Florent Says...

The Blue Marble

2012-08-31T11:20:00.001-07:00

The picture above, more commonly known as “The Blue Marble” photo, is the last full-color, full-frame picture of Earth taken by a human being. Taken mere hours after launch by the crew of Apollo 17 on Dec. 7, 1972 at a distance of about 45,000 milometers, the Blue Marble was the first clear, color image of the entire illuminated face of the earth.

The original caption from NASA:

"View of the Earth as seen by the Apollo 17 crew traveling toward the moon. This translunar coast photograph extends from the Mediterranean Sea area to the Antarctica south polar ice cap. This is the first time the Apollo trajectory made it possible to photograph the south polar ice cap. Note the heavy cloud cover in the Southern Hemisphere. Almost the entire coastline of Africa is clearly visible. The Arabian Peninsula can be seen at the northeastern edge of Africa. The large island off the coast of Africa is Madagascar. The Asian mainland is on the horizon toward the northeast."

Here are a few facts regarding the photo:

· The photograph’s official NASA designation is AS17-148-22727. AS17 means Apollo 17, 148 indicates roll 148, and 22727 signifies frame 22,727 – a very straightforward label for a very spectacular photo.

· The image is one of the few to show a fully illuminated Earth, as the astronauts had the Sun behind them when they took the image. To the astronauts, Earth had the appearance of a glass marble, hence the name.

· A 70-millimeter Hasselblad camera with an 80-millimeter lens was used to take the photograph.

· NASA officially credits the image to the entire Apollo 17 crew – Eugene Cernan, Ronald Evans and Jack Schmitt – all of whom took photographs during the mission with the on-board Hasselblad. The identity of the actual photographer remains a mystery, with the crewmembers often taking turns claiming they were the one who took the picture.

· Apollo 17 was the last manned lunar mission. No one has been far enough from the Earth since then where a photographer could record a whole-Earth image such as The Blue Marble (although the whole planet Earth has been photographed by many unmanned spacecraft missions since 1972).

Ironically, despite its fame, most displays of the Blue Marble photograph aren't true to the actual photo. Just do a Google search and all the returned results will show photos that are technically “wrong”. Most of the Blue Marble photos are upside down! The trajectory of the Apollo 17 spacecraft meant that the flight deck of the Command Module was oriented with the south pole of earth facing up. So, strictly speaking, any displays of the Blue Marble photograph with Antarctica at the bottom of the frame are technically incorrect.

Check my photo above – this is the “correct” photo.

So when Google finally indexes it, there will be at least one “correct” photo of The Blue Marble in its search results.

---------------------------------

Way back during the time when science still believed that the earth was flat, the prophet Isaiah, some 2,400 years earlier, tells us that the earth is round: "It is he that sits upon the circle of the earth" (Isaiah 40:22). This is not a reference to a flat disk, as some skeptic maintain, but to a sphere. It was the Scriptures that inspired Christopher Columbus to sail the Atlantic Ocean and discover the Americas.

~Florent Flora

A Day in the Internet

2012-08-29T09:17:00.001-07:00

This Infographic says it all...

I wonder how the world would run if the Internet suddenly stopped working.

I guess people will still go on with their lives (after having gotten over their Internet withdrawal symptoms).

Created by: MBAOnline.com

~Florent Flora

Scientific Google

2012-07-30T09:53:00.001-07:00

Once again, Google lives up to its image as a company of bright minded people (a.k.a. geniuses, nerds and geeks).

Google search has long featured a built-in calculator function in its search engine but in one awesome update the Mountain View, California company has added a fully functional 34-button scientific calculator in its search page, mapped with all the mathematical functions the left brain won’t be able to handle alone.

You can now ask Google “what is sin (pi over 6) plus 5 to the 5th power divided by 25 minus 1/2 of ln(e)” and it will give out the correct answer in less time it takes to punch the keys on a real calculator.

Try it now!

To top it up, this new calculator works in mobile browsers and desktop voice search, too! You can now dictate your formulas to your computer and it will give you the results you want, not unlike Lieutenant Commander Scotty when he unsuccessfully attempted to talk to a 1990s computer in Star Trek IV.

Google. They’re really awesome.

If you’re perplexed with creating formulas using Google Calculator, just check out this Cheat Sheet.

There really isn’t any excuse for not being able to finish your math homework now.

~Florent Flora

Let the Games Begin!

2012-07-27T08:54:00.001-07:00

Today is the day!

One world, one big sports event.

No riots, no wars, just one world united in celebrating man's greatest achievements through sports - the 2012 Summer Olympics or commonly known as London 2012.

In the picture: With the Tower Bridge in the background, the Olympic torch is carried proudly by torch bearer Amber Charles on a floating pontoon along the River Thames. Amber Charles is a 22-year-old basketball player who played a key role in London's winning bid. (Photo credit: Reuters)

To date, the identity of the person who will take on the honor of the lighting of the cauldron during the opening ceremony remains a mystery. Will it be David Beckham doing the honors? Or will it be Sir Roger Bannister, the man who first broke the 1-mile four minute barrier?

The opening ceremony will start at 9:00PM UK time (or 4:00AM Manila time). Here are some links where you can watch the Olympics online:

BBC

London 2012 Official YouTube Channel

IOC Official YouTube Channel

NBC Channel (available in the US and US territories only)

~Florent Flora

Live Another Day

2012-07-17T14:35:00.001-07:00

I used to pride myself with my ability to use my text away on my cellphone while driving -- left hand on the steering wheel and right hand on the phone, my thumb having memorized the keypad and my eyes swiftly alternating between the road and the small cellphone screen to check on the message I have typed. Sometimes I even take pictures with my cellphone camera while driving:

Countless studies have been made trying to establish a link between cellphone use and cancer or brain tumor and yet, the real hazard of cellphones is that they kill far more people through automobile accidents. European researchers — in a study of more than 300,000 cellphones users — concluded that there was no evidence to suggest that using a cell phone increased the chance of developing a brain tumor. That was true even for people who had used cell phones for more than a decade, and the study is the biggest so far to look at cell phone radiation and cancer.

On the other hand, a study by Monash University Accident Research Centre concludes that drivers who use hand-held devices are 4 times more likely to get into crashes serious enough to injure themselves. The US Department of Transportation also states that 3092 people were killed in crashes involving a distracted driver and an estimated additional 416,000 were injured in motor vehicle crashes involving a distracted driver in 2010.

I love math.

And I believe in statistics.

So heed my advice: Stay focused while driving.

As for me, I will not allow the phone to distract me while driving.

Leave the phone and live the day.

~Florent Flora

Tetherless

2012-06-26T17:12:00.001-07:00

There will soon come a day when people will come to work bringing with them just one pocket device that will contain their work, emails, portfolio, data, phone and all other stuff they need, dock it with a DLNA enabled 24" LED monitor and a wireless mouse and keyboard, and they're primed up to start working immediately. There will be no bulky laptops to lug around and no bulky computers to hog their table real estate. And when they need to "go mobile" they'll just get up, undock their device and off they go.

What more? That device can morph into a laptop, a tablet, and of course a mobile phone! Lose the device? No problem, all their data is backed up in the cloud.

This rise in mobile computing and cloud based computing is here and now. Technology is now available to make this a reality. Motorola Webtop and Ubuntu for Android are leading the way into this device convergence and this is already happening.

Who wants to be tethered to a desk in the 21st Century? I don't.

(Credit: Canonical)

~Florent Flora

Netbooks and Photos

2012-05-28T16:33:00.001-07:00

Just recently, I bought an ASUS X101h netbook for my wife's salon's photobooth setup.

The photobooth setup had a tight budget and my CBA indicated that a netbook would do the trick neatly. No fancy laptop with an über processor is needed here. The netbook's Atom N455 processor will accomplish things smoothly without any hiccups.

So there was me at the mall shopping for a netbook when all the others were gawking and trying out their hands on the latest iPads and Android tablets. I would have died right there and then if someone I knew saw me buying a netbook! I bought the netbook pronto. No demos. No setups. Just give me the box, ma'am, and off I'll go.

So I've got a few toys to play around with... the Asus X101h, a Canon 1100D DSLR, a canon Selphy CP800 photo printer, and three Speedlight flashes from Photozuela -- brand new budget items for a startup photobooth.

A few tinkering here and there with Av, Tv and zoom settings of the Canon 1100D and placing the speedlights in strategic places in the salon and here it is... my photobooth pic courtesy of Peppermint Kids and Grownups Hair and Nail Salon!

PS: Do "Like" our salon FB page!

PPS: And why not drop by when you can? :-)

I See You!

2012-04-26T13:10:00.001-07:00

Surveillance activities are supposed to be covert.

The National Bureau of Investigation (NBI), the Philippines’ local equivalent of the US FBI, seems to like to announce their presence in the neighborhood. Their Van #8 has a wireless access point that is announcing to everyone that they are here.

But I’m watching them, too.

Hello, NBI! I see you!

~Florent Flora

Goal Setting and Challenges

2012-03-23T14:30:00.001-07:00

The moment you set a goal, obstacles will begin to appear to stand in your way.

The bigger the goal, the bigger the obstacles.

Most people let these challenges rob them of victory.

The key here is PERSISTENCE.

Persist and you will succeed!

~Florent Flora

Math for Creative Engineers

2012-03-16T14:18:00.001-07:00

Only engineers with creative imaginations can come up with solutions such as these…

Wait, wait! Make that wild imagination, or rather, hallucination J

1. Simplify the equation…

2. Find the answer…

3. Expand the equation…

4. Here’s my favorite – Find “x”

~Florent Flora

Skirts and Daugthers

2012-02-29T13:33:00.001-08:00

Conversation between father and 4-yr old daughter (translated from Tagalog):

Bettina: Daddy, I want to wear mini skirt.

Me: No.

Bettina: I want to wear mini skirt, it has cute designs on it.

Me: No, wear short pants, it's better.

Bettina: No.

Me: No mini skirt.

Bettina: No. Mini skirt!

(Argument between dad and daughter goes on for five minutes or so. Mommy comes to the rescue and selects a more appropriate attire for the daughter.)

Whew!

I now dread the day ten years later when me and Bettina will get into the same argument again.

Mommy to the rescue, please? :-)

~Florent Flora

Answers to Prayers

2012-02-18T04:11:00.001-08:00

It has been said God has three possible answers to our prayers:

YES!

“Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you.” (Matthew 7:7)

NOT YET.

"Be still and know that I am God..." (Psalm 46:10)

I HAVE SOMETHING BETTER...

"For I know the plans I have for you," declares the LORD, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future." (Jeremiah 29:11)

      As a child, remember that you could almost ask anything from your parents and they would do their best to grant your request? We can have this same confidence when we approach God, our Father, with our prayers: "This is the confidence we have in approaching God: that if we ask anything according to His will, He hears us. And if we know that He hears us -- whatever we ask -- we know that we have what we asked of Him." (1 John 5:14)

      Charles Stanley, senior pastor of the First Baptist Church of Atlanta and founder of In Touch Ministries, discusses more about this in "The Key to Answered Prayer"

      Whatever God's answer is to our prayers, underlying each and every answer is the silent promise, “I am here.” Our Heavenly Father enjoys giving to us because He loves us and wants us to experience intimacy with Him — the best gift we can ever have.

~Florent Flora

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Sharing time: Pastor Joby Soriano from Christ's Commission Fellowship testifies of God's extreme faithfulness in his life and tells of his touching story on how God answered his prayer in this video:

Experience Intimacy With God by Pastor Joby Soriano, February 12, 2012

Perfect Imperfection

2012-02-15T07:22:00.001-08:00

I always admire people who do things perfectly -- the singer who hits the right notes in a song, the gymnast who executes a daring aerial maneuver, the leader delivering an effective motivational speech to move thousands of followers to action, the chef who cooks up a gastronomic delight, etc. -- things that no ordinary mortal can do.

What many people do not know is that their path to perfection was replete with mistakes and mostly learning how *not* to do things so that they can see and learn to tread the narrow path to perfection. Even Thomas Edison, the great inventor, learned how not to do a light bulb 10,000 times before he finally perfected his design.

As for me, I know I'm not perfect and having a few mistakes here and there is just normal. The time I see myself not making any mistakes at all is a cause for worry. This means I'm not productive enough, I'm not risking enough, I'm not learning enough, and I'm not living life to the fullest.

Being the personality that I am, I would rather accomplish 100 things with one miss than play it safe and accomplish only 10 things with zero misses. This workhorse attitude puts me at risk of making more mistakes than the average person, simply because I also accomplish more. Sadly, there are people in this world who take pleasure in pointing out people's mistakes (as if it makes them any better than the rest), taking every opportunity to bash a person and remind them of their past mistakes. I always wish these types of people would disappear forever from the face of this earth whenever they do their thing on me. It makes no sense for me to go down to their level to fight back so I just ignore them and move on.

Interestingly though, now that I have thought about it, I too am guilty of this people-bashing every time I check on my eldest daughter’s school work (she’s 4 years old and in nursery right now). I point out and focus on her 1 mistake out of 50 items instead of congratulating her for doing 98% correct. I know it helps to point out her error so that she'll know and learn, but the primary focus should be reinforcing her strong belief in herself that she did very well in school, that she can do better with a little more effort, and that she knows I believe in her.

My teachers, bosses, and even business mentors were not able to drill this down into me successfully despite their efforts -- to focus on the positive side of things (I was really stubborn to their wisdom-sharing). But in one fell swoop, a small child instantly taught me that very important lesson complete with a practical example to permanently nail it down in my head.

Looking beyond the negative and focusing only on what is good... That's actually the "biblical way" to tackle these types of situations:

"Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things." (Philippians 4:8)

Indeed, perfection is good.

But imperfection... and seeing beyond that imperfection... is absolutely better.

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Trivia: Navajo rug makers always include a small imperfection in their rug called a “spirit string” to allow the “spirit” that they have put into the work to escape and because only God is perfect. If it ain’t imperfect, it ain’t perfect.

~florent flora

The Greatest

2012-02-13T12:19:00.001-08:00

Image source: Wikipedia

“And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is LOVE.” (1 Corinthians 13:13)

Happy Hearts day to Everyone!

~florent flora

Perpetual Motion

2012-02-10T10:28:00.001-08:00

Here’s one cool optical illusion that is sure to drive you nuts… the gears seem to be moving and they won’t stop!

Sorry for the headache :-)

~florent flora

Two Become One

2012-02-06T10:39:00.000-08:00

Finally, I’ve successfully mirrored my Posterous blog to my Wordpress blog using Wordpress’ “import” feature. My blog now exists in two different sites.

I’ve also configured Posterous to autopost to Wordpress so all posts to my Posterous blog will get posted automatically to my Wordpress blog. Posterous will still be my publishing platform of choice due to its nifty email feature (not that Wordpress does not have this feature, but I find Posterous to be more user friendly and I can also selectively post to Posterous only, or include autoposting to Wordpress, Twitter, and even Facebook. How’s that for “nifty”?)

The Wordpress theme also needs some major tweaking, but I’d leave it as is for now until I find time to tweak it to my liking.

~florent flora

The CIO Challenge: Why 2012 is decision time for CIOs

2012-02-02T11:53:00.000-08:00

Image source: Wikipedia

This is an extract from TechRepublic’s CIO Insights blog:

…More than any other senior exec, CIOs are facing huge amounts of change to their jobs this year, making 2012 a time of big decisions for smart CIOs. A few reasons why:

Consumerisation and the bring-your-own-device culture mean everyone in the workplace considers themselves to be an IT expert, challenging the CIO’s ability to control the equipment used to access corporate systems.

The rise of cloud computing means that the days of lazily presiding over an empire of servers are numbered, with the result that CIOs have less physical control over their core infrastructure than ever before.

IT budgets remain flat - if you’re lucky- but at the same time CEOs are demanding that CIOs prove their claim that IT can drive more profitable businesses.

This is especially relevant for me in my “upgraded” role in my company as I help the CTO support our company in achieving its goals and targets. The pressure is on everyone, but it’s a good pressure that will certainly bring out the best in every person.

Full text can be found here: Why 2012 is decision time for CIOs

~florent flora

My Inspiration and Motivation

2012-01-26T13:46:00.000-08:00

I got this from facebook...

"You Say... God Says..."

And when you say "I can't believe it!", God says "Be still, and know that I am God" (Psalm 46:10).

~florent flora

I Support Free Knowledge

2012-01-18T05:46:00.000-08:00

The English site of one of my favorite websites, Wikipedia, went black today to raise awareness to, and to protest against new legislations being considered by the US Congress that could fatally damage the free and open Internet as we know it today.

These new legislations are known as the “Stop Online Piracy Act” (SOPA) and the “PROTECT IP Act” (PIPA). Both bills are advertised as helping to combat online piracy and protect internet users. The actual content contained within the two bills however, is rather frightening, as they could be used to build a framework for future restrictions and suppression.

The full version can be daunting to read but there is an unabridged version written by Mashable.com that serves as a good translation.

Learn about these bills from Wikipedia itself: SOPA and PIPA

~florent flora

I Am Being Watched

2012-01-16T23:57:00.000-08:00

I got this from my wife via Facebook. Thank you very much!!! I am truly blessed to have you.

This is a perfect companion to a few verses from the Bible:

"The LORD watches over you — the LORD is your shade at your right hand; the sun will not harm you by day, nor the moon by night.

The LORD will keep you from all harm — he will watch over your life; the LORD will watch over your coming and going both now and forevermore" (Psalm 121 :5-8)

~florent flora

Birds are NOT Mammals

2012-01-10T04:31:00.000-08:00

I (re-)learned this in Bettina’s nursery school today… Birds are NOT mammals.

Mammals have mammary glands, hence the word “mammal”. Birds do not bear live young like mammals, they lay eggs. They do not produce milk to feed their young. They do not have hair, they have feathers. They metabolize nutrients differently, they have a different digestive tract, and they have lighter bones.

Birds belong to the class Aves. They are warm blooded like mammals though.

Oh well, I thought I was confident in my answer that birds are mammals.

It only takes a nursery kid to point out my mistake.

~florent flora

Nasamid = May Nakaalala

2012-01-09T12:41:00.000-08:00

There's this old Filipino saying that a person almost chokes if someone remembers them, i.e. "nasamid ako, may nakaalala siguro sa akin." ("I almost choked, someone must have remembered me").

Well, today, someone remembered me BIG time -- While I'm sitting in front of my laptop -- While I'm sipping coffee.

Then poof!!!

Brown liquid mayhem.

Good thing the keyboard's spill proof.

~florent flora

Balcony Tickets

2012-01-04T12:29:00.000-08:00

This new year event had me enjoying one of the best views I've had of any new year fireworks show ever. My family and I had the good fortune to book a room at the Makati Shangri-la Hotel for this new year's countdown to 2012.

The last few seconds of 2011 had me videotaping the entire event happening in Ayala Avenue while the wife and kids cheerfully anticipated the fireworks show. The fireworks show came with its usual booms and bangs but the kids weren't scared because the glass panes of the windows muffled the sounds outside, and so we enjoyed the exhilirating view right from the comfort of our 16th floor room.

The Dawn's rendition of "Absolute Reality" and a slew of 80's hit songs prior to the countdown was the icing on the cake for me.

I've got to do this again next year!

~florent flora

A huge crowd turned up to greet the new year

See the full gallery on Posterous

Curious eyes looking at the crowd below

Cameras galore shooting the fireworks show

The morning haze (that's not fog!)

Our two special guests resting

Happy New Year!!!

Here's the video of the countdown and the fireworks show...

[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X9DZQgh05iw?wmode=transparent]

Happy New Year!!!

2012-01-02T12:13:00.000-08:00

May the memories of 2011 bring us closer to Jesus and bring clarity to all of us as to how we should be investing our time, treasure and talents this 2012 on what would last for eternity (2 Corinthians 4:18).

Whatever we are trusting the Lord in 2012, may it be our heart's desire to be pleasing to the Lord always (2 Corinthians 5:9).

May everyone experience a Christ-centered year this 2012!

~florent flora

Archive Mode: ON

2011-12-28T13:09:00.000-08:00

Data backup and recovery is essential. Failure to backup puts data at risk of loss. Users often only learn this lesson after critical information they require is permanently lost. Attempting to recover from such data loss can be both time consuming and extremely difficult.

Having accummulated almost 1TB worth of digital data (all my files, images, videos, software code, etc.) over the past 12 years, it only made sense for me to backup all these data and store the backup somewhere safe and secure. A corrupted hard drive, heaven forbid, may send these 12 years worth of hard work, including family mementos, pictures and videos down a black hole and I will ultimately get a severe and painful beating from my wife ;-)

The first backup I made was in December last year. After testing a few GUI-based tools and seeing these give up the ghost and hang up on me, I settled for the simplicity and power of RSYNC.

From a terminal interface, a simple command such as:

rsync -avz /src/bar/ /dest/bar/

will recursively transfer all files from the directory /src/bar/ into the /dest/bar/ directory on the local machine. The files are transferred in “archive” mode, ensuring that symbolic links, devices, attributes, permissions, ownerships, etc. are preserved in the transfer.

Last year, my first full backup took about 24 hours to complete. This year, the incremental backup (copying only my new and modified files) took only 6 hours to complete. All that data was backed up into an external hard drive and this external hard drive is now stored in a safe location, for extra protection and security.

My data is safe... my marriage is safe... and RSYNC is the only tool that could do it.

~florent flora