Monday, April 13, 2009
Wednesday, April 08, 2009
Tuesday, April 07, 2009
Tuesday, March 10, 2009
Liars go to hell, and how Andrea discovered the meaning of meteors...
(St. Jerome the Priest/Ivan Mestrovic/Sheridan Circle Massachusetts Avenue & 24th Street, NW)
As promised in my previous blog, let me tell you a story of how Andrea became the bully that she is.
When I was younger, my brother and I were sent to attend a small Bible seminar. This was the time when I was still holy, and a member of the Legion of Mary and all. I think I was 16 or 17 at the time, and a freshman at UST.
Anyways, the speaker was a very well-read scholar of the Bible. He was telling things about Obadiah and Nahum, and people whose names were equally as ugly. Perhaps, he was a bit over his head that time, because he knows that the average teener does not bother to read the Bible. Whence, in a loud voice, he asked us "Have you read the part in Matthew, where it says, Liars go to hell?"
Stillness.
"It's there, in chapter 31. Liars go to hell!" He continued
Slowly, participants - mostly 14-20 years old - started nodding their heads in approval.
And then, he boomed at the top of his voice, "LIARS, YE ALL! There is NO Matthew 31! Matthew is only up to chapter 28".
Everybody was laughing. He probably saw me unamused by his antics, so he approached me and in his very unteacherlike behavior, derided me by asking me a very stupid question, "You, have you read Matthew 31? Where it says Liars go to hell?"
By this time, everybody was laughing at me. I saw my brother's look. That look that says, "Oh you should have left this insane man alone! Now, prepare for doom."
I stood up, and got the microphone - all the while pretending I am more stupid than him (and it's pretty hard). And then, I said, "Are you referring to the apocryphal Matthew or the regular/orthodox Matthew?"
This is the direct result of UST Humanities Section. And of spending 5 hours waiting for a PE class at 6 pm. Anyways, I have read some things about apocryphal books, but of course, there was no apocryphal Matthew.
The speaker was astounded. He was being attacked with the same weapon he drew from his arsenal. To add to his confusion, my brother got the microphone, and asked him in a polite and sarcastic manner, "....you mean, you don't know about it?" He said something like it was a recent find. And that he read it somewhere in Time or Newsweek. It would've been a killing now, because my brother would've said something like, "It's in ebay, dummy".
I picked up an old book from inside my bag, which my mother borrowed from the Aquinas School Library (she worked there during those times), and pretended to read, "all ye who are evil-doers, who are deceitful and liars, ye shall all go to hell".
To which my brother added luciferically, "...especially ye pastors who pretend to know so much about the Bible, but are liars really"
Everybody was silent.
Anyways, the speaker quickly declared a recess. We did not return after recess. Nor did we ever return to that place. But we were polite enough to leave a note saying, "....hey, we were just joking about the apocryphal Matthew and all.... but liars will indeed go to hell." I ended it with a "peace", and I think my brother drew the anarchy sign and decorated it with marijuana leaves. That's how creepy we were.
I think that the lesson is for those who always try to make fun of their audience. Sometimes, they work. Sometimes though, there are insane people in the audience. And it's best to leave them alone. But since you don't know who are stupid like you and who are smarter, it is best to shut up. Be prepared to reap the whirlwind of a decisive counter-attack from the very weapon you draw from your pathetic arsenal. In the end, if you are a humble person, you will get away unscathed. That is, no insane duo will harass you.
And yes, Donna, that's where Andrea got her antics.
***Just an hour ago, we were reviewing about the solar system. When we got to the meteors and craters, she looked at me intently and I knew she was up to something again. And she's better with words. George: What's the largest planet?
Andrea: You mean the one with 16 moons?
George: How did you know that (proud)?
Andrea: I saw that in the book you gave me, remember?
George: Oh, the science book we bought? And you read about Jupiter's moons? Are you sure they're 16? (it's for high school students)
Andrea: Oh, I mean, the major moons. (I got killed already)
....Only to be superseded by this:
"Oh, daddy. Looks like a meteor landed on your face". Sheesh... I can't beat that.
Wednesday, March 04, 2009
Wednesday, February 11, 2009
Never too old to be tech savvy - INQUIRER.net, Philippine News for Filipinos
Never too old to be tech savvy
Okay, if you get an invite from this 79-year old grandma to join her in Facebook, be kind ok? Accept her for Pete's sake. It's really never too old to be in.
79-yr-old opens Facecbook account
Okay, if you get an invite from this 79-year old grandma to join her in Facebook, be kind ok? Accept her for Pete's sake. It's really never too old to be in.
Blogged with the Flock Browser
Top 10 Most Pirated TV Shows on BitTorrent | TorrentFreak
Top 10 Most Pirated TV Shows on BitTorrent | TorrentFreak
Lost at number one, followed by Heroes
Blogged with the Flock Browser
Sunday, February 08, 2009
Tuesday, January 13, 2009
Andrea's perfect performance
At least I know the clan is developing. Or at least, Mr. Darwin's theory is applicable to my genes.
Because I wasn't able to do it when I was still studying. Yeah, of course, she does not have Ms. Goloy or Mr. Balog as teachers. But, heck. She's just 6.
Turns out, she perfected all her exams. Every single one of them. Even the goddarn PE. Just joking.
What I don't understand is how she gets these things. When all she does all day is watch Spongebob, Mr. Bean, El Tigre, Dora, Spongebob. Oh, I mentioned that already. There are times I worry about her because instead of studying her lessons, she would tinker on my laptop, trying to find "what's new in encarta", or "Where's my stronghold (her own designed castle in the Stronghold game?"
Forgive the proud parent.
Eventually you'll get there.
Just be smarter than your kids, or else....
...they will come to you one day and ask something you aren't able to answer immediately, and they will retort "I thought you're intelligent.... (bangs the door).... You ruined my day! It was a wonderful day. Now, you ruined it."
That's Andrea. Some days, you want to strangle her. Some days, you are on top of the world.
Saturday, January 10, 2009
It's true. Rybka 3 > Cyclone 2.3
I organized a chess engine tournament in my laptop. It featured 24 of my chess engines. Hosted in Fritz 11 environment, it followed the chessbase swiss tournament format of nine rounds. As a result, of course, not all engines will be paired against each other. Here is the top 10:
engines Sta. Rosa City, Laguna 2009
1 Fritz 11 8.5/9
2 Cyclone 2.3 7.0/7
3 Rybka 3 32-bit 7.0/8
4 Hydra v.8 7.0/9
5 Rybka 2.1c 32-bit 6.0/9
6 Rybka 3 Dynamic 32-bit 5.5/7
7 Fruit 2.3.1 5.5/7
8 Fritz 10 5.0/6
9 Twisted Logic 20080620 5.0/7 (a young Filipino engineer wrote this program)
10 Twisted Logic 0.065e37 5.0/7
Other engines that were included:
Glaurung 1.2.1 4.5/8
Toga II 1.3x4 4.5/9
Glaurung 1.2.1 SMP 3.5/7
Zappa Mexico II 3.5/8
Rybka 2.3 32-bit 3.0/7
Grapefruit 1.0 beta 2.5/8
Naum 2.0 2.0/7
Twisted Logic 0.065e35 1.0/6
Toga II 1.4 beta5c 1.0/8
Gambit Fruit 1.0 Beta 4bx 1.0/9
Comet B68 0.5/6
Crafty 20.14 w32 0.5/7
Rybka 2.2 32-bit 0.0/6
Fritz 5.32 0.0/6
Because according to most lists, Rybka 3 is the strongest engine today with elo reaching more than 3190, it is an odd thing for Cyclone 2.3 to be at number 2. Fritz 11's firts place finish can be forgiveable, considering that the environment is Chessbase. Also, Fritz 11's rating (3008) is usually second or third to Rybka 3 and Deep Shredder. Naum 4 (release last December 2008 is recently seen at number 2. Deep Shredder 11 wasn't included in the tournament because I got my DS11 late already.
Therefore, I staged an engine match between Rybka 3 and Cyclone 2.3 in this manner: 6 games, with hash table and opening book controlled. The result is clear. Rybka won 4 games and drawn 2 games with Cyclone 2.3, for a +280 elo rating. According to a recent CEGT list, Cyclone's (version 2.2) rating is at 2862.
Another limitation here is that the uci engine allowed at Fritz 11 can only accommodate the 32-bit version of the engines.
Wednesday, December 31, 2008
Monday, November 10, 2008
Tuesday, October 28, 2008
Lyceum goes to MOA for Tribute to Teachers
This is a scanned copy from Manila Bulletin dated October 27, 2008. This was sent by Dr. Munoz of DLSU-Manila. Basically, a write up of what we did at MOA. I was with 10 students, representing Lyceum of the Philippines - Laguna. Another article can be viewed here from Inquirer. I laughed when I saw it because the estimate of the number of messages per cheesecloth spread came from me. Dr. Munoz asked me to help her estimate the number of messages, and I quipped, "About 150-200 messages, because some of the messages were really very small". So, there. They took it as if the numbers came from the Oracle at Delphi. Anyways. I did not know that the person interviewing her was from Inquirer so there.
Wednesday, September 24, 2008
No Matter What You Do....
1. Do NOT ask help on the internet.
2. Do NOT be an idiot NOT to know Photoshop.
3. Erase the thread you don't like, for Pete's sake....
Check the link to verify if my observation is correct.
2. Do NOT be an idiot NOT to know Photoshop.
3. Erase the thread you don't like, for Pete's sake....
Check the link to verify if my observation is correct.
Tuesday, September 23, 2008
More Upside Down People: David Blaine and .... who is that girl?
Kelly Ripa interviews illusionist David Blaine while both of them are hanging upside down above Central Park's Wollman Rink in New York. Blaine begins his latest endurance challenge 'David Blaine: Dive of Death' Monday morning Sept. 22, 2008. Blaine is set to hang upside down without a safety net for 60 hours. He will then conclude his exhibition with a plunge.
(AP Photo/Tina Fineberg)From Yahoo News / Associated Press.
Upside down house
This won't be uprooted by hurricanes. Kinda like.... "skip that one. Have I been here already?"
US Box Office Winners for the week
We have a new number one this week, making its grand debut on number one. It earned US$15Million in the first three days of release. It stars Samuel L. Jackson, who recently was cited as the number two person in the All Time Top 100 Stars At The Box Office List. According to the list, Samuel L. Jackson has 76 movies to date, and the combined total of those movies amount to US$ 4.403 Billion at the Box Office. Lakeview Terrace is another one of those box office successes across SLJ's name. Here is the top 5 list for last week, according to The Numbers.
1. Lakeview Terrace
2. Burn After Reading
3. My Best Friend's Girl
4. Igor
5. Righteous Kill
Only the second and the fifth spot are occupied by movies in the top 5 last week. My Best Friend's Girl stars Kate Hudson, Diane Cook and Alec Badwin. Igor is John Cusack. Incidentally, 3 of the top 5 this week are comedy movies (Burn After Reading, My Best Friend's Girl, and Igor).
Sunday, September 21, 2008
First Game goes to Ateneo
8 points ang lamang. But Ateneo led all the way. Except for that moment 2:58 before the second quarter buzzer. Pero after so many fouls, Ateneo led that quarter again 36-29, ending with a rainbow connection from Reyes.
I don't play basketball, but I love watching the sports. When we were young, my brother and I would pretend we are Joe Cantada and Andy Jao. I would even write down the stats of each team: Assists, Defensive-Offensive Rebounds, Turnovers, etc.
For the first game in this classic match, what ailed DLSU was their ultra-sour shooting. They forced many turnovers on Ateneo side, but clearly, it wasn't enough. A good defense will be clouded by a poor offense. Larry Bird once said that the best defense is a good offense. Perhaps, the Archers were Lakers fan back then. Or they simply cannot deliver.
Also, the inside game went to Ateneo. Raba - the big guy from Ateneo - made 25 or so points, and pulled ten or so rebounds. He massacred the defenders of La Salle inside. On the other side, when it was the turn of La Salle to shoot, they cannot go past the Jesuit walls.
So, they resort to three pointers. Which is good really if it were a practice game. BUT IT WAS THE CHAMPIONSHIP FOR GODSAKE! Thursday, September 18, 2008
Sunday, September 14, 2008
Ateneo versus La Salle in the 71st UAAP
It's final. Ateneo versus La Salle in the 71st UAAP Championship. La Salle inched past the mighty FEU Tamaraws 67-62 in the game today, while the Blue Eagles murdered the UE Warriors 70-50.
This much awaited event will be the fourth time in the UAAP history, with Ateneo winning twice (1988 and 2002). La Salle defeated Ateneo in their 2001 encounter.
This is La Salle's seventeenth (17th) time in the UAAP Finals since joining in 1986.
This much awaited event will be the fourth time in the UAAP history, with Ateneo winning twice (1988 and 2002). La Salle defeated Ateneo in their 2001 encounter.
This is La Salle's seventeenth (17th) time in the UAAP Finals since joining in 1986.
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