Do you lack passion? Are you going through the motions?

I wanted to share this song with you because it's very encouraging and I hope it gives you a reminder or a new perspective today about being passionate about your personal life, your work life, and your spiritual life.

In my tiny sliver of existence of three decades, I've learned that often times I can feel that life is stale.

Personal. For instance, in our personal lives, we might find after years of spending time with a love one, we "feel" that we are too distant.

Business. Or it could be in our workplace, after months or years in a job, we "feel" that we're no longer passionate about it.

Spiritual. Or in our spiritual life, we may say that we believe in God, say the right words, go to church services every weekend, yet outside of that, we don't really talk to Him. Only when we are in deep trouble do we even think of reaching out to Him.

If this sounds too familiar, then you have been to a place that all of us go through: a wilderness. It's a place where there's a lack of feeling, a lack of passion, it eats at us slowly. Typically it isn't an instant ride there, it takes one compromise after another, a feeling after another, one turn after the next until we find ourselves at a dead end.

I learned the hard way on September 1998 that I can't afford to be in the wilderness with my life. (Ask me later what happened.) I can't afford to have regrets, I can't afford to ask, "what if?". I was taught that my life on earth, in a very real way, could be gone in seconds, in minutes. It was the greatest life lesson that one could ask for. I was forced to stare at death and it stared back at me.

Make the best of life, choose to be happy, choose not to be numb to the world around you. Make a difference, look at your love ones, look at the people around you, and look to God even for the smallest needs.

Life is too short for this junk. Don't go through the motions, put passion behind your work, your loved ones, and be real with God. Wake up with energy, eat a full meal at the beginning of your day, then drive the rest of the day with passion because this life is a gift, and it's too short to waste. Before you take a full rest of sleep, check yourself in the mirror, did you try your best in your personal, work, and spiritual life? If you did, smile, pray, then sleep well. If you didn't, smile, pray, then sleep well. :-)

So without further ado, here's the song by Matthew West, called "The Motions". I have included the lyrics below and the YouTube song clip. You can buy it on Amazon for $0.99 cents.

This might hurt
It’s not safe
But I know that I’ve gotta make a change
I don’t care
If I break
At least I’ll be feeling something
‘Cause just ok
Is not enough
Help me fight through the nothingness of life

I don’t wanna go through the motions
I don’t wanna go one more day
Without Your all consuming passion inside of me
I don’t wanna spend my whole life asking
What if I had given everything?
Instead of going through the motions

No regrets
Not this time
I’m gonna let my heart defeat my mind
Let Your love
Make me whole
I think I’m finally feeling something

Take me all the way
Take me all the way
Take me all the way

Also here's another important principle: ask someone to pray for you!

Practical Review: Apple iPad (iOS) vs. Motorola XOOM vs. Samsung Galaxy Tab

Summary:

I've been lucky enough to be able to play with the three tablets and I wanted to get my two cents out there to see which one is "better".

Breakdown:

Speed. Motorola XOOM beats out the Galaxy Tab and the iPad. The CPU that the Tab and iPad uses are essentially the same, with the iPad having less components. The XOOM on my benchmark tests were 3x as fast. XOOM wins hands down.

Video chat.  XOOM and Galaxy Tab can do it.  I must admit it was kinda cool at first video chatting with my wife the other day.  Then we had a tiny argument about something and I think the facial expressions just further aggravated it.  So I'm not going to score this yet.  But just know, iPad is a loser here and in the camera category.

Internet surfing/browsing. Galaxy Tab wins for Flash support. XOOM is a faster experience, but no native Flash support yet. iPad's smooth browsing experience is good, but scores less overall against the two since it's slower, and there's no Flash support at all. Galaxy Tab wins, with XOOM a close second.

Applications/development. For sure iPad would have won this...until the revolution. No, not the Libyan revolution. The app developer revolution. Apple has ticked off big publishers and the little guys all at once with a 30% tax on in-subscription sales. Most of the top Apple apps have already been ported in the Android Market -- so yes you Angry Bird lovers, I've played it both on the Galaxy Tab and the XOOM. But boy those pigs are hard to bust after level 20! And for the "oh one inch of my screen is left empty because developers haven't fitted to the screen size" -- well kids, either use the Spare Parts app to do that, or just wait. Stop being a weemer. Galaxy and XOOM tie. Apple loses for being greedier.

Portability. Steve Jobs I think made a huge mistake by saying 7" tablets have no future. He could have helped define two markets, one for the 10" stay at home/office/couch/toilet types and the 7" go anywhere because it's portable and fits in my jacket types. I belong to the latter camp. I like to move, I like to go to places and take photos, I like to travel. I'm also the type that surfs on the Internet in the middle of nowhere, whether I'm climbing the slippery slopes of Mt. Kanlaon or I'm in a hot air balloon show, I want to be able to take pictures on a tripod plus my other hand looking at emails. If I'm in an airplane bunched up like a sardine, I want to fit healthy plane food on my tray, plus have a taste of Philippine Airlines' world renown wide assortment of beverages (water) and still have room on my tray to watch a movie with my tablet. The iPad and the XOOM sadly will not address this. Galaxy Tab wins hands down.

Hackability, customization. Have you seen the flying robot Kinect hack? The one that uses the sensors of XBOX's Kinect to be able to have better 3D depth perception? I'm not going to use my tablets for any Skynet hacks anytime soon less I want to be the Terminator's next target, but I do like the fact that you can modify Android tablets and hack 'em to do what you want. Motorola announced on Twitter that XOOM would have an unlocked bootloader. NICE. First thing that popped up in my mind was interlinking XOOMs in building architecture, using it like StarTrek touch/display consoles. But in all seriousness, Motorola gets street credit for being the first to unlock their premium Android tablet bootloader. XOOM wins.

Storage. Galaxy Tab and XOOM (in the future) takes in extra storage capacity. Extremely helpful when I have little kids competing for movies to watch on road trips or plane trips. I hookup my Galaxy Tab to the TV using its proprietary AV cable or hook it up to my car DVD player that has USB hookups. From Bible stories to Dora to Spongebob, I have an unlimited virtual home entertainment collection for the kiddos in these tiny little miniSD cards that probably should carry a choking hazard label. Tab and XOOM wins.

Snob aura. Apple wins hands down. "I just buy it cause it's Apple." Yep... You know who I'm talking about.  Apple wins.

Price. I bought Samsung Galaxy Tab in the Philippines for less than $85 USD, with a two year unlimited data plan (+voice) contract of $45/month USD. It's cheaper than the XOOM ($599+ w/ VZ contract) and the iPad ($499+).  And in an era when bottled water cost more than gas, every penny counts. Galaxy wins.

Conclusion:

If you are like me where pricing, and portability is important to you, Galaxy Tab edges out from the rest of the pack despite the fact that it has less CPU power.  It offers "more bang for the buck".  XOOM though is a close second.

If you are the couch potato, or office/home user that want raw power and multitasking supremacy, XOOM would be the next choice. The XOOM can probably run Skynet, thanks to Motorola's unlocked bootloader and powerful CPU. And the SuperBowl commercial? Epic. And yes, XOOM would win this fight once it is 100% complete -- LTE speeds, Flash support, SD support. It's all coming in subsequent updates.

If you want the extra snob effect or just have a general need for Big Apple to watch over you, taking and sucking money out of your margins when you make a subscription-based app, iPad is still there.

I built my first Android app for my kiddos

I love Android!

One of the main reasons I like Android vs. the iPad/iPhone's iOS operating system is the freedom of choice. You can customize your Android phone above and beyond the original factory settings.

You can install custom ROMs, improve on the software, natively watch Flash videos and animations, and generally just have the ability to use the hardware that you bought anyway you want to...but you can also create your own apps!

How to create your own Android apps!

It doesn't take that much know how, and I wanted to entertain my kids a little bit with some of their favorite cartoon characters.

So in this app you can poke several characters from Cars, Barbie, Dora, and Veggie Tales. It plays small snippets of video that I just pulled out of YouTube and created a local copy so it doesn't even need any data connection (also why it's 9mb in size!).

This took me one morning to build and most of that time was setting up Java SDK and downloading Samsung Galaxy Tab's driver to make my PC work in USB debugging mode for Windows 7 (64-bit). After all of that was done, I was able to easily build the app using Google's Block Builder and App Inventor platform.

This type of stuff is encouraging -- because it basically allows novices like me to be able to create very easy apps. If one had the time to study and do reference work, you could really do some amazing apps for your Android phone or tablet...

At any rate, if you want to see this app, check it out here:

Download Kaycee and Baby Don's App

Why Filipino drug mules should be punished!

There's been a lot of media attention and press lately about saving Filipino criminals abroad for drug trafficking.  Am I the only one that disagrees with this?

A drug mule is someone who smuggles drugs into a country or area for a smuggling organization.

China was about to execute three Filipino drug mules, Ramon Credo, 42, Sally Villanueva, 32, and Elizabeth Batain, 38, for carrying 4,000 to 6,800 grams of heroin. They were arrested in three separate incidents in 2008.

Philippine vice president, Jejomar Binay, personally came to China this week to plead for clemency on their behalf.

China's Supreme Court apparently postponed the executions in response to the Philippines government's request, and to show gratitude in response to the Philippines' decision to skip out last December's Nobel Peace Prize ceremony.  As some of you may know, the first Chinese citizen to be recognized for the Prize is a convicted criminal in China for pushing democratic reforms in the country.

Aquino: What message are you sending?
While this show of Asian diplomatic love is heart warming, I have to pose a moral question to the Philippine government.

What message are you sending? We will bow down and throw away the principles of democracy and celebration of free speech (Nobel Peace Prize) so that we can save drug traffickers that kill and injure our children?

"Oh, how did that get there?"
These criminals can't exactly claim innocence when they are transporting ~9 to ~15 pounds of drugs! I highly doubt they are "victims" as Binay claims they are. A single gram of heroin in the United States is $300 USD, so one of these mules was carrying an equivalent of over $2.04 million worth of drugs!

These type of drugs kill. From what I understand, these criminals chose to be part of the killing spree. If they are guilty, they should face the consequences and not be treated as heroes.

This is not a diplomatic triumph for the Philippines, but an embarrassment.

Stand on principles Pinoys, or we stand on nothing at all.

Delta SkyMiles says no to mileage expiration

J.W. Robertson, Vice President of SkyMiles division sent a mass mailer this morning stating that Delta will no longer expire miles! Great news! Since I came from Northwest WorldPerk's program, where there was no expiration in the first place, it was distressing to hear that because of the merger with Delta, I would lose that privilege. Now I can retain my miles and "save up" for bigger and better things.

Keys to the Kingdom by Group 1 Crew Lyrics and Review: WOW 2010 Album

I just purchased WOW 2010, a collection of best Christian contemporary songs of that year. As I'm sifting through this album, I was impressed with the song "Keys to the Kingdom" by Group 1 Crew.

Review
The song starts easy, starts a little prayer and a bit slow explaining the great controversy of sin, Adam, and the fall of man. Then it moves to the message of victory, of salvation, that heaven is not hard, it isn't about what you do, but what's already been done by Jesus Christ. You already have the keys to heaven, all you have to do is accept Christ's salvation (the 'second' Adam) to get to the kingdom. You don't have to go to a priest, no confessions needed, no prayers dropped in a bucket, no money to pay for your sins -- God addresses you directly.

I like these guys style: the gospel message is creatively laid out, and the music targets a specific genre.

Keep it going Group 1 Crew! Keep the music goin', keep the gospel alive.

Lyrics

They say we're all in the pursuit of happiness A life that's fabulous we fight for our beliefs like an activist The struggles here can be seen across the atlas And it started when Adam chose to give up his palace Now the earth waits for its rightful owner 2,000 years ago the 2nd Adam told us the kingdom is at hand, died for the sins of man just so he can where we rule over the land meet every demand while nature waits for kings to take a stand so we need to understand we can change our circumstances the kingdom is therefore we choose when to advance it

CHORUS
You got the keys inside this kingdom, lift up your head is only begun, keep holding on and you'll see the Son everybody sing it now [x2]

I heard You say that You would die for me gladly give Your life for me, cry for me, all so I
could call You when I'm so in need of promises you've spoken, my heart was always broken cause
You gave the keys to life but in my pride I had them stolen, You say that you redeem us and
bring us to a place where we can see the keys can never be stolen they just misplaced and so we
rise from the ashes, stand before the masses proclaim the victory is ours and so we never give
up, even though times get hard to understand, its never enough for us to sit back and hope he
has a plan we gotta stand up and face the cold with a boldness that is focused on the fact we
have the keys so just believe there's nothing closed

So many promises You gave, and we just turned and walked away but now I see the price you paid was enough for us to live victorious

About Group 1 Crew
So I thought these guys were new but apparently they've been around for a couple of years. Dove Awards performance:

2008: Won "Rap/Hip Hop Album of the Year" and nominated "New Artist of the Year"

2009: Won "Rap/Hip Hop Album of the Year"

2010: Won "Rap/Hip Hop Recorded Song of the Year"

StarCraft II Game Review and How to Play

Ever since Microsoft knocked out Age of Empires by shutting down Ensemble Studios, a lot of AOE players have been looking for an alternative real time strategy game. And I think the search can end!

The other night I found a cheap copy of StarCraft II ($39 USD) at the local WalMart. It was a beat up box and I think they couldn't sell it, as the games typically cost $49 USD.

I heard about Blizzard's StarCraft/Warcraft games was never interested in it. However, this new version looked interesting and I thought I'd give it a try.

To my surprise, the game play experience felt like I was playing Age of Empires again, granted with less options and less races. But despite the fact it has less races, the campaign story was excellently written and the multiplayer experience was astoundingly fast! Due to Microsoft's lack of support in promoting the PC version of Age of Empires, the multiplayer experience has been suffering. But StarCraft II's multiplayer experience was instant. I was able to find players even with 4v4.

Suggestion to Blizzard
If I had to give this a rating of 1 to 10, I'd give it a 9.5. The only missing piece or feature I'd like to see is to find idle military. You can find idle workers but not idle military, which is a bit disappointing if you are used to that. Everything else is wonderful game play and creative programming.



Audience
If you have someone that likes to play chess online or strategic video games (games that require you to think and use their brain power), then this game is definitely recommended.

How to Guides for Multiplayer
There's over 3 million people playing this game and it keeps going higher! But it's difficult to play online because other players have played this game even since the original release. No worries, there's a lot of beginner's guides online that will help you in your newbie bronze league stage.

Check out the forums, how to's and strategies at www.sc2gamers.com. You can find terran, zerg, and protoss advice from diamond league players and platinum players.

Wikipedia is humanity's greatest work. Happy 10 year anniversary.

Wikipedia is humanity's greatest work, and it also reflects mankind's personality: imperfect, always changing, always learning.

It embodies humanity's efforts to collectively bring together all pieces of information across all fields and studies from various editors and contributors around the world.

It has tremendously increased my understanding of everything. I have studied various topics from genetic mutations to satellite communications to astronomy with this encyclopedia.

The idea of having an "open" and free encyclopedia that can be modified, edited, researched, and critiqued is a reflection of the maturity of our information age.

Decades, if not hundreds of years from now it will be known as mankind's magnum opus, and dare I argue more than the space missions, or the discovery of nuclear fission. What greater power is there outside of the divine, than the collective knowledge, creativity, and ideas of mankind developed and stored into an easy to use, accessible repository. It is a force that drives and inspires innovative research.

Happy birthday Wikipedia.

May your mission hold steady.

May you inspire my children to learn, to critique and to contribute.

God bless.

Listening to WAY-FM in Asia by upgrading 1st iPod Touch to iOS 3

A few years back, my dad gave me an iPod Touch and it's one of those devices that never really got of any use. For one, I had a multitude of products that could play .mp3 songs, from my phones to my laptops. I really had no use for this tiny, sleek gadget. In fact, I gave it to my wife so she could play around with it.

Then the other night, I wanted to listen to my favorite Christian radio station, WAY-FM, which broadcasts from my hometown in Florida. I wanted to listen to it in the Philippines.

I knew the station had audio streaming online but I didn't want to turn on my PC. I also didn't want to use my cell phone. I simply wanted to hear it off the speakers like a "normal" radio station. Then it hit me, WAY-FM has an iPhone app!

After some research, I was able to find out that my tiny little 16GB iPod Touch (now my wife's), a first generation 620mhz device that has 128MB DRAM, can be upgraded to iOS 3 for a mere $4.99 on the iTunes Store. There's ways to do it for free but it's a bit of a hassle having to download the file manually.

I plunged on the five bucks installed iOS 3, and viola, I was able to install WAY-FM's streaming app for free. I plugged it in my wife's iPod home/speaker base and I was able to listen to the station as if I was in my home town.

Excellent. :-)

SSA L2765 C1 - Social Security fake letter? Identity theft scam?

Recently we received a letter in the mail asking for additional information about a real name and a social security number (SSN). Any time I get a request for any SSN numbers, I'm instantly suspicious. After all, your SSN is the source of your credit identity in the United States. The form is called "SSA-L2765-C1". It has a blue return envelope addressed to SOCIAL SECURITY ADMINISTRATION, WILKES BARRE DATA OPERATIONS CENTER, PO BOX 39, WILKES BARRE, PA 18767-0039.

After a few Google searches, I verified that the return address does belong to the Social Security agency. So this letter is legit, but you need to make sure if you receive something similar to this letter, to always verify.

This particular form is apparently attempting to correct discrepancies. Your employer may have submitted the incorrect name for your social security credits. If it's not corrected, you would not receive the proper amount in your SSN account.

Here's the official description from FedForms.gov:

Request for Self-Employment - SSA needs the information collected on Forms SSA-L2765, SSA-L3365, and SSA-L4002 in order to credit the reported earnings to the proper earnings record. When W-2 wage data for an individual cannot be identified, the data are placed in the earnings suspense file, and SSA sends decentralized correspondence (D?COR) to the employee (and in certain instances to the employer) in an attempt to obtain his/her correct name and SSN. If the respondent furnishes the name and SSN information which agrees with SSA's records, or provides information which resolves the discrepancy, the reported earnings are added to his or her Social Security record.

While this particular inquiry letter proved to be real for me, that may not be the case for you. Always, always, always, verify if it is a scam. People are always attempting to get your identity in one way, shape or form.

Amazon.com refuses to let me buy more Kinect units - limited purchase quantity?

I bought Kinect for a gift and after seeing how much fun it was, I wanted to purchase it for my house.  I wanted to buy it again from Amazon since they give me free two day shipping.  Unfortunately, my second attempt was a total failure.  They wouldn't let me buy it again since I was over my purchase limit.  Say what?

Here's the message I got: "We are sorry. This item has limited purchase quantity. Because you have purchased the maximum allowable quantity in the past you cannot buy any more units of this item."

I mean seriously? I can't buy more than one?  Even if the first one wasn't for my own?  That's insane.  Okay Best Buy, looks like you are getting my money.

Globe WiMax - Bacolod, Negros Performance

I moved to a new area that didn't have DSL from either PLDT or Globe.

I temporarily used pre-paid wireless Internet that gave me unreliable speeds and quality of service (QOS) problems. When I heard that Globe had WiMax capabilities in my area, I went to their SM Mall office and filled out an application form for their 1mbps plan ($25 USD/month or 995 pesos/month).

Within two days of paying their P500 setup fee, they were able to install an antenna, a HUAWEI Echolife BM622 WiMax-certified "modem" (more like a router), and a 15 meter cable that connects the antenna to the modem.

The setup was fast. I was on the Internet the moment the modem was turned on. At first, the connection speeds recorded by speedtest.net ranged somewhere in the vicinity of 500kbps. After sending text messages to the technician to make sure I'm provisioned at 1mbps, it was resolved and I was able to record 1mbps speeds consistently about 36 hours later.

(I also did some modifications to the QoS settings inside the modem and made sure it was maximized. You need to "borrow" the admin password by looking at the HTML source code of the login screen and logging in as "admin" and using the borrowed password.)

DSL vs. WiMax

In my previous residence I was using Globe DSL and I have to say, Globe's WiMax offering seems to be more reliable. Globe DSL always had quality of service issues, consistent lag or packet loss where as the WiMax seems to be more reliable in that regard. This is "my case" and you may experience something different in your area, especially if you live in an urban city like Metro Manila that may not have clear line of sight signals from your nearest Globe tower and you would probably fare better with fixed wired connections.

Can you use a wireless router with Globe's BM622?

The short answer is yes.

I didn't have to do anything special, I connected my D-Link wireless router and viola, it was managing and auto assigning the DHCP connections without having to change the IP range in the router. (If that sounds too geeky, I just said I plugged it in and it worked.)

In fact, I turned on my XBox's wireless adapter add-on and I was able to logon to XBox Live (after almost 1.5 years of inactivity).

Conclusion

I like it, I'm a fan, and I encourage others who want stable Internet at home to try this out.

I have always been a skeptic of wireless Internet delivered via cell towers, especially after my earlier experiments with AT&T's wireless data services in the U.S. almost five years ago. But when you are desperate for a stable Internet connection, you'll try anything -- even wireless Internet again. I'm pleasantly surprised that the much advertised technology upgrades of wireless Internet via 4G is actually true for my case.

The new WiMax service outperforms SmartBro's 3G USB modems and even Globe's own 3G USB modem. That's the nature of the beast, they are just different technologies and you have better signal strength with physical antennas being screwed on top of your roof.

XBox billing glitches hamper renewals

Incorrect information may stop XBox users from renewing

If you are attempting to renew your XBox Live Gold membership or sign up for the new family pack deals, you may experience a strange error when you attempt to renew. When I attempted to sign up a few minutes ago, it gave me this error code: "Uh oh... that shouldn't have happened. It appears you've found a glitch in the system." The console version of this is a status code error.

The worst part of this whole problem is that it did not offer me a solution or an alternative. It did not even offer a telephone number to call.

This is a revenue generating action and the console and the online site stops customers from executing and renewing. That's not good!

What does this error code mean?

For most users, it means you need to update your credit card and contact information in Microsoft's billing system.

A quick Google search of this error code shows thousands of dissatisfied users complaining about the problem and yet there's no "official" solution. The "advanced" users know there's a toll-free number to call (800-4MY-XBOX) and that they can get it fixed through a customer service representative. But this is also a problem -- every call a customer makes incurs a cost.

There's also some horror stories as well of double billing and credit card issues because anytime you add the human element to a broken automated process, there's increased chances of human error.

Microsoft engineers needs to post an online solution that can fix this problem.

As an XBox user concerned about future fees, I don't want the support cost of this product to go up, nor do I want anymore fee hikes. As a Microsoft shareholder, I also don't want the company to lose profits or customers due to this bad experience.

How'd I fix it without calling support?

I have experienced similar issues with XBox before and I found that you can update your Microsoft billing information online without having to call. The links below helped me get pass these errors and I finally was able to renew my membership WITHOUT calling billing support.

https://live.xbox.com/en-US/account: Update your contact information, email address, etc.

https://billing.microsoft.com/: Update your credit card information. Login to the online XBox/Windows Live community first.

I'm posting this hoping that Microsoft will implement a permanent fix and users have an alternative to fixing this problem without having to call.

Large Flying Fox (Pteropus vampyrus)-1476

Large Flying Fox (Pteropus vampyrus)-1476
Originally uploaded by Don Sausa

Location: Mt. Kanlaon National Park, Philippines

I'm not a fan of bats, but for me to not photograph them while I'm in Negros would be a crime. So I'm paying respects to these endangered animals.

They roost along with other species of bats like the Giant golden-crowned flying fox (Acerodon jubatus) which I also photographed. If someone wants to really see them, let me know, otherwise, it will just remain in my storage drives.

My mountain guide showed me a spot above the Mambukal Mountain Resort and I had the bats at eye level.

Despite the funky "vampyrus" name to it, these bats are fruit bats. I believe they are the main reason why I found santol fruit trees (Sandoricum koetjape) at the primary forest in Mt. Kanlaon. There's no farming or human activity up there.

Fixing my 1TB USB drive: Seagate FreeAgent Go 1 TB USB 2.0 Review

I wanted to do a quick write up of Seagate's FreeAgent Go 1TB USB drive. I bought it in May 2010 and it stopped working for me over the weekend (October 2010).

I'm very careful with my drives as I have a significant amount of photographs and wildlife videos in them. I plugged it in this weekend and I was shocked that it wouldn't read my drive.  The power light turned on but I didn't see Windows recognizing the drive.  I tried to hear if there was any physical damage and wasn't able to detect the usual audible "clicks" that sometimes occur when your drives crash.

I had two choices: attempt to open it myself and fix something, or send it in for repair under Seagate's five year warranty.  The problem with the latter choice is that potentially, Seagate would just ship me a new drive and wipe out my old data.   That would be a disaster.  My hard drive was worth $100 or so, but the data that's in it is priceless.

Choice 1: Fix it!


1. I opened up the top container of the drive with a small screwdriver.  It needs to be a small screwdriver, like the ones used for eye glasses.  The yellow arrows in the image below shows where the glue is placed so the container would stick.  Aside from the glue and a small LED cable, there's nothing else holding the container panel together.

2. The red arrow shows the LED power cable.  Even if you damage it, it won't hurt your data or your hard drive.  I originally thought this was something important but all it does is power up the LED lights so that you know the hard drive is turned on when you plug it in.

3. The green arrow shows where the problem was.   The power connector / data connector was loose.  Every time I plugged it in, the contacts weren't connecting properly.  Once I pushed it back in and held it steady a piece of paper folded several times (or you can use foam), the hard drive was readable again.

Success!  I didn't lose 700 GB of data on my 1TB drive.

I have no doubt that by opening this I may have voided my warranty.  So be warned if you are thinking about fixing your own hard drive.  You have to understand which is more important to you.


Will I buy this hard drive again?

There's some reviews online from Amazon and other sites that their hard drives of the same models crashed. Some talked about hardware issues like faulty sectors, but I believe some also were affected by this "loose connector" issue.

At any rate, now that I know it's a relatively easy fix if this happens to me again, I will continue to buy this model. Overall it is reliable except for that one loose part that can be remedied with one quick fix.

Intermediate Egret (Ardea intermedia)

Intermediate Egret (Ardea intermedia)-1977
Originally uploaded by Don Sausa

Location: Bgy. Sum-ag, Bacolod City, Negros Island, Philippines

A Scottish birder, Gerry Brett, who resides in Thailand stopped by in Bacolod and did some sorties with me. He told me of a great spot he found in Barangay Sum-ag. When we got there, the tide was still pretty high. As we managed our way through, a fisherman told us (in Ilonggo) that there were birds coming in at 5:30pm.

Roughly around that time, literally hundreds of Intermediate Egrets (Ardea intermedia) flooded the sky. This was the largest colony I have ever personally seen in the Philippines. What a miracle! It was a testament to the egrets' ability to survive despite destruction of their original habitats.

The Intermediate Egret (Ardea intermediam) is a medium-sized heron. It is a resident breeder from east Africa across tropical southern Asia to Australia. This species, as its scientific name implies, is intermediate in size between the Great Egret and smaller white egrets like the Little Egret and Cattle Egret, though nearer to Little than Great. It has all-white plumage, generally dark legs and a thickish yellow bill. The sexes are similar.

China's secret weapon: rare earth materials

How China forced Japan to bow

China showed its hand this month on how powerful it has become in using its economic power to influence foreign governments. While nuclear weapons and military capabilities no doubt still is the ultimate deterrent and measurement of a superpower, it is nothing in comparison to the economic weapons that can be used in times of peace.

On September 8th, the Japanese coast guard captured a Chinese fishing vessel in the disputed territory of Senkaku Islands and arrested it's captain. Japanese prosecutors were attempting to put him through an official court hearing. However, China demanded his immediate release arguing that the arrest was illegal.

Japanese prosecutors initially resisted releasing the Chinese national, but eventually bowed to pressure in less than a week after Chinese customs officials stopped rare earth shipments to Japan.

The unofficial export ban (an official ban would violate WTO rules) of these important raw materials would critically endanger Japan's economy in the long term. The materials are needed for manufacturing sophisticated electronic components that are used in batteries, aircraft parts, cars, cameras, cell phones, and military equipment.

Japan also has no choice but to buy from China. According to the U.S. Geological Survey, out of the 124,000 tons of rare earth materials that are sold annually worldwide, China ships 97% of it.

An April 2010 report by the U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO) also highlights America's weaknesses to China's monopoly and could find itself in a situation similar to Japan. The report states it will take nearly 15 years before the United States can wean itself off from foreign supply chains.

How China almost took control of Mountain Pass, California

The largest rare earth mine that's not in China or under Chinese control can be found in Mountain Pass, California. It was nearly purchased by a Chinese company when the U.S. oil company, Unocal, was up for bid in 2005. Thankfully, there was a lot of domestic opposition to the sale.

While Congress and the media was focused on the negative consequences of foreign influence on our energy supply (as if there's not enough), many did not notice that Unocal owned the Mountain Pass mine. In fact, I would argue that the only reason why China was interested in Unocal at all was because of the mine. With it, they could solidify their total control of rare earth materials and could leverage that into political power against the United States and other countries, as we have witnessed in Japan.

What can you do?

Educate yourself and write a letter to your congressman. Support alternatives to China's monopoly of rare earth materials and have Congress approve incentives to kick start our domestic supply. Besides, who would want to have a shortage on aircraft maintenance supplies or batteries for your latest gadget and electric powered cars?

"Swiss Valley: A glimpse of heaven"

"Swiss Valley: A glimpse of heaven"
Originally uploaded by Don Sausa

Jen and I were on a small train to the Jungfrau-Aletsch Protected Area, the only World Heritage Site in the Alps. We had to go to this small town called Grindelwald which you see in the valley below. That town's at 4,000 feet above sea level and I'm guessing here, but I took this shot probably around 5,000 feet.

I can honestly say that this valley is one of the most beautiful places I have ever been to. Simply, simply amazing. It makes you want to think what heaven would be like.

I didn't know this until later but Grindelwald's very popular in film:

- Many scenes of the documentary film The Alps were shot in the region of Grindelwald.
- The James Bond film, On Her Majesty's Secret Service includes a chase through a skating rink and Christmas festival in Grindelwald.
- Grindelwald's mountains were used as the basis for the view of Alderaan in Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith.
- Some of the action scenes in The Golden Compass were also shot in Grindelwald.
- JK Rowling is said to have used the name of 'Grindelwald' in the creation of her character; Gellert Grindelwald, in the Harry Potter novels.

Equipment: Canon 7D + Canon 17-40mm f/4L: 1/160 secs, f8, ISO 100
Composition notes: The valley starts from the bottom right of the frame and leads to the top of the mountain.

Hova Bator Air Flowing Incubator Review

Incubator with quail and hen eggs.

I've recently hatched 15 chicks: 5 Japanese quail (Coturnix japonica), and 10 regular chickens after one month of use in my awesome new Hova Bator. The setup wasn't as simple as I thought. There's a few included parts that you have to install:

1. You have to actually screw in a small piece of metal called a thermostat wafer.
2. Lay down a piece of plastic and put a little bit of warm water.
3. Then a small metallic screen where you put the eggs on top of it.

After all of the parts are installed, you can then turn it on and just put the eggs in! I've managed to put in a mix of quail and chicken eggs together with no problems, although you have to make sure the new hatchings don't trample over the eggs that haven't hatched yet.

It will maintain 100 F degrees and have a fan spinning the entire time it's operating.

Excellent experiment for my kids to play around with.

Osprey (Pandion haliaetus carolinensis)

Osprey (Pandion haliaetus carolinensis)
Originally uploaded by Don Sausa

Osprey (Pandion haliaetus carolinensis)

Location: J.N. Ding Darling National Wildlife Refuge, Sanibel, Florida, USA.

After church, my family and I went on a Sabbath nature walk and visited the largest undeveloped mangrove reserve in the world: J.N. Ding Darling National Wildlife Refuge.

It wasn't the right season for all of the migratory birds, but I was hoping to see at least some birds pop out.

I really wanted to capture an osprey or some sort of raptor up close and as we exited the drive-through area of the reserve, my dad saw this osprey perched on a tree.

It was magnificent! The right bird and the right lens (Canon EF 500mm f/4L IS) made this shot easy! I did some handheld and then when I saw the osprey not budging from his location, I took out the tripod.

To be honest I have lived in Florida all my life and have largely ignored the abundant wildlife that surrounded me until I started buying super telephoto lenses. With these lenses I could see them up close and personal. God created some magnificent creatures.