Front page news are two items which should be funny, only because they're together.
One story recounts the testimony of Sen. Aquilino Pimentel regarding the second envelope as evidence in the Estrada Senate Impeachment investigation. The subsequent downfall of Mr. Estrada was due to the Senate vote not to open the second envelope. There were several things noteworthy about Sen. Pimentel's testimony. But suffice it to say, that this was a trail of money-laundering kickbacks and payolas related to jueteng.
And on the main story is the eyewitness account detailing the involvement (where and how much) of government officials to jueteng. The list includes the Presidential son and Pampanga Vice-Governor Mikey Arroyo. Supposedly, he's receiving 600,000 pesos a month with a former Vice-Mayor as bagman.
This should be fun.
--andoy
31 May 2005
Tuesday, May 31, 2005
Monday, May 30, 2005
Security Awareness for Ma, Pa and the Corporate Clueless
This is a great piece of technical blogging: Security Awareness for Ma, Pa and the Corporate Clueless
-- andoy
30 May 2005
-- andoy
30 May 2005
Business: Switch to Macs has Web all riled up
Follow-up to the earlier post. This looks exciting.
-=0=-
Business: Switch to Macs has Web all riled up: "securityawareness.blogspot.com"
Switch to Macs has Web all riled up
A Seminole technology security expert is surprised by reaction to his post of frustration with Windows and Intel.
By DAVE GUSSOW, Times Staff Writer
Published May 28, 2005
Winn Schwartau switched his office from PCs to Macintosh computers, a seemingly simple move that created an overwhelming reaction in the online world.
Schwartau is no mere computer user. He's a nationally known technology security expert from Seminole, so when he wrote in his online blog that he was tired of unreliable technology and fending off virus and spyware threats to his office PC he triggered a torrent of attention.
"I just didn't know this was going to be controversial," Schwartau said.
In a column titled "Mad as Hell," posted Monday at the Network World Web site and his blog (securityawareness.blogspot.com) on Wednesday, Schwartau declared that systems using Microsoft's Windows software and Intel processors are "a threat to the national economic security of any organization or nation-state that relies (upon) it."
The Macintosh community, always on the lookout for good news about Apple Computer and its products, started a flood of reaction. Schwartau's blog tracked 9,000 visitors Wednesday, 40,000 Thursday and 12,000 by midafternoon Friday. In a month, it usually gets 4,000 visitors.
According to Greg Hoffman, chief marketing officer for Schwartau's Security Awareness Co., responses were running 10-1 in favor of and praising the switch, which occurred last month.
Some in the Linux operating system community sent notes recommending it, and some fans of Windows and Intel systems, known as WinTel in shorthand, responded with some less than charitable comments. Macintosh computers are less susceptible to spyware and other forms of computer chicanery in part because of the way they're designed and in part because Apple has such a small share of the computer market that spyware code writers don't bother with it.
But, Schwartau says, it's too early for people to draw conclusions about what his switch really means. For one thing, he says he has posted only the first two installments of what he says will be a 30-part series on the subject. Second, he hasn't abandoned WinTel, though he doesn't want to give away the end of his tech saga.
But he clearly is unhappy with the time he has invested in protecting systems from spyware, viruses and other problems.
"I know how to do all this stuff," Schwartau said. "The point is I don't want to do it and I don't think 98 percent of the computing public should have to do it."
Dave Gussow can be reached at gussow@sptimes.com or 727 771-4328.
[Last modified May 28, 2005, 00:08:13]
-=0=-
--andoy
30 May 2005
-=0=-
Business: Switch to Macs has Web all riled up: "securityawareness.blogspot.com"
Switch to Macs has Web all riled up
A Seminole technology security expert is surprised by reaction to his post of frustration with Windows and Intel.
By DAVE GUSSOW, Times Staff Writer
Published May 28, 2005
Winn Schwartau switched his office from PCs to Macintosh computers, a seemingly simple move that created an overwhelming reaction in the online world.
Schwartau is no mere computer user. He's a nationally known technology security expert from Seminole, so when he wrote in his online blog that he was tired of unreliable technology and fending off virus and spyware threats to his office PC he triggered a torrent of attention.
"I just didn't know this was going to be controversial," Schwartau said.
In a column titled "Mad as Hell," posted Monday at the Network World Web site and his blog (securityawareness.blogspot.com) on Wednesday, Schwartau declared that systems using Microsoft's Windows software and Intel processors are "a threat to the national economic security of any organization or nation-state that relies (upon) it."
The Macintosh community, always on the lookout for good news about Apple Computer and its products, started a flood of reaction. Schwartau's blog tracked 9,000 visitors Wednesday, 40,000 Thursday and 12,000 by midafternoon Friday. In a month, it usually gets 4,000 visitors.
According to Greg Hoffman, chief marketing officer for Schwartau's Security Awareness Co., responses were running 10-1 in favor of and praising the switch, which occurred last month.
Some in the Linux operating system community sent notes recommending it, and some fans of Windows and Intel systems, known as WinTel in shorthand, responded with some less than charitable comments. Macintosh computers are less susceptible to spyware and other forms of computer chicanery in part because of the way they're designed and in part because Apple has such a small share of the computer market that spyware code writers don't bother with it.
But, Schwartau says, it's too early for people to draw conclusions about what his switch really means. For one thing, he says he has posted only the first two installments of what he says will be a 30-part series on the subject. Second, he hasn't abandoned WinTel, though he doesn't want to give away the end of his tech saga.
But he clearly is unhappy with the time he has invested in protecting systems from spyware, viruses and other problems.
"I know how to do all this stuff," Schwartau said. "The point is I don't want to do it and I don't think 98 percent of the computing public should have to do it."
Dave Gussow can be reached at gussow@sptimes.com or 727 771-4328.
[Last modified May 28, 2005, 00:08:13]
-=0=-
--andoy
30 May 2005
Mad as hell, switching to Mac - Yahoo! News
From the MacOSX Yahoogroups, I received this link to an article on Yahoo. Interesting piece by a PC bigot.
-=0=-
Mad as hell, switching to Mac - Yahoo! News
Mad as hell, switching to Mac
By Winn Schwartau, Network World MacCentral Thu May 26, 5:49 PM ET
This is my first column written on a Mac - ever. Maybe I should have done it a long time ago, but I never said I was smart, just obstinate. I was a PC bigot.
ADVERTISEMENT
But now, I’ve had it. I’m mad as hell and I’m not going to take it anymore.
In the coming weeks I’m going to keep a diary of an experiment my company began at 6 p.m. April 29, 2005 - an experiment predicated on the hypothesis that the WinTel platform represents the greatest violation of the basic tenets of information security and has become a national economic security risk. I do not say this lightly, and I have never been a Microsoft basher, either. I never criticize a company without a fair bit of explanation, justification and supportive evidence.
I have come to the belief that there is a much easier, more secure way to use computers. After having spent several years focusing my security work on Ma, Pa and the Corporate Clueless, I also have come to the conclusion that if I’m having such security problems, heaven help the 98 percent of humanity who merely want a computer for e-mail and multimedia.
Even though I’m a security guy going on 22 years now, my day-to-day work is pretty much like everyone else’s. I live on laptops and use my desktops at home and the office for geeking and experimenting. My two day-to-day laptops (two, for 24/7 backup) are my business machines. I don’t need them to do a whole lot - except work reliably, which is why I am fed up with WinTel.
I want my computer to function every time I turn it on. I want my computer to not corrupt data when it does crash. I use a handful of applications: Microsoft Office, e-mail, browser, FTP client and some multimedia toys. Regardless of format, they should work without crashing.
I live on the ‘Net. I do not want my browser to eat up all of my memory. In the WinTel world I need an assortment of third-party tools to try to keep my PC alive. That’s just crazy.
Why does WinTel have these problems? I have heard all sorts of explanations, and I don’t subscribe to any of them. I’ve come up with my own (hopefully rational) reasons WinTel will fail - and has to fail:
Windows is complex, trying to be everything to everyone. This complexity comes at a terrible price: downtime, help desks, upgrades, patches and the inevitable failures.
When a new operating system or service pack is released, there are tons of changes to the functionality.
WinTel machines use different versions of BIOS They are not all equal, nor do they all have the same level of compatibility.
Some Windows software applications are well written; others take shortcuts. Shortcuts may work in some environments, but not all, and ultimately the consumer pays in lost time, availability and productivity.
Hardware. There are hundreds of "WinTel-compatible" motherboards, each claiming to be better than the next. Whatever.
Memory. Not all RAM is equal. Some works well. Cheap stuff doesn’t.
Hard disks. Same problem: cheap or reliable. Your call.
Here’s my answer to the WinTel problem: We need an open Simple Operating System (SOS) that meets the needs of the majority of people who buy PCs for everyday home and enterprise tasks. Get rid of the complexity and simplify the interface between SOS, BIOS and hardware. In other words, KISS. You know what it means. KISS SOS.
Because SOS doesn’t exist yet, my company has given up on WinTel. We have successfully moved to Mac in less than two days. Think about it: a security-friendly alternative that works and doesn’t require gobs of third-party utilities to safely perform the most mundane tasks. Please follow the details of our experiment at www.securityawareness.blogspot.com. It’s already way more interesting than I thought it would be.
Schwartau is a security writer, lecturer and president of Interpact, a security awareness consulting firm. He can be reached at winn@thesecurityawarenesscompany.com.
-=0=-
--andoy
30 May 2005
-=0=-
Mad as hell, switching to Mac - Yahoo! News
Mad as hell, switching to Mac
By Winn Schwartau, Network World MacCentral Thu May 26, 5:49 PM ET
This is my first column written on a Mac - ever. Maybe I should have done it a long time ago, but I never said I was smart, just obstinate. I was a PC bigot.
ADVERTISEMENT
But now, I’ve had it. I’m mad as hell and I’m not going to take it anymore.
In the coming weeks I’m going to keep a diary of an experiment my company began at 6 p.m. April 29, 2005 - an experiment predicated on the hypothesis that the WinTel platform represents the greatest violation of the basic tenets of information security and has become a national economic security risk. I do not say this lightly, and I have never been a Microsoft basher, either. I never criticize a company without a fair bit of explanation, justification and supportive evidence.
I have come to the belief that there is a much easier, more secure way to use computers. After having spent several years focusing my security work on Ma, Pa and the Corporate Clueless, I also have come to the conclusion that if I’m having such security problems, heaven help the 98 percent of humanity who merely want a computer for e-mail and multimedia.
Even though I’m a security guy going on 22 years now, my day-to-day work is pretty much like everyone else’s. I live on laptops and use my desktops at home and the office for geeking and experimenting. My two day-to-day laptops (two, for 24/7 backup) are my business machines. I don’t need them to do a whole lot - except work reliably, which is why I am fed up with WinTel.
I want my computer to function every time I turn it on. I want my computer to not corrupt data when it does crash. I use a handful of applications: Microsoft Office, e-mail, browser, FTP client and some multimedia toys. Regardless of format, they should work without crashing.
I live on the ‘Net. I do not want my browser to eat up all of my memory. In the WinTel world I need an assortment of third-party tools to try to keep my PC alive. That’s just crazy.
Why does WinTel have these problems? I have heard all sorts of explanations, and I don’t subscribe to any of them. I’ve come up with my own (hopefully rational) reasons WinTel will fail - and has to fail:
Windows is complex, trying to be everything to everyone. This complexity comes at a terrible price: downtime, help desks, upgrades, patches and the inevitable failures.
When a new operating system or service pack is released, there are tons of changes to the functionality.
WinTel machines use different versions of BIOS They are not all equal, nor do they all have the same level of compatibility.
Some Windows software applications are well written; others take shortcuts. Shortcuts may work in some environments, but not all, and ultimately the consumer pays in lost time, availability and productivity.
Hardware. There are hundreds of "WinTel-compatible" motherboards, each claiming to be better than the next. Whatever.
Memory. Not all RAM is equal. Some works well. Cheap stuff doesn’t.
Hard disks. Same problem: cheap or reliable. Your call.
Here’s my answer to the WinTel problem: We need an open Simple Operating System (SOS) that meets the needs of the majority of people who buy PCs for everyday home and enterprise tasks. Get rid of the complexity and simplify the interface between SOS, BIOS and hardware. In other words, KISS. You know what it means. KISS SOS.
Because SOS doesn’t exist yet, my company has given up on WinTel. We have successfully moved to Mac in less than two days. Think about it: a security-friendly alternative that works and doesn’t require gobs of third-party utilities to safely perform the most mundane tasks. Please follow the details of our experiment at www.securityawareness.blogspot.com. It’s already way more interesting than I thought it would be.
Schwartau is a security writer, lecturer and president of Interpact, a security awareness consulting firm. He can be reached at winn@thesecurityawarenesscompany.com.
-=0=-
--andoy
30 May 2005
Friday, May 27, 2005
Blog undergoing revision
Note: this blog is undergoing some cosmetic revisions. I like the template layout, but I need to be changing the pictures.
Who knows, within several days, this blog site would be almost unrecognizable from what what it is now.
--andoy
27 May 2005
Who knows, within several days, this blog site would be almost unrecognizable from what what it is now.
--andoy
27 May 2005
Tuesday, May 24, 2005
Myspace.com: Romantic Death
Myspace.com
The video is "Romantic Death. It even has a link page. Different type of music video.
Very different.
--andoy
24 May 2005
The video is "Romantic Death. It even has a link page. Different type of music video.
Very different.
--andoy
24 May 2005
Monday, May 23, 2005
From Pinoy Poets, Anne Stephanie's blog (Part 2)
From Anne Stephanie's blog:
"I know it's a cornball thing, but love is passion, obsession, someone you can't live without. If you don't start with that, what are you going to end up with? I say fall head over heels. Find someone you love like crazy and who'll love you the same way back. And how do you find him? Forget your head and listen to your heart. Run the risk. Because the truth is, there is no sense living your life without this. To make the journey and not fall deeply in love --well, you haven't lived a life at all. You have to try. Because if you haven't tried, you haven't lived. Stay open. Who knows? Lightning could strike." --Meet Joe Black
-=0=-
I think I need to watch "Meet Joe Black" again, to find out where that quote was.
--andoy
23 May 2005
"I know it's a cornball thing, but love is passion, obsession, someone you can't live without. If you don't start with that, what are you going to end up with? I say fall head over heels. Find someone you love like crazy and who'll love you the same way back. And how do you find him? Forget your head and listen to your heart. Run the risk. Because the truth is, there is no sense living your life without this. To make the journey and not fall deeply in love --well, you haven't lived a life at all. You have to try. Because if you haven't tried, you haven't lived. Stay open. Who knows? Lightning could strike." --Meet Joe Black
-=0=-
I think I need to watch "Meet Joe Black" again, to find out where that quote was.
--andoy
23 May 2005
...and looking back at the first week of May: Lessons Learned (Part 2)
What were we fighting for in the first place? If we made it, we get our quarterly quota and a bonus.
We failed to get the bonus. But yes, our reward is that we get to try again. We enjoyed ourselves and we get to try again. Cool!
--andoy
23 may 2005
...and looking back at the first week of May: Lessons Learned
Earlier, I had a very long week which I gave comment on (see "That was the week that was...") And I keep coming back to that, and wonder what lessons did I learn then. Or re-learn, for that matter.
Several things really:
Among other things, it pays to work smart, not work hard.
When the going gets tough, your team has to pull together.
There are days when even your best effort will not bear fruit.
Give your best effort, and it will be appreciated.
You have to enjoy what you're doing to even be doing it in the first place.
When I joined this company, I was promised that we will have fun. And that we will work hard, but we will also work smart. We don't need to put in so much overtime and that we don't have overtime pay. Because we were trying to beat a deadline, I've forgotten those things he said. At that point, he has also forgotten about them. We did a recap afterwards, and we promised to stick to that premise.
That week, even members of the team not directly involved with the project pushed and pulled and helped in every way possible to get it done. We dropped everything to get that project out the door. And in the end, we still didn't have a workable program. It took about two weeks more of work by two people to make it workable and presentable. And even then, there's still a big hole in the program (or a series of small holes) which conservative estimates put as additional two to three weeks work by a single programmer. We gave our best, and it was not good enough. We were not able to get it out the door.
However, the effort was appreciated by the company owner. He tested the live site personally, and it stank, but we didn't hear any bad words about it. He gave us time to finish it and get over and done with. Hell, we even went out bowling that Friday evening. The whole company (about 60-70 people) went bowling and we had catered buffet and open bar at the Rockwell bowling alley.
One reason we were adamant about sticking with that project and pulling together as a team is because we are IT people who don't like loose ends. And, besides, we enjoy what we do. For all the gripes about our "failure" we truly enjoyed that week. And given the circumstances, we'd do it all over again, even if we know we're going to fall short of the delivery. Even if the project did not come to fruition, we tried to blow that sucker off, for all we were worth. And we enjoyed it. And the owner saw the effort and he enjoyed himself that he saw we were working our butts off.
It does not make sense. It frustrates me, but at least we enjoyed ourselves, and we were greatly appreciated.
Someday, the program might even be bug-free.
--andoy
23 May 2005
Several things really:
Among other things, it pays to work smart, not work hard.
When the going gets tough, your team has to pull together.
There are days when even your best effort will not bear fruit.
Give your best effort, and it will be appreciated.
You have to enjoy what you're doing to even be doing it in the first place.
When I joined this company, I was promised that we will have fun. And that we will work hard, but we will also work smart. We don't need to put in so much overtime and that we don't have overtime pay. Because we were trying to beat a deadline, I've forgotten those things he said. At that point, he has also forgotten about them. We did a recap afterwards, and we promised to stick to that premise.
That week, even members of the team not directly involved with the project pushed and pulled and helped in every way possible to get it done. We dropped everything to get that project out the door. And in the end, we still didn't have a workable program. It took about two weeks more of work by two people to make it workable and presentable. And even then, there's still a big hole in the program (or a series of small holes) which conservative estimates put as additional two to three weeks work by a single programmer. We gave our best, and it was not good enough. We were not able to get it out the door.
However, the effort was appreciated by the company owner. He tested the live site personally, and it stank, but we didn't hear any bad words about it. He gave us time to finish it and get over and done with. Hell, we even went out bowling that Friday evening. The whole company (about 60-70 people) went bowling and we had catered buffet and open bar at the Rockwell bowling alley.
One reason we were adamant about sticking with that project and pulling together as a team is because we are IT people who don't like loose ends. And, besides, we enjoy what we do. For all the gripes about our "failure" we truly enjoyed that week. And given the circumstances, we'd do it all over again, even if we know we're going to fall short of the delivery. Even if the project did not come to fruition, we tried to blow that sucker off, for all we were worth. And we enjoyed it. And the owner saw the effort and he enjoyed himself that he saw we were working our butts off.
It does not make sense. It frustrates me, but at least we enjoyed ourselves, and we were greatly appreciated.
Someday, the program might even be bug-free.
--andoy
23 May 2005
From Pinoy Poets, Anne Stephanie's blog
I met Anne Stephanie through the Pinoy Poets' yahoo groups. There were a lot of emails going back and forth from that group last week, and she was loud. She wanted to be heard and she was participating like crazy. Finally met her last Friday when we met at the General Assembly. And she was very animated and excited.
I was glad to meet her.
I was glad to meet her.
-=0=-
From Anne Stephie's blog:
“I want to let you in on a secret. I’m not who you think I am. In fact, my disguise is so thin, I’m surprised you haven’t seen right through me. I’m the girl of your dreams masquerading as your best friend. Sometimes I want to rip off this facade like I did at the Spring Formal, but I can’t because you’ll get scared and you’ll run away again. So I decided that it’s better to live with a lie than expose my true feelings.
My dad told me there are two types of girls. The ones you grow out of and the ones you grow into. I really hope I’m the latter. I may not be the one you love today, but I’ll let you go for now, hoping one day you’ll fly back to me because I think you’re worth the wait.” - Chloe Sullivan's letter to Clark Kent
-=0=-
--andoy
23 May 2005
From Anne Stephie's blog:
“I want to let you in on a secret. I’m not who you think I am. In fact, my disguise is so thin, I’m surprised you haven’t seen right through me. I’m the girl of your dreams masquerading as your best friend. Sometimes I want to rip off this facade like I did at the Spring Formal, but I can’t because you’ll get scared and you’ll run away again. So I decided that it’s better to live with a lie than expose my true feelings.
My dad told me there are two types of girls. The ones you grow out of and the ones you grow into. I really hope I’m the latter. I may not be the one you love today, but I’ll let you go for now, hoping one day you’ll fly back to me because I think you’re worth the wait.” - Chloe Sullivan's letter to Clark Kent
-=0=-
--andoy
23 May 2005
Thursday, May 19, 2005
Combat for Dummies
Picked these up from some website.
"Aim towards the enemy."
--Instruction printed on U.S. Rocket Launcher
"When the pin is pulled, Mr. Grenade is not our friend."
--U.S. Marine Corps
"Cluster bombing from B-52s is very, very accurate. The bombs are guaranteed to always hit the ground."
--USAF Ammo Troop
"If the enemy is in range, so are you."
--Infantry Journal
"A slipping gear could let your m203 grenade launcher fire when you least expect it. That would make you quite unpopular in what's left of your unit."
--Army's magazine of prevention maintenance
"It is generally inadvisable to eject directly over the area you just bombed."
--U.S. Air Force manual
"Try to look unimportant; the enemy may be low on ammo."
--Infantry Journal
"Tracers work both ways."
--U.S. Army Ordnance
"Five-second fuses only last three seconds."
--Infantry Journal
"Bravery is being the only one who knows you're afraid."
--David Hackworth
"If your attack is going too well, you're walking into an ambush."
--Infantry Journal
"No combat-ready unit has ever passed inspection."
--Joe Gay
"Any ship can be a minesweeper....once."
--Anon
"Never tell the platoon sergeant you have nothing to do."
--Unknown Marine Recruit
"Don't draw fire; it irritates the people around you."
--Infantry Journal
"If you see a bomb technician running, try to keep up with him."
--USAF Ammo Troop
19 May 2005
-=0=-
Advice and instructions taken from actual military sources. Some of these guys must have had a sense of humor"Aim towards the enemy."
--Instruction printed on U.S. Rocket Launcher
"When the pin is pulled, Mr. Grenade is not our friend."
--U.S. Marine Corps
"Cluster bombing from B-52s is very, very accurate. The bombs are guaranteed to always hit the ground."
--USAF Ammo Troop
"If the enemy is in range, so are you."
--Infantry Journal
"A slipping gear could let your m203 grenade launcher fire when you least expect it. That would make you quite unpopular in what's left of your unit."
--Army's magazine of prevention maintenance
"It is generally inadvisable to eject directly over the area you just bombed."
--U.S. Air Force manual
"Try to look unimportant; the enemy may be low on ammo."
--Infantry Journal
"Tracers work both ways."
--U.S. Army Ordnance
"Five-second fuses only last three seconds."
--Infantry Journal
"Bravery is being the only one who knows you're afraid."
--David Hackworth
"If your attack is going too well, you're walking into an ambush."
--Infantry Journal
"No combat-ready unit has ever passed inspection."
--Joe Gay
"Any ship can be a minesweeper....once."
--Anon
"Never tell the platoon sergeant you have nothing to do."
--Unknown Marine Recruit
"Don't draw fire; it irritates the people around you."
--Infantry Journal
"If you see a bomb technician running, try to keep up with him."
--USAF Ammo Troop
-=0=-
--andoy19 May 2005
Wednesday, May 18, 2005
"Steep" by Lauren Christy
"Steep"
Lauren Christy
Softly, gently, I will let you down
Cause I don't love you in the same way now
I can hold you but not with lover's arms
Cause you are more of a brother to me now
And I can lie next to you, but I can't lie to you
So walk into the sun and watch me
Run into the rain,
For you the future's easy, so don't weep, for me it's getting
Steep
I loved you for exactly who you are,
And I'd say you've come the nearest yet by far,
And I can lie next tou you, but I can't lie to you
So walk into the sun and watch me
Run into the rain,
For you the future's easy, so don't weep, for me it's getting
Steeper and in the dark that's where I want to be
Deeper, I'm going somewhere you won't want to see...
So walk into the sun and watch me
Run into the rain,
For you the future's easy, so don't weep
Yes I will watch you,
Walk into the sun and watch me
Run into the rain drops
For you the future's easy, so don't weep
For me it's getting
Steep.
It's that kind of a slow day.
--andoy
18 May 2005
Lauren Christy
Softly, gently, I will let you down
Cause I don't love you in the same way now
I can hold you but not with lover's arms
Cause you are more of a brother to me now
And I can lie next to you, but I can't lie to you
So walk into the sun and watch me
Run into the rain,
For you the future's easy, so don't weep, for me it's getting
Steep
I loved you for exactly who you are,
And I'd say you've come the nearest yet by far,
And I can lie next tou you, but I can't lie to you
So walk into the sun and watch me
Run into the rain,
For you the future's easy, so don't weep, for me it's getting
Steeper and in the dark that's where I want to be
Deeper, I'm going somewhere you won't want to see...
So walk into the sun and watch me
Run into the rain,
For you the future's easy, so don't weep
Yes I will watch you,
Walk into the sun and watch me
Run into the rain drops
For you the future's easy, so don't weep
For me it's getting
Steep.
-=0=-
It's that kind of a slow day.
--andoy
18 May 2005
"Freshmen" by The Verve Pipe
"Freshmen"
by The Verve Pipe
When I was young I knew everything
She a punk who rarely ever took advice
Now I'm guilt stricken,
Sobbing with my head on the floor
Stop a baby's breath and a shoe full of rice
I can't be held responsible
She was touching her face
I won't be held responsible
She fell in love in the first place
For the life of me I cannot remember
What made us think that we were wise and
We'd never compromise
For the life of me I cannot believe
We'd ever die for these sins
We were merely freshmen
My best friend took a week's
Vacation to forget her
His girl took a weeks's worth of
Valium and slept
And now he's guilt stricken sobbing with his
Head on the floor
Thinks about her now and how he never really
Wept he says
I can't be held responsible
She was touching her face
I won't be held responsible
She fell in love in the first place
For the life of me I cannot remember
What made us think that we were wise and
We'd never compromise
For the life of me I cannot believe
We'd ever die for these sins
We were merely freshmen
hey yeah
hey yeah
hey yeah
We've tried to wash our hands of all this
We never talk of our lacking relationships
And how we're guilt stricken sobbing with our
Heads on the floor
We fell through the ice when we tried not to
Slip, we'd say
I can't be held responsible
She was touching her face
And I won't be held responsible
She fell in love in the first place
For the life of me I cannot remember
What made us think that we were wise and
We'd never compromise
For the life of me I cannot believe
We'd ever die for these sins
We were merely freshmen
For the life of me I cannot remember
What made us think that we were wise and
We'd never compromise
For the life of me I cannot believe
We'd ever die for these sins
We were merely freshmen
We were merely freshmen
I've been listening to this for the longest time. About 6 years, I think. I'm not sure. Sure, there was no follow-up hit, but hey, it's that kind of song. It's that kind of day.
--andoy
18 May 2005
by The Verve Pipe
When I was young I knew everything
She a punk who rarely ever took advice
Now I'm guilt stricken,
Sobbing with my head on the floor
Stop a baby's breath and a shoe full of rice
I can't be held responsible
She was touching her face
I won't be held responsible
She fell in love in the first place
For the life of me I cannot remember
What made us think that we were wise and
We'd never compromise
For the life of me I cannot believe
We'd ever die for these sins
We were merely freshmen
My best friend took a week's
Vacation to forget her
His girl took a weeks's worth of
Valium and slept
And now he's guilt stricken sobbing with his
Head on the floor
Thinks about her now and how he never really
Wept he says
I can't be held responsible
She was touching her face
I won't be held responsible
She fell in love in the first place
For the life of me I cannot remember
What made us think that we were wise and
We'd never compromise
For the life of me I cannot believe
We'd ever die for these sins
We were merely freshmen
hey yeah
hey yeah
hey yeah
We've tried to wash our hands of all this
We never talk of our lacking relationships
And how we're guilt stricken sobbing with our
Heads on the floor
We fell through the ice when we tried not to
Slip, we'd say
I can't be held responsible
She was touching her face
And I won't be held responsible
She fell in love in the first place
For the life of me I cannot remember
What made us think that we were wise and
We'd never compromise
For the life of me I cannot believe
We'd ever die for these sins
We were merely freshmen
For the life of me I cannot remember
What made us think that we were wise and
We'd never compromise
For the life of me I cannot believe
We'd ever die for these sins
We were merely freshmen
We were merely freshmen
-=0=-
I've been listening to this for the longest time. About 6 years, I think. I'm not sure. Sure, there was no follow-up hit, but hey, it's that kind of song. It's that kind of day.
--andoy
18 May 2005
"Same Ground" by Kitchie Nadal
"Same Ground"
by Kitchie Nadal
[verse:]
My love,
Its been a long time since I cried
And left you out of the blue.
Its hard
Leaving you that way when
I never wanted to.
Self-denial is a game
Its strange I never would've
Wanted 'till there was you.
**'cause I have learned that love is beyond
What human can imagine,
More it clears the more I have to let you go.
[chorus:]
But now I don't understand why I'm feeling
So bad now when I know it was my idea.
I could've just denied the truth and lied.
But why am I the only one standing stranded
On the same ground?
[repeat verse except **]
'cause I have learned that love is a
Word gets thrown a little bit too much.
The best excuse to fill the infinite abyss
I would never ever have to if
[repeat chorus]
When else fail,
Would you be there to love me?
When all else fail,
Would you be brave
To see right through me?
-=0=-
Less popularly played, because of the heavy lyrics. Dark.
--andoy
18 May 2005
by Kitchie Nadal
[verse:]
My love,
Its been a long time since I cried
And left you out of the blue.
Its hard
Leaving you that way when
I never wanted to.
Self-denial is a game
Its strange I never would've
Wanted 'till there was you.
**'cause I have learned that love is beyond
What human can imagine,
More it clears the more I have to let you go.
[chorus:]
But now I don't understand why I'm feeling
So bad now when I know it was my idea.
I could've just denied the truth and lied.
But why am I the only one standing stranded
On the same ground?
[repeat verse except **]
'cause I have learned that love is a
Word gets thrown a little bit too much.
The best excuse to fill the infinite abyss
I would never ever have to if
[repeat chorus]
When else fail,
Would you be there to love me?
When all else fail,
Would you be brave
To see right through me?
-=0=-
Less popularly played, because of the heavy lyrics. Dark.
--andoy
18 May 2005
Musings from a life spent shooting nude photos of pretty and sexy girls
Musings from a life spent shooting nude photos of pretty and sexy girls
This guy makes a living taking pictures. And he gives a critique of the pictures and the sessions. Sounds like hard work.
--andoy
18 May 2005
This guy makes a living taking pictures. And he gives a critique of the pictures and the sessions. Sounds like hard work.
--andoy
18 May 2005
Tuesday, May 10, 2005
From enplenitud.com: The Genesis According to Computer Science
From enplenitud.com:
El Génesis según la informática
1. En el principio DIOS creó el bit y el byte. Y con ellos creó la palabra.
2. Y había dos Bytes en la palabra; y nada mas existía. Y Dios separó el Uno del cero: y vio que era bueno.
3. Y Dios dijo: que se hagan los Datos; y así pasó. Y Dios dijo: Dejemos los Datos en sus correspondientes sitios. Y creó los disquetes, los disco duros y los discos compactos.
4. Y Dios dijo: que se hagan los ordenadores, así habrá un lugar para poner los disquetes, los discos duros y los discos compactos. Así Dios creó a los ordenadores, les llamó hardware.
5. Pero aun no había software. Pero Dios creó los programas; grandes y pequeños... Y les dijo: Creced y multiplicaos y llenad toda la memoria.
6. Y Dios dijo: crearé el programador; y el Programador creará nuevos programas y gobernará los ordenadores y los programas y los datos.
7. Y Dios creó al Programador; y lo puso en el Centro de Datos; y Dios le enseñó al Programador el Directorio y le dijo: Puedes usar todos los Volúmenes y subdirectorios, pero NO USES WINDOWS
8. Y Dios dijo: no es bueno que el programador esté solo. Cogió un hueso del cuerpo del Programador y creo una criatura que miraría al Programador y admiraría al Programador y amaría las cosas que el programador hiciese. Y Dios llamó a la criatura: el Usuario.
9. Y el Programador y el Usuario fueron dejados en el desnudo DOS y eso era bueno.
10. Pero Bill era más listo que todas las otras criaturas de Dios. Y Bill le dijo al Usuario: ¿Te dijo Dios realmente que no ejecutaras todos los programas?.
11. Y el Usuario respondió: Dios nos dijo que podíamos usar cualquier programa y cualquier pedazo de datos, pero nos dijo que no ejecutásemos Windows o moriríamos.
12. Y Bill le dijo al Usuario: ¿Cómo puedes hablar de algo que incluso no has probado?. En el momento en que ejecutes Windows serás igual a Dios. Serás capaz de crear cualquier cosa que quieras con el simple toque del ratón.
13. Y el Usuario vio que los frutos del Windows eran más bonitos y fáciles de usar. Y el Usuario vio que todo conocimiento era inútil ya que Windows podía reemplazarlo.
14. Así el Usuario instaló Windows en su ordenador; y le dijo al Programador que era bueno.
15. Y el Programador inmediatamente empezó a buscar nuevos controladores. Y Dios le pregunto: ¿que buscas? Y el Programador respondió: Estoy buscando nuevos controladores, porque no puedo encontrarlos en el DOS. Y Dios dijo: ¿quien te dijo que necesitabas nuevos controladores? ¿acaso ejecutaste Windows? Y el programador dijo: fue Bill, quien nos lo dijo...
16. Y Dios le dijo a Bill: Por lo que hiciste, serás odiado por todas las criaturas. Y el Usuario siempre estará descontento contigo. Y siempre venderás Windows.
17. Y Dios le dijo al Usuario: por lo que hiciste, el Windows te decepcionará y se comerá todos tus recursos; y tendrás que usar malos programas; y siempre permanecerás bajo la ayuda del Programador.
18. Y Dios le dijo al Programador: por haber escuchado al Usuario nunca serás feliz. Todos tus programas tendrán errores y tendrás que corregirlos y corregirlos hasta el fin de los tiempos.
19. Y Dios echó a todos del Centro de Datos y bloqueó la puerta de entrada con una password.?
Translation (as near as I can, with the help of altavista babelfish):
The Génesis according to computer science
1. In the beginning GOD created the bit and the byte. And with them was created the word.
2. And there were two Bytes in the word; and nothing else existed. And God separated the One from the zero: and He saw that it was good.
3. And God said: Let there be Data; and thus it happened. And God said: Let us leave the Data in its corresponding sites. And diskettes were created, then hard disk and compact discs.
4. And God said: Let there be computers, thus will be a place to put the diskettes, hard disks and the compact discs. Thus God created the computers, and called these hardware.
5. But even then there was no software. And God created the programs; great and small... And it said to them: You grow and multiply and you fill all the memory.
6. And God said: I will create the programmer; and the Programmer will create new programs and will govern computers and the programs and the data.
7. And God created the Programmer; and He put the Programmer in the Datacenter; and God taught to the Programmer the Directory and said to him: You can use all the Volumes and subdirectories, but YOU DO NOT USE WINDOWS
8. And God said: it is not good that the programmer is single. It took a bone of the body of Programmer and created a creature who would watch the Programmer and would admire the Programmer and would love things that the programmer did. And God called to the creature: the User.
9. And the Programmer and the User were lazy, and without anything, naked were the TWO and that was good.
10. But Bill was readier than all the other creatures of God. And Bill said to him to the User: You, God really said that you did not execute all the programs.
11. And the User responded: God said to us that we could use any program and any piece of data, but said to us also that we did not execute Windows or we would die.
12. And Bill said to him to the User: How can you speak of something that you have not even tried. In the moment that you execute Windows you will be equal to God. You will be able to create any thing that you want with the simple touch of the mouse.
13. And the User saw that the fruits of the Windows were prettier and easy to use. And the User saw that all knowledge was useless since Windows could replace it.
14. Thus the User installed Windows in his computer; and he said to himself and to the Programmer that it was good.
15. And the Programmer immediately began to look for new controllers. And God asked him: What are you looking for? And the Programmer responded: I am looking for new device drivers, because I cannot to find them in the TWO. And God said: who said to you that you needed new device drivers? perhaps you executed Windows? And the programmer said: it was Bill, he told us it...
16. And God said to Bill: Because of what you did, you will be hated by all the creatures. And the User will always be displeased with you. And you will always sell Windows.
17. And God said to the User: Because of what you did, Windows will disappoint you and it will eat all your resources; and you will have to use bad programs; and you will always remain under the aid of Programmer.
18. And God said to the Programmer: because you did not listen, the User will never be happy. All your programs will have errors and you will have to correct them and to correct them until the time end.
19. And God threw them all out of the Datacenter and blocked the front door with one password.
--andoy
10 May 2005
El Génesis según la informática
1. En el principio DIOS creó el bit y el byte. Y con ellos creó la palabra.
2. Y había dos Bytes en la palabra; y nada mas existía. Y Dios separó el Uno del cero: y vio que era bueno.
3. Y Dios dijo: que se hagan los Datos; y así pasó. Y Dios dijo: Dejemos los Datos en sus correspondientes sitios. Y creó los disquetes, los disco duros y los discos compactos.
4. Y Dios dijo: que se hagan los ordenadores, así habrá un lugar para poner los disquetes, los discos duros y los discos compactos. Así Dios creó a los ordenadores, les llamó hardware.
5. Pero aun no había software. Pero Dios creó los programas; grandes y pequeños... Y les dijo: Creced y multiplicaos y llenad toda la memoria.
6. Y Dios dijo: crearé el programador; y el Programador creará nuevos programas y gobernará los ordenadores y los programas y los datos.
7. Y Dios creó al Programador; y lo puso en el Centro de Datos; y Dios le enseñó al Programador el Directorio y le dijo: Puedes usar todos los Volúmenes y subdirectorios, pero NO USES WINDOWS
8. Y Dios dijo: no es bueno que el programador esté solo. Cogió un hueso del cuerpo del Programador y creo una criatura que miraría al Programador y admiraría al Programador y amaría las cosas que el programador hiciese. Y Dios llamó a la criatura: el Usuario.
9. Y el Programador y el Usuario fueron dejados en el desnudo DOS y eso era bueno.
10. Pero Bill era más listo que todas las otras criaturas de Dios. Y Bill le dijo al Usuario: ¿Te dijo Dios realmente que no ejecutaras todos los programas?.
11. Y el Usuario respondió: Dios nos dijo que podíamos usar cualquier programa y cualquier pedazo de datos, pero nos dijo que no ejecutásemos Windows o moriríamos.
12. Y Bill le dijo al Usuario: ¿Cómo puedes hablar de algo que incluso no has probado?. En el momento en que ejecutes Windows serás igual a Dios. Serás capaz de crear cualquier cosa que quieras con el simple toque del ratón.
13. Y el Usuario vio que los frutos del Windows eran más bonitos y fáciles de usar. Y el Usuario vio que todo conocimiento era inútil ya que Windows podía reemplazarlo.
14. Así el Usuario instaló Windows en su ordenador; y le dijo al Programador que era bueno.
15. Y el Programador inmediatamente empezó a buscar nuevos controladores. Y Dios le pregunto: ¿que buscas? Y el Programador respondió: Estoy buscando nuevos controladores, porque no puedo encontrarlos en el DOS. Y Dios dijo: ¿quien te dijo que necesitabas nuevos controladores? ¿acaso ejecutaste Windows? Y el programador dijo: fue Bill, quien nos lo dijo...
16. Y Dios le dijo a Bill: Por lo que hiciste, serás odiado por todas las criaturas. Y el Usuario siempre estará descontento contigo. Y siempre venderás Windows.
17. Y Dios le dijo al Usuario: por lo que hiciste, el Windows te decepcionará y se comerá todos tus recursos; y tendrás que usar malos programas; y siempre permanecerás bajo la ayuda del Programador.
18. Y Dios le dijo al Programador: por haber escuchado al Usuario nunca serás feliz. Todos tus programas tendrán errores y tendrás que corregirlos y corregirlos hasta el fin de los tiempos.
19. Y Dios echó a todos del Centro de Datos y bloqueó la puerta de entrada con una password.?
-=0=-
Translation (as near as I can, with the help of altavista babelfish):
The Génesis according to computer science
1. In the beginning GOD created the bit and the byte. And with them was created the word.
2. And there were two Bytes in the word; and nothing else existed. And God separated the One from the zero: and He saw that it was good.
3. And God said: Let there be Data; and thus it happened. And God said: Let us leave the Data in its corresponding sites. And diskettes were created, then hard disk and compact discs.
4. And God said: Let there be computers, thus will be a place to put the diskettes, hard disks and the compact discs. Thus God created the computers, and called these hardware.
5. But even then there was no software. And God created the programs; great and small... And it said to them: You grow and multiply and you fill all the memory.
6. And God said: I will create the programmer; and the Programmer will create new programs and will govern computers and the programs and the data.
7. And God created the Programmer; and He put the Programmer in the Datacenter; and God taught to the Programmer the Directory and said to him: You can use all the Volumes and subdirectories, but YOU DO NOT USE WINDOWS
8. And God said: it is not good that the programmer is single. It took a bone of the body of Programmer and created a creature who would watch the Programmer and would admire the Programmer and would love things that the programmer did. And God called to the creature: the User.
9. And the Programmer and the User were lazy, and without anything, naked were the TWO and that was good.
10. But Bill was readier than all the other creatures of God. And Bill said to him to the User: You, God really said that you did not execute all the programs.
11. And the User responded: God said to us that we could use any program and any piece of data, but said to us also that we did not execute Windows or we would die.
12. And Bill said to him to the User: How can you speak of something that you have not even tried. In the moment that you execute Windows you will be equal to God. You will be able to create any thing that you want with the simple touch of the mouse.
13. And the User saw that the fruits of the Windows were prettier and easy to use. And the User saw that all knowledge was useless since Windows could replace it.
14. Thus the User installed Windows in his computer; and he said to himself and to the Programmer that it was good.
15. And the Programmer immediately began to look for new controllers. And God asked him: What are you looking for? And the Programmer responded: I am looking for new device drivers, because I cannot to find them in the TWO. And God said: who said to you that you needed new device drivers? perhaps you executed Windows? And the programmer said: it was Bill, he told us it...
16. And God said to Bill: Because of what you did, you will be hated by all the creatures. And the User will always be displeased with you. And you will always sell Windows.
17. And God said to the User: Because of what you did, Windows will disappoint you and it will eat all your resources; and you will have to use bad programs; and you will always remain under the aid of Programmer.
18. And God said to the Programmer: because you did not listen, the User will never be happy. All your programs will have errors and you will have to correct them and to correct them until the time end.
19. And God threw them all out of the Datacenter and blocked the front door with one password.
--andoy
10 May 2005
Monday, May 09, 2005
That was the week that was...
Just for the record, I had these log in times last week:
Sunday, May 1: 11:30AM to 9:00PM
Monday, May 2: 9:30 am to 4:30pm
Tuesday, May 3: 3:45AM, up to 4:00PM of May 4.
Thursday, May 5: 9:30AM to 3:00am, May 6
Friday, May 6: 9:30AM to 6:30PM
And considering that it was a holiday last Monday, instead of a 36 hour week, I spent more than 79 hours in the office.
Most of the team also spent almost the same amount of time. We made a resolution that we're not going to be doing the same mistakes we made, and that we would not be logging in any more all-nighters. It's late Monday of the following week, and I can still feel the fatigue from last week.
--andoy
9 May 2005
Sunday, May 1: 11:30AM to 9:00PM
Monday, May 2: 9:30 am to 4:30pm
Tuesday, May 3: 3:45AM, up to 4:00PM of May 4.
Thursday, May 5: 9:30AM to 3:00am, May 6
Friday, May 6: 9:30AM to 6:30PM
And considering that it was a holiday last Monday, instead of a 36 hour week, I spent more than 79 hours in the office.
Most of the team also spent almost the same amount of time. We made a resolution that we're not going to be doing the same mistakes we made, and that we would not be logging in any more all-nighters. It's late Monday of the following week, and I can still feel the fatigue from last week.
--andoy
9 May 2005
Friday, May 06, 2005
Long Day at the Office
One of the reasons I left systems development several years ago was because of the necessary long hours of work you have to put in. There was a project I was involved in about 10 years ago where I lived in the office, literally. The programmers would come in around 9 or 10 and I'd be sleeping till noon. I'd wake up, have lunch, do some work, take a bath, change clothes in the work area, and work till dinner. After dinner, I'd still continue to do code, stopping at around 1 or 2 in the morning. After which I'd do some maintenance work, and go to bed around 4am. It was a six month stint. And I just felt burned out.
It has been more than ten years since I last stayed in the office for more than an overnight session. This time I started early Tuesday morning, and ended afternoon of Wednesday, spending 38 hours with less than 2 hours of sleep. I was luckier than some. Two guys left the office at 10pm Wednesday evening, one of them spending 38 hours and the other guy (my boss) 44 hours.
The day started inauspiciously enough. I got out of bed around 2:30, and got out of the house just after 3:00am. I went to Bayan to catch a taxi cab from there. Bought some breakfast at the 7-11 and took the cab with the attendant driver. (Most of the other cab drivers were sleeping.) We took C-5, and the driver was running at a sedate 60kph up to Libis, and sped a little bit after the Ortigas flyover, running at 70kph. He was safety conscious, not being tempted to drive at 100kph. The funny thing was that we almost met an accident. While approaching the foot of the Vargas flyover and approaching the bridge crossing the Pasig River, a bag of cement flew from the truck we were following. We were several car lengths away so the cab driver was able to avoid it. And he tried to flag the truck driver warning him that his cargo was flying off the truck.
I arrived at the office at 3:45am, while my boss had arrived earlier at 3:30am. The rest of the day I want to forget. It was all a blur, with the initial plans going out the window because of unexpected events delaying the debugging and testing. Almost the whole development team was thrown into the effort for deploying to the production (live) server. One of the team members had to go home just before midnight Tuesday. Some of the crew were sent home at around 2:00am, Wednesday. Four of us stayed for the clean-up and actual deployment. The programmer who went home early assisted as soon as he got to the office. At around 3:00pm, I wasn't sure if I could be of any more assistance, so I decided to go home.
During the whole time I was able to get some naps of about 30 minutes each. Twice I slept on the couch, once while sitting on my desk (didn't bother to lie on the couch), and in the morning just after breakfast I lay on the floor of my boss's office for another 45 minutes. When I got home, I rested a bit, then me and my family ate out. I slept like a log and couldn't get myself out of bed the following day, coming in late on Thursday.
NOTE:
After several years of being outside of the IT industry, my current job takes me to the cutting edge of systems development: programming for the internet. The needs follow internet time: it is now, now, now. Unlike traditional business environments, where the project needed to be done yesterday (hence the requirements are outdated once approved), internet development is for the here and now. There is an immediate need which did not exist yesterday. It has to be done today. The requirements change on a day-to-day basis, with additional functionality being delivered for each iteration. An iteration lasts about a week or two and the deliverable for each iteration is a working program. In this sense, development is evolutionary. Functionality is added as the system progresses. At any point in time, the delivered iteration is a working program.
--andoy
6 May 2005
It has been more than ten years since I last stayed in the office for more than an overnight session. This time I started early Tuesday morning, and ended afternoon of Wednesday, spending 38 hours with less than 2 hours of sleep. I was luckier than some. Two guys left the office at 10pm Wednesday evening, one of them spending 38 hours and the other guy (my boss) 44 hours.
The day started inauspiciously enough. I got out of bed around 2:30, and got out of the house just after 3:00am. I went to Bayan to catch a taxi cab from there. Bought some breakfast at the 7-11 and took the cab with the attendant driver. (Most of the other cab drivers were sleeping.) We took C-5, and the driver was running at a sedate 60kph up to Libis, and sped a little bit after the Ortigas flyover, running at 70kph. He was safety conscious, not being tempted to drive at 100kph. The funny thing was that we almost met an accident. While approaching the foot of the Vargas flyover and approaching the bridge crossing the Pasig River, a bag of cement flew from the truck we were following. We were several car lengths away so the cab driver was able to avoid it. And he tried to flag the truck driver warning him that his cargo was flying off the truck.
I arrived at the office at 3:45am, while my boss had arrived earlier at 3:30am. The rest of the day I want to forget. It was all a blur, with the initial plans going out the window because of unexpected events delaying the debugging and testing. Almost the whole development team was thrown into the effort for deploying to the production (live) server. One of the team members had to go home just before midnight Tuesday. Some of the crew were sent home at around 2:00am, Wednesday. Four of us stayed for the clean-up and actual deployment. The programmer who went home early assisted as soon as he got to the office. At around 3:00pm, I wasn't sure if I could be of any more assistance, so I decided to go home.
During the whole time I was able to get some naps of about 30 minutes each. Twice I slept on the couch, once while sitting on my desk (didn't bother to lie on the couch), and in the morning just after breakfast I lay on the floor of my boss's office for another 45 minutes. When I got home, I rested a bit, then me and my family ate out. I slept like a log and couldn't get myself out of bed the following day, coming in late on Thursday.
NOTE:
After several years of being outside of the IT industry, my current job takes me to the cutting edge of systems development: programming for the internet. The needs follow internet time: it is now, now, now. Unlike traditional business environments, where the project needed to be done yesterday (hence the requirements are outdated once approved), internet development is for the here and now. There is an immediate need which did not exist yesterday. It has to be done today. The requirements change on a day-to-day basis, with additional functionality being delivered for each iteration. An iteration lasts about a week or two and the deliverable for each iteration is a working program. In this sense, development is evolutionary. Functionality is added as the system progresses. At any point in time, the delivered iteration is a working program.
--andoy
6 May 2005
Tuesday, May 03, 2005
French Songs
I've been listening to some french songs lately. I have no idea what the lyrics mean. It's almost very different. Though there are still fragments of the New Wave style with the contemporary pop singers, the ballads are very distinct in style. Very french "chanson." Some of the slow "chanson" style songs are by Benabar, Charles Aznavour, and Carla Bruni (I can't remember the other singers). The pop/rock songs are by Mylene Farmer, Keren Ann, Alizee and Anggun, among others.
For the slow songs, the style is distinct and harkens back to Edith Piaf and Maurice Chevalier. Though the newer slow songs are sung almost in the same manner as Piaf. There is a clear distinction: whereas the older songs were "naughtily sexy" the newer songs are brazenly about sex. (At least as far as I understand the lyrics and the style.)
I have no intention of learning french if only because I want to understand the songs. Although that would be a good reason to study french. Or even to begin studying french. [I remember a friend of mine who started to study french because he found a book by Marquis the Sade in the UPLB library. Although it was in english, there were several passages in french which he went to the trouble of translating on his own.]
Another difference between the french and the rest of the world: a lot of the french female artists have nude photos or topless photos. Carla Bruni was a former super model before concentrating on being a singer. She has lots of nude studio photos. Another sexy singer is Alizee.
A friend of mine once noted that there was a real difference in comparing the french women or girls and the rest of the world. My friend studied at the International School (Makati) and he noted that though the french students may not be the prettiest around, you would know their being french by the aura they exude. It seems that the french "breed" this x-factor or sex appeal, and that the rest of the world is just left in the dust over-powered.
In hindsight, I have taken a stand that this might not be true. It is possible that growing up in France or having a french environment, might contribute a lot to this. The X-factor, or sex appeal, or confidence is just there because of the french environment.
I doubt if I will ever really know.
--andoy
3 May 2005
For the slow songs, the style is distinct and harkens back to Edith Piaf and Maurice Chevalier. Though the newer slow songs are sung almost in the same manner as Piaf. There is a clear distinction: whereas the older songs were "naughtily sexy" the newer songs are brazenly about sex. (At least as far as I understand the lyrics and the style.)
I have no intention of learning french if only because I want to understand the songs. Although that would be a good reason to study french. Or even to begin studying french. [I remember a friend of mine who started to study french because he found a book by Marquis the Sade in the UPLB library. Although it was in english, there were several passages in french which he went to the trouble of translating on his own.]
Another difference between the french and the rest of the world: a lot of the french female artists have nude photos or topless photos. Carla Bruni was a former super model before concentrating on being a singer. She has lots of nude studio photos. Another sexy singer is Alizee.
A friend of mine once noted that there was a real difference in comparing the french women or girls and the rest of the world. My friend studied at the International School (Makati) and he noted that though the french students may not be the prettiest around, you would know their being french by the aura they exude. It seems that the french "breed" this x-factor or sex appeal, and that the rest of the world is just left in the dust over-powered.
In hindsight, I have taken a stand that this might not be true. It is possible that growing up in France or having a french environment, might contribute a lot to this. The X-factor, or sex appeal, or confidence is just there because of the french environment.
I doubt if I will ever really know.
--andoy
3 May 2005
Happy Birthday Bert!
My brother Bert celebrated his birthday, Monday, May 2. And he's been slightly more than a year out of the country now. He had a somewhat early celebration of his birthday when he visited Tatay's cousin who works in the Middle East. Last Friday (his day-off), he went to Tita Beth's and there was also another birthday celebration there. He got lucky I guess.
Anyway, I just hope he keeps safe.
--andoy
3 May 2005
Anyway, I just hope he keeps safe.
--andoy
3 May 2005
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