Sunday, August 26, 2012

Win a Honda by Playing a Memory Game on Sulit.com.ph

The New Honda City 2009 Review
Creative Commons Image via Flickr irwandy
This is actually a Honda City 2009 - I cannot find a cc image of a 2012
Screengrab of Sulit.com.ph TVC Promo
Play the Game
Share the TV Commercial of Sulit.com.ph to get raffle entries
Sulit.com.ph, the most well known free classifieds website in the Philippines is launching an intense marketing drive to enhance your memory through its online contest. Well okay, not really to enhance your memory but to make you want to play the flip n match game again and again.

Mechanics: Here

Previous winners:

Photo from Sulit

Photo from Sulit
"The challenge is to flip and match the identical playing cards before the game time runs out. The more pairs you find, the more raffle entries you will earn which will mean more chances of winning a gadget of your choice this month & a brand new 2012 Honda City on September!"

Personally, I find the game a bit difficult. I dunno, maybe I am getting stupid or old and my memory cells are frying out from all the time spent under the sun, planting ginger...

A technique I use is I say the words for the pictures out loud.

Red car, white car, cellphone, tablet, search, hanap usap deal, TV
Red car, white car, cellphone, tablet, search, hanap usap deal, TV
Red car, white car, cellphone, tablet, search, hanap usap deal, TV

Almost like it can brainwash me.

I recently attended the wake of my grandfather, who is my grandmother's sister's husband and so it was a mini family reunion.

There, my second cousin Jherome Cruz said, that I should blog about travel - well maybe if I get lucky enough to win that Honda City maybe I could blog about travelling hahaha.

Tuesday, August 21, 2012

Saturday, August 18, 2012

Max's Fried Chicken Lipa City, Philippines Aug 18, 2012

Cassandra, Alithea and Andrea say Cheese at Max's Lipa
I work hard and I also eat hard :) So today, I decided to fulfill my promise to my children to take them out to Max's Restaurant Lipa City, in JP Laurel Highway, Barangay Sabang, just beside SM Lipa when I win another one of those online contests.

I've been a happy father for 10 years now and one thing's for sure, when children grow - they eat more!

All 6 of us fit inside the tricycle, including baby Hannah, thanks to yours truly's careful planning and geometrical proficiency. ;P

Alex was being introspective... Probably wondering
what he'll eat.
I felt a little shy entering the premises since most of the people who go inside - came with cars. Having the tricycle go up the ramp feels a little too provenzano but what the heck I don't have a car sooo - "Mah! Para!"

Max's Lipa City has their own building so medyo dyahe pag naka tricycle ka lang. Pag nasa SM ka - no one could tell the difference if you came in using a tricycle or a Pajero :D




Hannah's first time at Max's Lipa

Pinaputok na Bangus at Max's Lipa
Pinaputok nga ang bulsa ko at PHP 239 for a medium sized bangus

Crabmeat Fried Rice at 130 Pesos

Pancit Luglug Solo at 95 Pesos

Whole Family Chicken at 443 Pesos

Natutulog yung manok nung sinerve...

Chicken Sisig at 186 Pesos

Sizzling Tofu at 169 Pesos

Perfect combination


We had the chicken re-done since I didn't really want to feed my children chicken with some blood in it. I don't know if Max's does chicken raw nowadays, but I guess now you have to tell them - to make it well done.


All in all, our experience was "okay". I guess talagang mas masaya nga lang pag kasama ang whole family. Granted the pricing was a bit steep, that's to be expected with any Max's restaurant. On the other hand, I could have saved more with their value meal packages, but I prefer to dine ala Filipino style, salu salo. Specially with my kids.

When I was done, the waiter was even kind enough to offer to light my cigarette.

The only downside to our experience was I couldn't eat the bones. You know, in other Max's restaurants - the chickens are so crispy you could literally eat the chicken's bones. I didn't bother this time.


Thursday, August 16, 2012

Being a Farmer

30 Kilos of Ginger or Luya Ready to be planted
The Price of Ginger/Luya here in Lipa City is 8/kilo at the farm and 15/kilo at the market
To be honest, I don't really know if I should call myself a Filipino farmer/magsasaka. I don't know much about the etymology of "magsasaka" but I'm guessing it has to do with working on another person's farm - that, I haven't done. I'm not so sure about the proper definition.

But if the definition of a farmer is someone who plants stuff and harvests them, then in a small sense I am a farmer. In my stay here, I've managed to plant
  • 200 Senorita banana trees - of which only 2 are alive right now...
  • 50 ginger
  • Dug through the hard ground about 6 feet deep cut a hectare of grass by now.
So my next agricultural business experiment would be to plant some Papaya trees and ginger again. 

The price of ginger has dropped precipitously even though whenever typhoon season starts, the prices of vegetables should skyrocket. Some large and new farm must have flooded the market with ginger. It used to be priced above 100 Pesos a kilo and above, but now, it's down to 8 Pesos (farm) and 15 Pesos (market bagsakan). On the up side, my starting capital need not be that high. 

Thanks to Ann Smarty's MyBlogGuest contest, I now have some capital - about $300. Enough to buy me some gasoline for the grass cutter, hire a couple of farm workers to help with the planting and to buy additional seeds to plant. 

Right now, we have 30 kilos of ginger in our inventory ready to be planted. The ground though needs to be cleaned before we could plant. Otherwise, it would be hard to find the ginger plant amidst all the weeds.





Tabungi ang retrato
I'm off to cut the remainder of the grass. Then next week, it would be tilling and digging time.

Right on schedule.

Not bad if you take a look at how it used to look like:






Tuesday, August 14, 2012

Thank You for Helping Me Win This Blogging Contest!

Flickr: TheGiantVermin


blogging contest


I won 2nd place thanks to you!

Man, I'd like to thank all of you who helped me +1, like, retweet my entries on this amazing contest held by MyBlogGuest. It's been a very rough month for me with 1 grandfather who has cancer, 1 who just had a stroke, 1 death in our real world community and 2 low pressure areas sending an abnormal amount of rain. This really is a welcome reprieve.

To the ever innovative and daring Ann Smarty the founder of MyBlogGuest, I wish you more success on your endeavors. I'm very happy to be a part of the community and I look forward to hosting more guest posts from MyBlogGuest.

Right now, I'm just a little busy with real life farmville work. It's planting season in the Philippines and I will use the funds to plant some more ginger!

Congratulations to all the other winners, namely Donna Chaffins and Naeem Noor! See all winners here:

Most of all, I'd like to thank all those who helped me, specially my Google Plus, Facebook and twitter friends - I know that most of them are getting tired of supporting me on my online serial competitor mode, but they still did anyways with their +1s, likes and retweets.

Man it feels good!


Friday, August 10, 2012

Addictive 3D Tank Game Tournament Now Live - 3D Multiplayer Browser Based Tanki

Tanki Online is a 3D Multiplayer Browser
Based Tank Game
In between breaks from gardening/farming, America's Army 3 and Tanki Online are my most recommended lull from all the dirty and hard work. After all, what could be more fun than driving a tank and shooting the smithereens out of other tanks?

Today, they have a tournament going on and it would be fun to watch. My rank is just Master Corporal, but nevertheless, it's been fun. There are some strategies to help you kill the tougher and higher level tanks, but I'm not really in the mood to write about it for the moment.



Well, okay, here's one. Find a tank battle where a teammate is shooting an enemy.  Count the number of shots your teammate has fired, then shoot the enemy tank when you think he's about to blow.

It's kill stealing but what the heck right?

Another great thing about Tanki online is that there are so many players. You could find cover behind a wall and fire from there while hiding during reload.

Watch live streaming video from worldcuptv at livestream.com

Wednesday, August 08, 2012

Unveiling the Fed

For decades, the Federal Reserve has existed as a shadowy organization manipulating America’s economy, currency and banking system. Very few Americans understand how the Fed operates or even know about its existence. The recent presidential campaign and Dr. Ron Paul’s campaign’s anti-Fed messages have brought the Federal Reserve into the national spotlight, and Bestaccountingschools.net has created an infograph to help you easily understand the facts about this veiled organization.

Why was the Fed Reserve created, and what does it do? Bestaccountingschools.net explains this for you in a bright infograph with facts, figures and colorful drawings. In a few short moments of perusing this infograph, you’ll have a deeper understanding of the benefits and downsides of a federally controlled banking system. You’ll learn about why America stopped using the gold standard and why a return to this monetary policy might reduce unemployment and improve the economy. You can’t afford to not read this graph – literally.

Source: bestaccountingschools.net

Unveiling the Fed Federal Reserve
Unveiling the "Fed"
U.S. Federal Reserve
From Best Accounting Schools
Source: 


Sunday, August 05, 2012

Four Different Ways That You Can Make Money Online Nowadays

Flower
The internet has changed the way that we look at being employed. Up until a few short years ago, if you wanted to start your own business you were greatly limited to the geographical region that you were in at the time. Sure, it was possible to send items throughout the country, even overseas, but unless you had a virtually limitless advertising budget, you were not going to be able to create brand awareness everywhere.

That has completely changed since the introduction of the Internet. Nowadays it is possible to offer your services to the person living down the street from you, or someone living in Japan. The Internet has taken the world by storm and anyone who knows his or her way around the Internet can benefit from this.  Several jobs allow you to start working from your home, just by using the Internet. Today we look at four different ways that people are making money online and discuss how it might be possible for you to start carving out your own niche.

1.) Freelance writer

This is a job that I have quite a bit of experience with myself. I realized very early on that I had a passion for writing. Even though it was easier for me to write about topics that I found interesting, I realized that I had the ability to write about any subject. Even though many people online consider themselves 'writers', the truth is that good writers are hard to come by. In an online environment where new and quality content is always important, a good writer needs nothing but a computer and a connection to the Internet to get started.

2.) Search Engine Optimization

Do you remember the last time you found anything online without using search engines? Most of us are using search engines without giving it much thought. With search engine optimization (commonly referred to as SEO), you ensure that certain keywords and phrases are clearly represented in the text that you publish online. This ensures that search engines pick up these keywords. This ultimately helps when it comes to search engine rankings. Because let's face it, who is going to scroll down to page 10 to see your results when they can find competitors on page 2?

3.) Graphic design

As we have always said, you only get one chance at a first impression. This goes double online. As a graphic designer, you could work on making websites that not only provide interesting information, but also look great to boot. If you find that you want to express yourself creatively, this could be a great job for you.

4.) A certified ethical hacker

As we begin to rely on online services more and more, we also find that those that intend to disrupt our online services become more dangerous. Every time we hear about hackers in the mainstream media, it tends to be negative. Nevertheless, did you know you could do some good as a certified ethical hacker? For a company or government, it is in their best interest that the security on their website is up-to-date and topnotch to prevent theft or data fraud. What better way is there to test your level of security than to have someone try to get into your files? Considering that the amount of data and information that we use online is only going to increase in the future, the need for this type of employee is only going to keep increasing as well.

There are so many ways to learn

The Internet has not just opened many employment opportunities, it has also given us plenty of educational opportunities as well. For example, if you are interested in learning more about becoming an ethical hacker there are websites such that provide you with all the information that you could possibly need. Learning online removes boundaries such as distance, location, time, and cost. It is more affordable than ever before to get a certification or education that you might be interested in thanks to the Internet.


Melissa Cameron has been working as an online freelance writer since 2003. Because of her extensive online experience and the fact that she attends industry conferences, Melissa understands what it takes to be successful online. She has tried her hand at search engine and social media marketing and is an avid reader. She also frequents www.ecourseclassroom.com to ensure she stays ahead of the curve.

Friday, August 03, 2012

Hope Amidst the Storm



I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me.' Matthew 25:36

Whilst the strong winds raged, and everybody ran for their own good, one among the many stopped to see the little child, naked in the cold and open.

With no umbrella of her own, she gave the child her own jacket and ran off going to work.

Hope exists. 


The Good Samaritan on EDSA

Thursday, August 02, 2012

Textbooks Should be Free

box of medical textbooks


Textbooks should be free and education should be truly universal. 

We live in an age of heightened awareness, in an age of supposed efficiency bereft of the hindrances of our physical limitations. Now many of those limitations have been surpassed - we no longer need to print textbooks on paper, but we still do. This supposedly is part and parcel of an economic model built on top of an educational system that should be freeing people from the barriers of poverty.

Yet information - real, life changing, useful, educational and specialized information has proven to be more expensive in the age of copyright and intellectual property.

Yes, we live in the much touted Age of Information, yet we are inundated with throngs upon throngs of garbage.

Instead of educating our children through the wondrous medium of television and cable networks, we immerse them with Spongebob Squarepants' antics.

Spongebob

The Supposed Solution


Is already within our grasp.



The medium is already available, yet we still cling on to our old ways like stubborn children just because powerful publishers choose to ignore the benefits that these can give to future generations.

The right thing to do would be to offer educational information at a much lower price if not totally free.

I take a look at the things that are written in Philippine textbooks for gradeschool children and can't help but think that most of these are easily searchable via the Internet.

Worst, the writers of these textbooks can even bear putting a copyright on these supposed educational material even though their value is almost the same as a blog post. Information that is considered general knowledge and easily accessible on the Internet should at least be licensed as Creative Commons.

One can arguably say that Wikipedia could even be a better textbook than what we currently have and what these publishers are greedily peddling to school principals. After all, just imagine how much money could be made, selling one textbook to millions of school children at $10 or 420 Pesos apiece.

It's an economic extravaganza.

Why not make eBook readers or Tablet Computers the requirement?

An investment in one, can span most of a child's textbook requirements for the rest of his entire educational years. Consider adding wear and tear to the equation and they're still a much suitable alternative as opposed to buying 10-15 textbooks yearly.

I would dare say that the only reason why this has not been adapted in Philippine schools yet is because of greed.

A short story:

When I was a young boy, my father who was a lawyer was approached by a textbook publisher who wanted to sue a school's principal. 


Why? 


The publisher bribed the principal with a car so that he would choose this particular publisher's textbooks and make it a requirement for that particular school. 


The principal accepted the car, but chose another publisher instead. 


My dad didn't take the case. 



The Wrath of Nature

The winds from the West howl and travel with the gait of a furious element while bending countless trees with its tireless fury. With waves of belligerent animosity, she shows that she has the power to reign supreme over all land dwellers. With her might, she throws water with a fury of ten thousand men, raining it down on the arrogance of humanity.

She makes the walls of waves rise and throws man's precarious wastes back at him and on his roadways - reminding him that his ineptitude has its price.

Photo by Rem Zamora for ABS CBN News
You reap what you sow, humanity.

Residents 
try to recover a galvanized sheet from the sea of garbage that was dumped by strong waves off Barangay Happyland in Tondo, Manila on Tuesday. —Photo by Linus Guardian Escandor II from Mb.com.ph
Garbage. The discarded refuse of man's continuous desire to consume. The long ignored problem that has all of the many solutions yet none of the action - pile up in tons every second of every day. It is unfortunate that it has also becoming man's indelible mark on the planet.

EventId's in Nostr - from CGPT4

The mathematical operation used to derive the event.id in your getSignedEvent function is the SHA-256 hash function, applied to a string rep...