Bricked Router Cheat Post

Spent most of the day trying to overwrite the Telefonica firmware in the router I bought last Sunday. In the end, I bricked the device. D:

It’s cheap so it’s no big deal. Maybe later I’d build a USB to JTAG cable and try to unbrick it.

Anyway, I was supposed to write about the steps for overwriting the firmware (effectively turning an P880 router into a 3k modem/router) in this post but since I didn’t get to finish the whole thing, I’m going to have to cheat.

Ako Mismo rant below the cut.

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Now that other useless over-exaggerated issues (sex video, low mortality flu) are flooding the media and that the whole Ako Mismo thing has become commonplace already, I guess it’s about time I write about my personal take on Ako Mismo.

It’s simple. It’s patriotic. It’s fashionable.

No wonder people are enamored by it.

But the question is, do people really understand what it means to say do “ako mismo”?

To the people calling what we skeptical cynics do as “crab mentality”, can you name instances where you acted “ako mismo” in situations where doing so will destroy your reputation, lose “friends”, and generally screw up your life even though in the end you will gain nothing but the knowledge that you did what you had to do?

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“Ako mismo” is a way of life. It means taking the blame when everyone is passing it around. It means doing something right even though everyone pressures you to do a half-assed job. It means taking high-risk opportunities which fail (spectacularly) most of the time.

People who know me know that it is my way of life.

The most important actions and decisions I made in the past decade all start with “ako mismo”. As a result of those deeds, people respect and fear me. But it’s not because what I did was noble or impressive; they respect and fear me because they know they themselves could not, if put in the same position, make the same choice. They know they cannot take the burden that comes with saying “ako mismo” in those situations.

This is the reason why, as much as I’d like to promote this way of life, I cannot promote “ako mismo”.

It is simple to say, but very difficult to do.

It is patriotic, but in a country of misguided apathetic people.

It is fashionable to wear, but living it makes you an outcast.

And it is not doing something as simple as household chores. It’s doing things no other people are willing to do.

Otherwise, why start it with the words “ako mismo”?