So you thought that I only followed Michael Phelps. Uhm, not true! I followed the whole swimming meet. I’ve rooted for the Americans the whole time. In women’s I’ve rooted for Natalie Couglin who had medals in all of her six events including a gold in 100m Backstroke. I really liked her. However, I like Stephanie Rice of Australia more because she’s so cute and pretty. I never rooted for her though.
2 comments August 20th, 2008
I was refraining from writing an entry on Michael Phelps, but I’m out of ideas. For a whole week, I’ve followed every race that Phelps swam, except for the 400IM that I missed. Bob Costas was right when he said that Michael Phelps as the greatest athlete is subjective. I’ll try to be objective.
Firstly, let’s concentrate within the sport of swimming. Compared to 36 years ago when Mark Spitz recorded 7 gold medals all in world record time, the swimmers were using regular swimming trunks and did not have modern training facility. Thirty-six years later, Michael Phelps broke Spitz record by winning 8 golds and 7 of which in world record time. Phelps was sporting high tech suits and trained in a modern training facility. So does that give Spitz the handicap? I don’t think so. Every competitors that Phelps faced were wearing the same suits and were trained in the same modern training facility. The competitiveness is not lost, as a matter of fact, it’s intact and more competitive. Again, there’s an issue with enhancement drugs (not illegal, yet). Hypothetically speaking, if Phelps is taking enhancement drugs that are not yet considered illegal, Spitz may also have been using an enhancement drug that wasn’t tested back then and testing wasn’t predominant in the 60s. I still agree with Spitz, that you can’t compare the two feats one-on-one, but Phelps has the upper hand and is to be considered the greatest swimmer.
Another issue is that back then, there weren’t that many events that Spitz could have joined. That’s beside the point. If Spitz joined 10 events, if Phelps really has put into mind breaking that record, he would have joined 11 events. Also, Spitz didn’t swim all four strokes; Phelps does.
Now comes the all sport comparison. It really is incomparable because swimming is an individual sport and sports like basketball is a team sport. However, I’m not far from the truth when I say that swimming takes a lot more effort than dribbling and shooting a basketball. There is the element of water which is a variable. You have little to no control over what water can do. Other sports does not have that variable to consider.
In conclusion, I know Phelps won’t be having the same program next Olympics, but I hope he joins the 1500m Freestyle race. If he gets a gold there, that’ll put a period in everything. Also, it’ll take a few Olympic meet before someone actually breaks his record. Maybe the 14 golds is easy to break, but the 8 gold in a single Olympic is a hard feat. The Phelpsian feat according to Aaron Peirsol.
Add comment August 18th, 2008
It’s not a secret that I’m a sucker for cool t-shirts. I visit Threadless weekly for new killer designs that are up for purchase. Most of the time I can’t buy because I can’t choose. I have TVJ shirts that I can find when I go home to the Philippines or have my aunt buy if she finds any. The most recent shirt order I had were Francis M’s 3 Stars & A Sun FMCC shirts. Not the best fabric, but it’s very Pinoy. I received a newsletter from Divisoria and in that newsletter, they were advertising t-shirts produced by ASTIGSHIRTCO. and I found them really cool designs. My favorite so far is the image I’m attaching with this entry. It’s flagrantly offensive, but a brave design.
2 comments August 15th, 2008
As I posted a few weeks back, I switched my mobile carrier from Sprint to T-Mobile. With the switch I purchased a Nokia 6301 unit. I spend most of the time in our basement because that’s my room. It’s an underground basement and network signal from any mobile carrier is very faint or nil. Most of the time, I had to go to a spot in order to get a signal. It’s frustrating especially if I’m expecting an urgent call. Thanks to T-Mobile and Nokia, my problem is solved.
I’m probably behind in the knowledge of this technology, but let me document it here anyway. T-Mobile has a service called HotSpot where if you have the service, you can use T-Mobile WiFi hotspots as your network connection. You may call it VoIP plus all the capabilities (WAP/SMS/MMS) of a mobile phone minus the wires. T-Mobile advertises the service by informing you that you can only use their hotspot, thus you have to pay for the service. I had to conduct an experiment before posting this.
After a few weeks of observation, I’m convinced that I can use any available WiFi network that will provide my cellphone an IP address and internet connection without signing up for the T-Mobile HotSpot service. I have my cellphone configured such that anytime it is on the range of my home network, it’ll connect to it. That means I have a very clear signal in my basement. Also in the mall where nobody seems to get any signal, T-Mobile provides a free hotspot — that’s the case in the mall where we frequent anyway.
I can’t say about other carriers and cellphone units because I didn’t sign up on T-Mobile simply because of this capability. As a matter of fact, I only realized this capability when I got home studying the phone. I’m really not a cellphone expert which explains my late discovery of this technology.
2 comments August 13th, 2008
Okay, here we go. You may have noticed drastic changes in the site. It looks more crowded than the previous one. Don’t worry, an upgraded version of the old one will return. For now, let me enjoy the pinkish motif. I love the header so much that it compliments the site’s name.
Over the weekend, I finally had my first entry at Tech Blog Philippines. I’ve been looking for a topic for nearly a month and I finally found it yesterday. I don’t intend to write regularly there, but I will formulate a better piece next time I come across an interesting gadget.
This morning, I took my learner’s permit exam for a motorcycle license and I passed. I’m going to take the rider’s course later this month or early next month once I’m fully geared up. I have to do this before the winter starts. Then save for a bike for next summer. I’ve been eyeing a Ducati Monster for a few years now.
Tonight, before catching up with a late entry before midnight strikes, I cleaned up my Friendster list. I deleted a few accounts which are duplicate and/or have been dormant for a few weeks.
Add comment August 4th, 2008
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.
Add comment July 28th, 2008
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
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
I’ve been following the Wordpress 2.6 pre-release builds and when I woke this morning, the admin panel was urging me to upgrade. I didn’t have time to do it this morning, but I checked out the video that the people from Automattic made. I didn’t notice any changes that could affect the site, so I upgraded my two sites a few minutes ago. I find that there are outstanding upgrades in the admin panel especially the plugins section. It makes sense to separate the active and inactive plugins because sometimes I’m confused if I’m upgrading (I also like a flag telling me I have a number of plugin updates) an active plugin. Selective activation/deactivation is also an awesome addition. There is revision trail, so that’s exciting. Wordpress is becoming a more sophisticated word processing software it seems.
Anyway, for those who are afraid to upgrade, I’m telling you it’s safe. You gotta love the word count also. Another awesome feature.
12 comments July 15th, 2008
My fellow CCNY alumnus, Andy Grove, wrote in The American about the future of energy in the United States. There he suggested that America ought to head towards the direction of electric fuel because America’s “exposure to the vagaries of oil supply is growing by the month.” I agree that we must make haste the transition from petroleum to electric fuel, but there’s one problem.
There is one big problem with vehicles fueled solely by electricity and that is the reloading. Electric cars can reach about 100 miles before their batteries need to be recharged. The recharge, unlike petroleum, takes time. That is the problem with electric power reload. That would be the main obstacle that engineers will be facing and are probably facing right now.
8 comments July 13th, 2008
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