Filipino Bum

Jailbreak iPhone 4S with IOS 9.3.4

2016-09-28T17:01:00.003+08:00

I have never jailbroken my 4s of 4 years. But then the wifi suddenly grayed out (disabled) after upgrading the IOS to 9.3.4. I don't know if it's an isolated case but it's really sad to lose the wifi, everything else works except the wifi. Then I got the iPhone SE. So being the jailbreak newbie that I am, I started searching for the jailbreak options for my 4s. Turns out 9.3.4 has a security fix for jailbreaks so any jailbreak will not work as of the moment. Pangu and others released a jailbreak for 9.3.4, BUT only for 64 bit devices and my 4s is not one of them. If you get an error using Cydia Impactor with keywords 64-bit blah blah then you can't jailbreak your beloved 32-bit apple mobile products.

Binagoongang Baboy (Sauteed Pork with Shrimp paste)

2013-06-13T02:49:00.001+08:00

I'd like to share my late mother's recipe for Binagoongang Baboy.

Ingredients:

Cooking oil

1 whole garlic

2 whole onions

3 whole tomatoes

1.5 kg of pork (menudo/adobo/sinigang cut)

250 grams of shrimp paste (add more or lessen according to your preference)

10 whole calamansi/lime

Instrcutions

1. Heat the pan, once the pan is hot enough, pour enough cooking oil to cover the pan and brown the pork. Brown the pork, remove from the pan and set aside. This step makes it easier to cook the pork later on.

2. In the same pan, add more cooking oil if needed to saute garlic, onions and tomatoes. Saute the garlic first, once it's fragrant add the onion, once it looks kind of transparent add the tomatoes, once the tomatoes kind of liquidates, add the pork. Make sure to stir it thoroughly to distribute the ingredients evenly.

3. Add a little water if only it's too dry. Set the fire on high, let it boil. Once it boils set the fire on medium, simmer the pork and other ingredients for 5 minutes or until tender, this could take longer if the meat cut is thicker than menudo cut.

4. Add the shrimp paste. Add more or lessen according to your preference, this recipe is very tasty, might be salty for others. Stir thoroughly. Set the fire on high, let it boil. Once it boils, set the fire on medium and simmer for 3 minutes.

5. Add the calamansi. We literally add all the calamansi uncut. Whole calamansis right on the pan. Cook for another 5 minutes then it's ready.

Enjoy this tasty recipe. It's my most favorite dish. Best served with rice.

I think this is more than enough for 10 persons.

Diamonds in the Philippines

2012-03-28T10:59:00.001+08:00

5 carat, color L, clarity VVS2

I never thought that selling diamonds was this freaking hard in the Philippines, especially when your ignorant with these precious things. Expect to be lowballed when your selling your diamond in a rush. The Rapaport Diamond Report* is the official price guide of diamonds like Beckett is to NBA Cards. But I don't know how the pawnshops, jewelers and the likes here in the Philippines based their multiplier when it comes to diamond grades.

For example of you have a 5 carat, color L, clarity VVS2 round brilliant cut diamond, Rapaport has a high asking price of $15000 per carat for this grade, in pesos it is Php645,000 with a multiplier of Php43.00 per US dollar. Here in the Philippines they have a Php200,000 to Php380,000 per carat for this grade. I wish I know how they come up with this multipliers. It is pretty obvious that they want to haggled down the price for reselling purposes, well business is business. You're better off selling it to foreign end users as they are not into the busines but for personal use.

I can't find an official Gemology Institute of America Lab here in the Philippines, the nearest is in Bangkok. Maybe if we have the money it'll be worth the trip. A trusted jewelry appraiser in Metro Manila is Ocampo's Jewelry, they have a branch in Ali Mall and Glorietta 5, they have certified GIA graduates.

Selling gold today is definitely easier than selling precious gems.

*Rapaport Diamond Report is available for a price in at diamonds.net

Putang Ina Mo

2012-01-07T23:54:00.000+08:00

The Philippine's equivalent to the American's "Son of a bitch." The shortened Filipino expression, "Tangina", can mean a lot of things, it can mean positive like "nice, neat, cool" or it can be an expression of anger or disappointment.

Honey for my sore throat

2011-12-19T14:07:00.000+08:00

I slept and woke up with a sore throat. Drinking water can't even relieve me from a painful swallow. My sister is kind of sick with colds and a sore throat so may be I got it from her, and mainly because of the cold dampy weather brought to us by typhoon Sendong. Immediately as I woke up earlier today to send my sister to Gateway LRT2, I swallowed a tablespoon of raw honey from Baguio, I immediately felt relieved. As of this writing this afternoon I have swallowed another 2 tablespoons of honey and ate some fresh ginger and I can finally say that I'm almost at full recovery.

The Philippine Stock Market looks bearish for long term

2011-09-26T13:57:00.000+08:00

This is depressing for retail investors in the Philippines, the past few days were bloody. Here's a long term analysis according to me. Using wave theory on a monthly chart, the most recent peak(08/31/2011) is a wave B of a Flat, the B just went a little above 123.6% fibonnaci measurement of wave A. There is a little a chance that wave C will retrace all of wave B. The expected completion of downward wave C is on 2014, which will or will not retrace the 1600 level, 100% Fibonacci time is on June 2014, which means end of the bear market around that time of year. This is the outlook for now, no signs of reversal are seen as of now.

Family History Center

2011-09-26T13:33:00.001+08:00

For the past two months I have been very interested in my own genealogy. There's this longing feeling to know my own family history. I found familysearch.org to be very useful, I found the marriage details of my great grandpa and great grandma there. Aside from the site, I learned about the Family History Center in front the Latter Day Saints / Mormons Temple near White Plains Subdivision Quezon City. This is where you go if you can't find it on the site, there are microfilms to help you find your ancestors. They have 4 microfilm viewers, and a separate scanner. They are open Tuesdays thru Saturdays, 7:30am to 4:00pm, but no microfilms on Saturdays.

If I can't find I'm looking for, I resort to NSO Certificate Delivery Service of Teleserv. The NSO Teleserv hotline is 737-1111. I have already transacted with them twice.The first one took about 4 working days, I called on a Friday and paid online with a credit card at the same time and supposed delivered on Thursday but I'm out so they came back the next morning. I called on a Sunday on the second time, and received it on Tuesday, which was fast. No matter how many certificates you order at the same time, it will still be the same price per certificate, php330 or more per certificate. You should have a valid ID when you're receiving the certificates. Their third party courier is 2GO by Aboitiz. I'm satisfied with the service.

I'm planning to go to the province to research more about my family.

Region I - Laoag, Bangui, Batac, Vigan

2011-06-21T01:55:00.001+08:00

Finally our much awaited trip was successful. That's 7 piso fare tickets for Laoag from Cebu Pacific which costed us barely php3k. It was last June 14, 2011, boarding time is at 1040AM, traffic in C5 from Libis was unbearable and we have arrived there at around 10AM. All those ticket verifications and security check ate up our time, and at 1030AM our group is not yet complete as my father returned an umbrella, deodorant and insect repellent to our driver because it's all prohibited. The boarding time was pushed back earlier at 1030AM, it's our first time on these airport so we're worried. We made it and rode a coaster to the plane. It was an airbus not a fokker, thank God.

Makati Central Business District

Mount Arayat and Pampanga River

At takeoff, the Makati Skyline can be seen, and the coast line of Manila Bay as well as populated Metro Manila. I saw the great plains of Central Luzon as well as Mt. Arayat. We haven't seen the areas of La Union or Baguio, I suspect this is the highest elevation of the plane. By the time the plane lowered down from the clouds, we're in Ilocos Sur already. The plane went past the Laoag airport and u-turned back to land. It was barely an hour trip, the traffic at C5 was longer.

The Laoag Sign just like Hollywood

A rented van from La Union was waiting for us at the airport. We took a drive-thru at Mcdonald's in Laoag and off to Bangui. Some roads are under construction and that was the only hindrance we had, the ride was barely 2 hours, our driver was fast. The road to Bangui was nice, you'll be passing by the mountains before Bangui Bay and the windmills can be seen along the way.

The Bangui Windmill Project

The windmills are so huge in real life. The weather was unpredictable, it was either so cloudy or sunny every minute that we're there. Summer will be the best time to go there for a perfect weather for better pictures. In barely 30 minutes of picture taking we went to Batac to visit the Mausoleum of Marcos. We arrived at 3:30pm, but the attendant got off work early. The Mausoleum viewing was until 4pm. Then we went to Vigan.

The famous Crisologo Street in Vigan

It was our second time in Vigan. Crisologo St, has always been vintagedly beautiful, even more dramatic on sunset. It was drizzling so it's uncomfortable to expose my camera. There's this service from Island Souvenir to print your name above the "♥ Vigan" print, they have sizes for men and women, I spent around php360. Then we ate at Max's at the corner of Crisologo Street.

As long as you can do it, never drive back to Manila in the night because you will miss the beautiful coast line of Ilocos Sur. The Bantay bridge crossing over the Abra river is breathtaking, the old metal bridge was replaced by the new concrete bridge, the former is still there. Unfortunately we drove back in the night. I'll definite go back if I have a chance. Trabajo. Ipon. Travel. Enjoy. TITE.

Is Lebron James Half Filipino?

2011-05-26T02:10:00.002+08:00

No, but his coach is. Erik Spoe.

A Justin Bieber Scandal

2011-05-13T02:16:00.000+08:00

I first saw this controversy on TV. The video was in very low quality, prolly a celfone camera. This was taken shortly on a boarding tunnel in NAIA airport before Bieber will board flight PR 318 of the Philippine Airlines from Manila to Hong Kong. As Beiber and crew nears a man in a neon reflector jacket on the left, an object fell hard on the floor. It was alleged that the man is asking Bieber to sign an autograph on a CD but Bieber tapped the CD off of the man's hand. If this is not an anti-fan propaganda, then Bieber is a brat, no, Bieber is a racist.

May 7: Birthday of Eagle-Eye Cherry

2011-05-07T17:45:00.000+08:00

Eagle-Eye Cherry is not a pseudonym, it's his real name. He was named Eagle-Eye Lanoo Cherry. He's from Sweden and obviously he's African. Famous for his hit, Save Tonight released on 1997.

May 6

2011-05-06T23:23:00.003+08:00

Happy Birthday to:

George Clooney, (1961) 50, famous for playing Batman, ER, and the blockbuster Ocean's Eleven trilogy.
Wow he's still good looking even if he's now turned golden. He better be throwing a party

Chris Paul CP3, (1985) 26, point guard for the NBA owned franchise, the New Orleans Hornets. He suffered a tough loss with his team to the Lakers in the first round of the 2011 NBA Playoffs this year, sending them for an early pre-summer vacation.

Moon Geun Young, (1987) 24, Korean actress, she was casted as Mary together with Korean actor Jang Geun Seok in the Kdrama Mary Stayed all Night.

Krystal Jeung, (1994) 17, singer for Korean girl group f(x).

Philippine History:

1942 - It was the day when the last American forces surrendered to the Japanese in Corregidor Island.

World:

2010 - The famous 2010 Flash Crash. It was DOW's biggest plunge that was ever recorded.

Osama Bin Laden was finally put to rest

2011-05-02T17:38:00.001+08:00

As I was monitoring my stocks before lunch I learned that Osama was dead through our little chat room. It was good news no doubt. I think it's common for humans to confuse and publish Osama Bin Laden and Obama Bin Laden, but not the press. Proof read first before prioritizing to publish above everybody.

MRI of Actual Sex

2011-05-02T11:01:00.001+08:00

I stumbled upon a video of a MRI of an actual sexual intercourse. It's a big wonder for everyone and weird for the norm but scientifically it should be an amazing and brave research. Dr. Pek van Andel is responsible for this research.

Here's the clip:

Charlene Gonzales Birthday at The Buzz

2011-05-02T03:13:00.002+08:00

One of those el boring days, I turned on the TV and it was tuned in on Channel 10, it's Destiny Cable's channel for ABS-CBN. It's Charlene's Birthday celebrated on the Buzz and Aga Muhlach her husband was there, presenting their children's AVP gift for Charlene as a surprise for her. Andres played Taylor Swift's You Belong With Me on a telecaster electric guitar, with no vocals. Atasha sung Sana Maulit Muli on a minus one. It was sweet. Andres has a long hair for a boy, and looks a lot more like Charlene which makes him look a little feminine. Atasha was cute, shy and sweet judging from how she reacts on her messages for Charlene. Luigi and her wife Patty was there too. Luigi, aka Igi Boy, is a son of Aga and Janice de Belen. Luigi's fat but still cute and Patty's 7 months pregnant. Luigi may have inherited obesity from his biological mother's genes.

Here's the clip:
Charlene's Birthday at the Buzz

How to go to Christ the King Parish Church Greenmeadows

2011-05-02T02:36:00.001+08:00

DIRECTIONS

By car / tax:

From Edsa, once you see the People Power Monument turn right at White Plains Avenue.
Keep right until you see the Church of the Latter Day Saints, turn right at Temple Drive.
Keep going forward until you reach Greenmeadows Avenue to turn left.
Keep going forward along Greenmeadows Avenue until you reach the Christ the King Parish Church on the left side of the road.

By jeepney:

From Cubao, ride a Cubao-Rosario Jeep on Gen. Romulo Avenue cor. Aurora Boulevard in front of Mercury Drug.
You'll be passing by areas of Cubao, 20th Avenue, Bonny Serrano Avenue(Santolan), E. Rodriguez Jr. Avenue(C5).
Along E. Rodriguez Avenue don't get off until you reach Jollibee Greenmeadows Branch on the right side of the road.
From Jollibee, unfortunately, there's no public transportation from here other than a taxi, you may choose to walk for about 500m less or more along Greenmeadows Avenue to get to the church.

AJ Perez at our Parish Church, Christ the King Green Meadows

2011-04-29T10:37:00.001+08:00

I didn't know AJ Perez by name. Almost everybody who know how to search in Google may have searched about this teen idol, I'm one of them. I don't watch TV nowadays. I started to get curious when people in facebook and twitter started to post that he's dead on the night of Palm Sunday. Poor thing, he died young, younger than me. Sad. He's pretty I must say. I didn't know I knew him until I watched his Milo Commercial, which was pretty nostalgic for me. It's a nice commercial, very inspirational. I remember I was in college that time when the commercial started to show on TV.

I thought that he'll be cremated and be put in the Christ the King(CTK) Parish Crypt on Holy Tuesday. I though that was quick for a funeral. But I was wrong of course. He was just transferred from La Salle Greenhills to CTK. Our first church for our Visita Iglesia is Christ the King Parish Church at Green Meadows Quezon City on Maundy Thursday. Heavy traffic is not unusual on Maundy Thursday at CTK, but it was heavier this year, partly because of AJ. After the prayers we decided to see AJ. The line was short, it was quick. He was so pretty for a dead person. Arlington did a good job. He's like wax as quoted by an old excited lady who wishes to go back in line and see AJ again.

Francis Magalona's funeral services was also at the same chapel where AJ Perez was. I also had a chance to see Francis M as it was near our home. I guess they're holding it there because it's too far for the masses to commute at, less hassle for them. It's hard to commute around the area, if not for taxi or the dangerous and expensive habal-habal there's no transportation to go around there. Faces of celebrities even in death is amazing, that explains why they're being paid. Belo, Marie France, Calayan, Cathy Valencia are doing a good job making them different from what we commoners look like. Pacquiao's skin is getting better and better.

I was rear ended

2011-04-26T01:21:00.002+08:00

We just got out of the Delos Santos Hospital to visit my mama who underwent a mastectomy of her left breast. The night was going well, it was around 9:30pm, we're on the stoplight at the corner of E. Rodriguez Sr. corner Hemady Street, Cubao bound. The stoplight turned green, and then we're slowly going forward but the two vehicles in the front stopped midway of the intersection for reasons I don't know, so we're on full stop for at least 3 seconds or more, and then BAM!!!

We knew something hit our rear hard. When we realized everybody's okay, we got out and it was a taxi operated by PADRINO who rear ended us. As usual, we're being blamed verbally of what had happened especially when we're all girls in the car, classic bullying. I remained calm all throughout, despite the driver's insisting that I was moving and that I suddenly braked which caused him to rear end me, what a way out. Even if you were bumper to bumper with some vehicle, this kind of collision will not happen on such short distance as what he was implying. I can't close the trunk the bumper was like opened with a can opener, the impact was hard no doubt. The taxi's front appeared to have bearable dimples compared to what our car went through.

In the Philippines or other countries too, the law will go in favor of the one who was rear ended. I wasn't moving my car I'm still waiting for the police or MMDA, but then the taxi driver started to move his car, a no-no because a sketch is needed for the police report. A car involved in a car accident shouldn't be moved for the police to investigate. I didn't move my car until an MMDA came, and motioned to escort us to the Kamuning Police Station. Each driver will be handed out forms for their sworn statements. Your license and car registration papers is needed in the police investigation. In some instances, you will be asked to come back for the complete police report for your insurance purposes.

Faecbook

2011-04-15T23:42:00.001+08:00

Fakebook, pun intended.

So what do Tunisia, Morocco, Algeria, Egypt and Turkey have in common? Aside from the fact that they're all near the Mediterranean Sea, they are the top 5 regions who type Faecbook in Google and maybe in their browsers too. I can only guess that maybe they all have Latin or Greek roots, with words like "AE-GIS".

Fire struck a home in Barangay White Plains

2011-04-13T13:33:00.000+08:00

Fire in White Plains Subdivision, Quezon City

I received a call from a fireman, a relative. He asked if the fire is near our house, I have no idea if there is indeed a fire. To confirm, I called the White Plains Admin. There is a fire, on Kingsville . But luckily we're on the far end of the subdivision. Residents are basically unaware or not that "chismosa", residents are reserved, you won't see them on the streets at the height of the fire. Helpers and construction workers are the only spectators. If you were to live in Tondo, people are scattered everywhere making chismis on the streets. The fire was managable enough to not spread on the other houses, unfortunately for the house on fire it isn't.

Looks like there's nothing left in that room

A number of fire trucks parked on the slope

Situs Inversus, my phenomenon

2011-04-12T10:49:00.004+08:00

My most recent chest x-ray

My mother was in labor for 12 hours because of me, I'm her first so it must have been very difficult for her. It shouldn't have gone for 12 hours if not for my grandmother insisting I must be delivered normal, a c-section should've been done as I have already started to drown in my mother's womb. Water entered my lungs as I have drank lots of it inside the womb. I was struggling to live for 2 weeks. It took 3 chest x-rays before the doctors' realize I have situs inversus, they thought that the x-ray machine or the technicians must have been wrong. I was told it is one in a million case here in the Philippines, and the Internet says it's 1 in 10000 worldwide.

As a child I always have nasal mucus or phlegm. My folks thought it was a severe allergy and that I have asthma. Meds after meds, nothing helped me until the doctors told my parents to stop the meds and let the child outgrow her condition. But I never did. I have suffered brutal bullying because of it. I was so used to it I wasn't aware that my mucus just keeps on looking out of my nose. I was ashamed to blow my nose or cough out the phlegm because my peers will mind and look disgustingly at me, saying things like I have tuberculosis. I have to hold it in and endure my breathing trouble to save face. Basically I almost have no social life, my friends come and go in so little time. Maybe my social life was affected because I wasn't really confident of myself. All of my school life I was always suffering from fatigue and fevers. I got tested for tuberculosis for a few times in my life but the results always come out negative.

When I started work it is still the same, people won't understand. After quitting two jobs because of fatigue and fevers, I decided to go to the doctor again. Of course I have chronic sinusitis, because it's been going on for years. Why didn't I think of that? We endure pain and discomfort, we don't go to doctors. We are medically ignorant. The doctor does not advice sinus surgery because chances are high that it will come back. First I was prescribed the max dosage of Augmentin for about a month. Nothing's change a bit. Clarithromycin was my next med for a month too. Nothing. Out of curiosity, I started to search for situs inversus or dextrocardia, looking for signs that it has something to do with my sinusitis. I found out that some people who are borned with situs inversus has primary ciliary dyskinesia or Kartagener Syndrome.

I still wasn't sure, no lab tests are available here in the Philippines to prove I have it. I went to Dr. Ramon Lopa, an ENT specialist in Makati Medical Center, and without tests, he confirmed I have it. A lot of doctors here in the Philippines haven't met an individual with situs inversus, it's just another medical condition in a book to them. It is that rare. I guess the medical interns in PGH are lucky because they already met one, and that's me. They are amazed and even marvel about their find in me, when I have been suffering all my life because of it. How ironic. Once a school doctor is assessing me, and he has been searching for my heart beat for about 5 minutes, I totally forgot to tell him first, I've been oblivious about my condition for a few years. Dr. Lopa recommended surgery to enlarge the drainage of my sinuses, but because of financial reasons I backed out. To this day I am still enduring my condition and occasionally using a ketchup bottle with saline solution to irrigate my nose.

Suggested solution by PGH ENT specialist for nasal irrigation:

1 ketchup bottle of clean water
1/2 tsp of salt
1/2 tsp of baking soda

Mix salt and baking soda with the water.

I still don't know anyone here in the Philippines who has situs inversus totalis or dextrocardia. If not for fiction and movies like Ninja Assassin, majority of the people are clueless of this rare disorder.

April 6, 2011 Latest Earthquake in the Philippines

2011-04-07T00:54:00.001+08:00

DATE - TIME                      LATITUDE LONGITUDE DEPTH MAGNITUDE LOCATION
(PST)                                    ( °N )          ( °E )        ( km )       ( Ms )

06 Apr 2011 - 05:31 PM      10.69          122.55            037       2.6                02 km S 11° E of Iloilo City

Source: Philvolcs

April 5, 2011 Latest Earthquakes in the Philippines

2011-04-05T10:29:00.010+08:00

It was earlier recorded that there were 2 earthquakes in the Visayas. There are 2 quakes in Bukidnon within 2 hours.

DATE - TIME                     LATITUDE LONGITUDE DEPTH MAGNITUDE LOCATION
(PST)                                  ( °N )            ( °E )          ( km )   ( Ms )

05 Apr 2011 - 11:05 PM      12.97          121.27         026      2.8               51 km S 12° E of Calapan (Oriental Mindoro)
05 Apr 2011 - 01:25 PM      07.78          125.00         001      3.3               49 km S 14° W of Malaybalay (Bukidnon)
05 Apr 2011 - 11:42 AM      07.87          124.82         001      3.5               50 km S 39° W of Malaybalay (Bukidnon)
05 Apr 2011 - 04:54 AM     11.28          122.63         010      2.6               37 km S 22° W of Roxas City
05 Apr 2011 - 01:59 AM      12.16          125.70         020      4.2               28 km N 61° E of Dolores (Eastern Samar)

Source: Philvolcs

Twitter Malware

2011-04-04T20:09:00.001+08:00

I am not one to click any link, but to my clumsiness I accidentally clicked a malware from Twitter. Ugh it automatically sent tweets on a lot of people on my twitter account to click on that link. I changed my password twice just to be sure until I deleted the malicious tweets. The url disguises as "bit.ly/gg7UGh", points to "tesla.medialayer.net/~gusgordon/propogate/propogate.php"

Thanks to this malware I wasted my time deleting automatic tweets generated on my account. GRRR.

Here's a screen shot:

April 4, 2011 Latest Earthquakes in the Philippines

2011-04-04T03:04:00.002+08:00

DATE - TIME                  LATITUDE LONGITUDE DEPTH MAGNITUDE LOCATION
(PST)                                  ( °N )           ( °E )                ( km )   ( Ms )

04 Apr 2011 - 07:53 AM   18.93          121.09               024        4.1                      98 km N 35° E of Laoag City
04 Apr 2011 - 02:28 AM   13.19          119.82               044        4.7                      86 km S 87° W of Mamburao(Occidental Mindoro)

Source: Philvolcs