One particular event did not have a very convincing explanation for me. This was the explanation for the parting of the Red Sea. One of the scientists tried to explain it by blowing wind atop a body of water. Under the water there would be a submerged land bridge. The theory is that if you have a strong enough wind, it would push the water just enough to reveal the bridge, thereby “parting” the Red Sea. The theory pretty much matches the description found in the Bible (Exodus 14:21). The problem with the theory is that in their experiments they needed sustained winds with speeds of up to 100 mph. The main question I have with this theory is, would it really be possible for all these people to walk with a 100 mph crosswind without getting themselves blown away? What about the children and the animals? It’s a shame that they went as far as testing the theory using airboats but they did not try to see if it would be possible to walk without getting blown off your feet.

Another thing that bothers me is that the proposed location of the crossing. They place the event at the waters near Aqaba, instead of near Suez:

View Larger Map

If we look at the biblical text:

And Moses stretched out his hand over the sea; and the LORD caused the sea to go back by a strong east wind all that night, and made the sea dry land, and the waters were divided.

The Israelites would be coming from the west side of the water and they would be walking against 100mph winds. And this is what it looks like when you walk against 90mph winds:

It would very well be possible that it would not be that difficult walking against the wind if they were walking in a single column. The could have put in stronger, larger people ahead who would take much of the brunt of the wind. The children and the elderly would follow at the end of the column. It would have been a very, very slow and difficult walk across though. Not to mention Pharaoh’s entire army bearing down behind them in chariots. I think I find the “Reed Sea” explanation from another show much more plausible.

Note: Based on the map above, you might think that they should not have even bothered crossing the waters near Aqaba since modern-day Israel is only a few kilometers away from where they were. They needed to cross the waters because Moses was taking them to Mount Sinai as God had instructed. [SPOILER] The scientists in the show place Mount Sinai in Saudi Arabia instead of it’s current and traditional location.

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Right, so I already paid $0.99 to download the DRM-protected, 128Kbps format. If I want to “upgrade” to the DRM-free, 256Kbps format, they want me to pay them another $0.30. WTF?!? So they doubled the bit rate and removed the DRM. That’s just great. 99% of their customers (myself included) will not be able to tell the difference between 128Kbps and 256Kbps bit rates, but that must make that 1% really happy.

See, now this is why people “pirate” all your shit. You want us to pay for one copy in one format and you want us to pay for another copy of the same thing in another format. But ooohhh! It’s 256Kbps and look at the slick GUI! I’m probably going to pay to get my albums “upgraded” anyway so why the hell am I whining? See you all on “the bay”.

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I think I now understand the wisdom in Disney’s 64 episode limit. Most Disney series will end within 64 episodes or less. A few will get dragged on for 100 or more episodes but it’s rare to see a Disney show drag on for more than 3 seasons.

It goes on and on and on and on…

A great story deserves a great finish. Unfortunately, some TV network executives feel that a great story deserves to be dragged on and milked for every penny it’s worth.

24

This show had a fresh premise. Each episode is essentially “a day in the life of Jack Bauer”. What was supposed to be just a one day affair has dragged on for a “week”. I started to get bored with this show about 3 “hours” into “day 2″. Frankly I’m surprised they have been able to drag it out this long.

Lost

Survivors of a plane crash end up on a tropical island. Soon afterwards, a lot of bad and mysterious things happen to the survivors. The island itself is surrounded by mystery. There are “bunkers” all over the place. There were these “others” who sneaked into the survivors’ camp to abduct them. There was a mysterious black smoke. Season 1 was pretty good in that it introduced a lot of the characters (and killed off some characters) and it ended with a cliff-hanger that pretty much made me want to watch the next season. Season 2 was awesome and it answered a lot of questions opened up in the first season, more characters introduced (and killed) and also opened even more questions. In season 3 we start to learn a bit more about the Hanso Foundation and the DHARMA Initiative. We also learn more about the “others”. In the middle of season 3 I started to notice that this is going to drag on and milked for everything it’s worth. WGA strike was the last straw and I quit following the series which continues to drag on with season 5.

CSI: Crime Scene Investigation

I have to admit, this show got me hooked first time around. I even found the ridiculously cheesy AFIS and other “computer” displays forgivable. Not to mention the insanely fast DNA analysis machines. It was fun to watch at first but eventually it gets tired and you can’t seem to shake the “cookie-cutter” feel out of the episodes. This show became a three-headed hydra because it not only dragged on for nine seasons, it also spawned two offshoots: “CSI: Miami” and “CSI: NY”. Personally I like “CSI: NY” because of its grittier, realistic scenarios and because “Mac” is just a total bad-ass.

The X-Files

Now this is one series that I really wish could have dragged on forever. And with the recent X-Files film, it looks like my wish could come true. Initially I got tired of watching it after I saw the first X-Files movie but I kept watching it anyway just because I really wanted to see what that “Black Oil” was all about. Not to mention Scully seemed to get hotter in every episode. I eventually stopped watching after they introduced Doggett and Reyes.

They could have been contenders…

While good shows suffer from franchise fatigue there are some that never make it past the first two seasons. Low ratings and high production costs are just two of the most common reasons that good shows get canceled.

Invasion

This is what “Invasion of the Body Snatchers” would have been if it was made into a TV series. The show had promise and it should have ended after two seasons. Unfortunately it was shut down after just one season.

Dresden Files

Loosely based on the series of novels by Jim Butcher, the series was centered on the exploits of the wizard Harry Dresden. It was a pretty good show and had plenty of dark humor, decent special effects, a good storyline and reasonably good acting. The show was canceled after only one season. At least the last episode of the first season had a pretty good ending.

Dark Angel

This show was only as good as its main character which was played by Jessica Alba. It had a decent storyline and it ran for two seasons before ending up in the canceled TV Show graveyard.

Hopefully, “The Middleman” will not join this list.

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It was about 16 years ago when I went to Boracay for the very first time. Back then, it was still the “tropical paradise” as most of us would have pictured it. A simple bamboo and nipa hut for accommodations. No running water, we got water from a nearby well which we had to boil because it had a bit of salt in it. No fricken jetskis or watersports or scuba diving. No bars. No hotels. It was “tropical paradise” in the truest sense.

Fast forward to 8 years ago. Boracay was just emerging as the “go to” place in the Philippines and was even touted by some as “the best beach in the world”. Back then, they had a system of “boat stations” and you can tell the ferryman where you wanted to disembark. You had 3 stations to choose from. Contrast that to today where they have a single port of entry into the island and you now have to take a minicab or a tricycle to get to the stations. This is perhaps the best thing that has happened to this island. In the days when you had the choice of getting off at the station you wanted, there was a significant case of algal bloom on the beach. I don’t know if they had it figured out back then but pollution is one of the causes of algal bloom. Spilling petrol or engine oil in sea water, in addition to pollution coming from the steadily increasing population all combined to provide a nutrient rich environment for algae to quickly multiply. In the morning the beaches would be stained green with algae and they had people with improvised rakes scraping them off the beach. Today, there is not a hint of green. They have tightened up on environmental pollution controls and more importantly, having a centralized port has kept pollution from ferry boats in check.

On the way to station 2, we passed through a concrete paved road that cuts through the whole island and snakes its way around what used to be hilly areas. I was a bit disappointed because in my opinion the developed areas are way too developed. The little island has lost its charm. Along the way I saw new developments under construction. “E-mall” is currently being developed. When you’re in the city, you can never have too many malls. But when you’re on a tropical island looking to “get away from it all”, one mall is one mall too many! You can pretty much find everything you want/need in “D-mall”. If you’re bargain hunting, there’s the old “talipapa” for you. I really do not understand the need for another mall on this little island.

Ranting is over, I did have fun although I really had to fight the urge to go to an Internet cafe and just “check my email”. I went to this place to disconnect from everything, even if it is only for a couple of days. Again, if you are looking for that tropical island experience you will not find it in Boracay anymore. As it stands now, you come to Boracay to just “sort of get away from it all without really getting away from it all”. You can pretty much find everything that you want if you really need to. There are places with high speed Internet access. You can play some golf. You can eat popular cuisine from almost any nation on Earth. So there’s really no point in getting away from it all if it’s all right there staring you in the face.

I didn’t go there just to go to the beach. I also went there to EAT. Here are some places we’ve tried:

1. Big Mama’s – small place by the beach near station 1 serving hot pot bulalo (the house specialty) and other Filipino cuisine. You will want to try their other stuff as well, such as their sizzling sisig. Cheap and tasty, always a winner.

2. Chopstick Noodle House – find it in D-mall. For gut-burning noodles and soup from pretty much every nation that serves gut-burning noodles and soup. This place also has high speed wireless Internet access if you’re looking to connect without shelling out big bucks.

3. Backyard BBQ – also found in D-mall. You can’t miss it, it’s the little place with the funny signs all over the walls. Pretty good barbecue. I have to say probably the best barbecue joint I have tried on the island. All the other barbecue places serve barbecue that taste exactly the same. I wonder why… It’s probably because they soak the meat in vats of this stuff and then use more of the same to for basting?

4. Cindy’s – also in D-mall. Cheap, excellent grilled pink salmon. Bring your appetite if you order the spare ribs.

Overall we had a pretty good stay. We found good, cheap accommodations at station 2 in one of the bungalows at the beach front. It had cable TV, a small fridge, hot shower, and of course air conditioning. This is because it’s off-season during the months of October and November so most of the hotels and villas will be rented out at lower than usual prices.

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Too bad for Gen. Eliseo de Lapaz that he got caught and now he is stuck playing a game of political hot potato with his bosses. Be a man Gen. de Lapaz, you’re going down anyway so just take those shitheads down with you!

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Full AP Report.

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The home page is simple, like Google’s so it should present a familiar UI to everyone who has ever used Google.

Cuil Home Page, like Google only darker.

The difference is when you send your query. Cuil presents search results in a different layout from what we are used to.

Search Results for ADHD

As you can see, the way the search results are presented can be a bit overbearing at first. That’s 3 fricken columns of information right there! You even have the option to expand it to 4. I’m trying it out by setting it as my default search engine on Firefox for the next few days.

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Google Code has a behind the scenes look at the technology and techniques used in making this video.

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It is quite fortunate that the storm picked up and reached its peak during the day time. This is what minimized casualties even in the hardest hit areas such as Kalibo and Iloilo. Had this storm peaked during night time, then it could have been much, much worse. What drove the death toll up was the sinking of the shipping vessel “Princess of the Stars” as well as the sinking of several small fishing vessels.

None the worse for wear and I have a lot to be thankful for. We had just finished fixing up the house a month ago. The renovations made were what kept our roof from blowing off in the strong winds that buffeted our house for more than 12 hours. Much of the damage was inside the house though.

My home office was flooded because of a leak in my roof. The dumbass carpenter did not correctly seal the roof flashings to the firewall using waterproof cement. As a result, water seeped through and started to leak downstairs to where my office was.

Outside, things were a lot worse. The old mango tree on my street corner, which has stood there for more than 30 years, was blown over. My neighbor’s house had almost all of his roofing material blown off. The abandoned house 2 lots down my house, its roof was ripped as if it was made of paper. Even the nearby termite mound was not spared. I could have taken more pictures but the camera ran out of batteries.

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