Backups

I bought a XiMeta Netdisk today at OfficeMax. I have been thinking of having a backup system for a while. This 120GB netdisk should be enough. :)

DRM on new Intel chip

Intel launched last thursday a new DRM-enabled chip. The chip would presumably allow copyright holders to prevent unauthorized copying and distribution of copyrighted materials. (This makes the big companies happy.) Read the story here.

I will not be surprised if people starts buying computers equipped with AMD chips or IBM PPC instead.

Kindergarten

My son will start kindergarten this coming school year. I'm very happy for him.

Rutter won over Jennings

Ken Jenning bow out to Brad Rutter in the 3 day Jeopardy! tournament of champions. CNN.com has the story.

Rainy summer

I cannot understand why the wheather is bleak. Well at least, we don't have to buy an air-conditioner.

Roy and robots

I attended Roy's lecture class today. I am very interested on how object-oriented programming will be taught using the world of karel robots. Roy's interesting lecture is interrupted by the ringing of a cell phone (was it Roy's?). A large part of the session today is devoted on how to instruct karel the robot to put 9 beepers in a 2-D space. The beepers should be in the shape of VT logo. The students are required to use BlueJ, a java program development environment for beginners.

Balita

I learned to play the guitar during my senior year in high school. Balita is one of the songs I used to practice playing. It is a song made popular by the pinoy band called Asin. The sharp-witted lyrics of this song composed by Saro Banares is perhaps the reason it became popular. The chorus of the song is even included in the Apl song by Black eyed peas.

The chord pattern is simple: at capo VI do Am-Em-Am-Em-F-G-Am-Em-Am (repeat).

[KORO]
Lapit mga kaibigan at makinig kayo
Ako'y may dala-dalang balita galing sa bayan ko
Nais kong ipamahagi ang mga kwento
At mga pangyayaring nagaganap sa lupang ipinangako

Ang lupang pinanggalingan ko'y may bahid ng dugo
May mga lorong 'di makalipad nasa hawlang ginto
May mga punong walang dahon, mga pusong 'di makakibo
Sa mga pangyayaring nagaganap sa lupang ipinangako

Mula nang makita ko ang lupang ito
Nakita ko rin ang munting apoy sa puso ng tao
Ginatungan ng mga kabulukan hanggang sa lumago
Ngayon ang puso'y may takot sa lupang ipinangako

[Ulitin ang koro]

Dati-rati'y ang mga bukid ay gulay ginto
Dati-rati'y ang mga ibon 'sing laya ng tao
Dati-rati ay katahimikan ang musikang nagpapatulog
Sa mga batang walang muwang sa mundo

Ngayon ang lupang ipinangako ay nagsusumamo
Patakan n'yo ng luha ang apoy sa kanyang puso
Dinggin n'yo ang mga sigaw
Ng mga puso ng taong kung inyong dadamhin, kabilang sa inyo

Duul mga kaigsuunan nugpaminaw kamo
Duna ko'y dala nga mga balita gikan sa banwa ko
Gusto ko nga ipahibalo ang mga istorya
Nga nagagahitabu sa banwagisa na 'to

Raising Vader

We watched the Star Wars (Revenge of the Sith) movie yesterday. I enjoyed it.

The path of Anakin Skywalker to being Darth Vader however is not very convincing. The story went too fast there. (But then the movie is already long!) Towards the end of the movie, it is a good decision not to show the actual carnage of the young Jedis at the temple. Too many children (with their parents) watched the movie. A carnage segment can ruin their Star Wars experience.

I have a VCD collection of Episodes IV to VI. Now I am not sure if I would purchase the DVD versions of Episodes I to VI.

Louis Leithold, 80

Louis Leithold is the author of the calculus textbook we used in Ateneo de Manila. The book is so good that I used to teach calculus in Ateneo de Naga.

Last April 29, Louis Leithold was found dead in his L.A. home. He was 80.

Full story is here.

Lunch at Homeplace

After the mass, Jess, Roy, Matt, and I went to Homeplace for lunch. We arrived at Homeplace around 1:05pm. Boy, a lot of people waiting are waiting for their turn to eat (It's mother's day!). We were told to wait for 1 hour and 40 minutes. We considered going to another place to eat -- but then we thought the manager might have overestimated the waiting time. We managed to kill time talking about lots of things -- and then, we suddenly realized that almost two hours have passed....

Well, we enjoyed the meal though -- lots of fried chicken, ham, mashed potatoes, beans, etc.

Thanking for all the fishes

Roy, Matt, and I watched the Hitchhiker's movie today. It is not bad as what most reviews of the said movie are saying.

Now, do you know the question to the ultimate answer? :)

OpenOffice software

OpenOffice is a productivity suite of application software. It includes a word processor (WRITER), a spreadsheet processor (CALC), math editor (MATH), drawing software (DRAW), database management system (BASE), and presentation software (IMPRESS). This software suite is being developed by lots of volunteers and friendly people at Sun microsystems. The good thing is that this software is free. You can also opt to save your files in formats readable by Microsoft Office suite.

The 2.0 beta version is available here.

uses of the lightsaber

Want to know how lightsabers work? Howstuffworks.com has the answer!

Prepare for the coming of the dark side.

Dr. Calata - - sounds good

Congratulations Jess!

Human-animals?

Research sometimes pushes things to the limit. I guess the prevalence of animals with 'human' organs would drive the animal rightists crazy. I shudder the thought of some mouse thinking like a human. Perhaps mickey mouse is not a figment of Walt's imagination at all. :)

CNN.com has this story about human-animals.

Early for the meeting

I thought I would not cram anymore. But I did prepare my report for an 8:30am meeting today around 5:00am. :)

Lunch at Charlie's

Sundays after the mass is usually our time to lunch out. At Charlie's, you can't go wrong. We had a sumptous treat of steamed fish, spicy chicken, sweet and sour pork, fishball soup, and vanilla ice cream.