Last year, I tried playing Fantasy NBA and despite newbie mistakes, I ended up placing third. It helped that about half the players were inactive. In short, I liked it and decided to play again this year. I lucked out when the Yahoo auto draft gave me a good lineup
I was leading the league for the most part (Malabon Magtataho) until one team started giving away all its good players to another team. I am now down to 2nd place and would probably finish there. I don't mind losing, I just can't stand losing like this. Here is the trading history of my league for proof.
http://basketball.fantasysports.yahoo.com/nba/17334/transactions?filter=trade
It started on December 5 when Dunque Tanque traded his C. Bosh for Philies' Andrew Bogut. Then he traded A. Iguodala for G. Wallace and C. Maggette, which were then injured. After Wallace came back from injury and was playing great basketball, they traded Wallace for Iguodala again. They then traded M. Jaric, also injured at that time for Joe Johnson.
And now, Yahoo has informed me that they have agreed to trade Larry Hughes, also injured for A. Iguodala. I don't know how this person can actually enjoy winning this game if the only way he can win is by cheating.
End rant.
Thanks
Monday, January 16, 2006
Adware Beware
Found this site via digg.com, it is a site that evaluates various sites on how much adware they place in their "free" downloads. If you surf the net, this site will be valuable.
http://www.siteadvisor.com/preview/
http://blog.siteadvisor.com/
http://www.siteadvisor.com/preview/
http://blog.siteadvisor.com/
Monday, January 02, 2006
First Quarter Storms
I was just re-reading pete Lacaba's "Days of Disquiet, Nights of Rage" when I was reminded by a remark given by a friend of mine. He said that, President Arroyo is vulnerable right after the new year because historically, the revolutions (civil disturbances) in the Philippines happen almost immediately after the new year.
The First Quarter Storm (FQS), the subject of Pete Lacaba's book began in January, the first Edsa Revolution happened in February, the second Edsa was in January. He said it must have something to do with the people being rested because of the Christmas break so they have more energy for revoultions.
I am not sure if this assertion is true, coincidences do happen, the First Quarter Storm was sparked by President Marcos' state of the country speech at the Senate. The First Edsa came almost immediately after a questionable election and Edsa Dos was sparked by a perceived questionable decision in the impeachment trial of former President Estrada.
So aside from there being a "revolutionary situation", there were immediate causes that started the revolutions. The question we could answer is do we have a revolutionary situation today.
I would say yes, but not as much as during the first and second Edsa revolutions. But President Arroyo should be careful about the suspended debate on the constitutional amendments . The No Election (No-El) issue can comeback and bite her in the a**. The First Quarter Storm was after all partly because of the proposed Constitutional changes so the term limit for then President Marcos can be scrapped.
And Happy New Year to All!!! :)
The First Quarter Storm (FQS), the subject of Pete Lacaba's book began in January, the first Edsa Revolution happened in February, the second Edsa was in January. He said it must have something to do with the people being rested because of the Christmas break so they have more energy for revoultions.
I am not sure if this assertion is true, coincidences do happen, the First Quarter Storm was sparked by President Marcos' state of the country speech at the Senate. The First Edsa came almost immediately after a questionable election and Edsa Dos was sparked by a perceived questionable decision in the impeachment trial of former President Estrada.
So aside from there being a "revolutionary situation", there were immediate causes that started the revolutions. The question we could answer is do we have a revolutionary situation today.
I would say yes, but not as much as during the first and second Edsa revolutions. But President Arroyo should be careful about the suspended debate on the constitutional amendments . The No Election (No-El) issue can comeback and bite her in the a**. The First Quarter Storm was after all partly because of the proposed Constitutional changes so the term limit for then President Marcos can be scrapped.
And Happy New Year to All!!! :)
Friday, December 16, 2005
What were they thinking?
Two days ago (December 14, 2005), while I was engrossed on my personal problems, a new government was formed in the Philippines headed by former general Fortunato Abat (stories here and here). The former general declared the:
Which leads me to my original question. What were they thinking? Did they really think the people will rise up for a bunch of political has beens?
And the "revolutionaries" are not your ordinary crackpots, these people used to occupy high posts in the Philippine government. No wonder our country is in such a mess. If these are the kind of people we get in government, we are doomed.
Only in da Philippines.
"existence of a revolutionary transition government and the formation of a transition government council to administer the affairs of government"Yesterday, the most prominent members of this new government were invited for questioning by the police. (stories here and here) Why they were not just arrested is beyond me.
Which leads me to my original question. What were they thinking? Did they really think the people will rise up for a bunch of political has beens?
And the "revolutionaries" are not your ordinary crackpots, these people used to occupy high posts in the Philippine government. No wonder our country is in such a mess. If these are the kind of people we get in government, we are doomed.
Only in da Philippines.
Thursday, December 01, 2005
"Random Thoughts"
About half a month ago, a certain nashman wrote a comment on one of my posts. I was curious about this person who came out of the blue so I followed his comment back to his blog. What greeted me was another blog titled "Random Thoughts". It's probably a reflection on the originality of my thoughts that there is at least one other person who named his blog "Random Thoughts". :)
I became curious if there were other blogs named "Random Thoughts" so I searched through google blogsearch. And there were some, and I present them here:
There maybe some more blogs named "Random Thoughts" and if I missed you, I apologize.
I became curious if there were other blogs named "Random Thoughts" so I searched through google blogsearch. And there were some, and I present them here:
There maybe some more blogs named "Random Thoughts" and if I missed you, I apologize.
Wednesday, November 30, 2005
Avoid Land Bank
If any of you are planning to open a bank account, I deeply encourage you to avoid opening one at the Land Bank of the Philippines. Specially if you expect to be getting checks.
We (by we I mean my employer) has a project that made it necessary we hire some people from Mindanao. When we were about to deposit their checks in their Land Bank accounts, we were informed that the Land Bank of the Philippines does not allow checks deposits.
So I called the Land Bank office 551-2200 and asked them if this was true and what is behind this bizarre policy. It turned out, it was only partially true, the Land Bank accepts check deposits within a regional network, so If I am in Manila, I can deposit a check to a Land Bank account in Manila. They do not allow check deposits outside of a regional network, so since we were in Manila (well Makati), we are barred by this policy from depositing checks in an account in Malaybalay.
And why do they have this policy? The person I talked to said that they are only protecting themselves, in other words, they do not trust other banks to honor checks they isssued. But that is not all, they also do not trust their own banks' checks because they will also not allow checks issued by their own banks from being deposited outside of the regional network.
So a Land Bank check issued in Manila still cannot be deposited to a Land Bank account based in Malaybalay. How stupid is this policy? In an age of nearly instantaneous communication, you will think that it will be easy to ascertain whether a given check is good. Even if the process may be hard to do in Mindanao, it is easy in Manila.
It seems to me that who the Land Bank does not actually trust is their own employees. They do not trust them not to defraud their own employer. And rather than fixing this problem, they create a policy that actually makes life harder for their customers.
The thing is, they can get away with it because they are the governments bank. National government agencies and local government agencies are required to deposit their funds at the Land Bank. The government's payroll also required to be coursed through them. They know they do not need to compete with other banks to earn profit. This makes them complacent.
We (by we I mean my employer) has a project that made it necessary we hire some people from Mindanao. When we were about to deposit their checks in their Land Bank accounts, we were informed that the Land Bank of the Philippines does not allow checks deposits.
So I called the Land Bank office 551-2200 and asked them if this was true and what is behind this bizarre policy. It turned out, it was only partially true, the Land Bank accepts check deposits within a regional network, so If I am in Manila, I can deposit a check to a Land Bank account in Manila. They do not allow check deposits outside of a regional network, so since we were in Manila (well Makati), we are barred by this policy from depositing checks in an account in Malaybalay.
And why do they have this policy? The person I talked to said that they are only protecting themselves, in other words, they do not trust other banks to honor checks they isssued. But that is not all, they also do not trust their own banks' checks because they will also not allow checks issued by their own banks from being deposited outside of the regional network.
So a Land Bank check issued in Manila still cannot be deposited to a Land Bank account based in Malaybalay. How stupid is this policy? In an age of nearly instantaneous communication, you will think that it will be easy to ascertain whether a given check is good. Even if the process may be hard to do in Mindanao, it is easy in Manila.
It seems to me that who the Land Bank does not actually trust is their own employees. They do not trust them not to defraud their own employer. And rather than fixing this problem, they create a policy that actually makes life harder for their customers.
The thing is, they can get away with it because they are the governments bank. National government agencies and local government agencies are required to deposit their funds at the Land Bank. The government's payroll also required to be coursed through them. They know they do not need to compete with other banks to earn profit. This makes them complacent.
Monday, November 28, 2005
New Blogs
I started a new blog last week with the title kuro-kuro, which is viewpoint or opinion in english. This is an experiment in Filipino language blogging. I have occasionally used Filipino in this blog and I was contemplating of using it more frequently.
Circumstances intervened however when I learned that wordpress has also established a free blogging site. I heard a lot of good things with wordpress and I thought this would be a good time to try it out. So I did. I plan to write mostly about Philippine matters in this new blog and my other interest in this one.
This new blog is part of my advocacy. I have advocated that our government should use Filipino in official transactions specially in the formulation of laws and the proceeding in civil and criminal courts. This action will empower more Filipinos and hopefully encourage a more dynamic and informed civil society. I hope this new blog can contribute to this end.
Another new blog is greenjournal started by my friend from the redplanet. He asked me to be a part of the blog because as a socialist, I should also be an environmentalist. Which is of course false logic because socialist/communist parties all over the world supported the establishment of industries that cause pollution and environmental degradation.
But then we are friends he knows me. He and I grew up on a particular social milleau that questioned traditional socialist dogma including the the seeming unending quest for industrialization without regard for its consequences.
This is then the framework of my "environmentalism", an environmentalism that places the needs of humanity as pre-eminent. The reason we should preserve the environment is because if we don't, we will be the loser in the end.
Circumstances intervened however when I learned that wordpress has also established a free blogging site. I heard a lot of good things with wordpress and I thought this would be a good time to try it out. So I did. I plan to write mostly about Philippine matters in this new blog and my other interest in this one.
This new blog is part of my advocacy. I have advocated that our government should use Filipino in official transactions specially in the formulation of laws and the proceeding in civil and criminal courts. This action will empower more Filipinos and hopefully encourage a more dynamic and informed civil society. I hope this new blog can contribute to this end.
Another new blog is greenjournal started by my friend from the redplanet. He asked me to be a part of the blog because as a socialist, I should also be an environmentalist. Which is of course false logic because socialist/communist parties all over the world supported the establishment of industries that cause pollution and environmental degradation.
But then we are friends he knows me. He and I grew up on a particular social milleau that questioned traditional socialist dogma including the the seeming unending quest for industrialization without regard for its consequences.
This is then the framework of my "environmentalism", an environmentalism that places the needs of humanity as pre-eminent. The reason we should preserve the environment is because if we don't, we will be the loser in the end.
Friday, November 25, 2005
The False Objectivity of “Balance”
RealClimate - The False Objectivity of “Balance”
"We here at RC continue to be disappointed with the tendency for some journalistic outlets to favor so-called "balance" over accuracy in their treatment of politically-controversial scientific issues such as global climate change. While giving equal coverage to two opposing sides may seem appropriate in political discourse, it is manifestly inappropriate in discussions of science, where objective truths exist. In the case of climate change, a clear consensus exists among mainstream researchers that human influences on climate are already detectable, and that potentially far more substantial changes are likely to take place in the future if we continue to burn fossil fuels at current rates. There are only a handful of "contrarian" climate scientists who continue to dispute that consensus. To give these contrarians equal time or space in public discourse on climate change out of a sense of need for journalistic "balance" is as indefensible as, say, granting the Flat Earth Society an equal say with NASA in the design of a new space satellite. It's plainly inappropriate. But it stubbornly persists nonetheless."Read more
Tuesday, November 22, 2005
Use Firefox
From eweek.com through digg.com.
Update:
The proof of concept example is at the Computer Terrorism site.
We are talking of fully patched Windows XP installations. Furthermore"Exploit code for a critical flaw in fully patched versions of Microsoft Corp.'s Internet Explorer browser has been released on the Internet, putting millions of Web surfers at risk of computer hijack attacks.
The zero-day exploit, posted by a U.K.-based group called "Computer Terrorism," could allow a remote hacker to take complete control of a Windows system if the victim simply browses to a malicious Web site.
Ziff Davis Internet News have verified that the exploit works on fully patched Windows XP systems with default IE installations."
So dump IE and download Firefox."We have also been made aware of proof of concept code that could seek to exploit the reported vulnerability but are not aware of any customer impact at this time but Microsoft will continue to investigating these public reports," the spokeswoman added.
The proof-of-concept exploit, which is available from the FrSirt site, currently launched the Windows Calculator (calc.exe) but can be easily modified by malicious hackers.
Update:
The proof of concept example is at the Computer Terrorism site.
Monday, November 21, 2005
Furl
I have been using Furl for the past month now. Furl is an online bookmark service.
Of course, if the company that owns Furl folds, all the saved bookmarks will disappear so one should back-up the important links you really want to preserve.
"Furl is a free service that saves a personal copy of any page you find on the Web, and lets you find it again instantly by searching your archive of pages. It's your Personal Web."
"Furl anything you want with a single click. Each member gets a 5-gigabyte personal archive, large enough to store tens of thousands of pages."Its been a great help, specially when archiving Philippines news articles. I now have the leisure to bookmark the articles I want to read without fearing it will disappear in a week or so.
Of course, if the company that owns Furl folds, all the saved bookmarks will disappear so one should back-up the important links you really want to preserve.
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