QUEEN OF KLUDGE

If you've heard about Google Buzz on the news (the announcement is even showing up on mainstream AM Radio news and network TV news around here) you might be eager to take a look at it.

If you use Gmail, a Buzz link will eventually show up in the left panel of the Gmail screen.  It will show up when Google manages to get around to it.  There's nothing you can do to install it there on your own.  This screen shot is from TechCrunch ... here is the link to their Google Buzz story

HOWEVER, if you have an iPhone or an Android Phone, you can install Google Buzz right now and try it out.

In your phone's browser, go to buzz.google.com, click the little "Do you want to..." message balloon, and stand by.  On my iPhone the installation took several minutes;

UPDATE:  There is is... I have been BUZZED IN....   now I have Buzz on my Gmail desktop

FaceBook made some changes to their interface yesterday.

NikNik posted 10 Very Useful Tips here for navigating the new FaceBook layout.

One of those changes is especially annoying for someone who uses FaceBook the way I use FaceBook.

It seems the ability to set a particular Friend List as my default newsfeed is gone.

The ability to create and edit lists is still there, look up in the upper right corner under Account -> Edit Friends.

And the ability to read the lists individually is still there, look in the left column, click on "Friends" and there are your Friend Lists, click on the one you want to read.

BUT I can't set any of those friend lists to display as my default newsfeed.  Meaning whenever I log on to FaceBook, it is going to take two more clicks to get where I want to go, and read the people I want to read.

Why is this important to me?  I have, for example, a friend list of local politicians.  I read that list to know what is going on at L A City Hall. 

BUT I don't want those people right up there in my face in my main newsfeed the first moment I log on to FaceBook.  No offense intended, Mayor Antonio.

Some links from Mashable:

http://mashable.com/2010/02/04/facebook-redesign-4/

http://mashable.com/2010/02/05/facebook-birthday-video/

Oh, and for what it is worth, here is my old post on using Friend Lists back from when you could make a list your default newsfeed  http://activerain.com/blogsview/1195274/organizing-your-facebook-friends-into-lists-will-save-your-sanity

Lots of stuff to plan for this coming week!

Saturday, February 13 is NELAArt Second Saturday

Sunday, February 14 is Lunar New Year AND Valentine's Day

Monday, February 15 is President's Day

Tuesday, February 16 is Mardi Gras

For our first fundraiser of the year, Saturday, February 13, 2010 from 7-10 pm, the Avenue 50 Studio asked 50 artists to paint, decorate or write poems on hearts that will sell in silent auction with opening bids of $100 each.  The artist of each heart will not be identified during the exhibit.   The hearts, of four distinct designs, are already formed from composite wood, approximately 8" x 9" and ready-to-hang.  We  hope that you will join us at this special event.

 
Participating artists include:

Lalo Alcaraz, Katrina Alexy, Guillermo Bejerano, Kay Brown, Yrneh Brown, Nancy Bucanan, Mita Cuaron, Raoul De la Sota, Diane Destiny, Kiki Edder, Kathy Gallegos, Margaret Garcia, Graham Goddard, Pat Gomez, Yolanda Gonzalez, Lauren Gonzalez, Frank Gutierrez, Gerald Hacer, Lucy Hagopian, Cidne Hart, Kevin Hass, Amy Inouye, Jose Lopes, Robert Lowden, Jose Lozano, Maja, Poli Marichal, Amyliah Mejia, Andrés E. Montoya, Beth Peterson, Ester Petschar, CCH Pounder, Stuart Rapeport, Sonia Romero, Nancy Romero, Abel Salas, Peter Shire, Suzanne Siegel, Rachel Siegel, Joe Sims, Annie Sperling, Stormie, Cindy Suriyani, Howard Swerdloff, John Paul Thornton, Richard Turner, Sergio Vasquez, Gisel Vincent-Osuna, Lamont Westmoreland, Mike Yanagita, Val Zavala

 Opening Night Reception:  Saturday, February 13, 2010 from 7-10 pm

Where:  
Avenue 50 Studio, Inc.
131 North Avenue 50
Los Angeles, CA  90042
323/258-1435
www.avenue50studio.com

"Body Language"

Judithe Hernandez, Jose Lozano, Louie Metz, Willie Middlebrook, Andrés E. Montoya

Adam - The Surrender - Judithe Hernandez

Artists' reception -- Saturday evening, February 13, 2010 from 7 to 10 p.m.

The Avenue 50 Studio is proud to present Body Language, an exhibition of works which use the human form as story teller.  

Judithe Hernandez began her career in the midst of the turbulent 1970's as part of the vanguard of Chicano Art.  Hernandez was the only female member of the important Chicano art collective, Los Four.  Working together with East Los Angeles youth, she created murals reflective of the times, exploring political and cultural topics while also incorporating personal narrative.  Judithe is most know for her pastels on paper.  Using lush colors, she continually draws creative inspiration from her cultural inheritance.  Judith has exhibited extensively in the United States, Europe and Mexico, including the ground-breaking first exhibition of contemporary Chicano Art in Europe: Les Démon des Anges.  Her exhibition with the Avenue 50 Studio marks her return to Los Angeles after a 30-year hiatus.

Louie Metz, born in an army hospital in San Juan, Puerto Rico, moved with his mother to Los Angeles at the age of nine.  At the age of fourteen, Louie and friends, responding to the world around them, formed Mad Society, a punk band.  He received his B.F.A. from Otis Parsons in 1990.  Louie's subjects reflect an inner psychological reality.  He conveys a classicism that is complex and straight forward - brutal yet beautiful.

Willie Middlebrook, obsessed with the need to communicate in an honest and direct manner, uses photography to reflect the ideals and the integrity of being Black.  His work speaks to an African-American sensibility that is always centered on his community.  Willie produces strong sepia toned images of his people; not necessarily in a positive light, but always in a true light.

Jose Lozano lived in Juárez, México during his youth. There he found many of the cultural touchstones that continue to influence his work today - bad Mexican cinema, fotonovelas, ghost stories, comic books, and musical genres such as bolero and ranchera.  He creates revealing, yet not always flattering, works about his neighborhood and its residents - parties, quinceañeras, strip clubs, weddings, and baby showers. Lozano prefers to work in a series, and focuses on particular themes and topics.  In his series for the Avenue 50 Studio, Lozano focuses, in a wry manner, on the numerous strip clubs scattered throughout Juárez.

Andrés Montoya utilizes the landscape and figure as a metaphor for the human condition, exploring personal experiences through thoughts, dreams, realities, and absurdities.  Born in Tegucigalpa, Honduras, yet growing up in Los Angeles, Montoya's multi-cultural reality merged and blended, transforming his truth into patterns of subdued color and reflective composition.

The exhibit opens with an artists' reception on Saturday evening, February 13, 2010 from 7 to 10 p.m. and closes on Sunday, March 7, 2010.

Avenue 50 Studio, Inc.
131 North Avenue 50
Los Angeles, CA  90042
323/258-1435
www.avenue50studio.com

Want to style the sidebar of your WordPress Thesis Theme and learn a little CSS (Cascading Style Sheets) in the process?

Copy this little snippet of CSS code and paste it into  the custom.css file of your Thesis themes installation (wp-content/themes/thesis_16/custom/custom.css)

.custom li.widget ul li{
background:#F0F0F0;
border: 0.1em solid #C7C7C7;
-moz-border-radius:4px;
padding:0.5em;
font-weight: bold;
margin:0.5em;
}

.sidebar h3 {font-weight: bold;}

This little snippet will make the sidebar links in the Thesis Theme look like this:

OK.  Suppose you wanted the links to have a different background color... Change the color hex code in this line  background:#F0F0F0;

For example, change that line to read background:#FF00FF;

That will give the sidebar links a hot pink background, like this

Lime green, anyone?  Change that line to read:  background:#ADFF2F;

The Valentine Peace Project presents Poetry & Peace, A Night of Poetry, Music & Art

"Poetry is an act of peace.  Peace goes into the making of a poet as flour goes into the making of bread." -- Pable Neruda

 
Cindy Rinne
Gloria Alvarez
William Archila
Lois P. Jones
William O'Daly
Ron Baca
Susan Rogers
Kathabela Wilson
Taoli-Ambika Talwar
 
MUSICIAN:  Rick Wilson

We will be creating poem-wrapped flowers this evening as a call to peace

Saturday, February 6, 2010 from 7 to 9 pm

 
Peace
 
Peace is freedom from the
pain. Victory over the
deep hurts. Love that
will flow to others.
Able to be the real me
in my own country.
 
By Cindy Rinne

Avenue 50 Studio, Inc.
a 501(c)(3) non-profit art gallery
131 North Avenue 50
Highland Park, CA  90042

323-258-1435
http://www.avenue50studio.com

*   *   *   *   *

The Valentine Peace Project:  February 2010
 
One World Flowers (www.oneworldflowers.org )  - supporting sustainable business practices, human rights compliance, and fair compensation for flower workers in countries all over the world through Fair Trade flowers.

Budding partnerships for 2010: Where Peace Lives, P5Y, The Hub, Transfair USA, and IKV Pax Christi.
 
Where Peace Lives (www.wherepeacelives.org )
Creating a dynamic new vocabulary of images through children's art and peace cards - where the art of peace meets the world.
 
Peace in 5 Years (www.p5y.org )
Working together on a bold vision of world peace in five years - peace defined as safety from politically organized violence.
 
The Hub (www.the-hub.net)
Hub Bay Area opens joining Hub Amsterdam, Hub Milan, Hub Berlin and Hubsters around the world showcasing  'world changing ideas'.  A place for conversation, strategy and celebration of new initiatives for a radically better world.
 
TransFair (www.transfairusa.org )
Fair trade certifier - through Fair Trade Towns "committed to raising  awareness in our fellow community members that every dollar we spend is a powerful decision, with ramifications that echo across continents, countries, and communities."
 
IKV Pax Christi (www.ikvpaxchristi.org ) (www.vredesweek.nl)
The largest peace organization/movement in the Netherlands - supporting peace and reconciliation efforts in conflict areas in more than twenty countries over four continents.  Locally- the Seeds of Change festival, VredesWeek (Peace Week) and other initiatives to serve and broadcast the message and work of peace.
 
You
'The ones we've been waiting for.'
 
Working to spread thoughts of peace worldwide the Valentine Peace Project aims to highlight global citizenship, promote peace discussion and education, and celebrate the many faces and meanings of peace and love in today's connecting world community.  Generate your own involvement or contact info@valentinepeaceproject.org for information.  www.valentinepeaceproject.org; Federico Hewson, Project Director, The Valentine Peace Project, telephone: + 31 (0)6 16 777 520.

OK.  This morning Punxsutaweny Phil, the nation's original weatherman, saw his shadow, indicating "six more weeks of winter". 

Think about that:

When you see shadows, it is a bright, sunny day.   If you don't see shadows, it is cloudy and overcast.  So, "sunny" equals more winter?  What's with that?

February 2 is the middle point between Winter Solstice on December 21 and Spring Equinox on March 20.

And forklore has it that if the midpoint of Winter is bright and sunny, the remaining weeks of Winter will be harsh and stormy.  So ... Seeing a shadow on February 2 equals "bright and sunny" which equals more more harsh Winter weather to come.  More here.

In ancient Celtic traditions, the middle points between solticies and equinoxes were known as Cross Quarter Days and were celebrated as High Holy Days.  February 2, the Cross Quarter Day betwwen Winter Soltice and Spring Equinox, was called Imbolc.

February 2 is also exactly 40 days after December 25.  Ancient Jewish women celebrated a ritual purification exactly 40 days after the birth of a son.  According to early Christian tradition, Mary, the mother of Jesus, would have celebrated this ritual on February 2, 40 days after December 25. 

OK... now let's see if I can add a three column panel for Google Adsense ads above the content columns in the Thesis Theme.

No, you would probably not want to display ads on any of your professional real estate blogs.  But there are people who create multiple separate blogs on various other topics with the goal of generating a little Adsense income.  No, you will probably not get rich from the Adsense checks, but a few extra dollars a month always comes in handy.

Anyway, building on what I learned earlier:

Open the custom-functions.php

and paste in

add_action('thesis_hook_after_header', 'custom_adsense');

function custom_adsense() {
?>

<table cellpadding="30">
<tr>

<td>
<script type="text/javascript"><!--
google_ad_client = "pub-6270001232633363";
/* 336x280, created 4/16/08 Foreclosure Blue Title */
google_ad_slot = "9185194513";
google_ad_width = 336;
google_ad_height = 280;
//-->
</script>
<script type="text/javascript"
src="http://pagead2.googlesyndication.com/pagead/show_ads.js">
</script>

</td>
<td valign="top">
<script type="text/javascript"><!--
google_ad_client = "pub-6270001232633363";
/* 250x250, created 9/7/09 Image for Foreclosure */
google_ad_slot = "1876038709";
google_ad_width = 250;
google_ad_height = 250;
//-->
</script>
<script type="text/javascript"
src="http://pagead2.googlesyndication.com/pagead/show_ads.js">
</script>
</td>

<td>
<script type="text/javascript"><!--
google_ad_client = "pub-6270001232633363";
/* 336x280, created 4/16/08 Foreclosure Blue Title */
google_ad_slot = "9185194513";
google_ad_width = 336;
google_ad_height = 280;
//-->
</script>
<script type="text/javascript"
src="http://pagead2.googlesyndication.com/pagead/show_ads.js">
</script>

</td>

</tr>
</table>

<p><hr></p>

<?php
}

It worked:

 You'd want to include your own Google Adsense code, but of course, I won't complain if you leave mine in.

For anyone not familiar with my style here:  Active Rain is one of my favorite places to save miscellaneous notes to myself.  But I also figure, if I need to save these notes, maybe someone else will also find them helpful. 

To use a customer banner in the Thesis Theme for WordPress.

Create the banner.

Upload it to your host site.

FTP to your Thesis Theme files on your host server.   wp-content -> themes -> thesis_16

Change the file name  "custom-sample" to just "custom" if you haven't done that already.  Open the "custom" file.

Open (Edit) custom-functions.php (The menu command will depend on which FTP program you are using - the file will open in Notepad or in whatever text editor you have associated with code files)

Paste this code into custom-functions.php at the end of the file, below the instructions and the default bookmark code:

 function mycustom_banner() {
?>
<div id="mycustom-banner">
  <a href="http://www.bobtaylorproperties.info" title="Bob Taylor Properties Inc. Home">
  <img src="http://www.bobtaylorproperties.info/bobtaylorpropertiesbanner.png"
 alt="Bob Taylor Properties, Inc." ></a>
  </div>
<?php
 }

add_action('thesis_hook_before_header', 'mycustom_banner');

You'll probably want to change the alt titles and URLs to your own.  Although if you want to use mine I won't complain.  :-)

Thesis works with "hooks" and "functions". 

The "function" is the actual executable code - in this case the insertion of a banner image.

The "hook" is the LOCATION on the page you want the "function" placed - in this case before the Thesis default header.

Now, close the FTP program, go to the wp-admin panel for the site. Click Thesis Options at the bottom of the left menu column.

Under Display Options -> Header uncheck "Show site name in header" and "Show site tagline in header"

Save.

One last thing:  You may want to reduce the spacing before your banner image, to do that, go back to the Thesis files via FTP.  In the custom file, open up custom.css and add this line of code to the end of the file

.custom #header  { padding: 0px; margin: 0px; }