Yuck

Ayon dito sa article na ito sa Slate

"That distinctive pool smell usually attributed to chlorine is actually produced by the combination of chlorine and perspiration, body oils, and urine."

So pag amoy pool yung pool mo ibig sabihin may umihi don? :)

Anti-abortion

Pro-life

Let us wait and see

According to the PDI, Senator Francis Escudero said

"The chairman of the Senate ways and means committee proposed that 70 percent of presidential appointments to the 5,000 positions in government agencies and government-owned and -controlled corporations should be limited be given to career officials with the technical expertise and institutional memory to continue existing programs.

"There are agencies that need the confidence of the people, not the confidence of the President. These agencies need technical expertise, not loyalty to the appointing power,” he said.

“These include OWWA, NEDA (National Economic Development Authority), DoE (Department of Energy), the Department of Education, and DPWH (Department of Public Works and Highways).""

I invite people to help me monitor Sen. Escudero's subsequent career. If he becomes President, let us monitor whether the majority of his appointments come from career officials with technical expertise and institutional memory. If he falls short, let us see whether he will accept any appointments to any government agency where he has no expertise.

Archaic

Malaysian police are poised to arrest and charge their former Deputy Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim of sodomy. The same charge that got him imprisoned in 1999.

The first conviction was viewed as politically motivated so I cannot understand why they are leveling the same charge again since this would most probably be viewed as politically motivated, unless the ruling party is so convinced of their invulnerability that they do not think they need to make elaborate pretenses when they persecute somebody.

The thing that gets me though is that they are charging him with sodomy. I can only conclude that they believe that Malaysians are so homophobic that the mere mention of the act of sodomy will make them abhor Mr. Anwar.

I can't believe Malaysian's allows this kind of archaic thinking to pervade their society. Malaysia seems to be a very dynamic society and their economy has passed that of the Philippines, yet they persist with this kind of antediluvian thinking?

Of course we in the Philippines have our share of people with this kind of thinking, but at least we do not jail people for a sexual act that that they engage in voluntarily. The operative word here is voluntarily, forcing sex on other people is rape.

I hope Mr. Anwar, beats this charge, become head of government and abolish this law.

Cracked Me Up

Si Mike Defensor nasa Cracked.
















Ang problema, nasa isa siyang article na ang title ay "6 Retarded Gas Saving Schemes (People Are Actually Trying)." At ang sabi nung artikulo tungkol sa hawak niyang bagay ay

"What is it?

This is a device developed back in the 1970s by some dude in the Philippines who felt that America shouldn't have the market cornered on scamming people. Basically, it's a metal valve, with the very impressive words "Super Turbo Charger" nicely engraved on it. As you can see by the picture, unlike some of the products out there, this thing actually looks like it could do something, in the way that most hookers look like they don't have an STD.

What's it supposed to do?

Basically this thing is supposed to put your car on a gasoline diet. Apparently all cars are using way too much gas. The Khaos supposedly changes the mixture of the gas and air so that the car will burn more air and less gas. Up to half as much according to them.

Inside the metal tube is a spring which is supposed to regulate the air/gas mixture, turning your bloated car from a donut-munching couch potato into a lean fuel-efficient triathlete, minus the ridiculous spandex.

Even more amazing though is that the maker claims it will reduce pollution from your car by 100 percent. The inventor also says he has turned down millions of dollars from Western companies for the patent because then Filipinos would not be able to afford it. Oh, and also it doesn't work at all.

What will it really do?

This device will do exactly what it says it will do. It will actually change the fuel/air mixture in your car. Awesome! You know what else can change the fuel/air mixture in your car? Something we like to call, the engine.

In modern cars, the car's computers and sensors will take care of all that for you. Not surprisingly, they will do a much better job of it than this thing. What this actually does is choke off gas from entering the engine, making it knock and ping and generally run like shit.

As for the claim that it reduces pollution? When installed the device actually creates about three times the pollution that a car without the device produces (that's what happens when you fuck up the way the engine was designed to run). We think this means that it doesn't work.

So why do people buy this thing and swear by it? One reason may be that the makers tell you that you need to give your car a tune up before installing the device. So it's like a diet pill where the directions say you should take it with a glass of water and then run five miles. You'll get results, but probably could have skipped the pills. "

Siguro nuong Secretary siya ng DENR itong picture na. Pero maski na, di ba niya naisip na kung talagang may nagagawa ang Super Turbo Charger na ito, matagal ng ginaya ng mga gumagawa ng kotse ito? Minsan yung kagustuhan nating maging bilib sa pinoy ay bumubulag sa atin sa kagaguhan ng ginagawa ng pinoy na iyon.

Arenas in the Philippines

Gilbert Arenas, all star point guard for the Washington Wizards recently visited the Philippines and he had a nice time. So nice in fact that he wrote in his blog that everybody should visit Manila.

"One thing I want to say about Filipinos: they’re very warm people, very good-hearted people. Like, everybody was nice. You know, you meet nice people, but a whole country of nice, genuine, warm-hearted people was unbelievable. These are diehard fans. "

While he was here, he also helped out with Gawad Kalinga and toured some malls.

"You have to look at the Agent Zero posters they had out there. They put me in a cape at one of my last events in Manila. It was at one of their biggest malls and they were predicting it was going to be crowded. I mean, crowded to me is a Saturday afternoon at the mall where you have to wait in line for 10 minutes to pay for your jeans. Their crowded was probably four or five thousand people in the mall. It was like nothing I’ve ever seen before, and I’ve seen crazy fans all over the world. It was like Golden State against the Dallas Mavericks with Game 3 back in Oakland. It was that type of atmosphere in the mall. "

And of course he watched Ateneo vs. La Salle.

"We actually went to a college basketball game together. Their college game would be like if it was Duke and Maryland playing each other and you split the crowd in half, 50-50. One side of their gym was blue and one side of their gym was green and everybody was just yelling."

via TrueHoops

Lessons from "The Propaganda Movement"

Kung napansin niyo yung kanang bahagi ng blog na ito, isa sa mga binabasa kong libro ngayon ay ang "The Propaganda Movement" ni John N. Schumacher, S.J. Matagal ko na balak magbasa ulit ng mga libro tungkol sa kasaysayan ng Pilipinas, pero ngayon ko lang inumpisahan. Nasa umpisa pa lang din ako ng Libro ng Fr. Shumacher pero may mga nabasa ako na gusto kong ibahagi.

Ang una ay ang tolerance, sanay na tayo na maski na karamihan sa ating mga kababayan ay mga Katoliko, marami na ring kasapi ng ibang relihiyon. At nasanay na rin tayong respetuhin ang iba't ibang relihiyon ng ating mga kababayan.

Nasanay na tayo sa ganitong sitwasyon, pero ayon sa libro ni Fr. Schumacher, hindi laging ganito ang sitwasyon, noong panahon ng kastila, bawal ang ibang relihiyon, kaya nga

"The new Constitution of 1876...aroused bitter protest from the Vatican and the Spanish bishops, for though it proclaimed Catholicism as the religion of the Spanish nation,...it nevertheless tolerated the private practice of other religions."

Hinayaan lang yung ibang relihiyon, nagalit na sila. Sa ngayon marami ang nagsasabi na ang relihiyon nila ang tunay na relihiyon, pero ikaw ang may kapagyarihan pumili kung anong relihiyon ang para sa iyo. Nasa iyo ang kapangyarihan, huwag nating hayaan bumalik sa nakaraang sitwasyon na isang relihiyon lamang ang nagsasabi kung anong relihiyon ang para sa iyo dahil pag nangyari iyon, sila na ang may kapangyarihan. Sila na ang magsasabi kung paano ka mabubuhay, sino pakakasalan mo, sino iboboto mo, ano ang dapat mong malaman.

Pangalawa, palagay ko ay itinuro sa akin ng lahat ng naging guro ko sa kasaysayan ang naging papel ni Gregorio Sancianco sa Propaganda Movement, ang problema hindi ko siya naaalala. Naaalala ko si Pedro Paterno, pero si Sancianco hindi. At hindi ko maubos maisip bakit hindi ko siya maalala. Si Gregorio Sancianco ay sumulat ng isang libro, ang "El progreso de Filipinas". At ayon kay Fr. Schumacher

"Sancianco's book anticipates most of the principal themes of the later Filipino nationalist campaign: administrative reform , eradication of corruption, in the government, recognition of Filipino rights as loyal Spaniards, extension of Spainish law to the Philippines, curtailment of the excessive power of the friars in the life of the country, and assertion of the dignity of the Filipino."

at nabasa ni Rizal yung libro niya at

"Jose Rizal at least was impressed by it. Writing from Madrid in 1882 to his brother, he mentioned the proximate return of Sancianco "the author of El progreso de Filipinas" implying that the book was known at least to him and his brother"

para siyang si Juan Bautista ng rebolusyon, kinailangan pa na ilang panahon para maging handa ang mga pinoy sa reporma at rebolusyon, at sina Rizal at Bonifacio na ang umani ng kahandaang ito.

Ostia

Isa sa mga paborito kong blogger, si P.Z. Myers, ay ipinagtanggol ang isang estudyante na sa halip na kainin, ay iniuwi ang ostia na binigay sa kanya ng pari para sa komunyon. Nagkaroon ngayon ng malaking kontrobersiya sa isyung ito.

Kung gusto niyong basahin, i-browse niyo lang yung blog ni Prof. Myers. Ang importante sa akin, kailan at bakit ba nauso yung binibigay na lang sa mangungumunion yung ostia at sila na ang bahalang kumain nito? Nung nasa high school pa ako at nagsisimba, inilalagay ng pari yung ostia sa bunganga mo. Hindi sana nagkaroon ng ganitong kontrobersiya kung ganito pa ang palakad ngayon.

Upgrading to Hardy

I have no plans upgrading my desktop to Hardy Heron, especially with what I experienced the last time I tried upgrading my Kubuntu desktop. But I had just replaced a broken hard drive off a Dell Inspiron laptop. My wife insisted that we install Linux on the thing and since I only had my Gutsy cd, that's what I installed. I then tried to upgrade the installation to Hardy figuring that since it's a fresh install, there should be no problems, and there weren't.

So I am now typing this post from the laptop, playing around with it. It seems ok to me. Time will tell if there will be any inconveniences, but I am happy right now. Learned new things again. :)

Popular Bookstore

I was near Timog these last 2 days so I decide to visit Popular Bookstore.

I first heard of Popular Bookstore when it was still located in Doroteo Jose St., in Manila. A lot of leftist/activists visited the store to buy hard to find leftist books.

One of the books i was able to buy from Popular Bookstore is the "Freethinker's Reader"



The book is a collection of essays by Bertrand Russel, Robert Ingersoll, Carlos Esteban and H.L Mencken about atheism. At a time when the mere mention of the word atheism brands you a a godless anti-government, communist radical, finding this book was liberating. This book was evidence that I was not alone, that there were others who thought as I did.

As I was browsing through the shelves I stumbled upon a book that was written by "nobel prize nominee" E.E. Escultura.



The book is a collection of essays by E.E. Escultura not really about the struggle for peace, as the title suggests, but more on the anti-imperialist movements during the 1980's.

So if your looking for hard to find books or you just want to browse for books you won't normally find at National Bookstore, you should visit Popular Bookstore.