Quaere Verum

Got this flash file from ICQ about five years ago, thought I'd share it with everyone. :-) Merry Christmas! May all of you find peace, love, joy and God's blessings abundant this yuletide season. Merry Christmas to all of you.

I received an early Christmas present a few days ago all the way from Bayombong, Nueva Vizcaya in the form of the retail version of the Nuvitron Electronic Fuel Economizer (NEFE, for brevity), courtesy of it's inventor, Mr. Perlito Cabauatan. The inventor shared some positive feedback regarding the device. Apparently a number of people who have installed the NEFE on their own automobiles attest to having improved power and acceleration in addition to getting better fuel economy. Here are some photos: Surprise, surprise! A package for me. :-) People at the office thought it was a fruitcake since it was about the same size and shape as one. The NEFE retail box. Unlike other gas saver products, (like the Khaos for example), the NEFE is advertised as effective for both gasoline and diesel fed engines. Developed with assistance from the Department of Science and Technology (DOST), pending registeration with the Intellectual Property Office of the Philippines . This is what's insid...

The inmates of Cebu Provincial Detention and Rehabilitiation Center (CPDRC) strut their stuff. And they're actually pretty good. Only in the Philippines. :-) Note: Turn off the background audio first at the bottom of the page before clicking the play button. Reenacting Michael Jackson 's Thriller video. More than 9 million views and counting. Dancing to Queen 's Radio Gaga. I Will Follow Him, from the movie Sister Act . Hail Holy Queen, also from the movie Sister Act. I'm all for second chances and everything, but this gives rehabilitation a whole new meaning. Who knows? These inmates may just find careers as dancers or music video extras when they get out. And that's probably a whole lot better than whatever got them in jail in the first place. :-) The CPDRC inmates have several other videos dancing to other tunes, just look them up on YouTube . :-)

After weeks of refueling at Shell service stations, I was finally able to complete my collection of 1:38 scale Ferraris . Shell is selling the model Ferraris for P50.00 each for every purchase of P500.00 worth of Shell V-Power fuel, or for P100.00 if you buy P500.00 worth of other Shell fuels. The models are made by Hot Wheels and the quality and detail are pretty good. Unfortunately, they're only made of plastic and not die-cast metal. At only P50.00 though, I'm not complaining. Completing the collection isn't as easy as you may think. First of all, I don't really travel all that much, so I had to be a bit patient as I waited for the needle on my fuel gauge to go down before I could refuel again. Secondly, not all Shell service stations have the complete model line-up in stock, so I have to ask what models they have available before I refuel. If they don't have the particular model I'm looking for, I look for another Shell station. Thirdly, have you noticed...

Here are a few of the things you should watch our for when shopping for a Nokia N95 , so you don't get duped into buying a knockoff: 1. A real Nokia N95 doesn't have a touchscreen, a small touchscreen menu at the bottom of the screen, and a stylus; 2. A real Nokia N95 has a 5 megapixel camera. Fake N95s either have a lower quality camera or sometimes even no camera at all. The built-in LED flash is also smaller on fake N95s. A real Nokia N95 also has a lens cover. Some fakes don't. Note that a genuine Nokia N95 8GB variant doesn't have a lens cover as well; 3. A real Nokia N95 has a two-way slider. Most fakes either slide down only or don't slide in any direction at all; 4. A real Nokia N95 boots up a lot slower than most fakes. The built-vibrator also momentarily activates when booting up a real N95. Counterfeit N95s boot up almost instantaneously, with no vibration, and sometimes with a different startup sound; 5. The battery of a real Nokia N95 mounts on the low...

Saw this video on YouTube . It compares an original Nokia N95 with an imitation N95. While it's fairly simple to tell a knockoff from an original, a lot of people have already been fooled by the fake N95, particularly those who bought it from eBay or from some unscrupulous retailer, thinking they got a good deal. While the fake N95 is sold significantly cheaper than the original, it simply isn't worth it at any price. Caveat emptor. Note: Turn off the background audio first at the bottom of the page before clicking the play button.

Presenting the Nokia N95 8GB . Note: Turn off the background audio first at the bottom of the page before clicking the play button. Nokia N95 8GB commercial. More than a year after I last upgraded my main phone , I'm at it again, and my cellphone of choice now is none other than the flagship of Nokia's Nseries , the Nokia N95 8GB. While my old Nokia N70 was a mere evolution of the venerable Series 60 platform, the N95 takes mobile phones to a whole new level with a feature list significantly longer than any other high-end phone on the market today. For starters, it's a quad-band 3G phone . No, make that a 3.5G phone. It supports the High-Speed Downlink Packet Access (HSDPA) standard, which enables it to transfer data at 1.4-1.8 Mbps, around three to five times faster than 3G or 384 Kbps DSL. And HSDPA is not a standard that's still waiting in the wings. Globe Handyphone already supports it . With this speed you can make smooth video calls and browse the internet fas...

Reposting this for whatever good may come out of it. :-) Anyone here interested in purchasing a plot of commercial land located along Commonwealth Ave. in Quezon City? It's my father's property, and it has a lot area of 2,844 sqm., with a number of residential improvements. The frontage is a bit on the small side, at 14 m., but it directly faces Commonwealth Ave. The lot has been on the market for quite a while, but since the real estate market has been down for some time now...well you know how it is. Just in case you're interested, or know someone who is, please feel free to leave a comment or to email me at ronallandottk@yahoo.com . To cut the hassle, would prefer to deal with direct buyers only. Sometimes it can be quite hard dealing with a multitude of brokers and middlemen...you know how that is too. :-) You can also call 9315575 if you have any inquiries. Siteplan of the property. Aerial view. The road at the top of the photo is Commonwealth Avenue. Here's a tigh...

I observe with mild interest and amusement as a number of men manhandle a locked Ford Expedition into a parking space just behind the building I work in. Checking the time I figured they spent more than half an hour jacking, tugging and pushing at the shiny mass of metal, with their strains finally coming to an end with the large SUV being coaxed into one of the parking spaces. Querying one of the security personnel, I was told the the vehicle was forcibly repossessed after the owner failed to make the payments on the vehicle. Apparently the owner wasn't happy about his SUV being repossessed, so he neglected to unlock the doors, much less give them the keys. As if it really mattered whether he gave them the keys or not. It's a tad ironic, don't you think? A towering 4x4 such as a Ford Expedition, in the vast majority of cases, is really nothing more than extravagant status symbol, an expression of affluence, an utter display of the triumph of decadence over practicality. We...

The past few months my son has been having problems with his Sony Ericsson K310i , specifically with the unit shutting down intermittently even though the battery wasn't discharged yet. "Automatic shutdown" was my son's term for it. Over the weekend, the cellphone finally decided to give up the ghost, showing nothing than a continuously blinking white screen when powered up. Not wanting to be stuck with a high tech paperweight, and with unit still under warranty, I promptly called up Globe Handyphone for advice on how to have the cellphone serviced. I was instructed to bring the malfunctioning unit to a Sony Ericcson service center, and as it turned out, the closest service center to my location is the Sony Ericsson Concept Shop in SM North EDSA. My son and I were off to visit it the next day. I was never a Sony Ericsson person, as I've always preferred Nokia cellphones instead. The thing with Nokia is, if you know how to use one model, then you wouldn't h...

If you're wondering why I haven't posted anything new lately, it's because my computers at home were all down until only a few days ago. Went through a couple of hardware upgrades which, unfortunately, didn't really go as smooth as I was expecting them to turn out. The first upgrade involved the video card of the PC my son uses to play games with ( Athlon XP 2400+, 1.5 GB RAM, 256 MB Radeon 9550 ). He started complaining over the slow frame rates he was getting with some newer games, particularly the resource-hungry RTS World in Conflict . The game is actually playable when using low graphics settings, but there's nothing quite as pathetic as playing a computer game with all the settings turned down to low. After some research, I figured the GPU with the best bang-for-the-buck was the NVIDIA GeForce 7600 GS , with its 12 pixel pipelines, 5 vertex shaders, and a core running at 400 MHz. All I need now is to find one, particularly one which runs on an AGP bus. I soon...

What's wrong with this picture? I guess we Filipinos were never really good at following rules.

I've won! I've won! - NOT. The past several months I've been getting quite a number of text messages on my cellphone informing me that I have won a sum of money in some sort of raffle, and instructing me to call back and look for the person whose name was mentioned in the message. If it sounds to good to be true, that's because it is. This is what is known as a text scam . Text scams first came out a number of years ago, with the rising popularity of cellphones with SMS capability (and consquently the number of suckers who own one). Presently, with approximately 30 million cellphones all over the country, scams like these are quite common. This message is obviously bogus, and was designed by some unscrupulous souls to appeal to the avaricious and gullible among us for the purpose of scamming them into giving up hard currency, for processing or facilitating the release of their so-called "prizes". Sadly, a lot of people have already fallen prey to this modus op...

Its been a quite a long while since I blogged about religion, so I was pleasantly surprised when blogger Sadiq Alam sent me the link of his latest post through email. You can read it here . The message is simple. God is always with you, whereever you are. You can read the rest of his blog here . Maybe I should blog about religion again. :-)

And the top ten reason to quit playing RAN Online , from 10 to 1, are: 10. Availability of newer and better online games. Frankly I don't have much experience with other MMORPGs, but I've heard and read lots of positive reviews over some newer online games, such as Perfect World , Lineage II , and Granado Espada . Yeah, it may be hard to give up RAN Online after all those months, but you never know. It may be about time to move on to some other MMORPG. And who knows? The service and support may even be better. 9. Poor return of investment. You play for hours on end, for months, perhaps even years, and eventually you get that high level character you've always wanted. Now what? You could try selling your account, but not only is that prohibited by e-Games , you'll only get a small fraction of the money you invested into making that character in the first place. Well, you do get bragging rights against lesser characters, but the satisfaction doesn't last. No matter ...

I guess I spoke too soon. Less than 24 hours after I was first able to log on RAN Online and the other e-Games websites, again I am plagued by the dreaded connection error dialogue box: Well, I knew it was too good to last. I don't know. The urge to quit playing is becoming so strong I'll probably succumb sooner or later. Actually I'm already what they call "semi-retired", that is, I only play when I get the itch to do so, and whenever time and opportunity permits. I was only compelled to go out of semi-retirement so that I could level my INT swordsman all the way to 127 and learn the newly launched 127 skill. Thankfully, during the brief period with which I was able to connect yesterday, I was able to succeed in achieving my goal. But now that I have accomplished what I set out to do, and with e-Games being plagued with connection errors, I wouldn't be surprised if I just disappeared from the RAN gaming community. Such a shame really. To be perfectly hone...

After almost five days, I was finally able to log in e-Games ' web servers. While I'm definitely relieved that I was able to access my e-Games accounts, the experience nonetheless has left a bad taste in my mouth. The bottom line is, the less than stellar service and support of e-Games to its customers still leaves me extremely disappointed. Apparently, a lot of other e-Gamers feel the same, as my posts relating to e-Games' troubles have seen higher than average traffic lately, indicating that dissatisfaction with e-Games' quality of service has grown beyond its internal forums and has spilled over into the internet at large. I'm taking this topic to heart for several reasons - firstly because of my personal stake as player of RAN Online , and secondly, the perpetual complaints against e-Games' services represent virgin territory as far as our local legal system is concerned. As an advocate of the legal profession and soon to be (hopefully) a member of the Bar,...

After talking a number of times with different e-Games support personnel and browsing a number of different forum sites (like this one ), it turns out that the reason why I couldn't log on RAN Online or any of e-Games' websites is because e-Games is having connection problems specifically with subscribers of PLDT's myDSL service. Apparently subscribers of different ISPs are not affected, as far as I know. So, the bottom line is, if you want to play RAN Online , or at the very least log in any e-Games website and your ISP is PLDT myDSL, tough luck. I've tried refreshing my connection so my router can obtain a new IP address, but it still doesn't work. Nothing does. And it's strange, because other than the fact that I can't seem to access e-Games' web servers, my internet connection is perfectly fine . If it weren't for the fact that I play RAN Online , I probably wouldn't have noticed. I can log on on virtually any website in the world, and yet...

Disembodied spirit? Malevolent spectre? Actually it's just my son Aaron, proving that a digital camera, Adobe Photoshop , and a flashlight up one's nose can turn out to be quite a remedy for boredom. :-)

For almost two days now, RAN Online , and the rest of the other e-Games titles, portals and forum pages remain down. Any attempt to log on RAN Online simply results in the following message being displayed: Logging on any e-Games website only generates a browser time out error and a blank page, as if e-Games simply did not exist on the web. What gives? I have always been critical of the shoddy service e-Games has been giving its customers lately (see previous posts here and here ), but this recent development takes the cake. Without any advisory or warning, e-Games' web presence has mysteriously disappeared, just like that. It reeks of unprofessionalism and incompetence, and to my mind, simply unacceptable and definitely a perfect example of the wrong way to run a business. I also find it a bit disturbing that most newspaper and magazine articles I read about local MMORPGs are filled with little more than hyperbole and unending praise, with nary a mention of the "dark side...

Happy 11th birthday son!

If you're my age you may just remember a song by Bruce Springsteen way back in the early 90s with the same title as this blog post. More or less, this phrase happens to be an apt description of my life at the moment. Things happening (or not happening) all over the place...but nothing really of import taking place in my life. I guess that explains why I haven't been blogging again for the longest time. Just the same old things to blog about, day in, day out, month in, month out, year in and year out. And coincidentally, I now know what Bruce Springsteen was talking about in that song of his. Have you checked out SkyCable lately? How may times have you found yourself flipping aimlessly through what seems to be hundreds of channels, and not be able to find anything worth watching? It's been happening to me more often than not lately. Either I just developed a case of adult attention-deficit disorder or the quality of cable TV programming has gone down the drain. I guess I ...

Note: Turn off the background audio first at the bottom of the page before clicking the play button. Makes Me Wonder Maroon 5 I wake up with blood-shot eyes Struggled to memorize The way it felt between your thighs Pleasure that made you cry Feels so good to be bad Not worth the aftermath, after that After that, try to get you back I still don't have the reason And you don't have the time And it really makes me wonder If I ever gave a fuck about you Give me something to believe in 'Cause I don't believe in you anymore, anymore I wonder if it even makes a difference to try, yeah So this is goodbye God damn I'm standing here Decisions that made my bed Now I must lay in it And deal with things I left unsaid I want to dive into you Forget what you're going through I get behind, make your move Forget about the truth I still don't have the reason And you don't have the time And it really makes me wonder If I ever gave a fuck about you Give me something to beli...

Tomorrow, after a long drawn trial which has lasted for almost six years, the Sandiganbayan is finally scheduled to render its verdict on the plunder case of former President Joseph Estrada. Talk about being caught between a rock and a hard place. Acquit Estrada, and EDSA II will be reduced to nothing more than a sham political event, an example of how extra-Constitutional means were adopted for removing from office without due process what would amount to be a President innocent of any wrongdoing. Convict Estrada, and earn the ire of perhaps millions of Erap (and even FPJ) supporters who believe their idol to be innocent of all charges, convicted only as a sacrificial lamb if only to justify his removal from office and the "unlawful" assumption of then Vice President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo to the Presidency. Damned if you do, damned if you don't. And it's all happening tomorrow. Watch the news tomorrow people. Whatever happens, whatever the consequences, it will be...

One of my favorite songs. Fits the month...the day...even my mood. Note: Turn off the background audio first at the bottom of the page before clicking the play button. Wake Me Up When September Ends Green Day Summer has come and passed The innocent may never last Wake me up when September ends Like my fathers come to pass Seven years has gone so fast Wake me up when September ends Here comes the rain again Falling from the stars Drenched in my pain again Becoming who we are As my memory rests But never forgets what I lost Wake me up when September ends Summer has come and passed The innocent can never last Wake me up when September ends Ring out the bells again Like we did when Spring began Wake me up when September ends Here comes the rain again Falling from the stars Drenched in my pain again Becoming who we are As my memory rests But never forgets what I lost Wake me up when September ends Summer has come and passed The innocent can never last Wake me up when September ends Like my ...

A few days ago, Fil-Am teen sensation Vanessa Hudgens , lead actress of the hit Disney Channel films High School Musical and High School Musical 2 was caught with her pants down... literally , after photos of her in the buff circulated freely on the internet. The photos were taken privately, and as is usual for nude pictures of famous celebrities, found their way to the internet much to the embarrassment and dismay of Disney , which is renowned for family-oriented films and television programs. Hudgens has issued a public apology over the incident, which her publicist has described as a "lapse in judgment". Disney will continue to retain her services, unwilling to mess with an already proven formula. Personally, I don't really consider her nude photos to be a big deal, except of course for the fact that posing in her birthday suit doesn't really jive with the corporate standards and target audience of the Disney Channel. Being signed up with a studio known for car...

September again. The first Sunday. The first day of the Bar exams. *sigh* Maybe next year. Good luck to everyone taking it this year. Wake me up when September ends.

Law of Mechanical Repair: After your hands become coated with grease your nose will begin to itch or you'll have to pee. Law of the Workshop: Any tool, when dropped, will roll to the least accessible corner. Law of probability: The probability of being watched is directly proportional to the stupidity of your act. Law of the Telephone: When you dial a wrong number, you never get a busy signal. Law of the Alibi: If you tell the boss you were late for work because you had a flat tire, the very next morning you will have a flat tire. Variation Law: If you change lines (or traffic lanes), the one you were in will start to move faster than the one you are in now. (works every time) Bath Theorem: When the body is fully immersed in water, the telephone rings. Law of Close Encounters: The probability of meeting someone you know increases when you are with someone you won't want to be seen with. Law of the Result: When you try to prove to someone that a machine won't work, it will. ...

As promised, here's the text of my letter-complaint discussing the unscrupulous practices of certain online game proprietors. I have promptly sent copies of this letter to the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI), and the National Telecommunications Commission (NTC). Now if only they stop sitting on their asses and see the letter for what it represents, that is, uncharted legal territory , as far as consumer rights is concerned. The undersigned would like to respectfully bring to your attention certain possible abuses and violations of consumer rights as well as possible abuses in the use of an information and communication infrastructure in a commercial field which does not seem to be regulated much if at all. I am referring to MMORPGs, or Massive Multiplayer Online Role Playing Games. A MMORPG is basically an online video game, a game played over the internet where the players are represented in a virtual world as characters of their own design and choosing. The typical scena...

Somehow...I can relate.

Ever since broadband internet access became commonplace, the popularity of local online gaming has grown by leaps and bounds. Only a few short years ago, internet/gaming cafés offered mostly single player titles, as well as multiplayer games playable over a local area network (LAN), such as StarCraft , WarCraft III: Reign of Chaos , Command & Conquer: Generals , and the ubiquitous Counter-Strike . Nowadays, while most of these games still have a following, a lot of players have simply grown tired of playing with or against AI allies and opponents, or even with or against human opponents on a local network. They want to play with or against players from literally all over the place, not only with people located in a single establishment. That's precisely what massively multiplayer games are all about, and the proliferation of high speed internet access has made it all possible. In the Philippines, the rapid proliferation of online games is nothing short of phenomenal, with an es...