This may work in Ubuntu Linux as well
It has been a long time before I’ve been able to play beethoven.com (Beethoven Radio) streams under Linux. Fortunately, I’ve been able to play it for several months already. Currently, I’m using xUbuntu 7.10 (”Gutsy Gibbon”). It made me listen to the mentioned internet radio magically easy! Beethoven Radio didn’t fail to adequately feed my appetite for classical music. So if you are a GNU/Linux and classical music fan, why don’t you try this procedure I’ve made:
1) Make sure you have internet access.
2) Open Firefox and visit http://www.getautomatix.com/
3) Click the “Installation” link and “Save to disk” the correct Automatix package for your architecture. The packages are found in the “Easy direct installation” sub-section.
4) You can install the package by clicking the “Open” option for the file in the “Downloads” window. You can also install the package by double-clicking its icon in the desktop or wherever you’ve saved it. Make sure you click the “Install package” button when it shows up. If you downloaded the wrong package, you may be warned here. Close the package installer window when you’ve made a successful install.
5) Close Firefox and its “Download” window.
6) Open a terminal ( Applications -> Accessories -> Terminal ). Enter “automatix2″. You may be asked for your pasword.
7) You will get an “Automatix2: Information” window. Click on “Yes”.
8 ) You may get an “Automatix2: About” window. Click on “Ok”.
9) Click “Codecs and Plugins” in the “Automatix2″ window. Then check the “MPlayer plugin for Firefox”.
10) Click on “Start” in the “Automatix2″ window.
11) Wait for the packages to be downloaded and installed.
12) Close the Automatix2 window after completing the installation of the packages.
13) You now can open http://www.beethoven.com and click the “FREE Windows Media Stream” link. Wait a while for Firefox to buffer beethoven.com. Happy listening! 
Here’s what the Philippine Star published about my birthday in its horoscope section:
This year presents many lessons in love. Your heart will have so many reasons to be fulfilled, but you are also learning that you don’t need a reason - love is always there for you when you are open to it. December brings a financial windfall. There’s a chance to showcase your talents in July. You share a special connection with Gemini and Aries. Your lucky numbers are: 30, 1 , 4, 33, and 15.
I hope the newspaper is not buttering me up. hehe. As for love, I had my chances with fine ladies. But I share something with Ludwig van Beethoven: we have a craving for impossible women. hehe. I guess I have to learn how to do away with this. As for December’s financial windfall, my uncle and aunt asked me to implement a database I’ve made for other relatives. Though I don’t want to ask for much, they want to give me money in return. And as for the number 1, I now know why it has been a lucky number for me. hehe.
Stiglitz on pharmaceutical Intellectual Property Rights
I have read and heard a plethora of arguments against Intellectual Property Rights. But I usually hear them from the Left. And in the case of software and creative output, I hear arguments that they should be free from GNU Public License and Creative Commons advocates. This time, I’ve read an argument against the immediate global enforcement of IPRs for pharmaceutical products by a Nobel Prize winner, Joseph E. Stiglitz. In his book “Globalization and its discontents,” he says that present day globalization is driving nations to respect IPRs. This was an aftermath of the conclusion of the Uruguay Round talks in 1993, he says. To him, this empowered American and Western pharmaceutical companies to stop drug makers in India and Brazil to “steal” their hard earned intellectual properties. But what happened, he says, is that the increase in the profits of the legitimate pharmaceutical companies were negligible. Stiglitz explains that most of those who used to buy medicines from IPR infringing drug companies cannot afford the legitimate medicines. There was also a human cost: Stiglitz says that “thousands were condemned to death.” I guess the argument that immediately respecting IPRs provide “more incentive to innovate” is too simplistic. How could a negligible increase in profits qualitatively improve research and development in drugs? This seems to be a case of “shock economics” for me. It may have been best if the implementation of IPRs for drugs in the world was done gradually, while the income of the poor in third world countries are made to steadily increase.
I’m not saying that globalization cannot improve the lives of the impoverished. I think it can do so. It just has to be rethought. Globalization needs a human face.
I’ve made a home page for our class. Please visit it at http://www.balcos.net/gboyz and register at the forum. I’ll be announcing the details of the re-union there.
At front center is one of my ‘idols,’ Fmr. Sen. Pres. Jovi Salonga. At front right is his son and my friend, Eddie. This was taken at the start of the programme.
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Just to let others know what I’ve been up to last month, I made this post. I was glad to be of assistance to the SFD ‘07 organized by the Bluepoint Foundation. Looking back at the pictures, I’m so happy to see everyone having a good time. My short presentation was the DIY power failure sensor for Slackware Linux. I look forward to next year’s SFD.
Here’s the link to the pictures: click here
May we continue your quest!
With the re-union of my high school pals coming soon, I’d like to tell them that I’ve never forgotten how grandly the Ateneo thinks of Evelio Javier. He has become a greater role model for me. When I heard the song “The Impossible Dream” for the first time, I was electrified with hope and determination. And upon knowing that Evelio Javier’s quest was summed up with the words of the song, I cannot help but admire him. Above all, I admired him for his deeds and sacrifices for God, country, and people. I believe he is still among us during our trying time when some people think that God is absent, our country is a lost cause, and our people only serves their individual self-interests. As another song by Annie says, there is always a tomorrow, regardless how hopeless a quest may seem(yes, Vino, your father’s speech still resounds in my ear). I’ve never met or seen Javier personally, but I really wish I had.
If you are interested in Evelio Javier, I recommend you read this: We remember Evelio Javier
The story of my conversion
I thought that this blog post would be of interest to my old pals in high school. So here it goes. As those who have known me before, I was a person who isolated himself from God. It all began when I was a student in a Catholic school before I transferred to Ateneo HS. I was treated with fascism during that time. And I saw my superiors then as God’s emissaries. For instance, I have been sternly lectured that I’ve been taught “values, values, values” and then I will be told that I do not have an iota of it. I know I have flaws, but I graduated with recognitions. If I had no values, how could I’ve done that? The list goes on and on, and they are not worth mentioning. That was the starting point when I didn’t have a healthy self-image.
When I entered the Ateneo HS, I was a distraught boy. Then came college, and I was a pressure cooker that could no longer hold the anger and hatred of my past. My aunt then visited me from time to time. I really wanted to listen to her, since I had the hunch that other people are having a hard time in doing so(she speaks fast). I once told her that God was “a posteriori.” This means that one can find God through experience. To be specific, one can find God through his senses. She agreed. Then I told her that the excesses of my former superiors have made me think that I hold no importance to God. She then made it a point to visit me more often. Among the memorable discussions we had were on national issues. As my high school classmates remember me, I’ve been a socio-political animal(they even called me “Republika!” in jest). There were times when I would say “Tita, I’m sorry. I have no knowledge on this particular issue.” And then she will say “That’s very good of you! I like your honesty. It is pointless for one to pretend he knows something when he does not.” That really brightened me up. And then there was a time when I started a conversation. I said, “Tita, how is the Church? Is it still in great need of priests?” Then she will say “Yes, and that’s why the Church needs young men like you to become priests.” Then I told her, “Tita naman, I’m not that holy.” And then she will say “Haven’t you read the story of St. Augustine of Hippo? He was full of vices before he became holy.”
Then suddenly, our Lord took her to be with Him in Good Friday, 2006. At her death, that is when I realized I was touched by an angel. I felt like Jean Valjean when he was treated with kindness by the Bishop of Digne. In her, I saw God’s vast mercy and compassion. I will always remember her as the person who made me truly experience God through my senses.
