Manila crime rate

November 20, 2006

Zero crime rate in Metro Manila when Pacquiao fights 

Manny's speed was unbelievable. Look at what dedication and controlled passion can do. The fight was a demolition job:

 “I must win,” stated Pacquiao  “Our fight is bigger than the two of us because we carry more into the ring than most other fighters.  We carry the heart and soul of our people, and the pride and honor of our nations.  The pressure on us is enormous which is why I will be on the attack the second I hear the bell for round one.  But there can only be one winner and that winner must be me and it will be me.”

Photo courtesy of Chris Farina of braggingrightscorner.com

And boy, was trainer Roach right…his calculated statement 8 days prior to the Las Vegas fight:

“Velocity, Velocity. Velocity.  That’s all I hear when Morales and his team talk,” said Roach.  “All I know is this, Velocity cannot go in the ring with Morales when he faces Manny on November 18.  Erik is an old school fighter.  What could Velocity possibly teach him that he didn’t already know?” There are only two questions in this fight.  ‘Does Morales have one more fight left in him?  and What’s he got left?’  I know he has guts and I know he is going to go all out.  I just don’t think that will be enough to keep Manny off of him.  Manny is now a true 130-pounder.  Manny is still developing…evolving…and improving.  As dominant as he was in the second fight, he will be twice as dangerous this fight.  Morales has no idea what’s in store for him next week. Manny Pacquiao is boxing’s new No.1 pound-for-pound fighter.”

What a way to unite a troubled nation!

Plugs and wires: thing of the past

November 15, 2006

Plugs and wires could soon become a thing of the past 

Can you imagine? No more spaghetti wires! Question now is if this new promise has health effects to humans.

Physics promises wireless power.

US researchers have outlined a relatively simple system that could deliver power to devices such as laptop computers or MP3 players wirelessly.

The concept exploits century-old physics and could work over distances of many metres, the researchers said. 

Although the team had not built and tested a system, computer models and mathematics suggest it would work.

"There are so many autonomous devices such as cell phones and laptops that have emerged in the last few years," said Assistant Professor Marin Soljacic from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and one of the researchers behind the work.

   "We started thinking, 'it would be really convenient if you didn't have to recharge these things'.

"And because we're physicists we asked, 'what kind of physical phenomenon can we use to do this wireless energy transfer?'."

Energy trap

The answer the team came up with was "resonance", a phenomenon that causes an object to vibrate when energy of a certain frequency is applied.

 
"When you have two resonant objects of the same frequency they tend to couple very strongly," Professor Soljacic told the BBC News website.

Resonance can be seen in musical instruments for example.

"When you play a tune on one, then another instrument with the same acoustic resonance will pick up that tune, it will visibly vibrate," he said.

Instead of using acoustic vibrations, the team's system exploits the resonance of electromagnetic waves. Electromagnetic radiation includes radio waves, infrared and x-rays.

Typically, systems that use electromagnetic radiation, such as radio antennas, are not suitable for the efficient transfer of energy because they scatter energy in all directions, wasting large amounts of it into free space.

To overcome this problem, the team investigated a special class of "non-radiative" objects with so-called "long-lived resonances".

When energy is applied to these objects it remains bound to them, rather than escaping to space. "Tails" of energy, which can be many metres long, flicker over the surface.

"If you bring another resonant object with the same frequency close enough to these tails then it turns out that the energy can tunnel from one object to another," said Professor Soljacic.

Hence, a simple copper antenna designed to have long-lived resonance could transfer energy to a laptop with its own antenna resonating at the same frequency. The computer would be truly wireless.

Any energy not diverted into a gadget or appliance is simply reabsorbed.

The systems that the team have described would be able to transfer energy over three to five metres.

"This would work in a room let's say but you could adapt it to work in a factory," he said.

"You could also scale it down to the microscopic or nanoscopic world."

Old technology

The team from MIT is not the first group to suggest wireless energy transfer.

Nineteenth-century physicist and engineer Nikola Tesla experimented with long-range wireless energy transfer, but his most ambitious attempt - the 29m high aerial known as Wardenclyffe Tower, in New York - failed when he ran out of money.

 

Others have worked on highly directional mechanisms of energy transfer such as lasers.

However, these require an uninterrupted line of sight, and are therefore not good for powering objects around the home.

A UK company called Splashpower has also designed wireless recharging pads onto which gadget lovers can directly place their phones and MP3 players to recharge them.

The pads use electromagnetic induction to charge devices, the same process used to charge electric toothbrushes.

One of the co-founders of Splashpower, James Hay, said the MIT work was "clearly at an early stage" but "interesting for the future"

"Consumers desire a simple universal solution that frees them from the hassles of plug-in chargers and adaptors," he said.

"Wireless power technology has the potential to deliver on all of these needs."

However, Mr Hay said that transferring the power was only part of the solution.

"There are a number of other aspects that need to be addressed to ensure efficient conversion of power to a form useful to input to devices."

Professor Soljacic will present the work at the American Institute of Physics Industrial Physics Forum in San Francisco on 14 November.

The work was done in collaboration with his colleagues Aristeidis Karalis and John Joannopoulos.

Thanks to Jonathan Fildes, a Science and technology reporter of BBC News

Article for the day

November 10, 2006

Flickr spawns online Filipino communities
By Erwin Oliva
INQ7.net
Last updated 10:50pm (Mla time) 11/09/2006

MEET Stitch, Jolengs, Akumach, Dirth, Bingbing, and Dboy. No, they're not hackers. They're part of a growing online community of "Flickr addicts."

Flickr is now a popular online photo hosting service cum social networking service. It allows people from anywhere in the world to share photos and eventually connect with individuals who share their interests, not necessarily about photography.

Two years ago, some Filipino digital photography hobbyists decided to create the Flickr Philippines group, which has grown to 1,000 registered members, according to Jimmy Hilario, founding member who is known as "Stitch."

Hilario said that for two years, the group, composed mainly of hobbyists, has been meeting regularly to exchange photography notes, organizing road trips, and conducting photo exhibits for its members. Next year, it will hold its second month-long exhibit in a mall in Greenhills in San Juan, Metro Manila.

Their members are not only residents of the Philippines. They have Filipino members in Vietnam, Thailand, and Japan, he added.

The group was started by a Filipino called "Konsumisyon" who is based in the United States.

"When I set this group up some months ago I was envisioning photos of the Philippines and its culture as a subject. And as I look at the photo pool, I am happy with the variety of subjects ranging from the light-hearted, to the nostalgic, to the serious. They all tell of the Filipino experience," Konsumisyon added in a posting on the group's message board in February 2005.

Indeed, Hilario said Flickr helps them share and learn from others about photography.

"It is a photo sharing website, where you can also share techniques," he added.

In fact, one of their members, known as Farl, has consistently been rated as one of the top contributors in Flickr worldwide, journalist and Flickr Philippines member Bing Ramos intimated.

Another member, Stan, was commissioned for his photos on Philippine Catholic churches, Ramos added.

Flickr Philippines group is not the only Philippine-based group created in Flickr. There are more than 1,000 groups about the Philippines, according to a quick search on the online photo sharing website. The top-ranking are Flickr Philippines, Likas Pilipinas, "Only in the Philippines!," WoW Philippines, Philippines Pearl of the Orient, Philippines Images, Philippines Flickr Meet, among others.

Hilario added there are more sub-groups within these major Flickr groups. He is a member of a subgroup called LomoManila, which is composed of Filipino hobbyists going back to film photography and using an old camera produced by Austrian company Lomographische AG.

In the age of digital photography, some people are going back to the basics, using film as their medium. Still, they use Flickr to share products of their creativity and passion, he added.

"Flickr allows Filipinos abroad to keep their sanity," Third Gonzales or "Dirthman" said. Dirthman who works for an advertising agency declares he's an example of hobbyists who really do not know much about the technical aspects of photography. Yet, he loves to share his photographs online.

Flickr Philippines group has over 25,000 photo contributions from its members. These photos represent varying interests covering fashion photography, nature, landscapes, city life, women, food, people and animals, among others.

The group has an 11-year-old member, but the oldest members are in their forties, added Hilario. Members are usually in their 20s or 30s.

"This goes to show that the online community in the Philippines is strong. But since not everyone in the country knows the Web or Flickr, we're going to hold an exhibit to allow us to share our photographs to other people," he said.

Ludicorp, Canada-based company developed Flickr in 2002. It was launched in February 2004. The online photo sharing service was an offshoot of tools originally developed by Ludicorp's Game Neverending, a web-based massively multiplayer online game. Game Neverending was eventually shelved. In March 2005, Yahoo! acquired Flickr.