Archive Mode: ON

      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

Did You Know (Or Didn't you Know)?

Browsing through the old photos in my Blackberry, I came upon these interesting tidbits of information.

The photo was taken in Manila Ocean Park when we visited it in March of this year.

Did You Know (Or Didn't you Know)?

• 
  
  A crocodile can’t stick its tongue out.
  
  


• 
  
  Humans and dolphins are the only species that have sex for pleasure.
  
  


• 
  
  The catfish has over 27,000 taste buds (while the average human tongue has 2,000-8,000 taste buds).
  
  


• 
  
  A person who studies fish is called an Ichthyologist.
  
  


• 
  
  Fish that live more than 800 meters below the ocean surface don’t have eyes.
  
  


• 
  
  Sharks never get sick; they are immune to all known diseases. (Actually, they are immune to almost every known disease).
  
  


• 
  
  Did you know pearls are found in oysters? The largest pearl ever found was 620 carats! (the Pearl of Lao Tzu, discovered in the Philippines).
  
  


• 
  
  The swordtail is the fastest swimmer of all fish.
  
  


• 
  
  The giant squid has the largest eyes in the world.
  
  


• 
  
  The heart of a blue whale is as big as a car, its tongue is as long as an elephant.
  
  


• 
  
  The blue whale is the largest animal on earth.
  
  

~florent flora

 

The True Christmas Spirit

     The Christmas season always comes with its requisite pomp and pageantry, with homes, offices, parks and roadways being decorated with so many lights and decorations (especially in the Philippines).  Our home is no exception to this and I credit my wife for how wonderful our home looks and feels every Christmas season.

     Here are some pictures I've taken around our house:

Santa Claus in snow

Santa Claus on the roof

Christmas balls

Christmas stockings

Red poinsettia leaves

Christmas ball... and self portrait

The Holy Family

My family

     Christmas decors notwithstanding, we should always remember the true meaning of Christmas.  It's not about all the decors, nor the gifts, Santa Claus, blinking lights, decorated trees, gifts, and what not.

     One cold night about 2,000 years ago, a child was born in a manger, wrapped in swaddling clothes, welcomed by shepherds and angels, and worshipped by kings.  Jesus Christ joined us in our world on that fateful night, a demonstration of God's infinite love and a promise of Salvation for all of us.

     Christmas is a celebration of a promise fulfilled.  Glory to the newborn King!!!

 

"For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given, and the government shall be upon his shoulder, and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counsellor, The mighty God, The everlasting father, The Prince of Peace." -- Isaiah 9:6

~florent flora

Blue Eye, Green Eye

See the full gallery on Posterous

Blue eye, green Eye... This cat loves to laze around in our compound due to our cool shade.

Different colored eyes or heterochromia are pretty rare in people although it is more common in some animals. For example, dogs like Siberian Huskies and cats and horses often have different colored eyes because of inbreeding.

TRIVIA: Did you know that some famous people like David Bowie, Christopher Walken and Kiefer Sutherland also have heterochromia?

God's Assurance

Naked Eyes

I've essentially enjoyed having "Naked Eyes" for two years and counting.  

Thanks to Dr. Richard Nepomuceno who performed PRK Laser Surgery on my eyes last Dec. 4, 2009, my life is no longer constrained by prescription glasses and contact lenses.  Vision is (still) perfect at 20/20!

Prepping for the laser surgery

Laser beam blasting my eyes

Under the knife edge

Success!!!

Some of the things I enjoy doing now...

~florent flora

 

A View from Up There

        Forget the cramped hotels in Kowloon area when planning your next trip to Hong Kong. For affordable five star-like accommodation with breathtaking views, go on to L'hotel Nina et Convention Centre Hong Kong in Tsuen Wan, New Territories, Hong Kong.

        Nina Towers is a twin tower of 80-storey and 42-storey high-rise buildings. The original design of the tower back in 2005 was just called Nina Tower and was supposed to be the tallest tower in the world at 518 meters. However, due to its location near Chek Lap Kok Airport, the height was restricted to the current 319 meters. As such, Nina Towers is the sixth tallest building in Hong Kong and the 49th tallest in the world as of November 2011 (as per Wikipedia). At 80 stories, it is also the third in the list of Hong Kong buildings with the most floors.

        Our online booking to the hotel was quick and easy via AsiaWebdirect and checking-in was a breeze if you forgive the front desk officers for their passable english. We got a free upgrade to an executive room at the 80th floor (YES, that's EIGHTY stories up there!). The express elevators were über quick and took less than one minute to rush up to the 80th floor, much faster than the MRT elevators back home which take forever to go up or down one floor.

        The view from the 80th floor room was splendidly breathtaking, even acrophobics would be pleasantly surprised. The two queen-sized beds were firm, the executive desk was big enough, room lighting was bright, air conditioning was cool and silent, and the bathroom had separate cubicles for the bathtub/shower and for the toilet (albeit with glass walls). The 40-inch LCD TV featured chinese channels but who cares anyway if the view is more than enough to entertain you.

Nina Tower in the background

A closer view

The 41st floor skybridge connecting both towers (see the glass floors?)

Night shot of the Rambler channel harbor (that's my reflection in the glass window)

The splendid view that greets you in the morning

Morning view of the Rambler channel harbor

Jogging/Running paths along the waterfront

Double pane glass for extra safety of curious kids

Infinity-edge outdoor pool and heated indoor pool with aquarium-like glass walls at the 9th floor

Children's pool for that extra dose of fun

        Transportation is not a problem either. Taxi fare to/from the airport is cheap and the Tsuen Wan West MTR station is just a five minute stroll across Tsuen Wan Park beside the hotel and this connects to all the interesting Hong Kong destinations.

        Just pass on the hotel staff who have a hard time communicating in English; this is one hotel that's definitely worth coming back to. (But of course our HK Disneyland Hotel experience was an entirely different happy adventure)

~florent flora

Children + Disneyland = Happiest Place on Earth

The entire family went off for a quick trip to HK Disneyland last October.

Here’s a brief compilation of some videos taken in the “happiest place on earth” starring our two little wonderlings – they were truly surprised and amazed seeing all those Disney characters live, up close and personal, and not just on television. Tinkerbell, their favorite character, made the trip truly complete.

Hope we could go back soon to have more adventures with Tinkerbell and Mickey and friends :-)

(videos taken with Sony Handycam HDR PJ10 and edited with Sony Picture Motion Browser)

 

Brainstorming

The basic rules of brainstorming have been around since Alex Osborne coined the phrase in 1939, as part of his method for creative problem solving.

It’s amazing that many organizations attempt to engage in brainstorming without following the rules and end up killing some of the best ideas because of it.

True brainstorming should be always be a negativity-free process that encourages people to throw out their wildest ideas without fear of them being quickly shot down or ridiculed. Some of the craziest ideas could morph into something amazingly useful.

There are lots of variations of the brainstorming rules on the web, here are the ones that the Walt Disney World “Imagineers” use:

Rule 1 - There is no such thing as a bad idea. We never know how one idea (however far-fetched) might lead into another one that is exactly right.

Rule 2 - We don’t talk yet about why not. There will be plenty of time for realities later, so we don’t want them to get in the way of the good ideas now.

Rule 3 - Nothing should stifle the flow of ideas. Not buts or can’ts or other “stopping” words. We want to hear words such as “and,” “or,” and “what if?”

Rule 4 -  There is no such thing as a bad idea. (We take that one very seriously.)

As Osborne has said, it is easier to tone down a wild idea than to come up with a bright idea. 

So here’s to brainstorming and to changing the world.  Keep those wild ideas coming.

Lost in Space

Last Tuesday, November 8, 2011, an asteroid the size of an aircraft carrier whistled past Earth at a distance of 202,000 miles away – just inside the moon's orbital distance. For those capable of grasping astronomical distances, this is what they would probably describe as a near miss. The Asteroid's path has been the closest for an asteroid since 1976 and won't be repeated until 2028.

Known as 2005 YU55, the asteroid was discovered on December 28, 2005 and has been tracked by NASA and scientists worldwide to determine the possibility of an Earth impact. NASA remained confident that the asteroid posed no unusual level of danger as it passed near Earth. An Earth impact would have caused 70ft-high tsunami had it landed in the ocean.

The figure below from NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory shows a few asteroids who flew by (and who will fly by) our planet Earth. On June 26, 2028, asteroid 2001 WNS will fly by Earth at a distance much closer than that of 2005 YU55, while on April 13, 2029, asteroid Apophis will fly by within the orbits of Earth's geosynschonous satellites (which orbit earth at a distance of approximately 22,236 miles). This will make Apophis visible to the naked eye and will make the flyby an extremely close encounter.

Incidentally, in Egyptian mythology, Apophis was the ancient spirit of evil and destruction, a demon that was determined to plunge the world into eternal darkness. Apophis was viewed as the greatest enemy of the sun-god Ra, and thus was given the title Enemy of Ra.

No worries though, Apophis won't impact Earth and we won't be plunged in eternal darkness. The fates of the Earth’s man-made satellites remain unknown though... We have a lot orbiting up there and I doubt if scientists or astronomers have computed the probability of Apophis hitting any one of them.

Space junk – what goes up must come down. Filipinos have a saying that goes to the same effect: “Basurang itinapon mo, babalik din sa’yo”.

What would happen if Apophis hits any one of these space junk?  It’s anybody’s guess now…