Living in the City

May I wish everyone a I hope and pray that the new year ushers in nothing but good things in all our lives. To all those who took the time to visit , made comments, linked, and reviewed my blogs, THANK YOU from the bottom of my heart. I realize I haven't been around as much as I had wanted to ... obligations you see. But I will definitely see you next year. Cheers everyone!

Lifted from this site are the following safety tips in handling firecrackers. 1. CHILDREN SHOULD NOT HANDLE FIREWORKS. Never let children handle, play with, or light any fireworks. Only adults should handle and light fireworks. The fireworks are great family fun, but they burn very hot and are intended to be handled only by adults. 2. DO NOT USE ALCOHOL WITH FIREWORKS. Please do not consume any alcohol while lighting or handling fireworks. Fireworks must be used only by individuals who act in a responsible manner and who are not under the influence of alcohol or drugs. If you are impaired in any way when you use fireworks, you increase the possibilities of misuse and injury to yourself and others. 3. FOLLOW THE LAWS; USE COMMON SENSE Follow your local and state laws regarding the possession and use of fireworks, and use good common sense when using fireworks. Read all directions, cautions, labels, and warnings on each individual firework item to understand the product performance and ...

Filipino New Year's eve shall always be celebrated with firecrackers. Adapted from the Chinese, Pinoys believe that the previous year's bad luck should be driven out of one's house and out of one's life with firecrackers and pyrotechnics. I was always aware that firecrackers originally came from China. I didn't know that: "Fireworks originated in China some 2,000 years ago. The most prevalent legend has it that fireworks were discovered or invented by accident by a Chinese cook working in a field kitchen who happened to mix charcoal, sulphur and saltpeter (all commonly found in the kitchen in those days). The mixture burned and when compressed in an enclosure (a bamboo tube), the mixture exploded. Some sources say that the discovery of fireworks occurred about 2,000 years ago, and other sources place the discovery sometime during the 9th century during the Song dynasty (960-1279), although this could be confusion between the discovery of gunpowder by the cook a...

Yes, we have been salivating for a turntable for almost three years now. Old technology? Yes, it is. Aside from wanting an iPod, I also want to own again one honest to goodness record player. Back when I was a teen-ager, (and that's a long, long, long, long time ago) my father used to assemble turntables. That is right. He is asseeembling them turntables. He has no electronics degree but he sure can whip up a radio tuner complete with speakers and phonograph players in 3 months. Galing no? (Great huh?) Turntable Basics "Turntables are, in fact, record-playing systems made up of three parts: the main housing, the tone arm, and a phono cartridge. The main body includes the base, the motor, the drive system, and the platter. It supports the tone arm, which in turn holds the phono cartridge. Phono cartridges have a stylus (a.k.a. a needle) that traces the LP's grooves and converts them into an analogous electrical output signal. Each subsystem plays a part in the quality of ...

I know the mood should be 'holidayie'. But not to dampen the merriment, I'd still want to share with you a glimpse of one of my favorite authors, Gabriel Garcia Marquez . He symbolizes HOPE. Which, to me, is what Christmas is all about. You believe so? "Gabriel Garcia Marquez has retired from public life due to health reasons: cancer of the lymph nodes. It seems that it is getting worse. He has sent this farewell letter to his friends, which has been translated and posted on the Internet. Please read and forward to anyone who might enjoy it. This is possibly, sadly, one of the last gifts to humanity from a true master:. If for an instant God were to forget that I am a rag doll and gifted me with a piece of life, possibly I wouldn’t say all that I think, but rather I would think of all that I say. I would value things, not for their worth but for what they mean. I would sleep little, dream more, understanding that for each minute we close our eyes we lose sixty seconds ...

From: reviews.cnet.com Vinyl rules: shopping for turntables in the digital age Remember the old record player that you put out to pasture 15 or 20 years ago? Turns out that that "dead" technology offers the potential for sound quality that's far superior to what you're hearing from your CD collection or your MP3 player, so much so that the joys of vinyl are being rediscovered by a new generation of music fans. CNET takes a look at three turntables for music lovers of any budget that will put your iPod on the defensive. By Steve Guttenberg (February 23, 2006) The past decade has seen digital media almost completely subsume the consumer entertainment world. HDTV is an all-digital standard; DVD has all but killed off old-fashioned analog VHS; cell phone networks have long since gone digital--the list goes on and on. The music industry was a trailblazer in digitization, with the compact disc laying the groundwork for the current MP3 era. But this seemingly inevitable marc...

“The result you got was the communication you intended”. Werner Erhard. “ Half the harm that is done in this world is due to people who want to feel important. They don't mean to do harm -- but the harm does not interest them. Or they do not see it, or they justify it because they are absorbed in the endless struggle to think well of themselves.” T.S. Eliot “ I have the simplest tastes. I am always satisfied with the best. ” Oscar Wilde “Self-importance is man's greatest enemy. What weakens him is feeling offended by the deeds and misdeeds of his fellow men. Self-importance requires that one spend most of one's life ...

People like myself who has reached the golden years normally have a difficult time dealing with technology. I know because I actually experience it at times. Talk about mobile phones - I have the bluetooth and the IR feature. Back then I didn't know how to make it work. The User's Manual is mostly not user-friendly :-) And what about operating the DVD player? Years ago I got confused figuring out which cable went with all the red, white and yellow jacks on the TV.It didn't help that I worked at a software company and my background is really liberal arts. Everything I know about technology is self-taught. Yes, out of my own initiative. I'm not sure if I am correct but I found out that techies are not the best teachers. Possessing a technician's mindset they always think in terms of procedures -- detailed and programmed flow of things. But hanging out with them made me understand them better, their idiosyncratic moods and impatience with things. Today, I am more or le...

If you're a new owner of an Ipod, and kindda matured like myself have you ever wondered: How many songs can iPod shuffle hold? Up to 120 songs on the 512 MB model and up to 240 songs on the 1 GB model (based on 128 kbps AAC files at 4 minutes per song). When the option to "Convert higher bit rate songs to 128 kbps AAC" is selected, are duplicate files added to the iTunes library? No. The 128 kbps AAC versions of the files are not stored anywhere on the computer. When songs are transferred to iPod shuffle, is artwork stripped from the files? No. The exception is if you select the "Convert higher bit rate songs to 128 kbps AAC" option, the artwork will not be included in the converted 128 kbps AAC versions of the files. Is it possible for iPod shuffle to play music when connected to a USB port even if it's not mounted or in disk mode? No. How can I tell if iPod shuffle is charging? Eject iPod shuffle in iTunes, but leave it physically connected t...

My friend called me the other day to ask if I knew something about shopping cart software . She was thinking of putting up an ecommerce site to sell items catering to Filipino OFW's. I said I was just browsing over this site, which talks about what I think is exactly what she needs. Of course I told her about Ashop Commerce , a leading provider of hosted shopping cart software. As one of the leading shopping cart software supplier, Ashop provides a total solutions online shopping cart package which is easy on the budget, is feature-rich, search engine optimized, and provides unlimited design templates to choose from, without you having to worry about full technical and customer service support at all. Ashop shopping cart software requires no programming or plug-ins to get it running. Instead it provides a custom HTML feature that highlights rich text editors, best for non-programmers like us. I told her you know how to blog, you'd know how to use this software. Wh...

I got this mail from a fellow member at my blog log community. You can find the address here He is officially launching this Entrecard contest essentially I think to help promote Entrecard, another blog networking community which was launched recently. Ten winners will each receive 100 EntreCard points. The points as I understand it can be used to advertise in other people blogs. When you sign up with Entrecard, you will need to create a 125×125 button that represents your blog. The Entrecard widget with your blog name or title indicated will be placed in your blog. Next you’ll go around clicking on the “Drop Yours” space on other member's blogs. This will earn you credits. Credits that you need to advertise on other blogs. So, the more you click the more credits you get. And as you earn more credits, the more chances you have to advertise in other peoples' blogs. So if you want to join all you need to do is: 1. Subscribe to his RSS feeds. 2. Write a post on your site or bl...

The “Law of Affirmation says that whatever goals you repeat over and over in a positive, present tense, and personal way will be accepted by your subconscious as commands. They will begin to be drawn into your life by the law of attraction". This is amazing: "The key to the Law of Affirmation is that your subconscious mind cannot tell the difference between something that is vividly imagined or real. This is why you’ll hear speakers and trainers say, ‘Say it like you already own it’. Simple ways in which you can maximize the Law of Affirmation. 1. Write your goals out every day. Be specific. Say, I like this __________________. It is so sleek and pretty; imagining it is already in your possession. 2. Repeat them out loud. You get used to the sound of your own voice over time. In the beginning, when you first verbalize a new goal, you feel weird. It is only natural because goals are designed to stretch you to become a person you have never been before. You are being pulled out...

Cartoon by Dave Walker . Find more cartoons you can freely re-use on your blog at We Blog Cartoons .

I found this site which speaks about the nine hidden laws of Nature. This is the first of nine. Read on. There might be something to be of value in what it is saying. The Law of Attraction which is said to have began in 3000 B.C. can be summarized in two words – Think Positive. “This great Law says that 'You are a living magnet'. You invariably attract into your life people and situations in harmony with your dominant thoughts. You have probably heard of the Principle of Sympathetic Resonance. This is where you strike a musical note (such as “A”) on a piano. If you walk across the room to the guitar sitting by itself in the corner you will find the “A” string vibrating in harmony with the piano. With a closer look you will see that we live in a world of vibration. Everything is vibrating. We may not see it with our physical eyesight yet under a microscope we know that nothing rests. Everything is in a constant state of vibration. Thought is one of the highest forms of vibratio...

So see above screenshots among many others I have been taking for some obvious and unexplained reasons :-) During my daily blogging ritual it is sometimes difficult for me to access my jpeg and doc files because I just borrow this laptop. When the laptop owner is himself doing his blogs (I taught him how), which he does daily as well, I have no option but to use my son's desktop. I seldom use his desktop because my back aches. His computer chair was calibrated for a tall person. I am only 5 feet and 4 inches. And yes, because he is tall :-) My son also informed me that I do not need to worry about my files in another computer device, because I can easily access it. Sigh. Yes, eeeeeasily he says. There's nothing to it? Because, the " my network places" shall take care of that. The golden (I am past 50) lotusflower tried to do as instructed. Voila! I am embarrassed to admit. My files are not anywhere near where I could find it. Arrrgh! I thought I could use Google Do...

I don't have the statistics of just how many Web-enabled phones have been sold, so far, this part of the world but this was what I gathered: Yahoo is now available on the following cellphones: 1. Nokia Series 60, 5300 Xpress Music phones, Series 40 2. Motorola Linux-based mobile devices, MOTORAZR maxx V6 and MOTORAZR V3xx devices 3. Samsung SGH-E570 4. LG (unspecified phone models) Google enabled mobile phones: 1. Sony Ericsson 2. Samsung 3. LG 4. Something weird happened about the info I gathered regarding the above. The specific phone models which I gathered from different news releases were lost while I was trying to rearrange the phone images inside my post. WTF. Arrrgghh. I will try to get the info again to complete this post. Take note that Samsung mobile phones are enabled for Google and Yahoo Searches. (Unfortunately, they are each on different models.) By the way, to compare Google and Yahoo Search on mobile check out this web address I found.

This is my interpretation of what I saw after what happened last Thursday, when Senator-elect Antonio Trillanes IV together with his group tried to instigate the Filipinos to oust our President Gloria M. Arroyo and occupied a 5 star hotel in the financial district of Makati. Not too long ago, Senator Trillanes together with the so-called Magdalo group of soldiers occupied Oakwood Hotel, also in Makati. Being tried for this crime and imprisoned, he could not serve his term as a senator despite being elected by 11 million people in the recent Senatorial elections. Frustrated, perhaps, these were his thoughts, the day he and General Danny Lim walked out of a court hearing: When all other rights are taken away, the right of rebellion is made perfect. -Thomas Paine- Old forms of government finally grow so oppressive that they m...