Just a simple script to add IRC chat to your MyBB forum. You will need to upload this code as a new PHP file to the same directory as your MyBB install (with global.php). Then, just use a borderless iframe to add it to your theme. Copy-pasting this code into your MyBB theme will not work as PHP execution is disabled, for it is a major security hole to do so.

Computers now rule the world: cars are computers we put our bodies into, pacemakers and hearing aids are computers inside our bodies, and nuclear power plants are controlled by computers. I want to be a part of this revolution, and so I have been studying Computer Science all four years of high school. However in the United States, the majority of students do not have the opportunity to pursue this expanding career at an early age, as too often is the study of Computer Science absent from the curriculum. I strongly believe that Computer Science is needed in all elementary and high schools, as it promotes critical thinking skills which can be applied to many other disciplines.

I have learned first-hand how the study of Computer Science is not simply about writing code, but about learning why that code works. This skill is one I have been able to apply to all my classes in some way - the...

It’s been an amazing year. This year I’m thankful for:

• Family - Even though they can be annoying sometimes, they are the reason I still exist today. I cannot put into words how grateful I am for them.
• Friends - These are the people that keep me going, even if I don’t want to go any farther. Props to everyone that is there for me when I need them, as well as those that just enjoy talking to me. That makes an immesurable difference.
• The school I go to - I do know sleepless nights are not the most fun, but I still love the school itself. Over the last four years, my life has changed dramatically: I gained dozens of new friends (albeit sometimes at the cost of old ones), met some extremely smart people, and of course the teachers are incredible. I have never had a community support me to the level this one does. And of course, I also get to do what I love: practice my wizardry on...

I’ll admit it, I’m that random dude you always see sleeping on the Blue Line. As I often get few hours of sleep at home, I make it up in transit. Going to school takes me on average 1hr 10mins, so I utilize that time to the best of my ability.

However, one of the many fears of sleeping on the CTA (Chicago Transit Authority for you non-Chicagoans) is that one may miss their stop. Today I did just that, going one stop more than I should have because I was dreaming about what I was going to make for dinner rather than actually getting off and going to go make it. As I always get off on the same stop, this does not happen often, but after a grueling workout at swim practice, it becomes much more common.

I did have a device that could change this though - a smartphone, a device that has taken over our lives in the blink of an eye. And so, while waiting for a train to come back in the...

Today I had the opportunity of watching a TED talk entitled “How Economic Inequality Harms Societies”. This talk, by Richard Wilkinson, explained how countries with higher economic inequalities do worse in terms of health and social problems. This inequality is not just from GDP per capita, but how much of a difference there is between the “very poor” and “very rich”. As a result of this inequality, the country is likely to have less social mobility as well as greater percentage of their population with mental illness.

The important point to note here is that this inequality can be reduced. In countries like Sweden and Japan, two vastly different countries, they both are able to reduce the inequality in their population. In Japan, the income gap is much less to begin with, so taxes do not need to be as much of an issue. On the contrary, Sweden has a much greater income difference, so...

My senior bio for the yearbook:

I build stuff. 99% of the time my brain is thinking blah, meh, why, huh, WTF, computers and food. The other 1% I’m usually asleep. I’m absolutely awkward, proud nerd & geek, and decreaser of world suck. The Internet is my domain. I’ve learned that simplicity is everything. You know the burnt-out kid on his laptop at odd hours somewhere in school who was intermittently chuckling to himself? Nice to meet you, too.

The following is a story I wrote in ten minutes during lit class to go along with the image below. Comment with your thoughts, kudos if you want the story to continue.

It was a bright, humid day on the island of Maui in Hawaii. The waves could be heard crashing against the shore from half a mile away. The international surfing championships were underway and Pablo Rivera, two-time world champion, was in the lead once again. The spectators numbered in the thousands, all lined up along the beaches and coastlines of Maui, watching the surfers intently. It was 11:03 that morning when a young Evets Manra, an Australian, stepped on the board. He was a rookie, and yet he had already broken countless surfing records back in Australia and around the world. Now, this was his chance to challenge Pablo for the title of “World’s Greatest Surfer”. This was his first chance, and it might be his last...

From Stephen Anderson, as part of The Pastry Box Project:

29 Things I, as a designer, wish more tech startups knew:

1. Learn the difference between a UX Designer and a Visual Designer. They are not the same. And while there is (and should be) a lot of overlap in skills-it’s good to know what the designer you’re hiring thinks is priority.
2. Recognizing these differences, know that a pretty coat of paint will not make your very real usability problems magically disappear. I’ve said as much in conversations: “So, to be clear, you’re just looking for a shiny coat of paint right now, and you’re not interested in fixing the problems that are going to stop people in their tracks…?!”
3. Form labels, microcopy, instructional text-this is core to an application. In fact, the best UIs often start as written conversations between the user and the system. Be wary of designers who layer copy into...

Link: Cloudflare & PHP sessions

<p>I have been searching for a possible fix to my PHP session issues on Cloudflare for a while. This is great.</p>&13;

Session handling in phpBB3 requires a user to use one IP address per session, therefore if your IP address changed, you will be prompt to login again.

Cloudflare is a web caching service that cache static contents of a website by acting as the nameserver that manage the website domain name. Therefore, every request to the domain name will pass through Cloudflare system first and any cached contents will be served from Cloudflare servers instead of the web hosting server.

However, when using Cloudflare service, the REMOTE_ADDR value for PHP $_SERVER will follow Cloudflare servers IP address. Therefore, you might face problem when using phpBB (or any other web app that rely on session tied to the IP address) with this service.

[read...

Yesterday evening has been the culmination of 2 months of work on a brand-new course registration system to be used by Northside College Prep. This system will be used by student to register for colloquium and the new special X/Y blocks. In order to implement the system, I used a Drupal backend and added more and more modules to add functionality. Some may consider this approach bloated and unnecessary, but there is one very good reason why using a CMS to build something like this is useful: scalability. It is much easier to replicate, move, and scale Drupal instances than trying to move your custom coded PHP project. Anyway, the beta test went great, though there was a small bug encountered at the beginning of the test (due to some copy-pasting of code). Web developers, test your products WITH your users. You can fix bugs in real-time and also self-critique your own work.
In short: work....