2006 November

Squat, Don’t Sit.

November 28, 2006 · 6 comments

L of Death Note, squatting as usual

Once more, this proves we are slaves to social conditioning. Because sitting languidly on a “throne” was deemed more civilized than the ways of crude native folk, we have embraced it as the proper way to sit.

If you have ever felt, as many, many people do, that after you have evacuated, there is still something left, here is the reason:

The anal canal is UNSTRAIGHTENED when seated. Bowel evacuation when seated results frequently in OBSTRUCTIVE CONSTIPATION…Adopt a relaxed, FULL SQUAT POSTURE and the anal canal STRAIGHTENS.

So that’s why L sits like that.

It goes beyond constipation, though, as, detailed at Nature’s Platform. And among the experts on the subject is a certain Dr. Alexander Kira:

…While we regard the use of the water closet as natural, we represent only a relatively small percentage of the world’s population, and a percentage that may be said, in an absolute sense, to be wrong, insofar as we have allowed civilization to interfere with our biological functioning.

Found another “don’t get a job” post too. “Companies pay you for your time, not for the value you produce.” I don’t think that’s true all the time, but that’s why I don’t understand web designers and similar freelancers that charge by the hour.

Stellify.net Turns One

November 24, 2006 · 7 comments

Stellify.net 2005I am a stickler for remembering what happened to me exactly one year ago, and if need be, the year before that, the year before that, and so on. Case in point: September 28.

Last year, particularly last November 22, Stellify.net officially resolved to the Filcode nameservers and appeared on the web. (Not for the first time, though.)

Perpetually in Pre-Release

(That’s one of the taglines I made for Qwerky.)

I slapped on a “coming soon” splash screen promptly, but it took forever to replace. It would take a while before I start my very “first” blog, Qwerky, notebook of the weirdest Web 2.0 names. Stellify also proved to be a useful host for different projects, mostly school-related (sampa02/stringed, CSS, CSN, Lifetime, p^3) at first. Then I was coerced into making a site for two. I also placed my first freelance web design stint for the year at Stellify (GCHS).

Then it was time to face the inescapable.

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the_date() only displays the date in its first instance

November 22, 2006 · 1 comment

This feature of WordPress the_date() template tag is quirky to me, but I guess it works that way in most blog engines out there.

I came across this cautionary message in the WordPress Codex for the_date() function, pointed to me through the Support Forum when I had trouble getting to show dates in some posts (I was tinkering with another layout I made).

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The Two Pillars of Learning

November 19, 2006 · 2 comments

Melchor Hall: U.P. College of Engineering

I’ve been riding the Ikot jeepney most of my life. Sometimes, when I manage to get out of the University and then come back in through a UP-Philcoa or UP-Pantranco-Highway-MRT jeep, I ask myself whether I should get off at the University Avenue checkpoint since it’s the first stop and along the quickest route to my home, via jeep.

But whether it’s dark outside or still early in the afternoon, I tend to hesitate getting an Ikot there. Most of the time I prefer the longer “tourist’s route” starting at Vinzons. I spend as long as forty-five minutes on Ikot rides and I tend to relish the time I have on it. (As well as the 6.50 I paid for.)

Last Friday evening I was glad I didn’t get off too soon because of two things.

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Don’t get a job.

November 18, 2006 · 8 comments

Someone has listed ten reasons why, all radical, to say the least.

While I totally agree with his discussion on the following—

  1. Gaining experience: This is a major item on my things-I-think-about-at-night list. It’s been bugging me ever since I took a not-so-conventional job. In any case, I want to experience things and milk life for what it’s worth.
  2. Social brainwashing: It’s a conspiracy! Related to gaining experience, we have been conditioned, sculpted, and caged by our work.
  3. Risk, security, cowardice, freedom: You have a choice.

—the problem is clear to a number of people: finding a good job is tough, much less one that “works” even while you’re asleep. The rest may already know this, although only subconsciously.

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WYGIWYG

November 16, 2006 · 6 comments

What you give is what you get could be the spelled out version of an acronym that’s much catchier than “The Golden Rule.” And if I’d have to rename TotallyDeserved.com, I’d probably use that. (Hmm, WYGIWYG has potential; I wonder how to use it without being a copycat!)

I happen to be amused by sites such as Intention Cloud and Totally Deserved because it’s not really an ambitious exploit, just the type of website you need to get off your chest.* It lets you do that as well.

Pick a name, state your case, and send him/her a slap, pat, punch, kiss, or hug through the site. Nothing fancy; it’s somewhat meme-like and the creator compensates for the costs using trusty ol’ Adsense—as one would expect these days, perhaps to the dismay of web startup analysts out there, but who knows? The site is just a few steps away from a new-flavored social network! It’s community-driven content (how Web 2.0!) but the catch is you don’t have to be as righteous.

Curiously, all I’ve seen are pats on the back and slaps; no punches yet.

* November seems to be the month of registering new domains and launching new websites. You’ll see what I mean in a bit.

Do Laptop Coolers Work?

November 13, 2006 · 18 comments

I hadn’t bought a notebook cooler for Risk just because I never felt the need to, but like most laptops out there, Risk gets warm too.

Suck or blow?

Antec NoteBook Cooler S

Most cooling pads I looked at had the same basic look: a rectangular pad with two or three fans inside, hooking up to the laptop’s power via USB. Some were obviously some cheap plastic, while some allegedly had the perfect cooling materials in aluminum and ceramics. But the Antec NoteBook Cooler S looked like nothing else. It blows the cool air in rather than suck the air out and claims to lower the temperature by 15 degrees Celsius. I was sold.

Then the lady at the shop that sold this Antec product convinced me not to get it and asked me how quickly my notebook warmed up.

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My First Spam Comment, Bow.

November 8, 2006 · 7 comments

I have absolute faith in Akismet. All the spam that piles up under that submenu feels much less annoying because Akismet’s there.

My First Spam Comment

And although I, like her, am usually ticked off that there are hundreds of spam comments that plague Qwerky ever so often, the first spam attempt at Stellify made me smile. And I’ve never needed to try any WordPress anti-spam plugin since.

Just a reminder, though, Akismet is free for personal use only. Commercial uses include problogging (ha!), but only if you’re the really rich problogger-type.

Just to re-iterate, if you don’t fall under our pro-blogger or enterprise uses, Akismet is totally free for you to use on your blog… The lines of commercial and non-commercial personal blogs are hard to draw, so we’re saying if you’re making more than $500/mo from your blog we ask that you use a $5/mo pro-blogger Akismet API

Speaking of plugins, I’ve just held a WordPress plugin installfest on this site. Over half of them I tried out to see if they were any good, only to be ripped out after a few minutes. I pity my database. It’s not that they were horrible plugins; they just didn’t work for me. Only two remained: Jerome’s Keywords and Marekkis Watermark-Plugin.

The first one implements a tagging system onto the blog. Yes, the categorizing issue haunts me still, but the more tags the better. SEO-wise, at least. All that’s left for me to debate upon (with myself, of course) is whether the categories are still useful or not. From a UX perspective, it’s nice to have a bunch of larger, general buckets to catch all that rain (tag clouds, get it?). Anyway, as I’ve mentioned, this site is very Beta, and I’m very flaky.

The second plugin supposedly generates a custom watermark on every image uploaded, but it doesn’t seem to be working. Talk about hit-and-miss ratios.

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