360 Cameras

Why are people still fussing about monopods when the next big thing are 360-degree cameras?

Here's a cool video from Giroptic for a camera that can capture the ultimate panorama shot:

Diacritic

di·a·crit·ic

noun
1.
Also called diacritical mark. a mark, point, or sign added or attached to a letter or character to distinguish it from another of similar form, to give it a particular phonetic value, to indicate stress,etc., as a cedilla, tilde, circumflex, or macron.

- Dictionary.com

Tunay Na Lalake

Hay! Men! Ang blog ng mga tunay na lalake.

Clinton was the first one to share this site to me. That was way back 2008. The site's content was a satirical take on the sex-drenched, asshole-like, and slightly misogynist tendencies of Filipino men who oftentimes devolve to becoming jerks flouting societal norms in today's community. 

It was funny back then. And guess what? It still is.

During our summer outing, Sir Ivan and his wife, Ma'am Celeste, mentioned this site and we snickered while recalling some parts of the site's manifesto for "real" Pinoy men. Here it is in full.

Manifesto ng Tunay na Lalake

1.) ANG TUNAY NA LALAKE AY DI NATUTULOG.
2.) ANG TUNAY NA LALAKE AY DI NAGTE-TEXT-BACK, MALIBAN NA LANG KUNG PAPASAHAN NG LOAD. GAYUNPAMAN, LAGING MALABO ANG KANYANG MGA SAGOT.
3.) ANG TUNAY NA LALAKE AY LAGING MAY EXTRA RICE.
4.) ANG TUNAY NA LALAKE AY HINDI VEGETARIAN.
5.) ANG TUNAY NA LALAKE AY WALANG ABS.
6.) ANG TUNAY NA LALAKE AY HINDI SUMASAYAW.
7.) ANG TUNAY NA LALAKE AY UMAAMIN NG PAGKAKAMALI SA KAPWA TUNAY NA LALAKE.
8.) ANG TUNAY NA LALAKE AY LAGING MAY TAE SA BRIEF.
9.) ANG TUNAY NA LALAKE AY DI NAGHUHUGAS NG PINAGKAINAN O NAGLILIGPIT NG KANYANG MGA GAMIT DAHIL MAY BABAENG GAGAWA NOON PARA SA KANYA. MAS LALONG NAGIGING TUNAY ANG PAGKALALAKE KUNG DI NIYA KILALA O DI NIYA MAALALA ANG PANGALAN NG BABAE.
10.) ANG TUNAY NA LALAKE AY DI NAGSISIMBA.

Here's the link to the site.

Napolist

So this was probably the plan all along.

Again, I know I'm late but the enduring saga of Napoles and her list is getting murkier on purpose. My take is that both the release of several lists and the inclusion of a barangay's worth of names are meant to diminish the credibility of Benhur Luy and other witnesses.

The use of these means are quite ingenious. First, the release of several lists, with their jarring inconsistencies, make the "official" list less damning (whatever the "official" list is at this moment). Of course, the names on the list are simply that: names. The prosecution still has to present the evidence to implicate those names which are in the list. But this tactic forces the general public to take a step back and to be, at best, wary or, at least, be suspicious of the lists ("Totoo ba talaga yan, kuya?"). 

Second, the inclusion of individuals whose credibility is unassailable according to their respective colleagues is equally brilliant as well. Some people, especially in the media, are bound to stand up and acquit some names. This puts another cloud of doubt on the list and, in extension, the witnesses that will be testifying about it in court.

For the defendants, polluting the entire lake was the best plan and it's worked quite well. 

God help the Philippines then.

Solar FREAKIN' Roadways!

Asphalt and concrete roads are virtual deserts. Nothing grows on them. They do not absorb water. They store heat. They are the bane of nature.

But they are also necessary building blocks of modern civilization. So a couple is making sure roads won't just be roads but will be something more. They envision roads contributing a LOT to our dream of a future fueled by green energy.

Enjoy and watch.

Tagum Death Squad

Where are the investigative journalists? Where is the police? Where is the outcry at such impunity?

It took a foreign organization, the New York-based Human Rights Watch (HRW), to uncover what we suspect: the existence of a vigilante group, Tagum Death Squad.

Not only that, in their investigation and subsequent report, they've uncovered the following too:

1.) That members of the Tagum Death Squad were under the payroll of the local government

2.) That the group was directly under the supervision of the previous mayor, Rey Uy.

3.) That the group was operating with the tacit consent of the local police.

The question now is: who is brave enough to bring those responsible to justice?

Read the full PCIJ article here.

White Water Rafting

Wow. That was fun.

Yesterday, Team Luy-A (I'll explain who we are in another post) joined RCBC Savings Bank on their summer outing: a whitewater rafting adventure.

If I remember right, Sir Ramy was the one who broached the idea that we come with them because Base Camp Davao, the whitewater rafting provider in Davao City, was holding a summer promo for the benefit of a certain school in Calinan.

I decided to join because I've never tried it before. So, flash forward, there we were along the shore of the Tamugan river listening to an instructor brief us about safety maneuvers and precautions.

Wait. You're not expecting me to narrate the whole experience, are you? Because even if I did so, it's not going to do justice to the experience. Like they say, the best things in life need to be lived. And, I kid you not, this is something one should experience first-hand.

So just allow me to say that the adventure was worth every peso. And then allow me to share just a couple of things about it.

Frisbee

Frisbee. This is what compelled me to wake up early after just four hours of sleep on a Saturday morning.

I was stricken by curiosity when Jiron and Pope mentioned about this weekend activity by the Lingkod ng Panginoon during Friday's prayer meeting. So I woke up at 4:30 the following morning, rode the jeep to St. Francis Church in Ma-a, and jogged the rest of the way to Crocodile Park.

I probably arrived at 6:30 AM in the field where we will play (which was simply an unimproved yet grassy residential block). Pope gave me my first lesson on Frisbee and focused the discussion on throwing backhand. Then, after an hour or so, other members from the community began trickling in and what followed was a group mini-drill on throwing and catching the Frisbee.

Eventually, after a brief (okay. not-so-brief) orientation by Pope on the mechanics, the game followed. And boy:

IT WAS FUN.

It was actually quite funny because, since most of us were novices, nobody ever thought of cooking up a strategy. The best that came up was immortalized by the phrase "man-to-man" where each was responsible for guarding a single opponent a la basketball. But, for the rest of the time, it was simply us running ourselves haggard across the field (to be fair, some semblance of strategy did occur at some point in the game but this was rare).

I had to stop though because I was wheezing. Some pointed out that my face was really red from the exertion but I'd like to think that it was the sun. Had it not been so sunny, I could have played all day long. But that's just me fantasizing.

Till next Saturday. Peace.

Exhortation

It was all Him.

Last Friday, I led my first exhortation during the prayer meeting of Lingkod Ng Panginoon.

It was my first "speaking engagement" since January and I was admittedly a bit rusty in public speaking. Plus, my stage fright came back with a vengeance and I never did calm my nerves down until the last minute.

Still, everything went well and I was surprised at how easily I spoke when the moment came. I started off with a story I found the other night, then connected it to the Gospel reading for that day, then finally used both materials to invite everyone for the praise and worship portion of the meeting.

That night, some brothers like Jess and Rommel affirmed my service with the consensus that I had "flow" and that my jitters were not evident. But I was the first to admit that it was all because of the tips the same guys gave me (the workshop did help, too). 

It was also because of Him, who gave me the words. I mean, despite who I was before, I could have easily dissolved into meaningless blabber and inchoate statements. But I didn't. I could have just said I wasn't emotionally or even spiritually ready (which I really was) but I didn't.

It's times like these, however small, that reminds me of a reality bigger than me.

One Probable Reason Why I Am Smart

Sorry. No exposition. I just want to share an article. Excerpt follows:

What they found was startling. KL-VS did not curb decline, but it did boost cognitive faculties regardless of a person’s age by the equivalent of about six IQ points. If this result, just published in Cell Reports, is confirmed, KL-VS will be the most important genetic agent of non-pathological variation in intelligence yet discovered.

Here's the article, The 3% solution

So What's News?

I've been following this website for sometime now. It's part of my daily feed.

The site is an aggregation of satirical pieces presented as "news" in the line of its US counterpart, The Onion.

Though most pieces sport jokes that are crude and obvious (probably to dissuade the more stupid among us that what the authors are saying are merely fiction), there are also gems which leave me impressed; I mean, if I hadn't known it came from this site, I'd never know that article isn't true. Some works are that clever.

I've had a lot of fun reading the "news" articles. But the hobby had also got me thinking how inextricably infantile our political system is. Reading these fictionalized essays ironically hammers home the reality that our government is hopelessly inutile (and I don't even consider myself a pessimist).

Here's the link to the site, So What's News?

As usual, enjoy, laugh, and weep for our mother country.

This Is A Crazy Planets

You've got to love Lourd de Veyra. 

He's a social commentator who sports a beret to cover his balding head, a drolling voice reminiscent of a taong kalye, and the swag of a natural born satirist (if one ever existed)

He's also best known for his humorous pieces in the TV segment, Word of the Lourd. But his opus must have to be his blog, This Is A Crazy Planets, in Spot.ph where he talks about anything related to Philippine society.

Care to look? Here's the link.

Have fun, laugh, and do some critical thinking for a change.

Blackouts

The main difference between a brownout and a blackout is the amount of voltage being supplied to an area. Brownout means that the amount of voltage being supplied is lesser than normal while blackout means no voltage is being supplied or it's a complete power outage.

- Ask.com

Okay. Now that we know the difference, it's time to rant. Davao City is currently experiencing its worse blackout season ever. Because of a shortage in available electricity, Davao Light, the power distribution company, has put in place a schedule of power interruptions, causing rotating blackouts with durations of at least 2-4 hours. 

It's unprecedented and, soon, those durations are going to get longer. It's a classic case of government sitting on its ass and not investing time forecasting demand or planning for future higher power requirements.

Some columnists have already pointed out that the highly anticipated Mindanao Power Summit, attended by no less than the President last 2012, was a joke. Two years since then, blackouts are still common nuisances. The power plants being built now should have been built a decade ago but nobody, I guess, thought that was a sensible thing to do before.

So here we are, left wringing our hands at the incompetency of those who are presiding over this mess.

Here's a link to a previous related post.

Postscript: 

Papa had shared to us about a certain friend working in government before who was tasked to submit a proposal mapping out the energy plan for Mindanao. That task was way back during the Ramos presidency. Unfortunately, the submitted proposal was in limbo during the Erap presidency and went unnoticed during the Arroyo presidency (because the president then was busy fighting for her political life). 

In sum, there was action and it was unfair to me to generalize initially. However, the fact remains that though there was action, it wasn't followed through. 

Two decades could have been enough to craft an action plan centering on the promotion of renewable sources of energy for Mindanao. Now, because of lack of time, government is busy promoting coal plants as the best solution to the energy crisis while the rest of the world is weaning away from coal energy. Pretty pathetic, right? 

Rash Guard

The first time I wore a rash guard around 2010, I felt uneasy. Wearing one wasn't common those days. Most Dabawenyos who went to the beach preferred swimming half-naked (for men) or with a shirt (for women). That first time, I strolled the beach presuming (correctly) that the crowd was regarding my outfit as an oddity.

But I persisted. That's because I had to. The bottom line was wearing a rash guard benefited me greatly. First, it protected me from bites and the sun. Second, it helped relieve my back acne by allowing me to dry off quickly after a swim compared to wearing a wet shirt. Third, it did wonders to my self-image; wearing one meant I was a serious swimmer who knows what he's doing.

The cash center guys, who were part of my dance group before, coined the term "long sleeves" to describe my rash guard and regarded it humorously as my "formal swimming attire". My family eventually followed my lead with my parents buying "long sleeves" for themselves and for my siblings. I began seeing friends and colleagues also sporting the new look, this time, with vibrantly colored outfits.

I finally concluded that the rash guard was now in vogue when I started seeing more and more girls, the ultimate progenitors of fashion, wearing these. Barkadas would march around the beach wearing assorted rash guards and some couples preferred donning their own version of a couple shirt by wearing rash guards of similar designs. 

I marveled at this evolution of preference with a mixture of sadness and delight. I was sad because the bikini movement never really caught on among conservative Dabawenyos. But I was also delighted that women going to the beach were now donning more sensible outfits, like the rash guard.

Maybe next time, I'll write an ode to the rash guard if I'm crazy enough. Right now, I have to go back to finding my lost rash guard. It has to be in my cabinet somewhere... 

Vinyl Is The Future Of Music (According To One Guy)

I saw Lolo listening to one of these things. He had a player in the house and had a couple of vinyl records featuring Cebuano singers and bands. The sound was nothing I've heard of then. It was rich and full of nuances; the blips only served to highlight the experience (like Kintsugi).

What completed the scene was Lolo sitting on the sofa, legs crossed, one hand on one knee, chin up, listening regally to the music. While the rest of us scurried back and forth, he was simply there, absorbing the melodies.

That image contrasted sharply with how we consume music nowadays. With ubiquity and convenience came a downgrading of sorts. 

Now, we listen to music as an afterthought, something to fill in the gaps as we go about doing our everyday tasks and labors.

Mario Aguilar argued the same thing about vinyl and how the experience of switching mediums can make us more sensitive to this aural delight:

The people who actually care about the experience of ownership are increasingly turning back to vinyl because it gives you a physical experience that's more fulfilling than a simple CD purchase. There are a few reasons this might be the case, but it all boils down to experience: a warm and fuzzy happy feeling you get from buying and playing LPs that you just can't get from any other source.

Here's the rest of the article.

Men Are The Weaker Sex

The males in the insect world are mere bit players. Prized only for their sperm, most males, especially in species sporting elegant social hierarchies like bees and ants, are dispensable members and are woefully equipped to live long, healthy lives.

Ironically, in humans, occupying the upper echelon of evolution, the same thing can also be said. 

In this article by Alice Shabecoff, she says that human males have built-in biological triggers which make us more prone to environmental abuse and more susceptible to diseases and/or disorders.

As she aptly concludes:

While not forgoing the push for fairness and equality, it seems wise to accept the scientific reality of male weaknesses. This likely won’t mean the end of men, but their vulnerability to environmental contaminants and diseases could have serious ramifications for the future of the entire human race unless we find ways to protect them from harm.

Ouch. That last part feels emasculating. 

You can read the rest of the article here.

How Not To Get Drunk

This isn't a secret anymore. I do drink. In fact, I wrote about it sometime ago. I've also had my share of hangovers (two to be exact) and I'm not proud of each one. 

On a positive note, I make sure that I never get drunk. I always drink lots of water beforehand, eat a proper meal, and regulate my pacing at all times.

Thankfully, there's another tip I can add to my list. This tip involves ingesting a small amount of active dry yeast before drinking and was brought to me courtesy of an article by Aaron Goldfarb:

"You wanna know my secret? How I can drink beer all night long and never get drunk?" 

In fact, I had always wondered that. Though this was the first time I’d ever formally met Koch, I’d “met” him in the past at a few beer festivals. Those sorts of events are always kind of Bacchanalian shit shows, with people imbibing dozens of beer samples in a short period and soon stumbling around large convention halls drunk of their asses. Brewers included. But not Koch, who I’d long noticed was always lucid, always able to hold court, and hold his own with those much younger than him. This billionaire brewing raconteur was doing likewise with me at 4 PM on a Thursday afternoon despite the fact we were both now several beers deep. So what was the secret?

“Yeast!”

“Yeast?”

“Active yeast. Like you get at the grocery store.”

Koch told me that for years he has swallowed your standard Fleischmann’s dry yeast before he drinks, stirring the white powdery substance in with some yogurt to make it more palatable.

“One teaspoon per beer, right before you start drinking.”

You can read the rest of the article here. It also shows you the scientific reason why.

The Feast

I finally attended the Feast.

Sir Chris, a colleague, invited me yesterday to join them at the CAP Auditorium. Although I was part of another community, I honored the invitation to see the Light of Jesus (the group organizing the Feast) in action.

I don't know if this was the flow for every event but we did start off with a mass. After which came the talk which, in turn, was followed by a praise and worship session.

When I first stepped inside the function hall, I was surprised by how few of us were there. The venue could accommodate around two hundred people but only fifty were around that night. It was also evident that the people who were there didn't know the entire group, preferring to huddle closely with their friends or families. I was a stranger, with no companion, so I opted to occupy an entire row by myself and observe the rest.

What impressed me the most about the Feast was their music ministry. It totally brought back memories of my Youth For Christ days. The Light of Jesus community in CAP featured capable singers and musicians with complete band equipment to boot. I've said back in the past that music indeed plays a very big role in evangelizing and the music ministry delivered that night. The songs were new and really apt for praise and worship. The worship leader and the band had flow and were never disjointed. Plus, the guitarist shredding it at several moments was pretty cool too. Hands down, the music ministry made it very conducive to praise and worship God.

I was also amazed at the speaker, Eric. The guy had charisma and delivered his talk with smiles all through out. Though the content of his talk was intentionally watered down (he described the mass using pop culture references which, I believe, still failed to encapsulate the richness of the Eucharist), he delivered it with such fervor that his enthusiasm was infectious.

All in all, it was a great experience and perhaps lit a fire or two inside me. God willing, I may be back again for the next session. To Him be the glory always.

BIR Versus Doctors

I know I'm really late but I'm writing this anyway. 

Today, the BIR's shame campaign to compel doctors to pay the right taxes may have run its course. 

Several weeks back, columnists have already castigated the BIR for what they think are hugely unjustified attacks against medical professionals. Doctors have also weighed in, condemning the campaign as putting every doctor under a bad light.

But, first, I'll share a story. 

The Month That Was

Last year, the Brooklyn Nets struggled during the first part of the season. Kevin Garnett, the team’s outspoken All-Star, had this to say about that: “November was a shitty year for us.”

To some extent, I can say the same thing about April.

No, it wasn’t that bad. But April wasn’t good to me either. Many things didn’t go my way and it seemed that I was caught in quicksand.

I’m not elaborating on this since this isn’t the best time to expound. But I’m also grateful for the blessings, however meager, I’ve received for April.

Among these blessings, the best is the gift of hope. Despite the past month, I feel that things are looking up, that perhaps things aren’t as bad as they seem to be. That alone is a cause for celebration.

Putting Off Law School

I shared already to several people my impromptu interview with Sir Romy Salva, one of BPI’s branch managers who’s set to retire next year.

I visited his branch in NCCC Mall of Davao to inquire about something and asked him what he planned to do after retirement. Despite the question, I thought I knew what he wanted to do like spending more time with his grandkid or starting a new business with his retirement money.

That’s why I was surprised when he said he wanted to pursue law. He then shared to me that he was, in fact, a member of the Tau Mu fraternity, back when he was still studying law.

Unfortunately, he had to stop because of financial constraints (he had a family to feed) but he didn’t shut the door to that dream. Perhaps, there’s that ‘unfinished business’ factor again that kept him thinking about law school and, come retirement, he’ll finally have a second chance at it.

The reason why I’m sharing this is because I’m going through the same dilemma. Pastor Ace, a classmate, had cautioned me last semester against taking a breather from law school since doing so might affect my momentum. I’m afraid he’s right.

Right now, the reasons stopping me from enrolling for the next semester are financial and work-related constraints.

Ironically, after getting a generous salary bump this year, I found out I don’t have the budget to go to law school. Another obligation cropped up and it would be selfish of me to not help out.

Second, my new work entails that I be ready to travel at a moment’s notice. That runs contrary to the demands of law school, chief of which is that I should attend daily classes.

Do I feel the loss? Of course. But I also know that law school is always there. I am witness, of course, to people who, despite being in their forties or fifties, are still studying law. To them, the desire to become a lawyer didn’t have to feature an expiration date.

I’m not sure when I can come back but I definitely will.

Besides, it wouldn’t seem right to deprive the world of another good lawyer.