Mashable.com's Twitter Timeline and what I believe it missed

Regarding Twitter's IPO, Mashable.com's Taylor Casti posted this infographic today with a disclaimer (note, by the way, how it still refers to Twitter as a microblog; it still is, according to this description.):

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Editor's note: In the infographic, below, Chris Messina is incorrectly identified as an employee of Twitter. He is actually a user of the microblogging network. The infographic will be amended shortly.

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Jogging my memory—having been on Twitter since March 2007—I think it left out these other important Twitter milestones:

1. The rise of the legendary but notorious Fail Whale (lovable nonetheless) in 2008 when Twitter had the most over-capacity issues dealing with scalability and growth in usage.
   
   

   

   
   

2. To further convey the Fail Whale experience during that period, this classic and utterly hilarious video captioned by Crunchgear's Nicholas Deleon and his brother was posted in July 2008 which had most of the Twitterverse's 1.3M users in stitches. (Warning: safe for work but extreme #nerdalert and #geek caution required.)
   
   

In support of #MillionManMarch at Luneta today

I have a full day but I offer it not as an excuse. However it is our day is planned and how it turns out, we cannot escape the fact that today marks a momentous day in our shared history – that of showing up, or simply showing our frustration, despair and disappointment and, hopefully, an uncompromising demand for real change in our political system.

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Related post on the #MillionPeopleMarch, 04 October 2013, Ayala Avenue, Makati City.

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The President went live on camera last weekend to allay fears and doubts about his sincerity on the issues of misuse of public funds, perhaps even on leadership (his) and everything a leader is acknowledged to be in control of, but certainly not the least in the hope that today's gathering will fizzle out. Yet as of noontime today, crowd estimate is at 70,000 in Luneta alone not counting the numbers of FIlipinos joining this movement all over the archipelago and around the world.

It was a dam(n) if you do, dam(n) of you don't situation, as was the case of the recent Luzon-to-Mindanao flooding brought by typhoon "Maring." But "Maring," really, was a lesson unlearned from "Ondoy," when, in 2010, an election year, the devastated Philippine islands were wrought by politicking, not positivity; that when the sun forces to shine through layers of storm clouds, all is forgotten and every life goes, or is expected to go, back to normal. 

Art,

that is all that will ever be and he was all that ever was. Where Art is being more like a father whose impact and influences last more than a lifetime. For being under your wing, this isn't enough to say, Thank you, Sir. For everything.

You are very, sorely missed.

ROBERTO CHABET (Mar 29, 1937-April 30, 2013). As we remember him.
~
Photo by Soler Santos from the Roberto Chabet Archive for artasiapacific.com
"Profiles: ANXIOUS OBJECTS WAITING TO COLLIDE–ROBERTO CHABET"
Marlyne Sahakian & Ringo Bunoan, NOV/DEC 2009

05 May 2013

,

"Bobby" was how his contemporaries called him. To us (and among us), he was just "Sir."

Many others have done and will do justice writing about the man. I’ve always wondered, though, how, if ever, does one realize near-parental responsibilities when (in his case) he isn’t a parent himself in the biological sense, when he set out to pursue and do his vision?

He cannot be summed up in careful, fanatical or schismatic words. Depending on whose point of view one solicits opinions of him from, he was alternately a leader, an innovator, a simple but complex mind or simply contemptible. I think he was kind of like telos and techne in one body; enigmatic, charming and blunt because he cut through the nonsense and broke apart deceptions. Too much, his honesty was; though unintended, it caused discomfort in others. He was just [being] himself, now in incalculable memories that, despite leaving a void, has spilled over and will continue to overflow.

He was someone we, not just his students and colleagues but "the scene"–for whatever that’s worth to generations of practitioners of which I fortunately was among–looked up to, that his passing left us orphaned.
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Never is one ready for a sudden journey someone else takes (whether one had control over it or not), and that that someone else being one who had such a strong hand that no matter how brief it held on to yours was firm it left a handprint, yet yielding for it was a hand that brushed away the cobwebs on the lens to see through but left just enough to allow for whatever else one does with it.

What one is is having to deal with being left behind and how the moments are made to at least be up to his, the journey master’s, legacy. As such, it seems that, jointly, all of us who remain will never fill those [running] shoes nor ever cast a bigger shadow (however rightly or wrongly, to others, we probably resemble an amalgamated reference in his form. Quite odd that is.).
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Thank you again, Sir. And for bringing us home back to your home. Your peace is enviable because you have claimed true, boundless art |process-ing| no one among the living can ever take away from you.
(06.05.2013)

krvilla.2013 | from images courtesy of Soler Santos/West Gallery

Barbara

I never really knew much about her except that she was an aunt, somewhat. By affinity anyway.

Her full name didn't even roll off my tongue as smoothly as did her nickname which, without question, is what I recognize all of these 40-plus years that I "knew" her and of her. There are about two other Barbaras I know and none of them I claim to know as much as I did aunt-by-affinity Barbara. She'd always been nice to us. To me, at least, she was, in the rare times that I'd encounter her when she'd drop in on birthday parties in our growing-up years.

Anyway then there's something about certain places such as funeral parlors that I can't get a proper grip on especially as an adult in the many times that I needed to be in one for visitations. It was either the location – which among those on the avenue they're lined up did they say it was? – or the right room they call chapel, the last physical private chamber one finds oneself in between life and the lifeless before the final parting that I end up fumbling.

I do so always get these wrong, as what happened last night to visit this late "aunt" Barbara whose full name I at least finally got right when inquired who it was I was at the funeral parlor for. It was for directions to "Chapel 7" I asked the guard-on-duty and was given the run on. Turns out it was "Chapel F" that matched the name. I knew I'd miss that again, as the guards probably knew those happen every time. As people, we make mistakes, one more often than others.

There's consolation in the thought that death means liberation from those that bind us, to loneliness, regrets or shortcomings – of ours and others'.

Barbara seems to have not lived her last years as she would have dreamt of. We always dream of a life of fulfillment, do we not? It's not always that we aim for comfort but simple things like meaningful conversations or that we – they – are looked after thoughtfully are what makes their sunset days worth every minute of our living.

I at least now know she went with more relatives-by-affinity being around who cared enough to see she was given decent moments she deserved. Every soul deserves decent moments no matter how much of a stranger we all are to each other and Barbara was no exception. She was given that as she will be having it in the coming hours of her last earthly moments,  before she is finally laid to rest.

And it isn't that one is finally laid to rest. Passages are when one like her can finally claim real peace in the true sense of the word.

The November HiFi Show (Day 2)

The board at wiredstate.com was busy with posts, comments and reviews about the November HiFi Show as soon as Day 1 ended on Saturday, November 10, 2012.

I finally did make it on Day 2, Sunday afternoon, after Pres. Aquino, a known audiophile, had left. No media accompanied him, I was told, by my good friend the journalist who I finally had the favor of being in company with and was there ahead of me.

The November HiFi Show occupied rooms of the 2nd and 4th floors of the Dusit Thani Hotel in Makati City. I like this Event because unlike popular "trade shows," it gives one the moment to be up close and very personal with music and the owners who set up the equipment themselves in their respective listening rooms.

It was my first time at such a gathering and, unlike the veteran attendees, organizers and members posting comments at the forum, I was at a loss for words. When I found it all I can say is, what a profound and overwhelming experience it is.

To be face-to-face with exquisite craftsmanship, breathtaking music, and meeting the people who made this Event possible; main man Tony Boy de Leon ever so kindly led the tour and proudly showed off the room for the collection of the late businessman and acknowledged audiophile Johnny Cruz, affectionately called Mang Johnny of Balikbayan Handicrafts – what an honor it was to just be there and hold some of Mang Johnny's well-preserved vacuum tubes and audio ephemera.

To be greeted by Val and – in his assigned room where music was played for us and his guests through his proudly Filipino-made instruments, I knew I was in good hands – be seated between him and another Philippine audio legend Mang Rod, Rodrigo B. Teope, himself.

Maps and Music Weekend: the November Hi-Fi Show and Murillo's Maps

I am grateful for days like today that give me some free time to check out two particular interests: maps and music.

THE NOVEMBER HIFI SHOW 2012 [Updated]

Presented annually since 2004 by members of the Philippines' only audio enthusiasts community, wiredstate.com (of which I count as among the few female members), the November HiFi Show opens its 2-day event today at 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. at the Dusit Thani Hotel in Makati City.

Besides starting as a swap gathering of vinyl collectors–mostly the guys–the organizers have put together audio equipment owners and DIY'ers and provided them and their guests space and chill time to talk and listen closely to really good music.

Eventually, Philippine dealers of fine audio equipment got wind of the event and asked to be included in succeeding schedules which led to the formalizing of the swap meet to what it is today.

Of this year's show, it's main man, Tony Boy de Leon, wrote:

Dalaw

1. SMS the "loved one"

Tinatamad ka bang bumisita sa iyong loved ones sa sementeryo? ..... Are you not up to visiting your loved ones at the cemetery? Text DALAW at i-send sa 2366 ..... Text DALAW and send to 2366 Sila mismo ang dadalaw sa yo ..... They will be the ones to come and visit you Choices are: 1) Nakasilip sa bintana ..... Peering through the window 2) Nakatingin sa yo habang natutulog ka ..... Looking at you while asleep 3) Nakatayo sa iyong paanan ..... Standing by your feet 4) Nakahiga sa tabi mo ...... Beside you in bed Ano pa inaantay mo? text na! ..... What are you waiting for? Text now!

. . .

This original text joke ca. 2011 can only have been thought of by a Filipino. I'm not sure, though, if the text message really came from Globe Telecoms which owns the "2366" gateway number. Otherwise, may the original sender of this brilliant SMS please stand up or shall I call upon the spirits of the universe to, please, make yourself known?

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2. e-Online mo

A couple of years back, a tarpaulin billboard appeared on the side of Legacy Building adjacent to the Quezon Avenue branch of Mercury Drugstore (across McDonald's and Crossings) in Quezon City.