Higad Attack

Green Laundry Quiz - National Geographic's Green Guide

noreply@blogger.com (othello) — Tue, 04 Oct 2011 21:41:00 +0000

I confess... Guilty as charged.

I do the laundry.

Click the link below to find out if you are a laundry wizard.

Green Laundry Quiz - National Geographic's Green Guide

Click on this link for more quizzes...

Green Guide Quizzes from Nat Geo

Climate Reality Project

noreply@blogger.com (othello) — Tue, 13 Sep 2011 11:35:00 +0000

SPREAD THE WORLD...
Please visit this site: Climate Reality Project

If you have a twitter or a facebook account, PLEASE SHARE IT TO YOUR FRIENDS AND FAMILY, CO-WORKERS.

Jose Antonio Vargas

noreply@blogger.com (othello) — Sun, 26 Jun 2011 11:44:00 +0000

This is Jose. He’s a Filipino. He went to USA at the age of 12. He is known for his coverage of HIV, the Virginia Tech shootings, and the influence that politics and the Internet have on each other. He was a Pulitzer Prize winner staff for the coverage of the Virginia Tech shooting. He is a documentary film maker. He profiled Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg.

He’ also an “Undocumented Immigrant”, an “Illegal Alien”, a “TNT” which in Filipino means “Tago Ng Tago” or “always in hiding”. He got fake identity cards. Fake driver’s license and he cannot travel beyond the contiguous United States. He’s a disgrace, so do we think.

Jose braved everything he’d achieved in the U.S. on his revelation on an article at the New York Times. He caused consternation from his former peers and bosses. He caused a stir among the blogger community. Practically, Jose destroyed himself with his revelation. But in the end, he made the definition of what is to be an American blurred.

He is a cheat. He is an impostor. He duped a lot of people who trusted him.

He knows it so he revealed all. He does not want to live a life in hiding. He had gone to humble himself and destroy a credible and respected reputation that he has by his own hands made. He is what all you may accuse him. But in the end he is brave enough to confess it all. For this, he is much more than an American. He’s an American Icon.

Here’s a YouTube commentary about him.

Perhaps Mr. Vargas MAY Be deported back to the Philippines and will not be eligible to go back to the U.S. after 10 long years and apply for citizenship, perhaps he will be detained. But then he knew it was coming and that's what makes him a homegrown American, right?

To Mr. Vargas, I salute you for your courage. And God will surely bless you.

20 Years Ago Today: Mt. Pinatubo Erupted

noreply@blogger.com (othello) — Wed, 15 Jun 2011 11:01:00 +0000

Let me backtrack a little... say January 1, 1991. Just say "Mt. Pinatubo" to anybody and they'll just say "what?". Nobody knows then that there is a mountain named Mt. Pinatubo. And that this Mt. Pintubo is actually a volcano, and that this volcano had actually erupted about 450 years ago. And since there is not a single record of that eruption, it may actually just a whimpered dud poop.

For me, the only thing I know of a Mt. Pinatubo is that it is the name of the airplane carrying President Magsaysay when it crashed in Mt. Manunggal at Cebu. And that Johnny Rico from the novel Starship Troopers consider our Magsaysay his beloved hero. And yes Rico is a Filipino from that book, a fact lost in the film adaptation. (I'm getting off topic, I know.)

So where is Mt. Pinatubo? Although it is part of the Zambales Mountain range it is actually much nearer to Pampanga, and that it is about 15 kilometers nearer to Clark Air Base. Which means 6 round trip on the Parade Ground. That near!!

Although there were some prior minor whimpers, the volcano actually erupted in style on June 12, 1991, a Wednesday and to say that it looks like a mushroom is not actually true. See here...

It doesn't look like a mushroom, it looks more like a giant silvery, fluppy and beautifully edible Cauliflower, like so...

On that day, I was at home, like I've always did for the past three months. I was jobless, OK already? Thank you. I was chopping vegetables for noodled chop suey (see now why I say cauliflower?). Wife goes to work and so did everybody else. Daughter is out playing (3 years old, going 4 on August), and then at about 9:00 A.M., there was shouting outside. "Memakbung ne!" - It erupted! I ran out of the house like everybody else in Central Luzon, and there you see this big Cauliflower as it slowly and eerily grows sky high. Very similar to what I am holding, on the left hand, the right one has a chopping knife. Everybody's watching that thing grows for about an hour. Boring. Another eruption layering the first could not be discerned. Boring.

Little facts, if I may. Clark Air Base had been totally evacuated by now. Only skeletal forces are out there working. My father in law who works for Flying Tigers/FedEx had transferred from CAB to Subic. People living near the foot of the volcano also had been evacuated to evacuation centers (where else, dimwit?). Angeles City was not evacuated. Pole dancers in Fields Avenue and First Street Balibago wink at each other and tap danced fully dressed. Pinoys who work for CAB welcomed the long vacation.

I said boring right? Now it is June 15, 1991, Saturday. Wife had gone to work. There was this typhoon named Diding. Normal, its typhoon season. But then just before 2 P.M. Mt. Pinatubo erupted. And this is the Great One. I went to the house roof just to see a better view, but the damn typhoon's rain obscured it. About an hour later, it rained small stones, and pebbles. Here in Magalang, man!. That's about 35 kilometers away from the volcano, it rained pebbles and stones, man! I was oblivious that this thing is going nasty. So I got a tub out to the garden to gather souvenirs for my child. I was saying "diamonds, diamonds" while me and my child pick one after another. We were enjoying this thing, really. We've even walked out with an umbrella.

About an hour later, the tub is full, and it is now raining ash and stones and pebbles. Daughter is scared, I am scared. My wife has not yet arrived. I could not call her. No telephone yet in Magalang, then and no cellphone. My sister-in-law and Voltaire (her husband) and their kid arrived together with Voltz brother. I was now in panic mode. Where's my wife? My parents and brothers and sister lives in Dau. Where are they now? I had hoped and prayed that they left the place. My wife works for ElectroWorld, also in Dau. I am now in deep panic.

At 3:30 P.M. it is now evening. It is also raining, not of rain but of ash and mixed ash and rain called mud. Wife arrived. I was relieved, very much relieved. By then we've decided to go to Friendship to fetch the workers of my sister-in-laws business. Casket-making. Whoa. We've boarded Voltz service vehicle, customized to carry about 16 stacked coffins, you know. I carried two buckets with water for cleaning the windshield. Its a go.

People are walking towards Magalang, some are carrying umbrellas, some looks like mud people, children shivering looking exhausted. It was so dark, and the trucks lights are muddied. I have to go clean them once in a while aside from the windshield.

Sugarcane are all vowing to the ground. The rice paddies are covered with thick layer of mud. Carabaos, cows, goats and ducks are on the road all going to Magalang or where ever far, while we go to the opposite direction. There is no more discernible road, branches from trees are scattered here and there. Jeeps, cars and trucks are stalled. Crying people, some carrying dogs, cats, chickens, ducks just walking away from that ghastly monster.

When we were just about to cross the overpass bridge of the Expressway, we've stopped. The tollway is littered with abandoned vehicles. People are walking some vehicles are running to a crawl. Again carabaos are also there pulled by their masters. Now there is something wrong with this picture.

It is not that the tollway is free. But that not a single vehicle is crossing the overpass bridge towards Angeles City. They are either coming from Angeles City or are going to the expressways tollgate entry. We're the only one up there. And now it looks like midnight, lightning is now atop Mt. Pinatubo. Somebody said that a bridge had already collapsed. I asked myself which bridge? Abacan? Friendship? Hensonville spillway? The expressway bridge? The train rail bridge? I asked that man who said that, and he said he'd just heard it.

We decided then that it is futile to go. We've just hoped that those workers managed to flee. And so we went back for Magalang. Along the way we picked up some people who are too tired to walk, the casket service is now carrying live people. And whenever we stalled, there were always hands to kickstart the vehicle.

To be continued....(if ever). Drnuk

Earth Hour 2011

noreply@blogger.com (othello) — Mon, 21 Mar 2011 12:17:00 +0000

8:30 P.M. 26 March 2011

Dreams Do Come True

noreply@blogger.com (othello) — Sun, 12 Dec 2010 08:28:00 +0000

You dream, I dream, we all dream. And dreams, well, they do happen, although what you dream doesn’t translate in the real world as it was in the dream.

It happens like a parallel thing, symbolical maybe, but more on the events in your dream correspond to an event in the future. And then you remember that dream. I don’t mean that kind of dream that on your dream you peed and waking up, you really peed (shame on the drunkards ), or that a monster was attacking you and you keep rolling on the ground, only to wake that your wife is pulling the sheet and you are really rolling…. on the bed.

I am talking more of a vivid or lucid dream. You are aware that you are dreaming and that it seems so real and when you wake up you remember most or much of it.

One thing wrong with vivid dreams is that, you don’t know the beginning of it. Could you tell me how your dream began? No, right? You only know a certain point in the event of your dream that somehow you correlate to the start of your vivid dream. It is that time frame on your dream that happens in real life.

I’ve got two dreams that really happened….

The First Dream

Republic Central Colleges is where I graduated from High School. The main building is a 7 floor concrete building. Now do follow me. The eight floor is the roof of the building. There is also some sort of a ninth floor which seems to me then and now is a helipad. Picture below is the main building. Upper right corner of the center building is the “helipad”.

Here you have an almost unobstructed view of the whole Central Luzon plains. Only Mt. Arayat blocks a little of Nueva Ecija. You could see the mountains of Zambales in the west, the mountains of Cordillera on the North, the mountains of Sierra Madre on the east, and the Smoggy Mountains of Manila in the South. You could see the spire of the Iglesia Ni Cristo in San Fernando from here. And also the tower of Clark Air Base (CAB) where an airplane pretending to be a shark protects it.

The dream happened about 1983.

I was on the helipad. It was afternoon, the whole view is clear. Windy. I looked below on Plaridel Street. Brenda Bazaar. Spit. Count. A single bomb (like I do in real life). Look at the mountains from Zambales to Cordillera to Sierra Madre. Looking for enemy targets. I was admiring something on Mt. Arayat. But then, something is happening.

It is getting dark. Not a sudden darkness, but more of a slow crawling darkness. Not from the north or east. The Zambales range is kind of grayish white. I could only see the base of the mountain. It was like a curtain of cloud was put partially down and that I could see the shoes only. I could only see the Clark tower and for lack of words to describe it, just the foot of the mountain.

Behind the curtain I could see flashes of light much like lightning but foggy. The planes are not flying, there is no war. But I see what looks like missiles being dragged by trucks being carried out of the CAB Side Gate. I looked above me and the darkness is directly above.

I woke up.

In the morning after my dream, I told my classmate Rammy about the dream. Ram is a Born Again Christian and keeps on asking me to attend one of their Fellowship Prayers in their house.

It is kind of a given that I consult him of this since he knows much about the Bible and sometimes gives interpretation on dreams.

He told me to tell me everything about the dream, and if I could, draw the dream as it happens. I did.

Ram told me that what I have seen is not a dream but a vision of the future. More specifically, Armageddon. The curtain of cloud is a result of exploding atom bomb since there is lightning inside it and that the darkness that crawled up in the sky is the mushroom cloud.

That surely gave me the creeps. And up till this day I could not, never forget that dream.

In 1991, Mt. Pinatubo erupted and it has all the decals of my dream. Ram is wrong, I hope.

The Second Dream

This dream happened on October 26, 2010.

Me and my colleagues were somehow on the side of a road. As I told you above, you never know the beginning of your dream. So here I am with them waiting for I-don’t-know. I’m just there and they’re just there.

One colleague said “Here he is”. I looked and I saw a tricycle. The driver is familiar. Every one is saying their “Hi, Hello” to him.

Now this tricycle is not an ordinary tricycle. Instead of looking like this:

It looks like this:

It’s side car is on the wrong side. Now what does this mean? I’ll tell you Yankee.

Vehicles in the Philippines are supposed to be left handed. That is when you overtake a car you go to your left. Now if this trike overtakes a vehicle in front of him, then another, then another, and so on near the speed of sound, the passenger inside is in for a heart attack. Not because of the fear of the speed but because of the oncoming vehicles rushing up to her. (As you can see the passenger is a woman, and she seems to be texting, that cellphone will also be crushed by her own hand you know).

Back to the dream.

We all went on the passenger “cubicle”. There were about eight or nine of us cramped inside it. Up ahead there is a road construction. My colleagues near the driver were talking to him. “You sure you could get us there in time?”, “Yes.” was the reply.

Every one is in a jolly mood, because knowing the driver, he could deliver. We wont be late, despite the road construction.

The trike wheezed by avoiding all those humps and bumps and puddles and muddles. Up ahead there is no way that he could maneuver his trike to a deep excavation, so he told us to alight the vehicle and walk just a few meters to the curve of an intersection. So we did.

He made a tight turn and what do you know. He was on top of this culvert canal which is only as wide as his trike. We saw him going under the road and came to the other side all powdered with dust. On the far end of what I could see must be the U-turn he’ll have to take so he could fetch us on the sidewalk intersection.

We’ve waited.

But more than five minutes have elapsed and he hasn’t arrived. A trike driver on the other side of the road was looking at us and was shaking his head. Same is true to that man who’s shouting “Main Gate! Main Gate!”

We were growing inpatient. Then he came fast, we were looking at him, flagging him down and though he looked up straight pretending not to see us. We all know that he saw us. He has another passenger.

Dream ends.

This dream although very vivid is a symbolic dream. I can’t tell you much about what happened in real life, but here is what I could only say.

We’ve entrusted a man with our problem. The man promised to take care of our problem. The man told us to wait. We did wait. The man told us that our troubles are over but the man told us to wait a little longer. And we did wait a little longer.

And then the man just left us in the dust. He did not deliver his promise.

Our collective feeling is this…

We got a middle finger salute.

We were betrayed.

We were deceived.

We are not important.

We are nothing.

And to think that we respect this man.

And then I woke up. “That was just a dream, that was just a dream, that’s just a dream. That’s me in the corner. That’s me in the spot light, loosing my religion.” It was a REM ringtone.

It was only a dream

LG Optimus One Experience: It's All About Integrity

noreply@blogger.com (othello) — Sat, 13 Nov 2010 12:48:00 +0000

OK now. Let me tell you something first. I am not much a fan of cellphones. The gadgetry and wizardry of today's phone doesn't impress me much. In fact, I think I am the only one in our company who have no cellphone. If i ever have a phone, the basic functionality will suffice. I could call and send text messages with it, and vice versa. As one popular commercial puts it "May katok kana may kutek ka pa". In Filipino katok means sometimes there's something wrong with the way your mind functions, while kutek means your mind/brain is not functioning after all.

And now came the LG Optimus One. I want one! Not because of its feature of course, which is a ton, but more on the name. Optimus One. You see I'm a big fan of the real deal, the leader of the Autobots, the One and Only, OPTIMUS PRIME, a robot that turns into a Big Mac. Not this one, you see...

The Not Mac

But this one, see...

The Mac

When I told my wife that comes hell or high water I'm gonna buy me one, she already knows what's on my mind. "You really did not grow old don't you? You still thinking about them Transformers do you? You..." As she's saying this my mind is going "Ka-chewww! Chi-cheww!!" That's them Optimus Prime's guns blasting Megatron. "You already have a 23 year old daughter...and..." And my mind goes "Ku-ka-chi-ku-kwa". That's when Optimus Prime tells his metal friends, "Autobots, Transform".

I told her that they will have fifty percent sale off this one, that it will only cost us 6,500 pesos to get one. That all I have to do is go to either SM Megamall or SM West on Saturday (it was then a Thursday). That the only catch of the sale is that it is for only an hour, from 2:00 to 3:00 P.M. We've googled the specs of this one, and when my wife found out that she could do Facebook in it, I was given the blessing.

Today is Saturday, 8:30 P.M. I'm at home and without Optimus. Mission failed.

Here's what happened....

I didn't wake up early today. I got an ostrich egg yolk on my head when I wake up. Got to sober up a little. I did not eat. I told myself I will eat after I've got Optimus on my hand. I was on a bus bound for Manila at about 12:00 noon, and my original plan was to go to SM Megamall, because I am much familiar with it, and besides the Provincial Bus Stop is very near, unlike in SM West where you have to walk more than a kilometer for a hitch home. But time is my enemy now. I decided to go to SM West since it is already 1:00 P.M. An hour saved. Walk a running trot to the Annex, and then I boarded that escalator as I was looking up. So many people on the fourth floor. So many. I'm at the fourth floor, and there was this snake of a queue of people. It is then that I've realized that they are after the same glory that I seek.

I've search for the snake's tail, asked for the snake's tail and this man said it's way over there. And "there" is a pretty far place. It is not a snake but an Hydra on both ends. The tail is about five pronged and the head is three pronged. I went for the head near the LG door.

Now watch this video...

This video seems to be taken way much earlier when I arrived. See the crowd? Freeze this video at 5 seconds and play. There will appear a muscular man in black near the big column. The same man accosted me when I wandered near the glass door. Asked me where I'm going, I said I came for the bargain. "You have to fall in line sir". I said I can't see the end of the line. And he pointed me "there". And "there" is a pretty far place. I failed the Staring contest from this man. Said to myself - think quickly. Then I've said I have come from Pampanga and I am overwhelmed about what's happening in here. He said, still I have to do line myself up. Then my Guardian Devil took over, I said "Look, can we talk?" He gave me a grin and a left and right head turn. "Perhaps you could go in and talk to the manager," he said. And ever gentlemanly showed me the way as he tell the people and the guard on the door, that I am just going to talk to the manager.

I went in as 32,628 heads look at me. A man in in white shirt who seems to be the authority here said "Yes sir, what can I do for you?" Told him that I came from Pampanga and wants to take Optimus home. He said that I could buy it at its retail price of 13,000 at this very moment or I could wait 45 minutes and take my chances for the sale. I told him, "Sir, I know this is very unethical, but can you somehow make an excemption?" Told me that he understand my predicament coming all the way from Pampanga. But somehow, at least two or three people out there could be from far away provinces also. "What will happen, if all those people out there saw that we've decided to accomodate you?" And I've looked beyond the glass door. All of them are looking inside, looking at me.

I've stood still. I have to decide now. I am carrying 10k in cash. I also have my credit card. My original plan is to buy it trough credit. But this morning, doing a quick calculation, I could not afford to burden my cards anymore, and that damn new replacement card hasn't yet arrived. My money is only 10k. The retail is 13k. Perhaps a combination of both?

Ok, now. The outside people are looking at me. The inside people are looking at me. I'm in a shocked trance. Swaying back and forth looking for another cellphone. Went outside. Stood near the column where that muscular man was. I think he was talking to me but I could not hear anything anymore. I just stood there. And I could feel the Staring Eyes. Finally I looked at him and said, "Thank you so much." He said "I'm sorry, but there". He gave me a little pat on the back. I walked away.

I don't know where to go, I haven't eaten. And I am not familiar with the place anymore. It has drastically changed. Finally, I am at a bus going home, drinkin this energy drink that have a free PAU muscle pain reliever. I hope that there is something that could relieve an inside pain. A pain of dissapointment and failure.

I thought about what has just happened in there. I tried to bribe a man ("Look, can we talk?"). I've tried to influence the store people to take an excemption for my own advantage, irregardless of those people outside who have literally camped outside the LG store. I've even asked an LG man to buy it for me.

Looking outside the bus, I saw white herons. I've smiled to myself. Integrity, that is what all those people at the LG store have. Those are men and women of their words. It is something rare. And then...

I hope it is not rare in my company.

How would you feel if I told you that I will do something and then not doing it? I'll cut out the weed tomorrow but a week later the weed killed the grass. Or telling your team I will do what I promised you tomorrow and then reneging on that promise. Am I a man of integrity or of hypocrisy?

Now riddle me this: The muscular man agreed to help me and I gave him some money. The LG people sold me the phone at a bargain. Could I hold Optimus with my hand with pride? Never, man!

To the muscular man in black and to those LG guys and gals. I salute you all. And may the glass holds.
p.s.

In the video below, the man in white is the person I've talked to inside the store. While the man which appeared twelve seconds later is the muscular man in black, apparently looking for somebody inside. At the end of the video there is also a man leaning at a counter. Just leaning there and staring. I think that was me.

There's an LG concept store at Clark Freeport Zone. I hope that the LG guys are considering it for a sale like this.

(If my mother was alive and knew how I got one Optimus, in an unnatural way, she will surely send me to bed without any supper.)

Philippine Election 2010 Experience

noreply@blogger.com (othello) — Mon, 10 May 2010 07:38:00 +0000

Me and my little girl went to the elementary school to vote for the elections. We were there at exactly 8:00 A.M.

I already know where to go to. It’s imprinted in my mind like the indelible ink on a finger. Precinct 084. But then, here we go…

You have to find your name in a list. The school rooms were “reconfigured”. There is no list of names near the rooms’ doors. They are handled by people whom are not in a common ground, or common location. I went to about 6 tables, scattered about, and no Dela Cruz, Othello from San Nicolas 1, Magalang can be found. Neither that of my wife. I only found my daughter’s name in a very inconspicuous place through an officemate who also have trouble finding her name.

If there ever is a road-rage, I was having the election-rage. I am really about to quit or make a BEI (Board of Election Incompetent er… Inspector) or that PPCRV an hostage or so. I was giving up, calling it quits, and go to our roof and fix the leaks.

But then I saw this old man on a wheel chair, having the same problem as I am. A thin disappointment hinting on his face, but there was that big determination painted all over his body. Ok, thank you sir. I returned to the first table I’ve encountered. And there was this little old lady, body bent like a “C” walking in a pain induced slow walk, with a grandson or so, taking it ever so lightly, the grandson telling her that they should go home, and the “C” telling him to stay. Ok, thank you, mam.

The PPCRV dude was trying to duck me. He thought that I’m gonna give him a lashing. No I did not. I told him that I have went to all the volunteers tables, even on those which are not from our precinct but could not find my name, nor my wife. I asked him “what now?” He said that I could try the COMELEC office there on the municifio.

As I’ve said, I have my little girl with me, and we have been searching and looking for more than an hour. The poor girl was all sweat, nose-tip, shirt sticking to her body. Bought her soda and a jack-stone (she wanted the toy instead of a biscuit). We went out of the school. And as we went out we planted our foot on the concrete, slide-walked so that all those posters, campaign stuffs got piled up as we walked.

Magalang Municipal Hall, COMELEC Office, 9:20 A.M. Told a woman there about my predicament and she went to a room. Came back and gave me my precinct number, election no. (54) and that of my wife (52). And she went to this large table with names like San Pedro I, San Pedro II, and San Nicolas I. Focused on San Nicolas I, tried to look for my name and yes, yes… My name ain’t there. She went back to this room, and after another agonizing and steaming moment. She finally emerged and confirmed that I could now vote. A little discussion passed between me and her and this man who’s all jalapeno with rage. Me and my daughter went out, back to the school and was now in a room.

Got thumbmarked. Got a ballot (very long, for that) and there was this problem… one guy could not cast his ballot. It’s all about that felt tip marker making a mark on the reverse side. Another one, smudges. What the heck.

Anyway, I have voted. I was counted, thanks for that old man on a wheelchair and the old woman who looks like a “C”.

I hope that all of those who could vote DO VOTE. There will be inconvenience of course. But don’t be worthless.

…. On the GMA News coverage there were this two first timer who wanted to vote with a friend accompanying them. They went to this school to vote only to find out that they are at the wrong school. So they went to another school perhaps taking a jeepney ride just to reach it. They voted and they were just simple happy. Their names are J.R. and Larry.

You know what? They’re blind.

Earth Hour 2010

noreply@blogger.com (othello) — Sun, 21 Mar 2010 10:40:00 +0000

On the 27th of March 2010, 8:30 P.M., a Saturday, the world will be celebrating a tradition that started in Sydney, Australia 3 years ago. In 2008 35 countries participated. In 2009 88 countries participated.

A little bragging here. In 2009 a week or so before the actual EH2009, I was so busy making the pitch for this worldwide event. I made posters, emailed friends, co-workers and everyone else, friend or foe, who would listen to participate on this great and worthwhile event. I made great preparations, synchronized my watch, the wall clock with the time with a world time server, bought little candles and when the time is nigh, I have my kids prepared. Eldest daughter manning the street post light and the rooms switches. Son the back and the TVs. Youngest daughter to light the candles (she wanted to start with that birthday candles of hers). My wife promised to turn off the computer after telling all her Facebook Friends about this event. And I will be the one shouting “Turn them off!!!”. A great plan that was. We were all hyped. We’re locked and we’re loaded. And then, it happened….

Blackout! Our electric company has turned off the electricity! PELCO I, that’s Pampanga Electric Cooperative has pulled off the mother switch!!! Minutes before EH. And I was kinda… well my mouth’s open, the kids are all in suspended animation, the wife is cursing because she ain’t finished yet and haven’t said her prerequisite good-byes. I was… hell I don’t know.
We’ll it then struck me, what PELCO did was ingenious, dictatorial indeed but, ingenious. It was the first time that I had to thank them, not openly thought, for a power failure or whatever you call that. I mean, instead of our home and some others participating, the whole town of Magalang and other towns under PELCO’s jurisdiction went black.

There’s more to this story…. Kids’ asking about the Hospitals and clinics and patients and babies and elevators. Reassuring them that they have standby generators and that all will be well.

OK now. 7 nights from now EH2010 will begin. I am hoping that all of those who read this piece participate or better yet contact their respective electricity providers to participate for them, blacken the whole place. But make sure that hospitals and clinics and patients and babies and elevators got the necessary juices.
Happy Earth Hour to all!!!

Technorati Tags: Magalang,Pampanga,Philippines,World Time Server

Pampanga: Among Gov (Ed Panlilio) Got Served II

noreply@blogger.com (othello) — Sun, 14 Feb 2010 10:59:00 +0000

On my last post I've mention a song from Credence Clearwater Revival, below is a Youtube video and the accompanying lyrics.

As I've said, time goes and a lot of magic may happen. The governorship of Pampanga is "given" by Capampangans to Among Ed, but it is "given away" by people who thinks they are higher than the will of the people. It will take a lifetime to explain what happens in all those years after the ballots were cast in 2007. We may never know what truly happened to the ballot boxes that were counted, if those ballot boxes either burned or thrown off a river were considered, if those counted on the second count by COMELEC are really those that came from the citizen on election day 2007 or somewhat came on a much later date.

But I believe "good one's will gonna be much longer" for us.

It's Just A Thought lyrics (J.C. Fogerty)

It's just a thought
But I've noticed somethin' strange,
Gettin' harder to explain;
All the years are passin' bye and bye,
Still I don't know what makes it go;
Who said to wait and you'll see?

It's just a thought
But I wondered if you knew
That the song up there is you.
They can't take it from you
If you don't give it away;
Don't give it away;
Ooh (It's given away.)

It's just a thought
But the word has come too late
That a bad idea will take
Just about a lifetime to explain,
And don't you see,
Good one's gonna be much longer;
Who's gonna wait, just to see?

Pampanga: Among Gov (Ed Panlilio) Got Served

noreply@blogger.com (othello) — Thu, 11 Feb 2010 12:59:00 +0000

As I've said on my earlier blog, I want my blog to be apolitical, but there comes a time... that... you have to think, you have do some basic math, do some logical hypotheses and perhaps some way, you have to share your opinion on what comes out of it.

At night, I never watch the news, I just play on-line games till my head just tilts and go to sleep, if you don't believe me ask my wife and my kids. Well, somehow this night is different. For some reason beyond my reasoning capacity I wanna watch the news. From the Cartoon Network to the GMA-7 News, I've switched a button, that selects my input from DVI to Cable-3, and then I saw before the actual news, video (ELECTION!!!) ads from Sen. Enrile, then Legarda, and lastly, Ex-president Erap, then the news.

Then comes...

The guy with the prominent nose and speedy mouth....Pampanga Capitol. Among Ed is out. Does that surprise me? No. It is as expected. It is what we all here in Pampanga expected, either we are pro-Pineda or Pro-Lapid or Pro-Panlilio. Doesn't matter. COMELEC did what it supposed to do... count what remains of the carcasses. Panlilio's camp will protest, Pineda's camp will do a counter-file, and on and on and on. And what will that do to us Capampangan's? Read my lips, DIVISION. Not the arithmetical one, but the one that could turn brothers against brothers, mother against his children. And then we dive again to what we are before the 2007 Election, a vast winterwonderland of lahar?. Of Desperation, of saying "them people are the same, they promise to do good, and when they’re seated, they become corrupt"..I don't have to elaborate here what I meant by that. Do the Google-ing.

Anyway I am not talking of when Among Gov, assumed his office. For maybe, he did do some shenanigans today and last day or last month or within the time frame of his incumbency. Did not do his sworn duty for the Province, slept there on the hall. Drunk there, whatever.

The question here is this. In 2007, does Ed Panlilio, the neophyte, the independent candidate with no funds, no political party, no experience in the machinations of the ballots, could do a massive fraud in a province with 20 Municipalities covering a total of area of almost 2,000 sq. kilometers and almost 2 million citizen (don't know the voting pop here)? Could he do it, could his volunteers conceive an elaborate scheme to defraud the entire province?

How much money does it takes to con a province? How many people should do it? How many receivers?

Okay, as the song of Credence Clearwater Revival goes

It's just a thought
But I've noticed somethin' strange,
Gettin' harder to explain;
All the years are passin' by and by,
Still I don't know what makes it go;
Who said to wait and you'll see?

The most crucial moment in election is actually the day of the election, that's Day One. Even if there's a blackout or a brownout, our teachers and volunteers from the candidates' are obliged to spent the wee hours of the night counting and verifying the votes. And when the ballot box are transferred from one place to another, the volunteers and observers from the candidates will surely stick like leeches to the convoy or whatever. When they go the end destination say the Pampanga Provincial hall, where the electoral returns are counted (am I right here?) the atmosphere suddenly rise up, its the end game, its the main show, its the REAL outcome. But in the end, those volunteers, watchers, or what have you, have the benefit of really witnessing the real outcome of the election, and they calm down. That's how it is in all election. It is at this time that the winners comes poppin up.

After that crucial moment of a day or two or even a week....we sleep off the adrenalin then and when months and years passes, MAGIC could happen. I smell burning ballot boxes... and what remains are the carcasses, the one that COMELEC has counted. The dungeons, the gallows, all that creepy crawly, one-eyed funny purple people may....

I want peace for my province. I want prosperity for a province that had been devastated by lahar and the closure of Clark Air Base which clearly wiped out my father's motorcycle shop. I want those who are up there in the bureaucracy of Pampanga, Angeles City, City of San Fernando and the municipalities to think first of the citizenry. Not gain or recoup their losses and pay patrimony to those who've supported them. The strings should be detached. It's your decision. Give us peace of mind. Give us yourselves, not your yous.

This entry may be corny but I hope you got my drift. And Pampanga went down the drain again...

Technorati Tags: Ed Panlilio,COMELEC,Pampanga,Philippine,Election

Our Country is "ASIA'S LAGGARD"

noreply@blogger.com (othello) — Thu, 04 Feb 2010 07:38:00 +0000

Recently, there were full page ads on major newspaper bannering the achievements and economic gains of the present government. Columnists from these newspaper were quick to question them. And then on the February 1, 2010 Economics page of Newsweek tells us that our beloved country is Asia's Laggard.

[adlib: you could read the whole item with this link ]

Perhaps the economic gains as bannered are true. But then, is the gain proportionate in the world economic perspective? Did we gain just a little to keep our collective chins float in the economic waters, or did we gain big time that the water is chest deep or knee deep? The other countries mentioned by Ruchir Sharma surely did the last two. We've remained as steady as a marooned boat and they just pass us by.

In the 60's, as the report says, we are second only to Japan in terms of per capita income in Asia. In the 70's we saw the behinds of South Korea and Taiwan. In the 80's Malaysia and Thailand zipped by, the 90's the big behind of China went by with a ballet stride and its feet now are planted on solid ground. And now get this... 2010 will be the decade when we will be smelling Indonesia's economic butt.

It was in the 60's when the International Rice Research Institute came up with a hybrid rice that created the global green revolution (I've blogged about this before). This was touted by Popular Mechanics as one of The Top 50 Inventions of the Past 50 Years. This is what Popular Mechanics has to say,

"1966--HIGH-YIELD RICE
The International Rice Research Institute in the Philippines releases a semi-dwarf, high-yield Indica variety that, in conjunction with high-yield wheat, ushers in the Green Revolution. Indica rice thrives in tropical regions of Asia and South America, raising worldwide production more than 20 percent by 1970."

We started the Green Revolution, and then we've never evolved, instead we've just watched the scenery and became laggard. And it is not only with the economy, there was this morality,political will and integrity thingies that went astray.

Our politics has been thrown in a quagmire and then became the quagmire. Just recently our Senate bacame a cockpit arena over yet another multi-million project. Name-calling and semi-uncouth words were thrown here and there, and to think that we call them Honorables. One senator's partymates were quick to support him and wants to declare him innocent of any anomaly in the project. I believe it doesn't work that way, you have to set aside your fraternity jacket and say "Look my friend, I want to see and investigate first the content and the substance of the allegation."

"My loyalty to my party ends where my loyalty to my country begins." Thus says a great Filipino. Does any of our honorable Senators and Congressmen knew who said this? I think yes in past lives, but they've forgotten it all together collectively, perhaps.

Here in Pampanga we have elected a priest who has no political machinery, no campaign funds, no team and knew nothing about politics. He has served well and yet was charged with cheating or rigging the results in the May 2007 election. Can you believe that? Only in the Philippines Mah Man!!!

If you're interested here's some links to previous blogs about the priest: A Bright Light In Pampanga, Among Gov

Is there any hope for us to go from chin deep to knee deep? Yes there is, and it should start with the coming election. As Ruchir said "it takes only a modicum of political stability and some basic economic reform". That's a start.

To our Senators, Congressmen and whoever else takes the helm of this country, remember what our Uncle Ben said, "With great powers, comes great responsibility". You are there to serve and not to be served. If you don't believe me, then believe me. I'm just sick and tired of being sick and tired.

And to the rest of us Filipinos, we all could change and could change some things that are wrong, we should not depend so much on those honorable people above. We change or don't change at all. As our Master Yoda told us, "Do or do not there is no 'try'".

One Filipino saw something wrong and instead of blabbering and stammering and telling them politicians to do something about it, he decided to do it himself, and then what-do-you-know, he became CNN's Hero of the Year.

Sirs and madams, could you kinda help me, and forward this item to your friends...?

Matagal na tayong natutulog sa pansitan. Gising na...

Salamat at Mabuhay ang Pilipinas!!!!!

Technorati tags: CNN, NEWSWEEK, PHILIPPINES, AMONG GOV

Getting Jobless

noreply@blogger.com (othello) — Mon, 25 Jan 2010 10:41:00 +0000

A new company is being set up. The owner somehow wants to hire a personnel who is a former CDC employee. CDC stands for Clark Development Corporation where I am currently employed, not Center for Disease Control and Prevention which creates virus and its cure.I don't know why he wants a dude or dudette but probably for facilitating transactions.

The owner wants to interview the prospective employee himself. And here we have two applicants who are former employees of CDC. In fact they were both terminated from CDC for a cause. The first one is Joe, and the other is Jebs.

Joe took a seat. The owner asked "Joe, why were you terminated from CDC?". Joe answered "I stole five million pesos from the company". "Tell me more about it", says the owner. And he did...

CUT!!!!

And then....

Jebs took a seat. The owner asked "Jebs, why were you terminated from CDC?". Jebs answered "I was alway absent and always tardy". "Tell me more about it", says the owner. And he did...

CUT!!!

In the end Joe was selected. Dear readers can you tell me why?

Blog Action Day: Typhoon Ondoy and Climate Change

noreply@blogger.com (othello) — Thu, 15 Oct 2009 04:50:00 +0000

On September 26, 2009, Metro Manila was hit by Typhoon Ondoy (International Code Name Ketsana). Ondoy left thousands of families homeless. This is the worst flooding in Manila for the last 42 years. 334 millimeters of rain poured for the first six hours while 42 years ago 341 millimeters of rain poured for 24 hours. Compare that. Paypal has sums it with this--

Most of those flooded areas had not experienced any flooding before. The remarkable thing is this: Malabon and Navotas, both in Metro Manila, which had the reputation for being always flooded were left unscathed by Ondoy.

Is this a miracle? I don't know. But definitely this is climate change.

Performance Appraisal

noreply@blogger.com (othello) — Sun, 13 Sep 2009 11:27:00 +0000

Ad Lib: [This entry probably would become unappealing to some but, sometimes a guy suffer a case of andropause and steam should be let loose.]

Late last year the management introduced a new Performance Appraisal System that shant out the old one because as we all see it, it is not an effective measurement of one’s effectiveness in the corporation. Well and good. The new PAS as we’ve been divined will do away with the influence of favoritism and the like in regard to the employee’s role. Well and good. A series of emails, memos and a seminar on how to fill the new form was embedded in our hearts and brains. Well and good. The new PAS which was labeled Performance Evaluation Form (PEF) will be effective on 2009. Well and good.

Fast forward to Now.

I have two subordinates whom I appraised with the new form. These subordinates should have two of their own subordinates. And after appraising them, it turns out that they each have a rating of EXCELLENT. The rating period is January to June 2009, and it got monetary benefits if you’ve hit the marks, mind you.

The PEF is divided into the following categories

Job Performance
Attitude
Leadership

The scoring system have a result like this

Outstanding	Excellent	Very Satisfactory	Satisfactory	Unsatisfactory
9.0 to 10.0	7.0 to 8.99	5.0 to 6.99	3.0 to 4.9	1.0 to 2.99

The two subordinates rated Excellent because they perform their job well, never have I’ve heard them complain about their job and that most of their job should be done by their supposed subordinates. You don’t have to whip them to do their job, don’t have to remind them of their function and yes they have been doing their job for the past 5 years that it seems they have automatic switches built into them. They’re some well functioning machine to me if you could forgive the connotation to automatons. By and by, I think because of their dedication and what have you, their family life suffers. And it is there that neither me nor any one could do anything.

All in all the PEF is a totality of numbers and if you failed on one sub-category this will be then compensated with another higher rating. No factoring out say Job Performance= 50%, Attitude =30% and Leadership = 20%. Totality is a no no. But put in a weight factor you’ll get a result very different indeed.

See that third category over there? The Leadership one? I have to put on there Not Applicable because they don’t have no subordinates, and the measurement clause of the PEF limits the scoring for at least one subordinate. If I’m wrong in surmising this, do correct me.

Anyway, on September 9, 2009 we’ve received a memo from top management which requires us to fill in another form to justify our ratings for our subordinates. It is now called the the STARs thingy. STARs’:

S/T = Situation/Critical Incident or Task
A= Action Taken
R= Result- Effect

Not well and not good.

On the new directive we should now incite two incidents to justify an EXCELLENT rating, three incident for an OUTSTANDING rating and three incident why an employee gathered a stagnating UNSATISFACTORY rating. Ah-bee-damned.

With one finger on an ear and another finger inside a nostril, I was thinking, why? Why the STARs? You don’t have to look up the sky at night to see the STARs, you only have to have a blow on the top of your head to see the STARs and the fairies and Tinkerbell in congregation. Think… why? I did when I got something gooey on the finger inside the nostril. I said to myself.

“The STARs evolved because there are many employees who’d either had an OUTSTANDING, EXCELLENT, and UNSATISFACTORY rating. And now management did what it supposed to do – try to minimize the surge of tsunamis that will bring havoc to finances.”
The STARs thing is in no way connected or related to the PES as the memo implies, since the PES is an evaluation of the employees performance for the period of six months while the STARs needs, at the most, justify three physical occurrence/situation/incident why you gave the dude or dudette an OUTSTANDING rating.

OK NOW, my evil brain tells me that if I should satisfy and stick to the STARs all I have to do is do my job nice and slow, as slobby as I can for six months but within the rating period I’ll do two or three very significant things that will not be ignored nor deplored by my rater like doing overtime up to and beyond 9:00 P.M. without pay for two days, volunteer to do the job of an absent personnel with a higher or lower pay scale so that there will be no pending work for him/her when he/she arrives and just be there, available to do or help other employees in need and make them sign something to that effect that I’ve helped them…. etc,. To hell with deadlines. To hell with tardiness. To hell with quality, timeliness and other things that I could label to hell with… Three POGI points is all I have to do.

Aw! forget it.

The thing is this -- PEF failed grandly.

o…………..

sometimes sarcasm should be pondered as constructive criticism… don’t you think?

Technorati Tags: performance,job

What Tita Cory Wants

noreply@blogger.com (othello) — Tue, 04 Aug 2009 04:17:00 +0000

This is a true story… I’ve changed some names, dates and circumstances, but the thing is this…

This a true story…..

Goryo is a childhood friend of mine when we were living in Sta. Maria Village. About 5 years ago he emailed me that his father has died and will be at Funeraria Angelina, on Wednesday. His father died in the U.S. Goryo is also in the U.S. but from another state.

When we were just kids, I’ve never seen Goryo’s father, he just said that his father died after her sister Nena was born. On the one occasion that I've managed to enter their house, there are no pictures of his father in their home; just his mother and 4 sisters and 1 brother who are all in the U.S. except Nena and his mother. I never ever once asked him why there’s no picture of his father. Nor did I ask his mother about it. Goryo’s mother was one character you could not forget. Aling Tea is like an Amazon. When she’s angry with Goryo you could hear her shouting from our home which is 3 houses away from theirs. You could not play in the road fronting her house. Her eyes could melt you when she’s angry. This one is a very bitter lady.

Anyway, here’s Goryo’s email. And I came to thinking, for all those years I was left to believe that his father is dead. For all those years, I never asked him the circumstances of his father’s death.

I emailed him about it. I’ve asked him why did they “killed” him? I’ve never got a reply. But the next day, he called me from home and told me that he will be arriving in four hours because he’s in NAIA. I told him that he’s a liar, because I’m hearing from the background the screeching sound of a tricycle and the clanging of plates. He laughs and told me to go there.

At their home, I’ve finally asked him the question. He told me that when her sister Nena was about two years old, his father just left them. He has another woman to whom he already has two children. They were devastated. Aling Tea was totally devastated. From then on her mother “erased” him from her memory and that of her children. Goryo’s mother told me that she considered him dead. Goryo too, considers him dead. But she knows that when he really died she will be the one to bury him. So that’s why she’s so bitter, I’d said to my self.

In jest, Goryo asked his mother what she’ll do if ever the “Other One” came to his father’s wake or funeral. Aling Tea said with those laser eyes of her that, there will be no hair left on the Other One’s pate if she ever dared visit him. Our conversation went through the night, and one by one the clan, Goryo’s sibling arrived. I’ve said my hello to them and at 9:00 P.M. I said my goodbye.

I only went to Funeraria Angelina on the last night before the funeral, telling my wife that I will be sleeping at the Funeraria, since I want to be there when the body is finally laid to rest. It was my first glimpse of Goryo’s father, and he looks almost exactly like Goryo. There’s simply no denying it.

At about 8:00 P.M. there was a brown out. We are about to light some candles and then suddenly, there’s this Pajero that stopped in front of the Funeraria.

Three women stepped out, one of them is old and the other two looks like they’re in their early thirties. Then Goryo said to me, “Let’s get out, I don’t want to see this.” “What?” I’ve replied. Just then Aling Tea rose from her seat, went down the center isle as if to block the three women. As my eyes adjusted to the darkness, I could see Aling Tea stopped in the middle, the old lady whom I presumed as the Other One stopped also as if contemplating what she’ll do next, and as if preparing for the strong slap and Goryo saying “Dyos Ko!” in a loud whisper.

What happened next was too much to bear….

Aling Tea wailed. Aling Tea suddenly gave the Other One a tight hug, and then they were just there, for a long time, in an embrace, a lock. The two other women were sobbing, and trying to hold Aling Tea’s hand to put on their forehead. And then there was this gang of bodies in the aisle, all crying, all wanting to be in that embrace. Goryo was there, too.

As I’ve said the event was too much to bear. I went out took a cigarette, trying to light it up with a match that seems foggy to me and could not. I walked further, and then decided to go home. I got tears.

I did not go to the funeral the next day.

Why did I tell you this story?

Tomorrow, August 5, 2009, Tita Cory will be buried. For all I know, she is the greatest leader of the Philippines in my lifetime. She is a leader of integrity and honesty. She is a leader who reconciled this country that has suffered from cronyism, censorship and corruption. To me her term is marked with the utmost mission to reconcile each and every one’s difference be it from your own neighbor to the politician’s ever changing loyalty to different parties. It’s about time that we’d be loyal to the country instead. We are all Filipino’s we should love our country, get it, and love thy enemies.

I don’t know why, but it seems that the remaining Aquino clan is bent on ignoring the current president pass of reconciliation if ever she attends Tita Cory’s wake or funeral. But as far as I am concerned, when I was young I know a very bitter woman, whose husband left her, who is bent in vengeance and hatred but in the end, learned to forgive.

To the Aquino clan, I do believe that your mother, our Tita Cory wants the same.

Panunumpa ng Kawani ng Gobyerno

noreply@blogger.com (othello) — Wed, 01 Jul 2009 06:52:00 +0000

Ako’y Kawani ng Gobyerno
Tungkulin ko ang maglingkod nang tapat at mahusay.
Dahil dito…
Ako’y papasok ng maaga at magtratrabaho ng lampas sa
takdang oras kung kinakailangan;
Magsisilbi ako nang magalang at mabilis sa lahat ng
nangangailangan;
Pangangalagaan ko ang mga gamit, kasangkapan at iba
pang pag-aari ng pamahalaan;
Magiging pantay at makatarungan ang pakikitungo ko sa
mga lumalapit sa aming tanggapan;

Magasasalita ako laban sa katiwalian at pagsasamantala;
Hindi ko gagamitin ang aking panunungkulan sa sarili kong
kapakanan;

Hindi ako hihingi o tatanggap ng suhol;
Sisikapin kong madagdagan ang aking talino at kakayahan
upang ang antas ng paglilingkod sa bayan ay patuloy na
maitaas.
Sapagkat ako’y kawani ng gobyerno, tungkulin ko ang
maglingkod ng tapat at mahusay sa bayan ko.
At sa panahong ito, ako at ang aking mga kapwa kawani ay
kailangan tungo sa maunlad, masagana at mapayapang
Pilipinas.
Sa harap ninyong lahat, ako’y taos-pusong nanunumpa.

You raise your hand and recited the above…

You look around and saw the driver who is now a “floater” because he told something bad but true about a higher official, raising his hand half-heartedly.

You look around and saw the higher official you’ve seen filling a company vehicle with boxes of “bagoong” in Dagupan last Sunday while you’re on your way to Manaoag, raising his hands proudly with solemnity.

“It’s not the recital nor memorizing the Panunumpa, it’s practicing its essence”, you say to your self…

And asked

“Should I attend this monthly ‘show’?”

According to the Civil Service Guy from the seminar in Clark PolyTech

“Magsasalita….” damn if you do, damn if you don’t

“Hindi ko…” the chief complaint of government employees is the unauthorized use of government vehicle by public official

My simple solution ---> Change the “FOR OFFICIAL USE ONLY” stickers to “FOR OFFICIAL ABUSE ONLY” Problem Solved Di Ba? Di pa halata at malamang di nyo nakita

Lighten Up and Hope you guys take this little sarcasm constructively

God Bless Us All

Oti

Who Let The Blog Out?

noreply@blogger.com (othello) — Wed, 10 Dec 2008 22:52:00 +0000

The first blog I ever published was in December 9, 2004 at www.blogdrive.com. I entitled it "Coalition of the Deceived", (note the wrong spelling). It only have one lousy paragraph and if you dare, read it here The T.O. Mga Bagay Bagay na Kailangang Tuunin ng Pansin. In the beginning it was good, but then I have trouble posting at blogdrive and searched for a permanent home for my blog. In the end, I made blogger.com its permanent home. Why? Not only is it free, but look at all those gadgets and widgets and add-ons and when run within firefox you could add more puddings like Zemanta, Clipmarks, Firebug, Fireshots and best of all etcetera, etcetera. There seems to be no end.

However, sometimes you just wonder, what was it like when blog has no icing and pudding? What was the first blog, how does it look, who first wrote it? I was told that the first web log (as it was called then) was made by a U.S. soldier in the first gulf war as a memoir for his family to read if ever he gets to buy the farm. Well, it was not so...

The first genuine true, red blooded blogger is Dr. Glen Barry , a tree hugger (like me), way back in 1993. He's credited as the inventor of web blog for which he is deeply sorry. I dunno why should he be sorry, but come to think of it we bloggers should inundate him with thanks. Come to think of it, not only us bloggers but also those ads publisher/aggregrators/affiliaters/tors like Adsense, Adbrite, Kontera, Chitika, Amazon, Adtoll, etc., should join the fray. Podcasters and feeders also.

And that's about it, do visit these links please for more info:

The world's first blog entry
The oldest blog in the world
The world's first blogger

or just visit this: History of Blogging which will take you furthur.

Moro-Moro: Is the Job Hring Process Just a Stage Play?

noreply@blogger.com (othello) — Sun, 30 Nov 2008 10:37:00 +0000

Moro-moro is an outdoor stage play once popular in the Philippines which depicts the battle between Muslim Filipinos, called Moros and their Christian counterpart. It is normally played during a town fiesta. The play may run for 3 consecutive nights consisting of 5 to 6 hour performance per day. However long the play may be, with various intertwining plot and complexity, in the end, the Christians emerge as the winner. Stage play. Stage play...

If my memory serves me right, it was in 2006 when our company, Clark Development Corporation, hired U.P. Professor, Dr. Virgel C. Binghay to conduct among other things, job evaluation and staffing patterns of CDC. Many personnel were interviewed by Dr. Binghay's entourage, all pinning hope that somehow the discrepancy, disparity and polarity in the work force will now just simply vanish and that everyone will be properly commensurated as to the technical degree of one's job. So on and so fort.

Binghay's work was never published by the CDC Management. The employees never knew what happened to it. Many speculate that management does not like the outcome of the study because it, it, it ah ah .... Let me put it this way. There are employees here who are licensed practitioner that somehow not properly compensated, there are employees here who's jobs are so plainly clerical but are overwhelmingly compensated. There are engineers, CPA's, and the like who have to endure licensure examinations and has extensive job records being plastered by a person who's main qualification is that he or she is well connected.

In CDC we have this panel called Selection and Promotions Committee (SPC) in charge of interviewing personnel for job promotions whenever a slot is opened. More often than not, the employees are reluctant to apply for the job opening because, most often than not, the job opening already had a person to occupy it. The SPC is just a moro-moro as they say.

Here you are in front of the panel, knowing you are well qualified, you are a licensed CPA, you've worked in bank for three years, have been in an auditing firm with high caliber lawyers during your OJT and neophyte years and now here you are.

After two weeks, you've recieved a memo from HRD saying that you did not get the job. You've called HR and asked who bagged the job and they tell you, and then you now knew. He's.... Well, moro-moro. The simple adage is so true. It is not what you know, it's whom you know. Welcome to our company.

That's just Scene One, my dear dudes and dudettes. Here's Scene Two:

You are at the front desk, recieving documents being delivered by walk-in clients. There on your left side sits ten people who were applying for a job. At your back is an open air cubicle designed as the interviewing room for the job opening. You could hear every word they are saying. Somebody from the room came out and called the first person whom you've been talking for some while. As she've entered the room shouts of "Congratulations!", "Blow out na!", "No need to interview!".

You cringe and the 9 sitting people cringe for they hear what you are hearing, you tried to block the din of celebration from your ear, you've blushed. A while later, 5 of them went out in disgust. The remaining 4 apparently decided to go forward with the interview. A futile effort. A day later as you sit at your front desk, the winner gave you a plate of spaghetti in celebration for her victory. You are hungry and want to eat it, but somehow you feel that it may just create a lump on your throat. You gave it to the utility man.

And lastly, you've got a wisp that the man they've hired for the loan processor post doesn't even know how to open a worksheet much less operate a computer. What's his main qualification? He's a confidant of a past VIP!

I could go on and on and on and tell you up to nine more scenes from my inventory coming from many victims, but will stop since I think I already proved my point. The hiring process is just a Moro-moro show as many employees sees it. The SPC is nothing more but a formality committee to comply with the collective bargaining agreement between the corporation and the union as majority of the employees sees it.

Some solutions that have been suggested by the employees themselves are as follows;

Disband SPC and any hiring committee. Just let the department head or whomever just pick anybody he/she wants. This will surely eliminate competition, will ensure that there will be no hurt feelings among those truly qualified and the manager and whomever gets what he/she wants (and what he deserves).
Outsource the hiring process. There are recruitment firms out there who's job is to get the best person for the job, let anybody from the company or outside the company to apply to that recruitment firm. The honchos of CDC then should inhibit themselves from influencing the outcome of the firm, respect the firm's finding (smells like Binghay) and what well have surely will be the most qualified person CDC money could buy.
Treat the hiring process like a Diving Competition. (I like this one because it was my own. Nadia Comaneci, and Greg Louganis comes o mind) - Put the interview panel in a viewing room, similar to a police interrogation room, give them score cards, while representatives from the union and other association are at the outside to view what's happening in the room. Call a candidate, let the panel interview him, after the interview, each panel member pick one score card show it to those people outside, and the representatives will be the one to give the final average score. Say there are six people on the panel and they score it as 10, 9.5, 9.0, 9.0, 10, 8.75. Eliminate one of the top score and the lowest score (10 and 8.75) then get the average of the remaining 4 scores. That's 9.38. It will be quick and very very transparent, right? Catch 22 - those inside the room should not be allowed to talk to each other.

So on and so forth.

Clark Development Corporation's Vision statement runs like this,

"To be the most competitive international service and logistics center in the Southeast Asian Region"

I believe that to be true to our vision we should have the right employees for the job. The most qualified employees should get the job. Favoritism, Padrino and Accomodation should go. Don't let the corporation suffer because of your indulgence.

I am getting that condescending feeling again. Was it because I am about to dive into the quagmire called Interview Process?

Strange Coincidence

noreply@blogger.com (othello) — Fri, 21 Nov 2008 10:48:00 +0000

A few entries back I had compared two cataclysmic events that happened in the Philippines which made a major impact on the Philippines in terms of lives, properties and a thriving economy lost. It’s weird when two natural disaster happened one day, one month and one year apart, ain’t it? Well I got another Strange Coincidence for you.

I am on a two day leave and was kinda bored from not doing anything. There’s nothing to repair around the house. It’s raining and nothing to do but read. I was poring over the bookshelf to re-read something. That’s boring too, since I know the endings of these books right? So I decided to make a little game to myself. Get a book then Google it. Did it made it to a bestsellers list? Did the author made a bestseller? If he did scout it out. Closed my eyes and pulled one….

Starship Troopers. Okay, I‘ve read this book about three or four times. It’s about an interstellar war between humans and giant insects in a planet called Klendathu, so on and so forth. And did you know that the main character, Johnnie Rico, was a Filipino? That one of his heroes is Ramon Magsaysay? Three leaves from the last page of the book (pocketbook, actually) he was looking at those battleships and said,

[Book excerpt]

“There ought to be one named Magsaysay.”

Bennie said, “What?”

“Ramon Magsaysay, Great man, great soldier – probably be chief of psychological warfare if he were alive today. Didn’t you ever study any history?”….

[Book excerpt ends]

Searched it from Google which landed me to this Wiki… Starship Troopers was awarded the Hugo Awards in 1960. Hugo is the Oscars, or the Grammy or the Emmy Awards for science fiction novels. Need I say more?

Let’s go back to the disaster and Strange Coincidence thing.

Ramon Magsaysay was the third president of the Philippine Republic. Before becoming the president, he was a mechanic, and then a Guerilla soldier, then a Congressman, and then becoming the Secretary of National Defence. He was the one responsible for the surrender of the Hukbalahaps. He was loved by his people.

He was the first man to wear the Barong Tagalog on his Oath of Office when others before him wore the two piece tuxedo of the Americans, Amerkana as we call it. He opened the doors of Malacanang to the Masses.

Magsaysay came from the province of Zambales, the same one where Mt. Pinatubo is located.
In March 16, 1957 after visiting three schools in Cebu, he boarded his presidential plane to go back to Manila. He never arrived. A day later it was reported that the C-47 airplane crashed on Mt. Manunggal in Cebu. Only one of the 26 passengers (including its crew) survived.

The Presidential Plane is named “Mt. Pinatubo”.

Size and Perspective

noreply@blogger.com (othello) — Mon, 10 Nov 2008 19:58:00 +0000

History Channel is the only station I watch on TV. Okay, I am also partial to the Cartoon Network, but beat me, I never tire of Tom and Jerry. National Geography, I like also.

The History Channel is one great channel that I will never ever tire of watching. It kinda make you relive past times like the making of the Pyramids, the conquest of Alexander, the fall of Pompeii, and those Dog Fights, cool as in WOW! Two nights ago, I've watched the Battle of Manila and saw how the residents in Manila lived during the war. How did some people die? They die because they are always in the line of fire. They watched as if it is just a movie. They are in front of it. So much for that.

Now, one more thing I like about HC is the description of size. How large are the Pyramids? How high is the Zeus statue? How long is the Great Wall? The Forbidden City? To tell you frankly I don't see it. I mean, this thing is this big it says and though I could imagine it, I don't kind of "feel" it. So the question lingers on my mind.... How big is "BIG"? Size and perspective, got to know.

Let's see I got Google Earth here. And browsed for the Parade Ground which is fronting our office.

View Larger Map

Above is the Parade Ground of Clark Freeport Zone (do pan to center the image) . And it measures about 900 meters on the long side and 280 meters on the short side. Here's how it look "upright".

It takes about 20 minutes to walk its perimeter I was told and someday I would try walking it too, clockwise, so I could meet those joggers and walkers who somehow by freak of nature, jogs and walks it counterclockwise, never meeting and just seeing each others behinds.

Now, why's it that I put that picture above? Look at the picture below.

Know what that is? That ladies and ladies' men is the Forbidden City of China. It measures at 961 meters by 753 meters. One of the greatest structures ever made, and this is the one which triggered me to find out how big is "big" in a good perspective. How's that?

Here...

That yellow outline you see is the perimeter of the Parade Ground in comparison with the Forbidden City's. That about size it up doesn't it. Let's make another way to look at it.

tah daaahhnn....

About three Parade Grounds could fit inside the Forbidden City.

Walk it?

Spore

noreply@blogger.com (othello) — Wed, 29 Oct 2008 21:30:00 +0000

I am more of a First Person Shooter kind of gamer. You know like, Doom series, Serious Sam series, FEAR, Far Cry and the Tombraider Series which is more of a Third Person. I've also played some classic strategies like Battle Realms, Command and Conquer and many a point and click games. Before buying (or downloading) them I always look for any reviews from Gamespot, IGN and the like. How they rate them, how actual players rate them and of course look at their specs and system requirements. Sometimes, just to play them I ended up upgrading some parts. Most notably graphics card. I mean Doom 3 could be played with a 64 bit 128 Mb graphics card, but playing FEAR with that kind of card is a no-no. Right now I got a 512 MB iChill GPU. Three months from now this will be an antique, right?

Now, Spore which was announced centuries ago just came out on September. To tell you frankly I was intrigued about this game because it was like one of those Cecil B. DeMille films which took years and years in production then coming out with a Big Bang. Spore came out with a Big Bang itself. The DRM Big Bang. DRM just keeps bothering people. They say that it was like buying the game and not actually owning it, it got a built-in spyware and it's a three strike your out installation. Despite that, EA Games sold millions.

I played it over the weekend and I am now on the space age, and "Look Ma, no save!!!". Now I have to ride the spaceship again, and again and again. That's just about it. Gone is you from the hard drive.

But then, my 8 year old daughter, after a long stay in the hospital, played Spore and she just loved it. She likes what she calls the Nemo (Cell) stage and keeps on repeating it, changing her creature with 5 eyes, 2 mouths, 3 thorns, endless I say. What she likes the most is the Creature stage. In fact she never goes any further than this. Roaming the land, picking bits of bones, befriending some creatures. Evolving. When she already finished roaming the land and gaining intelligence and friends and the game's prompting you that you could now evolved to the next level, she just save it, pick another planet and here she goes again.

She now got 5 creatures on 5 planets.

As I watched her play, I've noticed that the mini map only got smiling smileys and no skull and bones smileys. Asked her why. She said it is easier to make friends (3 creatures) than making enemies (5 to 7 creatures) and you die in a fight. Friends could join you on your quest to find new friends. Dead creatures don't.

Simple and primitive reason. Spore stays on the computer. Spore is now on the 8710w Mobile Workstation. 1 strike left.

Rise of Rice Price

noreply@blogger.com (othello) — Sat, 25 Oct 2008 10:36:00 +0000

[ad lib] This had been written many months ago, but I was so busy doing something close to nothing, but different than the day before – Raspberry Beret by Prince

Gas price keeps getting higher. Fare is getting higher. Carbon emission is getting higher. Lots of country are doing their best to minimize the impact of high fuel price and are doing lots of research for biofuels.

It was about a year ago when one of our senators balked at the idea to make food crops as biofuels. Said she was worried that this might mean decrease in food shortage for the whole country.

Today, our country has both. High fuel price and high food price, particularly rice. Why? They say that we have a rice shortage. That's really a come on. I mean, the Philippines having a rice shortage?

February of this year we have a long queue of people lining up to purchase rice from NFA (National Food Authority) at Php 18.00 per kilo, and each person is only allowed to purchase two kilos. There were tempers, shoving and some hair pulling on that daily queue which has lasted till September.

Back to the question. Do we really have a rice shortage?

One colleague of mine says that there is no shortage. It was just some way to divert our attention from the ZTE Deal. Another one whose wife works for the NFA says that harvest is plenty but the rice warehouse are almost always empty. Another one who once worked for the Pampanga Agro-Industrial Development Fund (PAIDF) says there's plenty really, but the harvest goes to some rice cartel.

Let's concentrate on the latter two.

Harvest a-plenty, warehouse a-empty, cartels' a-richy

And it goes a little something like this... hit it!

I plant rice, I need fertilizer, I've not much money. I borrowed from Mr. Yu for fertilizer with high interest because nobody else would dare lend me. So comes a time when I could barely pay. Mr Yu say he'll accept my harvest as payment. Comes harvest time and all I have left is 20 cavans for myself, this I trade to neighbors. Could not even sell some to the market. P.S. Mr. Yu is a fertilizer dealer, they say he had this big rice warehouse deeply camouflage.
I plant rice, I once had a three carabaos which I sold and then bought a mechanized hand tractor. Fuel price goes up, the tractor needs repair. I miss the carabaos which goes 1,000 kilometers on free grass. P.S. I live in a very remote barrio.
I plant rice, I sell to NFA, but then this Mr. Yu came and gave me a better deal. You see, the NFA pays me in check with lot's of deduction imbedded and then I have to go to this bank at San Fernando, about 48 kilometers away just to encash it. A lot of times there were too many people in the bank that I end up spending the whole day for it.

Such a waste of time,

Mr. Yu gives prime,

Mr. Yu got mine,

Now I got more time.

P.S. I wasn't the only one.

4 above is intentionally left blank, go fill it. Even give a 5 or 6 on the list. Many of them farmers also sold their land to "Land Developers" or "Site Developers" or "Mall Makers" because of varying and many reasons like to pay for education or somebody's going to work abroad or simply nobody's acquired farming skills or nobody's wanted to be a farmer no more. Hey what have you...

Anyway, here's....

Popular Mechanics' Top 50 Inventions of the Past 50 Years

(published in December 2005)

1955--TV REMOTE CONTROL

1955--MICROWAVE OVEN

1957--BIRTH-CONTROL PILL

1958--JET AIRLINER

1959--FLOAT GLASS

1961--CORDLESS TOOLS

1961--INDUSTRIAL ROBOT

1962--COMMUNICATIONS SATELLITE

1962—LED

1964--UNMANNED AERIAL VEHICLES

1964--MUSIC SYNTHESIZER

1966--HIGH-YIELD RICE

1969--SMOKE DETECTOR

1969--CHARGE-COUPLED DEVICE

1970--DIGITAL MUSIC

1971--WAFFLE-SOLE RUNNING SHOES

1972--ELECTRONIC IGNITION

1973—MRI

1978—GPS

1981--SCANNING TUNNELING MICROSCOPE

1984--DNA FINGERPRINTING

1985--POLYMERASE CHAIN REACTION

1987—PROZAC

1998--GENETIC SEQUENCING

1998--MP3 PLAYER

2002--IEEE 802.16

Notice anything?

In 1966, the International Rice Research Institute (IRRI) in Los Banos, Laguna developed a high yield dwarf rice which contributed to 20% rise in food production worldwide. Worldwide – a great contribution for humanity and it came from the Philippines.

Miracle Rice it was called. The first breed was called IR8 then IR9 up to IR16 and then some sprucing and interbreeding. The Green Revolution started and there was once a government program called Masagana 99. They had invited all nations interested to adopt this breed to their own land and thus curve out famine and malnutrition and everything in between. We have shared the technology to the world. And we have surplus yield. We were once the Number 1 exporter of rice in the whole wide webbed world.

It's a pity that we are now the Number 1 importer of its siblings.

Come to think of it the ZTE deal simply banished.

some reading: Palay, Bigas, Kanin, Popular Mechanics

WHY I LIVE IN THE PHILIPPINES

noreply@blogger.com (othello) — Wed, 21 May 2008 04:01:00 +0000

[adlib] this came from an email

When I travel, people often ask me why I live in the Philippines ?

Well here it is...It is the only place on earth where......

1.. Every street has a basketball court.
2. Even doctors, lawyers and engineers are unemployed.
3. Doctors study to become nurses for employment abroad.
4. Students pay more money than they will earn afterwards.
5. School is considered the second home and the mall considered the third.
6. Call-center employees earn more money than teachers and nurses.
7. Everyone has his personal ghost story and superstition.
8. Mountains like Makiling and Banahaw are considered holy places.
9. Everything can be forged.
10. All kinds of animals are edible.
11. Starbucks coffee is more expensive than gas.
12. Driving 4 kms can take as much as four hours.
13. Flyovers bring you from the freeway to the side streets.
14. Crossing the street involves running for your dear life.
15. The personal computer is mainly used for games and Friendster.
16. Where colonial mentality is dishonestly denied!
17. Where 4 a.m. is not even considered bedtime yet.
18. People can pay to defy the law.
19. Everything and everyone is spoofed.
20. Where even the poverty-stricken get to wear Ralph Lauren and Tommy Hilfiger 21. The honking of car horns is a way of life.
22. Being called a bum is never offensive.
23. Floodwaters take up more than 90 percent of the streets during the rainy season.
24. Where everyone has a relative abroad who keeps them alive.
25. Where wearing your national colors make you baduy.
26. Where even the poverty-stricken have the latest cell phones , (GSM-galing sa magnanakaw) 27. Where insurance does not work.
28. Where water can only be classified as tap and dirty.
29. Clean water is for sale (35 pesos per gallon).
30. Where the government makes the people pray for miracles. (Amen to that!) 31. Where University of the Philippines where all the weird people go.
32. Ateneo is where all the nerds go.
33. La Salle is where all the Chinese go.
34. College of Saint Benilde is where all the stupid Chinese go and;

35. University of Asia and the Pacific is where all the irrelevantly rich people go..
36. Fast food is a diet meal.
37. Traffic signs are merely suggestions, not regulations.
38. Where being mugged is normal and It happens to everyone.
39. Rodents are normal house pets.
40. The definition of traffic is the 'non-movement' of vehicles.
41. Where the fighter planes of the 1940s are used for military engagements and; 42. The new fighter planes are displayed in museums.
43. Where cigarettes and alcohol are a necessity, and where the lottery is a commodity.
44.. Where soap operas tell the realities of life and where the news provides the drama.
45. Where actors make the rules and where politicians provide the entertainment.
46. People can get away with stealing trillions of pesos but not a thousand.
47. Where being an hour late is still considered punctual (Grabe talaga 'to!) 48. Where the squatters have more to complain (even if they do not pay their tax) - than those employed and have their tax automatically deducted f0100rom their salaries.
49. And where everyone wants to leave t1he country!

FILIPINO STORE SIGNS

1. A sign in a flower shop in Diliman called Petal Attraction.

2. Anita Bakery

3. A 24-hour restaurant called Doris Day & Night

4. Barber shop called Felix The Cut;

5. A bakery named Bread Pitt

6. Fast-food place selling 'maruya' (banana fritters) called Maruya Carey.

7. Then, there is Christopher Plumbing

8. A boutique called The Way We Wear

9. A video rental shop called Leon King Video Rental

10. A restaurant in Cainta district of Rizal called Caintacky Fried Chicken

11. A local burger restaurant called Mang Donald's

12. A doughnut shop called MacDonuts

13. A shop selling 'lumpia' (egg roll) in Makati called Wrap and Roll

14. And two butcher shops called Meating Place and Meatropolis.

Smart travelers can decipher what may look like baffling signs to
unaccustomed foreigners by simply sounding out the 'Taglish' (The
Philippine version of English words spelled and pronounced with a heavy Filipino such as:

15. At a restaurant menu in Cebu 'We hab sopdrink in can an in batol'
[translation: We have soft drinks in can and in bottle].

16. Then, there is a sewing accessories shop called Bids And Pises -
[translation: Beads and Pieces --or-- Bits and Pieces]

There are also many signs with either badly chosen or misspelled words but
they are usually so entertaining that it would be a mistake to 'correct'
them like.......

17. In a restaurant in Baguio City , the 'summer capital' of the
Philippines : ' Wanted: Boy Waitress'

18. On a highway in Pampanga: 'We Make Modern Antique Furniture'

19. On the window of a photography shop in Cabanatuan : 'We Shoot You While
You Wait'

20. And on the glass front of a cafe in Panay Avenue in Manila : 'Wanted:
Waiter, Cashier, Washier'.

Some of the notices can even give a wrong impression such as:

21. A shoe store in Pangasinan which has a sign saying: 'We Sell Imported
Robber Shoes' (these could be the 'sneakiest' sneakers);

22. A rental property sign in Jaro reads: 'House For Rent, Fully Furnaced'
(it must really be hot inside)!

23. Occasionally, one could come across signs that are truly unique - if
not altogether odd. City in southern Philippines which said: 'Adults: 1
peso; Child: 50 centavos; Cadavers: fare subject to negotiation' .

24. European tourists may also be intrigued to discover two competing shops
selling hopia (a Chinese pastry) called Holland Hopia and Poland Hopia -
which are owned and operated by two local Chinese entrepreneurs, Mr. Ho and
Mr. Po respectively - (believe it or not)!

25. Some folks also 'creatively' redesign English to be more efficient.
'The creative confusion between language and culture leads to more than
just simple unintentional errors in syntax, but in the adoption of new
words, 'says reader Robert Goodfellow who came across a sign .....House
Fersallarend' (house for sale or rent). Why use five words when two will do?

26. According to Manila businessman, Tonyboy Ongsiako, there is so much wit
in the Philippines because 'We are a country where a good sense of humor
is needed to survive'. We have a 24-hour comedy show here called the
government and a huge reserve of comedians made up mostly of politicians
and bad actors.

Now I ask you where else in the world would one want to live

Technorati tags: Philippines, cellphones

RPG Characters Paying Tribute

noreply@blogger.com (othello) — Fri, 07 Mar 2008 05:06:00 +0000

Gary Gygax, the creater of the first ever role playing game (RPG) died earlier this month. Gygax is the creater of Dungeons and Dragons, a tabletop board game which has inspired the modern Fantasy RPG we play today on computers and game consoles. More could be said about him and his influence on the computer gaming community, but I leave the reader to explore more about him and his work.

A digital memorial was organized by the gaming community, Sarlona to honor him. A memorial inside a video game. The battlefields were quiet, all warriors gathered at the Temple of the Sovereign Host, and "Amazing Grace" was sung via voice chat.

Witness the memorial here: Sarlona holds Gygax memorial

Technorati tags: Gygax, Dungeons, Dragons, Sarlona, RPG