Changing Router Password (Globe Home Broadband)

My Wi-Fi router password has remained constant since its installation several years ago.  Now I was informed that some people are tapping on it without permission, thereby consuming the data quota per month, significantly slowing the speed.  So I had to Google this, and of course, several hits are returned.  Nothing was helpful because of variation in the terms used (e.g., the term password is not mentioned).  I called customer service (211) and all is now clear.

The first step is go to 192.168.254.254 (I'm using Chromium so the layout may be different).  Then click setup at the bottom right of the page.  In the authentication query, input user in the user name text box, and user in the password text box, and click the Log in button.  Click setup at the upper left portion of the page, then click WLAN at the left column.  Click Security option below it, entering the Wireless Security Setup.  Look for the Pre-Shared Key password box, and type the new password there.  Then click Apply Changes.  Then click Logout.  That's it!

Happy fast and secure computing!

Installing Ubuntu Via Internet

Installing or adding an operating system on a computer is very easy, as long as you have a working CD/DVD drive or bootable USB device, and the OS (in a CD/DVD or USB stick). What if you have a broken CD drive, non-bootable USB device, or perhaps a very old computer? One alternative is to install the OS (Ubuntu in this case) via the Internet. This is easy as long as the two computers (working PC = PC1, and the computer for installation = PC2) are in the same subnetwork (subnet). In this article, PC1 is a working desktop PC (dual boot with Windows XP and Ubuntu), while PC2 is a vintage Compaq Presario M2000 laptop with a problematic XP installation (pesky Windows behavior).

In Ubuntu (or a similar Debian distribution), one can read its Netboot install page. On my part, I used the Windows version because many use it, and I have a Windows partition anyway just to put it into good use. This article is based from a work in Liberiangeek.net which came out after googling the topic. Because it was based on Ubuntu 10.04, I modified some things for this purpose. So someone who reads this material in the future must modify it because Ubuntu is a dynamic project—2 upgrades per year.

One indication that the 2 PCs are in the same subnet is that the Internet cable (connected to WiFi) is forked and wired in the router (although I guess the wireless devices are likewise in the same subnet). It's hard to explain here but one may go to the Subnetwork topic in Wikipedia to learn about subnets, and also to determine if the 2 computers you're using are in the same subnet.

Procedure

Create an Install folder (or any name you prefer) in the root directory, or at C:\. You should now have a folder C:\Install\. Download tftpd32 standard edition (installer) from tftpd32.jounin.net, and install it. In the installation options, choose Installation and Start as the type of install, and check all the checkboxes. Choose C:\Install\ as the installation directory before clicking Install.

To fetch the needed files, it's convenient to use an FTP program and input archive.ubuntu.com as host. For me, I just went directly to the appropriate folder and downloaded the files to C:\Install\. When I did this installation, Oneiric was the latest stable release, so I entered /ubuntu/dists/oneiric/ main/installer-i386/ 20101020ubuntu72/images/ netboot/. This url will be obviously different in the future (even by a few days ahead). The article I was referencing mentioned that I only download pxelinux.0, pxelinux.cfg\ and ubuntu-installer\, but I downloaded all files and folders there.

Open C:\Install\Tftpd32\ and copy tftpd32.exe into C:\Install\. See image for the contents of the two folders (pxelinux.cfg\, Tftpd32\, ubuntu-installer\, pxelinux.0, and tftpd32.exe are required in C:\Install\).

If it's not running, open C:\Install\tftpd32.exe. Click the Settings button below and select the DHCP tab. Configure the network settings (see figure). I noticed that the server interfaces are automatically set so they vary in different PCs. The tricky part here is that you input the appropriate numbers based on the Server interfaces. Determine which fields you increment and which you preserve. Then click OK.

The moment of truth: power on PC2 and don't forget to tap F10 before booting the system. This enters the PhoenixBIOS Setup Utility in my machine. In the Advanced menu, enter Boot-order and modify it to put Network Adaptor on top. Then input F10 to save and exit the setup. It will then boot via the network PXE. Follow the boot instructions, and in a few hours you'll have a working Ubuntu system. When the time comes for you to reboot the new OS, enter the BIOS utility again just to put things in order, meaning the boot from hard disk option must be on top. Save the settings and boot from the hard disk.

Because it's a fresh install, do the initial housekeeping so as to enjoy Ubuntu's full potential.

“One of the sayings in our country is Ubuntu — the essence of being human. Ubuntu speaks particularly about the fact that you can't exist as a human being in isolation. It speaks about our interconnectedness. You can't be human all by yourself, and when you have this quality — Ubuntu — you are known for your generosity. We think of ourselves far too frequently as just individuals, separated from one another, whereas you are connected and what you do affects the whole World. When you do well, it spreads out; it is for the whole of humanity.” (Archbishop Desmond Tutu)

Naïveté

In our present culture, politicians and media people victimize common folk for their credulity. It seems that anyone who claims to be a whistle-blower should be believed no matter what! Without naming names, the testimony today will be different or padded tomorrow. And evidence hangs on saliva, not anything concrete. We have to use our brains, and not fall to the usual naïveté. It may not be accurate but the body language and facial expressions demonstrates the lies, half-lies... and some kind of vendetta, using words instead of bullets. The maligned people would have preferred real guns than the vicious tongue as written by St. James...

"So the tongue is a little member and boasts of great things. How great a forest is set ablaze by a small fire! And the tongue is a fire. The tongue is an unrighteous world among our members, staining the whole body, setting on fire the cycle of nature, and set on fire by hell. For every kind of beast and bird, of reptile and sea creature, can be tamed and has been tamed by humankind, but no human being can tame the tongue -- a restless evil, full of deadly poison." ~ James 3.5-8 RSV

We will be judged by the words we thoughtlessly spew...

Desperate Housewives Faux Pas

The following is the protest letter of Ambassador Willy C. Gaa on the racial slur against Filipino and Philippine Medical School graduates made on the ABC show Desperate Housewives. Let the Filipino community be one in protest against this insult to our people.


PASUGUAN NG PILIPINAS (EMBASSY OF THE PHILIPPINES)
Washington, D.C.

03 October 2007

Ms. ANNE SWEENEY
C-Chair, Disney Media Networks
President, Disney-ABC Television Group
The Walt Disney Company, Corporate
500 S Buena Vista St.,
Burbank, CA 91521-6369 (Fax: 816-560-1000)

Dear Madame:

I wish to express our grave disappointment and displeasure over a scene in the episode of the ABC television series Desperate Housewives which aired last Sunday, 30 September 2007. In that scene, the character named Susan (played by Teri Hatcher) told her gynecologist, "Before we go any further, can I check those diplomas because I would just like to make sure that they're not from some med school in the Philippines."

It is a surprise that such an unfounded and disrespectful remark would even be allowed to be aired on US television. Such insensitivity betrays a complete ignorance of the fact that through the years, Filipinos and Filipino Americans have made quite a mark in the medical field across the entire United States.

In fact, many US hospitals employ a large number of Philippine-trained doctors, nurses, and medical technologists, and some hospitals in major cities would in fact not be able to operate to full efficiency without the considerable presence of their Filipino and Filipino-American medical staff.

This kind of message, coming from such a popular TV show, would tend to damage the credibility and hard-earned reputation of these medical professionals, all of whom passed stringent US requirements to be allowed to practice their profession in this country. It could also damage the credibility of all other professionals of Filipino descent, which is most distressing given the fact that Filipinos now constitute the second largest group of legal migrants to the United States.

It would therefore be most appreciated if your company could issue a public apology to those Filipino-American groups who are even now raising their voices in protest over this development, with the affirmation that no harm was intended and that your distinguished network would henceforth refrain from featuring such unfounded statements in your regular programming.

Thank you for your kind attention.

Sincerely yours,
WILLY C. GAA
Ambassador

Dumpsters, Bridges, and Children

This article was written by Fr. Frank Pavone
National Director, Priests for Life

Some years ago, a phone call came into a Milwaukee police department. Children were throwing stones off of a bridge, the officer was told. When police arrived at the scene, they asked the children what they were throwing. The reply came, "Little people."

These children had discovered small grey containers that held the remains of aborted children. The containers had been thrown in the trash of a nearby abortion mill. "Little people" had become playthings, because the law taught the slightly older children well. What is disposable, after all, can also be used for play. Yet the children had not lost their straightforward honesty, and ability to call things by their names. These aborted babies were people.

My friend Monica Migliorino Miller, a professor, author, and pro-life activist, is also straightforward and honest. She writes of one of the times that she and other activists went to retrieve the bodies of some of our aborted brothers and sisters in Chicago. This effort eventually led to a burial service conducted by the Archdiocese of Chicago. Monica writes,

"When we pulled our cars slowly into the dark alley behind the Michigan Avenue Medical Center, rats scurried before our headlights, frightened by the noise of our intrusion. Our three-vehicle caravan parked in the alley off Monroe Street in downtown Chicago. We stopped in front of a loading dock upon which stood three garbage dumpsters and a filthy blue-colored trash barrel. ...We climbed onto the loading dock, opened the dumpsters, and began to search through the trash. I opened a red dumpster ... At the very bottom was a small, heavy cardboard box. It was about the size of two shoe boxes and was sealed in silver duct tape. I carefully cradled the box in my arms and placed it in the back seat of one of the cars. ...

"We drove to Joe Scheidler's garage to examine the contents of the box, first setting it on a table beneath a bright light. We all gathered around the table as Peter carefully peeled off the silver duct tape and opened the flaps of the box. Inside were small plastic "specimen" bags. Each bag contained the remains of an aborted baby with placenta and uterine tissue. We took the bags out and laid them on the table. There were forty-three of them in all which represented about three or four days worth of abortions at the Michigan Avenue Medical Center.

"Several bags were marked with the name of the aborted baby's mother, her age, the gestational age of the fetal child, the date of the abortion and a number. ...Despite the small size of the fetal remains, their tiny arms, legs, hands, feet, rib cages, spinal columns, eyes (floating free out of their sockets), bits of skull tissue and sometimes even an intact face were plainly visible through the plastic windows of the specimen bags."

Sometimes it takes dumpsters, bridges, and children to wake us up to the reality of what the "choice" of "abortion" really is.

Note: The photos of many of the children taken from the Chicago dumpster can be seen at www.priestsforlife.org/images.

This column can be found online at
www.priestsforlife.org/columns/columns2007/07-09-10dumpstersbridgeschildren.htm.

Fr. Frank's columns can be heard via podcast. See www.priestsforlife.org/podcast for more details.

Fr. Frank's columns can be listened to in MP3 format at www.priestsforlife.org/columns/columns2007/index.htm.

Typhoon Egay

From PAGASA (our local weather bureau), at 2:00 p.m. today, Typhoon Egay (international code: Sepat) was located based on satellite and surface data 450 km east southeast of Aparri, Cagayan (17.7ºN, 126.2ºE) with maximum sustained winds of 215 kph near the center and gustiness of up to 250 kph. It is forecast to move northwest at 15 kph. Moderate to strong southwesterly surface windflow prevailing over Luzon and western sections of Visayas. The satellite photo here (taken 2007-08-16 13:11 GMT) shows the dog's head (storm) about to bite the northern portion of Luzon, but the entire country is covered by vicious clouds.

After being lashed by a typhoon last week, here we go again! Although the typhoons didn't traverse land, lots of rain did the actual damage. Hundreds of millions of dollars worth of crops and infrastructure are destroyed. Several levees are collapsing, no match to nature's fury.

For many people, especially policy makers, when they talk about the so-called global warming phenomenon, they become so abstract and academic as if it becomes a game for them. Perhaps that's the kind of attitude because they don't know what to do! With this prevailing attitude, nothing will come out from the warnings of several scientists. For us here in the Philippines, we actually feel the painful effects of the weather gone mad. I can't quantify it, but the storms that come our way through the years have become more devastating and claimed more lives. I'm afraid that there is no solution in sight.

Julia in the Philippines

More that a week ago, US Peace Corps volunteer Julia Campbell, a fellow blogspotter, died in the northern Philippines, around the well-known Banaue Rice Terraces. The precise cause of death is still being investigated but a crime is being suspected by the local police. She left behind a 2-year journal entitled, Julia in the Philippines. Please read her blog to see that even foreigners are here to commune with local folks. There are many Filipinos who are spreading a spirit of hopelessness (especially self serving politicians), particularly in this election period. We have here an American, living that hope in us, hope that will never be extinguished.

To all Filipinos: don't believe people when they spread lies of hopelessness.

Philippine News

I heard Tatang Gus was asking for recent news from the Philippines... Just tell him to go to http://www.gmanews.tv.

Happy Easter season to all people of good will!

Google Earth

Google Earth is an excellent program given free by Google. These 3 maps are taken from this application. It is where I live. You may zoom out to see the entire planet (picture 1), you may zoom to see my country (an archipelago of about 7,107 islands), or zoom even further, etc... Some places are better rendered than others, but it's a start. I always see such maps on CNN!