You gotta love October; in this case, the 23rd. I just found out that the Apple iPod is celebrating its fifth anniversary today. You could greet the lovely new Nanos on MySpace, but that’s just not right. I wonder: how do the ‘podders pamper their ‘pod on its birthday? How about a birthday cake?
Elsewhere:
And, because I’m feeling extra-generous, here are some more noteworthy articles to digg:
On this site, cloud-watching serves as the backdrop for hunting down that perfect search keyword, as Google or Overture give you a push in the right direction. Intention Cloud gives you a cloud of search phrases related to your keywords and a glimpse of what others have looked at.
The site’s soothing colors and illustrations remind me of Orisinal, sans the Flash. Of course, if there ain’t no Flash, there’s gotta be AJAX at least. It’s quite the catalyst to easily making web utilties like this. (That and RoR, but the visual effects of AJAX are easier to perceive and enjoy.) Plus, it’s comforting to see they’re talented not only in coding but in designing as well. Again, it’s easier to perceive and enjoy.
Although short of being full-blown weblications, Intention Cloud, along with WebSnapr, its kid Preview Bubble, and Try Ruby are just some of the interesting tools I’ve bumped into the past few days. They’re hardly venture capital gold mines but more like handicrafts the hobbyists would like to share to the world.
As you can see, not all of “Web 2.0″ (if that is even proper to describe such niche sites) is about cashing in on the output.
Some totally unrelated foonote:
I heard a quote once that said, “Big companies take extraordinary people and make them do ordinary things. Startups take ordinary people and make them do extraordinary things.†I think the magic of Google comes from taking extraordinary people and letting them do extraordinary things. – Niniane Wang, who first learned LISP at 10 years old.
Oh, and Eskwela is now featuring a ton of new schools, including high schools. Still buggy (I am a “Student Forever”!), but it’s improving!
Word.
will be held on December 2, 2006 at the SM Mall of Asia Premiere Cinema, from 10 am to 7 pm. Speakers include Nico Puertollano (he was one of the judges for the first @rte Movement), Team Manila (I want to buy more of their stuff!), Inksurge, and a number of local and foreign graphic design talents.
I’m not that excited about it yet, or perhaps about conferences in general. They are not as effective because they always have to stick to the basics and keep it as simple as possible. Yes, mainstreamed. And in the Philippines, everything is dumbed down to an even sorrier notch and tangled up in hype. If a speaker isn’t capable of translating talent into words (and slides), it’d be hard to perceive.
But I’m delighted there are more and more conferences on “digital” stuff here in the country. Makes you feel like finally, you’re not as backwards as the first world nations. At least, when you’re in a poor country, the ticket prices are pretty cheap as well.
Visit GraphikaManila.com for more information. They also have pretty posters and wallpapers if you’re not too fond of pure-flash (it takes away copy-pasting abilities, among other things!).
GYM stands for Google, Yahoo, and Microsoft, FYI. The phrase was coined by Om Malik and became a loathed word. “GYM Free” means avoiding blogging about either one of the big three. It’s an interesting challenge but may not be effective.
With its signature campaign at nearly 1,500 names, JAngelo‘s initiative of bringing Paypal to the Philippines has finally become a reality. Philippine accounts can only send money right now, but it’s a good start. Good job, J, and to everyone else who helped out! (Coughs violently)
The details are in the latest blog entry of the site. Sign up already if you haven’t (and oks this story too).
(As in: “My goodness! Where did theirs go?”)
KURT VONNEGUT ONCE OBSERVED, “FOR SOME reason, the most vocal Christians among us never mention the Beatitudes. But, often with tears in their eyes, they demand that the Ten Commandments be posted in public buildings. And of course that’s Moses, not Jesus. I haven’t heard one of them demand that the Sermon on the Mount, the Beatitudes, be posted anywhere.” Vonnegut was pointing out the basic immorality of society’s self-proclaimed moral custodians. Hate the sin but love the sinner? But that opens to a possible debate on what is sin.
“The Grand Inquisitor” by Manuel L. Quezon III, published on page A15 of the August 14, 2006 issue of the Philippine Daily Inquirer.
I stumbled upon that quote elsewhere; after some backtracking, I found Kurt Vonnegut’s original commentary.
While Quezon moved on to focus on a whole other matter and Vonnegut only mentioned this as part of a larger whole, isn’t anybody else bothered by Kurt Vonnegut’s logic here (and consequently MLQ’s, for agreeing with it)?
To point out the obvious, those Commandments were spoken and written by God. They were only brought down by Moses. Did Vonnegut read a different Bible? Perhaps. Some say there is no proof that they were written by God Himself.
It’s clearly implied that the Beatitudes are positive and encouraging words speaking through the humanity of Jesus. On the other hand, the Ten Commandments are feared, some daresay negative, laws that the all-powerful God sent down to Earth. It sounds appealing to favor one who is more encouraging than fearsome, but that is an either-or fallacy. That, or you’re assuming God is such a one-dimensional being. Yes.
There is no reason to pit two sets of “guidelines” against each other—much less because one was allegedly said by a mere “self-proclaimed moral custodian.”
I am no model citizen, neither am I a devout Catholic (I try!). And I never imagined posting anything like this. But this is such a silly religious debate that people have tossed around only because of its implications, not its founding logic.
Update: a somewhat offbeat metaphor lies in the current Firefox versus IceWeasel issue. See reason #3: “You’re only pitting FLOSS against FLOSS“
