Crimson Crux

Okay, for those unacquainted with the college basketball scene in the Philippines, here’s a primer: there are two major leagues, the UAAP and the NCAA.

A discussion on which is the better league is better left with sports blogs, but it’s oft-mentioned that of the two, the UAAP is the “glamour league”, having two ‘well-endowed’ schools (Ateneo and La Salle) in its ranks. The NCAA, on the other hand, enjoys a richer tradition, having been founded earlier. The University of the Philippines, my alma mater, competes in the UAAP.

Now, a very intriguing proposition has been plastered on the sports pages these past days. As part of the upcoming UP Centennial celebration, the State U is pushing for a unified super-league.

Craziness? Perhaps. An impossibility? Nope. According to news reports, member schools like the idea of a combined UAAP-NCAA. However, these same schools doubt whether the merger can be pulled off. A couple of problems looming on the hardcourt horizon:
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Just in time for the holidays — try giving this diamond to your sweetie.

According to this Pravda.ru article, astronomers have discovered the largest diamond of ‘em all, with a weight of a whopping ten billion trillion trillion carats. (No, that’s not a typo.)

To tell you the truth, I wasn’t aware of this revelation until a few days ago (thanks to Ia). The article might have been published recently, but a quick research reveals that this news is quite old. An excerpt from a 2004 (yes, 2004!) press release:

The huge cosmic gem (technically known as BPM 37093) is actually a crystallized white dwarf. A white dwarf is the hot core of a star, left overafter the star uses up its nuclear fuel and dies. It is made mostly of carbon and is coated by a thin layer of hydrogen and helium gases.

Well, aside from being remarkable on its own, this gigantic diamond caught my interest because I had been reading up on another diamond-related piece of trivia — diamonds make for a lousy investment!

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Michael of the distinguished Basapa.com (and its forerunner, Basang Panaginip) has published the 2007 edition of the Top Pinoy Probloggers.

Well, Michael sprang a surprise for me through email — I’m listed as one of the country’s top probloggers for this year. Specifically, I’m under the “Bubbling Under” category (which occupies the last eight spots).

Never mind the low ad earnings — I’ll unabashedly take this recognition anyday. Thanks, Michael!

Postscript. This development jarred me into the realization that my list of blogging projects (plus the sites I write for, edit, and manage) hasn’t been updated in quite a while. Get the souped up list today at Corsarify.

I have recently unveiled my new “summary page”, Phillip.Kimpo.ph. (Check again — there’s a dot between the names. It’s hosted under the Kimpo.ph family website, which was opened a few weeks ago.

The webpage won’t replace my main Corsarius.net site; instead, it gives a quick overview of what I have been doing lately, especially in the fields of literature, editing, problogging, and webmastering. As such, I have shortened the lengthy About blurb on the sidebar and placed a link to the summary page.

Many, many thanks to Ia for creating this simple yet sleek webpage.

Visit Phillip.Kimpo.ph!

Me and Ia are better known on the blogosphere by our handles, Corsarius* and Stellify, respectively. I think a lot of people are used to seeing those names together or linked in one way or another…which makes the following ambigram all the more special:

The piece is courtesy of Jonas, our friend and thesis-mate from back in the UP DCS days. If you have the time, do check out his collection of ambigrams. Thanks, Naz!

*Corsarius is also one of my literary pen-names, though I have to admit that it’s not the coolest nom de plume in my ‘arsenal’, hehe.