Retrospect

My Hotmail account summary says:

Registered since:  February 25, 1998
Country/Region: United States

I’ve had my e-mail address for a decade. That’s a milestone. The only Microsoft product that I can say I LOVE.

1 comment July 31st, 2008

War & The Economy

We all know that the two World Wars brought stability to dying economies of their era. Before the bombing of the WTC and the war on terrorism, US economy wasn’t so good. George W. Bush was elected and was made a scapegoat for the slide of US economy. So here 9/11 was a perfect opportunity to improve the spiraling economy. On the side note, it’s not being ruled out that Pearl Harbor was of the same opportunity to get out of the Great Depression. The American government was rumored to have known the threat, but created an excuse to halt the isolation and enter the war. Gawd! I love American politics!

Here we are, everything going up. We’re far from another depression, so hold your horses. Why did the war on terror not solve the economic issues of the United States? Firstly, let me explain in a nutshell why war would help a bearing economy. If there is a war, a lot of hardware is needed (guns & ammos). These hardwares have to be built, thus jobs are created. However, jobs aren’t created because jobs were outsourced. The intention was not fulfilled because of the recent surge of labor outsourcing.

America is in the verge of winning the war in Iraq, so let’s look ahead and discuss what we’re going to see. Apparently, oil prices are skyrocketing to the roof because the main source of petroleum is located in the Middle East. With their leaders’ refusal to pump out more petroleum to satisfy the demand, prices of petroleum will keep rising. So did the war in Iraq backfire on America? Yes and No. No in the sense that the intention was not to gain ground on petroleum market. It was to oust Saddam and destroy the haven for terrorists. Yes because inconspicuously, the intention of gaining grounds in the Middle East was there and no one can deny that. It’s not written in paper, but we all know it is there. I have yet to decide on my thoughts whether in the long run, the relationship with the Arab nations progress.

So war did not fix the economic problems of the nation. The country is said to have a huge deficit.

What is a deficit? In layman’s term (because I’m a layman), it’s a negative balance in your bank account. Borrowed money. America has billions of borrowed dollars and the bulk of it is from China. Does that mean that America is poor? No. All nations borrow money from other nations. Borrowing money is a relationship between nations. Most of the time it’s a strategy to hold a nation’s neck. The debtor can put a creditor on a leash if he knows what he’s doing. That’s also the cause of the downward spiral of the dollars, but it’s also part of economic stimulation. Look at Euro, everything must be expensive as hell over there. I’m sensing economic war between the US and EU :)

It sounds like I’m defending the US government, but I am. Also, I would like to conclude that war will not go away because it stimulates every thing that makes the world go round. So if you’re still baked and living in the 60’s, wake up and smell the coffee because it’s perfectly brewed.

Add comment July 30th, 2008

Weekend Getaway: The Recap

There’s not much to say because I have pictures to show. Saturday morning we headed to Six Flags Great Adventure to visit the park (duh!) We started off with Wild Safari which is a basically a zoo. We weren’t allowed to leave the car, so the photos we took had reflections of the windshield and windows. I had to select a few to be published here.

Afterwards, we went to Hurricane Harbor. I didn’t ride any except the The Big Bambu and Reef Runner. The file was long in most rides that we lost interest so we spent the bulk of our trip in the Taak It Eez Ee Creek.

Later in the afternoon, we headed to Sicklerville, New Jersey to spend time with a family friend. There we spent the night and the whole Sunday.

Wild Safari, July 2008

28 Photos

Wild Safari, July 2008 (Set B)

59 Photos

Hurricane Harbor, July 2008

34 Photos

Add comment July 28th, 2008

Weekend Away

Tomorrow I’m supposed to join the whole family to go out of town. The destination is New Jersey and the first stop is Six Flags. I haven’t been in the said theme park. This weekend is supposed to be my first time. We will be at the Hurricane Harbor because of it being summer and all. I’ll try to ride everything, but I’m guessing I won’t be able to handle it. I have a serious fear of height and most of the time not because I’m afraid of falling and dying, but it’s the fear that I might jump. I’ve always been curious of how free fall feels like. I should go sky diving, right?

Going away also means I’m going to miss the greatest performance night of Pinoy Idol. I’m really excited to see the performance because I saw Ram’s rehearsal and it’s amazing. I hope the weather won’t act during my absence so that the DVR behaves properly and I can watch the recorded show when I come back.

Today, I saw someone riding my Ducati bike. I really need to get my driver’s license before the summer ends. I’ll start reviewing so that next Friday I can take the exam for a permit. Then schedule a lesson at the end of August.

My silence starts here and I will end it with a recap of my weekend getaway.

Add comment July 25th, 2008

Independent Thinker

I was looking around WordPress for an idea for today and stumbled upon a bloggers iPersonic entry and thought I’d give it a try. I have the results below. Not perfect, but some are sound. Psychological theories are still a long way to go. I really believe that each individual is a diffusion of each other. They are the same, yet different. It’s like Philosophy. I’ve spent a few years searching for my niche in Philosophy, but I can’t completely pinpoint my loyalty.

Independent Thinkers are analytical and witty persons. They are normally self-confident and do not let themselves get worked up by conflicts and criticism. They are very much aware of their own strengths and have no doubts about their abilities. People of this personality type are often very successful in their career as they have both competence and purposefulness. Independent Thinkers are excellent strategists; logic, systematics and theoretical considerations are their world. They are eager for knowledge and always endeavor to expand and perfect their knowledge in any area which is interesting for them. Abstract thinking comes naturally to them; scientists and computer specialists are often of this type.

Independent Thinkers are specialists in their area. The development of their ideas and visions is important to them; they love being as flexible as possible and, ideally, of being able to work alone because they often find it a strain having to make their complex trains of thought understandable to other people. Independent Thinkers cannot stand routine. Once they consider an idea to be good it is difficult to make them give it up; they pursue the implementation of that idea obstinately and persistently, also in the face of external opposition.

Independent Thinkers are not the type who easily comes out of his shell. Speaking about their emotional life is also not one of their strong points. Anyway, social relationships are not particularly important to them; they are happy with just a few, close friends who find it easy to share their intellectual world. They find it difficult to establish new ties. In love, they need a lot of space and independence but this does not mean that their partner is not important to them. Independent Thinkers often make a cool and reserved impression on others; but this impression is deceptive: they can hardly bear it if people close to them should reject them. They prefer a harmonious, balanced relationship with a partner who shares their interests and with whom they can realize their visions.

Take the free personality test and determine your iPersonic type!

3 comments July 24th, 2008

MSSQL Server 2005

I’m currently working with MSSQL Server 2005 and why does Microsoft have to make everything difficult? With MySQL, a multiple insert is as simple as INSERT INTO table (columns) VALUES (array of values), (another array of values), … (last array of values). This way works in MS SQL 2008, but that’s another expense.

My current assignment in the office is to export and import MS Access data into a completely different schema in MSS. I will pose a problem at the end of this entry and if someone has a solution, I would be grateful to you.

Multiple insert in MSSQL 2005 Thanks to Pinal Dave for this

USE database_name
GO
INSERT INTO table_name (column1, column2, ... columnN)
SELECT 'value1a', 'value2a', ... 'valueNa'
UNION ALL
SELECT 'value1b', 'value2b', ... 'valueNb'
...
UNION ALL
SELECT 'value1n', value2n', ... 'valueNn'

Problem: How would I do a SELECT…INSERT in the middle of an insert because one or more columns are foreign keys. That way I don’t have to verify my data before inserting. Have the machine do it for me. For instance:

USE database_name
GO
INSERT INTO table_name (column1, column2, ... columnN)
SELECT 'value1a', [SELECT...INSERT], ... 'valueNa'
UNION ALL
SELECT 'value1b', [SELECT...INSERT], ... 'valueNb'
...
UNION ALL
SELECT 'value1n', [SELECT...INSERT], ... 'valueNn'

Add comment July 23rd, 2008

Mobile Carrier Switch

I finally had the guts to get rid of my Treo with Sprint. I kind of tolerated Treo’s malfunction for the past year. What I really hate with CDMA service is that I can’t change my phone. So here I finally switched to my former carrier, T-Mobile. My colleague was selling me AT&T, but there’s one feature that made me decide for T-Mobile. That’s SMS/MMS messaging rate for both domestic and international. Signal is no matter for me because whatever they say, that factor is relative.

I ported my old number to the new carrier so that I don’t have to inform people of my number. Besides, it’s free. Anyway, the porting should take about 48 hours, but after the 48th hour, I still didn’t have my number. So I called T-Mobile number transfer support and I found out that the pin# we provided was wrong. I had to reset the pin# via MySprint and it finally went through. The support representative was excellent and made the process very easy. This morning when I woke up, my Nokia 6301 was blinking its beacon telling me that the number was successfully ported. Finally I’m back to a normal telephone.

Now I should send my rebate form.

1 comment July 22nd, 2008

Fashionista Ka Pa Rin!

A few years ago watching people on Filipino TV wearing parkas bothered me. The country is very hot, yet people wore warm clothings. Nowadays with all the typhoons hitting the nation, I’m excusing such display. However, what bothers me now is the new trend that artists are starting in Philippine showbiz. They are now wearing scarves and shawls.

How cold is it in the Philippines for these “fashionista wannabees” to be wearing scarves and shawls? I strongly believe that fashion compliments the season. Aren’t these people scorching with scarves tightly bundled on their necks? I blame Korean Drama for this trend, but it makes sense in Korea because it’s cold there. Not in the Philippines. Do these people know that every time foreigners see them on TV they are laughing because of their so called “fashion” sense?

Panawagan, Christian Bautista… Hindi ka ba naiinitan sa porma mo?

Add comment July 22nd, 2008

JoKoy

So it seems that I will be upgrading my cable programming this coming Fall. JoKoy announced on Adobo Nation that Comedy Central is giving him his own show The JoKoy Show. I really enjoy his standups if I get a chance to see him on TV. I even bought a DVD compiling his early rise in the industry. It’s YouTube quality, but it’s fine with me. He’s a proud Filipino (he’s half American) and he’s on target when he cracks jokes about Filipino culture. I especially enjoyed when he told the audience how his mother pronounces his name (JoooSep! JoooSep!)

I will be able to follow Carlos Mencia also, so the additional fee would be worth it. I’ll just have Google AdSense pay for it :)

Add comment July 21st, 2008

Electronic Voting

Before leaving the house, I saw on the news that the Philippines’ Commission on Elections (COMELEC) will pilot an electronic voting process in the Autonomous Region of Muslim Mindanao (ARMM) in the coming gubernatorial (regional) election in the region. The machines are provided by Avante.

Electronic voting is still a huge issue in the United States and we debated the issue in one of my classes. A few nations have been using this technique for their elections, to some degree. The system is said to be “very” secure according to Smartmatic Sahi’s Vince Dizon because it uses an encryption similar to internet banking.

I’m pessimistic (once again) with this advancement. Firstly, ARMM is a very significant region in the current world affairs. If it was local government we’re talking about, then it would be okay, but this election affects several provinces. My pessimism lies on the technology. Any electronic device that we know of is insecure. Unless the system is using quantum encryption (which is not 100% secure anymore) then my pessimism would go away. If they are using an encryption that internet banking is using, then they are using decades old technology and have been documented to have been broken.

Government is more crucial than banking. If the system in banking catches an anomaly, they can always revert the numbers. In the government, you can’t ask the people to vote again. Election is not stateful, while banking is stateful. There’s a reset in banking, but none in election.

Do I need to mention the possible hackers? I think I’ll leave that to your imagination.

Add comment July 21st, 2008