KenstonChoi.com

Personal Knowledge Base using StackOverflow Clone

Kenston Choi — Tue, 10 May 2011 08:17:07 +0000

A personal knowledge base can be a solution to properly manage your technical issues and solutions. I find myself encountering the same questions or issues again and again but still having to find for the solution. Keeping them it in some searchable Note-taking Application is not so ideal because I usually have no time to arrange these notes. There are even technical issues that can be addressed by different solutions depending on the scenario, so how do we keep track of them easily? I think, the StackOverflow model is just perfect for this. You get to register an issue but rephrasing it as a question. You add the solution that worked as an Answer. The next time you encountered the same problem, you can refer to the same written question and add some comments to the previous solution or propose another solution. There are numerous StackOverflow clones available, but I am limited to those written in PHP so I chose Question2Answer.

Question2Answer

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PDF Management for Research using Mendeley

Kenston Choi — Sun, 08 May 2011 01:21:01 +0000

Mendeley Desktop changes the way I manage my collection of PDFs. Before, I often have to manually rename each PDF after opening them, and place the in the appropriate folder. This is really a hassle for me because I still have to track which PDF I have or have not read. Searching also needs to be done using a third-party tool especially if you are searching for an author’s name. All these hassles can be solved with Mendeley Desktop.�

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Reading and Readability in iOS Devices

Kenston Choi — Mon, 24 Jan 2011 09:42:11 +0000

Reading PDFs in iOS devices like iPhone and iPod Touch is not easy, because the text is too little and the screen is too small. Zooming-in may require scrolling the page horizontally back and forth. This is because the text in PDF cannot be subjected to word wrapping. The ePub format has gained popularity because unlike PDF it is designed for reflowable content. Meaning, the long lines will eventually move down (reflow) without creating horizontal scroll bars. What tools can we use to convert PDF or webpages to ePub?

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Best Money Management App for iOS (IPhone and IPod Touch)

Kenston Choi — Mon, 24 Jan 2011 07:45:27 +0000

The App Store has a category for Finance, but among the many money management apps that are free, I find only one app that matches my needs. Most of the good ones are actually paid apps, and their free editions are too restrictive as it limits the number of transactions you can add. Having such app allows you to track expenses and income, which makes budgeting easier and account management easier. PocketMoney Lite is just the perfect app that offers password protection, data backup, 2 separate accounts (paid versions can have more), unlimited number of transactions, categorization of deposits, withdrawals, and transfers, complex reports (charts), repeating transactions (paid versions can have unlimited entries), and a very easy to use interface. What about the other apps?

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Music for Concentration and Relaxation

Kenston Choi — Mon, 24 Jan 2011 07:26:37 +0000

I find Music for Aiports a very good set of music album to listen to. It consists of long tracks that aids in both mind relaxation and mind concentration. It can be looped and you won’t even notice the start and end of each track. I first found this out in YouTube, and I’m impressed on the composition. It’s quite different from those classical musical pieces, and it’s truly suitable to be played in venues like airport or coffee shops.

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Comparison of Free Bible Apps for iPhone and Ipod Touch

Kenston Choi — Fri, 07 Jan 2011 15:16:53 +0000

I downloaded some free Bible Apps for my iPod Touch. Most of them share the same set of features like highlighting verses, bookmarking verses, adding your own notes, performing searches, and viewing reading history. Here is the list of apps (ordered) installed with their corresponding links to iTunes for you to see the screenshots of the programs. But among the freely available apps, I like the ESV Bible most, followed by Bible by Youversion, BibleReader by Olive Tree, and Holy Bible by Paul Avery.

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Best and Free Diagram and Graph Maker

Kenston Choi — Sat, 01 Jan 2011 15:01:35 +0000

I’ve been finding a good, free, and easy to use diagram or graph making software. I’m doing some experiments on visualizing some natural language representation. I need to do this manually so I can easily study and compare different representations. I need a tool that can allow me to easily add nodes and edges, and customize the colors. The program must be able to arrange or to layout the nodes and the edges. I was able to try yEd Graph Editor, a free Java program, that allows me to create something like the one below.

John 3:6 using YEd Graph Editor

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A Reaction to the Vizconde Massacre Decision

Kenston Choi — Fri, 31 Dec 2010 14:43:54 +0000

Kamakailan lamang ay pinawalangsala ng Korte Suprema sina Hubert Webb at anim pang iba. Ang Vizonde massacre case marahil ang isa sa pinakakontrobersial na kaso sa bansa mula pa noong 1991. Hindi lamang dahil pinatay ang mag-iinang Vizconde ngunit dahil ang itinuturong gumawa ng karumaldumal na krimen ay galing sa mayayaman at kilalang mga pamilya. Bago pa man lumabas ang desisyon, binisita ko ang mga pangyayari mula pa noong 1991. Katunayan, pinanood ko ang “Dalawang Mukha ng Hustisya” ni Cheche Lazaro. Si Mang Lauro Vizconde na humihingi ng hustisya sa walang awang pagpatay sa kanyang buong pamilya, at ang pamilya ni Hubert Webb na humihingi ng hustisya laban sa walang katarungang pagkakakulong sa kanya. Ngunit ang tanong pa rin ng marami ay sino ang tunay na pumatay sa pamilyang Vizconde.

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Looking Back at 2010

Kenston Choi — Fri, 31 Dec 2010 13:41:38 +0000

This is probably among the first posts about my personal life. I look back at 2010, for tomorrow is 2011. Happy New Year! 2010 is just full of different experiences from joy to grief, and from academic success, work experiences, relationships, and earning money, to facing failures and disappointments. I see my own success, recognitions, skills, and everything I did and was able to accomplish. All of these are completely nothing and a waste when compared to the greater things.

Just this 2010, I was clearly able to see the seriousness of sin. How sinful I am. How sinful were my desires. What a waste if for my entire life I only pursue the dreams of success, recognition, money, skill, and all these technology and worldliness. Sin dominates and covers. I certainly hate God when I sin, and I certainly wanted God to vanish so not to face His wrath. I certainly wanted God not to exist and my dreams and life to live forever. How foolish I am in the eyes of God, and yet He loves me

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A Local and Private Microblog using StatusNet

Kenston Choi — Fri, 31 Dec 2010 04:36:09 +0000

This is a continuation/additional post for my previous entry “A Local and Private Microblog using Laconica“. Please see the previous post as well. Laconica has changed it’s name to StatusNet and has been constantly active in improving their open source code

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Best WordPress Plugins Part 2

Kenston Choi — Thu, 30 Dec 2010 02:52:55 +0000

This is a part 2 of the list of some of the best WordPress plugins that I’ve been using. See Part 1 , which was written last year, December 2009, for more plugins. I’m no longer using some of the plugins in Part 1, and some I have replaced by those listed below.

Advanced Most Recent Posts Mod

Display most recent posts from selected categories or current category or all posts with thumbnail images (optional).

Backupify for WordPress

Backup of WordPress database and all files to your Backupify account.

Facebook Like

Add the new Facebook Like button and Facebook Recommendations widget to your wordpress blog

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Understanding the Bible

Kenston Choi — Fri, 03 Dec 2010 14:39:51 +0000

Is there a contradiction between James and Paul?

For we hold that one is justified by faith apart from works of the law. (Romans 3:28)

You see that a person is justified by works and not by faith alone. (James 2:24)

Many do not want to believe in the Bible because they “found” existing “contradictions”. They did not really find it themselves, but read it from websites established by atheists. There’s no really contradiction in those verses, but rather our lack of understanding. How can we be swayed by atheists who not only do not believe in the Bible but do not understand what was written?

John Piper’s sermon entitled “Does James Contradict Paul” helps me understand that the two verses do not contradict each other. Piper did not formulate some explanations or reasonings, he only connected the verses and helped us to understand what was written. It is the truth and the message in the Bible, rather than the syntax and the characters that try to represent them that matters most.

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What’s the Problem When Preachers Want Fortune

Kenston Choi — Fri, 03 Dec 2010 13:59:51 +0000

There’s certainly something wrong when preachers want fortune. It’s not because they have to make themselves appear poor, but because they are preaching another gospel that reflects their desire to get rich.

Keep your life free from love of money, and be content with what you have, for He has said, “I will never leave you nor forsake you.” (Hebrews 13:5)

Preachers who buy expensive furnitures, build big mansions, and travel using their private jets using donations or gifts from the people only show their excessiveness (lack of contentment) and their love for money. They probably have more in their bank accounts. It really shows their insecurities. They don’t depend on God who says “I will never leave you nor forsake you.” These preachers are in a hurry to get more money from the people before his/her popularity and reputation is over. It’s simply because they are preaching the false gospel which is grounded on nothing but the love for money and deception. They count each day as an opportunity to advertise and to accept more cash

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Sandboxing Applications with Sandboxie

Kenston Choi — Fri, 19 Nov 2010 14:52:50 +0000

Sandboxing is a security mechanism where applications can be isolated and activities can be restricted. I find Sandboxie the most effective application to provide sandboxing. I have tried many free alternatives, but they were not able to support all applications. The first sandboxing application I know is GreenBorder which was founded in 2001 then bought by Google in 2007. There’s already some speculations that GreenBorder will be integrated with Google Chrome. Other alternatives include Returnil and Comodo Time Machine. What can we do with these apps?

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Our Questions Only Say We Do Not Know

Kenston Choi — Wed, 17 Nov 2010 15:38:03 +0000

Our questions only say that we do not know and that we need to know. How can just one question be the reason for someone not to believe in God? Our questions cannot invalidate anything. Our questions need answers. We cannot judge something out of our questions or when we do not know. We need to find and to ask for an answer, rather than taking the question as an opportunity or a reason not to believe. Our questions cannot prove anything, except the fact that we do not know. How can we conclude anything from something we do not know about?

“Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you.” (Matthew 7:7)

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True Desire

Kenston Choi — Mon, 15 Nov 2010 15:13:34 +0000

It’s hard to be a Christian when we are still clinging on to so many things where worldly life dominates our life. Are we trusting too much in our money, our position, our career, our talents, our friends, and our dreams? Are we slaves of our own desires?

We should not only believe Christ is our savior, but we need to have complete faith and trust in Christ. We no longer fear death, suffering, and difficulty because nothing is more satisfying and valuable than to be under Christ. The offer of happiness, health, wealth, belongingness, achievements, and recognitions on earth are completely nothing when compared to Christ. Though many will agree that Christ is definitely above those things, we still fear so much of having to surrender these things

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Are You a Good Person?

Kenston Choi — Sun, 14 Nov 2010 13:28:23 +0000

Click here to view the embedded video.

From Living Waters – The Way of the Master

Self-Honesty Is Honesty at Its Purest Form

Kenston Choi — Sat, 06 Nov 2010 12:03:41 +0000

How easy is it for us to appear honest to other people, but so hard for us to be honest to ourselves no matter how we justify ourselves and enumerate our excuses and reasons. We know our intentions even when we lie or when we try to make it appear honest. God knows them all.

For whenever our heart condemns us, God is greater than our heart, and he knows everything. (1 John 3:20)

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Problems and Solutions

Kenston Choi — Fri, 05 Nov 2010 16:19:48 +0000

We see problems as challenges. We believe that God won’t give us problems that we can’t solve. In times of desperation, we call on God to helps us. We know there must be a solution. We know we can do it. We believe God will help us. We start thinking every possible solution to our problem. We soon discover many paths that may lead us to solve our problem. Some seem to be impossible for us to do. There are paths that are easy to take, but not essentially a solution, but an escape to our problem. We begin to face temptations and decisions. Should we take the shortcut to solve our problem? Are there really no other options? Is the path to sin the only solution to this problem? Is this problem above all things?

No temptation has overtaken you that is not common to man. God is faithful, and he will not let you be tempted beyond your ability, but with the temptation he will also provide the way of escape, that you may be able to endure it. (1 Corinthians 10:13)

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Launching Applications with Launchy

Kenston Choi — Fri, 05 Nov 2010 14:49:30 +0000

Launchy is an open source keystroke application launcher. This is quite similar to the new Start Menu with search capabilities in Windows Vista and Windows 7. However, I find Launchy faster in terms of finding the app I need. It’s easier to manage which shortcuts to index and you can also use it along with some plugins that allow you to perform arithmetic computations.

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