Third World Geek

October 2011 CPA Board Exams

3WG — Sun, 16 Oct 2011 20:32:33 +0000

It’s that week again. The week when my favorite board exams will either lift somebody’s spirits up in the clouds or tear down somebody’s hopes and dreams and plunge them in the bottomless pit of despair. Quite dramatic don’t you think? Not that I revel in the misfortune of others, but alas, a 100% passing rate for the October 2011 CPA Board Exams is just not possible. Which means a lot of hearts are gonna be broken this week. But why focus on the negative? With all the bad news and drama that we read in the papers and friends’ Facebook statuses, we really should look at the more positive things more!

For the lucky 20%++ passers (I think this is the average percentage of passers) a whole new world opens for them. For the rest, well it’s not that bad. The world can always use people who knows the difference between a debit and a credit. Jobwise, it shouldn’t be that tough of a problem. I work in the BPO industry and I can say with confidence that there will always be a need for accounting graduates (not necessarily CPAs) in this exciting new industry.

If there’s one industry that I would try to downplay for those future jobseekers, especially those who are thinking of staying in the province, it’s the banking industry. Unless you’re part of the marketing group, or those in charge of bringing in clients, provided of course that you have the requisite competency for that sort of work, you’ll find banking to be one of those plodding companies where promotions and salary increases take years and years. An example is a friend who’s been working for a unibank for years and years and yet the last time I heard(2 weeks ago), when he was persuaded by his employer to stay after he was offered a job by a rival bank, the carrot given him was a P50K salary. Tch. Sure that’s a decent enough amount but considering his experience, talents and his smarts, he should be making at least 3x that amount by now had he been working in the BPO industry. Yep it’s that dynamic.

For sure job hunting will be the farthest thing in the minds of those who will be part of the lucky group to pass this week but it’s a good thing to think about these things even if only for a little bit.

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Stay hungry. Stay foolish.

3WG — Sat, 08 Oct 2011 02:23:56 +0000

Steve Jobs passing woke me up from my blogging slumber and had me running to the nearest internet cafe. True, I have my own internet connection at home but somehow, for the past few weeks, sloth has gotten the better of me and I always end up watching old episodes of either The Big Bang Theory or Two And A Half Men. I had to make sure that I stay in point for this one given that Steve’s death marks the end of an era for nerds worldwide.

I have always dreamed of working at Apple, but alas, my chosen career path seems destined to never cross the garden where that particular apple tree is planted. I don’t think I’m the only one dreaming that dream though, moths from all around the globe must have also wanted to get closer to Steve’s light if only to get nearer to the man who inspires a fanatical following from geeks worldwide. Which is why I’ve always harbored a little grain of envy for a friend who works for Apple. Lucky bastard.

Once You Go Mac, You Never Go Back

My first Apple product is a white iBook which I purchased on installment way back in 2007. Is because the bloody thing still works even to this day. I’ve never had to bother with all that anti-virus crap, and any OS upgrade I just download over the iStore for $29. I had the reckless misfortune though of plugging that particular Mac 24/7 for so many weeks that its battery expanded rendering it useless. But instead of purchasing a replacement battery, I decided to just remove it and convert it to a pseudo-desktop. I purchased a 21-inch Samsung LED, a separate Mac keyboard, a Belkin USB hub, an optical mouse and voila– I got myself a set-up that has never disappointed me even until now. With the way things are going, that rig may well live for another 5 years or 10. And they say an Apple computer is expensive.

My next Apple device is an iPhone 3G. It has gone through several iOS iterations, jailbreaks, unlocks, years of use, and yet it has remained as my main phone until now. Somehow getting another non-apple phone seems a significant step down and since getting it, I’ve never considered buying another phone, not even once.

I think what Steve Jobs’ Apple has done is that they’ve set the bar so high that once you’ve experienced using one of their products, everything else seems so pedestrian.

RIP Steve Jobs

And now Steve has gone and we can only wonder whether the folks he left in his beloved company would be able to fill the humongous he’s left behind. For sure I will miss the bespectacled man in black turtleneck and jeans and rubber shoes smiling in unabashed delight as he presents yet another product that blows the competition out of the water. But I feel really blessed to have lived in the era that Steve Jobs existed. Truly a man worth telling my future grandchildren about.

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Checking Out The Pinoy Bloggers Community Down Memory Lane

3WG — Mon, 15 Aug 2011 17:09:52 +0000

I just joined the Pinoy Bloggers group in Facebook. It’s just out of curiousity really. I’m such a bad group member that I dare not raise my head in any group I join lest I be hammered down so I won’t stand out too much. Heh. Of course I know about this group from waaay before. If you’ve been blogging for as long as I have and you’re a Filipino, chances are you’d want to seek out like minded individuals to, you know, talk about same stuff.

Unfortunately for me, I have the attention span of a gnat. Less than an hour into a conversation, I get bored and couldn’t wait to get the hell out of wherever or whatever I am currently in.

I had my brief fling with blogging groups before and while talks revolved around PRs and traffic and Alexa rankings, I was more interested in the alcohol and how to drink myself to a stupor from zero to sixty seconds. It’s much, much more acceptable to be a smiling drunk than to be honest and piss people off. Especially if those people are bloggers who can’t hold their keyboards. Before you know it, you’ll find yourself getting eviscerated online for being such a tool.

It was interesting reading the posts in that group. Some posts/comments reminded me when I was such a newbie blogger that I couldn’t comprehend the idea of monetizing a blog.

‘But your blog is your soul!’
‘How can you sell your soul!?’
‘Heh, here’s $200, now shut up and give me 2 backlinks from your homepage.’
‘$200?? (thinks about Havaianas and a Gap shirt)’
‘OK. Done (gap-toothed smile)!’

And the contests! Free domain name for a year! Free hosting for a year! Free suka from Aling Juaning! lol.

Good times..

photo credit : filipinobiography.com

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Harnessing Wind Energy

3WG — Tue, 09 Aug 2011 08:53:37 +0000

For a country that has typhoons in abundance almost all year long, it’s a damn shame that the Philippines does not have a lot of wind farms in its shores. The one shining example that we have of anything resembling a wind farm is the Bangui Wind Mills up north in Ilocos. And considering that the set-up of these windmills that supply a significant portion of that area’s electricity barely took two months, one has to wonder why we don’t replicate what’s done in Bangui in some other parts of the country.

The Bangui Windmills are located in Bangui, Ilocos Norte, Philippines. The windmills, officially referred to as the NorthWind Bangui Bay Project, were a project by the NorthWind Development Corporation as a practice renewable energy sources and to help reduce the greenhouse gases that cause global warming. The project is the first “Wind Farm” in the Philippines consisting of wind turbines on-shore facing the South China Sea and considered to be the biggest in Southeast Asia. The project sells electricity to the Ilocos Norte Electric Cooperative (INEC) and provides 40% of the power requirements of Ilocos Norte via Transco Laoag. — WikiPilipinas

The good thing about harnessing wind energy however is that even if the Philippine government is slow to adapt this technology in a more widespread manner, individual households in areas where wind is in abundance can actually install their own homemade wind turbines! I checked in the internet if there are already DIY wind mills for sale in the country and found a few being advertised in Sulit.com. This is very good news for those who are very conscious about their carbon footprint, and even for those who just want to reduce their electricity bills by looking at alternative methods of generating energy for their homes.

Here’s the page that shows some of these wind turbines being advertised in Sulit.

http://www.sulit.com.ph/index.php/classifieds+directory/q/wind+turbine

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Water-powered Machine

3WG — Thu, 21 Jul 2011 05:07:51 +0000

Here’s a Philippine invention that is not getting enough buzz in the third world. This invention is called the tubig-powered machine or water-powered machine. The machine is attached to a flourescent or light and powered only by whisking a few drops of water into it. It is tremendously simple but has far reaching implications. The great thing about this invention is that it is not in a laboratory somewhere gathering dust, unproven, or just another figment of a crazy scientist’s imagination. It’s actually being produced commercially albeit at a small scale. It is already in use in Lagro, Fairview, Manila to light up their streets so it does have commercial potential.

Imagine if this invention is fully developed commercially. People would no longer have astronomical energy bills, zero electricity, less dependence on oil! The only thing now is who will pick it up and develop it at a much larger scale. Imagine using that invention to develop something bigger for use in a ship. That ship will sail everywhere until it breaks down without any need for refuelling.

Here’s the video clip.

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June 2011 Dentists Board Exams Results

3WG — Tue, 31 May 2011 21:59:24 +0000

The practical application portion of the June 2011 Dentists Board Exams will start today June 1, 2011 and end tomorrow June 2, 2011. Hopefully the results of the June 2011 Dentists Board Exams will be released by the end of this week. Soon there will be a few more additions to the number of scariest people on earth. I don’t think there are a lot of people who love going to the dentists unless they’re there to flatter themselves for taking really good care of their teeth.

Anyway, check out this space to see the latest additions to the Dentistry profession when the June 2011 Dentists Board Exams Results will be released later this week. To all the examinees, good luck and I hope everyone will pass with flying colors!

Listed below are the successful examinees of the recently concluded June 2011 Dentists Board Exams.

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Celebrating The Pinoy Apple Fanboy

3WG — Thu, 05 May 2011 20:13:56 +0000

I was mindlessly scrolling down my Facebook profile when I saw a little ad to the right of the page showing a silly iphone attached with some sort of a telephoto lens. I thought it was one of those gag ads that take you to some break.com’ish sites. Since I was bored and it doesn’t cost a thing, I clicked on the Facebook ad anyway and was pleasantly surprised. The ad took me to a website called Gizmotherapy. It’s a very neat looking site, not much in there but great typography and some very interesting gadget accessories. The accessories however were one of a kind and most were tailored towards Apple products.

I checked out the telephoto lens pic and indeed it’s a telephoto lens made specifically for the iPhone! I know, how silly is that? I don’t even have a telephoto lens for my Canon 7D yet, but I think if you have cash to spare just for laughs, this is something that you might want to throw your money into. After all, who in their right mind would want to walk around with wads of cash in their pockets right?

Anyway, even if you’re not buying, Gizmotherapy is worth checking out if only to oggle at their site’s simplicity. I wish one of my websites look like theirs. I also like the photo feature. I’m sure it’s one of those nifty programming codes or scripts that you incorporate in your website and it looks great! Moreover, the site is an online store so if there’s anything there that you fancy, you can always put it in your cart and have a go at it. They also accept Paypal which is super cool. And did I mention that it’s a Philippine website? Yep, free shipping too so it’s definitely worth checking out in the future. I say this because they don’t have much to offer at the moment. I checked out their categories but the items shown were practically the same thingamajigs. I’d definitely come back to this site in the future when they have more to offer. And because I’m the first to talk about their site, maybe I get a nice discount too! :)

Check out Gizmotherapy at http://gizmotherapy.com.

photocredit ~mello245 of deviantart

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Mother’s Day Post

3WG — Mon, 02 May 2011 20:10:48 +0000

It’s mother’s day on Sunday. It’s also my father’s birthday. I find it awesome that these things happen. Of course we can all say that Mother’s Day just like Valentine’s Day is a commercial scheme intended to fleece consumers with their hard earned money. And it’s working. You wouldn’t be caught dead on Mother’s Day without a thing or two for your mum do you? What would that say about you as a son or as a daughter?

Unfortunately for me, my mum, bless her soul, already passed away a few years ago. It saddens me that I won’t get to spoil my very much willing-to-be-spoiled mum, which means I have to doubly spoil my dad on his birthday which also happens to be the match for the Pacquiao vs Mosley fight.

Now if you’re such a good boy or girl, you have to have something for your mum on Mother’s Day right? Or else. Lucky for you, there are a lot of very good Mother’s Day gift ideas out there. You won’t even have to leave the comfort of your air-conditioned room to get one. You just have to boot up your laptop or PC and then buy online. The convenience of living in a technologically advanced era, no?

So go ahead, flex those fingers and get your mum something for Mother’s Day. Here’s a tip, why don’t you bring your mum to miami on mother’s day?

Sweet Xbox Deal

3WG — Mon, 02 May 2011 18:37:57 +0000

The recent security fiasco of the Playstation network has PS3 owners thinking of switching over to Xbox. The intrusion which brought the Playstation network down is such a serious blow to Sony that when they finally resumed operations the other day, they were intent to keep their faithful subscribers by offering freebies. Check out the freebies that Sony is offering in their press release.

For those on the fence on whether to buy an Xbox gaming console or not, this promotion from Microsoft may just tip you over. Microsoft Store is running a promotion around Xbox games offering a FREE Xbox LIVE 1600 Points card when you buy any Xbox Game through May 15th!

Get a free Xbox LIVE 1600 points card when you buy any Xbox Game through May 15th!

XBOX 360

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Sony Sweetens The Pot For Existing Playstation Network Subscribers

3WG — Mon, 02 May 2011 18:36:02 +0000

Sony is now offering freebies for its existing subscribers and other folks who wish to become part of the Playstation network. After a number of days worth of downtime due to a security intrusion, Sony hopes to sooth their existing subscribers nerves with a few goodies in this press release below:

***************************************

SOME PLAYSTATION®NETWORK AND QRIOCITY™ SERVICES TO BE AVAILABLE THIS WEEK
Phased Global Rollout of Services to Begin Regionally;
System Security Enhanced to Provide Greater Protection of Personal Information

Tokyo, May 1, 2011 – Sony Computer Entertainment (SCE) and Sony Network Entertainment International (SNEI, the company) announced they will shortly begin a phased restoration by region of PlayStation®Network and Qriocity™ services, beginning with gaming, music and video services to be turned on. The company also announced both a series of immediate steps to enhance security across the network and a new customer appreciation program to thank its customers for their patience and loyalty.

Following a criminal cyber-attack on the company’s data-center located in San Diego, California, U.S.A., SNEI quickly turned off the PlayStation Network and Qriocity services, engaged multiple expert information security firms over the course of several days and conducted an extensive audit of the system. Since then, the company has implemented a variety of new security measures to provide greater protection of personal information. SNEI and its third-party experts have conducted extensive tests to verify the security strength of the PlayStation Network and Qriocity services. With these measures in place, SCE and SNEI plan to start a phased rollout by region of the services shortly. The initial phase of the rollout will include, but is not limited to, the following:

Restoration of Online game-play across the PlayStation®3 (PS3) and PSP® (PlayStation®Portable) systems
-This includes titles requiring online verification and downloaded games
Access to Music Unlimited powered by Qriocity for PS3/PSP for existing subscribers
Access to account management and password reset
Access to download un-expired Movie Rentals on PS3, PSP and MediaGo
PlayStation®Home
Friends List
Chat Functionality

Working closely with several outside security firms, the company has implemented significant security measures to further detect unauthorized activity and provide consumers with greater protection of their personal information. The company is also creating the position of Chief Information Security Officer, directly reporting to Shinji Hasejima, Chief Information Officer of Sony Corporation, to add a new position of expertise in and accountability for customer data protection and supplement existing information security personnel. The new security measures implemented include, but are not limited to, the following:

Added automated software monitoring and configuration management to help defend against new attacks
Enhanced levels of data protection and encryption
Enhanced ability to detect software intrusions within the network, unauthorized access and unusual activity patterns
Implementation of additional firewalls

The company also expedited an already planned move of the system to a new data center in a different location that has been under construction and development for several months. In addition, PS3 will have a forced system software update that will require all registered PlayStation Network users to change their account passwords before being able to sign into the service. As an added layer of security, that password can only be changed on the same PS3 in which that account was activated, or through validated email confirmation, a critical step to help further protect customer data.

The company is conducting a thorough and on-going investigation and working with law enforcement to track down and prosecute those responsible for the illegal intrusion.

“This criminal act against our network had a significant impact not only on our consumers, but our entire industry. These illegal attacks obviously highlight the widespread problem with cyber-security. We take the security of our consumers’ information very seriously and are committed to helping our consumers protect their personal data. In addition, the organization has worked around the clock to bring these services back online, and are doing so only after we had verified increased levels of security across our networks,” said Kazuo Hirai, Executive Deputy President, Sony Corporation. “Our global audience of PlayStation Network and Qriocity consumers was disrupted. We have learned lessons along the way about the valued relationship with our consumers, and to that end, we will be launching a customer appreciation program for registered consumers as a way of expressing our gratitude for their loyalty during this network downtime, as we work even harder to restore and regain their trust in us and our services.”

Complimentary Offering and “Welcome Back” Appreciation Program
While there is no evidence at this time that credit card data was taken, the company is committed to helping its customers protect their personal data and will provide a complimentary offering to assist users in enrolling in identity theft protection services and/or similar programs. The implementation will be at a local level and further details will be made available shortly in each region.

The company will also rollout the PlayStation Network and Qriocity “Welcome Back” program, to be offered worldwide, which will be tailored to specific markets to provide our consumers with a selection of service options and premium content as an expression of the company’s appreciation for their patience, support and continued loyalty.

Central components of the “Welcome Back” program will include:

Each territory will be offering selected PlayStation entertainment content for free download. Specific details of this content will be announced in each region soon.
All existing PlayStation Network customers will be provided with 30 days free membership in the PlayStation Plus premium service. Current members of PlayStation Plus will receive 30 days free service.
Music Unlimited powered by Qriocity subscribers (in countries where the service is available) will receive 30 days free service.

Additional “Welcome Back” entertainment and service offerings will be rolled out over the coming weeks as the company returns the PlayStation Network and Qriocity services to the quality standard users have grown to enjoy and strive to exceed those exceptions.

SNEI will continue to reinforce and verify security for transactions before resuming the PlayStation®Store and other Qriocity operations, scheduled for this month.

For more information about the PlayStation Network and Qriocity services intrusion and restoration, please visit http://blog.us.playstation.com. or http://blog.eu.playstation.com/

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