Archive for August, 2011

Mercury Drug website . . .

Wednesday, August 24th, 2011

I have recently re-discovered the Mercury Drug website (mercurydrug.com) . . . this was one of the first few websites I created way back 1998-ish – and I was surprised that the original layout down to the graphical elements is still in use today. This is just so mind-boggling to me – this is not in any sense of the word a small business, or a one-man garage operation . . . this is the Philippines’ biggest and most popular drugstore we are talking about. I think I should be flattered that they are still essentially using the same template and layout for more than a decade now but I’m actually embarrassed by it — they should really hire somebody to do the deed or I will be forced to call them and offer my services for free. I mean, they are still using tables for crying out loud!

Looking at the source code, I can definitely say that they have made very minor modifications . . . I can still see my work in there, at times – just being commented out. How could a corporation of this size be so neglectful of their website? I’m sure cost is not the problem here as I have mentioned, they are one of the biggest corporations in the Philippines and web design/development isn’t really expensive in Manila — I heard you can get a website done for less than Php2,500 there (approx. $50) so I can’t really see why this hasn’t been done apart from red tape, corporate politics and probably an owner/CEO who just doesn’t understand the technology at all to take advantage of it.

Happy 30th Anniversary to the PC

Monday, August 15th, 2011

This really makes me feel old . . . I still remember my first PC XT computer with 128Kb of RAM, no hard drive, 5.25 floppy drive and a 10″/11″ composite (green) monitor. I remember wanting a hard drive (a few MBs) but couldn’t afford it because I was 12 yrs. old. I spent way too much time on that machine and still remember it running way into my university days. I wonder if it is still stashed somewhere . . . I’m sure it’ll still run when I power it up now – that thing is indestructible! I have taken it apart and put it back together so many times and having that computer to play with while I was young served me well as it has paved the way for me to be the techie that I am now.

While I haven’t been able to really keep pace with the newest tech nowadays, I’m still able to tinker/assemble/fix my PCs at home or at work whenever they would unexpectedly malfunction. I still remember DOS (commands) and rejoiced when Windows 3.1 came out. Although, it wasn’t very much later when I was able to get my hands on a 386 computer (running Windows). I’ve gone through all iterations of Windows including 95, 98, Me, XP, Vista and now 7. I’ve stayed true to the PC and while Macs are very much the popular computer nowadays – I have not owned a single Mac. I have considered one quite a few times in the past but haven’t really pulled the trigger as I have problems with the fact that I probably wouldn’t be able to tinker with it as they are closed systems.

While I do admire how the Macs perform, I’m cheering for the PC to live another 30 years . . .

US Federal Debt explained

Saturday, August 6th, 2011

A graphic presentation of why/how the US is in such deep debt . . .