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| comic genius by xkcd.com |
an ocean of (in)difference
'man is a social being'. that's a basic tenet aside from the more sublime ones like 'man is greedy'.
kakabalik ko lang ng maynila mula sa probinsiya namin sa davao, and i'm both amused and scared by the lack of love in this part of the country.
case in point: i was on a jeepney headed for home, i was paying my fare, but nobody tried to reach out and hand the money to the driver.
ayun, kawawa ang kamay ng driver, dislocated joints and as flexible as overcooked spaghetti.
will probably end up as lastikman's double in the next pinoy movie flick.
i mean, seriously? wow people, c'mon.
another: i was there on the same jeepney, sat next to two people, probably a mother and her teenage daughter. they had their luggages on their lap.
as i sat next to them, she was pulling her daughter away from me. she was telling her daughter to look after her things, and that the daughter should be wary of me!
saying that, as if i was miles away from them & wasn't privy to their scheming conversation.
wow, again manila, great job of creating unnecessary paranoia.
third point: i was in queue waiting for my turn at the ATM. in front of me was a middle-aged woman. she was looking for something in her bag, presumably her bank card. her bag was wide open for the world to see. then she looked at me quizically, and instantly turned the other way and hid her large bag where i couldn't see. all that, while the security guard was just inches away from us.
c'mon woman. have some trust.
maybe i was just expecting a little too much. it's way different from what i've accustomed to.
or maybe, i'm just in the worst part of manila. a scary dog-eat-dog value system.
they say in a recent survey that the rudest place in 2011 for tourists were paris and london.
maybe that's why paris and london have gone cold, too much cosmopolitan air changing our values.
what's worrisome is that when you die, your immediate neighbors here in manila probably wouldn't care much. they're busy minding their own business. that's in stark contrast with the values in the province, where last week i attended the funeral service of our neighbor. the entire neighborhood & her distant relatives were there for her.
when i finish my training, which is several years away - this is me again thinking way ahead - i'm planning to retreat to the province, someplace where the people are kind, helpful and selfless.
someplace where a little love is not too much to ask.
kakabalik ko lang ng maynila mula sa probinsiya namin sa davao, and i'm both amused and scared by the lack of love in this part of the country.
case in point: i was on a jeepney headed for home, i was paying my fare, but nobody tried to reach out and hand the money to the driver.
ayun, kawawa ang kamay ng driver, dislocated joints and as flexible as overcooked spaghetti.
will probably end up as lastikman's double in the next pinoy movie flick.
i mean, seriously? wow people, c'mon.
another: i was there on the same jeepney, sat next to two people, probably a mother and her teenage daughter. they had their luggages on their lap.
as i sat next to them, she was pulling her daughter away from me. she was telling her daughter to look after her things, and that the daughter should be wary of me!
saying that, as if i was miles away from them & wasn't privy to their scheming conversation.
wow, again manila, great job of creating unnecessary paranoia.
third point: i was in queue waiting for my turn at the ATM. in front of me was a middle-aged woman. she was looking for something in her bag, presumably her bank card. her bag was wide open for the world to see. then she looked at me quizically, and instantly turned the other way and hid her large bag where i couldn't see. all that, while the security guard was just inches away from us.
c'mon woman. have some trust.
maybe i was just expecting a little too much. it's way different from what i've accustomed to.
or maybe, i'm just in the worst part of manila. a scary dog-eat-dog value system.
they say in a recent survey that the rudest place in 2011 for tourists were paris and london.
maybe that's why paris and london have gone cold, too much cosmopolitan air changing our values.
what's worrisome is that when you die, your immediate neighbors here in manila probably wouldn't care much. they're busy minding their own business. that's in stark contrast with the values in the province, where last week i attended the funeral service of our neighbor. the entire neighborhood & her distant relatives were there for her.
when i finish my training, which is several years away - this is me again thinking way ahead - i'm planning to retreat to the province, someplace where the people are kind, helpful and selfless.
someplace where a little love is not too much to ask.
the idea of death
our neighbor passed away just this week. she died while crossing the highway in front of our house and being hit by two speeding motorbikes.
i saw her lying flat on the concrete, her underside soaked in blood. i saw her. she was not moving. a lot of people came to help. an ambulance quickly appeared; she was brought to the hospital a few meters away. later, her children called to tell us that she did not make it.
i feel sorry for her family. we have known her and her family for a very long time now.
she was just crossing the street. seriously? in front of our house? i think there are some dark and mysterious otherwordly forces that lurk around our neighborhood. the national road is well-lit, with lamp posts every 100 meters or so. it's also a very straight linear route, no curves at all for more than a kilometer. it's a 4-lane stretch of concrete with wide shoulders on both sides.
it's almost a wonder why there's a freak accident happening at that exact same spot (in front of our gate) almost every year: in my lifetime, i've seen a bus, a truck, a pedicab, and now a mere pedestrian figuring in really terrible road accidents, and often these people have been declared dead on arrival when they get to davao regional hospital, a walking distance from our house.
my dad believe in spirits. i do.
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| from little kite studios, CC-by-NC-SA 3.0 |
here in our place, we call them not-like-ours, a euphemism for otherworldly creatures and spirits that lurk in the human world. it's the kind of silent recognition like in using he-who-must-not-be-named; you get the drift.
you've probably heard of unbelievable stories from your family, cousins, and friends about spiritual encounters. maybe you've seen tv documentaries of how tourists drown in one part of a mysterious river in the province of Rizal. in one story, one tourist recounts visiting to the spiritual world along with his friend after they've drowned together. they were offered the chance by the underwater spirits to stay there forever. he refused, but his friend chose to stay; later, he was rescued on the bank of the river, while his friend passed away.
the idea of death is really scary, especially if you're not prepared to leave this physical earth yet. i feel sorry for those who have not said their good-byes properly. i think if i had the choice, i would like the kind of death by cancer, like the bucket-list movie. morgan freeman's character was able to say good-bye properly, and i think cancer provides you enough time to do that. compare that with a cardiac arrest, a lethal stroke, a deadly road accident, et cetera.
the idea of death also reminds us that we are all gonna die, and that we are just transient material manifestations of the cosmos that is billions of years old. we are just like withering senescent leaves in a big old tree.
it's really a miracle, then, that we get to experience life in the first place.
what happened
| from thedoghousediaries.com |
which college degree
this is something to think about for all high school kids out there,
and a shout out to my younger sister reviewing for the college entrance tests in the next few months.
us college graduates, on the other hand, might just as well laugh at our own wrong decisions in the past. *grin*
and a shout out to my younger sister reviewing for the college entrance tests in the next few months.
us college graduates, on the other hand, might just as well laugh at our own wrong decisions in the past. *grin*
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| from xkcd.com |
kids and airplanes
this was the highlight of my day: seeing an aerial spray plane briefly zooming past the field of view.
from the looks of it, the aircraft resembled the Ag Cat model.
it's basically for fertilizing and cropdusting (spraying nematicide and fungicide).
near our house sprawls acres upon acres of banana plantation, in this part of our small-sized city.
my sister and I had a random stroll at the awesome park near our house this morning.
then the plane came unannounced, and we missed taking a picture of it.
so we waited for it to come back, finger on the trigger, for almost one hour after that.
the anticipation was building, because we can hear its roaring engines somewhere near, but we couldn't see it. the frustration was palpable, and the 8 o'clock heat has become more and more unbearable these days, ain't it?
then it came back! click click click. it flew past in a matter of seconds, but it was a joy to behold.
we were easily overwhelmed with delight, no hint of our weariness whatsoever.
yes, deep inside, we're still kids like that.
from the looks of it, the aircraft resembled the Ag Cat model.
it's basically for fertilizing and cropdusting (spraying nematicide and fungicide).
near our house sprawls acres upon acres of banana plantation, in this part of our small-sized city.
my sister and I had a random stroll at the awesome park near our house this morning.
then the plane came unannounced, and we missed taking a picture of it.
so we waited for it to come back, finger on the trigger, for almost one hour after that.
the anticipation was building, because we can hear its roaring engines somewhere near, but we couldn't see it. the frustration was palpable, and the 8 o'clock heat has become more and more unbearable these days, ain't it?
then it came back! click click click. it flew past in a matter of seconds, but it was a joy to behold.
we were easily overwhelmed with delight, no hint of our weariness whatsoever.
yes, deep inside, we're still kids like that.
summer perk-up songs
These songs are stuck on rewind mode for the past 30 days; just ask my brother & my sister who have to suffer with all the shuffling, singing, & shouting (read: bumibirit) I do around the house.
Tonight is the Night - Outasight
Sitting on Top of the World - Delta Goodrem
What Makes You Beautiful - cover by Alex Goot & the Wellington band
One Thing - One Direction
Call Me Maybe - cover by Paradise Fears
I should probably do this monthly roundup more often. It's kinda fun!
Tonight is the Night - Outasight
Sitting on Top of the World - Delta Goodrem
What Makes You Beautiful - cover by Alex Goot & the Wellington band
One Thing - One Direction
Call Me Maybe - cover by Paradise Fears
I should probably do this monthly roundup more often. It's kinda fun!
thirty-sixth TED translation
Kevin Allocca: Why videos go viral
TEDYouth, filmed november 2011, posted february 2012
Translated into Filipino by Courtney Ngo
Reviewed by Schubert Malbas
thirty-fifth TED translation
A TED speaker's worst nightmare
TED2012, filmed march 2012, posted march 2012
Translated into Filipino by Schubert Malbas
Reviewed by Aries Eroles
thirty-fourth TED translation
Marco Tempest: A magical tale (with augmented reality)
TED2012, filmed march 2012, posted march 2012
Translated into Filipino by Schubert Malbas
Reviewed by Aries Eroles
thirty-third TED translation
Jennifer Pahlka: Coding a better government
TED2012, filmed february 2012, posted march 2012
Translated into Filipino by Aries Eroles
Reviewed by Schubert Malbas
the tagalog titanic
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| The RMS Titanic. image from Wikipedia |
the dialogue in the excerpt below is blatantly copied from Jessica Zafra's Twisted 4.
please don't sue me.
Nanay ni Rose: Kailangan pakasalan mo siyah! Wala na tayong kayamanan! Nilustay na ng iyong amah! Ano'ng gusto mo, maging burdadora?!?
Pero labag sa kagustuhan ni Rose ang mapangasawa si Cal, ang kanyang milyonaryong nobyo.Classic. Read the film review here.
Isang gabi, sinubukan niyang tumalon mula sa barko.
Dumating si Jack.
Rose: Wag kang lalapit! Tatalon akoh! Gusto ko nang mamataaay!
Swabe naman itong si Jack. Nahulog agad ang loob ni Rose sa kanya.
Nanay ni Rose: Nasisiraan ka na ba ng bait? Wala ka na bang kahihiyan?
Sinubukan ni Rose na makipaghiwalay kay Jack.
Rose: Hindi na tayo maaaring magkita!
Jack: Alam kong hindi ako karapat-dapat sa iyo. Ako ay lupa at ikaw ay langit...
Rose: Hindi na ako malaya! (hikbi)
Jack: Ngunit... datapwat... subalit...
Bigla namang pumasok si Cal at sinampal ito.
Cal: Isa kang talipandas!
blackouts kill productivity
I was supposed to do some work on the computer, but then the electric cooperative decided that we'll have the rolling blackout. So, instead, I volunteered to help with kitchen work for dinner - we were doing my favorite mongo. Then, since the lights were still out after that, & there's no use going outside since it's dimmed as well, I had no choice but to take a nap. Then the lights snapped back after an hour or so.
My sister said that it's been like this for months now, 1 blackout lasting for 2-3 hours on average, minimum 1 minute, maximum 24 hours. I'm only here in Davao for Christmas and summer vacation, but it never changes - I always have had my weekly share of blackout experiences. Contrast that to Metro Manila, where a 30-minute blackout per month is outrageous.
You see, blackouts kill the intention to become productive. It is really unfair to us who live here in Mindanao if you ask us to pay for a "little more" if, until now, we're not getting what we pay for.
Imagine if malls and supermarkets were to constantly tap on gasoline or diesel generators on an almost daily basis. Imagine when small and medium enterprises suffer, like birthing clinics that have pregnant patients about to deliver, then the lights suddenly go out, and the baby decides to come out.
Look, Mr. Aquino & Mr. Almendras, if you don't even give us an assurance that we'll get a steady supply of electricity, then please understand that it'll be hard for us from Mindanao to accept your brash accusations that what we have is "cheap electricity" and that we have to pay more for electricity.
Yes, it's cheap, but it is the kind of service that has always been "cheap".I might be agreeable to privatization, but if the blackouts in our area, and replicate that a thousand times all over Mindanao, does not change even when private companies take over, then Houston we've got a problem here.
Never mind your capitalistic intentions or political slogan, Misters Aquino & Almendras. With all due respect sir, we don't give a damn. Just give us our rightful privilege to dependable electric utility that we've been unfairly paying dutifully for many years now.
We are not worthy of this indignation. Thank you very much.
My sister said that it's been like this for months now, 1 blackout lasting for 2-3 hours on average, minimum 1 minute, maximum 24 hours. I'm only here in Davao for Christmas and summer vacation, but it never changes - I always have had my weekly share of blackout experiences. Contrast that to Metro Manila, where a 30-minute blackout per month is outrageous.
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| image from KM Space, creative commons license |
You see, blackouts kill the intention to become productive. It is really unfair to us who live here in Mindanao if you ask us to pay for a "little more" if, until now, we're not getting what we pay for.
Imagine if malls and supermarkets were to constantly tap on gasoline or diesel generators on an almost daily basis. Imagine when small and medium enterprises suffer, like birthing clinics that have pregnant patients about to deliver, then the lights suddenly go out, and the baby decides to come out.
Look, Mr. Aquino & Mr. Almendras, if you don't even give us an assurance that we'll get a steady supply of electricity, then please understand that it'll be hard for us from Mindanao to accept your brash accusations that what we have is "cheap electricity" and that we have to pay more for electricity.
Yes, it's cheap, but it is the kind of service that has always been "cheap".I might be agreeable to privatization, but if the blackouts in our area, and replicate that a thousand times all over Mindanao, does not change even when private companies take over, then Houston we've got a problem here.
Never mind your capitalistic intentions or political slogan, Misters Aquino & Almendras. With all due respect sir, we don't give a damn. Just give us our rightful privilege to dependable electric utility that we've been unfairly paying dutifully for many years now.
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| image from Filippo Minelli, creative commons license |
We are not worthy of this indignation. Thank you very much.
tedxmakati 2012
TEDxMakati 2012 was a dose of positivity in a long day riddled with negative coincidences with Friday the 13th, including North Korea's failure to launch and America voting for the worst on Idol and trashing the best; apparently the human race possesses many twisted values!
It was a welcome respite to attend TEDxMakati which was held within Global City in Taguig - which is a bit of an oddity. I forgot to ask the organizers why there's an apparent disconnect. I reckon they might have initially thought of doing it within Makati, took out the TEDx license bearing the city's name, but found Fort Bonifacio to be more convenient.
Still, the organizers - Jam Cipres, Nadine Bautista, Zyrus Deri, Takuya Oka, Cyra Capparos - pulled it off very nicely. In fact, they have built a pretty good momentum at the end of the event by getting a lot of suggestions after tinkering into the idea of holding a second, bolder TEDxMakati.
So anyway, TEDxMakati 2012 was primarily an estimated 2-hour viewing of the archived TEDxChange 2012 which was recently done in Berlin, with four key issues laid on the table:
- rural sanitation practices in Cambodia
- renewable energy in Germany
- African women empowerment, and
- birth control availability in SubSaharan Africa and South Asia
- daily rotating power shortages in many areas in Mindanao
- open dumping of human waste on the banks of Pasig River, Manila Bay, etc.
- 11 Filipinas die in childbirth each day with 4 in 10 births lacking medical attention, and
- staunch opposition of some religious sects against artificial contraceptive measures being legislated
Seeing effective solutions done in other countries should lead us to think that it's really not impossible to overcome our current struggles as a developing nation. In fact, all these four ideas dubbed "worth sharing" are also great ideas "worth doing" in our country.
More importantly, I think, today's Filipino youth are constantly challenging the old ways, and they're actually doing something to change the status quo.For example, the TEDxMakati organizers have effectively put the TEDxChange agenda forward, while the audience shared their experiences in current advocacies such as Filipino Freethinkers, MTV Exit, and environmental issues. Here's hoping that our generation can live up to these expectations.
By the way, you can check out TEDxMakati's website, Twitter, and Facebook, join in the conversation at random, and chat with the organizers if you want to suggest something for the next TEDxMakati, e..g, suggest someone inspiring as TEDx speaker. I can attest that they're really friendly and warm, and your suggestions for the next staging of TEDxMakati are most welcome.
korean rocket track to deviate
In one of NorthKoreaTech's more recent posts, the korean satellite launch is predicted by one trajectory expert to deviate from the expected flight path that the country has submitted to United Nations agencies weeks ago.
This, after a Russian news channel, Russia Today, reported the piece of information with an image of the trajectory on a computer screen. However, satellite watchers now believe that the new finding may just be a misinterpretation of the map shown on Russia Today.
Though we will certainly have no info until the event has already happened, news sources say that the Philippines has roughly 3 hours to react if and when the launch pattern has deviated from what was expected. It only means that if the Google map above is true, then the second stage of debris is dangerously close to land, and might even overshoot and land on the Bicol region.
Map by trajectory specialist Ted Molczan, 2011.
This author added yellow arrows to represent downward shifts in both stages of rocket debris.
This, after a Russian news channel, Russia Today, reported the piece of information with an image of the trajectory on a computer screen. However, satellite watchers now believe that the new finding may just be a misinterpretation of the map shown on Russia Today.
Though we will certainly have no info until the event has already happened, news sources say that the Philippines has roughly 3 hours to react if and when the launch pattern has deviated from what was expected. It only means that if the Google map above is true, then the second stage of debris is dangerously close to land, and might even overshoot and land on the Bicol region.
lu4 core subjects ranked
Our class did a little survey amongst ourselves, after having surmounted what is indubitably the toughest struggle we've had so far in medical school, learning unit 4 (LU4) as we call it in the UP College of Medicine, and came up with a ranking of our core subjects by their level of difficulty.
Every batch that has gone through LU4 will tell the same story. Excretory aka Renal and Therapeutics aka Pharmacology are the toughest of the bunch, although now we have added proof that Art of Medicine is the easiest. Sabi nga sa survey questionnaire namin, pass the course with eyes closed, literally and figuratively.
Actually, i made this graphic because i wanted to revisit Tableau Public and then compare it with a graphic to be made with a piece of R code. I'll post the R version much later, when I'm done with house chores and volunteer work.
Tableau is so much easy to work with, that you don't even need to plan about what kind of graph to use! Arguably, though, R would have more representations available; you just need to find the appropriate code on the internet, which is both tiresome and challenging.
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| View larger photo of LU4 subjects survey |
Every batch that has gone through LU4 will tell the same story. Excretory aka Renal and Therapeutics aka Pharmacology are the toughest of the bunch, although now we have added proof that Art of Medicine is the easiest. Sabi nga sa survey questionnaire namin, pass the course with eyes closed, literally and figuratively.
Actually, i made this graphic because i wanted to revisit Tableau Public and then compare it with a graphic to be made with a piece of R code. I'll post the R version much later, when I'm done with house chores and volunteer work.
Tableau is so much easy to work with, that you don't even need to plan about what kind of graph to use! Arguably, though, R would have more representations available; you just need to find the appropriate code on the internet, which is both tiresome and challenging.
korean rocket to fall near luzon
The North Korean satellite launch scares me like hell, largely because my April 15 flight falls exactly within the rocket launch period, and the technical advisory makes me queasy.
Three civilian air transport routes in the Philippine territory has been tagged as dangerous during the days between April 12 to 16, from 7 am to 12 noon Philippine Standard Time. These dates are the window period that North Korea is expected to launch the Kwangmyongsong-3 satellite inside the Unha-3 rocket.
The Kwangmyongsong-3 satellite goes into a polar orbit, travelling the globe passing over multiple points, while the Unha-3 rocket will be shed off and fall back to Earth as debris in two stages, first near the western coast of South Korea and second to the east of Luzon Island in the Philippines, according to documents submitted by the country to the International Maritime Organization.
View Larger Map.
Google Map made by northkoreatech.org.
Red boxes indicate fall area. Green lines indicate routes advised for caution.
The air routes affected are A590, which goes from Jomalig Island, Quezon, Philippines to just south of Tokyo, Japan; A582, which goes from Jomalig to Japan’s Kyushu island via Miyako island; and R597, which originates from Calabarzon and connects to both A590 and A582 routes. Pilots are advised to “exercise caution navigating airways A582, R597 and A590 that traverse a satellite launching falling area.”
Obviously, North Korea has already notified the International Civil Aviation Organization, the International Maritime Organization and the International Telecommunication Union about its rocket launch plans. The exact “Notice to Airmen” (NOTAM) message is outlined below:
B0372/12 NOTAMN
Q) RPHI/QRALW/IV/NBO/W /000/999/1716N12415E134
A) RPHI B) 1204112200 C) 1204160300
D) DAILY 2200-0300
E) EXER CTN WHEN NAVIGATING ON AIRWAYS A582, R597, A590 THAT
TRAVERSE SATELLITE LAUNCHING FALLING AREA BOUNDED BY
THE FLW COORD:
FM POINT
19 24 32N 123 54 26E
19 23 08N 124 45 13E
15 08 19N 124 46 15E
15 09 35N 123 45 27E
TO ORIGIN
F) SFC G) UNL
CREATED: 21 Mar 2012 09:56:00
SOURCE: EUECYIYN
All told, I hope everyone doing air travel on those dates are safe. More than anything, I'm just wishing that NoKor isn't thinking about starting a military war.
REFERENCES: North Korea Tech
8-bit google maps now online
Google upped the gimmick this year!
Geek love going out to all the developers of the 8-bit Google Maps. Plus, the music theme is utterly nostalgic.
From the Google YouTube site:
Trial Version: http://goo.gl/i4onu
Google Maps is now available for 8-bit Nintendo Entertainment Systems (NES). Availability in Google Store is TBD but you can try it on your browser by going to http://maps.google.com and clicking "Quest" in the upper right hand corner of the map.
Apparently a lot of Google users took the bait, hook, line, and sinker, knowingly or otherwise. But we don't mind.
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