Google stands down

In an unexpected twist, Google recently promised Thailand that it will now remove all anti-monarchy videos from [its] YouTube.com website according to a report by Bangkokpost.com. Google.com earlier rejected repeated calls from the Thailand Ministry of Information and Communication Technology to remove the said clips saying that some clips have attacked President Bush far more harshly than the Thai king had been mocked.

The original offensive clip was eventually removed by the user but subsequent video clips were uploaded to the site in protest to what was deemed an attack on freedom of expression. There was a strong feeling in Thailand that Google and the offenders were culturally insensitive to the request that Thailand blocked access to the popular video sharing website.

The Thai government claimed that it will not proceed to filing of criminal charges against Google while it is still not known whether the Royal Thai Police will proceed with charging Google with lese majeste.

MICT Minister Sitthichai Pokaiyaudom said that Google’s vice president Kent Walker assured him in the letter that they would remove all offensive clips but claimed “that it would take time to find all the video clips uploaded to YouTube, but said the clips could be removed,” The Bangkok Post reported.

The Bangkok Post claimed that volunteers monitoring Youtube, however, were able to find the offensive video clips in seconds. They are wondering now how Youtube technicians “would need more time” in removing all the offensive video clips.

It is not yet clear whether Thailand would eventually allow access to Youtube in the country.

Long wait is over

Last Monday was a public holiday in Thailand. This was in lieu of the Coronation Day last Saturday. It was an easy day at the office so before I go writing a number of reports, I thought maybe I should check on the AVFS website. We filed our visa application 13 weeks ago with AVFS, the Australian Embassy–appointed visa filing cenre. Thirteen weeks, it’s seem to be a very, very long wait. The wait for our visa result should have been just 12 weeks hadn’t it been for my wife’s period–women are not allowed to take the medical exam during their period–not that I blame her for that.

It was a pleasant surprise that the passport tracking status changed after weeks of checking, it read:

Passport has been passed from Operations Centre to Australian Visa Application Centre, May 4. Please collect the same.

It was a pity I wasn’t able to check it that Friday afternoon, I would have known the results by then. So, I had to hold on to celebrating the completion of our visa application as I thought, call me pessimistic, is it already stamped or would it have the letter explaining disapproval??? So, I kept the news to myself–I wouldn’t be able to collect the passports anyway since it’s a holiday.

So that Monday night, I tormented my wife with my worries about the passport–but at the back of my mind, I hope she doesn’t check the website! She got worried indeed–cruel me! 🙂

Yesterday, I woke up early–I was very excited for the day to finish. I have a scheduled meeting with someone near the Australian Visa Application Centre, so it was a good opportunity to collect the passports. 

At the centre, collecting the passports was a a breeze. I was wondering though why our passports had a big envelope with it while the others have none–so I really got a bit worried. The five passports were sealed in big white envelopes and I did not open it. I said, I might as well share the joy (or grief) of the result with the family. So, I went on with the meeting, come 5pm headed straight home.

I called my wife and asked her to check the AVFS website. She’s dead worried why I kept on asking about the visa. The laptop was off and she’s washing the dishes that it took her a while to turn it on. When I finally reached home, she opened the door and I flashed a printout of the AVFS passport tracking result then pulled out the envelopes of passports and letters, she was literally jumping and shouting for joy when she saw what I had.

I was trying to wake up the kids but they did not lift a finger. So, we proceeded to open the big envelope. I read it fast and saw the magic word…

I am pleased to advise you that your application has been approved

Whooa! now, my joy is complete and literally it was as if a thorn was removed from my heart.

I inspected the passports immediately and all have the fresh, crisp Australian visa stamp, and they gave us four years!! 

Now, that this has passed, it’s time to think about the more serious work of research, research, research! For now, I’ll be blogging from Thailand until July then will be blogging from Perth, Australia from August until I finish my studies. 🙂

Our sincerest gratitude goes to my Aunt, Ms. Loida Caro, who expressed her support for my family’s stay in Australia by lending her bank accounts. And to other bloggers, my readers, friends, colleagues who lend their hands and knees in prayers.

Many thanks, maraming salamat, khob jai, khob khun khrup, merci! 

To God be the Glory!

Blog silence conclusion and controversy

It might have past just like an ordinary day but I know that by joining other bloggers for this one day blog silence (from posting, reading and writing) I’ve expressed my support to the victims of the Virginia Tech shooting and their families including (on a personal level) other victims of violence around the world (from Ka Jun Mallari, Julia, seven beheaded workers in  Mindanao among others) . It would have made a difference if everybody have joined the exercise–that would have been news but the shooting is already a news anyway. But as with all other campaigns, there are non-believers with some deeming the exercise a farce.

In fact, this small campaign started by Steli Efti has stirred some controversy on the blogosphere according to Massa P.‘s  information. The controversy is whether this campaign was just a simple case of link baiting for a subsequent money-making scheme for the domain owners. But as Massa P. and all the other bloggers commented, this still needs to be proven.

The allegations, however, did not deter the people behind the onedayblogsilence.com, led by Steli Efti, to continue the campaign and remain in their conviction that they are supporting the victims of Virginia Tech. They received support from Lorelle, who wrote a very good entry about the campaign and her own personal conviction about violence, as with Liz, Mihaela and Andy. Steli gave his thoughts on the controversy writing, 

We thought that people will either join or ignore it. Boy, that was so wrong. People who disliked the idea spoke up so loud I can´t believe it. From sending me messages to call me a “jerk”, “idiot” and other things I won´t go into detail here, to forum posts about speculations that our intention was to make money and sell the website after the 30th April or that behind all this, there is a hidden big media company standing.

One blogger who read about the controversy immediately removed any trace of the onedayblogsilence.com on her blogs (links and trackbacks)–without looking at both sides. But I can’t blame her since some of the bloggers blogging against the onedayblogsilence.com are respected bloggers also and blogs about technology.

So, personally, I’m not sure who’s linkbaiting for better technorati ranking. I remember reading a blogging tip that says, ride on controversial issue to increase traffic. 🙂 the plot thickens.

Want direction how to get to New York from London? Try Google Maps

I’ve just learned this from Al-Jazeera’s Street Talk by Riz Khan this morning.

Google Maps is trying to outdo Yahoo! Maps in terms of giving service to its clients. Outdo they did. Try getting directions on how to get from New York to London. Here’s a print screen of what you’ll get, notice direction no. 24.

Direction No. 24 says:

Swim across the Atlantic Ocean 3,462 miles

It’s certainly past April Fool’s Day, isn’t it? But Google has their way of making their clients happy. Who’s going to swim that long, well unless you’re trying to break a Guiness record. At least they were kind enough to say how long it was for a swim. eheheh!

I tried getting direction to Manila from Bangkok, both Yahoo! and Google are mum. Waaah, why can’t I go home? 😀

Driving directions cannot be determined between these locations.

-Yahoo! Maps

We could not calculate driving directions between Bangkok and Manila.

Google Maps

The Challenge of the Superduperfriends

My friend and former colleague, Jonas Diego, recently announced the completion of the Superduperfriend site. The site is a satire of US politicians. I haven’t seen the video, for some reason or another I just can’t view it here in Thailand, I’ll try it in the Internet Cafe. Meantime, enjoy. Here’s an excerpt of Jonas’ blog entry about his project.

It’s a parody animation/video we made based on the Saturday morning cartoon, Challenge of the Superfriends (remember the good ole days?). Only instead of Superman, Batman, and Wonder Woman we got the US Presidential Candidates duking it out in four color wonder.

Nominee for blogger’s choice award (UPDATE)

My good online buddy, Massa P., was kind enough to nominate Blogbastic! as best blog about stuff. 🙂 This is my first nomination but not sure if I would survive the contest as I’m pitted against some of the most read blogs on the blogosphere but it’s a good experience anyway.

You have to register though before you can vote. Unfortunately, I cannot vote for Massa P, or the other blogs or even my blog as I might violate the TOS I have here on wordpress.  I’m still on free blog. As I’ve told Massa P., I might just have to watch the votes from the sidelines and see if my blog will earn some votes.  With the registration requirement, any blogger who would take time to vote suuuuuureeeeely loooooovvvee Blogbastic!

For some reason or another, I was able to register just now and have an option to sign up or NOT with PPP (25 april, 9am bangkok time). So, again the invitation still holds, please vote and yes, the registration was not that tedious after all. 🙂 

One Day Blog Silence on 30 April

INQUIRER.net Blogs

Although not as fancy as gmanews.tv’s blog network page, you can find all of INQUIRER.net Blogs in one site. From one, they now have 11 blogs covering almost everything from technology, entertainment, money to current events. 🙂

• Joey Alarilla‘s @play blogging about technology.
• Inquirer.net blog team’s Blog Addicts blogging everything about blogging. 
• Salve Duplito’s Money Smarts blogging about “personal finance, business, financial independence, the economy and [how to give] the rat race a kick on the butt.”
• Inquirer.net’s Eleksyon 2007 blogging the Philippine 2007 election
• Babe Republic, Joey’s blog about the hottest babes, nope not the pig, but the gals! 🙂
• Manuel L. Quezon III and John Nery‘s Current blogging about current events. 
• Hackenlash blog about gaming.
• Ruben Nepales’ The Nepales Report blogging about the entertainment industry.
• Inside Science blogging about science.
• Vox Populi is the collective blog of Inquirer.net readers, where they can write their minds.
• Soundtrip blogging about music.

Now we have more than one choices in one roof.

When newsmen become the news (UPDATE)

The last thing that any journalist would want to end up with is being the news themselves. So, when I’ve learned that the Philippine Daily Inquirer issued a statement regarding a reported slay try on my former colleague, Mr. Delfin Mallari, Jr., it took me a while to believe what I’m reading. 

I met Ka Jun during one bureau meeting in Lucena City back when I was still with the PDI as a correspondent sometime between 1999 and 2000. I remember that my first impressions of him was that he’s a kind person, humble and seem to be a principled journalist add to that he’s quite a funny guy, too. His slay try came just a day after another newsman was found dead, apparently killed because of his chosen profession.

If you’re a journalist in the Philippines and your in a critical area covering a critical beat especially politics, drugs or illegal gambling, expect the worse to happen anytime you hit a sensitive spot of the industry. So, this would mean that your closest family member should be prepared when the time/day comes for you to be the news. I remember covering the news on the illegal numbers game or Jueteng in Laguna. One of my stories was published. A few days after, suspicious-looking men began surveying our house and was asking for me. It was pretty scary to think that I haven’t written, yet, a critical or explosive story. Suddenly, covering the games of the defunct Metropolitan Basketball Association became interesting. 🙂

National Union of Journalists of the Philippines Chairperson Joe Torres described the events this week as another dark period for Philippine Media. He cited a number of cases of harrassment against journalists in just one week all over the country.

Ka Jun might have survived the slay try and I’m pretty sure that he’ll continue what he loves best but the bullet that almost took his life is still lodged in his body. A grim reminder that his chosen profession is anything but safe.

Ka Jun, second from left, during a rally in August 2004 in front of Camp Crame. They were condemning unresolved killings of journalists in the country. Three years after, he was almost one of the statistics. (From Prof. Danny Arao’s site)

DATESTAMP: 23 April 2007; 10.14pm, Bangkok time

Most of my Filipino readers might have read it over the Philippine Daily Inquirer but here’s an excerpt of Ka Jun’s thoughts on his slay try:

I now realize that being a part of a big national media entity, like the Philippine Daily Inquirer, and being a responsible media practitioner no longer guarantee one’s personal security.

I used to read in various articles about the Philippine media industry being under siege and about journalists being abducted, maimed, tortured and killed by enemies of press freedom.

After condemning the attacks, my naïve, provincial journalist frame of mind just brushed them off as part of the hazards of the profession. I thought that I would never be physically harmed as I had been circumspect in all my writings, no matter how explosive the topic was.

But these justifications seem not valid anymore.

Inquirer.net & CNN.com blocked in Thailand??? (UPDATE)

(I originally posted this at around 8.30pm, Bangkok time, 11 April please read my update on this post below) 

I usually surf the news on the Internet after office hours, however, I was surprised of what I’ve discovered tonight. At about 8.06pm, Bangkok time, I typed Inquirer.net and this is what I’ve got.  

I’m not sure what’s happening but apparently after Youtube, Inquirer.net and CNN.com got the ire of the Thai Government for some reason.  

This is hot news, I informed Joey and Erwin re the possible blockade for their info. I said to myself, this might be an error on my computer, I refreshed my laptop but the same window.

I tried to check Inquirer Bloggers, to my relief, I can still view the site. 

I surfed CNN.com. Surprise, surprise, this is what I’ve got.

The small English script reads as follows:

ict.cyberclean.org

( Sorry! the web site you are accessing has been blocked by ministry of information and communication technology )

I lost my contacts in CNN so I’m not sure how to inform them but I’m sure they’ve already noticed as they have a regional office here in Bangkok.

They usually do this for pornographic sites but Inquirer.net and CNN.com?? Their news might be too sizzling for the Thai government, well I hope I’m wrong. I tried to key in other news media addresses. Al-Jazeera and BBC are still up, so I might probably be wrong and this might be a simple case of technical mistake???

****

Time stamp: 11.43pm, Bangkok Time, 11 April 2007 

I’m really puzzled of what happened early this evening it’s like I entered a Twilight Zone! When I surfed the internet just to check on the latest on Inquirer.net there was this announcement from Thailand’s Ministry of Information and Communication Technology. Good thing there’s print screen, so I have an evidence of what I saw and that I’m not just hallucinating.

After blogging about this apparent blockade, I tried to access the Tagalog site of WordPress. Guess what? I was directed to the cyberclean webpage again. I tried to access wordpress.com, while I was able to access it it was in its naked glory. I tried to access Chuckie’s website, it was also blocked!??? (hmm, is it because of Antoniella??).

I’ve received an inquiry from Yuga as to what ISP I’m hooked on, I was on True, which is a private company here. I took his lead and tried to ask my friends based here in Thailand to further confirm the possible blockade. A friend, who’s served by TOT, said the sites that I claimed to be blocked were fine (CNN, Inquirer.net, Tagalog WordPress, A Day In The Life, and yes even my blog), she can read all the news and all my blog entries! (by that time, I couldn’t access or update my blog on Blogbastic! as in only that site, I still have access to my other blogs on wordpress though).

Alas, when I asked two other friends, one confirmed that Inquirer.net was blocked the other confirmed that my blog was blocked, they were also on True. In the process of confirming the sites that they are surfing, one of them told me that she can now has access to part of my blog! I was puzzled and then after a while she can read most of the entries on my blog.

When I checked on my laptop, typed CNN, then Inquirer.net on one tab, then Chuckie’s blog on another, then WordPress Tagalog on another then my blog on another tab–I can see, I can see all of them (sigh…).

It made sense to me now, that last year, I started a blog for a network of communications officer here in the region and even before I could populate it with entries, it got blocked also by the MICT for some reason. When I emailed them for an explanation, no reply was made, I guess if this block was eventually for a longer period, my inquiries would have landed on deaf ears, too.

It was a great relief (to know I still have access on this blog in Bangkok, THAILAND!), puzzling but a bit scary. I’m supposed to be on a blogging hiatus because of an office work load and, have to admit this, because of the contagious moods of Massa P. and Shari. But this event was too good to pass not to be blogged.

Sayang I thought I had a scoop already, but that’s fine at least I have access to my blog again. Now, I can really relate to people having a site and then censored for no reason at all–I mean really no reason or provocation. Enough said.

Lastly, many thanks to Abe, Erwin and Joey for having the time to look into this info. Thanks to Liza and Danny, Mel and Ligh for helping me confirm this event.