One of the main topic discussed in United Nations meeting this year is about climate change.   Sad to say, the Philippines have at least 20 typhoons/storms in a year and yet the government has no enough contingency plan during calamity time.  The typhoon “ondoy” that hit Manila last September 26, opened my mind that it’s time for a real change in managing our environment.   The hard-hit towns of Cainta and Marikina City was flooded due to the heavy rains and water releases from the near dams and water sheds that made a billion-worth devastation including the near towns.  According to authorities, the rainfall for six hours last Sept. 26 is nearly equal to the average monthly rainfall.

In Taguig, some areas were also affected and, today, I’m in the office again just like nothing happens.  But, when my classmate (Andy N.) reported that “grabe” talaga ang nangyari sa Marikina area (around 90%), as he witnessed  his nephew’s family situation there.  My mind opens for a campaign fund drive to help this flood victims but I don’t know how to start it.  I guess this message is the starting point in helping them and the mother nature.  For more info. and pictures of typhoon “Ondoy”, click here.

Helping the victims:

1. Donate what you can, but its nice to give them drinking water and foods that are easy to cook.
2. It would be better if you can send it directly to them but you may also course through your donation thru rescue hotline numbers (courtesy of bulitas.blogspot.com).
3. Sharing infos. like Dam Status monitoring and weather text alerts.
4. Maybe, design a t-shirt about climate change.

As of Oct.1, there are 247 died already and the picture above is a symbolic remnant of this storm that was almost the same 4o years ago.    I think it’s time for all Filipinos also to make serious action on waste segregation. A simple way is to lessen the use of plastic materials (e.g. use paperbags and baskets when going to market).

To our mother nature, I just wish and pray that you may learn how to forgive like the above Almighty.

One of the picnic place i love in Laguna, near the serene foothills of Mt. Makiling, is the  Doña Jovita Garden Resort.  I visited this place last May 2008 with my officemates and b-day celebrant (sheryl).   It’s just a two-hour away in Manila and you can visit their site at http://www.jovitaresort.com for more details.  It’s a place for family picnic with a touch of nature experience.

I’m not a Nokia celphone user but I like their green campaign in recycling Nokia celphone and its accessories.  For more information, visit the site,

www.nokia.com.ph/get-support-and-software/repair-and-recycle/recycle

and, I just hope others celphone makers will have the same program for the sake of environment.

MEDIA ADVISORY

Attention: EDITORS REPORTERS PHOTOGRAPHERS

We would like to invite you to the press launch of the 8th Philippine Robot Olympiad (PRO) to be held on Friday, June 19, 2009 at the Department of Education Bulwagan, DepEd Complex, Meralco Ave. , Pasig City at 3PM.  The Philippine Robotics Olympiad is an annual science educational event that primarily aims to challenge the intellectual skills and critical thinking of elementary and high school students.  Your presence is cordially requested. For inquiries, please contact Mr. Mark Ivan C. Roblas at Cell. No.: 0917-8044213, Tel. No.: (632)837 – 1925, 832071 loc. 2384.

Patch or “updates” is simply a process of updating your existing software (eg. Office suite or Operating System) either online or offline.  Doing it online is more  convenient but you need more bandwidth resources because, usually, these patch files are in huge file.  But, you can do it also in offline mode by saving first the file on your hard disk.  Today (June 9), is a Microsoft Patch Tuesday.

So, for most of Windows OS users, it’s time for updating.  But as an advise,  read the instruction carefully at the said site or ask your MIS team/IT consultants  first before downloading the file at microsoft website.  The top issues known for the OS Windows Vista Service Pack 1 version are:

• Diagnose and fix sound or audio issues
• Your CD/DVD drive cannot read or write media in Windows Vista
• Diagnose and fix Aero glass (transparency) effects not working in Windows Vista
• Diagnose and fix problems with hardware devices not working in Windows Vista
• Troubleshoot home networking issues
• Description of the System Update Readiness Tool for Windows Vista and for Windows Server 2008
• You cannot configure Windows Mail to use a Web-based (HTTP) e-mail account on a computer that is running Windows Vista
• What you should know before you install Service Pack 1 (18-03-2008 release)
• Download Vista Service Pack 2 (27-05-2009 release)
  

They call it “Swine flu” and this virus began in Mexico last April 2009.  The bad news is there’s no vaccine yet available in the market or drug store until September.  But,  there are some defense mechanism which each and everyone may use and apply to daily life.  Check the article  below:

http://novovizcayano.i.ph/blogs/novovizcayano/2009/06/05/ang-h1n1-virus-at-ang-immune-system.
The above article explains the history of the virus in Filipino language.

For more info, you may also check the video at http://fora.tv/2009/04/30/Understanding_Swine_Flu_Influenza_A_H1N1

If you can’t view the video online, just leave a message and I will send you the file via e-mail.   According from DOH Update No.34, there are 33 cases already in the country as of June 5, and thanks God, nobody has died.

If yes,  how would you like to inspire young Filipinos to be
a scientist like you?

Share your experience as a scientist and why you love science through the Mind Museum – the pioneering world-class science museum in the Philippines to be built in Bonifacio Global City in Taguig on 2011.
A node on the life of a Filipino Scientist will be featured in the Philippine Science Hall, a 200-square meter hall that will showcase the contributions of Filipinos, groups and individuals in science and technology.   Just answer the following and those who would submit their answered questionnaires
would indicate that they are interested to inspire others by sharing how
science has touched their lives:
1. What is that you love about science?
2. When and what made you realize that you wanted to do science?
3. What made you choose your current field to be your life’s work?
4. What adventures did you encounter in this field?
5. What would you say is your major contribution in this field? Why?
6. What is its impact and how is it utilized in the Philippines or elsewhere in
the world?
7. Who are supporting your ideas and projects now?
8. What kind of support do you need to develop this more?
9. What other projects are you working on right now?
10. What would you want kids who are interested to do science to know about
your field?
11. What advice would you give kids about being interested in science?

Please email your reply on or before June 30, 2009 to:

Carol Tobias-Pobre
Exhibit Manager
The Mind Museum
Bonifacio Art Foundation, Inc.
www.themindmuseum.org

The 10 Most Destructive Viruses of all time
—————————————————–
•  CIH
•  Blaster
•  Melissa
•  Sobig.F
•  ILOVEYOU – (Did filipinos really wrote this program?)
•  Bagle
•  Code Red
•  MyDoom
•  SQL Slammer
•  Sasser

For more information of the above list, visit http://www.networkcomputing.com/showitem.jhtml?docid=1713virus20-top10

In terms of your site’s marketing campaign, you should know the following*:

1.  Search listings are more than 6 times more effective than banner ads in originating consumer online purchases, and almost 8 times more effective than tile ads.
2. In fact, search listings are more effective in generating online purchases than all other methods combined, including banner ads and tile ads.
3. Search listings also worked better than banners ads and tile ads with regard to brand recall and favorable opinion.
4. People are more likely to search using multiple keywords than a single keyword. The trend for using multiple keywords is on the rise too. This is because users are becoming more educated searchers, realizing that multiple keyword queries often yield better results.
* From NPD Group, January 2001
Source: http://col.whatuseek.com/moreinfo.shtml

“If you love someone, set him/her free,” so goes a saying. But being free is not only applicable in love but also in information technology. Free software programs can be easily downloaded over the Internet in a flash. But the term “free” doesn’t always mean free. Free software programs are computer programs that you can download and never pay for it.

Why do we have programmers and companies who offer freeware? Here are some reasons:

1. Early-stage product commercialization (Personal and educational use versions)
– Software that are not for commercial or professional use have lesserfunctionalities. Hence, these are less-powerful compared to the commercial or licensed version.

2. Humanitarian or promotion purposes
– Software of this kind that have its full functionalities and with no restrictions. As a hobbyist, some people develop software for humanitarian reasons. On the other hand, big companies make and donate software for humanitarian reasons but also as promotional materials for the company. (e.g. McDonalds made an educational puzzle game program that illustrates the picture of their meal products)

In computer lingo, to be in particular, free software may be classified as:
1. Trialware vs. Shareware – these are software programs that can be played for limited number of usage or trial-period (e.g. 15-day or 30 times number of usage). Usually, some of the programs’ functionalities are disabled to attract the user to buy the full version. Shareware is an old term that is not applicable nowadays because of the misnomer that “sharing” which may connote that it is right to obtain the software then share it to others. It is not the same as buying a single licensed copy of the software, and then, installing it to several machines or PCs.

2. Freeware – software programs that have its full or basic functionalties that you don’t have to pay for. (e.g. PDF Readers, Image viewers like Irfanview, Anti-virus programs)

3. Open Source program – Unlike trialwares, this type of free software have no restrictions and the source codes of the program are ready for customization. It is a software that can be legally modified by the user for his or her own purposes and it does not have a copyright and ownership or license restrictions. Linux Operating System, MySQL database and OpenOffice suite are some examples of this free software.

4. Other Freeware software – these are software which may be similar from abovementioned but the user may not be aware of the main behavior of the software after installation. It may be fully functional but sometimes it may be harmful, for example, the PC-system configuration may be altered without owner’s informed consent. As a word of advice, do not download it if you are uncertain of the source. (e.g. PC games that has advertising-supported software (adware or malware). On the other hand, old software may be free because of re-engineering. IBM’s Lotus symphony version 1.2 was released in November 2008 after making some arrangements with Openoffice.org suite groups to use their open source software for development. To date, Openoffice version 3 has the ability to open document files formatted from MS-Office Word version 2007.

There are a lot of downloadable software from the Internet, but I think you must be careful in handling these programs. Just ask yourself if really need to have that software in order for you to be secured.

Below are some sites for you to browse on. Again, think twice.

http://www.downloads.com
http://www.filehippo.com
http://www.freeware4pc.com