Notice by Editor B

For the most part though, I’m not fond of them. They insist on searching my car, looking in my bag, frisking me, and basically slowing me down when I enter the establishments they supposedly protect. What they’re looking for, I have no idea – and I bet they don’t know either. On top of this, they prevent me from taking photographs and give me nasty looks just because I have a nice camera – helping perpetuate the myth that photographers are terrorists.  In short, (and I’m sure others share the sentiment) they make my life difficult.

You see, I’m not a fan of half-baked security measures: the cursory wand waving and bag “inspection” at mall entrances, the obligatory glance inside the trunk at parking lots, and other useless displays that do next to nothing to protect us.  Bruce Schneier has a term for these displays: Security theater.  The term, according to Wikipedia, “describes security countermeasures intended to provide the feeling of improved security while doing little or nothing to actually improve security.”

Before I go on, I want to explain what got me thinking about security in the first place.  A live grenade was found in my alma mater. A former colleague then posted about it, saying that “the sad truth, though, is that campus security (the way it is in most schools anyway) is incredibly porous: nobody checks bags at the gate nor inspects vehicles entering the campus.”  This, of course, led to me leaving a comment about security theater and writing my own post on the topic.

Now, I don’t know exactly how I feel about the topic – specifically, the topic of security at UA&P.

On one hand, I agree with Manny – we need better security on campus.  Forget about safety for a moment, and just focus on smaller things – from what I’ve heard, thefts are more common now than back when I studied and worked there.  Now somebody has left a grenade (and to quote Manny “the real McCoy, not a metaphorical one”) in the restroom?  This is something that has to be addressed.

On the other hand, I expect any real, effective security measures to also be quite inconvenient.  UA&P is not the largest school around, but any school with over 500 students, faculty, and staff is going to have a significant amount of pedestrian (and vehicular) traffic.  Can you expect to screen everybody without slowing that traffic down to a crawl?  I don’t think so.

Metal detectors?  Let’s not go there.  I don’t think any school would be very happy about spending a ton of cash on these large, unsightly contraptions when those funds can go to other projects that can offer a more tangible benefit to the students’ education.  I’m not arguing that student safety isn’t important, but I’ll say this much  – it would suck if to have to skimp on a student’s education because some idiot / maniac / bastard / (insert preferred insult here) forced you to spend on security measures instead. This last sentiment applies not only to metal detectors, but to anything the school does as a reaction to this idiot’s actions.

This last idea, reaction, is what I fear.  I’m afraid the university will react to the found grenade and clamp down in fear of another incident.  The cost isn’t just monetary, but I won’t explain that myself.  Instead, I’ll let Seth Godin handle that:

Here’s what happens as a result of security theater at the Orlando airport:

• You wait in line at least twenty minutes
• There’s a scrum of pushing and shoving
• The staff are unhappy and not afraid to share it
• An unreasonable workload leads to fatigue and errors
• People miss their flights

Here’s what doesn’t happen:

• Security is not increased
• Peace of mind is not enhanced

In other words, we’re paying a significant tax (time and money) and getting nothing in return. In fact, we get worse than nothing. We could call it an anxiety program, instead of a tax. (After all, when you pay a luxury tax, you get some hard-won luxury as part of the deal).

He goes on, explaining, “We pay the fear tax every time we spend time or money seeking reassurance. We pay it twice when the act of seeking that reassurance actually makes us more anxious, not less.”  I see anxious students, anxious professors, anxious staff, anxious everybody, and “enhancing” security on campus will only worsen this anxiety.  I could be wrong, of course, but this is what I see.

Bruce Schneier pretty much sums up what I think is the right attitude to take after this incident: “Focus on the general risk of troubled teens, and not the specific threat of a lone gunman (ed. or grenadier, in this case) wandering around a school. Ignore the movie-plot threats, and concentrate on the real risks.” In other words, worry less about the fact that somebody brought a grenade on campus, and more about what drove them to do that.

Keep in mind that this stuff is in my pockets.  I also have a bag that I almost always have with me, and that contains quite a few other things.  Why do I carry these things around?  Let me paste an excerpt from my previous post:

I’m a geek, I’m (or I was) a scout, and I’m a MacGyver fan.  If you get it already, you can skip the next three paragraphs.  If you don’t, then let me explain.

I’m a geek. I’m a photography geek, trivia geek, light & lighting geek, and tech geek, among other (geeky) things.  In this specific case though, I’m a gadget geek.  I like gadgets, gizmos, doodads, thingamajigs, and watchamacallits.  I like taking things apart to figure out how they work, and putting them back together again (or at least trying).  I like toys, and these toys happen to be quite useful.

I’m a scout. The Scout Motto is “Be Prepared,” and carrying these things is definitely a step in that direction.  What am I preparing for?  I’m obviously not prepared for a doomsday scenario, an alien attack, or a zombie infestation, but I’m definitely prepared for most little emergencies I’m likely to encounter.  If I need to look for something under a bed or a desk, or open up a computer, or do a quick repair on one of my light stands, I’m probably covered.  At the very least, I already have some tools immediately at my disposal.

I’m a MacGyver fan. If you don’t know who MacGyver is, I’m not going to try and explain.  Instead, I suggest you check out this Wikipedia entry on MacGyver.

You can click on the image to get notes on the items I carry, but in case you don’t want to click through, here’s a brief rundown:

two (2) flashlights (one in my pocket + one on my keychain), keys, multi-tool, knife, whistle, paracord bracelet, lighter, pepper spray

Of all the items I carry, the only thing that I really consider a weapon is the pepper spray.  Everything else is a tool, though some of the items could see use in a self-defense situation.  Besides, the best self-defense tool, in my opinion, is your brain, and the best techniques are awareness and avoidance – be aware of your surroundings, and avoid potentially dangerous situations.  This train of thought, however, is best reserved for another post (or even another site), so that’s all I’ll say about self-defense.

Getting back on topic, the items I carry are tools that help me tackle everyday emergencies or other situations.  Like I said, I’m a scout, and I like to be prepared.  There’s a saying that “it’s better to have it and not need it, than to need it and not have it.”  For a lot of everyday urban situations, I’m probably covered.

That being said, I still want to add a few things to this kit.  I still want to add a Gerber Shard or some other pry-bar, as well as some form of ID that lists my blood type, allergies, emergency contact, and other information.  Heck, I’ve got a whole list of items I want on Amazon (and since it’s a wish list that other people can see, I’ve limited it to items under $100).

I know I probably carry around a lot more things than the average though, but it still goes back to being prepared.  Some items, I may never use – in fact, I hope I never need them.  Most of this stuff, however, is stuff I use (or at least play with) everyday.

Going back to the average Joe, I have to ask: what do you carry around everyday?  What’s in your pockets?  What’s in your bag?  Why do you carry that around?  Are you ready for your everyday emergencies?

A geek is somebody who is passionate about or very knowledgeable in a specific field, or even a myriad of topics.  That’s why you have movie geeks, computer geeks, and other kinds of geeks.  You can also have basketball geeks, knife geeks, and geeks on other topics that most people don’t always associate with geekiness.  I’ll say it again, a geek is somebody who is passionate about a certain subject.  In other words, a geek is a fan, an enthusiast, or an expert.  Some will even go so far as to say that geeks are obsessed about or consumed by a certain subject.

This, by the way, is my personal definition of geek.  I’m a self-proclaimed geek, and I will admit to occasionally acting like a nerd.

This brings us to definition of a nerd.  My old definition of “nerd” was a socially-inept individual.  I have since revised that opinion and added definitions for both “dweeb” and “dork.”  However, no words I can put together are going to explain it better than the following diagram.

Great White Snark - Nerd, Dork, Geek Venn Diagram

First things first – I didn’t make this diagram.  I found it on Great White Snark.  If you don’t understand it (though I think most of you should get it), I suggest you read this Wikipedia article on Venn diagrams.

Going back to the diagram and difference between geeks, nerds, dorks, and dweebs, you can see that my definition of geek fits neatly into the diagram.  I know I only focused on the obsession aspect of being a geek, but I did mention that a geek is very knowledgeable about certain subjects, or is an expert.  Also, an obsession with a certain field usually leads to knowing more about it too – so a geek usually has that combination of intelligence and obsession.

At this point, more than half of the people who started reading this will have stopped reading – I’ve probably bored them out of their heads.  At this point, I’m acting like a nerd and scaring, boring, or basically driving people away.  Like I said, a nerd is a socially inept individual.  According to this diagram, a nerd is a socially inept geek.

Still based on this diagram, a nerd is an intelligent dork, or an obsessive dweeb.  I’m not going to define those terms anymore, because like I already mentioned, no words I can put together will explain it better than the diagram. Again, it’s not a diagram I came up with.  It’s something I found on Great White Snark.

Again, I’m a self-proclaimed geek, and I will admit to occasionally acting like a nerd.  If you don’t know what those terms mean, you’re a dork.

The image above shows some of the things that I always have with me.  They’re not in the car, or in a bag that I may or may not bring with me, or in another room – they’re in my pockets, or if I’m at home, within arms reach or very close by.  In short, these are some of my EDC items.

What are these things, and why do I carry them around?

I’ll deal with the second question first, at least partly, with three answers: I’m a geek, I’m (or I was) a scout, and I’m a MacGyver fan.  If you get it already, you can skip the next three paragraphs.  If you don’t, then let me explain.

I’m a geek. I’m a photography geek, trivia geek, light & lighting geek, and tech geek, among other (geeky) things.  In this specific case though, I’m a gadget geek.  I like gadgets, gizmos, doodads, thingamajigs, and watchamacallits.  I like taking things apart to figure out how they work, and putting them back together again (or at least trying).  I like toys, and these toys happen to be quite useful.

I’m a scout. The Scout Motto is “Be Prepared,” and carrying these things is definitely a step in that direction.  What am I preparing for?  I’m obviously not prepared for a doomsday scenario, an alien attack, or a zombie infestation, but I’m definitely prepared for most little emergencies I’m likely to encounter.  If I need to look for something under a bed or a desk, or open up a computer, or do a quick repair on one of my light stands, I’m probably covered.  At the very least, I already have some tools immediately at my disposal.

I’m a MacGyver fan. If you don’t know who MacGyver is, I’m not going to try and explain.  Instead, I suggest you check out this Wikipedia entry on MacGyver.

Moving on now – what exactly am I carrying?

The two black tubes are flashlights: a Fenix LD10 in the bottom half of the image and a Fenix E01 on the right.  The LD10 is my main light – it gives me several settings ranging from an energy-saving low, to a blinding high, and even SOS and strobe modes.  It can run for over a day in the low mode and over an hour at its highest setting, and it runs on a single AA cell.  My E01 is there in case I don’t need a whole lot of light, or if the LD10 is running out of juice, or if somebody else needs to borrow a light, or in other words, I need a backup light.

The silver gray thing with the corkscrew on the upper left part of the image is a Leatherman Juice XE 6 multi-tool.  It gives me 2 blades, scissors, needle-nose pliers, a range of screwdrivers, and several other things.  One thing this tool has that no other multi-tool (as far as I know) has is a corkscrew with assist.

Finally, that black thing that looks like a whistle is exactly that – a whistle.  Specifically, it’s Fox 40 Mini.  I can think of quite a few reasons to carry one, but I think the simplest is this: you never know when you need to make a racket and get yourself noticed, do you?  A whistle (especially this one) is a lot louder and carries farther than your voice, and it takes a lot less effort to use a whistle than to shout.

One thing missing from this image is a paracord bracelet that I made using these instructions – I gave mine to a friend recently, and I haven’t gotten around to making another one.  It’s basically something I can wear everyday that, when unraveled (and it unravels very quickly), gives me around two meters of paracord.  I’m sure I’ll be wearing one again soon enough though.

Aside from the bracelet, I’m pretty sure I’ll be adding other items to this set too.  I want to add a lighter (or some other fire starter), a decent knife (not a multi-tool, but a knife – probably the SOG TF-2 Trident Straight Edge), some dog tags or other form of ID, and a few other things.  Can you suggest some other items?

With his recent demolition of Cotto, Manny Pacquiao has clearly proven that he belongs in the welterweight division.  Unfortunately, while this makes a meeting between Pacquiao and Mayweather the only fight that makes sense to any boxing fan, this also makes such an encounter highly unlikely.

Why?  Put simply, Mayweather has made it a habit to avoid fighting any of the top welterweight boxers.  Yes, he is arguably the best welterweight boxer around today, but “arguably” is the key word there because he hasn’t proven it in the ring against the top welterweight contenders.  He is ducking top competition – there really is no way around it.

Now Mayweather is saying fighting Pacquiao is a no-win fight for him.  Bullshit.

Pacquiao is the biggest draw in boxing today.  From a business standpoint, the only fight that makes sense for Mayweather is one against Pacquiao.  History that shown that he will choose a bigger payday over a quality opponent any day.  Pacquiao is the biggest payday for Money Mayweather today.

He says that beating Pacquiao proves nothing.  He says Pacquiao has been beaten and knocked out before.  So what?!?  He was beaten back when he was a one-trick pony who didn’t really know how to box.  He has grown, learned, and improved since then, and now he looks invincible.  Beating Pacquiao (if you actually dare to try) proves that you are the greatest.  The saying goes, to be the man, you have to beat the man.  Right now, Manny is the man, not Floyd.  Manny has taken on all comers and beaten them down.  Who has Floyd beat recently?

Yes, I know he beat Juan Manuel Marquez last September, but if you want to talk about proving something, that fight really doesn’t count.  JMM had to gain nine pounds to make the agreed weight.  There’s no way you bring your speed and power with you when you have to gain that much weight.  Sure, it’s possible to do that over the course of a few years, but in JMM’s case, the bulk was just excess baggage.  The Mayweather – Marquez bout was a sham – it was a fight between two of the best boxers today, but one of them was way out of shape.

Going back to the video, Floyd harps on about how Manny kept avoiding the “do you want to fight Mayweather” question.  The simple explanation is a concept that Mayweather will probably never understand: real fighters don’t care who they fight.  Manny doesn’t answer the question because he simply leaves it up to to his trainers and promoter.  He doesn’t avoid fights – he simply fights whomever is put in front of him.

Mayweather seems to think that fighting Pacquiao is a no-win situation for him.  He couldn’t be further from the truth.  Fighting Pacquiao is the only situation that makes sense for him now.  If he wants to definitively prove his greatness, then beating Pacquiao will do so once and for all.  He can retire immediately afterwards, and nobody will ever doubt that he was the greatest boxer of his era.  Heck, it’ll most likely be his biggest payday too – even bigger than his fight with the Golden Boy.

On the other hand, avoiding a fight with Pacquiao will ensure that the ducking accusations will never die.  Yes, he will be seen as one of the best boxers in his time, but he will never be among the greatest of all time.  I know it’s a cliche, but you have to fight the great to be great – and Mayweather has simply refused to do that.  Avoiding Pacquiao will prove that he is afraid to put his unbeaten record on the line.

Mayweather thinks that fighting Pacquiao is a no-win situation.  I think otherwise.  I think not fighting Pacquiao is the no-win situation here.  Not fighting Pacquiao will taint his legacy and expose just how afraid he is of fighting elite competition.  Not fighting Pacquiao will show that he isn’t great at all, and he is, in fact, just a pretender.

Floyd Mayweather thinks that fighting Pacquiao is a no-win situation.  He is dead wrong.  Floyd Mayweather taking on Manny Pacquiao and beating him will prove just how great a fighter he is.  Then again, we’re talking about Manny Pacquiao here.  Floyd Mayweather taking on Manny Pacquiao and beating him – that’s just a fantasy.

image by Eliacim Lopes

I’m a grammar freak – anybody who knows me can attest to that.   My sister, who writes a blog called Grammar Pulis (yes, the spelling is intentional), will attest to that fact too.  No, I don’t claim to have perfect grammar – I’m sure, for example, that some of you can point out at least three errors in this post.  I do, however, try to make myself as clear as possible.

In order to make myself as clear as I can, one of things I do is make sure I spell things correctly.  Yes, you may find the odd typo in my writing, but I try to keep those to a minimum.  Heck, I’ve even activated the option to check spelling as I type on Firefox.

Of course, some forms of media make it slightly harder to be so particular.  Short Message Service (SMS), as the name implies, puts a limit on the number of characters sent in a single message.  Toss in the fact that you only have 8 keys to input 26 letters and one can almost forgive the atrocious spelling in SMS messages.

Note that I said almost.

evn f u cn undrstnd d nd r dsyr 2 kp tngs shrt, u cnt ignor d fct dt rdng grsly abbrvtd msgs s a pain.  hvng a 160 chr lmt sux, bt fns 2day cn send mltpl msgs neway.

Even if you can understand the need or desire to keep things short, you can’t ignore the fact that reading grossly abbreviated messages is a pain.  Having a 160 character limit sucks, but phones today can send multiple messages anyway.

Still, that’s not the point of this whole rant.  Like I said, I can almost forgive the shortcuts people make when typing messages on their phones.  What I can’t forgive, however, is doing the same thing when using full keyboards on their computers.

Yes, this goes out to those people (even though I know you’re not reading this anyway) who insist on using “text-speak” on forums (or fora?), in instant messages, on their own blogs, and anywhere else on the net.  You have all 26 letters and then some at your fingertips.  Is spelling words properly really that difficult?

xcpt 4 twitter n few odr apps, dr s no lmt n d # f chrs u cn use n d net. dr’s no nd 2 rplc a 2 r 2 wd 2 2 elmn8 all vwls frm ur wrds. u wnt b chrgd more 4 splng wrds prprly, so y nt do dt? pls mk use f d full kbrd n frnt f u – its nt dt dfclt.

Except for Twitter and a few other apps, there is no limit on the number of characters you can use on the net.  There’s no need to replace a “to” or “too” with “2″ or to eliminate all vowels from your words.  You won’t be charged more for spelling words properly, so why not do that?  Please make use of the full keyboard in front of you – it’s not that difficult.

Please excuse my pathetic attempts at ‘text-speak’ above.  When sending SMS messages, I rely on T9 Text Input instead of multitap and add frequently used words to my phone’s dictionary.

If you ever find yourself lucky enough to be at the Acuatico Beach Resort in Laiya, San Juan, Batangas, this is the view you get at dusk – pretty nice, isn’t it?  That’s the only image I’m posting of the place here, but I guarantee you – the place is lovely.

They’ve got pools (for both kids and adults) wrapped around a floating bar, some gorgeous Balinese inspired villas surrounding the pool, and when the construction is all done (they expect to finish this May), a gym, spa, and a bunch of other facilities that I can’t remember right now.  If you really want to know more, just check out their site here.  All I’ll tell you is that the place is gorgeous, and the service was downright fantastic.

Granted, the resort isn’t perfect.  The room we got (an Infinity Pool room) was pretty cramped, but it didn’t really matter – we spent most of our time outside anyway.

The beach wasn’t the greatest either – the sand was a bit coarse and there really wasn’t a whole lot of shallow water to wade in.  On the other hand, snorkeling (which is a boat ride away) was a whole lot of fun, and the infinity pool was always calling you into the water.  Sure, we didn’t spend a whole lot of time on the sand, but we definitely spent enough time soaking in the water.

At around 8:00 every night, they start a bonfire on the beach and lay out some lounge chairs around it.  No, it’s not the most exciting thing in the world, but if you’ve got some hot dogs, marshmallows, and some long sticks, I’m sure you can figure out what to do.  Having a cooler of drinks (or waiters bringing some drinks over) also makes for a cool way to spend an evening.

Anyway, that’s enough raving for one post.  I just wish I were back there now – and if they weren’t fully booked (and if my wallet could handle it too), I probably would still be relaxing in their pool.

PEDALA bike messenger service

I stumbled across this post recently and I think it helps prove its title – that Manila isn’t as ugly as we probably think it is.  Thanks to the emergence of bike messengers (see the poster on the right), is now a little bit greener.  Yes, the air is still filled with smoke, but at least one business isn’t adding to the pollution.

How does it compare to another courier service in town?  Let’s break it down:

Based on the price listed at the bottom, Pedala is more cost-efficient – at least for deliveries within the metropolis.  How about out-of-town deliveries?  Come on – you don’t really expect somebody to deliver a package out of town on only pedal power, do you?

How about speed?  There’s no way a bike beats motorized vehicles, right?  According the the (forwarded) email message posted by ManilaRat, you can get same day delivery.  I don’t think any other courier service around these parts boasts of that speed.

Right now I wish I had a package that needs to be delivered, but I don’t.  I’m sure I will soon – maybe I can try these guys out.  How about you, need anything delivered?