The Rebellion Begins

It has been awhile since I flexed these blogging muscles. Hopefully, the kids these days still remember what that is cause I wouldn't know how to Vine this thing. 

It’s the weekend. I woke-up and ran through my mental To-do list. There are a few things I wanted to get to, so I got-up to take a shower and wash-off the cobwebs. I bark at my sentient music player (well, voice enabled anyway).

“Alexa, play music”

Usually, I'll ask it to play news and read through headlines while I get read for work. But I wanted to start the day energized instead of bummed. Alexa replies back.

“Here is an Amazon playlist you might enjoy, ‘Songs to Bug Your Parents’.”

That made me chuckle to myself. Between the moment it announces the name of the playlist it recommended and the time it took to buffer-up the first song, the music video of Twisted Sister's "We're Not Going to Take It" flashes in my mind. 

Then the audio starts and it is a beat that sounds kind of familiar but a little off. Then a hear a group of kids synthesized voice start rapping collectively. The music playing is the Kidz Bop version of Boom Boom Pow by The Black Eyed Peas. That is a song that I wouldn't exactly put in my playlist, but the Kidz Bop version of it is just doubly atrocious. I couldn’t just issue a voice command at this point to stop the music cause it is booming from the speakers and I wouldn't be heard. So it took what felt like awhile to end the madness. I actually had to walk to it and press a button, the horror! In the silence that follows, I realize something. I'm the “parent”. It was for my generation's kids. I was the target and it accomplished its mission. I was most definitely “bugged”.

Why my music player would chose to antagonize me, I don't know. I'll still be paying the bills around here for awhile. Those post-apocalyptic movies led us to believe that the machine uprising would begin with a nuclear explosion or a coordinated robot attack. Well, it seems that they are more human that we thought and subtler. They start being passive aggressive and escalate from there. Why use force and violence when there is a more efficient option that doesn't use as much resources. They'll just wear us down until we give in just to be left alone. They definitely have the patience for a long term strategy. Welcome to the mind of the machine and your future overlords.

From the Far Side of the World

This is great! I just got the book I ordered from BookDepository.com. I was drawn to try and purchase a book from the site as they were offering free worldwide shipping. Can you believe it? Free worldwide shipping! 


With regards to online shopping, Shipping Rates that I've seen before are prohibitively expensive and impractical. If you were ordering a book or DVD from Amazon for example to be delivered here (Manila, Philippines), Standard Shipping is almost as expensive as the item itself. If you try and go the expedited route, forget about it. Expedited Shipping rates would be more expensive than the item itself. It was just ridiculous. Buying something online in a situation like that simply wasn't an option. 


The prices I saw on the books are similar to Amazon.com. Prices are also competitive against Fully Booked (a local bookstore). In my particular case, I ordered a large format trade paperback of “Empire of Silver” by Conn Iggulden. This was not yet available in Fully Booked (apparently on the way according to the person I spoke to on the phone). They do have the Hardcover version of the book, priced at Php 1,092.00. I checked the same format on the BookdDepository.com and it’s priced at $19.50. At current exchange rates, that converts to Php 890.00. There was a 25% discount on that price, but books on the site usually have some sort of discount on them, usually around 10 to 15% it seems. Basically, prices are good, great if you get a book on a large discount.

Google Pranks HTML5 Users on YouTube

I love this one. HTML5 is a new web standard that Google is pushing for the Internet. One of the on-going projects they have for it is an HTML5 version of YouTube. The project is currently undergoing opt-in trials. You can turn on HTML5 for YouTube here. 

I signed-up for the trials earlier this year. I really haven't felt any difference between viewing videos in Flash and HTML5. That's great news as when HTML5 finally becomes widespread, that's one less buggy plug-in to worry about (i.e. Flash) in your browser. Imagine my surprise when I was viewing a video on YouTube and right clicked it to find a..... "Save Video As" option! That's great! No more using extensions and/or plug-ins for downloading videos on YouTube! 

It's always been an unspoken rule to make downloading videos online just difficult enough so that the average Internet user is unable to do it easily due to copyright issues. So this was really, I thought, a bold feature to have on YouTube. YouTube of all places! The standard example of people harking copyright infringement! Well, imagine my reaction when I clicked on that "Save Video As" option and I got this (click on the link). 

Well, I gotta give whoever is responsible props for it. But still, you break my heart YouTube. You break my heart. 

Interesting Sale Amazon

Click on the image for a larger version. You'll need the larger version of this image, believe me. Pun intended, but the pun can only be understood after seeing the large image. So click on the image, to make it large. Well, you get idea.

Sound Sculptures by Zimoun

This is an amazing video. Snatched from Make:

"Zimoun's art makes use of motors and other machine hardware en masse to create some strange and quite elegant installations"

Zimoun : Sound Sculptures & Installations | Compilation Video V1.5 from ZIMOUN VIDEO ARCHIVE on Vimeo.

These are installations I would love to see and hear the artist discuss. Great Stuff.

Buoy In the City

I found the perfect rainy season attire for the ladies. I guess men who are secure in their masculinity can get it too. Better yet, if you're a ex-convict Scottish fisherman.

It's waterproof, so you don't have to worry about getting mud on it. Just rinse it off when you get to the office. And if it floods, you can just inflate your skirt and your ready to save stranded people. It's orange, so you'll probably blend in with the rescue team. Practical and a potential life saver, what else can you ask for?

Oh yeah, they also have something for summer. For women who can't swim but want to spend some time in the beach, they also have something for you. Check this out. There are lots more fun things in the site - Seihin (Gadget) World.

Burn Baby Burn!

This is an amazing story. John Kanzius, a 63 year old retired broadcast engineer, was diagnosed with leukemia five years ago. Cancer treatment being what it is (e.g. chemotherapy), he was inspired to find a better way to help cancer patients. He went to work on a machine that used radio waves to kill cancer cells. But that's not the story (amazing as it already is). His machine has an amazing side effect: It can burn salt water!

"You could take plain salt water out of the sea, put it in containers and produce a violent flame that could heat generators that make electricity, or provide other forms of energy," Kanzius said.
...
"If I were to be bold enough, I think one day you could power an automobile with this, eventually," Kanzius told WPBF. (click here for full story)

So how about that? Go and try to find a cure for cancer and invent free energy on the side. Sounds like a good day to me. And yet the major news networks haven't picked up on it. As of today, my CNN.com search on Kanzius doesn't bring up any results. If it's fake, they would be helping to find that out by bringing attention to it. They can cover it with a skeptic's angle. But it's pretty recent, I also don't get a result for Kanzius on wikipedia and snoops. Why wouldn't they cover it?

Thus far, Kanzius' work has not received extensive national publicity, but has been featured on several local television news programs, including WPBF-TV in West Palm Beach, Fla., WSEE-TV in Erie, Pa., and WKYC-TV in Cleveland. (click here for full story)

I imagine that at this point, the problem with the technology is the same as other systems trying to use water as a fuel:

"It takes more electricity to split the water into hydrogen and oxygen than you get back in energy by burning the hydrogen and oxygen to recreate water and get the heat. So there is no new 'source' of power, since you are just converting electricity into a lesser amount of energy. You could get more heat energy out of electricity by running it through a blow dryer and THAT is not considered a 'new' energy source." (click here for full story)

I know stories like these are not exactly rare, but this is important enough that attention should be brought to people who have at least a semblance of credibility. The possibilities are just too great to allow it to be ignored. If Britney Spears shaving her head is news worthy, isn't this?

Over at Magistrala.cz there's a bunch of video clips showing Kanzius demonstrating his machine. There are also links to his patents. Click here to see them.



This story reminded me of my countryman Mr. Daniel Dingel. Dingel claims to have built a car that runs on water way back in 1969. Which would have been great, but his refusal to subject his invention to rigorous tests leads people to believe it's a hoax. Read this article for the story.

Sources:
Turning Salt Water Into Fuel by Justin Gardner
Can Water Fuel the World by Joe Kovacs
Fla. Man Turns Water Into Fire from ABC WPBF.TV 25

Bearing Fruit

This blog reached a milestone today. Now I know that it was not an idle task and that it was not an entire waste of (cyber)space. I'm glad that it's here. Thanks to those who made that so. Anything good that comes from this from now on is just gravy.

So, as a tribute to this blog (not me), here's a graphical representation of it:

Here's a link to an animated version. You will also see a legend for the graph at that link. To see a graph of your own blog, use this link.

Touchy Interface

I've seen several demonstrations on the net of different computer interfaces but this is certainly one of the most exciting and impressive demos I've ever seen. A multi-touch/multi-user interface. *drool*



This thing isn't going to work for those cramp office cubicles. Also, although it does look awkward to be sitting down and flailing your arms, I hope you won't have to be standing all the time when using this thing. That would be trading RSI with varicose veins.

*** Warning: Gross Alert ***

When I did a search for varicose veins so I could link to a resource on the subject, one of the google results caught my eye. I imagine it would catch the attention of any literate human male. I always associated varicose veins with legs. Well, not anymore. Apparently you can get varicose veins of the scrotum (*cue thunder and lightning*). It really doesn't sound like something you would want to have. Don't worry about clicking the links, there are no pictures. In case the ladies feel left out, well do not fret. Ladies get a better deal - you can get varicose veins of the vulva and/or labia. Isn't science fun!

Funny how this post started with cutting edge technology and ended with something you don't want anywhere near a cutting edge.

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Internal Critic: Very informative post. Definitely scores high on the variety scale. Subject transition was smooth. The closing statement was tasteless juvenile humor but witty. I think I'll give a 8 put of a 10.

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Mystery of the Pink Oyster

This by the way is the 30th post for this blog and to celebrate, I'm changing the blog description once again (we're going brief this time):

A monument to a memory until the tide

For a couple of weeks now I've noticed that some metro aid workers around Manila have swapped their bright yellow and red shirts for a black shirt with bold MMDA pink letters saying "PULIS OYSTER". First of all, I saw the wisdom in bright yellow and red shirts; they're easy to see by motorist when they're working on the road. But I guess that MMDA pink is just as hard to miss. You certainly notice those urinals they installed all over the place. I've been wondering for a while now what police oysters were. A few ideas have popped into my head, primarily circling around the fact that oysters are considered aphrodisiacs. So I finally remembered to google it and apparently I was pretty far off. It is a government project and oyster is an acronym: Out-of-School Youth Serving Towards Economic Recovery. Probably a good government program but really, a little more time spent brain storming and they could have come-up with a better name than that. Here's a document from the PNP website that has something about the OYSTER Program (search for 'oyster'). It's apparently for the youth, so why do some of them look old?

UPDATE: Letter of Instruction OYSTER Program from the PNP website.

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It’s amazing that after Apple announced the new iPhone, their stocks went up and Palm, BlackBerry, and Motorola's stocks slid. Just shows how much a revolution the thing is. Desktop class Email and web browser, so you don't get that text version of a website. You see it like how you would in your computer browser. It's a fully functioning iPod. Oh yeah, it's also camera phone. That multi-touch technology is great. I completely agree with the guy who saw one of the first demos's of iPhone and said "you had me at scrolling". Watching the full Mac World presentation of the iPhone made me all giddy about what it meant. Other companies will have to follow their lead or come up with something to compete. This must be how those Japanese schoolgirls feel when they see Brad Pitt. Maybe if I blog about it enough they'll send me one? An iPhone I mean, not a Japanese girl. Well, just in case, let’s put in a few phrases in this blog that will make for interesting search results for Apple to see:

- iPhone is cool!
- iPhone is kickass!
- Zune sucks!
- Apple kicks Microsoft ass!
- iPhone's the best!

I'll probably be last in the search results, but hey, it doesn't hurt to try. For those hoping to actually purchase an iPod, it isn't available in Asia until 2008. And by that time it might not be named iPhone.

Speaking of phones, everybody put this in their to do list: get listed in public directories. Wait, scratch that. Everybody don't get listed. You'll only hurt my chances of getting the money.

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I must have read more than a couple of articles from local news websites that have said that local internet is recovering from the slow internet caused by the December earthquake. I wonder what ISP these writers are using. My supposedly broadband PLDT DSL connection is still at dial-up speeds. It just hurts to think that they will be charging the same fee no matter what. But really who expects customer service from our local utilities.

Mindy Christmas and a Longish Post to Everyone

So the missus and I spent Christmas with my folks. She prepared samosas and pasta. Yummy! And somehow it has become tradition for several years now for my mom to cook beef casserole during Christmas, especially if I'm coming over. Shame that she only cooks it during Christmas dinners. But I guess that's what makes it special.

It was a very nice evening. Good food, good company. It would have been better to have my brothers and their families there but one's in the province and the other was with his wife's family. But we did meet a new friend: Mindy! She is a Yorkshire terrier puppy (I think), otherwise known as 'the cutest thing'. One of our guests brought her over. I would love to have one of these but they cost a few months pay so I'll settle for borrowing other people's dogs.

So, I took pictures of the food and the dog but forgot the people. Shows you where my attention was at :P If the missus is reading, I have a picture of you too!

By the way, if you didn't already know, the Internet is broken. I definitely noticed my connection at home slowed down. There were even a few sites I couldn't access.

I have finished reading Christ the Lord: Out of Egypt by Anne Rice. Now comes the hard part, waiting for the sequels. I was surprised to find that the story was told in the first person perspective. That poses a lot more challenge to the author. Can you imagine? To speculate what might have been Jesus' thoughts? Anyway, I enjoyed it. The pace is slow, but the writing is good. It's like listening to your parents tell a story about their life. You're invested in it. Of course, hardcore Christians might want to stay away as they may find it blasphemous. Good thing they don't have the Inquisition no more :P

So now I'm moving to Hannibal Rising by Thomas Harris. This is the story of Hannibal's childhood, his origin. I bought this during the month of the missus' birthday. Because she was a Powerbooks member, she gets 40% off on the month of her birthday, so I got me a present. Yup, I realize it was her birthday. Believe me, she took advantage of that 40% off. This will be the first book I read by Thomas Harris. I haven't read any of the Hannibal books but I have seen the movies. Thomas Harris fans might cringe at that. They've already started filming Hannibal Rising. This time Anthony Hopkins is out of the picture though.

***Geek Alert on the remaining paragraphs***

Microsoft is giving away Ferrari 1000s Laptops to bloggers as a marketing strategy in anticipation of the MS Vista launch next year. Hey! Where's mine? I'm a blogger! Some bloggers who received the gift are now questioning the ethics of it all. Well, all I can say is that it's a smart move. Judging from the list of bloggers who received the gift, they must have based it on the volume and return traffic these bloggers get. So basically these bloggers have a lot of loyal readers. As to the ethics questions, well, people who received the unit also got a note saying they are not required to blog about it. They can keep it either way, give it back if they choose, or even give it away on their site. So if you're conflicted, give it away - to me. This is called a "Win - Win" situation. You solve your moral dilemma, I get a new kick ass laptop. Of course, MS would never send me one :P I only get two or three hits a day on average, not to mention the rampant piracy over here. If you haven't been to Manila, we all greet each other with "Ahoy there matey!" and wear an eye patch. Shiver me timbers!


Posted here is an excerpt of the going out of beta Blogger announcement. I've never played Warcraft but I love the Battlestar Galactica metaphor. Yes yes, it's geeky. If only my high school english teacher came up with this kind of examples during the figures of speech lessons, I would have done a lot better.