SURF SURF SURF

The upcoming debate in our GRPCOMM class came to my mind, when Miss Cielo Santos told the instruction about the exercise on surfing the Internet.
First, I opened my Yahoo Mail account but it took almost ten minutes to open the webpage. It finally opened to tell me that there’s an error that won’t allow me to enter the webpage. Yahoo offered to use the classic version. Good thing the classic version immediately opened. J
Google is the search engine I prefer to use. I typed in keywords to research for the debate topics for our GRPCOMM class.
I encountered some problems like the slow pace of opening a single webpage. Sometimes I found a search result and tried to open it but when I clicked the hyperlink, it opened another page that says, “Sorry, the file does not exist.” It is one of the drawbacks of using the Internet because when you think you found the necessary information, the Internet will limit you from knowing it because of webpage problems or inconsistencies in content. It took about five minutes to open the page just to tell you that the file does not exist. It turns out to be the opposite fact that says Internet is the fastest way of finding information nowadays.
Another thing is that keying words in search engines would offer you thousand of search results including the irrelevant information. It now becomes tiring to research because among the thousands of results, you can most probably rely only on the first few pages of the search results offered.
These are the problems I encountered during the COMPMED period’s surfing experience. - NCA -

underestimated

We are all capable of changing someone else’s life if we have the will to do so and we all have a choice if we want to do it or not.

President Gloria Arroyo has made her choice. A friend of mine convinced me that the president is up to something good this time and not something will make her look good. I haven’t seen, or heard her speech given last Monday, the 28^th of July. Based on what I heard, the president wanted to prove to the people that this time what she says, will be done.

( not the actually conversation but it is something like this)

Friend: I admit that I do not idolize the president, but her speech is good.

With her past speeches, she mentioned that she will do everything to help the people and she only cared about how people would like her. This time, she mentioned in her speech that she will not care what people would think but she will do what is right.

Me: wouldn’t the people hate it?

Friend: the people left the president with no choice.

Never did I listened to the speeches the president is giving us for the past years because I knew that after it there will be no change. To everything that she said, she has helped the “other” but sacrificed the “others”. The president is very aware of her decisions and yet she still doesn’t know “who” is worth sacrificing for.

good images vs bad images

Nakakatawa. Nung isang beses, nagsearch ako ng images ng salitang "girls" tapos yung mga maaayos na images, hindi lumalabas. Pero yung mga masasagwa, ayon, kitang kita! Haha.

The one thing I hate most about when I’m surfing the Internet is when images do not show up. I am a visual type of person and to see images or photos that would describe a certain article is important for me to decide if I will continue to surf the website or not. I have experiences like this whenever the Internet connection is down. And there are times wherein no matter how many times I refresh the page, the images still do not show up.

As I searched random subjects in the Internet using the school’s computer, there are times when a “blocking” software, more commonly known as DANSGUARDIAN installed in the computers would appear. There is a counterpart though to the software which is the ULTRASURF that students install in their flash drives so that they can still connect to websites that have been blocked by DANSGUARDIAN. However, ULTRASURF slows down the connection. It will take more time for the website to show up than without using the ULTRASURF.

The Internet has become more and more “polluted” and impure from time to time. For instance, when I searched for images of “girls” in Google, this image showed up:

I mean, what if children would want to search for the word "girls" and this image showed up? The Internet isn’t safe and for me, that is an Internet flaw and bad trait that could possibly not be resolved unless parents would install softwares to block such images.

FROM PICKAXE TO PIXELS

Picture this: A caveman hastily pounding a stone tablet with a sharp rock; his forehead drenched with perspiration, his dark-colored eyes locked onto his masterpiece. Each piece of tablet intricately engraved with various markings depicting its own unique message. Do you imagine yourself submitting a school paper, or in this context, school tablets to your professor, with each tablet weighing at least a quarter your weight?

Is this generation not lucky? All the materials in the world are just a click away. We say goodbye to boring, overweight stone tablets! We welcome digitally-conjured millions of pixels containing infinite amounts of information!

The world is moving at a faster pace. Hours are turned into minutes. Minutes are cut into seconds. But more importantly, the medium in which knowledge, the irreplaceable foundation of human society, is shared from person to person is starting to evolve.

In the past centuries, people from all walks of life turn to the elders to seek information, for age, as they believe it to be, brings wisdom. For this reason, oral traditions flourished greatly. Knowledge was passed on to generations through word of mouth. Silence kept secrets. But then paper was discovered. Formal education thrived and knowledge spread even further. People now relied on what was written on paper; in other words, what was in ink was believed to be the truth. Years passed and computer technology came into the picture – the existence of the Internet. Oral and written traditions were ultimately combined into this new and efficient medium for information. Texts are no longer static. Sounds are incorporated to increase interactivity.

The society we live in today has changed dramatically. Cultures are rapidly morphing from those that rely on knowledge passed orally to societies that follow what is on paper but what about our motherland? Have we changed from an oral culture to a written one? In my opinion, it is yet to happen.

The Philippines is best known to be a family-oriented country. Thus, the younger generations tend to bow down before older generations who are believed to be smarter and more experienced than their counterparts. Grandchildren will turn up to their lolos or lolas to listen to stories passed on from family to family. Sons and daughters heed advises from their dads and moms. Filipinos generally appreciate the knowledge that is given to them orally by more experienced people. In addition, undying stories of folklore and mysteries are ever so popular; showing how Filipinos value what is passed on by their predecessors.

Another would be the great deal of trust put by Filipinos in interacting with other people. This is evident in how people agree to go into transactions such as lending small amounts of money without having to write it on a piece of paper. Just by simply talking, an agreement can come into terms.

Moreover, economic status may be one of the reasons why our country seems to be revolving around orality. First world countries such as the U.S. or Europe are blessed with the latest technologies. With those, they are able to successfully adapt information-sharing mediums such as the internet for dissemination. Here, technology is still not at its prime. Therefore, Filipinos make use of oral traditions as a way of communicating their experiences.

However, this situation is not always a bad thing. It actually keeps us more personal. Talking to a person directly and sharing your knowledge, more often than not, breaks the barriers of noise, something that will always be present in the world of written culture. Although noise is present everywhere, it is far less in orality.

Written culture is yet to appear in the Philippines though it may still take quite a few years to happen depending on how our country will rise in terms of economic competence. But we should all keep in mind that not being a written culture is not necessarily a bad thing, for oral traditions make up what it is to be the culture of the Filipino.

SONA: STATE OF THE NATION ADDRESS OR SAME OLD NONSENSE AGAIN?

It is that time of the year again when countless protests are erupting from all over Manila; sarcastic senators are showing up on our precious television sets bickering; and haggard news reporters are all over the newsroom preparing for their big event. No, it is not the end of the world. It is time for SONA, the State of the Nation Address of our beloved President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo. For the opposition party, Same Old Nonsense Again should replace the current extension for the acronym, SONA, for it is much more appropriate.

Success!

Although I do not share their wishes for this to happen, I certainly accept the idea that this months’ SONA will be nothing but promises and blown up achievements again.

Luckily, classes were dismissed right on time for me and my Dad to turn on the radio and listen to the infamous SONA. I turned the knob of our car radio and tuned in to the station that was covering the said event. A few moments later, I started to hear that familiar, screechy voice. “Oh, it’s her speaking”, I said to myself.

Maybe it was better that we were only able to hear the SONA on the radio over watching it live on television. In that way, I wouldn’t be distracted by the thousands of pretentious and plastic people crowding up the screen. On a more serious note, the radio kept me concentrated on the message of the speech rather than how the speaker was talking. Even though the TV gives us a more appealing and interactive view of the event, it also bombards us with numerous distractions that may prove to be a hindrance in our listening process.

However, one negative thing about using the radio to listen to the SONA was that I couldn’t see the people she was referring to. Like those farmers who have changed lives or those women who now hold a high position in a certain business. It would be better if I had seen their face for just hearing their names bears no weight.

Let us move on to the contents of her 55-minute speech.

I do not know why, but how come politicians are so fascinated on making roads and bridges? Is that the only thing they can do? We can see this phenomenon, if I may call it, everywhere, most especially in villages and other related communities. For example, “Look there’s a butterfly engraving on the sidewalks. Oh wait. That actually says JB turned into the wings of the butterfly.” In PGMA’s speech, she mentioned her connecting bridges and Ro-Ro success stories aside from the long highways that link two places together.

Another thing she mentioned was the bringing down of text rates to 50 centavos from the usual P1, which fired the mouths of the critics saying that it was simply a promo and the president is just riding in. Though I am not much into the use of my mobile phone for communication, it would be great if they can bring the rates down permanently. But, wouldn’t that also cut the income of the network companies by half?

The government focused more on the uplifting of lives of the less fortunate sector in our country. By establishing different programs with benefits, they aim to increase livelihood performances. However, it seems we still do not feel any of these progresses. Oh the irony.

As an hour passed by the speech ended. The thing is, it didn’t leave any impact on me. Isn’t it that the point of giving a speech is to enkindle the spirits of the listeners? Maybe it’s just me but I’m not that ignorant in the world of politics. If it didn’t leave an impact on me, what about the others my age?

hassle

Surfing in the internet makes the work easier and not time consuming as to what people refer it to. But sometimes I can’t help but disagree even though internet has been helpful to me since I started high school.

It gives me a lot of access to be able to see anything and everything in this world. It gives me great ideas to come up with graphic designs for my subjects and such but not all the time, the internet is accessible. There are times where pages are not yet done or is still under construction and there are times where it is so slow that you get frustrated. Sometimes, internet is the cause of problems, and sometimes it creates news, gossips.

Internet has become an ingredient to a “meaningful” life because people consider it as an entertainment, a blissful moment in their life.

DANSGUARDIAN: THE ROOT OF EVIL

The internet is one of the most useful applications made by man. As such, we utilize its different features like it’s written at the back of our hands. However, there are moments when we encounter certain problems that can pose as frustrations in the part of the user. I, myself, have gone through endless eye-twitching instances when I happened to surf the internet using the computers provided in our Computer Lab.

There are many types of software installed into the computers in the lab to prevent viruses and undesired websites from showing up; one of which is DANSGUARDIAN. Ask a number of students concerning this software and they will all say the same thing – that it needs some fixing.

To serve as an example, I inputted POWERPUFF GIRLS into the search query area of Yahoo!, the default search engine. Lo and behold! DANSGUARDIAN blocked my search.

Access to the page
http://images.search.yahoo.com/search/images?p=the+dark+knight&vc=&fr=yfp-t-501&toggle=1&cop=mss&ei=UTF-8&fp_ip=PH
has been denied for the following reason:REASONWeighted phrase limit of 50 : 165
((images, sexually explicit)+sexually+are at least 18+at least 18 years old+18
years old+ porn+porno+not suitable for minors)

When did the POWERPUFF GIRLS ever get sexually explicit? I do not know if the software is just too sensitive or if it’s just not working properly. Maybe both?

Anyway, I tried searching POWERPUFF GIRLS again and to my surprise, the search results displayed without hassle. So, I became confused. Boing. Tried “The Dark Knight.” Same thing happened.

The blocking softwares installed in computers in the lab are good for the reason that we do not exactly want to be bombarded by vulgar websites and countless virus that can be acquired while surfing through the Internet. But if you constantly get bothered by blocking software that is not working properly then “surfing the internet” should be replaced by “traversing the streets of EDSA.” It’s no walk in the park.

The Internet is used for entertainment purposes. Surely, DANSGUARDIAN is there to ruin all the fun.