It's Time I Digest Cases My Way

The standard way of digesting cases is this: lay down the facts in narrative form, list down the issues in the case, give the decision or judgment of the Supreme Court (SC).

I think there's a better way. That's because the current way of doing it is only good in a written assignment. It becomes unwieldy when you have to rely on this method to, say, report a case in class or review the case prior to an exam.

First, the requirement to construct a narrative for the facts is cumbersome. It's great practice for writing essays but not so when you're recalling facts five minutes before class. Exposing the facts through bullets, with minimum word usage, is better. It also aids faster recall.

Second, issues and the SC judgment can be combined. First sentence can be the SC resolution of the issue in the form of a statement, not a question. The SC's explanation follows thereafter.

Finally, the digest may conclude with the history of the case: which party won in the court of first instance, then in the Court of Appeals, and so on.

Hopefully, my method is going to make me more efficient in remembering cases. Hopefully.

About Pocket Books

In our house, we have a lot of pocket books: those compact romance novels which usually come with a cover featuring a disheveled couple in the throngs of passion. The fault lies with Mama and my elder sister who, long before the internet, bought and collected these items in bundles.

Last week, Mama commented that she had to buy more "decent" novels this time since my younger sister is already reading pocket books as well. I completely understand what she's talking about.

If You're Bored, You'll Watch This

Yuck. And I thought my acne was bad.

My brother had acquainted me with this video two years ago. Even today, watching it still gives me the chills. Enjoy.

The Plain Look

I was pretty amused at one article by Telegraph, an excerpt of which follows:

Women find a man in a plain white T-shirt up to 12 per cent more attractive, scientists claim.

A plain white T-shirt can create an illusion that broadens the shoulders and slims the waist, producing a more V-shaped body, which is a top sign of masculinity.

I recall that I wrote something earlier about my preference for plain clothes. Until now, I still like going out with plain shirts, plain polo shirts, or plain polos, period.

Of course, since we're in the Philippines, I think the study's results cannot apply to us squarely. A plain shirt might produce the same effect but wearing a plain white shirt possibly cannot. That's because we associate the white plain shirt with an undershirt, meaning that if one is caught wearing that in public, it simply means that guy is under-dressed.

Or is that another reason why women find it attractive?  

To digress, I also don't like wearing blue polo shirts, especially in Davao City. That's because I might be mistaken for a jeepney driver along the way ("Manong, unsang sakyun padung Rizal Park?") 

Confession

Today I just had my confession, my first after a very long time.

Rommel had advised me to go to confession prior to next Sunday's activity. It just so happened that San Pedro Church held confessions every Wednesday and Friday of the week at 5:30 PM. 

During the start of the confession, I was observing the people who formed the queue. There were students, senior ladies, couples, and professionals who just got off from work. Most were, I presume, frequent confessors since after the bell tolled to signal the start, most of these guys nonchalantly fell in line outside the confessional rooms.

Google+

Just created my profile in Google+.

Now what?

Snapshots Of Corruption

A former colleague once told me about a story involving her mother, a public school teacher. After having conducted a national achievement test in the school, the principal ordered the faculty, including the mother, to take home the exam papers of the students. The purpose: to alter the answers of the papers. The reason: so the students will get better results in the test. Why? That's to give the impression that the school is indeed performing and also to aid the case of the principal, who was due for promotion.

So my colleague's mother obliged. Upon arriving home, her husband - my colleague's father - was furious and demanded that the papers be returned to the school. Of course, in the end, the principal still got her promotion. 

But it begs the question of how supposedly professional teachers could be so subservient to such a blatant request to defraud. It also begs the question of why it took a third party, the father, to knock some sense into my colleague's mother. Finally, it begs the question of why checks weren't in place to prevent such anomalies.

Do You Love Me?

After they had finished breakfast, Jesus said to Simon Peter, "Simon, son of John, do you love me more than these?" He answered, "Yes, Lord, you know that I love you." And Jesus said, "Feed my lambs."
A second time Jesus said to him, "Simon, son of John, do you love me?" And Peter answered, "Yes, Lord, you know that I love you." Jesus said to him, "Look after my sheep."
And a third time he said to him, "Simon, son of John, do you love me?"
Peter was saddened because Jesus asked him a third time, "Do you love me?" and he said, "Lord, you know everything; you know that I love you."
Jesus then said, "Feed my sheep.

John 21: 15-17

In the piece The Obituary from the book John Paul II, there's a mention where the late Pope pondered on this gospel passage to the extent of incorporating it in his life as a guiding tool:

The Pope read only the beginning and end of his sermon, handing over the middle stretch to a senior Vatican official. In it, he reflected on the question that Jesus put to Peter on the shore of Lake Tiberias: "Do you love me?" Every day since then, John Paul said, that conversation had been repeated in his heart.

Allow Cheating!

This is priceless.

Chinese students and their parents fight for the right to cheat

By: Lily Kuo
Earlier this month, ahead of notoriously difficult college entrance exams, an angry crowd of 2,000 parents and students descended on a high school in Hubei province to protest a new education policy that banned cheating.
Click here to read the rest of the article.

As for me, I don't know what the factors are that motivated this mob to protest for cheating. Suffice to say, sometimes, some people get crazy. Or is this the new norm?

Tips On How To Conduct Meetings

Sorry. Just can't let this pass by. This is an interesting article by Anna Codrea-Rado on how top CEOS handle their meetings. See original article here. But I've also placed it, in its entirety, in this post:

How Jeff Bezos, Richard Branson, and other business chiefs hold ruthlessly effective meetings

Why does Jeff Bezos keep a chair empty in the boardroom? Where does Richard Branson hold his meetings? And who’s always late for appointments?

Here are some of Quartz’s favorite tips for holding meetings from the some of the world’s top business leaders:

Camera Lucida

Do you know what a camera lucida is?

A camera lucida is an optical device used as a drawing aid by artists.

The camera lucida performs an optical superimposition of the subject being viewed upon the surface upon which the artist is drawing. The artist sees both scene and drawing surface simultaneously, as in a photographic double exposure. This allows the artist to duplicate key points of the scene on the drawing surface, thus aiding in the accurate rendering of perspective.

-Wikipedia

The chief use of the camera lucida is to make drawings as accurate as possible especially in a time when there were no photographs yet. Needless to say, not only was the device used in architectural sketches or drawings in biology, artists also used it in making portraits. This resulted in drawings which conformed very closely to the subjects' faces.

Why am I interested? That's because it's a shortcut to an earlier frustration. 

When I was young, I was determined to be good in portrait drawings. In fact, I drew a sketch of my face but I never got to make a perfect semblance of it. Always, there were several points here and there which were a bit off. Owning such a device would tremendously help me with this goal. 

Now, all I have to figure out is how to get one. Fortunately, some guys are thinking of marketing this otherwise rare product to professionals and amateur artists alike.

Here's a link to their site.

Law Students

To those who are not yet cynical:

Love does no harm to any neighbor. Therefore love is the fulfillment of the law. (Romans 13:10 NIV)

So in everything, do to others what you would have them do to you, for this sums up the Law and the Prophets. (Matthew 7:12 NIV)

For the entire law is fulfilled in keeping this one command: "Love your neighbor as yourself." (Galatians 5:14 NIV)

Just a reminder that the practice of law is loftier than what others insist it is.

Pugad Baboy And Pol Medina, Jr.

As you know, Pol Medina has left Philippine Daily Inquirer, purportedly, because of the comic strip which talks about an all-girls school with a thriving lesbian population. I say "purportedly" because it doesn't explain why Pol would say in his resignation letter that he's dishonored his boss. I guess there are some things that the media just isn't curious about at all.

As I've mentioned in an earlier post, I've been building my collection of Pugad Baboy compilations. It's still not complete but at least I only have a few books left that I still have to collect: the origin graphic novel of Polgas, the latest books, and books number 3 and 7.

It's been interesting how Pol Medina, Jr. has evolved over the years. From his earlier strips which usually featured green or brown jokes or obesity-related humor, Mr. Medina has moved on to using his strip as a political commentary dousing each strip with a tiny bit of comedy just to make sure it has the requisite punchline.

Go Spurs

I'm rooting for the Spurs. As always, I root for the underdog in every NBA Finals series. The reason is ludicrous but that's how my mind works when it comes to watching NBA Finals.

This is ironic because, back in 2007, I was rooting for the Cavaliers led by Lebron James. I thought that since the Spurs had won four championships already, it's best that the other team win the whole thing.

Now, I'm all out for the Spurs and not because they are seemingly the underdogs. Like some who perceive the NBA Finals as a battle between good and evil, a convenient yet false dichotomy, I perceive the Spurs as the good guys, representing what is pure and noble in the profession. 

The Heat on the other hand have Lebron James and his infamous shortcut to a championship (The Decision, remember?). They have Wade, the dirty flopper, Chris Bosh, the softy crybaby, Ray Allen, the "traitor", Mario Chalmers, who's quite smug. It's not fair for these guys to be labeled as such but, then again, the Heat team is quite arrogant to begin with. 

And who could blame them? They hold, after all, the best regular season record. 

Go Spurs. Pound them to the dust. 

Beauty And A Beat

You know you love a song when you've repeated it several times and, yet, you still don't get bored listening to it. You obsess about the song, absorbing every nuance with every playback. And when you wake up the next morning, the first thing that you want to do is listen to it again.

Right now, I'm addicted to the song rendition of Beauty And The Beat by Alex Goot, Kurt Schneider, and Chrissy Costanza. Actually, it's surprising because I'm not a fan of the original rendition by Justin Bieber. But this rendition by the trio seems to get the song right. The diction is clear, the vocals are strong, and the music is intricate. Plus, Chrissy is cute. You never can go wrong with a vocalist who is actually a girl and a real-life barbie at that. 

Sunscreen

I first heard about Sunscreen from Sir George, a sales guy and resident comedian in my first company, last 2009. He asked me during an event if I had heard about this song and expressed astonishment when I said I'm not familiar. 

So I watched the video and was mesmerized. In my other posts, I'd mentioned some lyrics from the song just  to prove a point. 

Earlier this year, I asked a colleague if she had ever heard this song and then it was my turn to be astonished.

No one from my circle knew the song, which is surprising considering how influential it can be. So I'm sharing the official music video below for the ignorant masses who have yet to see the light of day. Enjoy.

Mindanao's Tribes In Today's Curriculum

I bet everyone is familiar with Social Studies or "Hekasi". It's a subject which is actually a mishmash of several social sciences: history, geography, economics, and culture.

During my high school years, one glaring omission from the curriculum was an introduction to the varied cultures of the ethnic tribes in Mindanao. I would only discover the B'laan, Tausugs, Mandayas, Samas etc. when I was already in college, under the tutelage of Dr. Macario Tiu.

This is quite unfortunate because the tribes of Mindanao are a big part of our heritage as the many Spanish or American colonizers which occupied the island. The tribes' histories are our history and their cultures pretty much permeate whatever culture we've inherited. 

MOOC

Just tonight, I enrolled myself in a course offered by the University of Pennsylvania. I figured that if I intend to stay in the corporate world, I should at least be more familiar with its language: accounting.

The course is titled "An Introduction to Financial Accounting" and is going to be taught by Brian J. Bushee, a professor. Class is to start on September 9, 2013 and the entire semester is going to be ten weeks long with a workload of 6/8 hours a week.

And, yes, I'm not paying any tuition for this.

How I Met Your Mother

I finally did it.

What have I been doing so far in my gap period? Well, since I'm jobless, I've engaged in a month-long marathon watching all the episodes of How I Met Your Mother.

My first glimpse of the show was during my hospital confinement for dengue last 2011. I was intrigued, then amused, at this new (at least for me) comedy show. But I wasn't interested enough to watch all the other episodes. The combined factors of "no time" and "working" gave me ample reasons not to get obsessed.

But, starting last month, with nothing else to do except job hunt, eat, and sleep, I decided to watch Season 1 of the show. Then Season 2. Then Season 3. And so on until I reached Season 8. 

It has been my chief source of entertainment so far and, tonight, I finally saw the mother herself in the last episode of Season 8. Along the way, I found a lot of lessons and another itchy idea that I know is here to stay.

Next time I watch this show, it will be way after the finale of Season 9. By then, I'll be living in a self-imposed bubble and becoming increasingly wary of spoilers.

Good night everyone. 

What Did Happen In Eden

We all know what happened in Eden right? Let's take a second look.

Because of what Adam and Eve did, sin enters the world. That's the general interpretation. But there is something to add to this.

The story involves God saying to the couple to not eat the fruit of a certain tree. In his Wisdom, God places a forbidden tree in the garden and tells Adam and Eve not to eat it. A perfect recipe for disaster, right? It is inevitable then that Adam and Eve proceed to eat the fruit and then history begins.

Theology tells us that sin entered the world through this first act of disobedience. What it doesn't tell us though is that it was also the first step towards our salvation. For without eating the fruit, Adam and Eve can only be regarded as automatons, as animals, following instinctively what the Lord commands. Eating the fruit is what makes them ultimately human.

God's Love

Yesterday Sunday, I happened to drop by a seminar by Ang Lingkod Ng Panginoon. I was late but, based on the handouts, I deduced that the topic of the talk was God's Love. Interestingly, that was also the topic of the first talk during the Christian Life Program conducted by the Single for Christ (which I attended last month).

What happens then is that, during the discussion group sharing right after the talk, participants would talk about God's love by pointing to instances in their lives where they've experienced it.Usually, these instances range from the mundane, like waking up to the sun rising every day, to the profound, like surviving a major sickness or financial dilemma.

These are the stories of God's love. We recount the many blessings we've received and we recall the many things that are pleasant in our lives. All these are valid but there are absences in the story lines that we need to take note.

What I'm talking about are the many travails, the many ordeals that we go through every day. What about the problems we have at work? The disasters that plague our relationships? The conflicts that arise within us? Are these worthy enough to be mentioned too when we talk about God's love?

Or maybe, these shouldn't be in the discussion because, after all, these are not signs of God's love but of His absence instead. Or is it?

Herein lies our dilemma when we talk about God's love because it calls into mind what kind of God we choose to believe in. Do we believe in the God of good things? Or do we believe in a God who is there with us, carrying us, through the good times and the bad?

Stupid Christianity

Have you ever called God stupid? 

Perhaps, even just the thought of it is sacrilegious and abhorrent. The act of saying to God he is a nincompoop is revolting even for those who are lukewarm Christians at best. 

But I have read someone say that God is stupid. And he happens to be a Jesuit priest.

Marriage And Equality

Mama had once remarked that marriage has to be among equals. The longevity of a union can be traced to this.

This primary requirement is now more popularly known as compatibility: Are the two of the same educational attainment? Are the two on the same level in terms of career achievement, of intelligence, of emotional maturity, or of financial status? When all these factors are considered and each partner has them in more or less the same degree, you have a match made in heaven. Otherwise, you have a match destined for unhappiness or separation.

For instance, take the TV series Be Careful With My Heart. For me, it's realistic in a sense that the characters cannot be together, cannot profess their love for each other, until both are equals. That's why Maya has to be a professional, to somehow succeed in her career in order to be more than just a trophy girlfriend or wife to her love interest. In the same way, Richard has to grow emotionally and move on from his wife's death before he can assume a bigger part in Maya's life.

This economy of sorts also presents itself in the tale of Cinderella. Despite how the Disney film ends, deep inside, we all presume that they probably won't live happily ever after. Apart from the huge gap in social class, Cinderella cannot boast of anything from her background to render her on par with the prince.

Over time, she'll always be inferior to her partner and the prince will eventually realize this and become bored.

Exceptions abound however but, as a general rule, both spouses must be equals if their union should persist.

Premarital Affairs And Sex Determination

Istriktong patubay at gabay ng magulang ang kailangan. May maseselang tema, eksenang karahasan, droga, lengguwahe, sekswal at katatakutang maaaring hindi angkop sa mga batang mambabasa.

Do children, who are products of premarital sex, tend to be females? That's the question that's piqued my curiosity for quite some time now. 

During the past years, I've witnessed a baby boom. My cousin got pregnant without a ring. Two single female colleagues at work got pregnant. Also, three of the male employees in our building became newly-minted fathers without the benefit of marriage. Save for one, all the babies were female. Granted, it's a small sample size but, then again, why is this so? Fortunately, I have my own conjectures.