I chanced upon The Cheese Companion Second Edition by Judy Ridgway in my local bookstore the other day. Much like the author, I am really interested in cheese, though I couldn't say I sampled more than the fingers I have in my hands. The cheeses I had weren't exactly the gourmet variety, more like the Industrial-era produced counterparts. But despite that, sampling some of them during Christmas season (cheese balls or queso de bola) when they are usually made better than the rest of the year and an occasional chance to get served in some cocktails kept my interest in it. Somehow, my intuition reasoning, if something of this quality tastes good, how much more is the real thing! I have to say, just likethe author, I would choose cheese over chocolate anyday (only pure dark chocolates could probably be a rival). And so it was really a joy for me to have bought the book and started on a journey of knowing more about this fascinating food.




I am currently into the history of cheese section of the book, and already it's raising my level of enthusiasm and inquisitiveness. I won't be surprising myself if I start a dedicated blog on cheese anyday soon. And I think I would spend the rest of this week thinking how I could get into all those wonderful places and sample their cheeses.

If you have any interest in cheese, do leave your comments along with information on the resources you have on this wonderful food. It might turn out there are a lot of us than we thought.

I was searching for something else today when I found this interesting thread which is basically discussing a question which goes like this: "Are all these talks about simple living just another term for giving up?" I have to say the discussion was quite lively, entertaining, and thought-provoking. Enough to make me take a look at the forum's host site which is WiseBread. It's basically a site which host forums on frugal living. What frugal living means isn't really clear to me at the moment. But as I take a look at the stuff that floats around the site, I get the feeling that frugal living is simply finding your own spot where you don't sacrifice the quality of your life for quantity. I guess that would be better than simply saying it's about saving, spending less, getting out of debt, having an "easier" job, etc., which I think somehow discredits the whole philosophy of it and makes those who adhere to it appear lazy and out of touch with reality.

On a personal note, I try to follow these simple (no pun intended) rules:

1. I try to spend less than what I earn (basic basic basic)
2. I try to see if the second alternative can be as good as the first (and usually more expensive) choice, given my purpose.
3. I try to postpone expenses if it would mean incurring a debt.

There's a still couple more things I follow, but the three above usually influences most of my financial decisions.

How about you? Are you following any site that features stuff on frugal living? Do you practice it as well? Do share it with us.

Internet chess has expanded the horizons for chess players in many ways. They are no longer limited to their long-term pals, important as they may be. They can now play at their convenient time, with a player across the globe who probably has his feet in the air as well at that time. And with the development of correspondence chess in the net from the simple emails to server-based sites, this manner of playing chess has become as prominent as its real-time game counterpart.

If you are not familiar with correspondence chess, it is a way of playing chess that usually takes a considerable amount of time, usually days or weeks, since the players are not usually present at the same time. Usual time controls involves making a number of moves within a number of days or weeks. The earliest versions of correspondence chess involves mailing the moves to the other player via the post, or snail mail. With the increased usage of e-mails, moves are now transmitted to the other player as email messages. Now, there are dedicated websites that would store a player's move to their servers, waiting for the other player to make a reply when he logs in. In each case, the basic characteristic that the other player need not be present for the game to progress is retained. Many players who play correspondence chess do so because the extended amount of time per move allow for more analysis and reflection, which can then be utilized in on-the-board games.

Schemingmind is a site dedicated to correspondence chess. In addition to hosting standard chess games, it also features chess variants, all using correspondence chess time controls. It has become a sort of hub for enthusiasts of chess variants. Some of the features of the site include:

  • Free lifetime membership, with restrictions
  • A significant number of chess variants, with a considerable number of player-enthusiasts
  • Use of the "Fischer clock", wherein time increments are added to a player's time everytime he makes a move, replenishing his clock and ensuring a more even time consumption and prevents the "mindless rushing" in the last few minutes in normal game controls
  • Variable time control lengths, as short as less than a week to as long as a month of time bank, with variable increments as well
  • Access to game database and annotated games
  • Option to join teams organized by country or genre
  • Active, educational forum

Surely this article will not be able to cover the dynamics of correspondence chess as well as expound on all the features of Schemingmind. But I hope it sparked your interest to find out more about correspondence chess. Do check out Schemingmind as well (click the pic at the top).

Ever had those situations when you wish you hadn't punched the ENTER button that sent out that email? Well, Google is out to help you not make that same mistake again, at least for certain times of the week. Mail Goggles is a setting you can turn on in Google Mail that will challenge you to a set of questions designed to check if you still have your wits on and really intent on sending that email. The challenge screen looks like the one at the top (click to go to Google blog for the rest of the info). As a default, Mail Goggles is only active on late night on the weekend, which they think is the time that you need it most (late party, anyone?)

I haven't tried the feature yet, as I am not really using GMail as my default email. But it gives me pause to try GMail more often. And don't worry, I am really sober when I sent this out.

Level Up! games is all set to launch the Closed Beta Testing (CBT) of Rohan Online Philippines on February 26, 2009. To celebrate this and to encourage gamers to try out the game, Level Up! will be raffling off a Nintendo DSi and a gaming laptop to players of the CBT who have reached at least level 20 by March 11, 2009.

You can check out the rest of the details as well as download the CBT installer by clicking the pic above, which will take you to the official Rohan Philippines site. The installer is a bit large at 1.5Gb, so you may opt to try getting it some other way. Level Up! says you can try obtaining a copy from Netopia branches (for a minimal fee for CD burning, I think) or you can have a FREE CD copy delivered to your home via Auction.ph. You have to pay the delivery fee, though, which costs P60.00 (plus transaction fees for the payment mode chosen) for Metro Manila deliveries.


Rohan Online is a free-to-play MMORPG (with item mall), set on the continent of Rohan. Players has six character classes to choose from, which like in most MMORPGs, actually complement each other's strengths and weaknesses. The game tend towards intensive player interaction, as it features guild wars, town ownerships, and individual PVP. This is actually a trend in current MMORPGs. I have yet to see the rest of the game features for myself, as I have not played the international version. And with the prizes Level Up! is offering, I see no reason to hold back.

See you in-game soon!

Well, it's actually 90 days, but like what is said in the program, there are two "grace" days included. I first found out about B90 (their shorthand for this) through an email alert, and got curious enough to check out the site. The site's name basically says what the goal is: finish reading the Bible in 90 days or less. This can be done as an individual, small group, or even as a church. The site offers a variety of resources and activities that can help one achieve the goal. These include an edition of the Bible specifically printed for this campaign, as well as reading guides, instructional materials, etc. It also features related activities and testimonials.

The Bible in 90 days ministry was founded by Ted Cooper Jr. He started by developing Bible reading curriculums for his local church and community, which later expanded and led to his leaving his career and going full-time into the ministry.

I was going through the reading guide, the one for an individual's daily reading. For someone who has repeatedly tried to read through the Bible in a year, the daily assignment is quite daunting. I didn't checked it all, but the fact that I have to read 16 chapters of Genesis at the very first day seems, well, scary and unattainable. I can barely read 3 chapters a day, let alone make it consistent on a daily basis. But like what Ted Cooper is saying, maybe planning to finish it in a year makes it more difficult than doing it in three months, simply because the end of the goal is quite nearer if done in a quarter of a year. Nevertheless, I think it would require a great deal of effort and dedication to go through this program. Plus of course, a great deal of outside help, prone as we are to neglect of the more important things in life.

How about you? Have you tried this program? Are you interested in doing so? Well, you can go over to the site, download a reading plan, and go through it.

Let me know what you think about this, and what progress you are making if you are doing this.

This film is a documentary by Michael Moore, of the Fahrenheit 9/11 and Bowling with Columbine fame, two of his other films that I suppose are more widely known than the others. In his trademark style of combining "facts" (reader beware, as always) with interviews, he delves into the state of health care in America, and compared it side by side with the health care programs of other countries such as France, Canada, and Cuba. Moore paints a gloomy picture of the American health care system, where American citizens themselves are often not given the attention they need. He attributes this problem to the for-profit model of Health Maintenance Organizations (HMOs), in which the less they provide health care the better off is the company, which clashes with the original intention of privatizing the provision of health care to make it more efficient and available for everybody. He contrasted this with the health care systems of other countries where he paints a picture of health care that is dependent on a person's need, not on his "coverage", and which can even extend to non-citizens of said countries. Overall, he makes for a case of reform which gives an impression that he is advocating for a single-payer universal health care system. The term "universal health care" basically means that a person should be able to get health care affordably (or even free), promptly, and without conditions attached (such as pre-existing illnesses). Having a single payer implies that a centralized body such as a government agency is to be responsible for the provision of health care, and the compensation of those involved in providing these services.

As with any controversial issue, there will always be a plethora of information available for and against SiCKO (and by extension, Michael Moore himself). Most of these information are beyond the capability of an ordinary person to actually verify and vouch for its accuracy. But SiCKO was successful enough in challenging commonly held assumptions. Having a state-of-the-art hospital in Cuba is one such eye-opener for me, I have to admit I always had a bleak perception of Cuba's health care facilities. Also, the film was able to point out that the manner of delivery of common good such as health care should always be carefully considered, especially if there is a tendency for conflict with the profit motive. My own recent experiences with HMOs have not been encouraging themselves. And I still have to get over the fact that you will actually be penalizing yourself for disclosing a pre-existing condition, rather than getting the attention that you need.

As I can imagine the gargantuan task of having a single payer system (though it has been portrayed as having been implemented successfully in the countries featured) and comparing it with the get-away-with-what-you-can mentality of a fully privatized health care system, I am wondering if there are other alternatives. Can some form of government control actually be useful, maybe provide for regulation on what HMOs can and cannot do, even reining in excessive profit-taking? The question is: who would dare do that?

Let me hear your thoughts on this one.

The Gift (The Naming in USA release) is the first of four books written by Alison Croggon. It is an epic fantasy centering on a young girl named Maerad who has just come to the realization of her powers, just in time with the stirring of an evil out to cause destruction (aren't you glad the good is always just in time with evil). The book is engaging, while at the same time relaxing enough to be read before bedtime. I like the pacing which alternates between tense moments of life and death for Maerad and her mentor and friends as they are pursued by the forces of evil that is currently in power, albeit in disguise, in the highest seats of government. The characters has enough depth for a starter volume, but being a roleplayer that I am, I tend to expect more. The plot is simple enough, yet novel enough for me to hang on and read through the end. The ending provides an anticipation and a longing to continue reading to the next volume.

Click on the book to get to the official website.

What is your age, your real age?

This is the question RealAge attempts to answer for you. The first thing you can do at the site is to have your RealAge computed for you, by answering a series of questions ranging from hereditary traits to diet and lifestyle. Each answer you provide carries a weight that will either add or deduct from your calendar age to arrive at your "biological" age. The result is then summarized for you as a health action plan on what you should continue to do and what you should start having second thoughts doing in the future.
As with any mass-market approach in making estimates, RealAge relies primarily on averages, which is both a good and bad thing. Averages tend to even out extremes and in most situations provide a more conservative estimate. This can mean that you are even younger than what the results would indicate. But since this is based on averages, situations specific to you as a person may be overlooked. The way some questions are posed may also allow for some bias on your part to creep in. This may be unintentional and may just be a result of one's current mood or perception.

In addition to computing your RealAge, the site also features several specific and in-depth tests, such as diets, sleep, and exercise. You can also sign up to receive a daily e-mail of tips.

Although RealAge can never replace a regular checkup with your doctor, just having it around and being reminded of it daily (if you subscribed to the email alerts) can help to put you on the track to getting fit and healthy. You can also invite your friends to check out who among you is the youngest.

Go visit the site now and start living your life to the youngest!

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