Categories
Mostly Everything

The Worst Kind of Facebook Tag Spam

EDIT: They removed my name. Such an odd campaign! Who cares about my opinion on shoes? Di naman ako fashionista (Magaling lang magdala – LOL!).

Spamming Facebook walls is one thing. But mentioning your name to quote you on a manufactured opinion is just the worst thing you can ever do. Grabe, bastos!

Categories
Mostly Everything

DoTA 2 soon for beta download via Steam; International DoTA tournament starts today!

EDIT: Changed title for clarity

It’s a crazy week with the DoTA 2 International Tournament kicking off in Germany. For those who don’t know, the Philippines has team Mineski.Infinity representing us for a pot prize of USD million. Their first match will be at 10:00AM GMT+2 against Team SGC of the Czech Republic. Full schedule here.

Also, DoTA 2 is now open for limited beta testing under the Steam service of Valve. You will need to express interest by logging in to the service. If you don’t have a Steam account you can sign up for one here.

Please pass the word. Our local team needs your full support. In the same way that we’ve shown support for the Azkals, the Dragon Boat team, and SMART Gilas, there’s no reason why we should not support our budding eSports DoTA team! You can watch the games live via streaming through this page.

Categories
Underwater

When you dive in Basura, you find the oddest things

Smile! I’m a hairy frogfish

Whenever SCUBA is marketed to the public, the point of entry is always how pretty everything is underwater. Go to any SCUBA marketing collateral and you’re guaranteed a photo of healthy coral reefs with schools of red anthias and other fish swimming in nonchalance. Don’t forget the diver in the pink wetsuit and huge yellow mask. I spent more than a year diving reefs, going to average depths of about 60 ft and deeper to catch glimpses of the “busy” underwater life.

After a while though, you start wanting other things. Even if they’re less beautiful and more bizarre.

Categories
Mostly Everything

A Primer on Biodiversity — Please Come!


On Wednesdays, we dive with Manta Rays (Taken in Tubbataha, 2011)

“I was born a century too early. I’ll never travel to outer space.”

My greatest regret was something I had no control over. And that’s why I decided to take up SCUBA. In essence, it’s pretty much follows the same principle: you float around space and discover strange, new things that man wasn’t meant to see. Being underwater is the ultimate rebellion. Man isn’t supposed to be there. But we’re there. Swimming around. Nonchalantly.

With over 120 logged dives over the past two years I slowly got sucked into that deep underwater goldmine that most of us Filipinos have ignored for decades. If any hope for the country exists, it’s down there. It’s too rich to ignore and the sad part is, our by-products from the faraway cities are destroying it.

For those interested, there will be a huge symposium this August on the Philippines and biodiversity. Dr. Kent Carpenter director of the Marine Biodiversity Unit of the International Union for Conservation of Nature will be talking about the Philippines as the epicenter of biodiversity, and thus follows our country being potentially one of the biggest hotspots for adventure tourism in the world.

The title of the talk is rather long, but not long enough to beat a Carlos J. Caparas film title. “Scientific Discovery and the Urgent Need for Conservation at the Philippine Epicenter of Marine Biodiversity” will be held on Wednesday August 24 2011 at 6:00PM at the Intercontinental Hotel Grand Ballroom, Makati. Everyone is invited!

August 24 2011
6:00 PM
Intercontinental Hotel Grand Ballroom
Makati
RSVP Penelope Uy 0918.915.5045 / events (at) jewelmer (dot) com

Our NUDI group will be there as well as we’re installing an underwater photo exhibit to complement the theme of the symposium. If you want to learn more about biodiversity and economics, this is the rare chance to see it!

This event is sponsored by Jewelmer.

Categories
Mostly Everything

NFC Demo with the Nokia C7 at the Jump Store in Megamall

SMART-PLDT opened the JUMP Store yesterday in MegaMall’s CyberZone. In spirit, it’s much like the Apple Store in the US allowing customers to really get their hands dirty with technology. As a Class-A geek, I was impressed with two things in particular: they had the never before launched HTC Evo 3D smartphone and an upgraded version of the Nokia C7 sporting NFC technology. This post will talk about NFC technology.