Crimson Crux

I’ve just repaired the mySQL database for Crimson Crux’s WordPress comments. For around two months, this blog wasn’t displaying its comments pages, which meant I couldn’t respond to any of my (few) readers’ feedback.

The problem lay with the overhead of my wp-comments table. Fortunately, all it took to fix the problem was the “Repair” option in my cPanel’s phpMyAdmin. (Note to self: Check your tables’ overhead once in a while.)

If you’re experiencing the same problem, here’s a helpful video on how to fix WP mySQL crashed tables.

This is the second of the set-of-three literary websites that Ia Lucero and I have been working on in the past few months. (The first was a premier literary journal.) Quoting every writer’s resource, Panitikan.com.ph:

September 13, 2008

UMPIL WEBSITE LAUNCHED

The Unyon ng mga Manunulat sa Pilipinas (UMPIL) launched its new website, www.Umpil.org during its 34th National Convention held last August 30. Umpil.org contains information on the organization’s history, membership, officers, and annual Congress. A list of yearly winners of the Gawad Pambansang Alagad ni Balagtas, Gawad Paz Marquez Benitez, and Gawad Pedro Bucaneg can also be perused.

Founded in 1974, UMPIL is the largest organization of Filipino writers in the country. V.E. Carmelo D. Nadera ,Jr., is its current chairperson.

Umpil.org was designed by Stellify.net’s Sophia Lucero, who also designed the literary journal BulawanOnline.com. The webmaster is Phillip Kimpo Jr.

UMPIL also launched its own presence on Multiply at www.umpil.multiply.com. Multiply is a popular social networking and media sharing website. Umpil.multiply.com serves as the organization’s photo album, as well as a means to reach out to a wider audience. Writers with Multiply accounts are invited to add UMPIL to their list of contacts.

With my new webmaster duties, I’ve also formally joined the organization. You can read a bit more info over at my own Multiply account (it’s in Filipino).

Visit Umpil.org.

For the past months — no, a year! — I’ve spent more time on my offline writing career (UST and LIRA literary workshops) than the online one (blogs and web projects). Truth to be told, I think my heyday of putting up blogs and writing posts here and there is drawing to a close (or has done so already). I’m now settling into a comfort zone in the offline writing world, slowly but surely.

Still, that doesn’t mean that I’ll be turning my back on blogs. I still love blogging. It’s just the time that is scarce, not affection.

And time for blogging is what I will be setting aside on September 6, 2008, when the first WordCamp in Southeast Asia will be hitting town. From the event’s About page:

WordCamp is the premier event for WordPress users and developers. WordPress is arguably the #1 blogging platform in the world today…One of the objectives of WordCamp Philippines is to encourage more developers to use and deploy WordPress, not only as a blogging engine but also as a full-featured content management system for Web sites.

I’m one of those users who fully appreciate WordPress’ power, having deployed it on a plethora of sites, from my main website to the family portal, from a personal blog to a literary magazine. I’ll attend WordCamp Philippines not only to learn more WP stuff, but also to show support to a platform that just keeps on giving.

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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.

Another of my dear friend Sophia Lucero’s web design masterpieces has been featured on a top-notch venue, this time on Performancing WordPress Themes, home to “the world’s best free WordPress themes.”

The new Rubidious theme has a classy look that is sure to please lovers of the red-and-dark (myself included):

Rubidious is a three-column theme sporting deep hues of red and blue. The theme name is based on the chemical element Rubidium, which comes from the Latin term for “deepest red”.

The free WP themes site is part of the Performancing.com, a popular and trusted resource where I used to write.

You can preview and download the theme exclusively on Performancing. Also, if you will remember, Ia’s Tiffany Blue design won in a major contest last year.

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’m now serving as the Editor of the Web’s “oldest blog directory”, EatonWeb. The site is one of Splashpress Media’s prime properties.

Taking from the directory’s About page:

As the oldest blog directory on the web, Eatonweb is the perfect place to establish your blog’s online authority. But what really sets EatonWeb apart is the way we measure and display the importance of blogs in our directory.

Each blog receives three rankings: strength, momentum and overall.

I share the day-to-day duties with fellow Pinoy problogger J. Angelo Racoma, SP Media’s Editor-in-Chief and EatonWeb’s manager.

Membership at EatonWeb is free, although there is a review fee for each submission in order to maintain the quality of the directory. (Yep, we do write reviews for each blog!)

Visit EatonWeb today.

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.

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.