The J Spotter: August 2005

Friday, August 26, 2005

jangelo.racoma.net is now on WordPress

Pretty soon, I'll be leaving this blogspot (again!) for my new personal online space--the J Spotter at jangelo.racoma.net. I've successfully setup WordPress on my host, and am currently exploring its potential.

Thursday, August 25, 2005

Now blogging at racoma.net

I've just setup my own domain, racoma.net. I plan to publish the J Spotter at http://jangelo.racoma.net . It's on redirect right now until I get myself an alternative to Blogger (might give Wordpress a try). Now ain't that cool?!?

I'll keep the J Spot at http://jangelo.i.ph . I get great Google Pagerank there, especially given the .PH domain. I get a lot of cool queries over at the Philippine Google search.

Avlack links to me

Avlack includes me in his list of daily reads (i.e. blog/web links). I'm honored to be in the list, which includes masters in web design.

Thanks, Jolo!

Tuesday, August 23, 2005

This should appear on the J Spot

I've just set-up the J Spot to dispay the J Spotter articles on the sidebar as a sideblog. So my random ramblings (i.e. on non-tech-relate matters) would appear there, but will not be over-emphasized. A great way to exchange traffic, but keeping things focused.

Cool.

Monday, August 22, 2005

Weekend posts

Wasn't feeling very well, but I managed to post a handful of blogs over at the J Spot. A summary of this weekend's articles (yes, you get to contemplate a lot when in a restful state).

Offshoring? Better think twice - A commentary on why the Philippines is a good offshoring destination;

AdSense blindness - Afraid to click on those ad units?

I have virii! - My AVG found six malicious software--or so it thinks;

The Philippine Office of Civil Defense - Yet another attempt by a Government agency to "blog";

Blogs and search engines - Why search engines love (my?) blogs.

Sunday, August 21, 2005

Tagged again

Teacher Sol tags me in yet another book meme. I guess along with Major Tom's tag, I'd better hit two birds with one stone.

Saturday, August 20, 2005

Major Tom's Book Club Tag

I've been tagged.

Answers to come soon, Major Tom!

The passing of a military reformist

Former Armed Forces of the Philippines Captain Rene Jarque has died of cardiac arrest in Jakarta. He was 40 years old.

From this inq7.net story, Jarque was known for his exposés of malpractices in the Philippine military since the time he was in active duty to his stint as a civilian member of a Department of National Defense committee. And he continued to share his expertise in military and defense management up to the time of his death.

A quote from the article:

Last July, he wrote an analysis titled, “What’s Wrong with the Armed Forces?” where he pointed out that generals who were indebted to President Macapagal-Arroyo for their positions had much to lose should she be ousted. “The higher you go up in rank, the more compromises you have to make, the more you become involved in unethical conduct and corrupted by the system,” he said.

From Inside PCIJ:

Even in retirement and already working overseas, Jarque indefatigably pursued his dream of a reformed armed forces by joining cause-oriented groups pushing for good governance. He also published incisive analyses on the military.

We mourn the loss of an idealist and an exemplary citizen.

Rice or Roll

When was the last time you paid a visit to your local (Philippine) KFC? Maybe you've noticed that they no longer offer rolls with their fried chicken meals. Or at least, the rolls are not prominently displayed.

I guess Filipino eating habits just don't justify KFC's having to include rolls in the menu, with our preference for rice-and-viand meals.

You know it's 2005 when things have gone all different.

When was the last time you bought a Hershey's bar wrapped in waxed foil then a brown glossy paper? Now the bars are wrapped in plastic. And they're difficult and messy to eat because of the packaging.

Now all the milk brands are sold in cartons instead of those ubiquitous plastic or glass bottles with paper caps kids used to collect.

Signs of the times? What else have you noticed different these days?

Friday, August 19, 2005

A challenge

A couple of days ago, I embarked on a journey into the unknown. I mentioned I had reactivated this old blogger site even as I had been enjoying modestly good traffic on my main J Spot weblog (it gets about 100,000 page views per month now). And Google loves the J Spot. Imagine being positioned at number one for queries on "Filipino Economist," "Gloriagate," and a number of other keywords?

People may think I'm crazy for doing this--after all, would I rather post articles here, where maybe a fewer number of people can read my writings?

I'm thinking of this as an experiment in blogging. After all, it pays to take calculated risks. And no matter what happens, I learn in the process.

So are people reading this?

Judging from the stats, people do, indeed, read this site. Not as much as they read the J Spot, though.

But the challenge for me now is to write well enough here for people to keep coming back.

Thursday, August 18, 2005

Where do you live?

Arriving home yesterday evening, I chanced upon a copy of The UP Villager, our neighborhoods quarterly newsletter (the village's officials must have went door-to-door distributing copies). But it dawned on me that while the stuff discussed there was supposed to be for the third quarter of 2005, information nowadays travels faster than the speed of thought. And I thought the village is better off having some sort of an online space where the community can converge.

Checking more about the village on Google, I came by this July 2004 article on the Manila Times, where Robert Basilio, Jr. described UP and the adjacent villages as not exactly an upscale environment. True, it's a haven for NGOs, activists, and poor, struggling artistes who need their alcohol trip. But sometimes you'd think that the real estate prices don't justify being branded the "coño" kids' nightmare. It's just so damn expensive here--even down to the rent for small, poorly-maintained apartments.

Better get to setting up an online space for the village. I see a little bout of community service at hand.

Wednesday, August 17, 2005

The J Spot Reborn

It's difficult to mix work and play, business and leisure, personal and professional lives.

Yes, in a way all lead double, or even multiple lives. For instance, there is Angelo the family man, Angelo the IT pro, Angelo the idealist, Angelo the artist.

And there is definitely Angelo the blogger.

It has come to the point that blogging on all aspects of my life got too big for a solitary site to handle. Hence I decided to divide the J Spot into various entities. In business parlance: I decided to diversify. In a warmonger's terms: divide and conquer.

And this leads to the rebirth of this blogspot. I will attempt to focus writings on the J Spot to tech matters. Given the wide readership there, it shall also serve as my central portal for important announcements, at least for now, while my other beings gain momentum.

So I hope to see you here. And I hope to see you often.

Let's make this as exciting a journey as we made it over at the J Spot.