Tuesday, November 30, 2004

NoyPi Komiks Heroes
Pinoy Power!
Ever envied Americans for having cool superheroes like Spiderman, Batman, and Superman? Fear not! The Philippines has its own league of extraordinaires! In this link, you'll see a host of home-bred comic heroes.

The roster includes the usuals - Captain Barbel, Darna, Pedro Penduko, and Bernardo Carpio. There are also unusual and rather unknown heroes like The Twelve and one of my favorites, Tol of Batch 72.

Who ever said home-grown heroes have nothing to say? Look at Lam-ang's immortality and Bernardo Carpio's superhuman strength and invulnerability. How about Supremo's supremeness?! Just visit Sanduguan Comics site.

Though some of their names are corny, at least our heroes' names don't always end with "man".

Women Get the Bitter End of Poverty
A common sight in the metro
A report from the Philippine Center for Investigative Journalism (PCIJ) shows that when there is not enough money to feed a Filipino family, it is the woman, either wife or mother, who will skip meals just so her children and husband can have more or enough to eat. It is not even just a matter of physical sacrifice. It is the woman who bears the psychological stress of finding ways to stretch the family’s meager budget--from finding additional sources of income to sending children to live with relatives.

The full report is found here!

The report shows how dehumanizing the conditions our fellow counrtymen. More and more people resort to surrogate ulam which is rice seasoned with salt, soy sauce, or even coffee. Such higlights the inability of our kababayans to buy any sort of meat / vegetable products.

Lesson to be learned: value whatever food you are eating, it's definitely grace from above.

Free Stuff are Hard to Find
Recently, people have been spamming about getting free iPods in the Internet. From my e-mail to the Friendster Bulletin Boards, people are all saying one thing: "Come on and click this link!". The link ultimately goes to the website of Tech4Free.

I have always been a sceptic of these get stuff / money for free gimmicks. But of course, such a personal principle is not enough of a ground to engage on a dispute on the validity of the gimmick. But thanks to this blogpost, the light has been shed on this Tech4Free gimmick.

Lesson learned: Before spamming, try to read the fine prints first.

Friday, November 26, 2004

Beware of Your Cellphone
Michael Sathre holds the remnants of his treacherous cellphone
With 30 million subscribers, 150 million text messages a day, and an average of 5 text messages per day per person, we are a cellphone country. Therefore, news of exploding cellphone is one that is of dread and great concern.

In the United States, cases of exploding cellphones have alarmed their cellphone industry. Imagine, a 13-year-old kid just went to pick up his full-charged phone and it suddenly exploded, causing him injuries and trauma. It was reported that for two months, he refused to go near a cellphone, but because of necessity, he needed to get over it.

According to authorities, there were already 83 reports of cellphones exploding or catching fire within the last two years, usually caused by bad chargers or batteries. With that said, I imagine how much danger we Filipinos are. Many buy what we call Class A batteries from Greenhills, Divisoria, and the likes. Such unregulated batteries pose a serious threat to the safety of the cellphone users. But what is more daunting is that even original products can spontaneously explode without any warning. Thus, nobody is safe.

The scenario is pretty scary. Personally, I'm starting to catch a tinge of paranaoia. Oftentimes, I have my cellphone undeneath my pillow or upon a table beside my bed, near my head. An explosion would surely cause me serious injury.

But of course for every situation there can be a lessoned learned. In this one, it's not just about saying no to pirated / smuggled / stolen merchandise but it's also about re-evaluating our lifestyle. Have we become to attached to our cellphones or to any material possession for that matter? Every night we would check where is our cellphone, we often take it out of our pockets just to see if it still has any charge left in it, and we even clothe / accessorize them. It's as if our cellphone has become our best bud (I know for sure that there's a handful out there to whom this is true). Maybe it's about time to stop minding our cellphones and start doing something real.

Besides, cellphones even cause sterility.

Thursday, November 25, 2004

Poor AFP
Another promising Pinoy ends up in the dumpsters
The topnotcher of the Philippine Military Academy (PMA) 2004 graduating class who was sent to the US Army Infantry School at Fort Benning in Georgia for an officer-training course was deported for shoplifting. He allegedly “removed a 50-cent discount tag from a sale item and attached it to a $12 compact disc that he bought from a store in Fort Benning.” The PMAer in question is Second Lt. Rolly Joaquin.

The news is very depressing. Considering that Lt. Joaquin was the class valedictorian, he not only ended up humiliating himself but also his whole class, the AFP, and most of all, the Philippines.

Though the PMA spokesperson was quick to point out that it was the fault of the individual more than anything else, this is yet another slap on the face of the Armed Forces of the Philippines. This incident will yet again tarnish the reupatition of our army especially now that there's an issue of an army officer who is soliciting sex from recruits.

The army should showcase the bravest and the brightest of our race but such behaviors are trully unacceptable. Please don't tell me I'll just wake up one day and see the whole country as a freakin' wasteland filled with stupid bozos.

Wednesday, November 24, 2004

Math Genius to the Nth Power
A 38-year-old with degrees in psychology, education and computer science needed only 11.8 seconds to calculate the 13th root of a 100-digit number in his head, setting a new record and beating electronic calculators, organizers said.

Unfortunately, his feat can't be placed into the Guinness Book of World Records because there is no clear standards for the challenge.

[via Yahoo! News]

Obesity Linked to Lack of Sleep
Looks like a dozing Tom Cruise
It's true, the lesser the number of sleeping hours, the fatter a person will be. Well, that's what studies have shown. At first I was in desbelief because normally, when one loses sleep, it dramatically increases the stress level (based on personal experience). Of course, as stress level increases, the more fats and calories the body burn to be able to give the much needed boost for moments when sleep is not a factor (e.g. cramming).

According to the article, the recurring cases of obesity in sleep-deprived individuals is due to its effect on the levels of a certain hormone that governs the body's eating pattern.

[BBC NEWS]

Tuesday, November 23, 2004

Meningo Beats Santa to Town
We've got bigger problems than him
There was SARS, there was bird flu, there was F4, and now there is meningococcemia a.k.a. meningo. When I heard the news a couple of nights ago, I had to read the word twice to pronouce it properly. It was the first time I ever heard of it.

Symptoms include acute respiratory tract infection, cough and colds, vomiting and diarrhea. The illness can kill rapidly especially when the person is below 10 years old. Children can die of the infection in less than 24 hours. [The Manila Times]

According to the news, meningococcemia is bacterial, not viral. The good news is that it isn’t airborne. The bad news is that if someone infected with it sneezes and you get sprayed with his saliva, there’s a chance you may contract the disease.

Four people suspected of suffering from the disease have died in Baguio City and an 11-year-old boy who died yesterday morning was the third in Metro Manila.

Gee, as though the Filipinos aren’t in deep enough trouble with the economic situation. Now we have to grapple with meningococcemia. With the majority of the people unable to afford basic healthcare services, with the swiftness that this disease kills, well, the prospects are alarming.

Additional information about the disease:

Causes, incidence, and risk factors

Neisseria meningitidis frequently lives in the upper respiratory tract with no evidence of illness. Some event is thought to trigger the onset of aggressive behavior of the organism and sporadic cases of meningococcemia and meningococcal meningitis appear.

Family members and those closely exposed to an infected individual are at increased risk. The infection occurs more frequently in winter and early spring. It is transmitted from person-to-person by respiratory droplets.
Prevention

Prophylaxis (preventive antibiotics) for family members and contacts are often recommended. Speak with you health care provider about this option.
Symptoms

Symptoms may be very few at first, and can include:

* Fever
* Petechial rash
* Irritability
* Anxious appearing

Later symptoms and signs can include:

* Appears acutely ill
* Changing level of consciousness
* Shock
* Large areas of hemorrhage and/or thrombosis under the skin

Signs and tests

* CBC with differential
* Blood culture
* Gram stain of positive culture
* Skin biopsy and Gram stain
* Urinalysis
* Clotting studies (PT, PTT)
[Yahoo! Health]


I hope that meningococcemia would not reach epidemic levels. Major break-out or not, Pinoys would endure meningo just like we endured the likes of Jerry Yan and the rest of those Taiwanese @!#$.

Monday, November 01, 2004

When It's Over
Midou Ban (not actual size)
It's already the wee hours of the first day of November but my sleep deprived mind is still quite jumpy and wiry. The unwanted stench of November 3 is just around the corner - actually, it's a few sleeps away. With it, marks the end of my first college sembreak. Therefore, it is understandable that I go ballistic on how fruitless the break was. But of course, who has ever fulfilled his/her plans for the break? Nonetheless, here is a rundown of the sembreak that is about to be a "was".

Semestral QPI: 2.75
Average hours of sleep per day: 13
Hours of straight classes (without any break) for the 2nd sem: 7
New found loves: Myth Busters, Get Backers
Kept me buisy: Youth Enounter
Movies watched (in theater): Ladder 49, White Chicks
Movies watched (in DVD): White Chicks, 13 Going on Thirty, Dodgeball
Movies I want to see in cable TV: Jerry Maguire, Underworld
Books finished: zero
Weight gained: zero or a negative
Money gained: negative
Pimples gained: 3
Fave food of the seaseon: cucumber
New stuff: nill
Missing piece: cellphone
Fave moments:
BLD Youth Luzon Gathering in Los Banos





Y.E.13 & 14 Reunion

Number one reason to hate November 3: Mr. Acuna

Even though it's against my better judgement - 2nd sem, HERE I COME!