Deuts.NET » General Discussion

CCTV Cameras and Security

deuts — Thu, 02 Sep 2010 04:38:34 +0000

The use of CCTV camera is a detective form of security. It isn’t as effective as the preventive ones like putting up security guards in the premises to secure the area or perimeter from unauthorized entries (and exit). It only allows you to review and take action AFTER the wrong has been done.

That’s why putting up CCTV cameras alone will not ensure security of your office or building. They do require the attentiveness and skepticism on the part especially of the lobby guards.

Videos from these cameras can only be used to identify the culprit. That is, if the culprit is from the same building at all. What if he/she were a total stranger, just like in the video below.

This video was recorded from our company’s CCTV camera, which faces the office door fronting that of our neighbor’s.

CCTV cameras ensure that you have a record of any crime that happened. Certainly, they do not prevent crime from happening.

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I learned about my passion in photography when I had my first digital camera in Sony DSC-S60. Then I took it the next level when I had a Canon EOS 30D. You can check out my latest photos at my flickr photostream or my self-hosted gallery (which I intend to update soon).

If you wish, I would love for you to subscribe to my flickr photostream via email. By subscribing, it means that you’ll receive an email notifications everytime I upload new photos to my photostream. Click here, enter your email address, and follow the online instructions.

Torture, Torture, That Is Sick!

Mon — Sun, 22 Aug 2010 14:42:56 +0000

Post by Monster Mon as it originally appeared in http://moncruz.tumblr.com/post/985651065/torture-torture-that-is-sick.

To make everything clear before anything else, I don’t intend to glorify, much less justify the ghastly scene caught in that torture video leaked to the media (oh and if the point is not yet driven home emphatically by now – for the record, it was an exclusive by ABS CBN).

Such barbaric and inhuman act simply has no place in a civilized and dignified society we live in.

Or is it a civilized and dignified society that we actually live in to begin with?

Just taking a step back one bit and thinking out loud here. What if we make the context closer to home than Asuncion area. Living in more upscale areas may provide a false hope of security; that one is not subject to the harm and terror at the hands of these criminals, so why bother giving it a thought?

But then again, we will always use our roads, pass by areas teeming with these hoodlums to go about our daily lives. What if we’re actually dealing with chronic, serial criminals here who have absolutely no regard for the law, makes a mockery of the ideals of a justice system whose aim is to reform and rehabilitate more than to punish?

They point their paltiks or balisongs at their victims, get their stuff, subject them to anguish and may be a life time of trauma. Worse would be some sexual abuse here, non fatal stab wound there or if they feel like it, or if they are too drunk or too drugged to think about it, install a gripo on the side of the abdomen or bore a bullet hole on their heads. Every day these morons play their role to the fullest. On a bad day they may get caught,spend a night or two in a cell, get out as fast as you can say “torture” then off they go to the streets again, on the prowl, waiting to grab on to their next meal ticket.

What if these misguided souls (by choice and occupation) happen to chance upon your parents, siblings, sons and daughters, etc.? What if one of your family members is the unwilling recipient of their next thrust of the knife or their bullet?

These criminals have rights; but so does the citizenry and the state. Why should the rest of the population live in constant fear and terror at the hands of these hooligans? That they should be given a chance to reform and mend their ways – at the expense of what? Your wife’s and child’s lives? Your parents’? Yours?

Lack of education is not an excuse to not understand the words: “Masamang magnakaw.” And a grumbling stomach is not a justification either. Try working, no matter how menial, stupid.

But in the same breath, torture is still not justified despite the repeated heinous offenses of the culprits.

In a way, by consciously living a life of crime without a tinge of regard to life and limb of their fellowmen, and no remorse for their past acts, these monsters have effectively signed up this kind of fate – just not through this cruel and graphic manner I guess. But the fact remains, deep inside in each one of us, there’s this thought that actually longs for all evil elements to just be eliminated or contained. The only uproar here is in the manner manifested to us by which the lawbreaker was eliminated or contained.

Articles on summarily executed individuals are just daily fare in the tabloids; paperwork related to these cases just pile up in the CHR. Ivan Padilla will just end up to be a statistic. Harrowing ordeals of inmates and detainees are for everyone to listen to and get a glimpse of when visiting the national penitentiary. Being confined within those walls for a significant part of one’s life by the way is still torture, albeit not of the physically brutal kind.

These are not media scoop material though. And we are partly oblivious to them.

At the end of the day, I think the prevailing subconscious sentiment is: just get these thugs as far away from us as possible. And don’t make it messy in doing so. It’s not primarily because these hardened criminals can still be considered human beings.

It’s because the rest of us still are.

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PNoy State of the Nation Address 2010

Mon — Mon, 26 Jul 2010 02:45:34 +0000

Post by Monster Mon as it originally appeared in http://moncruz.tumblr.com/post/858899126/sona-2010.

While it is very much welcome for the President to report to the people what kind of a sh*t hole the past administration has driven our nation into after nine inglorious years, it shouldn’t be the end all and be all of the SONA.

Though it seems that nothing can shock us anymore regarding the GMA administration’s wicked ways, we are still bound to be shocked by what we are about to be told, according to PNoy.

Beyond the impending shock coming our way though, what will be more shocking is if we’re going to dwell and end there. The overwhelming majority voted for PNoy because they believe that he can and will deliver the reforms we need. The SONA should indicate how people responsible for such despicable acts will be brought to justice, and what concrete steps will be undertaken to address what we are left with after the dark days of Arroyo.

If it’s mere reportage that we need, former VP Noli De Castro, with his signature voice, should have been the man. But what the people thirst for is rectification and what they clamor for are solutions.

Realistically speaking, the next six years shouldn’t promise for us a hacienda at the end of the path. Just leading us through the “daang matuwid” will already be a journey very much worth undertaking.

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The Things We Learned from the Recent Election

deuts — Tue, 11 May 2010 04:50:22 +0000

The day after the election, almost all results are in. The things we learned so far:

We should trust the survey results, the survey companies, and their supposed ‘scientific’ approach. Or at least have them under consideration;
Endorsement by INC is not a guarantee of victory;
You don’t have to join public debates in order to win a senatorial seat.

But most of all, now that election is over, its a relief watching TV once again without the false claims and promises from the various candidates.

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Sigabong 2010 – Clash XXII: The Renaissance of Faith

deuts — Wed, 24 Feb 2010 14:56:35 +0000

The UP Hamili Brotherhood and UP Hamilia Sisterhood present the 22nd Edition of Sigabong – a prestigious annual battle of the bands in Iloilo City. This year’s edition features an Inter-School Battle of the Bands and will be held on March 6, 2010, 7:00 PM at Iloilo Capitol Grounds.

Participants to this event will include bands from:

St. Therese College;
Iloilo National High School;
University of San Agustin;
Western Institute of Technology;
John B. Lacson Foundation Maritime University;
Collegio de San Jose;
Central Philippines University;
Alimodian National High School;
West Visayas State University; and
Iloilo Doctors College;

Which brings to mind: it’s been more than 10 years since my first experience as a resident when we held Sigabong in 1999. That really was a long time ago.

Good luck to the resident Su-ons from the UP Hamili Brotherhood and UP Hamilia Sisterhood. Cheers to your success!

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Best Buddies Share the Best Tea

deuts — Tue, 12 Jan 2010 03:08:00 +0000

As the year comes to a close, just before the darkness captures the year behind, two buddies — two little kids that is — share a bottle of ~~wine~~ tea to celebrate the dawn of the new year.

Cheers for the new year

The future is bright for these young kids.

Let's Drink to That

Aching to get a taste of that Real Leaf Green Tea!

Welcome Year 2010! Let’s celebrate with a bottle of Real Leaf Green Tea.

P.S. This may be a little late for a New Year post, but what the heck, Happy New Year everyone!

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Deco’s Original La Paz Batchoy at Alphaland Southgate Mall

deuts — Tue, 27 Oct 2009 13:15:01 +0000

The first, and so far the only, branch in Metro Manila of the Ilonggo’s favorite ‘Deco’s Original La Paz Batchoy‘ opened last August 14, 2009, concurrent to the opening of the Alphaland Southgate Mall, at the corner of Pasong Tamo (Chino Roces Avenue) and EDSA, Makati City.

So it has been there for more than two months and I only knew about it today. And most probably a lot of Ilonggos still don’t know about it. Their marketing has really got to do a lot of catching up. You can’t even find any info about their opening in Metro Manila from their official website (these guys have yet a lot to learn about SEO, I mean look at the search results for deco’s lapaz batchoy, you’ll find their site at the second spot, but there are no descriptions whatsoever. Theirs is built on adobe flash that takes some time to load or nothing at all if you’re on a slow connection. Adobe Flash is maybe the thing for Hollywood movies website, but not for those who want themselves to be found by search engines for pertinent keywords, e.g. batchoy).

Anyway, I’m just glad we, Ilonggos in Metro Manila, now know where to go when we have the craving for this famous Ilonggo delicacy, or simply missed that *FREE* extra caldo!

Oops! I wasn’t able to catch myself. I missed taking a picture of the served bowl of batchoy before I even started eating. Sorry. LOL.

If you don’t mind, just check out the photo I took in Deco’s in Robinson’s Iloilo back in September 2008:

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Create A Custom Font Style Based on Your Own Handwriting

deuts — Wed, 02 Sep 2009 17:11:41 +0000

If you are like me who’s proud of your own handwriting, no matter how bad it is, or if you’re a person who wants to experiment with the different font faces for letters and numbers, the you may want to create your own font style based on your unique handwriting.

Here’s a screenshot of my handwriting typed in MS Word using the custom font style I named “deuts-print“.

Deuts Print Font Sample (Click image to enlarge)

What you’ll need to create your own font style

Printer;
Pen;
Scanner;
Internet connection;

To start creating your font style, just head over to fontcapture.com, and follow the step-by-step instructions.

To install the new font in a Windows computer, just go to the directory C;\Windows\Fonts then click on File>>Install New Font. This is applicable to both Windows XP and Vista.

What you need to know about your custom fonts

Note that you can use your custom font to print output from any application that uses the Windows installed fonts, like from MS Office applications. If you’re converting into a PDF document, you can also do so using your custom font.

However, if you email or otherwise transfer documents in your custom font, the recipient or the next computer where such documents will be opened won’t display the documents in the new fonts unless they install the same in their machine.

Download the deuts-print font

I wouldn’t expect you to like my custom font, much less my handwriting. But just in case you’re interested for a fresh (but ugly) look, you are welcome to download my font.

Download deuts-print font.

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Poll Result: Who’s the Greatest Player to Ever Play Basketball

deuts — Sun, 30 Aug 2009 09:56:26 +0000

Our survey, which arose from the heated discussion in Mon’s post, “Michael Jordan: The Greatness of his Airness, came to a close today after running for exactly one month. 52 respondents cast their votes, and here are the results:

Michael Jordan – 33 votes – 63%
Kobe Bryant – 6 votes – 12%
Deuts Ambuscade – 5 votes – 10%
Lebron James – 3 votes – 6%
Oscar Robertson – 2 votes – 4%
Magic Johnson – 1 vote – 2%
Larry Bird – 1 vote – 2%
Others – Manu Ginobili – 1 vote – 2%

So here it appears Michael Jordan is the clear winner. Of course we haven’t obtained the demographics of the respondents. So we really can’t tell whether MJ is still popular especially to the younger generations who haven’t yet seen him play.

Nevertheless, behind the result, I’m glad I was able to garner as much respondents. It’s really not that much but it’s actually beyond my personal expectations. Thank you to all respondents. Based on this, I think we should feature more polls/surveys here. Anyone suggestion for the next poll question? Drop a line in the comments below.

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Appearance Reboot: Back to ‘Simple but Elegant’

deuts — Sun, 26 Jul 2009 11:10:45 +0000

After almost one year with my previous theme (whose last screenshot shown below), I get bored with the same theme, so I decided to try a new one that’s back to the basic and what a real “theme” should be: simple but elegant.

The Last Screenshot of Deuts.NET

By the way, so far in this theme did I ever stick the longest in my whole WordPress life.

IntenseDebate Commenting System

The slow speed, especially at the backend, of my site could be partly attributable to a variety of plugins installed in the background that are directly or indirectly pertaining to and enhancing the commenting system. Now, there’s only one WordPress plugin to rule them all–IntenseDebate.

I couldn’t have just implemented this system with the previous theme because it (IntenseDebate) simply does not go well with dark-background themes.

With the new commenting system, you can easily comment using your profiles with these service providers:

Facebook;
Twitter;
OpenID; and
IntenseDebate;

Of course, you can always comment as a guest — just enter your name, email, and website (optional).

You won’t have to worry about security, logging in is not handled by Deuts.NET nor IntenseDebate. Instead, it’s directly handled by the service providers (as enumerated above) themselves.

In the Works

Maybe my site has grown in magnitude that keeping up with changes needed to be effected everytime I change themes can already be time-consuming. Anyway, the progress of the switch is documented at the dox.

Feedbacks

I have always been listening to feedbacks especially from friends and regular visitors. Please feel free to leave your comments below about this change, if any.