Ahoy World

Of Fictitiousness of the Non-Fiction, Comics and Etc.

2010-01-07T09:42:00.006-06:00

The Bible, the Koran, history books, self-help books, and the Kamasutra...

Okay, scratch that last one.

Those are just some of the works considered by many as non-fiction, books that contain accounts of past events and guide of how people must act in the present or in the future. But as years go by, the terms "Real" and "True" have lost much of their meaning for most people. Such terms have been reduced to "who's real or truth is it?". "Real" and "Truth" have become an options or choices. Since, there are seemingly countless real's and truth's, it's only a matter of choosing what to believe or what to accept.

There is no wonder why "Calvin and Hobbes", "Dilbert", "The Phantom" or "The Amazing Spiderman", works labeled and considered as "fiction", are more acceptable and greatly enjoyed by audience.

Why? Because materials simply labeled as "fiction" causes people to ease up, put their mental guard down and say "hey, this thing is just fiction, it wont hurt my faith" or "at least, these things dont try to sell things to me or forcibly push thoughts upon me".

Comics generally don't offend non-believers in the way literary works of one group offend members of rival groups. Comics are generally seen as neutral and casual and hence more widely accepted.

In the realm of non-fiction, there are believers and non-believers. In the realm of fiction there are only fans and those who are not

(But of course, there are extreme comic fanatics of Marvel and DC who would say otherwise, but that is a topic reserved for another blog post).

Works of non-fiction are hailed as non-fiction only by believers, and as fiction by non-believers. For fiction, there is no obvious strong urge or sense to make a choice. Hence, the response from audience is merely to like or to not like.

Much of what have been considered as fiction contain stories of family, brotherhood, friendship, love, forgiveness, reconciliation, hate, vengeance, war and all bunch of things that the non-fiction are also about. The difference is that there is no strong explicit call to act
or to make audience believe what is being presented. Fiction dont shout "Believe" as loud as the non-fiction.

The works of fiction are a bit like positive reinforcement strategies (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Positive_reinforcement). They are most likely can and possibly be already effective in making people and act without "obviously" doing so. A lot of things that are more likely "truth" and "real" can be passively disseminated or spread via works of fiction without much friction.

But of course, through the years, content in the realm of advertisment and marketing - materials often considered as things outside of non-fiction - have been utterly successful making most people respond(believe and act) according to their objectives. And there have been novels published as fiction which hint of actual political and historical events. Songs, too have been instrumental in spreading awareness, whether of principles or commercial products.

Thus, acceptance of all content, whether fiction or non-fiction should be a matter of choice. One must be trully aware of what is implicitly or explicitly being stated by people or characters named Jesus, Mohammed, Elijah, Hitler, Obama, Ghandi, Cobain, Elvis, Lennon, Sinatra, Haile Selassie, Rizal, Dilbert, Calvin, or Sleepyhead(me).

Evading "it" is a lot harder than finding "it"

2010-01-05T12:44:00.002-06:00

It’s all about it...

A few nights ago, I have confirmed I have neither aptitude nor practical desire for indulging or availing services from massage and spa shops/parlors.

Whether it will be described as a physical excursion that is primarily effort-oriented (ex: pick up lines, game moves) or a service inclusive in a business-arrangement, I have no real interest in it. Theoretical interest? Sure - lots of it. Who doesn’t? Who wouldn’t?

Okay, here’s the definition of terms… By “it”, I mean “unofficial sex”. By “unofficial sex”, I mean “any sexual activity between two or more persons who are not a couple (ex: husband-wife, gf-bf, gf-gf or what-have-you)”.

And why must I evade it? The reason is not love for my spouse, not lack of lust (‘coz I have tons of that) not even fear of a higher being or ultimate punishment or eternal damnation. Not because it’s illegal or any of the sort (it’s legal right?). I’m not gay and most certainly not evading because of health reasons (who worries about STD’s before sex?). And honestly, I believe I have good skills and often feel an obligation to share them. The reason, I’m now more convinced of, is just love for my own self… or more precisely, the fear of my own conscience, or whatever that means.

Hey, don’t get me wrong I’m no Don Juan oozing with sex appeal, but the idea that “sex is hard to find” is absurd. Hollywood movies about teenage boys begging for sex may be a bit closer but those movies about working men desperate for sex – now that’s fiction.

After high school, evading sex is a lot harder than finding it.

Take note, the operative word is “find”, "hunting" is not needed, people only need to welcome it. The whole world smells of sex… even Barbie and Ken (Don’t know these two? They’re the favourite gift products from Mattel - your niece, girlfriend or sister at one point must’ve begged mom and dad to buy one for her birthday)

Evading sex is a lot harder than finding it, especially if you’re the only married guy among a crowd of healthy bachelors. Well, truth to be told, I’m most probably the first among my high school classmates who got married(and yes, my first born beautiful daughter was a result of unprotected pre-marital sexual intercourse between two college sweethearts) - so for a considerable amount of time, the atmosphere or environment for reunions and annual get-togethers were primarily for bachelors and for singles.

Over the years, I must admit I must’ve been to every famous bikini or strip bar where I work. I’ve worked for Japanese, Korean and American executives/companies, and I have grown fond of the bikini bar culture. Here’s info/tip for the bible lovers, bikini bars are not necessarily prostitution shops, some of them are actually good dining places and hangouts… but yes, sex is there too. One only needs to welcome it. But what do I do? I act as a first-timer and pretend to be a wildlife researcher and interview the enticing ladies (who have been assigned to me and have already been paid for by the boss) about their life and their view points. Yes, I know, I know, I know – it’s a place for welcome not interview (Silly me, what’s freaking wrong with me?!)

What is probably pre-marital sex for singles is most certainly extra-marital sex for those who are married.

Once again, this is not about being a saint or about Roman Catholicism’s holy matrimony. For starters, my wedding was civil and was not an official Christian ceremony, and I’m not exactly a Christian by Christian standards. I could’ve and can still use that as an excuse for involvement in unofficial sex activities (I’ve heard more lame excuses than that)

And even if I do agree that a man’s taste in women is inversely proportional to his age (as a boy, he gets infatuated with his school teacher; as a high school lad, he’s into girls of his age, as an old man, he’s into fifteen year olds), it doesn’t mean I’m actually going to be indulging in extra-marital sex or start preparation for my DOM(dirty old man) years.

Our regrets will not be about the things we have done but on the things we didn’t (or shall I put it: our regrets will not be about the people we did but about the people we didn’t do?). If that’s the case, then so be it.

Let the regrets come.

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Psst..

By “come” in the last sentence, I meant “come”. I have observed that most people after reading or hearing the word “sex” from me, is bound to interpret “come” as “cum”, “orgasm”, “climax”, “release” or whatchamacallit, fooling themselves into thinking that my sentences are filled with double, even multiple meanings. So there, I just thought I ought to be clear. And no, “regrets” in that last sentence is not to be meant to be substituted with “girls”, “bikini babes” or “lovers”; “regrets” means “regrets”, capish?

I fear judgement coming from my inner self. My inner self is a whole different parallel version of me. I might probably the sanest schizo there is. My inner self(or selves) is fond of whispering side-comments and commentaries to me, whether it’s a blissful, tragic or embarrassing moment. In fact, I feel it’s the part of me that is dominant when I write or blog…

But of course, I have added the last paragraph as a vain attempt to add a touch of comedy, macabre, eeriness, humour or utter silliness; it’s that or it’s just a silly attempt to make a zen proverb afterthought at the bottom of this otherwise boring post.

Oh, before I forget…

Warning: Evading OFFICIAL SEX is dangerous to your health.

Nobility of Professions.

2009-09-06T12:36:00.002-05:00

Some professions have nice little ring to their namesAnd the corresponding professionals who practice such professions are the ring-bearers:

"I'm a doctor. I save lives"

"I'm a journalist. I'm a vanguard of Truth"

"I'm a lawyer. I'm a protector of Justice and the oppressed"

"I'm a mayor. I'm a Public Servant. I help my fellow citizens"

"I'm a priest. I help people get in touch with God"

These professions have all the BS(b*llsh!t) already packaged. No advertisements are needed. People have come to regard people with such titles as being more responsible and more trustworthy than they truly are.

Truth to be told there are thousands of dim-witted medical doctors out there, bowing their heads to their more dim-witted supervising doctors and just prescribing any medicine recommended by the pharmaceutical companies. There are also lots of enterprising journalists telling only the stories of their favored side. The lawyers, are no exceptions, it's not uncommon to hear stories about that "dumb lawyer". And let us not get started about the public servants and the priestly folks.

Most professions are only treated as MEANS OF LIVELIHOOD and EMPLOYMENT and nothing more. There is nothing noble about that.

Here in this part of the world, titles are almost everything. Facade and masks.

My parents were right, after all, titles do matter. It may not be fair, but it's the reality.

But on a personal level, I will always be me. If ever the past is rewritten, I will always be a maverick among my peers and will always be different. But that would mean, I'd be dead by now if I were a journalist or probably has been ostracized by my colleagues if I were a medical doctor or a lawyer.

Even in the corporate software development world, I have been considered talented but deviant and strange. But as the years passed...

I'm no longer that. I'm just deviant and strange now .

Sigh.

But if there was a choice to be made in a thousand ground hog days... I wish to be a doctor... I'll be a true savior of lives instead of a programmer who saves his boss's ass.

"I saved a life" sounds and feels better
than "I saved my boss' ass"

Amen.

Kids and Other Stuff in one of those books about the Visibility of Trends and Perception of the World

2009-07-10T11:33:00.006-05:00

People talk of trends when a trend becomes "visible" and overwhelming. People account their effects and their causes to and from all sort of things. Each account have their own studies and records, all attempting to explain the observable trends.

I read one of the books that contain such accounts. In one page there is a paragraph stating something about that kids can watch a kiddie show while playing at the same time... Isnt that familiar? Isn't that the line that kids used to say before being admonished and programmed by grown-ups?

    "But Dad, I can watch TV while doing my homework"
    "I can do both, Mommy. I can listen to you admonish me while Im playing"
    "But I can brush my teeth and make my bed at the same time"

Kids can multi-task and grown-up people can multi-task. It maybe that in their part of the world, the grown-ups have lost that ability.. and most probably didnt know they had that.

"Grownups never understand anything by themselves, and it is tiresome for children to be always forever explaining things to them"
- The Little Prince

In another chapter, I read some bunch of psychologists allegedy say that small kids because of something called principle of mutual exclusivity, have difficulty understanding "that any one object can have two different names".

Perhaps the psychologists were referring to the kids in their population. It was an erroneous statement. A generalization made on the part of the author to include something scientific as an explanation of certain circumstance, or worst, a generalization by the psychologists he was using as a reference.

It is silly to say that what MIGHT, JUST MIGHT be true in one place would be immediately be a universal truth.

Kids here in our place, because of the wide usage of mixing constructs from two or more languages/dialects, can identify multiple labels for a single object. Kids here know that a dog can be called/referred to as "dog" in English or by the equivalent words in our local dialects.

It's a shame really that editors in the author's part of the world dont know anything about reviewing something that they have published for international reader consumption. Or is it perhaps they have assumed everything written from their end to be universallly-applicable truths or do they just like to ride on international-bestseller trends while it's hot?

It's funny that most international bestsellers that deal on trends contain little or no discussions at all about the trend basis for making international bestsellers.

But nonetheless, despite its flaws, the book was still worth reading. If anything, the book was good source - a great reference on how other people view the world and yet another example of trends - on how easilly the readership can accept and indulge in the author's way of thinking.

If I may be bold to comment, the author should add another type of personality in his book: "Drone". This would basically be the category where most of the people in ~~the author's part of~~ the world would fall in.

Everyone is a drone, one way or another; some at times, and most people, all the time.

Drones: Buzz. Buzz. Buzz

The Pursuit and Maintenance of a Routine.

2009-07-10T11:29:00.003-05:00

Routines...

Life in the city follows a routine. For the average citizen, he lives in stages, there's the gradeschool stages, highschool stages and college stages, and ever after that, the individual would eventually either work as employee and would basically follow a career path or start his own business and follow a business plan.

Routines, routines, routines.

Man in his work. That's a familiar psychology subject.

Life is all about routines. Whether it's a traditional one(often considered as boring and akin to a sheep's life) or the adventurous variations. Whether a lifestyle is about following a certain fixed pattern of activities or a seemingly random, free-spirited lifestyle. The pattern is still there. The pattern of randomness - the routine of deviating from yesterday's or last week's routine is no more than a routine.

It is said no one is as restless as the one who feels and gives in frequently to the impulse to relax. Many people live their routine with frequent bar-hoppings, leasuire travels, and romantic entanglements. In the end, they are busy with "relaxation activities". Non-job-related, but routines nonetheless. Each individual has his own routine no matter how hard he tries to pretend he's not living one. The one who claims he doesnt follow any rules, is truthfully following one rule - his own.

For most people, work is a means of livelihood... but in the end it would become a life practice. A man's work would eventually define and would become his "life". Work would no longer be a means to an end, it would become the journey.

Many of us can hope to follow two or more "subroutines" in our biological lives. But of course, those who have plenty of resources at their disposal and the right amount charm and luck, can live a routine that span across different job fields and social areas. They can afford to forget their "past life" and "begin" another one in another place. They can build another profile - another identity. They can afford to fail a hundred times more in their journey. Yes, all these are just steps to the pursuit and maintenance of a routine.

Whether we are aware that we have a choice in what routine to choose or maintain, or not, our circumstances are not that different. The specifics may differ, but the outline is the same. We are not that different.

Our routines are our lives; love it or hate it.

II.

We fill our lives with routines. Doing things that we like or things that we have accustomed to doing. We incorporate activities and shed off some as we live our lives. What would life be without work activity? It would'nt be called "living" if the entirety of our biological life were spent in a vegetable state - we would have no "life" both in the dream world and in the physical world.

All throughout the ages, man have attempted to transcend individual life to a higher meaning. Legacy is also a thing that people have become concerned about. Some would say that individual life is just but a speck, chain link or a dot in the bigger journey of his clan, nation or race.

But in this day and age, "lineage", "community" and "society" are terms that have become so important that they have lost their meaning in the air. The common "individual" is often forgotten in the law of the majority and sadly often only remembered during church sermons and in election campaigns. The present circumstances might have possibly severly degraded the essence and meaning of individuals as mere statistics. People are now frequently speak in terms of mass nouns and generalizations (the author of this blog post is no exception).

Society, its technologies and by-products have intentionally or accidentally engineered the routines individuals may take. Now, more than ever, current routines are the outcome of the routines maintained by people in the past. People may think that new job fields, new lifestyles and new perceptions have been opened, when in-truth they are the same old ones just with a little bit of sugar and salt added... and if there is truth to be told, it is that the actual options an individual can take have lessened. A vast majority of the activities we live out are mere subroutines of society. Y es, this is also true in the past but the difference is that now, only a few know and understand of the direction where our society's journey is heading to, and that even fewer know who are in control and there is a big chance that those who are in control are NOT numbered among the people who understand. In the past there were already monarchs and leaders of men, but the routines of humans abide by the earth and the other inhabitants, whether it is by ignorance, by fear or because of respect and reverence.

Now, the earth is bound to the human routines. "Life" is no longer something about life in general, but specifically about "human life". Human routines do not just affect the turn of human events but the events of the whole world.

Human routines have direct and strong impact upon the Earth. In the old days when Buddhism was born, the effects of an action are like the silent ripples created by a small drop of water... but in this age, where all nations are now linked in many ways, effects of a single action are like big thundering waves. Each day, the effects of human routines have become bigger and bigger, stronger and stronger. It is now becoming apparent that many of the effects may not have been all positive, and on the contrary, quite silenty severely negative.

Routines, routines, routines...

Where shall our routines take us?

Measuring the effectiveness of online activism

2009-07-03T21:29:00.004-05:00

[From an article by Sruthi Krishnan in The Hindu, 21 June 2009]

There are forms of social activism, which are not looked upon favourably

After the Iran elections, social networking sites are used by supporters of Opposition candidate

For the success of an online campaign, the power of the message also counts

CHENNAI: Sit-ins and police arrests. Placards hoisted high and slogans rippling through the crowds. Pamphlets distributed at the dead of night. It was called activism and is still called that — just that the cat and mouse game with the Big Brother has a binary code underlying it.

Social activism in the world of Web 2.0 follows most of the rules of the real world. But the nature of the medium does have an impact on the message, and the jury is still out on how effective activism is online.

After the Iran elections, social networking sites are being used extensively by supporters of Mir Hossein Mousavi, who has challenged the validity of the elections. As the Iranian government has placed restrictions on the traditional media, the supporters have sought refuge in the electronic world.

If you search for #IranElection, which is the tag on Twitter, a messaging service, for any update related to the Iran elections, there are minute-by-minute posts by users around the globe. The effects of this decentralised campaign are manifold.

“This raises the awareness of the issues among the people who may not have been exposed to these issues because of the space constraints of traditional media,” says Sunil Abraham, director-policy, Centre for Internet and Society, Bangalore. “It encourages activists on the ground in Iran because it clearly demonstrates global solidarity.” The increased transparency also has a pre-emptive effect by making it more difficult for states and corporations to engage in repressive activities without attracting international condemnation.

But there are forms of social activism online, which are not looked upon favourably.

Campaigns urging you to ‘Click on this link and eradicate world hunger’ lead to an oxymoronic state of sedentary activism or ‘slacktivism.’ Evgeny Morozov, a fellow at the Open Society Institute at New York, has coined this term to describe “feel-good online activism” that has no political or social impact. On the one hand, it will be easy to dismiss the click-to-participate campaigns as being useless. But they could attract people who would have normally not bothered with the issue. Mr. Morozov concludes that the only way to resolve the debate is by surveying campaigns to analyse impact.

“As far as I know, there are no such studies. But there is anecdotal evidence that clicks on a Web 2.0 system can lead to deeper engagement with social campaigns,” says Mr. Abraham. He cites the example of Michael Geist of the University of Ottawa, who was able to get some members of the Fair Copyright for Canada Facebook group (with over 90,000 members) to raise questions during open houses called by Canadian Members of Parliament. Thanks to this campaign, the government backed down from legislating anti-consumer intellectual property laws, he says.

For the success of an online campaign, the power of the message also counts. Here, Mr. Abraham refers to the Pink Chaddi campaign. “It did not directly respond to the arguments of the Ram Sene. It used humour to mock the fundamentalists into irrelevance.”

Though there is no clear path to an effective online campaign, the successes have demonstrated the potential of the medium that promises to connect millions with a click. But just as a message can grow stronger as it reaches more people, it can also be spread wafer-thin and lose significance.

Original Article:

http://www.hindu.com/2009/06/21/stories/2009062154641300.htm

Link to "The Centre for Internet and Society" article :

http://www.cis-india.org/news/measuring-the-effectiveness-of-online-activism

Farewell to the Queer-King of Pop: Michael Jackass err Jackson

2009-06-25T20:05:00.016-05:00

Okay, I got too rough with the blog title...

He was famous, weird and controversial at the very least.

All throughout the 80's, his songs dominated the air waves (but of course this is just some flimsy BS generalization when there are other billboard topnotchers with their own army of fans like Madonna during that time).

Anyway, I was born in the 80's, when the "moonwalk" was not something that was attributed to Neil Armstrong(who's he? The man who allegedly took the great leap of mankind with a single step on the moon). Michael Jackson was the "moonwalker" and not an astronaut from NASA.

Performers, especially here in this little part of the world, wanted to have the same intensity and energy and tried to become all-around performers of their own right(yeah, right). A local performer here, Gary Valenciano have some fans who have cited that their idol have started his career independently and that his career was not influenced by Jackson's(Yeah right, a kid with feverish energitic dancing in 80's? Come on!)

And now that news will be spreading fiercely both in the local and international scenes, there would be plenty of I-miss-him coverage. I imagine the local news in this country would cover celebrities saying stuff they dont even know about and would go about pretending like they are grateful to the King of Pop (you know the drill).

------------

I can't help remembering one of my highschool buddies who was such a fan of Michael Jackson that he would passionately defend his idol when somebody talks about the dark rumors (homo, pedophile, alien, the stuff). By passionately, I mean, beating the crap out of "violators".

Now that Jackson's gone, I can recall reading something about one of the lines of his song, "They Don't Care About Us"...

The line was "Jew me Sue Me". In those days before the golden age of blogging, songs were embedded with hidden meanings and intents, some of them less "hidden" than others, they still are , but now, people primarily rely on reading blogs for those "hidden meanings and intents".

It was a Reader's Digest article by the way(please google for it. No need to put bibliographic references in this post when there are many search engines who can verify).

Jackson was reportedly referring to the family(primarily the father) who filed a lawsuit against him. The lawsuit was child-sexual-harrasment related(again, Im not copyrighting nor copy-pasting in this post since most of my blogs are purely from my memory and my from my wicked imagination - I could be wrong but I highly doubt that). It was also specified there that Jackson had the PR advantage to that case since people had to read to know the side of the "victim's" family while alot more people can just hear and watch Jackson's side of it just by watching Oprah(whoohooo! Oprah again, I better make that a "tag" here in my blog).

Jackson said something like "any kid can come into my room". When in fact, as his detractors claim, his entire house is packed with security cameras and other security measures that virtually no one with unauthorized access can gain entry into.

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Okay, enough about the Reader's Digest article and back to my highschool memories...

Back in highschool, my friend also played "Michael Jackson" in an interview-drama-play and audience would act as reporters. I can still remember my question:

"You're the King of Pop and you married the daughter of the King of Rock, why?"

Of course it was a dumb question, I just liked the ring of it.

------------

Despite of all the scandals, Jackson would be remembered for his songs that seemed to bridge the "black" and "white" boundaries. His "Black or White" music video, in fact, was something about the entire human race and the abandonment of color boundaries.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YVoJ6OO6lR4

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XWOBHVPvi-s

It's sad that Jackson didn't get to be awarded a Nobel Peace Prize unlike Bono of U2 (oh well, better luck time in the next life). In his lifetime, Michael Jackson made plenty of contribution to the plight of world peace, humanitarian causes and other pressing world problems.

Okay, okay. Some people might be thinking of adding the phrase ".. by adding to them." to the previous paragraph but hey whatever works.

Even after his death, Michael Jackson will continue to be a source of entertainment for millions of people (and I say this with both respect and with pun intended).

Let's Protect our Coco Crunch, Guys!

2009-06-23T03:00:00.004-05:00

Unfortunately this is not about Coco Crunch the cereal nor about that Koala(mascot/trademark of that cereal), but I do think that animal with all his jumping around might also be interested in this post.

Have you (yes, you! assuming of course, there's someone else other than me reading this blog) given much thought to the ways you can protect your jewels (a.k.a genitalia)?

For the averate city guy, the words "protection" and "genitalia" would mean only one thing: condom.

Yes, it's sad but true. But this is post is simply not about contraception.

The female members of our specie are more fortunate. There are lots products on the shelves of grocery stores that are geared towards feminine hygiene, but guys, on the other hand, are ever so reliant on the old-soap-shampoo-thing.

I've read some tidbits of male genitalia hygeine in short articles of men's magazines (like: FHM, Penthouse), but they're mostly about watching out for food that would give semen a bad taste for women(?!)

It might come as a shock for most guys, but Oprah(yes, the only and one Oprah, Goddess of TV ratings) did feature some interesting info regarding the male human body. She even had something about a "Broken Penis".

And no, this post is not an pro-Oprah ad.

[Defensive Mode] I'm not a fan of Oprah and her gang of specialists. I can never understand why people are so awed by the Prince of Decor when the guy is so lame and just helping out lame people whose worst problem is how to decorate their homes and who somehow act as if a well-decorated house is a prerequisite for happiness. But I have developed a certain level of appreciation for many of Dr. Oz's advice, especially when he's not talking about the diseases and illness brought about by the use of vanity tools of women(makeup, etc).

If you're a guy and you hear a doctor talking about a "broken penis", you'll probably watch and listen too(or at least end up listening to the Oprah Doctor while pretending to read the sports page of a month-old newspaper).

I had the same sentiments of Dennis Leary(US actor) who initially planned to make fun of Oprah but ended up watching more and more of her show because of the male-oriented topics(or so he claims).

And so back to "broken penis"... Guys should watch where they put their stick.

And by the way, if you are among the few readers of this blog and have reached this part. There is no practical advice here about "protecting" your "coco crunch" and no further details about the "broken penis". This post is just one big rhetorical statement - one big thinking-out-loud episode that I had.

So everytime you see the koala guy and his bowl of cereal, you better remember that bulge/mound between your legs. He/she/it (or whatever name you have christened it/him/her/etc) do need protection.

So guys and gals, let's protect our coco crunch!

April Fool's and Leo Tolstoy

2009-06-03T20:27:00.007-05:00

Leo Tolstoy?

Yep, he's the guy who wrote Anna Karenina.

No no no, I'm not referring to a tv soap series once aired in the Philippines. That series mangled the image and memory recall ability of the citizens. Each time you talk about "Anna Karenina" people would think you're a fan of tearful Philippine tv soap series of the 1990's.

Leo Tolstoy also wrote another novel, War and Peace.

I wouldn't have imagined bringing myself into reading such literature. I only came upon a soft copy of the novel while browsing a supposed-developers guide to Magento(a now famous php-based shopping cart framework).

The "tutorial" was supposed to be an April Fool's joke that is apparently still actively floating in the hyperlinks of the internet. And to think it's now June!

Thankfully, I got bored reading about the life of pre-communism Russian aristocrats and decided to read the lame developer documentation found on the shopping cart's web site.

--------

Hmmm...

What if I wrote my own "tutorial" and have the file buffed up by a couple of scanned copies of one of thousands of hentai literature out there on the web...

Would unexpecting readers/developers read the "embedded" literature??

YAC: Yet Another Constitution

2009-06-03T17:16:00.013-05:00

We, the sovereign Filipino people would always want to modify our Constitution for the nth time.

That would be an accurate first sentence for our preamble.

Speaking of preambles, here are the preambles over the years:

Version 1.0 - 1899 version
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"Nosotros los Representantes del Pueblo Filipino, convocados legítimamente para establecer la justicia, proveer a la defensa común, promover el bien general y asegurar los beneficios de la libertad, implorando el auxilió del Soberano Legislador del Universo para alcanzar estos fines, hemos votado, decretado y sancionado la siguiente" ”

(We, the Representatives of the Filipino people, lawfully covened, in order to establish justice, provide for common defense, promote the general welfare, and insure the benefits of liberty, imploring the aid of the Sovereign Legislator of the Universe for the attainment of these ends, have voted, decreed, and sanctioned the following)

NOTE:
Look Ma! Spanish!
I wonder if the common citizen could expertly read Spanish at that time.

Of course, this version wasn't created with the approval of the then-~~owner~~ guardian of the Philippines, Good Ol' Uncle Sam. So this might be called version 0.1 and have the versions of the other modifications renumbered.

Apparently, the former inhabitants of the country ignored the arrival of the Americans as the new boss of the town and pretended they were gaining independence and had won over the Spaniards when in fact, the independence battle (like what others would say about the NASA landing on the moon) was a hollywood scripted act that came into play when Spain signed the country over to the Americans.

Version 2.0 - 1935 version
-----------------------------------------

"The Filipino people, imploring the aid of Divine Providence, in order to establish a government that shall embody their ideals, conserve and develop the patrimony of the nation, promote the general welfare, and secure to themselves and their posterity the blessings of independence under a regime of justice, liberty, and democracy, do ordain and promulgate this constitution."

NOTE:
This version had the stamp of approval from Dear Uncle Sam and one of the deemed prerequisites for Uncle Sam's grant of independence.

Ah, the teenage life!
Asking for independence by writing a constitution as proof of maturity! How about that?

Please Uncle, please!

Version 3.0 - 1943 version
-----------------------------------------

"The Filipino people, imploring the aid of Divine Providence and desiring to lead a free national existence, do hereby proclaim their independence, and in order to establish a government that shall promote the general welfare, conserve and develop the patrimony of the Nation, and contribute to the creation of a world order based on peace, liberty, and moral justice, do ordain this Constitution."

NOTE:
This was during WWII.

Remember the Nazis, the Japs and the Marios?
The axis powers versus the Allies headed by the Big Three (Russia, British Empire and whad'ya know US)?

Anyway, the country was under the manufacturers of anime and they love dolls and puppets so much they allowed the puppet government to write a constitution.

Version 4.0 - 1973 version
-----------------------------------------

"We, the sovereign Filipino people, imploring the aid of Divine Providence, in order to establish a government that shall embody our ideals, promote the general welfare, conserve and develop the patrimony of our Nation, and secure to ourselves and our posterity the blessings of democracy under a regime of justice, peace, liberty, and equality, do ordain and promulgate this Constitution.

NOTE:
This was during the reign of King Marcos. With his gallant hand, he has set forth the holy age of the country called the "Martial Law Regime".

It was a Golden Age, they say. Apparently it was only the "cronies" who mentioned that and they only said those words during the era of King Marcos.

King Marcos was able to ~~fool~~ convince the authors of the ~~wikipedia~~ the revised Constitution to give him unlimited number of lives in the presidential game.

Version 5.1 - 1987 version
-----------------------------------------

"We, the sovereign Filipino people, imploring the aid of Almighty God, in order to build a just and humane society, and establish a Government that shall embody our ideals and aspirations, promote the common good, conserve and develop our patrimony, and secure to ourselves and our posterity, the blessings of independence and democracy under the rule of law and a regime of truth, justice, freedom, love, equality, and peace, do ordain and promulgate this Constitution."

NOTE:
This was during the real Golden Age, or as what the supporters of the Aquino Administration would say. This was the era after King Marcos where a "plain housewife" took the throne, err, given the presidency by the people, or so history would say.

This was after the People Power Revolution now commonly referred as "EDSA I", which is the name of a busy street in the country's capital where there is a flux of traffic jams and vehicular accidents.

Why 5.1?
There was something called a "Freedom Constitution" during 1986, but it there was no Preamble. So tough luck!

Oh oh!
By now, you would've noticed that this is the version that the word "GOD" is first used in the preamble.
I dunno why the other versions had used more eloquent and fancier words. Perhaps, the authors had tried to make the country appear liberal and that there was an overflowing atmosphere of religious tolerance. It's either that or the authors just wanted to show future readers they are well-informed and have richer vocabulary. Perhaps the next version would have something like "with the aid of the FORCE" or "the aid of Big Brother" or "the aid of the United States" or even simpler like "the aid of the Boss" or "the aid of the One" or "the aid of the Many" or "the aid of No One Else".

Anyway At this time, the Constitution wrote off the historical ownership rights of the country of historical territories like Sabah by the deletion or exclusion of some lines in the territory section. Anyway, who cares about such stuff?

Anyway, this is the constitution that is currently being targeted for modification.

And in case you get to join the Constitional Committe,
please have the word "Sovereign" removed!

-----------------------------------------

Alas, the above list might be needing modification in a few years or so depending whether there is a new revision and when that revision would be released.

And if someone might ask
"why should I care about the constitution? We didn't even cover that one in our ultra private exclusive university"

Then tell them what I told my history teacher in college when he wondered why a study of the constitution is part of the curriculum.
"It's written in the Constitution, Article 14, Section 3"

Our Constitution is the single most valuable paper-based product there is (other than the napkin, the toilet paper and your birth certificate).

It's the thing that protects us from the well-informed, educated, well-bred money-having power-greedy bastards. Although if the problem is about common barbaric ruthless crime elements then that's another story since there is no protection against the money-having power-greedy bastards who are neither well-informed, educated nor well-bred. That's where the Divine Providence, Almighty God, Soberano Legislador del Universo come in.

Anyway, think of the Constitution as a condom and a fertility idol wrapped in one package. It defines your "nation", it defines the boundaries of your territories, it defines your rights, it defines your population, it defines peace, justice, equality and liberty or whatever those terms mean.
(I may be wrong, though )

Sigh. Pinoy Charter Change

2009-06-02T10:54:00.010-05:00

I used to think that the Charter Change movement was just for-show and would never get serious approval in the lower house, that the current president is now more concerned about how history books would describe her and her administration and that all the fuss is one fiasco setup by rival political groups so they would have enough reason to appear daily on national television even though they can easily kill any bill in the Senate since they seem to have the majority there.

Some even say there wont be an erection.. er.. election on 2011.

"Cum and be Cunted on Erection Day", I used to say.

Anyway, I wonder if the line "We, the sovereign F******* people" in our Constitution would get revamped.

No no no.

I'm not referring to the 4th word and those asterisks don't stand for letters of a famous word used in profanity. Those asterisks actually stand for ILIPINO, although replacing the 4th word entirely with F*CK*NG! would be a good alternative especially with today's current events.

Okay, let us recite the "amended" phrase 3 to 10 times:

We, the sovereign F*CK*NG! people
We, the sovereign F*CK*NG! people
We, the sovereign F*CK*NG! people

Wow! That brought me whole mountains and waves of realization. We really are a bunch of sovereign f*ck*ng people!

Anyway, I really want the term "sovereign" scratched, it's makes the whole line way too trying. And like almost everything in our political environment, that line was obviously copied from the Anglo-American "We the People".

Their line was stated from the self-assured, self-confident perspective of active common citizens. The authors didn't bother putting in words like "We the Brave People" or "We the free People" or "We the superior and arrogant People" or "We the dumb-shit People".

Our intro-line in our Constitution smells of inferiority complex. Well, anyway, I wonder what exact lines, paragraphs or sections will be revamped, added or deleted.

Maybe the guys pushing the bill just have the overwhelming desire to correct some grammar and typographical errors in our Constitution.

All for the sake of Nationalism, they say.

In today's age, people should be more pragmatic and be less nationalistic. Nationalism is overrated. Why, if other nations were so nationalistic, they would'nt have bothered voting for our films and showcasing our singers and athletes in their stages.

Nationalism is the parent of Regionalism, it's vain and one-sided...

Argh! Where am I?! I'm off-topic!! Okay, back to the topic at hand...

To the constitution-author wannabe's,

Please please hear my request... just revamp that first line!

I don't care if you put lines that would be instrumental for world-domination or for the dominion and creation of your own personal city or barangay or for the spreading of your own personal beliefs as a national doctrine.

Just revamp that first line and you can go ahead with your power-writing and power-playing or practice of civic-duties or whatever it is you use to describe the thing you do.

----

Take note, if ever there is a confusion on which version I'm talking about because the Constitution have been modified frequently over the years, I'm referring to the most recent version, the 1987-version. And I do hope when they make the next revision, they would add or attach a changelog or a revision history to it.

Environmentalists - Do They Use Toilet Paper?

2009-06-01T16:40:00.003-05:00

I was "thinking out loud" a month ago (Come to think of it, I always think out loud)
and these are the questions that popped out:

Do green-loving people use both sides of a toilet paper?

Do they even use toilet papers?

Or do they use dried leaves or some other ethically-friendly and bio-friendly material?

Those questions should be the top 3 questions people should ask when they meet people who claim to be environmentalists.

Alec Baldin and the Filipino Bride(I mean Pride)

2009-05-25T15:33:00.005-05:00

Okay. I really feel my previous post should have this title.

Anyway, Google should setup stats analysis on how many complaints have been thrown at foreign nationals who have made funny remarks about actual situations/conditions associated with other nations.

Google should then show some filters (like "group by country") that users can select.

I know of one nation which would be at the top 5 of that result listing.

Alec Baldwin and Blaming Everyone But Ourselves

2009-05-25T14:49:00.007-05:00

Just imagine the ff scenarios:

1. Japan complains about remarks made about Japan's WWII crimes against women and the weird kind of porn they make(girl always crying and the rape-like scenes).

2. Germany complains about nazi jokes and remarks about their army performing anti-semitic and atrocious activities.

3. US complains that it's not fair to remark that US is the top porn promoter of the world or the top exporter of the worlds' religions or christian groups.

4. Mexico complains about the frequent use of "illegal entry of Mexicans" plot or scenario in Hollywood movie and television scripts.

5. US govt complains about the remarks in local television and movies that American tourists are always out to exploit local citizens, and the frequent depiction of Americans as egotistic rich dumb bastards in everyday conversation on the street and at the household.

What's with the big deal if something from our nation is painted in a bad and funny way in other countries?!

Deal with it!

We have a choice. We can either CHOOSE to feel bad about it or we take it as something funny and laugh along.

--------

If our nation's pride is something so fragile that it can easily be dented by random simple remarks made by mere private citizens of foreign nations, then it isn't stable, strong or even even valuable enough to begin with.

What kind of pride is that?!

The remarks were not even about our nation in general but of certain negative(or perceived negative) aspects. Alec Baldwin's remark was not about all women or brides from the Philippines, it was simply something about his desire to have more children in the soonest possible time since he is now way beyond old.

It was a satirical remark about an American availing an underground male-oriented service from an under-developed nation. The remark was actually more about the mind of a love-deprived or a desperate American rather than that of a Filipino or a Russian mail-to-order bride.

So it was MOST DEFINITELY not an H-Bomb or an act of war targeted at us.

All the defensiveness expressed by our govt and certain groups are mere symptoms of guilt and helplessness. We can only see the falseness and the humiliation, and none of the truth and possible reformation.

We can only see that the remark was a lame generalization and that it was an attack on our nation but failed to see entirely the sad truth in it and that fact, that we have elevated a simple remark about a coincidental truth to an actual attack on our nation's dignity.

If truth be told, we are not just the ones taking the damage, we are also the ones giving most of it. Summing that up, the result is "self-inflicted" damage.

Since we cannot change the underlying condition, we might as well blame anyone who reminds us of them, eh?

Hayden Mitsurugi Style!

2009-05-25T14:18:00.003-05:00

Move over Kenshin!

Back in high school / college, I used to hear kids saying "Hiten Mitsurugi!" in reference to a sword technique practiced by a famous manga/anime character, Kenshin Himura.

I wonder with the frequent showing of short censored clips of the hayden-katrina video scandal and the endless number of news update about it... would kids of this generation be shouting the phrase "Hayden Mitsurugi Technique!"

If that would become a reality, then the media and the good ol' public officials are at the top of the list to be applauded for the phenomenon. If it werent for the considerable amount of time they spent on promoting the video by publicing prohibiting and abhorring it, only the avid porn-flick fanatic and the casual ultra-curious internet user would have known about it.

Oh well. The blogger community would be probably come in third in the list of people/organizations future generations should thank for distributing and spreading word about the video.

But the blogger community are, of the moment, constrained to the web browser-internet medium, so it's still a big lead by the the top two players (media and the public officials) who have the power of radio and television at their command.

Somebody should keep stats and do surveys with questions like "Where did you hear about the sex video?"

Senate and the News Media are the Biggest Sex Video Promoters

2009-05-23T13:02:00.007-05:00

Sex. Sex. Sex.

Those who enjoy watching sex videos should thank Sen. Bong Revilla Jr.

Without his public denouncement( or shall I say announcement) of a recent sex video scandal, a large majority of the population would not have even heard of the scandal.

Thanks to him, thousands of people are out searching the net for the controversial sex video. And even more people are out in the alleys looking for street vendors who are selling DVD/VCD copies of the video.

As usual, the media is sending out mixed messages to the public.

They are saying "Don’t watch or patronize this disgusting sex video which will have parts of it shown here everyday, all day!"

It makes "thinking" people wonder whether public officials and the media are promoting or prohibiting the spread of the video.

Of course, with majority of the people blindly following the word of politicians and the media, it wouldn't matter anyway. Responses to issues are like bumper stickers or tshirt/button pins; people stick it on themselves for mere conformance without fully understanding what they mean.

Blind obedience is the norm here.

The common or average response is just a mirror or an echo of the perceived norm. Most people would walk the walk and comment how nice the emperor's clothes are.

-------

MEMORABLE LINES

A lot of funny quotes can be collected from people who have stepped forward to say they abhor the sex video.

Here are some of them, although the quotes are no longer verbatim.

"I watched the sex video and it was dirty and disgusting!"
(Duh, it's a sex video, what did you expect? Did you have to watch the vid to know that?)

"Watching sex videos is a crime against God. I watched the video and I got myself a headache"
(Which head may I ask Mr. Pastor?)

"The guy is to be blamed. All throughout the film, he was angling himself and the girl in front of the camera. People should not watch this video"
(Oh, but you have watched it long enough to notice the angles and positions, didn’t you?)

"No matter how many times we watched the video, it was still degrading to us women"
(Did you expect the film to become less degrading each time you "review" it?)

-------

SAID "EWW" BUT EXPRESSED "AWESOME!!"

The look of Sen. Bong Revilla Jr when he said "Kabastusan" (can be translated as obscenity, indecency, sick, foul, immorality, [you got the picture] ) was even more amusing.

His face was a mixture of AMAZEMENT and ENVY. The look on his face was the look one player gives another after witnessing the moves and feats of a kindred spirit.

He could have said "WOW!" and would've been a hundred times more credible.

-------

REALITY...

Oh well.

It's nice to know there are some senators who have time to discuss sex videos when there are bigger issues on hand that are more relevant to the nation's welfare. We, citizens, can't really expect all the senators to be able to understand and interpret written law, most of them are only there for the pay and would just reserve one scandal or two to inform the nation when the next election or end-term evaluation is just a step away.

Anyway, to those who haven't seen the video yet, you can try fleshasiadaily.com. I do agree with the author/poster that the doctor's work(the doctor is the guy in the video) should be preserved for future generations.
:D

Young kids should learn that oral sex is not something that only women should do for their male partners. Tongue-tornadoes and slit lapping should be skills honed by the young male generations! That's the reason why we local males are such a hit with foreign women. It's an asset, build it!

Anyway, I do hope everything would go well with the video participants and the interesting people giving interesting announcements on television and newspapers.

Whether the issue at hand is a question of privacy or morality or plain publicity, only history can tell.

And like what the most famous Vulcan would say:

LIVE LONG AND PROS-JER ..um... I mean.. BONE LONG AND PROSPER!

The new eight beatitudes

2009-02-19T08:33:00.010-06:00

1. Blessed are the thrifty who have invested their money in piggy banks for they shall be saved from all the BS and crappy complexities of modern banking.

2. Blessed are the big corporate employees for they shall inherit the title "default honest taxpayers"

3. Blessed are the entrepreneurs for they can have tax advantages(A.K.A no taxes at all)

4. Blessed are those who are in the beer and cigarette business, for they shall inherit the money of those who are struggling to make ends meet but still have the money for vice.

5. Blessed are the freelancers for theirs is the kingdom of owning their own time

6. Blessed are the trillionaires for they shall still have millions if they have lost millions in financial meltdowns.

(Did you know that MS Word 2000 doesn't have "trillionaire" in its dictionary?)

7. Blessed are the those who have invested their money in women and booze for they can easily understand why their money are no longer theirs than those who invested and lost their money in the realm of finance.

8. Blessed are the blessed for they are blessed.

It's not YOU. It's THEM!!

2009-02-19T07:58:00.003-06:00

I've read an amusing post in a colleague's blogsite(shardsofarmor). A demon reportedly came to him and told him the ff:

"You surround yourself with people that you call friends and engage in what you consider as intelligent conversations. But really, none of you idiots have any idea of what you're talking about."

I was confused and was at lost and had an overwhelming desire to check what those words mean and if those words have been uttered or have been published elsewhere by people who had conversations with the devil. (translation: I had nothing sensible to do)

And there is only one source on earth(other than the Christian Bible) where they say we can find answers.

So I decided to google it on Google(yes, google the verb and google the noun in one line);

And whadyaknow?!

The paragraph is about US Politics!

Click to see google results

Sigh.

It's always about politicians. It's always about them.

So that's that. All the muddle had been un-muddled. My friend was probably talking about US Politics.

I'm not a Google-search expert and don't know how Google exactly connected the search text to US Politics but if anyone ask what the following phrases mean: "friends", "intelligent", "idiots", "talking".

I'd say "they spell US Politics"

Another thing...

I have also noticed that adding the phrase

"A demon came to me and said,"

in the google search(right before the first sentence of "You surround yourself") would display blog posts that have been authored by people who in another lifetime(or in another blog post) could have posted something like the ff:

"You surround yourself with people that you call friends and engage in what you consider as intelligent conversations. But really, none of you idiots have any idea of what you're talking about."

Ah the cycle...

Click to see google results

We closed a deal! We closed a company!

2009-02-19T07:51:00.003-06:00

"We closed a company!"

doesn't have the same ring of

"We closed a deal!"

Not unless if one is a professional consultant who's hired by clients to close down rival (or their own) companies.

Hurray! Yippee!

Ads, Endorsement and Responsibility

2009-01-28T09:03:00.005-06:00

Advertisement, Endorsement and Responsibility.

The first two words are pretty common, and the two are seldom not a pair.
Sadly, the third word only comes up during Sunday masses, election campaigns, and more often than not, never at all.

ON MSG
I can't remember the time in this little part of the world that Ajinomoto A.K.A monosodium glutomate(MSG) wasn't used in meal parties.

Sure there are studies out there that claim that MSG is pretty harmless, but people here consume considerable amounts of it on a daily basis.

Celebrities who endorse such products should be responsible for what they say based on their ad scripts.

I even know of people who put MSG on their scrambled eggs.

And what's worst, Ajinomoto has stopped placing the term "monosodium glutomate" in bold letters, they have replaced it with "Umami". WTF! It must mean "monosodium glutomate" in another language.

ON SLIMMING PRODUCTS
Yes, I do agree slim babes are nice to look at. But there should be limits on vanity.

My 5 year-old daughter doesnt even like to eat because she thinks she will get fat by eating 2 or more spoonfuls of food. WTF?!

TV ads showing chubby women hiding their bellies might be funny for some, but what kind of messages are those ads really sending out?

Truth to be told, there are people who prefer comfort over speed.

Sure, sure, sure. It's nice to feel the "sarap to the bones" pelvic thrusts but those cushions can be so warm and comfortable.

Slimming products are making one side of the coin boring and overrated.

It's nice to be genetically slim, but "slim" does not mean healthy, neither does "chubby".

I'm not sure when people started to get this notion that one's piece of mind is attached to one's weight and figure.

ON CANNED GOODS AND PACKED NOODLES
Sure, movie stars and celebrities eat canned goods. But those celebrities don't consume as much as their fans or people who buy products according to what they see in television.

Come on! Some canned goods might be cheaper compared to the real food, but it's definitely not as healthy as the general public think they are.

And those "Japanese noodles in plastic packs"? I couldn't even find them in groceries in Japan (I only got to see them in vending machines). I was perplexed at first why most of their grocery goods were so close to their expiration dates - it took me a while to realize that most of their goods were fresh, hence the short gap between the dates and the current date. I was accustomed to seeing expiration dates that span years at our local groceries. Ack! The preservatives, they are only meant to preserve/prolong food and not necessary the life of the consumers.

ON DRUG MEDS WITHOUT APPROVED THERAPEUTIC CLAIMS
We all know that herbal medicines do work.

But people should never believe that the modern "alternative" medicines people see in television and print ads are herbal medicines. They ceased to be "herbal" the moment they were packaged into capsules and tablets. They're just drugs disguised and dressed in "fun" packs.

There is a big difference between the conventional herbal and nature medicines with these modern meds. These "modern" stuff have passed thru mechanical rollers and other metallic parts in factories and have undergone the conventional extraction and chemical processes, usually undergone by pharmaceutical drugs. In fact, the only difference between these popular "new" medication and the conventional pharma drugs is that these "new" ones don't have studies backing up their claims.

Consumers, on the other hand, are so easily manipulated into buying these stuff. Advertisers don't try even have to try hard to fool consumers. A simple line like the one below can convince people to buy their product:

With the right diet, proper exercise and a teaspoon of XXXXX..

Wow! People who even don't eat the right food and don't even exercise have been buying lots and lots of such products. They just read or hear the last line "a teaspoon of XXXXX".

Sometimes, I think they deserve to be fooled.

ON CANDIDATES FOR GOVT POSITIONS
We should start prosecuting people who have endorsed incompetent people into public office.

Yes, I have stated "incompetent". A public servant doesn't need to be "corrupt" to be qualified as "incompetent" or "ineffective".

So all those who have endorsed candidates who became incompetent(whether they were lazy or corrupt or just plain stupid)public officials should also be prosecuted.

On second thought, those lousy voters who voted for the incompetent people should also be punished or at least reprimanded.

People who vote with their pockets or those who merely vote primarily depending on family, friendship, business or religious social network are not qualified to vote.

ON RELIGION
Religion is overrated. People believe that religion is the solution, when in fact, it's a big part of the problem.

People have invested so much time, energy and money on religion as a structure and not enough as a form of spirituality.

People now treat religion like a phone directory. They only use it to look up names or when they need something.

ON GAME SHOWS AND THEIR HOSTS
Game shows are not charitable institutions, they are there to make money for their companies.

Giving big sums of money in front of TV cameras make it more profitable for the owners.

Getting contestants who are financially poor make the shows more profitable.

Giving big sums of money to financially poor contestants double the profits.

Get the picture?

Those hosts are not saints. Some of them are probably earning more than 100,000 in a day. What is shelling out 20 or 10 grand for them? Like loose change.

Any one selected to become a host for a game show and plays a character/role who liberally hands out cash can be considered a "good person" by the masses.

Game shows are game shows. Some win and some don't. It's good to praise the higher authority or supreme being for winning, but winning contestants should never forget that game shows earn money regardless contestants win or not (and it really is not the supreme being's fault if contestants lose) .

It's alright to be thankful but people mustn't elevate game shows and their hosts on pedestals and altars.

Mamma Mia: into the psyche of girls

2009-01-27T09:38:00.004-06:00

Mamma Mia!

Last year, I was dragged into watching this movie which starred (among other Hollywood actors) Meryl Streep and Pierce Brosnan.

It was obviously one of those movies I would mark as "chick flick". My wife is into ABBA songs, so it was expected she would love the movie but what I didn't count on was my daughters enjoying the movie.

They were only 3 and 5 years of age!

I merely assumed that only the ladies, mothers and grandma's would love this movie -but not kids. I assumed kids and teenagers would enjoy watching Twilight or High School Musical but never Mamma Mia!.

I'm not sure what's in this movie - there must be subliminal messages embedded in the film that make girls of all ages go ga-ga.

I had initially planned to blog my observations when I got home that night. But ended up forgetting about that itch to blog.

However, during last year's Christmas holidays, I brought along a DVD copy of the movie to show to my friends. And it seemed every girl that I saw the movie, had a certain fondness of the movie.

See? Girls gone ga-ga.

Hate to admit it but I'm going to say it now.

I found myself enjoying the movie.. eventually.

There! I said it. Sue me.

But there is no way, not a chance anyone will get me to buy the book or watch the musical.

Reading what others have been Writing

2009-01-26T05:43:00.007-06:00

I was bored.

I had nothing sensible to do.. so I decided to click the "Next Blog" link at the top
of this page (it's one of the links at the right side of the search box).

I was hoping to get a glimpse at what the other bloggers are writing about.

Whadyaknow?!

I couldn't read their posts!

For my first 9 clicks on the "Next Blog" link, I was taken to 9 blogs which were not in English. Evidently, the "writing language of preference" for the authors of these blogs is not English.

And that got me thinking - all this time I've been using the word "reading" as something that is the counterpart of "writing".

Technically, the way I have been reading hasnt changed. People read web articles the same way that they read books or other writtern media. But "writing", that is the verb that specifically mean different things.

They call it "writing":

When a novelist uses his favorite typewriter to writ- err - create a novel
When a developer opens up his text editor to create a source code documentation
When the ancient Egyptians made their hieroglyphics inscriptions
When a bloggers creates a new post

Anyway, we can scrap the third example... that's too big a gap in time and in culture. Basically, the requirements for being able to read hasn't changed that much in terms of resources. But when in comes to writing, the requirements greatly vary. Some writers merely require use of pencils and pens while others require the use of typewriters, laptops and accompanying word processor softwares, etc. The writing device(the one used for writing) and the storage medium(the one that is being "written on") have changed and evolved.

From Wikipedia(where else?)
Writing is the representation of language in a textual medium through the use of a set of signs or symbols (known as a writing system). It is distinguished from illustration, such as cave drawing and painting, and the recording of language via a non-textual medium such as magnetic tape audio.

For reading, the medium might have changed from paper to screen monitors, but the act of reading still relies on the sense of sight(perhaps touch, if you're using the Braille system).

*But of course, the concept of "language" should be there in order to pass ideas from writer to reader. It's not "reading", if the reader(or the mere looker) is not able to understand the writing.

From Wikipedia(where else?)
Reading (process) is the human cognitive process of decoding symbols or syntax for the purpose of deriving meaning (reading comprehension) or constructing meaning. (pronounced "reeding").

Having "written" all that above, I'll just add that I do not have any plans in learning how to write nor read in another language other than the ones that I am already adept at (at least not in the immediate future).

Okay, so much for my encounter with the "Next Blog" link.

Simple and Lame

2009-01-22T11:08:00.002-06:00

There are some people who after looking at a
white A4 paper with only the crisp words

Simple

written on it, would say "Beautiful".

Show those same people a white A4 paper
with only the crisp words

Lame

written on it, and those people would say "Lame".

Lame Church Music

2009-01-22T10:09:00.003-06:00

I've heard plenty of church music from different denominations of Christianity. But the most lame is the one I heard from a local church.

It goes something like:

"I have been trampled by enemies
I have suffered greatly in their hands
Take pity on me, Lord"

Now now now, those lines are not verbatim but the jist is the same.

The lines are not the ones that add tone and heart to the song - it's the tune.
The way the song was sung was the saddest and most miserable I have ever heard.

My guess is that it was a localization or an adaptation of a more popular song. A more cheerful song, I bet.

People might think I'm shallow and thick-headed, but that song doesn't sing of hopefulness and faith, it speaks more of helplessness and papa-gimme-me-help.

It might be just the choir or the group of people singing it. Here in this part of the world, the old loyal church goers are kinda like that - prayerful and miserable, faithful and blind. For them, the church, is an altar for crying out complaints to a higher authority. As for me, I belong to the thoughtful-but-cynical-and-couldnt-do-anything-different-anyway generation. Oh, how I wish the next generation of eager-but-not-dumb, sometimes-skeptic-but-not-cynical, loyal-but-not-kiss-ass people.

If the choir was composed of such people, I bet the song would be more cheerful and something that sings of faith and total surrender to the will of the Lord.

Imagine thousands of people hearing this kind of miserable song every Sunday. Think of the subliminal implications and effects on the human subconscious?

Lame.

People would eventually believe they're so lame that they would allow people to literally trample them, and that they would beg the all mighty authority to save their sorry asses.

My God is the god of the mighty and kind - of the strong and good - people who pray to get them enabled to love, to share, to save. In this little side of the world, millions of people have the practice of visiting churches to cry their pain and ask for help(where half of those people make an extra visit if they got their ass saved for the day).

For years, the local churches, have consciously or unconsciously used this mass psychology tactic to sway people back to their fold and move further away from the purer form of their faith.

There is, after all, a possibility that all of us will be classified as pagans or clinical idiots in the distant future, and that the atheists were right... but there are gods in this little part of the world - good ones, cruel ones and just indifferent ones. These are the influential and charismatic people. Most of these guys are in politics, and these are the ones under "cruel" and "indifferent". And as an added bonus there are millions of lame people ready to follow anyone who can save them from their lame lives.

Lame.

This nation has a lots of issues and most of them are self-inflicted.

Anyway, there's a chance the new generation might (just might) save us. But there's also the chance the young generation have already got their minds brainwashed with lame songs.

What is Barack Obama's skull type?

2009-01-22T09:33:00.003-06:00

It all started with "googling" around for the origin of modern stick fighting. Ultimately I ended up reading up about topics of the attempts of the scientific community to classify the human race.

Okay now, assuming there are 3 main skull types: Caucasiod, Mongoloid and Negroid, what might be the best or common guess for what is the skull type of Barack Obama?

How many would would say it's Negroid?

How many would say it's something else.

Personally, I think it's Caucasiod.

Anyway, instead of using this 3-part-type used by forensic anthropology, we can choose to use the method used by Carleton Coon: Caucasoid, Congoid, Capoid, Mongoloid, Australoid;

See? Told ya, the 5 scheme is more complex. Let's switch batch to the 3 types.

Anyway here are some info...

For forensic anthropology (from wikipedia):
Caucasians generally have no prognathism; a notable size prominence of the cranium and forehead region; a narrow, tear-shaped nasal cavity; a "silled" nasal aperture; tower-shaped nasal bones; a triangular-shaped palate; and an angular and sloping eye orbit shape. Blacks typically have a broad and round nasal cavity; no dam or nasal sill; Quonset hut-shaped nasal bones; notable facial projection in the jaw and mouth area (prognathism); a rectangular-shaped palate; and a square or rectangular eye orbit shape. Asians are often characterized by relatively no prognathism; no nasal sill or dam; an oval-shaped nasal cavity; tent-shaped nasal bones; a horseshoe-shaped palate; and a rounded and non-sloping eye orbit shape.

For the 5-types (also from wikipedia. where else?) :

Carleton S. Coon, a 20th century craniofacial anthropometrist, used the technique for his The Origin of Races (New York: Knopf, 1962). Because of the inconsistencies in the old three-part system (Caucasoid, Mongoloid, Negroid), Coon adopted a five-part scheme. He discarded the term "Negroid" as useless or misleading since it implied a dark skin-tone, which is found at low latitudes around the globe and is a product of adaptation. As shown in the map, he defined "Caucasoid" as a pattern of skull measurements and other phenotypical characteristics typical of populations in Europe, Central Asia, South Asia, West Asia, North Africa, and Northeast Africa (Ethiopia, and Somalia). He defined skulls typical of sub-Saharan Africa as "Congoid" and those of Southern Africa as "Capoid." Finally, he split "Australoid" from "Mongoloid" along a line roughly similar to the modern distinction between sinodonts in the north and sundadonts in the south. He argued that these races had developed independently of each other over the past half-million years, developing into Homo Sapiens at different periods of time, resulting in different levels of civilization. This raised considerable controversy and led the American Anthropological Association to reject his approach (although without mentioning him by name).

Weapons of Mass Er'ction

2008-03-19T04:40:00.007-05:00

There are lots of sites floating on the web that offer loads of adult videos.

Nothing surprising about that. There's youporn, if you want an example.

I've just read a SCI-FI book about an entire confederation of planets whose core beliefs were centered upon Christianity. The citizens were moral people who led moral lives. They were doing good because they wanted to and not because they had to. And in that fictional universe, things like premarital sex, hurtful words, and job dissatisfaction were unheard of.

Here's the exercise. Imagine or just pretend that our nations had similar notions and that George's kingdom (good 'ol US, mind you) is one of them.

We will probably be reading something like this in our newspapers:

US: Iraq, you need to dismantle your weapons of mass er'ction... Or else we will invade your nation and unleash our own brand of weapons of mass er'ction upon you.

If such a scenario exists, I think US would win.
Just think of all the US-based porn stars and you'll agree with me.

And I bet there are conspiracy theories out there that state that the US govt is deliberately helping spread adult videos around the world to influence other nations. There are plenty of anti-US groups worldwide, but chances are, they have members browsing US-based adult videos during their break time. There might be some subliminal messages beneath all those moaning.

Trivia/Question: when you hear the word "er'ction" do you treat it as a reference to the male er'ction?

I can still remember the time when grade school teachers use to tell students to stand erect while singing the national anthem. And I can remember reading phrase like "this building or that statue was erected on".

And regarding sexual arousal, we all know that everyone, male and female alike, can have an er'ction.

Sigh. Nice, just nice.
I've run out of topics and now Im talking about er'ction.

I can imagine this party conversation:
"Hey guys. Check out my latest blog entry. It's about er'ctions."

"No thanks, pal. I've got one here, no need to read about 'em."

"He's right, we dont need to read about them - check out that cute babe and her weapons of mass er'ction"

Pinoy Political Telenovela

2008-03-11T23:54:00.010-05:00

I made a silent promise never again to post something about my country's political scene but I couldnt resist the itch to blog something about it.

So here goes...

Intro
The political atmosphere has become something more like the serials(ex: local, latin and korean telenovelas) being aired in local TV channels.

Series, Seasons and Reruns
The whole show is about an entire country. Episodes are being aired everyday. The whole show has been formatted in such a way that an episode looks like an ordinary news program.

The whole political-telenovela series span across years and there are no definite season-enders. At times, some episodes are just remakes and modified reruns of previous episodes(ex: different characters but same plot).

The current plot is about the government's controversial involvement with a Chinese company that was contracted for the construction of a broadband network. The plot is actually just a subplot of the season's recurring oust-the-president theme.

Regarding "enders", no ones knows when the show would end or when it started, for that matter. The show has been airing for so long now. There are stories that the show has been in production even before video media became feasible. Some say the show is a continuation of a comic strip printed in newspapers. Some even say the main show's plot could be traced back to the time before the modern country got established. Can you imagine that?!

The Characters
The usual characters are people from the government. They are often portrayed either as type1( gallant, smiling, noble individuals) or type2 (lousy, corrupt but still gallant-smiling-noble-looking individuals). The characters are often difficult to distinguish which type they belong to, and, in many cases, it is left to the audience to decide for themselves.

There are, of course, the supporting characters who are usually portrayed to be belonging from the lower social class. The actors who portray these roles are, often, the most convincing and worthy of acclaim. Sadly, no movie industry nominations have been given. To date, no TV industry award has been given to any actor who joined the show simply because the show does now have end-credits.

There are also characters from the non-media, non-showbiz working class but it has been noticed that the show is at its lowest when episodes show such characters. "Boring" seems to be common reaction among audience/s.

Network Ownership
It's a good thing there are competing TV stations airing the show. So there are no real owner of the series. It's not like ABC owning "Lost" or NBC owning "Heroes".

The situation gives viewers the opportunity to select which network channel they wish to view the series. Some network also have "episode reviews" for the show which give new viewers and viewers who missed some episodes to catch up with the series.

With regards to the airing of episodes, some networks do not air some episodes. And, in most cases, networks do not air the same episode the same way. An episode scene can be shot differently and sequencing may vary depending on the network channel.

Audience-Based
Another thing that is interesting about the show is that every avid viewer has his own interpretation of how the series progressed and how the show should end.

In most cases, it would be better to ask one's grandpa or grandma to ask for their own colorful interpretation/s, what-ifs and when-its.

Reality-Based
The show is quite similar to the reality TV shows like "Survivor" or "Big Brother".

There is no formal vote tally. But it has been observed that the show's plot and series of subplots tend to reflect what the public are clamoring for.

In most cases where a character is such a hit with the audience, the character actor will get to stay on and extend his episode-appearances. There have been characters who were initially presented to the audience as mere supporting characters but who later on became the season's protagonist/s (or antagonist/s, depending on the viewer).

Hollywood-based
Indeed, the show has been influenced by Hollywood culture - so much so, that President Reagan's transition from actor to president became the core basis for a season.

In that season, a famous local actor went on to become the president. In the season ender, the whole country was divided over an impeachment case against the actor/president. And ultimately in the season's final episode, the audience saw the president put behind bars.

What a season that was!

Good thing that sort of thing doesn't happen in real life.

Question And Answer: Why I resigned from NEC

2008-02-19T22:06:00.002-06:00

Every time somebody asks me for the reason, my answers seems to be confusing.

Some of my answers:
"Something new"
"Something different"
"I need a break from thinking too much"
"I treat my job as something like a vocation. A way-of-life. I need to resign to treat my job solely as a job, a means to an end"
"I've been doing something that I wanted to do. Something that I considered my field. I need to know if I can grow in a field that I do not like to be in."

Pretty lame, huh?

The right answer is: No one knows.
When I stated "no one", I meant "everyone" and that includes me.

Withdrawal Symptoms (Not from Drugs, but from Work)

2008-02-19T21:20:00.005-06:00

On Resignation Day: This is it.

After Resignation Day: Now, I've done it.

I'm used to working. I become so attached to my previous work that I kinda missed it.

(I know, I know. This post is starting to become one of those lame i-miss-something posts)

Now, I have job with flexible hour hours. We don't have time-in's and time-out's. Heck, I don't even have a work assignment. I'll be a bum for a day, or perhaps a week, a month or for a year... with pay!

To other people, that would be a most pleasant thought. Getting paid for doing nothing. Money for nothing. But for me, the idea of no-work would be pretty disturbing and terrible to think about.

I might(most likely) be suffering from some form of withdrawal.

Don't get me wrong, I'm not really a workaholic. It's just that I gave up almost every hobby I had. Reading books, midnight cycling, hiking, sketching, watching por*. I got so hooked on being a corporate employee that my projects have a higher priority over spending time with my family.

(that paragraph might as well sound or read like a workaholic confession)

(Just to be clear. When I stated "priority", I meant it's something that I wanted and not something forced upon me. It's not "priority" like one those my-boss-made-do-it or employer-defined priorities)

It's not just the work that I miss. I miss my former teammates, the discussions(both work and non-work related), the bugs and the incomplete specifications. I also miss the activities considered by many as waste-of-the-company's-money: spending hours talking about anything, checking out cute babes, taking a peek what the lovebirds are doing in the other cubes, disturbing the younger teammates, goofing around using office chairs, spamming network messages.

So when I wrote "work", I meant everything that I used to do: the official work and all the accompanying ice/boredom breakers(both within and outside formal corporate norms).

Sigh. Now, you know why I started blogging again.

What-If Article: Covey's Bedtime Stories.

2007-08-23T11:36:00.000-05:00

Alex Rogo, renown American Press journalist, made a pre-release announcement about his latest e-article entitled "Covey's 7 Dark Habits". In his article, Rogo has revealed private information about the alleged secret life of Stephen Covey. Covey is the author of the best-selling phenomena "7 Habits of Highly Effective People", his work is currently marked, among Anthony Robbins, as one of the most successful ever in the field of modern day personal development. Covey now belongs to a long list of individuals whom Rogo had chosen to become subjects in his sensational articles.

"His[Covey's] readers will surely be surprised by the difference between the 'stories' he writes in his books and the real facts behind those stories", Rogo's statement in a public announcement last Monday.

"There is no denying the merit and strong power behind those fancy stories, but it is also intriguing to know the dark truth behind them - the stories behind the stories", Rogo muses.

The article begins with the controversial section "Covey's bedtime stories". It details the events that transpired 10 months before Covey began to work on his first best-seller. Covey's lead public relations and legal counsel, Arthur Adams, has stated "the article is largely a work of fiction and deserves no further comment from us". In response, Rogo has made the following remark, "No further comment? That must be the term they call the series of financial support they gave to one of my sources”.

Nevertheless, despite protests from readers, the article will not be published publicly in any format. Global Publishing, Rogo's publisher has confiscated and exerted ownership rights over the article.

"Rogo wrote a fascinating and intriguing article, but an article that has, excessively and unnecessarily, shaken faith in the work of a fellow writer. This we cannot allow”, the company’s public statement on the day of the announcement.

Alex Rogo has yet to comment.

Corporate Woes: taking a bow, saying adios and little goodbye speeches

2007-07-20T08:03:00.000-05:00

Alas, I'm joining the exodus bandwagon.

I fear I'm on the verge on making another rant. Blogging must be the new stress reliever nowadays. So instead of the old school "inner muttering" and "self-discernment" exercises, web-centric counselors must recommend patients to undergo "blogging sessions" and "blog with the inner self" activities.

Anyway, I've read something like "moving on and not letting delay get in my way in finding something new" in my horoscope.

Maybe, this is indeed the time that I take a bow, say adios and little goodbye speeches to everyone who have not yet decided to take a bow, say adios and little goodbye speeches and who will eventually take a bow, say adios and little goodbye speeches anyway to anyone by that time who have not yet decided to take a bow, say adios and little goodbye speeches and who will eventually going to take a bow, say adios and little goodbye speechs anyway to anyone at that time who have not...

There! That oddly-constructed paragraph explains in an odd way the entire odd predicament where I am in (the populace and the environment where I work - hence, the word predicament).

It's obvious that the paragraph can be expressed by some simple loop code or something recursive. But that would be a topic reserved for my other blogger account "Ahoy Programming World"

Ah! The joy of blogging!

Okay, I'm fine now...

work.. work.. work!

Java Tiger - VARARGS

2006-02-12T01:13:00.000-06:00

Java Tiger. Rooowwrr!!

The next Java version would be known
as Mustang and the next would be known as Dolphin.

Wow! Sun, and the other 'Nix organizations must've
popularized the use of animal names for project code names.

What's next? Something cute like Java Kitty? Java Pussy?
:D

Okay, I got out of line there.

Anyway, Java is a li'l bit closer now to c++/C# with it's
implementation of templates.

Generics is now in Java. I bet Java must've been a little bit
threathened by .NET.

Oh well, Im just a tool user. There is no need for programmers
to stick to one tool or to a single paradigm or to a single
"vendor".

All in day's work

2006-02-10T02:33:00.000-06:00

The title of this entry may not be that truthful..

But hey, it didnt say "All in a day's corporate work".
Lemme be with my own definition of "work".

But that's one of the nice things about blogging.
It enables my future self to read and make comments
about what I have written in the past. (DUH!)

I might have a different mind-set in the future...
a different perspective of "work". And it would
be very interesting what my future-self
would think of his old-self's blog entries.

'Nuff about the future-old-what-if stuff.
Time to snap out of it and get with the topic
on hand...

Task #1
(or at least what was supposed to be Task 1)

I was supposed to be doing a research about
Java's Hibernate. But something came up..
an email actually..

Task #1

All day I had been browsing the
wikipedia about Islam. Yeah,
I-S-L-A-M. One of the most misunderstood
terms commonly used today.

It all started when a friend of mine
posted an article entitled "A Religion of Peace?"
in our barkada's mailing list.

And naturally, the all-too-familiar talkative
me had something to say about it.

I know there are many out there who
would agree with the author that Islam is not
a religion of peace. But feeling
like myself (the all-too-familiar talkative
me), I bombarded our mailing list
with the usual big-waves of email.

Dont get me wrong. I'm no fan of Islam
but I'm not a fan of the other side of the
propaganda either. I refuse to be a tool...
to be an instrument and to be a part of
something that could easily become
a discrimination campaign.

And so there I was googling
and browsing wikipedia for
terms like "fatwa".

It seems like there are waaayy too
many fatwas out there about
murder and purging the world of
non-believers of Allah(especially
americans). It's a good thing Im
not an american :D

But the thing is, even muslim
have different conceptions
what a fatwa is.

What's the worst of it. It's that both
sides are banking on it.

On one side of the board, we have
the anti-Islam and the fearful ignorant
majority.

A: Islam is evil... see thay have this thing
called "fatwa" -

B: Fat what? (or f*ck what?)

A: Fatwa, it's a pronouncement of somesort
that could be used urge muslims to
perform things in behalf of Allah... things
like killing non-muslims like us!!!

B: No sh!t !!

A: Yeah! Remember 9/11? That was their sh!t.

On the other side of the ring, we have the
political terrorists preying upon
their ignorance of their brethren.

A: Dar-al-Islam! A fatwa has been issued. It
shall be obeyed!

B, C, D, E, F, G: for Dar-al-Islam!

A: For Islam!

It really is pathetic the way people are using
fear and religion for their political gain.

Task #2

After the islam business, I googled once again
for anything about Philippine history.

(Okay, I tripped on my own shoelaces.
It was really unaccurate of me to say
that "All day I was browsing about Islam")

I wanted to check whether it really
was Masau, Butuan or Limasawa, Leyte
where the first Christian mass was held.

According to wikipedia it's "Masau, Butuan".

Still not sure though. It's either Pigafetta's
handwriting was that bad or the translators
deserves to get some bashing.

And as a side tour, I tried visiting uncyclopedia.
The site has been mentioned by two of my friends
in their blogsites. One was for it and the other
against it. The one who favored it had something
like "Wikipedia take that.." and the other one
had a title like "Uncyclopedia my ass!"

I had to visit the site myself.. and what?!
Guess what? the site was blocked by our
proxy server/s. And the only thing
I could do that was "legal" (using of tunnelling
programs and 3rd party proxyservers are
"illegal") was to visit google's cache of
the link.

Here's the link:
http://uncyclopedia.org/wiki/Philippines

I loved the article. Call me unpatriotic,
but the article is quite funny. Perhaps
too lengthy when compared to entries
on "US" and "USA" . Some stuff may have
been puffed up for effect, but in essence,
most of the stuff there were true.

I love the taste of sarcasm. Yum yum yum.
It's like the author and I are on the same
wavelength.

It hurts, but it's sweet.

Task #3

blog something.. anything...

I came
I logged in
I blogged

Blue Screen of Death

2006-02-09T02:59:00.000-06:00

Yikes! I got one of these 3 weeks ago.

I had to reinstall my OS from scratch.
Thanks Microsoft!

They really do have very informative
troubleshooting tips.

I could've fixed it myself
I even looked up what the hex digits
mean..

But then I came up with an idea
to just surf around and find
people who had experienced
the same problem.

Some guy posted something like
this:

"I worked! I fixed it using these
steps.
1. Do this
2. Do that
3. And do this
"

And I, like an idiot,
followed the first few step
without glancing at the second
paragraph in his post.

His second paragraph was
something like

"I didnt follow step 2.
I had alternative"

What?!

Good thing there's
this recovery tool..
A freeware tool called
"PC Inspector File Recovery".

I used PCI4. And it really
can detect the lost data in ur harddrive.

Restorer 2000 as well as
the previous versions of PCI
are not as effective as PCI4.

I managed to recover most
of the files that I needed.

I wanted none of the complexity
of doing a manual fix of recreating
the boot file. Those hex digits
tend to confuse me.
Plus, I dont know which
boot writer to use.

But I do know somebody
who was able to repair
his partitions after doing
it manually...

Ah! Now, at least,
my laptop has plenty
of diskspace.

Sleeyphead@boredom

2006-02-09T02:43:00.000-06:00

I have been doing stuff that is of little interest to the
company right now. My loading only consists of tasks
that would take up at most an hour. So the company is
paying me for the other 7 hours for indulging myself in
boredom.Yippee. Hurray.

Actually, I have been dowloading and reading a lot
about Java Tiger in my "spare time". Im of the
opinion that I have posted something about Java
Tiger in this blogsite, and alas, after making a quick
peek (if u consider visiting sites with an internet
connection crawling like a ant as "peeking") I realized
that I have been mistaken. Ooops.

But why do I feel like that I've simply forgotten to
click the "Publish Post" button?

Hmmm... fishy.. no matter... I will post something
about Java Tiger study later on. (By "later",
I mean "next month". )

And before I begin ranting about the tech-bits that
I have read off the web, Im going to explain first
my "predicament".

Basically, I am of the impression that I'm into
technology. That I am a mover with the world.
That I'm not technologically blind or deaf
when it comes to programming. Well, I was
only deluding myself.

Back then 4 years ago, there were only 3 of us
who were adept with XML-XSLT processing of
socket messages. Now, I've realized I have a blank
bank account in technology. Who cares if I'm able
to apply XML-procssing in data crunching? How
about the other facets of system programming? Im
still a "zero".

Thus, now I am picking up everything that seems
remotely new and interesting to me off the giant
shelf called the "Internet".

And whadya know? Im still too lazy to read all the
ebooks I downlaoded about Ruby and Java. But at
least I have a collection of ebooks that I would be
able to read IF I can get the chance to read them.
(Take note of the "IF").

It was a good thing that our project leader, who as
bored as I am, called us to start a study group on
Java Tiger. Okay now, dont go bashing and
smirking... But it's true. A study group on Java
Tiger! Actually, the other people have already
started studying and playing around java Tiger
months ago. Java Mustang is expected to be released
this year! Wow! Talk about investing on research.
Late.. Tch tch tch. But hey, we're late but we're
getting there.

And what I stated above consumes only upto 20%
of my 7 hours. The rest of my "spare time" is spent
on researching about DOTA. What? never heard of it?
Chances are you havent googled lately. There's even
a wikipedia entry for it.

I know, I know, I know. Im a 25-year old married guy
who's still into games. Pathetic. But at least it keeps me busy.
And right now, Im just blogging away with my "spare time".

Batman

2005-12-06T09:13:00.000-06:00

Okay now. Im not really a fanatic for Batman goodies. But after purchasing a couple of second-hand graphic novels featuring Batman (Dark Knight Returns, Kingdom Come and The Killing Joke), I suddenly found myself googling the web for anything about Batman.

The image on this blog entry is one of Jim Lee's art works. Jim Lee has been known to be an artist for the XMen series. Remember the cool-art in marvel cards a few years back? (I know, I know, I know. I kinda violated the "place image on the left and text on the right side" convention., but oh well... let me redeem myself by placing the other images on the left side of the text)

And speaking of Batman, I just realized that I still have some batman memorabilia athome. I still have the batman toy that was sold during the opening of Michael Keaton's(or Tim Burton's) Batman.

This is yet another artwork by JimLee. But I feel that I need to post the original text that accompanied these images.So here it is:

"Art by Jim Lee and[and Scott Williams?] from Batman #608 [second printing], December 2002. Copyright DC Comics."

The images posted here were downloaded from wikipedia.com.

But enuff of this image-licensing-insecurities, lemme get back to my topic....

The reason I was fascinated by the whole Batman thing is that he is an ordinary human. He was(or is) not a mutant like the members of XMen, nor was(or is) he a demigod or a superhuman like the other members of the Justice League. He's flesh and bones.

Now now now. I've heard or at least read about the gay issues sorrounding batman and his boywonder sidekick,

but who cares? If you ask me, Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson may be gay lovers too.
Come to think of it, perhaps even Chip and Dale!

Visual Studio -- FREE!!

2005-11-10T11:33:00.000-06:00

Okay now. Dont gang up on me. Im no Microsoft fan... okay maybe just a li'l bit...
Im into linux too, but I happen to be using a lot of Microsoft products in the company where I work. And for me, I consider most freebies are goodies.. ~~All good things in life are free~~

I've taken the liberty to post some info from their website's FAQ.

It's too bad their not giving away free copies of visual java. Im not yet into
.NET Framework, (J# belongs to the realm of .NET), but it seems these freebies present a good oppurtunity for me to learn more about .NET.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------
Microsoft gives away Visual Studio and SQL Server
http://msdn.microsoft.com/vstudio/express/default.aspx

1. What are the Express Editions?

The Express Editions are an expansion of the Visual
Studio and SQL Server product line to include lightweight,
easy-to-use, and easy-to-learn tools for hobbyists,
students, and novice developers who want to build dynamic
Windows applications, Web sites, and Web services. The
Express products consist of:

Visual Web Developer 2005 Express Edition, a lightweight tool
for building dynamic Web sites and Web services

Visual Basic 2005 Express Edition, Visual C# 2005 Express
Edition, Visual C++ 2005 Express Edition, and Visual J#
2005 Express Edition, targeted programming tools for
students and hobbyists who wish to learn the fundamentals
of Windows programming

SQL Server 2005 Express Edition, a database for building
data-driven applications

4. Can I use Express Editions for commercial use?

Yes, there are no licensing restrictions for applications
built using the Express Edition

11. You said "free for one year" what does that mean,
exactly? Will you be charging for this later?

We originally announced pricing of Visual Studio Express
at US$49. We are now offering Visual Studio Express for free,
as a limited-in-time promotional offer, until November 6,
2006. Note that we are also offering SQL Server 2005
Express Edition as a free download, and that this offer is
not limited to the same promotional pricing period as Visual
Studio Express.

12. Do customers who acquire the Visual Studio Express
products during the free promotional pricing period have
to pay after the first year if they want to continue to
use them?

No, as long as you download Visual Studio Express on or
before November 7th 2006, you will not have to pay for it.
--------------------------------------------------------------------

As indicated in item #4, these goodies can be used for commercial use. Isnt that great!?

KONFABULATOR

2005-09-07T10:33:00.000-05:00

Nope. This is not an ad for Yahoo's recently bought product.

But I will be expressing my preference and enthusiasm regarding
the product's concept.

Konfabulator is free. Free of charge. It used to be somesort of
a -download-try-it-furst-then-register-it-app that would allow
developers and users to create their own eye-candies or system tools.
And now, after Yahoo bought it. It's now FREE!

Komfabulator devel. language is xml-based. It provides users to
code using xml and javascript, A LOT WAY EASIER THAN Mozilla's
XUL. So no more of that complicated mess of files. Perhaps
Konfab may be a little limited compared to XPCOM, but hey!
You can create cool-looking widgets in a shorter time compared
to XUL.

XUL was supposed to be an OS-indepenent GUI language, but during
my time with it, Firefox was still in its infancy, and most of the negative
comments about mozilla was that it was way too big and way too slow,
since they bundled up everything with the browser.

XUL was fun, but I believe for smaller apps. it's much better to use Konfabulator.

They even have widgets for ppl to download. So for those who are not into
developing their own stuff, you can try using the tools and "prettythings"
contributors have made.

This is their site:
http://konfabulator.com/

Konfabulator, by the way is compatible for MAC and Windows.
Im still waiting for their Linux version. Konfabulator provides somesort of
a javascript virtual machine where widgets(the little apps that u can download
and run with konfab) are given binary life. Kinda like java's VM.

For now, Im still trying to port my simulator from a python version to a konfab-version.
Currently, the current version is able to send socket-tpc-based messages to our applications
such health check messages, alarms, etc. I do hope that I will be able to use sockets in
Konfab. Or perhaps I could just make of Konfab for UI purposes, Ex: wrapping my python
simulator and creating a GUI for it.

mid-blog crisis

2005-08-30T16:19:00.000-05:00

Much have been said.
Much have been done

But in my lifetime, a waaaay lot more have been said than done.

I talked about anonymity, although I have been known to start
flame wars, pummel a school administrator with nasty emails,
write sarcastic i-shall-follow-ur-policy-emails, harass someone
who is both naive and arrogant in a python mailing list.

No wonder, you may remark that Im trying to cover myself up
with anonymity. I should be. Im infamous.

What is it with these blogsites?
-Is it humility to open and post a part of one's soul in an online community?
-Is it anger and angst inthe sense, you can say whatever hurtful things
that at those who have offended you?
-Is it the thrill that other people may be reading ur blogsite?
-Is it the trickster in us? Pretend to be mr goody and mr. cool?

Sometimes, I forget the reason why im blogging in the first place.
I often forget the tone that I started with and ended up with another
theme/topic for a blog entry.
But on the other hand, blogging is the same thing with I what I do in my
self-dialogues. The only problem is, my fingers cant catch up with the
mumblings of my mind. Drat!

First, Im thinking of thing A... and when Im about to type and express
thing A into written(or typed/encoded) content, my mind suddenly
jumped to thing B, thereby creating incoherent/confusing message
structure. It's like stepping on your own shoelaces. Dumb mutt!

Hmm.. I've noticed that there are a lot of "I" in blog entries.
Is it really ALL about the concept of "self"?

I really thought that the concept of a computer-diary in
Doogie Howser, MD was pretty cool. Even the simple concept
of keeping a diary was something that I use to admire... to be able
to reflect at the end of the day all that has transpired and to reminisce
in the future about those "imprinted" memories.

But now, the internet has tons of data.
Who would have the guts to read and process all those information??
Jokes, news, misinformation, facts, lies... they're all there in one
big pile of bits and bytes in place we call cyberspace.

It's a good thing there are no alien invasion in cyberspace..
Stop! we come in peace! Zzzzt! Zaap!

Wow! look at that. I started my blog entry with a "much" and ended up
with "Zaap". Talk about incoherence.

Oh! look at the time. It's nearly 6 am. 1 hour more and would be the
start of another day at work! Talk about hassling the company for overtime pay
:D

overtime pay, is the equalizer and weapon for us, corporate tools!

A rant about software policy

2005-08-30T07:05:00.000-05:00

Our company has began to implement its own anti-software-piracy
policy... formally :D

This is in conformance to the news that there will be a crackdown
(more manly assertive term for "audit") to be initiated by the
government against software piracy.

This is not the first attempt for the company to adopt a similar
policy. The previous ones ended up as failed attempts(obviously).
I thought this was a fad too. Many of us had the opinion that it
would just fade away...

The old scenario was that during the audit period, games(licensed
or unlicensed) together with other non-project related software
were uninstalled... and after a couple of months(weeks at the least),
everything would be back to a gamer's normal day - PC games at
lunch and overtime breaks. Wheeee!

But now, it's a l'il bit different.

It's just like what the Borg stated:
Resistance is futile.
You will be assimilated

Nope. Im no trekkie. I just placed the quote there for effect.

It's now time to say goodbye to "Holy Shit", "Fire in the Hole",
"OWNING"(DOTA), etc.

So instead of those in-game sound FX, we hear another form
of "OWNING!!" FX in the background. Although, alot of the
supervisors here are fellow-gamers, some higher-ups in the
office heirarchy are playing their own brand of game - POWER
PLAY.

"Yeah! No more games! Nyahaha! Im winning this round!"

It's like there are two factions of "higher-ups" competing for
pogi-points. They're trying to push and draft policies in an effort
to "outperform" the other in a contest of "managerial" influence.

It is obvious that the anti-games(whether licensed or unlicensed)
was just an addon. The government's anti-piracy drive DID NOT
have that theme. The drive was about software licensing, not
anti-gaming. It seems, that the little snowball has gather much
bulk after rolling along their area.

It may not be that OBVIOUS to the two factions. But it's pretty
clear to some people there are some "politics" and "ego-issues"
involved. I wonder why the company did not realize that it
would be better off implementing a mandatory
"consult-ur-shrink-policy" rather than promoting two unfulfilled,
insecure men(who have been known only to be experienced in
their own playing fields - they CANT easily adapt to change) to a
position of power. that would allow them to play a higher level of who-is-the-best-teacher's-pet-game.

Oh, well. Seniority does have a big weight. But "seniority" does
not always equate to "knows better", it simply means "been here
longer".

I wonder if its worth my time to invest effort just to become a lap dog.

Sigh.

But then, these are all ramblings of a frustrated PC gamer who just
discovered his comfort bubble is about to be popped.

I am very sorry for the inconvenience that my rant may have caused.
Please disregard all that I have posted above as the mere output of a
troubled mind.

Let us all support all forms of anti-software-piracy, specially those
that prohibit the use of licensed game software during unpayed breaktime
hours.

Random Muttering

2005-08-22T13:36:00.000-05:00

Whooohoo!

Im 25 years old. And been married for 2 years now.

Im software engineer ( a fancy ghey word for a "programmer" ).

Next year will be my fifth year working for the company Im currently in.
Yipeee! I will then be promoted to master slave.

This is my first blog site, but then I have no diaries either.
However... an officemate of mine remarked "U now have BlogSite? That's good!
Now you dont have have to make blogsite out of me anymore. So instead
of muttering things to people, you will now be posting them."

Yep, Im the guy who can sputter 1000 words in a just a few seconds.
I do "self-talk", and a female officemate once asked me if I was an on drugs
or something.

But since this is a blogsite, I try to be as coherent as possible. (Duh? that's the
whole purpose of the 'edit post' link). This might be the only venue
where people get to absorb the things Im saying in their desired pace. So
there will be no need for:
Huh?
Pardon?
Argh! Stop! Stop! U'r not making any sense!
Somebody translate please!
Please stay inside the speedlimit!

Alot of people have been given this advice:
"Just nod everytime he(me) speed-talks to you, the more you listen, the more
you will get confused"

Waiiit... say, did I mention that I have another blogsite?
It's ahoyprogramming.blogspot.com

It will be a blogsite where I will post source code and other programming-related
stuff. It will not be solely be about my stuff, I will also be presenting
the works of other people (Oops! This might be a copyright/copyleft pit hole).

Fear not. I will not be posting company-proprietary code. The use of my tutorial
and code snippets will not make corporate slaves out of you.

Hmm... That gives me another idea.. How about I create another blogsite?
Something in the line of "AhoyHentai"??

Got Laid

2005-08-18T21:02:00.000-05:00

I got laid today.

Yep, that's right!

I got sat on by a big fat girl
on my ride to the office.

XML AND XSLT

2005-08-17T13:38:00.000-05:00

Can I make my own custom xml and xslt files for my blogsite??

I find them easier to manage compared with css...

Can I add javascript events handling?? *evil*

or is that a no-no for this site?

Hmmm.. there should be a help somewhere in this blogsite, where
I get all the answers to my questions..

Anonymity

2005-08-17T12:24:00.000-05:00

Anonymity is an illusion,
a hood for obscurity

Anonymity is a cozy place to lie low
in the comfort that no one knows your true identity.

With chat nicks and junk email IDs, people are given the
confidence to speak out their minds and spread spam, with
the soothing feeling that they will most likely "get away with it"

But now all is lost.

well not yet.. maybe.. i think..

But I made no mark on this blog site for people to identify me.

This blogsite account is just an experimental hole for me
to practice my typing skills and to improve the speed rate
on how fast information travels from my mind to my fingertips,
(yep, so there's no need to wonder why most of the my early blog
entries were similar to a volkswagen's engine sputtering and coughing
black puffs)

Drat! I was supposed to be shying away from email... my email messages
were and still are often perceived to be invitations to flame wars, and now--
what have i gotten myself into?? blogsites?! worst!

Back then I was always using my real name in my email messages, and for that
reason I thought:

"Thank goodness.. now i can don my cloak and hood and go about into the online
crowd and make incoherent blog entries and get away clean.. unscathed.. nyahaha"

or so i thought...
:D

Drat! <-- oOoOO My second fave expression.

Im not fond with this "link my site" business, it's like being incriminated
It's better to be skeptic these days, the FEDS could be watching anybody,
:D

It will not be the first time they goofed up in the game of "connect the dots".

Someday the world's most powerful governments will have shrinks and agents
scrutinize our email messages and blog site entries, letter by letter and smiley
by smiley. They will put meaning to totally-meaningless phrases.
:D

It may seem far-fetched, but hey I bet there's a novel or two about such plots
:D

It's just like an innocent grade school or kindergarten kid shouting "BOMB!"
in an international airport!

But Im getting ahead of things....

let's rewind and trace back our steps to anonymity...

why is it that some people like to be "vague" about their true identities?
How does it give them strength to say "asl pls" in chat channels?
Why do people feel more comfortable to speak about politics when they
know they are using fake names in their nicks?
Why do people prefer to use seemingly-meaningless game IDs when
they play onlinegames??

accountability issues??

who knows for sure?

I was never a chatter nor do I have an account in the virtual
world of friendster.

I even use my company email address in subscribing in discussion
groups....
:D

But I do a have a "vague" email address or two that I use
when accessing porn sites.. nyahaha

porn.. u've got to have a porn..
how do u like ur porn? with ketchup or with hot sauce...

(Ah! Porn will be my next topic for my blog entry)

This account was supposed to be my ticket.. my gateway so I can just
speed away and babble away!

Oh well.. Enough of paranoia and the excuses. There's a good chance
no one (that I dont know) is reading this blogsite. Nyahahaha.

But please for those who know my real name.. please
do not place a link to this site with my real name...
:D

pretty please? please?

okay.. okay.. okay...

if u want to put nicks, then use my nicknames:
totoy or even michael, they're common names anyway

:D

Drat! <-- yep, im practicing my second fave phrase
I wonder what would my daughter say about me after reading this?

Naah!
anonymity is rubbish talk anyway..

But it's better to be safe... better to remain in the fog than out in the
open meadow. Right, earl?

BlogSites

2005-08-17T10:04:00.000-05:00

Yeah! blogging... Im made for this!

Ooops- almost forgot my fave expression:

Wow!

Blog monologues!

2005-08-17T10:01:00.000-05:00

Wow! Im enjoying this monologue.

I bet psychiatrists use a similar technique in their patients' sessions..

Wow! <--- this sentence is becoming my favorite expression

The itch to blog

2005-08-17T09:56:00.000-05:00

Darn IT!

How do you guyz fight the urge to make a blog entry every 5 minutes???

My workaround was to edit my first blog entry 100times!!!

And look at what those actions caused me?? zero-productivity in my review record
card creation. Plus- I will never be able to finish my unit test specifications, 'cause
everytime I try to create a test case, I keep ending up modifying my first post!!

Wow! I invented another reason for slacking up

Great!

Ahoy!

2005-08-17T08:52:00.000-05:00

Ahoy Corporate Slaves!

Avast ye lubbers! Scrubbing the plank, eh?

'Grats on ur raise, new jobs and promotions.. new hair :D

Nice blogsites... err... sayy...
What are blogsites for anyway?? An open-lookee-here-my-diary??
An online shouting room where one can let out all the noise in one's head?

I wonder if blogsite entries would soon be considered "admissable" in legal cases ( courts ).

Maybe someday, somewhere, some desperate-corporate-whore would exclaim:
"Aha! Aha! I dont need to spy on my corporate whore rivals. I can blackmail them using their own blogsite entries! Nyahahaha"

I did really make some seriou - err not-so-serious thinking about creating my
own blogsite account. In other words, I placed the whole blogsite-idea underconsideration, whether it was really worth showing a piece of my mind, or whats left of it, to the online world.

My mind is filled with so much mental noise that i often fail to see the brighter picture and only the dim smaller picture of life. A career in software development seems to have negative effect on me, akin to experiencing a divisionbyzero error in the real world causing everything to crash.

But it was ONLY after reading the blogsite entries of my friends (ex: gio and girlay) when I finally decided to take the plunge and create my own blogger account. Reading their blogsite entries were a great boost-up.. like receiving some financial favor from a governor or munching up a lot of quake shards of armor.

Their blogsite entries made me remark "Wow! Alot of people really do spill their guts and soul out in these blogsites. May I should spill some of mine?"

And so there... happy spillin..err.. happy blogging everyone!

See? blogsites are perfect for monkeying around.
Hmm.. oh look! it's don's blogsite! I better post MORE comments... waaiiit...
I know! I know! I will make blogsite entries in his comment sections :D