EmberData

A few years ago, I thought that cars were just a status symbol. All the rich friends of mine have their own cars. Well, not long after that, I was surprised that we had our own car. It wasn’t a status symbol at all. We got our car because of the need for transportation. Commuting is quite tiring and a bit costly (riding a taxi almost daily, sure is costly). If we try to compute the amount of money spent riding a taxi daily, against having a car and spending on gas daily, the latter would be much lighter on the pocket. This has completely changed my mindset. However, there is another aspect to owning a car. I thought to myself, “here comes the status symbol again”. Well, I’m trying to convince myself again otherwise. A car is not a car without accessories! It’s like a house with no furniture. I don’t think anyone would want to ride a car if it looks dull and boring.

A car should be comfortable to ride with. It should have a nice and clean ambiance. It should filter out the noise from the outside. Nice, cool music may not be necessary but it would be an advantage. Of course, safety should also be put into consideration. With this, I came up with my top 10 list of car accessories (for casual riders, not for sports enthusiasts):

1. Steering Wheel – A car’s steering wheel should have a firm hold. It will help you avoid accidents specially when you need to make sharp curves. It would be best if the color matches the car’s outer color.
2. Headrest – Sometimes, a car’s seat is not comfortable enough for the driver. A headrest helps the driver relax his head and focus more on the driving.
3. Floor Carpet – Cars make a lot of noise from below because of the road. Sometimes we encounter small humps that add up to the noise when riding.
4. Dashes – These things keep your car’s status in check. It shows how fast you are currently running. It shows the fuel level, as well as the number of miles/kms the car has gone off the road.
5. Mirrors – Side mirrors and rear-view mirrors are very important. It keeps you safe from bumping other cars because if restrains you from making a turn when you see who’s behind you.
6. Car Audio Systems – Music keeps our head cool. It makes driving comfortable. Just be sure you don’t play ultra-mellow songs that will cause you to sleep while driving.
7. Lights and Lamps – These things help you see in the dark if you need to drive at night. In some places where fogs are too thick, Fog Lamps come in handy.
8. Bull-bars (Bumper-guards) – These are those metallic objects placed to cover a car’s bumper (not applicable to all cars).  These prevent the car’s bumpers from suffering huge damage in case of collision (It’s much cheaper to change a bumper-guard than the bumper itself).
9. Shift knobs – For some people, not just any knob will do. A driver should be able to have a firm grip on the knob so that shifting to another gear will be easy. Some drivers have sweaty palms, so it’s better to have a rubberized shift knob.
10. Air Freshener – Finally, the air freshener. No one wants to ride a car with bad odor!

Going on a retreat has always been a good experience. Being a person who lives in the city, a retreat serves as a time where I can relax, free my mind, and somehow experience God and nature. It’s a time where I can refresh myself from all the pressures of the city life. Retreats are often conducted on a remote place which often span 2 or more kilometers from the city proper. The venue always is a solemn and silent place filled with trees. I just came from a retreat yesterday and the experience was great.  It was held at Cagayan de Oro City at Betania Retreat House. As expected, I was fueled with both spiritual food, as well as sumptuous meals.

Food is always great in a retreat. They always prepare a well-balanced meal. Before the retreat, all the participants are asked about their diet. We were asked about our allergies and what kinds of foods trigger them. We were asked about our preferred viand, if we eat either pork, chicken, or beef. Some prefer just vegetables. They also pick only the fresh fruits. Filipinos eat a lot. Maybe that is why their meal planning include breakfast, morning snacks, lunch, afternoon snacks, and finally, dinner. For breakfast, well, a Filipino meal is not complete without rice. Every meal includes rice. Snacks always includes juice, whether concentrated or all-natural. Other people may consider our meal unhealthy, but I guess healthy meal depends on the place and lifestyle. We eat a lot because maybe of the weather. We also move a lot and think a lot. Maybe this is one factor that eats out a lot of our energy that causes us to eat a lot. Anyway, the host of the retreat carefully examines our diet and prepares a well balanced meal according to the food pyramid.

I guess we all ate a well balanced meal because I saw all of the food found in the pyramid during the 3-day retreat.

School Year 2010-2011 is fast approaching. In the first semester, the 4th year students will be having their thesis proposal, and from what I have observed, students find it hard to look for topics for their research. The following categories might help:

BSIT Major in Networking:

1. Communications (Email, Chat, P2P File Sharing, Protocols, etc.)
2. Networking and Network Security (Firewall, Routing, Monitoring, Access List, Virtual Private Network, VLAN, etc.)
3. VOIP [Voice Over Internet Protocol] (Voice Quality, Transmission enhancement, Compression, etc.)
4. Virtualization

BSIT Major in Multimedia:

1. Animation (2D,3D, etc.)
2. Game Programming (Role-playing games, Simulators, etc.)
3. Audio and Video Manipulation (Digital Image Processing, Audio Editing, Video Editing)

BSIT Major in Software Engineering:

1. Databases (Migration, Encryption, Load Balancing)
2. Software Development and Integration (Interpreters, Compilers, Software Interoperability)
3. Systems Security/Cryptography (Anti-Virus, Firewall, Anti-Spam, Counter-hacking, etc.)
4. Open Source Technologies

Each of these categories can be further expanded and examined for more specific research topic. Whatever your chosen topic is, the research should have the objective of improving the quality of life through information and communication technologies.

To be continued…

This was forwarded to me…

GUSTO KONG MAGING SENADOR NG PILIPINAS

ANG SARAP MAGING SENADOR!
Miriam Defensor Santiago was featured in Correspondents last week.
Maganda rin naman ang naidudulot ng pagiging prangka ni Senador Miriam Defensor-Santiago. Ayon kay  Santiago , marami ang tumatakbong Senador dahil sa laki ng budget na ibinibigay sa kanila kada buwan.
Lumalabas na P35,000 suweldo nila kada buwan ay pakitang-tao lang sa milyun-milyong budget ng bawat senador… Kada buwan ay may Fixed Monthly Budget ang bawat Senador ng humigit-kumulang P2 Milyon.
Sa opisina pa lang nila ay humigit-kumulang P500,000 angbudget nila sa Maintenance and Operating Expenses (Rental, Utilities, Supplies at Domestic Travels) at P500,000 para sa Staff at Personal expenses. Kaya para makatipid ang ibang Senador, kaunti lang ang staff na kinukuha nila. Nagtataka ka pa kung bakit mayroong mga Ghost Employee?
Bukod diyan, may P760,000 allowance pa sila kada buwan para naman sa Foreign Travel. At ang masakit pa nito, hindi na kailangan i-liquidate ng mga resibo ang mga gastusing ‘yan kundi Certification lang ang Requirement.
Heto pa, lahat sila ay Chairman ng mga Komite sa Senado. Ang Committee Chairman ay tumatanggap din ng budget na sinlaki ng tinatanggap ng mga Senador na humigit-kumulang P1 Milyon din! Hindi sila mawawalan ng Komite dahil 24 lang ang ating mga Senador at 37 naman ang Committee sa Senado. There’s food for everybody ‘ika nga! Lumalabas na doble ang kanilang benepesiyo at kita kapag sila ay nabiyayaan ng Committee Chairmanship.
Sa P200 milyon na Budget para sa Pork Barrel ng mga Senador bawat taon, awtomatikong may 10% na S.O.P. o kita ang Senador na P20 milyon. Ito ang porsiyento na ibinibigay ng mga kontratista sa mga Senador na nagbibigay sa kanila ng mga Infrastructure at Livelihood Project.
Bago matapos ang termino ng isang Senador, kumita na siya ng P100 milyon sa Pork Barrel pa lang. Yung ibang Senador mas gahaman, hindi lang 10% kundi 20 – 30% ang komisyon hinihingi sa mga kontratista.
Pansinin ninyo na lang ang pagbabago ng buhay ng ilan sa ating mga Senador simula nang manungkulan sa puwesto. Kung dati ay simple lang ang kanilang pamumuhay ngayon ay nakatira na sila sa mga eksklusibong subdivision, maraming bahay sa Pilipinas at abroad at mahigit   lima ang sasakyan.
Ngayon nagtataka ka pa ba kung bakit gumagastos ng daan-daang milyong piso ang mga Senador sa kampanya para sa isang posisyon na P35,000 lang ang suweldo kada buwan? Bawing-bawi pala ang gastos kapag naupo na!

ANG SARAP MAGING SENADOR! ! !
One of the reasons why the Philippines will never, ever get off the ground…… ayon….. . kaya talagang mahirap nang umasenso ang bansang Pilipinas – yung mismo gobierno nila ninanakawan ang kanilang kapuwa taong pilipino at hindi pa iyan….. hindi pa sila nagbabayad ng buwis sa bansa – kaya lahat ng kalyehon lubak-lubak at masyadong madumi at mababaho!!! Hindi na sila nahiya sa kanilang nakikita…. eh kasalanan naman nila yoon – dapat sa kanila pumunta lahat ng mahihirap… ..we should be thankful to miriam defensor santiago for being fair dinkum and honest about this – for exposing these people – that is what the country needs -whistleblowers - if there are no whistleblowers the country will never ever prosper and will just sit in the sidelines watching with envy the prosperity of the other southeast asian countries – look at Vietnam now, much better…… .while the rest of the new breed of filipinas are just maids – the present level of education has also deteriorated in that country – whether it be ateneo, up, la salle – they could not compete anymore – they do not know how to use their education to better up their poor country, they prefer to steal not to assist in the path of prosperity for their country – they lack human factor and social conscience and no social responsibility. …the result of a poor level of education. so wake up, you filipinos paying your taxes there, stop defending your corrupt masters and do something!!! !! we all feel so sorry for you….

PLEASE FORWARD TO AS MANY OF YOUR FRIENDS AND LET THE WHOLE COUNTRY KNOW THAT ELECTION IS MORE OF PUTTING AMBITIOUS PEOPLE IN POSITION WHO ARE GREEDY IN POWER, WEALTH & PRESTIGE THAN OF PUBLIC SERVICE… ANG MASAKIT PA PERA NG BAYAN PARIN GAGAMITIN SA ELEKSYON MALUKLOK LANG SILA SA PWESTO!!!

It has been a long predicament of the academe, the issue on how to make education more interesting to students. This is especially true when it comes to Math, Science, and English subjects (in our country). Students reject the very sound of these subjects. However, these subjects form the core of Information Technology Education (ITE) courses. A student must have an average academic performance so that he/she can survive any ITE course be it Computer Science, Information Technology, or Information Systems. One of the solutions being suggested is to put the lessons in a form of games. Students can play online but still learn something. But these games are still quite boring compared to RPGs. One of the many games introduced in our country is the board game called “Damath“. It’s a form of checker game but the difference is that the pieces have their corresponding numbers, and the board has different mathematical symbols. Whenever a piece gets “eaten”, the player is required to compute the result of the mathematical operation indicated by the symbol of the destination of the piece. Still, this game will be of interest to those with average and above average mental capabilities.

Through my daily surfing to the Internet, I came across this concept of teaching basketball through another form of game: BINGO. By playing BINGO, you will be able to orient yourself with the different concepts in basketball. The image below is a sample bingo card:

After the tragic death of the battery of my Lenovo 3000 G410 laptop, I decided to explore on it. It’s already dead anyway and having it fixed is almost as expensive as buying a new one. To see the internals,

Last night, my Len0vo 3000 G410’s battery died. It just won’t charge anymore. It’s more than a year already since I bought the laptop. Well, I guess I’m to be blamed by this because of my abusive use of the electronic device. I never removed the battery from the unit. Many times it just stuck there with the power cord on direct AC. There were also instances when I just left the laptop powered on overnight for some downloads. I guess these reasons are enough to kill the battery.

However, I got this weird thing going with ants.

Here are 5 useful tools that I have used in building software. The list is not specific to any language but may be useful to you as a software engineer. It is also not arranged in sequence as in importance or any kind. Here is the list:

I was searching for news and updates over the Internet and I was surprised with this news: Johnny Depp is Dead! Whoah! Is it true? I can’t believe the news so I went on looking for proof. I couldn’t find one. I couldn’t believe the news because he recently had a movie Alice in Wonderland.  Apparently, this was all from celebrity death rumors. Johnny Depp is NOT dead.  You can read the stories from the following URLs: