Tim Burton's The World of Stainboy

Thanks to Open Culture, we now have the complete animated series of Tim Burton The World of Stainboy. There are six episodes and I'm posting them all herein our blog.  Enjoy watching!

Episode 1 Stare Girl:



Episode 2 Toxic Boy:



Episode 3 Bowling Ball Head:



Episode 4 Robot Boy:



Episode 5 Matchstick Girl: 



Episode 6 The Origin of Stainboy:

Chess with Jughead

Chess was featured in the Best of Jughead, Crowning Achievements by Tom Root, Craig Boldman and Rex Lindsey.

In the story The Right Moves, Jughead was playing chess with Archie in the opening frame:

Archie: "I didn't know you were a chess player!"

Jughead: "The grand game of strategy and skirmish? Sure!"

Go out and buy this one, for the comic book freak and lover of chess.

Bye bye Balkman

You're out of the Philippine Basketball Association and you should be packing your stuff now. Head out of the country and back to the US of A. Philippine basketball fans, especially the youth, don't need you.

You don't push you coach nor any of your teammates trying to pacify you. And yes, you cannot do that to any of the game officials. Who knows what else you can do when you throw another tantrum?

Bye bye Balkman!

Try your luck in China maybe or in Europe, but Filipinos don't like and will never like what you have to offer them. Sorry but you should be back to your hometown Balkman!

We don't need you.



If only the management of Petron knew about his previous hardcourt tantrums, maybe the ugly meltdown would not have happened.

Let's see:

R.I.P. Aaron Swartz

I don't know you and the only time I learned about your existence is when you ceased to live. The news of your suicide paved the way for me to find out about your life and works. With everything written about you, almost all in the light of a genius, I feel sorry that the world lost another man like you.

Thank you for everything. Thank you for fighting for a free access to the sum of all human knowledge.

Your death is just the beginning of another round of fight between good and evil.

To pay tribute, I am posting your Guerilla Open Access Manifesto.

Guerilla Open Access Manifesto

 Information is power. But like all power, there are those who want to keep it for themselves. The world's entire scientific and cultural heritage, published over centuries in books and journals, is increasingly being digitized and locked up by a handful of private corporations. Want to read the papers featuring the most famous results of the sciences? You'll need to send enormous amounts to publishers like Reed Elsevier.

There are those struggling to change this. The Open Access Movement has fought valiantly to ensure that scientists do not sign their copyrights away but instead ensure their work is published on the Internet, under terms that allow anyone to access it. But even under the best scenarios, their work will only apply to things published in the future. 

Everything up until now will have been lost.

That is too high a price to pay. Forcing academics to pay money to read the work of their colleagues? Scanning entire libraries but only allowing the folks at Google to read them?

Providing scientific articles to those at elite universities in the First World, but not to children in the Global South? It's outrageous and unacceptable. "I agree," many say, "but what can we do? The companies hold the copyrights, they make enormous amounts of money by charging for access, and it's perfectly legal — there's nothing we can do to stop them."

But there is something we can, something that's already being done: we can fight back.

Those with access to these resources — students, librarians, scientists — you have been given a privilege. You get to feed at this banquet of knowledge while the rest of the world is locked out. But you need not — indeed, morally, you cannot — keep this privilege for yourselves. You have a duty to share it with the world. 

And you have: trading passwords with colleagues, filling download requests for friends.

Meanwhile, those who have been locked out are not standing idly by. You have been sneaking through holes and climbing over fences, liberating the information locked up by the publishers and sharing them with your friends. But all of this action goes on in the dark, hidden underground. It's called stealing or piracy, as if sharing a wealth of knowledge were the moral equivalent of plundering a ship and murdering its crew. But sharing isn't immoral — it's a moral imperative. Only those blinded by greed would refuse to let a friend make a copy.

Large corporations, of course, are blinded by greed. The laws under which they operate require it — their shareholders would revolt at anything less. And the politicians they have bought off back them, passing laws giving them the exclusive power to decide who can make copies.

There is no justice in following unjust laws. It's time to come into the light and, in the grand tradition of civil disobedience, declare our opposition to this private theft of public culture.

We need to take information, wherever it is stored, make our copies and share them with the world. We need to take stuff that's out of copyright and add it to the archive. We need to buy secret databases and put them on the Web. We need to download scientific journals and upload them to file sharing networks.

We need to fight for Guerilla Open Access.

With enough of us, around the world, we'll not just send a strong message opposing the privatization of knowledge — we'll make it a thing of the past. Will you join us? 

Aaron Swartz
July 2008, Eremo, Italy

Mavs Terrorizes Lakers 2012

Obviously, winning a game in the opening of the NBA season takes more than putting four all-stars, all offensive-minded players in the same team. It was a nightmare for the newly-revamped line-up for Lakers with the addition of Dwight Howard and Steve Nash during the pre-season. With Kobe Bryant and Pau Gasol getting in the team plus the two all-stars, they are really strong, on paper.

Do you remember the Lakers line-up in 2004 NBA Season? Karl Malone, Gary Payton, Shaq and Kobe in the same team. They didn't make it and poor Malone and Payton had to end their NBA careers without any championship ring.

And the October 30, 2012 NBA game between Dallas Mavericks and LA Lakers was a de javu:

Interview with GM Susan Polgar 2012

Here is an interview with GM Susan Polgar and Lisa Suhay on WPR Kathleen Dunn Show about the various aspects and benefits of chess:

Full Movie: Searching for Bobby Fischer

The movie I've been searching for in the last twenty years is here. I watched this film in the theaters as a fourth year high school student but never really made an impact on my interest in chess. This they say is the definitive movie to watch if you want to turn your kids away from the game!

So here it is, the movie Searching for Bobby Fischer:

Coursera Courses

What a great way to actually walk one's talk.

I've been a believer and preacher of education in the 21st century, interactive, online and flexible. In case you guys have been wondering where I've been in the last four weeks, it's Coursera.

I've enrolled in three online courses and all these courses are recognized by Ivy League Schools.

Go to Coursera.com and look for the topic you would like to enroll in.

Good luck!

Scarborough Fair

While China is doing a Pontius Pilate on the Scarborough issue, PNoy and the rest of his henchmen continue to send out memos and statements that only mean one thing: "we are a small country afraid of fighting against a bigger one and we want to go to the authorities... please come along with us".

Scarborough Fair of Simon and Garfunkel, with its melodic but sad tune, reminds us of impossible tasks asked by two lovers. In the Scarborough standoff, we are reminded of the impossible achievement of acceptable solution between the countries claiming territorial rights because of greed.

United Nations has a tough task on hand and the US Government will definitely act only when their investments are at stake either in China or in the Philippines.

Earth Day 2012

Today is Earth Day and everyone thinks going green is the best way to solve environmental problems plaguing our Mother Earth.  Environmental activists all around the world have tried in vain to help in preventing further damage to our only home which has suffered greatly since the dawn of industrialization.

I say "unless greed, abuse of power and selfishness is not addressed among the world's elite, our environment will never recover from further destruction".

The year 2012 is critical for all humans. Will we be seeing the end of times to see the new Era of Peace for Mankind? I repeat, it is the end of times that we are to look into and not the end of the world. It is the end of sinning for mankind and the reign of peace that we are looking forward to seeing.

Will our race be ready for the challenges ahead?

I guess these activists are screaming to their hearts discontent and yet missing the point. Greed, abuse of power and selfishness have led humanity to where we are now. We are now in a new dimension where the fight between good and evil is obvious.

Which side will you be in? It's your choice.



   

2nd Language Learning Guide

Here is a guide book on language learning and second language acquisition by Stephen D Krashen from the University of Southern California.For those new in language teaching like me, this book will be a big help I hope.


SL Acquisition and Learning

57th Birthday of Steve Jobs

Happy Birthday !

February 24, 1955 – October 5, 2011

60 Minutes with Magnus Carlsen

CBS News presented 60 Minutes with Magnus Carlsen, the world's current top player on the FIDE ratings. The 21-year old Norwegian also known as the Mozart of Chess is being compared the late great American 11th World Chess Champion Robert "Bobby" Fischer".


While Magnus Carlsen earned the highest title in chess at the age of 13 years and 148 days in April 26, 2004. Robert "Bobby" Fischer became a grandmaster at the age of 15 and 1/2 years old. 


But unknown to many, Carlsen and Fischer are said to be having the characteristics of a person with Asperger Syndrome. 


If you'll ask me, I don't see this as a negative element in their lives. In fact I've been working for more than a decade now in the area of special education and I totally understand why there's this buzz about Carlsen and Fischer. 


Persons with Asperger Syndrome have changed the the course of the world and you can check the list here.


The New York Times even run an article Dealing in Chess, Bet on This Norwegian and in it it said:

Henrick Carlsen said his son’s progress in chess was typical for him. “Sometimes, he’s been thought to be slow,” he said. But when he gets interested in something, “then he accelerates.” He added, “I don’t think he is conscious of this approach. It is innate.” He said that his son, from a young age, exhibited an ability to focus single-mindedly. One day, the father recalled, when Magnus was 4, he spent six hours building a train out of Legos. A half-hour after he went to bed, Mr. Carlsen found him in the dark “wide awake and staring into space, and I thought, ‘O.K., this is too much.’ ”

Magnus’s parents have not had their son tested for developmental disorders because he is well-enough adjusted socially. “Magnus seems to be fortunate enough to have the right characteristics to be considered normal despite the fact that he has some traits that might lead others to call him abnormal,” his father said. “Most people like him.”

But Carlsen clarified this over at Chessbase' Magnus Carlsen on Golden Goal.

Anyways, let's watch the video from CBS News:

Xtreme Chess Championship

Reality TV has been around for more than a decade and the 1999 movie EDtv screened out of competition at the 1999 Cannes Film Festival is a classic example of what a reality TV show is.

I believe chess is hard to sell on TV and sponsors are not really dying to have spend their millions to promote the game compared to football, basketball, billiards and other sports.

But thanks to the chess playing dudes and dudettes for launching the Xtreme Chess Championship, Jennifer Shahade, Greg Shahade and Daniel Meirmon.

Chessbase's article on the topic is here and you can read through it for further info.

You can watch the first two episodes on YouTube but I'll have the first episode embedded below:

Events for Pinoys across America

To say that we Filipinos have conquered the world is an understatement. The Filipino diaspora is as real as the Israelite's diaspora. There are more than 100 million Filipinos of us on Earth, some are living a king's life, some a pauper's life and most are serving the country they live in.


In the United States, we have Pinoys in the White House and other government agencies. we have Pinoys in Hollywood, in the healthcare and in the Education Department. There's no stopping the Brown race from moving forward and claiming the rightful spot in history. It's our time and the time is now.


For those of you based in the States, here are events that might interest you:

February 15 

Project Renew

Project Renew will help you restore your credit and help you become a sustainable homeowner!


Join us for our bimonthly workshop, Wednesday, February 15th.  


If you are in the Bay Area, attend at 1535 Landess Avenue in Milpitas.  
If you are in Southern California, come to 9580 Black Mountain Road, Suite A in San Diego.
We will have housing counselors available for Foreclosure Prevention Counseling/Loss Mitigation Assistance and Homebuyer Education/Credit Counseling.


February 18 

Filipinos in Alliance Presents: Battle of the Bamboo 2012 

It's that time of year again! UIC's Filipinos in Alliance Presents: Battle of the Bamboo 2012. Battle of the Bamboo is an annual cultural dance competition that brings dance troupes from all over the Midwest area into one venue to compete for the coveted first place title. Saturday, February 18, 2012 - 5:pm-8:pm, UIC Forum, 725 W Roosevelt Road, Chicago, IL.


February 24 

Kababayan Hoops Youth Basketball 

Kababayan Hoops Youth Basketball invites all Fil-Am organizations to participate in our inaugural Mabuhay Invitational Youth Basketball Tournament, February 24-26, 2012 at Downey High School, Downey, CA. We welcome boys and girls teams of Filipino-Asian descent, from 3rd grade thru 8th grade (Youth Division), 9th grade thru 12th grade(High School) and 22 &under (College). Portion of fees to benefit, SIPA youth programs, www.esipa.com More information: kabahoops@gmail.com, George Quitoriano, 949-872-9492


February 26 

Mapa High Class '57 Reunion

Officers and members of the Mapa High School '57 Alumni Association of the US and Canada are gearing up for the 55th year anniversary of their graduation and are calling on all 1957 alumni to join in the forthcoming reunion in the Philippines. A whole-day picnic has been scheduled for the class of 1957 on March 3, 2012 at the M&N Hot Spring Resort in Calamba, Laguna. This will be preceded by the general yearly reunion for all alumni on Feb. 26, 2012 at the Le Pavillon in Pasay City. A presentation of the Blue Falcon Awards honoring the outstanding alumni for 2012 will highlight the general reunion. Some '57 MHS alumni are candidates for the awards. Alumni of the 1957 class wishing to attend the emerald jubilee may contact in Los Angeles, Ronaldo A. Almero at 714-307-6045; Jovita Agbong Chotiwatnanond at 818-919-3314; Carmelita Velasquez Cabangon at 818-731-8221; in New York, Dr. Herminio C. Valenzuela at 718-444-9244; in Florida, Cora Mangahas Angeles at 904-786-5687; in Toronto, Canada, Roger Sta. Mina at 416-867-7414. Contact E-mails:MapaHS57@yahoo.com, RAAlmero@missiongeo.com, jchotiwat@yahoo.com,hermvalenzuela@aol.com.


March 3 

Singgalot - The Ties that Bind Filipinos In American Community 

Celebrate this rich heritage at the Charles B. Wang Center is delighted with Singgalot - The Ties that Bind: Filipinos in America from Colonial Subjects to Citizens, on view from February 12 through April 22, 2012. Exhibit hours are from Monday to Friday from 10 am to 6 pm and weekends from 12 pm to 5 pm. Admission is free. For more information, please contact Joey Tabaco (631) 428-3574; Ramon Villongco (631) 742-3479 and Jennifer Iacona (631) 632-1944.


March 17 

Filipino Children's Fund Benefit Dinner Dance 

The Filipino Children's Fund, Inc is cordially inviting the public to its annual benefit dinner dance to benefit the indigents in the Philippines at the Astoria World Manor located at 2252 Astoria Boulevard, Astoria, NY 11102 from 1-6 pm. Cocktail starts at 1 PM. Donation $75. For ticket information and directions, please call Dely Go (973) 754-9035; Lisa Gaviola (631) 943-9707 and Evangeline Manjares( 631) 948-0269 or you can visit our website at www.filipinochildrensfundinc.org.


March 24 

PIDCI Grand Marshal Gala 

PIDCI will honor Dr. Prospero Lim with the annual Grand Marshal Gala at the Grand Ballroom of the Astoria World Manor in Queens, New York on Saturday, March 24. For information on the Gala, interested parties may call the gala chairmen PIDCI Vice President Art Diongon at (917) 822-9225, Vilma Filoteo at (646) 344-9709 or Eleanor Parico, MD at (908) 265-1293.  

Virtualized Data Center

Technology in and around our lives, there is no turning back. Here is an ebook to help you keep up with the K-12 shift the Department of Education started. With this move, the way information is brought inside the classrooms will also change, for the better I hope.

Teachers and students keeping up with the times.

Enjoy the download!

Keeping Up With K 12 the Virtualized Data Center

3 Types of Chess Vision

We have US National Master Dan Heisman talk about the three types of chess vision in his latest instructional video for ICC. Dan Heisman is the leading chess author and teacher for adult improvement in chess and developmental instruction for the developing players.

Watch, listen and learn from the three-time winner of Best Instruction Award given by Chess Journalist Association of America:

Summary of FIDE Chess Ratings for 2011

The end of 2011 is days away, I'd like to sum up the chess ratings for the Filipino chess players and our country's ranking-rating compared to all the FIDE-member countries.

Let us start with the most recent November 2011 FIDE released rating. Philippine's Top Ten:

1. GM Wesley So 2659
2. GM Oliver Barbosa 2571
3. GM Rogelio Antonio Jr 2557
4. GM Mark Paragua 2522
5. GM Joseph Sanchez 2518
6. GM Richard Bitoon 2515
7. GM Julio Catalino Sadorra 2506
8. GM John Paul Gomez 2506
9. GM Darwin Laylo 2502
10. GM Eugene Torre 2502

Such a nice thing to see, all of our players in the top ten all have their grandmaster title. Just to give you a backgrounder on this numbers game, here is Wikipedia's entry:

"The Elo rating system is a method for calculating the relative skill levels of players in two-player games such as chess. It is named after its creator Arpad Elo, a Hungarian-born American physics professor.

The Elo system was invented as an improved chess rating system, but today it is also used in many other games. It is also used as a rating system for multiplayer competition in a number of video games,^[1] and has been adapted to team sports including association football, American college football, basketball, and Major League Baseball."

And in the FIDE Country ranking where the average rating of the top ten players are used to determine the standings, the Philippines is on 33rd out of 145 countries. We have 16 Filipino chess grandmasters and a couple of players are on the side waiting to fulfill the required 2500 rating to become a full-pledged chess GM.

The Global Top Ten:

1. Russia
2. Ukraine
3. France
4. China
5. Hungary
6. Armenia
7. USA
8. Israel 
9. India
10. Azerbaijan  

Russia has maintained their world dominance in the game of chess although the current world champion is a native of India. It won't be a surprise if one day Ukraine, France and China overtake the Russians in this game.

Alien Abduction by Pixar

Alien abduction in films and literature abound and in fact, if you'll do a Google search, you would have thousands of sites that write about experiences of alien abduction. I found a Pixar Shorts that gives a glimpse of how an alien abduction can go wrong, minus the detection of earthlings like us.

Here is Pixar Shorts called Lifted:

RIP Steve Jobs

Steve Jobs died yesterday, October 5, 2011 at the age of 56 and left behind patents and inventions the world has used, continue to use and hopefully will be able to use in the future. To Steve, thank you for your creative ideas and risk-taking behaviors. Because of your courage to fail, you triumphed and gave us all these gizmos and gadgets that made the popular culture what it is now, funky, trendy but purposeful.

My post last August about his resignation as the CEO for Apple showed the full script of the commencement speech and video  he gave in 2005 at the Stanford University. 

Goodbye Steve Jobs!