Sorry I have been out for a long time. Lately, it has been pretty hard to climb out of my bed and find the right muse who will make me sit down and think about new stories to write about. But I think I am quite ok now.
I have been reading a lot lately. Adding it to my personal arsenal to blog the year ahead.
Happy New Year Everyone!
I will be adding new entries soon. 
Matagal ko ng nababasa ito. Sinasabi nila na isang araw mawawala na ang diyaryo dahil sa technology. Ngayon kase makakabasa ka na ng balita sa cellphone or sa computer mo.
Pero sa tingin ko matagal pa mangyayari ito. Kahit na alam ko na bumababa ang readership ng newspapers. Tumatagal, nagiging kaunti ang nagkakaroon ng panahon magbasa ng diyaryo. Pero para sa akin, hindi pa rin mabubuhay ang internet based or cellphone based na news kung wala yung mga news reporters and mga news writers.
Ang nakikita kong nagiging trend is that newspapers are becoming small in sizes. A lot of them sa ibang bansa have succumbed sa printing and paper cost, and syempre ung unti unting pagkaunti ng mga nag su subscribe. So now, they have resorted to adjusting their broadsheet into tabloid sizes. Pabor nga ako dito kase I think it is an advantage. Isa ako sa mga nagbabasa ng diyaryo. Hindi man araw araw pero I make it a point kahit once a week makapagbasa ako kaya lang pag nag co commute ako at sumasakay sa bus mahirap magbasa ng broadsheet sa maliit na space (so Paging Inquirer staff). Handy talaga ang tabloid size.
This is kind of late article for my cpu. Last February I finally was able to buy a new cpu. Happy, happy joy, joy. A spanking brand new cpu. At last, after 6 years nakabili na ako ng bago. After ko magtiyaga sa pentium II mmx era na processor that only runs windows 98 and not even second edition.
Now I am a proud AMD user. I was having hesitation about switching to AMD kase mostly ng reviews ng AMD was that malakas mag generate ng heat. I even read benchmarks to help me decide na hindi ko rin masyado maintindihan. The only thing na medyo maganda sa AMD is that they’re cheaper than pentium. Dito nga lang sa Philippines mas sikat pa rin ang pentium. I am working within a budget pero hindi ko pa rin nakuha ang 160 gigabyte na hard disk na nasa wish list ko nor the 1 gigabyte na ram.
Masaya na rin ako kase I can now update my ipod as often as I want. Tutoong plug and play na. A new and faster dvd burner. I can now install these new programs. Siguro vista proof na rin ito. Middle range cost for a cpu.
Natagalan din ako mag compile and mag sort out ng parts kase akala ko marami na akong alam yun pala konti lang. Na expose ako na there are so many parts to consider pag bibili ka ng bago, whether you want it to become future proof or mas concern ka sa budget. Napabasa ako ng mga technical specifications ng motherboard and processor. Pero I had fun doing it kase I have always been curious with computer parts ever since and it just provided me knowledge to understand my computer more.
I feel kind of sad today.
And I will write something about my family.
This morning while riding the taxi, I suddenly thought of my two uncles .
My mom’s family was a typical size of family you have nung 1940’s. They are 9 with only two boys. They grew up here in Parañaque. Spent most of their lives working for their family. Hindi kami close sa mga relatives namin but otherwise it was a normal thing. Normal na medyo dysfunctional family.
This one uncle of mine is currently at the ICU, fighting for his life. I have never visited him yet kase parang ayoko siyang makita siya na maysakit. Ayoko na makita na mahina na siya or hindi na siya tulad ng dati. The last few years ago that I saw him it was evident in his face ung age niya and how his smoking is catching up to him. Pero I really do consider him as one of the coolest uncle I had. He drove this big ass motorcycle. It was like late 1970’s only few people I think, owns a big ass Honda bike back then. All 470 cc of it. I thought that was pretty cool.
There’s this other uncle that I have. This one worked overseas. And after slaving there for several years he bought his own jeep and decided to become a jeepney driver. Well I am amazed at this uncle of mine kse siya lang ung driver na kilala ko na nakakasagot ng crossword puzzle sa Inquirer Newspaper or ng Philippine Daily Star. Although he graduated college pero I am still amazed at his ability to solve advanced level puzzle. Kahit ako college graduate I cannot sit through the whole puzzle without consulting the dictionary and this is from a guy who spent most of his day plying the road with his jeepney. That is really something.
I am a history nut and naturally, this is something I would keep a tab on. Recently I have read an article about this place in Germany where thay keep all the archives of the victims of Holocaust. It seems interesting to be at the center of it. Dito pala nakatago lahat ng records nila. Dito nag r refer ang Red Cross International to countercheck yung mga claims ng mge survivors ng Holocaust. I never knew that such place exists.
The recent news is that they’re planning to open the records sa public and provide insight about Germany’s dark history. I think it will serve well lalo na para sa mga revisionists na hanggang ngayon nag d deny na hindi raw naganap yun.
I thought Hitler was an interesting person. Iniisip ko ano ba talaga ang motivations niya bakit siya nag decide parusahan yung mga Jews ng ganon. Why he decided for the final solution. A lot of theories surfaced about his purpose pero none satisfied my (our) curiousity.
Any event that happend between 1930’s to early 40’s was very interesting para sa akin (maybe sa historian point of view siguro). The market crash of 20’s and then dun sa prohibition which was I think was very ironic. The fact na ipinagbawal nila ang liquor nun mas tumaas ang crime rate. And of course, ung mga series of events na nag lead sa world war II. From Europe down to Asia. Colorful but sad because so many lives were needlessly wasted for some selfish aims of the few.
If you do know what this means congratulations ibig sabihn certified geek ka. Mobos means motherboards. Lately ko lang din siya nalaman because I am about to upgrade my cpu.
It was an eye-opener for me because I never realized that deciding to upgrade or improve my system would entail a lot of research. It was like a crash course in knowing several parts of your pc that you never knew existed before. Noong una akala ko mahirap na yung mag come up for a budget. Only to realize later that I have to decide whether I wanted this particular new processor over the more established one. I thought deciding for the processor was more than enough knowledge to have until I read and realized that motherboards are more important.
Even then, I still have to choose what kind of motherboards to use whether it will support up and coming duo or quad processors. Nakakagulat, ngayon I even have to decide whether I would get a heatsink or not. I even have to think about the size of auxilliary fan to use. Imagine that.
Ganito pala ka complicated ang mag upgrade ng system. Bakit kaya di nila gawin mas simple. Choose between a pc and mac and then after 5 years parang kotse pwede ka mag upgrade reagrdless of the brand you choose.
Hindi ko nga alam kung anong klaseng computer user ako and that is needed in order to decide kung anong computer ang bagay sayo. I am not a gamer, nor do I dig multimedia and pictures that much. Although I consider myself a heavy user mostly graphic softwares lang and browsers ang naka open. Notorious ako sa pag open ng maraming tabs sa isang window. So where do I fit in?
I think I have to consult Tom’s Hardware for that or some technical site. Haay another round of reading, another set of glassy eyes.
I stayed late kanina and I was able to catch the State of the Union at CNN. I think President Bush made a pretty good speech exhorting support to the members of the House. He was clearly out there and showed a bit of humiltiy because the politcial landscape at the Washington has changed drastically therefore some buttering up is needed. But that is not what caught my attention.
What caught my eye was the Madame Speaker of the house. I was so impressed because it was so refreshing to hear Speaker Pellosi’s name being addressed again and again.
“And tonight I have the high privilege and distinct honor of my own as the first president to begin the State of the Union message with these words: “Madame Speaker.”
-President George Bush
Ngayon ko lang ito narinig and akala ko hindi na darating yung time na magkakaroon ng power player na babae sa Washington. I thought Hillary was the first one to break the proverbial glass ceiling pero si Nancy Pellosi pala. It was really something to hear and witness the breaking of a marble ceiling.
“Madame speaker, the President of the United States.” That was really cool.
Anna Quindlen’s article about Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton’s bid to presidency was an enlightening piece. Tackling about history’s firsts, her credentials, her work ethics, her stand-by-my-man moment and her polarizing effect on the voters and her chances. All these are tests for the Americans to discuss the myriad issues they are facing right now and thus measure her ability to govern.
Some issues naturally involves strong feelings. The surge and escalation in Iraq right now are certainly worth evoking sentiments. As recently displayed by Senator Boxer’s response to Condoleeza Rice’s policy about Iraq. Saying that, “Who pays the price? You’re not going to pay a particular price, as I understand it, with an immediate family.” That statement clearly elicited a response from both sides until it reached Gloria Steinem and she properly doused it down.
With all these divisive issues being hurled at the present Bush Administration and the fogging of facts about Iraq by the Washington. The lady candidate president angle might just work. (But then, it has been so long since a presidential bid has been launched from the senate. If my facts are straight only two senators succesfully jumped to presidency. Kennedy and Harding.)
” Let’s see: brilliant, well informed, high profile, enormous war chest, works hard, speaks eloquently, campaigns well. No wonder the party leaders are worried. Will she run? I hope so. Can she win? She has to take only the states that John Kerry took, and then one more. (Or the states that Al Gore took, and the Supreme Court.) “
– taken from Last Word
from the Newsweek column of Anna Quindlen
Let me get this straight, I floss my teeth once a day. Hindi thrice a week or four times a week. Although it does appear like that because I intend to stick on posting on these schedules.
I was thinking about Bram Cohen and his Asperger’s Syndrome and his BitTorrent while I was flossing today. Yup, He is the one who made it all possible. Para makapag download lahat ng mabilis and at no cost to the server. Lahat ng files na pwede mong kolektahin. Audiobooks, podcasts, movies, pdf files, pictures, porns and most especially, mp3s. I cannot imagine how he did it. He must be eating codes for breakfasts.
Guys like him should have a monument. Kind of national treasure. Without him paano mo mapapakinggan ang mga kanta unles you are willing to shell out more than three hundred bucks for that new artist and only to realize afterwards na crappy pala yung mga kanta niya. Pero thanks to him you can listen and be made aware to all kinds of songs without even paying a lot of moolah. You can listen to audiobooks without spending that much. You can watch movies if you are patient enough to download it. I know culture has a price pero for a college student. This is a big help and for everyone who has a DSL connection it is a heavent sent.
To big companies…don’t shoot down those torrent sites.
Matagal ko ng nakikita ito si Bob Brier, every time I watch Discovery Channel or National Geographic I am amazed at his knowledge about Egyptian History. I think he even knows how to speak Ancient Egyptian language aside from reading heiroglyphs. Ganun sha kagaling.
Most of the time that I catch him on tv, na h hook ako akse he presents these facts in a way that is very accessible and easy to comprehend for the common viewer. Parang pang adult slow learner and I like him for it dahil walang pretentions na this is such a scholarly work or of some great importance etc. He just discusses it like he was telling a nice, interesting story.
He is commonly called Mr. Mummy kase he is the one first one (I think) to perform mummification on a human cadaver since they (Ancient Egyptians)had done it thousand of years ago. Amazing, knowing how difficult it is to recreate it because the egyptians never kept a written record of they have done it.
I happened to listen to his audiobook from the Teaching Company where he tackled about the History of Ancient Egypt. It was an interesting subject for me because I love history so much moreso because it is about Egypt. Although it was a lengthy lecture, it was still something worth listening to. Witty and with a lot of funny insights and bit of facts about Pharaohs and their quirks. If you are interested about their culture, their art, their obsession with religion, astrology and of course, Cleopatra. You should try to get hold of his audio lecture.
I am all for him to become the chair of Egyptian Antiquitities. He has my vote anytime against Dr. Zawi Hawass. Hahahaha.
