No” to things – requests, invitations, questions of all sorts.

At first, this “curse” causes him no end of grief and frustration, not only because the whole experience of saying “Yes” is utterly foreign to him. But he soon begins to embrace the change as he finds that the impact that this new “Yes Man” personality has is powerfully fulfilling.

Of course, nobody should say “yes” to everything. If someone had asked this character to jump off a bridge, unfortunately he would. Obviously we shouldn’t necessarily be so accommodating. But there are times when we make excuses and try to rationalize why we can’t do something, be it going out for drinks with work colleagues or signing up for the co-ed beach volleyball league or taking that dream adventure zip-lining trip to Costa Rica.

Time and time again many of us find ourselves making these sorts of excuses that have very little foundation to them. In fact it isn’t uncommon for us to try and convince ourselves various obstacles really do exist and that the trouble isn’t worth the effort.

The truth is that there are very few things in life that can be enjoyed without having to overcome obstacle at some level. What Jim Carrey’s character learns is that these obsticles are peanuts compared to the fulfillment that the end result achieves. Although he believes he is physically incapable of saying “Yes”, he actually becomes addicted to the word.

So for me, 2010 is the year of the “Yes Man” and if things keep going the way they have been the last few months, 2010 is going to be one of the greatest years that I’ve lived. All simply because I’ve been saying “Yes” and taking action to accomplish something that perhaps in the past I would have put off (getting my motorcycle license) or thought of as something that would require too much effort to do (zip lining in Costa Rica) and would possibly try to rationalize why not doing it would be a better decision (like taking Karate lessons). Some things I’ve done this year would have possibly never even crossed my mind in the past (like piloting a plane).

The moral of this article (and the movie, in my opinion), is that we should not constrain ourselves by concentrating too much on the obstacles in the way of doing something. We should not stay content with living inside our own little box of day in, day out. Unless there are real constraints, we should not try to make excuses why not to do something. Life is too short and there is far too much out there to do, far too many other people to meet, so much in this World that will bring personal fulfillment and ultimately make us better people.

So my challenge to you is say “Yes” when you would otherwise possibly not. Stretch yourself and experience new things. You do have the time. You probably can afford it. It really won’t be too much effort. In the end, it will be worth it all.

I’ve been in Hyderabad India for a week and a half now on a work assignment from the company at which I’m “officially” employed. Fortunately, while I’m spending a good chunck of the time here actually working on said assignment, I’ve also been lucky enough to find some time for personal growth, learning and enjoying the experience. India is a place where amazing things are literally a dime a dozen and in many cases, to a Canadian like me, some of the most incredible sites are virtually free.

There are lots of people here. Lots of people. Metro Hyderabad has a population of over 6 million and it’s only the 6th largest city in India. Andhra Pradesh state (of which Hyderabad is the capital) has over 76 million in total! It would be like sticking more than twice the population of Canada in Southern Ontario. Fortunately, the vast majority of the people (in Hyderabad at least) are incredibly friendly. I have yet to feel intimidated. I have yet to feel unwelcome. The other day while taking a tour of a couple of sites, at one point I thought I was asked to take a picture of a group of people. In fact, I was asked to be in a picture with the group. I’m assuming that they mistook me for Brad Pitt.

Along with the large number of people is an insane traffic system. Very losely calling it a system here. Cars, bikes, motorcycles, pedestrians, three wheeled taxis all cutting each other off, all jostling for a better position, honking horns and waving arms abound; it’s like an insane game of Mario Kart. But I have yet to see a single accident.

A few Canadian dollars go a long way. What would get you a standard room in the Holiday Inn downtown Toronto buys you absolute luxury here. The club room at the Taj Krishna comes complete with a buttler, laundry service and invitations to free cocktail parties (strong martinis… with an extra olive if you ask nice). Fantastic food at a fraction of the price and although entrance fees to the tourist sites costs substantially more for foreigners, it’s still barely the cost of a Tim Hortons coffee.

Of course, with all the good comes some not so good. The pollution here is surreal. Walking around outside for any length of time is likely not good for one’s health. With all the vehicles (mostly two stroke deisel), the environment seriously takes a beating from emissions.
And there’s a huge gap between the wealthy and the poor. I’ve been told that there is no middle class here. You either have servants or you are one or could only hope to be. The contrast is dizzying. BMW’s with tinted windows driving beside a man in ragged clothes on a rusty bicycle and a family of four on a single dirt bike; a grand shopping mall in between stores barely standing. In the gardens at the Taj, it’s paradise and we’re spoiled rotten. 100 meters from there, people struggling; pure desperation.

But in paradox, the less people have, the more they want to be friendly and give. I’ve been humbled many times throughout the trip.

All in all, India is an amazing and wonderful place. The history, the culture, the people… every day brings something new and unreal. Being here for a couple of weeks for work has made me want to come back and see more. I’ve only been in one city – can only imagine what the rest of the country has to show.

You will need the following items:

1. Lube. Avoid WD40 and other similar spray on lubes like that. They will work, but only temporarily as they tend to dry up. Sewing machine oil actually works very well and can be found at department stores (Sears) for just a couple bucks.
2. Some needle nose pliers. Possibly even tweezers would help.
3. Phillips screwdriver – PC’s are usually held together by the Phillips head screw.
4. If it’s a fan on your graphics card that’s causing all the noise, a set of precision screwdrivers are probably necessary to get at the tiny screws. A set of these things can be picked up usually for $5.

Step 1 : Open the case and take out the fan. Processor fans might be a little trick to take out. They can be clamped down to the socket by various means. If space is tight, might be a good idea to remove a drive or the power supply (unplug first) to give a bit more room. A flash light can help identify how the fan is clamped down. If the fan is on the graphics card, just remove the card, and unscrew the fan from the card.



Step 2 : Once you have the fan screwed off or unclamped from wherever, turn it upside down. There will be a round sticker on the bottom. There’s probably also a sticker on the top, but that’s just for show. Peel the bottom sticker off with the pliers or tweezers.



Step 3 : With the sticker off, there should be a small hole revealed. Drop a single drop of the sewing machine oil into the hole. That’s all it will take. Wait a few seconds for the oil to make its rounds within the fan motor. A tissue or paper towel might be useful to wipe up any excess oil.



Step 4 : Put the sticker back over the hole, turn the fan back upright and screw and clamp everything back together. That’s all there is to it.

“Alright!” But no sooner did I log on that I realized I had no clue what to use it for. It looked super sweet, that’s for sure, but there was seemingly nothing to do. I created a Wave. Something simple. But I only had one contact showing up and despite being a super good guy, James wasn’t responding to my wave. It suddenly dawned on me that Google Wave might have huge potential, but at the moment it isn’t very useful. I was then free to continue handing out candy.

The next day (or possibly the next next day) I started looking at it again. Nope – still nothing. I re-watched the youtube clips in the introductory wave (one of several waves that are in new users’ inboxes by default) and still had no clue. I figured that Google Wave would be many times more useful if I just had more contacts. I then noticed that I had about 20 invites available (in the invite friends wave) and I began dishing them out through Twitter lightning speed. Unfortunately invites get approved more slowly than a wait in a Canadian H1N1 vaccine line (burn). A day later I still had only one additional contact listed and his name didn’t really ring a bell.

So that was my first impression of Google Wave. It looked cool, has obvious collaboration benefits over traditional email, but without the contacts, like email, it isn’t entirely useful. Or is it??

I noticed through Twitter that @modsuperstar had posted a Google Wave tip for searching public waves.

Entering “with:public bananas” in the search bar reveals all public waves about bananas. Similarly, “with:public extensions” reveals all waves (presumably) containing the word extensions. This immediately made Google Wave a little more useful by virtue of the fact that one can make a wave public and then people can contribute to it, reply to threads, start threads – very similar to IRC or BBS but with an obscene amount more editing possibilities. Plus the benefit of being able to see people edit the wave, real time – which is very cool.

I started a wave called “Google Wave Tips and Tricks”. I added a couple tips and then made the wave public. Making it public was an interesting task. To make a wave public, you must add public@a.gwave.com to your contact list. Then drag and drop that contact to the subscribed user list of the wave. You then see a message at the top of your wave saying that “This wave is public” (or something along those lines). Interesting choice phrase. But as soon as I did this, other users began subscribing to, commenting and editing the wave. Bots were also added to the wave (bots are scripts that automatically do stuff to a wave given certain criteria, for example format @name to a link to that person’s twitter profile).

Lifehacker noted in their Google Wave 101 article that one should take caution when making a wave public – doing so tends to cause a wave to be destroyed by newbies and people cluttering the wave with useless edits and junk. I can see that happening. Samples of these cluttered sorts of waves can be seen in a search for “with:public photography”. Click on a resulting wave and notice how your browser grinds to a halt as it tries to load the hundreds of photostream gadgets embedded in the wave by the countless number of subscribers/contributors.

Editing content in waves implies editing “blips”. A blip is like a small section in the wave that can be edited by one person at a time. There doesn’t seem to be a way to manage rights on blips or waves in general (as of now anyway – something I’m sure we’ll see in future iterations), which makes for the possibility of other users totally modifying something that you’ve previously written. Fortunately there is a way to navigate through the history of a wave. Google Wave has the ability to play back an entire wave from conception through to the present time. As you play the wave back, you get to see all the edits and “who done what”. Very fun to watch, actually.

As time progressed, various people added further tips:

• shift-enter can be used as a “done editing blip” shortcut (clicking outside of the blip also accomplished the same).
• how to stop getting notified about waves you’ve subscribed to
• that at the moment you can’t unsubscribe yourself (or someone) from a wave
• I questioned if Google Chrome ran Google Wave faster and immediately got answers (that yes indeed, the latest Chrome beta does – which I later verififed).

It was all kind of uncanny how quickly people began subscribing and adding content to the wave. I presume this was largely because Google Wave is relatively new and a public tips and tricks wave would be useful as the majority of users are newbies.

And it was watching the real-time collaborative effort of this wave that made me get all “neat-o”. Google Wave removes the constraints imposed by email – sending messages back and forth to edit something has been effectively canned, in favour of allowing individuals edit documents at the same time, real time. Theoretically, the speed at which a document could go from nothing to something is increased with real-time collaboration.

Now it’s not all bubblegum and chopsticks though. The base is all there, but Google Wave is still a work in progress. Some of the things that I’m looking forward to seeing include

• Rights and accessability management within waves – being able to identify who has the right to do what within a wave
• Read-only public waves. Currently a public wave is Read-Write by default, with no ability to change it
• User settings. There aren’t any right now. There should be a billion (or at least 5).
• Email notifications of wave updates. Right now if someone updates a wave which you are a part of, you have no idea until you login

But as the coming weeks and months go by, Google Wave will sign-up more users and make significant bug fixes and new features will be released. I’m looking forward to it. The possibilities with Google Wave when it comes to sharing info and working collaboratively are really interesting (I was initially thinking provocative, but then thought it was a possibly misleading). In the meantime, I’m going to continue to dig around the wave world. I’ve started a new website, gwavetips.net where I plan on posting regular Google Wave related updates.