influx - intro to FOSS and Linux (UP Diliman)

I encourage everyone to attend...

Intro to FOSS and Linux (InFLux) for the DCS and DEEE

Engineering Library and Computer Science Building Lecture Hall

August 1, 9:00 A.M. - 12:00 P.M.

Presented by the University of the Philippines Linux Users Group (UnPLUG) which I personally am not a member of. But, whaddahey, I do support opensource and linux so I think I should share this with everyone.

Topics include:

• Computer Science through FOSS
• EEE through FOSS
• GPLv3 / cakeph
• Beryl/Compix/KDE4

click for a better view

See you there!

yunlang.

HP7: beyond the epilogue

I rarely just copy off stuff from other people's blogs, but I'll make an exception for this one, seeing that it's too big not to be shared. Via The Dead Pepper Chronicles, here's the detailed epilogue of HP7 - Deathly Hollows.

J.K Rowling goes beyond the Epilogue - Beyond Hogwarts
(Spoiler Warning)

yunlang.

my mom saw the golden compass trailer

As some folks know, I'm a huge fan of the fantasy book trilogy: "His Dark Materials". My sister was actually the one who got me to start reading it (since she bought the books). Right after finding out that there was gonna be a movie ("The Golden Compass") made about it, I immediately made a post to express my excitement.

Imagine my shock when I heard there was already a trailer. Not from my friends, not from my sister, but from my mom. Wow! I didn't even remember her reading that book, but apparently she did. How cool is my mom, reading fantasy novels?! It's just books she finds lying around when she cleans up in our rooms. It amazes me none the less. :)

She referred to it as the "compass" movie. I think she saw it in one of those Video On Board buses which are very common in our area. I actually had trouble figuring out what she meant since I don't recall her reading that book at all. Then it hit me and I immediately googled it and found their website (goldencompassmovie.com). I have to say, it's a really nice flash site.

So here it is, without further ado, The Golden Compass (December 2007)



First the HP 5 Movie, then HP 7 book, now this... :) Fun!

yunlang.

deathly hallows

NO spoilers WARNING : The purpose of this post is basically to share my experience after having just read the 7th and final installment of HP - Harry Potter and the Deathly Hollows. I assure you, I have done my best to avoid any spoilers (after just a day of the release). If however, you are as paranoid as I am, then you may choose not to read this.

Long awaited

a classic in the making

In two words, "incredibly satisfying"! I know I expected something mind-blowing seeing as this is the final book of the series. J.K. Rowling certainly didn't disappoint. It was incredible. Although still a long shot from the LoTR trilogy (best series ever), I can definitely say that she ended the series as well as anyone could have. Even better than what I was expecting.

The book was totally unputdownable (forgive the word). I had to fight the temptation to continue reading without getting any sleep. I also had to go to church in the morning. If I didn't have to go, I'm sure I would have read non-stop 'til the very last chapter. That's how great I thought it was.

I especially like the way everything was made to fall into place before the end. Some of the references go way back to Book 1. Twists and turns at the most unexpected points and a sense of rich history that was definitely not that prominent on the earlier books. The planning that had to go into this series simply astounds me. Kudos to Rowling on her writing prowess. I definitely give this book a 5/5 or even 6/5 (bonus points for not failing to satisfy my high expectations).

As promised, no spoilers here. I guess I'll just post another one with a blow-by-blow review when a lot more people have finished.

Long Live HARRY!

yunlang.

IEEE student membership

Mr. Dean Ancajas, fellow newbie instructor in UP EEE, convinced Tanya Abaya (another fellow TA) and myself, that we should all apply for an IEEE membership now that we are MS EE students. For those who aren't familiar with IEEE, it's the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers. Basically it's an international professional organization for EEE.

I thought it made a lot of sense to apply since we've chosen to stay in the Electronics Engineering field for now.

It's really very easy to apply (and also very cheap if you're still a student). So I decided to go ahead with the application. I had to borrow my mom's credit card however, since I don't have one. To tell you the truth, this is actually my first ever online transaction :D. Nothing really interesting about it though.

As a student member I get the following perks:

• Monthly subscription to IEEE Spectrum magazine - great magazine chuck-full of all the juicy and geeky tech stuff.
• A membership card - which according to their email would be arriving by snail mail in 2 weeks
• me@ieee.org - an email alias with their domain
• IEEE Job Site - sort of global jobstreet for the electronics engineer
• Online Resources - from online magazines to online communities
• Loads of other stuff that I haven't found the time to discover yet :)
  

So if you're really into EEE, I definitely recommend that you apply for an IEEE Membership.


yunlang.

blogging in class

Wow, the wonder that is the 802.11a/b/g standard is allowing me to blog while teaching a class! Ok, maybe you'll accuse me of being a very bad teacher if I'm teaching a class and blogging at the same time. Well, in my defense, it is a lab class (EEE 8 - digital circuits I), and all I'm doing is making sure they follow the instructions in the experiment and don't go blowing up sensitive (translation: very old and very expensive) lab equipment. Besides that, I also make sure they follow lab precautions and safety rules.

Today, I finally receive my official appointment from UP Chancellor Sergio Cao. It's really a very slow and bureaucratic process, seeing as I filed my application on the very first day of class. I guess the system is characteristic of virtually all government facilities, very slow and overly systematic.

Still, I am now officially a Teaching Associate of the Department of Electrical and Electronics Engineering of UP Diliman. That means, I'll hopefully be receiving my first ever official salary sometime in the near future (plus book allowance). As a consequence of the slow process though, I had to wait a bit to get my first paycheck. Good thing my part-time tutorials in UpLink review center got me through the first two months. Since the UPCAT will be in August, the review will also be over by then. That means, no more extra-income for me. Well, there's always next year if I still need the money. I guess I'll just have to find something else for the meantime.

Well, the class is almost over so I'll be cutting this post short. I still have tons of stuff to do. Some of which are:

• Check approximately 200 exam papers from EEE 21 (Switching Theory) - this is really a big headache, not to mention the fact that I have to bear giving failing grades to some. There just isn't enough to grade in some of the answers (some of them are even blank!). It's really hard to fail people you know.
• Research on my probable thesis topic - right now, my adviser is suggesting something concerning RFIDs or Radio Frequency IDs (similar to the G-Pass in the mrt)
• Studying for Math 211 (Abstract Linear Algebra) - This is the type of math where you won't see any numbers! Just weird looking symbols and all the letters in the Greek alphabet. Honestly, this is the first math subject I've taken in my entire life in which I don't understand almost anything.
• Studying for my other MS Subjects - Probability and Wireless Communications
  
• Side-projects - I've got tons of these, but right now their not really ready for public consumption so I'll just blog about them in the future.

All in all, it's really been hardwork every single day, but the fulfillment I get is definitely worth it. I'm really satisfied over how much control I have over what I do with my time. I can even do side-projects that I really want to do and it doesn't conflict with my regular teaching job. They actually complement it.

Right now, I can definitely say that I won't give this up for any high paying job in a corporate office. Still, things can change drastically in the future. I guess I'll just enjoy the present and take it as it comes.

Ok! Back to class. :)

yunlang.

pisay movie trailer

Not that I'm terribly thrilled about the prospect of a movie about high school life (and geeky students at that), but I guess I should show a little support for my alma mater. :)

Found this trailer of the PISAY movie on youtube:


It's part of cinemalaya and is about high school life in pisay at the time of the EDSA revolution.

Here's the official description from the creator and director, Mr. Auraeus Solito:

Amidst the chaos of Martial Law in this Third World country in the 1980s, eight teenagers in the top high school for the sciences discover themselves as they go through the joys and pains of adolescence. They were the top two hundred students from all over the Philippines who passed the examination for the Philippine Science High School, which was created for the purpose of giving an education highly enriched in the Sciences to exceptionally gifted Filipino children. Selected from the best and brightest from all over the country, they endure college-level courses in biology, chemistry, mathematics, and physics from their sophomore year onwards. Those who can make it are hailed as the future science and technology leaders of the New Republic, those who don't are deemed unfortunate victims of natural selection. They all learn however that they are neither isolated from the real world, nor are they exempted from living real lives. They find the world outside, erupting into the People Power revolution in 1986 against the Marcos dictatorship, being replicated within the school as they struggle to graduate, contend with teachers, classmates, family, school officials, and a new classification to segregate students meeting the high standards of excellence from those who do not.

After seeing the trailer, I was kinda struck by the scene with the words "BAYAN MUNA" in the classroom. I remember how all the classrooms in pisay had these words. How ironic. :(

Screening times are here if you want to watch.

yunlang.

a new home for piece of pi

From now now on, this blog will have a new home on the web at http://blog.urriza.net.

Yes, I finally managed to purchase a domain name of my own (urriza.net), and at a decent price too. Just go to web.com.ph to get one for yourself right now. I thought it would come in handy sometime in the near future, so I went ahead and got one for myself. As of now, it doesn't really have anything yet. I'll be putting some stuff on it soon though.

So for now, just point your bookmarks to blog.urriza.net, my new home on the web. :)

yunlang.