Once upon a time, a company was providing a service to help people achieve what they couldn’t do by themselves, because of a lack of know how or knowledge, or because of the lack of tools. They were doing this because they studied this, practiced this, and were good at this, hence them being called for the job. In consequence, they were getting something as a retribution (food, whatever privilege, money).

Nowadays, do you think passion or skills are leading the industry? Sometimes... This is business, right? I feel more and more (at least around me in Shanghai) the cause starts with money (Hey! We could make money out of that!) instead of the willing to help or share.

Hopefully, there’s still some nice people all over the place. :)
(making money first is definitively not putting someone at the top of my "nice people" list)

Hey! Did you know Paris-Web just started their call for speakers? Mmm... Maybe will I try to be in Paris in October 2010...

Cet article de Stephanie Booth remet les pendules à l’heure en ce qui concerne la confiance que l’on peut attribuer à une entreprise.

Qu’avons-nous à perdre à admettre que les autres peuvent être meilleurs sur certains points dans le même domaine ? Mais surtout, qu’avons-nous à y gagner ? De mon point de vue, la preuve d’une certaine expertise.

Je vous laisse à sa lecture...

The easiest solution I found on Windows is the "Send to" function in the Explorer. Yeah, I tried to push him to use Linux, but well, I wasn’t there to play the IT guy, so the reseller had a better argumentation on this.

There are better solutions now in my opinion, such as Dropbox which runs on Windows, Mac OS X and Linux (and iPhone), and that’s all I need.

The screen-shots are all in French and I translated it without checking every single little detail, but I’m pretty sure the context will help you to find your way out. So, here we go:

You can click any thumbnail to open an enlarged picture, then press the left and right arrow keys to go back and forth, or escape to continue reading the article.

First, open the folder where your photos are with the Explorer. You should end up with the list of pictures, displayed as a detailed list, thumbnails, or other ways, depending on your own settings.

Once this folder opened, use the Ctrl and Shift keys to help you select the right files (with your keyboard or your mouse).

You can see at the bottom right, in the status bar, that the sum of the files selected weights around 28Mb. That certainly wouldn’t fit in any e-mail.

You can then right click on any of the selected files to open up a context dialog where you’ll select the "Send to" sub-menu, then "Mail Recipient".

An then POP! A popup... pops up. You’ll have two options to choose from, before the images are sent to your e-mail client for further writing. The first will resize the pictures while the second doesn’t change anything on the images.

Select the first option (the default) and click on "Display More Options".

You’ll then be prompted to choose between three different common sizes: "Small", "Medium" and "Large". Well... I selected "Medium" here; up to you to choose the one you prefer.

With "Medium" selected, all the images will be resized so that they fit into a box of 800 pixels by 600 pixels. Don’t worry, they won’t stretch but keep the aspect ratio. Vertical pictures in my example will be 450 by 600 pixels big (width by height).

Once all your choices done, you can press OK and let the computer do the dirty work.

It will open up a redaction window from your default e-mail client. In my case: Mozilla Thunderbird. You can (should) change the subject to something more human than a series of weird files’ names. Write your message, fill in the recipient’s address and you’re done! Just click "Send" and...

Your e-mail is a lot more lightweight (970Kb.) and easy to read in any e-mail client. Congratulations! No more bandwidth wasting and happy family all together!

This is just a quick tip that might be of interest. If you want to refill your mobile phone credit with a simple SMS, just follow those steps:

• Buy a China Mobile card (

  

  ) in any convenience store (50 or 100 RMB);

• Find

  

  ;

• Send a SMS to China Mobile with Cz followed by the former number (in this case Cz091487305783274341).

Please note that you have to do this before your credit expires, or you’re not going to be able to send the SMS at all.

The day after we buried my grand-father, it started snowing sweet and soft snow in a place that has never seen that much flakes for maybe decades. The Nature he was taking care and living of was waving its last goodbye while welcoming him in its soil, quietening the place, muting everything to a white silence.

So long, grand-pa. You inspired us, wife, son, daughter, grand-children and grand-grand-children. That may sound crap, but yeah, you’re here in everything we do and think of. You did an awesome job and deserve your rest, even if I’m pretty sure you hate this; you’ll find plenty of things to think of, do or teach, wherever your soul might now be.

I still love you, no matter the distance.

Les vieux ne parlent plus ou alors seulement parfois du bout des yeux
Même riches ils sont pauvres, ils n’ont plus d’illusions et n’ont qu’un cœur pour deux
Chez eux ça sent le thym, le propre, la lavande et le verbe d’antan
Que l’on vive à Paris, on vit tous en province quand on vit trop longtemps
Est-ce d’avoir trop ri que leur voix se lézarde quand ils parlent d’hier
Et d’avoir trop pleuré que des larmes encore leur perlent aux paupières
Et s’ils tremblent un peu, est-ce de voir vieillir la pendule d’argent
Qui ronronne au salon, qui dit oui qui dit non, qui dit : je vous attends

Les vieux ne rêvent plus; leurs livres s’ensommeillent, leurs pianos sont fermés
Le petit chat est mort, le muscat du dimanche ne les fait plus chanter
Les vieux ne bougent plus; leurs gestes ont trop de rides, leur monde est trop petit
Du lit à la fenêtre, puis du lit au fauteuil et puis du lit au lit
Et s’ils sortent encore bras dessus bras dessous, tout habillés de raide
C’est pour suivre au soleil l’enterrement d’un plus vieux, l’enterrement d’une plus laide
Et le temps d’un sanglot, oublier tout une heure la pendule d’argent
Qui ronronne au salon, qui dit oui qui dit non, et puis qui les attend

Les vieux ne meurent pas, ils s’endorment un jour et dorment trop longtemps
Ils se tiennent la main; ils ont peur de se perdre et se perdent pourtant
Et l’autre reste là, le meilleur ou le pire, le doux ou le sévère
Cela n’importe pas, celui des deux qui reste se retrouve en enfer
Vous le verrez peut-être, vous la verrez parfois en pluie et en chagrin
Traverser le présent en s’excusant déjà de n’être pas plus loin
Et fuir devant vous une dernière fois la pendule d’argent
Qui ronronne au salon, qui dit oui qui dit non, qui leur dit : je t’attends
Qui ronronne au salon, qui dit oui qui dit non et puis qui nous attend.

Jacques Brel : Les Vieux, 1963