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How to Write a Thousand-Word Post [Jun. 29th, 2009|08:12 pm]
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[Current Location |hherrrr]
[mood |hyperhappy]
[music |panzerlied]

They always said to pass an essay containing at least a thousand words. I don't understand why it had to be that long when it can be sufficiently answered in 500. Can you imagine the waste of words? It may not be right to be too laconic when discussing statistical analysis on q-tests, but it isn't fair to bore them. And it's worse to make them bore themselves with essays too padded out. Picture the scene: students making essays they don't like about topics they don't need for teachers that don't read them anyway. Sad, really.

There, an essay more than a thousand words, completed with your imagination. Thanks, from Somewhere Down the Road... to Perdition. Ahahahaha.
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Post-happiness [Jun. 13th, 2009|10:06 pm]
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[Current Location |haerrrre]
[mood |hyperhappy]
[music |So Young]

Will happiness be achieved? Think a bit, imagine. Imagine a person that can live forever, like say, advanced bionics on you. How will you spend forever? When someone has done the thing that makes him happy, in his deepest self that is most unrestrained by fear of death, eventually he will tire of it like all sensations repeated too much do. He will then find a new hobby, something new to do to keep him interested and content and happy for the rest of his life. And what if he runs out of things to do? Then he repeats the things he used to do to make him happy. But what if every experience has "been there, done that, only slightly tweaked but still the same" that nothing excites him? That everything is done, tired, and wearily repeated for the past centuries and millenia?



Why, he then gets a visual reality device that allows him to feel more, to experience what he could have never experienced. He could be an actual knight, a true dragon, even be a two-dimensional being. But what if all possible combinations of space-time events imaginable in the universe have been repeated again and again? That everything has been relived, that everything has happened, that everything is already so predictable, so passe, that nothing is left do do? And forever has barely begun.



There is a reason why happiness seems to be harder to achieve with age: our biologicals are to blame. The things that make us happy seems to be linked with certain hormones, which are released by doing stuff that makes us happy, as well as eating food like chocolate. It can also be administered via drugs, which produces so much "happiness" to the point of delirium. But for all this, there is a downside: our body resistance. For you see, one of the important factors which makes drugs dangerous is that a greater dose of drusgs compared to the previous dose is needed to feel the same level of hapiness every time. And as the dose rises, the body becomes more and more unable to cope, theoretically, until a critical overdose is hit and death is achieved. And though death may be fun according to some, it kills, so.. no. No drugs for the masses then.



And in the same thread, all these fun activities and hobbies also release happiness hormones in just right amounts, but like drugs, the body gets some sort of resistance just the same, which explains why the simple joys of stroking a rabbit's fur doesn't seem to feel that good except when reminscing, when it actually becomes bittersweet to downright painful.



Good thing forgetful people can see everything as a fresh new day. It makes them strive to redo what has already been done, when more remembering ones have declared all the universe to be either incomprehensible or boring. See, our unretentive minds may be a blessing after all, right?



Which is why I think one of the reasons why we have not been made omniscient or too intelligent by God is so that we can experience serendipity. Yes, the sweet feeling of a good surprise. A being that knows all may never be able to experience this kind of happiness again. Of course, God, being omnipotent, can do whatever He pleases, but that is beyond my point. The point is that though we always complain of our lacking memories and weak minds, there must be a good reason why God gave us this 10% useful brain: to keep us interested enough on Earth to not die without saving us from a boo-boo our ancestors did long ago.



But what about happiness? If we are to live in eternity with Him, we should be pretty happy enough to make it worthwhile, no? Well, God is an omnipotent being, and He loves us. If we are worthy, He has a way to make us happy forever, despite our body, because He can.



See, forgetfulness is a gift, a plan, a seemingly simple, yet striking part of a great plan of God for us, designed to teach us and save us who are Somewhere Down the Road... to Perdition. Ahahahaha.
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Really Reality Post [May. 31st, 2009|11:10 am]
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[Current Location |Heudringott....]
[mood |hyperhappy]
[music |Stars Are Blind]

While exercising a wile ago, I have just gotten a nice idea. Remember Descartes, the man who said "I think, therefore I am."? What he really said is that "Because I can think, I can be sure that I [the thinking mind] exist." And how did he arrive at that conclusion? Because, according to the story, he just dreamt that he was a butterfly, and that the dream was so vivid, he thought he was really a butterfly that his former life as a boring bipedal being was just a dream. You know, a very lucid dream, where he could slam the table and get hurt?



After dreaming (or sleeping again) of being a sentient butterfly, he decided to think, because he is good at that. And well, he decided to chuck out all the facts he has learned as a human being and began to think of what is really real, his being a butterfly or being a man. Then he conceived of an idea of a deceiver, making him think he was butterfly-man when he was not, making him think that all his experiences were just some sort of 17th-century hyperreality, a virtual world attached to him since he was born. Therefore, they were just illusions and not really real.



Of course, we are not sure whether he really dreamt of being a butterfly; that was only hearsay. But the realer hearsay goes that he thinks that, as he is being deceived by a deceiver, there must be something that is being deceived. And that is him. Therefore, he exists.



After a few decades or so, some will say that the illusions are the only reality that can be conceived (tabula rasa), some will say that the deceiver exists as well, and some will say "What?" and go on with their lives trying to survive and be rich in whatever resource.



Now, we know that Descartes has reached his goal of knowing what is sure to exist using this train of thought. However, in his quest to procure more and more knowledge, he missed something: the fact that we are masters of reality.



Come to think of it, we indeed are the masters of our fate. We also master our world of today. If nothing is real, yet we can so easily say something is real, it means that we trust our senses and beliefs that something is real. Because really, reality is determined by faith. And though the masses may try to sway you to think that they are correct, like "The Earth is round." or "Exercise is good for you.", it is all a matter of faith, your faith versus their faith. (In case you ask for my opinion, the Earth is an oblate spheroid,; exercise is a waste of time if it is not fun enough.) They may throw facts at you, but remember that facts: scientific facts, common-sense facts, they are all but mere opinion wielded my the important majority which is why it becomes fact. We can convince ourselves that we are rich, that we are graceful, that we are strong, that we are right no matter what the world tells us because with enough faith, even laws get edited.



Sleep and dreams are short escapes from this "reality", to give you an idea of what else might be, to inspire us that reality is relative, that it can be wielded as easily as you are willing to change it. With enough control over the raw power of self-suggestion, we could change our reality to what we really believe must be real. We may be called schizophrenics, but they are just jealous that they are stuck there in their uncreative, unimaginative world incapable of reaching their dreams while we can stretch our aspiration farther and wider for we have achieved the impossible dream the world says that we can't. We have our own universes, we just aren't willing to admit or claim it. What's yours? Mine is Somewhere Down the Road... to Perdition. Ahahahaha.
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Post-passion [May. 14th, 2009|11:05 am]
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[Current Location |comshop]
[mood | happy]
[music |Suddenly]

I think I have uncovered the reason why I don't blog as much as I used to. There can only be so much ideas that can be crammed into the memory of a man until he forgets it. There are so few profound ideas left to think about once the press has gone dry because there were no buckets while it flowed.

I need a laptop. For years this blog has endured the lack of a mobile device where ideas can be scrawled upon, this blog has lost so much of its potential because its maintainer, though filled with thoughts, can't recollect his thoughts especially after academics have strained his memory and his insightful thinking. Pen and paper can't write quickly, buttonmashing is faster than penstrokes barely capable of being read. Typewriters are nice, it may even have that old-school appeal that I like, but there is no backspace, and that this blog is quite nicely just data. Only electrons, not even compounds.

Computer shops are not free, borrowing a friends laptop won't encertain that you can remember what you want to type. And sometimes, when you are lucky enough to have access to internet with your idea, you are under time pressure from either the shop or from respecting your friends property. Thus, your thoughts are screambled, disorganized. Your words begin to falter, until you realize that the "punch" of the speech is gone and that you end up with a long ramble that lacks coherency and a main topic. Like now.

That is it. I appeal to you, the unseen, unheard, unread masses, please, allocate a little of your funds that I can acquire a laptop. It is such a waste of a mind to have it produce so much ideas without giving at least a proper manner to deliver its products. Please have it with wifi capabilities as well, for the continued survival of this blog, and the other blogs, all Somewhere Down the Road... to Perdition. Ahahahaha.
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Post this as "althisMercado" [Mar. 29th, 2009|09:14 pm]
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[Current Location |Philippinische Inseln]
[mood |hyperhappy]
[music |Across the Universe]

Now, for an overdue entry.

In the 1800s, there are people scattered on a group of islands somewhere in the Far East. A minor colonial power had been holding them bondage for the past two and a half centuries, but with the influx of new ideas from faraway lands, the natives have dreamed of changing their relationship with the colonists, some wanted to be treated as equals with the 'superior' colonists, others wished those aliens dead, the rest were too beaten up to muster the willpower to overthrow their foreign masters.

Then there was Mercado, a gifted child, fairly well-off compared to his fellow natives, but a native nonetheless. He has felt cheated and abused by the foreigners, and wanted to do something about it. So what did he do? He went abroad, became a colegiano, an eye doctor, a tourist, a womanizer, a miser, a book nerd, among others. And then he became hero.

Into the future, we see Mercado change his name to Rizal, get arrested while on his way to help the Spaniards in Cuba for being an anti-Spaniard, and get killed. After that, the Filipino Insurrection/Revolution, Spanish-American War, then the Filipino-American War.

Now for althis (alternate history): What if the Americans simply dropped the idea of taking pieces of island with its peoples already claiming it?

Let's use maps to ease it up. This is the real world in 1910:

The American Philippines. Notice the Germans nearby.

As can be seen, the Philippines is part of America. Notice the nearness of the Dutch in the south, the Germans at east, and the British are on North Borneo.

If we apply the althis, the Philippine Republic would probably exist in the 1900's. Now to know what part of the Philippines today will be the Philippines in the alternate timeline. But wait, there are two Philippine constitutions in that era, the 1897constitution and the 1899 constitution. And that none of them formally declared what part is Philippines and what is not. Indeed, the 1899 constitution allows The President of the Republic 
1. To alienate, transfer or exchange any portion of Philippine territory.
2. To incorporate any other territory to the Philippine territory.
(Title VIII, Article 68) Sorry, that means no maps for you as long the the President is allowed to pick a land (like, say, Negros, Spratleys, and your house) and claim it as part of the Philippines.

Of course, a small, weak republic like that of the 1899 Republic of the Philippine islands is bound to be colonized by somebody. But who? It is tempting to think that the British would colonize us if the rebel British colony Americas did not. Then we could all have an intelligent man's accent and say that we were related to the Beatles or something. That we could have the parliamentary government that cha-cha is pushing for. And why not? The British have done it before, why wouldn't they do it again?

Or how about the Dutch? They could put up trading posts here and trade with the Sultan and the self-proclaimed President of the Republic of the Philippines. Then we could be the colony of a largely unremarkable country and eventually become part of Indonesia.

Or the Germans? Why not? Blumentritt is not just a Rizal-friendly street, he is a Germanic who campaigned for America to back off from the Philippine Islands (and lost). And why would he do that? Perhaps because he liked Rizal very much, or perhaps he may have more nationalistic plans, planning to turn colony-hungry Germany into a respectable Asian power with the Philippine Islands as a base of operations. And seeing as to how the British were too busy putting down various rebellions within its kingdom, and the Dutch being the colonizing power that is incapable of mounting an attack against the First Philippine Republic, I think the Germans with their need for lebensraum would colonize us.

So there you have it. From 1904 (or whatever year it takes for the Germans to take the First Filipino Republic down)-1918. Why 1918? Since the German colony of Philippinische Inseln is blockaded by the British, there is little we could have done to prevent the German defeat. However, by that time we would have more industries than we would if the Americans controlled us because we are a rather valuable asset. Think of all the military bases and cities in here that they can't put up in the Carolinas, think of the infrastructure that had already been built here by the Spaniards, and you can think of harassing Russia and diverting their attention. But of course, that means little, really, to a young country like Germany embroiled in such a war: it can't support the logistics. So that means that the multifronted Great War will be difficult, and even more so for a newbie colonizer. But at least the attacks on British shipping would be more intense, with submarines from the Philippines striking the arteries of the Empire. But given that the Americans are moved by propaganda, and that the Japanese are part of the Allied forces, and that the resources so quash the French are finite, and that the British blockade would occur far from the Philippines, I think German control over Philippinische Inseln would fall, with an armistice and not a fight. But hey, perhaps by that time we could have our own racetrack and be racing Beemers and Benzes. And we get to have our own Prora and a weird amalgamation of coñio Spanish-German-nativelanguageA-nativelanguageB....

So who gets the Philippinische Inseln? japan. And they get it early, like they can attack China from the Philippines in the 30's. But with more resources, and a more solid supply of manpower methinks. That means that into the future, the Japanese are cruising through China with Filipino collaborators assisting them. The German technologies in Philippinische Inseln are maintained thanks to trade, though the industries in the Philippines may decline because there is enough productivity within Japan (and not enough raw materials) to not need export production. And do you know what a Japanese Philippines mean in the Second World War?

No American superproduction to factor in. Yes, they can lend-lease all they want until the British are bled dry and the Russians hate the capitalist pigs even more. That means that Hitler can drive through Russia without thinking too much of lend-lease Studebrakers launching Katyushas. That means that Russia can actually fall, that the British can sink in debt, that France stays non-existent. But let's factor in a Japan that doesn't need to do a Pearl Harbor, and we get the Axis powers seriously threatening to invade Australia and India, thus severely crippling Britain. And then there can be a major Japaneseinvasion of Siberia, which would give Stalin more headaches apart from looking at Hitler's funny moustache. And that means that this seemingly simple twitch in the timeline can bring much change across whole continents, even if all other things are more or less kept equal.

But what does it mean to us here? Well, there would be Filipinos shipped to fight the Australians, the Sepoys, the Siberians; we could be sent anywhere and be heroes of war. Well, not really. We would be, at best, second-rate humans who would work as semi-slaves and of course Japayukis. We can serve as auxiliary units in war, which is similar to being tank mechanics, rifle repairmen, cannon fodder, and meat shields. And if the expedition gets really bad, meat. We can also serve the Japanese in their research. We will be their bioweapon guniea pigs, their target in the shooting range, their crash test dummies, and that our country will much greatly lag behind because the possible chances of us being human resources worth developing are dwindling. We can have industries, yes, but in all it's having history repeat itself, with the majority of Filipinos officially not being recognized as people, and the few collaborators as the ruling class. And with no strong America for spreading democracy and emancipation (or rather, the failure of republics and democracies like France in defending themselves), we could as well be a Japanese colony for the next few years. Then the world gets Orwellian, with the Japanes, the Germans, and the Americans being powers. South America would be under America's sphere of influence, Europe and traces of Africa, as well as the -stan states towards the oily deserts of the Sheik of Araby would be German, and East, South-East Asia, as well as Oceania would be under the Japanese.

That is, until rebels (America-funded, I think) begins to crack open overly harsh regimes as the Diet becomes less warlike and more mellow. From this point, the world becomes too cloudy to be observed from my crystal LCD screen, and I gave up guessing what the Philippines would be like at that point in time. As far as I can see, there is no liberal University of the Philippines, no Beatles music to listen to. However, anime will be even more commonplace, the government will be a bunch of puppet rulers and Japanese collaborators who have long forgotten about nationalism. The place is still poor, with foreigners looking at as as a bunch of low-lifes. In short, nothing's changed. Except of course for my possible entry about alternate histories, to be posted in Somewhere Down the Road... to Perdition. Ahahahaha.
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Post SHS [Mar. 29th, 2009|01:18 pm]
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[Current Location |CASA. A?]
[mood |hyperhappy]
[music |Shirley]

This issue is a few weeks old already, but who are they to say I can't post about it?

But what is this issue? It's nothing compared to what Obama is staring at or what Arroyo is avoiding. It's just a complaint in my former school; at first it's about the parents complaining that the Mathematics teachers are plain tormentors, and that the students that would have been not allowed to graduate should be allowed to graduate as if they are allowed to pass. Now, it's about the school's alumni and students and faculty (excluding the parents, who happened to be alumni as well) saying that a failure is a failure, and that the students should not be allowed to graduate with the school's rather prestiguious diploma. In compensation, the failures (I mean, failed students) get a nifty Science High School diploma from the national Department of Science and Technology. Because that is what usually happens. Neat, huh?

I don't know. The Mathematics teachers are actually included in my list of The Kind Ones. They indeed nudged the grading system and made this batch, where +-100 out of <240 students failed in the periodic exam which chances are are copied from earlier exams like tho ones that almost kicked me out of my (rather) beloved alma mater. And even though, two students (whose other violations include forgery of currency) failed. Which proves that these two peoples failed because their grades were low because they were a bit lazy (or too darned unlucky) to pass. Which proves absolutely nothing, really, to the students because as far as I can read, they are going to get that diploma in two years time. In two years, which is why our batch still relies on an IOU slip when our credentials are asked for.

Both ways, there wil always be something taught. That there is an evil that's plaguing the Philippines and that you can attribute your diploma to it and that it is for the greater good to support this little evil because you were helped by, uh, very charismatic, very understanding people. That the wheels of justice are faster than a blazing... matchstick attached to a snail, and that retribution is not 100% going to occur to you as long as there is no afterlife or karma.

When will we know if integrity would eventually be upheld? In two years time, the time when they will really get their actual diplomas. Which gives me ample time to 'accidentally' set the school, with their diplomas, ablaze again. After all, I am a very charismatic, very understanding person, which means I am able to avoid Earthly retribution. Even if it means I am again back on Somewhere Down the Road... to Perdition. Ahahahaha.
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Post-Reactives [Mar. 25th, 2009|11:57 am]
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[Current Location |*****]
[mood |hyperhappy]
[music |Soviet March (RA3 OST)]

In the news today, some members of the opposition challenged Gov. Ed Panlilio, a rather popular priest-turned-governor with plans of running in the 2010 presidential elections, to “condemn categorically” the sins of the current President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo.

Cute.

-
"Akbayan Rep. Risa Hontiveros said articulating reforms is not enough and Panlilio must reject the “crimes” of the Arroyo regime."
-

Mmm hmm...

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"'He should declare categorically this early his critique against the GMA presidency. Articulating reforms is not enough. First, he has to repudiate the high crimes of Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo against the Filipino people,' said Hontiveros, adding Panlilio should join the opposition.

'Any reform must emanate from the need to reverse the damage wrought by the Arroyo regime, but first, this administration and GMA herself must be condemned,' Hontiveros added."
-

As a priest (or former priest), I expect the good governor to remember that we should emulate the good Lord Jesus Christ. He did not condemn us to burn in hell for all eternity, but gave us foolish humans a new chance to have peace and make up with the Father Yhwh. Which is why I think the good representative will be a little disappointed in the next few days.

And oh, the line "adding Panlilio should join the opposition" is a giveaway of the representative's political reason to speak about this "condemnation" stuff. Either the representative is a member of the opposition and wants Mr. Panlilio's charismatic backing to serve the interests of the opposition, or is too fixated on the fact that the EEEEVILLLL... President has allies and that all her allies are willing to partake in her EEEEVILLLL... plans of self-enrichment at the expense of the poor oppressed masses. If the reason is the former, it is obvious that there is some sort of political maneouvers underway that is planned to use Mr. Panlilio to win in the elections and serve the opposition in its endeavors. If the reason is the latter, are all of Gloria's allies that bad? Is it not possible to be a proper, moral, and 'clean' public servant if he/she/it happens to be in the same party with Gloria? And does Mr. Panlilio need to be allied to any party? Can't he win as an independent like what he did in the previous election?
 

-
"'But what are the reforms that he seeks to push at the national level? He still needs to clarify and present his position on many national issues,' she added. "
-

Hold on lad, I don't think the governor would be outlining his plans yet for major national issues without consulting his advisers (or Adviser). Given that there are good and bad points for almost every issue will mean months of deliberation for mortals. And I don't think the priest would have very strong feelings for the various issues like the recession (he needs the cabinet for decisions concerning economics because, well, he is no economist). The governor need not voice out on such issues immediately, rather understand that he is a rational person who can decide on these things in due time. Let me repeat, in due time.

There will be no conclusions for this entry. Why not wait and see the race instead?

That will be enough of politics for me at this time. See you again Somewhere Down the Road... to Perdition. Ahahahaha.
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Posting A Bonus Coursework [Mar. 17th, 2009|10:06 pm]
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[Current Location |streets]
[mood |hyperhappy]
[music |change the world]

Yeah. So I went to the meeting place. I was on time, even early for the 8:30 forum. The door was locked, stayed there outside the door, together with two other people, until 9:00 AM. Then some lady told us that the forum was moved to another building a few meters away. We went. We arrived. There the ambassador was, about to talk about socialism and democracy and how Cuba is right now with their free education and medicare and charming old cars and cute old houses. And no, he won't. He ain't talking about no economic plans for no day to no UP student at no forum to-day. And so he walked out of the door, leaving a handful of UP students behind.

It was 9:30. It was raining. The aircon was humming. Nobody's leaving. Nothing's happening.

Yes, the ambassador must have had changed (or reinforced) his view of UP that day. One thing learned is that not many UP students are interested in international economics when the final exams are looming. Another thing learned is that switching the venue at the last moment would have negative results for the forum. And that lastly, Filipino time is not a habit that is shared among former Spanish colonies. So understandably, the ambassador was annoyed (or culture-shocked) by how we here would value time less than in his island. And why we had this Filipino Time practice in the first place, I don't know.

I can only speculate. Maybe because the Philippines got the Spanish practice of being generally idle and lax, which explains our siestas and various feasts and holidays. But then, Cuba is a largely Catholic country and a former Spanish colony, which means that they have feasts and siestas as well. Maybe because clocks here get rusted from all the tropical humidity. It makes sense, really. Within UP, there is a 30-minute gap between the watch in the Carillion and the dormitory clock, with the times on the clocks on various students being precise to the hour. Which is about the time needed to fly from the northernmost to the southernmost UP campus. So does it stand? Perhaps, even if both countries are nicely heated, the Philippines with all its remaining trees is still more humid, and thus it is more likely for our watches to jam and have the wrong time. But then, an hour? Perhaps if we rely on gigantic mechanical timepieces which expand with variable rates when heated unevenly by the sun, the difference can be noticed. But given that it's only a tiny little vibrating rock that keeps the time in most of our watches, how could our time be so wrong? And it still doesn't explain how the majority of people are late by one full hour. Will the come? Perhaps they never will.

So where did Filipino Time come from? Apparently, it is only culture, and a pretty impractical one at that, that manages to reduce our well-worked timetables to vague schedules. And seeing as to how few among us really wanted to follow this tradition, perhaps it is for our good that Filipino time be reduced. Delays like these don't make our country look good to foreign investors, right? It tells them as to how unreliable a Filipino may be with time, and may be detrimental to the economy. Imagine a small laboratory producing just 50 tablets an hour. With Filipino time, that means a hundred tablets a day. And with a tablet put at, say, Php5, the factory is losing a good Php500 a day. Measly, right? Imagine how this would look in a work year: Php 135, 000. Not bad. Think of how many people die due to easily curable diseases like diarrhea: approximately 10 million. And the amount of tablets that could have been produced in a year? 26, 000. Yes, had the unproduced tablets been made and given to healthcare centers, there would be 26,000 tablets. If we put the efficiency rate at 50%, and 5 tablets per patient (a lower-than-normal efficiency rate for a common drug; 5 tablets should be some sort of overdose by the way), that would still be a nice 2, 600 lives saved. And if you are the psychopathic type of person who thinks of people as statistics, think of it this way: Php 50,000 is the cost of a human being (insurance). It's like losing Php 130,000,000 + the unsold tablets worth 135, 000 just for an hour of loathing. Imagine how many fully-laden Benzes (S-class) that would be (13 cars and a half). Or how many nights in a suite in a three-star hotel (178 years). See what losses Filipino time can do!

Which is why I would begin vanquishing the Filipino time in my life right now, because I am now 40 minutes late for my next class. Bye, and wish to meet you again Somewhere Down the Road... to Perdition. Ahahahaha.
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Territoriality Posture [Mar. 13th, 2009|05:16 pm]
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[Current Location |palmas]
[mood | sleepy]
[music |Minsan]

The firebrand speaks...I think.

This day I was just going to do some research on possible alternate events. This means that I relied on the internet for a little research, but then my ever-drifting mind went along a few topics like drifting (and then cars...) then "Philippine Battleships", then some weird "PNRS General Manchatas", until finally I managed to type "North Borneo", and then I learned how other countries are that desperate for a chunk of land.

Let us imagine what will be going on...



Leader: "The Philippine government needs something to rally its people. Normally, patriotic clauses would do that, but these days the lone Filipino moralizing poster I know is evidently aged. It read "THE FIGHTING FILIPINOS" and shows a dirty, tattered Filipino holding a torn flag and a substandard pineapple grenade. Apparently, theses things would give the wrong message about our masters allies; our countrymen might be too patriotic and squash all our neoliberal economic planning. And to think that as a guinea pig country for economists, we should not give the wrong message lest economic sanctions be imposed. Now think, think hard, how could we muster the (more or less) united Filipino Force that will save this country from poverty?"

*people think hard...*

Leader: "By telling them that we have a common enemy! Little in history can manipulate the masses like war, like telling them that there is a great force of eeeviiilllll...., like exalting them beyond their wildest imaginations the way that videogames do today. But who can the enemy be?"

Guy: "What about telling them that our nation is under attack by insurgents?"

Leader: "No, we need unity, and insurgents are still our citizens. Besides, A third of the country will be offended by the religious side effects of saying 'MILF ay kalaban!'"

Another Guy: "Commies?"

Leader: "With the financial crisis? With China still rich? Not going to work."

*think harder...*

Still Another Guy: What if we say that foreign countries are slicing our country little by little?




The point of this skit is that telling people that our nation is under attack may be able to sway them, that by telling them that Vietnamese are reef-grabbing pseudodemocrats and Chinese as lead-feeding, oil-robbing Commies (and very bad imitations at that), we can unite the peoples. In fact, we could tell them that our national hero Jose Rizal had planned to turn North Borneo into some sort of Calamba Annex long ago (he did; I will post about it some other time), and that our comrade fellow citizen the Sultan of Sulu owns North Sabah and that the Malaysians are overstaying for 130+ years and that we don't care what the locals think because they are brainwashed and that by international law North Borneo with all its resources are ours. So that is it for our claim on North Borneo, and that a true Filipino must be an excellent man like Jose Rizal and not allow North Borneo to fall to...them.

Next is Scarborough Shoal. Apparently, the Chinese can't have enough land; the Gobi isn't enough. Now they want a bunch of rocks with the glorious Philippine flag waving at them. If we can show the Chinese that we are capable of standing by our lands, perhaps they will be deterred a bit. But then, if we show that the Filipino people are wholeheartedly claiming the land, and that we are prepared to use more than pineapple grenades to defend it, maybe they will rethink the invasion plans. Of course, the purpose of this thing is to show the Filipinos that the government is truly caring for the Philippines by dabbling about something as concrete as land instead of theoretical numbers; the government may finally be able to exert a bit more control over its citizens.

Finally, the noisy Spratleys. It is said to be rich grounds for oil, fish, and gas. And that our neighbors are elbowing their way into it. (The truth is, the Vietnamese and the Chinese historically charted the islands as theirs, but the adventurer Tomas Cloma managed to find them largely uninhabited and proceeded to found his own state Freedomland. After being battled out by PRC and Taiwan, and after being jailed by Ferdinand Marcos, Tomas sold Freedomland to the Philippines for a peso.) But then, we are legally allowed to claim it. And that the others are chewing into our islands. It may help to tell the Filipinos that the Vietnamese used rather odd (or "dirty") tactics to invade the island using prostitutes and lying; the point is unity.

Of course, this is a bit too dangerous a plan, that maybe a lot of ally-foreigners may be attacked in the pent-up anger of various citizens; we should also tell the Filipinos that the best way to defend the Philippines from foreigners is not by immediately gunning down any Chinese (which is why the poster idea was scrapped), but by being 'clean', to boycott foreign products that compete with native industries, and to be more productive in the arms race so that we may be able to support our soldiers. A bit rough an idea to attack the various garrisons, but imagine the moral effect it will have to the Filipinos. Finally, we can be proud that we won a modern battle against giants. It's good to be a Filipino!


...


Is this the price for the unity? Or a wrong turn Somewhere Down the Road... to Perdition. Ahahahaha.
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Post-glory [Feb. 9th, 2009|01:14 pm]
[Tags|]
[Current Location |fairey]
[mood | silly]
[music |Memories]

"If I were President of the Philippines right now.." is a highly-used joke in the Philippines, used to denote some kind of dictatorial, never-erring rule as if the President is the most powerful character in this island, whose decrees are kept and laws are followed. But the President of the Republic of the Philippines is a human being, a mere mortal whose words are as strong as how the people are willing to commit themselves to. And given that this is the Philippines, where only the "enlightened" are gullible optimists and the masses are pragmatic, lovable cynics, it is hard to enforce rules which could have greatly improved this country. And given that the Congress makes the majority of the rules, the President will have to be hard-pressed to make his or her (or its, for those gay rulers and presidentiables out there) Presidential Decrees. And given that the media is hard-pressed on finding any story, they can attach their sentiments to the news without the editors finding out. So that means that whoever the President is, if he/she/it can't stop the opposition from giving an overeager young journalist a Photoshopped picture of her supposedly doing businesses under-the-table. Of course, given that the current President of the Republic of the Philippines is too short to make deals above-the-table, she can be forgiven for that. But what about me?

Now why would I be President? And how would I become President despite my great lack of charisma and tact, as well as sheer incapability to assume command and leadership roles coupled with insufficient political experience and machinery

"One day, the barely-known biologist, known in the blogosphere as 'mttspiii' (Sorry, privacy rules does not allow us to mention our real-worldly name in any blog entry.), decided 'I want to be the President of the Republic of the Philippines!' after absorbing a whiff of a particularly powerful drug extracted from the leaf of a medicinal herb given to him by his tribe shaman friend makes 'mttspiii' lose his former Filipino pragmatic-cynicism. In the next 5 years, he had planned for Presidency, researching the various tools to win, including bribes, drugs, a massive amount of Charisma, prayers, and the promise of 'restoring our Filipino virtues, good customs, moral values, and jobs and 2,000 new gardai and whatever it is...' And he won, by cultivating an image to the masses that he is a harmless, well-meaning scientist who is not exactly expected to do better than the opposition, but certainly will not do worse. And he survives his victory by cultivating a similar image to the old politicians, but with '...is also a nice push-over puppet-of-my-party president-kid who, with our help, managed to win and get past the age limit for Presidency...' added to it."

Then 'mttspiii''s drugs suddenly wore off like a finger-snap at the very first day of his presidency.

Now that I am President, I am very, very doomed. Doomed to be looked down upon by the masses who believed that the day I win is the day that everyone will suddenly be richer than their neighbors, doomed to be a puppet by the political machine that got me up there, doomed to be ever under the eyes of extremist assailants who thinks that I am a cheating devil, doomed to lose all those virtues and values as my morality is eaten up by the political system, that I will have to tolerate the various politikos' corruption because changing it will very greatly affect the status quo and potentially cause civil war and anarchy; it is for the greater good after all, right?

Wrong. Let me repeat that. WrOng. I am President, I have my own group of Bureaus, Cabinets, tables, and other various furniture under my scepter as I sit in my throne. And given that since my life is ruined anyway by drugs or by entering the political sphere, there is nothing to look forward to or to look back, no need to plunder or salt some other guy's cash because this is all a drugged, hormone-turboed dream/nightmare. I know I can resign immediately and go back into my life as a biologist researcher when I want, but since I am President anyway, I will have to make up for any misdeeds I have done in high school and college as a scholar-slash-taxpayers' burden and will take full responsibility for my actions in the bid for presidency, as well as to satisfy my dreams of creating a 'Maharlika Imperyal', which I have tested in various videogames. They usually go like this: "...the former Philippine Islands, now the Maharlika Imperyal, occupies China, turns Japan into a puppet state, and subdues British India...in two years' time...and is now planning to invade USSR and Australia..."

But then, let's be real (more or less), and assuming that my life story was ret-conned that the effect is that I am President now, with the status of the Philippines almost-exactly as it is today, that by some magic occurrence the technology has not changed, being President will be a piece of cake. All I will have to do is visit a foreign country every five days, shake hands with those that voted for me (including the flying voters, who I will shake hands with thrice or more for having voted for me thrice or more, and the dead voters who managed to get out of their coffins to do their duty to state.), and in general play Civilizations IV with real countries. Of course, being President while improving the Philippines.. now that is hard thinking and work.

First, I will have to get some kind of political bearings and doctrines. Yes, I should have made one since I have campaigned for President, but I didn't. And I did not need to, because the Filipino publicists are that good that they chose to use me as a candidate, for a challenge, since they already have managed to make a chihuahua win by landslide victory. And by looking at the various plans my Socio10 classmates have made, and by the ideas the local activist club have given me, I have decided to turn this country into a capitalizt sort of technocracy. (By the way, those two previous links are links to my previous submissions, Professor, in case there was a failure in notifying you about my previous submissions. Oh, and this is what capitalizt means.)

Of course, we first need the funds. We can't grease-talk everyone out of the way, so we need some cold, hard cash to whack those infidels. So, we will cut taxes.

Sounds dumb, right? I am not yet finished. Since my life is ruined anyway by being in politics, I can get away with any idea no matter how much the influential people would like to strangle me. Before reducing taxes (which will be a promise I will keep if I am not deposed of), we will not pay the national debt. We'll just say "Oops, sorry." and we have our available funds suddenly be doubled. Then, we will dispose of the costly standing army and integrate them into the police. Imagine your everyday policeman, wielding an AK-74, climbing into his F-4 Phantom. And then getting shipped to the Smithsonian by accident. That's right. We are giving away our relics to our national museums and research establishments (and selling the leftovers to the rest of the world) in their current state: noncombat-worthy machines that double as displays of the past.

Oh, wait, what about the constitution? Is not the Armed Forces of the Philippines' existence stated in the Constitution? I have not yet fully read the Constitution of the Philippines, but if there is a "President gets emergency powers" clause, I will use it. My Filipino publicists need not take charge convincing the masses that this will be not martial law simply because I have disposed of the Armed Forces in the first place. And if there is no "emergency powers for 'mttspiii'" part, we will have to engage in Charter Change. It will allow me to get that constitution and edit it for my plans, as well as to extend my working hours from 6 years, no reelection to 6+++ years, no election. There will be much corruption to be involved in this event, but in this stage I am incapable of helping the Philippines. Only if I win in Cha-Cha can I gain enough power to soon reduce poverty (We know that it can not be fully wiped out, right? It's politics!) And if Cha-Cha fails? Game over for me, then.

And what about the communist rebels? Let's hear their peace talks, and if ever it will help achieve peace, allow the Communists into the Congress and the Senate. And the ASG, MILF, MNLF, AB, LFS, and other militarist groups? Resume peace talks. Promise to them that we will have large tax cuts. If it helps, we could remove the R-VAT. Just get those organized terrorists and criminals out of the national budget.

Then, we could reduce that pork barrel, repair the infrastructure, and let foreign investors be enticed to come in. Sounds easy, right? Well, we all know that many wants to see the Philippines be stronger, but no one wants to contribute. So this will be my publicists' next job: convince the Congress and the people that the Bataan Nuclear Plant must be opened for the environment and economy's sake, and that the pork barrel funds be diverted towards repairs and reconstruction. The Philippines is disliked by foreign investors because electricity is too expensive, so we will make more electricity for cheaper electricity for everybody, and thus more jobs. See, three birds with one rock.

But about the Bataan Nuclear Power Plant, what about the various concerns? We will send in the PNRI to do checkup. The waste? We can bring it back to PNRI for analysis on possible uses, or sell it to the black market (if we are very short on funds) or incoming multinational companies on the deal that no one will dispose of them in designated Natural Reserves. By this point we can reduce the taxes a little bit, just enough to entice foreign investment to pour in, as long as no one touches the Philippines' Natural Reserves or otherwise pollutes the motherland too much.

Yes, environmentally-friendly this administration shall be. Most of the forests have been chopped down and the Philippines still haven't gotten any richer, so what is the purpose of touching the last few virgins? Besides, new companies have sprung up with their "green" ideas, so it is about time we guard those Natural Reserves. And where are we supposed to get that manpower? By the police. If you remember, our soldiers , with jungle-forest combat expertise from years of fighting "terrorist" organizations, are possibly bored from guarding the citizens of the Philippines from urban crimes. So we will allow them to roam the forests with their former enemies NPA and ASG in search of illegal loggers, miners, and pyromaniacs.

Of course, we should remember that relying too much on other countries will eventually hurt if recession kicks in, so we will nip the problem at its bud by ensuring that everyone pays. If not, the banks will seize the assets (including the personnel) and sell it to anyone. If they like, the banks can break up the corporation into little shares small enough to make many people purchase them. And if the many people happen to decide on making another corporation, there will hardly be monopolies, right?

Concerning monopolies, they are allowed as long as their profits don't tax the consumers too much. I have read about strict capitalists preventing monopolies from forming, thus the local companies are swept by cheap, excellent imports. And we certainly don't want that, right?

Concerning education, if the Philippines is still poor, we will have to increase the tuition in state-owned universities, but we will not allow them to be privatized. Why? Because I think that if eventually these plans make the Philippines richer, the state will still have enough facilities for research on war engines and subliminal messaging, to keep the peace and have more people employed.

Also, we will tell everyone (including, and especially the poor) that "Education is the real wealth.", and that material fortunes are merely bonuses, to be used for even more research, and thus wealth. (Why do you think the state will do research on subliminal messaging?) That will weaken the resolve of people to pilfer their neighbors: it ain't cool no more. The mind, the brain will be the main source of wealth, used to acquire just enough goods to improve knowledge. Of course, to sugarcoat this new outlook towards wealth will be the job of the Filipino publicists, who will say something on TV like: "Why let Western materialism be our definition of wealth? We are still held under bondage by their definition of what is rich and what is poor! Let us uphold a truly pre-colonial, er, Filipino source of wealth: KNOWLEDGE! Stamp those imperialists!" And how the publicists will prevent the capitalizt plans and this not collide head-on, their job, not mine.

Who knew, if the hundreds of millions of Filipinos could be more engaged in thinking about rationalities concerning production and more philosophizing, they could (and must) think of a better way to plan this country. I still have dreams of making that Maharlika Imperyal, you know.

Ah, yes. The Maharlika Imperyal. Luzviminda. Rizal. Bayani. If it helps, we could change the name of the country early on in my term, when the Filipi-not (formerly the Philippines, a temporary name until the Filipi-nots  can make a better name for their nation) is so poor that the people just want change to check if their President is working of not. That way, we could slowly begin to influence the youthful, naive, and "enlightened" Filipi-nots that their future is not pinned on some other country. That is why their President has worked so hard to entice the multinational companies to come here, so that the Filipi-not values of family need not always be damaged by OFW-ism. Or, we could change the name in the later parts of my reign, or when the Philippines has become rich enough, when the people yearn for a less colonialist name and have the values and virtues to not ruin their new name, as well as not make the bureaucracy be stressed too much in editing important documents...like I'd really care about the country's name, right? No one cares about the country's new names. America has pulled off a good job making a good country from a colony without changing its name, so why would we bother when we have more pressing issues at hand, like culture.

And why not? Since the flow of various multinational companies will weaken our indigenous culture (unless a new movement by Filipinos concerning the changes happen to them take the global culture by storm and becomes a self-sustaining industry in its own right), we will have to eventually strengthen our culture. Apparently, not many Filipinos would be proud of their country if the best-known thing about the Philippines is that First Lady who collected a lot of shoes. And culture is what prevents the Philippines from turning into a full-fledged neocolony, with all these plans of foreign and foreign-based corporations pouring in. OF course, it would be much nicer if the new cultural leaders, the 'ydolo' of the Philippines would not land in jail for drug use.

Which means one of two things: give the judge the power to decide on cases via sheer common sense (so that they could speed up), or legalize drugs. And since the new Philippines is made of responsible, educated citizens, the majority would not like drugs to be peddled as commonly as newspapers, so drugs should be used only for medicine, and clandestine laboratories confiscated for the state's use. No need to spend, right? We can then sell some machines to the highest bidder.

Concerning bidding, then the contractors. Yes, the contractors that never finish roads. Perhaps even roads should be sponsored by the multinational corporations themselves, they maintaining the road. In exchange, there will be even less taxes, since we will not need to funnel too much money into DPWH. OF course, we trust that no one dares turn MNC-sponsored national highways into tollways, nor widen the road too much, but I am sure the Senate and the Congress will fix up those rules.

I think I am already saying too much, don't you think?

And if all those 2818 words fail, I have an ace up my sleeve: psychedelics and tranquilizers, or P&T - "Pampaaliw at Tanghalian". In a desperate bid to make the Filipinos suffer no more, I will legalize (and even give away) a certain drug, which I will nickname P&T, which can act as both tranquilizer and upper, so that the Filipi-nots can forever be happy and sleeping until they die. Happily.

Of course, I could resign in the first place, but that is a bit cowardly. Better risk inching then towards Somewhere Down the Road... to Perdition. Ahahahaha.
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Corp-post [Jan. 29th, 2009|07:02 pm]
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[Current Location |waiting for the bus]
[mood |hyperhappy]
[music |waiting for the bus]

A few nights ago, I went home. It was a long trip to the bus station, and a long wait for the bus to fill, and a long trip to home. Plus, I marched from the train station to the bus stop (about a hundred meters) in the rain with two large bags on my shoulders, water in my shoes, and a cheap poncho on my back, had little for lunch and nothing for breakfast, and it was seven p. m. So I was understandably hungry.

Then the bus stopped somewhere, and men came on the bus peddling their wares, from whom I bought a chicken burger from a guy carrying a Tupperware full of these sandwiches. Then I bit into my snack.

It was larger than a Big Mac, cheaper than a Big Mac, less commercialized than a Big Mac (which means that I do not support some corporation-centric economy domination plan), and was as meaty as a Big Mac wrapper. I'm sure I could have gotten a better value by eating a chihuahua. It was nothing but hot air covered in flour, and as I tried to bite deeper just to find even a speck of chicken the peddler promised, I discovered to my horror that my snack disappears somewhere between my mouth and my throat, and now both my stomach and my wallet felt cheated. That must been why the peddler was able to carry his burgers; it must be like strapping balloons to his shoulders. But what really hurts is that I have passed through one McDonalds, twelve Dunkin Donuts, and a whole lot more foodshops. I could have bought a proper burger in McDonalds for that same amount I had bought that airburger.

Which is why I don't understand the negative light McDonalds recieves. Sure, McDonalds foodstuffs probably is no life elixir, but neither is that nasty airburger. The difference is that McDonalds burgers have more nutrients than air could possibly ever have. And that McDonalds burgers are more appetizing, more filling, and are cleaner. Personally, I would rather have my burger be reheated by McDonalds employees than be made by a sweaty, half-paid worksman who seems to can't resist the temptation to eat the patties. But now there are people who complain that McDonalds makes them fat, makes them sad, forces workers to work at low wages with little chance for moving up, and so on. And that now, these people are trailing every McDonalds with converts rallying at how McDonalds wrecks peoples' businesses, their lives and hopes and dreams and bodies and souls and hearts. Of course, in other countries the people take them seriously, but in the Philippines, only the few believe that somehow McDonalds is an imperialist device that will turn all Filipinos into puppets of America by harnessing some MK-ULTRA mind-manning minimachine. Yes, we all know that the Americans profit from this, but we are the hungry, fighting, and pragmatic Filipinos. We know when a hamburger becomes an edible bubble of flour and condiments, and we will not stop in our quest to stamp out cheaters and swindlers, for we value quality and cost-effectiveness and value and worth. And these are the things that big corporations, be it American or Javanese or Filipino, can provide. Of course, small-scale businesses can do the same, but there are certain benefits from focusing finances to major centralized hubs of commerce.

In general, I think big corporations are beneficial to mankind. It has the combined capital to develop things useful and perhaps not-so-useful (for its time), be it ovens, horseless buggies, or electrified pillows, when the government is probably unwilling to invest in anything except war engines ang subliminal messaging. It allows truly exceptional individuals to work where they are most efficient, be it in R&D, finance, administrative, or maintenance. And if there are too many exceptional individuals, they can set up another corporation and best each other until one of them either specializes,improves, or fails. With command economies, however, these people will just kill each other and be a waste of an otherwise wonderful opportunity to advance. And finally, big corporations are just big enough to grin through the rough times like recessions while smaller shops close or fail miserably. And unlike command economies where the flow of goods is controlled by only one entity, having multiple routes of global product flow seems wiser, right? And as a bonus, competition of corporations becomes an initiative to improve on the things we hungry, fighting, and pragmatic Filipinos value: quality and cost-effectiveness and value and worth, because we obviously don't want the feeling of living hell on Earth, that we prematurely experience being Somewhere Down the Road... to Perdition. Ahahahaha.
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Color Poster [Jan. 25th, 2009|02:16 pm]
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[Current Location |enclave]
[mood |hyperhappy]
[music |Bilanggo]

I am a Biology student, so it means that I don't usually do maths stuff. But there is a pretty little thing in my mind that works even when I am just about to sleep. Last night, I was disturbed by this Four Color Theorem, which states:

"Given any plane separated into regions, such as a political map of the states of a country, the regions may be colored using no more than four colors in such a way that no two adjacent regions receive the same color. Two regions are called adjacent only if they share a border segment, not just a point. Each region must be contiguous: that is, it may not have exclaves"

And what does 'contiguous' mean?

"Lands which are in physical contact with one another"

And what does 'exclave' mean?

"An exclave is a territory legally attached to another territory with which it is not physically contiguous."

So let as look at this picture:



We see that there are already four colours, and that ?A has to have a fifth color if it were to not have the same colour as any of the adjacent territories blue, yellow, red, and green. There seems to be no exclaves, either, assuming that the blue territory is legally different from the green territory. Thus, I have disproved the four color theorem by counterexample.

Now that that is that, can I get an honorary degree in Mathematics?

And if anyone is to take this entry seriously, can I have a defined Erdos number, and perhaps the Philippines' first Nobel prize? Thankee.

Anyone?

Apparently, the Philippines have far too few research firms, which they said must be caused by a lack of industrialization, which stems from the unmodernized agriculture. NO wonder Filipinos have to migrate just to excel, to serve the world: little is invested in research. Dam.

Oh well, another idea lost in a blog named Somewhere Down the Road... to Perdition. Ahahahaha.
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Name Posture [Jan. 2nd, 2009|04:16 pm]
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[Current Location |haeeere]
[mood |hyperhappy]
[music |Julie Tearjerky]

According to the news today, Americans are worried that Obama chose a pastor by the name of Rick Warren to swear him into office because the pastor might say a prayer in the name of Jesus Christ. Normally no one would notice Rick Warren praying in Jesus' name because he always prays in Jesus' name, but then he might do it in Obama's inaugural invocation. Because if the pastor does, some atheist will file charges saying that it is an unconstitutional endorsement of religion at a national civic event. And if the pastor doesn't, he might feel a bit uncomfortable, and being American would probably file charges on the grounds that he was uncomfortable and that his beliefs are being persecuted.

This means that the president's decision would affect public opinion and global opinion on himself and America. Now that he lets Rick swear him in, and provided Rick prays in Jesus' name, conservative Christians around the world would praise him, but atheists and the RPG-toting-type Muslims would hate him and slam cases and rockets. Also, homosexuals, most of them hating Rick Warren because of his stand on Proposition 8 on same-sex marriage, would then do something gay which might cause an AIDS epidemic and make hospitals suffer. And in a recession, hospitals already filled with depressed stocksmen to be burdened by more patients in the form of sick gays would be a big headache no aspirin can remove, partly because there is no money to purchase a tablet.

Of course, if Obama did not let Rick do the swearing-in in the first place, there would be little to talk about. So what will be done? Cross out "Jesus" so that everyone's happy? Some people will still feel offended, and since opinions spread fast, Obama may lose considerable support which he may need to combat this free market normality which has now bankrupted Iceland.

Now the issue seemed pretty dumb in general. What, will they all be struck by fire from the sky when Rick Warren says "...in the name of Jesus Christ..?" Will Proposition 8 be passed if Rick Warren is not swearing Obama in? Apparently not. But there is a ridiculous amount of cultural sensitivity in America, so instead of atheists covering their children’s' ears like they do when The 700 Club goes on air, they can protest and file cases and make other people miserable once the pastor steps to the pulpit, er, platform. I think what they need there across the Pacific is a little understanding. Can't the president's religious affiliations show every once in a while? After all, he is not the perfect representation of American values since that is a pretty vague term, like the saying (or math joke) that goes "Values corrupt. Absolute values corrupt absolutely."

Now why will I care? It is as if I am affected by the current events of the hegemon, right? The thing is, yes, I am affected, being a student in a university that prides itself as being truly Filipino. And being truly Filipino means either hating the Ymperialista Americanae, or loving it as the land of milk and money as the place of the Filipino-American dream. So whether Rick invokes the name of God, or at least our God, in the ceremony or not, it will spark debates, discussions and demonstrations in school. And in this university, having opinions concerning stuff like that is like having good table manners or a fast car; it is a way to see the breeding of a man. Or a woman. Or a lesbian, or gay, or bisexual, or transgender, or transsexual, or queer, or questioning, unsure, intersex, Two-Spirit, straight alies, asexual, pansexual, omnisexual (for all those genders/orientations from lesbian onwards are mentioned simply as "gay" in this text, because I really don't care about what they claim to be.)

But more importantly, this issue of banning certain religious things hit very close. You see, we have a small group of Christians in the dormitory, and we gather together because we have similar hobbies like praying and worshipping our normally harmless God with nonlethal means. The thing is, our group is banned from congregating inside the dormitory compound because our activities are religious, and thus may offend the godless chap in the adjacent floor tile. I would understand if The Arsonist Club would be disturbed every once in a while whenever they bring in Molotov cocktails, but us? We are very similar to the local activist club, but why aren't they booted out when somebody just like me believes that mass demonstrations will not make Gloria part with her position? What is the difference in worshipping God and playing with cards? Both makes a certain group of people happy, none of them really hurts anyone, both makes somebody else feel uncomfortable. Why is one banned while the other is perfectly fine?

Now let me conclude by telling anyone that makes noise concerning stuff like these to just calm down. The least that we can do is to respect each others’ opinions concerning our Divine Beings (or lack of it), drop charges, put down that rocket, and be happy. But if they are happy charging people for unconstitutional endorsement of religion, reenacting Counterstrike in real life, and simply making a living hell of lives of people, we would still respect their beliefs and do what we think is fun to do to them.

Yes, these are the things, I believe, that bring people Somewhere Down the Road… to Perdition. Ahahahaha.
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The un-First Post [Dec. 7th, 2008|10:17 am]
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[Current Location |heeereee]
[mood |hyperhappy]
[music |Secret Love]

Since its birth in February 07, 2007, this blog has endured its primary contributor, namely me. It survived fights over its own content, it lived through the Post-a-Day movement where in two months it has been opened, posted, and reopened every day. It survived the almost-sudden decline in post quantity (and quality) as I had to leave after summer. And it still exists even under heavy competition for my time and thoughts, that mostly are focused on academics and that Multiply blog with the same username. Now it still thrives as a stack of ideas which anyone can laugh at and still plagiarize from.

But due to the nature of the professor, who actually accepts journal entries, this blog may have received new life. I can finally submit essays about topics I like posting about in Livejournal and still be able to add them to the "existence quotient" of this blog (which is to say, I can pass essays for grades and still enjoy posting them essays as journal entries here), which still is what I believe is my primary, my best blog. Of course, this means that I can't recycle old entries into A+ essays like what I did last school year since he can read the previous entries in this blog, but it's ok.

So let us begin with the assigned topic of this essay: my 'sociologically imagined' autobiography. What this means is that I will make my own biography and somehow blame it on society. Of course this is a very bad way of saying it, but I am pretty short on ideas ever since I created a figurative opaque bubble around myself. So now I will force myself to find a piece of history in my life.

But where do I begin?


<<<<<--- Mttspiii ( @ ) --->>>>>


A novice human student. He is moderately strong, bright, beloved, extremely good-looking, and barely connected to the flow of mana. He avoids an occasional blow. He is unarmored.


---more---

Or, I can always say that I was born once in 1992, because I could not be born again, at least in the physical sense. Having a Catholic father meant that I would be spiritually born again later in that year, but physically? I don't think so.

So where is the history in that? Where is the sociocultural aspect in that previous paragraph? Personally, I don't know. But I am sure I can focus on something particular in my life that can be worth sociologically imagining.

Music? I am sure somebody will do just that. Academics? I am sure my professor himself did that. Blogging? I think I inadvertently did that a long time ago. Or maybe not. Let me check.

No, I don't think I sociologically imagined my own blogging habits. So now let this be an extremely late introduction of my blog, as well as myself.



It began this way. I once met a computer because Bill Gates happened to have sent his agents down here in the vast plains of Pampanga, and I enjoyed its company. Not Bill Gates' dominating Microsoft-werke AG, but the computer's. With the computer I played games like Minesweeper, which involved an invisible ship clicking on gray tiles of sea until the field reveals the location of all its spikey mines, either by managing to strike one or making the smiley face on top wear Ray-Bans.

It took a few more years until we had our first computer. It had more games, basic word software, and all the works you would generally see in internet cafe computers, partly because we got the CPU from an internet cafe.

After two years, the need to have some sort of internet access became apparent when most lectures and homework seemed to travel down a secret stream from teacher to classmate. I then discovered that in my class of 30, I was the only one without any web mail account, or any presence in the internet at all. While they were able access the WWW, I am in the dark. That must be what it feels like to be third-world.

One year passed until an internet cafe opened near enough to walk to; this was when I first made my web mail account in Yahoo!, and Friendster, which are the internet basics of every Asian. They worked fine, though my absence in cyberspace (and lack of knowledge in Instant Messaging) meant that much happened in class that I never knew until a year or two later. Later in that school year, I made my first blog. And you are now reading it.

Of course, the thing that made me make this blog is society. But which part exactly? One of them is my Social Science teacher, whose entries are full of insights concerning comics and politics and social stuff that would normally be heard from a social science teacher and not a 'pure history' fact-dispenser.

Another is my former roommate, who happens to sit in my professor's class. He perhaps is one of the most sociologically imaginative people I know, linking everyday stuff like bicycling to world matters like Somali pirates to popular culture to philosophical insights to whatever. Like Wikipedia, only funnier. He maintains a blog or two, and his writings are interesting. Though yes, the blogs are now past their prime and now the writings are deleted and gone. Sad, really. Of course, there are a lot more reasons why I made this blog, but they are either too boring or too personal to post about.

This blog has its beginnings as something which I can’t think of any purpose for. To stalk my enemies? To find new friends? To kill time? A quick look at the summary of entries would give you an idea as to what I thought this blog would be.

From there, I made more blogs to accommodate the numerous moods I have. I have a separate blog for people I would like to personally meet, or meet again. There is another, now-defunct blog whose purpose is basically this Livejournal, but in Filipino. There are a few more out there, but I didn’t bother updating them since I just signed up so that no one else would adopt my username for reasons I myself can’t even imagine. But what about the purpose of this blog? It is a living copycat of the blogs I liked, perhaps a parody, or even a mockery of them; I don’t really know. I just keep it because it is my first blog, and like Baby’s first steps, or first date, or first assassination attempt, these things stay with us. And besides, this blog is hopefully a refinery of my thoughts, where I can pour my unpolished ideas for people to point and laugh at and fix up so that I can just withdraw an idea, smoothed by the masses, and turn it over to the teacher in exchange for a higher grade. But then, no one actually comments.

Why are there no comments? Perhaps it is in the username. No one would make a social science blog with the username “coldfire0915” or “mttspiii”, right? Or maybe because of the inexperience of the writer. Or because of the unhelpful tags, or the infrequency by which this site is updated. No one would read a blog that would not appear in the search engine, right? Of course, it could be that no one would expect a blog with such something to discuss about rather serious matters. I am sure there are a lot of socialites and social activists that are using cyberspace to further their plans the way their forefathers used the latest communications technology to reach out to the masses, be it TV, radio, pamphlets, or stone tablets, so there is no lack of readers. Of course, it is quite ironic that the ‘evil’ US military developed the internet for their own purposes of subliminal world domination (Which makes you wonder what the Russians did. What did they use as counterpart to the internet, rocket mail?) Or perhaps it is because of the ever-shifting content of this blog. An entry would be a trilogy about the pitfalls of the English language, the next, part two of the same topic, the next, part 3, and then, part 4 of the trilogy, and then, a very bad effort to poke fun into the energy-mass equivalence equation.

I know that this entry has become dragging already without even finding its place in history; and without me and my biography. So let me try that again. This is the information age, where information is considered as some sort of commodity. At the same time, this is the age where my age (pardon the pun) is somewhat free to express opinion due to the values in the far West, but still somewhat restricted to do so because I happen to be in an environment that still looks down on teenager opinions on politics and religion. Yes, experience gets us very far in wisdom, but I think that the older one gets, usually the harder it is for him or her to change their insights as they settle down comfortably within the institutions of society. It is up to the youth develop more perspectives, to think of more profound ideas outside the walls of normality. Most youth can be placated by such things like popular culture, where they can rebel against their parents and still be part of the normal world. Of course, this era may be even weirder because the parents themselves promote the notion of ‘rebellious teenagers’, they themselves mostly of the ‘60s and ‘70s era where youth empowerment rooted.

In my case, my parents are of the ‘baby boomer’ generation. They were part of those student activists (or at least my mother was one. My father had somewhat the same attitude like mine towards activism: Tulugan na lang.). And in their experience they learned that it is easier to settle down silently in the still-changing companies than to be part of those mobs. Their upbringing of us (or at least my understanding of it) meant that politics is not to be thought of too heavily. Besides, there are more to talk about, right? So it was up to my dormitory stay in PhilSci for me to have deeper insights on society, which ended up unexpressed for a few years until I created this blog.

So there you have it, a blog that is filled with ideas I am sure had been thought of by someone sometime ago. The ideas may have been mainly processed Wikientries, it may make no sense, but it’s still a blog, right?

Now I wonder what is the connection between society and the phrase Somewhere Down the Road… to Perdition. Ahahahaha.
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Profound Post [Oct. 23rd, 2008|07:27 am]
[Tags|, ]
[Current Location |hhhere]
[mood |hyperhappy]
[music |Monty Python and the Holy Grail Theme Song]

I have updated this blog partly because it needs updating, and mostly because I have just suddenly been hit by something profound. But before I tell you about this surely universe-altering thought, I would like to explain something about these profound ideas.

First, profound ideas are not always at the cutting-edge of the combined thoughts of humans. It may have originated from an Inquisition knight, but it takes an Ethiopian nun to see it in another point of view; it is still his profound idea, and her different profound idea.

Second, it hits someone in exactly the way bullets don't hit dinosaurs. No, really, they hit you anytime anywhere, whether you are sitting on a moonlit field, or in the bathroom, or in Manila during 1899, or in the sunny skies over Pangaea. This is I think because our mind operates always without thinking. Dreams occur when we're unconscious; that is what dreams are made of. Subconscious thoughts. And that can be really annoying because we tend to have profound ideas too deep to store for a long time. So that means that while driving one day back home, somebody who just envisioned a government better than democracy would forget it by the time he gets home and tries to write it in his blog. Most of the profound ideas become just ideas with no effect on humans, because few others have thought of it, and that they have forgotten that profound idea.

And now that I have explained a little something about profound ideas, perhaps you now understand why I don't have my profound idea posted here: I forgot it. Perhaps you can find it, and you can keep it. Just don't forget that once in your life you got it from a blog named Somewhere Down the Road... to Perdition. Ahahahaha.
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*Oh My, I Forgot To Put the Title.* Post ≥. [Sep. 8th, 2008|06:27 pm]
[Tags|]
[Current Location |heeer]
[mood |hyperhappy]
[music |Subway - Bee Gees]

"

Verification:
There's been a lot of activity on your account that appears to be automated. This sort of thing isn't allowed on Multiply, which is intended for humans to share their lives with their human friends!

Please enter the code shown below to verify your humanity. If you're a visually impaired human, click here and our customer support robots will help you out.

"

Now that is weird. I am somewhat sure I am still somewhat human. Anyway, I will post this in my Livejournal because this site is where most real essays go. The rest just become rarely-read reviews (Come on, say it loud: 'rarely-read reviews' You know you want to.) and are thus forgotten. And at the same time, I feel forced to read almost all the writings of the contacts, just to give a joke or two. Considering that there are 182 posts by my Multiply contacts, and a whole lot more by my close network, I have 16 pages to read, of which by time of typing this has been reduced to 12, no, 8, no, 4. Talk about arithmetic progression. And now even Multiply doubts my humanity. Sad, really.

So I read from one of my contacts about snow falling in East Africa. And that is connected to climate change, which is connected to global warming. And how that happens, I don't know. And why I cared to blog about it, I don't know. The thing is, every now and then there is a freak occurrence similar to when it rained hail here in Manila earlier this year. If it begins to snow consistently in East Africa, we can try to attribute it to whatever our cars are smoking and our cows are farting, but given that there is no news on The Great East African Snowstorm or The Evil Philippine Hailstorm, there is no need to worry about global warming. Or global cooling, for that matter.

There are three points I had thought of that statement "It snowed in East Africa." First, we can't attribute it to global warming because snow is cool, and the globe is hot. They don't connect, really. But that is what the experts say, how can I disagree and still have a point? Second, it is a one-shot freak of nature which is so unlike Day After Tomorrow. Earth is not a human being that once his/her head is missing would be gravely affected. Earth is adapting to our lifestyle, or at least is trying, or at least seems to; why worry about all humans suddenly dying one fine sunny day?

The third point is that I noticed that she posted about East Africa, but not about the Philippine hailstorm. In fact, I think no one remembers the event except me. Was it because they were all amnesiacs? Was it because that hailstorm was so traumatic that they got post-traumatic syndrome? Or was it because they were hit in the head with the hailstones, which caused their amnesia and trauma? Maybe it is only because it occurred "In the Philippine Islands. Oh, wait, is it called Philippines nowadays? Quite an uncreative name for, what is that? It is a republic? So it is called the Republic of the Philippines? Queer." Hailstorms in the Philippines are trivial, snow in Africa is alarming. M/V Doña Paz is boring history, Titanic is a tragedy. Attack on Pearl Harbor is worth a movie, Battle for Leyte Gulf, a test answer. What is it with this country that if the event happens to other countries, it becomes magnified? I bet if the whole country sinks into the waves due to global warming the whole world would be crying for the fate of Monaco, given that only the two countries are affected because our lives bring global warming brings climate change brings cool snow in East Africa and cool hail in what-is-the-name-of-my-country-again.

It is sad to see the Philippines be forgotten by its own children. In fact, it is sad to see anything abandoned by its own brood. Which is why I made a Multiply version of my Livejournal, so anywhere, anytime, anyone can read, with ease, the father of all my blogs, the original Somewhere Down the Road... to Perdition. Ahahahaha.
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Rally Post [Jul. 28th, 2008|03:38 pm]
[Tags|, ]
[Current Location |unk.]
[mood |hyperhappy]
[music |Eleanor Rigby]

Once again there is a rally in school. Or rather, was. There was a mob of students in the building-with-giant-columns-behind-the-Oblation who carried with them anti-administration posters with the intention of kicking out our president (or usurper-president, as they say) by making a noise barrage in school. Now they are in some busy road, clogging traffic while chanting stuff. This usually includes effigy-burning, placard-carrying, fireworks, media coverage, and meeting new friends.

Yes, meeting new friends. You know, talking, bonding, and socializing while complaining about unfulfilled promises, economic bondage, and socialization. In a place where everything is either so hard or so easy, joining mass demonstrations is an effective way of releasing the various stresses of being a scholar-student. In a school where classes can go 7 to 7 straight, boycotting a class and talking with anyone, even demonstrators, is necessary for the well-being of the ordinary scholar. Even freshmen whose schedules can be very un-hectic can get benefits from these rallies. Apart from having something to do during their three-hour breaks, these events also prepare them for university and post-university life, and also a very, very small chance to change the president; hopefully this will be beneficial to the country.

How kind for the president to let these mass demonstrations continue without any bloodshed. At least she gives us the freedom of expression to say that she is unworthy of her position.

I am about to continue about how pointless it is to use unarmed mass demonstrations to force the president to step down from her seat, being a seasoned politician and all, but I don't think you will give me the freedom to do so. So I will leave the rest of the entry nowhere near Somewhere Down the Road... to Perdition. Ahahahaha.
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Reposting "Essence of Cymbopogon" [Jul. 20th, 2008|01:54 pm]
[Tags|]
[Current Location |herrhe]
[mood |hyperhappy]
[music |Could It Be I'm Falling in Love]

In the previous entry, I differentiated a Livejournal entry from a Multiply entry. This is a Livejournal entry that was first posted in Multiply, but will be copied to Livejournal, which will be transported to another Multiply whose URL will be kept secret from you.





"This week, the showers have been bad to me. Because you see (I would prefer that you look when I am not using any of them.), there are a handful of shower stalls in our bathroom. Two are very dark and don't have water, so they are as good for bathing as a hippy van. Another pair of stalls are well-illuminated and have flowing water, but because their nozzles are pointed to Saudi Arabia, the water shoots straight towards the door.

And there is the last stall, the only one I actually use. It is a dim stall so that means the door is not really necessary for masking its user, and it has a nozzle directed towards the ground and not Betelgeuse. But this week, the faucet for the shower won't totally shut the water flow, leaving it dripping. I tried fixing the problem so that it won't hit me while I'm drying myself, but since my course is BS Biology and not DIY Plumbing the 6-million peso PVC shower nozzle popped off in the process, leaving a hole in the wall from which water flowed like barf from a kid. At least the flow sticked towards the wall, allowing me to leave dry.

These days I go to the other bathroom in our wing (there are two bathrooms) which are all wider, brighter, and have proper water direction. One even had a proper showerhead, which made the rest of the stalls look like they had been through some kind of French revolution with all the guillotines and insane doctors.

And this obviously brings us to the essence of cymbopogon. It is from a tall perennial grass, Kingdom: Plantae, Division: Magnoliophyta, Class: Liliopsida, Order: Poales, Family: Poaceae, commonly used for cooking, and is an important source of citronella, geraniol and citronellol. In short, it is oil from tanglad. And me drinking a mug of diluted lemon grass oil shall happen as often as April 20, 1992 C. E., only less fun and slightly more memorable to me.

Last weekend, my father gave me a cool cup of water-diluted essence of cymbopogon, which is weird since oil and water don't mix well.

The thing could have been very good, since it smelled good, since it is the same juice with that distinctive smell that comes from pinaupong manok, which is a very tasty meal if only I can pinpoint its English translation. Literally it is "Forced-to-sit Chicken" which I think can be shortened to "Sitting Duck". And why not, the oil is poured over a Sitting Duck; that is where its odor comes from.

It is also brown, which is becoming synonymous with "healthy" due to tea, chocolate, and mud.

And lastly, it has no taste. Cola tastes good, but its carbonation means that there is a biting feeling in your tongue. Tea tastes bad; that is where its health benefits come from. Beer tastes worse, overloading your brain with continuous signals of "EEW!", and probably is where drunkenness comes from. But the solution tastes like water, which is usually tasteless. And that is good, since water as we know it is one of the best liquids to drink.

But that is the problem with the essence of cymbopogon. It's so good it's bad. It's like the internet, or marijuana, or pyramid scams, or free will. It basically confuses you with your nose saying that you are going to eat chicken, your hand telling you that you are going to drink what your brain thinks is chicken, which leaves your brain to think about how to "drink chicken". Then you see some sort of tea, which makes your brain think "I will drink chicken tea." Then when you finally drink up, and taste water, it's like you have been cheated. When your mind is expecting some exotic flavor coming from chicken tea, it instead tastes like dull, ordinary tap water. Think of reading a James Bond novel that ends with "And they lived happily ever after.", and you get what I am saying. Or a cool shower after a tiring, hot day; only to find that they had closed the main valve to repair the nozzle I had broken."
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A Multiply Post Versus a Livejournal Post [Jul. 19th, 2008|07:28 am]
[Tags|, , ]
[Current Location |here]
[mood |hperhappy]
[music |In My Life]

I have seen other Multiply entries before. I have seen Livejournal entries before. And from these, i can say that most Multiply entries are thoughts expressed at their most basic, most raw, and most frank manner in whatever language their minds operate. They are in the vernacular, typed in conversational language, have bad grammar, and rarely come in paragraphs. They are rarely poetry either unless they are lyrics to their favorite songs. And they usually have pictures, which is a rarity in Livejournal. This is an example from my Multiply blog:



"Sad, dalawa lang nagbasa sa review ko. Iyon sana ang pinakastar ng blog na ito. O well, lipat na lang sa Livejournal mttspiii iyon.

Nung si Link ng Zelda ay nakapagresearch sa internet ng mga cheat codes, obviously gumaling siya. Ano na tawag sa kanya ngayon?
- Edi HyperLink.

Ang galing Kenneth, naunahan ng bike ko ang UP ikot mo. Haha, sobrang dami nyong sumakay kasi kaya hindi na nakagalaw masyado ang dyip."



As you can see, it is in a language other than English, is generally incoherent, and has not developed the concept of indentation. It is basically what they call a "brainfart" in its purest. Here is another example of a Multiply blog, the source deliberately unstated:



"for the first time, nakapasok ako ng ER.. as in emergency room. :D tas sa public hospital pa talaga! like, whoa. O.o

tas andaming tao.. as iiiiin.. kaya natagalan yung kausap namin na surgeon.. tas ayun.. nawindang ako.. at nakakapagod din kasi ako naglakad ng admitting papers & stuff.. i felt so mature (it was my birthday nga naman).. haha :))

oh..

salamat nga pala sa mga nag.greet at nakaalala.. i love you guys. :D

next time na ang libre.. pag may pera na.. haha. money-less me. =)))"



Of course, like the previous example, it is an incoherent, almost childish translation of a personal experience. Also, entries like this get an average of 15 comments, a mean feat for a typical Livejournal entry; unless spammed of course. And no, there is no way I will translate these blocks of text from our language to yours; instead this is a brainfart in a language you are comfortable with.



"mehn, quite happy today. :)

it didn't rain, so God must have heard me. thanks!

no earthquake either. stupid rumor crap. T______T

i felt good about the math long exam i took. same with the socsci long exam. even if i didn't know half of it.

my budget kithkin deck is close to completion. :P

and of course, happy birthday mafet. hope you liked the gift. :))"



This is an example of a raw Multiply post in English. It is once again incoherent, filled with Internet slang, and doesn't make sense even in normal conversation.

Now, compare and contrast this with most Livejournal entries, and of course I will start with mine.



"In almost all of my entries, there is that word "Post" that always finds its way in the title bar. Well, yes, I allow it to appear by typing it every time, but I do it for the sake of formality. Everyone does things inefficiently for the sake of formality. Bureaucracy operates with the efficiency of organized pulp because it has multiple copies of every name, date, data, record, errors, and inconsistencies because it is the rules, and for the sake of formality.

I went with some batchmates to a lecture by a Nobel laureate in a local prestigious college on 8 in the morning. We waited outside the building for half an hour under the January sun, which may be cooler than being under the May sun, but it is still much hotter than the air-conditioned interior of the building. When we finally entered, the building is cooled, the Powerpoint presentation is being tested, and we are the first guests to enter. Which felt good, since I thought I can take a power nap on the nice chairs. It turns out that the power nap is necessary for what happens next.

We waited for the program to start, which took so much time I expected to see bubble cars by the time we get out. It was very boring while waiting for the thing to start, almost nothing to do but listen to the band practice, watch the Powerpoint loop, ponder upon the Prussian ROTC helmets. It was so boring that simply typing about it still makes me sleepy.

When we finally began, I felt my time somewhat wasted, until I saw how the program began, and I thought I will waste even more time listening to live performances. Why, we went there for a lecture, not a display of the college's talents, but we are there, with the American Nobel laureate, with the major and minor sponsors, with the staff, the teachers, the students, the gatecrashers, the proletariat, and all the media; watching performance barely related to the lecture. After that, there are not one, nor two, but four speeches to introduce the speaker, Dr. Gross, to us. After the awfully long introduction, Dr. Gross presented his lecture, which was actually good, and more importantly, shorter than the introduction. After that, I don't know what happened, but when I woke up the program was almost over, and when we stepped out, I think I finally understood the concept of time dilation but was too sleepy to even think about it. In fact, I was that sleepy i almost saw bubble cars, but they were just Volkswagen Beetles. In whole, the lecture was fine, beautiful even, but just imbalanced in time. And that is because of formality.

Formality is annoying. Looking at how the program was conducted I am sure Dr. Gross is thinking of something else like: "I'm sleepy and bored." or "Hmm... what will I talk about? I'm sure I have plenty of time to make my own Powerpoint presentation." or "I think I left the particle accelerator on. at home" There is no way anyone is going to stay focused, much less Dr., when he is listening to a song in a language that might just as well be Russian or South Pacific, but is Tagalog. And I don't think anyone really, really, wanted a very long introduction, but are just forced to do it. For the sake of formality.

Since time millenia casuality has been the main gear in life. God just said "Let there be light", and there was light. No dancing troupe introduced Him, because none existed back then. Before our forefathers chomped on that unidentified forbidden fruit, all we need to know is "Don't eat that". Now, we have to argue on the proper way to pray, praise, worship, eat, drink, dress, drive, and exist. If the cavemen had formalities like doing a ritual before spearing down the wild boars and berries, then the boar would have eaten the berries and headbutted the priest. Even in combat there are formalites like "This is Delta Charlie Ten to Air Tower zero-nine-two-six-three-pi-uno-square root of nine hundred twenty three and three thirteenth, reporting mayday, over." Fortunately for the modern world, formality seems to be decreasing since the Victorian Era. A fully formal wear is rarely worn here, since the semi-formal suit took over its duties. What took six paragraphs to express in old, formal English can be stated in a sentence today, and answered correctly in two letters or less. And less formalities are really necessary for the modern world, for reasons almost everyone can debate about.

So now I formally end this entry with Somewhere Down the road... to Perdition."



As you can see, it is an essay. It is a big block of text that can be read without knowledge of the author. It may not have indentations because it is informal, but at least it is refined. Though not polished to perfection, it still is easier to understand than the previous entries, though a bit harder on the eyes. Now this is another example from my friend.



"on our ride home from trinoma last night, i complained nonchalantly about how this certain store didn't have the one item i wanted anymore. after a few secs, my dad got all serious and said he's been observing my behaviour and announced that i have an obsessive-compulsive disorder. that i get all anxious whenever i don't get to buy something i want. then he warned me of what might happen if i don't stop it (or at least try to).

and yesss, he's right. once againnn. i looked down on my whole outfit and did a calculation of how much i've spent on it. andddd... unsurprisingly, it is far too much. too much that i could prolly have sent a homeless kid to school.

it saddens me, reeeaaaally. and i don't how i've gotten this seriously-obsessed.

help, anyone?"



It is obviously less formal than mine, having lost capitalizations and proper spelling. Indeed, this entry had a strikethrough on all of its words, but I did not bother add it here.

There are also certain entries which are merely copies of entries from their Multiply blogs, so they obviously are just brainfart, like this one.



"sinira nung PDA guy yung kantang yun.. ba't kasi nanonood sila ng PDA here eh.. narinig ko tuloy yung pagsira ni PDA dude sa isa sa mga fave songs ko. T___T

anyway.. ang aliw pa rin ng UAAP opening.. not just because aliw yung performances.. nakita ko rin kasi si.. ewan. di ko alam name niya. hahaha.. pero cute siya. :)))))) at nag"hi" pa siya. :D"



This entry fortunately had the word "anyway", which meant it made a bit more sense than the typical Multiply entry, which would get you last within 4 to 6 lines (and not paragraphs, since they are too informal to grasp the concept of paragraphs).

In conclusion, Multiply entries are made for specific contacts, which meant that there is more blogger-reader interaction, thus there are more comments. Also the sheer block of text so commonly seen in Livejournal meant that less people read them, making them less of a blog entry than an essay. That explains why there are more comments, and possibly more readers in Multiply Somewhere Down the Road... to Perdition. Ahahahaha. than Livejournal Somewhere Down the Road... to Perdition. Ahahahaha.
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Long Time No Post [Jun. 20th, 2008|10:23 am]
[Tags|]
[Current Location |sc]
[mood | happy]
[music |Sound of Silence]

I really must not give any clue as to how my everyday life is like, as it has changed very much since November 22, 2007. Not that it is top secret or anything, it is just that I have a blog dedicated for personal happenings.

It has been some time since I have done anything on the world wide web. I can only watch a world which, a month ago, was my playground. They, them people with their almost-unlimited internet connections, have dominated my little island of cyberspace while I sit there in exile. And as I type this blog, I am still wondering on how to get my ideas back. I had two or more good material for this blog, but I have abandoned them since I never really gave this blog the vitality it once had, thus no need for simple stuff. Anyway, let us now begin.

The Philippine government is a bag of manure, they always say. The kind of manure which does not exist, since they were lost in the fertilizer scam. So the Philippine government is an empty bag of manure which, chances are, does not exist since there are insufficient funds for buying a bag. In short, there is no Philippine government. And that, of course, leads us to our topic: Philippine Government, Inc.

The thing is that in a free market country like the Philippines, the government simply is the greatest loser of all if it is looked upon as a corporation. I do not claim to be an expert on these stuff, but it quite plainly seems to me that the free market government has only one important source of income (Apart from under-the-table dealings of course): rent . The thing is, it gets a small percent of the total income of everything that decides to get born or built or exist within its borders, which it must invest wholly on improving capital, lest its expenses rise. That is what an ordinary, successful corporation is like, right? The thing is that its capital has diminishing returns. We see what I am trying to say in the mass exportation of skilled people. The Philippine government had to invest in schools because its population wanted, needed education. And the  Philippine government had to make sure that the population gets its schools for free. But does it earn off that? Where are the skilled laborers now? Chances are that they are either in the Middle East serving the Arabs in their quest of making a beautiful mess of Israel and oiling their way out of it or are serving the Westerns in their quest of oiling themselves by making a beautiful mess of the Middle East. But in our country? This is merely an incubator of the people that will toil for any rich country north, west (or south or east) of it. It is like having an incubator with one elderly hen supplying all the eggs. And all the hatched chicks are instantly sold to competitors.

Think about it. The government had to collect 12% of all earnings and is expected to invest it on the population. Then the population, with all of the investments, goes to some other country, which leaves a new population which sprang out of nowhere to pay a measly fee (12% of a Php350-a-day workingman isn't really the type of thing that will support the expenses of a country like this.), demand that they too get invested upon (Not actually. They expect the 12% to be enough for everyday life, leaving the 88% for anything they fancy. And boy is it hard to live on their 12%) so they can go to some other country. So the government invests in practically nothing worthwhile. And that means it has no money, thus it can't fight off aging and decay of its institutions, until the whole thing rots into mud. Or manure, whole bags of it.

I am sorry if I can not focus my thoughts enough to turn this into a better entry; I just have no time. And so inactivity continues for Somewhere Down the Road... to Perdition. Ahahahaha.
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