<![CDATA[Got Milk? - Logs]]>Mon, 06 Apr 2009 22:39:26 +0700Weebly<![CDATA[China: Scared Of The Big Bad Youtube]]>Fri, 27 Mar 2009 23:16:23 +0700http://carloguina.weebly.com/1/post/2009/03/china-scared-of-the-big-bad-youtube.html

The Chinks has done it again. Wednesday Evening, March 25, The ever popular western video webby Youtube has been blocked in China again.

According to CNN Technology reports:

"We do not know the reason for the blockage and we are working as quickly as possible to restore access to our users," said Scott Rubin, a spokesman for Google, which owns YouTube."

http://edition.cnn.com/2009/TECH/ptech/03/25/youtube.china/

I've been scrambling millions of proxies and still can't find one that works. They made their Firewall like Fort Knox.

Finally This morning I found this http://kproxy.com/

The results would seem mediocre because of the language barrier but I guess this would suffice this stupid predicament.

I Saw another alternative call the FREEDOM STICK which is like a collection of pre-installed softwares that can be used to go through China's impenetrable firewall. I really don't know where to get/buy this but I reckon it's underground.

Http://siliopedia.com

IMHO, this is just pure crap but the more I try to rationalize things the more messed up I become. Only to realize one thing...

"Oh yeah, reality check.. This is China PERIOD"

*Grunts*

]]><![CDATA[Yes, Blame it on the Designer!]]>Fri, 20 Mar 2009 07:00:05 +0700http://carloguina.weebly.com/1/post/2009/03/yes-blame-it-on-the-designer.html 5pm on a Friday afternoon. A call came through ..

“Hello?” I said ..

“Hey .. Are you going back to the office? There is a problem on site, we need to talk to you..”

“I’ll be there in 20 minutes..”

The project is literally very small and not much design was involved, mostly additions and alterations of the existing site. It’s a startup fashion design company that is gonna be building its name in Beijing.

Layout plans have all been approved by the client and was sent over to the builders for site verification.

When I came to the office everybody was there, the marketing fellow, the project manager, my assistant and head of the sub-contractor company that was doing all the work.

Apparently, there was a discrepancy between the drawings that I sent over and the markings on the site. I visited the project 3 days ago and this predicament was never brought to my attention until now.

This was quite late, given the fact that the client has already approved the layouts and everything was given a go signal by everybody involved.

What I’m really pissed about is that this mistake was being pinned on the Design department specifically on me. Procedural wise, this is really not my job. It is the Project Manager’s duty to verify if my drawings are accurately interpreted on site.

The contractor not only has a tongue of a retarded bird which relatively sounds like a sick pigeon but he also has an attention span of a lightning bolt. He would utter the words, like

“I see, I see..”

but what he really meant was ..

“there is a big pile of wood blocking my brain”.

This is definitely the last time I would be working with him. He is metaphorically making me age faster.

The Project Manager, on the other hand, is a complete opposite. He’s pompously clever. Too clever that he can perfectly make impromptu stories just to clean his hands. He would’ve been a great prosecution lawyer. Project Management by definition is quite self explanatory, but I reckon his mantra with regards to his position is..

“I will manage the project but if it screws up, I’ll blame the designer..”

I really wanna place him in a skewer and barbeque his chinky ass.

The heated debate held on for hours which ended up with my assistant shouting at the pompous, incompetent Project Manager. He pointed his fingers at us like a fart-sniffing airhead.

Nobody likes being blamed for something that’s not under his scope of work. Nobody!!

]]><![CDATA[First Take: Photoshop Creative Suite Four]]>Mon, 16 Mar 2009 12:23:10 +0700http://carloguina.weebly.com/1/post/2009/03/creative-suite-four.html

Yep... I've officially converted. Adobe Photoshsop CS 3 is out, CS4 is in. I'm a lil surprised that the total file size is less than 1 gigabyte but it still It took me around 30 minutes to install everything including new fonts and plug-ins.

http://www.adobe.com/products/photoshop/photoshop/

I don't really consider this as a major upgrade but just a revamp of its predecessor. The colors are relatively still the same as well as the command tool sequences.

I doodled with the interface & immediately noticed the major change that Adobe has been bragging which was the tabbed canvasses. It works like a web browser which all the files you open as you goes into one window. I'm still not sure if this will be a helpful feature for me or it might just make me jump up the ceiling.

20 minutes after, I can roughly say that I'm gonna spend some time getting used to this new interface.

High Res Version: GET YOUR FILTHY PAWS OFF MY WIFE!!

]]><![CDATA[The Plurks of life]]>Fri, 13 Mar 2009 03:22:14 +0700http://carloguina.weebly.com/1/post/2009/03/the-plurks-of-life.html

After all the wacky fellows of hifi finally stopped bugging me to join this micoblogging thingy... I finally gave in.

I'm that much of a hyper blogger as my last entry here as you can see is three months ago. lol This lazy afternoon gave me the gutts to try something new.

http://www.plurk.com

Plurk's interface is pretty confusing at first but 15 mins into trying the buttons and you'll be able to figure it out. It's sort of like an upgrade version of Twitter. Sadly though, most of my friends inside made it like a humongous chat room which defeated the purpose of microblogging. (Peace tayo larry .. :P)

First thing that came to mind was if I was on the road could I take a photo with my phone, upload it on flickr and post it on plurk. Sounds like a hard task a few years ago but I marveled at how easy it was.

I tried this while I was in the cab heading home for lunch. *Shutter Click*

taxi

I am using a nokia E71, which would typically look like a knock off from the blackberry series but this baby lets me do everything now a days. I went online using GPRS, (No wifi was available) and went to flickr's mobile website.

It's my first time uploading something from my phone but the site was  quite idiot free. Went to the upload button and searched for the picture inside the memory card.

After uploading was the daunting task of getting the URL of the jpeg i uploaded. I tried a couple of things but the only thing that worked was clicking the SEND as TEXT button while on the flickr webby. It will automatically go to a new sms page with the URL in its body just waiting to be copied.

After copying the website address (Editing Options > Copy). I went to plurk's mobile website. and realized I can't see the paste option on the list. I tried a couple of combinations and finally got it to work.

(Press the Corner Triangle Button + the Control button and V) this command makes a lot of sense since windows applications have the same logic.

10 mins later I have successfully taken a picture, uploaded it in cyberspace and posted it on a website. Plurk also does automation to most of the major social networks such as Facebook, Multiply and Friendster in realtime.

Microblogging may sound like an overly narcissistic attempt in life but what the heck, it's too short to be sheltered.

   
]]><![CDATA[Dan Brown: Solomon's Key]]>Sun, 11 Jan 2009 20:53:11 +0700http://carloguina.weebly.com/1/post/2009/01/dan-brown-solomons-key.htmlUpdate on Solomon's Key:

"Now, the publisher is hinting that a manuscript is close. "Dan Brown has a very specific release date for the publication of his new book, and when the book is published, his readers will see why," says Stephen Rubin, president of Bertelsmann's Doubleday Broadway Publishing Group, whose Doubleday imprint publishes Mr. Brown. Mr. Rubin declined further comment."

Read More ...

--------------------------

I have always been fascinated with alternative history more relatively to the mystery about the Catholic Origins, Secret Societies and World Wide Government Conspiracies. Dan Brown gave the audience a taste of a more commercial sense on that subject matter when He released The Da Vinci Code. which spanned millions of curious fellows which even made box office success with the movie. I'm gonna be raving about his upcoming new book to be released tentatively December of 2008 entitled, "Solomon Key" ...

Da vinci code

Before I get to the good stuff I'd like to share 2 of the popular clues that the author left for us in his Book to solve, preparing us for his upcoming masterpiece.

Back Leaf Cover

This image from the back dust jacket of The Da Vinci Code includes text printed backward. When held to a mirror, it reads, "Only WW knows," referring to a passage taken from Kryptos indicating that only one person knows what may be buried on the CIA grounds. "WW" refers to former CIA director William Webster, who received an envelope from sculptor Jim Sanborn containing the solution to Kryptos. But Sanborn says that even Webster doesn't know.

Kryptos

Kryptos is a sculpture located on the grounds of CIA Headquarters in Langley, Virginia. Installed in 1990, its thousands of characters contain encrypted messages, of which three have been solved (so far). There is still a fourth section at the bottom consisting of 97 or 98 characters which remains unsolved. This web page contains some information about the sculpture, including some photos collected from around the web, some rubbings of the sculpture taken by your intrepid webmistress, links to other articles and Kryptos discussion groups here and there, and information about other encrypted sculptures which have been created by the sculptor, James Sanborn.

(Read More..)

For those aspiring Cryptology fellows out there, i managed to find the actual transcript of the Kryptos. Lets see if anyone here can break this code :D

- Kryptos Transcript

_________________________________

Front Leaf Cover

Look closely at the text of The Da Vinci Code's dust jacket and you will find select letters that stand out in very slightly bold type. "You have to look carefully and you may not see it at first. In fact, you may need a magnifying glass. But once you find these slightly bold letters and string them together, they clearly spell out an intriguing question:

"Is there no help for the widow's son?"

It was the title of a now famous talk given before a Mormon audience in 1974 that sought to establish a connection between FREEMASONRY and the founder of the Church of the Latter Day Saints, Joseph Smith. The talk was secretly tape-recorded and has been widely circulated, much to the chagrin of many in the Mormon Church. Many Masonic lodges have 'widow's son' events to this day. Mormon temples are often decorated with Masonic symbology. I believe the sequel to The Da Vinci Code will involve a Mormon-Mason treasure hunt through the U.S., with Robert Langdon back to lead us through the interpretation of all these symbols."

(Read More..)

Presidential Address Delivered At The Mormon History Association Convention April 20, 1974

Who are the Freemasons?

Freemasons are members of the largest and oldest fraternity in the world, MASONS or FREEMASONRY, and even though almost everyone has a father or grandfather or uncle who was a Mason, many people aren't quite certain just who Masons are or what freemasonry is about.

Famous Masons

This secret society has been under our noses ever since our great great grandmother said "da da". Imagine all the possibilities if they we're having a meeting right now discussing whether to kill the internet cuz we're already learning too much. That's a thought .. *ponder ponder*

Free Masons Website

Washington D.C.and Masonic Symbology

The street layout of Washington D.C., the fifth point is the White House, a symbol placement which represents the intention that the spirit and the mind of Lucifer will be permanently residing in the White House. The map I found isn't all that accurate as far as the streets are concerned, but it will have to do.... (Read More)





(Read More..)

This is pretty disturbing .... no words are actually coming out of my brain right now. maybe you guys can shine some light...


The story of Hiram Abiff

THE outstanding figure in modern Freemasonry is undoubtedly the widow's son who is known to members of the Fraternity under the somewhat obscure name of Hiram Abiff. He dominates Craft Masonry. and that in spite of the fact that neither the Entered Apprentice nor the Fellow-Craft knows anything at all about him. It is true that, when the Master Mason recites what is called "the first part of the traditional history." to the Fellow-Craft who is on his way to the secrets of the third degree, he pays the Fellow-Craft the compliment of saying, "As you are doubtless aware," Hiram was the principal architect at the building of King Soloman's Temple..





(Read More..)

Who is Solomon?

If, as modern academics suggest, Solomon was not his name during his life-time, but one attributed to him sometime after his death, then how long after he died was he renamed - a week, a year, a millennium? What's in a name? And does it really matter?

If you are an influential global organization that has invested several hundred years of ceremonial capital creating a kind of hero figure, someone to look up to and be inspired by - it matters.

So what are the implications for Freemasonry? Solomon and his temple have been cornerstones of this ancient institution for centuries. Suddenly, the mystery about what goes on in a Masonic Lodge begins to make sense where previously such understanding may have been missing. But it isn’t as simple as that. If Solomon and the Temple didn’t exist, the entire concept on which Freemasonry has been founded, may need to be redefined – or does it?





Everybody loves a good mystery .. this subject matter just wanna makes me know more.

Solomon Key - The Book

The Solomon Key is the working title of an unreleased novel currently being worked on by Dan Brown.[2] According to current information, The Solomon Key will be the third book involving Robert Langdon, the fictional Harvard University professor, and will likely take place after the events of Angels and Demons and The Da Vinci Code. No publication date has yet been set.

There have been a number of educated guesses regarding the content of The Solomon Key. While Dan Brown has offered some hints in interviews, in large part most ideas to the likely content of the upcoming book come from a marketing strategy used by Brown and his publishers

It is reported that the book will reference controversial subjects such as the deist viewpoints of some of the Founding Fathers and the Skull and Bones secret society.[5] KSL-TV in Salt Lake City ran a story that in 2004, Dan Brown visited Salt Lake and seemed very interested in the Masonic nature of the symbols carved on the outside of the LDS Salt Lake Temple.[6] This relationship, among others, between Freemasonry and Mormonism may play a role in The Solomon Key.





Additional Links:

http://www.amazon.ca/Solomon-Key-Dan-Brown/dp/B0006H92F6

http://www.bloodline-themovie.com/

http://www.dailygrail.com/

http://www.thecryptex.com/

Angels and Demons the Movie

Fans of this book will be thrilled to know that the vatican conspiracies are coming to the big screen.





Movie Details

The Book

I personally don't approve of Tom Hanks as Robert Langdon, I would prefer Harrison Ford for the role but that's just me, kudos for Gud ol tom for pulling it off though..

]]><![CDATA[George Benson & Al Jarreau on Tour]]>Sun, 11 Jan 2009 20:51:08 +0700http://carloguina.weebly.com/1/post/2009/01/george-bensonal-jarreau-on-tour.htmlWe actually got a good deal from our tickets as they were supposed to be 980rmb (approx 5k peso) but a friend of mine was able to get it for 380rmb (2k peso).

I am more of an RnB, Hip-hop and soul kinda guy so I wasn't really excited that much about this Jazz/Ballad concert. After office, we drove to the Beijing Exhibition Center Theater which took us around an hour because of the rush hour traffic. When we got there, people were already piled up to enter. It's my first time watching a concert in China and I was not surprised to see that the system that have to usher the spectators in was horrendously poor. It was complete mess.

When we successfully found our seats the concert was about to begin. The crowd cheered as the stage lit up ..

(apologies for the pictures, they were not allowed but u know pinoys, makulet ayaw mag paawat .. hehehe)

After a grammatically incorrect commentator finished his poorly executed introduction, the dynamic duo started the concert with "givin it to me", the carrier song of their tour.

I was amazed how goosebumps started running through my arms. They did this Jazz medley mostly instrumentals with George on the guitars, the band doing their thing and Al using his voice like a human drum. It was incredible.

The 2nd part of the concert was a solo act from Jarreau...

"Bip Bop, Badu Dop, Pam Param Pam Boom..."

He was famous for doing voice acrobatics like this and it was nothing I have ever seen before. I cant really name all of the songs that he did cuz i'm not that good at this genre, but I recalled him singing "Mashkinada" and "Spain".

Next came Benson, I was not able to get a snapshot of his solo performance cuz the guards were already on my tail. He played an instrumental medley with his guitar and did a lot of popular ballads as well, like "Nothing's gonna change my love for you, The Greatest Love of All" and my personal favorite "In Your Eyes".

Finally they got together again on stage for a spectacular close as they did some sort of upbeat Jazz number.

If you're one who's not into this sort of music (like me) and has the courage to try it.. go to their concert.. you'll have a taste of what you've been missing.

___________________________________

Not trusting the drawing power of its co-billed veterans, singer-guitarist George Benson and singer-"vocal percussionist" Al Jarreau, or the eventfulness of their teaming, the producers of Givin' It Up have hedged their commercial bets with a full array of guest stars. But none of the guest singers lifts the proceedings above a sleek professionalism--not Paul McCartney, who participates in a humdrum, album-ending jam on Sam Cooke's "Bring It on Home to Me"; not the wonderful Jill Scott, who emulates Billie Holiday on a modest treatment of "God Bless the Child"; and not old pro Patti Austin. Herbie Hancock, Chris Botti, Stanley Clarke, and Marcus Miller also turn up, agreeably but unexcitingly enough, among smooth jazzers including Marion Meadows and Patrice Rushen. The material ranges from two songs to which Jarreau adds lyrics--the 1976 Benson hit "Breezin'" and "'Long Come Tutu," based on the Miller-written title track of Miles Davis's "Tutu"--to covers of Seals and Crofts' "Summer Breeze" and the Daryl Hall-penned Paul Young hit, "Every Time You Go Away." Benson and Jarreau seem a bit hemmed-in by the crowd of name contributors. Even in smooth mode, they have done livelier work than this. --Lloyd Sachs

amazon.com

]]><![CDATA[Chinese Censorship]]>Sun, 11 Jan 2009 20:47:39 +0700http://carloguina.weebly.com/1/post/2009/01/post-title-click-and-type-to-edit.htmlThis is a rude awakening ..

Being in China has its moments but honestly, nice views and amazing knock-offs doesn't really quality to the fact that it is still a communist country.

Although they claimed that to have some sort of freedom after the 1989 Tienanmen incident. Every God damn media here is censored like its Mother Theresa in a Porn film (no pun intended).

Magazines, Newspapers, Local TV, Cable TV and the Internet has been scrutinized and selected really carefully so not to upset anything in this country.

High Res Version

I knew this thing existed when I got here but I can't believe it's like telling an adult that Santa Claus existed. It's really worse that I thought.

Just an example would be accessing Organization Sites .. I need to go through a proxy webby to open "non-chinese *.org sites" .

Certain international blog/video sites like Multiply, Live, Blogger, Friendster and Youtube (to name a few) are prohibited as well.

------------------------------

I found this website about a petition to the Chinese Media ..

"China Should Stop Media Censorship and Blockade to Save People's Lives

To: World Heath Organization (WHO) and International Telecommunication Union (ITU)

All the open societies in the world understand one clear principle: the relationship of media with government simply tells the degree of a government’s confidence, tolerance, transparency, and courage to invite public scrutiny. Media censorship, suppression and blockade will only allow the cover-up of corruption and malfunctions that happen in the past, present and future.

However, the practice of media censorship, suppression and blockade by Chinese Communist Party (CCP) does not merely lead to an ever-deteriorating systematic corruption. "


www.petitiononline.com/SOH2005/

Shockingly, there has only been 1.5k signatures since 2005. *why doesn't this surprise me*

Here are some other stuff that I found:

------------------------------

How does China control the influence of foreign media?

China requires foreign correspondents to get permission before making reporting trips within the country and reporters often face harassment if they cover delicate issues.

Read More...

------------------------------

This website tells it all, "unmadeinchina.org" shows what's really happening..

The Olympic Black Jails





The "Olympic" version of Beijing did not feature any poor people. Part of some "economic miracle"? No, what really happened was that thousands of residents were removed for the Olympic makeover; dissidents were rounded up, 400,000 security officials patrolled the streets, and the usual petitioners were nowhere to be seen. Where had they gone? Many were illegally held in the "black jails."

What kind of jail is a black jail? Black jails officially do not exist, they are a sort of "off the books" jail. Authorities are known throw up to 30 people, including the old, sick and handicapped, into public buildings where they are held prisoner in miserable hygienic conditions, and where they are at times even subjected to violence. None of those imprisoned have been accused of any crime.

unmadeinchina.org

------------------------------

Curiosity never hurt anyone right? but it did kill the cat ..





poor me .. :(

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