Crimson Crux

Crimson Crux Moves to Wordpress

2006-04-13T02:55:00.000+08:00

I've just ported all the entries of this blog into Wordpress (thank the heavens for WP's Import), and I'll resume posting there.

Let me redirect you to the new Crimson Crux, now with its own domain.

Cheers!

Google Deletes Its Own Blog by Accident!

2006-03-30T02:55:00.000+08:00

Who would've thought -- !

Google's official blog 'went down' for a short time last Monday afternoon. The reason? They accidentally deleted it!

Luckily for them, someone with a good heart was the first to register the URL. All he did was to post the message “Google, fix your blog pleeasssee!” A link to the screenshot can be found at bMarc.net.

Thesis Defense and the CS Week

2006-03-07T23:30:00.000+08:00

The week-long celebration of the UP Diliman Department of Computer Science's 25th anniversary drew to a close this day with the CS Symposium.

Computer science students from UP Diliman and other universities presented their research output and shared them with the CS community and industry leaders in the Computer Science Undergraduate Research Symposium, the last event of the week (nicknamed "Silver Flame").

I can now let out a brief, very brief sigh of relief. Sigh. (There you go.) Yesterday, we successfully presented and defended our thesis, HAMSTER (the other half of the project MOVISS). I mentioned HAMSTER a few months past, branded as S^infinity.

The good news is that a certain company has contacted us and shown interest in the project. Their representatives seem satisfied, impressed even, with the two groups' presentations. Well, I think we were just fortunate to have handled well the questions that the panelists threw at us. Now, only the final demo with our adviser looms in the horizon! I'm keeping my fingers crossed.

Postscript. Entries on the CS Week:

Introduction and Original Sked
Revised CS Week Sked
Silver Flame Sets UP Ablaze
UP ACM Programming Contest
UP Parser Editorial Exam

The UP Parser Editorial Exam

2006-03-02T01:15:00.000+08:00

Time to pass on the torch (and the burden). Good luck to the next editors of the College's first and foremost department-based publication!

Friday, March 3. 8:30-11:30AM. MH 233A, Melchor Hall, UP Diliman (Part of Silver Flame, the 25th anniversary of the UPD DCS)

Bring pen and bluebook.

Available positions:

Editor-in-Chief (required one year tenure in Parser)
Associate Editor
Section Editors (News, Features, Tech, Opinion, Literary)
Graphics Head

Layout Head Screening:

Submit your portfolio thru email (upparser@yahoo.com) or hand-in, on or before the editorial exam.

The 2nd UP ACM Programming Competition

2006-03-01T23:00:00.000+08:00

Want to win THREE iPod Shuffles plus Php 1,000 in cash? If you think you have the brains, then join the 2nd UP ACM Programming Competition!

What is the 2nd UP ACM Programming Competition?

The 2nd UP ACM Programming Competition will test the contestants' problem solving and computer programming skills under time pressure. The contest will serve as a simulation for the ACM International Collegiate Programming Competion 2006, to be held in November this year.

Venue: MH 215, Melchor Hall, UP Diliman
Date: Thursday March 2, 2006 (Part of Silver Flame, the 25th Anniversary of the UPD DCS)
Time: 8:30am-12:00pm

Qualifications
1) Non-graduating UP undergraduate students (students with at least one year to stay in the University) from any course or college
2) No prior ACM-ICPC (International) experience
3) Contestants should form at most three members per team. Well, if you want to hog the three iPods...
4) The organizers are not allowed to join (doh!)

Prizes
1st prize
** THREE Ipod shuffles
** Php 1,000 (for the whole team)
** Internship opportunites from Pusit.com, a Friendster affiliate company

2nd prize
** Php 1,000
** Internship opportunites from Xackup, a Friendster affiliate company

3rd prize
** Php 500

For more information, visit http://2ndpc.upacm.org

Interested parties, contact Ardee Aram (09186951341), Mai Sibayan (09216484928) or TJ Roque (09224956730)

Sponsors
Pusit.com
Xackup
Hardware Magazine

Silver Flame Sets UP Diliman Ablaze

2006-03-01T00:20:00.000+08:00

Great talks, great exhibits, great food, and Paco Sandejas to boot! Definitely, what a great way to start the week!

Students and faculty alike trooped to the Engineering Theater yesterday as UP Diliman bore witness to the inauguration of Silver Flame, the week-long celebration of the Department of Computer Science's 25th anniversary.

The day kicked off with the Opening Ceremonies, with DCS Chair Dr. Cedric Angelo Festin giving the welcome remarks. The CS Representatives gave a preview of the week's great line-up of events, while the candidates for the next batch of CS Representatives presented their platform.

The Student-Teacher Dialogue followed, where the DCS Faculty, led by Dr. Festin, addressed the issues and concerns of the Department and its student body. Several points raised were the imminent transfer of the DCS to the new COELACS Building, laboratory fees, the selection process for competition-bound students, curriculum changes, and the relevancy of non-high-level CS subjects.

Lunch was served in the Grand Pakain, held at the College of Engineering Fourth Floor Lobby. CS Week revelers were treated to lechon and other great servings.

The afternoon was graced by the presence of two dignitaries, namely Dr. Rowena Guevara, Dean of the College of Engineering, and Dr. Paco Sandejas, renowned venture capitalist, executive, and co-inventor of the world's first Grating Light Valves. GLV is a technology being used by Sony and Silicon Light Machines.

Dean Guevara gave an inspirational message to DCS students, after which she introduced Dr. Sandejas. The latter gave a talk on Career Paths, sharing his experiences and insights on careers for CS students, entrepreneurship, venture capital companies, and technologies which appeal most to investors.

Exhibits showcasing the Department and the various organizations comprising the UP CS Network were set-up in the 2nd Floor Lobby, along with posters of CS 192 User Interface Design projects and CS 176 (Computer Graphics) animations and stills.

Logistical problems were encountered due to the suspension of classes last February 27, which was supposed to be the opening day of the CS Week. However, the Department and the CS Week organizers decided to push through with the celebrations.

CS Week Revised Sked

2006-02-27T20:30:00.000+08:00

Due to the (unfortunate) suspension of classes today, some events in UP Diliman's Computer Science Week 2006 have been shuffled.

Events for tomorrow (Tuesday, February 28):

10:00 - 11:00 - Opening Ceremonies
11:00 - 12:00 - Student-Teacher Dialogue
12:00 - 01:00 - Grand Pakain
01:00 - 02:00 - Inspirational Message from the Dean followed by a Talk by Dr. Paco Sandejas: Career Paths

The Undergraduate Research Symposium is tentatively moved to March 6-7, following the same symposium schedule. Events for the other days will still follow the original schedule.

Silver Flame: The UP Diliman Computer Science Week 2006

2006-02-24T23:45:00.000+08:00

UP Diliman's Department of Computer Science celebrates 25 years of excellence in computing diversity in its week-long Silver Flame, to be held from February 27 to March 3. Everyone's invited to a week filled with symposia, company talks, various competitions, and a culminating night -– all of which showcase the intelligence, innovativeness, and flair that UP DCS students have been known for.

The theme Silver Flame honors the silver anniversary of the Department while highlighting the fiery fervor for the Department's pursuit of excellence; rightfully so, for DCS students are known within the College of Engineering as the DCS Firefoxes.

Incidentally, this is going to be the last time that the UPD DCS shall celebrate its anniversary in Melchor Hall. The department is slated to move to a new, larger building early next year; one can also think of Silver Flame as the Department's grand farewell to the historic edifice.

Inquiries can be made through email (upcsnetwork@gmail.com). The week's packed lineup of great events:

February 27, Monday

Engineering Theater

8:30 - Opening Ceremonies

10:00 - Undergraduate Research Symposium: Networking and Distributed Systems

12:00 - Grand Pakain

1:00 - Company Talk by Accenture: Accenture Education Program (Summer Intership)

2:00 - Undergraduate Research Symposium: Computer Security

4:00 Student-Teacher Dialogue

February 28, Tuesday

Engineering Theater

8:30 - Undergraduate Research Symposium: Artificial Intelligence and Bioinformatics

12:00 - Lunch break

1:00 - Talk by Dr. Paco Sandejas: Career Paths

2:00 - Undergraduate Research Symposium: Biomedical Informatics

March 1, Wednesday

8:30 - Distinguished Alumni Lecture by Prof. Peter Valdes (Engineering Theater)

- CS 32 Quiz Bee (MH 233A)

- Java Cup (MH 209, MH 215)

- Siemens Company Exam for Batch 1(MH 515)

12:00 - Break

- Accenture Company Exam (BE AVR)

1:00 - Company Talk by Innove: WiFi / Globelines Broadband (BE AVR)

2:00 - CS 12 Programming Competition (MH 209)

- Quizzardry (Engineering Theater)

March 2, Thursday

8:30 - 2nd UP ACM Programming Competition (MH 215)

- Webmaster's Challenge (NEC AVR)

- Siemens Company Exam for Batch 2 (MH 525)

12:00 - Lunch Break

1:00 - Awarding Ceremonies (Engineering Theater)

March 3, Friday

8:30 - The UP Parser Editorial Exam (MH 233A)

10:00 - Company Talk by Gametel: Mobile Games (Engineering Theater)

11:00 - Company Talk by Siemens (Engineering Theater)

12:00 - Lunch Break

1:00 - CS 196 Presentation (BE AVR)

2:00 - Company Talk by Anxa: Introduction to Mobile Application Development
(Engineering Theater)

5:30 - Flame On!: The CS Night (Blue Onion, Eastwood)

The Man Behind Gaming's Best Soundtracks

2006-02-16T22:20:00.000+08:00

Jeff van Dyck is the genius behind several of computer gaming's finest OSTs. One of his latest masterpieces is the music for Rome: Total War and its expansion pack. (Rome's soundtrack is the best I've heard in my whole life. Period. See the game review here.)

The award-winning composer also worked on the previous titles of the Total War franchise, plus notable EA Sports games.

You can download selected MP3 files from Van Dyck's site. If you're a gaming music aficionado, you'd be a fool to miss out on these music clips. Van Dyck's work (especially on Rome: Total War) reminds you of epic Hollywood movies...did anyone mention Gladiator?

LISP, Prolog to Go Mainstream?

2006-02-08T12:20:00.000+08:00

'Exotic' Programming Tools Go Mainstream

I didn't quite expect this, but I guess it's about time these languages are used by more people. Let's see if they upgrade from "mainstream" to "popular" in the years to come.

(Does this mean my brief exposure to these languages might not have been in vain? Gasp!)

UP ACM General Assembly

2006-02-07T23:55:00.000+08:00

UP ACM members, clear your calendars for the first GA of the year!

General Assembly (Recruitment and Renewal, Free Food, and possibly Parlor Games, haha)
Feb13, 5:00 PM @ D.Consunji Room, UP Bahay ng Alumni

See you there!

Game Review: Barbarian Invasion (Part 2)

2006-02-04T21:00:00.000+08:00

[Read Part 1 here.]

The Nitpicking

I'm a picky gamer who's quick to find fault in the games I play, but oddly enough, I noticed only a few with Barbarian Invasion. These ‘flaws’ don’t really subtract anything from the game’s goodness.

The expansion is billed as having improved battle AI, but I still saw some AI quirkiness from time to time -– for example, individual units that are part of a legion sometimes go astray of the main pack and end up at the enemy’s area. (To console myself when this happens, I’d just whisper, So long, sucker. I don’t need idiots in my army!)

If your PC barely meets the game requirements (see next section), you’ll be able to play the game alright, but the fun factor will be decidedly limited. At worst you can only “enjoy” the campaign map, as the real-time battles (especially the ones fought at “night”) will put a strain on your machine.

And let’s not forget one fact -– the original Rome: Total War was very challenging and complex, and Barbarian Invasion even more so. If you’re a Rome veteran, then by all means jump into the expansion, but newbies better master Rome first before trying to lead the hordes!

The Wrap-Up

Requirements

MS Windows 98SE/Me/2000/XP, Pentium III 1.0 GHz or Athlon 1.0 GHz, 256 RAM, 8X CD-ROM, 2.9GB hard drive space, 64 MB 3D Accelerator Card, Full Version of Rome: Total War

Gameplay

Barbarian Expansion, like the original game, appeals both to turn-based and real-time strategy gamers, to pure strategists and the action-oriented, to gameplay-first and graphics-first players. The game is addictive, the battles furious, and the campaigns engrossing. Everything you wanted in a strategy game can be found in this game.

Barbarian Expansion sticks true to the formula of the Total War franchise -- historically accurate but exciting games. In fact, Rome: Total War and Barbarian Expansion have been used by The History Channel to portray massive battles of antiquity.

Sound

Every sound in Barbarian Expansion is either enchanting or adrenaline-pumping. The music fits the mood of the game –- sometimes dark, sometimes brooding, sometimes charming, but consistently reminding us of the classical and mysterious past.

But you’ve never truly heard the game’s music until you get into the real-time battles. Every sound is realistic –- the screams of men incinerated, the crackle of burning buildings, the thunderous hooves of the cavalry, the whizzing sound of arrows, the creaking of catapults, the taunts of soldiers (“Stinking rats! Stinking rats!”), the whistling of snow-laden wind, the general’s booming battle speeches -- all in all, the true sound of war. And that’s not counting the background music a la Gladiator.

Graphics

As mentioned, both the campaign and battlefield maps are delectable pieces of eye candy. What’s more impressive is how the game renders hundreds upon hundreds of warriors on the battlefield, and have them all slug it to death. Want elephants stampeding upon the enemy legion, tusks throwing the infidels into the air? Or perhaps a cavalry charge slicing through the peasants’ ranks? Or better still, fireballs hurtling from the skies? The game delivers ‘em all.

Replayability

The original Rome posited you as anyone from the Romans to the Carthaginians, from the Greeks to the Gauls; conquering the world was a unique sumptuous experience for each one. Barbarian Invasion features new factions and dimensions to the game. What more can you ask for?

Assuming Creative Assembly won't supersede themselves in their next installment of Total War, you can actually waste away your entire life with this game.

Overall

As an avid PC gamer for years, and having explored more or less every existing genre, I dare say that the original Rome: Total War ranks up there with the greats. Its expansion, Barbarian Invasion, is essential to continue that gaming goodness.

There are many must-haves in the gaming world, but this one is a must-have of the must-haves.

Game Review: Barbarian Invasion

2006-02-03T23:50:00.000+08:00

Rome: Total War Barbarian Invasion is the fitting follow-up to one of the best games of all time.

The original game found you building the Roman Empire; now, you have the chance of destroying it! Lead barbarian hordes to the gates of Rome and Constantinople, sacking cities along the way and plundering to your heart’s empty content. Or become the protector of the civilized world, and take the helm of either the Western or Eastern Roman Empires.

Barbarian Invasion adds 10 new factions (such as the Huns, Goths, and Celts), 100 new units, and the concept of hordes -- factions plundering the world in search for new homelands. Night battles and new unit capabilities (such as swimming) have been introduced. Also, religion now plays a vital role in your empire -- pledge loyalty to the tenets of Christianity, Zoroastrianism, or Paganism.

Being an expansion pack, Barbarian Invasion is basically the same dish served with added spice. Result: a delicious meal which leaves you hungry for more. For people who haven’t tried the original Rome, you’ll need to get acquainted with two gameplay screens, the campaign map and battlefield.

The Campaign Map

Let it be said that it was Rome's campaign map which made me buy the game.

I first noticed the original Rome being played on a net café, with the campaign map onscreen, and I was instantly enamored. I found out about the impressive battlefield maps only later, when I took the game home.

Rome's campaign map was a piece of art, with the terrain beautifully rendered and the world simply bustling with activity. Trade routes were animated with caravans and ships, wonders of the world dotted the map, and a Sicilian volcano eruption was even put in, adding panache to the game.

Barbarian Invasion continues the tradition and improves upon it. The expansion's campaign map now scrolls and zooms more smoothly, erasing one of my pet peeves in the original.

The game revolves around the campaign map, and you'll spend a lot of time here improving your cities, spying on your rivals, assassinating their generals, and ordering your armies around. Think of basic turn-based strategy game stuff.

One can actually finish Barbarian Expansion through the campaign map only, but then you'd be missing half the fun by not commanding your armies on the battlefield.

The Battlefield

My jaw dropped when I played my first Rome battle.

Watched the blockbuster movie Gladiator? Felt the thrill (or bloodlust) when watching the battle between Maximus' legions and the barbarian Gauls? If yes, then there's a Rome gamer tucked within you.

The whole Total War franchise is famed for its battles, played out in real-time with thousands of 3D warriors battling for supremacy. It goes without saying that you need a good-performance gaming machine, what with added effects such as weather and sandstorms.

Fight the battle as Attila, Hannibal, and the Caesars would've fought it. Be advised -- the battle can be overwhelming at times. A good scene from a Barbarian Invasion battle would be like this: fireballs streaking down from the skies crash down to your city, incinerating your legions, while the Huns scale your walls with siege towers, impervious to fiery arrows let loose by your archers.

[Continued in Part Two]

Fireworks on Your Site!

2006-01-29T15:30:00.000+08:00

Literally.

Fireworks.js is a DHTML fireworks effect which you can use on your sites. Its author describes it as a "holy pointless lightshow", which doesn't do justice to the effort he put into this Javascript animation.

You can view the demo and download the build code from the site. Don't forget to turn on your speakers -- sound effects are included!

More Pacman Fever

2006-01-25T20:00:00.000+08:00

No, this isn't about everyone's favorite game, but rather more stuff on Manny Pacquiao's victory over Erik Morales last weekend.

A good round-by-round commentary of the classical battle can be found here.

Boxing circles on the Net have been furiously discussing Pacman's dismantling of El Terrible. Pacquiao fans are exuberant, boxing analysts are changing sides, and many more are singing dirges for Morales and his stellar career. Another round of great quotes from the Web:

"There is nothing like Manny Pacquiao in all of professional sports...Here in America, you could combine Lance Armstrong, Peyton Manning, LeBron James, Tom Cruise, Bruce Springsteen and 50 Cent into one person and you still wouldn't have what the Philippines have in their number one all-time super-star Manny Pacquiao." -- Tom Thompson

"Manny Pacquiao has now done what no other man has achieved before him, and defeated both Barrera and Morales, and done so by dropping and stopping both of them." -- Kieran Mulvaney

"Pacquiao, if he was a basketball player, is the baller who has now added a mid-range jumper to go with his collection of highlight reel dunks." -- Steve Kim

"I think both Pacquiao and Morales are hall-of-fame locks. Nobody in their right minds would deny Pacquiao a first-ballot vote." -- Doug Fischer

Mabuhay Ka, Manny!

2006-01-23T02:40:00.000+08:00

(Jed Jacobsohn/Getty images)

Congratulations to Manny Pacquiao for a masterful conquest of El Terrible! You did the nation proud. Manny became the first boxer to send Erik Morales to the canvas; the latter lost for the first time in thirteen years via TKO.

Watch the video of the final knockdown here.

Some memorable quotes about the fight:

"I could see he (Erik Morales) was having problems taking my punches. I had no problem taking his. He never hurt me." -- The Pacman

"A telling moment came in the ninth, when Morales, clearly tired, did the unthinkable: The consummate warrior backpedaled away from Pacquiao, which drew boos from the crowd." -- Michael Rosenthal

"In that crucible of the seventh, the Morales Era in boxing began to wane into history...When a hard combination slammed into Morales face, his nose was broken, his eyes blackened. The Pilipino continued his domination with rights and lefts in the eighth, almost beyond reason, Morales made one last attempt to reverse Pacquiao's tidal wave domination." -- Patrick Kehoe

"They say that there [are] literally thousands of islands that make up the Philippines. Well, when Manny Pacquiao’s hand was raised in victory over Erik Morales, the earth might have moved a bit with all those Filipinos jumping up and down." -- Pedro Fernandez

Still, hats off to a brave stand from Morales. I won't forget the moment he embraced Manny, terribly battered but still smiling. What a class act of a pugilist.

Blogger? Be Summarized!

2006-01-20T01:40:00.000+08:00

LeatherEgg.com's Blogger Code is one of those things you just have to try out if you're a true blue blogger. As the site itself says:

Geeks have one. So do hairy gay men and their admirers. Isn't it time bloggers have a code to describe themselves as well?

The site tests your "quotients" which in the end comprise your overall Blogger Code. Some quotient names and questions are amusing, so it'll be worth your salt to check it out.

The Blogger Code I got was this cryptic string of characters:

B5 d t k++ s+ u- f- i o++ x+ e- l+ c-

Fortunately, you can decode your Blogger Codes with this nifty counterpart site.

Website Readability Test

2006-01-18T23:40:00.000+08:00

Been using the readability statistics of MS Word for your writings? JuicyStudio has a nifty readability test of its own, but this time for websites. The test will help you determine how readable your website's content is.

My lit blog, Slip of the Pen, scored 7.93 on the Gunning Fog Index, approximately the same readability as Reader's Digest and most popular novels. Crimson Crux, on the other hand, got a 9.58 (close to Time and Newsweek).

It goes without saying that photoblogs won't have any use for this site. But if you have a text-heavy site, then it might be worth your time to try the test.

Corsarius, One Year Old Blogger*

2005-12-29T23:45:00.000+08:00

Slip of the Pen, my main blog -- or, to put in business-like terms, "flagship" blog -- celebrates its birth this day. Because it's my very first blog, this also means I've completed my very first year as a blogger. Hurrah!

I started Slip of the Pen half a year earlier than this one, and through the months I came to brand it as my "personal slash literary" blog. Do read the blog birthday post, which also lists the year's best pieces.

On a more technical note, I'm happy that 75% of my visitors at Slip of the Pen were using Firefox. Internet Explorer users have dwindled over the year, starting at 50% (December 2004) then descending to 21%. Opera and Safari each have 2%.

As I wrote in the blog -- Fortuna dies natalis, Lapsus Calami!

*Apologies if the title misled you. Why, ain't the guy in the illustration above still a toddler? A writing toddler, that is.

Artificial Edible Meat, Anyone?

2005-12-29T23:30:00.000+08:00

Actually, it's not artificial at all. At least, it uses a single cell from an animal to culture the meat!

This Gizmag article is old news, and I just wanted to post my thoughts on it, albeit belatedly. Large scale production of laboratory-grown "meat" -- beef, poultry, pork, and so on -- is a distinct possibility in the near future, a scientific paper has claimed. Certainly, this isn't lunacy; after all, small amounts of edible "meat" were laboratory-grown in NASA space experiments. They're now chasing after the technology which allows large-scale production. Read the article for the details. Better yet, read the Tissue Engineering paper itself.

If you'd ask me, I'm all for this venture. People will be apprehensive about eating something which popped out of the test tube (well, not exactly like that), and there will be both scientific and ethical concerns. But then, I believe trading in the slaughterhouses for meat culture factories is all for the good of the world.

Just ask the turkey above if he'd prefer to celebrate Thanksgiving alive or served on a plate. I'd really like to eat my sumptuous steak without my conscience nagging me, thank you. Cultured edible meat might just prove to be the savior for guilt-stricken people who love meat but don't have the willpower (or the stomach) to be vegans -- people like me.

"With a single cell, you could theoretically produce the world's annual meat supply," the article quotes a scientist. "Cultured meat could also reduce the pollution that results from raising livestock, and you wouldn't need the drugs that are used on animals raised for meat."

One amusing 'problem' with cultured meat is how to give the meat a natural, appetizing texture:

"The challenge is getting the texture right," says Matheny. "We have to figure out how to 'exercise' the muscle cells. For the right texture, you have to stretch the tissue, like a live animal would."

I wonder how they're going to do that. Anyway, you can support the technology by visiting the website of New Harvest, a nonprofit research organization for the advancement of meat substitutes.

I tell you, once this technology hits full stride, abattoir and livestock farm owners will rise up in arms, but animal rights activists will spread their love among them and nullify their anxiety, all in the name of Gaia.

Or not.

Have a Geeky Christmas, Everyone!

2005-12-24T18:05:00.000+08:00

From BBSpot.com, the Top 11 Ways Geeks Celebrate Christmas. My favorites:

Printing out "One Year of Free Computer Service" certificates to give to the family
Decorating the tree with SDRAM and CPUs burned out from your last overclocking experiment
Rewriting Christmas carols in Tolkien's Elvish
Programming the christmas lights to flash out "I hate this holiday of unbridled consumerism" in binary

Also, check out this other BBSpot article. If you had committed one of these acts, then you've been naughty this year, hehe.

Have a Merry Christmas, everybody!

SEA Games Merchandise, Where are Thou?

2005-12-22T01:10:00.000+08:00

I'm running late with this question, but does anyone know where to buy 2005 SEA Games merchandise? I've seen a scant number of t-shirts here and there, but not a single shop which sells them. The closest I've found is a little stall in SM Megamall (I think it was called Reynaldo's) which boasts of SEA Games figurines, keychains, and pen/memo holders. But no shirts! (I've given up the search for Gilas stuffed toys -- maybe they're exclusive for the winning athletes only.)

If you still want memorabilia of the Games, do rush to SM Megamall's ground floor, near the iceskating rink. I got my Gilas figurine slash pen/memo holder for only Php 200 -- the original price was Php 400. Yes, that's 50% off. There are available sizes other than the one in the picture.

As a side note, the original mascot for the 2005 SEA Games was a tarsier. Whoa. I'm just glad they changed it to the monkey-eating eagle, Gilas. That bird is simply the best symbol for the victorious Filipino athletes; I can't imagine the tarsier being the same.

Postscript. The 2005 ASEAN Para Games ended last Tuesday. Host Philippines garnered 19 gold medals, good for sixth place. This has been labeled by sportswriters as a "surprising" performance, as we won just 2 gold medals two years ago in Vietnam. Again, great job, athletes!

Current Trends in Programming

2005-12-14T11:59:00.000+08:00

What's hot and what's not in the programming world are all summed up in Infoworld's 2005 Developers Research Report. Infoworld based their results on a sample of approximately 300 developers.

A preview:

What's Hot:

Web services
Service-oriented architecture
Open source tools for the business community
Dynamic scripting tools
Linux (to be the standard mainframe OS)
Java
Python
Ruby
Microsoft's .Net environment
Mac OS X

What's Not:

Pure compiled and traditional development languages (e.g. Ada, C, C++, Fortran)
Assembly languages
Win32
Unix (being supplanted by Linux)
Solaris (only being "able to tread water")

Now, I know some of you might be a little bit surprised that C and C++ are included in the What's Not list. Even the article ("C and C++ Give Way To Managed Code") states, "C remains the implementation language of choice for Linux, the Apache Web server, the MySQL database, and other key open source projects". But then it adds, "It’s a terrific language for systems programming and infrastructure-level software, but it’s less suited to the needs of straightforward applications." You be the judge if this is true or not; read the article for more details.

Scientific Approach for Scientific Resumés

2005-12-10T17:10:00.000+08:00

There is an abundance of resumé-writing how-tos on the Net, and another one won't hurt. In this article I found through ACM Technews, three recruitment consultants share their insights on how to write resumés (CVs) for jobs related to science and technology.

The crux of CV-writing, as most experts often stress, is to put your best foot forward, in terms of relevant achievements and skills, while avoiding information overload (especially the irrelevant ones). The stuff you prune from your paper CV (the hard copy) can go into your online resumé, after all.

After reading the article, I felt that I needed to revise my own CV. Several worthy points discussed there:

Keep the CV short. Employers scan the document for less than 30 seconds. If they get lost in a jungle of jargon and irrelevant info, you CV ends up in the trash bin.
Changing your CV for each job is dangerous.
Information such as references, publications, and articles may go into appendices; main CV looks clean.
Keep the CV up to date!

Curtains Fall on SEAG 2005

2005-12-06T18:30:00.000+08:00

23rd SEA Games Final Medal Tally

I was glued to the TV last night, as host nation and overall champion Philippines bade farewell to its Southeast Asian neighbors in the SEA Games' closing ceremony.

The event's festiveness and grandeur were several notches down compared with the opening ceremony -- the final parade of athletes felt lacking (too rushed, no formal announcement that the Philippines bagged the championship), and the performance of Maestro Ryan Cayabyab and the San Miguel Philharmonic Choir didn't match its opening rites level (but that's setting the bar too high, as they were still damn good). Hell, even the PA butted into President GMA's formal closing of the Games! (You can, of course, find that entertaining.)

However, the event did serve its purpose, namely to ease the competitive tensions built up during the course of the biennial meet. The fireworks display was one of the best I've seen for the whole year, lasting for more than 20 minutes. And of course, the frenzied motions of the Ati-Atihan dancers spiced up the night.

As Channel News Asia said, "The closing ceremony was filled with an explosion of music, dance and colours only the Filipinos can provide." That's quite a compliment, don't you think?

Congratulations to the Philippine athletes, organizers, and volunteers for staging a successful SEAG. They didn't have the most abundant of resources and facilities at their disposal, but they still came through in the end. After years in the muck, the Philippines re-establishes itself as a sporting power in Southeast Asia, garnering over 25% (113) of all the gold medals at stake. (Wushu was the biggest goldmine, where we got 11 gold medals.)

Let's hope this brief, brilliant moment inspires us to reach even greater heights. The 2006 Asian Games in Doha, Qatar fast approaches, and even the next SEAG meet (2007) at Bangkok, Thailand. And of course, the big one -- the 2008 Beijing Olympics.

As our battlecry goes -- Team Pilipinas, One Big Fight!

Postscript. The Philippines will also be paying host to the 2005 ASEAN Para Games, to be held on December 14-20 at Manila.

The Philippines: New SEAG Champion!

2005-12-04T23:57:00.000+08:00

Mabuhay ang Pilipinas!

The Philippines has won the overall championship of the 2005 SEA Games, bagging 114 gold medals after the second-to-the-last day of competitions! We only needed 106 gold medals to bag the championship, and we've exceeded that by 8 -- a shining testament to the skill and excellence of our athletes.

Sunday, December 4 was touted as the "D-Day" of the Games, as 100 gold medals were at stake. Prior to Sunday, the Philippines had 91 gold medals in the bag, and -- according to experts -- were 15 shy of the overall championship. Now, as we move on to the final day of competitions, Team Philippines is assured of its first SEAG championship, by virtue of its insurmountable lead. (Second running Thailand has 86 gold medals, and only around eight gold medals are up for grabs tomorrow.)

The Games' Closing Ceremonies will begin at 5:30 PM, at the Manila's Quirino Grandstand. Without doubt, the host nation will be throwing a big party to celebrate the Games' spirit of "One Heritage, One Southeast Asia", as well as the Philippines' epic triumph.

In these times of crisis and uncertainty, our athletes have given us hope and pride in the nation and our race. These men and women have given their blood, sweat, and tears for this historic triumph. Sa mga atletang Pinoy ng 2005 SEA Games -- Maraming maraming salamat, mabuhay kayo!

Postscript. As a side note, the Thai Prime Minister's insinuations of cheating by the hosts should now be laid to rest, seeing that even Filipino athletes were seemingly bamboozled of their gold medals in Saturday's boxing finals. The fans in attendance were so infuriated by the goings-on that they began throwing coins and plastic bottles onto the ring. Undoubtedly, each country had and has its own protests, but the Thai PM's childish remarks are way off the courtesy chart. Anyway, all's well that ends well.

.com Domain Prices to Double?

2005-12-04T13:20:00.000+08:00

That is, if the deal between Verisign and ICANN pushes through.

Under the deal, Verisign will drop lawsuits filed against the Internet regulatory body in exchange for the power to increase .com prices by 7% a year starting in 2007. According to the CBR Online article, current domain price stands at $6, but if Verisign took advantage of the price hike every year, we would end up paying $12 by 2012!

So unless you foresee a wage hike in your country in the next few years, then maybe it's time to buy that .com domain you've always wanted. (Though you'd still have to renew it, and with a price increase every year...damn.) Or at least, fervently pray that this nightmare of a deal between Big Internet Company and Big Internet Body crumbles.

If you're lamenting this impending development (as I am), feel slightly comforted by the thought that we're not alone -- already, the proposed deal is coming under heavy flak, both from consumers and small registrars. You can read the whole story here.

SEA Games 2005 Fever

2005-11-28T23:55:00.000+08:00

The Southeast Asian Games 2005 formally opened last night at the Quirino Granstand, Manila. Like advertised, the event was a low-budget affair, but it didn't reflect on the impressive show put on by the host country, the Philippines. It was the perfect union of austerity with pomp and pageantry. A festive mood was in the air all throughout the event, punctuated by the stirring performance of Maestro Ryan Cayabyab and the San Miguel Philharmonic Orchestra. (You can just feel the music beating with your heart.)

I loved how the event was held -- from the stage set-up to the climactic torch-lighting to the presence of Ati-Atihan dancers to Rivermaya's once-in-a-lifetime co-performance with the Orchestra. The fireworks could've been better, but who cares when you've got the beautiful backdrop of Manila Bay?

The SEA Games, a biennial meet which started in 1959 (as the SEA Peninsular Games), will run from November 27 to December 5. The host country is aiming for the overall championship, something never before achieved (closest was the 91-gold medal finish back at the 1991 Manila SEA Games, second to Indonesia's 92).

By the looks of it, the Philippines is off to a good start, already bagging 23 gold medals after Day 2 of hostilities, rather, competition. For the latest medal tally and updates, do visit the Games' official website. Trace College, the Games' official sponsor, has done well with the site, though some of the links are broken. Websites for the Cebu and Bacolod areas of the Games are definitely also worth visiting.

As for me, the Games fever has hit me (and hit me hard). I've been glued to the idiot box since last night's opening, forgetting the schoolwork just to witness the Filipinos' inspiring fight for the championship. Let's all hope and pray for an early Christmas gift for the nation, shall we?

Go for gold, Team Philippines! Mabuhay ang atletang Pilipino!

Google Gangsta Style

2005-11-27T14:50:00.000+08:00

Gizoogle. It's not a search engine, but more like Google Translate -- this time, you're translating a site into gangsta speak! As its homepage says, it's "fo all you beotches who wanna find shiznit."

I found the Gizoogled version of my literary blog amusing, what with phrases like "So, it’s rizzle afta all. My eyes aren’t gang bangin' me." Another example will do. Compare this original snippet of text (from Slip of the Pen)...

"I pause in my thoughts; my mind goes blank. I take a deep breath, so deep I end up gasping for air. Staring at the back of the irate driver's head, I try to think of something, to justify anything, to vilify everything. But there is nothing."

...with this (Gizoogled):

"I pause in mah thoughts; mah mind goes blizzank. I takes a deep breath, so deep I end up gasp'n fo` air. Trippin' at tha bizzle of tha irate driva's heezee, I try ta thizzink of sum-m sum-m, ta justify anyth'n, ta vilify everyth'n gangsta style. But there is spendin', ya feel me?"

Dig it. Also, here's the Gizoogled version of this blog.

UPD Reigns Supreme in Clash of the Brains

2005-11-24T23:30:00.000+08:00

Another victory for UP Diliman's Department of Computer Science, which is definitely experiencing a golden year!*

Congratulations to Ardee Aram, Michael Chua, Prem Rara, and Linda Sarmiento, champions of this year's Clash of the Brains, a computer science quiz show held by the LSCS. Ma'am Joyce Avestro coached the winning team, which beat ADMU, FEU, UST, and MIT.

The UP team actually got off to the worst start, finishing dead last after the first round. The team managed to claw back to contention in the second canto (third in the standings).

However, it was in the homestretch (difficult round) where UP bared its fangs, reeling one correct answer after another. The result is history.

Again, congrats to the quartet. You did the University proud!

*The whole acad year has been a parade of honors for the UP Diliman DCS, from the UP ACM Int'l Excellence award to the Imagine Cup to the PESO semifinals to the TMTC to the BPI-DOST Science Award. Whew. That's just the tip of the iceberg. Hopefully, more to come.

Attn: Mobile Game Developers!

2005-11-23T18:45:00.000+08:00

Ever wanted to create your own mobile phone game? Or itching to get known and rewarded for your mad game development skills?

Then drop by the Mobigame 2005 Seminar to be held this Friday at UP Diliman. Mobigame is a mobile game development competition and training sponsored by MMOG Philippines and DLSU. Get to ask the questions which matter, get the facts straight about this unique test of talents. Hear from the personalities behind the competition. And of course, freebies await!

Mobigame 2005 Seminar
10am - 12noon
Friday, November 25, 2005
Engineering Theater, Melchor Hall
University of the Philippines Diliman

This leg of the Mobigame 2005 school tour is proudly hosted by the Philippines' one and only award-winning Association for Computing Machinery (ACM) chapter, UP ACM.

UPDATE (11/24/05): Competition mechanics can be found here.

New AXE Game: Not for Feminists

2005-11-20T13:55:00.000+08:00

If you can't win them in real life...

Mojo Master is a free game offered by AXE (yes, the deodorant brand for the male machismo) wherein you get to test your 'moves' on the girls, and ultimately seduce them. The game's tagline says all: "Play the Game or be Played!"

"Many faces have been slapped, many drinks dumped on heads, and many relationships ruined in the name of MOJO MASTER -- the fantasy game of seduction...a video game the likes of which you have never seen...that lets you let loose in a fantasy world populated by 100 TOTALLY HOT 3D GIRLS!...Build a solid repertoire of moves, win over all 100 girls, and you will be THE MOJO MASTER."

As you can see, the game's overview is decidedly chauvinistic. Wonder when will they craft a game where it's the other way around, i.e. girls having their way with guys, just to be fair.

Click here to play the game. Dial-up users will have to do with the Quick Version (which is still 37.5 MB); broadband users can enjoy the Full Version (111 MB).

Delinquence...

2005-11-13T15:00:00.000+08:00

...is the name of the game a blogger shouldn't play. Apologies for having been late on the updates. The past week proved to be a hectic one (but of course, a lame excuse); Wednesday was the first day of my last semester in UP Diliman. I've also recorded my first sleepless night for the young term -- I wrote and collated a large chunk of our full business plan for the Philippine Emerging Startups Open (PESO) Challenge. (Look for team Rijndael's public summary here.)

Yesterday was the big day for the week, as I attended the Launching of the UP Diliman Department of Computer Science's new abode. Presenting, "Helm's Deep":

Others prefer to call it "Mount Olympus". More specifically, its the new College of Engineering Library and Department of Computer Science Building, slated to be in use by the next academic year. Pity our batch won't be able to use it. (Masteral studies, here I come? Cough, cough.)

Alright, that's enough. Back to business.

Proud to Have Programmed in LISP...

2005-11-08T02:45:00.000+08:00

...But not necessarily to have excelled in it!

Lisp ranks up there among the most difficult languages I've tried. The UP Diliman BS CS program exposes its students to a wide array of programming languages and paradigms (object-oriented, expression-oriented, and so on), and Lisp was one of those 'heavyweights' in CS 150. Other languages were Perl, Tcl, Haskell, Python, Smalltalk, and Prolog.

The good and bad memories of Lisp:

GOOD. Of course, hurdling a language most programmers would find alien always feels good.
BAD. "Give an overview of the Lisp syntax" was the question I drew for a 5-minute oral exam. It was the only topic I wasn't prepared for out of a dozen.
GOOD. Sophia and I managed to finish LUKIM: A Pure Lisp Interpreter in Java on the deadline, evading an Incomplete grade!
BAD. Have you tried coding a Lisp program by hand in a pressure-packed exam?

Even steven, I guess!

*Those nice Lisp logos come from Lisperati.com.

PC Technician From Hell

2005-11-08T02:00:00.000+08:00

Have you experienced being "helped out" by this kind of PC technician? (Look for the second short short story, "PC Overhaul".) The one who has the penchant of equating the presence of Linux with a dysfunctional system?

To these people: Super Tux will get ya!

*Animated Tux image courtesy of the LWN Penguin Gallery.

Free Drag-and-Drop Protopages, Anyone?

2005-11-05T17:20:00.000+08:00

I've set up my own Protopage, a personal bookmarks page which uses the much-hyped AJAX. Basically, Protopages make it easier for you to get to your favorite web sites and organize your hectic life. It's very simple:

Create your own sleek Protopage, which is simpler than creating a blog. Really. Customizing it should pose no problem, too. The system makes it easy for you -- color theme, wallpaper, the whole enchalada. You don't even leave the Protopage while customizing it!
Put your favorite links on it. I use mine as a springboard to my blogs. You can also create new "link panels", which are just lists of your links.
Place your sticky-notes. Think of your Protopage as an organizer of your to-do lists and other reminders, all in one page. You can create new sticky-notes as you please.
You can save it as your new browser start page.

Set up a free Protopage by clicking this cute button:

RSS News Feed support is coming soon to Protopages, so watch out.

Greatest Gaming Engine Ever?

2005-11-03T04:00:00.000+08:00

Baldur's Gate II screenshot
courtesy of www.bioware.com

Is Bioware's Infinity Engine, the workhorse behind the epic Baldur's Gate and Icewind Dale RPG series the best gaming engine the world has ever known?

Reading an ancient back issue of PC Gamer (December 2002, the Doom 3 issue), I stumbled upon Steve Klett's Alternative Lives Column, in which he declares Infinity to be "the greatest game engine in the history of the PC."

Of course, he wrote that a few years back, but his points are still undoubtedly valid. Read on.

He states:

"[Infinity] has given PC gamers more entertainment (and more entertainment value) than any other, and that includes any 3D first-person engine. In both quantity and quality of gameplay hours provided, I don't think any game engine can touch Infinity's contribution."

That coming from a guy who says he enjoys both first-person shooter and RPG genres.

I've more or less spent hundreds -- nay, thousands -- of hours playing all the major genres, but I'm biased towards role-playing, so I'm inclined to agree with Klett's bold proclamation. No doubt there will be gamers who'll (vehemently) disagree, especially Unreal/Quake/Doom fans. Who says those games weren't damn beautiful? They were, especially Doom 3. John Carmack is a genius, I tell you.

But the amazing depth that the Infinity engine posseses is simply a dream come true for both die-hard and garden variety pen-and-paper Dungeons & Dragons fans. The three games and one expansion pack I've played which run on Infinity -- Baldur's Gate II: Shadows of Amn, BG2 Expansion: Throne of Bhaal, Icewind Dale, and Icewind Dale II -- were not by any means flashy, but they were revolutionary.

New game engines have arrived since the last use of Infinity (which was in Icewind Dale II), such as Bioware's own Aurora Engine used in Neverwinter Nights. But still, this pretty recent Gamespot article written by Matthew Rorie praises the timeless Infinity engine. "RPG engines just don't get any better than the Infinity engine," he writes. "...the Infinity games were perhaps the perfect marriage of form and functionality when it comes to computer RPGs."

* * * * *

Cover art courtesy of
www.mobygames.com

As an aside, I'm currently addicted to Rome: Total War. Damn, I have never seen gaming goodness such as this. Epic real-time battles, deep Civ-like campaign, gorgeous graphics, astounding music. If I'm starting to sound like I'm advertising the game, don't worry -- I am. I utterly love it. (Gamespot Review)

For the Shy Citizens of the Internet

2005-11-01T02:20:00.000+08:00

I did a double take when I came across this great article while surfing the blogosphere. "Ten Ways to Keep Your Website Unnoticed on the Internet" actually made me laugh at times. It's the antithesis to many articles which give you tips and advice on how to make your website popular, i.e. rake in those all-important hits. A breath of fresh air, indeed.

A teaser for you guys: "Choose an obscure domain name. Make sure the name you select has no relevance to the content of your site, to you or your business." See?

Thanks to Matt of Utah for posting the article, which was originally written by Barbara White.

Cubicle Workplace = Bad Company?

2005-10-30T19:20:00.000+08:00

[Photo courtesy of ioillusion.]

IT employees will do good to avoid companies offering cubicles as workplaces, according to the ACM Technews/Sys-Con Media (France) article, "When to Leave Your First IT Job".

A bad work environment (i.e. "cubicle farms") is a clear warning sign for you to leave the job. As the article says:

"Working in cubicles is the sure sign that you're not working for a successful company. If the company will not or can not spend the money to create offices for its knowledge workers, so they can get into the zone, the odds of it creating a successful software product and capitalizing on it are about the same as you becoming a millionaire by going to Las Vegas..."

Well, the above scenario might not apply to Philippine IT companies, but it's still worth thinking about if you're a present IT employee or one who's looking to land an IT job.

Korea Building Tech-Paradise City

2005-10-27T02:30:00.000+08:00

Rising in South Korea is New Songdo, which ACM Technews describes as an "ubiquitous city where data is shared by all key information systems, and where residences, office buildings, and streets have built-in computers". Sounds pretty much like a techie's haven, though of course 'shared data' reeks of citizen privacy issues.

According to the article:

"...A smart-card house key will be the starting point of U-life: The key can be used to access public transit, process transactions, borrow free materials, etc...New Songdo residents [are foreseen to enjoy] universal wireless access to their digital content and property, video on demand, and videoconferencing calls with neighbors."

Wow. I believe "U-life" here pertains to Ubiquitous-Life, the lifestyle for the New Songdo "U-City".

You can read a New York Times article here, though you''ll need to have an account to view it. (Don't worry, registration is free.)

Also, here's a Google search on New Songdo, for those who are really interested and don't mind doing a little bit of research.

100 Million Downloads of Firefox!

2005-10-25T19:05:00.000+08:00

A glorious day!

Borrowed from a friend's email:

Firefox Surpasses 100 Million Downloads!

October 19, 2005, (Mountain View, CA). The Mozilla Corp. extends 100 million "Thank you's" to Firefox community members for reigniting innovation on the Web. As the browser's first anniversary approaches this November, Firefox adoption numbers have exceeded expectations with more than 100 million downloads since Firefox's introduction in 2004.

Firefox's download success is a direct result of the collaborative efforts of thousands of contributors worldwide. Their work developing and fine-tuning the Firefox browser ensures the best Web experience available. Volunteer extension developers further enrich Firefox's capabilities by enabling users to customize and enhance their browser and truly take back the Web.

Mozilla also congratulates the members of the Spread Firefox community for their success in reigniting the Web by driving the popularity of the browser. Their global grassroots efforts have set a new standard for software marketing and played a significant role in helping Firefox to achieve this amazing milestone. Stay tuned as the Spread Firefox community launches an even more innovative campaign for the upcoming Firefox 1.5 release later this Fall.

Get Firefox now!

How Basketball Shorts Became Longer

2005-10-25T04:00:00.000+08:00

Two words: Michael Jordan.

In this excerpt from GAIN's interview with Thomas Hardy, VP and Creative Director for NBA Entertainment, the reason for the disappearance of those thigh-hugging short shorts of the past is none other than His Airness himself.

"The long pants came from Michael Jordan, which is a great story. Jordan would get tired because he played so many minutes when he was with the Bulls in the mid-‘80s, so by the third quarter he would be exhausted. He would be doing a lot of this leaning over and catching his breath. Eventually he was starting to grab his pants, to hold onto them because he was exhausted. As time when on, you could see that by the end of the game his pants were long because he had just stretched them. He finally asked Champion, the uniform manufacturer, for more length in his shorts, so that he could hang onto his shorts. The next thing you know, the kids see the longer shorts and everybody’s wearing longer shorts. He created a fashion without even knowing it."

For an NBA addict and MJ fan, this is an incredible story, indeed. For the rest of the in-depth interview, visit this page. You won't regret it.

ACM Crossroads (Fall 2005 Issue)

2005-10-20T16:50:00.000+08:00

I've just received my very first copy of Crossroads, the ACM Student Magazine, and I'm happy with its selection of articles. The Fall 2005 edition features interesting articles such as Game State Fidelity Across Distributed Interactive Games and The Development of a Game Playing Framework Using Interface-Based Programming. Both seem to support the rising importance of game development in computer science, as mentioned in my previous post.

Crossroads is also distributed free of charge on this website, though you must be an ACM Member to receive the print edition.

Ms. Philippines Wows Them All!

2005-10-19T02:30:00.000+08:00

Precious Lara Quigaman (Ms. Philippines)

Miss International 2005
[Photo courtesy of CebuCentral.Com Blog]

(Received from an email forward.)

Beauty aside, Miss Philippines' performance in the Q&A portion was what probably made the judges ultimately decide in her favor:

Q: "What do you say to the people of the world who have typecasted (sic) Filipinos as nannies?"

A: "I take no offence on being typecasted as a nanny. But I do take offence that the educated people of the world have somehow denegrated the true sense and meaning of what a nanny is. Let me tell you what she is. She is someone who gives more than she takes. She is someone you trust to look after the very people most precious to you -- your child, the elderly, yourself. She is the one who has made a living out of caring and loving other people. So to those who have typecasted us as nannies, thank you. It is a testament to the loving and caring culture of the Filipino people. And for that, I am forever proud and grateful of my roots and culture."

And as the email goes, insert the most thunderous of thunderous applause here.

I don't know about you, but I am impressed. Very much so.

Bravo to Ms. Precious Lara Quigaman. Mabuhay ang Pilipinas!

Gaming in CS Curricula

2005-10-17T01:50:00.000+08:00

I quote from a TechnologyReview.com article:

"In a report for the National Science Foundation in 2000, the Carnegie Mellon researchers showed that freshmen in CS1 who used Alice [a program to teach programming through a game framework] average a B grade, while those in the control group who didn't use Alice averaged a C.

Furthermore, retention rates -- the proportion of students using Alice in CS1 who moved on to CS2 -- rose from 47 percent to 88 percent."

Several universities around the world are also using gaming-related courses to reverse the alarming slide in computer science enrollees.

I wonder when will UP Diliman's DCS have a course on gaming or gaming development. Closest to such a course might be CS 176 (Computer Graphics) and CS 174 (Mobile Computing -- mobile phone games, anyone?). Here's a confession: as an avid gamer in high school, I took BS Computer Science because I wanted to create my own games.

Fortunately, our student organization, UP ACM, has two Special Interest Groups (SIGs) related to gaming -- the Gaming Guild and the Graphics SIG. I really hope the SIG Heads present more exciting and informative projects for the second semester.

Humans Getting Smarter?

2005-10-14T00:20:00.000+08:00

This article reports on a certain Harvardian's belief in "Homo digitas", the next step on the evolutionary ladder for the Homo sapiens species.

If you come to think about it, just how much information does your brain process day in and day out? If you're reading this blog, then chances are you've spent a considerable number of brain cells in absorbing, organizing, and judging the veracity of gigabytes of data from the Net, usually on the fly.

As a student, for years I've mused about one challenge facing people of our times -- to learn the world's past and present knowledge, which has been expanding with each new day, year, decade. Every generation learns the knowledge of their predecessors, adds to it, and passes it to the next generation.

Admit it -- even just once you had thought that "I'm smarter than my parents; I know more things than they do." If your computer scientist dad had to learn the basics of algorithms and operating systems in college, you now have to learn all of that plus pervasive computing and complex network protocols. (Might be an exaggeration, but you get my drift.) We have to learn the basics -- be it about science, humanities, and the arts -- and then progress to more complex topics.

And indeed, it might be true that each generation of humans is smarter than its predecessor. The same article states, "A New Zealand researcher named Jim Flynn discovered in the 1980s that the average IQ test scores were ticking up by three points--a full standard deviation--every decade since the beginning of the 1900s."

Which might mean that when my (future) son boasts to me, "Hey Dad, I'm waaay smarter than you are!", I'd just have to smile and accept the truth.

Rolling Out the Web Domains

2005-10-12T03:15:00.000+08:00

Scanning my old ACM Technews articles, I came across a mid-September item on the approval of a new World Wide Web domain, .cat (sites that promote the Catalan language and culture). A decision on whether or not to approve the controversial .xxx domain was deferred, as was the case for the .asia domain.

If you'd ask me, I'd prefer to just have a site under either .com or .net domains, and maybe .ph. As if I can afford it. Anyway, most people love to have choices, and ICANN, the 'big brother' of Internet addressing, has got a lot of those to offer.

Presently, there are over 260 domain names, a number that's going to balloon as people find more and more 'genres' to chop up the Internet into. Most familiar of these are the 'generic' domains -- .com (commerce), .edu (educational institutions), .org (organizations), .net (network providers), .gov (US Federal Gov't). Other generic domains include .int (international entities), .mil (US military), .biz (businesses), .info (information), .mobi (mobile services), and .name (you guessed it right -- people's names). Throw in the country domains (.ph, .us, .ch) and you've got a veritable domain paradise.

Of course, there are no draconian rules on who's allowed to get this and that domain. Except of course for the .gov and .mil domains, everything else might be considered fair game. Chances are you've visited a personal site (yes, cheesy stories on high school crushes and all) under a .com domain, or a business enterprise under a .org guise.

The 100$ Laptop

2005-10-04T02:10:00.000+08:00

(Photo courtesy of www.macworld.com)

Specs: Linux OS, 500 Mhz, 1GB, 1 Megapixel, Wi-Fi and Cellphone-enabled, USB-capable

Reading last Saturday's issue of Business World, I came across an article on a 100$ laptop being developed in the MIT Media Lab. Yep, that's right. One hundred US dollars. Barely 6000 Philippine pesos. And I thought a Php 30K laptop was dirt-cheap.

Anyway, the said laptop isn't meant for commercial distribution -- it's meant to educate children in developing nations. It doesn't take a genius nor a saint to appreciate the nobility of this pursuit. In UP ACM's essay for its winning bid for Outstanding Community Service, I wrote:

[In] a Third World country such as the Philippines...some of the more expensive physical resources, i.e., computers, are luxuries. These tangible assets must give way to an intangible one -- knowledge. In our country, knowledge is of the utmost value -- it has no price tag, but it is priceless. It does not crash, it does not break down, and it will serve you for life. Practicality dictates that in lieu of supplying people with computers, we must educate them about these machines.

With the advent of these 100$ laptops, basic computer know-how for children is fused with day-in, day-out hands-on practice. That's a powerhouse combination.

To know more about the 100$ laptop, drop by MIT Media Lab's official website for the project. Kudos to these brilliant researchers!

Sinfinity and HAMSTER

2005-10-03T03:00:00.000+08:00

Presenting two of our "babies" who ate up our time for the past month:

Qualifier, Philippine Emerging Startups Open (PESO) Challenge
Finalist, UP Diliman College of Engineering Marketing Competition

S^infinity is a commercial mobile phone service being developed in UP Diliman. Specifics are under wraps...for now. Behind the concept of S^infinity is Team Rijndael (pronounced "Rhine-doll", after a Belgian-born cryptographic algorithm).

Team Rijndael made it to the September 9 Finals Night of the UPD Engineering Marketing Congress, an event dominated by Industrial Engineering majors. I tell you, it is hard to convince a geriatric judge how wonderful an intangible product (i.e. technological service) is when your opponents are marketing soaps, gasoline, and tea. Ia Lucero and I presented S^infinity, in addition to writing the 18-page marketing plan.

But still, Team Rijndael disproved the theory that Computer Science majors are tongue-tied geeks who know how to program their software but not to market them. (We were the only Computer Science team in a field of seven finalists.) As consolation, we bagged the Best Exhibit award.

As mentioned, S^infinity is a commercial service; "brand name" would be an appropriate description. It runs on top of HAMSTER, which is the Team's thesis itself.

Highly secure Adaptive Mobile multimedia STreaming sERvice

FYI, Ia designed both the S^infinity and HAMSTER logos. Presently, Team Rijndael is in the thick of things at the PESO Challenge, a technology and innovation business plan competition modeled after the MIT $50K Entrepreneurship Competition. It is being held by the Philippine Center for Entrepreneurship and the Ayala Foundation. S^infinity is one of the 37 'companies' (pruned from 72) that made it through the first round. Again, I was Team's business plan writer. Talk about having a stereotype job, haha.

I'll be posting on our experiences regarding the first PESO Participant Enhancement Workshops in a few days. Wish us luck!

UP Parser Showtime!

2005-10-02T03:50:00.000+08:00

The UP Parser, Official Student Publication of UP Diliman's Department of Computer Science, has released its first issue for the academic year. Original release date was set in mid-August, but due to circumstances beyond our control, release was pushed back to September 15, 2005.

Apologies for the delay, but hey, we believe it was worth the wait. Eight hundred full-color copies, with a free MMORPG CD to boot! This is Parser Showtime, ladies and gentlemen.

You can view the online version here. For the PDF version, you can email us or drop a comment below.

ACM Webcast a Blast!

2005-08-25T15:30:00.000+08:00

The Association for Computing Machinery (ACM) A. M. Turing Award Lecture entitled "Assessing the Internet: Lessons Learned, Strategies for Evolution, and Future Possibilities" was held at the University of Pennsylvania last August 22, 6PM Eastern Standard time, and was webcast live to various gatherings of geeks and geekettes all over the world.

For the Philippines, local chapter UP ACM paid gracious host to the historic event at the College of Engineering Theater, University of the Philippines - Diliman, on August 23, 6 to 7:50AM Philippine time. UP ACM members and UP Diliman Department of Computer Science faculty were in attendance.

After Eduardo Glandt, Dean of UPenn's School of Engineering and Applied Science, kicked off the event, ACM President David Patterson gave an overview of ACM, its distinguished history, its stature as the world's first and largest society for computing, and the "Nobel Prize of Computer Science", the A.M. Turing Award.

Patterson then wasted no time in introducing the night's main attractions -- Vinton Cerf and Robert Kahn, recipients of the 2004 A.M. Turing Award and developers of the TCP/IP architecture, which basically allows the existence of the Internet and should be showered by 'hallelujahs' from Net addicts the world over.

"Vint" Cerf and "Bob" Kahn presented their lecture as what most (lay)men would call a "geeky" chat (I'd prefer "intellectual" conversation) between them, with ACM SIGCOMM Chairman Lyman Chapin moderating the talk. The wizardly duo proved to be engaging speakers, displaying the wit which absolutely made the lecture a lot lot more entertaining than I believe it should've been. (After all, academic lectures are meant to inform, not entertain.)

Several key points in the lecture which this relatively computer networks neophyte found to be interesting:

* Layering, while a very effective implementation strategy, isn't exactly a fundamental requirement for networks. Also, the Open Systems Interconnection (OSI) architecture's distinct lack of an Internet layer was mentioned by the speakers. Ah, the good ol' OSI vs. TCP/IP match-up...

* The end-to-end nature of TCP/IP spawned a lot of creativity. It allowed P2P connections, for example, to flourish, because the two endpoints need only to know what the heck they're trying to accomplish, never mind the medium between them. Cerf also touched on his idea of "the Edge" of the Net.

* SIGCOMM Chair Chapin broached the idea that innovation can spawn from any point, whether it's from "the Edge" or from different interfaces.

* The environment/structure of the Internet today doesn't allow for a big architectural change to occur, unlike the research environment of the past (uh, sandbox mode, anyone?). Nowadays it isn't the logical structure of the Net which is being thoroughly understood by people -- it's the business models.

* Cerf and Kahn were one in stating their idea of "creeping incrementalism"; the Internet is incrementally evolvable and improvable. Kahn also expressed his belief that even incremental change can be very hard to attain in a distributed system. The mobile nature of today's networks were also contrasted against the fixed terminals of the old, thus illustrating the need for file persistence.

* Kahn gave an analogy with Physics: like in Computer Science, the Physics timeline has key points where major upheavals had occured. The good ideas behind these upheavals not only needed to be damn good, but were strongly backed up by credibility.

* Other trains of thought were on "uniqueness and commonality", and interplanetary Internet (oh yeah, baby).

After a standing ovation signified the end of the lecture, an open forum took place. Several interesting points raised:

* After being asked, "Is there a way to shut down the Internet?" (analogous to the emergency situation of shutting down a nuclear power plant going critical), Kahn responded that we have no compelling reason to suddenly put the entire Net in the freezer. Not his exact words, but you get my drift.

* The speakers expressed their belief that the "Everything is connected!" nature of the Net works both ways -- it has a good side and a bad side. The latter rears its ugly head when organizations want to isolate parts of their own networks from the whole (e.g. internal networks). This is one of the driving reasons for the proliferation of Virtual Private Networks (VPNs).

* Kahn issued a challenge to the audience: Throw away the basics of Computer Science (yes, those early stuff you get to learn in BS CS). Can you identify the really major ideas that have popped out in the recent roll of years?

A second (and well-deserved) standing ovation marked the lecture's conclusion, with everybody ending up a lot more geeky and brighter. Count me in as one of those guys. Truly, an informative session.

And of course, UP ACM didn't fail to take care of its ranks, providing free food delivered hot straight from Jollibee. Boo-yeah!

Here's one looking forward to the next ACM Webcast!

[Watch out for a possible re-run of the Turing Lecture Webcast (recorded) in the upcoming Gee!CS event of the Department this September 14, 2005.]

Perl-Python-PHP Knowledge Sharing Session

2005-08-16T22:30:00.000+08:00

http://p3.upacm.org

The Association for Computing Machinery - UP Student Chapter (UP ACM), in collaboration with the UP Linux Users' Group (UnPLUG) and UP Computer Center, will hold a FREE tutorial on the programming languages Perl, Python, and PHP. This is OPEN TO ALL interested parties.

When:
24 August 2005, 12:00pm - 6:00pm
PHP, 12:00pm - 2:00pm
Python, 2:00pm - 4:00pm
Perl, 4:00pm - 6:00pm

Where: 1st floor UP Computer Center, UPAE Building, University of the Philippines - Diliman, Quezon City

Course Outline

* Language Basics
o overview
o variables
o operators
o loop control
o conditionals
o data structures/types
o functions/procedures/methods

* HTML Forms
o overview
o POST and GET
o form creation
o form processing

* File Interaction
o open/close operations
o reading/writing
o permissions

Only 20 slots are available per language. Registration is on a first-come first-serve basis.

For reservations, you can post a comment on this entry, or contact:
Ardee Aram ardee.aram@gmail.com
Waldemar Bautista waldemarbautista@gmail.com

or go to

http://p3.upacm.org

The 2005 ACM Turing Lecture Live Webcast

2005-08-15T18:45:00.000+08:00

For all members of UP ACM and the faculty of UP Diliman's College of Engineering:

The Association for Computing Machinery - University of the Philippines Student Chapter (UP ACM) will be holding for the first time the live webcast of the ACM Alan M. Turing Award Lecture at the ACM SIGCOMM 2005 (Data Communications Conference) delivered at the Irvine Auditorium, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia.

Vinton G. Cerf and Robert E. Kahn, recipients of the 2004 A.M.Turing Award and pioneers of the Internet, will lecture on "Assessing the Internet: Lessons Learned, Strategies for Evolution, and Future Possibilities."

The Turing Award, named after the British mathematician considered to be one of the fathers of modern computer science, is dubbed as the "Nobel Prize of Computing."

ACM, through its award-winning Philippine Chapter, UP ACM, in partnership with the Department of Computer Science, will be sponsoring this rare event here in the College of Engineering. Since the lecture will begin in the US at 6:00 PM Eastern Standard Time on August 22, 2005, we will be able to view the webcast live at 6:00 AM, August 23, 2005 here in the Philippines. Tentative event venue will be the College of Engineering Theater. Refreshments will be provided to all attendees who make reservations on or before Friday, August 19, 2005.

The official press release on the 2004 Turing Award from ACM International can be found here.

For more information about the Turing lecture and the live webcast, please visit this link.

Read more about the A. M. Turing Award.

Brought to you by the UP ACM Executive Council.

UP Diliman ICT Roadshow 2005

2005-08-08T22:00:00.000+08:00

ICT ROADSHOW 2005
UP Diliman
College of Engineering (Melchor Hall), 3rd Floor, August 9-11 2005

presented by:

PC Buyer's Guide
UP Diliman Department of Computer Science (DCS)
UP Parser, Official Student Publication of the DCS
UP Association of Computer Science Majors (UP CURSOR)
CS Representatives 05-06
Association for Computing Machinery - UP Student Chapter (UP ACM)
UP Linux Users' Group (UnPLUG)

Three days jampacked with Exhibits and Symposia on exciting ICT Trends and Technologies!
Freebies to be claimed, and prizes to be won!

ICT Roadshow
Main Event
August 10, 2005

7:30 AM to 8:30 AM - Registration*
8:30 AM to 9:00 AM - Opening Ceremonies (Invocation and National Anthem)
9:00 AM to 9:45 AM - Government Initiatives on CICT (Dondi Mapa, CICT Commissioner)
9:45 AM to 10:00 AM - New Gadgets 1 (Epson)
10:00 AM to 10:30 AM - Open Source (TBA) / Talk (Dr. Jaime Caro, UP AVP for Development)
10:30 AM to 11:00 AM - Piracy (TBA)
11:00 AM to 11:15 AM - New Gadgets 2 (Redwood)
11:15 AM to 11:45 AM - New Cellphones and 3G Services (TBA)
11:45 AM TO 12:00 AM - New Gadgets 3 (Microdata)

12:00 PM to 1:00 PM Break

1:00 PM to 1:30 PM - Broadband Intenet Access/VoIP (Richard Dequiña)
1:30 PM to 1:45 PM - New Gadgets 4 (TBA)
1:45 PM to 2:15 PM - E-commerce/Blogging Trends and Issues (Janette Torral, Executive Director, DigitalFilipino)
2:15 PM to 2:30 PM - New Gadgets 5 (TBA)
2:30 PM to 3:00 PM - How to Get Hired as an IT Professional (Roselyn Santos)
3:00 PM to 3:15 PM - New Gadgets 6 (TBA)
3:15 PM to 4:00 PM - Call Centers (Selwyn Alojipan)

*registration is open all day

For inquiries, contact Phillip Kimpo Jr. (09172779456, pykimpo@gmail.com), Geo Lubaton (09154017953, gclubaton@gmail.com), or Ia Lucero (09202974104, sofimi@gmail.com)

Of Colors and Personalities

2005-07-25T22:35:00.000+08:00

I've never been a fan of online slash weblog quizzes. I must admit that I've taken some of them, but have never regarded the results seriously. That was before my curiousity was piqued by the Colorquiz, supposedly a decades-old personality test based only on your choice of colors.

Surprisingly, the results I got were as accurate as William Tell's marksmanship (far-fetched analogy, but I hope you get my drift). I suggest you try it, if only to prove that the test's eerie precision wasn't a fluke.

Free personality analysis from ColorQuiz.com.
Generated on Sun Jul 24 23:15:42 2005.
(I took the liberty of emphasizing the most accurate lines. -- Corsarius)

Your Existing Situation
Needs, and insists on having, a close and understanding relationship, or at least some method of satisfying a compulsion to feel identified.

Your Stress Sources
Has an unsatisfied need to ally himself with others whose standards are as high as his own, and to stand out from the rank and file. This subjects him to considerable stress, but he sticks to his attitudes despite lack of appreciation. Finds the situation uncomfortable and would like to break away from it, but refuses to compromise with his opinions. Unable to resolve the situation because he continually postpones making the necessary decision as he doubts his ability to withstand the opposition which would result. Needs the esteem of others, compliance with his wishes, and respect for his opinions before he can feel at ease and secure.

Your Restrained Characteristics
Demanding and particular in his relations with his partner or those close to him, but careful to avoid open conflict since this might reduce his prospects of realizing his hopes and ideas.
Believes that he is not receiving his share--that he is neither properly understood nor adequately appreciated. Feels that he is being compelled to conform, and close relationships leave him without any sense of emotional involvement.

Your Desired Objective
Wants to make up for what he feels he has missed by living with exaggerated intensity; in this way he feels he can break free from all the things that oppress him.

Your Actual Problem
Takes a delight in action and wants to be respected and esteemed for his personal accomplishments.

Your Actual Problem #2
The tensions induced by trying to cope with conditions which are really beyond his capabilities, or his reserves of strength, have led to considerable anxiety and a sense of personal (but unadmitted) inadequacy. He attempts to remedy this by intense activity and by insistence on getting his own way. Faulty self-control can lead to ungovernable displays of anger.

The Corsarius WAP Companion Site

2005-07-19T14:30:00.000+08:00

Keeping me busy last week was a WAP (Wireless Application Protocol) project on my two blogs, Slip of the Pen and Crimson Crux. I wrote the WML code and simulated the WAP application on the Openwave SDK 5.1, with the Apache HTTP Server 2.0.54 running in the background.

Here are some screenshots of the WAP site (I know, it's a bit too primitive, nothing fancy here):

As you can see, the two-in-one WAP site is nothing more than a repository of the summaries of my weblog entries (yes, all 56 of them, spread over two blogs). I threw in the Tagboard and Polls sections to offset the one-dimensional 'feel' of the site.

CCrux* Announcements

2005-07-19T13:55:00.000+08:00

First item: My personal website, The Corsarius, has moved to http://kimpo.fil.ph. The same goes for the online version of The UP Parser, which you can now find at http://upparser.fil.ph. Be advised.

Second item: The prestigious Association for Computing Machinery - UP Student Chapter (UP ACM) is now open for membership.

Third item: For those interested in the progress of our thesis -- secure video streaming from a server to a mobile device, both real-time and non -- you can visit our group blog, The JSP.

*The informal name of this blog.

Wi-Fi in the Philippines - We Were First!

2005-07-13T23:55:00.000+08:00

[Fun stuff for the ICT-oriented. Came from an email-forward entitiled "Wi-Fi sa Pinas!" sent by Ia Lucero.]

Hi-Tech Ancestors

After digging to a depth of 100 metres last year, Russian scientists found traces of copper wire dating back 1000 years, and came to the conclusion that their ancestors already had a telephone network one thousand years ago.

So, not to be outdone, in the weeks that followed, American scientists dug 200 metres and headlines in the US papers read: "US scientists have found traces of 2000 year old optical fibre, and have concluded that their ancestors already had advanced high-tech digital telephone 1000 years earlier than the Russians."

One week later, the Philippine newspaper reported the following: "After digging as deep as 500 metres, Filipino scientists have found absolutely nothing. They have concluded that 5000 years ago, our ancestors were already using wireless technology."

UP Parser Celebrates Its Rebirth Day

2005-07-08T22:10:00.000+08:00

[Taken from my post in The Parserblog.]

To all staffers of The UP Parser, the College of Engineering's first and foremost department-based publication, HAPPY PARSER DAY!

For the uninformed, the same day last year (July 8, 2004), Parser was awakened from slumber. A bold, new staff was assembled, and the paper began with the most meager of resources. One year and four successful issues later, Parser has set the standard for what an Eng'g student publication should be.

Let the Department celebrate every Eighth of July as Parser Rebirth Day!

From our private e-group, here are little snippets of Parser staffers' loyalty:

From Jeric -- ITO ANG ORIG, at HINDI PAYAYANIG... UP PARSER! ROCK HARD!

From Jonas -- PILIT NA PINIPANTAYAN ngunit HINDI MAPANTAYAN... PAWANG KATOTOHANAN LAMANG... ANG UNA at NANGUNGUNA... UP PARSER!

Well said, guys! Looking forward to another year of campus journalism and computer science brilliance.

GO PARSER!

CS One of UP's Most Popular Programs?

2005-06-30T16:38:00.000+08:00

Popular in terms of applicants, that is.

According to UP President Emerlinda R. Roman's letter in The UP Forum, the top five UP System programs (in terms of the number of applicants) this academic year are:

1) BS Nursing - 14,635
2) BS Business Ad (Accountancy) - 5,369
3) BS Business Administration - 2,390
4) BS Hotel and Restaurant Ad - 2,296
5) BS Computer Science - 1,877

Of course, these numbers do not reflect the actual population of qualifiers into these programs. As an example, the BS CS program of UP Diliman takes in only 120 students per year.

While the statistics seem to portray a "the more the merrier" scene in UPD's Department of Computer Science, recent experience tells otherwise. The UP Parser's September 2004 editorial (also republished here) mentions the seeming slide of interest in the program.

Time will tell if this trend is to continue, or to reverse.

The Halalan Convention

2005-06-28T13:40:00.000+08:00

Ibahin mo ang kabataan.

Even if the government wasn't able to implement an automated voting system for the national elections, students of UP Diliman are ready to prove that they can computerize their own university elections.

Presenting...Halalan: Ograsiah!, courtesy of the UP Linux Users' Group (UnPLUG).

Anyone who's interested can drop by the Halalan Convention on Thursday. Here's the official press release of UnPLUG, freely lifted from Prem's weblog:

The University of the Philippines Linux Users’ Group (UnPLUG)
presents

The Halalan Convention

A public consultation on the specifications of the new Halalan (codename: Ograsiah!), next year’s mobile-based voting system

this 30th of June, 2005
at the National Engineering Center Audio-Visual Room (AVR),
University of the Philippines, Diliman, Quezon City
1-4pm

If you want to contribute to Halalan’s design, please come. This is a special call to all UP parties, organizations, fraternities, sororities, etc.

The University of the Philippines Linux Users’ Group (UnPLUG) is a duly recognized student organization dedicated in promoting the use of Free and Open Source Software (FOSS) and in advocating its philosophy through seminars, trainings, and software development.

In line with our purpose, we will be holding a convention, entitled “The Halalan Convention”, to allow the whole UP Community to participate in the drafting of the specification of the new Halalan codenamed “Ograsiah!” and to answer different issues the UP Community might want to raise about it. Halalan is an open-source voting system designed for student elections. It aims to automate the manual processes of elections such as counting, archiving and voting. It is designed to be lightweight, portable and secure.

ACM International Membership

2005-06-25T19:23:00.000+08:00

Finally! I'm no longer just a member of an Association for Computing Machinery (ACM) student chapter (UP ACM). I've become a member of ACM International itself! Several hours ago I received the membership confirmation thru email. You can now send me a message at pykimpo [at] acm [dot] org. You can also view my ACM vcard (virtual business card).

For those immersed in computing and ICT, a membership in ACM maybe just right for you. For the discounted price of $18 (the special rate for economically developing countries), you'll get the following (freely lifted from the ACM site):

Your ACM Student Portal Package Membership...

* Gives you access to over 450 FREE online IT courses, 395 FREE Online IT books and over 35 online IT publications!

* Will help you with your research, papers, discussions, thesis, and schoolwork.

* Can help you choose your career direction, succeed in school, and find the job of your dreams.

* Puts you in touch with a vast network of over 77,000 IT professionals and students.

* Will help keep you up-to-date with the latest news and information in the field.

Here I'll insert the perfunctory sales pitch: What are you waiting for? Join now!

Long Live the Alliance

2005-06-23T20:35:00.000+08:00

[I don't want to turn this blog into a repository of my editorials, but I feel the need to republish one, again. This time it's The UP Parser's February 2005 centerpiece. Certain people in UP Diliman's Department of Computer Science are misunderstanding the concept of the UP CS Network, an alliance of student organizations dedicated only to the DCS' well-being, and controversies are afoot. Thus, the need for this article. By the way, please don't mind the anachronisms in this one.]

As the Computer Science Week draws near, it is only fitting that CS students, regardless of extra-curricular affiliation, unite for one common goal — the betterment of the Department.

In what promises to be greatest CS story for this academic year, the CS Network has been established, bringing together eight CS-related organizations under one “mother org”. This groundbreaking alliance serves to foster camaraderie and cooperation among the eight organizations which, although related to CS one way or another, still maintain different mindsets, different agendas.

But these differences are what the CS Network aims to harness. Rather than being sources of dispute and competition, the divergent strengths of each organization shall meld into one, potent entity. One can already see the beginnings of an alliance envied all throughout the College of Engineering; the vast, diverse talents of UP CURSOR and UP CompSoc merging with the determined, academic thrusts of UP ACM and UnPLUG, enhanced by the volunteering heart of the CRS Team, Engineering Webteam, and DCS Student Assistants, and furthered by the journalistic spirit of The UP Parser.

But as the saying goes, the chain is only as strong as its weakest link. It is imperative that every organization within the CS Network fulfill the duties assigned to them. And, in the same way that everyone should whole-heartedly engage in alliance activities, no one should be left out. No one should dominate, and neither should one be a subordinate. This is because the CS Network is a gathering of equals, with equal rights and equal responsibilities.

These same responsibilities also extend to Department Faculty and the CS Representatives. Such a bold venture as the CS Network would miserably fail without the support of CS teachers and administration; it mustn’t be forgotten that the growth of the Department lies in a healthy, bilateral relationship between the learned and the learners.

And without the guidance and leadership provided by the CS Reps, the alliance would be a knight-less horse, full of sinew but lacking bravura. The four representatives who envisioned the CS Network and turned it into a stunning reality now face the task of guiding the “umbrella org” in its infancy stages, as well as ensure a smooth hand-over to the next batch of CS Reps. The alliance will be their legacy — regardless of whether it succeeds or fails.

As we celebrate the 24th anniversary of the Department of Computer Science, let us likewise celebrate the birth of the CS Network and rally around its cause. For this alliance — another first in College history — is ready to prove that organizations don’t have to be bitter rivals, but rather allies in forging the future.

Long live the CS Network!

Shift Ka Na Ba?

2005-06-19T12:40:00.000+08:00

[With UP DIliman ushering in a new academic year, this September 2004 editorial of The UP Parser is due for a reprint. I believe the topic is still relevant; I just edited the few anachronisms in the original article.]

Is the university's Computer Science program still in?

There was a time when only a select few would be admitted to CS, a program which may be truly called a 'quota course'. Then came the IT boom of the 90s, a period which found our department opening wide its doors to the flood of students intent on making it into the rich and promising IT world. This resulted in the Department of Computer Science (DCS) expanding the freshmen quota to 120, a number which still stands today.

But recently, there seems to be a slide in CS interest. While the number of freshmen enrollees has remained steady, more and more scholars are shifting out to other courses, some in their first year of stay. This may be attributed to the difficult subjects in the BS CS program, with students not finding the course comfortable or endurable at all. But the one reason which the department itself suggests is that incoming scholars regard CS as just a means of entering into UP Diliman. This may sound unbelievable for all the CS students who bit nail and toe praying for entrance into the CS program.

But as Dr. Ronald Tuñgol, former department chair*, puts it, the increasing number of shiftees has its benefits. This unwanted 'pruning' leaves behind the cream of the crop, the students who truly have the desire and fervor to learn CS, the scholars whose minds are adept and capable of handling the duress of rigorous training. Also, a lesser number of students means an enhanced quality of education: student-to-computer ratio improves, instructor handling of classes gets better, and so on. In short, the resources needed for education, both tangible and intangible, are concentrated on a more manageable student population.

And these advantages may very well be the edge that a UP CS graduate needs in the tough IT world. Here in the country, the UP grad, frequently nitpicked for his or hers shortcomings in communication skills, faces gritty competition from Ateneo and De La Salle alumni, and even from the 'Microsoft babies', the AMA-CU students. Outside of the Philippines, Pinoy IT professionals face even more daunting contenders in IT-wise nationals such as the English-proficient, low-cost-labor Indians, already major players in the outsourcing market (read: call centers, software development).

So while the perceived dip in interest in UP Diliman's CS program may seem disappointing, it may go a long way in helping students who are serious and diligent in their attempts to become the new players in the IT world. Who knows, maybe everyone's vision of UP's BS CS being the unquestioned finest Computer Science program in the country will cease to be a mere castle in the sky.

*Dr. Cedric Festin is the new Department Chair effective this semester. Dr. Tuñgol is on leave for AY 2005-06.

Updates on UP ACM's Stunning Triumph

2005-06-17T22:55:00.000+08:00

I first broke the news on my main blog, Slip of the Pen. More than a week after, people are still reacting to this impressive victory which proved that Filipino students are of world-class caliber.

Firstly, UP ACM's triumph has been announced on the esteemed INQ7.net website. The same article was also published in the news service's Global Nation section. (UPDATE 06/23/05: UP ACM is in the news.up.edu.ph website.)

As an officer of UP ACM, I'd like to thank the people and organizations who helped spread the word:

1) Buchicoy Unleashed
2) Drakulita
3) Percolation
4) Prem Rara
5) The Parser Blog
6) The UP ACM Blog (but of course)
7) Tsoisi
8) WuzzU.P.

(If you posted an entry on the said topic and I failed to mention you here, kindly inform me at pykimpo [at] gmail [dot] com, and I'll update the list.)

Below is the 'official' press release of UP ACM on the victory.

UP Student Org Beats First World Universities
By Phillip Kimpo II (http://kimpo.uplug.org)

Yes, the Filipino can.

A student organization based in UP Diliman’s Department of Computer Science (DCS) bested 750 chapters worldwide -- many of them from the US -- by winning the recently concluded Association for Computing Machinery (ACM) 2004-2005 Student Chapter Excellence Awards.

The Association for Computing Machinery - University of the Philippines Student Chapter (UP ACM), the first and only Filipino ACM chapter, bagged two out of the five categories, Best Community Service and Best Recruitment Program. UP ACM won 500 US dollars for each award.

Founded in 1947, ACM is world’s oldest and largest educational and scientific computing society. ACM’s student chapters are spread worldwide over 500 colleges and universities.

The Chapter Excellence Awards are given yearly to the chapters with outstanding Activities, Website, Recruitment Program, Community Service, and School Service.

Last year’s batch of winners were five North American chapters. This year saw the Philippines barging into the prestigious circle, winning not only the usual single category, but two.

The other three winners were from the University of Kansas (Activities), University of Texas at Austin (Website), and Dalhousie University (School Service).

UP ACM, founded in 2003 with DCS instructor JP Petines as its chairman, joined the Chapter Excellence contest for only the first time. It boasts of over 90 members, with DCS Professor Rommel Feria as the chapter sponsor and Ardee Aram as its present chair.

Community Service That Matters

While UP ACM was able to bag the Best Recruitment Program award through the phenomenal increase in its member population (jumping from roughly a dozen to 90 in just one semester), winning the Best Community Service award was entirely another matter.

It did not lie with quantity; it was the quality of service rendered which ultimately won the distinction.

With last year’s Best Community Service award won by a US chapter donating a batch of computers to a middle school, UP ACM decided to go on another track. It believed in the power of imparting knowledge, not material objects.

In its winning essay submitted to ACM, the Filipino chapter stated:

It has oft been said that when you give a man a fish, you feed him for a day, but when you teach him how to fish, you feed him for life. This axiom is especially pertinent for a Third World country such as the Philippines, where some of the more expensive physical resources, i.e., computers, are luxuries. These tangible assets must give way to an intangible one --knowledge. In our country, knowledge is of the utmost value -- it has no price tag, but it is priceless. It does not crash, it does not break down, and it will serve you for life. Practicality dictates that in lieu of supplying people with computers, we must educate them about these machines. And who better to educate than youth, on whom hopes of the nation are pinned?

Thus UP ACM held a computer literacy outreach program for the children of Barangay UP Diliman last April 2005 in one of the DCS’ computer laboratories. Sixty children from underprivileged families attended the two-day event.

Related Links:

• ACM Student Chapter Homepage
• ACM Int’l Home
• UP ACM Official Website
• UP ACM Summer Computer Literacy Outreach Program
• UP Diliman Department of Computer Science

University of Red Tape

2005-05-31T01:50:00.000+08:00

[Not qute a serious post, I believe.]

For three years, I've been spared the sordid fate of being the victim of UP's inefficient, failure-prone bureaucracy. All my grades have been faithfully transcribed into the College's records, and all my units have been properly accounted for. I'm in the right path towards a hassle-free graduation. Thank heavens for that.

Or so I thought.

I recently applied (er, paid) for a true copy of grades (TCG), a requirement by some of the companies present in the the Engineering Job Fair a few months back. It was nothing important, really; the paper would just serve to confirm my first and only stint as a College Scholar a few sems back (let me see that personal-best 1.68 GWA!). Of course, I unabashedly proclaimed the said 'achievement' on my resume, and I needed the TCG to back it up.

But disappointment of disappointments, I wasn't a College Scholar! The TCG sneered so. Mistakenly.

The reason? I had a 5.0 in CWTS 1, of all the subjects in the University. And what's more painful is that I practically didn't take the damn course!

I did finish a CWTS class, but it was CWTS 1 and 2, the one offered by the College of Business Administration. I got a passing mark on that (no numeric grades there, just P or F), the product of me and my groupmate's welfare work and fund-raising for Boystown Manila. That subject was also faithfully reflected in the TCG, all right, but alongside my supposedly 'flunked' CWTS 1 subject!

The latter was the "rappeling" course offered by the College of Engineering and Kampo Uno, of which I was an original enrollee. But after being enticed by the CBA's CWTS 1 and 2, I applied for a change of matriculation (change-mat). It was of course promptly completed, signed and authorized by both the Eng'g and BA parties. So, after all the hoopla, I was OFFICIALLY dropped from the Engg CWTS and OFFICIALLY enrolled in the BA CWTS.

According to the TCG, the last half of that last line is correct, but the first is NOT.

So, what was the purpose of me going through that systematic application for an OFFICIAL change-mat, if in the end it was still going to be screwed up?

The College has advised me to dutifully approach both of my teachers in the Eng'g and BA CWTS classes, and dutifully obtain the confirmation that I had dropped the former and passed the latter, so that I can dutifully pay for another OFFICIAL true copy of grades, this time with the right grades. I was also advised to believe in the excuse* that it was the CRS' fault, for it was the source of the TCG.

I am dutifully rendered exhausted.

Was it my fault in the first place?

*Computerized Registration System

[UPDATE: This article was reprinted in UPAlumni.tk. Thanks for the honor, guys.]

The Graveyard of Dreams

2005-05-22T18:30:00.000+08:00

Dr. Jose Rizal’s letter to Father Vicente Garcia in 1891 is both applicable for his times and ours, making it prophetic in nature.

In his words, “...our talented men have died...bequeathing to us nothing more than the fame of their name...all that these men have studied, learned, and discovered will die with them and end in them, and we shall go back to recommence the study of life.” This is true even in our modern society that is purportedly conducive to the free flow of information. If all the knowledge acquired by every Filipino since the time of the Spaniards — whether layman or scientist — was passed onto the next generation and not taken to the grave, one could imagine the vast ‘savings’ we could have had in scientific progress, in terms of time and labor.

Rizal also wrote in his letter, “Here you have the individual as the only one who improves and not the race.” Sad, but true. No one is more disgusting than a Filipino who hoards knowledge and refuses to share it with others — consciously or unconsciously, it matters not. Every country needs the full potential of its citizens in order to conquer whatever quagmire, stagnation, or downward-spiral it finds itself in, and it needs its people to function as one united intellect if it is to transcend its usual and expected bounds for national growth, especially in terms of scientific advancement.

By ‘one united intellect’, I did not mean people acting inhumanly as an uncreative collective in the nature of the supposed “hive mind” of ants and bees. ‘One united intellect’ means that even though citizens may pursue different branches of learning, the diverse knowledge they possess is made available for everybody; whether or not people would actually choose not to absorb some parts of that knowledge is irrelevant. What’s important is that the information is there, open for perusal and improvement, and not tucked inside one and only one brain.

Let me end by (mis)quoting a line I first read from a computer game — “He who denies you access to information dreams himself your master.” An axiom to be followed by despots and monarchs, but to be loathed by the democratic many. A Filipino who buries with himself a lifetime’s worth of knowledge denies the nation even the most minor of advancements, and thus subconsciously wallows in the delusion that he is a master over his countrymen, while in truth he is slave to his gross imperfections.

Commence the Hostilities

2005-05-21T02:02:00.000+08:00

It was December last year when I began blogging, mainly to hone my writing and for stress management. The journal, Slip of the Pen, has since then drawn a somewhat decent number of visitors to the sometimes angsty, sometimes comical, and mostly personal stories of its blogmaster, yours truly, the Corsarius.

This month marks another milestone for this blogger, as I unveil my second blog — Crimson Crux. This weblog will be the repository of my recent and upcoming pieces of (hopefully) serious tone. Topics? I can't put a finger on them yet, but they might include computer science, information and communication technology, Philippine societal concerns, commentaries on UP, and even the occasional memes. The most relevant of my school paper editorials will also be published here.

While I admit that Crimson Crux will be playing second fiddle to Slip of the Pen, it doesn't mean that the potency and quality of this blog will be diminished. Slip of the Pen is the apple of my eye chiefly because it is about me; Crimson Crux is about the world as I see it through eyes which unfortunately distort it to one which is acquiescent to my opinions. I believe that even before I can pen something about others, I must pen something about myself. Why? Two things:

1) Before you prattle about other humans and their cosmic and likewise puny handiwork (a paradox), you must keep in touch with your own humanity; otherwise, you’ll not be in a state of life, you’ll not even be in a state of death (I am pretty sure you still have a pulse), you’ll just be in a state of unlife; and

2) After all, I am the microcosm of society, and society is the macrocosm of the Corsarius.

There. Enough idle chatter. The rest of my posts will speak for me.

My friends, the Crimson Crux is now officially open for your perusal.