You probably already noticed the little square at the top left corner on this site. Yes, it is indeed a new logo for Visualgui. Why a logo now and what does it mean?

Since the launched of this site in 2004, I have always struggled with designing a logo for it. I had designed countless versions and none had met my satisfaction. It got to the point where I just pick a typeface and let it go. In the past few weeks during winter break, I started to play around with it again. I wanted to define what Visualgui is.

When I first decided on my domain name, I loved the site called SK Visual. The site surprisingly still exists; however, its earlier version was much nicer. I just loved the word visual. Then I saw some domain names that were on sell, including one called chunkygui.com. I thought it was kind of funny so I put the two together and ended up with Visualgui. Although Visualgui intended as a visual/design guy, the GUI part has a double entendre of Graphical User Interface. I just ran with it without a clear definition. At first, the site was meant to be my design portfolio. It changed completely when I started to blog. Only two years ago, I decided to separate my personal blog from my professional portfolio. Only this year I have my own name for my domain.

For Visualgui, I wanted to keep it as my blog for as long as I can. Does it really need a logo? Probably not. Who cares? No one, but myself. So it is more or less for me. Because of the name, I wanted to be as legible as possible because Visualgui is really vague. Using a sans serif typeface would solve that issue, but then it is not that unique. So I wanted to experiment with a bit with using squares in a grid. In the previous version, I played around with nine squares (similar to a Rubik’s Cube) and added Futura in each square to spell out Visualgui. It looked kind of cool, but without the letters, they were just nine squares. Then I remember Fit by David Jonathan Ross, which I had helped him a bit on Vietnamese diacritics. With Fit, I could fit each letter into each square. At a large size, each letter looks great. The small size, however, is not so legible. The letters started to look like shapes, but they are not the same. I like the ambiguousness of it just like the name of the site.

There are many opportunities I can do with this logo. I wish I could do the whole branding exercise for it just like what I have done in grad school, but I just don’t have the time at the moment. I also want to spend some more time with it too see if I am going to change it again in the near future. For now, it works for me.

Oprah Winfrey:

For too long, women have not been heard or believed if they dare speak the truth to the power of those men. But their time is up. Their time is up.

Winfrey’s 9-minute speech at the 2018 Golden Globes is worth-watching.

Masha Gessen:

To think that a madman could be running the world’s most powerful country, to think that the Commander-in-Chief would use Twitter to mouth off about whose nuclear button is bigger or to call himself a “very stable genius,” verges on the impossible. If the word “unthinkable” had a literal meaning, this would be it.

At this point, nothing about this president is unimaginable, unthinkable, and unspeakable. I have to change my view on American politics to keep me from going crazy.

Two memoirists died of cancer and their spouses fell in love. Nora Krug reports:

“I’m still surprised,” said Lucy Kalanithi of her relationship with Nina Riggs’s widower, John Duberstein. “I’m surprised by how ridiculous it is and how natural it is at the same time.”

Tập truyện ngắn của Phan Việt viết về đời sống người Việt trên đất Mỹ được mở đầu với câu chuyện sex táo bạo. Phan Việt diễn tả: “Tôi cứ đàng hoàng để cho các cô gái ve vuốt dương vật và làm tình với tôi. Tất. Oral Sex. Anal Sex. Tóc vàng. Tóc nâu. Tóc đen. Tất. Fucking America”. Tuy ngôn ngữ thô tục và câu chuyện chỉ là hư cấu nằm trong fantasy (khả năng tưởng tượng) của tác giả, đọc cũng phê phê. Bài “Cách mạng baby” rất hài, nhất là cảnh tả về công việc “baby making”. Tuy nhiên có phần ngôn ngữ tiếng Anh viết rất phô trương. Chẳng hạn như khi vợ dùng câu “Fuck thiên hạ” còn chồng thì nói vợ “Bullshit” và “Yes! Fuck you”. Dường như tác giả viết với cái nhìn của một người mới đến đất Mỹ và còn chưa nhập vào cuộc sống và văn hoá Mỹ. Tuy nhiên không phải bài nào cũng viết về sex.

Audrea Lim:

The model-minority myth exists alongside another dangerous and limiting idea — one that is consistent with the alt-right’s misogyny and core anti-feminist values. The main problem with white women, as many alt-right Asian fetishists have noted, is they’ve become too feminist. By contrast, Asian women are seen as naturally inclined to serve men sexually and are also thought of as slim, light-skinned and small, in adherence to Western norms of femininity.

Nowadays Đạo and Đán play together most of the time; therefore, I just sit back and observe. When I hear a funny line, I try to write it down. For instance, here is what Đán said to Đạo: “Why can’t I have a normal brother like everyone else?” or “Why can’t I have a brother that’s nice and not weird.” His impression of Charlie Brown is just hilarious.

The other day, we were at my sister-in-law’s house and the kids played Thomas trains together. Khôi chastised Xuân for not playing the way that he wanted. Đạo schooled him, “Khôi, you are being mean to my little brother. He is a baby. Would you like it if I am being mean to your baby brother?” Khôi stopped being mean to Xuân and I didn’t have to step in. My approach is that I let the kids work it out unless they get into a physical fight. Some parents jump in to defend their own kids by yelling at other kids without giving them a chance to talk things out.

As for little Xuân, he is picking up the speed fast and he is not even two yet. I don’t even have to feed him. When he got hungry, he simply climbed up his chair, buckled his belt, and said, “I want cơm (rice).” When he wanted more, he simply asked, “More please, cơm.” When he wanted me to help him find his toy phone, he held my hand and said, “Phone. Phone. Daddy, please help.” When he wanted to be breastfed, he took his mom’s hand and said, “Muốn bú (wanna suck).”

Tôi đang bị nghiện loại Doubleshot Expresso của Starbucks. Phê chất đắng, ngọt, và lạnh. Một can rất nhỏ chỉ có 6.5 oz.Mỗi buổi sáng chơi một can trước khi đi làm. Chiều thèm quá thì chơi thêm một can nữa. Những ngày cuối tuần làm bà bốn can là chuyện thường.

Lúc đầu bà xã chỉ order trên Amazon mỗi tháng 1 case (12 can). Nhưng chưa đến một tuần là hết sạch. Tôi bảo vợ tăng cho anh 2 case đi. Thế mà hai tuần cũng hết. Thôi thì mỗi tháng uống bấy nhiêu đủ rồi. Uống hết thì đợi tháng tới.

Sáng hôm qua đang thưởng thức thì thằng Xuân đòi uống. Tôi cũng cho nó thử. Không ngờ nó hớp một ngụm lại đòi uống thêm. Bây giờ mỗi lần nó thấy cầm cái can là nó đòi ké. Nên giờ uống phải giấu nó.

Đạo and Đán got into a scuffle. Đán got angry when I asked him what happened. Here’s our conversation:

Đán: Đạo said he wants to kill me.
Dad: I did not hear he say that and I am sitting right here.
Đán: Yes, he did. He’s a killer.
Dad: Why do you make up such story? And I do not want you to use that word.

I was irritated with Đán’s language and I thought he made up the story. I knew Đạo wouldn’t say such thing so I asked him what happened.

Đạo: I was playing with my train and Đán pushed my [Lego] mini figure off the train.
Dad: Did you say you will kill him?
Đạo: No, I said [to him] what if you were on the train and would you like it if I push you off?
Đán: See, he wants to push me off and kill me.
Dad: OK so you did not make up that story, but you made it way more dramatic.

Should I be worried about this? After reading this article, “Is Your Child Lying to You? That’s Good,” I am a bit relief. Alex Stone writes:

Why do some children start lying at an earlier age than others? What separates them from their more honest peers? The short answer is that they are smarter.

He goes on:

Other research has shown that the children who lie have better “executive functioning skills” (an array of faculties that enable us to control our impulses and remain focused on a task) as well as a heightened ability to see the world through other people’s eyes, a crucial indicator of cognitive development known as “theory of mind.” … Young liars are even more socially adept and well adjusted, according to recent studies of preschoolers.

I sure hope these studies reliable.

David Remnick sums it up in one sentence:

The President of the United States has become a leading security threat to the United States.