Theater companies usually offer us free tickets to watch their shows–two tickets at the most. Beyond that, I consider it an obligation to offer to pay, since theater in the Philippines hardly makes any money as it is, and what more if they have to deal with freeloaders. Yep, I have no problem paying for my own tickets, much as I did for many years before I earned the right to my own Press ID.

For the Virgin Labfest, I was offered the usual free pass to all the shows. But I had a different arrangement in mind. I told them I’d pay for the P200 tickets to each of the shows–but could they give the free ticket instead to interested bloggers through this site? They said yes.

Read complete post here.

Scholarships are not only for the geniuses or the uber talented. They are available to the Filipino who goes the extra mile as well. As a start, Filipinos can check out www.filipinoscholar.com.

Read the whole post here

i-mate CEO claims that their “Ultimate” line is 30 times more powerful than the iPhone. Is it enough to drive the buzz away from the eagerly awaited phone from Apple?

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I’ve been involved in volunteer work for a couple of groups. One of this is Cartwheel Foundation whose mission is to provide education to indigenous children and communities with no access to basic services. Coleen Ramirez emailed me a while ago regarding Cartwheel Foundation’s Raft for a Cause. So, in case you’re thinking of a good activity, this is it!

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Final installment of Apacible’s “To the American people an appeal”

We are ready to make peace, and, in order to facilitate this end, we propose:

First: That we will pay back to the United States the twenty million dollars paid by them to Spain.

Second: That the most amicable and perpetual commercial relations shall exist between us for our mutual benefit and for the greater progress of our country.

Third: That we will grant to the United States whatever space is reasonably necessary for coaling stations outside of our established cities.

Fourth: That we will not allow monopolies of any kind in the Islands, and that we will give to your citizens all the guarantees and protection accorded to our own citizens for the security of life and property.

Fifth: That we are ready to entertain whatever terms you may -desire for yourselves, so long as they do not infringe upon our individual and political liberties, or upon the integrity of our nationality.

After these offers, it only remains that you, the free citizens of America, for the glory of your name throughout the world and for the honor of your flag, shall do justice. Thus shall the hands of your noble sons be no longer stained with innocent blood. Thus shall it not be said that the vile inspirations of greed have banished from your hearts those lofty traditions of liberty and philanthropy which you have inherited from your honest forefathers.

Toronto, June, 1900.
For the Central Filipino Committee,
G. APACIBLE.

next blog: “How the treasury of the 1898 Republic vanished”

Although I don’t think I’m a blogger well-established enough to feature the writings of another blogger, still I’d like to take this opportunity to share with your another doctor’s perspective on the status of the health care system in the Philippines. This just goes to say that not few doctors (and not only me) see the terrible dilemma our country is facing regarding our health care system and that doctors are raising their voices to be able to let the whole country know that many changes should be done soon, if not, now.

Here’s Dr. Carl Dwight Demetria’s take on the issue (as posted in another forum):

* * * * *

Health care in the Philippines is dying.

And for me, it is a slow, painful death. Like a hemorrhaging patient with advanced TB, who neglected to take the needed but annoyingly long anti-Koch’s medications.

We could run the merry-go-round of declaring who is the more righteous: the pragmatist who believes that “the best provider is the one who leaves”, or the apologist/optimist who generalizes medical students as rich, and can tolerate a few more years of drought before
they hit the big time in local medical practice.

But the prospects for our patient named Philippine health care is necessarily colored by our personal experiences as doctors. Even as we slowly espouse evidence-based medicine in our human patients, in social problems such as this one we inevitably fall on our own emotion-colored glasses to see the picture.

So to add to this discussion I return to what I have experienced in my short stint as a doctor.

Even while studying in the State University, there has always been a distinction between the ‘haves’ and the ‘have-nots’. This delineation can be noticed once somebody initiates a discussion about future plans. The ‘haves’, either by virtue of a sizeable war chest, an inheritable clinic practice, or extensive networking, are almost always cocksure about their plans for the future: residency in PGH, or taking the USMLE.

The ‘have-nots’, who have struggled silently to get through medical school, are not as sure as to their future plans. The lack of a medical Economics class does not help matters.

As they approach the clinics, they all see first hand the innards of a government hospital, and its one oft-repeated saving grace: the richness of clinical material called patients. Otherwise, the bureaucracy cripples everything from supplies to having enough nurses to the imposed, but subtle, monstrosity that is termed ‘hierarchy’. Only a few would dare express delight at this set-up, declaring their fealty to the hospital and the corresponding willingness to sacrifice ‘few’ years to train there. Most would be silently waiting for the day that they could break free from the hospital’s grip.

Continue reading this entry

If anything else, height has been a non-issue for me, I consider myself average, and I am perfectly comfortable with my height.

read more…>>

It’s a depressing way to start my morning. Chris Benoit, “The Rabid Wolverine” with “Toothless Aggression”, has gone on to that great wrestling ring in the sky with his wife and son. I’ve never been this sad about a wrestler’s death since Eddie Guerrero passed away.

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There were quite a few examinees of the 2006 bar examination that have blogs. Some of them found their way here, together with other reviewees who shared their opinions, emotions, apprehensions and hopes. Many shared helpful information. If you’re aware of other examinees who have blogs, please let me know so that we may include them here. May all of you find comfort knowing that you’re not alone in the “torture” you’re going through. =) Good luck and God bless.

I’ve been a resident of San Juan for two years now at least but it’s my first time to witness how it’s being celebrated. I shot some images of the festivities though am still a bit dizzy from shooting at the Fete dela Musique the previous night (too bad I don’t have a pass). Just made it a point to bring a plastic bag in case I got drenched…

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Printed Apples / Tattooed Apples
Originally uploaded by kaoko

Apples with printing? These apples were imprinted using a special light that not only imprinted them, but sterilized them as well. Just one of the few things I saw at the recent Manila Food and Beverages Expo / MAFBEX.

Read more at:
http://www.kitchencow.com.

I went to bed a little before 10 last night. I was sleepy then and was fully expecting to sleep the whole night through since I only got 4 hours of sleep the previous night. But I woke up past 11 and couldn’t get back to sleep. I tried reading Raptor (a historical fiction by Gary Jennings) while lying down (reading a book while lying down has always caused me to get sleepy). Nada. I was almost through with the book, but I got guilty around 4:00 so I put the book down and again willed myself to sleep. Still nothing. The cocks (the roosters!) kept on crowing around 5:30 so I just got up and got online.

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At lunch yesterday, an officemate told us that he lent his motorbike to his brother over the weekend. The brother and the man’s wife rode the bike somewhere near Payatas. They saw three idle pedicabs (with their drivers) but as soon as they got near the pedicabs, the pedicabs suddenly swerved towards them. The brother and the wife were thrown off the vehicle — the woman was unharmed but the man needed stitches on his hands. The pedicab drivers just left the scene, grinning.

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Hard to believe that it is a 40-year old technology.

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Excerpts from Apacible’s “To the American people an appeal“, June, 1900

“Imperialism knows not how to answer these questions. It is inspired only by greed, by a vile thirst for gold and by the lust of spoliation. But, ever misled by its ruthless impulses, it cannot determine which would be its better plan, which should be its settled purpose for the future, or how far it may safely indulge its insatiable appetites. For the dilemma is inexorable: either the retention of the Philippine Islands, if it is realized with a noble purpose, will result in great harm to your industries and your commerce, or, it will become a system of merciless and shameful colonial spoliation which will forever blot out the honor of whatever there is that is lofty and noble in your history. Can it be possible, sons of America, that you will allow us to become subjects or slaves? Should this happen, how will you reconcile it with the wise and noble principles set forth in your Declaration of Independence: “That all men are created equal: that they are endowed by their Creator with certain inalienable rights; that among these are life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness; that to secure these rights governments are instituted among men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed.” Will you transform these beautiful and honorable sentiments into specious deceits, fraudulent promises, and high-sounding but hollow words? No! You cannot belie your whole history. You cannot tolerate the violation which Imperialism is so evidently working against your most venerable and fundamental principles. Until Congress succeeds in redressing the illegal aggressions of which we are the victims, and shall suppress these violations of reason, of solemn contracts and of the elementary conceptions of gratitude, we shall rely upon and appeal to the high sense of justice which has hitherto so honorably characterized the free American conscience. We do not believe you will allow us to be enslaved; it would be a dishonor to yourselves. Influence, then, as soon as possible your legislators and rulers to give us self-government, which by right belongs to us, and peace will be restored immediately, to your benefit and ours, ending the now incessant and fruitless bloodshed entailed upon us by the present war.”

continue reading here …

I’ve seen this live-action movie on my day-off and its sure fire thriller for anime fans. It also has second part which will give more suspense to the story.

Watch it here

A weird thing is happening to this family’s cellphones

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It seems the newest craze in town is not anymore Koreanovelas, Pinoy Big Brother, or celebrity video scandals, but an HYIP- pretending- to- be- a- genuine- investment- program called FrancSwiss. From what we heard, even celebrities like Richard Gomez, Claudine Barretto and Piolo Pascual have “invested” in this program. With a 4.5% promised return per day, who would resist this kind of offer?

Without a doubt, hundreds of investors have already made a big profit from FrancSwiss during the past months. But would thousands more cry once the program is gone and has stopped paying?

>> Continue reading: Is FrancSwiss a scam?

The allure of any festival for me, be it the annual Cine Europa at the Shangri-La Plaza in years past, or the Virgin Labfest for new plays at the CCP, is that, well, I’ve no idea what to expect from it. Or, as Forrest Gump would put it, “You never know what you’re gonna get.”

That’s why it’s always best to keep an open mind when watching fresh, never-before-seen plays like what the Virgin Labfest is offering. Park your expectations at the lobby, enter the theater relaxed and ready, and if you’re lucky, you’re in for an evening of unexpected pleasures, or even better, perhaps a provocative piece of theater that would have you in deep thought all the way home.

In last year’s Labfest, I bent my own rules only once. That was when I watched the last featured play, “Hubad,” by Liza Magtoto. It was impossible for me not to have any expectations about the play, because it was Nonie Buencamino and Irma Adlawan, two of the country’s finest actors, who were starring in it.

Read complete post here.

Game Addiction is Not an Addiction, says experts

As simple as that. Game Addiction as we commonly call someone playing (video/online) games as if there’s no tomorrow, is still out of the “addiction book” of the doctors. Isn’t that neat? Further showing how politicians and some members of the media are just using this topic so they have something to say, and have something to report? All that talk, just so people will think they are responsible, or maintain their reputation, without any consideration the result the gaming industry can contribute to the economy, and the positive effects of gaming.

Quoting:
“…more study is needed before excessive use of video and online games - a problem that affects about 10 percent of players - could be considered a mental illness.”

Continue reading here…