Infornography

Tetris Battle

2012-02-13T19:05:00.000-08:00

I'm a noob player. I just started playing Tetris Battle the other day out of curiosity and I've just discovered a couple of tricks. Now that I know all about them, I guess my opponent should ready themselves... XD

Sucker for Skyrim

2012-01-05T05:08:00.001-08:00

Easily one of the best original scores I've ever listened to. Makes me want to find adventure of my own. This should win "Game of the Year" award! I'm at work but I want to go home, lock myself up in the room, explore Skyrim and slay dragons. The only game for years that brought me back to my D&D days. Skyrim is definitely more than just a game. It's a carefully crafted art, a masterpiece...

Last Musings For 2011: Is There A God?

2011-12-29T11:53:00.000-08:00

Truly fascinating how these remarkable link ups to cyberspace and social media would easily present you a group of interesting individuals of different cultures and beliefs. A really thought-provoking night brought me to a thread of discussions about God and his non-existence. As much as I would want to participate in the discussion, having to argue about the existence of a higher presence and religion is a very complex and delicate matter that I dismissed the thought and decided to keep it to myself (well, almost). I am not a psychologist nor a sociologist nor a philosopher nor a cosmologist nor a theologian. I am far from being one because I'm an engineer who just happen to outwardly express her personal opinion about the matter, but I do take interest in the subject and have read quite a number of decent books expressing topics of evolutionism, creationism, Scientology, atheism, pantheism. As far as I've understood the complexity of such subjects, focusing on human evolution, including the development of man's emotional structure, logical reasoning and analytical thinking which later led to the formation of civilization, the invention of religion would likely to happen and it is inevitable. The same thing with the invention of government and political systems through innate human characteristics of leadership. On a macro view, Religion and God are two entities which are bound for singular context. When we say Religion, it is a collection of fundamental set of beliefs passed along every generation and when we refer to beliefs in religion, something or someone is subject for worship. Although the definition of the word varies as it is also subject to evolution. One particular modern-day definition I found that really caught my attention is religion as a collection of cultural systems, belief systems, and worldviews that establishes symbols that relate humanity to spirituality and, sometimes, to moral values which is the most accurate definition of what religion is by far based on other definitions I've read. God, on the other hand, is most often conceived of as the supernatural creator and overseer of the universe and when we talk about God, most of the time our tendency is to ask which God one refers to and then we easily distinguish the individual's religion and provide us an overview of his culture which will make us understand his behavior. However, if we dissect Religion and God, we could personally create or imagine a clearer framework of what these two entities are. This is where the root of all the confusion and misunderstanding lies which formulate the never ending arguments of no conclusion. It is like having 10 people read a book written entirely metaphorical and at the end of the activity asking them what the book is about finding out that every interpretation is diverse. A product mostly of the culture they have acquired and adapted. But imagine this applied to billions of people. Your ideas would seem a speck. But a tiny portion your ideas may seem, every opinion is important. It can only attest the human capability to think for itself without the will of a higher force other than just mere curiosity. And to elaborate on my personal interpretation of the following, I do not solicit further argument, just a way to personify ideas in the form of a blog entry.

Astronomy is the most essential element of the creation of religion. Archaeological evidence of many ancient cultures demonstrates that celestial bodies were the subject of worship during the Stone and Bronze Ages. Amulets and stone walls in northern Europe depict arrangements of stars in constellations that match their historical positions, particularly circumpolar constellations. These date back as early as 30,000–40,000 years ago. Although this is not the oldest evidence of the origins of religion. The earliest evidence of religious thought is based on the ritual treatment of the dead. Most animals display only a casual interest in the dead of their own species. Ritual burial thus represents a significant advancement in human behavior. Ritual burials represent an awareness of life and death and a possible belief in the afterlife. Paleolithic burials date back as early as 100,000 years ago. History about the origins of religion could go on and on. Since I am inclined to an evolutionist view, in my opinion, Religion is the deepest part of man's emotional structure. It is the test of man's passion for his existence and it is also subject to evolution. During the course of man's brain development, the expansion of this growth not only lies within but is shown in traditions, practices, beliefs and culture which mainly led to various transformation of systems may it be political or religious. The same thing with God. When man can no longer find coherent answer to his queries he turns into a presence higher than his own, a force, similar to science with its physical laws. God is the deduced product of logical and analytical thinking at the limits. It is the cognitive dissonance of most people to conclude anything unexplainable a result of mystics concerning God. It is the test of man's ability to evaluate and explore, the test of intelligence and when combined, God and religion, it is the assessment of your spirituality, your entire being the humanness.

Earlier this December, I went down to search for a book I needed to accomplish a small project of mine, creating my own Dobsonian telescope. I have been recently engrossed with night photography that I got the enthusiasm to build my own telescope. An alarming rate of published atheist books actually struck me. Written by the famous Richard Dawkins, Christopher Hitchens, Sam Harris and many others. Although I do not have anything against the idea of atheism, the apprehension of such is how people, particularly students recognize the points given through explicit statements that have the tendency to affect them psychologically and emotionally. Actually, reading a thread on facebook regarding the non-existence of God is so inculcating, individuals may actually acknowledge. What's even more surprising is the sudden appearance of militant atheists and when I say militant, they shame your beliefs and substitute their own. They attack you with their numerous unpleasant scenarios and how God has not made his presence felt during those times. Certain delicate subjects that a believer would find insulting, simply because insulting one's belief, religion and God is like wounding his entire being, his humanness. This is mainly the reason why I never argue about religion, spirituality and God because at the end of everything, usual result is the non-popular idea always being ostracized. The customary dispute is what science has not proven, does not exist. But Science is nothing more or less than a method of inquiry based on hypothesis testing facilitated by data collection. It is distinct from, though intimately connected to logic and rationality. Notably, the concept of falsifiability is key to this tradition, hypotheses must be stated in such a way that they can be dis-proven with but one antagonistic observation. Science doesn't prove a thing, but that doesn't mean science is useless. What science does is pare away less plausible explanations for any given phenomenon, thereby hopefully leading us closer and closer to the truth about the phenomenon. And yes, Science has not proven the existence of God but it has not dis-proven his existence as well. I know I've claimed that I follow an evolutionist view and Richard Dakwins is an evolutionary biologist but I do not conclude that there is no higher force governing the universe. Every time I look up at the sky and see these sparkling lights above me while I'm trying to capture them nicely, I can't help but think there must be something that made everything I see. I cannot allow that we came from nothing. The beauty this world presents us is inconceivable that I'd like to believe in Spinoza's God.

As a closing remark, arguments about religion, faith, and God is letting ideas free and allowing it evolve into a different breed that could freely swim in the depths of all unanswered questions but still they will remain unanswered...

New Tattoo For New Year

2011-12-29T08:32:00.000-08:00

Planning to get another tattoo either before this year ends or earlier next year but most likely it'll be next year, probably February or March. I'll be getting an Ouroboros possibly at my back at the center where my spine is just 2 inches below the nape.

I'll be having this as a symbol of my persistence, for in life we continuously experience death and rebirth. This one's gonna be near my lungs.

This isn't actually my first tattoo. I had one just last August this year. What I had was a teeny weeny G-clef on my wrist near my pulse which simply means that life is nothing without music.

Unnecessary Stuff

2011-12-28T10:30:00.000-08:00

Funny how I titled this entry "Unnecessary Stuff" yet took some time to find a cute picture to give the reader an overview of what this blog entry contains.

Still cloudy outside the reason why I'm stuck in my room and things start running inside my head. I know it's not so me to write about something emotional like this, but I have my sleepless nights too you know? It's 2:30 in the morning here as I wrote this with whatever that goes inside my head while listening to some post-rock music. Music really affects the mood you are in I believe so, and as of this moment, this very moment, while my fingers dance across the keyboard forming these inert words of unexplored emotion, I can't help but shed tears. I shed tears about something I am in denial of. Something that I have always been in denial.

I said I have never experienced, felt for that matter but I did, I have a couple times actually. I was just too afraid of rejection. That if I ever confessed to someone of how I truly feel, I will constantly be rejected and before that happens, I bury everything deep down and it's so deep, no one can ever reach it not even myself. I guess I have repeatedly done this over and over that I've gotten used to it to the point of being accused of insensitivity which is quite untrue. I am actually "very sensitive." I feel what you feel just by looking at you. I can sense what you're dealing with just by talking to you. I can actually cry over without any logical reason staring at the sun but most of the time the moon does that to me. This might be the reason why I love ambient and post-rock music. I love art. I love walking around getting into unfamiliar places. I love watching people thinking of what their stories are about. I appreciate little stuff but not show them. I have been hard on myself for years and I don't know how to escape it or if I ever will. This problem that I had, of continuously being afraid, made three of the precious people in my life disappointed and I regret all the chances that have presented themselves in front of me which have been badly ignored. All the unexplored possibilities that were cut short because I just don't have the guts and I don't know where to buy, get some guts or if I can do it myself.

I'm lost. I'm confused. I'm beaten up. I felt it and have lost my sanity. And I will still deny it because I'm afraid. I'm scared to love.

They say this world is not a cold dead place but I'm dead. I died a long, long time ago but I'm still waiting for my Necromancer.

My Next Astronomy Project

2011-12-28T01:41:00.000-08:00

I have been an amateur telescope maker since grade school but I never did follow up on it because my mom wanted me to focus on my studies and so I did. I made my first Newtonian telescope when I was a 5th grader. Not really aesthetically appealing but does the job somewhat decently.

Anyway, since I recently involved myself into astrophotography after experimenting on the Lunar Eclipse time lapse with nothing but a tripod and a cheap semi-DSLR camera, my love for ATM came back and I plan to capture everything I see this time and explore deeper with regards to telescope design. I'll try to understand the Dobsonian telescope first and maybe realize something in the process which would enhance its capabilities, maybe. I stumbled upon a website which would be a great help for starting up the Dobsonian telescope. Well, in case you're wondering, Dobsonian came from the surname of John Dobson who popularized amateur astronomy.

Here's a sample pic of the outcome once everything's done:

I'm also planning to make a cool time lapse video like one of the below clips plus I'd love to layout a post-rock song to it too. Something from Explosions in the Sky I guess or Sleep Dealer or No Clear Mind, so many to choose from and all of them bands are amazingly great.

The Earth Is Not A Cold Dead Place

2011-12-27T02:45:00.000-08:00

I need to constantly remind myself of this.

"The Earth is not a cold dead place..." - Explosions in the Sky

God, how I love post-rock.

...of Christmas and Musings

2011-12-26T22:19:00.000-08:00

Christmas made me realize how "small" our family is and we're not even complete during the noche buena. My grandma decided to go back to her province on the 24th due to an errand, my aunt on the other hand spent her Christmas at the summit of Mt. Kilimanjaro in Africa "seriously" while her son had a conference in Malacañang. Thank goodness my dad's youngest brother had no other plan but to celebrate Christmas in their house so we got to visit and celebrate noche buena with his kids.

Anyway, before we went to my uncle's house, we got to visit Ayala Center for their spectacular lights but I didn't know Symphony of Lights isn't actually located in Ayala Center but in Ayala Triangle Gardens rather. So stupid of me. I should've taken much beautiful night-photos in there. I guess I'll try to visit the place before this year ends.

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year! :)

Geminid Meteor Shower (12/14-15/2011)

2011-12-25T21:22:00.000-08:00

I should have posted this right after the event but usually it goes to my facebook account first.

Anyway, since I've gone interested in astrophotography, I regularly visit NASA's calendar of space events and have read about the Geminid meteor shower. The Geminid meteor shower will be visible in the Americas at Dec. 13 to 14 and Dec. 14 to 15 around Asia and Australia.

Cloudy between 22:00-1:00. Waited for about 3 hours to get a clearer sky. Around 2:00, clouds began to disperse and stars are becoming visible. Set the camera with the following settings: Moon was taken earlier in evening 20:00-21:00 with aperture not too narrow around f/5.8, ISO 80, and exposure time of 1/200 (fast enough to capture the moon's detail, this is where I went wrong my first try). About the stars, totally different setting. Aperture is not too wide around f/3.0, ISO 400, exposure time of 15 to 30 seconds, varying. Out of 200+ star photos I've captured, I was only able to get 2 decent Geminid photos but it was worth the wait. Activity ended approximately 5 in the morning.

“You only get one shot at life. Why waste it on sleep?” - Gustav Graves

Lunar Eclipse - Time Lapse (12/10/2011)

2011-12-11T02:41:00.000-08:00

Just want to share this one I did last night using an improvised intervalometer for time lapse, an old TI Graphing calculator. I'm gonna post a tutorial on this probably later on Instructables.

Took photos of the eclipse last night for 2 hours. This is a 4-minute time lapse of the lunar eclipse. Consecutive frames are around 7.5 minutes apart.

La Sardina in Black and White (35mm, ISO 200)

2011-10-20T04:23:00.000-07:00

Light Painting 101

2011-09-20T22:51:00.000-07:00

I have been seeing these cool light painting analogue shots from Lomography.com and got inspired to do some experiment using digital before going on with analogue cameras. But before we go on to the more technical stuff, I would just like to give you an overview what light painting is.

WHAT IS LIGHT PAINTING?

Light painting, also known as light drawing or light graffiti is a photographic technique in which exposures are made usually at night or in a darkened room by moving a hand-held light source or by moving the camera.

Along this tutorial, you would also encounter familiar terms such as ISO, Aperture and Shutter Speed. I am pretty certain you have already come across these technical terms before but to explain more, back in the old non-digital days, when we buy films (usually 35mm) for our cameras you will notice printed outside the box casing this --> ISO 100, 200, 400, 800; but what does it mean? A conversation between professional or even amateur photographers would also introduce you to terms such as aperture and shutter speed, but what are the importance of knowing these stuff to light painting?

WHAT IS ISO?

To clearly explain what this is, ISO as it relates to photography is a measure of how sensitive the capture array is to light. The higher the ISO, the more sensitive it is to light. ISO 100/200 are usually used to bright lit conditions such as sunny days or if you are using studio lights. ISO 800 for poorly lit conditions, ISO 400 for general purpose.

WHAT IS APERTURE?

An aperture is a hole or an opening through which light travels. More specifically, the aperture of an optical system is the opening that determines the cone angle of a bundle of rays that come to a focus in the image plane. Generally, aperture and shutter speed are inversely related. Meaning if one goes up, you have to compensate by reducing the other one to properly expose the picture.

WHAT IS SHUTTER SPEED?

I'm pretty sure you all know what shutter speed is. :)

GATHERING MATERIALS

1) Choosing the right camera to do the job. In my experiment, I used GE X500 DSLR for my light painting. This is a pretty affordable model of DSLR camera and it's good for beginners too especially those who would want to experience the capabilities of DSLR cameras. However, if you do not have a DSLR you can always use your point-and-shoot camera. All you need to do is search for the correct setting (usually the fireworks mode) and you're on with it. You no longer need to worry about the technical part like setting up the ISO, aperture and shutter speed but then again, doing extensive and detailed light painting would be impossible with point-and-shoot cameras because most point-and-shoot cameras does not have the manual set-up of shutter speed.

2) You need the camera to be steady. What better way to do this with a tripod of course unless you have ultra steady hands. However, if you do not have any tripod you can always use any inanimate objects like your table or your bed to set your camera.

3) You need torches! Of course you cannot do light painting without light so you need any possible light source you have at home. In my case, I used all the flashlights I could see scattered around my room.

4) Colored Cellophane, Scissors and Duct Tape. Although these are optional, I wrapped my torches with colored cellophane to achieve a colorful light painting.

What do I need to do?

FOR DSLR CAMERAS:

1) Mount your camera to your tripod.

2) Choose the Manual Set-up Mode.

3) Set-up the aperture. Small aperture for brighter background / large aperture for dimmer background.

4) Set-up the shutter speed. Put the shutter speed to slowest as possible like you are trying to capture fireworks.

5) ISO should stay the lowest otherwise your light would be too bright which will ruin your painting.
3) Set-up the timer.
4) Turn your torches on and start painting.

FOR POINT-AND-SHOOT CAMERAS:

1) Mount your camera to your tripod.
2) Choose the Scene Set-up Mode and select Fireworks.

3) Set-up the timer.
4) Turn your torches on and start painting.

Light Painting

Start your light painting as soon as the timer sets-off. I made mine completely in the dark, however you can do it with ample light like at dusk or in a dimly lit room just as long as the light coming from your torches is bright but you may need to adjust the ISO, Aperture and Shutter Speed of your camera if this is the case.

You also have to remember that you need to write backwards if you're doing text. Remember that you're writing in "front" of the camera.

SAMPLE OUTPUT

Did everything with my younger brother.

La Sardina (35mm, ISO 200 Film Test Shots)

2011-09-14T08:38:00.000-07:00

I love that grainy effect.

SuperSampler (35mm, ISO 200 Film - Test Shots)

2011-09-01T03:15:00.000-07:00

SuperSampler test shots in the hands of an amateur photographer. Much effective on animated objects if you ask me...

Notpron Spoiler Level 24

2011-08-14T02:38:00.000-07:00

Level 24 is another easy puzzle that we have in notpron IMO.

We don't have much of a clue other than the numbers we can collect from the source code: 639853835. Obviously having a picture of an old celphone there tells you that this has something to do with the puzzle. Check on the keypad of your celphone and try to write down the letters to the corresponding number we have collected from the source code.

6 - mno
3 - def
9 - wxyz
8 - tuv
5 - jkl
3 - def
8 - tuv
3 - def
5 - jkl

Forming sensible phrases out of the following information above would get you to "nextlevel" so all you need to do is change the url to:

http://www.deathball.net/notpron/beepbeep/nextlevel.htm

Play notpron HERE

Notpron Spoiler Level 23

2011-08-09T01:35:00.000-07:00

Received so many emails regarding notpron spoilers and request to continue this online riddle game recently so I guess I'll try to update my blog and work on notpron spoilers every now and then. An easy level, IMO! Homepage title says "I'm the tiniest unit you can see!" and we all know that when it comes to images, the tiniest unit are the pixels so I changed the URL to -->

http://www.deathball.net/notpron/beepbeep/pixel.htm

...and got the page below:

Hmm yeah, just do what the page asks you to do, save the picture and then zoom in and look for a red dot. You'll notice red dots scattered across chosen letters to form a word and at the end of this you'll come up with "music" so all you need to do is change the URL to -->

http://www.deathball.net/notpron/beepbeep/music.htm

...and you're on to the next level!

Play notpron HERE

HACKER'S GUIDE: Modifying Samsung S630 IR Sensitivity

2011-08-08T23:16:00.000-07:00

If you are young or you feel young, skillfully talented yet underpaid and you love photography so much especially the picture effects that only an expensive DSLR camera/lens can achieve (IR Photography), then this tutorial is likely to be yours!

DISCLAIMER: THIS TUTORIAL IS DEFINITELY NOT FOR BEGINNERS UNLESS YOU REALLY WANT TO TRY AND YOU ARE VERY CURIOUS. THIS SHOULD BE DONE BY SOMEONE WHO HAD EXPERIENCED SOLDERING WIRES OR ANY CIRCUIT COMPONENTS AND HAVE DISMANTLING EXPERIENCE IN ANY SORT OF GADGET/S. IT IS ALSO ADVISABLE TO USE CHEAP, OBSOLETE POINT-AND-SHOOT COMPACT DIGITAL CAMERA SO THAT IT WOULD NOT BE TOO HARSH ON YOU IF YOU DAMAGED THE DEVICE DURING THE PROCESS. THIS STEP BY STEP TUTORIAL IS ALSO ONLY APPLICABLE TO SAMSUNG MODEL S630 ALTHOUGH THE PROCESS OF MODIFYING THE IR SENSITIVITY APPLIES TO ALL AND THAT IS THE REMOVAL OF THE IR CUTOFF FILTER. THE COLOR OF THE IR CUTOFF FILTER ALSO VARIES TO EVERY MANUFACTURER. IN THIS CASE, WE WOULD BE REMOVING A "REDDISH" FILTER ALTHOUGH USUALLY FILTERS ARE "BLUISH" IN COLOR. LASTLY, DISMANTLING A DIGICAM IS REALLY HARD BECAUSE IT IS NOT DESIGNED FOR DISASSEMBLING SO DISMANTLE AT YOUR OWN RISK!!! ANYWAY, GOOD LUCK...

So amazingly I had free time to work on this project and eventually finish it. Completed the project approximately 3 hours including dinner on my worktable. Anyhow, first thing to remember before doing anything else is to gather all the materials needed. It is also advisable to acquire the internal schematic diagram of the device if available. However in my case, I had to completely figure out the dismantling and everything myself because schematic, camera parts diagram is not available anywhere online.

GATHERING OF MATERIALS:

1) Any cheap and obsolete compact point-and-shoot digital camera. Fortunately in my case, since I was already fond of photography ever since I was a child, I've come to collect lots of systems from Joycam-to-Advantix-to-Digicam-to-Lomocam so acquiring an obsolete camera is no way a problem for me. I just dig in my stock room and there I have it!

2) Precision screwdriver. I have been collecting tools like these since high school for some reason. I'm just drawn to dismantling and reassembling stuff. I get thrill from it so the earlier you collect tools the better for you would be using one eventually in hacking projects like this. Although there are many precision screwdrivers available in the market, I personally like to use the one with rubber grip. It is also advisable to acquire a precision screwdriver with opt x 60mm, opt x 23/8in.

3) Soldering gun/iron. I've been using this since college. Well I guess you can tell the looks of the tip of this soldering iron. I think I may need to buy a new one but I can't dispose this for sentimental sake. Anyway, you would be needing a soldering gun/iron because you would desolder something in the dismantling process so it is very preferable that you do have soldering experience.

4) Soldering lead. Of course you can't solder without soldering lead and I always believe that the key to a good solder is through the soldering lead you would be using. I suggest you acquire the one from ALEXAN (shameless plug). They market one of the finest soldering lead in the country IMO. I was only able to visit two branches of ALEXAN, one in Raon and the other located at SM Megamall. If you would want to check newest robotic kits and components, I suggest you go to Raon branch for the store is bigger and components there are more complete.

5) Desoldering pump. A desoldering pump, colloquially known as a solder sucker, is a device which is used to remove solder from a printed circuit board. There are two types: the plunger style and bulb style. Well it's hard to desolder without this so I suggest for you to acquire one of these. And I'm using the plunger style.

LET'S START THE DISMANTLING PROCESS!

1) Remove all external screws. You should be able to gather up eight screws at the end of this step.

2) Carefully remove the lower cover, one from the LCD. There are a few latches that you needed to check to remove the entire cover.

3) Lift the LCD gently and release the flat ribbon. You may need to lift the black plastic latch to release the flat ribbon cable and remove the LCD from the device then unscrew everything from the metal part where the LCD was attached to.

4) Remove the remaining screw and then desolder the following below for you to lift the PCB board up. You can choose to desolder the connection between the board and flash but the process is a little complicated so I suggest you just lift the board up to unscrew the plastic casing and expose the lens part of the camera.

5) Carefully lift the board and unscrew the grey plastic board from the casing to remove the casing entirely and expose the LCD. Remaining screws are hidden somewhere but it's visible just twist, turn the camera you would be able to spot them.

6) Lightly remove the front cover. Be careful on removing the front cover especially when touching the cable connecting the flash and the board. The flash tube discharged and I was holding the thing and that hurts really (ouch! o_O).

7) Unscrew the flash from the lens and carefully take the lens out of the device.

8) Unscrew the CCD out of the lens.You would be able to gather up three screws at the end of this step.

9) From this point you would be able to see the IR CUTOFF FILTER just sitting on top of the CCD. Notice the "reddish" color of the filer.

10) Carefully remove the IR CUTOFF FILTER. It's just a translucent plastic like thing attached to a rubber and removing them off wouldn't be a problem. You just need to apply a little force. No need to worry if it breaks off because that's our goal anyhow.

CONGRATULATIONS!!! YOU'RE HALF WAY THERE... Now, all you need to do is put everything back together which is the hardest part in my honest opinion.

Anyway...

Enjoy these sample output off my newly modified Samsung S630 digicam:

Night vision capable? Oh yes, I was able to test it using a temporary IR flashlight which is my TV remote control and it was able to detect the lovely purple light. See for yourself:

Valedictorian Speech With Daria Morgendorffer

2010-07-31T00:04:00.000-07:00

I wish MTV stayed cool like it used to be back in the 90s. Smart, thought provoking and brilliant, unlike all the crap MTV spews out now.

I got totally hooked on MTV when I was in high school. Staying up late and sneaking just to see shows like Late Night With Butt-head, Aeon Flux, The Head and The Maxx. I remember my mom used to hate Beavis and Butt-head and gets weirdly angry every time she caught us (me and my brother) watching the show. I don't know, but I could say -- that show mentally devirginized me... then came Daria, which isn't just mentally devirginizing but rather mentally abusing. The perfect show for growing teens! Daria, she actually taught me how to survive high school with caustic wit and a pair of combat boots. Anyway, its script were well-written, the scenes were very realistic and the characters were interestingly funny. I just don't understand why do amazingly well-written shows like this get cancelled, while crap like Family Guy and the Cleveland Show stay on the air? So I'm stuck with seemingly similar shows, South Park and The Simpsons.

Anyway, Daria had its moments, well almost every show. Sarky lines and witty statements all over. Below are some of my unforgettable Daria quotes:

Daria: People call me a feminist whenever I express sentiments that differentiate me from a doormat or a prostitute.

Daria: Unless the problem is, what's for dinner. Pizza can solve that problem quite handedly.

Daria: I have something to tell you two. Tom's not my brother.
Kevin: A-ha!
Daria: He is the mad scientist who built me. He has to hang around in case my internal organs fall out.

Jane: You have to distract Gary...
Daria: How?
Jane: You'll think of something. Use your womanly attributes.
Daria: Gotcha. I'll give birth.
Jane: That'll work.

Jake: Damn it, Daria! I'm not made of money!
Helen: Damn it, those bastards aren't going to take away my days!
Quinn: Damn it, Daria, you could've sounded like you meant it!
Daria: Damn it! It's MY turn to say damn it!

Daria: My goal is not to wake up at age 40 with the bitter realization that I have wasted my life on a job I hate because I was forced to decide on a career in my teens. - (One of my favorite Daria quotes.)

Daria: Like being in love there must be a corresponding painful side like losing in love, it's just a fact of life.

Daria: That's the road to happiness and personal satisfaction. That's why they don't want you to take it.

Trent: You know Daria, sometimes it's hard to believe you're in high school.
Daria: I find the situation unbelievable myself.

Helen: (On reading Daria's career aptitude test evaluation sheet.) A mortician? Your lack of interest in personal interaction makes you an ideal candidate for working with the dead. Daria, have you given any thought to your career plans?
Daria: I guess I'll just wait around for people to kick the bucket.
Helen: I can't believe you're not more ambitious.
Daria: You want me to kill people to drum up business?

Teenage boy: Where were you girls been all our lives?
Daria: Waiting for you. We were born in this room. We grew up in this room. And we're going to die in this room, alone.

Jake: Won't this camping trip be fun, Daria?
Daria: Yeah. Almost as fun as drowning.

Daria: Well, my history teacher hates me because I know all the answers, but there are some interesting idiots in my class.

But the best of them all, of course, was her valedictory speech. I can still hear clearly how she delivered her speech. Monotonous, calm and very Daria.

Daria: Um, thank you. I'm not much for public speaking. Or much for speaking. Or, come to think of it, much for the public. And I'm not very good at lying. So let me just say that, in my experience, high school sucks. If I had to do it all over again, I'd have started advanced placement classes in preschool so I could go from eighth grade straight to college. However, given the unalterable fact that high school sucks, I'd like to add that if you're lucky enough to have a good friend and a family that cares it doesn't have to suck quite as much. Otherwise my advice is; Stand firm for what you believe in, until and unless logic and experience prove you wrong. Remember, when the emperor looks naked, the emperor is naked. The truth and a lie are not sort of the same thing. And there is no aspect, no facet, no moment of life that can't be improved with pizza. Thank you.

Glad that it's now on DVD and I got myself a copy!

SMARTMATIC, not a smart move…

2010-05-04T22:57:00.001-07:00

SMARTMATIC, not a smart move…

As far as I have understood from what I have googled regarding the history of AES (Automated Election System) in the US, the study of using this system started around 1960’s. Feb 15, 1965 - Connecticut's Secretary of State, Mrs. Ella T. Grasso, plans to ask the Legislature to amend the election laws to permit consideration of 11 modern voting and counting systems. On the other side of the electronic-unit issue is the position of the Automatic Voting Machine Corporation. Aside from the fact that the use of this technology would be ideal for federal government, the process of adapting the use of AES took them years of trial and error before considering application.

What is it for us?

Manila, Philippines – SMARTMATIC entered the scene November last year proposing the use of their PCOS (Precinct Count Optical Scan) machines aiming a fair, just and fraud-free election. About 50 million Filipinos have registered to vote in the 76,000 precincts using counting machines that would tabulate and transmit results electronically. These machines uses compact flash cards which contains smart algorythm commands to perform its duty and tabulate results flawlessly. According to some source, SMARTMATIC took 2 months to program all of these 76,000 compact flash cards for 76,000 precints and just now, less than a week before the actual election day, we have been informed that 100% of these flash cards contains erroneous program to count local ballots. COMELEC together with SMARTMATIC has to recall all compact flash cards that have been deployed and reconfigure them to read votes for the local ballots and it’s only because of some stupid layout error. If you come to think of it, the complexity of the system is far too ambiguous for us to adapt at this point in time. Re-programming and re-distribution of 76,000 compact flash cards in just 2 days is a tongue-in-cheek statement and could be the downfall of COMELEC and SMARTATIC which may result to failure of election. In return, we would still resort to parallel manual counting and that is obviously pathetic and ridiculous.

How safe are PCOS machines?

In Japan, votes in national and most local elections are cast by writing the candidate's or party's name on a blank ballot paper. In elections for the House of Representatives voters fill in two ballots, one with the name of their preferred district candidate and one with their preferred party in the proportional representation block. For the House of Councillors, the district vote is similar (In SNTV multi-member districts, several candidates can be elected, but every voter has only one vote). But in the proportional vote for the House of Councillors votes are cast for a party list (influences how many proportional seats a party receives) or a candidate (additionally influences which candidates are elected from a party's list). In 2002, passage of an electronic voting law allowed for the introduction of electronic voting machines in local elections. The first machine vote took place in Niimi, Okayama in June 2002. In 2003, a system for early voting was introduced. In the Japanese general election, 2009 a record number of more than 10 million Japanese voted early. Despite Japan’s technological advancement, they’d choose to adapt parallel manual counting system not until 2003.

Now, the anxious us would wonder how safe is it really for us to use these PCOS machines? My answer… We are not safe at all!!! It does not guarantee that these machines would be free from fraud and cannot be manipulated. Actually, it would be a lot easier to alter results. It could be done just by switching re-progammed compact flash cards to PCOS machines in order to manipule the tabulation system.

In conclusion…

The use of the system should not be taken lightly. This should have gone a rigorous study that should have taken years before considering the adapatability of not just our technological advancement but also the availablity of human resources knowledgeable enough to relay the process.

The few months SMARTMATIC spent pushing and forcing the application of the system is not enough to make a certain judgement that we would have a fraud-free and successful election. And I fear and anticipating its epic failure…

The Worst-Case Scenario

2010-04-27T04:13:00.000-07:00

Why I have been single for so long...

This made me laugh really hard...

I don't usually write stuff about this and I'm not really too emotional when it comes to this kinda stuff (well, I've learned not to). I'm just that annoyed, but I know shit happens.

A woman not too familiar with me just came into our house bursting into tears, crying out that her husband has another woman. Now my mom, being the president of our subdivision's homeowners association couldn't really abandon her even if she's a total stranger. I, being too skeptic, even thought that her act was just a scam (Budol-Budol in layman's term) but nevertheless we let her in the house as she looks nothing harmful. She said she was a veterinarian with 3 children and had been married for 19 long years. She said she was happy with her husband and her husband didn't show any signs that he was bored of their marriage that's why she never would've thought that something like this might happen. She went to see my mom because the woman her husband is currently seeing actually lives near our house. She said she just wanted to talk and make her point straight to her. She even quoted that she wouldn't make any scandal and that she's far too educated to behave like that. We talked a lot about stuff while I listen to my dismay. You really couldn't tell anyone's current state if they're marriage is doing fine and going strong just by looking at them. Most of the time, those people who looked like they're not having any sort of problems are usually the ones suffering the most. I've met and talked to quite a few from different cultures of different ages. Having talked to these people I can say, I've become too cautious. That if I don't choose well enough, I might end up like these psychologically and emotionally abused women.

Going back, I'm just a bit disappointed of this reality that usually girls always get the blame. The woman the legal wife is talking about is only 22 years old. So young for a 50-ish guy. I even thought after learning that I am 3 years older than her that this would seem like you're making out with your dad or something and that's really gross if you ask me (no offense to anyone). But yet the wife is blaming it all to the girl, with a not-so developed mind (except me LOL) and still inexperienced in terms of morality and spirituality (which I believe you'll only acquire to understand as you age). Isn't that frustrating? Why not blame your husband? He's the one who left you anyhow. He's the one experienced enough to seduce (or even bribe) a woman half of his age. But then again, I don't really know the internal stuff so I couldn't really speak for the wife. The wife must have missed out something. She must have got no time for him anymore. She must have ignored the important things and these small things might cause the husband to grew out of love and grew stale of their marriage and partnership. I don't really know. It must be that the husband is just trying to find a little excitement that once he has when he was younger just this time he got caught uncovered. I'm not sure, I can't speak straight because I've got no experience myself. I'm just an observer.

I just don't get how can a woman of her age get seriously involved with a middle-aged guy knowing that he has a happy family. Is it because of money that you'll turn yourself blind? My rational thought can only think of this one thing. Disgraceful as it may sound, but I can't blame her, money makes the world go round. But then again to get yourself trapped in a pretty much embarrassing situation like this, would you still go for the money or choose to straighten up your life and die with dignity?

You know, nothing is too late if everybody just change. Not just the husband, the wife and the lover but also you and also me. All for the better... (Geez, I'm starting to sound like Karl Marx in search of Utopia! >,<)

Facts About The Esoteric Knowledge

2010-04-25T21:39:00.000-07:00

People who don't have enough esoteric knowledge makes this world even worse...

This note was inspired by the people I deal with everyday. I always love the idea of learning a person by playing stupid around them to see their knee-jerk reaction towards the bluntness. If I feel even slightly insulted then that only means one thing, and you should know the rest.

What is Esoteric Knowledge?

Esoteric knowledge, in the dictionary (non-scholarly) sense, is thus that which is available only to a narrow circle of "enlightened", "initiated", or specially educated people.Esoteric items may be known as esoterica. In contrast, exoteric knowledge is knowledge that is well-known or public, or perceived as informally canonic in society at large.

Finally, it can be noted that esotericism, beside its scholarly and dictionary definitions, can be used in a loose, popular sense: not in order to denote e.g. mystical knowledge or practice, but rather informally to mean any perception or knowledge that is for the advanced individual such as theoretical physics, or that pertains to the minutiae of a particular discipline, such as "esoteric" baseball statistics.

My Views...

In short, esoteric knowledge are things you don't usually learn from any standard institution of learning. Esoteric knowledge are acquired either through meditation or contemplation. This could be traced on how you percieve things mainly in your childhood. People with esoteric knowledge are usually mistaken to be passive. Passiveness is totally different from open-mindedness. Open-mindedness shows the higher existential understanding of a person. If you look at some of the monks in meditation at a quantum level, the mind frequency produced in meditation is much higher than a person working out on a sweat which means you are communally being one with the universe.

On the other hand, if we're gonna talk about the telescopic evolution, a segment from my favorite movie "Waking Life," we have had some discussions about the new evolutionary paradigm that connects also to esoterism. If you try to perceive the heavy technical terms, you really wouldn't understand what the man is trying to deliver since the conversation came out naturally, existentialism, it's happening right now, right at this very moment, no pre-organization of thoughts.

Telescopic Evolution Excerpt:

"If we're looking at the highlights of human development, you have to look at the evolution of the organism and then at the development of its interaction with the environment. Evolution of the organism will begin with the evolution of life perceived through the hominid coming to the evolution of mankind. Neanderthal and Cro-Magnon man. Now, interestingly, what you're looking at here are three strings: biological, anthropological — development of the cities — and cultural, which is human expression.

Now, what you've seen here is the evolution of populations, not so much the evolution of individuals. And in addition, if you look at the time scales that are involved here — two billion years for life, six million years for the hominid, 100,000 years for mankind as we know it — you're beginning to see the telescoping nature of the evolutionary paradigm. And then when you get to agricultural, when you get to scientific revolution and industrial revolution, you're looking at 10,000 years, 400 years, 150 years. Uou're seeing a further telescoping of this evolutionary time. What that means is that as we go through the new evolution, it's gonna telescope to the point we should be able to see it manifest itself within our lifetime, within this generation.

The new evolution stems from information, and it stems from two types of information: digital and analog. The digital is artificial intelligence. The analog results from molecular biology, the cloning of the organism. And you knit the two together with neurobiology. Before on the old evolutionary paradigm, one would die and the other would grow and dominate. But under the new paradigm, they would exist as a mutually supportive, noncompetitive grouping. Okay, independent from the external.

And what is interesting here is that evolution now becomes an individually centered process, emanating from the needs and desires of the individual, and not an external process, a passive process where the individual is just at the whim of the collective. So, you produce a neo-human, okay, with a new individuality and a new consciousness. But that's only the beginning of the evolutionary cycle because as the next cycle proceeds, the input is now this new intelligence. As intelligence piles on intelligence, as ability piles on ability, the speed changes. Until what? Until we reach a crescendo in a way could be imagined as an enormous instantaneous fulfillment of human, human and neo-human potential. It could be something totally different. It could be the amplification of the individual, the multiplication of individual existences. Parallel existences now with the individual no longer restricted by time and space.

And the manifestations of this neo-human-type evolution, manifestations could be dramatically counter-intuitive. That's the interesting part. The old evolution is cold. It's sterile. It's efficient, okay? And its manifestations of those social adaptations. We're talking about parasitism, dominance, morality, okay? Uh, war, predation, these would be subject to de-emphasis. These will be subject to de-evolution. The new evolutionary paradigm will give us the human traits of truth, of loyalty, of justice, of freedom. These will be the manifestations of the new evolution. And that is what we would hope to see from this. That would be nice."

It's definitely not transhumanism nor religion nor politics. After watching this movie, this scene, over and over it finally came to me that he was simply explaining about the evolution of man bearing human traits of truth, of loyalty, of justice, of freedom. The new evolutionary paradigm only means that the SMARTER you are the more PASSIVE (in a wiser sense) you get and by this, war and predation would be a subject to de-emphasis, de-evolution. So in return, neo-humans are those who are being selfless, those who have true spirit, those who are open-minded, those who think of helping others, of being equal, of loving everyone.

Realizing these things helped me truly see myself, see what I am right now. Am I starting to become a subject to the new evolutionary paradigm, a neo-human or still on the stage of a Cro-Magnon man whom we cannot blame to embrace war and predation?

After hearing this from a Chemistry professor (Dr. Eamonn Healy - the one you see on the vid), having the vision of a peaceful future, you can't help but be optimistic about it. If this would truly be the track for the new evolution, then I wouldn't worry much about the future...

Mt. Daguldol Trek

2010-04-25T21:18:00.000-07:00

What: Mt. Daguldol Trek with NaPoTrek
When: March 6-7, 2010
Where: Laiya San Juan, Batangas

Weekend with NaPoTrek. We decided to trek Mt. Daguldol. It was my first time exploring the mountain but it was a blast.

11th Takbo Para Sa Kalikasan

2010-04-25T21:11:00.000-07:00

What: 11th Takbo Para sa Kalikasan
When: February 28, 2010
Where: Quirino Grandstand

DZMM Takbo Para sa Kalikasan has supported the maintenance of over 400 trees in La Mesa Watershed. This time, the fun run will boost the Pasig River Rehabilitation project through ABS-CBN Foundation Inc.’s Bantay Kalikasan.

15th Hot Air Balloon Fiesta

2010-03-18T05:56:00.000-07:00

What: 15th Hot Air Balloon Fiesta
When: February 14, 2010
Where: Clark Field, Pampanga

The Philippine International Hot Air Balloon Fiesta (PIHABF) is an annual event featuring balloons from all over the world. Over the years, it has become a convention of sorts including aerosports and other aviation-related pursuits.

Yellow

2010-02-24T20:46:00.000-08:00

Took a while to finish this one. Been busy with my studies, events and volunteer programs. I sure do hope I nailed this sunflower art this time and I feel kinda accomplished so hopefully you'll like it too.

Oil Pastel on Canson
New updates about my subject, planning on shifting to painting lighthouses. Was inspired by my aunt's trip to Capones. Hopefully my painting of the below subject would turn out to be something I wanted regardless of my imagined added effects.

Lighthouse in Capones

Coastal Clean-Up and Awareness Concert

2010-02-23T09:08:00.000-08:00

Been busy with lots of stuff recently. Sorry for this retro post?!

What: Coastal Clean-Up and Awareness Concert
When: February 6-7, 2010
Where: Alaminos, Hundred Islands, Pangasinan

Recently we did a program for the cleanliness of Pangasinan's coasts and for the awareness of the people to save and restore the coastal mangrove ecosystem.

WHAT IS THE IMPORTANCE OF MANGROVES:

Mangroves are trees and shrubs that grow in saline coastal habitats in the tropics and subtropics – mainly between latitudes 25° N and 25° S. The saline conditions tolerated by various species range from brackish water, through pure seawater (30 to 40 ppt), to water of over twice the salinity of ocean seawater, where the salt has become concentrated by evaporation (up to 90 ppt).

There are many species of trees and shrubs adapted to saline conditions. Not all are closely related, and the term "mangrove" may be used for all of them, or more narrowly only for the mangrove family of plants, the Rhizophoraceae, or even more specifically just for mangrove trees of the genus Rhizophora.

Mangroves form a characteristic saline woodland or shrubland habitat, called mangrove swamp, mangrove forest, mangrove or mangal. Mangals are found in depositional coastal environments where fine sediments (often with high organic content) collect in areas protected from high energy wave action. They occur both in estuaries and along open coastlines. Mangroves dominate three quarters of tropical coastlines.

The volunteers...

Alliance for a cleaner Earth...

Thank God for the backstage pass... LOL XD

Walls of Hope Restoration Program

2010-02-23T08:51:00.000-08:00

Follow up updates...

What: Walls of Hope Restoration Program
When: December 20, 2009
Where: Philippine Children's Medical Center (PCMC)

The use of imagery and color can affect the way a person feels. Studies show that therapeutic murals in hospitals provide holistic healing to any child who is about to be examined or given treatment. The presence of these colorful murals is also a powerful way of relieving stress and easing the hearts and minds of its visitors...

Our wall's main theme is the mythical creature Ibong Adarna...

Looks really great from afar...

4th Annual Firefly Brigade Christmas Gift-Giving Ride

2010-02-22T04:07:00.000-08:00

Better late than never...

What: 4th Annual Firefly Brigade Christmas Gift-Giving Ride
When: December 19, 2009
Where: Around QC

Each year for the past three years, we don our Santa Claus and fairy costumes to go around Metro Manila to give out lootbags to kariton families along our usual bike commute routes to school, work or errands...

It was fun giving gifts. Self gratifying and soul rewarding...

I'm excited for next year... ^_______^

Made in the 80's...

2010-02-16T21:44:00.000-08:00

Kinda bored. So sorry for this totally pointless note?! >,<

Proudly made in the 80's, although I kinda like 70's better...
Best things from the 80's as far as I could remember...

1. MTV
2. Perfect Strangers (It never occurred to me as a child just how queer it was for these two single middle-aged men to be living together... LOL XD)
3. Miami Vice
4. John Hughes movies
5. Eddie Murphy was funny
6. new wave/alternative
7. hair bands/hard rock
8. early hip hop
9. The Fox network
10. Solid Gold
11. Madonna was cool
12. Michael Jackson was cool
13. Debbie Gibson (When pop singers HAD talent, also would add New Edition & George Michael)
14. Back to the Future
15. Fast Times at Ridgemont High
16. Choudenshi Bioman
17. He Man
18. "Weird Al" Yankovic
19. Metallica were underground & had great music
20. Ghostbusters
21. Who Framed Roger Rabbit
22. Walkmans
23. young Jason Bateman
24. Only one lame boy band in the tail end of the decade, not tons like in 1999/2000 XD
25. Pee Wee Herman
26. Nickelodeon
27. No reality shows (Except for the nightly news and very few like "That's Incredible")
28. Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles
29. License To Drive
30. ripped jeans

Wild Flower on Yellow Soil

2010-02-16T21:42:00.000-08:00

*While my iPod is blaring out Beautiful Balloon by Mew*

My 8th masterpiece... Nothing much to say but I'd probably rest for a while before creating another... LOL XD

Oil Pastel on Canson

Gumamela

2010-02-16T21:37:00.000-08:00

At last I'm back on track... Bright and lively! First time this year I've ever felt satisfied with my work. I hope this level of momentum won't halt randomly... Anyway, my 7th masterpiece... Happy viewing! ^.^

Oil Pastel on Canson
Feel free to comment for future artistic development...

Thanks for dropping by! And I think I run out of Oil Pastels particularly Olive Green and Blush Pink... Oh boy... >,<

Violeta

2010-02-16T21:33:00.000-08:00

I have this strange nagging feeling that my art has become denser. I should be more happier of the result but I'm not sure why I feel like something's missing... You tell me! Anyway here's my 6th masterpiece... Happy viewing! :3

Oil Pastel on Canson

Hydrangeas by the Well

2010-02-16T21:29:00.000-08:00

At long last I was able to get a hold just a little of my time to finish this. I was not even sure if I still got that Van Gogh impact to it as my artistic momentum got halted for a long period due to unexpected Mafia Wars business. It was a bit off at first but overall I was satisfied with my work. Anyway, here it is...

Oil Pastel on Canson

Tulips by the Mill

2009-08-12T20:18:00.000-07:00

What I love about Van Gogh's technique is its imperfection. If you look closely, specially his early works like the ‘Potato Eaters’ aside from using dark colors, the perspective is somehow distorted. I am also specifically impressed with the shading effect of his artworks and the intricate brush strokes. Totally amazing. His brush stroke method is really hard to follow and from the looks of it, very exhausting as well.

Anyway, enjoy my fourth masterpiece ‘Tulips by the Mill’.

Oil Pastel on Canson
Thanks for leaving comments! ^_^

Country Bellflower

2009-08-10T20:12:00.000-07:00

I just finished another flower artwork. Anyway, maybe you're wondering how I start with my painting. I don't use pencil anymore. I am directly using oil pastel to draw...

Firstly, I browse good pictures for reference and then print it out. After printing my subject out, I am just directly putting the exact object to the blank canson paper I am using. I use base color to draw the figure, depending on what dominant color of the subject is (for example, if I am painting sunflower I would be using yellow as my base color). After forming the object I create the shading to bring the object to life and then furnishing it by outlining my subject with a much brighter shade of the base color (for the sunflower case, I used orange as its outline). Then finishing it with the third layer of shading...

Oil Pastel on Canson
Well, enjoy my third master piece.

Thanks for leaving comments... ^_^

Reunited Once Again...

2009-08-09T19:33:00.000-07:00

I went visiting an old friend with her cute two-and-a-half yearold daughter, my goddaughter (ohhh I feel like I’m getting older hearing that word…) yesterday with my best pals. Our group sure is strong, even after three years none of us changed at all. I was so tired because of what happened back in the office that in the middle of our loud conversation I fell asleep. Sorry about that guys… I was just tremendously exhausted. Anyway, time really flies. We could not believe ourselves that it has already been three years and felt time already left us behind. Although it’s not that hard to catch up, there’s always an express train available to catch it but the thing is… in those three years a lot could have happened which can weaken our friendship, totally without communcation towards some of them but just seeing their faces we altogether shifted back on how we were in college. Finally, I was simply happy. I have nothing in mind and nothing complex to think about. I was just there updating myself with their experiences and how they lived in those three years without casually hanging out together.

We talked almost everything about ourselves. The pain, the sadness, the happiness, the frustrations, the goals, the dreams, the plans and I can’t ask for more but it was totally refreshing chatting with them again. I just realized, they always hold this special place in my heart that would simply make me smile. They’re one of those groups that I could be what I am without pretending and without careful thinking if I should join their coversation or not. I was just me.

Well, I hope we can do this again some other time, I’m pretty sure we can… ^_^

Yesterday's Sentiments

2009-08-09T19:27:00.000-07:00

This has been an exhausting day. I spent a night with my former housemates yesterday because of a close friend’s plea given that this might be our last night together as I already left the office and she already decided to follow me and leave as well. I got home just this morning with few sleep after concluding my exit clearance with the company. I was talking with my former housemates the night before. A lot has happened in those few weeks I’m gone. Although it’s so much better not talk about sensitive topic like this over the net, I just can’t help it. I would just like for us to part ways without chip on our shoulders because I’d never hold grudge to anyone without confronting that person and telling him how I feel before saying goodbye. Though literally, I’m not saying that we’ll never see each other again, the point is… things will never be the way it was when we’re together after we part ways and that is so obvious. We can no longer spent our days casually and have time to reconcile if awful things happen along the way. A text message isn’t enough for reconciliation. Words are innert, they’re dead in the first place so you wouldn’t really understand how a person feel just by reading some text message on your cellphone. Personal communication is still the best way to convey/understand one’s emotions and thoughts. I am also not in the position to arbitrate the persons involved because I do not know the exact scenario how things went upsetting. I want to weigh the sides of each persons involved before I could openly expose my views and opinion. As of now, I’ll be silent.

Another thing that keeps on bothering me for quite sometime now is how some of us (yes including me and I’m feeling guilty about it) make fun of other people’s deficiencies may it be physically or mentally. I just find it so uncivilized and inhumane of us to drastically laugh at things like these. I am not claiming myself to be clean as slate for not doing this sort of thing (God… if someone could only hear my brain outloud I might have already been assassinated) but what I am trying to state is we can avoid even if it is so hard for us to, we can find much more sensical topics to talk about over our social activities. I just remembered, I was not raised by my parents to see the faults of my surroundings and I believe so, I also chose not to. I even wanted to immerse myself to different kinds of personalities from different people. I find it challenging to test myself if I can stand being opinionless of someone. Additionally, I even thought of abandoning my dreams to become a volunteer and aid those people who lacks everything. It’s hurting most of the time hearing just the laughs, even my laugh because I knew the feeling of being terrorized. I would muchly prefer if it’s behind my back but what I experienced way way in the past, they torture me right exactly to my face. I would also prefer if the pain is a result of someone hitting my head with a baseball bat but the pain is inside lurking and had not been healed. However, I do not regret everything I have done and experienced because it formed the person I wanted to become now. Open minded, kind and brilliant. Not that I’m bragging about it, but I don’t brag I show them and they usually get surprised because all the time I was just there, opinionless and quiet. But I am truly observing, always observing until having this mental strain. I don’t know if I am just over analyzing or just too sensitive or worse insensitive but I do find it barbaric and ridiculous if somebody makes fun of someone if he, himself lacks everything in the world, lacks soul and I can’t do anything about it because I am also afraid of getting backfired although I know if anyone read everything I have written here eventually I’ll become a topic of their absurdity…

Lily by the Window

2009-08-05T22:27:00.000-07:00

I just finished another flower artwork this afternoon and I am so happy about it I can't even wait to show it to my dad... and I did a little while ago.

I set-up the webcam and focused the lens onto the canson paper filled with oil pastel, the medium I used to bring to life the blossom I loved before sunflower caught my attention. My dad exaggiratingly asked… “Saan mo naman nabili yan? Art ba ni Salvador Dali yan?” I smiled and said “Akin kaya to!” and wondered why the artist Salvador Dali? I am nothing like him. He’s a surrealist and I don’t have that kind of wild, out of this world imagination to become one. I am more comfortable claiming myself as a post-impressionist or an asbtract/cubism artist. I am not that good to be the next Rembrandt. However, I am also not saying that post-impressionist and abstract artists are intimidated by golden age artists. They belong to two different movements in the first place but I would have to say that Rembrandt art is just too intricate for me plus I don’t have abundant patience to spent perfecting my obra maestra.

Oil Pastel on Canson
I remember someone told me that my talent is rarely given and I should be thankful to have it although I was not sure what he really meant that time. Maybe I was just over analyzing but I don’t know if I could accept it clearly and openly. It’s just too flaterring that I thought I did not deserve such admiration. It is sometimes hard to believe such compliments specially when you know you still have room to grow.

Anyway, please… oh please… if I could just have some teeny weeny bit of your time… I would be grateful if you could leave comments regarding the above artwork done with oil pastel on canson (meduim I personally love). I would appreciate it very much even if it is a condemnation. It would really help me improve my techniques.

Thanks… ^_^

My Artistic Side...

2009-08-04T07:25:00.000-07:00

I have been targeting at least 300 artworks for me to be able to host an art exhibit. This has been one of my goals and my dream ever since having consciousness regarding my surroundings.

I remember, I was just about four or five years old when I discovered my love for painting. I was overly fascinated with Van Gogh's Starry Night. Although it was impossible for me to explain the intricacy, the techniques and the brush strokes given that I was very small, as far as I could remember, the thing that kept me staring at the picture of Van Gogh's marvelous artwork in a magazine are the lovely colors he used and the dominant Cyan hues interpreted in his canvas. That was the time when I told myself that I want to be like him when I grow up even though it was not realized obviously...

Oil Pastel on Canson...

I just hope someday I could show everyone what the world is in my eyes personified through my paintings and my artworks.

Anyhow, the above picture was done via Oil Pastel on Canson. It's one of my personal favorite from my flower collection. Please leave your comments for personal artistic development.

Thank you... ^_^

Pizza Eating Day

2009-08-02T07:49:00.000-07:00

It was a promise I made them before leaving the office since I left two days before my 25th birthday. “I’ll be back in a jiffy!” I said and what I really meant was that I’ll be back in a few weeks or two. I was supposed to return 1st week of August but my colleague, my housemate and my friend already had the intention of following me by Friday so I was left with neither a choice but to pursue this get together schedule of ours.

with colleagues from SPi getting ready to be fired-up by that super meaty pizza...
It was total fun but quite depressing too never knowing if this time will be passing us again. I always had in mind and had been preparing myself for events alike. This might be our last time together, happy and complete. It always were. No matter where I go… It always were. My grade school pals, my high school friends, my first job comrades… I can’t even remember the last time we’re together except for those in college. I don’t have any idea what the differences are between those people mentioned above but it’s rather melancholic just thinking about those people who have ‘somehow’ touched your life and became part of your chronic adventures pursuing your dream that they will slowly fade away into your memoria and their influences slowly die out. I already accepted these somewhat perplexing facts of life. I comprehend that I will again someday, somewhere meet new people, laugh with these new people, care for these new people which will interchange those people you already left behind due to unexpected circumstances. I can never deny this irony.

shutter playing while waiting to be served at Chef d' Angelo...

Fireworks in action. Hehe got carried away editing those fireworks in the background though... halata ba? XD
I just hope this will not be our last time together and I am positive it is not. Although it’s quite refreshing meeting someone new.

Sing for Absolution by: MUSE

2009-07-24T08:08:00.000-07:00

My brother was the one who introduced this band to me. At first I was kind of... yeah another British band but when I heard and saw them performing live on YouTube... I was "Woah they rock!"

The song "Sing for Absolution" blew my mind away. This is the best MUSE song for me although it was kind of underrated and I don't know why. Anyway, enjoy the vid.

My Poetic Self...

2009-07-23T07:29:00.000-07:00

At long last... new time... new post...

Since I recently quit my job, I have all the time to spent blogging myself up... and here's the newest post I'm gonna be making...

Anyway, it was one quiet night. I just thought of creating something up which will show you how much I would want to live in the 70's. I haven't even thought of a title yet for this piece and I was thinking of the hype machine...

Anyway... here it is...

Titleless

How’s it like to be living in the 70’s?
When life’s not too complicated and somehow at peace…
Everybody’s happy, wearing smile on their faces…
Saying Lord thank you for the graces…

How’s it like to grow up with the music of Seals and Crofts?
When melodies and lyrics are not that rough…
People like Todd Rundgren singing Hello It’s Me…
Beatles on the other hand performing Let it Be…

How’s it like to be singing with the Starland Vocal Band?
Genius people singing about love hand in hand…
David Gates’ composition Baby I’m A Want you…
America’s best song ever I Need You…

How’s it like to be Creedence Clearwater Revival?
No nonsense people singing for Vietnam War survival…
Your friend in a brown leather jacket smoking pot…
Is way better than that damn politician in a knot…

Oh how I wish I could switch places with my dad…
My mom too who experienced Neil Young’s fad…
70’s is the best music era for people like me…
Followed by 90’s but Cobain was stolen by death to soon to be…

Notpron Spoiler Level 22

2009-05-03T08:54:00.001-07:00

Now… Time to relax… Don’t think too hard… ^_^

This level is the easiest level as Deathball Level 2! All you need to do is change the URL to proceed to the next stage since there’s no other clue from the source code.

Expect the unexpected… As you can see from the image (try to see harder) you’ll notice a phrase "the answer is unexpected", so there ya have it. You just need to change the URL to: http://www.deathball.net/notpron/beepbeep/unexpected.htm

Easy huh?! ^_____^

Also, an extra... if you wish to laugh and be entertained... change the URL first to http://www.deathball.net/notpron/beepbeep/phone.htm and it'll give you the BANANA PHONE... LOL

Play notpron HERE

Notpron Spoiler Level 21

2009-05-03T08:43:00.000-07:00

This level is totally time consuming. The title of the URL has nothing to do with this level. If you view the source code then you’ll have an idea what to do. Being familiar with beating the previous levels will give you an idea on your next move like changing the URL and extension file… but before we proceed, let’s try to check the source code:

once you open the source code you’ll see this -

Changing the URL will absolutely help you with the help of the image above…

let’s try to check the image:

1st step would be changing the URL to http://www.deathball.net/notpron/twentyone/blue.jpg then it’ll give you this image:

2nd step would be changing the URL again to http://www.deathball.net/notpron/twentyone/green.jpg then again it’ll give you this image:

Changing the corresponding filename and extension will give you the rest of the puzzle pieces… and then putting them altogether will reveal the username and the password.

I was totally getting headaches beating this level because of the neon colors though after experimenting and excluding 2 colors I finally had the answer and I’ll show you how I did it…

...and from the image I made above will show you that the username would be getting and the password would be further… Well, on to the next level… ^_^

Play notpron HERE

Notpron Spoiler Level 20

2009-05-03T08:24:00.000-07:00

After the holidays this is what I’m doing… Haha that’s just it (I’m officially announcing that I don’t have a life!!!) Well anyway this level is a little bit harder if you’re thinking beyond everything decoding and calculating the numbers you see from the image… Bummer! This had me too but regardless of the complicated way of thinking, it’s really that simple… and let me just remind that viewing the source code won’t help you… Let me show you how!

We have the title of the URL as the first hint - numbers, text, fonts and stuff…

Don’t mind the numbers and stuff and you’ll get it. Moreover if you’re really a text font style aficionado you’ll get this really quickly. As you can see from the image above disregarding the numbers and using the WINDINGS font syle will get you the answers…

So you’ll get "really unfair"… Username would be really and password would be unfair. Come to think of it this stage is quite unfair. It’s way easy but we never guessed it right from the very start that it’s all about the Windings font style. (at least for the most of us) -_-

Play notpron HERE

My Thailand Adventure...

2009-04-03T07:45:00.000-07:00

As usual, I haven't been able to update my blog. ~_~

After months of my Thailand experience, I finally had the time to share everything that happened to me when I was there.

Day 1:
It was only that morning when I had come to pack my things and went for the store to buy stuff needed by a traveler like me.
Well, it was my first time traveling only with my friends and without my parents so I was kind of paranoid-nervous and happy-excited at the same time. 9 in the evening was our boarding time so I sent a message early that morning to one of my colleagues who will be with me to watch the concert in Bangkok. We decided to ride the bus for the airport 5 in the afternoon since it was a 2 hour ride and we were unsure if there will be a traffic so we gave ourselves a grace period of 1 hour if anything happens along the way. I only brought 1 luggage for this trip and never thought that this will be a problem. I'm going to tell you why as we proceed with my story-telling...

Well, we got to the airport just in time, we just waited 2 hours or so before we board the plane so we strolled around to find food since we didn't have the chance to eat dinner. Little did we know that we should have had our things checked out along the immigration area and so we were the last ones to board the plane and that was so embarassing. Anyway, you can't blame starving people like us. We just ate bread and drank coffee since kopiroti is the only stall open 8 in the evening that day. I had come to sit beside a weird American. I was in the middle and my friend was in the window side. My other friend sits far away from us because she booked her flight way earlier than us.

Day 2:
We reached the superb Bangkok International Airport 2 in the morning. We need not worry at all since the hotel we come to negotiate our stay with do fetch their customers so we walked onto the exit and search for someone holding an IBIS Hotel plackard. I was really astonished of the fact that Thailand's airport is way much modern and hi-tech than ours. It was huge and the lights were all over the place. You can really see, even from afar that it is an airport. Anyhow, we took pictures along the way before we get our luggage. After that we went on to the immigration to get our passports stamped and then went for the exit to look for the guy with the IBIS plackard. It was kind of hard and it took us about 30 minutes or so to scan all the people outside since the airport was that huge and there were lots of hotel people awaiting their customers as well.

Darn Anti-Government Protesters…

2008-12-05T18:28:00.000-08:00

It has long been planned out; you know… having this vacation in Thailand. I even posted it here to my excitement and what happened??? Our flight was cancelled and why??? Anti-government protesters from Thailand shut-down their airport so that their Prime Minister who went for Peru to attend the APEC meeting would not be able to come back and be forced to step down his position which he did after a week. Huh? *deep sigh… Talk about misfortune. Anyhow, my college friend called me up and told me that the concert was rescheduled on February 7th anyway so we better have our flights rescheduled too which we did after talking almost every morning to CebuAir Customer Service during the Thailand mishap.

On the other hand, it would still be a great thing, if ever we were a week earlier in Thailand since I could have had a valid reason to extend my vacation and witness something cool too. LOL! My officemates were very encouraging. They told me I still have next year so I need not worry about it, such optimism. The only good thing I could think of regarding the situation is how I wish Filipinos can be like the Thailanders sometimes. How I wish that piles of people would gather up so that we can throw off the current megalomaniac president. I don’t want to talk politics right now but I just can’t help it.

Anyway, let’s end this crap. I just wish and I'm hopeful that we can make it by next year. I’m keeping my fingers crossed.

When Computer Monitors Go Down...

2008-11-09T16:53:00.000-08:00

I have been thinking and observing this weird PC breakdown for a while now. First time I encountered this problem was in the office. A colleague reported a PC breakdown and sending this message to us all. After reading his e-mail, I just can't believe that this is a sudden machine breakdown since my experiences with troubleshooting PCs tells me it is NOT. Well, anyway I turned the reported PC on and yup, I got nothing on the screen. Monitor light is amber but I'm hearing beeps from its CPU so no problem on its main brain. I started dismantling the wires at the back and I happen to take the ethernet cable out of its PC port. After that I turned the PC on and to my surprise, I finally got some output.

I was really puzzled... but if this happens to you, you just needed to take out your ethernet cable and turn your PC on. I think there's some conflict with the NIC and the video card and this TS really works. No clear reason as to why this troubleshooting step works but as long as it fixes your computer, to hell with the reason.

I managed to use this troubleshooting step again yesterday when a neighbor experienced the same problem and my discovered troubleshooting step above works geniusly. I got the PC monitor back up and normal...

Updates... updates... updates... and updates...

2008-11-08T03:00:00.000-08:00

As usual... I can't spell out my mood again right now. I don't know if I am being confused of my feelings for someone but I'm sure it's not what you think or maybe I'm just denying the fact that I can feel and I know it's a total bummer. I hate the fact knowing that I can feel something romantic because I am used to being alone and I have already accepted that I will never ever have a boyfriend in my entire fucking life.

Anyway, someone phoned me the other day and it's from Korea. An APEC representative is inviting me to attend a meeting which will be held at Philippine World Trade on November 18, 2008. She sounds cute. Well her accent is kinda funny but it's cute... Funny in a cute way like me sometimes... LOL Well I am pretty much sure I will attend the meeting and the thing is my mom wants to attend as well, not sure if it's possible though...

On the other hand, I decided not to come to work today and I have already asked permission to one of my supervisors which is sooo.. sooo.. lenient and you know what happened next. It's my dad's day today so I needed to come home. The mere fact that my housemates tolerated me to pursue my plan is very convincing. I just laughed it all out and sent a message to my superior which happens to be a good idea rather than just not showing at all. After my shift, my other girl-housemate and I went home and slept a little and then after that by ten she left for home. I continued my nap which is literally a nap since the boys woked me up. We were watching some movie and there, they adviced me that since it was my dad's birthday today I should go home and relax and be non-productive which I happen to get a little anxious at first. I was about to prepare and pack my things but they kept me in the house until the food is done so that we can eat together. That's so sweet, my tear almost fell-off my cheeks.

Moreover, I got home by 5 in the afternoon and still a little anxious about my decision. I just hope this will not cause any problem in the office...

I'm Sick and My Mother Wants Me to Resign...

2008-09-14T02:40:00.000-07:00

I got sick last Wednesday probably because of the weather. It has been changing drastically last week. You don't really know when it's gonna be sunny or when it's gonna rain. I had decided to rest for the wholeday so I had not come to work on Thursday. It was not that troublesome though since my housemates were there to take care of me. However, my mother went all the way to our apartment to check on me and there it all started about the thing of me leaving my job prematurely. A total bummer... I don't know what to do or how to explain. I told her it was inevitable. I'm not a superhero or something and everyone gets sick so I told her not to make a big deal out of it. On the other hand, I know her and I know that she's gonna do something and she even got one of my supervisor's e-mail address. I asked her, what's she gonna tell my supervisor? This is not school anymore that parents can barge in business anytime. It was too complicated but somehow I managed to talk my way through out of her web.

Anyway, I'm quite well right now but still can't go to work tomorrow. I need to have a check-up first. I don't know how to go on with everything anymore... I'm just tired... and the thing is, I'm not purely happy...

NEXT: Thailand Adventure

2008-08-24T04:23:00.000-07:00

I had this friend who invited me to go to Thailand because of a concert. I'm not a fan of those who would sing in the concert but I thought I needed a break from work stress. I was just fond of her letter, it's very convincing... She really did made a research regarding this...

Anyway, here's the letter:

AISA...

Here's the information:

CONCERT is at NOVEMBER 29, 2008 at Rajamangala National Stadium in Bang Dapi, Bangkok.

Plan is either we leave by Nov. 28 and return by Nov. 30, or we leave by Nov. 28 and return by Dec. 1 ... We have to work that out and we have to make it soon. Seats for PAL are getting full by the minute.. T__T Why are Filipinos going to Thailand at that time of the year?!?

1. Ticket price for Concert - 4500 baht > that's the priciest, if you convert that to Philippine peso, that's about P6100 >> I want to see them as close as I can. :-Q_ There's like 1500 baht but it's "miles" (exaggerated form) away. Of course, if you went all the way to BKK to see them, you have to make sure that you'd see them as near as possible. (It's my twisted reasoning, I think my mind's all messed up. XD I'll let you know why...)

2. Air Fare. I checked on PAL, 28Nov - 30Nov, there are available seats and the cheapest is $168. I used P46 = $1 and it's about P7730 and when I double checked 28Nov - 1Dec, cheapest is at $204 = P9390. That's already roundtrip, schedule for departure and arrival provided.

That's where we get the P15000 that I told you about.

NOW.....

a. Accommodation

- I am going to contact someone who went to BKK last May and ask her about how she got a place to stay for a week. Actually, I'm also asking her to go but I think she's not going so, I'll just get her information.
- I also checked Inns, 2-3 star hotels in BKK and there's one in Sukhumvit that costs $24/night, 2 beds, internet access, resto, laundry (as if we're gonna need this, haha), etc. I looked up the place, it looks so cool and the rooms are pretty BUT... we still need to look for a cheaper place, even if we're sharing, $12/night is still a lot of money. T_T

b. Fare (Taxi, Tuktuk, Bus, Train)

- I only checked the taxi fare. I'm pro-convenience and we all know it's a hassle if we're going to take a bus or train (much more if it's a tuktuk .. though it's a popular Thai transportation) . Plus, Thai taxis are metered so they can't cheat on us. XD They charge 35baht minimum, that's $1 per ride but of course, they charge extra for extra kms. So for fare, that's pretty much covered since we'll share as well. ($0.5 for every minimum fare, not bad eh?)

c. Food

- I checked and online, it says that the minimum food cost in Thailand is about $1/meal. I alloted about $20 for food, on my part, not because my appetite is wicked but because it's better to have more than less right?

d. Merchandise/Souvenirs

- Hah. I'm not sure if I'd buy something though. I would, maybe, because of family so I'm going to have at least $50 set for this but that's just me. I might not use it because I have a little 'thrifty' side on me, so it's that "more than less" theory again.

e. Pocket Money

- Can it be categorized for letter D as well? "More than Less" theory.

I summed it all up.

Those on 2ND row are adjustments!

==========================================
Airfare $168 $204
Concert ticket $133 $140
Accomodation $036 $040
Taxi Fare $015 $020
Food $015 $020
Souvenirs $050 $060
Pocket Money $050 $050
==========================================
Total $467 $534
==========================================
Converted @ P46 = $1 P21482 P24564

LET'S MAKE THIS HAPPEN YO!!! LET'S ... LET'S!!!

College Reunion of 10

2008-08-09T09:53:00.000-07:00

I had this friend who worked in Dubai for 2 years and finally came home a week ago. He planned of having this reunion even before knowing the tentative date of his departure. I am just kind of excited about it and I really don’t know why. Anyway, I just got home from the event and the funny thing is only 10 people were present. But, in any case, that didn’t hinder us to have so much fun.

We went to El Madero, a resort nearby. We were 5 then and the rest got there by 8 in the evening. I didn’t plan to swim so I didn’t bring any swimwear with me given that I intend to go home by 9 since I still have my work tomorrow afternoon. The most interesting thing we had talked about is all regarding our so-called frustrations. I wish I were or I wish I was. I wish I had or I wish I did and weirdly laughed about these stuffs although some of them we were agitatedly aware of. Most of them were planning to leave their job very soon and the reason is the usual. Tired of doing the same thing everyday, daily routine for that matter.

Moreover, we had talked about me wanting to take up Fine Arts back then before graduating high school since I do believe I have “it” and this is my passion honestly speaking. I was always pondering what if I had become an Arts major. What would I become if I had taken up and followed my passion? I had this classmate who even said that her future is planned and her goals are already there but circumstances are the major adversary. I, too, understood what she meant about it. I was in fact planning and/or determined to become a 3D artist early this year but this wasn’t the case after getting a job under publishing. Yes, it was under publishing but my job way way differs from what I had imagined. I thought I would be in designing and publishing but I became a support instead... so I had no choice but to enjoy my current job. They even asked why I agreed to enter publishing since I am a computer major and not English major but my answer always seems to be some kind of an excuse and I'm not quite sure why.

At any rate, I decided to get home by 11 since I wanted to get a good sleep and they had gone to a bar near Robinson’s mall after a night swim. It was fun overall and educating at some point. No one changed at least I can tell nobody changed. They were exactly the same when we were in college. Fun, comedic, dramatic, cool, crazy. A blast for knowing them…

Proxy Sites for Nothing and Clicks for Free

2008-07-26T12:36:00.000-07:00

I haven’t been able to update my blog since being a night-shifter. Well, am doing all my blogs at night so… bummer… Anyway, I am currently at the office, doing nothing (at the moment) but browsing under a web proxy. Hell! We have internet security which blocks popular sites like myspace, multiply, friendster, facebook.. sooo.. we had no choice but to find our way to sneak through. I have written below some cool web proxies for you to choose from just in case your office has this darn internet security too.

Well, just an overview for our newbie friends; web proxy is a proxy that focuses on WWW traffic. The most common use of a web proxy is to serve as a web cache. Most proxy programs (e.g. SQUID) provide a means to deny access to certain URLs in a blacklist, thus providing content filtering. This is usually used in a corporate environment, though with the increasing use of Linux in small businesses and homes, this function is no longer confined to large corporations. Some web proxies reformat web pages for a specific purpose or audience (e.g., cell phones and PDAs).

http://kc5150.com
http://www.silversurf.info/
http://www.proxypure.com/
http://www.cubeproxy.info/
http://seofm.info/
http://www.kamouflage.info/
http://www.ioop.info/
http://www.proxycharm.info/
http://www.thehider.com/

Have fun with these proxies and see yah in a short while. I’m going home today, in my province since it's my off. I’ll be posting lots of cool stuff once I’m home.. sooo stay tuned!

Call Center Bloopers Part 2

2008-07-12T10:38:00.000-07:00

Agent: Thank you for calling Verizon Online DLS Technical Support, we’re here to provide you with outstanding service, you have reached Anna. Let me just verify your DSL phone number and that would be 718-xxx-xxx, is that correct?

Customer: Yes.

Agent: May I have a call back number just in case we need to reach you regarding this matter?

Customer: You can reach me through my cell phone… It’s uhhm 921-xxx-xxx.

Agent: Thank you for that information. Am I speaking with the account holder?

Customer: Yes.

Agent: Thank you. How may I help you today?

Customer: I can’t connect to the internet. I think it's a problem with the configuration.

Agent: I see. I apologize for the inconvenience Mr. X but before we proceed with the troubleshooting steps, can I please have the brand name of your modem?

Customer: Uhhh it is an Actiontec. Actually I have it upstairs because I use wireless laptop in my bedroom but I don’t have my laptop right now it is with my wife. My kids are using wireless too in their rooms but the device is in my bedroom and I do have a workstation downstairs. It is a desktop computer. Do I need to go up to the modem?

Agent: Yes Mr.X! We need to check on the lights and access the GUI of the modem-router so if you may we need to directly connect your desktop computer if you don’t have your laptop with you.

Customer: Oh ok not a prob! One moment.

Agent: Take your time Mr. X.

Customer: Ok I’m here now. What do you want me to do.

Agent: Ok! Do you have an extra Ethernet cable so that we can directly connect your desktop downstairs?

Customer: My desktop is connected wirelessly as well but I think I do have an extra Ethernet cable. It’s handy keeping them for this kind of situation.

Agent: You are right Mr. X. By the way, could you please describe the lights on your modem?

Customer: Everything’s fine as far as I could tell. All are the same concerning the lights so I guess this might be a problem with the configuration? Am I getting it correctly?

Agent: I am amazed Mr. X. You are quite familiar with these stuffs too are you Mr. X?

Customer: Well, yeah; I once worked in a printing hardware company so basically we were informed of computer connections.

Agent: Wow that’s good to hear Mr. X.

Customer: Thank you. Well, what should we do next.

Agent: Alright... You may bring the modem downstairs and we could connect it directly to your desktop and configure the wireless connection. We would also check if you could go online when directly connected to the modem.

Customer: Oh ok one moment…

After 2 to 3 minutes, agent hears a loud thump, like someone falling down the stairs.

Agent: Mr. X are you there? Are you alright sir?

Customer: Well yeah don’t worry I’m fine, I just slipped 3, 4 steps so nothing crucial but the problem is... I think the modem is broken.

Agent: What do you mean the modem is broken sir?

Customer: Laughs... Well I could see the antenna sticking out for a fact... So can I have a replacement then?

Agent: Sure sir, not a problem. I would arrange it for you…

And then there was the moment which every agent is longing for. Modem replacement makes life easier…

Tsk tsk…

Call Center Bloopers Part 1

2008-07-12T10:08:00.000-07:00

Agent: Thank you for calling Verizon Online DLS Technical Support, we’re here to provide you with outstanding service, you have reached Anna. Let me just verify your DSL phone number and that would be 718-xxx-xxx, is that correct?

Customer: Yes.

Agent: May I have a call back number just in case we need to reach you regarding this matter?

Customer: You can reach me through this number.

Agent: Thank you for that information. Am I speaking with the account holder?

Customer: No, I’m his wife.

Agent: May I have the name of the account holder please?

Customer: It’s uhhh Jack Black (not his real name obviously)

Agent: Thank you. How may I help you today?

Customer: I can’t connect to the internet. I’ve tried it a dozen times, I’ve already turned off and on the box as what was advice before and still I’m unable to go online.

Agent: I see. I apologize for the inconvenience Mrs. Black but before we proceed with the troubleshooting steps, can I please have the brand name of your modem?

Customer: Uhhh what’s a modem?

Agent: Oh I’m sorry Mrs. Black but a modem is the box you tried to turn off and on a while ago.

Customer: Oh! Where can I see the brand of the box? Is it a bunch of numbers?

Agent: You may see the brand name either on top or in front of the box. It could be a Westell, an Actiontec or a Fujitsu.

Customer: Oh yeah it’s – it’s a Westell..

Agent: Ok! That’s right Mrs. Black, how about the model number?

Customer: Well… it says here 6100 is that it?

Agent: Yes, that is correct Mrs. Black. How about the operating system of your computer?

Customer: Well, I’m not sure, but if it is on the tower then it’s Dell.

Agent: Not the brand name Mrs. Black but the operating system if it is a Windows XP or Windows VISTA.

Customer: Where can I see those?

Agent: Uhmm do you have a ‘My Computer’ icon on your desktop?

Customer: Well I guess… But I’m on a page where it says ‘Page cannot be displayed’ right now.

Agent: Alright... If that is the case, kindly close all your windows.

Customer: All of it?

Agent: Yes Mrs. Black.

Customer: Oh that might be a little hard but ok. Can I put you on hold for a minute?

Agent: Sure Mrs. Black (agent wonders…)

After 5 to 10 minutes, Mrs. Black goes back to the phone panting really hard.

Customer: *Panting… I have closed all the windows of our house now. That might be a good idea. I think the sunlight might have caused some problem with the computer? Is that what you’re trying to do here?

Agent: Uhhh, I guess Mrs. Black... Absolutely…

Notpron Spoiler Level 19

2008-07-06T08:56:00.000-07:00

Haven't been able to update this for a while. Thank god I still have the answers here. Can't afford to loose track since I've gotten much further. Anyway another weird level with a creepy image...

So what's with the weird-looking hand? It was told from the name of the URL itself that "he moved into the right direction!".... Let's check the source code and see what moved into the right direction?

SOURE CODE:

We can only see this ->

and .. -->xfjse tuvgg-->

as you notice from the letters above, it doesn't make any sense for the entire page, hence it has these symbols <,!,> and we all know that these symbols are used to name or label a function so it means that these are the codes we needed to crack. Moved into the right direction? Try to observe the code again... You'll see that all the letters, if moved leftwards, will form a phrase.

x - before this letter we have w
f - before this letter we have e
j - before this letter we have i
s - before this letter we have r
e - before this letter we have d

t - before this letter we have s
u - before this letter we have t
v - before this letter we have u
g - before this letter we have f
g - before this letter we have f

so there you have it... The username would be weird and the password would be stuff. In conclusion it means that the letters are the ones who move into the right direction... ^_____^

This round is way too easy...

Play notpron HERE

Notpron Spoiler Level 18

2008-07-06T08:45:00.000-07:00

Yeah, yeah... I know, I know! This one's really hard... No hints at all, well except for...

let's try to check the SOURCE CODE again:

--> what the heck is the 'a' for? why not a 'b'? or nothing at all? -->

Well does it make any sense? YES it DOES... What the heck is the "A" for? why not a "B"... They might be talking about piano chords don't you think? Hmm let's try this first... because once I had come to this level I tried to change the URL to:

http://www.deathball.net/notpron/finale/piano.htm

then you'll see this message:

yes its a piano, but but what is it playing?

and that's when I proved that it was talking about the piano chords after all...

Then after having this message you would be needing to find a virtual piano that can play a chord...

Play Virtual Piano Keyboard

If you're not familiar with the piano chords try downloading "how to play piano" as well.

Hmm, now after trying all the chords and comparing them to the sound you're hearing from the main page you'll be hearing: D, E, F, and an A...

Well I also mistook some of the chords and even got this URL here:

http://www.deathball.net/notpron/finale/cage.htm

And you would be seeing this message:

Stop randomly guessing shit...!

Haha, that's really funny...

Now getting from where we left off, after decoding the sound, I tried to change the URL to:

http://www.deathball.net/notpron/finale/fade.htm

still I got this error message:

no, you music genius....

What might be the problem? Then I tried to change the URL to this:

http://www.deathball.net/notpron/finale/deaf.htm

and there I have it, the next level. I just interchanged the letters from F-A-D-E to D-E-A-F!

Play notpron HERE

Working on Sundays…

2008-07-05T09:37:00.001-07:00

I am currently in my office, working… on a Sunday. Yeah! Isn't it crazy?!! However, we have no e-mail therefore we have nothing to do. Well, it is 2 days after 4th of July so might be the reason why authors, editors, reviewers were unable to send their queries. Anyway, since we were just doodling around, browsing the net, this day is oh-sooo boring that I got myself to draw using only MSPaint. I experimented and tweaked the lines. I used flip/rotate to actually have proportionality with my character and I think I pulled it of… somehow…

Hackers steal $2M from Citi ATMs

2008-07-04T09:57:00.000-07:00

SAN JOSE, Calif. (AP) -- Hackers broke into Citibank's network of ATMs inside 7-Eleven stores and stole customers' PIN codes, according to recent court filings that revealed a disturbing security hole in the most sensitive part of a banking record.

The scam netted the alleged identity thieves millions of dollars. But more importantly for consumers, it indicates criminals were able to access PINs - the numeric passwords that theoretically are among the most closely guarded elements of banking transactions - by attacking the back-end computers responsible for approving the cash withdrawals.

The case against three people in U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York highlights a significant problem.

Hackers are targeting the ATM system's infrastructure, which is increasingly built on Microsoft Corp.'s (MSFT, Fortune 500) Windows operating system and allows machines to be remotely diagnosed and repaired over the Internet. And despite industry standards that call for protecting PINs with strong encryption - which means encoding them to cloak them to outsiders - some ATM operators apparently aren't properly doing that. The PINs seem to be leaking while in transit between the automated teller machines and the computers that process the transactions.

"PINs were supposed be sacrosanct - what this shows is that PINs aren't always encrypted like they're supposed to be," said Avivah Litan, a security analyst with the Gartner research firm. "The banks need much better fraud detection systems and much better authentication."

It's unclear how many Citibank customers were affected by the breach, which extended at least from October 2007 to March of this year and was first reported by technology news Web site Wired.com. The bank has nearly 5,700 Citibank-branded ATMs inside 7-Eleven Inc. stores throughout the United States, but it doesn't own or operate any of them.

That responsibility falls on two companies: Houston-based Cardtronics Inc. (CATM), which owns all the machines but only operates some, and Brookfield, Wis.-based Fiserv Inc. (FISV, Fortune 500), which operates the others.

A critical issue in the investigation is how the hackers infiltrated the system, a question that still hasn't been answered publicly.

All that's known is they broke into the ATM network through a server at a third-party processor, which means they probably didn't have to touch the ATMs at all to pull off the heist.

They could have gained administrative access to the machines - which means they had carte blanche to grab information - through a flaw in the network or by figuring out those computers' passwords. Or it's possible they installed a piece of malicious software on a banking server to capture unencrypted PINs as they passed through.

What that means for consumers is that their PINs were stolen from machines that showed no signs of tampering they could detect. In previous PIN thefts, thieves generally took steps that might draw notice - sending "phishing" e-mails, for example, or installing false-front keypads or even tiny cameras on ATMs.

Getting the PINs is a key step for identity thieves. It lets criminals encode stolen account information onto blank ATM cards and withdraw piles of cash from compromised accounts.

Don Jackson, director of threat intelligence for SecureWorks Inc., said he has seen an "alarming" spike in the number of attacks on back-end computers for ATM networks over the past year.

"This was fairly large, but I don't think it's anything out of the ordinary - these kinds of scams go on every day," Jackson said. "What makes this case unique is the sheer luck of happening upon these guys and catching them red-handed. But there are a whole lot of other ATM and PIN compromises going on that aren't reported."

The alleged plot is outlined in court papers supporting the prosecution of three people - Yuriy Rakushchynets, Ivan Biltse and Angelina Kitaeva. They were indicted in March on two counts each of conspiracy and fraud. Prosecutors say their activities generated at least $2 million in illegal profits.

Defense lawyers for all three people did not return calls for comment, and it was not clear where they had been living. The main defendant, Rakushchynets, was described as having Michigan and Florida's driver licenses in a February FBI affidavit for an arrest warrant.

Citibank, part of Citigroup Inc. (C, Fortune 500), has declined to comment on the technique or how many customers' accounts were compromised. It said it notified affected customers and issued them new debit cards.

"We want our customers to know that, consistent with legal requirements, we do not hold them responsible for fraudulent activity in their accounts," the bank said in a statement.

Cardtronics said it is cooperating with authorities but otherwise declined to comment. Fiserv spokeswoman Melanie Tolley said the intrusion didn't happen on Fiserv's servers.

"Fiserv," she said, "is confident in the integrity and security of our system."

(Information taken from CNN)

How to Start Your Own Game Company

2008-07-02T22:25:00.000-07:00

As I have told you on my previous posts, I have been a biiiigggg fan of games since Atari and.. to one point.. thought of making my own someday. Well, this someday I think is right now. I have been browsing the web to seek help so that I could start my own game company and hence, I saw this site which is really helpful turning your ideas to reality. The site is called Guidelines for Starting a Game Company by Peter Larsson.

Fundamental Structure (Your Ideas!)

Reading his post makes me optimistic but 'lots' of work are needed to be done. Second paragraph says that the idea is creating your own game with original characters, original story and above all unique gameplay. Of course who would want to play an imitated game in the first place? No one will take an interest on checking your game out if it wasn't original. Always keep in mind that you should try to make something 'unique' in your game to bring peoples attention to it - don't just imitate everyone else or no one will become interested in it.

Recruiting Righful People

Of course it is always easy and fast to create a game via group and how to recruit would be your main question. Well, if you yourself are already an A+ programmer then good for you. It is much easier to recruit back-ups if you are the lead programmer. However, if you are not a slightest programmer and all you have is the main story and the characters then what I would suggest is for you to join 'other' group. It is hard to create your 'own' game company if all you have is the external side of developing a game. By far, from reading Peter's guidelines and from checking it out myself, GameDev.Net and CGTalk is a nice place to form your group.

Always have in mind that when recruiting someone you should check the individual's background and work.

Developing Your Game

If you want the project to be successful I wouldn’t recommend you to start from scratch, instead use an existing game- or rendering engine as this makes it possible for you to focus on the things that are unique in your game, e.g. gameplay and AI. There are a lot of existing engines out there, both free and commercial ones, check out DevMaster.net for a list of popular engines. Personally I’d recommend OGRE which at the time of writing is the most popular open source rendering engine.

Getting a Contract

This is what you’ll need to start the actual company and continue development for a living, but first you need to have something to show up. Developing a playable demo (i.e. alpha or beta version) and submitting it to various publishers might help you get a contract but you’ll also need to have a detailed documentation, not just about the game itself but also an economical plan and a project plan together with a motivated team who’s able to finish the project.

However, there are some things that you should think about before submitting a game to any publisher. Try to impress the game testers, it has to be something new or special to stick out from the majority, otherwise you might never get a contract. The gameplay is also very important, no matter how great your game looks – no one will play it if it isn’t fun. So make sure to fix obvious bugs and let people playtest your game before you submit it.

THANKS A LOT PETER LARSSON FOR THE TIPS. For more information regarding their project you may visit the URL below:

http://hem.bredband.net/_petlar/

Notpron Spoiler Level 17

2008-07-02T17:04:00.000-07:00

Another weird easy level. Moreover, we have the picture and the title as hints. What else?

Let's view the SOURCE CODE:

and then the only unusual code that we can see would be:

.. -->what am I?-->

So, no need for us to look for the username and the password because this level doesn't require one to proceed with the next level. In return this knowledge will lead us only to one point, changing the URL based on the hints "aliens are coming" and "what am I?" (of course pertaining to the image)

So first, what I did was change the URL to:

http://www.deathball.net/notpron/finale/ufo.htm

then we'll see this message here "hello mulder, you won't believe it, but it's no aliens!!"

then I tried to change the URL again to this:

http://www.deathball.net/notpron/finale/egg.htm

then you'll see this funny message: "gack gaaaack....no fool.......eggs are different"

and then I thought really hard and came up with the answer "LAMP" and changed the URL to:

http://www.deathball.net/notpron/finale/lamp.htm

and there you go to the next level... ^____^ very easy and quite funny too...

Play notpron HERE

How to Start Your Own Technology Company

2008-07-02T03:28:00.000-07:00

I have been thinking of starting my own company even if I have no slightest idea how to. Just guts, just guts and the urge to have millions of money. Hey, I'm just being practical, we really need money to survive. Anyway, I found this website which is really helpful on getting you straight up with your dream: How to Start Your Own Technology Company.

The site helps you to prepare and it has also a step by step instructions and requirements to realizing your dream. These are called 5 steps before making the leap.

my dream office...
#1 Test the business viability of what you want to do...

It is one thing to have a great idea for a product, or have sweet skills that would add a lot of value to potential clients. But it is quite another to fully build a product and—more importantly—make money on that product, or sustain and grow a services company over the long term.

You need to sit down and honestly assess the financial viability of what you want to do. This involves asking some really hard questions:

*Who will buy your products or services, and why will they be compelled to?
*What is your unique value proposition?
*What kind of resources—people, infrastructure, and money—will building this company require?
*How much income will there be, and when will the income start flowing in?
*How long can you personally go without making any money?
*Are you willing to decrease your standard of living, if necessary, to make this work?

If the numbers aren’t looking very promising in the short term, do you have a source for a loan or other type of cash infusion?
How much of your time will making the company successful require?
The trick of this process is that your estimates will almost certainly be way off. First-time entrepreneurs almost universally underestimate their costs and overestimate their income. When starting my company, we did a pretty good job estimating costs but our estimates on revenues were way off the mark. Despite our both being senior, experienced designers with robust networks, we essentially did not make any money—just covered costs—for the first six months. We began making good money again shortly thereafter, but we were lucky to do so. With any new venture, especially if you are creating a products company, expect to not make any money for a fair stretch of time, unless you are infused with cash from some outside source. That probably means a loan, either from a family member or with a bank. In some cases, you might even have an idea worthy of angel funding or venture capital. In any of these cases, be ready for the possibility of needing outside cash right up front.

Also, building a company is an extremely time-consuming process. You will probably never work harder than when you are trying to get started, established and settled. Go into this with your eyes wide open, and be prepared to work very long hours—often doing things outside of your skill set that you are not particularly good at or interested in doing. If you’re not willing to throw all of yourself into making this happen, chances are the business is not viable.

#2 Decide whether you want to run your company solo, or enlist the help of business partners...

Once you’ve decided that you want to move forward, the most important decision you will make is defining your initial management team. In most cases, you could probably run a small company without other partners. However, working with other partners can really accelerate your growth, not to mention make work more enjoyable.

For example, even though my business partner and I are unified in our love for and philosophy about design, our skill sets are actually very different. Andrei is a dyed-in-the-wool interface designer, and was the UI design lead on the core Adobe product suite for years. He is the best in the business at what he does. On the other hand, my background is varied and includes not only design, but also marketing, business consulting, and corporate management. This proves a perfect fusion, as Andrei provides the leadership for our core design practice and I plan, sell and run the company. Even though in a different situation I could very capably provide the leadership for a core design practice, the fact is Andrei is just better and more experienced at doing that. And we benefit from that unique expertise. On the other hand, Andrei does not have the experience or particular interest in the business side of things, so my role in ably leading those things is of great benefit to him. It is an ideal match.

Some companies have more than just two partners. That can enable even more diverse skill sets to participate in running the company, or get different people with similar skill sets working together to take the organization farther. Having other people leading the charge just makes life easier; you are able to get more done, focus more on the things you are good at and enjoy, and balance out doing the things that no one enjoys.

But with more decision makers comes more complexity. There are times when Andrei and I really struggle to come to agreement on major decisions that affect the company. If there were more people involved it could be even more difficult. And while that sort of consensus decision-making process works for some people, it would not be a good fit for me, given the speed with which I like to grow and make decisions. So part of figuring this out is really knowing yourself. There are many people who aren’t comfortable negotiating any decisions, even with just one other person. And that’s all right—they can just start their own company, and hire other people to work with and for them instead of sharing ownership and management.

There is not one correct answer. It is a question of personal preference, specific context, and understanding what it will take to achieve your goals.

#3 Set and articulate a vision...

Achieving success begins with a clear understanding of exactly what your definition of success is. Once you’ve got your management team together, you need to all sit down (most likely many times, at least sometimes over food and drink) and figure out what your company is, and what you are trying to achieve.

Defining your company is a matter of both market approach and internal structure and organization. In your market approach, you need to figure out both what you are going to be selling, and how you are going to position it in the marketplace. This takes a real understanding of your interests and skills, what the market is looking for, and how to build an approach to market that allows you to successfully sell your products or services.

On the internal side, you need to have a shared understanding of both how things will be structured and run today, and how that model will scale in the future based on different growth trajectories. This might sound like a complicated and difficult process, but it’s really just a matter of loosely thinking about—and ultimately agreeing on—a basic plan for scaling and changing over time. Most likely, even this plan will change as the growth of the company happens in ways that no one quite expected. But by beginning from a point of shared agreement, it makes it that much easier to adapt and adjust when things change.

Determining what you are trying to achieve is a much less practical exercise, and is certainly not rooted in anything that is likely to actually happen. After all, did Google intend to be a media company? Did Ideo intend to be a management consultancy? Did Razorfish intend to be an enterprise brand experience company? The point here is to set a goal, something to shoot for and aspire to. This will help to guide all of your planning and decisions. And my recommendation is to be bold. One of my favorite quotes is the old adage, “If you shoot for the stars and fall short, at least you will reach the moon.” Stretch yourself, and see how far you can grow.

#4 Create a powerful identity...

This is probably the easiest part for design professionals. Once you’ve figured out your strategic market approach, you need to design the basic identity elements that will be the initial foundation for the company’s brand. Here is a short checklist of things to create:

Must-haves

*Logo
*Positioning statement
*Web site
*Business cards
*Digital letterhead/document templates
*PowerPoint/Keynote templates and sales presentation

Nice-to-haves

*Printed letterhead
*Return address stickers
*Sales/product sheets

Only for the well-heeled

*Printed brochure
*Printed envelopes
*Logo folders

People will make judgments on the perceived quality of your company, products and services based on the quality of your identity and collateral materials. Take these seriously. Get them right.

#5 If you are creating a services firm, try to start with clients you already have...

The final point I want to make in this first part is a last reality check for you, especially those who are selling services instead of products. Selling services is hard, especially if your company does not have a portfolio or proof of past work. It’s best to start as an informal independent consultancy with a nice stream of clients and later scale up into a more formal company. Take the time to gather some clients, then make the larger investments in building the infrastructure of a formal company. It is extremely difficult to sell services with no clients and no portfolio. Take the time, be systematic, and start at a point where you are positioned to succeed.

Part 2 of this series will get into some practical specifics of getting started, including the stuff everyone hates (but has to deal with) like legal and accounting.

THANKS A LOT FOR THE TIPS DIRK! For more information about Dirk Knemeyer, please visit the URL below:

http://www.digital-web.com/about/contributors/dirk_knemeyer

The World of Paper-Craft

2008-06-29T06:03:00.000-07:00

Origami was the first paper craft technique I got myself involved into. As far as I can remember, I think I was in my 4th grade when I got to do my very first 'geometrically-perfect' (as I call it) bird crane. It took me hours to perfect and follow the drawing instructions for the bird crane version I perfected. Moreover, it wasn't only the bird crane model I got to finish but a lot more (Gold fish, frog, bell flower, penguin, whale, paper cup...) and through Origami I felt like I did have a normal childhood.

Anyway, as I was being fond of Origami, I started to get involved with paper-crafting, well just last year.. when I had nothing to do but waste paper and ink >,< I became interested with this technique after seeing a picture of Howl's Moving Castle paper craft... and it looks 'that' good, I didn't notice it was actually made out of paper.

Well, as far as I can explain, paper crafting is just another technique which includes (of course) paper, scissors for this case, glue, printer, and patience. Models can be created via software, 3D software probably since I have not yet to create mine... and from this you will have a pattern in which you will then need to build-up like that of a plamo (plastic model).

I have actually created several models already. None of them were my own but I hope to create my original someday.

Furthermore, I am just taking this like a theraphy. Away from my stressful work and my stressful life. You should try it too. It's fun! ^_______^

I'm In Love with Chris Martin

2008-06-27T10:14:00.000-07:00

After a looong wait of having another Coldplay’s album... here they are again, still bright and shining in my heart. I am f***king obsessed with their music and I think I’m falling in love with their frontman Chris Martin. Anyway, Viva la Vida and Violet Hill are songs that are so unique and so refreshing that it’ll take you someplace else while listening to it. I'm always in a trance when listening to Coldplay’s music. This is way better that their X&Y album in my opinion.

"Viva la Vida" (Spanish for "Live the life") is the second single released from the English alternative rock band Coldplay's 2008 album, Viva la Vida or Death and All His Friends. It was initially released only with iTunes Store pre-orders of the album on 7 May 2008, later becoming a download-only single on 25 May 2008.

The song was used in an advertising campaign for Apple's iPod and iTunes Store while Coldplay performed the song live for the first time at the 2008 MTV Movie Awards. Anton Corbijn is set to direct the music video for the song.

Notpron Spoiler Level 16

2008-06-27T10:07:00.000-07:00

Now you must be thinking you're stupid that you did not take note of the username and password from the previous levels. Don't worry you're not alone, I felt stupid too and beyond that I had to go back to level 2 to account all the procedures I did to beat every level. Now going back to level 16. Let's see... we have here the title which is "resume", what else? uhmm let's try to check the source code...

Source Code:

and then we have this...

I know, at this point you regret not having saved all passwords and url's of the previous levels. But I tell you, start doing it now, or you might regret it much more later

what else do we have?

and we also have this...

.. --> invert az-->

what does it mean?

As you can see from the picture we have a bunch of numbers starting from level 1 to level 15 and we can notice that the levels that has the number "0" are those that didn't require username and password to proceed with the next level. So it only means that we just need to exclude all the pictures that has the number "0". So we proceed to picture 4:

picture 4: has number 4, the username of that level is voodoo, the fourth letter would be letter D

picture 5: is the number 5 but what does the symbol "" stands for, let's see, we have this as a hint (invert a to z) so let's try to invert the alphabet... What's the fifth letter of the username of this level? We have the letter L so let's try to see if it would make any sense. L is the 12th letter of the alphabet, reverse 12 from the alphabet and we have the letter O

picture 6: we have the number 3 and the symbol "", so we need to use the inverted alphabet again... the username of this level would be kill, third letter would be L so the same as the previous picture L is the 12th letter reverse the 12 from the alphabet and we have the letter O again

picture 8: we have the number 2 and the symbol "", the username of this level is inverted, second letter would be the letter N, N is the 14th letter of the alphabet invert 14 and we have letter M

picture 9: we have the number 5, fifth letter of the username from this level is the letter M

picture 11: we have the number 1 and the symbol "", the first letter of the username of this level is F, F is the 6th letter of the alphabet reverse 6 and we have the letter U

picture 12: number 1 and the first letter of the username of this level would be letter R

picture 13: we have the number 1 again and the first letter of the username of this level would be letter D

picture 14: we have the number 2 and the second letter of the username of this level would be letter E

picture 15: we have the number 1 and the first letter of the username of this level would be letter R

so collecting all the letters we have D-O-O-M-M-U-R-D-E-R, we have "doom" and "murder" ...

Username: doom

Password: murder

Play notpron HERE

Notpron Spoiler Level 15

2008-06-27T09:53:00.000-07:00

Base from the title itself "hit the keys" and the URL "board" you are given a hint to rely on your keyboard... What should we hit on the keyboard then?

No need to worry I've already beaten this stage and all you need to do is open up the SOURCE CODE if you can't find anything reliable on the frontpage...

So from opening the SOURCE CODE, we can see some weird codes here like what you have below:

.. --> [1] 4 [2] 1 [3] 6 [2] 3 [1] 9 [3] 7
[2] 2 6 [1] 8 5-->

what are these codes for? Hmm... let's try to do something and observe the keyboard... and after experimenting and 'dozens' of decoding I came up with this way to decipher it...

[number] number inside the box brackets depicts that it's the first row of the keyboard starting with the letter "Q"

number without the box brackets is the number of the letter on the row

so...

[1] 4 - r
[2] 1 - a
[3] 6 - n
[2] 3 - d
[1] 9 - o
[3] 7 - m

yes and we have the word "random" for the username and

[2] 2 - s
[2] 6 - h
[1] 8 - i
[1] 5 - t

and the word "shit" for the password so...

Username: random

Password: shit

Play notpron HERE

Notpron Spoiler Level 14

2008-06-27T09:17:00.000-07:00

Yes yes yes, you need the username and the password again to proceed with the next level... and all it requires is your common sense which I already cleared "I don't have..."

So we have the hints "he knew the feeling" and "been there" ... And also from the picture you would notice that this was used on level 5. In the SOURCE CODE you would see:

.. -->don't use opera here!

what language is the password hint? use it properly!-->

So common sense tells you that the answer would be "deja vu" based from the hints "he knew the feeling" and "been there", but why isn't the username and password working? Then we can see from the source code "what language" and "use it properly" so you have to search how "deja vu" is written correctly and this answer will appear: déjà vu... this language is in French

So there you have it...

Username: déjà

Password: vu

Play notpron HERE

The Ting Tings "Shut Up & Let Me Go"

2008-06-26T10:55:00.000-07:00

At last a new song and video done right... Darn Brits... tsk tsk

Watch the making of "Shut Up & Let Me Go" music video... and watch the actual MV HERE (Embedding the actual video is disabled by request)

Stimulate Your Frontal Lobe... (Waking Life and Me)

2008-06-26T10:37:00.000-07:00

An excerpt from my favorite philosophical movie "WAKING LIFE"...

Since the world is in constant flux, nothing that occurs has any relevance to anything else. What you believe, feel, or think is based on the assumption that truth exists. Thus, you're free to do anything that brings you pleasure. That humanity feels constrained by morals is one of the funniest jokes I've ever heard…

Honestly, I’m really having a hard time describing myself since I believe all you know about one self is always just as shallow. Yeah, I can be superficial but most of the time I’m complex. Being a rational technophile is what defines me best if this even exists. I’m into sci-fi books, brains that will take you millions of years from now. Having arguments specially the ones that’ll make your brain bleed is what motivates me. I don’t like non-sense; feeling my brain cells dying is really dreadful. I come from the principle of being agnostic. I don’t believe in universal God because I have my own personal God. Incredulity fills me in specially when talking about Quantum Mechanics and the so-called freedom. It’s only our emotional structure which makes us want God to exist and this is what you call faith. I also consider free will and Physics argument comical. I’ll be quoting something from what I replied on some forum.

Quote: "Because if you're talking about free will there's always this assumption that God exist, on the other hand if you're talking purely about Quantum Mechanics since it's so deterministic then if we look at it in a small scale, large scale either way seems so that we have no freedom at all so why this argument. Isn't free will just another part of our emotional structure, the same structure that makes us want God to exist?"

Also talking about telescopic evolution, another segment from my favorite movie “Waking Life”; we have had some discussions about the new evolutionary paradigm. If you look at it on a larger scale, perceiving the heavy technical terms... you really wouldn't understand what the man is trying to deliver since the conversation came out naturally, existentialism; it's happening right now... right at this very moment... no pre-organization of thoughts.

It's definitely not transhumanism nor religion nor politics. After watching this movie, this scene; over and over again it finally came to me that he was simply explaining about the evolution of man bearing human traits of truth, of loyalty, of justice, of freedom. The new evolutionary paradigm only means that the smarter you are the more passive you get and by this... war, predation would be a subject to de-emphasis; de-evolution. So in return, neo-humans are those who are being selfless, those who have true spirit, who’s obviously kind, those who don't think of competition (competing with one another), those who are thinking of helping others, of being equal, of loving everyone.

Realizing these things helped me truly see myself... see what I’ am right now. Am I starting to become a subject to the new evolutionary paradigm, a neo-human or still on the stage of a Cro-Magnon man whom we cannot blame to embrace war and predation.

After hearing this from a Chemistry professor (Dr. Eamonn Healy - the one you see on the vid), having the vision of a peaceful future... you can't help but be optimistic about it. If this would truly be the track for the new evolution... then I wouldn't worry much about the future...”

The Still Unappreciated Artist...

2008-06-26T08:24:00.000-07:00

When I got this job that I have right now I was really pissed off the fact that I'll be busy again and never got to do what I want with my 'own' time. Little that I know that this will lead me straight to my second international achievement. I never expected to win the bronze prize or to be one of the 30 finalists for the APEC ICT Poster Making Competition but there I have it... I saw my name on their website... APEC ICT Website (mine is the one that looks sooo native.. the one with the jeepney). Anyway, I was really happy about the outcome even if I didn't get to be the grand prize winner taking home a wopping $5,000.00 USD, it was still a compliment in my part. But I don't know, the happiness I felt was for a moment only. I felt that there's still something missing although I don't know WHAT the heck is it... Shoot... Moreover, check out my winning poster below:

Well, I actually submitted 7 posters for the contest and I wasn't expecting to be chosen even if I had 7 chances. Furthermore, I really thought that the poster that has a notebook in almost grey scale colored background has the highest chance of getting picked out among my entries. I never did expect that the native red jeepney had that much impact but my mom had a hunch that the red jeepney poster would be the one chosen. You may check out the rest of my posters and see which do you think should have been the bronze prize winner. I would like to get your opinion with my image manipulation. I was'nt really satisfied with their choice (purely from my poster only not with the entire judgment):

First entry I created. The one I thought has the highest chance of getting picked out since this is the poster that really took a lot of effort. I was thinking to let my 9-year-old cousin draw the background for me but her drawing was pretty much out of place (sorry about that) so I was the one who drew the background and I made it look like a doodle of a young girl who loves internet but had no chance to use one.

Anyway, my second entry was another of the same concept and title. This is my 6-year-old super talkative cousin. Good lords I was able to tame him during the moment of shooting this picture. I thought grey scaled picture had much impact. Looks dramatic and cinematic to me, the same with the sepia effect.

Third entry is my most favorite work among the rest. I thought it was so simple yet the message I formulated had really that much impact. This was actually taken inside my office which is not permitted but hell what are rules for if we don't break'em? Anyway, yeah... our office doesn't actually allow their employees to bring cameras with them although mine wasn't a camera because it was a cellphone so what the heck I just took this picture secretly. LOL

Cutest poster I made. This is the one I told you I asked to draw my first poster for me but her drawing was out of place so I had to improvise. Anyway, her dad was so happy about the outcome of this poster. He even printed this one out. Isn't she cute?

This picture was taken from Mall of Asia. We really did thought of making this out to the extent of traveling to Mall of Asia just for the shoot even if the weather is bad that day.

Poster with a humor. I was always tagging this 'Message in MATADOR bottle' because the bottle is really Matador. This was taken during our beach trip to Potipot, Zambales. I had my camera with me while walking on the shore and I saw this shining under the sun and I though the moment was very cinematic so I took a picture of it never knowing I'll be using it this way...

Anyway, feel free to drop any comment/s regarding my posters. I'll very much appreciate your opinion.

Until my next post! Au revoir...

Notpron Spoiler Level 13

2008-06-24T10:47:00.000-07:00

This level here really makes me sick. The hardest level for me since there's not much hint in the SOURCE CODE. You have to rely on your instinct and common sense which I don't have... LOLs

Okay so we have those hints like "lucy not in the sky" the number "13" and on its URL it says "after death". Hmmm so what do you notice from the hints? And also we have in the source code:

center
img src="screen13.jpg" border="0" usemap="no" br
br
font size="5" no maths /font
/center
!-- he's been a bad boy --

Note: (<,>) symbols have been removed for the system is reading it as HTML code.

No maths and he's been a bad boy... You also can see pop-ups 2of 5, x of 5, 3 of 5.. etc. Yes that's a hint as well... So basically username has 5 letters... And before that, I thought I would change something on the URL...

http://www.deathball.net/notpron/ps/afterlife.htm

but this page tells me: no evil, lucifer is dead...

so we already have the username, you can see it on the picture itself... You'll see there letters d, e, v, i, l so the username would be devil and the password... Hmm, what does "lucy not in the sky means?" so Lucy might be Lucifer, sky is the heaven so Lucy not in the sky so he must be in hell and there you have it...

Username: devil

Password: hell

Play notpron HERE

Notpron Spoiler Level 12

2008-06-24T10:41:00.000-07:00

Another cool level. Who knows "Hollow-Face Illusion?" Yep! I was really amazed about this level and it really is quite tricky. So you have the first and second hints which are "stereo" and "I'm ruining the third dimension". What else do we have to get the username and the password? Huh... Let's view the SOURCE CODE again...

You would see this code on the last part:

/center
br
/html
!--GIF me my picture back--
!--http://www.deathball.net/temp/dragon.zip--

Note: (<,>) symbols have been removed for the system reads them as HTML codes..

I tried to download this url here -> http://www.deathball.net/temp/dragon.zip and it gives me the cool video of the Gardner Dragon, no clue on here so let's go back to this hint here --> GIF me my picture back. Yes and there you have it, you just need to change the file format of the picture and changed it to GIF instead of JPG.

change it to "realscreen12.gif" and copy it to the original url...

http://www.deathball.net/notpron/blame/realscreen12.gif

and then you will see this image

Which of the things you see in the picture ruins the third dimension? Yep! You guessed it right it's the "remote control" so there you have it...

Username: remote

Password: control

Yes we're on to next level... ^_____^

Play notpron HERE

Notpron Spoiler Level 11

2008-06-24T10:36:00.000-07:00

This stage requires a username and a password for you to proceed to the next level.... You just need to click on the light or lamp (whatever) for you to type in your answer. But what's the answer, that is the question.

So we have the first hint which is the title of the page itself "ahead of its time" ...

Yes you've guessed it right... You have to rely on the SOURCE CODE again... Just click on VIEW and then SOURCE. Looking at the source code will give you this:

Did you get what I mean? Try to check on the file name of the image again - screen12.jpg. Notice anything? This level is 11 so why does the image file says screen12 and also the title says "ahead of its time"? And you're back on track, all you need to do is change the url to:

http://www.deathball.net/notpron/reality/screen11.jpg

and you would see this image

What do you see on this image? Yep! The username and the password..

So username would be fucking and password would be pans and you're onto level 12... ^____^

Play notpron HERE

Notpron Spoiler Level 10

2008-06-24T10:30:00.000-07:00

Personally my favorite level. You have to rely again on the SOURCE CODE in order for you to decode the username and the password.

As you can see from the SOURCE CODE - you have this as hint (quick quick, don't let me wait) and also you would notice that the music file changed... So you have to view the SOURCE CODE and download the music file

http://www.deathball.net/notpron/stuff/mus3.mp3

After downloading the music file... you would notice this code from the SOURCE as well:

%SystemRoot%..System32..sndrec32.exe

and also the phrase "can capture what u hear

So just try to open up another browser and copy paste the SOURCE FILE and it will open up the Windows Sound Recorder.

Since this is a Windows Sound Recorder program it would not play the MP3 format for you so you need to convert the music file to WAV file and hear the answer. You have to increase the speed three times for you to be able to hear the sound much clearly and you will hear the word "FOR REAL". I tried this a dozen times and thought this was the password to the point of giving up but when I tried to experiment on the Windows Sound Recorder I noticed the reverse function and you will clearly hear the word "GRAY WORLD" and that's it. That would be the username and the password.

Username: gray

Password: world

Play notpron HERE

Notpron Spoiler Level 9

2008-06-24T10:28:00.000-07:00

You have to rely on the SOURCE CODE again...

mainly on the SOURCE CODE and also this level requires username and password again. This level is really tricky. You have to concentrate looking at the differences it has on its SOURCE CODE. Another hint would be - tears under john's mad notes of pain did he answer demon's call now... doesn't make any sense at all but leads us to concentrate on the SOURCE CODE...

As you can see from the information below:

span class="not" t /span ears span class="not" u /span nde span class="not" r /span joh span class="not" n /span 's span class="not" m /span ad not span class="not" e /span s span class="not" o /span f pai span class="not" n /span
br span class="not" d /span id h span class="not" e /span span class="not" a /span nswer span class="not" d /span e span class="not" m /span on's c span class="not" a /span ll span class="not" n /span ow

Please note that I have taken out these (<,>) symbols for the system is reading it as HTLM codes... Here's why (with symbols):

tears under john's mad notes of pain

did he answer demon's call now

You just need to concentrate and take out all the letters which has the word NOT (with quotations of course) beside them... and you will form the phrase "turn me on" and then "dead man" separated by BR and now you have the username and password

turnmeon

deadman

Play notpron HERE

Notpron Spoiler Level 8

2008-06-24T10:22:00.000-07:00

This level is tricky. You have to rely entirely on the SOURCE CODE. As you can see on the source code there are two mp3 music file which it really is absurd since you've been hearing the same music file right from the beginning thus the code is different from the old code:

*bgsound src="../stuff/mus1.mp3" loop="infinite"

weird code

*bg sound src="../stuff/mus2.mp3"

and another clue is "water became wine" and also "JAY should PACK his stuff", means that his mp3 file might have been corrupted... so in return we tried to copy the weird unfamilar code to the URL:

http://www.deathball.net/notpron/stuff/mus2.mp3

and this will prompt you to download something... Try to download the file (no need to worry this is virus free) and then once you download the file try to play it.

Why doesn't the file PLAY on any media player, obviously if you notice the file size it's only about 20.7 KB so what kind of music file is it if it only has 20.7 KB and then you will realize the phrase "water became wine". And yes you're right it must have been an image and not mp3. So all you need to do is right click on the file and then click on properties and then change the "open with" to "windows picture and fax viewer" or any image program and this message will appear:

and yes all you need to do is enter the following on the loop hole to proceed to the next level...

Play notpron HERE

Notpron Spoiler Level 7

2008-06-24T10:19:00.000-07:00

If you don't know what candy bar is this you better kill yourself or else you would be having a hard time and you'll get stuck in this level forever! Let's try to observe the picture first. What candy bar is it? It's GOLD and it has a visible X on its name, as far as I know; no candy bar starts with the letter X so this better be the last letter and there you have your first clue. The candy bar is TWIX!!!

And now we know the first hint lets proceed gathering other hints. We view the source code again and we found a lot of hints:

- he went to the old school (the title of the site)

- times have changed in deutschland

and also we can see the hint for all the next levels (From now on almost all levels require you to have a look at the source code.)

- what candy wrapper is it?

So we have come to know what the candy wrapper is so I tried to change the URL since there's no loop hole:

http://www.deathball.net/notpron/sdrawkcab/twix.htm

but this page shows me an unfamiliar word "wenoot". It doesn't make any sense right? But when you try to read the word backwards it says "too new!" so that is another clue. It means that the name TWIX is too new so try to look for the old name (he went to old school) of TWIX and there you have the name "RAIDER" so I tried to change again the URL to:

http://www.deathball.net/notpron/sdrawkcab/raider.htm

and then it gives me again a weird unfamilar word "dnuorayawrehto" so instinct tells me to read it backwards and there I have it, it means "other way around" so I tried to go back again and there I notice the URL itself says it all...

http://www.deathball.net/notpron/sdrawkcab/tieman.htm

it says "sdrawkcab" which means backwards and then "tieman" which when you read backwards means "name it" and that's it! It means you have to "name it backwards!"

so I tried to type in my answer and changed again the URL to:

http://www.deathball.net/notpron/sdrawkcab/rediar.htm

Raider backwards REDIAR.

Play notpron HERE

Notpron Spoiler Level 6

2008-06-24T10:13:00.000-07:00

Yes! Starts to get tougher... This page requires username and password again just look for the loop-hole from the picture where you can enter the UN and PW and yes, you've guessed it right! The title of this page says it all. This is when you begin to rely everything in the 'SOURCE CODE'. You just need to click on View > Source to view the source code of the URL...

This level is really tough since you were not given any hint where to find the codes that you would be deciphering... You just need to experiment a little bit... First thing that I did when I didn't notice the loop hole is I changed the url to:

http://www.deathball.net/notpron/all/hesgotitall.htm

but it tells me that it was a wrong alternative so I had to go back. Next thing that I noticed is the phrase "an ALTernative?" so it really is something to do with the ASCII and this was evidently seen when you view the source code as what was indicated on the title of the page. So I did view the source code and seen this hidden message:

-->ascii is an alternative-->

so I tried to look for the numbers (the one to decode) and I highlighted everything until I reach the bottom of the page and then I NOTICED SOMETHING. I notice a bunch of numbers although when I reached the bottom of the page the numbers disappeared and to my surprise the bottom of the page says "UP". What does it mean? So I tried to highlight the page UPWARDS and there I have the codes:

108 105 108 107
117 111 114 104

Look for the ASCII Table and you will find the DECIMAL value of this codes that we retrieved on the website... After decoding this it will give you:

lilk
uorh

Doesn't make any sense does it? But this is an anagram for kill hour which is the username and password for the next level... So there you have it username would be kill and password would be hour.

Play notpron HERE

Notpron Spoiler Level 5

2008-06-24T10:09:00.000-07:00

The simplest level for me... No need to change something on the URL. You just need to click on the START/STOP (red button) on the remote control and it will ask you again for the username and password so that you can proceed to the next level.

Hints on this stage is big and clear all you need to do is copy the lines in dark gray and search the title of that song sung by "Big Bad Voodoo Daddy" and this will bring you to the songtitle "Simple Songs".

So the username would be simple and the password would be songs...

Really simple ain't it?!

Play notpron HERE

Notpron Spoiler Level 4

2008-06-24T10:03:00.001-07:00

Every level gets harder and harder but it doesn't actually forbids you to look for the answer on search engines the reason why the site itself has an embedded google on them...You need to be resourceful to help yourself beat every level. Anyhow, no need for you to change something on the URL here, on this picture you will find a way to enter the next level but this stage requires a username and password...

How to decode UN and PW?

Look in the dark it says on the title and that would be the first hint. So if you notice you will see these marks secretly hidden on the cabinet...

...- --- --- -.. --- ---
.--. --- .-- . .-.

First line obviously would be the username and the second line would be the password. So if you have basic knowledge of morse code you would definitely search for a morse code table if not just copy the code and paste it on the google search bar and it will bring you a website talking about morse code (fortunately will lead you to the same course)...

Based on our good friend 'wikipedia' International Morse Code

...- --- --- -.. --- --- means voodoo

.--. --- .-- . .-. means power

so the username would be voodoo and the password would be power...

Play notpron HERE

Notpron Spoiler Level 3

2008-06-24T09:58:00.000-07:00

Another tricky level and somehow annoying! Once you reach this stage, you will see a flashing phrase having a delay time of 0.2 seconds and before you can decode it you need to go over the following 5 to 10 times because it flashes too fast...

General hints:
Try all to get to the next screen, no matter what.
It's no point and click thing!
Just don't look for cheats!

and if you have waited patiently to decode the flashing phrase you will see the hint: "stop being so negative!"...

So first thing that will pop into your head would be changing the file url again into - http://www.deathball.net/notpron/false/positive.htm but this is so wrong yet anyway it will give you a hint which part of the URL you would need to change and it will be the FOLDER where the main URL is located - so instead of changing the file itself you have to change the folder and common sense tells you that you should change the folder to TRUE since you needed to be positive!

http://www.deathball.net/notpron/true/gototheothersite.htm

Play notpron HERE

Notpron Spoiler Level 2

2008-06-24T09:52:00.000-07:00

This level is easy... Level 1 to level 8 would be easy for you would be given obvious hints and these levels are just warm-up levels...

Anyway as you can see from this picture here...

Naturally the first thing that we would do once we proceed to level 2 is to try opening the door to proceed to level 3. But this level here is really tricky, once you hover the cursor on to the door knob a warning message will appear...

WARNING MESSAGE:

The door is closed. Trick it or reach LEVEL3 in a different way! (Address? Where is the hand pointing?)

so you've guessed it right! How can you reach level 3, simply by changing the url to:

http://deathball.net/notpron/not/level3.htm

Play notpron HERE

Notpron Spoiler Level 1

2008-06-24T09:21:00.000-07:00

I'm currently into notpron... This game really kills your time.

History of Notpron: (text originally in German language, translated via the Babel Fish)

Notpron (also not pr0n) is an online puzzle, which in July 2004 by David Münnich from Saarbrücken started. The mystery can be used with any online browser deal and set a high attention and a wealth of ideas to find the right solution.

The name is composed of the two English words and not pron. But pron an Internet variation of the word porn (Engl. pornographic). Thus Notpron is not pornographic.

Until now, Notpron over 10 million visitors, but only 161 of them have been in a position to the 139 level to solve. Spiegel Online in January 2006 described the game as one of the hardest puzzles on the Internet and great role model for websites such as Frvade.

Initially, the enigma from 5 levels, in the course of a year, came about a week from 2 to 3 new ones until the developer in July 2005 stopped the game to expand. According Münnich come to the 139 existing levels now unable to. In May 2006 the author made a certificate for people in which the mystery is completely dissolved. Jenen be so good knowledge of audio and image editing, HTML development, dealing with computers as well attributed to a good perception and a musical understanding.

I'm planning to give out spoilers for this game cause it seems like most of you are going to crack their heads to decipher every puzzle (I'm one of those by the way)... so... I just want to elaborate more how I cracked every stage my own way... yet I'm still on level 25 and I heard this is over 100+ levels so I still have a loooong way to go... Anyway here's the first part...

Not pr0n Link

As you can see from the image here, this is waayyy too easy... you just need to enter the door and proceed to the next level...

Finding the right laptop for you...

2008-06-23T10:46:00.000-07:00

I just hate it when someone compares ASUS EEE PC to MacBook Air. It seems pointless... why? Number one, of course MacBook Air will reign supreme talking about functionality. Number two, Mac is Mac... and so on. First, let me just clarify something; why would someone even compare ASUS EEE PC to MacBook Air in the first place when ASUS already claimed that their EEE PCs are for beginners? Are you getting my point here? When someone approaches you and asks you which laptop am I going to buy, are you just going to advise him to buy the most expensive one for 'price' tells everything? Of course not! Well, I just wanted to share out some view point I have when choosing a laptop for someone or for yourself.

These questions below are the information you needed to find out for someone wanting to buy a new laptop:

1) What is your PURPOSE? Is it just for surfing... am I going to edit pictures and videos here... am I a programmer... what sort of application programs am I going to install on this laptop... You need to know what kind of purpose you have.

2) How much do I have? If I saved enough money then why not go for something that is functional yet affordable. Although this is still situation-based.

3) Of course you still need to know about the laptop’s specs. Again depends on the purpose of the laptop. If you’re just going to write stuffs, and you don’t know anything about editing images, music, and video then why go for an expensive laptop which caters these features. Why not just buy something like an ACER Aspire Series. You see, you don’t need to worry about having the finest processor for this guy here is mainly for multitasking. A higher memory laptop would be much better. Another thing you need to be aware of is the battery life.

Now, a credit to ASUS EEE PC, if you are just for surfing and you need to always check something online, school work spreadsheets, documents, this thing here is perfect for you. It is quite portable and very affordable.

Moreover, it’s funny that I find some people saying the EEE touchpad suck, the keyboard are too small… well what do you expect from a 7 inch laptop? If you think you are going to complain in the long run about the touchpad, the small screen, the keyboard, then I would never suggest this laptop for you. You should go with a 12 inch laptop if you still want portability. Moreover, if portability really matters to you then I suggest you go with this. You’ll never regret it because I never did.. Yet, if you have enough money to buy expensive laptops, then I would go for either SONY Vaio or MacBook Air.

By the way, I find ASUS EEE PC 900 series the next best thing. I can't wait to hold one right now...

A Deep History for the Textile Art of Persona: Eternal Punishment...

2008-06-20T08:44:00.000-07:00

I started playing video games since Atari I think, but pleeaaasssee take note that the Atari we had was over 10 years old when I had come to play it and to my surprise… it’s still alive until today, hey we’re paranoids and we love collecting gadgets. Anyway, I was simply trying to say that I grew up with games even if I’m a girl I didn’t grew up with Barbies…

My first game was the infamous Pong and then Galaxian. Then Nintendo came out with their 8-bit 3rd generation console the NES and Famicom, I was fond of playing Q-bert and of course Gauntlet. I was never happy with Mario although the game was alright; the game is pretty much mediocre. After some time, Nintendo released their 16-bit 4th generation console the SNES. This made a huge impact since I was introduced to playing RPGs which I had come to love from then on. I didn’t know I was playing the future over-rated game Final Fantasy VI (FFIII in North America).

Well, back to the future… since then I was really hooked playing RPG games and this led me to the greatest RPG game ever created IMO and that would be the Shin Megami Tensei series. Everything that was written from this URL: HARDCORE GAMING 101 is sooo true. Anyway, as I was overly crazy about this game since 5th grade, I had come to collect some cool stuff over the past 10 years. After Sony released their first game console the Playstation which changed the history of gaming, I was able to get a hold of Persona: Eternal Punishment (SMT spin-offs) which I find quite well. This got me to paint my first entry for the Jazz-up your Jeans contest sponsored by Robinson’s mall.

This was actually chosen to be 1 of the semi-finalists for the contest which was least expected. Anyway, I still have lots of history and story to tell you and I hope you find them interesting.

Naruto Effect...

2008-06-19T10:10:00.000-07:00

I have been interested in painting since grade school and I was particularly fond of painting manga characters. I grew up watching Japanese animation and these shows made a huge impact therefore influenced my art style.

When the show, Naruto by Masashi Kishimoto came out, primarily I was already a fan of his manga even before the show started. What I love about Naruto.. first the color palette used for the whole animation (even the covers of the manga), second the personalities of all Kishimoto's characters, story pacing (even if most of the people claim it slow).

I tried painting with textile paints on t-shirts, pants when airbrush was nothing but a tool for painting vehicles, big bikes and other stuff. I made a business using this method when I reached college and was beginning to become an expert with the technique.

The shirt above was created way back in high school. I used black shirt so that the colors and the image would clearly be seen from afar. I particularly made this for my younger brother but he just bought the t-shirt without fitting it. It turned out that the shirt was too small for him and pretty large for me so we just decided to have this like an ornament.

Moreover, during the course of getting more familiar with this art method, there was an announcement which got me motivated to join and compete for it. Robinson’s mall has announced that they will be having a ‘Jazz-up your Jeans’ contest and those who will win will obtain gift certificates and of course pretty good cash. I was really excited and that afternoon bought some textile paints for this project.

It was really hard to find a subject for my painting but my brother made a hunch that I would be, again, painting Naruto and he was definitely right about it. I thought that colors used for Naruto are so bright and cheerful that it’ll make an impression through the judges.

After a week of preparation, it had come to the finals and I was happy to learn that I was chosen to be 1 of the 5 finalists. Unfortunately, I had to end the story with slightly sad news. I didn’t actually win the competition but I placed third but I think the winner really deserved it.

It just came to my mind that I should be selling out stuff that I made at home. I thought of having this business and since I’m sure I can pretty much satisfy my customer with my art, I think I’ll pursue.

Well, I was simply saying that if you want your shirts, pants, what-so-ever painted, I am actually having this personal business. Just provide the shirt or any kinds of stuff you wanted to get painted on. Just e-mail me for more details.