Category: rePosts

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rePost::12 Reasons You Shouldn’t Freelance | FreelanceFolder

When you work in IT you hear this a lot, hell I’ve said this a lot of times years ago. Then you realize that being an introvert is not the best thing for someone who wants to freelance. This is a nice point by point takedown of the most common reasons people want to freelance. Interesting read.

Freelancing Is the Best Job Ever
But, it’s also the hardest and most demanding job ever. It can be frustrating because you have no one else to share the business duties with. People, including clients, misunderstand what you do and may not think you’re a real business who charges real rates for real work.
That being said, I do believe it’s the best job ever. Really, I wouldn’t go back to a full-time job, even if they offered me a six figure salary. Like everything else, it has it’s drawbacks but it also has lots of good perks.
The important thing is to make sure you really like working independently and you have the drive to do this all by yourself. The freedom and satisfaction from being able to control your own career is reward in itself.
via 12 Reasons You Shouldn’t Freelance | FreelanceFolder.

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rePost:This Must Stop Now!!!!: Cabral’s crackdown : Manuel L. Quezon III: The Daily Dose

Fast forward to today, when Cabral’s experience in being subjected to public scrutiny and her seeing the public was not about to give her either a free pass or would be intimidated by her being in the Cabinet, has inspired her to use government to get even with the blogger who caused her such grief. Recently, the National Bureau of Investigation filed a libel suit on Cabral’s behalf, against the blogger. This is not a mere case of an outraged party filing a libel case against another citizen; this is a case of a Cabinet secretary using the government to move her own case forward. First, she asked her own department’s legal service to look into whether she should file a libel case against the blogger, basically a request for civil servants to do what she could fully well entrust to a private attorney. Cabral then specifically asked the NBI to do the sleuthing for her case, by finding out, first of all, who exactly the blogger was, and the NBI obliged by asking the hosting company of the blog who the blogger is. The NBI then also made inquiries with the blogger’s publisher. The NBI then summoned the blogger to undergo a polygraph test.
Cabral could have asked the blogger to come forward for a tête-à-tête to clear the air; but then we are talking about an official who belongs to an administration allergic to public debate and which prefers to restrict its fights to the forums in which it enjoys an advantage. Why put yourself on par with an ordinary citizen when you have the NBI and the prosecutorial services of the government at your beck and call, and when you can bog down ordinary people in protracted litigation with the added benefit of potentially imprisoning the offending party? It’s an opportunity too pleasurable to pass.
It is dangerous to my mind to concede in the first place that this is a question of law: of Cabral merely asserting her rights by challenging the blogger’s exercise of her own right to not only express herself, but to challenge officials to explain themselves. To discuss the pros and cons of the case, whether or not malice was involved, sidesteps the objectionable reality that the law itself as far as libel goes is incompatible with our civil liberties because the provisions on libel law are an anachronism. No libel will ever be proved in the case of the blogger—but that isn’t the point. The point is to remind citizens that challenging officialdom carries such a heavy price in terms of time and money, artificially muddling the issues along the way, so that exoneration ends up neither a vindication nor a triumph of the rule of law.
via The Long View: Cabral’s crackdown : Manuel L. Quezon III: The Daily Dose.

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Praise::A ‘nosebleed’ triumph for Gloc 9 | Manila Bulletin

Congratulations to Gloc-9 !!!!

Silently seated somewhere at the back of the invitees’ area, Gloc 9 stood and went up the stage to receive his trophy. He was certainly aware that most awardees were delivering their short speeches in English. So with a probably planned punchline, he uttered on the mic, “Kanina pa dumudugo ang ilong ko so tatagalugin ko na lang. Salamat.”
With that, the male hip-hop winner received loud applauses. It was obvious he delivered the one-liner with proper timing, like most of his rhymes and comic sarcasms in his recorded verses. Gloc 9 was just being cool, not a bit sounding trying to put one over people belonging to the elite club scene.
His line might have been the unlikeliest heard that night. But big thanks he already earned enough respect as an intelligent Tagalog rapper, for it would have been different had an unknown or overrated artist said the same thing.
Granted he really nosebleed during the entire affair, especially with all the Fil-Ams, Amboys, and rich kids around, he still triumphed using the language he’s more comfortable with.
via A ‘nosebleed’ triumph for Gloc 9 | Manila Bulletin.

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rePost::Cossack Rahm Works For The Czar – Paul Krugman Blog – NYTimes.com

This is hoping angainst hope; But what can we do????

Maybe financial reform will happen, or at least set up a “teachable moment” battle with the GOP. But by letting health reform slide, the administration is abandoning one really big policy initiative that is just inches from happening. Let this go, and there’s likely to be no achievements worth remembering.
But don’t blame Rahm Emanuel; this is about the president. After Massachusetts, Democrats were looking for leadership; they didn’t get it. Ten days later, nobody is sure what Obama intends to do, and his aides are giving conflicting readings. It’s as if Obama checked out.
Look, Obama is a terrific speaker and a very smart guy. He really showed up the Republicans in the now-famous give-and-take. But we knew that. What’s now in question isn’t his ability to talk, it’s his ability to lead.
via Cossack Rahm Works For The Czar – Paul Krugman Blog – NYTimes.com.

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rePost:Why the Apple iPad Rocks Part 3:The iPad is NOT a Computer, its a Briefcase w/Gizmos | Angry Bear

read the whole thing. If you haven’t seen it google sixth sense computing ted talk watch the 2009 one presented in TED india. For me the iPad is a step towards having the sixth sense computer that is seen in that TED conference. It is the tool to of the rationalist wannabe to help make great decisions. I still remember how wikipedia/the internet in general, has changed conversations; I believe making it better. The advent of wikipedia allowed people to stop debating useless info because you can look at it at wikipedia and then you’d know. Now it has been a problem because sometimes the conversation stops because we have no way at looking at wikipedia.  This is what made the iPhone useful. The iPad is the next logical step. If it only had a camera it wouldn’t take a genius to create some of the sixth sense apps that was demoed in the TED talk. The iPhone/iPad/iTouch because of the app store has become the platform where we can build towards the sixth sense technologies that we I believe already need to traverse this ever complex world!!!!

The iPad is NOT a Computer, its a Briefcase w/Gizmos
Posted by Bruce Webb | 1/28/2010 01:18:00 PM
technology
9 comments
by Bruce Webb
Geekery below the fold.
Steve Jobs was a little hyperbolic in his language yesterday which led some people to laugh. Well there are reasons he is a self-made billionaire and you are not.
The key to understanding why the iPad and similar devices can change the world it to understand that it is not a computer without a physical keyboard, or a multi-media player, or a portable display, sure all of those are built in but they don't add up to what the iPad really is, which is a magic briefcase full of Gizmos.
What's a Gizmo. Well the online dictionaries have boring definitions but for my purpose a Gizmo is something that does something for you. A Gizmo generally isn't big and it mostly isn't multifunctional, it just does what it does in a fun and efficient way. The iPad is designed to be a repository for Gizmos along with Games and Books and Music and allows you to use all of them anywhere you go. Now it sounds silly to put it this way but it doesn't have to be, if you were a Building Inspector it might be nice to have one Gizmo to record your findings and another that allowed you to look up the International Building and Fire Codes on the fly, and maybe another to allow you to record your time on the job. And on a dirty, dusty or muddy job site it might be nice to have one in the same form factor as the clipboard you had been carrying rather than some clamshell lap top vulnerable to the environment.
via The iPad is NOT a Computer, its a Briefcase w/Gizmos | Angry Bear.

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rePost::World's Friendliest Countries – Forbes.com

Let me just state that I resent that the Philippines is not on this list!!!

World’s Friendliest Countries
Rebecca Ruiz, 12.01.09, 12:01 AM EST
These nations are the most hospitable to expatriates, according to a new report.
Rank Country Making Friends Making Local Friends Joining Community Groups Organizing School For My Children Organizing My Finances Organizing My Health Care Finding Somewhere To Live Setting Up Utilities
1 Bahrain 5 20 1 5 3 1 2 4
2 Canada 11 2 3 6 7 8 5 2
3 Australia 10 6 9 7 1 7 11 5
4 Thailand 1 16 18 4 11 2 1 9
5 Malaysia 4 14 19 1 3 3 4 13
6 South Africa 6 2 8 3 14 6 3 14
7 Hong Kong 3 17 12 17 2 5 8 3
8 Singapore 7 18 24 13 6 4 13 1
9 Spain 12 8 13 18 10 9 7 8
10 United States 15 7 4 12 20 24 10 7
Methodology
The Expat Explorer survey was commissioned by HSBC Bank International and conducted by the research company FreshMinds. More than 3,100 expatriates were surveyed between February and April 2009.The respondents were asked to rate 23 factors related to their quality of life, including food, entertainment, transportation, health care, finances, education and their ability to make friends. Each criterion is equally weighted to arrive at a score. The overall ranking is based on the average score for a country across the criteria. Eight measures were also selected to comprise the integration score: organizing school for my children; organizing my finances; organizing my health care; finding somewhere to live; making friends; making local friends; setting up utilities; and joining local community groups. The integration score was used to determine the friendliest countries.
via World’s Friendliest Countries – Forbes.com.

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rePost::Things that probably won’t make it onto a Save Darfur poster – Chris Blattman

It’s not sexy to save darfurians (is this the right word?) from diarrhea but this is what would save 80% of them.  I think people who want to help should as a first impulse find something  a cause a thing that’s not sext to support because we can almost be sure that that cause is underserved and a cause where what little we can do can/may mean alot.

Via Andy Rasmussen, deaths in Darfur? 20% violence, 80% diarrhea.
ultimately means that Darfur followed the common pattern of violent internal conflicts: Initial massacres were followed by massive displacement and the loss of protective health systems, and the problems of displacement ultimately affected the well-being of the population more than the direct experiences of violence.
via Things that probably won’t make it onto a Save Darfur poster – Chris Blattman.

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rePost:Why the Apple iPad Rocks Part 2 :Some stuff about the iPad

If the iPhone is any indication, this thing is going to be great for kids. Ollie likes playing games and looking at videos on the iPhone but the larger screen size of the iPad allows for more collaborative play…one kid + one adult or two kids using it together. The iPhone is for solitary use; the iPad can be collaborative (or at least collective). Later: Sippey calls the iPad the family computer:
It looks like a great machine to travel from the living room to the kitchen to the kids room to the bedroom. We’ll search the web on it, read the news on it, the kids will do email on it, play Brushes and Bejeweled on it, and it’ll be the perfect complement to the Sunday afternoon TV football ritual. We’ll use it to control the music in the house, and do some quick bet-settling during dinner. I’m sure we’ll eventually enjoy some multiplayer “board” games on it, or read a book on it, or watch a TV show on it. And the kids will argue with each other over who gets it next. (Dad will.)
By Jason Kottke • Jan 27, 2010 at 02:09 pm • Apple iPad
via Some stuff about the iPad.

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Learned Today::Universal time — The Endeavour

Universal time (UTC) is the same as Greenwich Mean Time (GMT), give or take a second. It’s essentially the time in Greenwich, England except it ignores Daylight Savings Time.
The abbreviation UTC is an odd compromise. The French wanted to use the abbreviation TUC (temps universel coordonné) and the English wanted to use CUT (coordinated universal time). The compromise was UTC, which doesn’t actually abbreviate anything.
via Universal time — The Endeavour.