And by belated, this is a late post. Still, happy linux day to everyone! It does not have to be linux day for us to spread Free and Open Source Software (FOSS) awareness, and penguin love!

Last August 25 was Linux Day, and our organization spent the day handing out fliers and giving out linux cd’s. Throughout the day, we were able to give out 200+ cd’s, and twice as many fliers. And we thought we were going to have cds for dinner that day! Contrary to what we initially thought, the event turned out to be a huge success, spreading penguin fliers and cds, and more importantly, spreading FOSS awareness to students of our school.

I am a FOSS and Linux advocate. I consider FOSS and Linux as open-source alternatives to those proprietary software that we currently are used to. I am not into overthrowing proprietary software, and making people use Linux. I am rather, more into promotion and education of these open-source alternatives, making people know that there are these alternatives to the software they are currently using, and that these alternatives will not compromise what they are already used to, but rather will help in many ways in the long run.

I am currently using Fedora 15 (a Linux-based operating system), posting this through Firefox (an open-source browser), and I am still able to post to paolocadiz.com easily. I’m not using any code, or dealing with any other shenanigans to do what I usually do. And this is contrary to common belief that Linux operating systems are for coders/programmers/etc. It’s very similar actually.

The difference? You are contributing to the open coomunity by making use of these open-source software. The same way that the open community will be helping you out as you use these software.=)

Baking is not really my forte, and the burn on my left arm proves this much. My brother has better hands in the kitchen. Still, I’d like to be good at one of these things, at least. The fun in playing with ingredients, and in waiting as these little babies rise and take shape inside the oven really makes me interested in baking. And of course, what really makes me want to bake is the satisfaction I get when everything I make gets consumed by the people I make these things for, regardless of how they actually tasted. Plus, I prefer baking since the food I make are sweet, primarily that. Haha!

Also, baking is one of my destressers. Doing something different from what I always do takes me out from my routine string of daily activities. The heat on my face as I open the oven, and the greater heat on my hands as I prick what’s being baked with a toothpick gives me a good feeling.

Hey, and on the burn I got, turns out, toothpaste is a good first aid! I first rubbed ice on my burn, which felt good, and made that part numb. But after a few minutes, when it started to hurt again, my siblings told me to apply toothpaste on the burn. And hey, it worked! The first time I had toothpaste on my arm, and the first time I knew of toothpaste as firs aid!

Which gives me my conclusion, after thinking for a little ten minutes:
We really don’t need to think about these things too much. Looking at a romantic perspective, we really shouldn’t rationalize these things, because these concerns are felt, not though of. And looking at my present practical perspective, I’m still at a young age of 19, these things shouldn’t be my concern at this time. Hey, I should be studying for three exams tomorrow. See? I wouldn’t want to dwell too much in this for now.

Ironically, I made a 250-word post on this topic. Weird, huh?

And now I’m typing this article, and still not studying for our exams. And so to clear my thoughts before I delve into piles of lessons, let me share my thoughts in having examinations.

I don’t usually study for exams, really. In fact, I rarely study hard for upcoming exams. Usually I spent just two to three hours breezing through notes and lecture slides, just to refresh my memory of the lessons we discussed in class. It’s not because I’m a crammer, it’s just that I personally am stuck in the thinking that exams are used to test current knowledge and understanding on the topic(s) being discussed. I don’t study hard for an exam, piling up knowledge a few days before, so it can be used for the exam to be taken in one day.

Learning for me is constant and continuous. You study and learn something continuously rather than learning something all at once only to be used…..once, hindi sa isang bagsakan lang, a plus in this for me would be the fact that the lesson/topic actually gets digested, which will be a better help when it comes to actual application of what you have learned.

Still, I’m contesting the practice of other people in studying hard for exams, do not get me wrong. This is my own studying style/habit. And of course, we all have our own styles, right? Kanya-kanya lang yan

I would also like to share another habit of mine when it comes to exams:

• Of course, study for an exam. You do need to study after all.
• Take your exam on the date (of couse). Go inside the classroom for the exam, and then take it.
• And once you’re outside the classroom. Keep only the knowledge you acquired, but leave the fact that you took the exam inside the classroom
  • “Hey, how was the exam?
  • “What exam?”

An Alternative Classroom Learning Experience is a once-a-semester half-day event wherein different school organizations hold seminars, forums, film showing, or any other activity outside traditional classroom discussions. These activities vary in topic – from in-depth technicalities, to tutorials and reviews, and even up to sex, and these activities are mostly interactive and inviting to its student audiences.

For us students, it’s a break from those butt-bone snapping hour-long lectures we usually have. Plus, it’s something to teach us more in-depth topics and issues. It would really help us learn more. Still, it’s not as if you get to learn what you need in your curriculum through these sessions right? You still need these classroom discussions, however painful your butt may get because of it.

Personally, I think it’s a sanctuary, as well as a different classroom, apart from what we usually go with our years as students. It’s actually a good thing, a little break from school, but we still learn something, apart from every routine discussion we have.

Still, there are some people who use ACLE as breaks, literally..=)

And my ‘little experiment’ was to try and post to paolocadiz using my dearly beloved psp, with all its bare necessities functional, and…yes…bare. Haha.

And this is application of technology. Rather than sitting on a chair, in front of a computer, tapping furiously on a keyboard, I get to post an article while lying down, tapping two times furiously on the psp’s buttons…

Group Hug!

While passing by all stations, I see lots of distorted faces, with different thoughts ranging from “how the hell am I going to get inside?” to “nice ass.” What’s piqued my interest though, is the part that all these faces are contagious. One person looks at a distorted face, and his/her face gets distorted as well.

A good thing though, is that even my smiling face, with matching comical penguin jacket is also contagious to those people around me. I would laugh faintly (without looking like a retarded seal) and someone beside me would realize the funny thing about us being sardines in this godforsaken moving can.

Realization here? You get to see funny faces during rush hour. And I think that it’s a good thing that it’s that funny. You get to be contagious in seeing the funny part in it.

Note however, that it’s not always the case. Still, just don’t let those distorted faces turn yours distorted as well.

To be able to organize my blog so that the Great Ideas Blog, with countless dates for titles, wouldn’t clutter the front page of paolocadiz, I wanted to hide all the posts under that category from being dispayed in the front page. And so I looked for ways, with my greatest friend Google, to be able to do just that.

Having worked and coded with WordPress for more than a year now, I have gotten the feel of how everything works inside wordpress codes. And so after a few minutes of bruteforce coding, I was able to hide the posts I wanted out, and post an update to notify readers where these posts can be found.

And this was the realization I got while doing this little project: Everything, however complex it may seem, can be easily done once you know how they work. This would always be my first step in learning someething new, getting to know what these pieces are for, how the process begins and ends, etc etc. Even mechanics, who may or may not have formal knowledge on automobiles, can identify the problem of the car, just by listening to its engine, mainly because they have worked with lots and lots of car issues in the past..

Yes it would be a great help to memorize all principles in a discipline, but I personally do not think that all these things you’ve memorized, will be the ones you will use in your actual job. What you will be using instead, is what you remember, upon “tinkering with the car” for the first time.

And then I realized that I need to memorize for upcoming exams…

Thanks and happy reading!

To view the 151 – Great Ideas Blogroll, please click here.

I gave this a try, though I didn’t have to really copy even how the pad of scratch paper is bound by a filing clip. I tried keeping a pad of compiled torn scratch paper from my past papers, etc. and used these little pieces to record anything that comes through my mind, could be a quote from our professor, or something I just randomly came up with, just whatever comes through my mind

And this was a really good help. I was able to use these random writings and scribblings to my advantage. And this is one of the reasons why I can post articles easily here. It may be a simple scribble found at the smallest corner of the paper, or a set of methods I heard at work. These little ideas help in big things I do. These ideas may not be organized (heck, they’re written in any blank portion of the paper!), but I need not organize them immediately, since can use them as “standalones”.

My lesson in this article? (1)Make space in your pockets for a pad of paper and a pen; and (2)keep acquiring information and data, organization can come up aterwards. It worked for me, conveniently.