DISAPPOINTMENT: PSITS SPORTS FEST

Since this was my first time to attend the annual sports fest of the Philippine Society of Information Technology Students (PSITS), i could not compare it with the previous years. But i was able to talk to some students who said that in USEP's perspective, this is the worst PSITS sports fest ever. Our university (USEP) was not organized for the annual event. There were no players to play for a lot of games and the University also had no entries for the MTV spoof and the modern dance events.

What happened? Whose responsibility is it to organize the school?

I hope that next year, our school, USEP, would show a better face than what we showed this year. Please, officers of the local council, if this is part of your responsibility, please step forward and organize our school so that we again could get our hands on the Over-all Championship trophy.

WORD FACTORY CHAMPION

Last Saturday and Sunday, December 13 and 14, the Philippines Society of Information Technology Students (PSITS) held their annual sports fest at the Brokenshire College grounds. This was the first time that I ever attended the event. I did not attend the previous two years.
I signed up to compete on the word factory event. All the participating schools were divided into two Brackets, A and B. Schools from both brackets went through two elimination rounds with two games per round. The winner of each round would then advance to the next round while the loser was dropped from the competition. The eliminations was followed by the semi-finals, schools that have won twice were eligible to compete in the semi-finals. The winner of the semi-final round would then compete with the winner from the other Bracket for the championship while the loser of both Brackets would compete for the third and fourth place.
My school, University of Southeastern Philippines, was included in bracket A and on the first round of eliminations I was up against, Ian, a 4th year BSCS student from the University of the Philippines. On the first round our scores were very close to each other, 27 to 26, with me leading by only one point. On the second round I was able to spot more words than him enabling me to win the game. We ended the game with the score 67-51 in my favor.
On my second elimination match, my opponent from Jose Maria College did not appear, allowing me to win by default and giving me the chance to sail through the elimination rounds to the semi-finals with complete ease. ^_^
At the semi-finals, I was up against Sonito, a 4th year student from Ateneo de Davao University. On the first round he bested me by 6 points. He scored 22 points against my 16 points. I knew then that if I was going to proceed to the Championship I had to win the next round by more than 6 points. As the second round began and I saw the set of cubes in front of us and my hopes began to fade because it was a very difficult selection of lettered cubes. The chances of winning were slim and the chances of winning more than 6 points were even slimmer. I did my best and wrote down every word that I could find, and I knew that he also did the same. When the time came to check what we wrote we both discovered that he mistook the letter Z for an N. One of the rules of the game was that if a player wrote a word that could not be found in the selection then the corresponding points for that word would be subtracted to the player’s total. Because of this mistake, Sonito got a score of -1 for the second round and I was able to get 11 points. I was able to win the match with my 27 points to his 21 points. I won by 6 points. ^_^
For the Championship match, I was up against the winner of Bracket B, Rey, a 2nd year student of the University of Mindanao Matina Campus. On our first round I clearly won the match with me garnering 15 points to his 4 points. On our second round, I was again able to spot more words than him. When our total scores were tallied, I clearly won the game with a 20 point margin between us making me the Champion of the Word Factory event.
I was very pleased of the outcome of that day with me, a new comer, winning the CHAMPIONSHIP for one of the disputed games of the annual event. ^_^ I thank the Lord for giving me this honor.

End of the sem and start of another

Just as I said in my last post, I had no semestral break. My 1st semester ended on October 23, the same day our enrollment for the second semester started ^_^. After just 3 days of queuing for the required subjects I am officially enrolled.

I thank the Lord for helping me pass all my subjects last semester. This semester I’m taking up 24 units, five units overload. I pray that the Lord will continue to give me joy in my subjects this semester so I would continue to do good in my studies.

End of classes and more....

The first semester of school year 2008-2009 has ended and yet we will still be going to school come tomorrow and the following days to submit the requirements of some of our subjects. I guess this would mean that most of us IT students would not be having any semestral breaks this year. I took up 21 units this semester and out of that 21, I’ve finished all the requirements for 8 of those, which leaves me 13 more units, or 4 subjects (all of them major ones), of unfinished requirements. Two of those subjects require me, and my groupmates, to create a working database system for a given company. The remaining two, requires me to submit research papers on the Human Resource and on the Information Systems of two different companies. Even though it seems to be a tall order, the situation isn’t really that depressing. My group-mates and I have already finished the two research papers and all that’s needed is for our professor to check it and to give the go signal to bind the research paper into a more presentable form. What really concerns me is the database system for our Database 3 subject. I guess the time frame that was given for the completion of the project was not realistic. I suggest that the projects of programming classes should be given at the beginning of the semester so that the students would have ample time to create the necessary programs.

Out of those 21 units that I took, 7 of those units were for two of the best subjects (HRM and MIS) that I ever had. It’s not because I’m good at those subjects, but probably I was ^_^, it was because of the way the professor handled the subjects. We did not have the conventional style of teaching, blackboard and chalk, instead our professor sent us out to learn not from himself but from real institutions. Our class was not bounded by the four corners of the room. We met online for assignments, spent time with our adopted companies, and met in the classroom only to share and learn from the experiences of others in their respective companies. It was also due to those two subjects that this blog was created. Our professor required each of his students to create their own personal blogs and of course to update it from time to time. ^_^ Thanks to my professor Eng‘r Randy S. Gamboa, this semester has been one of the most enjoyable ones ever, even though a lot of things still have to be done before I could get out of the bushes.

I hope we will meet again in class, sir, just NOT in HRM and MIS. ^_^

WEATHER WEATHER LANG

One of the things I like about Davao is its weather. At any normal day it is hot. For me, hot is good. It is definitely better than cold. It doesn’t normally rain here, that’s fine with me too. But when it does, it POURS. These past few months the rains have been coming in a regular basis which is highly unusual, probably it is an effect of global warming.
Today has been the worst so far. It was only 4 o’clock and yet the skies were dark with rain clouds. When the rains finally hit it was pouring. A lot of people were stranded, the situation reminds me of Manila, where a slight down pour would flood the streets. ^_^ . The streets were clear vehicles, except for the few who braved the waters. The jeep that I was on, was stranded more than three times until the driver finally gave up and made a U turn.
What made the situation even more difficult for me was that I was carrying my CPU. (it was used in one of my projects) I’ll tell you one thing, it is one experience I’m not eager repeat. It took me more than two hours to reach home but at least I reached home without getting the CPU wet.

USEP IS facilities: Outsourced OR Insourced

For those who are not familiar with the terms outsource and in-source, here is a brief definition or explanation of the two: to Outsource something would mean to sub-contract it to a third-party company. The third-party would be the one to handle the processes involved and the equipment needed to produced the desired outcome for their client. In-source is the opposite of outsource, the processes and equipment would be done and produced locally or internally. For any given company, outsourcing would mean that some other party other than the company would do the job, while in-source would mean the company would handle it.

Both have its advantages and disadvantages and there is no one solution to every problem. In-sourcing and outsourcing are not moral issues where your stand could be held whatever the situation is. At a given time outsourcing could be more beneficial than in-sourcing and on another situation it could be the reverse.

In my university, USEP, taking a stand on whether to outsource or in-source the IS functions of the school would first require a thorough study on the matter. Define the pros and cons of the the two situations and weigh the two against each other. The one that out-weighs the other should be the action the school takes.

With my limited understanding of the situation (IS functions in the University) I would say that it would be better to outsource the facilities. It would free the professors to teach students instead of trying to manage the systems inside the school. The professors would be given more time to spend with their students instead of trying to improve the IS. The first priority of professors should be to teach and not to create or to manage the IS facilities. It would also lessen the worries involved. All the University has to do is to find a party that offers the services needed for the school including the maintenance, check-ups of the equipment to be used and to allot the appropriate budget for it. Troubleshooting and problems that arise would be the problem of the provider and not of the school. Of course the school will be affected if problems will arise but the solution for the problems should be given by the provider and not by the school.

A new Browser in Town: Google's CHROME

When i was first introduced to the internet, the only browser i new then was the Internet Explorer. Then i was introduced to NetScape Navigator then to Mozilla Firefox. Today, I encountered another browser that boasts features that have never been seen in other browsers before. Google has launched its beta version of Chrome five days ago!!!

The features that are unique to Chrome are the "Omnibox", an address box and a search box built into one. Chrome offers a new Incognito Window, all pages viewed using the Incognito Window won't appear in the browser history and cookies won't be left behind after closing the window. The most important feature of Chrome for me is that it offers additional security for all internet users out there. Due to the added features of Chrome like the "multiprocessor" architecture, and the "sandbox" approach as termed by Linus Upson, Google's software engineering director that headed the Chrome project, internet threats like malware would have little to no effect at all. Malware that enters the browser won't be able to read and write into your hard drive hence once the browser is closed the malware would also be gone. 

Aside from these added features, Google's Chrome is also an Open Source platformso any developer who is interested in developing the code for Chrome is free to do so. ^_^

I have installed Chrome in my computer now, and I am trying to explore its features. Join me. Download your Chrome browser now. CLICKHERE

Baking

It’s been a long time since I baked , the last time I baked something was more than 9 years ago, but last week I was able to bake not only one but two recipes of different cookies. Yummy! ^_^ Baking could be a good hobby or a small source of income for the millions of mothers out there who devote their time inside the home.

Fortunately for me, my mother is more than a decent cook ^_^, and she is into baking as well. I still could remember that when we were still living in Manila, my mother made a small business of selling cookies, and that’s how I was able to learn, by helping her in what she was doing.

Not more than a month ago, I suggested to her to start baking again for the purpose of fund-raising for the LCDC (Leadership Camp and Discipleship Camp) of IVCF (Inter-Varsity Christian Fellowship) which would be held this coming October 22-28. We started baking this last week.

I’m not really that good but I do know the basics and of course in able to bake something you do need to have an oven. A microwave oven would not do, aside from having a different outcome it would also greatly increase your electric bill. ^_^

To those who are interested in baking, here is a recipe for chocolate crinkles… have fun….

Ingredients:

¾ Cup granulated Sugar

¼ Cup Vegetable Oil

1 teaspoon Vanilla

1/3 Cup Cocoa Powder

2 pieces eggs

1 Cup all purpose flour

1 teaspoon baking powder

¼ teaspoon salt

¼ Cup powdered sugar

Procedure:

Mix granulated sugar, oil, vanilla and cocoa powder in a bowl. Beat in eggs, one at a time. Stir in flour, baking powder and salt. Cover and refrigerate for an hour.

Heat oven to 350° F. Grease cookie sheet. Shape dough by rounded teaspoon into balls. Roll in powdered sugar. Place about 2 inches apart on cookie sheet. Bake until almost no indentation remains when touched lightly in the center 10-12 minutes.

(recipe is from Gold Medal)

The Philippines and the Olympic Gold

The 2008 Beijing Olympics has ended and once again the Olympic gold that we all have been craving for has eluded us. Furthermore, our athletes were not able to bring home even the bronze. But, even though our athletes were not able to bring home the coveted price, they did perform with honor and dignity befitting a true Olympian. Even through defeat they brought honor to our country by graciously conceding that they were bested by their opponents unlike Cuba’s Angel Matos, who not only was defeated but also brought shame and disgrace to his country by kicking the referee in his Taekwondo match. (stupid hehehehe)

It has been 12 years since our country has won a medal in the Olympics. Who will follow the footsteps of Anthony Villanueva and Mansueto “Onyok” Velasco who both won silver medals in their respective categories in Boxing? Or surpass them for that matter? What should we do to attain that elusive gold?

We do not need a Michael Phelps or a Usain Bolt to get the gold. Even a simple Juan dela Cruz would be able to give honor to his country with proper training and support. If we truly desire to get that gold, then now is the right time to prepare for it, if not yesterday. Training of our athletes should not be made in months before the Olympics but in years. Train our athletes now so that they would perfect their form. Concentrate on sports that do not depend on the physical stature of the athlete like archery, shooting, equestrian, diving and others. These are the sports in which we have a great chance of getting the gold but we have to train our athletes NOW. Support them NOW. If we do these, we might even surprise ourselves by not only winning a gold medal but two or more than that ^_^.

Human Resource: Today and the Future

Based on what I observed in the company I studied, they prioritize the welfare of their human resource. It is their employees who generate revenues for their company and without them or with poor management the company will not prosper. The human resource is the backbone of the company. Other companies however treat their human resource poorly. These companies' concern is profit. The welfare and condition of their employees is one of their least priorities.

Today's companies should give high priority on training and grooming their employees to bring out their best performances so that in return the company would greatly benefit. They should treat their employees as an investment and an asset. Companies should spend for their employees so that the employees would come to love their work and the company they are working for.

In contrast to all of these, i view the future of human resource as bleak. By the end of this century, some companies, those who apply the “assembly line concept”, would put less emphasis or importance on their human resource. Machines would slowly replace the human workers in the company. But still human resource would be used specially in the higher levels of the company , only in the rank and file of the company would the human aspect be slowly phased out.

There would come a time , in the far future, maybe in the next century, the 22nd century, that humans would play a small part in running a company. In that time the workers would be largely composed of artificial intelligence or at the least dumb machines. The brains of the company would still be humans but the backbone, the workers, would be automated machines.

This is actually a great concern for us for it opens a lot of questions and problems like , “what happens to the human resource then?”. What would happen to the people who were displaced by these machines. Unemployment would be a great problem. Furthermore, judging by the growing human population, by the 22nd century a lot of people would have no jobs. So, what could we do?


I could only speculate and base my answers on the sci-fi movies and books that I have seen and read. The answer to the displaced human resource would be found in the stars. Space exploration and colonization of planets should by then have its breakthroughs or else we would have a lot of idle people here on earth. That would not be good in any case.

If you have some thoughts about the matter feel free to voice them out.

Blood Donations

I just donated blood last week. It was my second time to donate blood, all in this year. I don't know why i never donated before, it's not that i had no chance, in fact i had plenty of chances to donate blood but i guess i didn't have the courage to do so. When a churchmate of mine needed some i was "forced" to give. Force is the word i use because i wasn't whole-heartedly into the idea of sticking a needle into myself. But guess what, i had nothing to fear, the process was next to painless. So, after that, i decided to donate blood on a regular basis. Why? Because first of all, it will clean my blood. Meaning my blood will be replenished and instead of old blood running through my veins it would be "new" blood. But the best reason of all is that i would be helping others. ^_^ (nagpaka-HERO pa daw oh hehehe)

To you others out there who want to help, it is NOT too late. Visit the nearest Red Cross center for more information or you could visit there website. www.redcross.org.ph

USEP and OSS

Should USEP adopt Open Source Software (OSS)? This is a question that begs to be answered and if the answer is yes, then the question, WHY, should be answered next before the, HOW could be discussed. These are questions that need to be answered.

Should USEP adopt/ apply or use OSS? My answer to this question is a resounding YES.

WHY:

“A leading university in the county that fosters innovation” and “A dynamic and balanced leader in Information and Communications Technology innovations” are two lines that every IC student of USEP should have engraved in their hearts, the former comes from the University’s Vision statement while the latter from the Institute of Computing’s. Innovation, that is exactly what OSS offers.

OSS has a lesser Total Cost of Ownership (TCO) or the total expenditure in using and maintaining the software. OSS doesn’t necessarily mean ‘no fee’. Most OSS are. They could be downloaded via the internet. The cost of installing an OSS on schools is much cheaper compared to installing propriety software the later usually having one computer one license policies. But on the over all scheme using OSS would put a lesser strain or no strain at all on the school’s budget and would allow excess funds to be diverted to other concerns.

The third reason for using OSS in USEP is an ethical concern. By using OSS the university would be promoting a more democratic form of technological practice as Gary Hepburn and Jan Buley put it. www.innovateonline.info The problem concerning the training of students to use a particular company’s software would be addressed. No longer will the students be locked in using a particular software but they would be given the chance to explore new and in some instances better software.

HOW:

The most difficult part of all is doing what we know we should have done. It is not enough just to know what is the right way, we should also DO the right way. So, how could we apply OSS in our University? It can be done, that is for sure. We could see that on the many examples of universities and high schools that applied OSS in their campuses. www.schoolforge.net compiles stories about these schools. Gary Hepburn and Jan Buley also wrote an article entitled “Getting Open Source Software into Schools: Strategies and Challenges”, this could be found at www.innovateonline.info. Before you could access the article you are first required to sign up at their site.

In the article three approaches are outlined on how to implement OSS on schools. All three of them could be applied in USEP but not at the same time. First, the university should run OSS applications in conjunction with propriety operating systems. When the students and staff become comfortable with the set up, the second approach could then be applied, that is running both OSS and propriety Operating Systems in one computer. After that a change to full use of OSS could be made.

References:

1. www.innovateonline.info
2. http://edge-o.org/grouch/schools.html
3. http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/education/4642461.stm
4. http://news.zdnet.co.uk/software/0,1000000121,39198432,00.htm
5. www.networkworld.com/weblogs/smb/2006/012953.html
6. http://www.cjlt.ca/content/vol131.1/hepburn.html
7. http://www.netc.org/openoptions/home/quickstart.html
8. www.schoolforge.net

GREEN CAMPUS COMPUTING

Before I give suggestions on how to implement “green campus computing” in my school (USEP), I would first like to define what it means. Enable to do this, I will break the phrase ‘green campus computing’ into two: “green” and “campus computing”.

According to wikipedia, computing is defined as ‘the activity of developing and using computer technology, including computer hardware and software.’ (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Computing) Therefore, Campus Computing can be defined as the use or the development of computer technology within the bounds of the university. In the area of campus computing, Kenneth C. Green, is a prominent if not the leading authority in the subject. He is the founder of The Campus Computing Project. You could visit their website, www.campuscomputing.net. Although their study was first based on American universities, they are now extending to other countries. In a general view their Campus Computing Survey is an annual study or report on the use or misuse and the state of computing technology in the surveyed campuses.

“Green”, on the other hand, connotes environmental awareness or having a positive effect on the environment. Hence, ‘Green Campus Computing’ would roughly mean the positive effect of the use of computer technology in campuses on the environment.

One study of the effects of computing technology on the environment can be found on this link: http://www.isc.uoguelph.ca/documents/061211GreenComputingFinalReport2006_000.pdf. This is a case study by the University of Guelph on the impact of Computing Technology on their campus.

Now, knowing what Green Campus Computing means, we could now suggest ways on how to implement this concept in USEP. The University of Colorado produced a guide on how to apply Green Computing in their university. It could be found in this link: http://ecenter.colorado.edu/energy/projects/green_computing.html.

For the University of Southeastern Philippines, to be known as a university that applies the concepts of Green Campus Computing would mean applying them from the beginning ( defined in the case study in the University of Guelph as the cradle phase) until the end (defined as End of Use) of using computing technologies. When I say beginning , I mean upon or before the purchase of computing technologies and the End meaning when the said technologies are no longer usable even to the event of their disposal.

Beginning – upon buying computing technologies, the USEP should go for technologies that have power saving devices or devices that have a positive effect or at least a lesser harmful effect on the environment. (ex. Green screen TV, LCD flat panel displays, etc)

During Use – this is defined as the time wherein the technology is functional. There are a lot of ways to help the environment during this period and some of them are listed or mentioned in the University of Colorado’s Green Computing Guide some of these are:

1. Switching all appliances off whenever they are not in use. If for some reason a computer can’t be turned off then at the least the monitor should be turned off. This also goes with the printers, never turn on the printer unless it would be used.
2. DO NOT USE screen savers. Screen savers do not save energy.
3. When printing use a small font size if possible to conserve more ink.
4. Recycle all used paper. If only one side of the paper has print, the paper can be used as scratch paper.
5. The USEP should also allot a portion of their budget on buying good protection (Anti-virus Softwares and the like) for their computers. A lot of hardware is destroyed in the laboratories due to weak or unprotected computers including those of the students.
End – a lot of unused computer monitors can be seen inside the laboratory (LAB1). If those monitors are unusable due to some reason or another, then the university should find a way to dispose of them properly. That way should be friendly to the environment. I also saw a lot of floppy disks that were just thrown away. These disks could still be used if they are formatted.


Refferences:
1. www.campuscomputing.net
2. http://ecenter.colorado.edu/energy/projects/green_computing.html.
3. http://www.isc.uoguelph.ca/documents/061211GreenComputingFinalReport2006_000.pdf
4. www.umich.edu/~sites/green.html
5. http://media.www.dailyutahchronicle.com/media/storage/paper244/news/2007/09/14/News/Campus.Computing.Comes.Up.Green-2969071.shtml
6. http://technologysource.org/article/campus_computing_project/