when 140 characters are not enough

US Tea Partiers would abolish Death and Taxes

Tue, 10 May 2011 23:56:00 -0700

In a fiery speech from the House floor, Mike Pence of Indiana, recently elevated by Tea Party Potentates to Grand Panjandrum 5th Level, dismissed death as “just another word for abortion.” He claimed millions of innocent lives have been lost to it since the passage of Roe v. Wade: “We gladly protect the rights of the unborn; why don’t we do the same for the rights of the undead?” Death, argued Pence may be appropriate in cases of rape, or when a person’s life is in danger, as it is with blasphemy, sodomy, witchcraft and certain driving offenses. But not when it impacts innocent people. “The only thing we want to see dead is taxes.

via thefinaledition.com

This will be an awesome piece of legislation.

Permalink | Leave a comment »

5 worst pieces of business advice from movies - A Tuesday Note

Mon, 09 May 2011 20:54:10 -0700

There are some movies that give great business advice. And there are some movies that give, shall we say, questionable advice for the sake of advancing the plot. If you’ve been taking your business advice from movies, you’re probably already in rough shape. But if you’ve been taking guidance from these quotes in particular, then you’re really in trouble. Here are some of the worst pieces of business advice from movies.

1. Wall Street (1987)

“The point is, ladies and gentleman, that greed, for lack of a better word, is good. Greed is right, greed works. Greed clarifies, cuts through, and captures the essence of the evolutionary spirit. Greed, in all of its forms; greed for life, for money, for love, knowledge has marked the upward surge of mankind. And greed, you mark my words, will not only save Teldar Paper, but that other malfunctioning corporation called the USA.” -Gordon Gekko (Michael Douglas)

Wall Street is the classic movie about business and investing. But while some of the advice fits perfectly with the story line of the film, a lot of it doesn’t necessarily work in the real world. Everyone knows Gekko’s “Greed is good” speech, but looking at the last few years in investing news, it’s clear that greed, while necessary for a functioning capitalist system, can still do a lot of damage.

Let’s take a look at AIG just a few years ago to illustrate this point. After the “great September bailout”, AIG execs seemed to be driven by an insatiable greed. The week after the September bailout, AP reported that AIG executives traveled to California for a decadent company retreat which cost a reported $444,000 and featured spa treatments and golf outings. Then on the 17th of October, AP reported that AIG executives spent $86,000 on a hunting trip in England. News of this spending spree came just days after AIG received an additional $37.8 billion loan from the Federal Reserve, on top of a previous $85 billion emergency loan given to them the month before.

Is greed good? I’d say, like all good things, it is only good in moderation.

2. Office Space (1999)

“Michael, we don’t have a lot of time on this earth! We weren’t meant to spend it this way. Human beings were not meant to sit in little cubicles staring at computer screens all day, filling out useless forms and listening to eight different bosses drone on about about mission statements.” -Peter Gibbons (Ron Livingston)

While this may be a valid point, this conversation ultimately leads to Peter and his friends stealing over $300,000 from the company they work for. And while we were not designed to stare at computers all day, that doesn’t mean that embezzling money is a good way to get around that draining business requirement.

3. The Godfather (1972)

“It’s not personal, Sonny. It’s strictly business.” – Michael Corleone (Al Pacino)

Business is always personal. It is the decisions of people that direct the paths of companies, and it is always people who make the mistakes attributed to a specific company. It’s important to make decisions based on what’s best for the company, and not just what’s best for you, but if you’re going to take the advice from Michael Corleone, make sure you keep the other side of the coin in mind. There is no business without people, and can be no people without businesses to support them.

All that being said, let’s not forget what happens to Sonny.

4. Working Girl (1988)

“You can bend the rules plenty once you get to the top, but not while you’re trying to get there.” -Tess McGill (Melanie Griffith)

Some of the most successful entrepreneurs in recent memory made their millions by being innovative and bending the rules. If Mark Zuckerberg had tried to make his fortune “the traditional way”, would he have had such a high net worth so early in his life?

Sometimes, bending the rules can backfire. But thinking outside the box and pursuing an entirely new business concept can be what sets you apart from the pack. So feel free to bend the rules on your climb to the top. As she says later in the film, “I’m not gonna spend the rest of my life working my ass off and getting nowhere just because I followed rules that I had nothing to do with setting up, OK?”

5. How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying (1967)

“I realize that I’m the president of this company, the man that’s responsible for everything that goes on here. So, I want to state, right now, that anything that happened is not my fault.” -J. B. Biggley (Rudy Vallee)

Personal responsibility is what keeps corporations successful, honest, and in touch with their shareholders. The higher up you get in the corporate food chain, the more important it is to stay in touch with that need to be personally responsible for your work. Sure, when something goes wrong, you will have to take the heat. But if something goes extremely well, don’t you want to make sure you get full credit? You can’t have it both ways, you know, so you’ve got to take responsibility for what happens on your watch.

Oh, and a word to the wise: it’s probably not the best idea to take business cues from anyone in a musical.

via lifehack.org

Kids, movies are for entertainment. If you want to know real-life business, learn it on the job.

Permalink | Leave a comment »

What you don't know about your broadband subscription - Pt. 4 of 4

Sun, 01 May 2011 18:00:00 -0700

In almost all things, the PH has a long way to go. Our internet services are not an exception. It can be recalled that at the start of the year, our beloved homeland was reportedly lagging behind by both developed and developing countries in terms of broadband speeds:

In terms of average Internet broadband download speed alone, the Philippines lags behind roughly two-thirds of the world. The country is bested not just by world superpowers such as China and the US, it is also surpassed by small countries such as Lithuania and Kenya.
The Philippines ranks 139 out of 185 countries.

via gmanews.tv

Actually, anybody can easily compare one country's broadband service to the others at speedtest.net and at netindex.com. They have detailed yet easy to understand analytics. I checked out a few of them about a week or so ago and let me show you some of them.

This was at around 1:38am Monday dawn. The service that I pay for is 1 megabits per second. When I signed up for it, the installers said I should expect at least 0.6 Mbps all the time. At that time, I thought it was ludicrous but the installers said this type of subscription is WiMax thus state-of-the-art (at that time). When they did the testing, I was getting more than 1 Mbps so I gave in and signed the contract.

But as you can see, that night I was only getting a third of what 1 mbps WiMax is supposed to be and half of what the installer promised.

Here are the top 10 countries ranked based on download speeds.

Those South Koreans have awesome internet download speeds!

Way down the list is the PH at number 116. On a positive note, we're now up 23 spots from 139 last January.

I did not bother with the upload speeds since those are directly related with the download speeds.

Another metric that's interesting is the quality index. Vietnam right there is a surprise. Good on them.

Absent from the list is that big powerful country called the US. Not too surprising since Obama himself admits they don't have the best in broadband infrastructure.

The PH at number 52 with a quality index of 73%. I think it's relatively good but still way below the worldwide mean of 82%.

Now this one is most interesting because this measures the actual speed subscribers are getting versus what is promised. Check out the top 10 countries.

The PH is at rank 43 with a promise index of 73%, 12 points below the worldwide mean.

South Korea is taking the lead today in broadband service and it looks like it will only going to continue:

By the end of 2012, South Korea intends to connect every home in the country to the Internet at one gigabit per second. That would be a tenfold increase from the already blazing national standard and more than 200 times as fast as the average household setup in the United States.

via nytimes.com

Ok, getting outrageous speeds just like South Korea would probably be too ambitious for the PH but we should at least start working on getting the advertised speed. Quality over quantity. My opinion is that while getting 100% of the advertised speed is difficult to impossible, we should at least be promised *and get* at least 85% to 90% of it at 85% to 90% of the time. It is only proper and justified.

The NTC has not yet finalized their memo on this and I'm closely watching it. It should put some regulations towards broadband reliability and quality.

I'm not too sure what to think about the news on PLDT acquiring about 52% share on Digitel (they operate Sun Cellular) only that it may limit competition among telcos and ISPs.

Under the new leadership the paired networks will continue to the expansion of broadband rollout and other next generation technologies in both fixed and wired services.

via philstar.com

In response, Globe announced that they are allocating a good amount of it's recent capex of $500 million is to improve network quality.

“For this year, we are looking at the continued enhancement of network facilities and operations to yield better quality and greater reliability for calls, text messaging and data services,” he said.

via sunstar.com.ph

I'm not very good at analyzing business trends and all that jazz so I'm just going to say that we'll just have to watch and see. The good thing is that we still have choices and it is with these choices that we are empowered. Currently, I'm subscribed to a service that allows me to download HD movies for my wife and kids and allows me to surf at good enough speeds to read up on news and listen to music. A lot of times the service try to test my patience but the good thing is that when my contract runs out, I can easily switch to a better one if my current provider continues to be sucky.

Let me conclude this four-part series by listing three recommendations to us users in order make our internet lives a bit better.

Ask what you are getting - If you have yet to sign up for a service, make sure that you know everything about it down to the fine print. The first step to taking action is by being aware. If you are aware of what you are getting prior to signing up, at least you know what to expect. You will know what you can and can't complain about if you are aware.
Call your ISP *every time* the service goes down - A big reason why most services (not just broadband) suck is because consumers tolerate it. Americans are known to be very demanding and call center agents can attest to that. We need to do the same. Call them and make them accountable to the service that they are providing. Alternatives: @tweet them on their twitter timelines or post on their Facebook walls to complain in public. This works most of the time. And, last but not least...
Don't change your habits - Don't stop downloading videos & other files and don't cut down on your surfing or social networking. Even if you do, the rest of us are not going to stop anyway so why don't you just join the movement of the "horny pirates." Every ISP in the world must realize that the barebones networks they currently have are not enough. They need to start facing the reality - majority of internet activity is moving towards the cloud and to maintain a high quality of internet activity, bandwidth has to expand. They need to future-proof their infrastructure by investing in better technology and it has to start with us, users, by clogging the friggin' airwaves.

Why working on weekends and holidays rock - A Tuesday Note

Mon, 25 Apr 2011 18:51:00 -0700

Last week, majority of the working class were on a long weekend holiday. In the PH, Thursday, Friday and Saturday were declared holidays. In Australia and New Zealand, they also had Thursday and Friday as holidays. As if that weren't enough, they also have this week's Monday and Tuesday as holidays, too. Now that's a long, long weekend holiday.

UK and Ireland are on a league of their own. Other than the holidays they had last week (Monday and Friday), they also had a holiday this Monday (bank holiday) and another holiday this coming Friday (some important couple's wedding). That's two long weekend holidays in succession!

I, however, was working the entire week last week. Boo, what a loser.

But, no, not really. Ever since I've started working (and even when I was still in college), I always saw holidays as very good opportunities. It helped that since my first job, working on holidays is always a must because of the industries I were in (retail, BPO). There are plenty of good reasons why it rocks to be working on weekends or holidays while the rest of the country are out on at the beach, getting drunk and singing their hearts out. Let me just cite three of them.

But, really quickly before discussing those three reasons I'd just like to say one thing. I always like to think that the hardworking person toiling in the middle of the night while everyone is sleeping (figuratively) will always get ahead of the game.

Anyway, three reasons.

All government offices are closed on holidays. Always.

It's a fact just as the sun always sets. What's your point, you ask. Well, if you have processed a passport application in recent months you will get my point. I tried to renew my passport January of this year and it took me almost the entire afternoon. Away from work. Unpaid, of course. If you are a paid-by-the-day no-work-no-pay employee, you want to make sure that you don't miss a few working days just because of governmental efficiencies. In fact, you can use this as a reason to work on a holiday. Here's how. Take a day off from work on slow days like a Wednesday or Thursday and do what you need to do with the City Hall, Assessor's Office or Department of Foreign Affairs. Do them all in one day if possible. Then take back the money lost for not working on that day by coming in to work on a rest day or holiday. You actually get paid 30% to 200% more (see holiday premiums below) for that make-up work day.

Holiday pay premiums

Holidays are meant for rest, at least in legal parlance (since they are declared by the President no less) and social norms. However, it is not illegal to work on holidays. In fact you will be rewarded handsomely if you do:

For regular holidays as provided for under EO 203 (incorporated in EO 292) as amended by RA 9177:

New Year’s Day – January 1

Maundy Thursday – Movable Date

Good Friday – Movable Date

Araw ng Kagitingan – April 9

Labor Day – May 1

Independence Day – June 12

National Heroes Day- Last Sunday of August

Bonifacio Day – November 30

Eidul Fitr – Movable Date

Christmas Day – December 25

Rizal Day – December 30

the following rules shall apply:

1. If it is an employee’s regular workday

If unworked – 100%

If worked

1st 8 hours – 200%

Excess of 8 hours – plus 30% of hourly rate on said day

2. If it is an employee’s rest day

If unworked – 100%

If worked

1st 8 hours – plus 30% of 200%

Excess of 8 hours – plus 30% of hourly rate on said day

2. For declared special days such as Special Non-Working Day, Special Public Holiday, Special National Holiday, in addition to the two nationwide special days (November 1, All Saints Day and December 31, Last Day of the Year) listed under EO 203, as amended, the following rules shall apply:

If unworked

No pay, unless there is a favorable company policy, practice or collective bargaining agreement (CBA) granting payment of wages on special days even if unworked.

If worked

1st 8 hours – plus 30% of the daily rate of 100%

Excess of 8 hours – plus 30% of hourly rate on said day

3. Falling on the employee’s rest day and if worked

1st 8 hours – plus 50% of the daily rate of 100%

excess of 8 hours – plus 30% of hourly rate on said day

Here's an observation: Have you noticed lately that a lot of people now travel to different spots in our beloved country as local tourists? Isn't it awesome? We may not have realized it but this is due to an increase in disposable income of a large pool of Filipinos. And to Cebu Pacific as well for offering cheap fares for "Juan" and forcing other airliners to do the same. While that is great, it is giving a bit of a problem. These holiday getaways are getting way too crowded. In this vein, it actually is a smart idea that you take your vacations with family and friends on off-peak days and seasons. You may actually get better deals that way.

Fewer stress, higher productivity

If you are like me who is always pulled into meetings and sucked into high priority emails, you will love working when people are out vacationing. While meetings are a necessary evil, you just can't get actual work done when you are in it. These are serious time wasters: an hour meeting with five people involved means five working hours down the drain. Going to the office when pretty much everyone is out gives you that time you need for yourself and will get those creative juices flowing uninterrupted.

Ever wonder why for some of us feel like we get a lot of work done when we burn the midnight oil? Yep, you guessed it - less interruptions. Sure, you probably had a deadline to beat but if you were to do that at, say, 2 in the afternoon you will probably have raised hell on anyone who would be going over your desk for a quick chat.

To add to that, random interruptions are one of the top reasons why people are stressed at work according to a survey conducted by Bill Wilkerson (CEO, The Global Business and Economic Roundtable on Addiction and Mental Health). The last thing any office soldier needs right now is stress. While it can be argued that going out on vacations or holidays are great stress relievers (and isn't this the irony of this piece),

but wouldn't it be great to work at the same time not have stress?

* sources: businessknowledgesource.com, Phillipine e-legal Forum

Permalink | Leave a comment »

Lest we forget - The Marcos Chronology Report

Sun, 24 Apr 2011 18:57:00 -0700

September 1976

This month the Marcoses bought their first property in the U.S. – a condo in the exclusive Olympic Towers on Fifth Avenue in New York. Five months later they would also buy the three adjoining apartments, paying a total of $4,000,000.00 for the four and using Antonio Floirendo’s company, Theaventures Limited in Hong Kong, as front for these purchases.

October 13, 1977

Today, after addressing the UN General Assembly, Imelda celebrated by going shopping and spending $384,000 including $50,000 for a platinum bracelet with rubies; $50,000 for a diamond bracelet; and $58,000 for a pin set with diamonds. The day before, Vilma Bautista, one of her private secretaries, paid $18,500 for a gold pendant with diamonds and emeralds; $9,450 for a gold ring with diamonds and emeralds; and $4,800 for a gold and diamond necklace.

October 27, 1977

The Marcoses donated $1.5 million to Tufts University in Boston, endowing a professorial chair in East Asian and Pacific Studies at the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy. The students and professors discovered this and forced the school to reject the donation. To save face, the Marcoses were allowed to finance several seminars and lectures.

November 2, 1977

Still at her shopping spree, Imelda paid $450,000 for a gold necklace and bracelet with emeralds, rubies, and diamonds; $300,000 for a gold ring with emeralds and diamonds; and $300,000 for a gold pendant with diamonds, rubies, and thirty-nine emeralds.

July 1978

After a trip to Russia, Imelda arrived in New York and immediately warmed up for a shopping spree. She started with paying $193,320 for antiques, including $12,000 for a Ming Period side table; $24,000 for a pair of Georgian mahogany Gainsborough armchairs; $6,240 for a Sheraton double-sided writing desk; $11,600 for a George II wood side table with marble top – all in the name of the Philippine consulate to dodge New York sales tax.

That was merely for starters. A week later she spent $2,181,000.00 in one day! This included $1,150,000 for a platinum and emerald bracelet with diamonds from Bulgari; $330,000 for a necklace with a ruby, diamonds and emeralds; $300,000 for a ring with heart-shaped emeralds; $78,000 for 18-carat gold ear clips with diamonds; $300,000 for a pendant with canary diamonds, rubies and emeralds on a gold chain.

After New York, she dropped by Hong Kong where a Cartier representative admitted it was this Filipina, Imelda, who had put together the world’s largest collection of gems – in 1978.

May 1979

The Marcos couple celebrated their twenty-fifth wedding anniversary in a party that cost $5,000,000.00 There was a silver carriage drawn by eight white horses.

November 23, 1978

A house was purchased at 4 Capshire Drive in Cherry Hill, New Jersey (actually near to Philadelphia where Bongbong was taking courses at that time) for use by servants and Bongbong’s security detachment. The Marcoses did not neglect their annual real estate purchase. During this year and next year, 1979, they purchased two properties – one at 3850 Princeton Pike, Princeton – a 13-acre estate for use by daughter Imee as she attended Princeton. The other was a house at 19 Pendleton Drive in Cherry Hill for use of Bongbong and under the name of Tristan Beplat, erstwhile head of the American Chamber of Commerce in the Philippines.

April 1979

In two days in New York this month, Imelda spent $280,000 for a necklace wet with emeralds and diamonds; $18,500 for a yellow gold evening bag with one round cut diamond; $8,975.20 for 20-carat gold ear clips with twenty-four baguette diamonds; $8,438.10 for 18-carat gold ear clips with fifty-two tapered baguette diamonds; and $12,056.50 for 20 carat gold ear clips with diamonds.

June 1980

For $1,577,000.00 in New York Imelda buys Webster Hotel on West 45th Street . She rewards Gen. Romeo Gatan as a limited partner.

Gatan arrested Ninoy at the beginning of Martial Law.

The insurgents’ ranks grew by twenty percent a year. Meritorious officers in the armed forces experienced low moral due to Marcos’ penchant for promoting friends over more deserving officers.

February 16, 1986

In Fe’s (Fe Roa Jimenez, private secretary of Imelda) records of monies paid out during Marcos’ last campaign, one unusually large item was authorized by “FL” (First Lady) and paid to Assemblyman Arturo Pacificador on this day. A few days later, two carloads of men drove into San Jose , the provincial capital of Antique. Evelio Javier, head of Aquino’s campaign, was watching the votes being counted when the men opened fire and killed Evelio after he was still able to run through town but finally got cornered in a public toilet where he was gunned down in front of shocked townspeople. Pacificador was later convicted of the murder.

February 25, 1986

Marcos fled the Philippines leaving behind a foreign debt of $27 billion and a bureaucracy gone mad. “Cash advances” for the elections from the national treasury amounted to Php3.12 billion ($150 million). The Central Bank printed millions of peso bills, many with the same serial number. Sixty million pesos in newly printed bills were found in a vehicle owned by Imelda’s brother Bejo in the Port Area of Manila, and another Php 100 million aboard the MV Legaspi also owned by Bejo Romualdez.

How massive and humongous a loot Marcos took can be deduced from the known losses he left behind. The known losses he left at the Central Bank included $1.2 billion in missing reserves and $6 billion in the Special Accounts. Imelda charged off most of her spending sprees to the PNB or Philippine National Bank which creatively wrote off her debts as “unresponded transfers”. Ver also used PNB funds to finance his “intelligence” operations.

The known losses at the PNB amounted to Php72.1 billion At the DBP, the losses Marcos left behind totaled Php85 billion; at the Philguarantee, it was Php6.2 billion ; and at the NIDC or National Investment and Development Corporation (NDC) – the losses amounted to Php 2.8 billion. These losses were primarily due to cronyism – giving loans to cronies that had little or no collateral, whose corporations were undercapitalized, whose loan proceeds were not used for the avowed purpose, and where the practice of corporate layering was common, i.e. using two or more companies with the same incorporators and officers, whereby one company which gives the loan owns the company which obtains the loan, or similar arrangements.

The cronies enjoyed their closeness to Marcos. With him they formed a Grand Coalition. They participated in the exercise of dictatorship. But Marcos owned them. The wealth of the cronies belonged to him. Because of the free rides taken by Imelda, Marcos and the cronies, the Philippine Airlines was in debt by $13.8 billion. The conservative Grand Total for losses Marcos left behind (and therefore the kind of loot he grabbed and hid) amounted to $17.1 billion. The Central Bank, the PNB, and other financial institutions badly need an audit. The special review (not regular audit because there seems not to have been any – there are no records anyway) did not uncover Imelda’s spending – her name never appeared – and Ver’s intelligence fund. The review gave no hint of theft or missing money, only “downward adjustments” and “proposed adjustments” to “deficiencies” and “shortages of money.”

February 26, 1986

A few hours after the Marcos party landed in Honolulu, their luggage arrived – 300 crates on board a C-141 cargo jet. It took twenty-five customs officers five hours to tag the bags and identify the contents. The process was videotaped because of all the money and jewelry found inside. There were 278 crates of jewelry and art worth an estimated US$5 million. Twenty-two crates contained more than Php27.7 million in newly minted currency, mostly hundred-peso denominations worth approximately US$1,270,000 (It was illegal for anyone to depart the Philippines carrying more than Php500 in cash).

There were other certificates of deposit from Philippine banks worth about US$1 million, five handguns, 154 videotapes, seventeen cassette tapes, and 2,068 pages of documents – all of which were impounded by Customs. The Marcos party was allowed to keep only US$300,000.00 in gold and $150,000.00 in bearer bonds that they brought in with their personal luggage because they declared them and broke no US customs laws. There were 24 one-kilo gold bars fitted into a $17,000 hand-tooled Gucci briefcase with a solid gold buckle and a plaque on it that read, “To Ferdinand Marcos, from Imelda, on the Occasion of our 24th Wedding Anniversary. “

February 1986

When Marcos departed the Philippines, the losses in the three Central Bank accounts surpassed Php 122 billion (more than $6 billion). The big bulk of losses was attributed to the RIR account mainly due to two items: forward cover and swap contracts. Forward cover referred to foreign exchange provided by the CB at a fixed exchange rate to importers of essential commodities. Swap contracts referred to CB’s receiving foreign exchange from banks in exchange for pesos at the prevailing rate with a promise to deliver the foreign exchange back to them at an agreed future date. There was no mention of losses due to CB transactions in gold or foreign exchange.

February 28, 1986

On this day, Jim Burke, security expert from the US Embassy, was tapping on the wooden paneling in Imelda’s abandoned Malacanang bedroom when he heard a hollow sound. It was the walk-in vault. Inside were thirty-five suitcases secured with locks and tape. They contained a treasure trove of documents about Swiss bank accounts, New York real estate, foundations in Vaduz, and some notepaper on which Marcos had practiced his William Saunders signature. They also contained jewelry valued at some US$10.5 million.

March 16, 1986

Did Marcos steal any gold from the CB? The CB always refused to comment. Why? Today the LA Times reported that 6.325 metric tons of gold was unaccounted for in the Central Bank. Between 1978, the year Marcos ordered all gold producers to sell only to the CB, and end 1984, the Bureau of Mines reported that 124,234 pounds of gold were refined. But the CB reported receiving only 110,319 pounds during this same period. That left a difference of 13,915 pounds (6.325 metric tons).

March 1986

Jokingly referring to themselves as the Office of National Revenge, a vigilante team led by Charlie Avila and Linggoy Alcuaz received a tip in the morning that Marcos’ daughter Imee had kept a private office in the suburb of Mandaluyong at 82 Edsa. They obtained a search warrant, then rushed to Camp Crame to pick up some soldiers. After devising a plan, they boarded four cars and drove to the premises, arriving around midnight. The soldiers scaled a fence and sealed off the area.

Avila, Alcuaz, and their men moved in and found documents in cardboard boxes, desks, and filing cabinets. Gunfire could be heard outside but it didn’t deter the search. The documents revealed the names of offshore companies and overseas investments of Marcos and his cronies – a late link in the paper trail that had been started abroad by the teams of Avila, Steve Psinakis, Sonny Alvarez, Raul Daza, Boni Gillego, and Raul Manglapus.

March 09, 1986

A Greek-American, Demetrios Roumeliotes, was stopped at the Manila International Airport before he could leave with eight large envelopes stuffed with jewelry that he admitted belonged to Imelda – valued at US$4.7 million.

March 15, 1986

Ernie Maceda, Minister of Natural Resources, revealed today that some 7 to 14 tons of Philippine gold are sold to the Binondo Central Bank annually and then smuggled to Sabah, Malaysia – this gold being part of some 20 tons produced by 200,000 panners all over the country. Maceda’s query was whether part of the gold they produced was siphoned to the “invisible gold hoard of Ms. Imelda R. Marcos.”

“We deliver to the Central Bank,” the miners said. “If it happened (the siphoning), it happened in the Central Bank.”

Is it true that Marcos propagated the Yamashita myth to hide the fact that he looted the Central Bank, that its gold bars were melted down and recast in odd-size bars to make them look old (how does gold look old, anyway?). Marcos claimed that he “received the surrender of Gen. Yamashita” after a battle with his guerrilla outfit. History has recorded that Yamashita surrendered to Lt. Co. Aubrey Smith Kenworthy and that there was no battle. Yamashita’s peaceful surrender had been arranged at least two weeks before the event.

In one entry in Marcos’ diary he noted, “I often wonder what I will be remembered for in history. Scholar? Military hero…?” In a supreme irony, he did achieve what he so vainly sought – lasting fame – but not in the way he envisioned:

The largest human rights case in history – 10,000 victims.
Guinness Book of Records – the world’s greatest thief.
The largest monetary award in history – $22 billion..

September 30, 1986

Questioned by Philippine and US lawyers about his hidden wealth, Marcos took the Fifth Amendment 197 times. Imelda followed suit – 200 times.

December 1989

An American jury found the Marcos estate liable for $15 million in the killing of anti-Marcos activists Gene Viernes and Silme Domingo. Manglapus, Psinakis, Gillego and other erstwhile exile oppositionists testified at the trial.

November 04, 1991

Today, a Sunday, the circus came to town. The Swiss Federal Tribunal had ruled the year before that the Philippine government must comply with the European Convention of Human Rights, especially due process. There had to be a lawsuit filed within one year. Thus, the solicitor general’s office filed all sorts of cases against Imelda and the government had to allow her to return to answer the charges.

“I come home penniless,” she tearfully said on arrival. She then repaired to her suite at the Philippine Plaza Hotel which cost $2,000 a day and rented sixty rooms for her entourage – American lawyers, American security guards and American PR firms.

December 1991

The Central Bank had accumulated losses of Php324 billion in the Special Accounts.

November 30, 1992

The Central Bank; losses were Php561 billion and climbing. Cuisia asked that the CB be restructured. Sen. Romulo asked to see the 1983 audit of the international reserves. He couldn’t get a copy. It was “restricted."

January 05, 1993

Imelda didn’t show up for the scheduled signing of a new PCGG agreement. She kept vacillating on the terms and conditions – demanding she be allowed to travel abroad for thirty-three days to confer with bank officials in Switzerland, Austria, Hong Kong and Morocco to work out the transfer of the frozen funds. Actually she was hoping a guy she had authorized, J.T. Calderon, would be able to move the funds just as the order was lifted, before the government had a chance to transfer them to Manila . When the government discovered the authority, all negotiations with Imelda were halted and her requests for travel suspended.

August 10, 1993

Georges Philippe, a Swiss lawyer of Imelda, wrote today a confidential letter to the Marcoses’ old Swiss lawyer, Bruno de Preux, who handled almost all of the Marcos family’s hidden accounts in Switzerland. Philippe requested de Preux for the status of:

A $750 million account with United Mizrahi Bank in Zurich;
Various currency and gold deposits at the Union Bank of Switzerland, at Kloten airport and at Credit Suisse;
A $356 million account (now in escrow and worth almost $600 million) which was being claimed by the PCGG.

1994

The human rights jury awarded the victims $1.2 billion in exemplary damages, then $766.4 million in compensatory damages a year after that, for a total of $1.964 billion. Two days after, another $7.3 million was awarded to twenty-one Filipinos in a separate lawsuit.

1995

The US Supreme Court upheld the $1.2 billion judgment.

March 29, 1995

The Swiss Parliament passed a law (an amendment to a previous act) that removed the need for a final judgment of criminal conviction of the accused (such as the Marcoses) in the case of criminally acquired assets which could now therefore be returned to claimants (such as the Philippine government) by Swiss court order.

July 1996

In part because of the torture of Roger Roxas, $22 billion was awarded to his Golden Budha Corporation.

December 10, 1997

The Swiss Supreme Court promulgated a landmark decision that took into account the March 1995 Swiss Parliament act and the fact that new criminal cases had been filed against Imelda Marcos. The court held that there was no need for any criminal proceeding; that a civil or administrative proceeding would suffice, and the Marcos Swiss deposits which had been “criminally acquired” can be returned to the Philippines in deference to the final judgment of the Philippine court as to the ownership of these deposits.

The Swiss court also announced that the interest and reputation of Switzerland was at stake if it would become a haven for money launderers laundering money obtained by crime. Therefore, in the case of the Marcos deposits, because “the illegal source of the assets in this case cannot be doubted” the Swiss court ordered that the money be returned to the Philippines to be held in escrow account in the PNB to await the judgment of the Sandiganbayan in the forfeiture case.

By the way, in January 17, 1975 a secret decree not made public until after the Edsa insurrection was signed by Marcos stating that in the event he became incapacitated or died, power would be turned over to Imelda. On June 7, 1975, in his own handwriting, Marcos amended the January 17thdecree and clarified imelda’s role as chairperson of committee with presidential powers.

In February 1979, Imelda was named chairman of the cabinet committee, composed of all ministries, to launch the BLISS (Bagong Lipunan Sites and Services) program, an ambitious attempt to centralize control of all economic and social development. She assumed responsibility for the “11 needs of Man” codified in her ministry’s mufti-year Human Settlements Plan, 1978-2000. By 1986, the number of Filipinos living below the poverty line doubled from 18 million in 1965 to 35 million. And the ecologic al balance of the country had degraded from 75 % to 27% forest cover remaining – with 39 million acres of forest falling victim to rampant logging. This was BLISS.

She was head of the Metro Manila Commission, which by year-end 1985 had managed to accumulate debts of Php 1.99 billion (which included $100 million in foreign loans) in its ten years of existence. Imelda had accomplished nothing and left the people embittered and even more disillusioned.

In September 1992 Marcos was found guilty of violating the human rights of 10,000 victims. The ruling occurred just after a judge found Imee Marcos-Manotoc guilty of the torture and murder of Archimedes Trajano, a 21 year old engineering student at Mapua who had the temerity to ask Imee after a speech she gave whether the Kabataang Barangay (a national youth group) “must be headed by the president’s daughter?”

Imee and brother Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos, Jr. have been active in the political scene.. Bongbong, who finished 3 terms as Ilocos Norte governor, is now running for Senator under Presidential bet, Manny Villar’s senatorial slate.. he’s been quoted as saying that if given a chance, he’d like to run for President one day…

May 25, 2010

See the full gallery on Posterous

Bongbong is now a Senator, Imelda is Governor of Ilocos Norte and Imee is in Congress. The Marcoses are back in full force thanks to our “despicable amnesia” as aptly described by the eminent writer, F. Sionil Jose.

via propinoy.net & bibliotecapleyades.net

image credits: wikipedia.org, ev-said.com, googlemaps, thedailymail.co.uk, stella-arnaldo.blogspot.com, congressionalobserver.wordpress.com.

Permalink | Leave a comment »

President Noy Aquino. Forsaken.

Sat, 23 Apr 2011 21:56:00 -0700

My God, My God, why have you forsaken me at 40?

Prince William and Kate Middleton are only in their late 20s. The French fries lovers in that McDo commercial were toddlers. I am 51. I am President. I have a Porsche. Why can’t I avail of the sacrament of matrimony? You don’t want me to end up like Marlene Aguilar, do you?

Please tell your bishop to shut up. State affairs and my affairs are none of his business. I promote responsible parenthood. Let him practice responsible priesthood.

I have not contributed to population explosion. I have the moral ascendancy to stop it.

via newsbreak.ph

Permalink | Leave a comment »

The worst outcome is not failure. It's mediocrity. - A Tuesday Note

Mon, 18 Apr 2011 18:14:23 -0700

In this week's Tuesday note, I'd like to share an insight that I found online thanks to @owrange. It's a lesson from the entrepreneur Drew Houston and his startup called Dropbox.

The worst outcome for a startup is not failure — it's mediocrity. When I first met Drew, he was still working for a local Boston-area software company called Bit9 (in the security space, and they're still around). Good company. Drew was in the midst of working on a startup idea that was in the SAT prep space (called “Accoladae” if my memory serves me right). I met with Drew for dinner to talk about Accolade and his plans for it. I was not a big fan of the idea (and told him so). Super-competitive category, and it was going to be hard to differentiate. Most importantly though, I was not sure how big of an opportunity it was. I just didn't see it being a big, “break-out” business. Frankly, at the time, I could tell that Drew was really smart — but I didn't have enough data to know if he was going to be great (as in a great entrepreneur). I know many, many really smart people. Few of them have what it takes to be great entrepreneurs. As it turns out, Drew is one of those people, but I didn't know it at the time.

So, Drew ultimately ended up abandoning the SAT prep idea to do something different (which later became Dropbox).
Here's the big lesson: Many founders think that the worst outcome you can have in a startup is failure. You try something and it fails. And yes, failing sucks. But, what's worse than failing is going sideways for years and years. Being stuck in a quagmire of mediocrity. Things are going reasonably well, but not spectacularly well. The reason mediocrity sucks more than failure is very simple: Failure lets you move on, mediocrity stalls you and keeps you from reaching your potential.

via onstartups.com

Mediocrity, really, is a bitch. It reminds me of the this speech that I found four years ago and I still try to listen and watch it every so often.

Now, on failure. This is going to be a bit funny saying this but I'm a huge fan of failure.

Failure made me realize my potential back in high school. When I started out as a freshman, I was so confident of myself because I came from a prestigious grade school. I didn't study hard enough and I always went out even on school nights. That misplaced confidence did not give me anything except low grades and put me on a lower section of the class on my sophomore year. I realized I could do so much better. And I did. On my junior year, I sat at the top section of the class.

Failure got me to start working for my first ever promotion back in 2005. I slacked off on the job to the point of getting a memo for skipping work. At that time and in that company, not coming in to work was a mortal sin. When I signed the memo and saw how disappointed my supervisor was, I promised myself to get back up and be a performer. Six months later, I became one of the SMEs (subject matter expert).

Just last year, my team's first half of the year numbers sucked. Customer Experience was low, attrition was high even on the leadership level and we weren't even sure if the business was going to stay. We failed big time and morale was low. But that did not kill our spirits, no sir. We threw every playbook that we knew did not work for us and created our own. We kept challenging ourselves. There were a lot of bad eggs that we had to kick out (too bad but this is business). We ended the year meeting 3 out of 5 metrics. We ended the first quarter of this year meeting or exceeding ALL metrics.

I'm a huge fan of failure. It isn't so funny now, is it.

Permalink | Leave a comment »

What you don't know about your broadband subscription - Pt. 3

Sun, 17 Apr 2011 18:09:00 -0700

Not hot off the press since this was about two weeks ago. But every time I try to stream a video, my temper starts to flare up so let me write this third installment of the "broadband subscription" series.

In a not-so-surprising move, Globe telecom announced that they have updated their fair use policy on broadband usage. To quote the news report:

The usage cap would affect only users who download data in excess of 1 gigabyte a day, or the equivalent of about 250 MP3 songs. “Globe implemented a policy that promotes a more responsible way of using the Internet that will ensure fair and optimum usage of its broadband services across all subscribers,” the company said.

via inquirer.net

Don't be mislead by the "equivalent of about 250 MP3 songs" analogy. In today's internet surfing habits of majority of its users, 1 GB a day can be very limiting. We are in the cusp of cloud computing where the bits of data we are accessing are mostly stored in the cloud now instead of locally. We stream more videos than ever before, we view more pictures and other images thanks to Flickr and Facebook.

Years ago, we only enter a URL in our browser and then the browser downloads the bits of data to your computer for several seconds to a few minutes. When it's done, the downloading stops. You read what's on your browser, view the pictures, enjoy the GIFs and flash animations. When you click a link, it downloads data again and then stops.

However, since the advent of web 2.0 computers are now more tethered and connected to the internet all the time that there's almost no offline time anymore and that easily racks up the amount of data you are consuming. This makes "pushing" email virtually in real time even though you are only using webmail (e.g., GMail, Yahoomail). This makes instant Facebook notifications appear at the bottom left of your browser if there's some activity on your wall. You can pretty much blame web 2.0 for your wall posts and comments that start to appear like YM chat conversations because the comments appear even without refreshing the page on your browser.

Globe can impose this "fair-use" policy because there is no law that prevents this or makes this illegal. But more than that, what really is disturbing is that the two main reasons they are citing for this change in policy is astounding. Below, I will attempt to discredit both of them.

Fair and optimum usage across all subscribers (the bandwidth-is-a-finite-resource argument)

ISPs, mainly Globe, reasons that 80% of the bandwidth is being consumed by only 20% of their users. I have not really seen the actual analysis but let us assume that there's some very good method and data that Globe has in possession of that led them to this conclusion. They are saying that bandwidth, just like water or electricity, is a finite resource and that only a handful of its subscribers are consuming majority of it. That is the problem: Bandwidth is not a finite resource just like water or electricity. We don't really consume bandwidth, we consume data. These data are owned by owners of wherever you are getting the data from - YouTube, Facebook and other websites. These are not owned by ISPs. Bandwidth is what the ISPs provide which enables us to access/process those data from the internet.

One blogger explains it:

It can’t be finite because we’re talking about the rate that data is processed. It is the rate that your wireless router can process information. It is the rate the junction or the routers of your Service Provider processes information. It is the rate by which telcos transfer data from their servers out on to the world.

via propinoy.net

The real problem is that their technology and infrastructure could not handle the rate of data their consumers are trying to get. The consumers are only trying to get what they're paying for, mind you. The problem is that the ISPs have been advertising and offering a certain bandwidth (1 mbps unlimited, for example) but did not really expect their consumers to actually maximize those advertised rates. I think that's just stupid. It's like selling eat-all-you-can privileges to twenty people but the food is actually only enough for ten.

Porn and piracy

In the news article, they insinuate that part of the reason why they are implementing the change in policy is that some of their subscribers are just horny pirates:

Globe cited study done by Envisional which showed that close to 36% of torrent downloads was pornography and another 48% was movies and television shows. The study further claimed that 23.8% of global Internet traffic is piracy-related and nearly one-quarter of the traffic on the Internet involves the unauthorized distribution of copyrighted materials such as movies, TV shows, music, and video games.

Look, I appreciate the ISPs concern on pornography but that is just none of their business. As far as I know, porn is not illegal. Whatever the users are doing with their bandwidth as long as it is legal is no longer the concern of Globe and other ISPs.

Piracy though is a different thing. Yes it is illegal but you don't limit 100% of all traffic just because about a quarter of that is illegal. I may not personally like it but if the ISPs are really concerned about piracy, what they should do is to start blacklisting torrent sites from their DNS servers.

In conclusion, another thing that we do not know about our broadband subscriptions (and now we know) is that even though ISPs are selling these high bandwidth packages, they are not really high bandwidth at all since these are or will be capped. It is just another of those unethical business practices of false advertising, not informing customers of the fine print, changing the rules in the middle of the contract and citing incredulous reasons. Where in fact this is just all about the bottom line: profits.

What you don't know about your broadband subscription - Pt. 1

What you don't know about your broadband subscription - Pt. 2

* image courtesy of hometoys.com

Permalink | Leave a comment »

1 reason why Marcos should not be declared a hero

Fri, 15 Apr 2011 16:03:00 -0700

About 25 years from now, a young, brilliant and ambitious politician will run for Congress, then for the senate, then for President. Then he’ll proclaim that he will save the nation from communism/terrorism/climate change, round up all his critics and throw them in jail, proclaim himself President for life and loot the national coffers dry. Guess which history books he had been reading as a child?

via newsbreak.ph

Click on the link to read all 10 reasons.

Permalink | Leave a comment »

China decides to ban time travel

Wed, 13 Apr 2011 17:29:52 -0700

In China… well, in China, many weird things happen. The Chinese government, in another strange episode, has decided to ban time travel. Well, at least when it comes to television shows and movies.

With the way things are run, the state controls and monitors everything shown on your television or your computer. So yeah, China can randomly go back in time and say Marty McFly never existed. Scary, huh? The Doc would be furious.

Fortunately, that's not what they're saying. But somehow the government has taken a sudden disliking to the idea of distorting certain historical events, things and people. (Cough.)

The idea of time-travel has soared in popularity recently, and maybe the authorities have just gotten sick of it. Common themes revolve around protagonists going back to ancient times. Even worse than just being an annoyance, some people fear a real disrespect for China's history.

The decision was made earlier this month, with the country's State Administration for Radio, Film & Television stating that "The producers and writers are treating the serious history in a frivolous way, which should by no means be encouraged anymore."

via techland.time.com

At least in China, their film and TV board are only worried about depictions of time travel and not episodes of child abuse on national TV.

Permalink | Leave a comment »

Monsters (2010) - 3 out of 5

Wed, 06 Apr 2011 04:41:00 -0700

I was intrigued by the premise of this movie that is why I downloaded an HD format of the film, all 2.38 GB of goodness, amidst my ISP's decision to cap my broadband usage (I'm currently working on a piece on that).

The plot is that alien life-form samples were accidentally scattered on Earth after a NASA spaceship broke apart upon re-entry into the Earth's atmosphere. That ship was collecting samples out from space and met tragedy mid-air over Mexico on it's way home to the US. Soon after that, alien creatures started to emerge threatening an invasion of human life. Half of Mexico was quarantined while the south border of the US was literally walled-in for protection and isolation.

The whole story revolves around Andrew, a young photo journalist, who is tasked by his employer to escort his daughter, Samantha, from Central America back to the US. In the film, you slowly get a feel of the chemistry between the two. Andrew, finally gets his chance to cover the action outside the US but instead is forced to heed his employer's specific request. Samantha seemingly has second thoughts of going home to his fiance but comes along anyway. Andrew takes pictures of the tragedy around him along the way, sharing stories to Samantha about his personal life. It is easy to capture the loneliness each of the two have in the journey that they are taking.

There are subtle political tones in it as well. The film depicts Central Americans buying their way in to the US in order to survive. It shows the US' policy on foreign immigrants - "Here's the huge wall. Cross it if you can. Just don't expect us to help." It also portrays that, like in all tragedies, in the middle of it all is an "economy:" locals themselves extorting exorbitant prices to would-be migrants. Peddlers right on the border and, of course, prostitutes.

Titled as "Monsters," if you've watched enough indie films you know coming in that this is a movie that will show you an irony that the aliens are NOT Monsters. So, you see, it is not technically what you would categorize as Sci-Fi and Fantasy. This is not Independence Day. Cloverfield is closer but this one is probably better, emotionally.

However, with what it is trying to aim at (your heart) I think it falls short. You will probably have a better appreciation of the film if you know the challenges the filmmaker had in making it:

The film was devised, storyboarded and directed by Gareth Edwards, who also worked as the visual effects artist. Allan Niblo and James Richardson of Vertigo Films work as producers on the production. The filming equipment cost approximately $15,000, with the budget coming in at under $500,000. The film was shot entirely on location: any settings featured in the film were real locations often used without permission asked in advance, and the extras were just people who happened to be there at the time.

The film was shot in Mexico, Guatemala, Costa Rica and Texas in the US, over three weeks. For about 90% of the filming the crew comprised seven people transported in one van: Ian Maclagan (sound operator), Jim Spencer (line producer), Verity Oswin the Mexican 'fixer', Edwards, a driver, and Able and McNairy, the stars. As the low-budget production didn't run to a camera dolly, Edwards made do by sticking the camera out of the van window, cushioned on some bundled-up clothing.

As most of the extras were non-actors who were persuaded to be in the film, their action was improvised. "As a result of all this random behaviour, the idea of scripting the film went out of the window. Instead I had a loose paragraph describing the scene with just the main points that had to be hit; how the actors carried this out was left up to them." Each night during the shooting period the editor Colin Goudie and his assistant Justin Hall would download the day's footage so the memory sticks could be cleared and ready for the next day's filming.

via wikipedia.org

Whether they have budget-constraints or none, I think the real purpose of making movies is to entertain people. To inform, to enlighten, make us laugh, cry. I think this movie was not quite successful in doing that. I'm giving it a 3 out of 5. But that's just me. Rotten Tomatoes gave them a 71%.

Still, I think this is one of the better movies that came out of 2010. If you ever run out of flicks to stream/download, try this one.

Permalink | Leave a comment »

President Noy Aquino's fuel subsidy solution

Tue, 05 Apr 2011 04:05:37 -0700

Mr. Aquino last Thursday announced that he had approved an executive order (EO) establishing the program, which would cost P500 million, run for one month and involve the issuance of fuel cards to jeepney and tricycle drivers.

via bworldonline.com

500 million may not be enough to solve the billions in deficit. But that's not the point.

500 million is more than enough to buy good ratings for a month or two. Ask Kris, she knows this stuff.

Permalink | Leave a comment »

Selling the drama - A Tuesday Note

Mon, 04 Apr 2011 17:15:00 -0700

There is a lot of debate on Apple's strategy in the design process of their products, their marketing strategy and the almost obsessive policy on secrecy. But the latest TV advertisement they have released last weekend easily explains why they capture their market's hearts and minds.

They don't just sell a product, they preach a philosophy.

This philosophy goes way back in the early 80's and 90's. That is how they have been winging it ever since. While they may not have had a high market share because they just could not compete with Microsoft's business juggernaut, a lot can be said about the fanaticism of the minuscule percentage of their users.

I've been watching Apple's keynote events, TV ads (I used to have an online collection) and press communications and I've summarized their communication "awesomeness" in three key ingredients. Also, these ingredients can be found in other companies' marketing strategy (e.g., Twitter), political campaigns and even on viral web memes. These are something that anyone can use: be it campaigning for an ordinance in your own town, announcing a org change in your company or hard-selling a difficult but necessary budget cut to your son's allowance.

Loud

I remember back in college when I was campaigning for a slot in the student government. One thing that we had a lot of were connections. We could go into a certain school organization and ask help in speaking to the rest of their members. We asked our friends to ask their friends to campaign for us. One strategy that we had was to go room-to-room in the main campus and when it's time to move to the extended campus, a set of friends on our behalf would go another round of room-to-room in the main campus to "maintain the hype." It was effective. Days before election, we would see cliques in the hallways and outside the campus chanting our slogans which drowned out our competition.

The message has to be heard from every corner imaginable to your audience. While that runs the risk of annoying them, it is almost always better to over-communicate.

Relevance

US President Barack Obama's 2009 campaign was mainly based on the slogan, "Change we can believe in," which was a message of hope for most Americans who grew weary of the status quo. You have to market something that your audience would see a need for, or would fill the gap of a current conundrum. You have to be in fashion, so to speak.

However, most the issues at hand in which you want to take advantage of are usually complex in nature. This brings me to me to the third ingredient.

Clear and understandable

This is where Apple is very good at. Computers are complicated in nature because there are numerous components inside it. Huge amounts of resources are poured in by each company to design and engineer even just one iteration of a product line. However, it does not mean that your customers need to know about it. Most PC manufacturers sell their products through their spec sheet. Apple sells them without much use of jargons.

If you go through HP's website or another PC manufacturer, you will be welcomed with words like, "AMD Sempron(TM) 150 processor [2.8GHz, 1MB L2, up to 4000MHz bus]. If you go to Apple's and look for a certain product, the first tabs you'll see are Design and Features while Tech Specs is at the farthest right just next to Buy Now.

And their TV ads, the latest for the iPad a very good example, almost always never dwell into the GHz and the GBs. Instead they use words like, "magical," "delightful."

* Image courtesy of engineermylife.com

Permalink | Leave a comment »

You big bright red thing, what are you doing over here? It's summer in the PH.

Sun, 03 Apr 2011 20:33:33 -0700

Permalink | Leave a comment »

Fantasy Technique: "Discovering" your future

Mon, 21 Mar 2011 17:33:00 -0700

Ever wondered how the Polaroid Camera was invented?

It happened like this: One time when Land and his three-year-old daughter were in New Mexico, she asked why she couldn't immediately see a photograph that he had snapped. He took a short walk through the desert, pondering that question. By the time he had returned (and it was no more than an hour, he recalled), he had visualized the elements of the instant camera. "You always start with a fantasy," he said. "Part of the fantasy technique is to visualize something as perfect. Then with experiments you work back from the fantasy to reality, hacking away at the components.

via fastcompany.com

Really gifted people, as the article suggests, discover products or ideas and not really invent them. It is as if they already have it in front of them when they try to articulate through words and expressions.

Sculley, former co-CEO of Apple, once said that he observed Steve Jobs having this ability when he talked about the Macintosh when it was yet to be produced.

I think most of us, if not all, have this ability especially when visualizing our own future or career path. We know where we want to be and what we want to do - it's just a matter of making that happen. When I have career discussions with my employees or when I ask a job applicant on long term plans, I let them focus on these key points:

Don't think of a specific company or a specific job/position. Think of a type of work you want to do, in what industry and for how long. Think of a fantasy 8-to-5 routine.
Are you leaning towards a leadership or management path, on knowledge-transfer, technical or on design?
Do you have what it takes to make the fantasy a reality? If yes, you are an anomaly but good on you!
If you don't have what it takes [yet] to make the fantasy a reality, it's perfectly OK. Answering these questions and having these discussions is the first step.
Because the next steps are listing down the things you will need to achieve, acquire, learn, buy, steal, etc., in order to make the fantasy a reality.

Now, get to work.

Permalink | Leave a comment »

Why is there no looting in Japan?

Wed, 16 Mar 2011 04:37:01 -0700

But one heart-wrenching byproduct of disasters like this one has been missing in Japan, and that’s looting and lawlessness.

Looting is something we see after almost every tragedy; for example: last year's earthquakes in Haiti and Chile, the floods in England in 2007, and of course Hurricane Katrina back in 2005. It happens when some people who've seen life as they know it get tossed out the window feel that all morality has been tossed out too. It's survival of the fittest and whatever you can get your hands on is yours, no matter who it belongs to.

But that's not happening in Japan.

via caffertyfile.blogs.cnn.com

Interesting. Mind-boggling.

Permalink | Leave a comment »

Jon Bon Jovi says Steve Jobs killed music business. I say that's a luddite's argument.

Tue, 15 Mar 2011 16:30:00 -0700

Jon Bon Jovi cast his vote in The Sunday Times Magazine; the American rock musician thinks Jobs is "killing" the music industry with iTunes.

The massive success of iTunes, says Bon Jovi, has caused the "magical" experience of buying records in a store to disappear. "Kids today have missed the whole experience of putting the headphones on, turning it up to 10, holding the jacket, closing their eyes and getting lost in an album; and the beauty of taking your allowance money and making a decision based on the jacket, not knowing what the record sounded like, and looking at a couple of still pictures and imagining it," the rocker told The Sunday Times Magazine. Bon Jovi says that "in a generation from now people are going to say: 'What happened?' Steve Jobs is personally responsible for killing the music business."

via tuaw.com

I disagree and let me counter point-by-point.

1. On the perspective of music availability, it is NOT killing the music industry. There are more music available to anyone than ever before because of Steve Jobs' iTunes and other digital music distribution websites or software. If Bon Jovi was referring to the major labels' current business model then, yes, Steve Jobs and company is killing them. Do we want this or not? See next bullets.

2a. Music distribution through the major labels (aka old school music industry) means you have to be a U2, Kings of Leon, Katy Perry or a Coldplay in order for your music to be heard. You will need the major label's huge and expensive promotional machinery to get it out there. As far as revenues, the big man (read: the labels) gets most of it while the artists take a small portion. For the above-mentioned artists, this is OK for them since the margins are huge. For lesser-known acts, you only get cheap change.

2b. The advent of iTunes, Amazon, etc. made music distribution easier for artists without the major labels' support. Metric made it big with their "Fantasies" album through iTunes. Owl City's early hits were mainly driven by his Myspace following. There are countless others.

2c. So, we do not really want the major labels to die. We just want them to adapt the digital world where major overhead costs (which by the way is the major source of the labels' income) are no longer necessary. We definitely want this direct artist-to-listener model to flourish (take note: major labels don't have to go, they just need to re-think their business models).

3. The buying experience that Jon is talking about is also something that I miss. However, this was bound to happen and was only a question of when, not if. That's technology. It is the same as the photography business where before, we hire photographers to document our events. Now, we can do it ourselves with affordable digicams and some software. Jon's argument is a luddite's.

4. While I still have your attention, let me argue that Bon Jovi IS THE ONE killing the music industry with their [very, very] old cheesy songs. They need to call it a day and stop injecting us with their "bad medicine."

Permalink | Leave a comment »

Have a Sunday everyone

Sat, 12 Mar 2011 20:51:37 -0800

Permalink | Leave a comment »

Finish your lunch. Or else.

Sat, 12 Mar 2011 20:13:00 -0800

via grab.by

Sometimes it's really hard to make children eat. If only Batman was my yaya, things would be very much easier.

Permalink | Leave a comment »

Lookin' Out My Window by local indie hiphop act Knive Everdope

Thu, 10 Mar 2011 03:38:00 -0800

via youtube.com

I know this guy. Let me rephrase that: Yo, I know this homie!

Knive is the brother of a friend of mine and according to him, this was just a homemade track made using the following:

- Nikon D5000 with 50mm prime lens
- Adobe After Effects
- a free beat pulled from the internet
- BIR Form 2316
- Serious disdain towards the government

Anyway, if you need a quick f*ck-tha-government fix, this should do it. Listen to the rhymes.

Permalink | Leave a comment »