The Geek Brewery

UP Diliman‘s Chemistry Pavilion (Chem Pav) is on fire. Oh noes!

There have been reports that the fire has also sprawled into the Llamas Hall (Physics Pavilion) and some parts of the main building of Palma Hall.

Advisory: Chancellor Cao declared all classes in PALMA HALL ONLY suspended today June 10, 2010. (Thursday) From Prof Eloi Hernandez. (http://twitter.com/gangbadoy/status/15790560413)

Should you have any more information about the fire, please don’t hesitate to post your comment in this post.

More reads about the fire:

• http://ph.news.yahoo.com/gma/20100609/tph-fire-razes-up-diliman-s-chemistry-bu-d6cd5cf.html

Yesterday, the members of our organization the University of the Philippines Linux Users’ group acted as the technical staff of the computerized 2010 University-wide Student Council elections (using Halalan developed by UnPLUG) of the University of the Philippines Diliman.

Some issues were raised and published by other parties. Sadly, we found some of them objectionable. Here’s our official statement regarding the election day issues.

Pahayag ng USC Elections Technical Team hinggil sa mga balitang lumabas sa araw ng eleksyon sa UP Diliman

Una, nais namin linawin ang isyu tungkol sa pagiging late ng pagbubukas diumano ng mga presinto. Totoong nagkaroon ng pagkahuli ang pagbubukas ng ilang mga presinto dahil nagkaroon ng problema sa pagiimprenta ng mga password ng mga estudyante. Pero ang balitang mahigit dalawang oras naantala ang pagbubukas ng ilang presinto ay walang katotohanan dahil ang pinakahuli nang nabuksang presinto ay nasa 40 minuto lamang matapos ang alas otso ng umaga.

Ikalawa ay ang pagpapahinto ng pagboto sa buong unibersidad. Bandang alas-nueve y media ng umaga ay nahinto ang pagboto sa loob ng ilang minuto dahil ni-restart ang server na kinaroroonan ng Halalan (yung software). Ikatlo ay ang isyu sa CAL kung saan nagkaroon ng problema sa network. Naging dahilan ito upang maantala ang pagboto ng mga estudyante pero matapos malipat sa CAL Library ang presinto ay naipagpatuloy na ang botohan. Ito ay malinaw na problema sa network at hindi sa software.

Isa pang isyu na lumabas ay ang tungkol sa mga non-major. Hindi naimprenta ang listahan ng mga estudyanteng non-majors pero sila ay nakapaloob na sa sistema kung kaya’t sila ay maaring makaboto basta maipaalam lamang sa Technical Person na naka-assign sa bawat presinto.

Isa sa pinakamalaking isyung lumabas ay ang tungkol sa “glitch” diumano ng programa. Laman ng isang mensaheng teleteksto ang mga salitang ito:

“As you vote for less than 12 councilors only, tick that name and leave the others blank. Wag mag-aabstain, mavovoid votes niyo. Just let it be. Don’t tick abstain. May glitch ang system. Please pass.”

Nais naming linawin na hindi “glitch” ng sistema ang tungkol sa abstain. Ito ay function talaga ng sistema kung saan kapag pinili mo ang abstain ay hindi mo na nais bumoto para sa posisyong pinagbobotohan. Nabanggit naman namin sa mga public demo na ganito nga ang gamit ng abstain. Halimbawa nito ay kung hindi mo nais kumpletuhin ang 12 konsehal sa USC, maaari mong piliin kung ilan lamang ang nais mong iboto nang hindi pinipili ang abstain.

Maraming salamat sa pagsuporta sa Halalan. Sana’y nabigyan namin ng linaw ang mga agam-agam niyo hinggil sa ating eleksiyon. #

For more information regarding the computerized elections, please contact JP Bernardo at jp@jpbernardo.com.

UPCAT 2010 Results (University of the Philippines College Admission Test) were released earlier today, January 18, 2010 both online and offline.

The new official results page is now non-searchable, I wonder why. But that’s not a problem because I made a searchable version of the one’s in the UP website.

I also made a super lightweight web app that checks if your 2010 counterpart passed UPCAT or not. In my case, 201041437 either didn’t pass, still has deficiences or a pending case. His or her name was not on the list.

Aside from this, I also made another one last night which is not related to UPCAT. It’s a searchable database of UP student numbers. I got those student numbers from various sources from the Internet, including past UPCAT results. Hahaha.

I really missed scripting. All those stuff above are hosted on my laptop therefore they’ll be down whenever my laptop is sleeping. LOL.

UPCAT 2010 results will most likely be released on January 15, 2010. This fearless forecast based on the previous years’ release (January 16, 2009 and January 11, 2008).

I can predict that inbound network traffic to the Diliman Network (DilNet) will be congested as a result of concurrent search queries. As a result, some may experience hard times accessing the website. Mirror sites are usually provided and they will be posted here as soon as they become available. (more…)

Hello.

I bet you have reached this page in hopes of finding your DLSUCET (De La Salle University College Entrance Test) reference number, right?

Apparently, if you have lost the very precious gem you have to call, visit or mail De La Salle University Manila College Admissions Office. They can be reached at this address:

Ground Floor
Br. Andrew Gonzalez Building,
2401 Taft Avenue
1004 Manila, Philippines

Or thru these telephone numbers:

Direct Line: (02) 523-4230
Trunkline: (02) 524-4611 to 19 locals 166/167

Good luck!

Some people think I’m too serious, but I’m not.

Nobody nobody but you!

For almost a week, the song Nobody by Wonder Girls has been stuck in my head. I keep on watching Nobody videos but this is my favorite so far.

Some people think I’m too serious, but I’m not. Hahaha!

UP Diliman’s Chancellor Sergio Cao announced early this morning that classes in UP Diliman are suspended due to the tropical storm Isang. All offices in the campus shall maintain a skeletal force. Employees living outside the campus are excused from work.

Strong rains and winds have been conquering Metro Manila since last night. As of 5am today, no public storm signal was raised in Metro Manila.

TRIVIA: Tropical Storm Isang is internationally known as Molave, a native Filipino tree and a UP Diliman Dorm.

Anyway, I merged the storm track of PAGASA and Integrated Multi-Agency Tropical Cyclone Forecast and this is what I got:

PAGASA’s projections aren’t bad anyway. I’ve always questioned their credibility, and that’s bad of me. Here are the original maps:

The cool blogger of this blog will soon have interplanetary presence! He’ll have his name not only on Earth, but on Mars, too.

On 2011, my name will be sent to Mars thru NASA’s Mars Science Laboratory Rover. Along with my name are thousands and possibly millions of other names. Martians will now have the chance to decipher Earthling names.

Do you want your name on Mars? Send your name to Mars now before time runs out.

I saw this image from the Internet around two days ago. I still can’t get over it up to now.

Click the image to play the GIF file (it’s around 2.6MB but it’s worth it)

Good night.

Last June 1, 2009, Air France Flight 447 fell into the Atlantic Ocean. The fleet used was an Airbus 330, the same equipment used by Philippine Airlines for medium to long haul domestic and international flights.

Similar aircraft to the Yemenia Air Flight 626′s aircraft. An Airbus A310 used by Yemenia.

Several hours ago, Yemenia Airlines Flight 626 (Yemenia Air Flight 626 or Yemenia Air Flight 627) carrying 154 people including 11 crew was reported down in Indian Ocean the coast of Comoros, an island nation in the Indian Ocean. The fleet used was yet another Airbus, specifically an Airbus A310. This is the second fatal crash of an Airbus this month. (more…)