Contagion Movie » Bloggers During A Pandemic: Voice of Sanity Or Scaremongers?

I watched the “Contagion” movie premiere at Greenbelt last night. Although it is a star-studded humanity-in-peril movie about a lethal virus, it didn’t strike me as entertaining. It just felt rather bland, and it failed to really bite me. For me, it lacks the necessary tension-action twist. But don’t blame me because I’m a Star Wars kind of movie buff.

What caught my attention was Jude Law who played as a kind of mad blogger railing against the pharmaceutical industry and government. His raging posts against big pharmacies and the government turn provocative when people start dropping like zombies.


His character (the blogger named Alan Krumwiede) allows the movie to take digs both at traditional media (described as slow, bias and politically controlled nowadays) and blogging. As the world goes into chaos and the Government tries to control information, Law’s blog posts preaches homeopathic cures and Government cover-up, which provokes riots outside drug stores and health food shops.

 

And yet, what I found interesting was that the movie didn't judge or conclude whether Alan Krumwiede is corect or not. The movie didn’t show whether Alan is necessarily a bad guy. Maybe he was correct all along, who knows?

I love that it's left open for the viewers to decide. Is Alan Krumwiede a voice of sanity in the chaos and dread, or a nutter?

Bloggers: Voice of Sanity Or Scaremongers?   

Although bloggers generally are a selfless lot, many bloggers can be a paranoiac and scaremongers during a pandemic. They can also be a voice of sanity in the chaos and dread. Bloggers, especially those influential bloggers around the blogosphere, have a responsibility to themselves but they also have a responsibility to everyone around them especially to their readers.

Newspapers continue to perform an incredibly important function as informational gatekeepers. But traditional media, as they say is slowly dying. Their articles are sometimes full of their editor’s bias and are always subjected to political maneuverings.

Nowadays blogs could also be journalism – sometimes. There is always this question now whether blogs can be journalism.

I don’t have any answers to these questions. This issue will have to be addressed personally by all professional bloggers and the public.

When a pandemic comes, we will all be faced with hard decisions. Information will be presented to us via newspapers, television, Facebook, Twitter and Blogs.

Which one will you believe?

____________________________

Notes and Citations

» "Contagion" (2011) film is released today September 9, 2011.

»  Contagion Movie - Official Website
» Official Contagion Movie Poster

Yodisphere at One Year » First Year Blog Anniversary

Today just happens to be the first year anniversary of yodisphere.com, a blog detailing my life, my travel hacking gigs, commentaries and anything I find amusing.

Some thank you notes, looking back and a peek to the future are in order.

Yodisphere.com has gone through surprising transformations over a year, and that is something that gives me some sense of fulfillment. Looking back, before I made this a hobby, I had no idea what the next year would bring. I could go on writing intermittent posts about how amazing my day was and a handful of my life’s memorable moments [but mostly frustrations]. However, I realized blogging is not about myself so I move on from being sentimental to informative, although some posts still reflects my static career and personal life.

Thank you notes

As you may have noticed, this blog is leaning on travel niche but I don’t want to get trapped on a niche blog so this is still a general lifestyle blog. With that, I want to thank my usual travel buddies – the Eastgate Backfuckers (Gara, Aldan, Anjho, Bar, Bern, Abby, Rhesa) – for being such an awesome roadtrip cronies.      

Also I want to thank inspiring bloggers who make the blogosphere alive and diverse (listed in my blogroll). You may not know it but you keep me inspired and entertained on every bloghopping. Let me also say thanks to all the visitors who shared their thoughts by leaving comments on my posts.

I blog for fun

Although yodisphere.com is meant as a small virtual corkboard for me to share my thoughts, I do it for three reasons, as I’ve already mentioned in my About page:

1. I always felt I have something important to say.
2. Written words can make me cry.
3. I want to sleep at night.

But of course more than any other reason, I blog for fun – if it’s becoming a chore, there’s no point in doing this.

Blogging is also my way of sharing my experiences and connecting to the virtual world especially to those who are worthy of listening to and hopefully give something back to the blogosphere and its community of bloggers that has given so much time and effort to share their experiences and expertise to others. But I’ve always felt that I get far more benefit from this than you ever will from reading it.

A peek to the future

I’m a mind mapping freak so I made a plantilla for yodisphere.com presented in a mindmap to get a quick view of its current state and future directions. Branches include the current state of my blog, my goals for the coming year and plans for improvement and other perspectives.

These are also the things I learned after a year into the blogosphere which maybe helpful if you are a newbie blogger and want to know basic blogging essentials.

Here it is: (Drag to view nodes)

or Click this link to view larger mind map http://www.mindmeister.com/111861080/yodisphere-com

Hopefully next year I could give freebies for my second year blog anniversary.

I look forward to a better and useful blog and share more with all of you over the coming years as I strive to make yodisphere.com’s mission a reality.

____________________
Related Post: NOTICE: My Blog is in Transition

Trapped Ideas and Laziness » Note on Blog Hiatus Status

I’m busy saving the world (I mean my own personal world) that is why it’s been weeks since my last post and you might think I abandoned blogging, but hell no – this is not yet a zombie blog. Weather can automatically switch me on and off to lazy mode and [damn!] this rainy season puts me on hiatus status. Although, yeah I’m naturally lazy, I admit that.

Work is also eating up lots of my reserved energy and giving me a taste of hell for the past few weeks. It’s work and I already stripped myself the right to complain – because it’s my choice – but hey, I still have the right to rant and I got this blog.

Also, I got this personal project which has something to do with having my own permanent home address (that means I’m getting old and planning to settle down) and that keeps me preoccupied.

Hmmm, excuses, excuses.

I’m monetizing this blog, so I just want to post this note to let the crawlers know this blog is still breathing. For the regular lurkers here (as if there’s any, he he) I’ll do my best to pop up from time to time to share my thoughts and starting next week I want to end yodisphere’s hiatus status (**raising right hand)

You will also notice that this blog is recently focusing on travel posts. I’m thinking of making Travel as my niche but still I don’t want to get stuck on one specific subject (and Travel is quite an expensive niche), although most blog gurus are advising that a niche blog is way better for monetizing and SEO.

Trapped Ideas

Anyway, here’s the list of pending posts sleeping on my drafts folder, which hopefully I can finish before our trip to HK on midweek of July.

» Ilocos Tour Last Part – Batac and Vigan (Calle Crisologo) Tour

» Review: Ace Water Spa Pasig

» Pahiyas Festival Mobile Phone Photography

» Agawan Festival in Quezon

» Sidetrip to Kamay ni Hesus – Quezon

» My List of Top Ten Emerging Influential Blog

» Conquer Mt. Pinatubo

» Book Notes

Voila tout! - That’s all for now and I better get working.

Here I am, here I remain.

___________________________

Image Source: 

» Zen by gabrielnardelli via DeviantART: Digital Art / Photomanipulation / Surreal

Bill to Protect Bloggers » Miriam Wants Bloggers Included in Bill Protecting Media

Fellow bloggers this is good news. Senator Miriam Defensor-Santiago is insisting that bloggers and online journalists be included in new legislation, the Senate Bill 455 which seeks to amend Article 248 of the Revised Penal Code, that aims to protect members of the media. I definitely agree.

Senator Miriam Defensor-Santiago is seeking to add bloggers and online journalists to Senate Bill 455, which she is co-sponsoring. According to her;

“There is no reason why only members of the broadcast and print media should be included in the proposed law. Due regard must also be given to practitioners of the digital media.”

We all know that our county has a vigorous press and a freedom of speech. Yet we are rated abysmally by Reporters Without Frontiers and other media organizations, due to a tradition of silencing journalists (including numerous radio commentators) by execution-style killings carried out by small teams on motorcycles.

Our country became infamous late in 2009 with the Ampatuan Massacre, in which 34 journalists were among the 58 killed in a mass political killing in a remote province in Maguindanao.

Santiago also specifically cited the ongoing travails of Julian Assange—a non-traditional journalist who was subjected to harassment and threats after he published hundreds of classified US diplomatic cables on WikiLeaks, and of an online journalist in Russia who was reportedly forced to go into hiding after receiving threats for an article he wrote that was critical of the Russian government. Sen. Santiago said this are examples of someone who should be protected under the law.

"It is clear that practitioners of the digital media are exposed to the same dangers that print and broadcast media practitioners are exposed to, so they should likewise be given protection by the law," she said.

Santiago said the bill should likewise include in its scope more media practitioners, including photojournalists, novelists, screenwriters, playwrights, feature filmmakers, documentary makers, television production, professional photographers, professional videographers, and public relations contractors.

Any thoughts?

_________________

Source: GMA News

Almost Quitting » Seven Things I Do When Blogging is Freaking Me Out

I told myself not to post rants on this blog, but hey, I first made this for that purpose. So here I am again, writing random thoughts. I don’t know why I am crazy enough to own a blog and spend most of my evenings on this. In fact I don’t really know why I like blogging, but I do.

With millions of blogs out there, I fear I might just fail on this project one day. All of a sudden I feel like I’ve lost all my inspiration, I begin to cringe why I’m not achieving my blogging goals and I wonder what else I can do apart from hitting that “I QUIT” button.

I don’t want this blog to be just another “internet trash” that serves no purpose. No!… I am not going to get sentimental about this. No, not today. 

Really? Then why not get serious and divert these useless rants into something worth sharing!

Ok dear conscience, let’s try diverting this negative energy into something. Let’s try writing this useless, childish rants and try finding some sensible answers to it. This is me talking to myself again.

1. I must define my purpose. Why the hell am I Blogging?

By far this is the most fundamental question I should ask myself. Why the hell I am blogging? I came across some bloggers who say blogging can make you rich in a couple of months. I do some research and found out they are sadly mistaken. I am sure that none of this has happened in the history of blogging. Please do correct me if I’m wrong.   

Lately, I noticed that I’m developing a passion to blog, particularly on topics I like and I find it really rewarding. To add on, I like helping others through blogging by sharing my experiences. Hopefully this will put this blog ahead further.

2. I must do some planning.

What is my blogging plan for the next week? Have I outlined a set of goals concerning the things I want to achieve for the next month? Have I chosen the right topic for my next post and do some extra research or am I just blogging about useless personal rants because everyone is blogging about it?

3. I must learn from other bloggers.

When I am on my way to quit, I do bloghopping. I join forums and comment like crazy. It’s rewarding. Yes it cost me some precious time, but I think if I’m having some trouble, or having those uninspiring moments, all I need is a group of experienced bloggers to help me out. Thank you fellow bloggers, visitors and readers especially those who are sharing their thoughts here. You may not know it but you are helping me in a lot.

4. I must catch up on my reading.

While thinking of my commenting practices, I realized that if I am only bloghopping from one blog to another, looking for posts to comment on every week without actually reflecting on how that blogger can come out with that interesting topic, then I am not doing the right thing. Yes I know it is part of networking, and all that heady SEO stuff but there must be a higher purpose for that activity – it’s the search for inspiration, and of course to make blog envy as my motivation.  

However, this is one sure thing – I will learn much more and share more ideas if I will spend more time reading books, magazines, and newspapers.

5. I must break out, not freak out.

Am I too comfortable in my comfort zone? Am I blogging in that same similar way that I used to 6 months ago? Why do I sometimes fear that changing my blogging style will drive my visitors away?

These are all the questions that are running through my head right now.

But I should not start cursing, rant or whine; although that is a great attention getter for a short period of time. I realized that it is only when I break out with my comfort zone, I will begin to start learning something. I must try some experimenting. Who knows it might propel this blog to greater heights! Yattaaaa!

6. I must discover my own voice through commenting

In the real world, sometimes the best thing to do is to say something instead of just keeping my silence. In the blogosphere, I can do that by commenting on blogs. Sometimes I came across my old comments on other blogs and it’s amazing because it makes me discover my own voice and my own style. I must always remember that in commenting to other blogs, I shouldn’t just regurgitate what the blogger have said on their post. I must ask questions, expand share opinions and ideas. This will not only get their attention but also learn more from the answers.

7. I must take the medicine for bloggers

Let me make this clear - there’s no such thing as a pill for bloggers. Aspirin can cure our headaches but it won’t cure us of our blog miseries. What’s my medicine? Take a blog break. A few days of not logging in to google analytics or checking the webmaster tool or totally disconnecting to the internet. When I do this, I am surprised because that is when ideas come flowing. Some bloggers work better under pressure but for me, time off even for a day or two can turn things around.

WOW, I MADE IT! I diverted my useless rants into something. This really pull me out from the dumps. I think this blog and my blogging journey is worth continuing.

Sorry if I freak out earlier.

Blogging may be for everyone but it certainly won’t bring success to everyone – including me perhaps. But I am enjoying this - that is what matters most. I’m sure success is just a byproduct, and extra income is the side-effect.

Did I miss something here? Let me know your thoughts. I’m listening…

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The Blogosphere » How To Help Google Identify Web Spam

A useful note from Google worth sharing:

Everyone who uses the web knows how frustrating it is to land on a page that sounds promising in the search results but ends up being useless when you visit it. We work hard to make sure Google's algorithms catch as much as possible, but sometimes spammy sites still make it into search results. We appreciate the numerous spam reports sent in by users like you who find these issues; the reports help us improve our search results and make sure that great content is treated accordingly. Good spam reports are important to us. Here's how to maximize the impact of any spam reports you submit:

Why report spam to Google?

Google's search quality team uses spam reports as a basis for further improving the quality of the results that we show you, to provide a level playing field for webmasters, and to help with our scalable spam fighting efforts. With the release of new tools like our Chrome extension to report spam, we've seen people filing more spam reports and we have to allocate appropriate resources to the spam reports that are mostly likely to be useful.

Spam reports are prioritized by looking at how much visibility a potentially spammy site has in our search results, in order to help us focus on high-impact sites in a timely manner. For instance, we're likely to prioritize the investigation of a site that regularly ranks on the first or second page over that of a site that only gets a few search impressions per month. A spam report for a page that is almost never seen by users is less likely to be reviewed compared to higher-impact pages or sites. We generally use spam reports to help improve our algorithms so that we can not only recognize and handle this particular site, but also cover any similar sites. In a few cases, we may additionally choose to immediately remove or otherwise take action on a site.

Which sites should I report?

We love seeing reports about spammy sites that our algorithms have missed. That said, it's a poor use of your time to report sites that are not spammy. Sites submitted through the spam report form are reviewed for spam content only. Sites that you think should be tackled for other reasons should be submitted to us through the appropriate channels: for example, for those that contain content which you have removed, use our URL removal tools; for sites with malware, use the malware report form; for paid links that you find on sites, use the paid links reporting form. If you want to report spammy links for a page, make sure that you read how to report linkspam. If you have a complaint because someone is copying your content, we have a different copyright process--see our official documentation pages for more info. There's generally no need to report sites with technical problems or parked domains because these are typically handled automatically.

The same applies to redirecting legitimate sites from one top level domain to another, e.g. example.de redirecting to example.com/de. As long as the content presented is not spammy, the technique of redirecting one domain to another does not automatically violate the Google Webmaster Guidelines.

If you happen to come across a gibberish site similar to this one, it's most likely spam.

The best way to submit a compelling spam report is to take a good look at the website in question and compare it against the Google Webmaster Guidelines. For instance, these would be good reasons to report a site through the spam report form:

• the cached version contains significantly different (often keyword-rich) content from the live version
• you're redirected to a completely different domain with off-topic, commercial content
• the site is filled with auto-generated or keyword-stuffed content that seems to make no sense

These are just a few examples of techniques that might be potentially spammy, and which we would appreciate seeing in the form of a spam report. When in doubt, please feel free to discuss your concerns on the Help Forum with other users and Google guides.

What should I include in a spam report?

Some spam reports are easier to understand than others; having a clear and easy-to-understand report makes it much easier for us to analyze the issue and take appropriate actions. Here are some things to keep in mind when submitting the spam report:

• Submit the URLs of the pages where you see spam (not just the domain name). This makes it easy for us to verify the problem on those specific pages.
• Try to specify the issue as clearly as possible using the checkboxes. Don't just check every single box--such reports are less likely to be reviewed.
• If only a part of the page uses spammy techniques, for example if it uses cloaking or has hidden text on an otherwise good page, provide a short explanation on how to look for the spam you're seeing. If you're reporting a site for spammy backlinks rather than on-page content, mention that.

By following these guidelines, your spam reports will be reproducible and clear, making them easier to analyze on our side.

What happens next?

After reviewing the feedback from these reports (we want to confirm that the reported sites are actually spammy, not just sites that someone didn't like), it may take a bit of time before we update our algorithms and a change is visible in the search results. Keep in mind that sometimes our algorithms may already be treating those techniques appropriately; for instance, perhaps we're already ignoring all the hidden text or the exchanged links that you have reported. Submitting the same spam report multiple times is not necessary. Rest assured that we actively review spam reports and take appropriate actions, even if the changes are not immediately visible to you.

With your help, we hope that we can improve the quality of and fairness in our search results for everyone! Thank you for continuing to submit spam reports and feel free to post here or in our Help Forum should you have any questions.

Source:  Google Webmaster Central Blog 04 Nov 2010 02:02 PM PDT Written by Kaspar Szymanski, Search Quality Strategist and John Mueller, Webmaster Trends Analyst

A Review of My Blogger Domain Transition

Image Source: "Alternative Links" Surreal Art

After winning the Enervon Hapontukin contest and noticing that search engines are giving me traffic for the past few months, thus giving me a  few dollars on my Adsense account, I finally decided to have my own .com domain. Since I'm spending most of my weekend writing articles for this blog, I thought why not try making money out of it. The $10 investment is really worth it, because I'm enjoying this and I'm learning a lot from it.

I'm really glad the 3-day transition runs smoothly. All links are perfectly re-directing now. I had no issues with my Adsense account, sitemaps are being indexed again and traffic is going back to normal. However, I spend my whole Sunday evening editing my account links (Facebook, Ezine, Intensedebate, etc.) Although the old URL doesn't need to be revised (which I changed just to make sure), it bears the old site title and description. So, to avoid the confusion, I painstakingly edited my account on those sites one by one. 

I also added a separate blogroll page, because during transition, some of my widgets got lost. Check it out to add your link.

 

For those who have blogs at blogger who are planning to have their own custom domain, here are my 3 tips:

1. Before moving to a custom domain, read a lot of articles and forums first. Check out the pros and cons, known issues and guides. Losing access to your blog is really frustrating. 

2. Decide which domain name to use. Have a list, check it's availability and register the one you think is best. Remember, once you register it, you can't change it. Online domain name generators can help you in deciding cool domain names (because chances are, that name you badly want was already taken). Be creative.

3. You don't need much technical knowledge to have your own domain, so you should not be afraid giving it a try. Setting up custom domain through your blogger dashboard is easy and user-friendly. Specific instructions and guides are there, plus you can always check the blogger help pages. 

I think, that's it. Of course, the advantage of having a custom domain for our blog is simply because it gives a formal name and a more credible identification on the web. It also serves as an investment, the domain's value becomes higher if its targeted with high traffic and ranking.

All is set! More articles coming soon!

_______________________
You might want to check out: 

• How to set up custom domain on blogger 
• How do I use custom domain name on my blog? 
• Illustrated Guide to Set Up Blogger on Custom Domain 
• Top 5 Domain Name Generator

 

Notice: My Blog is In Transition

I recently decided to take this really cool hobby of mine into the next level - by having my .com domain without a blogspot. I really like writing about random things, and luckily, search engines are noticing it, so I thought why not get a little serious about it. I'm not really into hardcore SEO, and I'm not planning to write only for SEO. SEO-obsessed blogs tend to lose the blog's personality and credibility. Because their main purpose is to generate traffic,

they tend to do every SEO tricks available and jam their homepage with ads, links, dizzying and unnecessary widgets, etc. etc. I tagged them as "zombie blogs": alive for the crawlers, dead for the readers.

By the way, this blog is currently in transition - meaning, I'm moving from yodi967.blogspot.com to my very own domain name www.yodisphere.com which according to blogger will take two to three days. So please bear with the messy widgets and links during the transition. 

Here's the message I received from blogger:

I just hope the transition will run smoothly. I'm expecting a drop in traffic but they say it's normal.

I'm also thinking about a niche blog but currently I can't decide which specific category I'm really in so I decided settling for a Lifestyle blog in the meantime. This way I will not be limited to a specific topic.  

Well, I never thought blogging could be this fun, rewarding and educational. 

By the way, what do you think about the name of my new home "Yodisphere?" It's from my name Yodi.

I can't think of a better tagline now so I used "bringing balance to the blogosphere." But I was first thinking of using Yodisphere.com -  "the dark side of the blogosphere" to give it some character. 

Watyathink?

Horray!! I Won the Best Blog Category for the Enervon Hapontukin Contest

Wow, I guess I’m really lucky today – Friday the 13th. I thought this day will gonna be a usual boring Friday. However, when I checked the Nuffnang site, I saw my name on their latest announcement – my blog post “The Rise and Fall of the Hapontukin » 7 ½ Tips on How to Avoid Snoozing on the Job” won the Best Blog Category.

The prize – The Spa Volcanic Rock Massage. Really cool eh?

This is my second time in joining a blog contest – the first is my entry “The School of Life and My Shoes” for The Red Shoe Blog Contest. Unfortunately I failed to beat other bloggers on that one. Nevertheless, I love that post and the comments I received on that one really inspired me to write more.

I never thought blogging could be this fun – and rewarding!

Thank you Nuffnang and Enervon for the appreciation of my humble blog. Congratulations also to the other two winners – Richard & Marvin

Here’s the link to the official Hapontukin winner announcement: Hapontukin Contest Winner 

I will update this post after the mini Awarding Ceremony on August 24, 2010 at the Nuffnang Office.

The Only Writing Rules You Will Ever Need

Guaranteed Life is Propaganda

Sometimes I find it hard translating my feelings into words and as far as my personal blogging experience is concerned, I find it impossible to completely convey exactly what I feel – I can’t totally overcome blogger’s-block I guess. And although my written expressions might be improving, the more I write the more I am discovering how difficult the task of laying down words really is. I’m writing a draft of a personal e-mail right now and I don’t know why I find it so hard.

Evidently, I’m having a hard time conveying the frustrations I’m feeling right now. Thinking about your career and what you really want in life is really a huge everyday burden – especially if you suddenly realize that somewhere along the way, you took a wrong turn.


Eventually, at some point, I feel the need to be on the right track. FEAR always keeps me from moving on and over time it disguise itself as HOPE.  

I accept that I'm not guaranteed anything in my life, but rather I am given the opportunity to go after what I believe to be a worthy pursuit. Because there is no guaranty of success I will appreciate it all the more when I've achieved what I have set out to accomplish.

Through hard work, keeping my end result in mind, and applying ample stick-to-it-ness I know I will achieve what I really want in life.

Am I making sense here?

Enough of my self-help rants! Back to my e-mail…

The Only Sign That You Maybe A Blog Addict

Can you guess what is he blogging about?

Well, that is not me okay, I haven't gone that far. But I want to share some signs of my mild blog addiction. Here it is; 

• My google reader is constantly open on my desktop,
• Always excited to check my e-mail for new blog comments,
• I periodically dream that I am blogging,
• In order for my family and friends to keep up with what's going on in my life, they have to read my blog,
• I'm feeling a little disappointed when my favorite blog isn't updated when I expected it to be,
• I want to read more books and watch more movies for blogpost ideas.

But I think when you're blogging while taking a shit, that's a different story.

How about you, are you a blog addict?Do you believe there's really such a thing as Blog Addiction Disorder?

yodz

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Image Disclaimer: Source: Forwarded by a friend via e-mail. If you're the owner of the image please contact me.to give you credit, link it to the original source or remove it on this blog.      

Narcissism Epidemic in the Blogosphere

I came across an interesting article in Manila Bulletin [entitled "It’s all about me me me!" August 12, 2009 issue E-1 section], which basically discusses the fact that we’re just all about ourselves these days.


The article quoted Jean Twenge, the author of “Generation Me” and “The Narcissism Epidemic” (with co-author W.Keith Campbell), who said that;

Today’s new generation think they are so special, where in fact, they are not. Although they have become more confident and assertive they have also turned themselves into a narcissistic and self-centered generation.

A modern narcissist is said to be someone who tends to lack empathy, react aggressively to criticism and favor self-promotion over helping others. Generation today are being portrayed as virtual self-centered zombies who care more about their iPods – highly tech savvies, doing texting, net surfing, blogging, IM, online games, calling on hi-tech mobile phones and watching TV, sometimes all at the same time.

They blame social sites such as Friendster, Facebook, Multiply and Twitter because it shorten attention spans, encourage instant gratification and make the users more self-centered – especially personal blogs.

I don’t know why I instantly had an inkling that this is really what’s going on in the blogosphere, mixed with a guilty feeling that oppressed me for hours, a persuasion that what I’m actually writing here in this blog might be narcissistic, all about me-myself-and-I.

Well, let’s accept that lots of personal blogs are plagued with narcissistic posts – about what they eat, where they go, daily rants, pets etc. Honestly, I’m amused in reading some of them, even if it is just plain personal nonsense rants.

I personally view this as more of self-expression rather being self-centered or narcissistic and I am proud of being in the “Me Generation” if they want to call it that way. I see it more of trying to define myself with this new opportunities, resources and technological avenues for self-expression and self-definition. Aside from personal experiences, reading blogs influences me.

Are you also proud of being on this generation? Any additional thoughts?

Alternate Comment Forms for Blogger

The default comment form of blogger can be replaced by alternative JavaScript based commenting systems to give a better and professional look.

The popular alternative commenting systems are:

1. Intense Debate –

I find my old commenting system dull, so I changed it using intense debate commenting system on this post.This is now owned by Automattic, the makers of Wordpress.

2.DISQUS - This is another Commenting system – It is the same thing that Mashable.com uses

3.JS-Kit – This is also another JavaScript based commenting system.

When you try to revert to any of these commenting systems,make sure that you backup your template and keep a copy,so that you can revert back if it didn’t work out well.

These are the three most popular commenting systems.They come with threaded commenting with Gravatar based profile images,which can make you commenting system look more professional.

So if you want to remove the default blogger commenting system and get a better commenting interface,then you can opt for any of these commenting systems.

Inspired by: Aneesh of bloggerplugins.org

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Image Source: BLOGGERPLUGINS , used with permission. Licenced Under the Creative Commons Licencing Read - [CC Licenses Attribution-SA 2.5].

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Blog envy is my motivation

Forgive me dear bloggers for I have sinned.
This blog is evolving because of envy.

Bloghopping eats up most of my free time to catch up on my favorite topics, news and for mining fresh ideas. While browsing, I frequently came across blogs that can totally blow me away; blogs with great design, interesting contents, magnificent writing style and alive with intelligent comments - blogs I envy.

Envy is one of the deadly sins according to Catholicism crap. Conversely, I have always felt that envy is the first cousin of motivation. It lurks somewhere hidden in my thoughts. When I say I admire other blogs and its design, deep down, what I really feel is that I wish I have those design talent and writing genius. It may be a sin, but it gives me the motivation and clue to what I truly want in this blog – and to improve myself. You always inspire me fellow bloggers.

Accordingly, I devoted efforts on improving this blog. Whenever I came across blogs with great design or a cute widget, my first instinct is to look for its source code to test it on my blog. I also want to learn bits & pieces about XHTML & CSS.

Here are some cool improvements I made which I want to share:

• My Table of Contents page: It took me three hours before I make it work. I’m a real dumb when it comes to code syntax. Thanks to Aneesh for the tweaking.

• Template: My first template was a blogger harbor template, so boring. Thanks to Ourblogtemplates for this “Spain” template.

• Feed Your Mind Widgets: Courtesy of Thefreedictionary

• My customizable shout box from : myshoutbox

• Other tweaking tricks at : bloggerbuster and bloggerplugins

• My header graphics was originally a wallpaper which I find interesting because of some yin yang symbol on it. I did some photoshop editing and use it as header. It’s quite large but I like it.

• For SEO hacks and monetizing, maybe later when I’m really serious about posting well researched posts. I believe content really matters.

Well, I don’t know how long I can make this blog alive but surely it will continuously evolve into something better – hopefully not all because of envy.

I will really love reading your comments about my blog or if you have a cool code hack you want to share, I’ll definitely appreciate it.

Let’s inspire each other!

What type of blog hopper are you?

I really got serious about blogging just a few months ago. At first, I just want to try it, thinking that it will help me in my research project, which it did. I was just throwing bits and pieces of my thoughts, notes on my barkada gigs and school stuff, how I survive a toxic day and other sentimental raving. It makes me smile when I’m browsing my old posts. Now, blogging really got into my system and quite addicted to it.

The other thing that really hooked me are those inspiring blogs I accidentally came across during blog hopping. There are blogs that inspire me, make me laugh, keep me updated on current events and a lot more – blogs that definitely have a space in my google reader.

Recently, my blogposts are finally receiving comments from fellow bloggers. Thank you, thank you guys, I sincerely appreciate it.

Blog hopping makes me discover other people’s colorful, inspiring and sometimes sad life – and came across other “hoppers” too. I noticed that there are various types of blog hoppers and “commenters.” Like our friends in the physical world, they can be: (1.) a friend for pleasure, you are friend so long as the relationship is entertaining and fun; (2.) a friend for convenience, where people make friendships to gain favors, a friendship that lasts when the usefulness of other person ends; (3.) a true friend, where mutual respect and admiration exist.

Likewise, we make online friends for different motives.

Blog hoppers, who are blogger themselves, can be categorized as follows: (in my humble opinion only.)

1. Hopping for pleasure. I will add you and visit your blog so long as your blog is entertaining and fun.

2. Hopping for convenience. I will visit and link your blog as long as you link and visit mine. If you didn’t visit mine or didn’t put comments on my blog I will not read and visit yours. (Common for those who are monetizing their blog.)

3. True hoppers. These are bloggers who are really committed to help or hoping to find lasting goodness on both sides. I came across a lot of this type of blogger in our fellow Filipinos abroad. Some of them even ends up in marriage.

Well, I admit sometimes, I am a combination of these three.

Maybe we can add “annoying hoppers” or those who keeps on leaving their links on our comment boxes and message board saying nothing but “check out my blog at “www.puro-ads.bulokblog.com.” Then when you click on the link, you will be bombarded by dizzying animated ads, ads at the header, sidebars, ads inserted on every other paragraph of their copied article - calling it strategic ad placement. There’s nothing wrong with monetizing a blog or promoting it but a blog littered with ads with no original content is really annoying.

Enough of my rants. I just hope I will gain more friends here, share my ideas and yours, discuss our frustrations, voice out our thoughts and beliefs without being harmed. Isn’t it that what is personal blogging is all about?

Happy blog hopping! Thanks in advance and may the Force be with you!

Ciao!

Blogger’s-block – The Evil of the Blank Blogpost

The angry rain decided to punish Metro Manila last night, sending its army of billion droplets zipping like kamikaze pilots. The deluge caught me while I was on my way home, but I was not frustrated because my mind was busy writing – trying to record the conversation of me and my mind, myself talking to myself. Out of nowhere an idea kicked-in, it makes me excited so I hurry up not minding the crazy rain.

I immediately grab my laptop and dried myself while its booting. I changed into comfy and warm clothes and face my laptop, ready to fire up all my ideas into written words.

But… Damn, I can’t get it out. I lost it! My cursor was blinking for hours and I haven’t written anything. Surely a case of a mental-block, or writer’s-block or should I say “blogger’s-block”. Maybe the mad rain washed it out.

It’s really goddamn awful how it feels not to be able to write or get your ideas out of your fucking head or, in my case, losing it. It’s frustrating, for crying out loud!

Tired, cold and frustrated, I decided to grab a book and sleep.

Today, I woke up late, the sky is clear and the sun is suspiciously shining, mocking me - as if saying, “Good morning, Loossser!”

But hell no! I have to do something about this blogger’s-block phenomenon that haunted me last night. I think about it all day and came up with this theory:

The best way is always to stop when I am going good and when I know what will happen next. If I do that every day … I will never be stuck ... That way my subconscious will work on it all the time. But if I think about it consciously or worry about it, I will kill it and my brain will be tired before I start.

I also checked the know-it-all Mr. Google and gave me some unconventional tips such as:

• Drinking a little whiskey before writing -- (like a drunken master eh? Or drunken-blogger, he he he… maybe I should try it.)

• Make a list, or a draft -- (well, mind-mapping technique works well for me.)

• Have sex? – (this one is suggested to clear your mind before writing, but I guess If you are writing about clitorology and kama-sutra, you should write your article before having sex… ha ha. No other human being willing to share your frustration? Well, just do the “do-it-yourself” technique. Wash your hands!!)

• Read something you hate – (suggestion to generate more ideas… a-huh, will not work for me I guess.)

• Run like hell – (suggested if you’re really burnt-out, sort of like taking a break and having fresh air.)

Any other personal tip? I will appreciate if you can share it in the comments section.
Let’s blog, Vamos!