I attended my first iBlog last year and it’s easily the biggest blogger education event in the entire blogging calendar. Honestly speaking, it can be quite a mixed bag, but for a relatively new blogger, thepresentations are very enlightening and interesting. The annual iBlog summit is also one of the few times where bloggers could actually lock horns and have their time discussing controversial topics swirling in the blogging community.

I will be one of the speakers for this years iBlog and my topic will delve on  the do’s and don’ts of blogging. I will be sharing the segment with Juned Sonido.

The 5th Philippine Blogging Summit will be on 09 May 2009 at the Malcolm Theater, UP College of Law, UP Diliman, from 8 am to 5 pm. Admission is free but  seats are limited so make sure to register for iBlog5. Continue Reading »

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This blog is actually the first search result for “AXN Asia Big Challenge” – an adventure race that AXN-Asia will be holding this weekend. At least one team has already received word about their participation for this Saturday’s event at the SM Mall of Asia, but my team has yet to get any confirmation! I hope they call us soon.

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While the recent 90-day Rossiya poll to come up with the greatest Russian to have ever lived straddles the fine lines between nationalism, historical editing and plain old kitschy nostalgia, it still generated enough momentum to be reported by various media outfits overseas. The state-run TV station came up with a short list of twelve candidates for the prestigious title of “The Name of Russia”. The voting was hardly scientific and the methodology was very reminiscent of how Pop Idol decides who gets eliminated.’

The results did raise eyebrows as Joseph Stalin emerged as the third highest vote getter ahead of great authors like Pushkin and Dostoevsky . Stalin was responsible for the deaths of millions due to starvation and the establishment of manual labor camps in the wastes of the Gulag. Alexander Nevsky and Pyotr Stolypin -two leaders with relatively greater mass market appeal among Russians – edged out Stalin at first and second, respectively.

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‘MENSA IQ CHALLENGE’ TO BE HELD NOVEMBER 30

AT FULLY BOOKED BONIFACIO HIGH STREET

Mensa Philippines – the local organization of the international high IQ society Mensa International – will be holding its qualifying test for individuals aged 14 and above who are seeking membership in Mensa.

The testing, dubbed “The Mensa IQ Challenge”, will be held on November 30, 2008 (Sunday) at Fully Booked Bonifacio High Street, Taguig. Tests will be given every hour from 11am to 5pm.

The only criterion for Mensa membership is to score within the top 2% (98^th percentile and up) of the test. The test is culture-fair and does not test for math or language skills.

Limited slots are available to those interested in taking the Mensa test. To avail of these slots, interested parties can pre-register at the online facility available at mensaphilippines.blogspot.com. The deadline for pre-registration is before 12 midnight of November 28.

During the test, exam takers will need to bring a valid ID and a testing fee of P500. Undergraduate students with valid student IDs are entitled to a discounted fee of P300. Note that payments will only be received at the testing venue itself.

Mensa has over 100,000 members in over 80 countries worldwide. Actress/Olympian archer Geena Davis, comedian John Cleese and science-fiction writer Isaac Asimov are some of the more prominent Mensa members.

Mensa’s aims are to identify and foster human intelligence for the benefit of humanity; to encourage research in the nature, characteristics and uses of intelligence; and to promote stimulating and social opportunities for its members.

For reference:

Dimpy Jazmines

Director for Publicity

Contact nos.: 0917-5268641 / 449-4612

Email: cmjazmines@bayan.com.ph

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I received this piece of news from Couchsurfing:

My friend, Sheng Tienzo, is in the Intensive Care Unit of Makati Medical Center. She has been continuously bleeding after giving birth to her fourth child. It was her third revival last Saturday. Her condition is critical and we urgently need at least 40 donors of blood per day till the end of this week in order to save her life. She needs plenty of O+ blood, but we can donate any blood type so we could get O+ from the Blood Bank. We are trying to find all the help we can get. Kindly text me if you’re willing to help save a life. My number is 09186091214.

Chai Montero

Updates:
To all friends who reached out to help our dearest Sheng, we would just like to to inform all of you that tonight, we had an overwhelming attendance of donors for Sheng that Makati Medica Center had to turn them down because they ran out of storage. Thank you for spreading the word, for going out of your way to donate, and for your willingness to help. It’s humbling and amazing to see how much people, even strangers, care. MMC’s blood bank could no longer accommodate more units AS OF THE MOMENT, so we’re just awaiting further notice as to when they can accept donors for Sheng again. Sheng is now stable, though still in critical condition, but she has dramatically improved since yesterday. Thanks to everyone’s help and concern. We will keep you all posted as donors might still be needed soon. Let’s keep praying that she gets through this!  Many thanks again.

This story strikes a cord in me because my just like Sheng, my Mom also bled profusely after the delivery of my brother. My brother died hours after his birth while my Mom endured 3 operations before being wheeled out of the ICU to a regular hospital room. This all happened sixteen years ago in the days preceding October 20 – the day my brother died.

I hope people who work in the area could help. Donating blood takes less than 10 minutes and is virtually painless (I’ve tried it myself 2 months ago). You may get drowsy after donating but you’ll be okay after a few minutes of resting. That’s a small inconvenience considering the life-saving benefit that you could potentially be giving to someone else.

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Save for a few people who had more than a decade-old experience with Laser Tag, the bloggers who played in last weekend’s Lazer Tag Event at LazerXtreme were on an equal playing field. The fourteen players had no idea what the maze looked like and what the best strategy was for accumulating the most points.

Players score by making beams of laser hit blinking pads on an opposing player’s armor located on the shoulders, torso and back.   The laser is propagated from a phasor (i.e. the  laser gun). The game is made more interesting by the fact that the phasor itself is a valid target. Once a player is hit, his phasor shuts down and is rendered helpless for a few seconds. Not all hits are equal -tags made to the front of the armor carry more weight than the other sensors. Players could also score  by shooting down an opposing team’s base suspended from the arena ceiling.

There are elevated portions in the arena. The place is pitch black and the only thing that you’ll see are the blinking lights from the armor.  It’s literally a labirynth of walls, windows and ramps but it’s hard to get lost inside. You’ll almost always have two options at any single time. This makes navigating through it fairly easy. This also makes predicting the movement of other players more tedious and challenging.The pictures were taken with flash so it may seem like the arena was well lit.

THE TEAMS

The Red Team
Jayvee, Rico, AJ and Poyt

Green Team – AKA Team Visit Sagada + Jehzlau
Benj, Angel, Jeff and Jehzlau

*yes, that’s green, the room’s LIGHTING is just BLUE. hehe

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