inFINITE Fate

Hindi ko alam kung mabilis ba o mabagal ang panahon. Sa isang banda, parang ang bilis ng panahon dahil akalain mo yun, 1.5 years ka nang nagtatyaga sa kin! :) Pero sa kabilang banda, sa dinami-rami ng mga pinagdaanan natin - mga masasaya at malulungkot na pangyayari, nakakabiglang isipin na nangyari lahat yun sa loob lamang ng 1.5 years! Salamat sa pagtanggap sa akin ng buong-buo, kasama lahat ng pagkukulang at hindi magagandang kaugalian.  Salamat sa kulitan, asarahan, at iba pang masasayang samahan. Higit sa lahat, maraming salamat sa pagmamahal at pagiging aking kapareha sa ating pagtanda. Mahal na mahal kita! :)

Amazing how an aching tummy (damn you milk tea!) inspired me to update my blog. Since I can't go to sleep and my mind keeps on commenting on things that I see and read, I decided to use this opportunity to make some posts here. Random thoughts: Respect speaks of the "How" and not the "Why". You can never be disrespectful for believing in something, or nothing, or everything. Lack of respect is a matter of action and not of intention. I know everyone is entitled to have his/her own opinion, but I really think that atheism is simply stupid. Sometimes, you may feel that you're a star, but in reality, you're just a clown (no offense to all the clowns out there). You can never lose in life. Good experiences can become good memories, bad experiences can become good lessons. Yeah right! Tell that to my aching tummy. Wala na. Ubos na ang lakas ko. Sakit pa rin ng tyan... Hay...

"Lord, grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, The courage to change the things I can, And the wisdom to know the difference." This is the only memorized prayer that I pray for its meaning and not for mere recitation. I love the way that this prayer emphasizes the role of God and the role of us, humans - God gives us His "gifts", but the ultimate decision and action still lies with us. This empowers us and gives us control and meaning over our life, at the same time acknowledging that there is still Someone infinitely more powerful and intelligent watching over us. I have been reciting this prayer more often than usual these past few days (and weeks... and months). After a long calm, I feel that a big storm is about to come into my life. Or rather, I'm about to conjure a big storm that will shake my currently safe but passive existence. Deep inside, I know that this is for the best, since only in the face of challenges could we grow and...

Like my officemate  Mel , I was able to get advance access to Pottermore ! The question that we answered is: In the Gryffindor versus Slytherin Quidditch match, in Harry's third year, how many points is Gryffindor leading by before Harry catches the Golden Snitch? Multiply this number by 35. The answer is 2100. You need to levitate the magic quill before it will allow you to register. And here is my welcome screen: Yey! Note:  For those who would like to register for the succeeding days, I think new day arrives here in the Philippines at around 6pm.

The weekend is about to, uhm, well... end. I miss my kambal. Did nothing but sleep, sleep, and sleep some more. Also watched some episodes of Samurai X, 24, and Gundam Wing. This evening, I walked along Timog and just drank the coldness of the night. I really miss my kambal.

This website just made my day! Mukha akong tanga kanina sa jeep kakatawa dahil dito. See samples below: That's all for now. Enjoy!

Just a short post. My inner nerd got frustrated when I received an error message upon visiting Wikipedia: I love Wikipedia. It's a living, breathing collection of humanity's knowledge. It also proved that humanity's need for dependable information far outweighs its tendencies to vandalize everything. I think it's back now. Ciao!

Sa paglalim ng gabi, sa pagsilip ng buwan Ikaw ang laman ng aking isipan Hinahangad na iyong mahagkan Sa mahimbing na tulog, ako'y iduyan Sa panaginip, ako'y iyong samahan Saglit na lisanin ang mundo ng kaguluhan Hawak-kamay na lumipad sa kalangitan Damhin ang malamig na patak ng ulan O di kaya'y magtampisaw sa dalampasigan Na may palubog na araw sa ating likuran At sa ating mukha dumarampi ang amihan Habang isa't-isa'y ating hinahagkan Kambal kong mahal, wala nang hihilingin pa Kung sa pagtulog at pag gising, ikaw ay makasama

If God gave us freedom, and He doesn't directly intervene with what is going on here on Earth, then what's the use of prayers? What's the use of asking God to make the storm miss our place, to stop the volcano from spewing out lava and ashes, and to make our work better and more tolerable? Here's a bit of statistics: There are 6.93 billion people around the world. Even if only 10% of this number prays and asks for less calamity and hardships, it is still a whopping 693 million individual persons praying to one God (with different names) for one single thing: world peace. So the question remains: with God's omnipotence and immeasurable mercy, why do the following, among others, still exist: It is estimated that globally, there are 16 million thunderstorms each year. About 50-60 volcanoes erupt every year. 20-30 are effusive (lava flows), another 20-30 are explosive. Out of 2,207 work-related suicides in 2007 (in Japan), the most common reason (672 suicides) w...

Question: What do Muhammad Ali, Michael J. Fox, Adolf Hitler, Pope John Paul II, Salvador Dali, and Freddie Roach have in common? Answer: They all have Parkinson’s disease, a neurological condition that affects that portion of the mid-brain called substantia nigra. In the Philippines, it is estimated that PD affects 120,000 people (or one percent of the 50–year-old and above bracket.) “But if you look at the data, only 30,000 (or 25 percent) seek treatment,” says Dr. Rosales. The remaining 75 percent do not seek treatment because they are not aware that they have PD; or are incapable of paying for medication. A recent study also showed that a spike in early-onset PD occurred in Regions 6 and 7 (Panay and Negros) islands.

Browsing through status updates in Facebook, I saw Ate Nice's post: "beating the heat with halo-halo from neighborhood store." I decided to make a quick search of halo-halo in Wikipedia for my TILT: Halo-halo was featured as a Quickfire Challenge dish in the seventh episode of the fourth season of the American reality television series Top Chef. Video game Dead or Alive 4 secret character Nicole lists this food as her favorite, which is probably a pun on the Halo video game universe she is from. The Black Eyed Peas make a reference to halo-halo in their song, "Mare", taken from their fifth studio album, The E.N.D.. That's all. Now I'm off to find a neighborhood halo-halo...

This day marks the 1st anniversary of Facebook's LIKE button that can be installed in your website (or blog post)! Try it below: UPDATE (4/23/2011): For those asking how to place the like button in your blog post, the long answer is here , while the short answer is to copy-paste the following code in the HTML editor of your blog (for Blogger, click the "Edit HTML" in the new/edit post page): <iframe allowtransparency="true" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" src="http://www.facebook.com/plugins/like.php?href=[ replace this with your blog URL] &amp;layout=standard&amp;show_faces=true&amp;width=450&amp;action=like&amp;font&amp;colorscheme=light&amp;height=80" style="border: none; height: 80px; overflow: hidden; width: 450px;"></iframe> Make sure to replace the value of the href tag with the URL (web address) of your blog post!

Amazingly, today's TILT is from Disney Channel! =) During a commercial of Phineas and Ferb, it was mentioned that the platypus is the only mammal that lays egg. So I made a little research and came out with the following: Technically, it is one of the five species of monotremes (mammals that lay eggs) It has the bill of  a duck The tail of a beaver And the feet of an otter It is venomous, capable of causing severe pain to humans

Project TILT for today: difference between Blogger's Stats and Google Analytics. One of the reasons I switched to Blogger is the built-in stats function where I can see number of page views in the different posts, sources of traffic, and demographics of my visitors. Sample screenshot:  Blogger's stats functions, however, pale in comparison with Google Analytic's very rich features. Among my favorites are: Statistics for Absolute Unique Visitors Statistics for New and Returning Visitors Average Time on Site per Visitor Keywords used in Search Engine that leads to my site and many more! One prerequisite for Google Analytics, however, is to have your own domain name, which is really cheap nowadays.

LTE Modem from Samsung Bombarded by so many "launching of 4G technology" news today, I decided to research more on the subject. Here are a few things that I learned: Obviously, 4G is the successor of the 3G and 2G family of standards. ITU (International Telecommunication Union) established International Mobile Telecommunications Advanced (IMT-Advanced) Standard which defines the peak speed requirements for 4G standards, as follows: 100 Mbit per second for high mobility communication (e.g., trains, cars) 1 Gbit per second for low mobility communiaction (e.g., walking, stationary) Technically, only two standards under development have been accorded the official designation of "IMT-Advanced": LTE Advanced and WirelessMan Advanced. As the most advanced technology for wireless communication, IMT-Advanced is considered as "4G", however, current versions of LTE, WiMax, and other evolved 3G Technologies could be considered as "4G" provided that ...

Got this one from Vic's Facebook post. Since I have no TILT for yesterday, I will ante-date this post to make up for the gap. An April 13, 2011 article  in New York Times featured a story about P&G and Unilever in Europe being fined due to price-fixing. Another company, Henkel, escaped the fine by being the whistle-blower of the cartel. The cartel operated from 2002 to 2005 and affected the price of laundry detergents in Belgium, France, Germany, Greece, Italy, the Netherlands, Portugal and Spain. In exchange for a 10% reduction in fine, P&G and Unilever admitted involvement in the cartel. I'm just shocked that even in progressive countries in Europe, where there are strict anti-trust laws, the cartel was able to operate for more than three years. I wouldn't be surprise if cartels in various industries are operating here in our country for decades now.

Smart's Fun Familia once again treated us with free tickets to Enchanted Kingdom! I took this opportunity to get the name of EK's mascot which I already knew before but have already forgotten. His name is Eldar and his face can be seen in almost all the gift shop items inside the park. Eldar, in Hebrew, means "god resides", while in Norse, means "warrior who fights with fire". I have no idea why EK chose this name for their mascot.

This was supposed to be my post for yesterday. However, since I have many TILT materials yesterday, I decided to post this topic for today. So tecchnically, this is not a TILT, rather a YILT (Yesterday, I learned that...). Hehe. Anyway, on to the topic. Early this morning, my officemates and I were talking about one of our other officemate's child who is suspected to have Kawasaki Syndrome. Not knowing what this sickness is, we decided to check it out it the Internet. Salient points about it: Symptoms: Persistent fever higher than 39 degrees Celsius and lasting for more than 5 days Severe redness in the eyes Stomach, chest, or genital rash Red, dry, cracked lips Swollen nymph-nodes Cause: unknown Effect: if the symptoms are recognized early, fully recovery can be attained within a few days. Untreated, it can lead to serious complications that can affect the heart. Other information: Most common among children of Japanese and Korean descent, but can affect all ethnic gro...

Once again, my TILT for today came from Ibyang . Here are a few words with their origins: Salary - comes from the word "salarium" which, during Roman Empire, is thought to be an allowance given to soldiers for the purchase of salt. Based on my trusted friend Wikipedia, however, salarium may also refer to money given to soldiers for conquering salt supplies and guard the Salt Roads. Pencil - comes from the Latin word penis, which means "tail". Cappuccino - this word is inspired by a Catholic Order of Monks known as Capuchin. They earned this name because of the long and pointy hood, called "capuche", that they wear. The brown shade of the hood gave rise to the name of the coffee drink.

While reading Mockingjay (Book 3 of the Hunger Games Trilogy), I encountered this word -- wherewithal. Come again? Where-with-al? It is literally my first time to see this word, so I instantly know what my TILT for today would be. According to Wiktionary, wherewithal is a noun representing the ability and means required to accomplish some task. In the book, it was used to illustrate the knowledge, opportunity, and courage needed by one of the characters to warn the protagonist of the impending danger.

The first thief in the Bible is Eve. Theft is defined as the illegal taking of a property without the owner's freely-given consent. Of course, in the creation story, the fruit of knowledge is the "property" taken without the owner's (God) consent.  Thieving, stealing, and pilfering are common action items in the different Final Fantasy games. Aside from these, many movies have stealing as the main plot involving the story's protagonists (e.g., Ocean's 11). While playing those games and watching those movies, it is quite "cool" to do/view these acts because we are looking at the taker's perspective. I learned the hard way that it is definitely "not cool" if you are the person whose items are stolen.

In preparation for the upcoming Thor movie, I bought a norse mythology book and browsed marvel's site for information about Thor. Although I'm an avid mythology fan, most stories that I know are from Greek, Roman, and Philippine myths. What I know about Norse mythology, which makes it unique from other cuture's myth, is that the gods in Norse mythology are doomed to die during Ragnarok or the final battle. Back to Thor, Marvel's version is very interesting to read based from the short outline of his timeline in their website. Starting from his banishment to Earth, to his eventual rulership of Asgard. Of course, these did not actually happen in the original Norse mythology, wherein he killed and was killed by Jormungand (the serpent). Thor is set to hit the big screens on May 6, 2011. Published with Blogger-droid v1.6.8

All biological creatures die. Even if one survives predators, diseases, malnutrition, and accident, it is inevitable that one would die due to senescence. Senescence, or biological aging , is the change in the biology of an organism as it ages after its maturity ( Wikipedia ). In other words, it is simply dying from old age. However, there are at least two beings that may  not be susceptible to senescence: (a) the Turritopsis nutricula  (immortal jellyfish), and (b) the simple fresh-water genus  hydra . As such, these creatures are deemed biologically immortal !

Pokemon's thirty-eight episode entitled  Dennō Senshi Porygon (Computer/Electric Soldier Porygon) caused seizures to at least 658 Japanese viewers when it was aired on December 16, 1997. The seizure was caused by red and blue flashes at extremely fast rate, triggering photosensitive seizures in which the stimuli can cause altered consciousness (Wikipedia). Because of this incident, this episode was not rebroadcasted worldwide. So, if you're watching cartoons/anime, and there are flashing lights (even if it is not red), it's better to look away from the screen until the flashing stops. =)

Another history-related TILT. Ever wonder what is the name of our archipelago (or at  least, a significant part of it), before the Spaniards came and named it Las Islas Felipinas? Well, here is a short list of probable  names that ancient people used to refer to our country. Please note, however, that these are not 100% authoritative as most of these were derived based on assumptions and reasonable conclusions. Ophir - place where King Solomon obtained the gold he used to build his temple (Friar Aganduru Morris) Maniolas (Ptolemy). According to José Rizal, "Maniolas" was what Ptolemy used when he referred to the city of Manila itself, Tawalisi for the whole Philippines, and Baroussai when referring to the Visayas. Liu-Kiu (Suis) Ma-i (Sung Dynasty). During the Ming Dynasty, according to the Chinese Annals, Ma-i (or Ma-yi) refers either to Mindoro or Manila. Scattered Islands of the South Pacific (Marco Polo) I personally like the idea of the Philippines being "Oph...

Taking a break from studying for my Finance Exams tomorrow, I grabbed Ambeth Ocampo's Death by Garrote, Looking Back 3 and started reading some articles. What struck me most is the love story between one of our national heroes, Andres Bonifacio, and his wife Gregoria de Jesus. In 1983, Andres (almost 30 years old at that time), was already a widower. His first wife, Monica, was a leper. He started courting Gregoria who was just 18 years old at that time. Within six months, Andres was able to swept Gregoria off her feet and they planned to get married. Gregoria's parents, however, did not agree to their wedding plans and they locked up Gregoria in a safehouse in Binondo. Gregoria even wrote to the Gobernadorcillo asking for help. Her letter reads: "I am Gregoria de Jesus from Caloocan, a dalagang Tagalog, minor. I wish to contract marriage with my fiance Andres Bonifacio of 11-E Sagunto Street, Tondo. When my parents found out of our good intentions, I was brought here,...

To avoid the perils of having stagnant brain (and blog), I'm going to start a daily project I will call Project TILT. This is an acronym for "Today, I Learned That". Basically, I would blog one new learning that I gained for the day, everyday. Hopefully, this will ensure that I do learn something new every time I wake up and face the world out there. I got the idea of having a daily project from Armel who currently has his Project Lookbook and Daily Doodle . Since suiting up and creative drawing are both not my forte, I decided doing something that is close to my heart. Beside, if I'm planning to do this everyday, I need to make sure that I will not eventually get bored. BTW, although today is the official first day for this, I will create two Project TILT posts for yesterday and the other day. Those trivia actually helped me in deciding what daily project I would work on. For now, I will end this post and hopefully have my TILT post for today before going to ...

Ibyang forwarded an email this morning regarding the [erroneous] use of the word full-pledged . Based on the email, the correct term is full-fledged . Doing a quick search of "full-pledged" in google resulted in: Apparently, Google already knows that it is wrong. Quote from the original email: The term has its roots in the  adjective   fledged , which means a young bird having wing feathers that are large enough for flight. On a figurative level, the term  fledged  refers to a person or thing that have just taken on the role specified.  Example : Our discipline is so new fledged that the FBI had to take its cases to the Smithsonian for analysis. By the way, the email was sent to Ibyang by their speaker (Ms. Janet Villa) in Effective Business Writing.

While conversing with my dear kambal , she gave out the trivia that the Christmas story (birth of Christ) is mentioned only in two out of the four Gospels, particularly in Matthew and Luke. Digging deeper into this trivia, I learned that: Luke's story takes place mostly before the birth of Jesus and centers on Mary Matthew's story takes place mostly after the birth of Jesus and centers on Joseph The birth and life of Christ as a child comprises around 10% of the text of Luke In Luke, Jesus was visited by the shepherds In Matthew, Magi coming the East visited to worship Christ

I'm an avid fan of cdr-king products. I know quality is not that high, but value for your money more than compensates for the occasional defective products that you will receive. Besides, with so many store outlets around metro manila, it is quite easy to replace them. The most recent item that I bought here is Energizer's Energi-to-go. This allows me to recharge my mobile phone battery anytime, any where. For example, I'm here at school right now and my battery is around 12%. With my energi-to-go, I don't need to look for electrical outlet to charge my phone. Though it won't fully charge my phone (I think up to around 50% only), the convenience of having a mobile charger is worth the P380 that I paid for this. It's like having an extra battery! Nandito na ang prof namin. To be continued later... Ok, back to blogging... Wala yung professor namin sa 2nd subject, maaga kami naka-uwi. Yehey! I'll end this post by listing other CDR-King items that I curr...

Here is my new set-up: Blog service - provided by Blogger [Free] Domain (infinitefate.com) - purchased from Go Daddy   [$40 for 5 years] Email ( myname @infinitefate.com) - Gmail c/o Google Apps [Free] Compare this with my previous set-up: Hosting and Domain - purchased from JustHost [$190.80 per year] Blog service - installed Wordpress [Free] Sulit di ba? Mas limited nga lang ang pwede kong gawin with my current set-up. Dati, pwede ako mag-install ng iba't-ibang web software (e.g., wiki, cms, dms). Ngayon, kailangan ko pang i-explore ang Google Apps para malaman kung ano pa ang pwede kong gawin. Maglalagay sana ako ng detailed instructions on how to set-up each of these accounts, kaya lang umatake na naman ang katamaran ko... Next time na lang ulit. For now, tulugan na!

Sakit sa ulo ng HSBC! My story: I subscribed to JustHost two years ago for my web hosting. Last February 28, JustHost charged my credit card for the auto-renewal fee. Actual renewal date is March 7, 2011. On March 1, 2011, I complained to JustHost and on March 3, 2011, JustHost cancelled my account and issued a full refund. Now on the HSBC side: JustHost transaction was posted March 4, 2011 for USD190.80 converted to PHP8,537.85. Reversal was posted March 7, 2011 for USD190.80 converted to PHP8,041.79. Obviously, the difference is due to the different exchange rate used by HSBC for the debit and the credit amounts. Naturally, I contacted HSBC and they told me that I need to contact the merchant. Contact the merchant for what??? JustHost charged me USD190.80, and reversed a corresponding USD190.80! Since this is a reversal of a past transaction, shouldn't HSBC used the exchange rate for the past transaction?! Now I am having headaches due to the numerous forms and documen...

Just finished our Marketing class. Our topic: product and its different levels. Sobrang laugh-trip sa mga brand names na naiisip ng mga pinoy: My favorites: Caintacky Fried Chicken Side-Saki Petal Attraction Labo Optical Funenaria Mabuhay Farmacia With Love (From Russia With Love) Sylvestre's Salon Cooking Ng Ina Mo Here's my prof:

After two years of hosting my blog in JustHost and using Wordpress, I discontinued these services and made the switch to Blogger (for the blog hosting service) and Go Daddy (for the domain management). I'll post a new blog later with the details. For now, balik muna sa "pakikinig" sa class... P.S. Nawala nga lang lahat ng stats nung luma kong blog... =( Published with Blogger-droid v1.6.7

Nung bata pa ako, pangarap ko nang maging bayani. Yung tipong nagliligtas ng isang binibining nasa mapanganib na kalagayan. Tapos maiinlab yung babae sa kin, magde-date kami, tapos magkakatuluyan. Iba't ibang eksena ng pagliligtas ang naiisip ko. Nandyan yung tatawid kunwari yung babae, tapos may dadaang isang mabilis na sasakyan, walang preno. Itutulak ko yung babae, tapos gugulong kami sa kalsada na magkayakap. Depende sa mood ko, nag-iiba-iba rin yung detalye nung eksenang ito. Pwedeng itutulak or kakabigin ko lang yung babae, tapos tatalon ako ng mataas at magta-tumbling sa may bubong ng sasakyan. Maporma akong maglalanding sa may likod, tapos kukuha ako ng bato at ihahagis sa sasakyan. Dahil ako ang bida sa kwento, papasok sa loob ng sasakyan yung bato at tatamaan sa ulo yung walanghiyang driver. Ang pogi ko naman sa paningin nung babae. Minsan naman kunwari naglalakad ako papuntang school, tapos nasa may gate yung crush ko. Yung crush ko e anak kunwari ng maimpluwensang t...

Inggitero ako. Habang binabasa ko yung mga luma kong posts, narealize ko na pwede akong mag-associate ng isa o higit pang emotion sa bawat blog ko. Pwedeng depressed, elated, o lonely. Pwede ring desperate o kaya angry. Ngayon, dadagdagan ko ng isa pang emotion ang aking pagba-blog -- inggit. Marami akong bagay na kina-i-inggitan -- mga mamahaling game consoles, artistic talents (e.g., drawing, dancing, singing), at matatalas na pag-iisip. Sa maraming tao, ang inggit ay isang masamang emosyon. Katunayan, isa ito sa seven deadly sins. Para sa akin, hindi naman masamang mainggit. Sa totoo lang, maari pa nga itong makabuti sa yo. Nagiging masama o mabuti lang naman ang inggit (tulad ng kahit anong emosyon) depende sa magiging reaksyon mo sa naramdaman mo. Kung dahil sa inggit ay natulak ka upang mag-isip o gumawa ng masama (e.g., magnakaw, magsinungaling, pumatay), obviously hindi ito nakabuti sa yo. Pero hindi lang naman mga grabeng kasamaan ang pwedeng idulot ng inggit. May mga simpleng...