After traveling to Malaysia, I was notified that Rewarded Play is not supported in foreign countries. So I contacted the support team to tell them I was traveling abroad for a few weeks, then they asked me for my personal information, after which they terminated my account without any reason given.
Rewarded Play had been consistent with payment (Amazon credits) for playing their games. But lately, it's been tougher as you need to play more for lesser points.
So I would say it's time I terminate them as well. It's pointless to even try to successfully hack their games (leave it playing for the minutes required and do other things). Delete all cache of the app and its games.
4/23/2025 Painting of the day: The Pilgrims at Emmaus, Lithograph by Maurice Denis (1870-1943), Issued in 1895, Lithograph on paper, Alamy
Fr. Patrick commented this art using Luke 24:13-35 (the supper at Emmaus):
In this lithograph, Maurice Denis offers a contemporary interpretation of the Supper at Emmaus. We see Christ seated at the table, blessing the bread. Opposite him sits the artist himself, portrayed as the disciple who has just recognised the true identity of his extraordinary table companion. Denis’s wife, Marthe, enters the room carrying a dish, while a friend follows with two small jugs; one for water, the other for wine, a clear Eucharistic reference. The print, based on Denis’s original painting now housed in the Van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam, reimagines the scene from today’s Gospel in a modern setting. Notice, too, the two candelabra on the table: their flames seem to merge into one. It is a beautiful image: our own light drawn into Christ’s, shining all the more brightly together.
I think it's unlikely for a modern Catholic priest to expound on Luke 24:25 ("O foolish ones!"), instead he would always try to make Jesus a gentle soul, impossible for anger and rebuke.
4/22/2025 Painting of the day: Noli Me Tangere, Painted by Abraham Janssens I (1575-1632) & Jan Wildens (1586-1653), Painted circa 1620 Oil on canvas, Musée des Beaux-Arts de Dunkerque / Wikimedia
the risen Jesus says to Mary Magdalene: ...“Do not cling to me”, or in the Latin that titles our painting by Abraham Janssens and Jan Wildens, “Noli me tangere.” But this phrase carries far more weight than a simple “don’t touch me.” It speaks of letting go, of not holding on to Christ in the way we once knew him. “Cling” is, in fact, a powerful word: it suggests grasping at something tangible, physical. And Jesus gently tells Mary not to cling to his earthly form, but to cling to him in his spiritual form for soon he will ascend to the Father.
This is the defining moment of Mary Magdalene’s life. This is the instant everything changes. In the painting, she is shown in a graceful, almost reverent posture: kneeling, reaching out, yet holding back. She has just realised the gardener is none other than her friend, the risen Lord. Christ stands before her, clothed in a flowing blood-red cloak that opens to reveal the wound in his side. In his hand he holds a spade, a subtle, traditional symbol in depictions of this moment, and the only remaining sign of his humanity. Note how the tip of the spade rests gently on the soil, an almost symbolic bridge between the divine and the earth, uniting heaven and humanity in a single, humble tool...
The garden around Jesus and Mary overflows with fruit, a sign of new life and spiritual abundance. The image of Christ as the gardener is a very helpful one.
4/21/2025 Painting of the day: Resurrection, Painted by Andrea Mantegna (1431-1506), Painted in 1497, Tempera on panel, Musée des Beaux-Arts de Tours, France
Relating the painting to Matthew 28:8-15, giving money to the soldiers to silence Jesus' resurrection, here's Fr. Patrick's input:
Our painted panel by Andrea Mantegna depicts Christ rising from the tomb, framed against a massive rock. He is encased within a mandorla, an almond-shaped aura surrounding the whole figure. The almond-shaped mandorla is formed by the intersection of two circles drawn behind Christ—one symbolising his divine life, the other his full humanity. The overlapping space, where divinity and humanity are perfectly united, creates the almond shape, expressing the mystery of the Incarnation. The guards surrounding the tomb each have different expressions in the face of the Resurrection: awe, belief, disbelief, indifference (one is even still half-asleep), curiosity, remorse. These are not just historical reactions; they are human reactions. We can see ourselves in those faces.
More and more cool features with these VR goggles. I wish I have higher resolution (i.e. Apple's Vision Pro or even Meta Quest 3). But since Nadia bought Quest 2 for my birthday, which took me about a year to finally stop procrastinating from using it, I find so much potential with it: 3D movies, surround VR, I can also use it for 360 videos such as from Youtube or from my Insta360 recordings.
Now I am eagerly looking for 3D movies, SBS (aka Side-By-Side) format. Thus, the subtitle would need to be converted from srt to ass format. The best of such conversion tool for Windows is TheZoc's sub3dtool, with command line simply: sub3dtool input.srt --3dsbs -o output.ass.
I learned about 3D movies sharing by other users (mostly pirated) and chatting rooms like mirc, which are better than Meta's own meeting app. This app is called BigScreen. So basically I can download 3D SBS movies and convert the srt subtitle to ass SBS format and even share these movies with others.
BigScreen is very much like SecondLife, which wasn't really designed for VR devices as they weren't popular then. An alternative to BigScreen is probably VRChat which I have yet to sample. However, with BigScreen, one can easily create a conference/movie nights, sharing even pirated movies, in 3D. The only downside in BigScreen is the movements, which is teleportation based. So you can't really walk/glide around with your joysticks. I've seen some people managed to hack this (maybe they just physically walked around instead of using the controllers) and the only hack I found working was using Steam (PC) version of BigScreen, to do Gravity Reverse (floating up and down from teleported spots, basically). To do so, you'll need to install OpenVR (OVR) Advanced Settings. The author turned it from free to $7.99 on Steam but you can still do this free from Github. Simply download and run the exe installer while SteamVR is running. I'm saving this installer in case they remove it. The restart the app and the OVR settings will appear in Apps/Games Detail/properties page: Bind "Gravity Reverse" (float up) and "Gravity Toggle" to the controls and check gravity features under Motion.
Because some of my TVs (i.e. Samsung) only plays subtitles when the file is MKV with embedded subtitles, I have to convert my mp4, etc. files into MKV and merge the srt subtitle files in MKV (My LG TV could just play any mp4 file with embedded subtitle via a command that I mentioned in my journal before), the best freeware to do this task is called HandBrake (don't use VLC, never work: just keeps looping the conversion into a <100k corrupted file despite claiming it has MKV conversion with embedded subtitle).
They can keep trying, argument for the existence of "intellectual property", and demand AI to pay them for being artists. They can debate from various perspective relating to human rights or humanity, but bottom line, this is really just about money. They don't really care if someone "steals" their reputation as long as get paid enough.
I think this AI challenge to artists is one way to surface how ridiculous how "stealing" is not the same as "lying". So give credit to where credit's due, is more against lying, when copyright is involved, rather than "stealing". But in the end, give unto Caesar Caesar's.
4/17/2025 Getting ready to bring SSD HDD and Windows 10/11 USB flash drives to Penang to meet TomTom's laptop for repair (Acer Aspire A515-51 n17c4). He was told the HDD was damaged. But this laptop carries both M.2 slot (from Amazon we bought: Crucial P3 1TB PCIe Gen3 3D NAND NVMe M.2 SSD, up to 3500MB/s) and 2.5 SATA slot (from Amazon we bought: S101 SATA SSD 1TB, Internal State Drive SATA III 6Gb/s 2.5" SSD Sata, UP to 550MB/s). I am building two flash drives for installing Windows 10 / 11 on his laptop. This should be 64-bit. Testing the Flash Drives for fakeness using FakeFlashTest v.1.1.5.
4/16/2025Painting of the day: The Taking of Christ, Painting by Caravaggio (Michelangelo Merisi da Caravaggio, 1571-1610), Painted in 1602, Oil on canvas, National Gallery of Ireland, Dublin
Fr. Patrick drawing from Matthew 26:14-25, I cut out the parts I don't quite agree:
This theme is powerfully captured in Caravaggio’s almost cinematic painting of The Taking of Christ. The scene is dramatic and intimate. Seven figures are caught in a frozen moment of betrayal. From left to right, we see Saint John, Jesus, Judas Iscariot, three soldiers, and a man holding a lantern, believed to be a self-portrait of Caravaggio himself. Judas has just kissed Jesus, the prearranged signal for the arrest...To the left, John flees in terror, his red cloak billowing as a soldier reaches to grab him; a striking contrast to the chilling calm of Judas and the cold efficiency of the arresting soldiers. Yet the most striking element is not any single figure, but the shining, metal-clad arm of the soldier at the centre of the painting. Its brightness draws the eye, almost unnaturally so. It is believed Caravaggio intended this armoured reflection to act as a mirror, not just of light, but of conscience... a mirror for us all. It is as if the artist is asking us: Can you see yourself here? Are you a bystander? The betrayer? The one who flees?
Textbook on data visualization: all types of graphs, charts, etc.
4/13/2025Painting of the day: Entry of Christ into Jerusalem, Painting by Sir Anthony van Dyck (1599-1641), Painted in 1617, Oil on canvas, Indianapolis Museum of Art, Indianapolis
In Fr. Patrick's own words (I don't see any relation to the verses he linked to this painting, so I skipped them):
Strangely enough, there are not that many paintings depicting Palm Sunday. Most artists fast forward to the Passion, but few have painted Christ's entry into Jerusalem. Our high Baroque painting by Sir Anthony van Dyck, from 1617, depicts Jesus sitting on the ass foal he rides/ The animal is almost entirely enveloped by his robes of rich blue and crimson. He is surrounded by his disciples on foot, and jubilantly welcomed by a crowd of locals who lay branches in his path. The restlessness and muscularity of the figures are very Baroque. Van Dyck was only 18 when he painted this canvas. By this time he was already Peter Paul Rubens' principal assistant.
This is one important tool for me as I could convert tons of sermons, lectures into text and even subtitle (with time stamps). Not only are they good for subtitles, but they are also go for searching keywords in speeches swiftly.
I have tested a few before so there are tons out there (Amazon Transcribe, Adobe Premiere, Otter.ai, etc.). So here I want to narrow the tools down.
I've just tested turboscribe.ai on Samuel Ling's Kant in Mandarin and it's not bad. Finding an accurate one for Mandarin/Chinese is not easy. Turboscribe claims to support around 100 languages.
Godaddy though a popular hosting company, is now becoming a hassle: 1. more expensive than many others such as hostinger.com / hostinger.in, 2. They don't offer free SSL and many are complaining about it.
I was using zerossl for free fine with Godaddy before, but unfortunately, zerossl only offers 3 x 90 day licenses. I could use another email address to apply for zerossl again, but I need to find something more convenient. Tried Cloudflare, which was complicated, wasted a few days trying to figure out how to go about it. Tried punchsalad.com which uses Let's Encrypt certificate, but I was not able to go past "Verify Domain", it just takes me back to punchsalad's main site again, here's his video guide, which didn't work for me:
Worst case is to go back to zerossl with new accounts, but I will keep looking. nycphantom and solotempehnj will just have to suffer the "not secure" prompt especially by Chrome for now.
Update 4/9/25 After hours of looking for solutions, I think I'll just stick to zerossl for now. Create a new account every 90 days isn't too bad.
Update 7/9/2025 So both my domains: nycphantom.com and SolotempehNJ.com have their SSL expired yesterday. Though I was able to renew my nycphantom.com SSL for another 90 days free of charge (zerossl), creating a new account on zerossl wouldn't let me create SSL for solotempehnj.com anymore, saying something about no longer allowed for this domain. I thought nycphantom.com would have been blocked as well. So I tried sslforweb.com, per the email correspondence with the owner, Robert, of punchsalad.com when he personally emailed me about renewing my account at his site. He recommended sslforweb, which he claimed to be similar infrastructure/mechanism as his. sslforweb actually works, though I couldn't get his to work before at punchsalad. However, with sslforweb, I had to wait patiently after hitting Validate Domain many times. Perhaps this was the same problem with PunchSalad. After more than 5 minutes, it finally went through with generation of my SSL certificate with Certificate, Private Key & CA Bundle (which are to be uploaded to GoDaddy via its CPanel-> Security-> SSL/TLS, hit INSTALL button after Certificate.CRT is loaded in CPanel ). Both my new SSL (nycphantom.com from zerossl & solotempehnj.com from sslforweb) certificates expire in Oct. 7. I shall see if SSLForWeb will let me keep renewing my certs, so I can abandon the $ greedy zero$$L.
To generate certificate in SSLForWeb: Create SSL, Verification Type: DNS for domain.com,www.domain.com (might not matter if www.domain.com is not included), check Accept "Let's Encrypt SA", hit Create button. Then it will require copying one or two (with www.domain.com) TXT records to godaddy's DNS entries. Status can quickly be checked after saving the entries (within seconds). But wait for longer time (4-5 mins) when clicking Validate Domain. Then install those keys/certs at Godaddy.
4/11/2025 2025 AI Index Reportgives a good overviews of different AIs and their status in the world from various perspectives.
Painting of the day: The Incredulity of Saint Thomas, Painting by Giovanni Battista Cima da Conegliano (active 1459 - about 1518),Painted circa 1502-4 Oil on synthetic panel, transferred from poplar, National Gallery, London
I bolded the only interesting part from Fr. Patrick's excerpt of this painting which he relates to John 10:31-42:
This moment is powerfully depicted in our early 16th-century panel by Giovanni Battista Cima da Conegliano, showing Saint Thomas reaching out to touch Christ’s wounds, confirming His resurrection. The painting was commissioned for the Confraternity of Saint Thomas for their altar in the Church of San Francesco in Portogruaro on 28 May 1497. Payments to Cima da Conegliano began in 1502, and though the altarpiece was nearly complete by 1504, the artist deliberately left it unfinished due to unpaid fees. It was later completed and installed that same year, but Cima had to resort to legal action before finally receiving full payment in 1509. This beautiful work captures the transformative moment when doubt gives way to faith; when Thomas, and through him, all believers, acknowledge Jesus as Lord and God.
4/10/2025 Never play smashing shots against Adam Bobrow in Ping Pong. Best way to beat him is snake against snake:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fPxMBXXRV3E
Painting of the day: Scenes from the Story of Abraham,An English linen needlework panel, Worked with silk thread; tent and couching stitches, Mid 17th century, Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York
An excerpt from Fr. Patrick relating this painting to John 8:51-59: (I bolded the important lines in the excerpt especially the last one as an important reminder of the contrast between the Jewish's traditional believe of their forefather Abraham introducing monotheism against his culture's polytheism to Jesus saying before Abraham, I AM, which would be a revolutionary response from Jesus)
This beautiful 17th-century English needlework panel illustrates key moments from the story of Abraham, as recounted in the Book of Genesis. At the centre, we see Abraham receiving a divine message from a host of angels, informing him that his wife, Sarah, will bear a son despite her old age. Other significant scenes include Abraham banishing his servant Hagar and their son Ishmael (lower left corner) and the near-sacrifice of Isaac, Sarah’s son, as a test of Abraham’s faith (upper right corner). In Jewish tradition, Abraham is honoured as the first Patriarch of the Jewish people, the one who introduced the belief in one God, in contrast to the polytheistic beliefs of the time. Therefore, when Jesus proclaims in today’s Gospel, “Before Abraham ever was, I Am”, his audience would have been deeply shocked by such a statement.
4/9/2025 Painting of the day: Freedom of Speech, Painting by Norman Rockwell (1894-1978), Painted in 1943 Oil on canvas, Norman Rockwell Museum, Stockbridge, Massachusetts, United States
Patrick van der Vorst (John 8:31-42 If the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed): This is one of 4 paintings titled the Four Freedoms, series of Rockwell inspired by FDR (Franklin D. Roosevelt)'s 1941 speech: 1. Freedom of Speech – Depicts an ordinary working man standing and speaking at a town meeting, illustrating the right to express opinions freely. 2. Freedom of Worship– Shows people of different faiths praying, emphasising religious freedom and tolerance. 3. Freedom from Want– Portrays a family gathered around a Thanksgiving dinner, symbolising the right to basic needs like food and shelter. 4. Freedom from Fear– Features parents tucking their children into bed, representing protection from war and violence.
I shall post all 4 paintings here, starting with the main one:
4/8/2025 Painting of the day: Carved wood Panel, depicting the Crucifixion of Jesus, flanked by the two thieves, Santa Sabina, circa 430-32 Carved wood, Alamy
Patrick van der Vorst placed this piece with John 8:21-30 ... When you have lifted up the Son of Man, then you will know… This piece isn't interesting to me but what's interesting is the fact that this art focuses on Christ's triumph, salvation and victory over sin and suffering and physical torment, reminding me of a recent Presbycast Podcast on critiquing Stephen Wolfe's Christian Nationalism: that he had no doctrine of suffering but only doctrine of glory.
4/6/2025Painting of the day: Christ and the Woman Taken in Adultery, Painting by Vasily Polenov (1844-1927), Painted in 1888, Oil on canvas, The Russian Museum, Saint Petersburg, Russia
Fr. Patrick van der Vorst, drawing from Joh 8:1-11: Polenov's associated with the Peredvizhniki (Wanderers) movement. Known for his landscapes & historical-religious scenes with historical accuracy and a sense of everyday realism authenticity. Christ was looking straight at the woman who seems mortified. Vorst argues for Catholicism that the sacrament of confession is important from this pictorial reminder of potential redemption. Of course, in truth, we do not need the sacrament of Rome but we do need to repent before our God.
Today at church, we have the Japanese missionary visit (Jason Kueh and his wife and 3 children), PCA minister serving under SERGE. They gave a talk during Sunday School and we chatted with his wife who sat at our table during our first fellowship meal after the flood. Jason was born in Singapore and moved to California at 8, his father's Malaysian and mother Taiwanese.
