Goodbye, 2007!

Today marks an end and a beginning. 2007 has been an eventful year for all of us. Some of us might have experienced their firsts this year, and perhaps a few have found a new hobby or craft. As 2007 nears to an end, let us look back and reminisce every single second in our lives and reflect on it, whether good or bad. Imbibe the memories and learn from them. Cheers to the year that has passed!

Turning junk into gold

The Ongs across the street are having their annual garage sale this week which will run until Tuesday. Last year, I got myself a copy of Patricia Cornwell's Blow Fly for only three hundred bucks. I searched for this book in literally every book fair I came across with. But the hunt was futile until I found one in the Ongs' garage sale. I haven't visited their stall this year, but I might drop by later to check out what's in their booth. I am hoping I could find a Crichton classic or at least, a hoodie, or The Loop DVD series.

Philippines in a predicament

I am not usually the type of person who quetches his complaints or displeasure. Normally, I just sit down and try to assimilate everything. But I reckon you already guessed that today will be different.

We are again famous around the globe. In fact, CNN and BBC highlighted us in their shows, and you know how wide their viewerships are. However, we are covered heavily by these leading news stations not because we had found the cure for AIDS or our economic growth had skyrocketed to 10%, but for some other reason. Thanks to Senator Trillanes et al. I am not going to discuss what happened since most of us are already familiar with it already. Apparently, Senator Trillanes et al are getting the hang of standoffs, coup plotting and hotel crashing. This time last 2003, the same event also occurred if you may recall. Senator Trillanes took over the Oakwood Premier Ayala Center serviced apartment tower situated in the Central Business District to show the Filipino people the alleged corruption of the Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo administration. To cut a long story short, the coup plotters failed. They also underwent court hearings.

After four years, the plotters have again found a chance to air their concerns. Detained Senator Antonio Trillanes IV, Brigadier General Danilo D. Lim, and 25 other Magdalo officers walked out of their court hearing and marched through the streets of Makati, called for the ousting of the president, and clutched the entire second floor of the Manila Peninsula Hotel. But history repeats itself, they failed for the second time.

As an Economics student, I know how such event can affect the Philippine economy. Shortly after the standoff, there are already signs of retardation in market gains. This might also raise the uncertainty rate, drawing foreign investors back from laying out money in Philippine enterprises. Altogether, this particular event will create an unstable image of the government, which actually makes me huffy. But part of me wants to commend Senator Trillanes et al for exemplifying valiance and nationalism. I just don't know what to react anymore.

On a lighter note, I guess the administration people of Manila Peninsula will also change the hotel's name, like what the Oakwood owners did. So you know, Oakwood is now known as Ascott. But I guess even if they did alterations, everything will still be part of history.

Tidings

I went back to my original layout. I've been figuring out what I want for my blog for the past two weeks, and what I got from my contemplation is that I want it to be stark simple. I am sort of a minimalist, so it reflects in my blog layout. 

On a not related topic, Amazing Race Asia will be airing its second season on November 22. I heard Marc Nelson will be on the show. I gather the production team of Amazing Race has seen Marc Nelson's formidable vigor and impressive profile. He paired himself with some editor guy. I think they make up a good tandem since both guys are physically and mentally fit.

I am also considering the idea of joining the race. I reckon the show needs some flavor and pizazz. The producers should pick a diverse set of players. Yes the current roster is diverse, i.e. the players hail from different countries, but what I meant of diverse here is in terms of behavior. I, having an erratic behavior, am a good pick. I erupt under emotional strain. I curse. I provide people with names such as nitwit. I succinctly will be a good element for the show. I can flood the producers with lots of profit. Then again, no one would want to be paired up with me. Makes no sense.

Look at the bright side. I got myself a ticket for The Dogeaters. Yey! 

October WAS eventful

Surely everyone will agree with me that the whole October was relatively eventful despite the blandness of the month per se. We don't celebrate Christmas nor New Year in this month, but apparently it confected much fuss.

October 5. Two bomb blasts occurred in Kidapawan City, Cotabato. The mentioned tumult killed a child and left 36 people injured. Nothing new, actually. We hear this kind of news everyday.

October 18. Oil prices reached $90 per barrel for the first time due to the low dollar and ongoing tension between Turkey and Iraq. Thus, the re-augmentation of public transportation fare. Basically, everyone from West to East will suffer. The only difference is that WE endure more.

October 19. Glorietta ________ (still under investigation). Eleven civilians died. Hundred more were injured.

October 20. Hello, Harry Potter aficionados! J.K. Rowling revealed that Dumbledore of Harry Potter books is homosexual.

October 25. Piolo Pascual divulged his ongoing affair with Sam Milby. Lolit Solis gathered lots of kudos from everyone.

P.S. Okay, the last one is totally made-up. I just like to poke fun at them. Peace!

Google goes black

Lovers of the achromatic color of maximum darkness, be acquainted to your new search engine! 

A new website has turned Google's white screen black in a bid to do its bit for the environment by saving energy.

Blackle, a customised version of Google's search engine, is based on claims that monitors need more power to display a light screen than a dark one.

The idea was inspired by a post on the ecoIron blog in January which claimed that a black Google would save 750 megawatt hours a year worldwide given the popularity of the search engine.

However critics are unsure about the energy savings and some say that clarity is lost because black web pages are harder to read.

Toby Heap, of Australian company Heap Media which runs Blackle, said in his blog: 'We believe there is value in the concept because even if the energy savings are small, they all add up.'

Sian Berry of the Green Party said the energy saved was equivalent to 750,000 kettles being boiled for an hour. She said: 'If you have the old style of chunky monitor, having most of the screen black does reduce the amount of energy used.

'But if you have got a flat screen it won't make any difference.'

Google said Blackle was independent of it although it does allow people to set up customised search engines.

It added: 'This is one example of the ways in which people can use Google's technology in innovative ways.' 

 - retrieved from metro.co.uk

I already tried to use this one. Somehow, it yielded the same search results as with Google. But the site could throttle your searches since it lacks features of the conventional Google, such as the 'Cached' and 'Similar Pages' options.

Blackle.com