I have created a new domain for this blog. Yippee! It’s now accessible at http://procrastinatingintheheat.com instead of typing my whole name to it. An easier way I hope in getting this blog out there. I think it would be easier to link it to the name of the blog rather than the person.
The site will remain hosted at blogspot. I just wanted to get the name of the blog across. Just as long as someone can spell “procrastinate”.
Air travellers leaving the United Kingdom on Thursday faced the strictest security measures in years: iPods, cellular phones, laptops, and even books and magazines were no longer permitted as carry-on items.
In light of the recent terrorism crackdown in the UK and the real threat to international aviation and human lives new security measures greeted passengers as they entered the airport last Friday. In more recent news, the Aviation Security Command of the Manila International Airport will be implementing similar guidelines for ALL flghts, not just flights bound for the USA and UK. It has not yet been revealed if it includes the said electronic gadgets.
I myself am a frequent traveller, (not as much as my boss or my parents) but I do travel out of the country at least once a year for vacation. This year I’ve had two so far. After years of languishing in economy class, I finally saved up enough money to keep me busy through these long flights. It’s already bad enough to be in economy class with the crowded setup and cramped space it just gets som much worse if you have to sit through a long haul flight for 16 hrs without entertainment. So in comes my Nintendo DS, PSP, iPod and Apple Powerbook. Yes, I bring all of these with me on the plane to keep me entertained and calm for as long as possible. Ever since I purchased these “noise-cancelling” headsets I’ve been in travelling bliss. I am unable to hear anything around me except for the music which runs through the headphones from my selection of choice in my iPod or inflight movie. If you’ve ever sat through a a 10 hour flight with two people talking in front of you THE WHOLE FLIGHT, you know what I’m talking about.
But I don’t mind giving all of it up for my security. But what happens to my luggage now?
For Filipinos, luggage is a very important. They make every kilogram count. But if my carry-on luggage will now be checked in, will it affect the count of the rest of my check-in luggage? For example, I checked-in 2 suitcases which is the limit of my free allocated check-in limit. Now they tell me to check-in my carry-on luggage because of the new security measure. Will I have to pay additional? If it meets the original guidelines for carry-on luggage and will still be placed inside the plane just not with me, should I have to pay additional for it?
I just lifted this from the NWA website.
Northwest Airlines Reminds Customers of New TSA Security Requirement
EAGAN, Minn — (August 10, 2006) – Northwest Airlines is reminding its customers of a new requirement from the U.S. Transportation Security Administration (TSA) affecting all airline passengers. Click here for current Travel Waiver information.
Effective August 10, 2006, the TSA has advised that travelers are not allowed to transport any liquids, gels, lotions or similar items in their carry-on luggage. This includes items such as beverages, hairspray, toothpaste and shampoo. Customers are advised to transport these items in their checked luggage. The TSA will remove these items from customers’ carry-on luggage at airport security checkpoints. These items must now be placed in checked luggage or they will be discarded.
Baby formula, breast milk or juice will still be allowed as carry-on items if a baby or small child is traveling. Other TSA policy exceptions include prescription medicine with a name that matches the name on the passenger’s ticket, insulin and non-prescription medicines, but these items must be presented for inspection at the security checkpoint.
– To meet the needs of our passengers, NWA is providing additional bottled water on all domestic and international flights.
To ensure our passengers’ in-flight Duty Free purchases meet the new TSA carry-on requirements, on-board Duty Free sales will not include any liquid, cream or gel items.
Expect to be asked to remove all shoes at security checkpoints. While this is a common occurrence, you can expect these checks to be nearly universal.
Follow all directives from Transportation Security Administration personnel. This is a developing situation and protocols may change as new information becomes available.
Leave extra time. These new security procedures will require travelers to allow more time to transit the airport. For future travel, we encourage domestic customers to arrive two hours prior to departure; those flying to international destinations should arrive three hours prior to departure.
The airline is suggesting that customers consider checking all of their luggage, in an effort to minimize delays at airport security checkpoints.
As additional information on this new TSA security requirement becomes available, it will be posted on the TSA’s Web site at http://www.tsa.gov, and Northwest will post information to its Web site at http://www.nwa.com/asia.
All passengers should check flight and gate status prior to leaving for the airport.
This comes from PAL
11 August 2006
PAL posts new rules for US-bound passengers
MANILA – Philippine Airlines will implement additional security measures on all its flights bound for points in the United States and Canada, in response to an emergency advisory of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security.
Effective immediately, all North America-bound PAL passengers are advised that:
No liquids or gels are permitted on board the aircraft as carry-on items. These include beverages, shampoo, lotions, creams, toothpaste, hair gel and other items of similar consistency.
Exceptions are allowed only in the following cases:
Baby formula, breast milk or juice if a baby or small child is traveling
Prescription medicine with a name that matches the passenger’s ticket
Insulin and other essential non-prescription medicines
PAL and airport security will thoroughly search passengers’ carry-on baggage as well as their persons to ensure compliance. Any item listed above will be confiscated. To avoid this, passengers are advised to include such articles in their checked luggage.
Passengers who refuse to be searched will be denied boarding.
Passengers are strongly advised to travel light, especially concerning their carry-on baggage, in order to expedite the screening process.
These measures are on top of ongoing security procedures on all North America-bound PAL flights, such as the removal and screening of footwear, and the exclusion of pointed, bladed and flammable items onboard.
Covered by this advisory are PAL flights from Manila bound for Los Angeles, San Francisco, Las Vegas (via Vancouver), Honolulu and Guam.
end of travel advisory
It does not say if I will have to pay additional for the check-in luggage. Hmmm. I think I will give them a call in the next few days to find out or check on other airline websites.
After President Arroyo of the Philippines gave her State of the Nation address, her supporters and detractors have once again stepped forward and gave their point of view on the situation.
http://www.abs-cbnnews.com/storyPage.aspx?storyId=45468
It’s a sad sad sad world that these people live in. That the be all and end all solution to the current problems facing our nation would be the simplistic ouster of the President. They accuse her of selling false hopes to the people. But at least she has a plan. A solid plan on how to get things going.
What have they promised? Only false hopes as well. Promising that things will be better once she’s gone. Practically the only thing that they can promise. They have no plan for the people but their own.
Another year for our congress and another year of delayed bills and useless bickering instead of helping the country grow. When can everyone finally get on the same page and work for the people for a change?
People keep looking at the cost of the consoles. $499 for the XBOX 360, $599 for the PS3 and it’s currently unknown for the Wii (although rumors put it at $200-250). No one looks at the cost of the games.
Currently, games for all three consoles cost $50. For someone’s allowance, it’s a considerable price if you want kids to play the game and parents to buy it. But when it reaches a certain point where it’s too expensive, that’s where things get to be a bit iffy.
The most expensive 360 game is currently priced at $60. As a games used to the $50 mark I was shocked. I settled then for the used game so the priuce point would still be at the $50 range.
But as reports come out that games for the PS3 may reach as high as $99 I think Sony is crazy for placing prices that high. As it stands, console makers already lose money per console and the only way they can hope to earn it all back is to sell many games. But putting it at $99 will put the games beyond the reach of the mass market, the very market that they want to reach. If they want these consoles not just in hands of fans and gamers but in the living room, they have to lower the prices.
At this rate the Wii seems to have won the battle without a single console out in the streets. But who knows? Amazon Japan pre-sales are higher for the PS3 than the Wii. Will it be the same for the rest of the world? I guess we have to wait until November to find out. Unless Nintendo releases their console earlier than expected.
“At any given time, as many as half a million Chinese gamers are completing quests and gathering such assets as virtual gold pieces to sell off for real money. They toil in Internet cafes and in makeshift computer labs, sometimes sleeping on cots in nearby dormitories in shifts.”
Gold farming or Gil Farming in World of Warcraft and Final Fantasy Online respectively is big business. As a player of MMORPGs (massively multiplayer online role-playing games) I hate these farmers. They are the worst of the lot. What they are doing is a clear violation of the service agreement of the game and should be banned for life. They ruin the entire gameplay experience and drive honest players away. Developers should be aware that these gold farmers bring in what I would like to call “counterfeit money” similar to real life fake money that criminal organizations try to infiltrate into our society which leads into over inflation of products. I’d think that it would be relatively simple on how to find these gold sellers. Just go on line buy a few gil here and there. And once the gil has been sent to you, ban the account immediately. One reason I think that the companies, particularly Blizzard and Square-Enix would be hesistant to ban these accounts on a widespread business would be that they countinue to make money off them. They would still need to pay the monthly service fee and that is a constant flow of money in the bank for them. But generally it’s bad for players.
As a lvl 75 white mage in Final Fantasy, it is only now I can finally earn some decent cash. But with gil sellers abound, it’s hard to make decent cash. For example, there is a “Noble’s Tunic” that I would like to purchase for my character that costs 8.5 million gil. It can easily be obtained if I am able to get some notorious monsters that drop some goodies that I could sell for some decent cash. But some reason, there is a character there 24/7 that does nothing but kill the NM when it pops. A total waste of time. Isn’t it obvious enough that the same character never logs out, is always there, always claims the pop 24/7 is not a gil seller?
Sony Entertainment did an experiment with Everquest 2 which they themselves sold the gold instead of these gold sellers. I have idea if their experiment had any sucess. But Real money trade is a direct violation of the user agreement and therefore those accounts should be banned. And the more that they make, the more they should ban.
And the UMD ladies and gentelmen is history…
Having owned a PSP for almost a year now, I was pretty much satisfied with the releases Sony had on the UMD format. I actually started having more movies on UMD than games since the games of the PSP are downright not good. But consumers wanted to do something more with the UMD and Sony did not deliver. Maybe if they created a video camera the recorded on the UMD disc, or albums available on UMD much like the mini disc format. There’s also the option of having made home brew movies or music since the recording capacity of their current line of memory stick is just too low for the sizes of today’s media. Or create a separate UMD movie player for the home so the discs would have some other purpose than just tagging along with the PSP.
What happened is that Sony put too many limitations on their format and it died. The movies on UMD are considerably more expensive than their DVD counterparts and you could watch that on your 37 inch LCD HDTV. But not that $25 UMD movie on such a tiny screen on your PSP that you could not output the video to an external monitor. It’s understandable and forseeable that consumers didn’t want to spend that much on something they could get at probably a cheaper price and do a lot more with it.
Add to the fact that the UMD is a fragile medium. If they constructed the discs like the way they did with the XDCAM blu-ray discs and the mini-discs then fingerprints, dust and so on wouldn’t get on the disc. It’s just a sad slow death for the UMD. What happens now to the PSP?
If PSP games are the only ones that will be on the UMD format they’d better start releasing some quality games. Nintendo has a huge edge in the handheld market easily outselling the PSP both in Japan and in the United States. This is a clear sign to Sony. They’d better do something more about their PSP if they want to take the battle to Nintendo. And maybe save the UMD.
New Ghost in the Shell movie to be released in November in Japan. Other regions to follow. Not considered a direct sequel to the 1995 hit movie.
Just by glancing over the storyline of this new movie, it seems to be a continuation from the first movie or second movie both of which were directed by Mamoru Oshii. This movie will initally be available to Japanese fans as a pay per view exclusive with the DVD release to follow shortly after.
The movie is produced by the same team that brought to us the TV series Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex assures us that this will be some ride.
At least the story attempts to focus on someone else other than Motoko as Section 9 is now led by Togusa.
Tachikomas have not yet been announced to appear in the movie as of this posting.
XBOX support will not fix broken hardware that is less then 6 months old, and has already been replaced once due to DEFECTIVE hardware. Phone Audio included.
Having purchased an Xbox just a few months ago this seriously bothered me. Within less than a month I am already getting the E71 error. This is very disturbing. I already spent a ton of money just to buy the console, expecting that it should last me for quite a while. I am thankful that I got the one year warranty. Much cheaper than the one being offered by Microsoft. I get the error when I want to boot into the dashboard and not on the disc. I get the error when I want change discs. Hence I’m just playing one game right now and I don’t boot directly to the hard drive anymore.
But consumer groups should be up in arms like the short iPod battery, we should take them to court! Especially if they knew of the problem already and are not doing anything about it. They should go to their component suppliers and manufacturers and demand better components. It they truly want to be the center of the living room, it should be built to survive in the living room.
I was ready to cast away my doubts on Microsoft’s gaming machine and praise the Xbox. But with defects such as this. It may seem minor to them but it is downright annoying for me. I may stick with the Japanese when it comes to consoles.
BTW, it took five years for my PS2 to have any problems which by then I bought a new one.
A Yahoo intern’s excited post about his workplace just proves that Google’s even cooler.
I wish my office had mango lassis. I could not possibly get any better. Heck if I worked at Google I probably wouldn’t go home. It’s a cool place to work. It’s already bad enough that you have to dodge through the traffic and the chaos just to get to work. On top of that the facist laws that usually govern the workplace, partnered with indifferent bosses who think that your problems are not problems because it does not affect them directly. Hmmmm.
I must admit that I do get some office perks which I will not mention because they are lame in comparison to what Google has done for it’s employees. Corporations should take note of this. Google has high productivity and people want to work there and stay there. Why? They feel that their job is important. They feel that they can make a significant contribution to society. In one sentence, they feel special. They make it possible for you to work. You can’t give any excuse not to work. They solve it all for you.
A company that takes are of it’s own will be cared for by it’s employees more than what they’ve spent on them.
Just recently, it was disclosed to the Philippine public on how inept the elected members of legislature. Can you believe that in past 365 days the Senate only passed 9 bills!?!?!
Nine!?!?!
And my tax money goes to pay these unproductive people!! And worst of all, the people voted for them!!! Don’t even get me started on congress.
Two years ago I believed that the presidential elections that took place would be a turning point for Filipinos. It was a choice they had to make. I believe that the result of the elections was fair though it was very close. Unfortunately it sharply divided the nation. With the masses feeling more oppressed largely by the propaganda by the of the opposition. It saddens me that they can easily be fooled by these so called “defenders of the masses”.
Many do not see how these people live. Many do not see the fancy cars and the tens of bodyguards they bring along with them. They do not see the big houses and the lands that belong to their name. They accuse the majority party of having those things, when they have it too. They are all just the same. It is their motives that are only slightly different.
The senate and congress have done nothing in the past two years but to get the president impeached. Their propaganda has spread so far that the ordinary person does even want the president out. But with no real alternative to the presidency, they do not have support of the people. Why? Because the alternative is worse. It would plunge the country into chaos and bring us right where we were in 1986 before the elections.
Next year is another election year. Think what your congressman or senator has been doing the past three years before you vote. They have done NOTHING FOR YOU.
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Procrastinating in the Heat 