The article in the bone of contention is entitled “From Boracay To Greece”. I didn’t get it. I have been to Boracay. It is one of the country’s best island known for its blindingly white and powdery sand beaches. The first time I went, I didn’t have the best of accomodations but I had the best of time and all you could talk about was the algae collecting on your adidas all-terrain. Of course you had to point out that you refuse to wear your Havaianas under such condtion. I don’t recall such a need to disinfect my whole surroundings with baygon and lysol so much that it would have nearly killed me either. And then you lament on your tragedy flying economy class being packed like sardines with OFWs and be disgusted by it as though they carry the plague.

I envied you for seeing Greece. You walked into ancient Greece, stepping into the greatest of all architechtural works. How exciting to be where the finest of writings in literature was born such as the Greek Methology! You were in Athens, home of the most admired thinkers- Plato, Aristotle and Socrates and the dramatists- Euripides and Sophocles. I expected some exciting triumph in your writings, to be able to touch history. Instead, you mentioned about shopping and eating at a food chain. You did mention Parthenon and the Acropolis, “climbing every step in my gold, open-toed sandals”. “After a whole day of sight-seeing I decided I have had enough of the historical sites,” you continued on. You have just seen one of the the most beautiful, historical-rich countries of all, a country that practically molded western civilization and all you could muster was you have had enough of it and that you ended up shopping some more for the rest of your stay. READ MORE HERE!

Like I promised Comyn a few days ago, this post is about my 5 favorite local bloggers and 5 favorite foreign (English) ones.

read the whole post

1) What is an “ASEAN Citizen”?
2) What is it to be an “ASEAN Citizen”?
3) What is “the” “ASEAN Identity”?

Want to join the discussion in defining and shaping the soon-to-be “ASEAN Identity”? A benefit not just for you, but also for your children.. come, let’s do what our governments have forgotten – our “ASEAN Identity”, let the discussion begin!!

Click here to share your opinion and point-of-views.

Take a look at this instant classic. I’ve taken out all the identifying details (I can be merciful) but left untouched the lines that induce simultaneous giggling and gagging. Feel free to do so, while learning how NOT to write a press release.

Read complete post here.

To think that the Philippines would suspend the ZTE deal with China is pretty interesting by itself. But this is not the only deal that has been scrapped. This also includes two farm deals with China. Under the said agreement, according to report, this would have allowed Chinese companies to till the land so the produce could be exported to China.

Currently the Philippines is not really known to say “No” to such deals. But it is refreshing to see that the Philippines is now trying (at least) to stand up on it’s own.

More at Wake T-Rex

I have nothing against corporate foundations donating books, but I do have a problem when press releases suggest that all that’s needed to start and sustain libraries are books. More…

Nitong Linggo ng gabi, napababad na naman ang mga mata ko sa TV. Halos masunog na nga ang mga eyes ko dahil hindi na yata ako pumipikit habang nanonood. Hindi ko na nga rin mapigilan ang laway ko sa patuloy na pagtulo habang nakatunganga sa harap ng telebisyon. Ituloy ang pagbabasa.

When doing your upgrade to wordpress 2.3 , I suggest you test it out by first using a local copy on your computer.

NEVER DO AN UPGRADE ON YOUR SITE WITHOUT TESTING IT OUT LOCALLY FIRST. When you do it locally, you can still recover your local blog when something wrong happens.

Disclaimer: This guide will try to help you in your attempt to upgrade your existing blog to WordPress 2.3. I do not claim that this guide will work for you 100% flawlessly but this is just how I did it. It is up to you if you want to continue reading however, please do not blame me when something goes wrong. ^_^

Now if you are ready to upgrade to wordpress 2.3, click here.

To steer your attention away from the fact that I have no update worth your time today, here are some old drawings stored in my hard drive. I drew most of these as monster designs for !okA tokaT and Nginiiig! Suffice to say none of them ever saw the light of day. Well, the tikbalang did in an episode of !okA tokaT, but that’s about it.

When people ask me why I draw only in black and white, I always say it’s because I’m a great fan of old-school lithographs. Makes me sound more like an artist. The real reason is because I’m no good with colors. But you don’t have to know that, right?

Anyway, click on the pictures to view the full-sized images.

MORE CRAP HERE

Unless you live in a cave in the darkest part of Africa or something, I’m sure you already know that Apple has released the latest generation of iPods. The Apple iPod line is now officially made up of four wonderful models, namely, the iPod Shuffle, the iPod Nano, the iPod Classic, and the iPod Touch. Here’s a round up of model specs and prices for those of you who’ve had countless sleepless nights trying to decide which one to buy. (Read FULL STORY)

Around 1999 0r 2000, I had come across a chatter whose nick mentioned that he’s a masseur. He initiated a conversation with me. Being the curious cat that I am, syempre I asked a lot of questions till he eventually gave me his landline number so we could just continue the conversation over the phone. Let’s call this guy RC. He was respectful and seemed educated. He spoke good English and was a good conversationalist. To some women he probably sounded macho or sexy but I didn’t like his voice, it came across as “modulated”. RC said that his service costs P1,000. Huwaaat?! I told him his price is steep for a friggin’ massage. So he mentioned is qualifications to justify is price:
 

Please visit Fiona’s Stuff to read the rest.

Now I don’t know which is worse, iced coffee or fried ice cream, but something else is set to enter the world’s weirdest food category: Japanese canned bread. [Read full story]

Hey guys!

I have now move on to a completely redesigned site!

Check it out!

The Philippines is the 14th most populous country in the world and third in the Southeast Asian region. Managing population should not be equated with abortion as some religious leaders claim.

Read more at Mongster’s Nest

I AM PERHAPS the last person to blog about Malu Fernandez. Frankly, I have been debating whether to ignore her, pretend I hadn’t read her downright brash and cocky article and move on with my life or write my own two cents worth (before I slit my wrist at the thought of being trapped in a plane seated next to her in economy class!). I decided on the latter because I know there are still a few out there unaware of the huge fuss over Malu Fernandez, no pun intended. I also have to let out steam.

Who is she? Why is she getting her 15-minute of fame online and offline? If not for the forwarded email that circulated like a virus on the net, she would have remained an unknown, save for the certain target audience she claims she writes her stories for. Out of curiousity, I googled her and came 377,000 articles tagged with her name! The odd thing is, not one of the random results I clicked all the way to the end says anything about her career, or previous writings or a simple background on who she is. Every single result are blogs and commentaries on her now ill-famed write-up. I’m disappointed. All I know is she writes a column in Manila Standard Today in the Lifestyle section and a contributing columnist for People Asia Magazine. Other than that, she has no books to her name, no affiliations, not even her own blog. How do I validate if she is the “diva” she claims to be?! How do I verify if she is indeed nothing but a spoiled rotten brat of aristocratic lineage who is simply ignorant and oblivious to the realities of life?! I would have somewhat understood her myopic view of the world based on ones socioeconomic status if she were born royalty and never experienced financial constraints but the fact of the matter is she flew coach! How do you justify an utter disdain for the people smelling like Charlie and Axe cologne when YOU are packed with them like sardines (the term she used)?! She could have flown first class and then bash at the people on the economy class, while totally uncouth, would have given her credibility. READ MORE HERE!

Everyone believes that corruption is a problem that must be stamped out. Yet, despite all the rhetoric about transparency and anti-corruption, we are nowhere near the goal of a corruption-free Philippines. The reason I think that explains why we have not been successful in combating corruption is that we have failed to understand the nature of corruption. Specifically, we have failed to see why corruption thrives in our country? The answer lies, not in politics, not in economics, but in culture. The Filipino culture provides the best “ground” for corruption to take root and develop. What then in the Filipino culture is conducive to corruption?

The first is has something to do about what is important to the Filipino. Among many things, the Filipino values being “successful”, i.e. having a lot of money and also prestige, as very important. For example, every Filipino that leaves his place of birth is expected to come home successful and moneyed. Thus, even if their existence abroad is hand-to-mouth, Filipinos, when they go home, pretend and act as if they are successful and have lots of money. The pursuit of success, money and prestige is a goal that is expected of everyone. Despite the social pressure to be “successful”, the vast majority of the Filipinos realize soon enough that the “opportunities” that will make the goal of success possible is narrow or that he or she has little access to it, whether it be by reason of status, education, training, beliefs or simply geographical location. Given the pressure to be successful and moneyed in the face of severely limited opportunities, the Filipino rejects the “rules of the game” and attempts to achieve his goals of becoming successful and moneyed through illicit or corrupt means. The social expectation to be successful and moneyed pushes the Filipino to corruption.

The second has to do with the overwhelming importance we give to the “family”. Corruption is an expression of particularism – “the felt obligation to help, to give resources to persons whom one has a personal obligation, to the family above all but also to friends and membership groups” (remember the fraternities?) This overwhelming importance given to the family creates a society that is “deficient in communitarian values.” There is little loyalty to the larger community or acceptance of behavioral norms that require the support of others. This is the soil of corruption as group or family interests are upheld over and above universalism and merit.

These two: the “ends and means” schema and the strong family orientation are the roots of corruption. If we want to address corruption, we must address these two.

We have followed the case for the past 6 years. The plunder case against the deposed President Estrada was not only monumental. More than ever, it is a test of the Philippine judicial system.

It not an easy case to handle even for the most distinguished men of the law. Yet the government prosecutors, who have the most honest and truthful intentions to show that they will be unperturbed despite the threats in their lives, chose to burn the midnight oil and vowed they would fight it to the hilt. Many advocacy groups saw through the process, and ensured that no one gets in the way for an honest trial. Last September 12, the Philippines literally stopped [for at least 10 minutes] just to watch or listen to the proclamation of the verdict. However, even before the government prosecutors could say they could rest their case, and take a much-needed holiday, here comes another issue to contend.

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MS Excel has a certain multiplication bug reproduced by doing multiplication that would result to 65,535 (0xFFFF). Try =850*77.1 on yours.

Read more about the Excel 2007 bug on my blog at AjaLapus.com.

Please be a part of the Survey of the Filipino Blogger. Join the survey here. These UP Psychology 118 students just need 50 more bloggers.

Thanks.

Last Saturday, we were having another TMB celebraganza somewhere in Makati and while we were waiting for Teh Mordo and Mike to arrive, me and Lauren had this most interesting conversation:

Lauren: You know what? I punch like a girl.

Me: Well, first off, you are a girl–

Lauren: And..?

Me: And girls aren’t supposed to punch well.

Lauren: What’s that supposed to mean?

Me: I mean, girls. Girls aren’t supposed to punch. They’re the ones who are supposed to be punched. And exchanged for a Crispa T-shirt and a Kamayan gift certificate.

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