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 31 March 2005 10:15pm +0800: Today, a Citibank representative called up and was looking for the owner of the building that I live in. Incidentally, the person that they were looking for was not around and the person who answered the phone was asleep and just had to wake up to answer the said phone call. After the Citibank representative was informed that the person they were looking for was not around, the person who answered the phone hanged up for the reason that the conversation was finished. Not another two minutes have passed and the same Citibank representative called back and accused the person who answered the phone as rude. Come to think of it. The owner of my building does not have any account with Citibank and Citibank has been calling for a while now, selling their credit cards. Now, who is rude here? But guess what, this is not the end of Citibank representatives' rude behavior. My sister, who also does not have an account with Citibank, was once accused by a Citibank representative as covering someone up, and at another time, was accused to be pretending to be someone else. Still, this is not the end. I have officemates and friends who have been victims of the rudeness of Citibank's representatives. The only thing I am waiting for now, is for any one of them at Citibank to give me a call, sell me their credit cards, and practice their rude behavior so I can tell them myself that they are the rudest and the most unprofessional banking institution there is.
25 February 2005 11:00pm +0800: A few days ago, I have noticed that my Windows has not been synchronizing with time.windows.com, the default NTP server set for Windows XP. It seems like that there is a stratum problem. A few open access NTP servers are available, which may correct your time should your computer's clock be either too fast or too slow. The link will give you a list of time servers in different strata, and I would recommend that if you are an ordinary user, you use a second stratum NTP server rather than those in stratum one so as not to overload the stratum one servers.
31 January 2005 11:00pm +0800: We are gathering more awards! According to Brussels-based International Federation of Journalists (IFJ), the Philippines is also tagged as the world's second deadliest place for media workers after Iraq! Read the story »
27 January 2005 10:00am +0800: I am not sure what to say. The House of Representatives has approved a VAT hike from 10% to 12%. The Philippines is already considered as the second most corrupt country in the world and here comes Congress giving us more problems. Why can't they minimize corruption first? I can't seem to understand these people who are in power. And think about this, why do they have to pass the hike in the wee hours of the morning? Oh well, I guess we will have to make our US$172.00+ per month salary pay fit more. Read the story »
31 December 2004 12:25am +0800: Due to the recent earthquake and tsunami in Asia, Phuket, Thailand has been given some attention because a few Filipinos are known to work there. However, a few TV newscasters and reporters have been mispronouncing Phuket and Thailand. Phuket should be pronounced as [pOO'kit] while Thailand should be [tī'lănd, –lund]. Fact Monster is a good reference for pronunciation of proper nouns.
24 December 2004 9:55pm +0800: The biggest twist has happened on Starstruck! After CJ was voted off from Starstruck tonight, he was asked to sit beside the Starstruck council as he will be a member of the council for the coming week! CJ may not have survived Starstruck, but to be a member of the council was, for me, very good for him.
22 December 2004 21:30am +0800: Another Filipino, in the person of Traffic Enforcer Ador Cruz, Jr, gets my bow. Cruz found a wallet containing PhP10,000.00 and US$2,000.00 which he returned to the owner. Cruz even declined to accept the prize he was offered for his good deed. His only wish was to get a permanent status in his job.
To Mr Cruz, my hats off to you.
21 December 2004 1:30am +0800: George Javier, a Filipino cab driver, returns more than US$9,000.00 to his passenger after bringing the latter to his destination. According to Javier, it never came to his mind not to return the money.
To Mr Javier, I salute you and may your tribe increase!
3 December 2004 2:45am +0800: "Nature Laughs Last." Illegal logging has been blamed for exacerbating the disaster where hundreds died and more were left homeless after tropical depression Winnie and typhoons Unding, Violeta, and Yoyong hit the Philippines. Read the story »
 3 December 2004 12:25am +0800: Darn! Even the censors are picking on Bubble Gang. I no longer know what to say anymore. I am dismayed, disappointed, and pissed off that there is still no true freedom and democracy in the Philippines. Kawawa si Ninoy. (Poor Ninoy.) He fought and died for freedom and democracy yet these two are still unattainable. DISSOLVE THE CENSORS NOW! Read the story »
 23 November 2004 11:58pm +0800: There is nothing much more to say. This story from the Philippine Star says it all. I wonder what's up next. I pity those who have been faithful and truthful to their military careers. But let's face it, the number of people who trust those who are in power is fast going down. Remember that in greater power comes greater responsibility. Or did military school helped you forget that?
From the Philippine Star:
A young Army officer who graduated at the top of his class at the Philippine Military Academy (PMA) was sacked from a US military school and sent home in disgrace for alleged shoplifting.
And for allegedly stealing a compact disc (CD) worth a measly .95, the military career of 2Lt. Rolly Joaquin, valedictorian of PMA Class 2004, now hangs in the balance as he was placed under arrest on his return here last Oct. 28 to face court martial.
Army spokesman Maj. Bartolome Bacarro said Joaquin was dismissed from the US Army Infantry School at Fort Benning in Georgia where he had been sent for an officer’s training course.
Joaquin reportedly removed a 50-cent discount tag from a sale item and attached it to a CD that he purchased from a store there.
20 November 2004 8:05pm +0800: Friday's cliffhanger on Mulawin!
 14 November 2004 1:00am +0800: I salute Socio-Economic Planning Secretary Romulo Neri for admitting that the Philippines continues to scrape the bottom of the economic barrel because it has a "weak knowledge base." However, I just would like to ask: How could our knowledge base be improved when many of the teachers that we have, are inadequate to teach in spite of their documents showing that they have finished formal education? How could the knowledge base be improved in spite of the weak foundation that students have? Read the story »
 13 November 2004 10:50pm +0800: Senator Jamby Madrigal was recently seen on TV when GMA's Imbestigador program had a feature on nude chats and the houses that may have been illegally setup in Angeles, Pampanga. Most likely, the senator may have been present so in order to protect the rights of the models, and to learn how she could protect them some more through the bills she may file. One thought, however, strikes me, and that is, the models don't seem to feel that the raid was done so in order to protect them. Or was it really the case? Pornography, or porn, will always be around, be it legally controlled, or underground. It must have felt amusing or embarassing to the police officers conducting the raid when the models themselves indicated that they are working because of financial needs, and are in fact better off working there than at bars. One indicated that she is doing the kind of work she does so in order to finish college. One also said that they already accepted the kind of work they are in, but what they could not accept is how people treat them, or look at them. However, what was most startling was how these officers treated the models. What do you call this? Isn't this much worse? On the other hand, porn, also known as adult entertainment, earns billions of the dollars. So, my question is, why not legalize pornography, and control it just how American, European, or Australian porn laws do? I am quite sure the US, the European countries, and Australia, among others, protect women and children more than we can or could do, or even hope for. In effect, underground, or any illegal form of porn will end up quashed by those that are put up legally. Further, the women and children, the ones who are mostly exploited, will be protected. And with this, the government earns more revenues.
5 November 2004 9:05am +0800: The Philippine Censors are at it again! When will they ever stop? Just let Amy have her show and let the audience decide if they want to watch it or not. The audience should be educated enough to know what's good for them or not. Or perhaps, is there a suggestion that indeed, the Philippine education system is faulty for not having taught the students to differentiate what is good for them and not? Read the story »
 30 October 2004 1:48am +0800: Latest Virus threat: Trend Micro says the worm also has the ability to disable the Internet Connection Firewall (ICF), Internet Connection Sharing (ICS) and Security Center Service in Windows XP. Read the story »
 14 October 2004 10:40pm +0800: I personally take my hats off to this man. If only those who are in power could learn something from him.
From the Philippine Star:
A janitor working in the Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA) turned over to the airport police the other night a wallet containing ¥80,000 and a cellular phone worth more than P40,000 belonging to a Japanese businessman.
Retired Gen. Angel Atutubo, Manila International Airport Authority (MIAA) assistant general manager for Security and Emergency Services, identified the janitor as Rolando Catapang, 23, single, a contractual janitor assigned in NAIA, and a resident of Carissa st., Rivera Village, Pasay City.
 4 October 2004 1:30am +0800: A few have already jumped into the FireFox/Thunderbird bandwagon. I am still waiting for the right time for me to do that. Not that I don't want to join the rest of the world who wants to be more secure, I am just waiting for the time when Thunderbird, especially, will behave like Outlook Express along with its own good qualities. One thing that prevents me from not jumping yet, is how Thunderbird renders HTML e-mails. I am still not satisfied as of the moment. But eventually, when all issues have been addressed especially the font issue, then I might. There is even more chance I would.
 30 September 2004 2:10am +0800: As an addendum to the discussion on who gives the more accurate time, I have noticed that the Department of Science and Technology has opened my site and may have read my comments about my thoughts on the matter. And to further the discussion, anyone can do this experiment. Tune in to BBC World on your televison and take note of their Top of the Hour station ID. That station ID starts approximately at zero minutes, zero seconds of every hour. This is also preceded by a countdown in seconds before the Top of the Hour. By comparing your time to the start of their station ID, you would see that there is not much difference to the time given by either windows.com and time.gov. CNN's Top of the Hour station ID starts almost the same time as that of BBC's, but without the countdown.
 26 September 2004 1:43am +0800: This story from INQ7.net made me smile. This is perhaps, to my opinion, a story that says I was right in saying that the Philippine education system is actually not as good as we want it to be, considering the books that the Education Department provides the students. See my thoughts three entries below. Read the story »
24 September 2004 11:13pm +0800: Who gives the more accurate time? Is it PAGASA, Microsoft through their NTP server at time.windows.com, or the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) and the U. S. Naval Observatory (USNO) at time.gov? This is the question I raised during a meeting at the office, when it was said that the Official Philippine Time (or what they call the Philippine Standard Time) may be found at the PAGASA website. For some unknown reason, the PAGASA time is a little bit late as compared to the two others mentioned in spite of the fact that from where I am, trace route reports that PAGASA is only 12 hops away, as compared to time.gov and windows.com where there are more. The Philippines uses UTC plus eight hours. So you be the judge. Who would be more reliable? See the comparison I have made from three sources. Efforts have been made so as to give the three time sources equal playing ground. Maybe PAGASA can send me a feedback on this matter, which I would be glad to share with the world.
 18 August 2004 2:20am +0800: It's interesting to note that the authorities still have time to look into this and make so much fuss about it when in fact, the country's economy is going down by the minute, children around getting hungry and dying because of illnesses, people being robbed and abused, etc. While there are laws that prohibit what they call "indecent exposure," surely these ladies are just working and doing their jobs as government officials should be doing their jobs as well, addressing the more depressing problems of the country. Funny, but I always have believed that the reason why human beings seem to be so sex-starved is because adults, themselves, introduced the idea of malice to what was once considered as pure and beautiful.
9 September 2004 8:15pm +0800: It has been months already that I have been helping my landlady's daughter with her Math and I have noticed that her school, being a science high school in Manila, is using math books of Filipino authors. I believe that this is so in most schools, even in private institutions. What struck me is the fact that these books have either typographical errors or worse, math-related errors. What brings matters worse is that, these math books just blabber and blabber about numbers and variables without even relating the whole subject to reality which may help the students appreciate why they are and need to learn math! Math is, in fact, simple and straightforward. But these math book authors are making things more complicated by even subjecting the students to exercises that have not even been discussed in prior chapters! This is crazy! Schools, colleges, and universities should review any text book they want to use in their schools, and not just think of how much rebate or how much they would be getting in return for using a specific text book! The Philippines is already a third world country. No sooner we will be in the fourth because of all these. It's like the blind leading another blind. Why not instead get a foreign authored book? I am not saying that Filipinos are less intelligent than anyone on Earth! We have had great inventors! But sometimes we need to accept and face reality that there are areas where we fail. Mostly, to parents, please do make sure that you review the books the school require the students to have. Hey, you are working your ass off in order to give your children a good education. But definitely, in the case mentioned, all efforts are meaningless. Your children that you love are just going to school so in order to pass the exams and in the end graduate. They don't learn! This is very frustrating for me, mind you. I hope I get the message across because I know we have great minds in this country, but with how things are going, great minds disappear because of the very weak framework caused by a weak education system.
13 August 2004 7:20pm +0800: Due to the proliferation of spam and forged e-mail addresses brought about by viruses and trojans, please be reminded that the e-mails that I send are signed digitally so as to verify that the e-mail address from which the e-mail comes from is authentic. (Automated responses do not have digital IDs, though.) To get your free digital ID, you may visit thawte.com.
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