Village Idiot Savant

Mindanao ToyCon 2013 #2

2013-05-09T22:38:00.002+08:00

Mindanao ToyCon 2013 #1

2013-05-09T22:37:00.002+08:00

Last Minute Thoughts on the Senate Race

2013-05-03T22:51:00.001+08:00

Here's something I never thought I'd be doing on a Friday night: I'm trawling Youtube for interviews of senatorial candidates for the upcoming elections. With the polls just a little over a week away, it's like cramming for an exam. It's not that late, though, and there is still a bit of time. At least by now most of the study material has been put together for me to sift through.

Why do I care all of a sudden? I'd always thought of myself as apolitical. I've taken pride in that self-assessment, too. I suppose like many I've held to the sentiment that, no matter what I do, nothing will really change. Lately, I've come to realize though, that attitude bespeaks a lack of hope. And without hope, all we can do is cruise along and so, yes, nothing will really change.

More than that, there are also developments that have made me change my mind.

In the main, the alignments of the candidates aren't quite as polarized as they were in the past few elections. That's because we don't have a figure as divisive as a Gloria Macapagal Arroyo. That means that real issues can bubble to the surface of the political discussion.

We're seeing new faces in this election. In fact, there are more first-time senatorial candidates than veterans. To be sure, some are riding on the coattails of the family name, but that doesn't seem to confer any true advantage.

And we're also seeing young faces, too. More than half of the candidates are below sixty, many of them really much younger than that. That they're new and young gives me the hope that they won't just be the traditional politicians that their forebears were.

Finally, we have non-aligned candidates who don't appear to have just been plucked from the lunatic fringe. They have respectable credentials and novel but not wholly implausible ideas for moving the country forward. It's doubtful that they'll win this time, but the fact that they're participating gives me hope that they'll gain some traction in the future.

A few months ago, I thought I'd only choose one or two names for my senate choices. I still don't think I'll fill in all slots, but now I'm actually looking at at least half. As I'm doing my research on the candidates and listening to their responses, both what they're saying and how they're saying it, I'm beginning to see things to admire.

Will my vote affect the outcome? Of course! And yours does, too. That's why you should go out and vote.

Rough Bumps on the Road to Political Maturity

2013-04-27T00:41:00.002+08:00

In preparation for the upcoming May election, Ateneo de Davao organized a voter education program called BlueVote. Most of our college students are of voting age, and almost all of them first time voters, too.

Can a voter education program make a difference? Does it even matter? At a time when political dynasties render election results fait accompli, BlueVote does come across a little quixotic. Cynics can sneer at such idealism, but then again, cynics never did make a change in the world.

Thus far, BlueVote's banner activities have consisted of a senatorial candidates forum and an electoral survey. As election day draws near, Ateneo will likely take part in poll watch groups as well.

While a senatorial forum sounds impressive, the rest of the world would probably laugh at the turnout. None of the leading candidates graced the event, and only Teddy Casino had any real name recognition among the six who came. I'm not even sure that we had media coverage for the forum.

Our electoral survey drew more interest, but for the wrong reasons. That led me to think that, even in mass media, we're still a long ways off from political maturity.

The BlueVote survey covered some 2,300 students and faculty, and 500 non-teaching staff. We asked, of course, who they would likely vote into the senatorial, congressional, and local positions. But we wanted it to go beyond just a mock vote, so we added questions on issues, influences, and preferences.

We got some pretty good results, too. For instance, we learned that, among the students and faculty, the Internet and social networking sites were a leading source of information for candidates and platforms; for our non-teaching staff, radio took its place.

Consistently for both groups, the main concerns had to do with the environment, access to education, health care, and graft and corruption. They preferred political leaders who were aware of the situation, had good track records with projects, and who were firm in implementing the law.

Perhaps strangely, charisma didn't figure much in the qualities of leaders they sought. They wouldn't vote for candidates just because of their family names, but they didn't strongly object to political dynasties either.

Our public presentation of the survey results drew reporters from the TV stations and the local papers. None of the findings I outlined above made it to any of the news articles the following day. Our survey made the front page headlines, yes, but only the parts about which candidates would take the top slots.

Yup, so much for moving beyond the politics of personality.

Fiction is Dead

2013-04-20T01:13:00.002+08:00

Fiction is dead.

For the longest time it had been holding on to tenuous life, a shadow of its former self. I went on with the hope that through some miracle it might recover. This week, I finally had to admit it was really and truly dead.

Fiction died in that bomb blasts that struck the Boston Marathon, the same bombs that killed three people, including an 8-year-old boy. Bombs are designed to kill, but these ones' aim were foremost to maim, and that they did. Runners crossing that finish line one moment; the next, under surgeons' instruments for amputation of their legs.

These aren't the first bombs to go off, and these unfortunately won't be the last. Compared to the destruction of the diabolical imagination that spawned 9/11, a piddling pittance. No match either for the bombs that rained down in Iraq, or Afghanistan, or from the suicide vests in the crowded marketplaces there.

But Boston's were without peer for malice of intent. The bombs were meant not to destroy the body but the spirit. They were meant not to deal mortal blows but moral blows.

Fiction is the outlet for our insanity. Fiction is supposed to show us what might happen so that we can be thankful that they do not. Fiction strikes a kind of moral blow but only by means of feints. Fiction is vaccination. shows us what evil man might conceive so that we might be ready and on guard.

Fiction failed in Boston. All the writers had us looking in the way of dirty nukes, airborne viruses, poisoned water supplies, and antimatter supercolliders. Reality stepped in with a modified household appliance, ball bearings, and nails. Reality, so banal, yet so cruel, and so deadly.

Fiction would have us picture a grizzled hero, working against the system and against time to stop such a tragedy. Our hero would have taken a few spills only to rise up each time. Near the climax, he would come so close to failing, the bad guy just out of reach, until, at the very last moment, he manages to snatch victory by a hair's breadth.

No such heroes here. And when they capture the perpetrators of the Boston bombings, they won't find criminal masterminds. They'll find, instead, some loser with a cause, who just happened to find the recipe for destruction from the Internet.

Fiction is dead because reality has encroached and intruded, has shown our outrageous imagined evils to be so inadequate. Can we ever really read thrillers the same way again?

In this same week: a woman was charged with prostituting her nine-year-old daughter, an doctor is on trial for killing seven babies who survived his abortions, New Zealand has legalized same-sex marriage, and a Texas fertilizer plant explosion levelled the entire town.

And Justin Bieber muses that Anne Frank would have been a belieber.

Bungie Jumping from the Bangkerohan Bridge

2013-04-05T22:36:00.002+08:00

Something is broken inside of me. It was either from exercising too much, or from working too long on the computer, or from playing too many video games. Whatever it was I did, I slipped a disc in my neck and pinched a nerve. And with that, I entered a world of chronic pain down my shoulder and my arm.

To ease the pain somewhat, I've taken to wearing a soft collar brace. If I keep my neck positioned at just the right angle, it doesn't hurt so much. The soft collar brace, just under P500 from a medical supply store, is surprisingly warm and toasty, not at all constricting as I first expected.

But then come the strange looks and the inevitable question: what happened to you?

Armed with new words in my medical vocabulary, I first tried the straightforward answer. "Cervical spondylosis with radiculopathy." Invariably the reply: "Excuse me? What?"

So rather than go through long explanations, I've just decided to have fun with it. Here are some variations I thought up.

1. The Fashion Statement. "Oh, this? This is all the rage among the fashionable young. Soon everyone will be wearing these collars."

2. The Unfashion Statement. "Sure it looks ugly, but it's very comfortable. It keeps my neck warm. Would you like to try?"

3. The Vanity Card I. "It's a new beauty treatment. I want to have a long and graceful swan-like neck."

4. The Vanity Card II. "This is to get rid of my double chin. You should try it."

5. The Twilight. "When I woke up this morning, I had two bite marks in my neck."

6. The Whiplash. "There was this real sexy girl that passed by, see? Yeah, she was that sexy."

7. The Oaf. "I was too slow getting inside the elevator."

8. The Daredevil I. "Skydiving last weekend. My chute didn't open."

9. The Daredevil II. "I went bungie jumping on the Bangkerohan Bridge." (Surprisingly this received many credulous responses.)

10. The Ex-President. "You know that neck problem GMA has? Same thing."

The last explanation, by the way, is the shortest and most correct one. To which most people will reply with a wink, "Aaah, sakit mayaman."

Yeah, smart alecks are annoying. I think I'll just stick with my bungie jumping story in the future.

The Last Semester

2013-03-23T17:44:00.004+08:00

By rights I should be checking papers instead of banging out this piece. But there are only four more essays to check, and I know, more or less, the quality of work my students will turn in. Besides, my Creative Nonfiction class is small, only nine students, and computing the grades will be short work with the spreadsheet. I turned in the grades for my other class, Advanced Programming with Python, earlier in the week; and so there's really just the grades for this class to submit. Then that's it. The end of the semester, the end of the school year, and summer to look forward to.

The past semester has been the best so far. Owing to administrative duties that somehow fell on my lap, I ended up teaching only 8 units instead of the required 21. With the reduced lecture load, each week didn't wear me out as much as the previous semesters. And then, I've also got my workflow down pat, so that -- believe it or not -- I don't have to check quizzes or keep track of grades because I can let the computer do it for me. How's that for efficiency?

But really, the reduced load (perhaps I should say the sensible load, instead?) isn't the main reason the semester has been my best yet. It was actually the students. For both my English class and my IT class, I had students who were receptive, eager, and cooperative. They asked questions, they volunteered for projects, they turned in their assignments mostly on time. I went into the classroom with a smile, and I left the classroom with an even bigger one. Not once throughout the semester did I get upset or raise my voice. That's the benchmark for what makes a great semester.

Perhaps it's also because I've mellowed down. After five years of teaching at university, I've fleshed out my classroom philosophy. For instance, there's only so much that students can take in, so it's better that they take to heart three lessons than to cram down ten halfhearted ones they're likely to forget. Encourage rather than threaten, facilitate rather than teach. Know that, deep down, these are teens not quite yet adults, who have anxieties, confusions, and interests. That because of their youth, there are some things that they're going to be able to do better, and consequently, they too will have something to teach me.

Most of all, have fun.

I've learned to gauge the success of my classes by the output of my students. For my CNF class, several of my third-year students wrote pieces that, with just a little more tweaking, would be publishable; and they likely will be.

students produced video games: simple ones, yes, but complete with graphics, storylines, and game mechanics.

And then there's engagement outside the classroom, too. My CNF class attended workshops, poetry readings, and lectures; we ate at a pricey restaurant so they would have material for a food review. Students from my programming class, sophomores still, gave presentations at an open source event alongside seniors and industry speakers.

The biggest change I've had since I started to teaching again was, I think, learning to trust students to be able to do and to make, to not judge too harshly, and to revel in their successes. And as I give it the A's (and the B's, and sadly, yes, some C's and D's, too, but thankfully no F's), I can take joy in the thought that these, too, were my successes.

Habemus papam!

2013-03-16T04:10:00.000+08:00

When I went to bed on Wednesday night, I had no inkling that I would wake to Thursday morning to a a new pope. Habemus papam! Certainly an event of joy to Catholics at large, but packed with surprise on many levels.

One, the speed at which the election took place. The conclave started only last Monday, and by Wednesday (Rome time), the cardinals had selected the new pope. In hindsight, Benedict XVI was wise to step down when he did: the period of transition turned out to be less turbulent than in the past.

Two, the choice of pope. Cardinal Bergoglio was not in any of the frontrunners floated by the media or the betting pools, and yet, now we have him as Pope Francis. Only in hindsight do the analysts remember that he was the second strongest contender to the papacy in the 2005 election.

Three, the many firsts about the pope. Pope Francis is the first non-European pope, the first Latin American pope, and the first Jesuit pope.

Fourth, the pope himself. The profiles in the news about Pope Francis point to his quiet humility -- how as cardinal he lived in a small apartment, took the bus to work, and cooked his own meals. And now as pope, he still took the bus out of the conclave, and even took time to pay his own hotel bill!

They say that Pope Francis will be a pastoral pope. From his character it looks to be that the Church under his care will be more active in world, but at the same time contemplative and without losing sight of the Church's roots.

"We can walk all we want, we can build many things, but if we don't proclaim Jesus Christ, something is wrong. We would become a compassionate NGO and not a Church which is the bride of Christ," Pope Francis said in his first address. "He who does not pray to the Lord prays to the devil. When we don't proclaim Jesus Christ, we proclaim the worldliness of the devil, worldliness of the demon."

Now that's a forceful pope, one who won't mince his words. It looks to be we're in for a time of changes.

What's On My Android?

2013-03-12T10:50:00.002+08:00

A friend tweeted last night:

"Am a renewed Android user. What are the apps you recommend?"

Rather than respond via private email, I thought I'd put up my Android layout on this blog. Maybe it'll help out a few other folks as well.

So here's a rundown of my applications, divided into free and paid categories.

Free

Gmail. Since a lot of my online life is, for better or worse, tied to Google, it makes sense to have the Gmail app on my phone. My most recent messages are available offline, so if I ever need to check something it's there. Older messages, though, need a network connection. It's serviceable, and the reason I haven't gone to something else is because I've gotten used to it.
Car Cast. I listen to podcasts while driving. By far the best podcast feed and player out there, and that's because of its simplicity. Car Cast gets my latest podcast subscriptions -- BBC's "In Our Time with Melyvn Bragg", "Get-It-Done-Guy's Quick and Dirty Tips to Work Less and Do More", and "Geek's Guide to the Galaxy"-- and remembers exactly where I last left off. I plan to get the paid version, just because I want to support the developer.
Google Chrome. I like its interface.
Barcode Scanner. For scanning book ISBN numbers and QR-codes, for later reference.
CamScanner. By far the one app I don't want to do without. CamScanner turns my phone into a portable scanner for documents. It automatically resizes images and adjusts their brightness and contrast. The free CamScanner is limited in the number of docs you can scan, but by registering with an academic email address (.edu), you can unlock all the full version.
Dropbox. For syncing with my desktop.
Merriam-Webster Dictionary. Because I pretend I write for a living.
RealCalc. A better calculator than stock, with scientific and engineering functions. Free version available, but what I have is the paid one, which cost me $0.10 during one of the Google Play sales.
Laudate. For my daily Gospel reading. Also handy for traditional prayers and such.
Flipboard. Interesting news in magazine format. This reads from my Twitter and Google Reader accounts, too.
Twitter. Because I like to keep in touch.
Google Reader. For reading my RSS subscriptions (more on that on a future post.)
Pocket. For reading long-form articles. If I find an interesting article on the web, whether I'm reading from desktop or phone or tablet, I can add it to my reading list. Pocket (or Get Pocket) syncs on all my devices so I can read the articles offline.
K-9 Mail. For syncing with my Ateneo email account.
Cool Reader. Best e-book reader app, very customizable, and understands several file formats.
WordPress. For uploading pictures direct to my WordPress blog.
Google+. Because you can never have enough Google in your life.

Paid
My paid apps I got during 10-cent sales on Google Play. Most of them have been games, but the ones I really end up sticking with are the productivity apps.

Nova Launcher. By far the best desktop app launcher for me. Free version available.
Beautiful Widgets. Provides me with the clock and weather display on my home screen. Customizable with lots of themes.
Business Calendar. Syncs with my Google Calendar, and displays in day, week, or month format.
Tasks. Syncs with my Google Tasks.
OfficeSuite 7. For reading those pesky office documents.

Charity, Comedy, and Team Patay

2013-03-09T01:57:00.001+08:00

Like almost everyone else, I have very strong opinions on the RH law, dating back to the time when it was still a bill. My opinions haven't changed, notwithstanding the many arguments for or against. For a time, I felt guilty that I wasn't lending my voice to the fray, that I was sitting it out on the sidelines, perhaps to the neglect of my duties of conscience. But really, what is there to add by way of rational argument? Neither side has presented anything really new, and I doubt they ever will, the lines having been set and drawn so lo ago. Any further contribution I might set forward would simply add to the cacophony. At the end, t’was nothing more than a shouting match, ultimately decided on the strength of numbers, and not necessarily rationality.

The first casualty of the RH war was charity, and on this point, both sides may have been remiss. No quicker way to lose a friend than to discuss RH if you stood on opposite sides of the fence. And if it so happened that you both agreed? Even worse, I think, because you end up snickering how stupid the other side was.

The second casualty of the RH war was our sense of humor. Each side thought that, well, RH was A Serious Matter, and should be approached with dour faces and stern voices. Oh, the economy! Oh, the women! Oh, the children! Oh, the morals! Oh, the poverty! Harrumph! harrumph! We forgot to laugh.

And that's a tragedy, because there were so many episodes in the RH drama to laugh at. My own favorite happens to be the one with Carlos Celdran, whom at some point I wish to meet and shake hands with. His stunt at the church was a little funny, I admit, but not nearly as funny as the reactions he elicited. The media all described him “dressed as Jose Rizal”, but come on! Have you ever seen our national hero so, well, robust? Celdran in his outfit struck me less as Jose Rizal than Oliver Hardy. That media said this in all seriousness struck me as hilarious. (I would still like to see him in jail because I believe he will do a lot of good for the cause of prisoners.)

The loss of our sense of humor was deadly on two accounts. First, because it is very un-Filipino not to laugh, and so we have approached the RH debate in a manner contrary to our nature. And second, because it bespoke of too much faith in ourselves and the grand importance that our legal decisions have.

Here’s my proposition: the RH law will not have the impact that we think it will (except for another avenue to waste P13-billion pesos, but that’s neither here nor there.) Filipino culture will stay on the track that it is taking now (admittedly not the best of choices, but again, that’s neither here nor there.) And so that means that the general decline in morals will not accelerate any further than it already does, but neither will come the many expected benefits touted by RH proponents. In other words, the common tao will continue going on their merry way, whatever the Church or the State may say is good for them.

I take as my basis the Rizal Law passed so many decades ago. Its purpose, ostensibly, was to promote nationalism through the knowledge of the works of Rizal. The Church argued that it would lead to a general decline in morals, but that was already inevitable owing to cultural trends of the time. Did it instill in us the sense of nationalism? Of course not! Because the knowledge of Rizal and his works remains as superficial as ever. Case in point: people insisting on the striking similarity of our national hero to a certain robust comedian / tour guide.

But to return to the matter: I like to think that, with this new episode of Team Buhay / Team Patay, there is hope of a return of the sense of humor to the Church. Few people see it, of course. Everyone is focused on violation of election laws, freedom of speech, good taste (as if these ever stopped anyone), and what The Church Should Do, they can't see it for the joke that it is.

I hate to have to explain a joke but here goes: Team Patay and Team Buhay, of course, is a riff on the very silly sounding Team PNoy and Team UNA. “Patay”, said in the proper Bisayan way, is a humorous (“Patay, bai! Kalimot man ko!” “Pa-taaay ka guid.”). The tarp is too big? Okay, we’ll slice it in half. Imagine, instead of the Bacolod bishop, the late Dolphy as Father Jejemon on these hi-jinks. Comedy gold, man!

If we object to the Church resorting to these antics, it is perhaps because we think too much of her dignity. But remember that the Church was born in subversion, and in many ways continues to live in that manner because she cannot abide with The World.

Finally: understand the nature of the Church. It is not one monolithic structure, but diverse and dynamic, with independent parts able to move and act with their own freedom for so long as they remain faithful to the creed. The tarpaulin may offend some sensibilities, may in fact be in bad taste, but other than that, what else? As with any action or inaction, there will be consequences, but first and foremost it is the congregation of Bacolod that the diocese will have to answer to; and it is therefore the congregation in Bacolod who must speak up as to what they want.

We might chide the diocese of Bacolod for their lack of charity, but that shouldn't mean that we should act without charity as well. Charity means granting that the congregation of Bacolod the benefit of the doubt, that many of the congregation may in fact feel this way, and if they don't that they can resolve it with their bishop. Charity means that even as we chide, we pray that it is the Holy Spirit moves them, not relying simply on the force of our arguments.

And if nothing else: chuckle with them. Or at them. All this is just the unseriousness of human affairs.

At the Digital Poetry Seminar

2013-03-04T13:51:00.002+08:00

Pictures of me at the Digital Poetry seminar. Shoutouts to Audrey for the photos and the layout.

Note to self: less mouth when smiling, else I look like an idjit. And go on a diet.

One Perfect Day

2013-03-03T11:55:00.001+08:00

I said I'd be posting only once a week on this blog, but some days are just so extraordinary I just have to write it down and share it. That way, at some point in the future when I'm feeling a little down, I can look back to this One Perfect Day.

This Saturday looked to be an extraordinarily busy day. The appointments just crept in slowly and almost unnoticed, a process over a month in the making. Normally I'd beg off from one event or other, but with the lineup, there just was no backing out.

A month before, SALEM, the Ateneo literary club, informed me that they had been working with other school literary orgs to put together a Digital Poetry seminar on March 2. Prof. Nino de Veyra would be main speaker but could I be guest-speaker, too? I can't say no to SALEM.

Two weeks ago, the IT213 Open Source classes handled by my former students and now co-teachers Aljohn and Yancy also decided to hold the ATMOSphere mini-conference also on March 2. ATMOSphere is a showcase for the projects the seniors have been doing throughout the semester, but I coaxed and cajoled my sophomore Python programming students to take two speaking slots.

Last week, my co-teacher Tet informed me that March 2 would be the day when my thesis advisees would undergo their defense.

And, finally, monthly meeting of the Davao Writers Guild.

So what actually happened?

* Arrived at school at 8:30AM to sit in the thesis defense panel of my advisees Joshua and Jako. These guys had missed their chance the previous sem, and now it felt like this would be their one last chance else they miss graduation. Outcome: passed.

* My cousin Eric from Canada, whom I'd invited for the day's events, arrived at 10:00. Placed him in the ATMOsphere sessions, which had already started.

* Thesis defense of my next set of advisees Athena, Jes, and Rhea started late at 11:00, though through no fault of theirs. I wasn't originally their adviser, but their project the previous sem hadn't gone so well. Now they found a project they were really into, and were rightly proud of. Outcome: passed.

* Very proud of the girls' work, a storybook for Android, that I invited them to present it at the Digital Poetry seminar. And they'd also be presenting at ATMOSphere.

* Found just enough time to sit in on an ATMOSphere presentation on Web2py by my former student Sean. Very good output, and I'm inspired to study the framework this summer.

* Lunch with Eric, and our usual conversations on culture and world politics.

* Another thesis defense at 1:30, this time as panelist for Heherson, John, and Keith. I was also their panelist last sem, and regrettably had to give them the thumbs-down. A few minor nits on their project, but ultimate outcome: passed.

* Left the panel early after giving my comments because it was already 2:30 and my talk at the Digital Poetry seminar would start soon. Fetched Eric, and the room somewhere in the middle of Nino's presentation. More ideas.

* Darned if J-301 isn't full! There are almost 200 students from Ateneo, UP-Min, USEP, UIC, HCDC, and other schools. Many of these faces are familiar already, from writers workshops and poetry readings. Ric de U and Jhoanna also present.

* I give my talk about Dagmay. Afterwards, I ask Athena, Jes, and Rhea to present their work. They do, and to much applause. A teacher from USEP (?) asks if they could teach them how to make it in their school.

* I sense an impending boom in digital storytelling, but we'll see.

* Q&A with the students. Plenty of questions split between Nino and myself.

* Photos with the students. Deym! I feel like a rock star.

* Monthly meeting with the Davao Writers Guild. While waiting, I joke with Aida Rivera Ford. Recap of Taboan activities last month (Dumaguete, Digos, and MTS), today's digital poetry event, and the book launch of a poet this coming May. Bagobo House bihon all around.

* Cake cleanup with Emily at Jaime's. Midnight snack at Jollibee, burger steak for both of us.

Can't get any more perfect than that.

Seeking Holiness on Twitter

2013-03-01T21:56:00.001+08:00

For Lent, one of the sacrifices I resolved to make was to stay away from Twitter, at the very least to check it only once a day. It stuck for a few days, then I realized that, however good my intention was, the resolution might have been a mistake.

Twitter, I've learned, is really more fundamental than a social network. It's foremost a communication tool, a way of reaching people and picking up buzz from people worth listening to. Your mileage varies, of course, depending on who you follow.

Although I only have a measly 486 followers (as of this writing anyhow), among these are students, friends, and co-faculty. I use Twitter to give assignments, post reminders, announce schedule changes, and answer the occasional quick question. Giving up Twitter might have been a penitential inconvenience to me, but it would also have been a practical inconvenience to the people I work with.

And then there were the recent developments. Benedict XVI's resignation was an historic moment, one that affected me deeply as a Catholic, and therefore an event for which I wanted as much news as I could get.

Unfortunately, trash quotient from mainstream media was extraordinarily high on this occasion, and likewise local TV coverage has been woefully abysmal and ignorant. Instead, I got up-to-the-minute updates from accounts like @CatholicNewsSvc, @LukeCoppen, and @JamesMartinSJ.

Benedict XVI's final public address last Wednesday was particularly moving, and I followed the proceedings through Twitter, courtesy of @CatholicNewsSvc. Following Twitter's limitations, I received the updates in chunks:

#Pope thanks crowd. Interrupted. "I'm moved. I see the church is alive. I thank the Lord for the beautiful weather, even tho it's winter"

#Pope: “I feel a heart-felt need, first of all, to thank God who guides the church and makes it grow.”

#Pope: “I have great confidence because I know, we all know, that the Gospel’s word of truth is the strength& life of the church.”

#Pope: Years of my papacy have “moments of joy & light, but also moments that weren’t easy.”

#Pope: At times, “I felt like Peter with the apostles in the boat on Lake Galilee”

#Pope: Sometimes catch was abundant, sometimes the waters were rough and it seemed “the Lord was asleep.”

#Pope: “I always knew the Lord was with us & that the church wasn’t mine, but his & he wouldn’t let it sink.”

#Pope: As “I felt my strength diminish” asked God to help make “the best decision not only for me, but for good of the church.”

How appropriate that I followed Benedict XVI's last days as Pontiff through Twitter! Remember, too, that Benedict XVI was the first pope to have a Twitter account, @pontifex, and encouraged evangelization in social media.

Benedict XVI's tweets, though few, offered timely reminders on Christian living.

How can faith in Jesus be lived in a world without hope?

We can be certain that a believer is never alone. God is the solid rock upon which we build our lives and his love is always faithful.

We do not possess the truth, the truth possesses us. Christ, who is the truth, takes us by the hand.

We must trust in the mighty power of God’s mercy. We are all sinners, but His grace transforms us and makes us new.

If only everyone could experience the joy of being Christian, being loved by God who gave his Son for us!

At the time that Benedict XVI stepped down, the @pontifex account had over 1.6 million followers. The account is still there, but Benedict XVI's tweets have all been deleted. Instead of his name, it now says "Sede Vacante." The Chair is vacant.

His last tweet was:

Thank you for your love and support. May you always experience the joy that comes from putting Christ at the centre of your lives.

Malady Soup, Part 3

2013-02-23T07:11:00.002+08:00

You'll know you've hit middle age when the medical maladies just keep coming. My latest bout, so soon after presbyopia and the signs of alopecia, is cervical spondylosis with radiculopathy. Now that's a mouthful, isn't it?

Cervical spondylosis, despite its ominous name, isn't as life threatening as it sounds, but when it strikes it's rather painful, and sometimes cripplingly so. My particular flavor manifests itself as tingling sensation down my right arm, followed by what feels like needles stabbing down to the bone.

The source of the pain is a pinched nerve. As the doctor tells it, my neck verterbrae have suffered some compression, squeezing the gel-like discs between them. The discs, like balloons, bulge out, in turn impinging on the nerves leading down to my arm. And so while there's nothing really wrong with my bones, muscles, or skin, I'm getting all sorts of sensations in that region.

So now I can't hold a computer mouse in my right hand anymore. After a few minutes, the tingling begins, followed by the stabbing. Then it's like my hand has been electrocuted, and I have to let my arm drop to get some relief.

Work has become difficult. Until this ailment struck, the mouse has become an extension of my hand -- I use the mouse to program, to design, to read, and yes, also to play. All of a sudden, I'm forced to cut down on all of that.

I've tried to shift the mouse to my left hand, but it seems that the right senses the betrayal and starts radiating pains anyway. Really, the only way to relieve the pain is to stop and take breaks frequently.

Fortunately, some spondylosis is manageable through physical therapy. Three times a week, I have to go to a clinic where a therapist takes me through some exercises and puts me on a traction.

Ah, traction! What fun! The therapist loops a strap down my chin and for fifteen minutes, a machine pulls my head up. At the very least, I hope I'll be taller for this experience.

Still, I shouldn't be complaining much. I can imagine several dozen ways that this could all be worse, and I'm happy that it isn't. Spondylosis can also be fun -- if I turn my neck so many degrees, the tingling starts; and if I turne it the other way by so many degrees, the tingling goes away. It's like having a push button for sensation.

And besides, it's Lent. Having a malady like this gives me something more to offer by way of sacrifice.

Upon this Rock

2013-02-15T23:25:00.002+08:00

Along with I suppose everyone else I reacted to the announcement with shock. It was a little past seven of Monday evening, I was alone in the dining table, when the local news program broke the story.

"What? What? No!" I cried out several times. Enough to alarm my wife who rushed in.

"What happened? Why were you shouting?" she asked.

Me: "Pope Benedict just resigned?"

My wife: "What? What? No!"

Certainly no one saw this coming. Because our past experience tells us that popes do not resign, that it's a position of responsibility that they hold to the day God calls them from this earth. Because B16 (as he's known on Twitter), although showing signs of age, still looks to be in good health.

But apparently a pope can resign, that there is precedent for the act, but this is only the sixth time in history that it's happened. The news sent us all scurrying to Wikipedia to find out that the last papal resignation happened over 600 years ago.

After the shock came sadness, at least that's how I felt. There's so much apathy and even enmity for the Catholic Church now that I'm not sure what other reactions followed from the initial incredulity. For me: sadness because...just because. Perhaps I had come to appreciate the weariness that I could, in hindsight, see in B16's eyes.

But that sadness soon gave way to acceptance and even hope. Again, I don't know why. Perhaps because as a believer, I feel the essence of the Catholic Church remains unchanged, that Pope Benedict XVI in his term has stayed the course true. Certainly because even now, I believe this falls within the movement and inspiration of the Holy Spirit.

Pope Benedict XVI wasn't the rock star that his predecessor Blessed John Paul II was. What he lacked in charisma he made up for in intellect and in an intense focus on the person of Jesus Christ and on the relevance of Jesus' message in the modern world. Pope Benedict was calm, measured, and thoughtful. Long after he passes, his legacy will be his theology of Jesus Christ.

In the aftermath of his announcement, the secular press has, of course, taken to an analysis of the papacy under Benedict XVI. Some have called it a failure, in large part because the Pope failed to resolve the sex scandals in the Church that have only come to light.

There is rot in the Church and it does need to be addressed, and I think it's in recognition of this that Pope Benedict is giving way. The challenges for the papacy are daunting and will require a younger and more energetic Pope.

Pope Benedict has already paved the way for this movement. In his term, he's appointed 67 cardinals, 22 of them within the past year alone, and six of them from developing countries, including our own Cardinal Tagle. The rest, of course, will be up to the movement of the Holy Spirit.

In the meantime, nothing more to say except: "Grazie, Papa."

What Taboan Means

2013-02-09T00:47:00.001+08:00

This week, a host of writers from all over the country congregated in Dumaguete. Not an unusual occurence given the literary heritage of the city, but off-season considering that it's only February and not summer when such gatherings do take place.

This is Taboan, the Philippine literary festival. First held in 2009 in Manila, the festival brings the spotlight to writing from the regions. Owing to its concept, Taboan is supposed to do the rounds of Luzon, Visayas, and Mindanao every three years. Thus, the Taboan 2010 was held in Cebu; Taboan 2011 in Davao; Taboan 2012 in Pampanga; and now Taboan 2013 in Dumaguete.

Taboan holds a dear place in my heart. I was a delegate in the first two festivals, and an organizer of the third held in Davao. I skipped Pampanga, but when Taboan comes to Dumaguete, I'd be remiss if I didn't find an excuse not to come home.

This time around, I'm not an official delegate so in effect I'm travelling on my dime (my wife and I, actually.) But that's all fine: the first two times I already got free travel, board, and lodging. Nevertheless, I got roped into the panel tribute to the Tiempos. A chance to honor my literary mentors? Gladly! A thousand times so!

Taboan to me has become a reunion of sorts. Over the course of these five years, I've made friends with writers, performers, and teachers from Iligan, Cagayan de Oro, Cebu, Tacloban, Bacolod, Samar, Legaspi, Pampanga, and many other places. It's always a pleasure to trade notes and experiences, and really just to catch up on a personal level.

The geographic spread and diversity is what really differentiates Taboan from other literary gatherings. Taboan, I think, has its roots in the discourse between the center (Metro Manila) and (or perhaps more accurately, versus) the regions; between what the intellectual mainstream says is so, and what the rest of the country might say is otherwise.

The points of contention are varied: language, themes, mythologies, history, criticism, culture, heritage.... The grand, glorious, cacophonous mess of Philippine literature and what we think it should be.

And this is the year that I think that we've started to move away from the specter of the center vs. regions debate. It's not any specific thing that I can point out to, but a sense of the general mood.

From the delegates there's much more confidence, owing in part to experience and to comfort in each others' presence. And the delegates are noticeably younger, too; and with that youth comes excitement and possibility, infectious and invigorating to jaded veterans.

This is Taboan: a bazaar of ideas -- to trade in, to exchange, to bargain, and to barter. You take away as much as you give. But at the end of the day, it's more about the experience than the gain that you end up the richer.

A final word: kudos to the working committee led by Dr. Christine Godinez-Ortega. Each Taboan has its own unique flavor, and this one carried that distinctly warm Negrense hospitality. A real pleasure, too, to see the different Dumaguete universities contributing and hosting various events.

Send Carlos Celdran to Jail...

2013-02-02T00:16:00.002+08:00

...or not?

Myself, I'm of two minds. On the one hand, I think he's an annoying pest who could use some downtime in the caboose; and on the other, Christian charity forbids me from wishing ill on another person. Personally, I have no stake in the matter.

But like it or not, Celdran did break the law. Broke into a church, held up a sign, and shouted. During an ecumenical service. Apparently, there is a law against that; who knew?

Celdran and his friends are treating this as a matter of free speech. I don't think so. The suddenly famous Art. 133 of the Revised Penal Code is clear enough:

The penalty of arresto mayor in its maximum period to prision correccional in its minimum period shall be imposed upon anyone who, in a place devoted to religious worship or during the celebration of any religious ceremony shall perform acts notoriously offensive to the feelings of the faithful.

Celdran broke the law, not because he exercised his right to free speech, but because of the manner, time, and place that he chose to exercise it.

Celdran and his friends view Art. 133 as if it stands by itself, zeroing in on "religious feelings" as an archaic construction. But Art. 133 is a part of a larger whole. its position in the Revised Penal Code places it among other provisions dealing with violation of dwelling (trespass), interruption of peaceful meetings, and crimes against religious worship.

Are these provisions odious? Perhaps we should repeal them? But these laws aren't specific to the Catholic Church. If you remove them, you also remove the protection afforded to other religions. What's to prevent disruption of, say, Friday prayers in a mosque, or a Thursday service of the Iglesia ni Cristo? Or does that fall under "free speech?"

Or should the Catholic Church now intervene in the case, ask the judge to reverse the decision? But...but...what happened to the inviolable spearation of Church and State?

Or should we make yet an exception for Celdran because, after all, so many others go scot free? Tu quoque much?

But I say put Carlos Celdran in jail, if only for two months. Not to punish him, but because I think some good will come of it. Celdran is a clown, but he is not without his audience -- perhaps this will put the spotlight on the miserable conditions of Philippine jails and lead to reforms. Who knows? Perhaps Celdran will gain a new and worthwhile advocacy.

Changes

2013-01-29T06:54:00.003+08:00

By now you may have noticed a change in how I run this blog. Instead of sometimes-daily sometimes-not sometimes-long sometimes-short posts, I've restructured my schedule to just one long essay per week. Friday / Saturday, to be more specific.

Gone, too, are the pictures. For my mobile phone pics, I created a new blog, As Viewed Through Android, where I post daily. DSLR pics will go to my Google+ account.

Why the change? For one, this blog has gotten a bit unwieldy, what with everything going on; I felt it was time to streamline it, but without touching whatever content I already have. For another, I'm trying to instil discipline in my daily and weekly habits; with my current schedule, I didn't think I could aim for a daily post.

And finally: I really want to go back to long-form writing. In this social media world, it seems to be a dying form.

If you've been following along this blog far, thanks very much. So many online distractions out there now, and it's getting much harder to be heard.

Brave New World

2013-01-26T01:20:00.000+08:00

It's not every day that a Silicon Valley entrepreneur comes to town, and so it was with much anticipation that we waited for Dado Banatao's visit to Ateneo de Davao. And not only us, apparently, because the presidents and heads from the other Ateneo schools, Manila included, also came by to join the talk that Banatao would give.

Banatao has been dubbed by local press as the "Bill Gates of the Philippines." I'm not quite sure that's a proper compliment, but that's media for you. Regardless, Banatao's achievements are quite impressive. Microprocessor pioneer, founder of three Silicon Valley companies, and now venture capitalist with a portfolio of almost thirty semiconductor companies -- an impressive record for someone who started out as a poor scholar of the former Ateneo de Tuguegarao.

When a VIP comes to visit, expectations are always high. There's the implicit hope of assistance or partnership. Banatao talked in some depth about PhilDev, an organization that is the conduit for many of his charitable activities in the country. PhilDev's focus is on education in science and engineering, with a view towards the Philippines becoming a center for development of new technology. Per Banatao: "Simple humanitarian gift-giving, while having an immediate impact, does not move the economic needle in the country."

Much of the rest of the talk we can readily agree with. "With education, we can't see the result right away, but it has to start." "Entrepreneurship will enable growth in the country; while economic growth is not an end in itself, it is a necessary condition to enable individuals to be productive and creative." "The Philippines, with 100 million people, is a major market. We are part of the demand, but we are going the wrong way, because our value add is mostly small."

Of the diagnosis there wasn't anything terribly new or perspective-changing. But what of the solutions?

At heart, Banatao is an engineer and a venture capitalist, and a terribly efficient one at that. When asked about ailed Philippine education, he pointed to the lack of original research, attributable in large part to the small number of PhD's in science and engineering and to the lack of funding for projects.

Banatao is keen on the big payoff that comes from groundbreaking new intellectual property, not just in any field, but in engineering, the type you can write patents from and build companies on. What of other areas like, say, the services sector? "The overall value returned by service companies is low." We need to be thinking long-term, not short-term.

To Banatao, many of the current programs that go under Bachelor of Science aren't really worthy of the name. "Where's the science in Information Technology?" he asks. And to prove his point, he stumps the IT students with a trick question on binary searches and tables. You don't need to go to school for the things we teach in IT; you can just pick it up from a book. In six months.

In the face of this bold vision, I'm trying to extrapolate how things would be if this were to all come to pass. We would have real distinctions between science and mere applied discipline. A university would truly be a university, where gifted, dedicated students are steeped in the foundations of prepare for careers in research; a university, distinct from community colleges and technical vocational schools.

O brave new world, that has such people in it!

Jose Rizal Does Not Throw A Spinning Fireball Attack

2013-01-18T23:34:00.001+08:00

Our students, it seems, have finally discovered video games. Not in the sense of playing them -- of that they already have plenty of experience -- but rather in the sense of making their own. All I can say is: it's about time.

The occasion for these projects is their senior year thesis. This is just about the final hurdle that our students have to face, the sine qua non on the road to graduation. Every year, it's a mad scramble: to find the right topic that's acceptable to the faculty, and then to conduct the research and write the paper. For computer studies students, there's also the added challenge of building a workable prototype.

In recent times, we've had more game-oriented theses. This year probably marks the bumper crop. Half the proposals now concern games of some sort, and not just for the PC but also for iPads and Android tablets.

It really shouldn't be that surprising. Students will do what they know best, and I think it's a sign of honesty on their part and hours that we're finally letting them venture into this territory. And why not? Games are mainstream now, part art form and part business, in many ways a bigger market than traditional media.

Somehow these game proposals, in search of a mentor, manage to make their way towards my desk. I suppose it's because in the faculty I'm the only gamer who's really and truly out of the closet. (See, Mom and Dad? All those hours on the Atari finally paid off.)

Sadly, though, many of the proposals that come to me for evaluation don't really stand a chance in the market. As thesis projects, yes; as viable marketable products? No. Not quite just yet, anyhow.

It's not the lack of talent or skill; these students are really just starting out, and it's almost a given that their output will be a little raw. Rather, their most significant deficiency is a crippling tunnel vision that keeps them from venturing into a space that they truly believe in.

What do I mean? Aren't our students already following their interests when they propose to make games? Yes, but sadly only in a half-hearted manner. The real tragedy is that they don't even see it.

Because invariably, when our students propose a game, they compulsively qualify it with "educational." Now who the heck wants to play an educational game? If it's a game, we'll play it for fun! Educational games are boring!

Worse yet, there's also the compulsion to tack onto it "nationalism." Just as the games are educational, our students also feel they have to make it culturally relevant, with an obligatory hat tip to history or to hagiography.

And the coup de grace? A pitifully limited sense of history that's obsessed on the expedition of 1521 and the revolution of 1896 -- and in between? A black hole that spans 375 years.

Mix all this together and what do you get? Nine times out of ten: "We want to make a role-playing game that will teach kids about the life of Rizal." Now there's a formula for a blockbuster....

Whenever I get this proposal, I want to shake the students by the shoulders and scream in their face: "STOP GIVING ME WHAT YOU THINK I WANT! BURN YOUR CARICATURE OF NATIONALISM! BE HONEST WITH YOURSELF! DAGNABIT, HAVE FUN!"

But of course, being the dignified teacher that I am, I must be content to just tell them: "Jose Rizal does not throw a spinning fireball attack."

Kibble

2013-01-12T01:11:00.000+08:00

The late science fiction writer Philip K. Dick coined a word for it: kibble, he called it, which is to say the gradual accumulation of...stuff. We've all seen this happen -- how once empty rooms over time build up a collection of knick knacks, odds and ends, and just plain old junk. It's a tangible expression of the law of entropy, that systems tend towards greater disorder over time.

I'm no stranger to kibble. I've seen its effects. When I moved into my rented studio condominium in Manila, it started out bare; when I moved back to Davao two years later, I packed away the equivalent of two balikbayan boxes. This, despite the occasional cargo-laden trips back home the year before to unload my room of junk.

So where did all that junk end up? Home, of course, or in my case, redistributed to Davao and Dumaguete. Because that’s one of the rules of kibble: in a perversion of the rule of conservation of energy, kibble can never be destroyed, only moved. Up to now I have kibble that still makes the occasional journey between Davao and Dumaguete.

Repeated resolutions to moderation haven't really helped. Kibble is just that persistent, an inescapable law of the universe. This year, though, I'm taking another stab at it. The motivation stems from Christmas spring cleaning that the family undertook to clear out the ancestral home. We carted out several boxes worth, accumulated over the years, and yes, I recognized a substantial chunk of it as mine.

The spring cleaning exercise gave me a chance to see my kibble habits at work. Kibble is different for everyone, and my affliction seems to come in three categories: books, toys, and office supplies.

I could go in-depth with each one, but likely you already know the pattern. You go to some shop, and something catches your eye. You don't really need it, not right now at any rate, but...you might! Someday, soon! And the price, it's on sale! Think of the savings! Too good to pass up, and besides you have that little bit of pin money. You satisfy the urge and voila! Kibble!

I saw how pathetic my obsessions had become when, from that spring cleaning, I uncovered a box with unused notebooks, yellow pads, and dried-up glue sticks. I think I must have bought those ten years ago. Maybe more.

Faced with this waste, I decided to take drastic action. This year, I'm taking on an extreme new year's resolution regarding my personal purchases. It goes like this:

I will only buy services and consumables.

Yes, it's rather bold, and I'll be lucky to last the length of January before I break. So far, though, the principle has saved me on several occasions from when I might have bought some useless novelty. It's also forced me to look into my stash for anything I needed.

If I do succeed, though, I'll have gone the entire year with zero physical intake into my life. Then I can say I'm finally making headway in the war against kibble.

What Are You Still Doing Here?

2013-01-04T22:44:00.001+08:00

The day before the End of the World it was a Thursday, and I went to work early. Classes had been shifted up, owing to the university-wide Christmas get-together. So close to the long holiday, students weren't really in the mood for classes; neither, I suspect, were faculty. My students turned up anyway, bless 'em, so I purposely kept the lectures easy and light, interspersed with anecdotes here and there. As an added bonus, I told them there would be no homework or assignments because, time being what it was, we ought to have room for more fun.

The day before the End of the World, we had a Christmas get-together. It should've been a party, and if we had followed the example of the previous year, it might have been a pageant. But what with the havoc Typhoon Pablo wrought on Compostela Valley and Cateel, it didn't seem right to have a loud and lavish celebration. The school donated the money for relief instead. It felt like the right thing to do.

The day before the End of the World, I swung by my parents' house. I gave them a hug because, though I really didn't believe it was the End of the World, just in case I was wrong. Besides, it's always good to hug your parents. Of course, I hugged my wife, too, the night before the End of the World.

On the morning of the End of the World, I peeked out the window, and the day seemed quite ordinary. I wanted to heave a sigh of relief, but then again, the Mayans didn't quite specify at which time zone the End of the World would come. To be really certain, I would have to wait another twelve hours, give or take. In the meantime, there were errands to run, a construction to look after, friends to meet, and last-minute tasks before school shut down. If the End of the World came, I wanted to be doing what I should have been doing.

The day of the End of the World went by so quickly, I don't quite remember which errands got done, and which ones got pushed off the queue. For a moment, there was the ominous darkening of the sky, but it turned out to be only a little rain.

Eventually, the End of the World ran out of time zones in which to come. Hooray! We're still here! I wanted to heave a sigh of relief, but then I remembered that that meant I would have to check papers, submit grades, prepare lessons for the remainder of the semester, pay the bills, and do all the other things that adults are supposed to do. Drat!

Horizontal Shots

2013-01-03T07:15:00.004+08:00

2013, Engage!

2013-01-01T23:27:00.002+08:00

For several reasons, I really am looking forward to the year ahead. Here's hoping it's a good one, filled with opportunities to grow intellectually, emotionally, and spiritually.

Engage!

43

2012-12-27T08:49:00.002+08:00

From Wikipedia:

Forty-three is the 14th smallest prime number. The previous is forty-one, with which it comprises a twin prime, and the next is forty-seven. A twin prime is a prime number that differs from another prime number by two.

43 is the smallest prime that is not a Chen prime. A prime number p is called a Chen prime if p + 2 is either a prime or a product of two primes (also called semiprimes).

43 is the fourth term of Sylvester's sequence, one more than the product of the previous terms (2 × 3 × 7). Sylvester's sequence is an integer sequence in which each member of the sequence is the product of the previous members, plus one.

43 is a centered heptagonal number. A centered heptagonal number is a centered figurate number that represents a heptagon with a dot in the center and all other dots surrounding the center dot in successive heptagonal layers.

43 is a repdigit in base 6 (111). A repdigit is a natural number composed of repeated instances of the same digit, most often in the decimal numeral system.

On the whole, a largely unremarkable number.