Customize Firefox and Thunderbird

It's fascinating to discover many useful extensions for Firefox and Thunderbird, which offer unparalleled user experience. Here I'd like to share some examples that I'm using. First please see a list of add-ons for Firefox.
1) Adblock Plus: the web page is much cleaner without the ads.
2) Add-on Compatibility Reporter
3) All-in-One Sidebar: It appears to be incompatible with the default theme when switching the themes, and the development build has the fix.
4) Chromin Frame: bringing the same look and feel as Google Chrome browser.
5) Chromin Tab Behavior
6) CoolPreviews
7) Coral IE Tab: Originally I was using the IE Tab which is not compatible with the new Firefox 3.6; then I switched to the Coral IE Tab. You need to check the developer's web site for the latest add-on.
8) Dafizilla ViewSourceWith
9) Disablemenu
10) Download StatusBar
11) DownloadHelper: quite handy to use when downloading videos.
12) Fission: Fission combines address bar and progress bar (Safari style). This makes the progress bar more visible and allows for a nice visual effect.
13) FoxTab
14) Google Voice Add-on for Firefox: very neat add-on to recognize the phone number on the page and you can click to dial the number via Google voice.
15) gTranslate
16) Locationbar²
17) Map with Google: Originally I was using the Map This extension, but it was no longer working after I installed gTranslate; then I switched to using Map with Google.
18) New Tab King
19) Organize Status Bar: you'll need it as the number of icons are going in the status bar.
20) PluginChecker: Check at application startup if there are plugins installed without user permission
21) Print/Print Preview
22) QuickDrag
23) Tab History
24) Toolbar Buttons
25) User Agent Switcher
26) WebMail Notifier
27) Xmarks

The theme I use for Firefox is the Strata RELOADED.












Then for Thunderbird, I'm using the following add-ons:
1) CompactHeader
2) Display Mail User Agent
3) Forward
4) Hide Menubar
5) Lightning: The Lightning 0.9 is not compatible with Thunderbird 3.0, and I have to use the nightly build.
6) Toolbar Buttons




The theme for Thunderbird is the OWN.

Pingpong Tournament

自从1998年来美国，还是第一次参加乒乓球比赛。既锻炼了身体，又结识了朋友。多谢Wenli(Frank) Fu的组织，这是比赛后Frank发出的信：

在2009年<<东方明珠杯>>乒乓友谊赛中，我们浙江大学队在16只参赛校队中夺得季军。这个胜利是历经9个小时马拉松式的比赛， 在我们队员艰苦而顽强的拼搏后得来的。在小组赛中我们力克复旦大学，华中科技大学，北师大，8强中淘汰了中山大学，虽然半决赛中不敌冠军清华队，但在争夺第三名的比赛中击败了种子队北京大学队。













非常感谢各位队友为这场比赛付出的时间和辛苦，大家牺牲了很多周末的时间，有的还要开很远的车来练球和比赛。 特别是在比赛的当天，比赛时间长，午餐也只是将就一下，有好几场比赛还打的相当艰苦，尤其是挑大梁的韩老师和杨老师，关键比赛都打满两场，精神和体力都令人钦佩。

看看我们胜利后的合影吧，我们明年再来！ 浙大，加油！

Story of Dean Lung

Dean Lung ("Dean" is a family name) was the servant of Horace Walpole Carpentier, a Columbia Trustee in the 1900s. From his modest means, Dean Lung presented the University with $12,000 in support of Chinese studies, and General Carpentier quickly augmented the gift.

Dean Lung Progress Report as of March 18, 2006 by Mia Anderer
http://blog.sina.com.cn/s/blog_4b2ed53a01000665.html

http://baike.baidu.com/view/2166023.html
　　
　　 丁天龙，美国第一代华人移民。丁天龙1857年生于中国广东，18岁来到美国。1890年，丁天龙第一次出现在美国统计报告中，当时是作为卡朋蒂埃曼哈顿住所中的一员，被称为“华人帮佣”(Chinese help)，但是到了1900年，他已经是卡朋蒂埃的一个伙伴(companion)了，地位明显提高。
　　有一次，卡朋蒂埃问丁天龙，对于他这么多年忠心耿耿的服侍，想得到什么回报。丁天龙的回答出人意料：希望在美国最好大学之一的哥伦比亚大学建立汉学系，让美国人能够更多了解中国和中国的文明。

http://www.infzm.com/content/9461

　　“一个与生俱来的孔子追随者，一个行动上的清教徒，一个信仰上的佛教徒，一个性格上的基督教徒。”
　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　—— 卡朋蒂埃 (Horace W. Carpentier) 评丁龙
　　“ＤｅａｎＬｕｎｇ不是一个学者，不是一个将军，不是一个重要的人物，他仅仅是众多美国第一代华人移民中的一个，他捐出来的是钱，但更重要的是贡献了他的视野和理想。我们这个机构存在的意义就是要在当今这个充满冲突与对抗的世界里，建立一种属于我们自己的理解和对话的方式。所以我们需要重新认识并嘉奖这样一种视野，同时重新认识并嘉奖这样的个人，肯定他的贡献，让世人知道并记住Ｄｅａｎ Ｌｕｎｇ的名字。”
　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　——哥伦比亚大学副校长保罗 (Paul Anderer)

The Happiest Toddler on the Block

It's refreshing to read Dr. Harvey Karp's book: The Happiest Toddler on the Block - The New Way to Stop the Daily Battle of Wills and Raise a Secure and Well-Behaved One- to Four-Year-Old. Here I'd capture the essentials of the book as the reference: Ten Steps Every Parent Should Know: The Basics of Raising a Happy Toddler.

1. It helps to think of your toddler as sort of a ... caveman.
   
2. Be an "ambassador" to your prehistoric little child.
3. Follow the Fast-Food Rule.
4. Speak Toddler-ese.
5. Know your toddler's temperament.
6. Keep your cool.
7. Encourage good behavior with "respect and rewards."
8. Rely on lots of time-in.
9. Use gentle discipline to steer your child's behavior in a better direction ("detour").
10. Don't be afraid to use punishments as needed ("roadblocks") such as ignoring, loss of privileges, or toddler time-outs.