*title taken from Google’s post regarding SOPA*

****UPDATE! AS OF JANUARY 20, 2012, SOPA’s mastermind Lamar Smith POSTPONED and will review the bill once again along with the committee and various Internet entities. This is GOOD NEWS but I am sure isn’t the last act of this World War Web

It’s been so long since I made a REAL blog post and not just a filler video to keep my blog running. Priorities priorities I say! I even ran out of pre-made blog posts that I wrote before. This is how delayed I am -_-

Several serious issues have blotted the start of my 2012. In short, my too optimistic self who says that 2012 will be a better year is in for an extremely CHALLENGING YEAR. My successes will be greater but so will my failures. I’m willing to make that hundreds of TRIALS just to get that right formula or fix the light bulb and this, standing up to a great issue is one of the challenges that not only I but THE WHOLE 21ST CENTURY GENERATION will have to face.

Almost everyone on the online world must already know about the business regarding SOPA (Stop Online Piracy Act) and PIPA (Protect IP) as last January 18, 2012, the world wide web witnessed the largest temporary shutdown of thousands of sites in protest to these US Bills that the US government wants to pass. Some known sites such as Wikipedia, Reddit, and even simple blogs like ours joined hand in hand in this silent war against this atrocious bill. By January 19, 2012, US President Obama joined us netizens by going AGAINST SOPA and PIPA.

But what happened to this stand from Obama when just a FEW HOURS LATER, The US government and FBI sued and arrested 4 out of the 7 shareholders including the owner of file sharing sites of Megaupload and Megavideo. They took their domain and this what you see when you visit their page

I haven’t really explained SOPA or PIPA yet to you guys and maybe you think I’m just riding the bandwagon here because it’s “in” to be against them. NO! I think that everyone should be against this because of the “ripples” it creates for EVERYBODY. Do you realize that when SOPA is passed (or not, wtf did FBI just do? and HOW COME OBAMA DOESN’T KNOW ABOUT THIS yet he claims to protest SOPA), not only is Megavideo and Megaupload targeted, but EVERY IMAGINABLE SITE (which includes ALL FILE SHARING SITES, YOUTUBE, 9GAG, TWITTER, FACEBOOK, TUMBLR, WORDPRESS HECK EVEN MY BLOG, WIKIPEDIA, AND 99% OF ALL SITES) that can host copyright materials is a potential threat and will be shutdown. The Internet as we know it will cease to exist. Think of this analogy, SOPA treats it as a cancer so if they see that for example your hand has a cancer, they not only will chop your hand off, but KILL THE WHOLE SELF AS WELL. So even though Youtube has this agreement or policy that it is not responsible for the ANYTHING that is uploaded in their site, the bill will still target Youtube once a user uploads a whole movie or used a song in his music video. Because I can’t really explain the bill well and only give you scenarios, it’s best for me to leave the explanation to the experts.

Watch UK Law Graduate and Professional Gaming Commentator “Total Biscuit” explain SOPA

For those who prefer American accents, watch David Sohn’s explanation

And of course, the ever reliable Wikipedia (don’t use this as sources in high school or university dear students! but for blogs you can

The bill would authorize the U.S. Department of Justice to seek court orders against websites outside U.S. jurisdiction accused of infringing on copyrights, or of enabling or facilitating copyright infringement. After delivering a court order, the U.S. Attorney General could require US-directed Internet service providers, ad networks, and payment processors to suspend conducting business with sites found to infringe on federal criminal intellectual-property laws. The Attorney General could also bar search engines from displaying links to the sites.
The originally proposed bill would allow the U.S. Department of Justice, as well as copyright holders, to seek court orders against websites accused of enabling or facilitating copyright infringement. Depending on who makes the request, the court order could include barring online advertising networks and payment facilitators from conducting business with websites found to infringe on federal criminal intellectual-property laws, barring search engines from linking to such sites, and requiring Internet service providers to block access to such sites.
The bill also establishes a two-step process for intellectual property-rights holders to seek relief if they have been harmed by a site dedicated to infringement. The rights holder must first notify, in writing, related payment facilitators and ad networks of the identity of the website, who, in turn, must then forward that notification and suspend services to that identified website, unless that site provides a counter notification explaining how it is not in violation. The rights holder can then sue for limited injunctive relief against the site operator, if such a counter notification is provided, or if the payment or advertising services fail to suspend service in the absence of a counter notification.
The second section covers penalties for streaming video and for selling counterfeit drugs, military materials or consumer goods. The bill would expand penalties to include unauthorized streaming of copyrighted content and other intellectual property offenses. The bill would criminalize unauthorized streaming of copyrighted content, with a maximum penalty of five years in prison for ten such infringements within six months.
The bill provides immunity from liability to the ad and payment networks that comply with this Act or that take voluntary action to cut ties to such sites. Any copyright holder who knowingly misrepresents that a website is dedicated to infringement would be liable for damages.

And after everything, we can ask, “IS PIRACY THE ONLY THING THEY REALLY CARE HERE?”

NO.

They want MORE PROFIT. MORE BUCKS. MORE DOLLARS. So they eliminate competition from Indie film makers, programmers, artists and writers. They don’t want to share and instead EAT THE WHOLE PIE. So please I hope that you can include a STOP CENSORSHIP ribbon on top of your website to protest against SOPA and PIPA (well the bill has been postponed but doesn’t mean we can’t stop expressing our views and beliefs and be ready for the next battle as the American government doesn’t seem like to be waiting for the bill to pass to take action. Rapidshare could be targeted next).

Everyone must informed about this case. Everyone should be alarmed that this bill AFFECTS EVERYONE.

Questions:
1. Thoughts on this? Agree or Disagree?

One of the first people I’ve met here in the  cyberworld is Kisty! She has been there s my first host and one of my first friends here and taught me everything to know about wordpress! Just want you guys to know that this fashionista is holding a giveaway!!! DO JOIN! It’s open WORLDWIDE!!

*Photo by Kisty*

SO, THE MECHANICS:

STEP ONE: Reblog/Tweet this entry.
You can reblog/tweet it several times, preferably once a day/week until the contest ends. Also, likes are not counted. As for tweets, you may use this format but feel free to paraphrase the reason:

I want to win an #Instax7S because of reasons a muggle will never, ever understand! Follow @Kisty & join her giveaway! kistykreme.net/instax

STEP TWO: Leave a comment on this entry. No comment, no Instax.
Leave a comment about what do you think about my blog; how can I improve this site and so on. You can also suggest topics for future blog entries. If you also want to say something to me (not to harsh, mmkay?) or just send some love, feel free to leave it on my Disqus box. Thanks! — YOU NEED TO ANSWER THIS! :P

Don’t forget to leave your full name, Tumblr ID / Twitter ID and the link of your entry/tweet* (I just need one link), e-mail address and country of residence.

OPTIONAL: Follow me on Bloglovin’, Twitter and Lookbook
I will shamelessly plug my sites just because! Don’t hate, hehe!

Always wanted a polaroid camera, GOOD LUCK TO ALL!!

*COMMENTS CLOSED. PLEASE COMMENT ON POST BELOW *

Hey guys! Just want to feature a rising Pinoy band that is composed of my fellow Atenean batchmates! Their music is actually quite different from the local Pinoy artists and it has a really good alternative so I’d suggest this to fellow 80s or 90s fans Check it out!

From their YouTube page:

Never the Strangers, after all, as the band members explained their name, comes from their love for music, how it is a common thread that brings people—even strangers—together. This unabashed idealism shows the age of its members, who are all still in college at Ateneo de Manila University.

Meet NEVER THE STRANGERS ACE Libre—lead vocals and keyboards, PJ LaViña—drums and percussion, FRANCIS Victa—bassist and JP del Mundo—guitars.

Never the Strangers is a band formerly known as Leonecast—the band Ace and JP carried over from high school to college. When they realized that they are already a different band from when they had started—half of the members are new, even the band’s sound has evolved—they decided to change the name to Never the Strangers.

When asked how they define their music, each member throws in: “New Wave synth rock,” also “keyboard-driven rock,” but they have songs that are guitar driven too—but they all agree that rock music is their main foundation, influenced by New Wave, alternative and synth.

and Satisfaction Brought It Back.

So which do you believe? The first phrase or the whole sentence? I kinda believe both and context is always important!

So when Discovery Channel started its Curiosity series, I was intrigued. Heck and they keep on showing the commerial for its episode on female orgasm and what it’s for narrated by maggie gylenhall. But what really interested me was their segment for….WAIT FOR IT….

WHAT IF U COULD LIVE FOREVER?

Yeah what would you do? Would u avail these medical treatments if it were possible? Andrew Sage (guy from myth busters) tries to explore this world and yep, freakily (is there such a word?) the technology we have today seems to be telling us that it is possible in the near 50 or so years. THEORY OF SINGULARITY GUYS! (try googling what it is. XD) I really liked the segment except for a few farfetched parts (a flying brain… Seriously? but…) anyway i’ll stop yapping and you can check it out now. Thank you Youtube for full videos and movies!

FOR MATURE AUDIENCES ONLY ▼

So it’s the New Year tomorrow. Besides asking a lot of questions, I do want 2012 to be a fresh start. So many thins will change and i am optimistic at saying that 2012 be an awesome year for me. I swear that today will be the last day of procrastination. I have to fix my life and find le reason! LE REASON! I even thought of a new tradition of writing down this year’s failures and achievements and burning it afterwards. Or maybe i should only burn the failures… Maybe oh dear i only have a few hours to decide xD.

So before I say goodbye and welcome the new year, a little plugging for my offline friends’ new spaces in the cyberworld!

1. Randz’ Randzomeness! I swear he has a knack for blogging and of course mixing and matching clothes! He even did a stint at Topman! So go scurry ahead please

2. Mariel’s Indeemand dot com! She’s a very curious girl who likes to snap pics at everything and anything! Also if she’s bored, she does these.

3. Nicole’s Fashion Blog! She’s an investigative journalist and writes well and is addicted to lashes, pink and SHOES! Man you should see this girl! Please head over to her blog!

4. JV’s Sociologist Chemist Chinese Blog! hahaha I hosted JV before but he’s on his own now with a new perspective in life especially shifting to BS Sociology. Go for what you want guys! But he’s still a Chemist at heart methinks!

5. Chair’s dreams and realities! One of my best friends and she has a lot of stuff to talk about especially gaming! She just recently returned to blogging (like me!) so please show her some lve. She also featured Inotia 3, A SUPER ADDICTIVE ANDROID AND IPHONE RPG GAME! I slept at 3 and 4am for this. And in 3 days am now a level 47 archmage. So yeah, TODAY IS MY LAST DAY OF PROCRASTINATION!

6. GEORGIE’S FREE WORDPRESS THEMES! Hahah I haven’t really met Georgina personally but I loved her themes so much and have been a follower of her blog for YEARS now, I think that it’s just right to promote it. PLEASE DO CHECK HER FREE THEMES OUT

7. Oh this is just shameless plugging but do visit my Europe photoblog and instagram blog! Currently updating them. Can’t believe I left it alone for months now. Again 2012 WILL BE A NEW YEAR.

LOTS OF LOVE!

Thank you so much for the new visitors of my blog! Hallo and hope you guys don’t get bored here Sorry if I annoy some people but heck, you’re still here hahaha

I WISH YOU ALL A HAPPY FANTASTIC AND YES NOT THE LAST HAPPY NEW YEAR 2012 (UNLESS YOU BELIEVE ANOTHER THEORY LIKE ALIENS– CHECKTHISVIDEOSERIES :alien: :alien: ) TO YOU!!!
(stop 9gagging! XD)

Lol I forgot to put the…
Questions:
1. So would you want to live forever if you could?
2. Please visit one of my friend’s blogs and tell me what you think
3. 2012 will be… I will…

Last October 5 was indeed a truly memorable date. I woke up excited and getting ready for university and preparing for my Philosophy orals. I visited our thesis lab and decided to hang out with my friends. The minute I got in, a close friend saysngf

Friend: “Hey did you know about Steve Jobs leaving?”
Me: (thinking it was his resign) “Yeah! That’s old news, he’s been like that for a LONG TIME!”
Friend: “Oh really? Okay…”er
(after a few minutes)
Another Friend: “Man it’s all over how Steve Jobs died so suddenly…”
Me: “WTFJWEIOFJEOFHEKF387438UEIHW289*?”:l{u^rgi%! ARE YOU FRIGGING SERIOUS?”

An atomic bomb fell on top of my head and exploded my brains out. I couldn’t believe it. I didn’t even want to think about it, heck I didn’t even want to fathom how life will be different. I may be some insignificant person in southeast asia but the impact that Steve Jobs gave to my life… the fact that he built Pixar, Apple… they’re all so important to me and this tragic event is a life changer for me. I couldn’t help but tear up when I heard the news. Look at me you would say, pathetic me crying over some stranger’s death. But Steve Jobs isn’t some stranger just as Harry Potter is or J. K. Rowling. You feel like you know them because you have some sort of connection, no matter how frail it may be. Your worlds collide if I may be cheesy. Now I say farewell to this part of my Bucket List,

Meet Steve Jobs in Person.

Now I’ll never be able to do it, it isn’t physically possible. I won’t be able to go crazy and tell him THANK YOU FOR HAVING SUCH A WONDERFUL MIND!! I won’t be able to hear his brilliant ideas anymore. Steve Jobs is the reason why I want to work for Pixar or Apple. I still remember my first apple product, the ipod nano (WHICH IS STILL ALIVE BTW :D) which Steph my best friend and I were drooling over. It was the sleekest mp3 player out there and wasn’t bulky at all like the ipod classic. Heck 4gig seem so big back that and owning such a device would be a dream come true. Good thing my parents gave me the chance. And then came my 18th birthday. I had no debut or anything but my parents treated me again to my first and only Macbook Pro. It’s a DREAM because the interface, the flow, the design, the graphics, the performance was just suitable for me. Photobooth was indeed such a great invention too And Pixar was there since Toy Story, bringing me happiness and tears and being simply awesome. Steve Jobs made that all happen.

I admire Steve Jobs not only because of the great products he helped put together and sell, but also because he unlike other innovators shunned the spotlight. He was doing these things not for fame or glory (why would he stick with the same fashion for years then?) but he simply wanted to help people out of his genuine love for innovation. He gave us what we needed and not only what we wanted. I have this new perspective because of reading an article in today’s newspaper how Steve Jobs in his final weeks, just wanted to be with his family. He didn’t entertain fanboys because he was too weak and he didn’t want to be praised ALL the time. This is why… I hope he somehow felt my *quiet* fangirling. Like Steve, I’m not a crazy fan at all, I don’t push people HEY BUY APPLE PRODUCTS or hate all those Windows user. I hope that he somehow felt it and now I hope he knows how much I really admire him from afar. I hope that he was really peaceful when he left and that he was content with what God gave him even for a short while.
56 years old is just too young. Too young.

Yet I thank God for giving the world one of the most intelligent, most revolutionary, awesome human beings on the planet. He will be remembered by us through films, products and legend.

Thanks for inspiring me, for telling everyone to follow WHAT THEY LOVE. Don’t stop being foolish. Don’t stop being curious. Don’t stop living. He’s given me hope amidst this depression of mine. Grades aren’t all that. You just need the heart and the will.

iSalute, iFarewell, iMiss, iSeeYouAgain, I THANK YOU.

Watch his Stanford commencement Speech

Watch Pirates of Silicon Valley (Steve Jobs and Bill Gates docudrama)

Forever a fan <3

**WARNING UBER LONG POST!!**

EUREEKKAA!! I’ve finally added spacing to wordpress without adding html codes such as these < p > &nbsp ; < / p> or < b / >. I’ve been dwelling on this problem since day one but wordpress support was giving no solutions until I googled this blog. Thank you so much! I wasn’t able to comment because of some error but I really do thank you whoever you are!

I’ve also added some nifty new pages (well not that nifty… no visitors page yet! I still have to calculate and solve the probability of the number of users who will view the page, etc… okay i’m kidding:D) like the Mini-Bio and History pages in the About me section up there *click it if you guys wanna go :D* More updates will happen in the coming weeks so just stay tuned for updates! hehee Am now currently working on the comment limit shown, custom smilies and commenter’s plug in each post (does anybody know the plugin for this? hehe will be searchinngg.. :D)

I’ve also visited new friends such as Sofie! I’m very glad to have visited ya and thanks for exchanging links with me. From now on though, all those requesting for link exhanges would have to message me using the contact form here. The tagboard will just be a snippet of messages that you want to share and announce.

Speaking of Sofie, she has this nifty meme of listing down the top 5 places in the world that you are dying to visit. My dream is no doubt to travel the whole world before I become so frail and old that I can’t even run anymore. I mean they keep on saying, work hard now and have fun later or reap your harvest when you’ve finally retired at 70 ot 60 but come on, would you still appreciate the Eiffel tower or the Great Wall of China when you can’t climb them anymore? *Even if you’re a strong 70 year old* So goal is to at least visit these 5 places before 70.

What 5 places? ▼

As an avid bloghopper, I’ve discovered many cool things through the net. I was actually itching to blog about these during my hiatus but my blogging mojo wasn’t present. Now that I think I’ve found it, I’d like to share more about a similar “talent competition” like American Idol but it’s actually worth watching to those who despise AI. haha. Heard of Susan Boyle? Yah you got that right, I’m talking about BGT (Britain’s Got Talent)

OKAY FOR SOME REASON YOUTUBE DISABLED THE EMBEDDING FUNCTION of some BGT videos so I’ll just provide a link. SUCKS! WHY OH WHY?

Anyway here’s Susan Boyle. Man, have you ever heard such intense emotions in the song? I know everyone’s tired of talking about her but she’s just inspirational character. And she has been hiding that BIG VOICE for such a long time! I’m a sucker for broadway musicals, their songs, and classical music so I pardon to those who hate them. I absolutely love them and you can’t change that. hehe. This is the reason why I also played her video for about 30x now since the video appeared. I HOPE SHE WINS!! There’s this Flawless act, a group of dancers, who people think might win too but I was more attached to Susan. So GO GIRL!

Okay here’s another vid!

Haha who here has twitter/plurk? I guarantee that whoever watches this will suddenly have second thoughts on continuing their account or they might feel a bit of a trouble bug that’s creeping behind their backs. Is plurking/twittering really WORTH your time? hehe. Watch and ponder.

On the contrary my brother even made a twitter account because of this. Beats me why his logic is so different. He says he’s fond of satires so ergo, make a twitter account. lOLZ

Am hiding this one. Reader is advised to be older than 17 when reading the next segment. Thanks!
I am above 17 yey ▼

One of my other favorite finds this week is this CLOUD SOFA. The instant that this gets out in the market, I’M GONNA BUY IT (depends on the price though)! It has always been my dream to sleep on such puffiness. Have I ever told ya guys that I once dreamed of being locked inside a stuff toy store and sleeping on top of all their toys? Sighs.. really like puffy things. haha How do you get on the Cloud Sofa though? Sighs too bad that this is just a concept design.

Well I guess I’ve blogged long enough. Sorry for the uber long posts! I guess I’m just talkative. You do like it when you get long comments right? hehe I’ll try to shorten my blog posts a bit though. Sorry!! Hehe I have something in store with my next post though! Haha I’ll share something hilarious.

Well updates when I update! Oyasuminasai minna san

Questions:
1. Would you do the tag/meme I posted? If not, what’s the place that you would surely go to if you were given a hundred thousand dollars now?
2. Will you still twitter after watching the twitter video? What were your thoughts on it?
3. Do you like long blog posts? Long comments? Was this post very long?
4. Is a 4th question a bother? hahaa Do you also want to buy the cloud sofa if it were out in the market?

To singel-handedly contradict the title of my first post, I’m just going to put up a very short title! How’s that for short? lolz! hahha Oh i’m being silly again… very typical :P

Thank you so much to those who have visited and commented and for those who still remember the Panda that was basking under the sun. Never fear because my blogger will still be existing because it’s just too precious to let go. It was the 2nd blog that I created on 2004 (I think) and I have come a long way with that blog. I mean we spent almost 5 years together *naks parang ang drama, nagbreak kami pero friends pa rin! lolz* and I will still sustain all my emotions there so if you feel nostalgic for some reason, please visit my old blog! hahaha

It’s the end of a chapter but the beginning of another so I entitled this post as “NEW”. That’s it. That one simple word amounts to a cataclismic reaction that will explode into little bits of “other new things” and the cycle will go on. So here’s to give you a preview of my projects and gimicks-that-I-want-to-do-for-no-reason kind of things
Show preview ▼

aww soo cute!!

It

Testing image!

So that’s it…..FOR NOW! I don’t know if I still have white rabbits to pull out of my hat but we shall see.

I’m currently taking Japanese as my foreign language this summer at Ateneo (required :() and I’m quite enjoying it! Memorizing the characters and the vocabulary is a pain though! Argh! I still have to go review! Hehe. Something new about me too is that I finally have my first PART-TIME job as a teacher assistant at the Ateneo Chinese department. I’m now teaching future-Chinese teachers in the province! It’s quite a challenge I tell ya because my students are actually quite older than me and I have to project confidence! They’re very accomodating and cool though! hahaa I do like my pay, 400php/hr Not bad for 3 weeks.

Well I have to go! :P Oyasuminasai!

*Yes I’ll be posting in Japanese too to help me remember all these… Pardon! hehe*

Q/A
1. Has anything new happened to you lately? Are you excited about it?
2. What other new “gimmicks” can you suggest that will make http://jynxedpanda.com a fun-ner place? What plugins do you use too?
3. What’s your favorite “first”? Ex. first day at school, first kiss, first post, blah blah

Updates when I update!

Tiff K:p