Monday, February 01, 2010
My Vietnamese LGBT-friendly friends,
You’ve received this email because you expressed interest in helping me fight for marriage equality in the Vietnamese community. I’ve convinced the Courage Campaign that should table at next month’s Tet Festival in Orange County (since we supposedly lost Prop 8 due to lack of reaching out to ethnic groups in OC). However, I currently look like a fool because I can’t get any Vietnamese people to volunteer or sign up for shifts! I have four “asks” I was hoping that some of you can help me out:
1) Translate the attached materials into Vietnamese. I know it’s a lot, so maybe you can volunteer for one document?
2) Sign up for a 2-hour shift at the Courage Campaign/Equality California booth and talk in Vietnamese to our community. Please sign up at http://spreadsheets.google.com/viewform?hl=en&formkey=dFl3YjU4eEFmZWRGMURMZHhXVnFPNGc6MA
3) I’ve secured a Vietnamese radio show to air an episode on LGBT issues – it’s broadcasted to Vietnam, so I am looking for an LGBT person willing to talk about his or her experience (in Vietnamese).
4) Forward the snippet below to all your other LGTB friends and other LGBT-inclining Asian groups
---- info ----
The Courage Campaign and Equality California is going to have a booth at the yearly Vietnamese New Year's Festival in Garden Grove (Orange County) on February 12th - February 14th. We are seeking volunteers to help table and talk to festival attendees about marriage equality. Please see http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=209610487131&index=1 or contact minh at minh dot org
Courage Campaign/EQCA Booth (C29) at Tet Festival 2010
Location: Garden Grove Park, 9301 Westminster Ave, Garden Grove, CA 92844
Time: Friday, February 12th – February 14th 2010
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Thanks,
Minh T. Nguyen
Courage Campaign Orange County
minh at minh dot org
Wednesday, January 20, 2010
I am being interviewed on SBTN's Flash of Reality on Vietnam's block of facebook. Check it out:
Saturday, December 26, 2009
Check out the newest viral video we put together:
Tuesday, December 08, 2009
Wednesday, November 18, 2009
FAQ về việc chính quyền VN chận Facebook
http://huyzing.com/2009/11/17/faq-on-vietnam-block-of-facebook/
Tin tức về việc Facebook bị ngăn chận không cho sử dụng tại Việt Nam gây ra nhiều hoang mang. Sau đây là những chia sẻ của tôi về sự việc này.
Tóm gọn lại nhận định của tôi là:
Có - Facebook có bị chận lại bởi các ISP tại Việt Nam theo lệnh của chính quyền
Có - Có cách vượt qua để vào Facebook.
Không - Tuy nhiên vậy cũng chưa đủ.
Có - Việc chận này thật là cà chớn.
Vào Facebook gặp trở ngại gì ở Sài Gòn (Tp.HCM) ?
(Theo wikipedia) Kể từ 4 tháng 11, 2009 các ISP lớn như SCTV/VDC và Viettel chận không cho vào Facebook bằng cách xóa địa chỉ www.facebook.com và apps.facebook.com khỏi dịch vụ truy cập tên miền (DNS) trong vòng vài giờ cho đến vài ngày. Những ISP khác như FPT và VNPT cũng làm tương tư trong vòng vài tiếng vào ngày 10 tháng 11, 2009. Có tin đồn là đó là những thử nghiệm trước khi có lệnh chận chính thức. Kể từ 16 tháng 11, 2009 FPT, VNPT, Viettel, SCTV/VDC và EVN đều chận tất cả truy cập DNS vào Facebook, điều mà nhiều người tin là việc ngăn chận thường trực kể từ nay.
Đây có phải bị chận thật sự hay chỉ là sự cố kỹ thuật ?
Việc chận Facebook không phải là sự cố. Không phải vì trục trặc kỹ thuật. Đây là cú đánh vào dịch vụ truy cập DNS của các ISP (dịch vụ này chuyển địa chỉ trong dạng www.facebook.com và apps.facebook.com sang dạng máy vi tính hiểu được, tức là 69.63.184.31).
Việc không vào được Facebook vừa rồi tương tự như Trang Vàng tự nhiên biến mất danh mục của Cà phê Trung Nguyên. Không phải là ai đó đổ thức ăn lên trang vàng khiến bạn đọc khó khăn, mà là tự nhiên danh mục đó biến đi đâu mất tiêu. Không phải chỉ có một trang vàng mà mỗi ISP như FPT, SCTV, VNPT, Viettetl ai cũng một trang vàng riêng và trang vàng nào cũng mất tiêu danh mục của Facebook.
Xác suất mà địa chỉ của Facebook bị “vô tình” rớt mất gần như không có. Tất cả dữ kiện cộng lại cho thấy đây là một động thái cố tình.
Có chứng cớ gì khác cho thấy việc chặn chính thức đến từ chính quyền ?
Hành động của các ISP tự nó đã nói lên sự việc, tuy nhiên chưa có chứng cớ cụ thể nào về lệnh cấm chính thức của chính quyền.
Trên net có một văn bản tung ra vào khoảng tháng 9/2009 cho rằng là của chính quyền đòi hỏi các ISP phải chận Facebook, tuy nhiên chưa xác định được văn bản này thật hay giả. Có một ấn bản khác tương tự có đóng dấu và chữ ký từ một bệnh viện, tuy nhiên ấn bản nên lờ đi vì có chỉ dấu cạo sửa.
Có một thân chủ thương mãi của FPT trò chuyện với đại diện FPT và người này cho biết (không chính thức) là sắp có lệnh cấm Facebook.
Tại sao bạn nghĩ là bị chận trong khi một số bạn bè của tôi vẫn vào được Facebook ?
Chúng tôi có được biết là một số người vẫn vào được Facebook như ở đại học RMIT chẳng hạn.
Việc ngăn chận không nhất thiết là chặn hết tất cả. Và như tôi trình bày dưới đây, chận một phần nào đó cũng đủ để ngăn cản phần lớn người dùng vào Facebook.
Tại sao không chờ xem coi có lệnh chận chính thức không thay gì xôn xao, xào xáo lên thế này ?
Đối với một số người, chờ đợi không phải là một chọn lựa. Chúng tôi cần dự phóng là có thể tùy thuộc vào Facebook để liên lạc với các nhóm khác, để quảng bá sự kiện sắp tới. Việc không vào được Facebook tác động đến công việc, nỗ lực tổ chức, cũng như giữ mối liên lạc với bạn bè thân nhân.
Động cơ gì thúc đẩy việc chặn Facebook ?
Mọi người có thể đoán là lý do chính trị, kiểm duyệt, kiểm soát. Tuy nhiên cũng có tin đồn là có những công ty cạnh tranh ở địa phương lợi dụng mối quan hệ với nhà nước để đẩy lùi dịch vụ Facebook.
Có cách gì vượt qua rào chắn để vào Facebook ?
Có, ngay bây giờ bạn có thể dùng một trong những cách sau đây:
Vào http://lite.facebook.com/ tuy các chức năng có bị giới hạn. Địa chỉ này chưa bị chận.
Điều chỉnh máy vi tính hay router của bạn dùng OpenDNS thay vì dùng DNS định sẵn của các ISP. Xem hướng dẫn cách dùng OpenDNS.
Dùng địa chỉ số IP của máy chủ Facebook.
- Xem cách điều chỉnh hosts file.
- Đây là một số thí dụ địa số IP, tuy nhiên thay số 69.63.178.11 bằng số 69.63.181.15 mới hơn. Cẩn thận coi chừng các con số IP này được Facebook đổi trong tương lai.
Dùng web proxies miễn phí. Bạn có thể tìm các web proxies miễn phí này.
Nếu bạn truy cập vào được một máy chủ ở hải ngoại, bạn có thể dùng VPN hoặc thiết kế SOCKS proxy dùng ssh tunnelling. Cách này cho dân rành vi tính. Nói vậy là bạn hiểu tôi nói gì và dư sức làm.
Dĩ nhiên các cách trên có thể không dùng được trong tương lai nếu chính quyền VN hay các ISP muốn xiết chặt lại. Tuy nhiên có xác xuất là họ không đi xa hơn thế vì những lý do sau đây.
Tại sao họ không tìm cách chặn hay ngăn cản cách cách vượt rào này ?
Trong các cách vượt trên có cái chặn dễ, có cái chặn khó. Chẳng hạn như cho địa chỉ lite.facebook.com vào danh sách chận là xong ngay. Thế còn ngăn chận OpenDNS hay chận các địa chỉ số IP của Facebook thì sao ?
Chặn tên miền của Facebook dễ hơn chận OpenDNS hoặc điạ chỉ số IP. Số lượng danh bạ DNS của Facebook ít hơn là số lượng địa chỉ số IP. Các địa chỉ số IP này cũng có thể thường xuyên đổi. Ngăn chận bằng IP (IP filtering) sẽ làm tốc độ giao thông internet chậm lại thành ra ISP không thích chặn bằng IP.
Còn web proxies miễn phi thì có quá nhiều trên net. Chận không xuể. Và nếu bạn có proxy riêng để VPN hay ssh vào thì không có cách gì chận.
Có thể một số cách vượt sẽ bị phá trong tương lai, tuy nhiên sẽ cần thời gian.
Nếu có cách vượt rào để vào Facebook thì lo lắng làm gì ?
Các cách vượt tôi liệt kê trên, như OpenDNS và proxies, có giúp phần nào nhưng chưa đủ. Ngăn chận một social network không giống như chận YouTube hay một trang web chống đối chính quyền. Chúng ta thường vào Facebook không phải chỉ để tiếp cận thông tin. Chúng ta dùng Facebook để nối kết quan hệ với những người khác. Như luật Metcalfe có nói “Giá trị của một mạng lưới viễn liên tương ứng với lũy thừa hai của số lượng người dùng”
Bạn cần đa số bạn bè và cộng đồng vào được social network để đạt được giá trị hứa hẹn của nó chứ không phải chỉ có một mình bạn. Để quảng bá hữu hiệu một sự kiện nào đó cần có đa số độc giả có mặt. Nếu không bảo đảm được là mọi người trong cộng đồng, dù là dân địa phương hay ngoại kiều, vào được mạng dễ dàng thì cộng đồng này sẽ tàn lụi. Tuy có thể vào được bằng proxies hay OpenDNS nhưng các phương thức này không phải ai cũng biết và không dễ dùng. Nếu 80% dân số cộng đồng không biết dùng và không vào được Facebook mặc dầu riêng bạn thì vào được, thế là bạn đã mất đi 99% giá trị của social network.
Hệ quả của việc đa số không vào được là Facebook sẽ ngày càng ít người vào, mặc dầu những người này biết cách vượt rào để vào. Cuối cùng lại còn có một mình bạn và còn vui vẻ gì nữa. Bên Trung Quốc số lượng người dùng của Facebook giảm từ 1 triệu xuống còn 14,000 trong vòng 3 tháng sau khi bị cấm đoán.
Thành thử ra mặc dầu rào chặn DNS không hữu hiệu lắm trong việc kiểm duyệt hay ngăn chận các trang như YouTube nó lại hữu hiệu trong việc chặn Facebook vì nó phá hủy giá trị của một social network.
Chúng ta có thể làm gì ?
Hiện thời không có dịch vụ nào có cùng chức năng và quyền hạn như Facebook. Nhiều phần người Việt trong nước sẽ dùng cách dịch vụ social network nội địa.
Việt kiều, ngoại kiều có thể phải quay trở lại cách dịch vụ kém hơn như Hi5, Orkut, MySpace.
Saturday, October 24, 2009
I just finished a new version of my batch photo resizer program. See below for new features and announcements.
This is a very simple utility to allow you to batch-resize digital photos. You simply indicate your maximum width or height in pixels and drag and drop your images (or folder containing images) onto the window. The program will then batch-resize all images into a subfolder. It can't get any easier than that.
Version history
Version 1.5 (October 24th 2009):
- Settings are now stored in registry
- Shell extensions allow you to right-click on an image/folder to resize with previous settings
- Added Check for Updates
- Dragging lot of files into PhotoResizer will no longer lock up Windows Explorer during the resizing process
- Renamed from "Minh's Stupid PhotoResizer" to "Minh's Free PhotoResizer"
Friday, October 23, 2009
Howdy my friends,
As some of you might know, I’ve been a passionate gay rights advocate, and feel very strongly about marriage equality for all. You can read my writings and work here, here and here. To keep this short, I’ve accepted a positions as Team Leads with the Courage Campaign in both OC and LA and we’ve identified the Asian communities in Orange County as one of the focuses in 2010 to overturn Prop 8. We have plans to go on Vietnamese radio, newspaper, TV, translating materials and canvassing in the streets of Wetminta in hope to forever change the landscape of OC (and the Vietnamese community).
I’ve promised the Courage Campaign that I will mobilize a large Vietnamese/Korean grassroots team so that we can turn Orange County upside down. So that I won’t look like an idiot, I ask for your help in making history in the civil rights movement. If you are interested in this campaign, please let me know. Even with limited time, you could help remotely (i.e, translating material). If you don’t have time, please at least forward this email to all your Asian friends in OC. If I have accidentally emailed someone against marriage equality, then know that I respect your opinion and that our friendship is never jeopardized, but I invite you for a lively discussion with cà phê sửa đá on me. :)
Thank you,
Minh T. Nguyen
nguyentriminh@yahoo.com
Courage Campaign
Upcoming phonebanking events to Maine to repeal “Prop 8” there (I’ll be at all those events)
October 25th 2009, 2pm, Irvine
http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=168658369016&ref=mf
http://www.couragecampaign.org/page/event/detail/wrh
October 31st 2009, 9:30am, West LA
http://www.couragecampaign.org/page/event/detail/wvt
http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=154193768259
November 1st 2009, 9:30am, West LA
http://www.couragecampaign.org/page/event/detail/wvr
http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=153976568043
Tuesday, September 22, 2009
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Can you imagine a world where your facebook updates can put you in jail?
Can you imagine being arrested for posting a new blog entry?
Well, there is no need to imagine this. It’s happening right now in Vietnam.
As the world embraces the internet as forum for free expression and communication, Vietnam sees it otherwise. Earlier this year, the government of Vietnam requests internet companies such as Microsoft, Yahoo and Google to shut down blogs and hand over information of their users that could lead to their arrest.
A surge of internet users have been arrested this year merely for expressing their thoughts, and posting articles on the internet, including Tran Huynh Duy Thuc (pen name ChangeWeNeed), Nguyen Ngoc Nhu Quynh (pen name Mother Mushroom) and Nguyen Van Hai (pen name Dieu Cay).
However, the time to act is now. A House resolution to call upon the internet companies to respect privacy rights of consumers will be introduced to the US Congress soon. Watch how Vietnamese Americans are responding to the series of recent arrests in Vietnam, and how they are speaking out for those who cannot.
Watch it, posted it, share it and support the Vietnam Blogger Movement by calling your representative today.
For more information on this campaign, please visit Viet Tan's Internet Freedom Campaign
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Tuesday, May 19, 2009
Saturday, April 25, 2009
The other day I needed to do a cross-database LINQ-to-SQL join, and encountered the mysterious “the query contains references to items defined on a different data context” InvalidOperationException. After an extensive web search, I almost gave up, as every web reference I found on the internet states that doing a cross-database LINQ join is not possible.
However, I believe that is not fully correct, as I was able to do so when the two tables reside on the same physical SQL Server in two different database instances and feel compelled to write this blog post to rectify this misinformation.
First of all, doing a cross-database join in SQL alone is not something I recommend you to do. Your program’s architecture should not require you to do so. If it does, consider putting your data tables onto the same database instance. However, sometimes you have to deal with large amounts of legacy code where you don’t have the luxury to do this refactor. If so, in order to do a cross-database join via LINQ you need to configure the table in the foreign database with a fully-qualified database name in your DataContext designer like so:
Note that you do not have to create two DatabaseContexts or database connection string; a single .dbml file suffices. Visual Studio .NET might warn you when you attempt to drag the table from the foreign database instance into your server, but it’s possible. Just set the “source” property appropriately, and then you can write your LINQ query as if that table is “in-house”.
I was able to do so when the two database instances reside on the same physical SQL Server. I am certain that there are performance implications with this (it probably does the join in-memory), so do this with a grain of salt. I haven’t tried doing this when the two database instances actually reside on different servers--I doubt that works, but someone try and let us know.
Tuesday, April 14, 2009
Whew – two weeks of awesome and interesting movies at the Vietnamese International Film Festival. I attended quite a lot of movies and days (and spent way too much money – how come they don’t have a fixed-price all-unlimited festival pass?). Here are the films I’ve seen and my opinion about them (beware of spoilers):
Sad Fish by Le Van Kiet
Le Van Kiet’s second feature film was an interesting experimental improv movie, where much of the lines and screenplay were made up and negotiated on the fly by the actors and actresses. Many of the actors and actresses played very out-of-character roles. The best and realistic performance I thought was still the mother trying to cope with her son’s homosexuality.
Days on the Shore by Alfred Nguyen
Whoa—this was my vote for best short film at the entire festival. It’s an anime piece of arts unlike any other you have seen in the Vietnamese film industry. Comprised of many extreme close up, diagonals, dark tones, and a tense scene that keeps you so focused, this short anime depicts the escape of Vietnamese boat people from Vietnam and an encounter with a Vietnamese communist boat out at the ocean. Almost every other frame could be made into an aesthetic print ready to put into a gallery -- it’s an absolute masterpiece comparable to the Animatrix series, but at only 8 minutes, you only wished that this would be a full-length feature film. I am looking forward to see more of Alfred Nguyen’s work!
Blindness Series by Tran, T. Kim-Trang
“kore” and “operculum” are two very abstract art films that explores the eyes, desire, sexual fear, cosmetic surgery. They are rather old movies (from the mid 90s), and just a bit too abstract for me. It’s one of those artsy films that make you go “huh?” at the end.
Never Perfect by Regina Park
Regina Park chronicles a Vietnamese American’s choice of doing eye lid surgery, and the background behind this. I very much enjoyed watching this documentary, and found it very revealing for the subject matter to explain her family background, her choice to undergo yet another cosmetic surgery and her before and after reaction. I commend Regina’s work in trying to be neutral on this matter.
It’s Also a Life by Nguyen Dinh Thang
This was more a slideshow by a non-profit (Boat People SOS) asking for people’s help in uncovering the truth about the plight of migrant workers. With some apparently secret footage shot at the factories, we witness the inhumane brutality by which these migrant workers are first victimized by their employers in their host country, and the secondly victimized again by the Vietnamese government when an investigation was called. Lastly, as these migrant workers were rescued and returned to Vietnam, they were interrogated yet again in Vietnam. It’s a shocking, and heart-wrenching reality documentary that makes you sad and angry at the same time.
Match Made by Mirabelle Ang
Mirabelle Ang chronicles a Taiwanese man’s journey to Vietnam to utilize a Taiwanese-based marriage service/mail-order bride. The documentary was highly interesting, as one hears about this all the time, but never has this been revealed so publicly in a documentary. We witness the bizarre scene of a soon-to-be-groom sitting in a hotel room filtering out his bride from a group of women like choosing clothes. Unfortunately due to a screening problem at the film festival, we all missed the last 20 minutes of this documentary – but I have heard that the ending had an interesting twist. Hm.. must find another screening of this.
The Finished People by Khoa Do
My vote for best full-length feature film at the entire festival goes to Khoa Do’s “The Finished People”. Khoa’s first full-length film about the “finished people” in the Australia then-ghetto Cabramatta, those with no homes, jobs or decent future. Shot almost entirely with real-life “finished people”, it’s captivating and human and from the QA Khoa described how many of the finished people he originally casted went on and worked with him on future film projects. That’s really cool! Very well acted for non-actors!
When Autumn Sunlights Comes by Bui Trung Hai
This 2007 movie from Vietnam tells the story of a Hanoi graduate student intertwined between two relationships, family dynamics and the decisions and problems he faces. Albeit just being two years old, the choice of music, script and quality somehow just wasn’t up to par (I have seen much better movies from Vietnam).
All About Dad by Mark Tran
One of the most refreshing Vietnamese movies I have seen in the past. It’s a very funny, refreshing story of how a Vietnamese father handles the different situation as his children are not growing up to be the persons he wants them to. It’s a well-done and well-acted comedy that will speak to many Vietnamese Americans growing up here in the United States.
(I already reviewed Audience Award-winning “Operation Babylift” in an earlier post, and saw “Footy Legends” and “Oh, Saigon” at another film festival before and reviewed it there).
Saturday, April 04, 2009
I totally forgot to advertise this earlier on my blog, but it’s the time again for the coolest event in the Vietnamese community: The Vietnamese International Film Festival 2009 is happening in Orange County/Los Angeles for the next two weeks. There is a full line-up of very awesome and interesting films by, from with Vietnamese artists. In fact, the opening film on Thursday was Khoa Do’s rugby-comedy “Footy Legends”. I’ve met Khoa at the Fourth International Vietnamese Youth Conference in Sydney in 2005 – a quite funny and talented guy, and through this contact we were able to get him over here to screen both his “Footy Legends” and “The Finished People” – which I am very much looking forward to.
Yesterday, we drive down from Los Angeles to attend the world premiere of “Operation Babylift”, a documentary 5-years in the making about the operation under which almost 2500 orphans were rescued and brought to the United States just in the final weeks prior April 30th 1975. It’s a very well-done and informative interesting documentary. Growing up post-1975, you kinda hear about operation babylift here and there all the time, and kinda know what it is about, but really don’t. This documentary is a full-360 degree view about what it is, how it became to be, and the impact it has had on the adoptees. What I really liked about this documentary is that the story didn’t end on April 30th, but director Tammy Nguyen Lee made it an effort to seek and interview these adoptees and let them speak their voice and share their experience growing up as an Amerasian or an adoptee. There are many facets of the story, and Tammy have lend them a voice to tell a story often untold or biased. About a dozen of the film and crew, including the main cast Robert Ballard and other adoptees were there at yesterday’s screening, all praising Tammy’s work, and so did I. Very great documentary, so please help spread the word, and contact your local PBS station to get this aired on American TV!
Thursday, February 19, 2009
After having worked for almost 4 years for Microsoft, I’ve decided to let go. Some people think it’s crazy to quit a well-paid and stable job in this economy, but as much as I love Microsoft, I love my fiancée more, so it was time for me to pack up my stuff in San Jose and join PT in Los Angeles. Looking back, I am saddened to leave the dream company I’ve always wanted to work for since childhood, but I am proud to have left my imprints on Microsoft Mediaroom (aka AT&T U-Verse) – the coolest TV product out there.
On the other hand, I am very excited about this move. As a big-city person, I hated living in Silicon Valley, a place that is surely vibrant and exciting for the tech community, but socially and culturally doesn’t have that much to offer. I’ve now returned to Los Angeles and live with PT near UCLA. We go jogging every other morning and have dinner together each evening. On weekends we drive together to visit our parents (and my cats) in OC, but we’ll also reserve the right to stay in the City of Angels on weekends too. While this isn’t New York City, it’s the second favorite US city for me to live in.
As for work, I’ve returned to my passion of web development and joined social web conglomerate Demand Media in Santa Monica. My commute to work is surprisingly short for the greater Los Angeles area (only 15-20 minutes), and working right next to the Santa Monica beach and the Third Street Promenade surely is a great location for fun, food and festivities. I can’t wait to play some real beach volleyball with my new coworkers in the summer. What’s also exciting is that as a Lead Software Engineer here, I’ll get a chance in leading a team of developers in developing new features on some high-traffic websites. I am looking forward to the challenge and opportunity.
All in all, lots of changes to my life this month, but I am embracing them all.
Sunday, January 11, 2009
What is StoryShare?
StoryShare is an open-source ASP.NET/C#-based Facebook application that allows users to suggest, share, syndicate articles, links, podcasts and vodcasts with one another. It was developed in 2008 originally in-house by the Len Duong International Vietnamese Youth Network for the purpose of promoting its activities, but was then later decided to be made available to other organizations in January 2009.
Features
StoryShare has the following features for now
- Facebook users can suggest links to other websites, self-written notes, MP3 files on the web, and YouTube videos. Each of these items is referred to as a “Story”
- A predefined set of moderators can approve stories, which then will appear on the main StoryShare feed
- Stories can be commented on by other users of the application as well as re-posted to ones’ own profile
- The main feed can also be embedded directly into people’s profiles as well
- The main feed is available as an RSS feed outside of facebook
- All approved video stories also appear in the VodCast tab again
- A PodCast tab lists all audio files from a specified Podcast RSS feed. Unlike the VodCast tab, this feed does not originate from the approved stories, but is just replicated from an arbitrary RSS feed
The following features are currently in plan:
- Suggested stories should also appear on user’s main Facebook feed like “Minh Nguyen just suggested this story through SomeOrganization’s StoryShare”
- Ability for an administrator to send messages to all users
- Ability for administrators to dynamically promote/demote other users as Moderators
- Support other videos besides YouTube (maybe Vimeo)
Version
The “January 2009” version was the first publicly-available version of StoryShare. Your feedback and collaboration is welcome.
Requirements
The following are required to install and configure StoryShare,
- An ASP.NET 2.0 web host
- SQL Server 2005 (or higher)
- Visual Studio .NET 2008 (you should be able to use the free Express edition)
- SubSonic 2.1 (or higher)
- An understanding of ASP.NET, SubSonic, C#, SQL and the Facebook anatomy
Minh T. Nguyen, StoryShare Developer
Len Duong International Vietnamese Youth Network
nguyentriminh@yahoo.com
http://enderminh.com/blog/archive/2009/01/11/2438.aspx
Wednesday, December 03, 2008
Minh T. Nguyen's Mandelbrot Explorer is an application that allows you to zoom into the Mandelbrot set fractal at an arbitrary level. Simply select an area to zoom in, and use the back button to backtrace or the restart button to start from the beginning. If you don't see the fractal above, please install the freely-available Microsoft Silverlight 2.0 plug-in (available for most popular browsers) at www.silverlight.net. Note that this application is very power-hungry, so a fast computer is recommended.
Academic details: The Mandelbrot fractal is generated by drawing the set of complex numbers c on a complex plane, where the value of the function f(z) = z * z + c applied iteratively on itself is unbounded. In other words, if you pick a complex number c and an initial value of z being c, and apply the above function over and over again, you’ll see that the absolute value of the running result either always remains bounded below 2 or suddenly shoots up towards infinity after a certain number of iterations. Well if the latter happens, you draw the complex number on the plane with a certain color that is reflective of how many iterations it took for the function to escape. But anyways, before mathematicians are lynching me for such a rude definition, you’re probably better off reading a formal description of the Mandelbrot set over at Wikipedia.
Technical details: This application was recently updated with the Microsoft Silverlight 2.0 and is hosted via Microsoft Silverlight Streaming by Windows Live. The Mandelbrot generation algorithm is very loosely based on Marc Boizeau's implementation of using complex number classes and operator overloading, while the coloring of the complex points outside of the Mandelbrot set is borrowed from Pierre Leclercq's implementation. In order to draw pixels on a Bitmap in Silverlight, I used Joe Stegman's dynamic image generation code.
Source code: The full source code for this Mandelbrot Explorer is posted here (requires Visual Studio .NET 2008). I don't care what you want to do with this. Just don't make money or claim that it's yours. :)
Version 1.0 Update: This 1.0 version is an update over the 0.9 version. It uses Silverlight 2.0's new DispatcherTimer to be able to modify UI elements from a timer event without the need to manually marshal control back to the UI thread (avoids the “cross-thread operation not allowed” exception). In addition, in version 0.9 I used a bad hack of drawing tiny rectangles on a canvas to mimic pixels since Silverlight does not have an out-of-the-box editable image class. Well, since then Joe Stegman has invented such an EditableImage by converting the pixel data in memory into a PNG image. This technique greatly improves the drawing performance, prompting me to even draw the view partially as it is being calculated. What's next? Well, really, I should be coding this using the DeepZoom technology, since this example is just crying out loud to be implemented using that, but I'll do that another time. :)
Wednesday, November 05, 2008
Yesterday, voters in California have chosen to eliminate a civil right of an entire category of citizens. This is the first time in the history of the California constitution that a right that has already been granted to people has been taken away again. I am deeply disappointed by the fact that the protection of a minority group has been eliminated by a simple majority vote.
In the past months, I have engaged myself in the fight against Proposition 8, feel proud to have been part of this campaign, but wished that I could have done more. However, I don’t regret the path that I have taken, for I have learned a lot more about the LGBT community, made friends and were very inspired by some of the events.
In the past months, I was phone banking for the No on Prop 8 campaign, donated large amounts to the campaign, and talked to people about the issue. My fiancée and I were holding “No on Prop 8” signs at the Halloween parade in Hollywood (fully dressed in our costumes, too), and we got a lot of cheers and support from people (no surprise in Hollywood of course). I went to the No on Prop 8 rally in San Jose a couple weeks ago, and also put up yard-signs at busy traffic intersections in my pre-dominantly Yes-On-8-neighborhood (though the signs were removed the next day). I stood at the San Jose Caltrain station with our No-on-Prop-8 signs only to be ridiculed by bystanders. One of them making sexually-explicit motions with his hip, and laughs as he says he doesn’t support gay sex (as if proposition 8 is about that).
On the campaign trail, I met Scott who is a Vietnamese American homosexual who hasn’t come out of the closet with his family yet. I wonder how difficult it must be for him to do so. When Scott prompted me if I have came out yet, I told him to his surprise that I am heterosexual, and he appreciated my support. The stories continue, as I went with him to the LGBT center in downtown San Jose, where I meet a support group, who in the midst of taking turns sharing stories of this fight for equality. Among them, I meet a straight woman, whose ex-husband was gay and married her in the background of societal expectations. Her marriage ended in a divorce, but she understood her ex-husband's dilemma and since then has been an activist for LGBT rights.
On the day before the election, I went to a training to be a poll captain to take a group of volunteers to the polls to talk to voters, pass out leaflets and work on election day. The training room was overflowing with supporters of all ages, genders, race, and sexual orientation. It didn’t matter whether you were gay or straight, because people in the room understood that this was a civil rights battle, and the speaker there told us how touched he was how many supporters turned out. I feel how energized this group of volunteers were, and how everyone in the room understood the enormous significance of a defeat or victory of Proposition 8 will have for the rest of the country. We were trained in working and negotiating with poll workers, learned about the legal rights of campaigning at a poll site, learned how to deal with the opposition and other incidents. It reminded me of the bold African Americans who underwent training for non-violent struggles in the days of the civil rights movement.
On election day, I woke up at 4:30am and called the headquarters to get the list of numbers of the volunteers to make wake-up calls. By the time I arrive at the headquarters, volunteers were already lined up and signing up for shifts. Assigned to my team was Scott again (who was happy to see my dedication), this Caucasian guy who was a walk-in volunteer and another Vietnamese girl from Hanoi, who was here in the US on a study abroad program. She woke up at 4am to take the 1-hour bus and light rail ride to the headquarters, since she didn’t even had a car. Scott and I were very impressed by her progressive thinking and commitment to this cause and thought that many Vietnamese Americans have a lot to learn from her.
As we hold signs near our designated poll in the culturally-diverse Rivermark area in Santa Clara, voters were very receptive of our cause. Sure, there were those who would give us the thumbs down and even the middle finger, but a lot of people honked in support. In contrast to that, in the evening, when I was taking another team to another poll site in the very “hostile” area of Campbell, people physically pulled their kids away from us, as if we would turn them gay by the forces of eye sights. People were very upset and asked whether we were even allowed to be here at the poll site.
Yet, in the midst of all the negativity, there was car that turned into the parking lot. A little kid maybe in the age of 6 or 7 stepped out of the car with two women. The kid made some sign with his hand and pointed at us, and at first I thought it was yet another graphic slur, but then I realized he was giving me a thumbs up. As the three of them came closer to us, I realize that this was the lesbian couple with their adopted kid. They thanked us for being here and never thought that they would see No on Prop 8 supporters come out to this rather hostile area. I was touched to see this happy family go to the polls and wonder how they can explain to their child that their marriage is nullified should Prop 8 pass.
As the polls close at 8pm, I returned to headquarters to return the material, gave a report, and then rushed to the Silicon Valley Obama Election Night Celebration up in Mountain View. Right at the moment Obama was giving his speech, my fiancée text-messaged me the disturbing early exit-polls of Proposition 8: it was leading by almost a 10% margin. Ouch, how bittersweet the moment was for me feeling goosebumps as I watch the African American president-elect giving his speech, and fearing that prop 8 is bound to pass at the same time. I decided not to tell my friends who came with me to the party about the bad news and allowed them to enjoy grasping this historic moment for the civil rights movement.
Later in the evening, Scott called me who was having his own election party with his partner at home, and I tell him about the disturbing exit polls. I feel bad for the LGBT community and wonder how they are taking the news.
By 11pm or so, as I leave the Obama party, I drove back to the California Democratic Party headquarters in San Jose. People were still around celebrating Obama’s victory there too, but only a few volunteers from No on Prop 8 were around, huddling over a computer screen to check the election results as more precinct results come in. The room was unusually quiet. This was the place that was so noisy during the phone banking campaign, where it was difficult for me to even hear what the other person on the line was evening saying, but now the laptops and cell phones were just lying around like weapons void of their ammunition the day after a battle.
I head home by 1 or 2am and doze off in front of the TV rewatching the Obama speech. Today, as I follow the results of Proposition 8, it seems clear to me that it’s unlikely to be defeated. By now, while the margin of Proposition 8 has narrowed to a 5% difference, I realize it will take a miracle for the majority of all absentee and provisional ballots to be voting No to be necessary to defeat this discriminatory proposition.
It has been a hard and long-fought battle. I wonder how those who voted Yes on Prop 8 can be happy and cheerful at this time at the expense of ruining and devastating the lives of so many others. I find it ironic that Californians managed to vote on the same day to grant chickens “human” rights but decided to take away fundamental rights from people.
Yet in the end, good things came out of this for me. For one, I made new friends. I look forward to introduce my fiancée (another LGBT activist) to Scott and meet his partner some day. I have found a new hero in Kate Kandell, who I thought was the best spokeswoman the No on Prop 8 campaign can ask for (her interview appearances on NPR were absolutely great). At last, this campaign made me a truly proud heterosexual gay activist, and I am certain that I will continue this fight, when it comes around again…. and for certain it will.
Proposition 8 passes this year by a razor-thin margin, but if I may remind everyone that Proposition 22 (that prevented California from recognizing same-sex marriages) back in 2000 won by a 22% margin, I hope people realize that this is a significant trend of progression. I really foresee that it be a matter of another three decades until same-sex marriage will be recognized not only in California, but also on a federal level. It will be a time when people look back at 2008 with a contempt for how we have voted, the same way we now look back to half a century ago when everyone was opposing interracial marriage.
Until that day comes, I will be there fighting for it.
Thursday, October 23, 2008
Xin Chao!
This Saturday, October 25th, 2008, there will be a Vietnamese Americans for Barack Obama (VA4BO) rally in San Jose, CA! We already have signs, posters and banners ready, so all you need is to come out, rally for Obama. Following the rally, you can turn your enthusiasm into action, as we invite you to join us at the San Jose BO headquarters for some phone-banking. No worries, training provided! We've done it before, and it's hella fun!
When: Saturday, October 25th, 2008, 11am – 2pm
Where: 1111 Story Road, San Jose, CA 95122 (near Grand Century Mall)
What: Vietnamese Americans for Barack Obama Rally + Phone Banking
Please help advertise this event, tell all your Vietnamese friends and come out in numbers. Feel free to use these links to promote the event:
Facebook Event: http://tinyurl.com/VA4BOSJFB
myBO Event: http://tinyurl.com/VA4BOSJ
AA4BO Event: http://tinyurl.com/VA4BOSJAA
As we are approaching the last week in this campaign, reaching out to independent voters continues to be the most important and effective action we can take at this point. Even with Barack Obama leading in polls, we absolutely can't afford to take a step back. Please join us for the rally, the phone-banking, and if you're hip, join us even for a “Drive for Change” from San Jose to Nevada to do some precinct-walking over the Halloween weekend (we're serious, email ailien_tran@yahoo.com if you want to join her).
The last VA4BO rally in Southern California made some good news. Here are all the news articles and pictures:
http://totalbuzz.freedomblogging.com/2008/10/18/obama-gains-a-foothold-in-little-saigon/6367/
http://viendongdaily.com/Contents.aspx?item=94&contentid=5081
http://www.vietbao.com/?ppid=45&pid=14&nid=135958
http://www.nguoi-viet.com/absolutenm/anmviewer.asp?a=85727&z=157
http://www.eliteiii.com/demrally
http://bolsavik.com/?p=401
YES WE CAN!
San Jose, CA
Minh T. Nguyen
nguyentriminh@yahoo.com
Wednesday, October 22, 2008
Excerpt from a heated discussion in an online forum of Vietnamese UC Berkeley students about legalizing same-sex marriages in California:
---------------------------- cut here ------------------------
I really didn’t intend to reply to all this, but some of the statements made on this forum are misleading, offensive, and ungrounded, and I can’t help but to reply with a follow-up.
Discriminatory: everyone in the state of California has the fundamental right to marry anyone they love. It doesn’t harm anyone else, helps families, and strengthen relationships. Eliminating that right for an entire category of citizens is discriminatory as it treats different people differently under the law. This is a fundamental, civil right that is now threatened to be eliminated by a vote, and it bothers me a great deal that we would put discriminatory language into our laws. This is a huge step backwards for California and the United States. Countries like Belgium, Netherlands, Norway, South Africa, Spain and even our neighbor Canada have gotten rid of this bigotry years ago!
On Education: First all off, nothing in Proposition 8 talks about education. The California Teachers Association and educators across the state agree that there’s not a single word in Proposition 8 that talks about education. It is true that school education talks about marriage in the curriculum at one point or another, and when that point comes they will simply teach exactly what will happen when Prop 8 fails: that marriage is between two people who love each other, that most marriages are between opposite-sex couples, but that same-sex marriages also exist and are perfectly legal. If you so disagree with this education, you are welcome to have your child opt out of that particular class (the same way you can have your child opt out of biology classes on evolution if you are a creationist). No parent is going to lose their right to teach their children what they believe is morally right, but I frankly want my children to be taught that we live in a non-discriminatory world where we tolerate those who have different opinion and be inclusive and respectful of others. I would want my children to be taught that discrimination against a group of people based on their gender, race, sexual orientation is something immoral and wrong.
On Children: how in the world does the passing/not passing of Proposition 8 affect our children’s sexual orientation? Does anyone in here seriously believe that telling children that same-sex marriage is recognized equally by the law changes their sexual orientation? Study after study confirm that teaching children about same-sex marriage (which, btw is what Prop 8 isn’t about) has no effect on their sexual preference. It doesn’t turn them into homosexuals! The same way gay people can’t be taught to be heterosexual, you can’t teach children to be homosexuals either. Children are born with sexual orientation that are unchangeable, so we have to respect their orientation. It’s nature, not nurture. In addition, research has shown that adopted children brought up by two mothers or two fathers do not grow up with mental problems or confusion. In fact, they have shown that marriages in general (both same-sex or opposite sex) strengthens families and the children.
On Legal Rights: It is not true that same-sex couples enjoy the same rights under domestic partnership as heterosexual couples in marriages. There are differences, the right to visit your spouse in the hospital is one. In fact, “domestic partnerships” have different legal implications in different states of our country! Having your relationship to be called “domestic partnership” is not the same as being married. “Domestic partnerships” and “civil unions” are terms that family members of gays don’t even understand. However, it’s really more than just legal rights. Studies repeatedly show that couples tend to be better off financially, emotionally, and psychologically in marriages. We should extend this right to everyone in California.
Churches and Tax-Exemption: The claim that churches will lose their tax-exemption if Prop 8 doesn’t pass is utterly false. I can’t believe they are saying this on their ads on TV. This is an absolute flat lie. Period.
Animals/Polygamy/Etc: We will never ever go this far. This is a scare tactic that is used over and over again by the proponents of Prop 8. The laws of the country concerning family and marriage are only about two people. The notion that same-sex marriage leads to the legality of polygamy/bestiality/incest/fill-in-other-end-of-the-world-scenario-here is absurd. This is the same scare tactic that was raised almost a century ago when it was used against interracial marriages. What at stake here is whether we are choosing to allow same-sex marriage of two people or not.
The bottom line is that it’s entirely up to you what you believe in. However, regardless of how you feel about marriage, please don’t impose your opinion on others. How would you feel if someone tells you that you can’t marry your desired spouse, and that you should enter a “domestic partnership” instead? Same-sex marriage does not do any harm to you and your life. Prop 8 was originally trailing in polls in double-digits, but with the sudden influx of donations by religious groups across the country (40% by the Mormon Church) to air misleading ads on TV, the lead has fallen dramatically. I find it troubling and hypocritical that various religions claim to be tolerant and advocate human rights, when they support such a discriminatory act that has such a severe impact on tons of families. Major newspapers and many expert institutions (like the California Teachers’ Association), are all pointing out that Prop 8 would have devastating effect on the communities.
I actually would have not expected VietCal to be the place for me to argue against Prop 8, as I would have thought that our diverse and progressive education at Cal would have taught us about tolerance and an appreciation for equality and civil rights. I find it frightening that many of you are so passionate about eliminating and ruining happy and loving families, when it has no effect on you. I know that CalVSA has a lot of Vietnamese American homosexuals as well (I know some of them), and I find some of the statements made on this forum quite disrespectful and offensive to them.
For those who want to learn more about this debate, I welcome you to read this research paper on the History of Gay Rights that I’ve written a while back in college, as well as listen to this absolutely insightful debate on Prop 8 on NPR’s Forum on KQED!
GO BEARS,
Minh T. Nguyen
------------------------------ end of excerpt --------------------
I urge those who oppose Proposition 8, to make a financial donation, no matter how small, so that we can put on much-needed advertisement on TV to counter the misleading ads.
See Also: No on Prop 8: Equality for All - The second-most important political decision this year
Friday, October 17, 2008
America touts herself as the country of freedom where every citizen has the same fundamental rights, and equality for all, but I suppose some people are more equal than others.
Currently, here in the United States, same-sex marriages have just been recently legalized only in Massachusetts, California and Connecticut. However, this November 4th 2008, Californians are given the abusive power with Proposition 8 to break-up 10,000 families and eliminate the fundamental right of same-sex couples to marry and take away their dignity.
I find it incomprehensible that people would pour money, resources, and time into taking away a complete stranger’s right to marry someone they love. Why would you go out of your way to take away the dignity of same-sex couples that love each other, when you wouldn’t do it to an opposite-sex couple? It’s unfair and completely unnecessary.
I often compare the battle for gay marriage with that of interracial marriage. No one in their right mind these days would argue that we should prohibit two people from marrying each other because they don’t share the same race. They would call you a racist. So with the same argument, I’d say that if you seek to discriminate against people because of their gender, you are a gendist! And to all you gendist out there, I’d say “If you don’t like same-sex marriages, well… then don’t you get married to a same-sex person!”
In the early years of this century, interracial marriage was unthinkable, frowned upon and declared “morally wrong”. In 1967, in Loving v. Virginia, interracial marriage in the US was finally legalized, and in its decision, the court wrote:
“Marriage is one of the basic civil rights of man, fundamental to our very existence and survival.... To deny this fundamental freedom on so unsupportable a basis as the racial classifications embodied in these statutes […] is surely to deprive all the State's citizens of liberty without due process of law. […]. Under our Constitution, the freedom to marry, or not marry, a person of another race resides with the individual and cannot be infringed by the State.”
Well, there you got it. Now just replace each occurrence of the word “race” with “gender” and you see that same-sex marriage is as much of a civil right as any other right that everyone is enjoying under the law (of course they should have also said “civil rights of a person“ instead of “civil rights of man“, but that's another battle).
My friends often ask me why I am such a proponent for gay rights, and why I care about these issues as much when it doesn’t affect me.
First, I just see a ban on same-sex marriage as fundamentally wrong. Same-sex marriage doesn’t hurt society or anyone in particular. PT and I are getting married next year. I am dearly in love with her, and can’t wait to take our vows. We’ll be able to enjoy a ceremony and lifetime together as a married couple, and I wouldn’t want anyone to be deprived of this lifetime experience (to get married that is, not to get married to PT, mind you).
Secondly, the same way Caucasians with courage made an impact in the 60s by walking with their African American friends during the Civil Rights Movement, I hope that many heterosexual people will join this fight to bring equality to everyone. Not fighting for these rights makes us as guilty as the bystanders who turned a blind eye during the Civil Rights Movement. Denmark has legalized gay marriage since 1989, and I think it’s just a matter of time until we as a country will have progressed enough to recognize how “gendist” we were back in early 21st century.
With that, I ask all of you to not just be bystanders and take a stand for equality for all. Originally trailing in polls, proposition 8 has received major donations from religious organization across the nation, and current polls show that this proposition will pass, unless the No On Proposition 8 campaign can find the funds to put on new ads on TV. I strongly urge you to make the much-needed donation to No On Proposition 8, to educate your family and friends and vote for equality for all.