Alteil EX 13: Legacy of Darkness

Christmas came early with the release of Alteil's EX 13 expansion. And from what I've seen so far, it looks like Solar Kingdom and Wizard Kingdom seem to be the best picks from this bunch. I still haven't seen the Lawtia cards though, and I'll try to post about those if I see them in play and think they have potential.

Solar Kingdom gets two new level 3 cards that will probably work best with an HK Lapierre deck. Both have AGIs below 2, and while one serves as a tank, the other acts as a reviver.

Wizard Kingdom gets another AGI unit in Leyte, a level 2 card that might work well with Wizard Kingdom AGI decks that seem to be prevalent in Folrart Arena. But I'm more excited about the level 5 card that has the ability to return cards that are HP 0 or lower.

The gowen cards seem kinda meh at this point, but I've been wrong before.

I'm excited to see how these new cards will affect the existing playground and whether new metas will arise.

Below is a preview of the cards I've seen so far.

 

 

 

The Hobbit: Desolation of Smaug

Warning: Spoiler Alert

Without giving too much away, here are my thoughts on the second installment of the Hobbit Trilogy

The Good

• The dwarfs' barrel escape is something to watch out for. It is both funny and entertaining.
• Evangeline Lily is officially my favorite elf, dare I say it, my favorite TLOR character. Have a feeling they will kill her off in some heroic fashion in the 3rd installment. Wouldn't mind seeing Lily in more heroine action roles. She could be Kate Beckinsale 2.0. 
• Finally, we see Sauron in action, not just some evil eye gazing at the good guys
• The movie kept my attention the entire time, unlike the first Hobbit movie
• No musical numbers here

The Bad

• Still lots of questions and still leaves you hanging in the end - what would you expect from the second movie in a trilogy?
• I respect Benedict Cumberbatch as an actor and for what he has done with Sherlock Holmes. But giving Smaug a voice, in my opinion, lessened the scariness of the dragon. Perhaps only when Bilbo Baggins was wearing the ring, should the dragon have had a voice, much like the scene with the spiders. Perhaps the 3rd installment will explain why Smaug has been dormant all this time and fill all the answers that will tie this trilogy to the TLOR trilogy. Or I could just read the books...
• Legolas seems to have become more serious in reverse timeline. Wonder why he becomes carefree later on in the series if he doesn't get the girl

The Ugly

• Orcs
• The human water town inhabitants

This sequel is better in my opinion than the first Hobbit movie. Go for it if you're planning on watching in a theater this holiday season.

Windows 7 Installation

The past two days have been tough but the Lord is merciful.

• Both SATA drives failed for some reason. Probably a delayed write failure.
• Primary drive which contained the OS would boot up to the windows logo, then encounter just a black screen
• Secondary drive had no OS
• Both drives were still seen in BIOS
• after enabling S.M.A.R.T. in BIOS, both drives encountered an error "Hard Disk Error"
• This made me suspect that both drives might be failing (highly unlikely but wierd things have happened before)
• Purchased a new HDD
• After much difficulty (perhaps due to old media) Windows 7 was installed in the new HDD
• Hooked up the secondary drive (the one with no OS) to this new primary drive. Both seen in BIOS, but in windows explorer, the secondary drive cannot be seen. Checked "disk management". Secondary drive has a yellow triangle with an exclamation point. Cannot be manipulated (format, partitioned, etc). Installed EaseUS recovery software and was able to get some files off the HDD. Would have gotten more out if not for the 2 GB limit (encouraging the user to upgrade). Just recovered the important files. Just for the record, tried several other recovery software like Pandora, Puran, etc. but none of these were helpful in this scenario. Wish there was better software than EaseUS since that 2 GB restriction is a difficulty if you have HDD sizes in the hundred GB range
• Thankfully, the old primary HDD was seen when hooked up as a secondary drive. Volumes seemed to be intact. Running chkdsk on each drive as of this writing. Will update this post if there are interesting developments. 

Update:

• The computer has been locking up more frequently since the hard drive replacement. CPU usage seems to spike during these times and applications show a NOT RESPONDING tag.
• Experienced several BSODs, and one was BAD POOL CALLER. Might be related to the Windows updates that the computer was installing automatically so I disabled these
• Probably a MOBO, PROC, MEMORY issue, so I might as well look into the possibility of replacing all these three plus the power supply, because as a unit, these devices have been together for about 5 years now. It has been a good run, but now, my MOBO may be damaging my drives.
• Just thankful that data has been recovered and transferred to other storage media. Will update this post if the MOBO et al replacement was a success and all the troubleshooting issues have been cleared.

Update 12/29/2013:

•  Replaced the MOBO, and with that, had to replace the PROCESSOR, RAM, POWER SUPPLY, and even DVD drive since all of my previous drives were IDE based and the new mother boards only support SATA devices. Even had to replace memory because my old one was DDR2 and the new board requires DDR3.
• PROC is a 3.4 GHz AMD A4-5300 APU with Radeon HD 7480D
• Board is an MSi FM2-A55M-E33
• RAM is 4GB
• Windows detected most devices except the sound and the built-in NIC (Ethernet / LAN port). Windows installed generic sound drivers for the audio but I couldn't hear anything from my speakers. Tried updating all drivers with the DVD that came with the MOBO. Started with chipset, then progressed from video, to audio, then finally LAN. Catalyst Control Center was giving all sorts of errors from explorer has stopped working to Load MMdriver has stopped working. (Perhaps because I've updated the chipset drivers AFTER installing a bunch of other software - VLC Player, photo editing, etc.) But at least I got the sound driver installed in the process and I finally heard the Windows chime when logging in. So after some research, I decided to uninstall Catalyst Control Center. Surprisingly, the sound still works even after uninstalling, but then there was this unplugged - plugged annoyance. Followed this YouTube video http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CCQOTBXFznw to change the settings of Realtek Audio controls. No more annoying pop-ups.

The Flash is a guest on Arrow

Spoiler Alert: Read at your own risk

Well, it is still unsure if Barry Allen will done the red suit, but a young version of him is a CSI helping out Oliver's team on the latest episode of Arrow.

I'm not sure if this young Allen already has super powers. He always seems to be delayed for meetings, but "miraculously" gets there in time. There was even one point in the show when it appeared like it would be his origin story. He was in a room with Felicity and there was a thunderstorm outside the building while he was going through some chemicals stacked on a shelf. (And is it me, or is Felicity getting hotter and hotter with each episode. She's even better looking than Canary in this one. Rawr!) This was a ticklish treat for die hard DC comic fans, but alas, it wasn't going to be.

Allen also talks about how his mother was murdered by some "blur" and that when he was chasing the criminal, he somehow found himself 20 blocks away. That might mean that he already has super speed, and might even be the "criminal" - accidentally killing his own mom, while his dad takes the fall for him. Mere speculation at this point, and fans (including myself) will just have to see how this two-parter (perhaps more) will turn out.

Have always been a Flash fan, including the TV series during the 90s. Wish they would revive the series, if in case Arrow doesn't stay on too long. But from the way the stories for this season have been written, I'm hooked. (From Black Canary to Ra's al Ghul, hope they can maintain the interest).

Still, being captured at the last part of the show tells me that this young Allen probably still doesn't have powers. Contrast that with kid flash's first appearance on Smallville. They kind of messed with the timeline considering that kid flash in a way is Barry's nephew, or was it grand nephew. Of course, this Arrow universe could simply be an alternate one.

Stay tuned for the next episode and find out if there will be a Green Arrow Flash tag team / fight scene.

Thanks to the producers and directors of Arrow for this holiday treat!

Codio Beta

I like the idea of being able to develop websites online, using your browser, without having to install a development tool like Eclipse. And Codio seems to be a step in that direction.

PROs

• your files are stored in the cloud under your account - less worries about losing them
• in a way, this is free hosting and about 1 GB of file storage, if you don't mind a domain named https://codio.io/yourUserName/yourProjectName/master/index.html
• works great with Angular JS as far as my testing was concerned https://codio.io/nathanweisz/Inventory-Management/master/index.html

CONs

• doesn't play nice with Bootstrap (I even made sure all the .js scripts on the html file were disabled and uploaded my own and bootstrap.js file)
• doesn't recognize icon html formatting
• doesn't play well with Parse
• don't like that I lose the top menu when too many folders in the left panel are open (workaround: just close some of the folders till you see the top menu again, or click on the Codio icon and work your way back to your project.

I know, it is still in Beta, and I'm probably being too demanding at this point. I will try to play with it some more and see if I can get a back-end to work. If that happens, then Codio for me is golden.

Try it out: https://codio.com/

Manny Pacquiao wins over Brandon Rios - November 2013

Congratulations to Manny Pacquiao who won over Brandon Rios by unanimous decision. Manny showed a lot of speed during the fight which took 12 rounds. There were plenty of times when Rios was hit, but he was never knocked down. But whenever he was about to hit Manny Pacquiao, the latter simply evaded him "like a butterfly", as another famous fighter would say. And even if Rios was not knocked down, his face at the end of the fight shows the damage brought about by Manny's punches.

This win should brighten up the spirits of Pacquiao's countrymen who were recently devastated by Typhoon Yolanda. Pacquiao, who had back-to-back losses has shown that even when a person loses, he can still get up and win once again. The Filipino fighting spirit lives on.

Praise the Lord Jesus for protecting Manny during this fight. As Christians, we try to bring all honor, glory, and praise to God.

ProjectY RTS

If you are looking for a game like Dune 2, Starcraft 2, or Command & Conquer: Generals for your tablet, then you will probably enjoy ProjectY RTS 3D Public Beta. It is available for free on the Google Play and you can check it out here.

The game requires Android 2.3 or higher and about 29 MB of space.

Like many RTS games, the goal is to conquer all territories in the entire map. Since this is a relatively young game, there are only a few maps free. This, by the way, is how developers will probably make money, by selling new maps.

There can be up to 4 multiplayers, but I haven't had the chance to test it with friends yet. Still, the single player customized campaign was good. There's also a tutorial campaign.

The main difference with this games and other RTS is you no longer create structures and harvest resources. Instead, the main resource are the robot brains, or pilots. These either drive vehicles or occupy structures like turrets and factories.

So, with prebuilt structures existing all over the map, the player (or AI) who can manufacture units and quickly occupy other territories will gain the long-run advantage in the game.

I find that once you have 3 rocket tanks (long range units) and a pair of repair tanks, you're good to go. Just support these with scorpion tanks for protection. The rocket tanks are your main offense. I hope that as the game progresses, The game gets more complicated rock-paper-scissor scenarios like Starcraft (still my favorite RTS of all time). But I think the reason why Starcraft had such variety was because it had 3 races. Maybe ProjectY could introduce a second race, maybe organic aliens.

Units have various types of upgrades like armor, health, range, etc. But there is an upgrade called automate upgrades which is what I go for since it can be a pain micro-managing on a tab. Although there are groupings of units, upgrades will still be done individually unless you automate it.

There are also specialized structures like an Air Control Tower which you can use to bomb areas in the map. But unless there are special buttons that can be assigned to structures, like what can be done to unit groups, then managing this is also challenging. I'm just thankful the factories have a rally point feature.

Overall, I give this game 5 stars. It is one of the best games I've played on a tablet, and I think it has a lot of potential. Hopefully, developers can come up with a story mode campaign, and air units, and more free maps. If your an RTS fan, you should give this game a try.

Help Out the Victims of Typhoon Haiyan (Yolanda) 2013

For those who want to help, reposting this article from Manila Bulletin. International donors can also check the following websites for information on how to donate. 

Philippine Red Cross http://www.redcross.org.ph/
UNICEF http://www.unicef.org/
USAID http://www.usaid.gov/
World Vision International http://www.wvi.org/

http://www.mb.com.ph/help-yolanda-victims/

List of businesses accepting donations for ‘Yolanda’ victims

Want to help? Here’s a list of organizations and businesses that accept donations on behalf of the victims of super typhoon ‘Yolanda’.

Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD)
Location: NAIA Chapel Road, Pasay City (at the back of CAAP)
DSWD accepts cash deposits through their Landbank of the Philippines account
The account numbers: Current-3122-1011-84 Savings-3124-0055-81
If you wish to volunteer in repacking relief goods you may call 8512681 for schedule.

The Philippine Red Cross
You may donate through SMS by texting RED and send it to 2899 for Globe and 4143 for Smart. You can donate the following denominations: Globe: 5, 25, 100, 300, 500 or 1000 and for Smart: 10, 25, 50, 100, 300, 500 or 1000

For cash deposits:

Banco De Oro
Peso: 00-453-0018647
Dollar: 10-453-0039482
Swift Code: BNORPHMM

Metrobank
Peso: 151-3-041631228
Dollar: 151-2-15100218-2
Swift Code: MBTCPHMM

Philippine National Bank
Peso: 3752 8350 0034
Dollar: 3752 8350 0042
Swift Code: PNBMPHMM

Unionbank of the Philippines
Peso: 1015 4000 0201
Dollar: 1315 4000 0090
Swift code: UBPHPHMM

For in-kind donation you may send it to Philippine Red Cross – National Headquarters in Manila. You may also contact them to arrange donation pick-up.
World Food Programme Philippines

They accept donations via credit card or Pay Pal.

Operation Walang Iwanan – Gawad Kalinga
They accept cash donations only at their Philippine Peso Current Account number-3101 0977 56 BPI EDSA Greenhills and US$ Savings Account number-3104 0162 34
* BPI EDSA Greenhills. Their swift code is BOPIPHMM

Caritas Filipinas Foundation is accepting donations online. You may visit their website at http://ushare.unionbankph.com/caritasfilipinas/

Ayala Foundation also accepts donations online. You may visit http://victoryplatform.everynation.org.ph/victorygiveviacreditcard/giveviacreditcard.aspx or http://victoryplatform.everynation.org.ph/giveviabpi/giveviabpi.aspx

Victory also accepts in-kind and cash donations. They suggest that the items that should be prioritized are instant noodles, canned goods, bottled water, biscuits, coffee, mats and blankets.

* For cash donations they have Bank of the Philippine Islands. The name of the account is Victory Christian Fellowship. The account number for savings is 0063-3205-52. If the address is needed address it to the Fort Serendra Branch, Ground Floor, Serendra, BGC, Taguig City, Philippines. The Swift code is BOPIPHMM.

Cebu Provincial Government also calls for volunteers to repack relief goods for Northern Cebu, Leyte and Bohol victims. For those who are interested you may contact Evelyn Senajon at PSWDO, Ground Floor Executive Bldg., Cebu Provincial Capitol at 254-7198 and 254-8397.

For students who wish to donate yet they do not have time to travel due to their busy schedule, some schools are accepting donations. These are the following:

University of the Philippines System
UP Office of the Student Regent are accepting donations in cash or kind.
Their drop off pointis Vinzon’s Hall, UP Diliman, Quezon City. You may contact Alex Castro at 0917-8725396 or tweet him at @uscupdiliman, Eds 0927384-1392 and Zie 0916796-5740.

Ateneo De Manila Disaster Response and Management Team
Ateneo is accepting cash donations. You may visit their website for donations.

St. Scholastica’s College also accepts donations in any form. You send your donation at 2560 Leon Guinto St. Manila. You may also deposit at BDO account number 4580-000-210 and name it after St. Scholastica’s College Manila.

De La Salle College of St. Benilde
They will conduct a “Yakap Mo Yakap Ko Benefit Concert.”The entrance fee is P300. They will accept donations during the event on November 22 at 6:00 p.m. to 10:00 p.m.

Mapua Institute of Technology accepts relief goods. You may send it at 333 333 Gil Puyat Avenue Makati City.
Some restaurants are also donating for the victims of Yolanda for every food purchase.

Zark’s Burger which is located at Taft near De La Salle University is donating P20 for every order of their Jawbreaker burger.

Yabu: House of Katsu will hold a “Dine for A Cause” event on November 13. All 100 percent of their profit will be donated to the affected families in the recent calamity.

Fast food chain Mc Donald’s is also accepting donations in all Manila branches until November 15.

Installing Linux Mint 15 (Olivia) from a USB drive

I decided to install Linux Mint on an old laptop that had Ubuntu 12.10. I decided to do a clean install, erasing Ubuntu since it wasn't performing properly.

Used Universal USB Installer 1.9.4.7 to create the bootable USB drive.

Went into BIOS and made sure that the laptop's first boot device was the USB.

Booted up with the USB drive plugged in and just followed the instructions on the screen. At first, it wasn't recognizing my wireless internet connection, so I had to plug my DSL modem directly into the laptop's Ethernet port to get things going.

I also had to do some skipping while it was installing language packs since that was simply taking too long.

Finally, the last "hiccup" was when there was a message prompting me to restart - I pulled out the USB drive, thinking it was safe, and so that it wouldn't boot to it on restart, but there was a kernel panic error message. I hoped for the best and simply did a hard shutdown, and when I booted up (with the USB drive unplugged), Mint was fine.

First thing I did was test if it now recognized my wireless internet connection. Still did not, so just went into settings, networks, and entered my password for wireless access. Was able to surf just fine on Firefox.

Tested an .mp4 and .mp3 file on VLC, and they played ok, so there were no problems there either.

My laptop's keyboard was causing all sorts of weird behavior, perhaps because of sticky keys. I decided to hookup a USB keyboard from a desktop. I then ran a terminal and typed in xinput --list. This gave me a list of all devices and I looked for AT ... keyboard and made a note of its ID. Then, I ran xinput float ID to disable the laptop's built in keyboard. According to some forums, you'll have to do this everytime you restart in order to disable the keyboard. I think there might be a more permanent solution out there, so that I don't have to do this process for every reboot, but for now, this temporary fix will do.

This should keep the users happy. All they want is a computer to access the internet from.

I must say, for new software an old device, Mint sure runs smoothly and looks good. Might help you breath new life into your aged computer.

Product Review: Tenda 300Mbps Wireless N Easy Setup Router

With an increase in gadgets requiring Internet access in our home, we finally decided to go wireless. And out of all the existing routers available, we picked one on the lower end of the cost spectrum. The entire product cost around PHP 1200 and comes with a one-year warranty.

This package comes with an installation CD, an Ethernet cable for connecting the router to a desktop computer, manuals, a power adapter, and of course, the router itself.

Setup of the physical connections of the router was pretty easy. Just hook up port 1 to the desktop (where your DSL modem was originally connected), and hook up the DSL modem to the WAN port at the back of the router.

Detecting the router proved to be slightly challenging even though I was already using Windows 7. Even though I went to 192.168.0.1, I wasn't going into the router's management interface. I had to pop-in the router setup CD, and after running setup, I was given an option to CONFIGURE the router.

The first page you see will allow you to change the SECURITY KEY, which will hopefully prevent unauthorized access to your internet connection.

First order of business is to change the admin password which is the same as the admin username. You can do this from the TOOLS tab at the top menu then choose CHANGE PASSWORD from the left side menu.

In case you forgot to change the SECURITY KEY, you can go to the HOME tab at the top menu and change it from there.

Next, configure the type of internet connection. You can do this from the ADVANCED tab at the top menu then choose INTERNET CONNECTION SETUP from the left side menu. Our internet provider uses DHCP instead of PPPoE so I chose DHCP.

After doing this, our wireless gadgets were able to connect to the internet. But the desktop was not able to. The reason for this was because the DSL modem was also configured to the address 192.168.0.1 by default. This was conflicting with the router's default assigned address. This was probably the reason I couldn't detect my router initially and why I needed the setup CD.

To solve this problem, simply assign a different address to the router. Do this from the ADVANCED tab at the top menu then choose LAN SETTINGS from the left side menu. Assign a different IP Address for your router. Try something like 192.168.5.1.

After changing the IP address for the router, my desktop was then also able to connect to the internet.

There are some additional features that I haven't explored yet, and I'll most likely try tweaking those in the future.

So far, I'm pleased with this product and would recommend it especially if its your first time to configure a wireless internet connection at home.

X-MEN: Days of Future Past Official Trailer 2014

Warning: Possible Spoilers

I just watched the trailer of  X-MEN: Days of Future Past and I have to say that out of all the movies scheduled for 2014, it is the one with much anticipation from Marvel comic fans all over the world. This movie combines members of the cast of the original X-MEN movies headed by Patrick Stewart with members of the successful franchise relaunch, X-MEN First Class. I hope that the movie will be as good as the trailer.

I think this may be the plot, based on the trailer. But you will have to watch the movie to be certain.

We will probably see a future where there is a raging war. Its mutants against mankind. The government has activated the Sentinel program, created by Bolivar Trask (Peter Dinklage of Game of Thrones fame). It seems that at some point in the past, Charles Xavier (Professor X) loses hope. And that is the reason why the X-MEN are in a post-apocalyptic future. But in this future, Professor X and Magneto seem to have aligned themselves with each other. And they want to change the future by changing the past. To do that, they must send Wolverine back in time. (I'm not sure if its actual time travel - which may be why Blink is in the trailer, although from what I understand, her powers involve teleportation, not time travel.) Or maybe, Professor X will simply transfer the present Wolverine's memories into the past Wolverine. Why pick Wolverine? He's very old, and is probably the only surviving member of the X-MEN in that future timeline aside from Professor X and Magneto. Why not Magneto then? Well he's wearing that helmet that protects him from guys like Professor X. (But Michael Fassbender wasn't wearing one in the trailer... couldn't Professor X simply have imprinted the memories of the future into Magneto, or his younger self? Well, we know that having Wolverine in the movie will draw more fans, so I guess its a Hollywood thing.)

Ok, back to the plot. Magneto is wrecking havoc in the past. This will probably trigger the war between mutants and mankind. And with a dejected past Professor X, then there's no X-MEN to stop Magneto. So once Wolverine is sent back in time, I'm assuming everything will be peachy after a few fight scenes.

But where does Bishop fit in? And Storm, Rogue, Iceman, Shadowcat, Mystique, Quicksilver, Beast and Blink? Well, that's why we have to see the movie.

There is the scene where the future Professor X (Stewart) seems to be talking to the past Professor X (McAvoy). This again is puzzling. Does Wolvering fail, and therefore Charles resorts to "talking to himself"?

And why isn't Bishop the one sent back in time, just like the cartoon series? Again, more questions than answers, which is more reason to watch the movie.

It is good to see the both the X-MEN and the Wolverine franchise rebound. There are still plenty of great stories about the X-MEN that can be explored. And we haven't even seen an Avengers, Fantastic Four, X-men ensemble. That would probably be too expensive to make. While we're at it, why not wish for a DC - Marvel crossover.

As a bonus, enjoy the introduction of actors in the video below.

Seals and Crofts First Love Guitar Chords

Here's my guitar chord attempt at First Love by Seals & Crofts. Hope you like it.

For a number pattern like this 087980, just remember that it stands for EADGBe

e --0--
B --8--
G --9--
D --7--
A --8--
E --0--

Intro
087980 - 053560 - Gm7 - C7 (or 032333)

First Stanza Pattern
FM7 - Dm7         Gm7 - C7 (or 032333) or (C7sus - C7)
Everybody has a first love,
FM7 - Dm7         Gm7 - C7 (or 032333)
They have left in yesterday.
Am7                         Bb
Feelings they have left behind,
087980 - 053560 - Gm7 - C7 (or 032333)
It's just a place in time but not so far away.

Use First Stanza Pattern
FM7 - Dm7         Gm7 - C7 (or 032333)
Everybody has a first love,
FM7 - Dm7         Gm7 - C7 (or 032333)
When the dream they shared was new.
Am7                         Bb
I remember that special someone,
FM7 - Dm7         Gm7 - C7 (or 032333)
So I wrote this song just for you.

Refrain
Am      054555             A                    076770        
First love in my life. Where are you tonight? I wonder about you.
Am7      054555             A                    076770
First love in my life. Did things turned out alright? I worry about you.

Second Stanza Pattern (1 step Higher) (G)
GM7                - Em7                           Am7      - D7 (or 054550)
'Cause I've got everything, Everything in life that I wanted.
GM7                - Em7                           Am7      - D7 (or 054550)
It would kill me now and make me sad to know you are lonely.
Gm7        C7 (or 032333)
First love never dies.

Use First Stanza Pattern (F#) (Slight Change in the end part)
F - Dm7         Gm7 - C7 (or 032333)
I wish you love, I wish you happiness.
F - Dm7         Gm7 - C7 (or 032333)
And may the years be kind to you.
Am7                         Bb
You'll always be a part of me,
023231                          
Share this thought with me.
C7 (or 032333)  C# (or 043540) - D# (or 065760)
I'll carry you always.

Fade Out
F - Dm7         Gm7 - C7 (or 032333)
First love, first love never dies. Remember
First love, first love never dies. I tell you
First love, first love never dies. Remember
First love, first love never dies. Whoa...

End with
087980


==================================================================
Below is my initial attempt....

First Stanza Pattern
F# - Ebm7         G#m7 - C#7 (C#7sus - C#7)
Everybody has a first love,
F# - Ebm7         G#m7 - C#7
They have left in yesterday.
Bbm7                         B
Feelings they have left behind,
F#                              C#7sus         C#7
It's just a place in time but not so far away.

Use First Stanza Pattern
Everybody has a first love,
When the dream they shared was new.
I remember that special someone,
So I wrote this song just for you.

Refrain
Bbm      Eb             Bb                               F            Fsus        F
First love in my life. Where are you tonight? I wonder about you.
Bbm      Eb             Bb                               F            Fsus        F
First love in my life. Did things turned out alright? I worry about you.

Second Stanza Pattern (1 step Higher) (G#)
G#                - Fm7                           Bbm7      - Eb7  (Eb7sus Eb7)
'Cause I've got everything, Everything in life that I wanted.
G#                - Fm7                           Bbm7      - Eb7
It would kill me now and make me sad to know you are lonely.
B                      C#
First love never dies.

Use First Stanza Pattern (F#) (Slight Change in the end part)
F# - Ebm7         G#m7 - C#7
I wish you love, I wish you happiness.
F# - Ebm7         G#m7 - C#7
And may the years be kind to you.
Bbm7                         B
You'll always be a part of me,
G#                            
Share this thought with me.
Bbm7           B - C#  
I'll carry you always.

Fade Out
F# - Ebm7         G#m7 - C#7sus C#7
First love, first love never dies. Remember
First love, first love never dies. I tell you
First love, first love never dies. Remember
First love, first love never dies. Whoa...

A Poem About Making Money Online

a poem for Nathan's Soliloquy


If you think earning money
On the Internet is easy
Then I suggest you try
And experience what it is like

They say put up a website
They say put up a blog
And then, put up a lot of ads
And hope you'll get a lot of clicks

They say go on the face's book
And listen to birds tweet
Build up, amass your following
Drive traffic to your thing

But after years of writing
Providing free content
My online wallet, I look up
And still am discontent

Still haven't reached the threshold
Still haven't gotten paid
You only have yourself to blame
Try harder - you'll succeed

So I continue writing
And I hope you do to
Even if you're just starting out
Remember, love what you do

Give others information
Or simply make them smile
Just knowing someone read your work
Is its own reward

San Mig Coffee Wins the 2013 #PBA Governor's Cup

"That looked like an old play that the Alaska team of the 90's used to run" - was all I could say to myself as I saw San Mig Coffee's big men set up a pass to the small man waiting beneath the basket. And it happened a second time in the same quarter. I guess it isn't surprising when your assistant coaches are Johnny Abarrientos and Jeffrey Cariaso, and your head coach is Tim Cone.

They may have changed companies, but they still carry with them the Alaska underdog fighting spirit. You know how that is, they are smaller than their opponents, and sometimes, even less skilled. But whatever they lack in physical ability, they make up for in terms of heart. And although they no longer are the players on court, the team they are now in, as the teams they have been in, continues to show heart. And who best to show that heart but Marc Pingris - a local player - matching the intensity of Petron's import. Although this was the 7th game - when you would expect all players to be tired, and Pingris had suffered a sprain in the previous game, he played like there was no tomorrow, and no career to look out for. He dove after that basketball several times, as though it were as precious as gold.

And he was the man guarding the import. There were several times when Petron seemed to be on the verge of catching up, but a crucial block, or a defensive play by Pingris helped stop a re-surging Petron team. The crowd was even chanting MVP near the end while Pingris was shooting free throws - something I believe I've never witnessed in a PBA game, and only experience when playing NBA Live. The San Mig fans really showed support for their team.

Also of note was Blakeley who was recipient to one of the beneath the basket plays I was talking about earlier which he ended in an emphatic dunk. If Pingris was working on the defensive end, it was Blakeley who gave San Mig the much needed offense.

Petron would have been able to bring the lead down to one if they only made their free throws. There was a stretch where Jun Mar Fajardo missed 4 free throw attempts. Looks like "Hack a Shaq" paid off. And you would expect that from a big man, but not from 2013 PBA MVP Arwind Santos who also missed a couple.

Contrast that with James Yap, the former MVP, who wasn't having a good night, and only had 6 points near the end of the game, before being fouled, but at least he made both free throws.

Kudos to Tim Cone who has finally tied Coach Baby Dalupan as the PBA's Coach with the most wins at 15 Championships. Mr. Cone, I think you will break that record before you even retire. You still have plenty of coaching years ahead of you, God willing, so try to go for 20 Championships.

Coach Cone said it best when asked what made the difference. His answer was adversity - San Mig Coffee went through a lot of it compared to Petron who dominated the entire conference. But the San Mig Coffee team never gave up, and the championship had to go down the wire.

God never forgets His people. You could hear the praise from Pingris - praising the Lord for protecting him even when he had an injury. God will raise up men who will stand for Him. Johnny, and Jeffrey, and Jojo, and Alvin praised Him before. Pingris is praising Him now. And in the future, some rising star will yet praise Him once more, for the Lord is good and He blesses those who walk in His ways and whose hearts long to honor Him. To God be the glory forever and ever.

HTML Color Generated Immediately from HEX Code

Type a color hex code here i.e. FFFFFF. Remember that you can only have values from 0 to 9 and from A to F. Don't worry about the #, we will add it for you.

Enter the HEX Code: {{'#'+someColorCode}}

Watch my background color change

Note that even with only 3 digits, you are able to generate a background color. #989 stands for #998899.

Ikariam v 0.5.9: New Structure - The Black Market

Ikariam version 0.5.9 was rolled out today and the newest structure introduced is the Black Market.

To be able to construct this new building, you have to research it first under Economy. It will cost you 56,000 research points.

After you have researched the building, you can now construct it on any vacant building slot. This might be problematic at this stage in Ikariam for any player since all building slots have been used by this point in time, especially by those gunning for a 12th town. It would have been nice if the Ikariam development team allowed for an extra building spot, in the same way they created one for the Pirate fortress.

If you do decide to tear down an existing structure and build the Black Market, then the following units should be available for sale, depending on the Black Market's level.

The Black Market is an alternative to simply dismissing units from an oversized army or navy in case you're burdened with their gold upkeep. Sometimes, players overproduce units in times of war, only to waste the material used in production once they dismiss their units.

If there is a demand for units in your area, then you could make a profit via this structure. But just like the trading post, player demand and activity will be important in the decision to add this building to your collection.

Other details of the version update can be found below. Enjoy!

0.5.9

01.10.2013

Feature - New building: Black Market The building has 25 levels and allows the sale of land and sea units for any resources. A requirement for the building is the new "Soldier Exchange" research and a building ground. The building levels unlock the unit types that can be sold, after one another. For every unit type there is a minimum and maximum price, to avoid overpricing or dumping prices. For every soldier exchange, one part of the sale price has to be deducted as tax. With increasing Black Market level, taxes are reduced. The offered troops can be viewed and accepted by other players in the new "Soldier Exchange" tab at their Trading Posts. You can also purchase troops that you haven`t researched yourself yet. No Black Market is required to buy troops. Soldier Exchange also does not need to have been researched for purchasing. Change - the effects of the Hades, Demeter, Athena, Ares and Colossus miracles have been strengthened. Change - the trading post view has been adjusted slightly. Bugfix - when entering a running battle, only the units in the battle overview that fought from entry are displayed. Bugfix - while the chat window was open, the breadcrumb bar could not be clicked on. Bugfix - military actions of an occupier do not prevent the deletion of an occupied town by the owner. Bugfix - allied stationed troops are not thrown out of the town anymore when the town owner comes to a garrison right agreement. Bugfix - in the battle reports, the maximum amount of walls was displayed instead of the actual amount. Bugfix - when purchasing goods at an own town, the loading time was incorrectly calculated. Bugfix - when accepting a trade offer, the loading time was not displayed. Bugfix - various display errors fixed.

The Tomorrow People

Warning: Possible spoilers.

We've had Heroes and Alphas. And of course, we've had X-men. Now, we have the Tomorrow People. Except, in the TV show, all mutants seem to have basic teleporting, telepathic, and telekinetic abilities. And then there are those which have extra powers.

This TV show is about Steven Jameson, a mutant who's powers are about to manifest. He meets some mutant friends along the way and they are fighting against a human organization out to get mutants and defend  humanity.

The special effects are amazing. If you've seen the movie Jumper, you'll get an idea. There's also a Matrix like scene where Steven stops a bullet - rather slows down a bullet - just in time for him and his friends to teleport out of harms way.

While it's too early to say whether this show will have more seasons than Alphas or Heroes, (seems mutant shows have a problem of longevity once they've exhausted all X-men type manuscripts), I'm already a fan. Check it out, and decide for yourself.

Free Online Word Count Tool Built With AngularJS

I thought I'd try my hand at AngularJS. Check out the app I've made below. Hope it helps!

3D Tin - Free Online 3D Tool

If you want to try out 3D modeling, one free tool that is easily accessible is 3D Tin. Simply go to their website, www.3dtin.com, and you can log-in using either a Facebook, Google, or Twitter account. After doing that, you can save all the 3D images you create.

You can even try the tool anonymously, the only drawback is you cannot save the drawing you made.

For software that is free, 3D tin is great. I tried it out and came up with the following image.

You might think that cubes are the only shapes available, but that's just me. 3D tin has a huge collection of complex shapes, derived from the basic 3D shapes (cone, sphere, cube, pyramids, etc), that you can choose from.

So check it out, and if you want to, share your feedback about the tool.

Inkscape: Mandala

Coming up with a Mandala like image is easy using Inkscape's star tool. Try out the settings below. A higher value for the Rounded setting results in a more intricate image.

Bayantel Worst ISP 2013: Ongoing Intermittent Connection

Even after speaking to a manger at Bayantel, they have failed to resolve this issue. Manager states that port re-blocking is usually a final solution to this type of problem if all parts between the customer and the service provider have been replaced.

Port re-blocking, according to them helps ensure that the customer is not in a congested network. I tend to think they may be right. After several years of accumulating new customers, it is possible that there are periods during the day when there are simply too many customers connected, and that results in some of the customers connection getting cut-off.

Still, after all that talk, here's today's ping test. This happened between 6 and 7 A.M.

BayanTel Worst ISP of 2013 Ongoing Intermittent Connection

I have had 6 service calls from Bayantel and they still have not resolved the intermittent connection issue.

Below is the ping test of the day.

Inkscape: Spinning Spiral Optical Illusion

Making spirals is easy with Inkscape's Spiral shape tool. Try out the settings below.

Is that spiral really-spinning?

Inkscape: Sunflower Like Shape

Making sunflower-like shapes are easy in Inkscape. Just use the star shape tool and add a bit of randomization, and you're set.

Try out the settings for the image below and tweak to your heart's content.

Inkscape: 007 Like Spiral

Remember those James Bond intros? If you want to create a shape like that, you can easily use Inkscape's Star Shape Tool.

Just follow the settings in the image below and tweak to your heart's content.

Bayantel Worst ISP 2013 Intermittent Connection

Still part of continuing monitoring of Bayantel's service. This issue started since September 26 and is ongoing. Bayantel cannot come up with a solution. So I guess I have to live with this problem or change ISP.

Don't make the same mistake of choosing Bayantel as your Internet Service Provider.

Bayantel Worst ISP Provider 2013

Already had 5 service calls at this point. Modem was replaced. Splitter was replaced. Made sure phone line was static and noise free. And the "last resort" according to them was having my port changed from the cabinet.

After observing for another day, here's my ping test results.

Download speed was 0.8 Mbps while upload speed was about 0.6 Mbps.

Requested bill adjustment for unsatisfactory service.

Atlantis TV Show 2013

Warning: Possible spoilers

The show starts off with Jason, the show's main character, searching for his father. And by some strange accident, he ends up on the shores of Atlantis - some ancient city with a disciplined military force like the Romans and whose inhabitants still believe in pagan practices such as consulting oracles and preparing human sacrifices to appease the gods.

Jason then meets Pythagoras - the mathematician responsible for the theorem about triangles, and Hercules - which I'm still not sure is the same hero represented by Kevin Sorbo we have grown to know, since he certainly does not possess incredible powers. But this trio reminds me of Xena, Gabriel and Jocster the Mighty. And this show is somewhat similar to Hercules and Xena: Warrior Princess in terms of format.

I wonder if Jason is of Jason and the Argonauts fame. Still, that's only a few stories, and for a series like this, they will probably borrow from all sorts of ancient lores, and adopt those into Jason's journey.

Funny and amusing, with a flash of stunts and fighting, this show is a fresh break from all the detective and crime-related series pervading the current TV arena. Check it out, and feel free to share your thoughts on the show.

Bayantel Worst ISP of 2013

Took several attempts just to get this post up. Still experiencing intermittent internet connection. It has been like this for more than a week now. Already had four service calls from various technicians.

Phone line was already checked. They made sure that it was clear.

DSL Modem and filter have already been replaced.

On my part, I've already replaced my LAN card with a brand new one.

ISP states that I should continue to monitor my connection. Ping results are shown below.

Let this be a warning to those who want to apply for a Bayantel DSL connection. You might be better off with a different service provider.

The Blacklist 2013 TV Show

Warning: Possible spoiler alert! Read ahead at your own risk. 

It's nice to see James Spader on TV again. Last I saw him was on The Office as Robert California, the wise but sometimes weird boss you'ld be awkward around if you're not chums with him.

But Blacklist if more of a thriller type of show than a comedy. Think Hannibal Lecter working with the FBI. 

In the show, Spader is some sort of high profile criminal who finally surrenders himself to the Feds and helps them catch other high profile criminals in exchange for working with a female rookie profiler. The woman is probably his daughter, which is why he wants to work with her.

 But like all bad guys, I suspect Spader's character has an "end-game" which will be accomplished, perhaps by the end of the series.

In the meantime, each episode will probably highlight some criminal which the duo, along with the help of the Feds, will try to catch or kill.

 There are a lot of shows similar to this format such as CSI, Law & Order, The Mentalist, etc. I guess Spader's acting is what will keep the audience interested. So if you're looking for a new show to try out, why not check out the Blacklist.

Alteil's Latest EX Cards: Albert

Albert seems like a unit you would bring out to deal with enemy units, much like you would Aano. But the decrements to stats are too slow to deal with dangerous units (which usually have high HP, or high AGI, or high AT, or high DF). Seems like she would be effective against a buff undeads deck. But perhaps a skill like Reforestation would have been better - just bring back an enemy units stats to base level. Otherwise, at least match the increments of broken priest (but in a negative manner).

Albert also needs to have higher AGI for the skills to be effective. Otherwise, make the skills Start Skills.

Perhaps the devs got lazy with her, but if she had just one skill, "One target unit gets Level -2", I would be excited. So maybe she will be buffed or modified in time for the official release. But as of the moment, I might just pass her hp if I were a pure Falkow player. 

Back to List of Latest EX Cards

Alteil's Latest EX Cards: Hirume

Meant for a Big Blue deck, perhaps to be played together with Rasam. I think the devs might have been sleepy during the design of Miko's Seal. Or perhaps just a wording error. But if an enemy unit gets HP=0, how can it be engaged until the end of the next turn? It already closes. (Unless the intention was that if ever it was revived, it would remain engaged).

If I were to fix the wording, I would say engaged enemy units hit get HP=0 while disengaged enemies become engaged and are engaged until the end of next turn.

Might be the rise of Rasam - Hirume decks, where Hirume is your finisher instead of Bog Wyvern or Galdirea. Dust-off those Time Stops.

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Alteil's Latest EX Cards: Kanyu

For a five star card, I think Kanyu is a bit weak. His Auto skill, Cry of Wu, can bypass DF, but it is only 30 damage that is restricted to level 3 or higher units. Most units in this range can survive an initial 30 damage.

His Action skill might help hit the same unit if it isn't killed the first time. Otherwise, it hits a different enemy unit, making it slightly more efficient than a unit that can consecutively hit but hits the same unit twice. Still, for a level 5 unit, 40 damage is a bit low.

Maybe his Auto skill, Fearful Command would be great for adjacent units with high HP and low AT, and that are slower than him, say, Bear Killing-Axeman or Dual Axe Weilder. So I would think that a Gowen starter can be boosted by this unit. Still, I might just avoid this unit if I were a pure Gowen player, and just wait for the next EX release.

Back to List of Latest EX Cards

Alteil's Latest EX Cards: Rosetta

There aren't many players running Poison decks. You'ld probably have to have EX: Augmented Sorc and the latest level 4 card, Hou Sen, to build an effective one. But if you already have those cards, then Rosetta would probably complete the set. Her Start skill might work well with Breath of the Dead. And she acts like a Safira of sorts, being able to engage an enemy unit, at the expense of that unit dealing damage to a friendly unit. (Not a problem if you have an undead wall like Helsmoke).

Dunno if anyone will experiment with a Blue-Black deck with Rosetta in it. But low level returns might work well with her Virulent Poison.

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Alteil's Latest EX Cards: Helcuras

This card was so strong back when it was part of the Batora challenge, (think Brave Hero Dilate that fully heals every time it closes), the only way to deal with it was to return it, which is probably the reason why all cards in this year's Batora challenge have a gain level 4 Auto Skill.

But, like most cards that are no longer under Batora's influence, he has now been nerfed.

Is he a possible SP generator? At first glance, I thought he was, and would be a good replacement for Folrart Guardian in a Star Dragon deck. But his Counter Skill costs 1 SP. So the gain is cancelled out. Even worse, if you don't have any SP to spare, his Counter Skill won't activate. And he's a level 3 card - easily returnable, so under these criteria, Folrart Guardian has an edge.

Nerves of Steel might be fun to try though. Unbuffed, that's 80 damage to an enemy in range. And if you have 2 SP to spare, it might trigger his Counter skill too, adding another 20 damage to a random unit. One might want to try him out in a Catira - Toromea deck since he's a Refess warrior and in order to generate that needed 2 SP.

Back to List of Latest EX Cards

Alteil's Latest EX Cards: Wildcat

Do you remember He-Man's cat, Kringer? Looks like he just found a tasty treat.

This card also has killer artwork, compared to the other cards in the new EX set. I haven't really played an effective monster deck with cards higher than level 3. Usually, Gorilla, Alraune, Tiger, Rhino, and Forrest are the staple cards. But this card might pave the way for a new type of monster deck - Mid level perhaps.

It might become an effective two hitter, similar to the way Winston was before his Start skill was turned into an Auto skill. And as long as Wildcat hasn't died, that damage stacks if you keep using Claw Gouge each turn. He also has a chance of healing himself if he is the only monster on the field.

Perhaps he's not meant for a monster deck at all, but a possible replacement for Garfield and friends (Mid Red). Will he be an effective replacement for Winston or Dandan? Wish I could try it out, but I'd have to participate in Alteil Horizons Kickstarter. Being a free player sucks sometimes. Sigh.

Back to List of Latest EX Cards

Alteil's Latest EX Cards: Jacques

Do you remember the Red Mantle / DeFau? Take a look at his card below.

I think these two cards might be fun to play together in a Red-Black SP Depletion deck. Or you might also want to try him out in a Blue-Black Eskatia - Summer - Fellana SP Depletion deck, although that one might be harder to construct since it needs a lot of 5 star and 4 star cards. I think I've only encountered one player who used it since the cards came out. That player has lots of money to spare.

Dunno is an Eternal Night (EN) deck splashed with these two cards will fare well. Might be better sticking with a pure Level 2 or Level 3 EN deck.

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Alteil's Latest EX Cards: Tezcatli

Tezcatli is probably the best card, imho, among the newly released EX cards. Not only does it have great stats and skills, but the art work is killer, too. Too bad, I don't think players will have access to him unless they participate in Alteil Horizons Kickstarter.

This card is like a combination of Zu-Jyuva (due to its Close Skill) and Crimson Hero Dilate (without the 4 LP restriction).

I think this card would be fun to play in a Shvara Estaforse deck. It might also be a fun addition to a Big Red deck. Wish I could try it out.

Back to List of Latest EX Cards

Alteil's Latest EX Cards as of September 2013

Below are the latest EX cards from Alteil's card list. I think the first 4 are part of the rewards for joining Alteil's Horizons Kickstarter while the last 4 are the characters from the Batora challenge last year. I'll try to discuss each card and what decks I think the cards might fit into in the future. Just click on the card name links.

• Tezcatli
  
• Jacques
  
• Wildcat
  

• Hirumi
  
  
  
  Previous Batora Cards
  
  
• Helcuras
  
• Rosetta
  
• Kanyu
  
• Albert
  

Passport Certification at the DFA

(Note: the following details are valid as of August 16, 2013, the time of this writing.)

If you have applied for a passport on or before 2009, you would probably remember going to the old Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) Main Office along Roxas Boulevard near the Asian Institute of Maritime Studies. But now, they have a new office near the S & R Building a few blocks from the SM Mall of Asia. (Refer to the image below).

Image from Google Maps

To get to the new DFA office, you can take a bus going to Baclaran and tell the driver to drop you off the new DFA office near the S & R building. The S & R building will be very visible along Roxas Boulevard due to its huge logo. From Roxas Boulevard, you would have to walk for several minutes until you get to the S & R  building and just behind that is the DFA's new office.

Another way of getting to the new DFA office is to go down the Taft MRT station and ask for directions where to ride small vans modified to resemble Philippine Jeepneys. Their logo will state "DFA Bago". Fare is about 10 pesos. This is the same convenient method of getting back to the MRT station from the DFA since these mini vans pass directly in front of the DFA building. Be careful not to ride Philippine Jeepneys that say DFA in their logo since these will take you to the old / original DFA building.

Once at the DFA office, tell the guards that you are applying for Passport Certification or Certified True Copy (CTC) of your passport. You should already have a photocopy of your passport's front page (the one with your picture) and back page (the one with your signature), and a photocopy of a valid I.D. These requirements are stated on the application form you will fill out during the interview process. Proceed to Door number 5 and again, state that you are applying for Passport Certification or Certified True Copy (CTC) of your passport.

At the Interview Area, make sure you inform the guards of your application so that they can provide you with a queue slip, which you will fill out with your name, and the reason you are there. You might have to wait for about an hour depending on the number of people ahead of you. During the interview, you will be asked why you are applying for Passport Certification of CTC, and how many copies you will need. Once approved, you will have to pay 100 pesos per copy. You will be given a receipt which you will have to pay at the cashier's office, at the 2nd Floor.

Once you've paid, return the duplicate copy to your interviewer and ask for the date you can claim the Passport Certification. It will usually take 5 business days.

I tried applying for Passport Certification from DFA Mega Mall, but they said they no longer entertain these requests since their turn around time for one was 15 business days. They now encourage applicants to proceed directly to the new DFA office.

I hope you find this information helpful. And as for the DFA, I hope you can improve your queuing systems similar to that of Quezon City Hall where you are given a number and a screen will denote your position in the queue. This suggestion will hopefully result in a faster and orderly queue.