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Showing posts from 2012

Random Thoughts on Cyber Crime Prevention Law

Section 19 I agree that laws are just tools and can be used either for good or evil. Appropriate tools, however, should be given to responsible people at the correct time. You would give crayons to toddlers to let them express their creativity. You wouldn’t give a gun to teenagers to settle arguments. For me, our government is not mature and responsible enough to be provided with the encompassing powers provided by section 19 (takedown clause). Cyber Libel Libel before the Information Age is a serious offense worthy of being treated as a crime. Due to the “one-way” nature of the traditional mass media (radio, television), paninirang-puri places the victim in a very disadvantageous position since he has limited power to let other people know his side of the story. This poses serious threats to his reputation and character. With the advent of the Internet, and with laws requiring traditional media to print or air the responses of the “aggrieved” party, everyone has been granted the

Nostalgia: DOS Games

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I'm currently "semi-addicted" to several games in  Steam  including Civilization V, Hero Academy (also available in iPad), Dota 2 (big noob in this game), and Might and Magic Heroes VI. PC games sure have gone a long way from the time I started playing around the early '90s.  It was my kuya Ron who introduced me to computer gaming (actually, to computers, in general). The first PC game that I remember playing is Scorched Earth. Scorched Earth screenshot In this game, you control a tank and try to blow up your opponents using a variety of weapons (similar to Worms). Your arsenal includes MIRV (Multiple Independently Targetable Re-entry Vehicle) missles, Napalm Bomb, and the famous Nuke. You can also use defensive and support items like shields and parachutes. MIRV attack! In school, one of the few available games is Adventures in Math run using GW-BASIC. The player is set inside a castle and his goal is to find the exit. To open doors and pick up treasu

UPDATE: My Windows 8 Experience

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As much as I  hate  don't like Microsoft, I have to admit that, so far, I like the performance of Windows 8. I have been using the new OS for almost three weeks now and it was able to run all my programs with minimal issues and impressive performance. The only "major" problem that I had was installing and running Diablo 3. I was able to fix it by running the installer and the game in Windows XP compatibility mode: Diablo 3 Compatibility Settings Here are some screenshots of the game: Game Launcher (with some portion of our pre-nup pictures in the background!) My Level 52 Demon Hunter The "dual personality" issue is, surprisingly, really not a biggie. I was able to use my laptop comfortably without dwelling too much in Metro/Modern UI. All it takes is one additional click to launch the Desktop UI and I'm back to my familiar and much-loved interface. Even the lack of the Start button and Start Menu was also not a major issue for me. Once I fou

Malayo ang Tingin...

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Wala namang tinatanaw...

Windows 8: First Impressions

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Just finished installing and "skimming" through Microsoft's newest operating system, Windows 8. Overall, I think it's good but not great. Two key factors that are glaringly different from previous versions of Windows are: (1) the new "Metro/Modern UI", and (2) the lack of Start Menu in "Desktop" interface. Windows 8 is due for commercial launch on October 26. Developers and manufacturers, however, were already provided with Released-to-Manufacturing (RTM) version of the OS last August 1. Install time is pretty impressive, just around 30 minutes of installation and configuration, from putting the DVD in the drive to being operational and in ready-to-use state. This includes formatting and partitioning of hard drive, installation of OS, setting up a new Microsoft account, and customizing the user interface (keyboard, language, background image, color scheme). (Note: I read in Techradar that installing the OS using USB, Solid-State Drive (SSD), a

The Little Things

Hi Kambal, Maraming scenarios ang pumasok at lumabas sa isip ko kung papano ko i-execute ang event na to. Iba't-ibang lugar, iba't-ibang mga tao, iba't-ibang gimik at pakulo. And then I looked at the core of our relationship and identified kung ano ba talaga ang pinaka-reason kung bakit tayo masaya. Marami na tayong pinagdaanan, marami na tayong mga away at bati. Marami nang "big bang events" na talagang umukit sa relationship natin. Pero on top of those rare big events are the simple and seemingly ordinary things na para sa akin, mas nagbibigay kahulugan sa pagsasama natin. Simple things like riding the MRT, eating Red Mango, watching movies, shopping, and shopping, and shopping =). In addition to those simple things are the people around us, most notably our Smart family, who are very close witnesses (and sometimes, key players) in our love story. In the end, I chose to have these simple items to remind us that though there are big events that make our rel

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Mahal kong kambal, ako'y dinggin, Sa aking pangungulila, iyong sagipin.

Project TILT: Freakonomics

I have just finished reading Freakonomics (and currently reading its sequel, SuperFreakonomics ) and learned A LOT regarding different topics and subjects. Core to the book's theme is the power of incentives to the different aspects of a person and society in general. To give a brief glimpse of the contents of the book, here are the topics per chapter, as copied from Wikipedia: Chapter 1: Discovering cheating as applied to teachers and sumo wrestlers, as well as a typical Washington DC area bagel business and its customers Chapter 2: Information control as applied to the Ku Klux Klan and real-estate agents Chapter 3: The economics of drug dealing, including the surprisingly low earnings and abject working conditions of crack cocaine dealers Chapter 4: The role legalized abortion has played in reducing crime, contrasted with the policies and downfall of Romanian dictator Nicolae Ceauşescu Chapter 5: The negligible effects of good parenting on education Chapter 6: The socioec