Weird Dream

About 3 or 4 days ago I had a dream that seems to be very weird but somehow made me think that it has something to say about the things that will happen in my life soon. The persons and the things involved were somehow part of my life right now. But what makes it very weird but meaningful was that they were interconnected in a way that it shouldn’t be. The plot of my dream goes something like this:

“One afternoon, I was in a mall waiting for my friends specifically the “Ban of Brothers” to have some mall hopping. As I waiting for them, my “special someone” came into where I was standing and gave me a book. The book was the “PhilNITS reviewer” which was given to me during my review sessions before the PhilNITS exam last October 2008. As I received the book from her, she quickly leave without saying a single word. I read some pages of the book when my “Ban of Brothers” friends arrived. After that we started our mall hopping. As we walked inside the mall, I saw my “special someone” with another guy inside the restaurant. My “Ban of Brothers” friends didn’t knew about her so they knew nothing in my dream. But surpringsingly, I had no reaction from what I saw, and decided to leave together with my friends ,and after that I suddenly woke up…”

What does this dream meant for me? Does it denotes something about my future? Honestly its just a dream but up to know, I was still thinking about it. I’m just amazed of how the flow of events and characters were interconnected. First, I am currently preparing for the upcoming PhilNITS examination this October and I am using that book almost everyday for my review. Second, why would my “special someone” gave me that book? She was in no relation on that book or in the exam since she was an Engineering student. Third, my “Ban of Brothers” friends. I haven’t been joining them for the past months in their activities like mall hopping, bowling and playing “DOTA”. Fourth, my “special someone was with another guy” and my “no reaction” effect when I saw them.

PhilNITS+Ban of Brothers+Special Someone+Broken = career in the future?


The way I interpreted it was that, my special someone will be my inspiration in the exam but she will make me broken to become more motivated to pass the exam. Also I should keep in touch with my “Ban of Brothers” friends as they will be part of my success in the future.

I’m hoping that my interpretations will be true. But still it was just one of those funny things that a dream can create. My future still depends on how hard will I work for it.

Thoughts on the Final SONA of PGMA

July 27, 2009 is the set date for the 9th and constitutionally the last State of the Nation Address of Pres. Gloria Macapagal Arroyo. She had delivered 9 State of the Nation Addresses since she took oath as the President of the Republic of the Philippines last January 2001. During that time when she first delivered her very first SONA, my interests and views of any political and social issues were not that intimate and very strong as of now (I was only in grade six when the historic EDSA II happened). As what I have heard from my father and have read in the articles, the contents of SONA of our president were projects that have and will be implemented particularly in the fields of education, health and welfare, poverty, employment, infrastructures, agriculture and the economic growth. This has been the common denominator of the 8 times she had delivered her speech right in front of the joint House of Representatives and the Senate. All of what she said in each and every SONA were very promising and for the benefit of all Filipinos.

There are also some unforgettable moments during the SONA like the 3 kids from Payatas who wrote their wishes in a toy boat made of paper(bangkang papel) and then released it at the Pasig River and the walk-out of some opposition legislators who can’t take the lies that the president was saying (that’s according to them). Another was that for every achievement that the president said was responded by a standing ovation for those who are in the plenary specially her allies.

Amidst the 8 SONA's she had delivered in the past, there is only one question that was easily formulated in my mind; where are those achievements and promises that Pres. Arroyo mentioned in her SONA? Why can’t we visibly see the effects of those solutions to the real problem we are facing specially in poverty and education? In the 8 SONA’s, there will always be mentioned such as improvement in the quality of education, additional classrooms, 1:1 ratio of books, less drop-outs in public schools. Where can we find it? Name a school that has all this stuffs? In the rural areas, elementary students walked for 7 kilometers and even cross 26 rivers just to learn. Is that what they called accessible education? What about those who are living below the poverty line? Does their number decreases? According to them yes! But look around and you can find the answers. What about the crisis here in Mindanao? They had proudly said in the media that there were no more Abu Sayaff in Mindanao, but what happened to Ces Drilon, and the 3 Red Cross Volunteers? Why they were kidnapped?It’s been 8 long years and Mindanao was still as dangerous as it is before. What about the corruption that plagued this administration? What about the ZTE/NBN deal, the Hello Garci issue, the fertilizer fund scam, the C-5 road extension project? Were we given a satisfactory explanation from our government? We are talking of billions of pesos in those projects and let me remind that those were taxpayers’ money. What about those who were involved in this scandal, were they properly interrogated? What about the extrajudicial killings? Were they given justice? These are the questions that for the past 9 years, no acceptable answers were given. I believe that these issues and scandals will soon be forgotten as she steps down in position, that if she will step down.

What makes this last SONA more interesting is that the House of Representatives will open their last session under the term of Pres. Arroyo. Take note that before they recessed their sessions a month ago, they magically approved H.R 1109 convening the House of Representatives as a constituent Assembly even without the participation of the Senate. Now everyone specially those who are in the opposition, political and law experts and every single vigilant Filipino are waiting and watching if the House of Representatives will now convene as a Constituent Assembly and start to amend the constitution and eventually change the form of government into a parliamentary. Every one of us knew that convening the congress right after the SONA is illegal and unconstitutional, but what else is new? Remember that the content of HR 1109 was also illegal and unconstitutional. It was clearly said in the 1987 constitution that the House of Congress cannot convene themselves as a constituent assembly without the participation of the senate and the senate didn’t even attempted to discuss con-ass and cha-cha in their sessions. So we must expect the unexpected in the SONA later. Rallies by the opposition and some church leaders were already prepared to counterpart the SONA of Pres. Arroyo. The opposition always insisting that the real SONA were the rallies and noise barrage in the streets and not on the paper and in the 4 corners of the House of Representatives.

Let me clear myself that I am not a pro or an anti Arroyo, what am I is a pro government. I go for those in which the majority will benefit. I stand and fight in whatever means I can in actions that will completely destroy the future of our country. Yes I agree that the Arroyo administration has done its best in providing solutions to the problems they inherit from the previous administration.
It’s time for us youth to stand up and fight for the future of our country. We must learn a lesson from this administration as the future leaders in our country. It’s time to make a difference and I’m starting it RIGHT HERE RIGHT NOW!- AKO ANG SIMULA!............................

Reviving the Blog (Research Update 1)

It's been a while since I had posted a topic in this blog because of no good topic to write and also I am only online once a week. It is not like our school days where we need to update our blogs as required by Dr. Gamboa at least once a week. The past months was really different. The blogosphere where I belong together with my classmates were not as crowded,busy and as informative as before although there are some that are continuously writing nice posts in their blogs. Honestly I really missed blogging that's why I'm starting to revive this blog once again.

After months of posts recession in this blog, I thought of a nice post to start with and I came up having a post with my pending research topic.

I admit that this topic was the hot topic in our blogosphere where everybody in the class were busy updating about their research proposals, consulting each other about the process. I haven't posted any upodate on my research during that time because I am really confused with the topic that I had proposed and also it was very difficult and time consuming for me to learn new concepts in network simulation. I also asked advice from our dean and then he frankly said to me that the topic is too difficult and very time consuming to develop especially for an inexperienced student like me. With this reasons I decided to look for another research topic that is relevant but can be completed within the alloted time. That's why no updates were posted during that span of time. But now that I had the topic already and I am starting to have the proposal for the research topic so it is time for me to do what I haven't done in the past. For my first update is the title of my topic which I believe will be very applicable to our univesity.

"Level of Awareness of Virtual Learning Environments and the Utilization Level of USEP VLE among USEP students"

This will going to be the title of my new research topic. It is more simple than the first one but I think it is also relevant.

The thing that motivates me to conduct this research was that USEP has not gone online learning yet. The new paradigm of learning nowadays is the combination of distance learning and face to face discussion that we commonly known as "blended learning". Although there are some instructors that are using online resources (blogs,e-mails,forums etc.) to support face-to-face discussions,but still the level of awareness and the proficiency of USEP students are not yet determined. The study could also help the university in the future if they will also offer online courses.

My next update would be the objectives and the significance of this study.

At Last...

At last, after waiting for almost a year, my computer was finally repaired. I had a hard time deciding whether to just change the defective component which is the motherboard or to buy a new set of hardware components (motherboard, processor and memory card).



I thought of replacing only the motherboard first, but upon my canvass in some of computer stores here in davao city, yes it was quite cheap than purchasing a new set of hardware (2,900 for motherboard socket 478 for intel in PC Gate G-Mall) but the problem was that aside from it is second hand, it has also no warranty. So I didn't take the risk of just wasting my money buying for a second hand motherboard, I decided to just buy a new set of hardware. Just yesterday, I had the money to buy the new set of hardware and finally repair my computer (thanks to my aunt in japan for giving me the money). I had done the installation of the components but I disassembled my unit and to re-assemble it again. Thanks to my acquired skills in PC assembly and basic troubleshooting during my On-the-Job Training days and I don't need to bring my bulky unit into the computer shop rather I did it at home. My computer right now is fully functioning. Finally I could continue my pending research.

By the way, I purchased the hardware at RASI Computers along Roxas Ave. This is where I took my OJT. They offered very low prices but quality computer peripherals and computer troubleshooting services. So for those who want to buy new computer set and hardware components, visit RASI Computers along Roxas Avenue.

ASUS P5GC-MX/1333 for only 2,500
Intel Dual Core Processor 2.5 GHz for only 3350
Kington 1Gb DDR2 memory for only 750

I only spent 6600 for these good quality hardware.

Start Blogging Again

It's been a while since I wrote the last entry on my blog. It's been almost 2 months I believe. But now, I'm back and I'm ready to update my blog once again. So watch out for my posts...

A Prayer to the Kidnap Victims

This prayer is for the 3 International Committee of the Red Cross volunteers who were kidnapped by the Abussayaf Rebel Group last January 2009 in Sulu. The rebel groups has setted deadline for the government to pull out all the army troups in Sulu. The deadline is set today (March 31, 2009) at 2 p.m. If not 1 hostage will be beheaded by the rebels. Please offer a prayer for the 3 hostages as they will be safe and will be released by the rebel.

A prayer for the kidnap victims:

In the name of the father, and of the son and of the holy spirit, Amen.

Heavenly Father, creator of the heavens and the earth, we praised your name up high.

Father, our 3 brothers and sister are on a very difficult situation right now as they are on the hands of the rebel and the deadline for the beheading of one of them has come to an end.

Father, we ask you to please protect them as they fight for their survival. Give them the strength, the courage and the hope so they will have the all the force they need to survive.

Father guide them so they could return home safely with their families and friends.

Father, please enlightened the minds of the rebel groups who kidnapped the ICRC workers so they will realize what they are doing are wrong and against your law. Touch their heart Father so no beheading will happen and no more crisis will happen in the future.

Father, bless our government and all the leaders who are on to this battle; the President, the military, Sec. Ronaldo Puno of the DILG so they could do the best move the leads to the safety of everybody. Give them wisdom as they continue to overcome this struggle.

Father, bless the relatives and friends of the 3 victims so they have the strength and the hope for the survival of the kidnap victims.

Father, we lift this situation into YOUR hands. We know that you will never let this crisis happen.

We ask this through Christ our Lord Amen.

Please say this prayer with 1 Our Father, 3 Hail Marys and 3 Glory Be

Our prayers for the safety of the 3 victims are needed. Please pray for their safety.

World Earth Hour Day

This day is said to be one of the most memorable day in history as the whole world will take part of a step in defeating climate change and global warming. This event which is known as The Earth Hour "is one of the initiatives of world leaders to combat the worsening problem of climate change by switching off lights and other appliances to conserve energy by 60 minutes (8:30 to 9:30 P.M.) This could lessen the greenhouse gases and human being can conserve millions of energy by this initiative.

I'm calling to my fellow students and filipino people to please support the EarthHour Campaign.

Are We Ready for "E-lection"?

The Commission on Election or Comelec just recently proposed for a full automation of the upcoming 2010 Presidential Election. The proposed budget for the full automation of the national and local election is 11.3 billion with will be funded by the taxpayers money. The proposed budget was already approved by the House of Representatives and is currently in the House of Senate for their approval. According to Comelec chairman Jose Melo Jr., they need the said budget as early as March this year so they can start the bidding and have the said equipments as soon as possible. But some senators like Francis Escudero and Juan Miguel Zubiri has questioned the Comelec in the hearing of they can assure the Filipino people that there will be no cheating if the election will be fully automated. But chaiman Josel Melo Jr. replied that there will be no assurance of a clean and honest election if it will automated specifically in human threats like rebels or any evil forces that will try to sabotage the election (specially in provinces like Maguindanao, Sulu and other Mindanao Provinces). Some of the political leaders and law experts doubt if the automation will materialize due to lack of time and unpreparedness in the part of the Comelec. Automation of election has been successfully done in the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM) election last August 11, 2008.


For me, automation of the election system in the Philippines is very promising as India is the only country in Asia to have a fully automated election system. Now is it applicable for our cause? Based on the hearing conducted by the senate committee as a whole, the Comelec seems not yet prepared for the automation. They seem can't provide the specifics with regards to the automation like the font size of the ballot and security features of the system. Time play a major factor here. If there will be no enough time for the full automation, then we stick to the manual system. The Comelec should not waste the taxpayers money in buying those equipment if they are not going to use it just like what the former Comelec chairman Benjamin Abalos Sr did with the counting machines that are not used and until now we are still paying. The senate must weigh the cost and the benefit of having a full automation of election. They must be very careful in their decisions not like the House of Representatives which magically approved the said budget. I agree to what Sen. Francis Escudero remarked in the hearing that he cannot approve 11.3 billion budget for only one sitting.

The bidding of the contractor should also be done in public or any means where transparency and reliability of the bidding will be ensured to avoid corruption which is very obvious in this administration.

Automation of Election could be very good as far as security, reliability and speed of the election is concerned. But there must also factors to consider speially time if this is feasible for the country as of the moment. The fate of another Philippine history is in the hands of the House of the Senate and the President.

My Research Topic Proposal

"Analysis of Network Performance of University of Southeastern Philippines Virtual Laboratories using Simulation Modelling"

Honestly, I am very new to the the field of network simulation and system modelling. Being a neophyte in this area seems to be the biggest hindrance for me that's why there are times that I am about to change that research topic given the fact that I have only 1 semester to complete it. But I am very interested in the topic with regards to data communications and computer networking and other topics that are related to networking in short. This is one of my motivation why I want to pursue this research. Add onto my motivation, I want also to learn new things that are related to computer networking. I also want to contribute to the ideas as far as network simulation is concern. But the biggest motivation of all, I want to prove to myself that I can finish this research inspite being a new to this field and to prove to myself that I am worthy to be called an I.T professional.

Research Update: I am having a hard time constructing the review of related literature since majority of the articles and researches I found were too technical for me and I found a very hard time relating these ideas. But I will do all my best to finish it as soon as possible.

I am currently reading and learning the basics of a network simulator. One of my choice of simulator is the ns simulator which is an open source software for simulation.


I can do it!.....

Just Like a Prostitute

I have received this little poem about being in the field of Information Technology being compared to a prostitute. Upon reading the poem, I was really smiling and even laughing because of the similarities on an I.T people and a prostitute. No offense for all I.T people. Comments are highly accepted.

The truth about working in the IT industry:

1. We work weird (night) shifts...
Just like prostitutes.

2. They pay you to make the client happy...
Just like a prostitute.

3. The client pays a lot of money, but your employer
keeps almost every penny...
Just like a prostitute.

4. You are rewarded for fulfilling the client's dreams...
Just like a prostitute.

5. Your friends fall apart and you end up hanging out
with people in the same profession as you...
Just like a prostitute.

6. When you have to meet the client you always have to
be perfectly groomed...
Just like a prostitute.

7. But when you go back home it seems like you are
coming back from hell...
Just like a prostitute.

8. The client always wants to pay less but expects
incredible things from you...
Just like a prostitute.

9. When people ask you about your job, you have
difficulties to explain it...
Just like a prostitute.

10. Everyday when you wake up, you say: "I'm not going
to spend the rest of my life doing this."
Just like a prostitute ........

My Short Essay About the Philippines

I received this essay from one of my yahoo groups. According to that e-mail that I received last February 23,2009, this essay was originally composed by a Korean named Jaeyoun Kim. The sender of that e-mail wants us to pass this essay to all filpinos for us to realize something about the current scenario of our country Philippines. This goes for all Filipinos all around the world. Don't hesitate to leave your comments after you read the essay.

MY SHORT ESSAY ABOUT THE PHILIPPINES
Jaeyoun Kim

Filipinos always complain about the corruption in
the Philippines . Do you really think that corruption is the big problem in
the Philippines ? I don't think so. I strongly believe that the problem is
the lack of love for the Philippines .
Let me first talk about my country, Korea . It might help you understand my
point.
After the Korean War, South Korea was one of the poorest country in the
world. Koreans had to start from scratch because entire country was
destroyed after the Korean War, and we had no
natural resources.

Koreans used to talk about the Philippines , for
Filipinos were very rich in Asia . We envy Filipinos.
Koreans really wanted to be well off like Filipinos. Many Koreans died of
famine. My father & brother also died because of famine.

Korean government was very corrupt and is still very corrupt beyond your
imagination, but Korea was able to develop dramatically because Koreans
really did their best for the common good with their heart burning with
patriotism.

Koreans did not work just for themselves but also
for their neighborhood and country. Education inspired young men with the
spirit of patriotism.

40 years ago, President Park took over the
government to reform Korea . He tried to borrow money from other countries,
but it was not possible to get a loan and attract a foreign investor because
the economic situation of South Korea was so bad. Korea had
only three factories. So, President Park sent many
mine workers and nurses to Germany so that they could send money to Korea to
build a factory. They had to go through horrible experience.

In 1964, President Park visited Germany to borrow
money. Hundred of Koreans in Germany came to the airport to welcome him and
cried there as they saw the President Park . They asked to him, 'President,
when can we be well off?' That was the only question everyone asked to him.
President Park cried with them and promised them that Korea would be well
off if everyone works hard for Korea , and the President
of Germany got the strong impression on them and lent money to Korea . So,
President Park was able to build many factories in Korea . He always asked
Koreans to love their country from their heart.

Many Korean scientists and engineers in the USA
came back to Korea to help developing country
because they wanted their country to be well off.
Though they received very small salary, they did their
best for Korea . They always hoped that their children would live in well
off country.

My parents always brought me to the places where
poor and physically handicapped people live. They wanted me to understand
their life and help them. I also worked for Catholic Church when I was in
the army. The only thing I learned from Catholic Church was that
we have to love our neighborhood. And, I have loved my neighborhood.
Have you cried for the
Philippines ? I have cried for my country several
times. I also cried for the Philippines because of so
many poor people. I have been to the New Bilibid
prison. What made me sad in the prison were the
prisoners who do not have any love for their country.
They go to mass and work for Church. They pray
everyday. However, they do not love the Philippines . I talked to two
prisoners at the maximum-security
compound, and both of them said that they would leave the Philippines right
after they are released from the prison. They said that they would start a
new life in other countries and never come back to the Philippines .

Many Koreans have a great love for Korea so that we were able to share our
wealth with our neighborhood. The owners of factory and company were
distributed their
profit to their employees fairly so that employees
could buy what they needed and saved money for the future and their
children.

When I was in Korea , I had a very strong faith and
wanted to be a priest. However, when I came to the Philippines , I
completely lost my faith.
I was very confused when I saw many unbelievable
situations in the Philippines . Street kids always make me sad, and I see
them everyday. The Philippines is the only
Catholic country in Asia , but there are too many poor people here. People
go to church every Sunday to pray, but nothing has
been changed.

My parents came to the Philippines last week and
saw this situation. They told me that Korea was much poorer than the present
Philippines when they were young. They are so sorry that there are so
many beggars and street kids. When we went to
Pagsanjan Falls, I forced my parents to take a boat because it would fun.
However, they were not happy after taking a boat. They said that they would
not take the boat again because they were sympathized the boatmen, for the
boatmen were very poor and had a small frame. Most of people just took a
boat and enjoyed it.
But, my parents did not enjoy it because of love
for them. My mother who has been working for Catholic Church since I was

very young told me that if we just go to
mass without changing ourselves, we are not
Catholic indeed. Faith should come with action.
She added that I have to love Filipinos and do good
things for them because all of us are same and have received a great love
from God. I want Filipinos to love their neighborhood and country as much as
they love God, so that the Philippines will be well off.

I am sure that love is the keyword, which Filipinos
should remember. We cannot change the sinful structure at once. It should
start from person. Love must start in everybody,
in a small scale and have to grow. A lot of things happen if we open up to
love. Let's put away our prejudices and look at our worries with our new
eyes.

I discover that every person is worthy to be
loved. Trust in love, because it makes changes
possible. Love changes you and me. It changes people, contexts and
relationships. It changes the world. Please love your
neighborhood and country.

Jesus Christ said that whatever we do to others we do unto Him. In the
Philippines , there is God for people who are abused and abandoned. There is
God who is crying for love.
If you have a child, teach them how to love the
Philippines . Teach them why they have to love their neighborhood and
country.
You already know that God also will be very happy if
you love others.

That's all I really want to ask you Filipinos.

What's Next in Technology?

We are living in the 21st century. Four centuries has passed since human being first learned to developed and used what we commonly knew today as technology. The transition of the past to the present had produced tremendous yet productive, helpful but sometimes destructive technologies that became part of human life. Technology had a huge influence on how people made their living today, their lifestyle, how they behave and also how they deal their work. Clearly, human being depends on technology to survive. Believe it or not, technology will continue to grow and change through time and will still affect the lives of every human being.


Everything in this world is created to undergo a process what we called change and technology also goes the same. But technological change was totally different in a sense that it occurs in a fast pace. So fast that even the person who were involved in development didn’t anticipated its effects to the society. For the past 4 centuries, technologies that were developed were so many that maybe one day is not enough to count all of them. So many that in every field of industrialization you belong, there are always technologies that accompany you from all tasks. Technology has become a reliable side kick of every human in facing their daily tasks.


Navigating our history, we can see how our technology evolved from their ancestors in the past up to this generation. Of course past technologies served as the background or the framework on what technologies should look like. These technologies from the past seemed to be the most difficult since there was no guide for them on how they model their work. Another is that due to limited resources and also how they will convince people to believe in their work. But despite all odds, these technologies emerged victorious. Technologies from the past has served human needs and caused human lives changed dramatically. Throughout the history, technologies were never perfected in whatever means; functionality, safety and many more. This imperfection has resulted technology to grow and allow people to explore more on capabilities of technologies, how far will these technologies aid people in their daily tasks. The major flaw of past technologies is that it bulky and is not portable. Computers in the early stages of its development were such a huge dumb machine. One simple computer that processes basic operations was such as large as a one room. That’s how huge technologies before. But size is not a problem anymore in the present. The transition from the 18th century to the 21st century proved to be a long but fruitful transition as technologies becoming faster and smaller though time, improving the quality of life for those who patronize it. Though technologies undergo changes but still it wasn’t perfected because human needs don’t stop changing and also human being will never be contented on what they are doing or what they have accomplished in life. These human traits however made technology continue to grow and improve.


The capabilities of technologies have extended human imagination. Technologies in the present era can perform what we think impossible to do by these machines. Technologies in the 21st century have already conquered human imagination. We are living in a century where human almost becoming useless in terms on manpower. Everything human being can do could be done by machines faster and more accurate. A century where technological change reached its peak when it comes to improving the quality of life of people using it. But come to think of it, what will these look like in the future? Take note that it is not yet the end of the world and technology will surely be changing once again. What’s next when it comes to technology? For the past, we have been shocked by the effects of technological development. In the future, how are we going to prepare for the good and bad effects of these changes? Since these technological changes are inevitable force in which human should face that’s why preparedness play an important role on this events for human.


What’s new in technology? Prominent sites over the internet have named several new inventions that are very promising and very futuristic in terms of the features these new technologies possess. Here are some of the remarkable inventions that has reached the market for the past 5 years.




Medicine




This field is one of the most concentrated fields of technological development. Curing diseases has been the priority of everybody that’s why developing technologies that will be very helpful in medical treatment were developed. Among of the latest trend in medicine is what we called nano medicine. This new trend in medical treatment is using nanotechnology to diagnose and cure different diseases. With the use of nanotechnology, microchips can now be implanted inside the human body to keep track of the conditions of our different body organs, our blood circulation and cell conditions. Nanotechnology in medicine could replace bulky machines used in operations and even doctors in the future. This trend has not yet turn into perfections by the developers but in the near future, this nanotechnology in the field of medicine will be perfected and will be very precise, accurate and inexpensive. Nano medicine could be of great help in medical treatment.


There is also a small device that can kill cancer cells in the human body. We know that cancer is one of the most deadly diseases in which no direct medications has already invented.


Another trend in medicine aside from the nanotechnology is the laser surgery, or using laser in surgery. This laser technology is the best replacement to the current needle and thread that surgeons are using.


Transportation


With the ongoing problems regarding the high price of gasoline and other petroleum products, I can see in the future that the trend will going to be developing new models of automobiles that will be using alternatives to fuel like renewable energy and those energy that are coming from other natural sources like bio fuels, windmill, electricity and other fuel sources. Among of the latest developments in automobiles is Hydrogen Powered Vehicle by the Filipino inventor Engr. Daniel Dingle. He invented a new model of automobile that is using water as fuel. This new technologies has been used by car companies like Honda and Chevrolet.
There are also vehicles that are using electricity in countries like United States (Miles ZX40S Electric Car). As of this moment, there are a lot of electric car models introduced in the market.


Not only cars have been converted to electricity fueled but also other means of transportation like trains.


With the world engaged in the serious fight against climate change, this automobiles powered by this renewable energies will surely hit the market.


Energy Sources


Environmentalists and the United Nation has identified the excessive use of fossil fuel is the primary cause of global warming and climate change. Several technologies are dependent with fossil fuels to power them like automobiles and in factories. With the world in a serious fight against climate change and global warming, world leaders and expert groups have been promoting alternatives to fossil fuels.


Among of the renewable energies endorsed by world leaders are the solar power, windmills, bio diesel, hydrogen and ethanol. These energies may not be as powerful as the petroleum, but these are far more environment friendly and economical.


Computing


Computers seemed to be the best invention of all. Computers served human a lot of purposes, from calculations to socialization. Computers has been the best tool on every field; medicine, mathematics, science and even in military. As we go along, computers are becoming smaller and faster. Current computers can actually process billions of instructions per second. With the invention of the internet and the World Wide Web, computers have become superior among all of the technologies existed.


May 26, 2008 marked another milestone in the field of computerization as the fastest computer of all finally introduced in the market. This supercomputer nicknamed “Road Runner” has the capability to process 1 quadrillion calculations per second. This technology was primarily developed to simulate the effects of aging on nuclear weapons.


One of the major disadvantage of continuous domination of computers and other electronic gadgets is that they are also the primary reasons of climate change and global warming. Because of these facts, Experts are now proposing what they called “Green Computing”. This advocacy has the primary goal of promoting measures that will limit the emission of greenhouse gases of these devices and also promotes on using energy star electronic gadgets.


Computerization in the future will be thinking of the environment first before the pleasure human can get from using technologies specially computers.


Astronomy


With the discovery that there is a possibility of human survival in Mars, astronomers developed robots that have the capability to navigate Mars and record some samples from the planet. More and more sophisticated space shuttles were developed to conquer the space and the universe.


Space shuttles in the future allows astronomers to inch closer to the sun to know its characteristics and can navigate away from the solar system to study if there are lives other than human being in the universe to prove the existence of aliens.


Artificial Intelligence


Artificial Intelligence (AI) is one of the most controversial fields of technology. Making computers as intelligent as humans is the primary goal of Artificial Intelligence. There have been a lot of machines particularly robots that are invented that think and act like human. Among of the remarkable inventions was the “Deep Blue” by IBM that defeated chess master Gary Kasparov in a chess game. In the present, there have been numerous Intelligent Machines, some of them have the capability to do tasks what are very difficult by humans, can also do light tasks such as cleaning kitchen. If we have reached this far in developing such intelligent machines, then is it possible that robots can outplay human in the future?


The future of Artificial Intelligence for me is something to fear about. There has been some researches about robots will be developed to have emotions and also has the capability to mingle with humans just like humans do. We can foresee in the future that these Artificial Intelligent machines will dominate the world and maybe make human lazy and useless.




If we try to look at the future based on the current trends of technological development, the future will be a place where man and machines compete for survival. Even me I can’t imagine what will be the future looks like in terms of technological development. What are their features and how accurate they will work to serve human. Present technologies are small and fast but future technologies will be very small and very fast. Human has already learned their lessons on the bad sides of technologies. Human already witnessed how destructive technologies are if put into exploitation. I’m expecting environment friendly technologies in the future. Technologies that are pro nature. For sure, human will not allow machines to totally dominate them. We know our limitations and we also know what the limitations of these technologies are. Theirs no need to worry about human eradication because we are the one who made them. We know how to terminate them.


I am very excited on what will be the future looks like. I can’t wait to see and use these technologies and experience another milestone on human hard work. I am lucky enough to witness such marvelous innovations in technology. No one have ever imagine that from the simple industrial revolution in the 18th century, it turned to a complex and sophisticated moment in our history, not even those who worked hard and contribute ideas in the past. We must be very thankful to this remarkable transition in our history. Without this marvelous creation of technologies in the past, what we have right now and in the future will be all part of our imagination.

references:

http://www.zyvex.com/nanotech/nanotechAndMedicine.html
http://www.infoniac.com/science/sympathetic-virtual-humans-could-be-part-of-daily-life.html
http://www.technologyreview.com/biomedicine/22088/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Miles_XS500
http://inventors.about.com/od/timelines/tp/2008.htm
http://inventors.about.com/od/famousinventions/tp/topteninvention.htm
http://www.time.com/time/specials/packages/article/0,28804,1852747_1854195_1854150,00.html
http://www.fueleconomy.gov/Feg/current.shtml
http://www.oilgae.com/energy/nn/b/2007/05/greener-computing-environment-friendly.html
http://www.sciencedaily.com/news/computers_math/artificial_intelligence/

Your Universe

by: Rico Blanco

Tell me something
When the rain falls on your face
How do you quickly replace
It with
A golden summer smile?

Tell me something
When I'm feelin' tired and afraid
How do you know just what to say
To make
Everything alright?

Chorus:
I don't think that you even realize
The joy you make me feel when I'm inside
Your universe
You hold me like I'm the one who's precious
I hate to break it to you but it's just
The other way around
You can thank your stars all you want but
I'll always be the lucky one

Tell me something
When I'm 'bout to lose control
How do you patiently hold
My hand
And gently calm me down?

Tell me something
When you sing and when you laugh
Why do I always photograph
My heart
Flyin way above the clouds?


Lyrics by Lyricsmode.com

Random Drug Testing for Students in the Philippines

The Department of Education has announced that they will be conducting a mandatory random drug testing to all high schools and colleges in the Philippines. This is in response to the call of the President of the Philippines Gloria Macapagal Arroyo to combat the worsening cases of drug related incidents in the Philippines. The Philippines has been facing huge problem when it comes to drug prevention and that includes drug addiction, drug using and drug trafficking. Most recent scandal was the "Alabang Boys"(Richard Brodett, Joseph Tecson and Jorge Joseph) scandal that includes 3 men from prominent families in Alabang that was caught by the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA) last September in a buy bust operation. This case was later on turn into a big controversy as the birbery issue of the families into the DOJ prosecutors were later revealed by PDEA. As of this moment, this controversy is still under trial by the independent panel created by the president. President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo later appointed herself as the National Anti-Drug Prevention czar to lead the country to fight drug and one of the solution is to conduct random drug testing to high school and college students in the country. The drug testing has already started in Metro Manila and later will be implemented also in Cebu City and Davao City in Mindanao. According to the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA), majority of the drug addict here in the Philippines were on the age bracket of 15-18 years old so conducting random drug testing in schools will somehow lessen and maybe eradicate drug addiction among youths.

This proposal has been subject to criticism by human rights group in the country. They pointed out that submitting students into drug violates the right to privacy of the students. Add on to that, drug testing should not be compulsory but voluntary. This action of the government has also receive a lot of both positive and negative comments from the students who will be greatly affected by this actions of the government. According to some who were interviewed by T.V stations," conducting random drug testing in schools will results in positive effects like reducing the number of drug addicts in the country specially the students". But some of them don't favor this program of the government."Conducting random drug testing for students will not solve the worsening problem of drug addiction in the country. If the government wan't to completely eradicate drugs in this country, they (the government) must go after those wealthy drug lords and drug syndicates that are freely moving in the country. They must prosecute those who will be caught.

Being a college student, I am also affected by this current issues in our society. For me, submitting myself for drug test is not a big deal for me because first, I am 100% sure that I am a not a drug user. This goes also for all the students in the Philippines, if they are not addict, then why fear? Issues of privacy could be solved by keeping private the records of the students who will be positive to any forms of drugs. School administration should be held liable if this information will be exposed to the outside world. Also this will help parents know if their child is using drugs. They could later decide to send their child to a rehabilitation center.

But still this program of CHED and the government still has a lot of holes to be fixed and still not the best solution to completely eradicate drug addiction in the country. Students are only victims here. They are the victims of this powerful and very influential drug lords and drug syndicate that are still free and doing the damage in our society. The government must think of long term solutions to completely erase drugs in the Philippines. They must prosecute those who were caught. There are a lot of drug laboratories found by the police but there is no single individual who were caught. The government should implement the law. But this battle is not only for the government alone but also for everybody. Everyone of us should take part on solving drug problems. We are fully aware that drugs will kill our future so why use them? For sure we can completely defeat drugs if everyone of us will take its part and be vigilant.

Politicians turned commercial models?

As early as 2008, there are a lot of politicians appearing in televisions, some of them endorsing products like detergent powder, others showing their heroic acts by helping those who are in need while some are still criticizing the government. Their faces seems to be on the television almost after a commercial break of every program that I am watching. As far as I know, there is still almost 2 years before the 2010 Presidential elections but these politicians slowly doing their strategies to be recalled by every Filipino. Here are some of the politicians who turned commercial models.

1. Manny Villar's Itik commercial



This video was all about how Sen. Manny Villar helped a "mag-iitik" to become successful in his poultry business. The highlight of this commercial is when Senator Manny Villar got mud on his hand and wiped it on his orange polo shirt. Do you think he will do it in a real situation? I think its an exageratted acting. Manny Villar has been using his Sipag at Tiyaga appeal since he first ran for senate in 2001. The commercial ended with the catchy line "Pag Laki sa Hirap, Todo Tulong sa Mahirap". Will this be enough to convince voters to support him in his ambitions in the future?

2. Manny Villar OFW Rescue:





This was the first advertisement by Sen. Manny Villar about saving OFW's who were badly abused by their employer. The intention of Sen. Manny Villar is good in the first place so there's nothing against it. But for politicians, do they need to air on t.v every heroic things they did? Although the purpose of saving our fellow Filipinos were ruined because of politics. The endpoint on this is that he is using the OFW para "magpabango". The timing also of airing is not good.

It's up for the Filipino viewers to judge if Sen. Villar is sincere with his actions in this commercial.

3. Mar Roxas Murang Gamot

This commercial was all about the problem of high price of medicine in the country. He is telling to the public that he is fighting on the senate to pass cheap medicine bill. But until now the Philippines was among the top countries with the most expensive medicine in Asia. What he is saying is still cannot be felt by the poor filipinos. He was known to be a critics of the current administration."Kulitin pa natin ang Gobyerno". He is a government official, a senator so he is part of the organization he is criticising. Dapat siya din ay kulitin. Si Mr. Palengke Mr. Botika na rin.

The reality will tell Sen. Mar Roxas about the cost of medicine.

4. Mar Roxas Tide Commercial:




A politician turned into a product endorser. This has been the trademark of Sen. Mar Roxas because he was then called "Mr. Palengke" as he was a former Trade and Industry Secretary. Actually there was no big deal for this commercial but since it is election time, this commercial was subject to criticism to filipino viewers.


Actually, there's nothing wrong for these politicians to appear on T.V since they have their right to do so and it is not against the law for politicians to endorse product or appear in T.V comercials. But almost all of this advertisement are pertaining what are the good things they have done. So they want people to remember them with this actions they shown in their advertisements. These commercials has been appearing almost all the time in Television. Somehow this could give them an edge over their opponents.

This coming 2010 elections, we must know every candidate running for positions. We should be vigilant enough on what are the things they can do for our country and not just with their promises.

5 years in College Education, Is it Acceptable?

The Commission on Higher Education (CHED) is planning to extend the current 4 year curriculum of the Nursing and Education program into 5 years and if it is successful, all courses offered in the Philippines whether board and non-board courses will also be extended to 5 years in 2010. But this plan is still under review by the panel created and will still undergo consutations from both students and their parents which are the number 1 that will be affected if this program will push through. According to CHED chairman Edgar Angeles, this extension of curriculum will be "more economical" for students because review sessions will be integrated in this new 5 year curriculum, there is no need for students to pay for review centers after they finish up the 5 year course. "If this proposal be allowed, only those in their freshmen year will take the 5 year curriculum and those who are in their 2nd to 4th year will still take the current 4 year curriculum" Angeles added. Also, there are also revisions in the current subjects that the curriculum offer. According to some sources, the first 2 years will be all minor subjects and 3rd year to 5th year will be all major subjects and practicum. The release of this plan in the press has resulted to a lot of criticism, both positive and negative from the students in different part of the country.


Some students, specially those who don't have enough money to support another year said that it only adds to their burden. If this happen, they will be forced to stop their schooling. In an interview with one of the student of the University of Philippines Diliman which I unfortunately forgot the name, she said that "adding another year to the curriculum doesn't provide a quality educition for students here in the country". "If the government want to improve the quality of education, CHED should revise the current curriculum because it doesn't meet what the industry needs". For sure this plan will still undergo a lot of debates and criticism before it is implemented.

For me, adding another year in college not only in Nursing but in all courses in the future will not solve the current problems our education system are facing as what this UP student said. We are facing in a global financial crisis, tuition fee increases dramatically yearly, adding 1 year will only result to dropped in number of enrolled students. I think 4 years is enough for students to learn what the industry needs. Revision of the current curriculum should also be done. I think the curriculum that schools are using is still in the 90's and it don't match the current needs in the industry. Also, try to limit the minor subjects offered, instead of offering bunch of social sciences and literature, why not limit it to only those what the course needs and change it to a major subject? Practicum in every schools should also be increased from 240 hours to 1 semester I think to allow students learn what they need to learn. These are all alternatives in the increase of the no. of years in college. The government should weigh the advantages and disadvantages well for them to come up with the best for every filipino.

Difference Between Boys and Girls

Disclaimer: The author does not own the image used in this post. Credits goes to the original designer   of the images.

Eraserheads Reunion Concert II Confirmed

Finally the 2nd part of the reunion concert of the legendary OPM band Eraserheads was confirmed by the band themselves. The date for the part 2 of the much awaited reunion concert will be this coming March 7, 2009 at the SM Mall of Asia Concert Grounds. The band came up with another reunion concert after the first reunion concert last August 30, 2008 was cut short when Ely rushed to the hospital due to heart attack because of extreme exhaustion after the band played the first set of the concert. But for the fans who were inside the venue, the concert was a big success and in fact, one of the biggest concerts in history of Philippine music, with more than 30,000 watched the concert inside the venue with estimated 5,000 people outside the venue listening to what is happening inside. The venue now is bigger than the first one to accommodate more fans according to former E-Heads drummer Raimund Marasigan in an interview. Fans all over the Philippines are very excited for the second reunion concert of the Legendary Pinoy band. Clearly, the Eraserheads is still a powerful force in the industry and in the music scene.

Who would forget their hits such as Pare Ko, Toyang, and Ang Huling El Bimbo which won in MTV Asian Music awards for best music video. With their great musicality and wonderful songs, no doubt the E-heads conquered every generations ears. I grew up listening to their music and among of my favorites are Shake Yer Head and Trip to Jerusalem.

Mabuhay and E-HEADS

Addressing Skills Shortage in the Philippines

The Philippines, even though a 3rd world country, slowly and trying to cope up with the fast technological change. Yes we are far beyond on what are the technological advancements rich countries like Japan and U.S.A, but we filipinos have the capability to compete with them in terms of skills and our ability lo learn. Our country also slowly becoming as one of the Information Technology hub in Southeast Asia together with Malaysia and Singapore. A new trend in business that we called outsourcing or Business Process Outsourcing (BPO) has become the most famous in our country. Some companies in the United States outsourced in our country because of the low cost of business here and filipinos has the capability to engaged with such jobs. Because of the very fast growth in the field of ICT, the Philippines right now is facing skills shortage on this field. In a study conducted by XMG, a global ICT research and advisory tank, “the total ICT growth in the Philippines which is projected to grow by 30 to 35% FTE year-on-year through 2010”.” But the country's IT labor pool average growth for the past 5 years is only 10% and is forecast to grow by another 3% in the next 2 to 3 years,”. This is the current shortage status of the country as far as the ICT field is concern. How are we going to solve the problem of skill shortage? Here are some of the strategies the government had implemented and must implement to solve the increasing number of skills shortage in the country.


Improvement of the education system specially in State Universities and Colleges

the government implemented some changes in the curriculum of some universities and colleges through its ladderized curriculum program headed by the Commission on Higher Education (CHED). With this program, students could acquire the needed skills needed by the industry.
The government must also increase the subsidy of every State Universities and Colleges (SUC's) for them to provide state of the art facilities to their students. This has been the major problem of state universities and colleges throughout the country.
The government must also limit the increase of matriculation of private schools to have an increase of enrolling students. Increasing the no. of students could solve the skills shortage in the country.

Provide training institutions in technological fields at low to no cost

TESDA offers some technical courses to students at a low cost and also in a short period of time. This training are the best alternative for those who cannot afford to go to universities. But the no. of training institutions in the country is still not enough to produced the needed labor pool in the field of ICT and technology.

Industry-Academe Mismatch

this is the problem that needs to be solve first. There is a mismatch on what the academic sector produced to what the industry needs. According to XMG analyst Benedict Dormitorio, “ensuring curriculum alignment of educational institutions with the current market needs of the industry through close consultation with ICT companies and organizations is very important”. The graduates produced by the academe is useless if it doesn't match on what the industry demands. An example of this is strengthening partnership of industry and academe in offering On the Job Training (OJT) program for the students to acquire skills that industry needs.

Government Should promote Technology Courses

the government must also encourage incoming college students to enroll to what are the in demand courses like IT or Computer Science to increase the number of expected graduates.

Wage Increase

majority of the fresh graduates on this field migrated to neighboring countries like Singapore, Middle East, India, China and Malaysia because of low wage. The government must increase the current wage rate in the country to convince our graduates to stay in the country.

Reference:


http://www.infoworld.com/news/feeds/08/04/04/Critical-skills-in-the-Philippines-face-shortage.html

Effects of Technological Change in our Society

We can visibly see all the effects of technological change if we try to look around our environment that we are living. Everything we see from the smallest grain of cement to the tallest towers and commercial buildings, high powered weapons, fast running cars and airplanes, supercomputers and super portable mobile phones and gadgets are all the product of years of continuous hard work, research and experiments and a lot of luck of those people with such genius minds from the past and spent their lifetime developing such technologies. What we enjoy in the present were all legacy of such marvelous people and geniuses of the past. Clearly, the development of technologies and its continuous change had changed the way people are living today in all aspects of life I believe; physically, emotionally, morally and spiritually. Technological change was such a powerful force that drives changes to civilization. From the simple living people knew, it turns into a very complex yet productive living no one would ever imagined will exist.

Technological change had brought lots of effects to the society in general. These effects are evident and very obvious if we try to navigate the world history. Whether good or bad, positive or negative, these effects have a very huge impact and influence on what our society looked today.

Below are some of the technological effects in our society.

The continuous but rapid changes in technology had resulted human needs and lifestyle to constantly but also rapidly changing. Human will never be contented as many of us believed. This belief was well justified by the rapid changes in technology because of human consumption. But this human dynamics when it comes to their needs played a very important role of what technology looks like today. Innovations were such unbelievable. In fact, there are a lot of human needs that leads to technological change. Man needed a device that can be used in communication that is faster that the old fashioned mailing system. Years later, with the discovery of the concept of electricity developed what we knew today as the telephone by Alexander Graham Bell. Later human needs a portable communication device than the bulky telephone and because of this needs gave birth to a much more portable and inexpensive concept of modern telephony, the cellular telephone or cell phone. In the field of transportation, human needs to travel and deliver goods to far places as fast as they could leads to the invention of steam engine by James Watt that replaced the old cart pulled by animals. The needs of human again has changed for a faster yet convenient means of transportation hence, together with the development of fossil fuels, automobile using fuels were invented. More and more ambitious means of transportation were developed like trains, airplanes that conquered the sky and allowed human travel from country to country fast and convenient. These among other technological innovations in different fields marked a statement that it is the human needs that drives technological change. However, there are some factors that human didn't anticipated. Because of the impact that technology provided to human, although it is still continuous but the human needs changed very fast than the usual. It is the demand that created technology.
It is the technology that created the demand. Sounds contradicting from the previous isn't it? But before you raise your eyebrows and starts an argument, let me state first some scenarios and examples that somehow proves that statement. Yes, demand creates technology and no questions about that, but because of the numerous advantages it provides to human, the trend suddenly reversed but not totally erased. We cannot deny the fact that technology was created to serve a purpose and that is to serve human needs. But technology has crossed beyond borders and conquered every human being. Technological change was such a dominating force that conquered everything in this world and creating a demand is one of them. The best example of technology that created the demand is the internet.
The internet's primary goal of creation was to provide a shared connection and information around the US ARPA. Actually it is really not a primary need of human,a non commodity in short. But as more had used the technology such as the academic sector and some companies, it suddenly become a new and very significant technology where a lot of things could be done. As the majority from the academe, the government and the industry are becoming more dependent on the internet and the world wide web for the majority of their transactions and other activities for socialization and the like, the internet has become the barometer of every technology created. At first, only computers have the capability to access the web but now, mobile phones and other electronic gadgets were modeled to be compatible with the internet. Technologies will surely be competitive in the market if it provides users access over the web. Because of the overwhelming acceptance and use of the internet, technologies that provides access over the web were such of great demand. Clearly, the birth of the internet is the classic example of “it is the technology that creates the demand”.
Technological change were identified by prominent book authors and experts environmentalists from different parts of the world to be the number 1 contributor to the climate change and global warming. The increasing amount of greenhouse gases is the main reason why the world is experiencing sudden climate change like much stronger typhoons and frequent flash floods due to the increase in the sea level as the results of melting of ice in some cold continents like Antarctica. Technology that human are using is the number one contributor of greenhouse gases specially CO2. Among of these technologies are the fossil fuels, the aerosol sprays, smokes from factories and many more. With human becoming too much dependent on technology which sometimes leads to excessive use of it, this problem of climate change and global warming tend to goes hand in hand with technological change. This will limit on how far can we go with technological change. Although there are efforts initiated by World Organizations and leaders to combat this fatal effects of technological change in our society. Still this problem will not be eradicated unless technology stops changing and reach its final destination.
Technological change had created more jobs for people. More and more factories were created to develop numerous kinds of technology which resulted for jobs specially those who are on the lower class of the society. Because of industrialization, more and more people migrated to cities where the urbanization is at its peak for greener pastures. Although there are also those people who lost their jobs because of the huge improvement in most of human lifestyle like for instance the mailing system. Because of the invention of the electronic mails and short messages sent (SMS) or we commonly known today as text in mobile phones, huge number of employees from post office were fired from their jobs due to decreasing no. of mails. The old-fashioned mailing system had almost become obsolete by the latest communication system. But this disadvantage could not outweigh the no. of jobs created by technological change. In the present, as more and more technologies and services are introduced, it caused shortage in terms of manpower. The skills needed became more and more complex and very high standard in which the academe failed to match. What the academe provides to its students are not what the industry needs. There is what we called “industry-academe mismatch”. This has been the problem of the industry right now where the demand of the experts specially in the field of Information and Communication Technology (ICT) is very high. This is one of the major problem in which the government in coordination with the business sector should address first. This scenarios has become worse as more and more companies continue to grow and expand. Clearly, technological change paved a way where opportunities could easily be reached by human, build a strong foundation for human survivability and the most important, it gives human hope that technological change could be the key for their success. Although there are some jobs that become obsolete that caused some to suffer,but this is not enough to cancel the benefits it provides.