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The smoke has settled, somewhat uneasily on the crazy spin cycle Pirate Bay got itself in, including charges against the owners, their web host threatened with fines if they don’t pull down the site, and the not-so-straightforward dealings of the company that supposedly bought TPB.

In light of aggressive campaigns of big Hollywood companies like Disney in tryting to stop copyright materials from being shared and downloaded through torrents (a peer-to-peer file sharing method) – remember the woman who was fined $1.9M for downloading 24 songs (look up my previous entry “think before your share”) – I wonder if it’s wise for sites like QueenTorrents to launch a tv torrents site.

The site claims to have a powerful search engine and a smooth interface for people who are looking to download music, games, movies, tv shows, etc. Torrents in itself is not illegal as it only essentially tells you where the files are, but once you decide to get a torrent, it may start to download copyright materials contained in that torrent’s info.

The thing is to stay away from copyright material, but with media companies trying to sell season dvds for Gossip Girl or Top Chef or 24, even though these are shown on free tv, well, it still considered copyright material right?

Read: Torrential Download »

Pronounced: Uhn-lee.

I came home a few months ago without a cellphone. I haven’t used one in a year at least. Deadly.

Oh how complicated life has become in the six years I’ve been away! While I was away I was baffled by groups like TxtPower and the things they stood for, I’m like, why, when telecommunications services in the Philippines is one of the best in terms of choice and service, there’s no charge for incoming calls or text messages unlike in a lot of countries overseas. Then”Unli” hit me.

Unli – short for “unlimited” – has become the norm for prepaid cellphone service. Whereas before, you can purchase an x amount of minutes without fear of expiration (unless you don’t use your cellphone for a year or something) these days, Php20 can last you a couple of days depending on whether you’ve subscribed to unlimited text and the prepaid service provider you have.

The sheer amount of choice overwhelms me and I don’t pretend to understand any of it – Globe Tattoo, Republika ng TM, Sun, Smart, Unlitext, Unlicall, duo (landline + mobile), valid for one day, two days, pasa load, broadband internet on a usb etc etc.

One thing I know, for somebody like me who’s main communication line is the internet and only ever uses a cellphone during the infrequent times I get out of the house, putting a twenty on my phone may well mean trashing that money if I but send one text or worse, not use the phone as I had it only for emergency. I have learned too that not only do I lose my minutes I am also always at the brink of losing my current number if I don’t use it or load money on it for a month (or less?).

This is so much worse! And something needs to be done more than the extension on minutes that had to take Senator Enrile losing money on prepaid load expiration before something was done.  TxtPower mga kababayan! (yes to txtPower consumer group!)

Insane. In a way it’s awesome for Filipinos whose lives revolve around the cellphone, but more work needs to be done cos these expired loads and unused expired loads supposedly used for emergency purposes mean a huge amount of money when added up.

Read: Unli Nation »

Think old style black telephones.

Phenolic resins, originally known as Bakelite, was invented by Dr. Leo Baekeland in 1907, effectively the first plastic sold. Though it is not widely used in consumer products these days because of its labor intensive and brittle nature, phenolics is still widely used as an industrial component. These days, Interstate Plastics offer the finest in phenolic sheets and custom shapes.

I got curious about Bakelite, or rather the first plastic resins, in light of Project Kaesei, featured in CNN. Project Kaesei aims to clean up the plastic vortex currently existing in the Pacific – oh just about the size of Texas!

This soupy mess consisting mainly of consumer plastic products, discarded fishing nets, appliances, industrial materials, etc. etc. not only pollutes our oceans but also poses danger to fragile ecosystems by unwittingly becoming transportation hubs for introduction of invasive species into an area where they are not endemic.

Plastics deteriorate at a slow rate and even broken down to bits and pieces, they pose huge dangers when ingested by birds and marine animals. Sure, there’s a plan to clean up the Pacific, but it’s bound to be a never ending problem if countries like the Philippines (oh yeah, you can be sure some of those stinky trash is from our coasts) don’t implement strict measures and successful campaigns for proper trash management.

Read: Bakelite is Alive »