Currently, we have the National Games and the Batang Pinoy that in some way serves the equivalent goal but the establishment of the said athletic high school can provide young athletes the chance to avail specialized education and training in becoming one of the best sportsmen in the future.

The Philippine High School for Sports Act of 2011 which is authored by Aurora Rep. Edgardo “Sonny” Angara together with other 28 lawmakers has reached the 3^rd reading. If this bill is enacted, PHSS will offer scholarship to student-athletes for secondary school education.

The school will be given a seed fund of P50 Million which will come from the earnings of PAGCOR (Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corporation) and aided by PCSO (Philippine Charity Sweepstakes Office). That is 10% of all unclaimed and forfeited sweepstakes and lotto prizes.

PHSS will still be under the guidance of the Department of Education, several sport associations and the private sector.

I do hope that all the funds will be aimed directly for the benefit of our prospective young people and not just another way to seek out a means of pilfering our country’s money.

If this bill passes, many young Filipinos will be encouraged to take the road to sportsmanship. Opportunities to train and learn for other sports (where we never excel) will soon be a foreseeable possibility.

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The arrest of Chinese fishing vessels that were captured by our Navy forces after illegally amassing a huge number of endangered marine resources from the shoal has brought us a month-long maritime dispute with China. Overtime, China has shown their firm regard over their right to claim the shoal and even insists that there was no intrusion done on their side.

Though the diplomatic settlement seems a bit dawdling, several attacks have already been made through each nation’s computer networks; as websites from each country are hacked through various means leaving several government agencies with a defaced website and totally inaccessible to the unwary public.

Last May 10, PAGASA’s (Philippines Atmospheric Geophysical and Astronomical Services Agency) website was hacked. The main page was replaced with the message: “Hacked by Net user!Just fun a fun !!Team :X-f**k! E-mail:794399786@qq.com!”

Despite the inconvenience, an alternate website http://kidlat.pagasa.dost.gov.ph/ will serve as an alternate online portal for the public. The agency’s ICT team is currently restoring the website to its original imagery and contents.

Almost a month ago, UP (University of the Philippines) website in Diliman, Quezon City was also hacked. A message written in Chinese and English characters was posted on the university website motioning the Philippines to leave Panatag shoal. UP students retaliated by hacking several Chinese websites.

Government websites such as the Official Gazette, the Presidential Communications Development and Strategic Planning Office, the Presidential Museum and Library, and the Department of Budget and Management were also briefly hacked after the attack on the UP website.

Our nation’s government should make haste in resolving this issue before matters get worse.

How long will we wait for each side to finally conclude their seemingly unending furore? Many will suffer if both nations plan to go to war. I hope we will not be victims of a battle that we cannot win. I do not dream to live a life in a battle ground.

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For more than a month, I began observing a healthy lifestyle as I started to feel weak and easily tired doing even light house chores. I even bought an exercise machine to aid me in burning more calories after eating some fatty foods. But nothing really beats getting out of the house and jogging a mile while you breathe some morning fresh air.

A new research presented last week in Dublin (Denmark) at a heart and health symposium showed significant data in helping people to prevent heart disease and stroke. Men who regularly jog can add 6.2 years to their life while women can increase at least 5.6 years.

The study also intends to prove whether jogging is healthy or not, for some people believe that it is too exhausting particularly for the middle-aged groups as part of the investigative works of Dr. Peter Schnor (cardiologist).

Dr. Schnor states that we don’t actually need to do that much to take in the benefits. A two and a half hours a week jog (broken down in to two or three sessions) can deliver optimum results. He also suggests having it done in a slow or average pace.

“Aim to feel a little breathless but not very breathless,” he adds.

Aside from the possibility of expanding years of age, jogging can help reduce belly fat which is a serious pose to our health.

It doesn’t matter if you run slower than your “jogging peers” for the pace may vary depending on your capacity. What is important is that you felt good after that aerobic training.

Yep! It even does some de-stressing on the side.

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The demand for another PC in the house is slowly rising for my 7 year old kid began to take his share in using the family PC and his younger brother is being mildly influenced in the process.

I revived one of the stocked computers at the storage, yet its antiquity suffers in low performance issues and high power consumption. More or less, the question of buying a newer machine is now raised.

Low power consuming and high performing computers are now abundant in the market but a few will stand out depending on the consumer’s choice, needs and purchasing power.

As for me, I dream of building a system enough to provide power for gaming, graphics and some basic office productivity. To say the least, I only have few available resources to conjure another digital appliance as of now.

Digging in the recent technology and current prices of computer products in the market, I came across AMD’s Fusion CPUs.

AMD (world recognized producer of computer processors and close rival of Intel) has introduced a new series of processors in their line of products which boasts high performance computer chips competitive to the likes of Intel’s “Sandy Bridge” processors. Their subsequent purchase of ATI (a famous graphic chip manufacturing arm) has led them in the development of yet another competitive product in the market.

APUs (accelerated processing units) is a hybrid combination of the CPU (central processing unit) and GPU (graphics processing unit). With this technology, computer users (and builders like me) can create a low power consuming system while hauling powerful graphics for gaming and digital imaging platforms.

Needless to say, the AMD APUs was priced lower than building Intel –based computer systems. Something that AMD has offered for several years in their brand of products.

Though most of the APUs is currently built into laptops, notebooks and mobile devices, the introduction of A8 series APUs for desktop PCs will greatly affect how we will build the next generation PC systems.

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I decided to go to a movie date with my wife after getting worn off of doing household chores on a Saturday weekend. Watching a movie with her was the best thing that I had done so far – something that we did not have the leisure of doing for almost a year or so. Finally, we got at a couple of hours to spare to be together and enjoy a blockbuster film on a 3D format.

Honestly, I waited for a few days for other people to take a good view of the film so that I could get some reactions so I can properly decide on watching the film or not. And if I would, should it be in standard format or in the expensive 3D?

In order to showcase a seamless link between various superheroes that will try to overpower their comrades on each shot of this one big flick, doing a film as big as the Avengers will necessitate clever craftsmanship.  It is an immense challenge for its creator(s) to satisfy the insistent critics of a breath-taking motion picture such as this.

Fairly, I am not a hard-core follower of any of the Marvel comics. I only heard about the Avengers upon reading a borrowed copy from my peers way back in high school and consequently getting hold of a copy of the video game “Marvel: Ultimate Alliance” for PC, thus making me aware of the existence of this Marvel’s superhero dream-team.

I can no longer share so much of the details of the film to prevent spoiling the excitement for other people and mostly friends (who are yet to read this article) who have not engaged yet in viewing the film.

All I can say is that it is one great movie worth of your time and money. The people behind this film did their job in showcasing a good storyline and bringing out the special features of each of the marvel super hero and essentially pointing out the significance of forming the Avengers team.

If you plan to watch this film, it would be best to watch it in full 3D. Surely, each explosive scene will definitely blow you away. My wife and I had a blast watching this flick!

Many people are wondering why Spidey did not make it in the team when most of us knew he is also a member of the Avengers initiative. Could it be due to filmmaking cost or because Toby Maguire does not fit as a super hero compared to the others? One can only guess why.

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The amateur film displaying a somewhat mad brawl between Ramon Tulfo (Philippine Daily Inquirer columnist) and showbiz spouses Raymart Santiago and Claudine Barretto.

According to some reports, Tulfo initiated the fight yet the video shows him in a rather difficult situation as the couple and a few of their companions try to throw some punches to Tulfo.

Actor Raymart Santiago claimed that Tulfo punched and kicked him and his wife (Claudine) while they were in the airport. Santiago even implied that he even didn’t know the columnist.

Tulfo on the other hand insists that he was ganged up my Santiago and his companions.

Tulfo admitted taking photos of the spouses after seeing them berating a ground steward of Cebu Pacific. He pulled out his mobile phone and took photos of the scene but then Santiago hurried to the columnist’s side to confiscate his gadget. Tulfo did not agree on the idea and the brawl commenced.

Corresponding to Raymart’s statement, the problem started with the airline’s decision not to load the couple’s luggage in the same flight that they took from Boracay to Manila. Yet that should not be a reason to grimly reprimand the budget airline staff.

Airport cops are still probing on the controversial fistfight that happened at 11 in the morning at the international aero dome.

Good heavens! This couple is really something! I believe this is just a few among the most talked-about controversies that Raymart and Claudine have been into. This is not something that they should be showing-off in front of their children.

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The inspection team dispatched by the BRP Gregorio del Pilar reported large amounts of illegally collected corals, giant clams and live sharks.

Two Chinese maritime surveillance ships managed to get between the Philippine Navy ships and the eight Chinese fishing vessels preventing the immediate arrest of the Chinese fishermen.

Up until this date, each side has held their ground within the vicinity of the shoal while everyone else awaits what would become of this surmounting tension between the two Asian nations. Days have already passed and this is one territorial dispute that seems to be going in the dark soon.

Our government has maintained their resolve in using diplomatic dealings with the Chinese government thus continuing the beneficial relationship with our Chinese brothers.

Clearly, we fall short in terms of military power over our seas and China has persisted in claiming their authority over the rich vastness of the Panatag shoal. That is why, more ships are being dispatched in ways of threatening us and saying that we should give up and that there’s nothing we can do. But then, the incident has caught a lot of eyes around the world putting us somehow in a favourable situation.

Recent graphic posts on social networking sites (like Facebook) about the location and the measured distance of the shoal from our land as compared to China has even led to a greater indication that we have significant domination on this small piece of land.

Though we are still waiting for the immediate resolution of this dispute, we should keep supporting our own and never give up what is evidently belonging to us. China’s aggressive actions should never overwhelm us but instead further challenge us in keeping our best foot forward and uphold what is right.

Our geographic location has forever taken as aback from defending what is supposed to be our property. The Scarborough Shoal standoff should become an eye-opener for our government to make ways in averting if not moderate territorial issues in the future.

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The Thailand flood that killed more than 380 people and left 2.4 million others affected has been pointed out as the cause of the immense increase on HDD prices in the market. The devastating flood that occurred in the last quarter of 2011 submerged Bang-Pa-In Industrial Park, the Navankorn Industrial Park and the Bankadi Industrial Park. These Industrial centers housed all the manufacturing facilities for both Western Digital and Toshiba (some of the world’s famous storage device manufacturers).

Almost 60% of Western Digital’s hard drive production takes place in Thailand since this is where their main plant is located. Toshiba’s production in this Industrial park is almost 50% of their total. Seagate does not have any manufacturing plants in the flooded areas while other major manufacturers rely on parts supplied by the companies that were hit by the flood.

The flooding in Thai’s Industrial Parks has decreased as much as 25% of the world’s hard drive production.

Analysts (Coughlin Associates) say that the prices of HDDs will sustain till 2014. Affected manufacturers will eventually have to recuperate from their losses within this year and are expected to have fully recovered by the end of the quarter of 2012. But then, manufacturers will need extra funds to continue on their research for upgrades and advancements for their next-generation storage systems that will more or less reach up to two years.

Buyers are still waiting for the prices to somehow drop significantly lower before they purchase another storage device for their PCs. I think most of us will settle down for the half-terrabyte capacity drives or even lower just to fulfil our data storage needs. Surprisingly, the emergence of 40GB SATA type HDDs are again hitting the market.

I may have to stick to my old 40GB and 80GB IDEs for a couple more years. Too bad I didn’t think of buying extra Terabit HDDs a year ago for my multimedia player and I’m running short of space to save my “digital” movie collection.

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SM has signed an agreement in lieu of the Environmental Compliance Certificate (ECC) allowing them to transport or cut down the city’s greens. And if possible, relocate to a viable spot and plant an equivalent number of trees according to the laws governing the environmental law or the signed agreement.

For this matter, who do we think is the bad guy? SM Corporation or the concerned citizens and Baguio residents?

True to the fact that the expansion of this commercial establishment will bring forth more business opportunities and employment for the Baguio locals and will for some amount contribute to the tourism in the mountainous region. Yet, we could not easily give up decades of old trees for our own personal gain in as much as we are very much concerned with the current issues concerning our environment.

Legally, SM has the right to do what they want within their purchased lot but the social responsibility of taking care of our natural resources should be observed on their end.

Concerned citizens and environment advocates have the freedom to express their concern on SM’s actions for it may directly or indirectly affect them in some way. Though I cannot say if the people involved are knowledgeable about they are fighting for or just merely random people called up to do the fight for money.

The challenge of incorporating the natural environment in our habitable structures is one great challenge for the designer. As an Architect, this is one thing we can do to do our part in taking care of our environment. Indoor gardens, foliage, open courts and parks with luscious greens can be somehow utilized. Even the natural environment can be utilized to save more energy as what SM Baguio has in some ways did on their current structure.

I hope involved people can do what is necessary to keep both sides happy. All we want is bringing together economic growth and environmental preservation together.

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A few days ago, the Roman Catholic Church observed the Holy Week and concluded with the Easter celebration. For several years, I have taken part in the observance of the Holy Week but never did I successfully attend majority of the holy rites of this season.

The Holy Week starts off with Palm Sunday celebrating Jesus’ arrival and recognizing Him as our saviour and concludes with His glorious resurrection celebrated on Easter Sunday (a week after the Palm Sunday). Throughout the course of the week several celebrations are also commemorated like the Washing of the Feet and the Last Supper (Maundy Thursday), the Way of the Cross, Veneration of the Cross, Seven Last Words (Good Friday), Easter Vigil (Black Saturday) and “Salubong” (on the wee mornings of Easter Sunday).

Being part of one our parishes’ ministry and an active participant in the church, the responsibility of serving the Easter Vigil mass has been graciously conveyed on my hands along with several people under our parochial music ministry. This is one of the few important events that I never had the chance to witness as a Catholic.

I can say that it is so grandiose compared to the Christmas celebration and considered to be more important than the gift-giving season. The Easter Vigil celebration highlights the triumph of God over sin and death – a symbolic representation of our hope over our trials and pains through the messiah.

The mass celebration is even more festive and filled with ceremonies than I have never ever imagined. A blessing of fire as signified through the blessing of the Pascal candle (a big candle used in the rituals of Baptism) and the blessing of water (by dipping the ‘blessed’ Pascal candle on water) to produce our Holy Water.

A night filled with songs as we proclaim Jesus rising from the dead as the choir sings “Exalted” and the series of Psalms rendered by “cantors” to remember several accounts from the Old Testament on God’s unconditional love for his people.

Adult baptism is also witnessed on this night, giving the chance for non-baptized and non-Catholics to be baptized as one with the church which is concelebrated with the renewal of the baptismal vows of the once baptized congregation.

The rites on the Easter Vigil celebration may differ in minute detail from churches yet the spirit of the festivity as we remember it will be one of the greatest experiences of being a Christian and a Catholic.

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