Alien engineering part 2

A second installment of the ten part video on Alien Engineering as we look at it and compare it with out own technology.

Credit goes to RunzWithScissorz



Science and science fiction. Can there be a union between the two?

Travel time - what do jeepney drivers know

Just this evening on my way home, I got to sit right behind the driver and his shotgun rider. This is the evening after the morning transport strike. Early that day, majority of public utility vehicles did not go out to ferry passengers.

While I was whiling away my time for the more or less 30-minute ride, I heard the driver and his buddy talk. The topics were as follows:

1. Transport strike
2. Economy in Mainland China and its effect of the Chinese
3. "Buddy's" trip in the morning.

1. Transport strike

They discussed that the transport strike was effective. The strike was organized to voice out their frustration at the multiple ticketing scheme being used, particularly in the metropolis (Manila).

Both agreed that the strike was successful and that with a small sacrifice, they can have their resentments heard. On another note, they talked about the village patrol car that volunteered to ferry passengers still stranded that evening.

2. Economy in Mainland China and its effect of the Chinese

During the course of their discussions, they changed their topic to the effect of the economy in Mainland China on the Chinese.

"Buddy" told the driver that Chinese economic policies have severe effect on the Chinese. Because of this, those Chinese who can afford opt to leave the country and settle somewhere else. They also noted that most Filipino-Chinese own a successful business here in the Philippines.

Driver narrated that the Chinoys owe their success to the support of other Chinoys. He said that they help out each other in times of need. An example, he said, is when a Chinoy businessman goes bankrupt, other Chinoys help out so he can start over. But there is a limit to this help, he adds. He even said, "See-ke, ee-kao ak-yen too-long. Pe-lo pak ee-kaw loo-ke pa oo-let, aa-koo wa-la na ma-ka-wa."

3. "Buddy's" trip in the morning.

"Buddy" told the driver how happy he was with his trip that morning. He said that the traffic was so light and the passengers are overflowing. He added that he can do just two trips and his income will be fine for the day.

Well, until next trip.

When it comes to fame, education goes out the window

This week's hottest issue is the Philippines Department of Education's (DepEd) alleged banning of the National Broadband Network star witness Mr. Rodolfo "Jun" Lozada.

For the most part of the week teachers organizations, religious groups, and private organizations complained about DepEd banning Mr. Lozada from visiting schools. This weekend, it's the turn of the students to air their side.

Let us make a few things clear:

1. In an order published by DepEd, no word that means ban (forbid, outlaw, prohibit, veto, bar, proscribe, disallow, interdict - courtesy of Microsoft Word Thesaurus) is written.

2. There is absolutely no Rodolfo, Jun, or Lozada in that order.

3. The order was published even before Lozada organized his school tours.

4. DepEd is mandated to provide basic (elementary and high school) education.

5. The order covers graduation ceremonies of elementary and secondary schools only.

You wait for six or four years to finish school and look forward to a good advice on how to survice high school or what course to take in college. Then come graduation day, all you hear is the political scene of the country.

The bone of contention, I believe, is paragraph 3 of the order that reads "The graduation rites should be conducted in an appropriate solemn ceremony befitting the graduating students and their parents and shall not in any way be used as a venue for political forum." But still, there is no mention of Mr. Lozada there.

Yet they keep on saying that DepEd is banning Mr. Lozada. Now, they even say that DepEd backtracked it's "ban" when no ban was ever made.

These people are educated.

These people are in or has finished college.

And yet they forgot that they used to do research first before they went to class and delivered their report.

And this bothers me.

Is it because they just want their faces shown on television? Or their voices heard on the radio? Or their names printed on paper or posted on the web?

Why don't we celebrate the fulfillment of our years of work first, and talk politics later?

What do you think?

Alien engineering part 1

I have discovered this video collection from youtube uploaded by RunzWithScissorz.

This is very informative, the analysis based on scientific facts as described by guest scientists (I am not sure though if they are really scientists but why spoil all the fun).

Here is the first installment:

Traffic woes: the pedestrian crossing

On my way to UP, I had to cross a pededtrian lane to get to the jeepney stop. This lane bears white lines perpendicular to the direction the pedestrians take and a solid line parallel to that direction.

With my limited knowledge of traffic signs, I know that straight lines on the road mean that vehicles must remain on their side of the road for the entire length of that line and broken lines mean they can go from one side of the lane to the other cautiously.

Applying this principle in pedestrian lanes, I surmise that the two solid lines on either side of the pedestrian lane means vehicles must stop for pedestrians.

Alas, it does not hold true.

In the pedestrian lane that I and other people take to get to the jeepney stop, it is the pedestrians who must give way to the vehicles. While some drivers do stop to let pedestrians cross, most do not.

Is is because the drivers believe that they have the right of way because they are enclosed in a metal shell running at 20 kilometers an hour and we are not?

Is it because nobody has been seriously convicted of reckless driving resulting to severe physical injuries? In fairness to the authorities, some have. Except that those convicted are the poor careless-drivers-trying-to-making-ends-meet while the rich ones with fancy cars and next-to-nothing-road-safety-seminar-compliance get off the hook.

Or is it because licensing in this country is so easy? To get a license in our poor suffering country, all you got to do is pay up extra to take a written exam using an already-answered-test paper, and drive a car forward and backward.

Lots of new cars flood into this country. We do not only lack roads to accommodate all these vehicles, we also lack drivers who know how to use those roads.

Sony Ericsson K610i - night mode

I have recently purchased a Sony Ericsson K610i mobile.

Some of its features are:

• 2-megapixel camera for photos and videos
  
• secondary VGA camera for video calls
• MP3 player
• 3GP player
• Usual calendar, alarm, to-do, etc
• SMS, MMS
• Bluetooth
• WAP, GPRS

What is amazing about this phone is that it takes a better shot than my digital camera. It also has a good enough night mode system in limited light (i.e. shadows fall on the subject)














I took this shot without the night mode. This is a shot underneath my computer table where the shadow of the florescent lamp was covering the PC.














And I took this one with the night mode on. This photo has not been altered and it shows the original photo quality during the time it was taken.

So, if you are looking for a camera phone, Sony Ericsson, I believe, is the choice. :)

Linux how to: audio in multi-user PC

I am currently using a dual booting PC using Windows XP and Bayanihan Linux 4.

Under my Linux OS, I have created two user accounts, mine and my wife's. My account has been created during installation. But this account is does not have administrative rights. My wife's account, however, was created long after the installation is made. I will discuss this process some other time.

When I created her account and tested if the account is okay, I noticed that the audio functions of the PC does not work for her. Accidentally, while I was configuring user rights to my mySQL application (also under linux) I was able to figure out how to allow her to use the speakers.

Under Linux, a user has to belong to certain groups to be able to fully use the machine. And only root can provide such a privilege.

So:

1. Open a terminal program
2. Log on as root by typing 'su' or super user in the terminal window and ender the root password.
3. Check to which group the user belongs to (the 'user' here refers to the user you wish to allow additional privileges, in my case my wife) by typing 'id' space and the user name. The result will be something like this:

uid=1000(username) gid=100(users) groups=100(users)

4. List down the information under "groups."
5. To allow the user to have audio rights, type the following:

usermod -G users,audio (username)

*remember to include the group of the user that is shown after typing 'id (username)' because if not, the original user rights to that user is lost and replaced by whatever you typed in after '-G'

When I checked, she now has audio rights and can listen to any music available that she wants to play.

Hope this helps.