Instant Imaginary Album Cover

In response to Ging's tag to a meme, the internet randomly gave me the ingredients to an instant album cover. A little Picnik-tweaking gave me this finished by-product. The gorgeous photo is originally created by SunsetSilhouette,  I claim no rights over it nor will I use it for commercial purposes.

Wanna try this too? Here's how:

1. Go to wikipedia and hit random. The first random wikipedia article you get is the name of your band.

2. Go to quotationspage.com and hit random. The last four or five words of the very last quote of the page is the title of your first album.

3. Go to flickr and click on “explore the last seven days”. Third picture no matter what it is, will be your album cover.

4.Use photoshop or similar (picnik.com is a free online photo editor) to put it all together.

5. Post it with this text in the “caption” and TAG the friends you want to join in.


I should really work out more on a pull up bar for a few hours daily. Heck, our treadmill misses me so much it's begging me for a postcard.

Precinct Count Optical SCAM?

Nearly a month after the first automated nationwide elections in the Philippines, the vote canvassing still took forever, like it usually did back in the old-school, non-automated days. I've gone to a wedding, Boracay beach, a town fiesta and various family reunions and we still don't know who the Vice President is. The special computers used for the recent elections, namely the PCOS (Precinct Count Optical Scan) machines, are now plagued with controversy and suspicions of widespread election fraud.

Were the flash cards used instruments of flash fraud? Some things just never change. Or rather, some things just get "upgraded" and technologically enhanced. Let's not forget that the infamous "ILOVEYOU" virus had its wormy origins in the Philippines, wreaking havoc in computers around the world ten years ago.

If this so-called Third World country can destroy the world-wide-web, what's that compared to a mere archipelago-wide elections? Meanwhile, all the citizenry can do is wait, cross our fingers, and pray that the computers finally spit out the truth.

I Tawt I Taw A Twitter Book

About 2000 tweets ago, I scoffed at Twitter as one of those thingamajigs online that wouldn't last; a flash in the cyber-pan. It's a platform that lets you beam your thoughts--from the mundane to the magnificent--to the world wide web, that is to say, to complete strangers...with the exception of followers who actually know you.

In this age of techno-wizardry in the form of seo tools and podcasts and apps, one can say that it's a small world after all, so small that it can fit into 140 characters (thanks to URL-shortening devices!).

Having come from the "Texting Capital of the World," you can say I've gained some valuable practice compressing messages. SMS gives you 20 extra characters to express yourself, though. With Twitter, you practice creativity in concocting conversations in compact 140 characters or less.

Twitter has definitely become the "Big Bird" of social networking, where you can eavesdrop on your favorite celebrities and get live updates on news and gossips. Twitter's global popularity has hatched some Twitter-inspired books such as the instructional one above.

Does being a "Twaddict" mean you're a social butterfly--err, bird, in real life? Non sequitur, mon ami. (Wait, that's Latin and French together.) Twitter is just a tool, real friendship is still ultimately cool.

WiFe=Wireless Feline

This is what my cat Siomai does when she feels you’ve been online too long. When you’re worried about computer memory and Trojans and virii, she just wants to hog your laptop once and for all. For her, it’s a warming pad. “Cozy” isn’t exactly a word you’d normally describe your computer, but to her, that’s the perfect adjective. Just look at the half-awake contentment on her face.

We Will, We Will, Rock Band You!

Behold our house guests from Manila last April entranced by Rock Band 2 on our Wii. They were so engrossed with playing it that they resolved to buy their own console, the more expensive Guitar Hero set, and the physically stimulating Wii Fit. They flew back to the Philippines with all three. They had their dad to finance their gaming shopping spree.


I was skeptical about Rock Band the first time we got it. I didn’t get how you were supposed to hit the notes. I did figure it out eventually, and hogged the guitar ever since, pretending to be the long-lost band member of Bon Jovi, strum-synching to "Living on a Prayer."


Instrumentally speaking, we only have the guitar and the drum set, not the microphone. We bought them from a closing out sale by Circuit City. We figured that if we wanted to sing, we'll just drown ourselves in Bacardi and karaoke. But still, look at how far videogames have come from the ancient Nintendo Game & Watch (a handheld game, albeit way analog).


I'm happy with the fact that you can scroll around the world on the Wii menu to see what the weather is like on any major city (with actual rain sounds if it's rainy), and even read syndicated news around the globe as they're updated (with specific map locations)...provided, of course, that there's a WiFi signal in your home.


Now, what's the difference between a DS and a DS Lite? (I'm tempted to say, "Lite") Beats me, but ShopWiki has "sub-wikis" on their pages to educate any curious gamer, as well as display all stores available selling a DS Lite. No need to wait for electronics flyers in the mail...the shopping info you need is just one click away!

Bada-"BING"!

Oooh...Watch out, Google. Looks like Bing.com is out to "cure" internet surfers of their "Search Overload Syndrome."

Bing is a new search engine launched by Microsoft that boasts itself as the "Decision Engine," one that lets the user decide which web results actually apply to the keywords we're looking for. Will Bing be hearing "Cha-ching?" Will people be cheering "B-I-N-G-Oh!!!"?

Their TV ad illustrates how keywords become a million things..."Search Overload Syndrome." It's like playing Word Connect, but with zombie-like after effects. It's a little surreal watching it.

Wanted: "Ethical Hackers"

Have you ever seen that Hugh Jackman movie “Swordfish,” where he plays this hacker trapped in a world of cyber-terrorism? The word “hacker” often conjures up a negative image. It usually involves stealing using advanced computer skills and knowledge beyond what an average person can do. It’s usually linked with internet crimes such as identity theft and online credit card scams.

Now, hold your breath, have you ever heard of an “ethical hacker?” I surely haven’t! Not until I came across this website that invites you to be one! Why use your computer prowess for “evil” when you can be one of the “good guys” by joining the IT Security forces of companies that need it?

EC-Council is this online instruction course that trains you for a high-tech career of Ethical Hacking, specializing in areas such as Security Fundamentals, Ethical Hacking, Penetration Testing, Computer Forensics,Disaster Recovery, and Secure Programming. Imagine that…Forensics has now evolved into the Cyber Era! And just to give you a sneak-peek of what they have to offer, they’re inviting people to register for a free, one-day preview of select classes! Their next one is on June 9th which will discuss the intriguing topic of “Ethical Hacking.” There’s still time to sign up!

Do you see yourself as becoming a Certified Ethical Hacker?

death of a mouse

his name was dell.

this unfortunate mouse met his doom in the jaws of our cat, maki, who has this strange, hazardous habit of chewing on wires and cables. my sister already had to replace her cell phone's headset attachment and charger because of maki's malevolent mastication. even my cell phone charger wasn't spared! a friend was able to fix it by reconnecting the wires and taping it. it works fine now, but the damage is permanently visible.

i was on my computer yesterday when i heard the CPU let off a beeping sound--a sound that warns you something is wrong. i looked down and saw maki having a meal out of the mouse's wire. i shooed him away, but it was too late. the cursor on the screen stopped moving. the beeping sound i had heard signified that the mouse was a flatliner.

i tried to peel away the coating to see if i can reattach the wires. you know, ye olde red-to-red and black-to-black method of repairing it. but there was more than two colored wires inside, and some were even the fine-thread types! it would drive me insane to dissect the wires and make them match!

see the bite marks on the wire? ay caramba. maki killed the wrong mouse.

so off i went to walmart today and bought a new mouse. she's white and her name is "mi."

litratong pinoy#24:aking kompyuter (my computer)

inaamin ko, walang kaarte-arte itong litrato ko ngayon...pero ito ang itsura ng aking kompyuter. regalo ito sa akin ng aking kapatid ilang taon na ang nakakalipas: isang dell dimension 2400 desktop na may intel celeron (celery!) processor at windows xp na operating system. ang orihinal na monitor nito ay isang flat screen, ngunit nagluluko ang display nito at laging "black-out" kahit anong kalikot ko ng connector nito sa cpu...kung kaya't nademote ang monitor ko sa isang mataba at lumang bersyon. ang mahalaga ay gumagana pa ito.

naaaninag niyo ba ang aming pusa sa larawang ito? tignang muli!

moomin postcards!

i'm so happy i finally figured out how to make the scanner function of our HP all-in-one printer/scanner/copier 1210 work. for ages, i've wondered why it wouldn't detect its scanner when i can easily print stuff from it while it's connected to the computer. now i know i didn't install it correctly, hence defeating its all-in-one purpose.

i uninstalled the software, then reinstalled it--this time making sure that the printer is still unplugged before it completes the installation process.

now that it's working, i can finally scan various things, such as the postcards i've received from postcrossing. i adore the moomin postcards from finland! moomins were created by tove jansson circa 1940's. they look like hippopotamuses but are really white trolls who live in moomin valley.

i love the vintage look of the illustrations. so far i've received three:



the finnish love their moomins so much that they even produced postage stamps in their honor:

igoogle's art attack

if you use google as your homepage (like i do), i suggest you try personalizing it with "igoogle." you can add your favorite feeds on this page, the weather, the world clock, and all other fun widgets suited to your needs and lifestyle. if you have gmail, you can also have quick access to your inbox from the igoogle homepage.

with igoogle, you can dress up the way your page looks by choosing different themes. what's so cool about some of their themes is that the pictures change according to the time of day. i've been using the utterly cute "tea house theme" which features a fox living in the japanese countryside. at different hours of the day, you'll see him having breakfast, tending to his orange trees, washing his clothes in the river, etc. at night, the theme also becomes dark and the fox sleeps in his cozy little house.

i'm very pleased to discover that they've come up with new artist's themes featuring designs ranging from a cartoon version of jackie chan to tezuka osamu's iconic robot, astroboy. my eyes couldn't contain themselves upon seeing jimmy liao's and snowcat's themes....they're both my favorite artists. i chose jimmy liao's eventually.

snowcat's theme will be the next one i'll try.

go on, give it a whirl!

birthday girl!

the clock has struck midnight...it's officially my birthday!

my sister was the first to greet me. she sang loudly and hugged and kissed me.

i am currently using her brand-new toshiba satellite A135-S4656 laptop which she had searched far and wide for in nearby best buy stores. she was able to get the last one at west paterson. it's a clearance laptop which she got for only $350. that's a great deal, considering that it has a dvd-cd burner combo. i'm also simultaneously trying out the cd-burning feature.

my birthday plans:

-wake up early
-walk around the lake
-drop by a church and say a birthday prayer
-get a haircut
-possibly get a manicure AND a pedicure
-indulge in sushi and other japanese food at minado, and then be sung a birthday song by their waiters
-bond with my family
-take birthday pictures
-make a wish and blow candles

yup, sounds like a plan....

beware of malwares

i just wasted a lot of time trying to get rid of annoying malwares from my computer. "malware" is short for "malicious software" which can be in the form of a virus, worm, or trojan horse that infects your pc when you unwittingly browse through the net and encounter pages which require you to download "plugins" thinking they are necessary to view certain features of such websites.

it's the first time i've ever encountered this irritating type of malware which appears as a constant alert message on your desktop tray telling you that your computer is in a "critical status" and needs some sort of anti-spyware software. it leads you to a suspicious website that supposedly provides the solution to your current pc catastrophe.

what's even more annoying is whenever i start the internet explorer browser, it goes to the said anti-spyware website and displays all sort of information that will send an innocent computer user to cyber-paranoia, forcing him to believe that he needs to download the suggested anti-spyware software (which could also be just as harmful).

even if i tried to change the internet explorer settings to use google.com as the homepage...it won't let me do it anymore. it is locked to that freakish fake anti-spyware website. they have a special term for this, it's called "homepage hijacking."

i googled my problem and found out that my pc was infected with two executable files called "dcomcfg.exe" and "atmclk.exe." i did a file search and pinpointed their location to the system32 folder of windows in drive c:. deleting them isn't easy as pie, either, because they aren't deletable when you're in normal mode of windows. solution? you have to restart your pc under safe mode with networking and then browse the folder where the malwares are and then delete them. restart under normal mode and then they're gone.

i hate having to put on my computer geek hat when things like this happen. i got it fixed, thanks to online forums detailing the procedures on how to remove malwares from your pc. it is just so time-consuming and not a very fun way to spend your weekend.

but my weekend wasn't so wasted after all. despite the rains, today it was cloudy just long enough for people to attend the 25th annual denville street festival hosted by the denville rotary club. there was a huge slide for the kids and a small ferris wheel, square-dancing, singing, crafts and food. here is how my expenses went for this event:

spending money: $20

-pretty wooden bird house feeder: $10.00
-two handcrafted wooden ornaments: $2.00 (a dollar each)
-sunday paper (to supply myself with flyers and coupons): $1.00
-hotdog: $2.00
-"honesty" organic mango tea: $1.25
-funnel cake: $3.00

...and it left me with 75 cents in my pocket. i'm very happy with the bird house feeder. i've been meaning to get one.

D-elightfully S-uperfast L-oads!

today our internet has just entered the next level, DSL. i know most people have already evolved to DSL whereas we are still on dialup here, but we never really cared that much about switching to faster internet before. we were content with having a cheap internet connection even if downloading stuff takes forever and that it meant blocking our phoneline from incoming calls. the ghetto surfing days are over.

the cable modem which came with the DSL package resembles the external dialup modems of old because of the blinking lights that indicate internet acitivity. it's still connected to the phone jack, but it does not interfere with the phoneline. sweet.

along came spidey

"highspeed internet" through a prepaid internet card is rendered illusory by an excruciatingly slow computer in dire need of reformatting. reformatting is hindered by a defective floppy disk drive in dire need of being adjusted from within the CPU, which entails using a screw driver and unhooking of cables. *sigh* not that i can't do the things abovementioned, it's just that it's too...complicated and time-consuming.

watched "spiderman 2" yesterday. lots of falling off from buildings because of defective spiderweb-shooting wrist. one would be tempted to think that the webs come from his costume, hehe. my friend, however, is more intrigued by how peter parker changes to his spidey costume. she's probably bothered by the idea that peter wears the suit underneath his casual clothing at all times...hehe.

my new DVD purchases from quiapo are the following:
-13 going on 30
-troy
-50 first dates
-school of rock
-intermission
-mr. bean the animated series

notice that my selection is mostly on comedy. at this point in my life, i need to laugh! hehe.