Crimson Crux

Got this from the UP ACM mailing list:

The Ubuntu Philippines Local Community Team (Ubuntu-PH), in cooperation with the University of the Philippines Department of Computer Science and Engineering, invite you to a day of sharing experiences, learning, and meeting fellow enthusiasts involved in the hottest GNU/Linux distribution that hit mainstream computing - Ubuntu!

Ubuntu Love Day Manila 2008 is a grassroots effort to spread the spirit of Ubuntu. On August 23, 2008, learn and interact with fellow Ubuntu enthusiasts on how you use Ubuntu in your everyday computing needs. (more…)

I’ll be the one of the panelists in today’s The UP Parser Writing Workshop.

The UP Parser is the school paper I edited (along with Ia) for two academic years. Not only is it rewarding for me to have the chance to share my blessings with a new generation of wordsmiths, but it’s also surreal to be leading a workshop panel only a few weeks separated from my being a workshop fellow (at the UST NWW).

The workshop programme, taken from my Multiply blog:

The UP Parser Writing Workshop 2008
1.0: News and Feature Writing

July 23, 2008
5:30 PM - 8:00 PM
UP Alumni Engineers Centennial Hall
Velasquez Street, UP Diliman

Organized by:
The UP Parser Alumni &
The UP Parser Staff for AY 2008-09

Programme

5:30 - 5:40    Introduction / UP Parser History
5:40 - 6:00    The Winning Team (by Jonel Uy)
6:00 - 6:45    News Writing Workshop (led by Phillip Kimpo Jr.)
6:45 - 7:30    Features Writing Workshop (led by Phillip Kimpo Jr.)
7:30 - 8:00    Open Forum

The Panelists

Phillip Kimpo Jr.
Head Panelist

Phillip served as The UP Parser’s Editor-in-Chief for the academic years 2004-05 and 2005-06, helping resurrect the then-dead publication. During his term, Parser emerged as the foremost publication in the College of Engineering, releasing seven issues with more or less a total circulation of 3000 copies, many of which were in full color and tabloid size. During this time, Parser’s signature line was permanently etched in DCS history: We don’t just write programs; we write.

Phillip graduated from the Department of Computer Science in 2006, and was cited as an Outstanding Representative by the UP Alliance of Computer Science Students (UP CS Network). He currently works as a freelance writer, editor, and website manager.

Phillip is a member of LIRA (Linangan sa Imahen, Retorika, at Anyo), an organization of poets writing in Filipino under the aegis of National Artist for Literature Virgilio S. Almario (a.k.a. Rio Alma). He is a founding member of KATAS (Kalipunan ng mga Taga-Sining para sa Lipunan). He was a Fellow for the 9th UST National Writers’ Workshop and the 2007 LIRA Poetry Clinic. He serves as a staffer for the Bulawan Online literary journal.

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This is what Ia Lucero and I had been cramming for in the past few weeks. Quoting the popular Panitikan.com.ph site:

JUNE 22, 2008

BULAWAN ONLINE LAUNCHED

At his lecture in UP Diliman last June 19, National Artist for Literature Virgilio Almario was glad to launch a new website: bulawanonline.com. He serves as chief editor while Roberto T. Añonuevo, Romulo P. Baquiran Jr., Michael M. Coroza, Vim Nadera and Fidel Rillo serve as co-editors. Phillip Kimpo Jr., Sophia Lucero, Eilene Narvaez and Ernanie Rafael are the staff members.

Bulawanonline.com gets its name from Bulawan, a refereed quarterly journal published by the National Commission on Culture and the Arts. The NCCA is also one of the major forces behind panitikan.com.ph.

The maiden issue features works and commentary by Nikka Osorio, Roberto T. Añonuevo, Ronald A. Atilano, Romulo P. Baquiran, Jr., Michael M. Coroza and Virgilio S. Almario himself. Visit the new site here: http://bulawanonline.com/.

The lit journal only accepts works in Filipino — poems, short stories, critical essays, and translations. Several important links:

• The first issue
• About the journal
• Submission guidelines

Submitted works will be reviewed by some of the most distinguished names in Philippine literature; accepted pieces will be accompanied by critiques from the editors.

The online journal’s elegant design is courtesy of — you guessed it — Ia. Now, if only she’d update her portfolio to include this latest masterpiece!

Visit Bulawan Online.

I got this news blast from the UP ACM e-group:

UP ACM, UP CURSOR and UnPLUG
invite you to attend

K.I.S.S.S 2008
Knowledge, Information, and Skills Sharing Sessions

on JUNE 21 and JUNE 28 at the UP Alumni Engineers Centennial Hall (commonly known as UP Eng’g Lib 2 and Computer Science Department)

June 21
9-12 pm - GIMP
1-4 pm - Macromedia Flash

June 28
9-12pm - PHP with MySQL
1-4pm - HTML/CSS

This is a FREE tutorial.

Registration starts at 8:30 am and 12:30 pm

You can register at our KISSS webpage.

See You There!

On a side note, it feels good that the student org I helped resurrect a few years ago (UP ACM) is very much alive and kicking today. Keep it up, guys.

I was at UP Diliman this afternoon, in the hours right smack in between the celebrations in the morning and the concert in the evening (at the Cultural Center of the Philippines).

That meant I wasn’t able to relish in any of the activities, unlike last January when I was happily clicking away with my camera during the Centennial kick-off celebration.

Still, it felt mightily good to be there in the Diliman Republic, strolling beneath the towering acacia trees and inhaling the crisp after-rain air. It felt good to be there on June 18, 2008, fanfare or no fanfare. It felt good to be there on the day the national university turns 100.

Cheers to the University of the Philippines!

Please support my friend Noel’s research study:

Good day!

I’m an undergraduate student from the UP School of Library and Information Studies who is presently working on a study entitled TagBux, a tool to determine the effectiveness and relevance of tags on a library’s collection. The library collection that was chosen for this study is the Philippine Science High School (PSHS) Diliman Library. Through this study, library users will be able to discover the popular topics or the current trends in a library’s collection through the frequencies of tags.

Website: http://nicole.feria.name:8080/tagbux/feedback.jsp

What is TagBux ?

TagBux is a Web 2.0 application developed through Open Source technologies (Java EE and Wordpress) and patterned from social networking applications such as Shelfari. It lets you use tags to assign labels to books and was designed to test the accuracy of tagging as compared to the subject headings assigned to books. The library collection that was chosen for this study is the Philippine Science High School (PSHS) Diliman Library. Through this study, library users will be able to discover the popular topics or genres in a library’s collection through the frequencies of tags.

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I know I’ve gone without a post for two months, but this one’s just in time for the season of Lent.

On his blog, my friend and colleague J. Angelo Racoma recently unveiled HolySacrifice.net, the official website of the Parish of the Holy Sacrifice in the University of the Philippines Diliman.

The chapel is a Philippine National Historical Landmark and a Cultural Treasure, being the first circular church and the first thin-shell concrete dome in the country. It is a work of art of five National Artists and many bright minds. (You can learn more on the church’s Wikipedia article.)

On the personal side, I hold the church very close to me — when I was still studying, not a week passed that I didn’t drop by the chapel to say a few prayers and catch a moment of silence. Nowadays the vroooms of passing jeepneys easily invade the sanctity of the chapel, but the place remains as true a haven as you can find on UP campus.

J. Angelo helps manage the site, while the web design is another masterpiece of Ia Lucero (okay, you know I’m biased, but the site does elegant justice to an elegant landmark).

Do visit HolySacrifice.net from time to time.

I’ve published a pseudo-photo essay on last week’s UP Centennial Celebration kick-off on my lit blog, Slip of the Pen. An excerpt:

At this point, the excitement was very palpable in the air. Many people were chatting with voices slightly shaking in excitement, and laughs were in abundance. The UP Ang Galing Mo song blared through the loudspeakers, and the drums thundering to the tune of UP’s cherished school cheers spiked UP pride in everyone’s veins.

Read the whole thang.

This 2008, the state university of the Philippines celebrates its 100th year — and I plan not to miss the action.

First up in the to-attend list: the launch of the UP System’s Centennial Celebration this Tuesday, January 8. UP alumni, don’t miss this one!

Borrowing the program of activites from the official UP Centennial website:

9:00 - 10:00 a.m. — Mass in UP Manila
10:15 - 12:00 a.m. — Celebration Program in UP Manila
12:00 - 2:00 p.m. — Motorcade from UP Manila to UP Diliman; Assembly of the celebrants at the University Ave. in UP Diliman
2:00 - 2:30 p.m. — Motorcade from UP Manila meets the other UP College Units contingents in front of Lung Center in Quezon Ave.
2:30 - 3:00 p.m. — Motorcade proceeds to University Ave.
3:00 - 4:00 p.m. — Arrival of Motorcade at University Ave.
4:00 - 4:30 p.m. — Skydivers with banners land in open area next to Plaridel Hall
4:30 - 4:45 p.m. — Tambuli and ‘Kwitis’ signal start of ceremony
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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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