CAVITE CITY, Philippines (CNN) – At 16, Rhandolf Fajardo reflects on his former life as a gang member.

“My gang mates were the most influential thing in my life,” says Fajardo, who joined a gang when he was in sixth grade. “We were pressured to join.”

He’s not alone. In the Philippines, teenage membership in urban gangs has surged to an estimated 130,000 in the past 10 years, according to the Preda Foundation, a local human rights charity.

“I thought I’d get stuck in that situation and that my life would never improve,” recalls Fajardo. “I would probably be in jail right now, most likely a drug addict — if I hadn’t met Efren.”

Efren Peñaflorida, 28, also was bullied by gangsin high school. Today, he offers Filipino youth an alternative to gang membership through education. Vote now for the CNN Hero of the Year

“Gang members are groomed in the slums as early as 9 years old,” says Peñaflorida. “They are all victims of poverty.”

For the past 12 years, Peñaflorida and his team of teen volunteers have taught basic reading and writing to children living on the streets. Their main tool: A pushcart classroom.

Stocked with books, pens, tables and chairs, his Dynamic Teen Company recreates a school setting in unconventional locations such as the cemetery and municipal trash dump.

Peñaflorida knows firsthand the adversity faced by these children. Born into a poor family, he lived in a shanty near the city dump site. But he says he refused to allow his circumstances to define his future.

“Instead of being discouraged, I promised myself that I would pursue education,” he recalls. “I will strive hard; I will do my best.”

In high school, Peñaflorida faced a new set of challenges. Gang activity was rampant; they terrorized the student body, vandalized the school and inducted members by forcing them to rape young girls, he says.

“I felt the social discrimination. I was afraid to walk down the street.”

Peñaflorida remembers standing up to a gang leader, refusing to join his gang. That confrontation proved fateful. At 16, he and his friends “got the idea to divert teenagers like us to be productive,” he says.

He created the Dynamic Teen Company to offer his classmates an outlet to lift up themselves and their community. For Peñaflorida, that meant returning to the slums of his childhood to give kids the education he felt they deserved.

“They need education to be successful in life. It’s just giving them what others gave to me,” he says.

Today, children ranging from ages 2 to 14 flock to the pushcart every Saturday to learn reading, writing, arithmetic and English from Peñaflorida and his trained teen volunteers.  Watch Peñaflorida and his group in action with their push cart classroom »

“Our volunteers serve as an inspiration to other children,” he says.

The group also runs a hygiene clinic, where children can get a bath and learn how to brush their teeth.

Since 1997, an estimated 10,000 members have helped teach more than 1,500 children living in the slums. The organization supports its efforts by making and selling crafts and collecting items to recycle.  Take a look at the slums where Peñaflorida and his group spend their Saturdays »

Through his group, Peñaflorida has successfully mentored former gang members, addicts and dropouts, seeing potential where others see problems.

“Before, I really didn’t care for my life,” says Michael Advincula, who started doing drugs when he was 7. “But then Efren patiently dug me from where I was buried. It was Efren who pushed me to get my life together.”  Watch Advincula describe how he met Peñaflorida in the slums »

Today, Advincula is a senior in high school and one of the group’s volunteers.

Peñaflorida hopes to expand the pushcart to other areas, giving more children the chance to learn and stay out of gangs.

“I always tell my volunteers that you are the change that you dream and I am the change that I dream. And collectively we are the change that this world needs to be.”

i had been searching for fix with windows 7 sleep problem.. it cant go to sleep everytime i hit the sleep button.. it was a nightmare for me.. but after searching so many sites and fix… i found one site that solve my problem.. from windows7forum..

Computer Won’t goto sleep ?
here is why and how to fix it

By default Windows 7 has media sharing turned on ( for xbox , ps3) ect

this pervents it from going into standby Mode

The Fix is Simple

Open control panel and goto

Power Options > change Plan settings > Advanced Power Settings

+Sleep
Allow hybrid Sleep > disabled
Allow wake timers > disable/enable try both settings

+USB
USB selective suspend > ENABLE

+When Shareing media [ This is the critical one ]

Set to allow the computer to sleep

its nice to see the construction of the new coastal road in ozamiz city, after 4 years that i wasn’t able to visit my home city.. i was amazed on few things that changed… a JOB WELL DONE for the city mayor.. now i can say ” OZAMIZ is progressing City”

and also the new public city mall ( public market before )

Reformatting your Windows XP computer will erase everything on your hard drive and reinstall the operating system. To avoid losing your data (documents, pictures, music, etc.), you will want to backup your information prior to reformatting. See the ITS Help Desk Personal Data Backup Support Center for more information. After you have reformatted your computer, you will need to reinstall all of your personal data, as well as any software products you may use (for example, Microsoft Office, iTunes, Symantec AntiVirus, etc.).

Reformatting your Windows XP computer has three main parts:

• Reformatting the computer from your operating system CD.
• Reinstalling the drivers that came with your computer.
• Running Windows Update to reinstall all security updates and patches.

Please contact the ITS Help Desk (384-4357) prior to reformatting your computer if you have questions about any of these processes involved.

NOTE:  If you have a network connection, please unplug from the network before starting installation.

1. First, make sure that your computer is set to Boot to CD.  This is a different procedure depending on your computer.  When your computer first boots look for an option to enter the BIOS settings.  Under the BIOS settings find the “Boot Order” and make sure the CD-ROM is set to boot first.  If you have any problems with this please contact the ITS Help Desk at 319-384-HELP.

2. With the Windows XP CD in the CD-ROM drive, save your BIOS settings and exit.

3. If you’ve done everything correctly you should be asked to “Press Any Key to Boot from CD”.

4. After installing the necessary setup files, Windows XP will display your partitions.  Delete any existing partitions by selecting the desired partition with the arrow keys, press D to delete and then L to confirm the deletion.

5. You should now have only one option, “Unpartitioned Space”.  Press Enter to install Windows XP to the unpartitioned space.

6. When asked how you would like to format the partition, select “Format using the NTFS file system”.

7. After the partition is formatted, Windows XP will begin installation.  The computer will reboot.  While the computer is rebooting, please do not touch any keys.  From now on the screens will look like the following:

8. Enter your product key.  If you purchased Windows XP from the IMU Bookstore, the product key will be located on the back of the sleeve your CD came in.  If you are reformatting using a Windows XP CD that came with your computer, the product key may be located on a sticker somewhere on your computer case.

9. When asked for Network Settings, choose “Typical Settings”.

10. Windows XP will now complete installation.  Upon completion you will need to re-install the drivers for your hardware (Modem, Sound, Video, etc).  Many PC companies such as Dell, Gateway, and HP will include a “Driver Installation CD” with the computer.  Simply insert the CD and follow the instructions.  Otherwise, you can download current drivers from many manufacturer’s support web sites. If you have any problems please contact the ITS Help Desk at 319-384-HELP.

11. Next turn on the Internet Connection Firewall.  Instructions to turn on the Internet Connection Firewall can be found here.

12. Reconnect your computer to the Network.

13. Run Windows Update by opening Internet Explorer,  then clicking on Tools -> Windows Update.  Follow the on-screen instructions for installing critical updates.

14. Restart your computer.

hehehehehe

i was bored last day and decided to give make something crazy on my newly installed Win-7 OS. Upon surfing some site i was captured by a picture of system properties from xp machine and was amazed coz the OEM logo was change.. it was a tux logo.. so i tried it for my self on my machine.. it was pretty damn easy.. just follow this steps:

a logo must be of 120×120 px.. 

open a notepad and copy this

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\OEMInformation]

“Logo”=”C:\\Windows\\System32\\oemlogo.bmp” <— anywhere in ur drives.. but i prefer C:\<logo.BMP>

“Manufacturer”=”<name or what so ever u like to add>”

“SupportHours”=”<hours u like>”

“SupportPhone”=”<phone number u like>”

“SupportURL”=”<your url>”

After waiting for days, i was able to make my MagicJack to in Windows 7 beta.. by following this :

Posted: Tue Jan 13, 2009 6:47 pm    Post subject:
OK, I had to test this for myself and I got it to work. It requires two things. 1. Copy the mjusbsp folder from a working install on XP or Vista to the C:\Users\YourUserName\appdata\Roaming folder in Windows 7.            2. You have to start it the no splash way to get it to load. Otherwise, you will get an error that it’s not plugged in.  “C:\Users\YourUserName\appdata\Roaming\mjusbsp\magicjack.exe” /scf _magicJackPersonalDataRoot X:\magicJack  Just substitute your username and your drive letter for X.

 credit to “stroths” for this guid

Dear instant noodle lovers,

Make sure you break for at least 3 days after one session of instant noodles before you eat your next packet! Please read the info shared to me by a doctor. My family stopped eating instant noodles more than 5 years ago after hearing about the wax coating the noodles – the wax is not just in the Styrofoam containers but it coats the noodles. This is why the instant noodles do not stick to each other when cooking. If one were to examine the ordinary Chinese yellow noodles in the market, one will notice that, in their uncooked state the noodles are oily. This layer of oil prevents the noodles from sticking together..

Wanton noodles in their uncooked state
have been dusted with flour to prevent
them sticking together. When the hawker
cooks the noodles, notice he cooks them
in hot water and then rinses them in
cold water before cooking them in hot
water again. This process is repeated
several times before the noodles are
ready to be served. The cooking and
rinsing process prevents noodles from
sticking together.

The hawker then “lowers the noodles in
oil and sauce to prevent the noodles
from sticking if they are to be served
dry. Cooking instructions for spaghetti
require oil or butter to be added in
the
water when boiling the spaghetti to
prevent the pasta from sticking
together. Otherwise, one gets a big
clump of spaghetti!

There was an SBC (now TCS) actor some
years ago, who at a busy time of his
career had no time to cook, resorted to
eating instant noodles everyday. He got
cancer later on. His doctor told him
about the wax in instant noodles. The
doctor told him that our body will need
up to 2 days to clear the wax. There
was
also an SIA steward who after moving
out
from his mother’s house into his own
house, did not cook but ate instant
noodles almost every meal. He had
cancer, and has since died from it.

Nowadays the instant noodles are
referred as ” cancer noodles “.

SATAY LOVERS (BARBECUE)

If you all eat Satay, don’t ever forget
to eat the cucumber, because eating
Satay together with carbon after
barbequing can cause cancer.
But we have a cure for that… Cucumber
should be eaten after we eat the Satay
because Satay has carcinogen (a cancer
causing element) but cucumber is
anti-carcinogenic. So don’t forget to
eat the cucumber the next time you have
Satay’s..

PRAWNS (SUGPO) & VIT C

DO NOT eat shrimp / prawn if you have
just taken VITAMIN C pills!!
This will cause you to DIE in ARSENIC
(As) toxication within HOURS!!

Been into psp modding this past days and i’d really enjoyed it.. but i was so stupid to update my firmware to 3.73 Official.. coz i should have installed the custom firmware to get the most out of my psp.. well,, i guess i just need to wait for the new downgrader or a new custom hack firmware to be release soon.. i know it wont be long.. hehehe.. here is the theme and some browsing experience i had.. will u can really chat browse the net with ur psp..

pretty ryt

and heres the google seach experience with the psp

Julie Larson-Green, responsible for the user interface of Office 2007, and also the person behind the ribbon-like interface has been transferred to the Windows 7 team.The current release date of the Windows 7 operating system is expected to be in late 2009, early 2010, returning to the 3-year pause between desktop operating system versions that was common at Microsoft for all Windows versions prior to Windows Vista.

The most common dilema about Windows 7 right now is whether or not to use backward compatibility. Strong rumours have suggested that the OS will be developed from scratch on top of the Windows NT kernel, given its maturity in both security and stability terms. The backward compatibility, however, is something that Microsoft developers would frown upon, since it prevents truly revolutional ideas to be implemented. Windows Vista, because of its backward compatibile, carries a large amount of code libraries with it, thus the large size of the operating system. However, many businesses that haven’t upgraded their software in a decade or more would not purchase Windows 7 if it was not compatible with their applications. As a result, the current options that Microsoft has are to either make Windows 7 backward compatible, or to maintain a legacy version of Windows in parallel, for for the business customers, one which will be kept alive by Microsoft though patches and updates.

Having with all the troubles, bugs, failures and not Stable Version of Vista a new OS is about to come from Windows, i have read some blogs, that windows will stop supporting XP soon and they have been working on with the Vista Service Pack 1, What would we expect on that new OS they’re gonna release, eye-candy of course but not as good as the Open Source OS. Vista Requires a lot resources from RAM to CPU what more can this new OS will require, but still its all part of the growing technology and IT world.

I did wish to try OSX but the problem is dont have enough money to buy apple computers.. they’re really expensive and not quite reasonable enough to spend a lot of money on that kind of machine (on my own opinion only). but murmurs and hacks are spreading around the net that OSX can be installed on a PC .. well that kind of news is tempting to try out.. i did tried to install OSX tiger before but got no luck.. and got a bunch or errors so i give up coz my tiny brain was really squish up in finding ways to make it work but seems to be impossible.

After few months i received and email with the news that leopard can run on a PC. Hehehehe!!! my eagerness now burst up to try again. the news claim that Leopard can be installed on a PC with just a super easy instructions that even a PC noob can do it.. and OMG it really is super simple.. here’s the process

ake sure you backup all important data before you proceed. Here are the things that you will need before Install Leopard on your PC…

• The Patched DVD Image
• The zip file containing the patch
• One pen drive or USB Flash Drive formatted as FAT32

Well once you have all these you can go ahead and Install Leopard..

Step 1. Getting things ready

• Burn the DVD Image onto a Single Layer DVD-R using a software like Nero.
• Format the USB Flash Drive and the drive label should be “Patcher” without the quotes. Please note it has to be “Patcher” only and nothing else for the patch to work when we apply it later.
• Extract the Zip file and put its contents into the USB Flash Drive.
• Now your USB Drive should contain a folder called “files”, if it doesn’t then check to see where you have gone wrong.

Step 2. Installing Leopard

• Now that you have the Patched DVD with you, you can now install Leopard. Pop in the DVD into the drive and boot into it by pressing F12 at the BIOS Prompt.
• Boot into the DVD and the installer should now load. It take a while though, so be patient.
• Select your Language and make sure you select Customize and you need to deselect all the packages that are displayed.
• Leopard will now install. This can take a while, so go grab yourself a coffee.
• It will ask you to Reboot, so go ahead and Reboot. Before rebooting make sure that USB Flash Drive is connected to the PC.

Step 3. Patching Leopard

• Now that you have got Leopard installed, you need to patch it. Before we do that Boot into the Leopard DVD like the way you did before.
• Wait for the Darwin Bootloader to load. Once it loads up press F8. You should now see a prompt. Type -s and hit enter. The DVD will now load in Verbose mode. Watch for any errors. It should load without a problem because you have already installed Leopard.
• Once the setup is loaded select your Language. Once done you should now be seeing the Welcome Screen. Once there navigate to Utilities-Terminal.
• Once the terminal loads up, you now need to browse to your USB Drive, so follow the steps below, typing it exactly as it appears below in the Terminal. In the command line type the following as they appear here

  cd ..
  cd ..
  cd Volumes
  cd Patcher
  cd files

  Notice the space between cd and the 2 dots.

• Now its the time to run the patcher to make sure Leopard will work on your PC. Type the following into the Terminal. ./9a581PostPatch.sh
• The Patch should now run. You can answer Yes while removing the ACPUPowerManagement.kext
• After the Script is done, you should now be able to Boot into Leopard after you restart.

Step 4. Congratulations! You’ve done the Impossible!

Well that was it. Please note this has not been extensively tested, so most of your Hardware like Sound, Network may not work. If something goes wrong for you or you want to help us, then please join the discussion over at OSX86Scene. If you noticed I haven’t posted the links to the Torrent that contains the DVD image and the zip. Well I haven’t posted them because I am sure the lawyers over at Apple are going to sue the hell out of me. If you wondering where you can find them, then head over to Demonoid and search for it.

Well here are few screenshots by Mac.nub over at the forums who could get Leopard working on his system.

Some Updates and Clarifications :

• This Hack works on Intel PC’s with atleast SSE3
• You need to format your Leopard Partition to HFS+
• Make Sure you install Leopard on MBR and not GUID or it won’t boot.
• More Patched DVD’s from Uphuck, Netkas is in the works so it would be better if you wait for the polished releases to come out.