Introduction

First of all, let me define what a portfolio really is. A portfolio is a collection of evidence that represents achievement and learning within a module or course of study. Portfolios require an element of critical reflection or commentary. Thus, creating a portfolio reflects to me and it serves as my personal diary. It is essential to create one’s own portfolio because it is a unique way of learning and you would enjoy a lot while gain knowledge and becoming skilled of your reading and grammar skills. It will help me measure my strengths and weaknesses towards reading and writing. The goals that I want to achieve while doing a portfolio is to further improve my reading skills and to sharpen and expand my knowledge on grammar. Also, having fun while writing and expressing your ideas is the best way of learning. So I expect to learn a lot of things after doing this portfolio. To the reader, I hope you learn something new from my posts and enjoy reading this portfolio. 


High five! 

EDSA, 26 Years Later

Exactly 26 years ago, our country faced one of the most famous events in the Philippine history. The People Power Revolution, also known as the EDSA Revolution, occurred in February 25, 1986 along the long stretch of the Epifanio de los Santos Avenue.  It involved over two million civilians as well as famous political and religious leaders such as Cory Aquino and Cardinal Sin. All the people shared a single protest: to be free from the corrupt governance of the late President Marcos. 

The infamous photo of the two kneeling nuns:

However today, more than two decades had passed; can we really say that something has changed since this massive revolution? The ABS-CBN news conducted a survey and asked elementary students and civilians on how this revolution affected their lives. In the survey, the students seem to have low knowledge about the revolution. One of the civilians answered that the revolution even had a negative effect on them since prices of goods and services went high after the event. It can also be observed that the number of people who celebrate the anniversary of EDSA 1986 appear to become smaller and smaller every year. For me, this event changed our entire country a lot. It helped us fight for our freedom, taught us the value of cooperation and brotherhood, and showed us that in times of troubles we all become as one. We should not simply forget our history.

http://www.abs-cbnnews.com/video/nation/02/25/12/what-has-changed-edsa-1986

Kony 2012

So I was browsing 9gag earlier this week and I noticed that almost half of the posts in the Vote page are about the phrase Kony 2012. Out of curiosity, I Google searched it and it led me to a YouTube video about Kony. I watched the entire 30 minute video and after watching, I realized so many things.

So who is Kony and why is his name dominating the internet in the past few days? Joseph Kony is a Ugandan rebel leader, who is responsible for numerous crimes such as murder, kidnapping, and rape. He had been pillaging in Uganda for more than 20 years and had been the people’s nightmare ever since. Kony 2012 is a campaign that aims to make Joseph Kony famous, not to celebrate him but to raise support for his arrest and set an example for international justice and freedom. 

The video:

The video persuades us to support the campaign by simply sharing the YouTube link to raise awareness. As of today, the video had reached over 85 million views even though it was just uploaded recently and has spread through different websites such as Facebook, Twitter, Tumblr, and of course 9gag. I felt happy when I found out about this campaign because we are able to use the benefits and the power of the internet to achieve our hoped aspirations in life.  It tells us that even though we’re just sitting in front of our computers, it is never impossible to help and to contribute for the benefit of those who suffer from the hands of evil rulers.

Lucid Dreaming

         
      The controversial lucid dreaming has been trending for the past two weeks in 9gag and many people are curious and interested on knowing what it really is and how to experience one. 

  

  The original 9gag pic:

According to Wikipedia, A lucid dream is any dream in which one is aware that he is dreaming. In a lucid dream, the dreamer may be able to exert some degree of control over their participation within the dream or be able to manipulate their imaginary experiences in the dream environment. Some people say that lucid dreaming is a really cool experience because you can freely control everything in your ‘own world’. However, some say that it can be really creepy because once you enter lucid dreaming, you will be paralyzed and won’t be able to move your body entirely and scary things will begin to happen, like scary figures of an old woman will appear and disturbing noises will occur.

Many people are too scared to try because they believe they'll see this:

Out of my own curiosity, I myself tried lucid dreaming to find out what it really feels. It was a strange experience and the feeling that you know that you are dreaming is really amazing. In my dream, I was lying on my bed but I can’t move (this is what they call sleep paralysis). What I saw was some weird shapes in a white background in my room. The scary thing is I felt someone enter my room and I sense him lay beside me while staring at me. I can hardly see him or her because I was paralyzed. Things became scarier as he come closer and closer to my body so I decided to just wake myself up, and thank God I did. It was a really an awesome experience.

Say Hi to SimSimi

Last year, Apple Inc. launched the latest and the fifth generation iPhone, which is the iPhone 4S. The newest iPhone gained popularity because of its futuristic and advanced application Siri, an intelligent personal assistant and knowledge navigator. The app uses a natural language user interface to answer questions, make recommendations, and perform actions by delegating requests. 


Recently, a similar application became popular. The application is called SimSimi, and it has the ability to communicate with its user, just like Siri and Cleverbot.  


        This is SimSimi. Say hi!

It became trending in our country because of its ability to understand and speak Filipino language. However, unlike Siri, the use of SimSimi is just for fun and not to be treated seriously. For example, if you ask him: “Who’s Siri?” he would answer “I’m way smarter than her =)”. That’s how he got known as the “evil twin of Siri”. However, critics over the internet disapprove of SimSimi because of inappropriate sentences and words said by the app. The SimSimi Team blog states that they are aware of the issues and are currently taking the appropriate and rapid actions to prevent these problems in the future and we will take additional actions to provide a better environment for user and not only is our company’s effort needed, but also our users’ support to make SimSimi a fun, sound, and useful application. In my opinion, SimSimi is an innovative entertaining application used for fun. We shouldn’t use it as the cause of making fun of others or offending them.

The Magnum Craze

         Magnum.  It is an ice cream brand owned by Unilever Company sold in most countries. Lately, it has been the trend in the Philippines and it became popular because aficionados would normally take a picture of themselves while holding or eating a Magnum and would later on post them in Facebook or other sites. 

The ice cream has varying flavours but only three became popular in the Philippines, namely  the Magnum Classic, Magnum Chocolate Truffle, and Magnum Almond. I was curious so I ate a classic flavoured Magnum that I found in my fridge one night. For me, it was just a typical chocolate-coated vanilla ice cream on a stick. What it makes it special I think is the popsicle stick because it is larger than a normal one, and has its brand name and logo printed on it. I would rather buy a twenty peso pinipig ice cream.

Magnum as seen on 9gag:

        I would rather buy from this:

 It became too overrated that people who post a picture of them with the ice cream became really annoying. The funny thing is that people in blogs and other websites would mock and make fun of the people who brag their Magnums in the internet. 

Some Magnum fans:

My most favorite one:

http://www.tumblr.com/tagged/magnum-ice-cream

*le language video

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bM5Bytcens8