StoicPassion » Current Events

Cool Events This February

meekes — Tue, 26 Jan 2010 10:06:10 +0000

Just sharing an email forwarded to me about some cool events happening this February that you might want to check out.

Feb 11-14: 15th Philippine Hotair Balloon Fiesta at Clark, Pampanga
Website: http://www.philballoonfest.net/

Philippine Hot Air Balloon Fiesta

Feb 14 to Mar 14: 1st Philippine International Pyromusical Competition at SM Mall of Asia, Pasay

Philippine International PyroMusical Competition

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Santa Tracking, mas hightech pa sa parcel tracking ng UPS at Fedex!

meekes — Fri, 18 Dec 2009 19:54:04 +0000

Kating-kati ka na ba malaman kung nasan si Santa Claus sa Dec 24?

Gamit ang pinaka hightech na equipment ng North American Aeorospace Defense Command (NORAD), malalaman mo na ngayon kung nasaan si Santa Claus sa Dec 24.

Gusto mo bang malaman kung nasan si Santa?

Since 1955, tina-track na ng NORAD ang around the world flight ni Santa. Nag simula lahat ng ito nang ang Colorado Springs-based Sears Roebuck & Co., ay nag advertise na tawagan si Santa Claus as Christmas gimick ng company nila para mag attract ng bata sa Sears Toyland. On a funny note, nag kamali sila ng pag print ng phone numbers ng toy store at unintentionally, ay na-i-print nila ang hotline ng commanding officer(CO) ng CONAD (predecessor ng NORAD). Buti nalang at nakiride-on lang ang CO ng CONAD sa batang tumawag at simula noon ay naging tradisyon na sa NORAD ang pag sagot sa tanong na ‘nasan na kaya si Santa?’

So sa mga nag sasabing hindi totoo si Santa Claus, here’s to you! ho! ho! ho! =p

Click here : Santa Tracking Site

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Stochastic Musings: Kelvin to Rankin, Ba-da-Binged Google and Independence Day Google Logo

meekes — Fri, 12 Jun 2009 15:30:10 +0000

Kenny Rankin died of lung cancer

Kenny who? The name just rang a tiny bell in my mind and the first thing that came into my mind was Chicken Roasters and the unit of temperature we get to convert from Kelvin in grade school science class.

Kenny Rankin's website www.kennyrankin.com

The name sounds familiar, but I can’t remember where I’ve heard the name. So I Googled my way to finding out who Kenny Rankin was and then I remembered his name from the Jingle magazine I had circa 1980′s. Probably most of us do not know him, but if you heard his songs, you’d get the same “ahhh…sya pala yun!” reaction just like I did.

Kenny Rankin popularized songs such as “On and On” (on and on…she just keeps on trying..), the ever famous national anthem for closet queens “Hiding Inside Myself” (so I hid inside…Till I almost died..yes I hid inside and I cried), and one of the famous contender to the ultimate Boyfriend-Girlfriend theme song “What matters most” (…what matters most is that we loved at all…)

I grew up listening to a couple of his songs and sometimes in a weird way, those songs that you grew up with gets embedded in your subconscious and becomes part of your childhood memories. And you somehow feel a sense of losing a part of yourself when someone that you grew up with passes away, even if you are not really related to the person. It’s like saying Big Bird died of A(H1N1) to the Gen “W” (and a couple of Gen X) kids who grew up watching Sesame Street.

Which is more pleasing to hear: I Googled Bing… OR …I Binged Google?

This is how I Binged Google

Microsoft, in its bid to capture the search engine market, lauched its repackaged search engine, Live Search, which is now called Bing. The Microsoft focus group came up with the name Bing, because according to them, it was short, memorable, easy to spell and it would function well as a URL around the world (what the hell does that mean?). But I think they forgot to consider that it doesn’t sound good when used as a verb. Google’s rise to fame can also be attributed to the fact that its name is being used as a verb in everyday conversation which is why it made its way to everyone’s vocabulary. I’m not so sure if the same would work well for Bing.

Philippine Independence Day Google Logo

This is the first time I've seen Google put up a special logo for the Philippine Independence Day celebration

Google is known to add pizzazz to their already very colorful trademarked logo for every significant event within a year. I’ve seen it change for Christmas, Halloween, and even to celebrate the Beijing Olympics. But this is the first time I’ve seen it change for the Philippine Independence Day Celebration. Probably not everyone saw this, but if you went to the dotph URL for Google (www.google.com.ph), you’d get to see their logo change to add the Philippine Flag. Cool!

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Fate of the 100 Filipino Seamen And A Challenge To Our Local News Networks.

meekes — Sun, 19 Apr 2009 18:53:36 +0000

Map of Gulf of Aden and Somali coast with positions of the hijacked ships

“Manila, Philippines – In response to the increasing number of Filipino hostages in Somalia, the Philippine president Gloria Macapagal Arroyo has ordered the Philippine Navy to go after the Somali pirates on the high seas of the Gulf of Aden. The flag-officer-in-command of the Philippine Navy has commissioned three Philippine Navy destroyers to proceed to the Gulf of Aden and engage the Somali pirates.”

How I wish that was the headline in CNN and BBC, but unfortunately, we’re sitting ducks in this situation. The Filipinos are at the losing end in every which way you look at it. We have an ill-equipped Philippine Navy, so don’t even count on the possibility of dreaming a daring high seas rescue.

We are not only at the mercy of the Somali pirates but we’re also at the mercy of the ship operators. If they decide to scuttle the ransom negotiations because they cannot afford the ransom, then woe to us and the crew’s family.

We are even at the mercy of international news agencies. How many times have you heard updates about the US cargo ship captain held hostage by the Somali? Then think about how many times have you heard updates about 100 plus Filipino ship crew hostages? The saddest thing is, even our local news channels doesn’t report much on the fate of the Filipino crews. There is not much effort on their part to deliver the news to the nation. I could remember that during the recent Iraq or Afghanistan wars (I could not remember which of the two), each local network even had their “contingent” news team to deliver on site updates and documentaries. On that situation, the Philippines doesn’t even have any “interest” at the ongoing wars, they just wanted to out do each other and have the bragging rights of “delivering service through news and information,even in dangerous situations”. Well, here’s a challenge to both networks, send some one over to Kenya or Yemen and gather info about the situation of the Filipino crews (I’m not even suggesting Somalia) and deliver service to the Filipino people that really matters, since the international news agencies doesn’t care much about the 100 plus Filipino hostages.

The only thing we can do now is just pray for the welfare of the Filipino crew and hopefully everything ends well for each of them.

Oh, an idea just came into my mind. If everything else fails, let’s rig a fleet of Ro-Ro’s with explosives and send them crashing to the Somali pirate’s ports and blow the smithereens out of them.

=====
Just an anecdote about Seamen:
I was once assigned to support one of our clients at Riga, Latvia, a Baltic State and formerly part of the U.S.S.R. I arrived at the Riga airport and waited in line at the customs and immigration desk for the usual question and answer portion of your travel.

The immigration officer, upon seeing my Philippine passport asked me in broken Russian-English tone, “So you’re Philippines right?”.

Of course I answered “Yes”, not really knowing if he was asking if I came from the Philippines or if I am a Filipino. It didn’t matter which of the two he meant to ask, coz I would reply Yes to either question.

The officer then gave a follow-up question… “Semen?”

I was dumb founded for a few seconds and didn’t know what to answer. I was thinking, this was a former Soviet state, who knows what they would make me do.

Thankfully, the officer upon seeing my blank reaction, rephrased his question, “Are you a ‘Semen’?”

I then got what he was asking and replied, “No, not a seaman. I’m a programmer. I work with computers”

Read more from the following sites:
NATO Piracy Shipping Center (http://www.shipping.nato.int/CounterPir)
Yahoo News (http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090419/ap_on_re_as/as_piracy_hostages__plight)

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