Author: deuts

Iloilo: Up Close in Photographs

What better way to describe my beloved home province, Iloilo, than by pictures.

Included in the gallery are:

  • University of the Philippines in the Visayas Main Building – it was once a city hall donated by the city governement to the institution;
  • Deco’s La Paz Batchoy – the first thing that comes in to mind when you say “Iloilo”, the special La Paz Batchoy;
  • Jaro Cathedral – Nuestra Señora de la Candelaria;
  • Jaro Cathedral Belfry – it’s standing alone in the plaza, separate from the Cathedral structure;
  • Lou Franz Beach Resort – I still have to make a separate post regarding this. Watch out for that soon;
  • Miag-ao Church – one of the world’s heritage site in the Philippines;
  • Tigbauan Church – and the famous mosaic inside the church.

Chessworld.net, The Rivalry, The Tactical Move

Chessworld.net

Chessworld.net is an email correspondence chess playing website that let’s you play chess over the internet against other players around the world. You don’t have to be in the same timezone as that of your opponent because games are played through email and time limits varies from 1 day to 15 days per move. No downloads are required, just login to the site when it’s your turn to play and make your move. You can also play as many games as you can manage at the same time. Tournaments are available in various formats (no swiss!) if you want to join, or you can create your own to suit your style.

Online chessMost of the features in the site are available only to paying members. That’s $28.50 for one year but the flexibility with which it offers (i.e., you can play at your most convenient time), the community, the tournaments, the number of quality players and the fun are enough reasons to part with the amount.

There are other email correspondence chess in the internet, but so far I particularly found my niche at chessworld.net. If anyone wants to play chess with me, sign-up now at chessworld.net. My handle is Deuts Ambuscade.

Online chess

The Rivalry

It started with the “Primary Battle”, a good-old-friend-and-archrival and I have been playing chess offline and over at chessworld.net. In our offline games (which are not recorded, of course), in as much as I can remember the standing is more or less a draw. In Chessworld.net, we played a total of 9 games (excluding games that timed out), and the official tally is at 4 wins, 4 losses and 1 draw apiece. That’s how close our rivalry was back then.

We took some time off from playing against each other for about two years. But now we decided to renew that rivalry. And we can only expect ferocity from the clash this time around.

Continue reading Chessworld.net, The Rivalry, The Tactical Move

Implementing Rules and Regulations – RA 9504

At long last, the BIR has issued the final IRR (Implementing Rules and Regulations) of Republic Act No. 9504, an Act Amending Sections 22, 24, 34,35, 51 and 79 of Republic Act no. 8424. It’a available for download from the BIR website. Thanks to Nora for the heads up.

For sure, a lot of people who have long been waiting for this release will deluge in the website and may bring their server down. I already downloaded a copy (including annexes) and compiled them myself.

It’ll be available for download here.

The Trip Back Home

Just wanna share a video from my recent trip back home to Iloilo.

The shooting took place in various areas including:

  • NAIA Terminal 3;
  • University of the Philippines in the Visayas – Iloilo City Campus;
  • Deco’s La Paz Batchoy in Robinson’s Place – Iloilo;
  • Molo Church;
  • Jaro Cathedral;
  • Lou Franz Beach Resort, Brgy. Barroc, Tigbauan, Iloilo;
  • Miag-ao Church;
  • Tigbauan Church; and
  • Iloilo Airport

Pictures to come soon.

Watch the video in youtube.

Audio credit: Arms of a Woman by Amos Lee

Hala Pack-up by Eraseyourheads

You just can’t imagine the wittiness of Bitoy as he and the gang did another classic (spoof!).

From the original song, “Alapaap”, by Eraserheads, comes “Hala Pack-Up” by Eraseyourheads. This spoof song retells the story of an E-heads fan who was somehow disappointed by the recent Eraserheads reunion concert cut short due to the frontman, Ely Buendia, was rushed to the hospital.

Continue reading Hala Pack-up by Eraseyourheads

World Chess Championship 2008 in Germany

The match will be a best of 12 games. Players score 1 point for a win and half a point for a draw. Time control will be 120 minutes, with 60 minutes added after move 40, 15 minutes added after move 60, and additional 30 seconds per move starting from move 61. The match will end as soon as any player scores 6.5 points.

If, after 12 games, the score is equal, a tie-break of four rapid games will be played. Time control for these games will be 25 minutes plus 10 seconds per move. In case of equal scores two additional blitz games will be played (5 minutes plus 10 seconds per move). If these games do not decide the winner, a decisive Armageddon game will be played (6 minutes for white, 5 minutes for black, black declared champion in case of a draw). There will be a new drawing of colours before rapid games, as well as before blitz games and an Armageddon game.

World Chess Championship 2008
Official Website

I find a head-to-head match-up like this more exciting than a round-robin (e.g., the World Chess Championship 2007) for a world chess championship. In the former, you’ll have the opportunity to witness the rush of blood as players hammer each other on a round per round mental combat. Get yourself marveled at how each player switch strategy in the middle of the match to accommodate the outpouring pressure. In the latter, oftentimes you’ll just wait and see till the last round who has the nearest reach to the crown.

A round-robin world championship will be just like a boxing match, with eight players inside a ring at the same time. The last man standing will be the world champion. In chess, most likely you’ll just wait and see by the end of the show who will come out victorious. But in boxing, hey, this is pretty exciting!

The Back-End Story

It has been a gruelling experience. Deuts.NET even has been down for sometimes.

I hate that Hotlink Protection feature in Bluehost’s cpanel. It almost drove me crazy figuring out how can I salvage all my posts and files in the webserver.

I just hope everything’s fine now. If someone finds irregularities and bugs, please help me and bring them to my attention immediately.

Creating and Maintaining a Personal Website

As a response to Suon Dondi‘s query here:

Personal Websites and Blogs

Most people maintain personal websites through blogs. A blog is what makes a personal website pertinent by posting updates every now and then.

When it comes to blogs, the first thing that should come to mind is WordPress. This is so far, in my opinion (and I’m sure a lot of bloggers will share my opinion), the best blogging platform.

A .com, .net, or .org domain name usually costs around $10 per year. That’s around P470 a year — cheap!:D

Blogger/blogspot actually permits mapping of domain names into your blogger blog. Say, you have a domain name at example.com, you can make it map to your existing blog at blogger.com so all your posts will appear within your domain name (example.com) and all your former permalinks (e.g., example.blogspot.com) will automatically redirect to your new domain name. This service is called Custom Domains. Refer to this documentation to set-up a custom domain at blogger.com.

But blogger.com alone does not offer that much flexibility as compared to when you host your own website. Hosting puts you in total control of your website. But hosting entails additional cost on top of what you paid for the domain name.
Continue reading Creating and Maintaining a Personal Website