http://blindkat.hegewisch.net/pirates/pirates.html
After watching "Pirates of the Caribbean: At Worlds End" a couple of days ago, my curiosity was piqued and I stumbled across this online resource on the facts about the piracy that went on in the olden days of yore, plus a few tidbits about how piracy still persists in the present day.
Tuesday, December 30, 2008
Good Morning!!
This may seem pretty mundane, but I just have to share it.. 
Got up at around 6:15am to drive my dad to church. I wasn't cranky at all and went downstairs to have a ham sandwich for breakfast. Drank a cup of coffee to clear the cobwebs while dad got ready. Since it was kind of chilly outside, I decided to drive sans the airconditioning. Man, this has got to be one of the most pleasant drives that I ever had in my life! Hardly any cars on the road, perfect weather, and an over-all good feeling! Presently I'm back athome waiting for my father's text if I should have to pick him up.
Good breakfast, a pleasant drive, time with family.. What a great way to start the day!!
Looks like this year isn't such a bust after all..
Got up at around 6:15am to drive my dad to church. I wasn't cranky at all and went downstairs to have a ham sandwich for breakfast. Drank a cup of coffee to clear the cobwebs while dad got ready. Since it was kind of chilly outside, I decided to drive sans the airconditioning. Man, this has got to be one of the most pleasant drives that I ever had in my life! Hardly any cars on the road, perfect weather, and an over-all good feeling! Presently I'm back athome waiting for my father's text if I should have to pick him up.
Good breakfast, a pleasant drive, time with family.. What a great way to start the day!!
Looks like this year isn't such a bust after all..
Saturday, December 20, 2008
Realm of Darkness.net - The Best Celebrity Prank Call & Soundboard site in the Universe!!!
http://www.realmofdarkness.net/
Just like the title says, this site is filled with soundboards containing some of the most memorable sound bites from various celebrities. I believe they even use these to make prank calls. My favorite among the bunch are the Sgt. Hartman (from the movie Full Metal Jacket) and Arnold Schwarzenegger soundboards. Check it out, and try not to die laughing on your way out.. =P
Just like the title says, this site is filled with soundboards containing some of the most memorable sound bites from various celebrities. I believe they even use these to make prank calls. My favorite among the bunch are the Sgt. Hartman (from the movie Full Metal Jacket) and Arnold Schwarzenegger soundboards. Check it out, and try not to die laughing on your way out.. =P
Wednesday, December 17, 2008
Malamig ang simoy ng hangin...
Brrr!!! Christmas is really here!! I just love the cold air that bites when you get up in the mornings. It brings back fond memories of christmases past, and I take relief in the fact that I'll be able to fully enjoy this one as well. It's been quite a while na rin...
Thursday, December 11, 2008
The Sound
Dug this one up from a forum I used to frequent back in the day.. hehe
THE SOUND
A man is driving down the road and breaks down near a monastery. He goes to the monastery, knocks on the door, and says, "My car broke down. Do you think I could stay the night?"
The monks graciously accept him, feed him dinner, even fix his car. As the man tries to fall asleep, he hears a strange sound. The next morning, he asks the monks what the sound was, but they say, "We can't tell you. You're not a monk."
The man is disappointed but thanks them anyway and goes about his merry way. Some years later, the same man breaks down in front of the same monastery. The monks again accept him, feed him, even fix his car. That night, he hears the same strange noise that he had heard years earlier.
The next morning, he asks what it is, but the monks reply, "We can't tell you. You're not a monk." The man says, "All right, all right. I'm dying to know. If the only way I can find out what that sound was is to become a monk, how do I become a monk?"
The monks reply, "You must travel the earth and tell us ow many blades of grass there are and the exact number of sand pebbles. When you find these numbers, you will become a monk."
The man sets about his task. Some forty-five years later, he returns and knocks on the door of the monastery. He says, "I have traveled the earth and have found what you have asked for. There are 145,236,284,232 blades of grass and 31,281,219,999,129,382 sand pebbles on the earth."
The monks reply, "Congratulations. You are now a monk. We shall now show you the way to the sound."
The monks lead the man to a wooden door, where the head monk says, "The sound is right behind that door."
The man reaches for the knob, but the door is locked. He says, "Real funny. May I have the key?" The monks give him the key, and he opens the door.
......
Behind the wooden door is another door made of stone. The man demands the key to the stone door.
The monks give him the key, and he opens it, only to find a door made of ruby. He demands another key from the monks, who provide it. Behind that door is another door, this one made of sapphire. So it went until the man had gone through doors of emerald, silver, topaz, and amethyst.
Finally, the monks say, "This is the last key to the last door."
The man is relieved to no end. He unlocks the door, turns the knob, and behind that door he is amazed to find the source of that strange sound.
...
...
...
But I can't tell you what it is because you're not a monk.
THE SOUND
A man is driving down the road and breaks down near a monastery. He goes to the monastery, knocks on the door, and says, "My car broke down. Do you think I could stay the night?"
The monks graciously accept him, feed him dinner, even fix his car. As the man tries to fall asleep, he hears a strange sound. The next morning, he asks the monks what the sound was, but they say, "We can't tell you. You're not a monk."
The man is disappointed but thanks them anyway and goes about his merry way. Some years later, the same man breaks down in front of the same monastery. The monks again accept him, feed him, even fix his car. That night, he hears the same strange noise that he had heard years earlier.
The next morning, he asks what it is, but the monks reply, "We can't tell you. You're not a monk." The man says, "All right, all right. I'm dying to know. If the only way I can find out what that sound was is to become a monk, how do I become a monk?"
The monks reply, "You must travel the earth and tell us ow many blades of grass there are and the exact number of sand pebbles. When you find these numbers, you will become a monk."
The man sets about his task. Some forty-five years later, he returns and knocks on the door of the monastery. He says, "I have traveled the earth and have found what you have asked for. There are 145,236,284,232 blades of grass and 31,281,219,999,129,382 sand pebbles on the earth."
The monks reply, "Congratulations. You are now a monk. We shall now show you the way to the sound."
The monks lead the man to a wooden door, where the head monk says, "The sound is right behind that door."
The man reaches for the knob, but the door is locked. He says, "Real funny. May I have the key?" The monks give him the key, and he opens the door.
......
Behind the wooden door is another door made of stone. The man demands the key to the stone door.
The monks give him the key, and he opens it, only to find a door made of ruby. He demands another key from the monks, who provide it. Behind that door is another door, this one made of sapphire. So it went until the man had gone through doors of emerald, silver, topaz, and amethyst.
Finally, the monks say, "This is the last key to the last door."
The man is relieved to no end. He unlocks the door, turns the knob, and behind that door he is amazed to find the source of that strange sound.
...
...
...
But I can't tell you what it is because you're not a monk.
Tuesday, December 9, 2008
Where have all the Sci-Fi gone?..
For the past few months, there has been a noticable dearth of science-fiction novels on bookstore shelves around the metro.. In most places like NBS or Powerbooks, the sci-fi section has shrank to a solitary shelf on a book rack, often sharing space with the apparently neverending Dragonlance or Forgotten Realms fantasy series. In fact, the only place I've seen with a sizable Sci-Fi section is Fully Booked there in Promenade (with Greenhills being a traditional geek haven and all).
Sigh... It used to be such great fun browsing through all those great works of futuristic fiction. I was lucky enough to have amassed my own (almost) complete Robotech collection. I have all 12 books spanning 3 generations, the complete 5-book Sentinels campaign, and the final End Of the Circle book. ( I'm still missing the Zentraedi Rebellion, which went out of stock a few weeks befote I went out to buy it.. dang! I wonder if I can steal Wesley's copy... hehehe)
Recently, I was lucky enough to have snapped up copies of Jedi Healer and Republic Commando: True Colors, both of which are novels based upon Star Wars lore which I have almost given up hope of finding.
With stocks dwndling and hardly any new titles coming on the shelves soon, I'm forced to make the sad presumption that Sci-Fi is almost dead (at least, in this part of the world)... :(
From my observations, these are the probable causes of the decline in sci-fi titles:
1. Star Wars is officially over
- Star Wars titles used to dominate Sci-Fi shelves (around early 90s), but with no further movies coming out, and almost all aspects of the universe realized in novels (through obscure stand-alone titles like Tales From Jabba's Palace and the like), Star Wars fans may have already lost the drive to delve into the once infinite unverse of that galaxy far far away..
2. Star Trek has lost its appeal
- another staple of the science fiction community, Star Trek novels have been losing their foothold in store shelves all around, though the upcoming Star Trek movie might be able to do something anout that.. I saw the trailer and it was AWESOME!!!
3. Recent advances in technology
- lets face it, with the current pace of technological advancement seen in society today, science-fiction is slowly turning into sciece-fact. A good example would be real-time teleconferencing, once the stuff of mystic sci-fi technobable 20-30 years ago, is now readily available with the advent of faster internet connections, webcams, and third-genereation mobile handsets. People don't have to imagine stuff about what the future could be like anymore, coz tomorrow they'd wake up and see the technology right at their doorstep.
I'd also like to include under this heading the paradigm shift from paper-based reading resources to online ones. I remember browsing thick volumes of encyclopedias just to do my research, but when my brother's time came to look stuff up for school, he could readily do so via the web! Add that to the current trends in computer and console gaming, and you now have a generation that barely bothers to look around and grab a book, much set time aside to curl up on the sofa and read it..(hmm, I guess this applies to books as a whole)
Sigh.. that's progress I guess.. Now if you'll excuse me, I have to get back to chatting with my friends on YM, while browsing the net for info on hovercars and jetpacks... ;)
Sigh... It used to be such great fun browsing through all those great works of futuristic fiction. I was lucky enough to have amassed my own (almost) complete Robotech collection. I have all 12 books spanning 3 generations, the complete 5-book Sentinels campaign, and the final End Of the Circle book. ( I'm still missing the Zentraedi Rebellion, which went out of stock a few weeks befote I went out to buy it.. dang! I wonder if I can steal Wesley's copy... hehehe)
Recently, I was lucky enough to have snapped up copies of Jedi Healer and Republic Commando: True Colors, both of which are novels based upon Star Wars lore which I have almost given up hope of finding.
With stocks dwndling and hardly any new titles coming on the shelves soon, I'm forced to make the sad presumption that Sci-Fi is almost dead (at least, in this part of the world)... :(
From my observations, these are the probable causes of the decline in sci-fi titles:
1. Star Wars is officially over
- Star Wars titles used to dominate Sci-Fi shelves (around early 90s), but with no further movies coming out, and almost all aspects of the universe realized in novels (through obscure stand-alone titles like Tales From Jabba's Palace and the like), Star Wars fans may have already lost the drive to delve into the once infinite unverse of that galaxy far far away..
2. Star Trek has lost its appeal
- another staple of the science fiction community, Star Trek novels have been losing their foothold in store shelves all around, though the upcoming Star Trek movie might be able to do something anout that.. I saw the trailer and it was AWESOME!!!
3. Recent advances in technology
- lets face it, with the current pace of technological advancement seen in society today, science-fiction is slowly turning into sciece-fact. A good example would be real-time teleconferencing, once the stuff of mystic sci-fi technobable 20-30 years ago, is now readily available with the advent of faster internet connections, webcams, and third-genereation mobile handsets. People don't have to imagine stuff about what the future could be like anymore, coz tomorrow they'd wake up and see the technology right at their doorstep.
I'd also like to include under this heading the paradigm shift from paper-based reading resources to online ones. I remember browsing thick volumes of encyclopedias just to do my research, but when my brother's time came to look stuff up for school, he could readily do so via the web! Add that to the current trends in computer and console gaming, and you now have a generation that barely bothers to look around and grab a book, much set time aside to curl up on the sofa and read it..(hmm, I guess this applies to books as a whole)
Sigh.. that's progress I guess.. Now if you'll excuse me, I have to get back to chatting with my friends on YM, while browsing the net for info on hovercars and jetpacks... ;)
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