• I have now started to write for the newest Exchange Tech.Exchange. I will write on that every weekday and optionally on weekends.
• I also have enough PRs of gadgets to upload to Tech.Ex's Gadget Gallery so that I'd not run out for a year if I uploaded one a day.
• I have launched a new feature on MomEx called School Reviews. I imported 1,577 records of NCR DECS accredited schools into it, from which visitors to the site can leave comments and rate from 1 to 10 stars. Here's a sample school, where you can see people comment below, consequently leaving info important for other parents.
• I plan to import the rest of the DECS schools nationwide, probably totalling in the 10,000 onwards, including public schools. By June, I hope people will rely on it as a resource for where to enroll their kids.

Not to mention a plan to upgrade Kikay Exchange, and to launch a new company.

At any rate, this, my blog, will always survive as long as I occasionally think of writing stuff that I can't use in any of the other blogs. As it is though, LHL will be a quiet place for the most part, so subscribe to its feed if you wanna keep up with news re me so that you won't have to visit it so often.

Later folks. Wish me luck on the new ventures.

But to those who want to make a change in this world, you can't go wrong in finding inspiration at the ostentatious, silly looking man in the top hat who, crazily enough, finds beauty in the Philippines. What an out of this world opinion, right? I mean, isn't the logical thing to get the hell out of here?

And so to you Carlos, whose tour I wanna join one day but probably won't do anything about (being a loser), here's my little post on my blog that serves to say how much I admire you, and people like you, who work against the literal tide of humanity making a beeline for the exit.

And secondly but no less as importantly, thank you for qualifying what I had known all along, but wasn't very clear to me until I subscribed to, and read more about you and what you do, via your blog.

It's the realization that I love my country, and that I want to be a part of fixing it.

We’re hoping that you could do a 30-minute to an hour talk about blogging as a business venture. I would have chosen from our blogger-attendees during the 88DB Bloggers Night last month but I deemed that your Exchange sites are more successful than other blog sites. Since it is a short talk, I think you would be able to come up with a minimal presentation. A projector will be provided.

Man they sure know how to get a guy's attention. But then they said this:

I will give you two choices for the schedule. It’s either May 21 (Wednesday), 5-6 PM or May 22 (Thursday), 4-5 PM. You don’t have to worry about the audience, Sir; they told me that the number of people / jobseekers tend to increase in the afternoon.

The bold parts probably hinting that there might not be too many people.

But then I decided why the heck not. It's time I share some of the stuff I know, and if it helps even just one dude make a good blog why not right?

So yeah, I'll be there on the 21st, 5-6 PM, World Trade Center. I promise to teach anyone who's interested everything I know that could be the reason behind Basketball Exchange, Kikay Exchange and Mom Exchange's relative popularity, plus my views on how to make a relevant blog that's worth visiting often.

Or, at least everything I'm comfortable sharing. I will try my best to make it worthwhile.

EDIT: Moved to 4-5 PM, still on the 21st.

He said he had heard of my sites from his kumpare Alwell whose managed web hosting service I used to use, probably when they were talking shop. I had to leave Mobilehive when the sites were exceeding my monthly allocations almost within the 1st week, which I'm sure I talked about at length on this blog.

Anyway, Abe has always been on my radar, but we've never had the chance to meet, mostly because I haven't ever attended any sort of blog meetup or conference since I started. When we started talking, I felt as if I was talking to an old friend, and for good reason. He is the only person I have met who is in exactly the same business as I am, doing almost the same methods as I do as well. We are both publishers and we each own several blogs, each of which pursue their own paths. He came in from the web hosting side of things, never expecting to write, while I came from the writing and publishing world so to speak.

We both code, and funny enough we went through several similar stages in the dogged pursuit of our businesses. He recounted a time when he had to literally take a job just to get a credit card, which reminds me of a time when a good friend and I stole borrowed a friend's motorcycle to buy a new hard disk for our busted computer because we didn't have enough money for jeep fare and we had to get our website up. We also had our adventures with our own credit card, some bordering on the criminal, all hilarious now as I look back.

What strikes me most is his humble demeanor, a giveaway to his simple beginnings and no nonsense way of discussing and explaining things. He was very open to me and I hope I was just as accomodating, considering he shared a few insights I feel I should discuss with him further, given his trust in me in sharing them.

I hope to be able to speak with him at length again, although I doubt it considering we're both fairly busy. What I mean with this is that I don't think he's the type who'd waste time shooting the breeze and neither am I. Besides, we are essentially competitors, and so there isn't really much business for us to discuss unless something mutually beneficient comes up, so we'd have to wait for that.

At any rate, he is scrappy, down to earth, an intelligent and interesting conversation and from what he told me, quite disciplined as well. And for the first time in quite awhile I didn't sense that usual bloated, bruised or otherwise overly sensitive ego I normally encounter whenever I meet people in my field.

No wonder his sites rake it in.

flickmaniac.com

awww yeah. I admit there was a point when I was wondering if I was even gonna resurrect either blog, but I decided, what the heck. The cost isn't too steep and besides, I really don't like the idea of stuff I've written in either blog to just disappear forever. Not that I'm necessarily the most read-worthy or sensible (or even consistent) blogger in the world but hey, I occasionally have my moments (at least I hope so) so I really don't want it all to end up as some .tarball on my hard disk after all that work.

Having said that, I'd like to say I also miss PWIT (Philippine Week in Tech) too, which I was writing for a few months back but unfortunately was put to pasture by Adel. Truth is I have a lot of explaining to do as per the fact I missed out on writing duties on that blog when it was still around, but at the end of the day I kinda feel bad that stuff I wrote on it is gone forever. So Adel, if you read this, please holler if you're interested in working to put it together again ok? I promise I'll be more diligent in my writing duties.

Speaking of which, I'm now off to attend an event for SME Insight, the only dead tree publication I'm still writing for to date. After that is to my client at Ortigas, then an important meeting with PLUG where we need to sort out things.

Details of which require a whole new post altogether, but one I am unable to make due to time constraints. Will endeavor to do so at a later date. For now, see y'all later.

Now I know that counter can be wrong and is nowhere near as accurate as I'd want it to be, but 2412 times?!?! Even if the right number is just half that, I'd still be floored.

The reason why these things surprise me I think, is really because I really just write for myself when I write on this thing. Now I know that sounds like a whole lotta hallelujah, but that's the truth. Stuff happens to me, and I wanna write it here so I won't forget. Writing it here, I get to put a date and time stamp on it, and maybe two or three folks, like, say, a batchmate or a relative, will check it out and chime in with their own thoughts. Perfectly reasonable, right?

But 2412?!? Wow, if I say so myself.

So anyway, to the subject at hand (for a person who claims he just writes for himself, he sure is saying a lot).

Jill and I spend a lot of time looking around at other Kikay websites, along with Chief Mom Jen, looking for other Mom / Parenting sites as well. Anyway, so from looking at them, I realized the common denominator, and that is - a distinct need to learn Photoshop.

So ok, some of them need to learn to write too. But that's the minority, and heck if a site doesn't 'speak' well it doesn't even rank, so those sites are out the window. For the most part, those that do hold promise show the following common issues: a.) oversized pics, b.) badly cropped pics and c.) badly placed pics. A and B can both be fixed by some Photoshop knowledge, while C requires some HTML knowledge, but if you're good at Photoshop to begin with, you may be able to pull a good post off while staying in WYSIWIG mode.

So now we have pinpointed the issue, here's my (ahem) advice:

1. Recognize that each post is a production. A blogpost for a magazine style blog such as Kikay or Momex has to be worked at. There's research involved, to make sure you're not talking crap and not just making things up. Then you have to start looking for appropriate pics - and when you find some, make sure they're non - copyrighted, or if they are, make sure to give due notice where you got them. Next, you sit down and properly write it up, then finally, you lay it out using your html editor along with Photoshop.
2. Buy a Photoshop Book. A cheap, beginner one will do. You will need to learn two things a. How to resize images, and b. how to crop. THAT'S IT. A Big honking Photoshop book will look impressive, but you only need to learn those two things and none more, so spare your money. Alternatively, you could:
3. Look it up on the web. Google 'how to resize images in photoshop' and 'how to crop images in photoshop'. I won't do that for you, you go right ahead and cut and paste that into Google and DIY.
4. Try to keep your images mostly the same size. If it is a pic to accompany a post, something with the width or 300 pixels or so will do. Once you've done that, use the same size more or less, for future posts. I promise you that the whole blog's index page (aka home page), will look greeeaaat and professional if the pics and blogposts are well - aligned and the same size. Further note: If you are using WordPress, or a blog hosted in WordPress.com, you may also want to learn more about the powerful 'more' tag, which is terrific for making posts uniform in height. Alternatively, you can also try the 'page' tag.
5. Use the following code to wrap an image to the left of text:
   <img src="http://whereyourpictureis" align='left'/>
   Change the align value to right if you want it to go to the right. If you want it to be centered on the page, wrap it around div tags, like this:
   <div align="center"><img src="http://whereyourpictureis" align='left'/></div>

   That's a good trick for very large pics.

6. To put a 5 pixel amount of whitespace in between your pics and text, insert vspace='5' hspace='5' onto your img code, like this:
   <img src="http://whereyourpictureis" align='left' vspace='5' hspace='5'>.

   This may or may not work depending on your CSS stylesheet, some of which automatically insert white space around images, some of which inexplicably, ignore them. Experiment with these first.

Well that's it for the moment, I'll append to this if I think of some more img related stuff.

I admit one of the reasons I like helping out these Kikay girls to make their Fashion websites is because such sites are, to me, what passion about the Internet is all about. I love it whenever I hear of someone passionate about something deciding to put up a page or two describing their hobby / career / whatever it is that rocks their boat.

The people who do these, to me, are what makes the Internet interesting. Not the techie stuff. Not the geeky stuff, but the geeks who write about their geeky stuff. It can be some dude rocking on about his comic book collection, or some guy who talks about his muscle cars, or yes, some girl who loves fashion and make up and who just wants to share her finds with the world. It's these people that power the 'net.

But passion isn't enough. Looking at all those sites that've fallen by the wayside, that's become fairly obvious. If you're gonna do it, do it right (insert a thousand other similarly framed cliches here), and learn the tools you need to get your stuff across. For now, take up my tips above, if it doesn't help say what you feel at my comment section below. But whatever you do, if you gonna make yourself a site, learn Photoshop.

dang. shoulda paid more attention i guess.

all beef patties special sauce lettuce cheese..

.. pickles onions on a sesame seed bun, baby.

So basically I'm just going around trying to figure out what else to throw my spectacular wealth at. And when I say spectacular I mean spectacular. I don't wanna brag, but I'm thinking Jollibee, ladies. Champ.

Anyway, a few months ago, a blogger in a (more or less) popular group blog was peeved at a recent news announcement (i'm gonna try to make this as anonymous as possible, basically because I'm a nice guy, but really, I don't wanna piss him off either because - well, it's just too easy). Anyway, there was news / PR item which really ticked him off and he wrote about it on their blog of course.

Prob was, it was purely a PR item, and whilst I tried to explain it to him on their comments section, and tried to get him to email me to keep from explaining how it (PR) works to him in public, he was intent on keeping pissed, and even emailed the parties involved, which was the right thing to do if you wanted to get to the bottom of it, but unfortunately instead of investigating, he went ahead and lambasted them for their decision, being, in his mind representative of the Great Philippine Blogosphere (what is that anyway? aren't we all just writers / publishers?).

Doing so, he accomplished three things. One, he negated any possibility that said parties would respond in an informative manner, seeing as he had already made up his mind. Two, by his actions the group blog's credibility went down a notch as well. And three, I came to the realization that Phil. print journalism has nothing to worry about from the bloggers (okay the 'blogosphere'). Without the maturity of an editor, a publisher, or anyone to look over your shoulder to tell you what you're writing is crap, amateur copy is gonna come out over and over again.

I contemplated looking over to their blog right now as I wrote this, but even then couldn't do so probably because since he had done that, my subconscious is telling me I'd just be wasting my time. Which is a pity because imo, group blogs are the way to go, with my sites as obvious examples to my belief in this.

At any rate here's my point. Lots of bloggers feel smug about the fact that finally, their voice is getting heard. On the other hand, journalists in print and media had expressed fears of getting shoved aside. To this, I say NUTS! (I know that sounds corny but I just couldn't think of a more approp word).

A key ingredient to a quality publication (which is what a blog is, really. Enough with the fancy tech phrases. It's just a PUBLICATION.), is to provide well targeted, timely, quality content. I've continually harped, pounded and discussed this main ingredient with anyone who wishes to listen (which means, by now, Jill, as chief editor of Kikay, is raring to sew my mouth shut). Pro journalists have an advantage because they're professionals, knowing basic stuff about writing bloggers are only starting to learn.

I believe if you provide something people are interested in reading about, you can publish it on paper, online, or the back of a cigarette carton, and people will read it. They will line up to read it. They will buy it by the bushel. They will swim oceans, traverse mountains, fight wild animals.. ok I think you get the point.

Only then, will the advertisers start paying attention to you. I have based the Exchanges on this belief alone. It will work. I know it will. It better.

These sites are called aggregators, which live off of content from different sites, and make it their own.

Now, let's analyze that statement for a moment. First, the site has to a. Live off of content from different sites. That's easy enough, with aggregating scripts and RSS. The fact I allow syndication means it's ok with me that other people cite my websites. That's the way the internet is and to disallow that is stupid. If you think about it, it actually helps the sites get even more popular, so that's cool.

The second part however is b. Make it their own, and that's where I see pure aggregators tripping on themselves. Making content made by others 'your own' isn't that easy. Say for example, a post I made about my Coaching the 14-18 year old basketball team in our village. Posts like these offer unique perspectives and opinion only available via myself. No one else in the whole world can write that post, except me.

If any of my writers at Ballex or any of Jill's writers at KikayEx write about an opinion they get via using a product, experiencing a situation, etc etc., that opinion or experience cannot be 'owned' by anyone else, because it is unique.

And so when I see an aggregator, I wonder how it is to survive if it cannot provide that unique sense of entertaining pieces of information that reveal a writer's, and hence, the websites unique personality and character. Consequently, if a website cannot 'convert' other's content into its own, it will be forced to create its own content. And since it cannot do that (since the person who made it decided to aggregate others content for itself to begin with, an indication that he cannot), then it cannot produce anything, and it will fail.

And now I will say something that everyone already knows, and that is: "Content is King". To add to that, I'd like to also say that "Unique Content Is Even Better". Any publication, may it be a website, tv show, book or magazine, has a chance of survival if it provides information that it, and only it, can provide. If you manage to get the groove of that type of information you feel people want, and use the best tools to deliver it, I think you'll have a winner in your hands.

At any rate, am just posting to address an issue that had come to fore from KikayEx's (ie., me and Jill's) visit to the Dove Event a few days ago. Thoughts to wit:

1. I wasn't able to really search the site for the oversized badges Jayvee was referring to, but if Ogilvy wants a hint of the proper sizes, they can use google adsense formats, which are pretty standardized.
2. Their webhost shows the ip address. This likely means they are hosted on a dedicated server, which is usually unbelievably expensive and unecessary for a simple website. Or it might also mean DNS isn't working properly, or they don't have their own domain like a dove.com/philippines or something similar. Unless they host the site alongside other services (like company email and the like), I'm sure its impractical. Of course, that's all very techie and quite unimportant to the marketers as long as their message gets across.
3. And so their message has. As of to date, Jill wrote about it lengthily on KikayEx, as well as mentioned it on her blog. Pam also wrote about it (she should, she was one of the featured girls), as well as Jayvee who was beside me at the event. This in turn will translate to other blogs who frequent these to discuss them too (such as I this very moment). I'm fairly sure this coverage on local blogs is a milestone of some sort. A sort of recognition thing. It's certainly a milestone for Kikay.
4. Mind you, it doesn't mean that if you invite us for lunch and get Boy Abunda to host it, it's automatically going to get hits on the 'net (although he really was very good). The main idea of the 'Campaign for Real Beauty' is its very strength. The concept, which is about girls overcoming an inferiority complex borne from their individuals circumstances in the past, is truly award winning and lends itself very well to further discussion. 'Panalo' 'ika nga.
5. However inasmuch as it's a winner as an ads concept, however I'd still reserve my thoughts on whether it really does help women overcome their personal struggles with themselves. Unilever after all manufactures and sells beauty products, and in that a natural conflict evolves. Will women trust a company that tells them their beautiful, and then later, turns around to sell them products? That in itself leads to much discussion, which the internet and blogs are well positioned to deliver, hence the 'success' in blogs.
6. At any rate, it's still a success, and I'm glad Kikay is part of it. It's certainly something that will last awhile, imho.
7. And now finally, my 'advice' to the women (Yes I added all that mumbo jumbo tech and ad campaign analysis at the start to lead to this!). But seriously, and I've discussed these at length with Jill, men can face a great deal of pressure too, and in my honest opinion, react just as negatively or positively as the women. While the women can retreat into themselves and 'give up', so can the men. While men aren't necessarily as conscious about their appearance (as society does not give this as much weight as much as the women), they are made to feel inadequate in many other ways. Primarily there is the physical, such as being too tall, too skinny, too short, too fat, too dark (and even too light), etc. And then afterwards, there are other situations, such as not being good in sports, not being a good lover, not being a good provider, not being 'macho' enough, and all sorts of variations, permutations and combinations therein.
8. Of course I had had my own struggles, but I've learned that the best way, really, is to determine the qualifications of that person who is judging me first, before I decide whether I should be ashamed (or inversely, proud), of myself. Here's how it works. See, if a person decides to judge you, that alone automatically places him at a 'lower bracket' of importance in my book. Any person who takes the time, effort or even uses up brain cells to call a person ugly, too short, too dark, etc., in a non-constructive way means that that person is facing many issues himself that need to be dealt with. See, the next time you go through a wonderful period in your life, do you notice how everything's so peachy and bright with rainbow colors, and that all people are wonderful? On the other hand, when things are miserable, you have a tendency to bring others with you. So then, anyone who just decides to call you ugly, stupid or just not good enough for no apparent reason chooses, as far as I'm concerned, to eternally have a dark cloud hanging above his head.
9. At many times in my life, I had had to look myself in the mirror to assess my perception of myself in lieu of other, very influential people's opinion of me. These two people had pretty much nothing good to say about me, and naturally since I was young, their hurtful words made it difficult for me to get a good grip on who I really was. I then realized however, as I grew older that it seemed they pretty much had little good to say about others as well, and if they did have anything good to say, it was towards a self-serving goal, or to my estimation were terribly mislead. This, and the overall way they lead their lives lead them to be miserable people. One of them is now much older, has few friends, have very few people who love them, and even their finances are lost and in disarray.
10. On the other hand, people who have had nothing but the most sincerest, honest opinions about other people are the ones who have done most and achieved great fulfillment in their lives. These are rare, constantly motivated people, whose energy is so strong it makes me inspired just to be near and have conversations with them. These are the people who have made interesting lives for themselves and others, and as a result, business and achievement has come their way. They work not in order to earn more, but because they pursue goals which then bring this about for them. These see good things in people not as a matter of preference, but just because they see potential, and not excuses to fail.
11. Since I had grown older and seen the two sides of the coin, I had since learned to brush off the words that do not serve to uplift me, seeing that it came from the people from whom logical, or even well-thought of, positive opinions would not come from, and who refuse to allow themselves to change so as to see the better things in life. I do therefore believe, that as we go on in life and allow ourselves to learn more, that we become more prepared to face adversity because we grow wiser. While that person has yet to stop saying things that seem designed to do nothing other than make me feel bad about myself, I have however turned a deaf ear, because I have learned that ultimately by the mere fact she is capable of saying such things, she has classified herself to a level where her words, her opinions, her whole being has given her little value in life.

I hope others will apply the same logic with those people who do the same for them.

Actually, I was voting for this:

or this:

All the entries are here, here and here.

This is giving me ideas. Hmmm...

Technorati Tags: matthew mcconaughey, bestweekever.tv, photoshop, photoshop contest

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Writing is a deep passion of mine, like being in a place where I know what I am doing. When you reach an area of comfort in something like that, it's hard to feel discouraged. Being told I'm not good enough only makes me go to that place, and consequently write more. It's weird I suppose, but it works.

However, that's not the reason for this post. Rather, as I looked around the blogging networks, one thing struck me. Why are there no sports blogs?

There are several blog topics available, many of which are outside my areas of interest. The ones I'm most interested in other than tech, obviously, are movies and sports, of which I've made my own blogs basketball exchange and movie exchange.

All of the blogging networks say they look for 'passion' and a 'unique voice' in their applicants, and frankly, I cannot get any more unique or passionate as I do when I write these topics, and the sports and movie writers whom I respect, such as Bill Simmons and Roger Ebert, are two of the most unique, passionate, (and respected because of), individuals on the planet in my estimation. (incidentally Mr. Ebert is recuperating from a cancer-related surgery. I wrote about it here.

At any rate, although yes, there are a few movie blogs, there are almost no basketball blogs of note, nor are the blogging networks interested in these. Is it because writers don't like sports? It can't possibly be because sports is an unpopular subject. Is it because people who like sports don't wanna read about it, but rather watch instead?

Technorati Tags: roger ebert, bill simmons, page two, espn, sports blogs, movie blogs, blogging, blogging networks

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Technorati Tags: jon stewart, cnn, professional bloggers, personal blogs, blog opinion, political blog, satire blog

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Represent bro.

Technorati Tags: wordpress, wordpress themes

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1. update all blogs (movie, basketball, Portia, aklatangpambata, upwinlaw, and this site to WordPress 2.0.3).
2. updated Pinoywritersonline to Drupal 4.7.2 (from whatever ancient version it was)
3. updated my photo gallery to Coppermine 1.4.8, again from whatever ancient version previous.
4. uploaded the excellent Aklatangpambata pics to my photo gallery and to Flickr (ill explain later), thanks very much to Mr. Chris Lagman, btw.
5. uploaded a whole boatload of gadget pics as well, and I'll be adding a few more as soon as I dig them up off my PC.
6. Found a way to display these pics from my Coppermine photo gallery onto the site, as shown below

.

7. still trying to find a way to display the Aklatangpambata pics onto the Aklatangpambata.org website. Problem is, the coppermineSC plugin requires it connect to the localhost db, and I haven't managed to make it connect across different hosts (it's hosted elsewhere). I've tried mysql.myhost.ph, myhost.ph:mysql, mysql:myhost.ph, and even my IP address, but no go. I've sent an email to mobilehive.com, my host, asking how that's done. In the meantime, will have to do with Flickr, which is great of course, but I like hosting my own stuff.
8. wrote a review of Take The Lead on Movie Exchange.
9. wrote a review on Possession: A Romance, by A.S. Byatt, the book I just finished reading. Will write another review of American Gods by Neil Gaiman, the book I read before that.
10. Activated Akismet across most of my blogs except this one (which already uses bot-check), and so far I'm starting to not like it, primarily because I have to 'train' it to tell which is spam and which isn't. I've to admit performancing for firefox has spoiled me, I hardly logon to any of my blog's admin page anymore because of how easy it is to use firefox blogging interface, but akismet requires that I login from time to time, and me no like that. Bot-Check has proven to be (so far) 100% effective after almost a year in use, which means if I get a comment alert, i'm 100% sure it isn't spam. I may revert to that instead.
11. installed a book review module on the Pinoywritersonline.com drupal site. Planning to add a job search module soon, except it requires a lot of modifications of critical files so I'm somewhat dubious. Aileen (website owner and chief pinoywriters ygroups queen) and I are excited about Pinoywritersonline so there'll be a lot of new stuff there soon.
12. tried to install batch categories plugin, which promises to help improve messed up categories - a BIG frustration of mine with this blog. I want to fix up my categories for better classifications. I've got stupid categories like 'tech' which are way too off-tangent to mean anything. Plugin didn't work though, and I think the girl who first did it isn't interested anymore from the lack of replies to her comments all asking for a WP 2.0 version. MUST find something equivalent.

whew.

what can I say I work better when the weather's cool. Also, I've gotten sick, so I'm stuck at home for the meantime (not sick enough not to work though). Need to call my editors and ask for writing assignments while I'm hot.

Technorati Tags: coppermine, drupal, wordpress, pinoywriters, as byatt, neil gaiman

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Akismet activation however will be confusing for non-wordpress.com users (read: people who run wordpress by themselves, like myself and others who have their own domain). When a non-wordpress.com user activates it on his plugin area, it'll say "Akismet is not active. You must enter your WordPress.com API key for it to work.", after which it'll give you instructions to look for it on your WordPress Dashboard, either on the Dashboard itself or when you click "My Account" (Users > Your Profile).

However if you're not a wordpress.com user, there will be no API key. Which would normally be elementary information, if it were not for the fact that this is not explained either on the WordPress.com/api/keys page or on the WordPress.com FAQ page.

The way to get around it is to understand that Akismet is a wholly independent service from WordPress (the blog application and the free blog hosting service), and doesn't really care if you're hosting on WordPress.com or independently. Ergo, you should go ahead and sign up for Akismet just so you can get that key, and the only way to do so is by signing up at wordpress.com.

Fortunately, you can actually sign up without getting a wordpress.com blog, which is important since the only reason you're signing up is to get that Akismet key and not to get another blog. (That's not a very elegant solution btw, but I'm not gonna get into that right now.)

It will ask for your email address when you do, where it will finally send you your precious API key. You can then enter it onto your blog via Plugins > Akismet Configuration > WordPress.com API Key (even if, like I said, it's not a wordpress.com hosted blog).

Confusing? Absolutely. These are one of those times when I managed to get around a problem because I knew what I was doing and I have had some background doing it (as opposed to the default, which is to rely on how-tos, readmes or FAQs). If I didn't, I'd have given up and gone back to Bot-Check, or I'd be in the forums right now asking for advice.

Their FAQs need a rewrite. Akismet has a good thing going, and if it works I'll find a way to work it into other php-based apps that have comment signups, like phpbb, vbulletin, coppermine, etc.

Technorati Tags: akismet, blog spam, comment spam, wordpress, wordpress api key

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A local blogger happened to have observed the incident, and blogged about it at length. Someone then informed Ms. Carvajal re said blogpost, which she duly posted on her column, complete with the blogger's URL.

Local blogger upon realizing this, took down her post and had this to say:

DEAR PEOPLE WHO ARE VISITING MY BLOG WITH THE INTENTION TO READ "THE SCOOP" LIKE MY EYEWITNESS ACCOUNT OF THE WHOLE ALICIA MAYER EMBASSY MESS, I TOOK THE ENTRY DOWN SO DON'T EVEN BOTHER. I DO NOT WRITE ABOUT SHOWBIZ ALL THE TIME. I MOSTLY WRITE ABOUT MYSELF.

DOLLY ANN, DON'T DO THIS TO ME! I KNOW YOU WENT TO POVEDA, TOO! I STILL WANT A LITTLE PRIVACY AND AN "INTIMATE" READER DEMOGRAPHIC YOU KNOW! BUT YA I READ YOUR COLUMN AND I USED TO WATCH YOUR MOM'S SHOW! "nanawagan ho kami sa mga magulang ng nawawalang bata at sa mga anak ni lola..." HELLO DOLLY!

Don't bother looking for the link to local blogger as I am respecting her privacy wishes (easy enough to find anyway).

Hilarious, but you gotta wonder: Does one have to ask permission first before citing a public blog? If you blog about something, needless to say you want it to be read. When then, do you draw the line between invasion of privacy and availability to the public? How do you control how people make use of information you effectively invite people to read? Is a system of control feasible to begin with?

I know people are gonna bring up Creative Commons, but lets just forget that as Ms. local blogger doesn't have it. It really is just another personal type 'this is my life' blog.

Ah that big wonderful gray area called the internet.

Technorati Tags: alicia mayer, dolly ann carvajal, philippine daily inquirer

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Google Calendar recently launched the ability to display itself on any website.

This means you can create a calendar of activities on your Google Calendar, (don't forget to activate sharing), then run the process which will produce code that you can slap onto your blog or any site.

My reaction? FANTABULISTICMARVELOUSIZATIONYIPPEEYEHEY!!

It will produce any size box from 800x600 to 220x200 and display stuff in Month (like a calendar) or Agenda (a simple list) mode.

What I'm gonna do with it:

1. Show Filmfest skeds on Movie Exchange such as the French Filmfest (ALREADY DONE!)
2. Make a UAAP, PBA, PBL, NBA, FIBA Sked page for Basketball Exchange.
3. Make a Sked page for Aklatangpambata.

..among other things.

Rock Bands, large organizations, school groups and other people who can organize themselves or promote themselves by use of Online Calendars should pay attention to this.

I myself have always wanted to make Sked Pages for my sites, especially for the Basketball Exchange since I'm sure that by itself will generate visits. From my installation on Movie Exchange though, I've noticed the 220x220 size is still too large for a sidebar (although you can always cheat and change it on the code itself.). It also uses iframes, which I've no problem with, although a pure text feed would be nice so you can implement CSS.

But who's complaining? I was starting to think of coding one myself for lack of options. And until they manage to get the scantily clad versions online I'm happy with this one. :D

Another thought: Hey you guys at Yahoo Calendar! I've been using Yahoo Calendar for at least five years now, and the only innovation I can barely remember are those pictures of lakes and nice themes on a small box on the left. Talk about getting left behind! Dang.

Technorati Tags: google calendar, google, calendar sharing, online calendar

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Anyway, I made them a simple WordPress blog and apparently it's served them very well. The Philippine Center for Investigative Journalism (a group of true modern day heroes imo), has picked up on their efforts to help teach the value of reading to the kids of Barangay Paltok, Quezon City.

Here's the PCIJ article on Aklatangpambata, where they also discuss the story of the 80+ year old house they conduct their activities in, and also mention Troy Lacsamana, the award winning librarian who I'm working with and who started it all.

Here's an article on Troy when he was chosen amongst HSBC's top 5 Faces On Volunteerism by Hands On Manila, and another one on Filipinolibrarian.blogspot.com.

Here's a Sept., 2005 Inquirer article about the project as well.

If you've got time, why not volunteer to bring along your friends or officemates to help in their cause? Here's their June and July 2006 schedule, and you can email them about your interest.

Just remember, it's not a walk in the park, as kids are naturally excitable and sometimes difficult to deal with. You have to really want to do this and take it seriously if you want to do it right. Watch Troy to learn how.

Technorati Tags: pcij, librarian, philippine librarian, volunteerism, teaching kids to read

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I live to be read by you, Joey! :)

The first time I watched it, I thought it was some Eastern European girl. After I saw the big GMA banner in the back, I was aghast, surprised, and finally, amused. Amused my foot. I laughed my tail off.

And no, I don't feel guilty about that. There are lots of great Filipinos who cannot speak English well. I don't take anything away from them, because a person's ability to speak English merely indicates that they grew up in an environment which fostered it. No more no less.

Alyssa obviously did not have that privilege. But apparently that wasn't obvious to her handlers. Her manager, whoever booked her for that show, whoever practiced her for that song, etc. They goofed for letting that happen.

Technorati Tags: cnet, alyssa alano, viva hot babe

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Think about it. Before I saw it last week, I had never heard of her, and even ABS-CBN's "WHO IS YOUR FAVORITE (viva) HOT BABES??" poll gives her a 0 rating.

But after her 'Awesome!' GMA performance captured on Youtube, that can all change, and she didn't even need to take her clothes off. I'm sure there's a lesson to be learned for movie promoters here, although what I'm not entirely sure. The point is, she's getting famous, albeit not as planned, but famous still, which I think for most Viva hot babes is good enough.

Anyway, her own page on the internet is here.

And finally, the moment we've all been waiting for...

Technorati Tags: alyssa alano, viva hot babes

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And having fun we are! I've found two great writers Chip Lopez and Phillip Kimpo Jr., who by a stroke of sheer luck, answered the call for writers and have appeared as passionate (which is common), and as dutiful (which without a doubt is very uncommon) in sharing of their opinion, news and commentary of all things basketball.

On the site's more technical innovations, I've added polls from Lester Chan and the terrific Feedreader from Chait.net, which is a terrific way to provide fresh content without getting my lazy ass of my seat. If you check the blog, you'll see feeds from nba.com and espn.com/nba, and it's hard to imagine how it'd be so hard to keep the site from getting boring without them, which I suppose, is the highest compliment I can give it. I highly recommend it for any site that wants to show updates from news services or other blogs.

The more immediate plans are the ff.:

• Add more writers, specifically from UAAP and NCAA participating schools. So please, if anyone wants or knows someone who's as passionate and dutiful as we are, send them in my direction by emailing ghmercado at gmail dot com, and the blog is there for them to show their love to their alma maters.
• Video feeds! I just managed to solve a terribly niggling issue with the feedreader and how it screwed up the layout so I've not had time to implement Video Feeds, which the NBA and a few other places provide. I'll be working on that soon.

I'm fairly upbeat about everything because the site is turning out pretty well. I'm even happy with it aesthetically. The basketball court at the top image is a place in the San Juan area where I spent many hours of my youth shooting hoops and playing possibly hundreds of games. It's quite an apt image I think, at least until we come up with something new.

In the meantime, I'm proud to announce to everyone that the Basketball Exchange is up and running. For me personally, a dream come true.

Technorati Tags: basketball, basketball blog, uaap, nba, ncaa, wordpress, feedreader, rss

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That's not to say of course, that not much has happened. On the contrary, tons and tons have, and so I must find time to blog, if only because blogs among other things are a great way of personally keeping track of stuff going on in our lives. And since, judging from the site metrics, people haven't really been beating a path to read it, I assume the aforementioned purpose makes more sense at this point.

At any rate, am posting this using Performancing's Firefox Plugin, a 200kb download and quick install which I've started to use so as to be able to make sense of handling several blogs by using one interface. Am holding back comments obviously, until I've used it more often, or circumstances will cause me to look for others. Hence the title, seemingly designed to praise it, is admittedly misleading. I just named it that way because I want to look cool.

It occurred to me, whilst choosing which Blog Editor to use when I decided to look for one via WordPress' Codex, that that very moment, when choosing between Blogdesk, BlogJet, Blog Writer, Ecto, JBlogEditor and all sorts of other desktop based blog clients that the only difference between choosing Performancing and the others was that I had heard about it from Migs, and that's all. I've no idea if I'm missing out on any other, or whichever.

Hence, should a reader have an opposing, similar or any opinion at all re Performancing for Firefox's performance, or if there are any other Blog Editors out there worth mentioning, I am all ears.

I have also decided to forego the little images I put at the top, basically because I've realized that these things actually hold me back from blogging quickly, as I've to take time making them. And I realized that anything that prevents / slows you down from writing ain't good.

AklatangPambata.org, a Quezon City based NGO whose goal it is to establish libraries across the country, is run by Troy Lacsamana, a multi-awarded librarian and among the recipients of the top 5 HSBC Volunteers in Person last October 2005 by Hands on Manila.

He first contacted me last March 5 as a respondent to my Free Websites program after it was posted on the Portia UP sorority maillist, which I also did as part of that program.

Technically it was fairly simple affair of registering the domain, setting up wordpress and transferring the contents of their previous blogspot address to the .org site, which version 2 thankfully allowed.

Here it is now in default Regulus theme trim, pending alterations:

The good news is, visitors have started coming, with at least 40 real people a day. I know that's low, but considering we've not really done much to promote it, that's not bad.

It also adds credence to a theory of mine, that most people really want to volunteer for things like these and are just looking for ways to, hence my decision to start the Free Website program (ok ok I'll make a page on this website for it soon). Healthrightsforall.org is another example, although its been impeded by the lack of time the owners have to work with me on it.

Anyway, you can help spread word of Aklatangpambata's efforts by promoting it via your blog or site if you have one. Here's the Feedburner Buzzboost link. Paste this on your blog's sidebar and it'll show the latest 5 or so posts with a link:

<script src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/AklatangPambataOnline?format=sigpro" type="text/javascript" ></script><noscript><p>Subscribe to RSS headline updates from: <a href=" http://feeds.feedburner.com/AklatangPambataOnline"></a><br />Powered by FeedBurner</p></noscript>

Other than that, a good 'ol blogroll link will do as well.

That is, of course, unless you'd really wanna help, by donating cash or your time. Here's how to get involved.

The only thing I know is that the day Soozyhopper died, is a sad day in Philippine Blogging history.

Why?

Plain and simple, Soozy spoke the truth, or at least the truth as she saw it.

So the truth is, I hardly read it, for two reasons: 1. I cannot connect with the subject at hand - the creme de la creme of Manila's high society, and I'd be lying if I knew even one of them. Sure there may have been a classmate or two, and a name might ring a bell, but hell would I (or they) cared should we meet each other on the street today (provided they'd even walk the street). and 2., I honestly don't like the habit of one's dirt laundered on public as it were, and I really couldn't care less if a person was 'being taken down a notch' or two, as another blogger put it.

In the few (thank God) rare moments I had encountered the social climbing type, I tend to take a step back and turn away, attune with the fact that the universe tends to have a fair way of dealing with such types. In fact for the most part, if you look beyond the annoyance, you'd fairly see them for the sad people they really are, and thank your lucky stars you aren't rich or important enough to be in the kind of situation that might make you become such.

So again, why would I bewail the death of a blog that I hardly read, and don't even admire? Well again I say, it's because she spoke honestly about the world as she saw it.

I couldn't care less that she spoke of Manila's elite. She could speak about Manila's Accounting Industry or the Makati Underwriter's Association or the Philippine Plumbing Society as far as I was concerned. The important thing was that she was brave enough to speak. In the brief moment she was there, imo local blogging gained more credence and acceptance than any since.

Here's what's left of it.

Seriously, I've been dilatory in my duties as administrator and chief poster, so I'm making up for lost time, especially since the NBA Playoffs are way into the midst of their proceedings.

So First off, I'M LOOKING FOR MORE WRITERS. If you're like me, and you do imaginary lay-ups walking down the street, then you probably should seek professional help. However, if you can write about it as well, then GODDAMIT, VOLUNTEER NOW. Email at ghmercado at gmail dot com posthaste.

Secondly, I got myself a fancy new layout, settling on the 3 column Relaxation based WordPress Theme after my initial 3 column preference called Tricolumn bombed. As it happens, 3 column Relaxation turned out to be Pinoytechblog's base as well. It's kinda ugly at the moment, and I hate the colors, but I'll get back to it soon enough.

Thirdly I got Feedburner to work and put two Google ads, one at the rightmost column and the other to show up during comments. Was working on a nice 468_15 text only setup for the header portion but it skewed things up so I'll leave it at that for the moment.

Finally, welcome Wilfred Gabriel of NBAaddict.blogspot.com as my first victim writer, and freshly grad Phillip Kimpo Jr. of Crimson Crux as my second. Well at least he's indicated he's interested, as he's yet to make a post yet.

So that's it. Get your game on, ball up, pass the rock, let's get the ball rollin' and all that crap.

Okay?! Okay. Now back to work :P.

Once again I'm in a position to do something I've always dreamed, but for some reason continue to procrastinate, or just plain screw up.

And that is, start a Basketball Blog.

So consider this post an invitation, to anyone out there who a. Is opinionated about the NBA, PBA, UAAP, NCAA etc. and basketball in general, and b. Is willing to write about it.

If you check on both, merely leave a comment, or email me at ghmercado at gmail dot com. After some discussion as to how to go about it (I'd like to committee this one), let's go write ourselves up a storm.

Be hearing from ya.

Dvorak was explaining HD DVDs and the format wars, and I thought, heck that's what it was all about. At any given time, techies become experts at something. It can be anything: The Difference between Outlook and Outlook Express, How to kill the Boss in Super Mario, Securing an Office Network via Iptables, Crimping A Network Cable, whatever.

The point is, at one time or another either during the course of our work, play or your hobby, you become pretty good at doing something, or at least authoritative enough for others to benefit from your knowledge. Add a healthy dose of the need to share, some time, patience and writing skill, and voila a HOWTO is born.

==

Dvorak also featured the Slingbox, which in my opinion, is completely wasting its time marketing to the Americans. The real market for these are OFWs for us Pinoys, and migrants of any nationality who miss home, and want to keep up with stuff (or in jhologs parlance: stuffs) going on there.

India, Korea and China have strong migrant populations worldwide and I'm sure they'd be just as interested. How it works according to them:

Slingbox placeshifts the television signal from your source device to your PC – located at home or 3,000 miles away – via the Internet. Thanks to the Slingbox, you can enjoy your home TV programming wherever you are – the office, a hotel room, your garden, even the bathroom – anywhere there is an Internet connection. You truly can watch and control your television anytime, anywhere – the power is in your hands.

Aside from the fact that anything that uses the word "placeshifts" gets my vote, anything that can enrich the internet with shows like The Diana Zubiri Cleavage Show Encantadia and the The Joey De Leon Insulting Contestants For Fun Show Eat Bulaga is appealing. I think.

Oh, and just to be fair, it can also broadcast Kris Aquino. enough said. show, Game KNB.

The licensing issues are going to be a killer, but since when have those stopped anyone when there's money to be made? At any rate, unless the Tv networks think of something quick, the Slingbox will do to the television industry what mp3s and bittorrents did for the recording and movie industry, which is f*ck them up.

==

I think the dreaded PLDT DSL DNS issue is upon us once again. It happened a year or so ago when I was still in Mandaluyong. What happens is websites you know to be available suddenly disappear when you try to refresh, causing a lot of "It was just ok a moment ago!" moments.

There's a thread at the PLUG list discussing the use of multiple DSL connections on one machine and with prices going down to realistic levels recently, that's a great idea, especially for SOHOs and smaller offices.

==

Oh and btw, why is it we complain to hell when PLDT DSL was expensive, and no one hardly says anything when it's now P999.00? It's like dealing with a teenager with entitlement issues, imo.

Which basically sums up how I sometimes feel about the 'blogosphere' or 'blogging community' really. A lot of folks seem to enjoy insulting, finding fault and just generally disagreeing with each other. My favorite ones are those that like to insult the press, which imo is akin to a little brother screaming at the older sibling.

When is the younger going to realize that the true recognition it so craves lies in its ability to give due respect? When it grows up I guess.

==

Ahh, nothing like a Saturday like today, with only one deadline left and (most of) my mountain of work packed up and sent to the respective impatient editor or client, giving them no other reason to do anything else but - pay me (cue beautiful sweet music). Will spend this day hanging out at malls, and if my companion has her way, possibly assualting any homophobic tendencies I insist I do not have. Then the day after playing ball with ma homies.

Excellent stressless weekend ahead. Big big sigh of relief. Whew.

At any rate, on January 12 someone named "Karl" made a very long comment with a list of names and their salaries, looking like it was lifted directly from a spreadsheet. This happened with Migs as well, although in his case the poster was "Gary" (definitely not me).

I have since removed it, on Epixtar's email request three days ago:

Dear Mr. Mercado:

My name is Jeff Myatt, from Epixtar Corp. I write to address the “Epixtar must be a fun place to work” thread on your “pisces-iscariot” blog website.

We at Epixtar would never wish to interfere with the free flow of thoughts and ideas on your blog website or elsewhere on the internet. This principle applies with equal force to postings that may portray our Company in an unflattering light.

We must, however, respectfully direct your attention to the January 12, 2006 posting in this “Responses to Epixtar must be a fun place to work” thread, which purports to list salaries of many named Epixtar employees.

This personal salary information was obviously misappropriated and posted on your site by an individual or individuals who identify themselves as “Gary” and “Karl.” This salary information is proprietary and not public, and not intended for publication by Epixtar. It is also materially inaccurate. This information was disseminated unlawfully by whoever posted it on your website.

We must accordingly request that you immediately and fully delete this posting from your website and or “friends” websites. Please note that we do not take issue with anyone stating any perceived issues concerning Epixtar; however, we must take issue with the posting of such personal and proprietary information, concerning our business and our employees.

I hope this issue can be resolved in a swift and amicable manner.

If you have any questions or issues regarding this matter, I would welcome the opportunity to address them personally.

Respectfully,
Jeff Myatt
SVP, Client Services
Epixtar Corp.

I replied on the same day with this:

Hello Mr. Myatt,

I hope you don't mind if I ask a few questions. Firstly, how may I know you are who you say you are? Also, may I publish your letter?

Thank you
Gabriel Mercado

Mr. Myatt responded on January 26th, with this:

Thank you for your quick response. Gabriel, my only interest is having you fully delete the posting of the said topic below off your site. Please confirm when this has been completed. If you would like to discuss further you may contact me at my office. Once again thank you for your assistance.

Jeff Myatt

He sent the last one one more time, on the 27th. Then finally this morning I got this, dated Jan 28, 2006 1:03 AM their time:

Dear Mr. Mercado:

This is my second attempt to address amicably the posting of Epixtar salary information (" Epixtar must be a fun place to work" thread on your "pisces-iscariot") on your blog website.

As I stated in my first communication, we have no interest in interfering with the exchange of ideas and opinions concerning our Company, positive or otherwise. Our only concern is your posting of the salary information.

As I previously informed you, the salary information posted on your website was misappropriated, and disseminated unlawfully. Such salary information is confidential and proprietary. And again, it is also materially inaccurate.

I will have no choice but to turn this matter over to our attorneys if the salary information is not deleted from your site within 24 hours. They will be instructed to take all appropriate legal action against you in this regard.

Again, if you want to discuss this, please contact me. I would prefer to resolve this in a friendly manner.

Respectfully,
Jeff Myatt

which I immediately responded 10:04am (our time), with this:

Dear Mr. Myatt

I had been unable to address your situation due to my being away from my computer the whole of yesterday. I never did nor do not have any intention of contesting your request to remove the comment you mentioned, I merely had other things to do.

To be honest, I am offended by your rude email. I had initially emailed you asking basic questions any blog owner might have concerning a request similar to yours. Naturally I do not wish to edit or remove anything on my website on any stranger's bidding, even if I have no interest in either party. I do not even understand that comment's point. I allowed it only because I thought I could make a funny remark, and I have denied similar comments the poster tried to submit because again I do not care either way.

I am tempted to tell you to go get your attorneys to do their worst, unfortunately I also wish to end this - whatever this is - amicably. I will remove the comment, and I will also post our conversation on my blog so as for all to see how this has gone.

Also I cannot call you because that would be expensive on my part, and I don't see the point why I have to when it is you who are making a request. In our part of the world when we ask a favor we tend to be polite and patient. - Gabriel Mercado

Here are the reasons why I removed that comment:

• I do not care either way. Up till Mig's post, the only thing I knew of Epixtar was that it was a rather large callcenter operation that hired showbiz talents for promotion, and that they owned their own building. I had no idea what they were up to or the manner with which they did it. I did not care.
• This is not the reason I blog. My blog is a social commentary that uses satire to expose phonies, smart alecks, know it alls and egomaniacs as I see them on the 'net. Nah, just kidding. My blog's one and only purpose in life is to provide a more immediate outlet for my writing and opinions - so as for everyone to think I am smart. That is all. Sure I like to post about ballhogs and egotists along the way, but for the most part this is all about me me me. In that light I have nothing to gain from all this. I know this might get hits, but not because of the right reason. The right reason is me. Let's remember that.
• That comment doesn't make any sense. It doesn't. I removed it, but anyone who's seen it will know - it's just a bunch of names and their high salaries. My reaction - and likely others as well, was some measure of disbelief, followed by an intense measure of envy, after which I moved onto other things. After all, a person's salary is his own business. If those salaries were true, well then God bless 'em, they're onto the American Dream. Besides, should anyone ask them if those were true, they can just simply deny, smile, wink, or whatever. Again, it's none of anyone's business. What's worse is, Karl/Gary commenter didn't explain what he was trying to achieve in that comment. There was no indication of malicious intent, or any intent at all as a matter of fact. He just copied then pasted it on my comment area, and that's it, leaving everyone to just look at it bewilderingly, feel intensely envious themselves, then forget it. No doubt, it would have eventually died a natural death. This leads me to my next point: If it doesn't make any sense, that means:
• It doesn't deserve attention. My post was a full 18 days ago, with Mig's even longer. Lotsa things have happened since that have deserved far more attention, as if that particular one was earthshaking to begin with. In other words, imho Mr. Myatt should have just left things well enough alone. As it is, fellow blogger Abe's radars had picked up on it, with Mike Abundo chiming in too. In fact, the reason why I asked him who he was when I first responded was because I thought he was "Karl/Gary" commenter again, sending a fake email to try and drum up unwarranted attention. The result: everytime these guys write something about Epixtar, I learn something new. Things I would never have found out if Epixtar had just let itself drop out of the news. As these things go, sooner or later Abe, Mike, Migs and myself might find ourselves discussing it in real life (Abe will probably treat us to drinks, as he receives a Google check like, every few hours I think. Mike can provide.. well just look at his picture) :).

I hope this ends this rather sordid chapter in my blog's history. For the most part I understand I was an unwilling party to this affair, having had been guilty of nothing more than approving what seemed to be an innocent comment. But Mr. Myatt's rude attempt to threaten me with a lawsuit adds a sad note to this whole thing.

Since he has mentioned that he "does not wish to interfere with the free flow of ideas" concerning Epixtar, then I'll take this opportunity to inject an opinion - Mr. Myatt and company should be chasing after Karl/Gary commenter. Not me, or any other blogger who has a copy of it. Their lawyer's efforts, already busy with bankruptcy proceedings, are best put to use chasing after whoever that is, than thinking up of a case against us.

-- update january 31, 2006 --

Dear Mr Mercado,
My purpose was to protect the privacy rights of company employees. Thank you for removing the information from your site.
Jeff

and that, as they say, is the end of that.