In 2001, vice-president Gloria Macapagal Arroyo was installed as new chief executive when then-president Joseph Estrada was deposed for allegations of corruption. As a souvenir, we filipinos got his mugshot:

Ten years later, ex-president Gloria Arroyo is being brought to justice for allegations of corruption and electoral fraud (at least Estrada won the election fair and square). As a souvenir, we filipinos also got to see her mugshot: 

I wonder if, ten years from now, that our current president, Benigno Aquino III, will also grace the cover of tabloids with his own mugshot. Time will tell.

Apparently, you can buy a Catholic bishop's loyalty with an SUV:

Bishop's SUV a birthday gift from then-President Arroyo

Butuan Bishop Juan de Dios Pueblos received an SUV from the Philippine Charity Sweepstakes Office (PCSO) after he wrote then-President Gloria Macapagal-Arrroyo requesting a vehicle for his 66th birthday two years ago. The request was among the revelations during Wednesday's Senate hearing on the PCSO.

"I really need a brand-new car, possibly a 4x4 which I can use to reach the far-flung areas of Caraga (region)," Pueblos wrote in his February 8, 2009 letter to Arroyo. "I hope you will not fail to give a brand-new car which will serve as your birthday gift to me."

In the same letter, Pueblos assured Arroyo of his "constant support" for the former president, who is now a congressional representative for Pampanga.

Bishop Pueblos would later defend ex-president Arroyo from her political detractors. At least she got her money's worth.

And he wasn't the only Catholic bishop who was given money and SUVs:

PCSO identifies bishops who supposedly received Pajeros, cash

The recipients of the illegal donations for the purchase of 4×4 vehicles were identified as the Diocese of Butuan (P1.704 million released on July 9, 2009); Zamboanga Archdiocesan Social Action Apostolate (P1.54 million released on July 9, 2009); Archdiocese of Cotabato  (P1.44 million (released on February 24, 2009); Diocese of Bangued, Abra ( P1.129 million released on January 16, 2009); Roman Catholic Prelate of Isabela, Basilan (P1.125 million released on July 2, 2009); and Apostolic Vicariate of Bontoc (P600,000 released on April 30, 2007). A  seventh recipient, Caritas Nueva Segovia, which covers  Ilocos Sur province, received P720,000 on March 17, 2010 under the general term  “financial assistance.’’

And I thought our constitution established a wall of separation between Church and State. How silly of me. 

Five years ago I was rooting against the Dallas Mavericks in the 2006 NBA finals versus the Miami Heat. Now I revel in seeing them win their first NBA title against the Heat again.

I remember the 2006 Mavs. They were brash and arrogant and their owner Mark Cuban played the villain for the media. And after taking a 2-0 lead in the finals series, Cuban was already planning their victory parade in Dallas. They lost the next four games and the series.

Now the tides have turned. In 2011, the Mavs are now a struggling team, nobody thought they could go far into the post season. Thankfully, Mark Cuban stayed out of the spotlight and the Mavs became the unlikely favored underdogs to the all-star Miami Heat team. In other words, the Mavs became the team Miami was in 2006. And Miami became the brash, entitled brats that everyone loved to hate. Especially after their high profile acquisition of LeBron James, who turned his back against his old team the Cleveland Cavaliers.

Cheers Mark Cuban! I may not like your style, but I am happy for your team. Go Mavs!

After nearly a decade, I'm finally going to use Firefox, and like it! I first used Firefox when it was still Mozilla Phoenix (v. 0.5). It was fast and responsive and bloat-free. Unfortunately, I was already using Opera 5 at the time and Opera has always (and still does) beaten Fx from a speed perspective. I've tried using Fx from version 1.0 to 3.6 but I inevitably always end up going back to Opera, and later Google Chrome.

That is, until I tried version 4. It's still a wee bit slow to launch, but once it does, it's a fast and capable browser that can almost keep up with Opera and Chrome. Plus, since Fx is the 2nd most popular browser in Windows, there is almost no website that doesn't support it. I've only been using it for a week but I am impressed with what I'm seeing. Firefox 5 is just around the corner, and 6 has just started.This abbreviated development schedule can only help the project keep up with Chrome's innovations.

At last, I can use Fx without guilt!

Or maybe the Rapture didn't happen. Harold Camping has a lot to answer for! Just read what the holy scriptures has to say against false prophets:

Deu 18:20 But a prophet who presumes to speak in my name anything I have not commanded, or a prophet who speaks in the name of other gods, is to be put to death.

Deu 18:21 You may say to yourselves, "How can we know when a message has not been spoken by the LORD?"

Deu 18:22 If what a prophet proclaims in the name of the LORD does not take place or come true, that is a message the LORD has not spoken. That prophet has spoken presumptuously. No one should be alarmed.

I've just bought a netbook last week, the HP Pavilion dm1. Before buying any new PC, I always research them on the internet, and I narrowed down the contenders to either the dm1 or Lenovo's ThinkPad EDGE 11 ULV. In the end, the price difference of PHP 7K (USD 160) is what sold me to HP's netbook.

Performance-wise, the AMD E-350 processor is better than any Intel Atom netbook I've ever used, but it's noticeably weaker than most Intel ULV chips. I haven't played any demanding games so I can't vouch for the E-350's integrated graphics processor. It does feel snappy running real programs, though. Since I got the Southeast Asian model of the dm1, I had to settle with Windows 7 Hom Basic (64-bit), which is functional but not pretty. There's a bundled ad-supported version of MS Office (Starter 2010), which I can probably live it. There's also a quick launching Linux-based OS called splashtop but I got rid of it.

All these are to be expected since I read several online reviews. But not one of them told me that the function keys (F2, F3,... F12) can only be used by pressing FN+F(key). As someone who uses an orthodox file manager (Altap Salamander), this odd behavior is very annoying. It's enough to give me buyer's remorse.