How to make it as a hoops star in the Philippines

Here is one foreigner's view of basketball in the Philippines. From Slate.

Basketball is a tall man's game. But in the Philippines, where men are short and hoops is an obsession, something's got to give. Several native "big men" are barely taller than 6 feet 3 inches, the standard height for NBA guards. Dunks are so rare in the PBA that the league has toyed with the idea of making slams worth three points. The league adds a dash of high-wire athleticism by allowing each team to hire one foreign-born star. But permitting American 7-footers to play would wreak havoc among the Lilliputian locals. As a result, the PBA bans imports taller than 6 feet 6 inches.

The rule works. The PBA's foreigners are a versatile bunch: pure shooters, workhorses who do a little of everything, burly inside operators. But while the imports typically dominate games, they still leave room for the best Filipino players—guards who whirl through defenses and score on twisting layups—to do what they do best.

The height limit may be good for the PBA, but it forces tall players into a Catch-22. After a lifetime spent exaggerating their height to look more appealing to scouts, players must try to become shorter to play in the Philippines. The teams, too, have an incentive to sneak in over-height imports—every inch gives you a competitive advantage. As a result, foreigners in the PBA, and the franchises who bring them over, have come up with several shrinking techniques. Some of the methods are tricky, some are pseudoscientific, and others are just plain batty.

EDSA: A Blow by Blow Account

"StuartXchange presents Angela Stuart-Santiago's works on the 1986 EDSA revolution, in their entirety. The two published works - an English version (EDSA: The Original People Power Revolution) and a Tagalog version (Walang Himala! Himagsikan sa Edsa) - in a blow-by-blow style of story telling - will bring the People Power Revolution back into the forefront of your consciousness. A must-read for every freedom-loving Filipino, for students of history, for those whose memories have been blurred by time, for the younger generations for whom EDSA is piecemeal snippets of hearsay, and for those who just wish to read and reminisce of a time when a people showed the possibilities of its heart and soul."

Baka may gustong bumasa.

Skarlet's New CD

I know it's hard to believe that Skarlet knows me, but my high school batch produced a lot of musicians and artists. Perry from Barfly is another example. If you have extra cash, you might just want to check out Skarlet's new album.

MLQ3 on the Wisdom of Crowds

From Manuel L. Quezon III: The Daily Dose - The wisdom of crowds:

"This is what I mean by the wisdom of crowds. Those of us who took partisan positions have a role to play, but in the end -and it’s at times breathtakingly beautiful to me, to pause, take stock, and realize this- the devotion of our country as a whole, is doggedly, unbudgingly, sensibly, for the democratic path. Partisan lines came closest to blurring in December, 2006, when it seemed elections themselves might be postponed if not canceled; and we’ve seen the May elections finally settle what the public opinion polls could only hint at: where does the country, as a whole, stand? On the whole, not even for or against the President, but firmly on the side of checks-and-balance. And we can even expect a certain kind of renewed stability, if only the powers-that-be could read this message. Sad to say, I think what we have ahead of us will be government-provoked destabilization, as today’s Inquirer editorial spells out."

I agree, except for the last sentence. I am hopeful that GMA will wish to polish her legacy and try to be more of a statesman and exit the political stage gracefully.

May the Source be with You

May the Source be with You
Originally uploaded by GNU/DrinuS !

This is my new wallpaper on my phone. I use Kubuntu as my primary home OS for several months now and have not encountered any major problems. I just love this this picture, it combines two of my favorite things, Linux and Star Wars.

p.s.

My wife pointed out that the above is not only my wallpaper but my theme. She should know, she created it. If you want to try the theme out, you can download it here (Right click and save link as. The theme is for Sony Ericsson W810i.

The Dilemma of Choice

Pharyngula directed me to this article in the Daily Kos where a doctor writes why he does abortions. Abortion is not legal in the Philippines, contraceptives are barely tolerated by the Catholic church and their viewpoint dominates Philippine society. I hope somebody who reads this article will be brave enough to reconsider his/her personal opinion on this issue.

I was raised by my mother and my grandmother. I had no difficulty accepting that women are the equal of men. I witnessed the strength of my mother and grandmother everyday. But I always had an aversion to the pro-choice position. I always thought of the waste of potential of an aborted human being.

I accepted the pro-choice position when a friend, the martian, explained that pro-choice is about women, it is their body, it should be their choice. But I embraced the pro-choice position after I read Mandatory Motherhood: The True Meaning of Right to Life.

Dr. Harrison's article is a powerful piece that explains not only the difficulties poor women experience when they have no choice but to bear and raise unplanned children but also the moral dilemma every person goes through in deciding for or against an abortion.

"No one, neither the patient receiving an abortion, nor the person doing the abortion, is ever, at anytime, unaware that they are ending a life. We just don't believe that a developing embryo or fetus, whose mother cannot or will not accept it, has the same moral claims on us, claims to autonomy and justice, that an adolescent or adult woman has. I have never seen an abortion decision entered into lightly by anyone involved. The decision to have an abortion is most often made in the time of the first great personal moral crisis that ever faces a girl, a woman, her family and the people who love them. It is only those who stand outside and condemn the women and families who are faced with these dilemmas who take lightly the decisions made in these straits and trivialize the circumstances in which they are made.

Moral dilemmas are always about difficult problems. Decisions between right and wrong are not moral dilemmas; decisions between right and wrong should be no-brainers and should never be difficult.

It is in deciding between what we consider morally near-equal alternatives that we are forced to make agonizing appraisals. The decision between competing evils or competing goods - these are the judgments that may burn in your mind and live forever in your memory, that fry your soul. And it matters not whether one believes elective abortion a good or an evil, for every abortion decision is made between self-perceived competing goods or competing evils, not between obvious good and self-evident evil. "

Additions to my Reading List

The problem is I'm in the middle of finishing the Aubrey-Maturin series, all 20 of them so these books are way back in the list.

Creation museum carnival

This is collection of blog entries on the newly opened 'creation museum' as compiled by Prof. PZ Myers of Pharyngula. I wouldn't normally post or link to something on creationism because I don't think this is a problem in the Philippines. Not yet at least, but the opening of a whole museum dedicated to such nonsense seems too big to let pass.

So head on to Pharyngula to read why this museum should be relegated to the dustbin of history.

read more | digg story

The Karate Kid - Cliff Notes

CRACKED.com - Cliffs Notes on The Karate Kid

Do you think friendships between young boys and geriatric maintenance men are slightly creepy? Do you find yourself wondering if Cobra Kai will ever die? (Hint: never.) Sounds like you need to brush up on your Karate Kid. Luckily, you no longer have to watch the entire 120-minute film, thanks to our extensive Cliffs Notes on the John G Avildsen classic.

Magbilang Kayo ng Election Returns Niyo

Nanonood ako ng Prime News ngayon sa ANC kung saan nagrereklamo si Nikki Coseteng kung bakit hindi nilalagay ng NAMFREL yung bilang ng bumoto sa kanilang press advisory. Ang hindi ko maintindihan, bakit siya nagagalit sa NAMFREL samantalang dapat may sariling Election Returns ang oposisyon, yung panglimang kopya ng official ER's ay para sa oposisyon.

Ang hirap sa oposisyon napaka bilis magreklamo ng pandaraya wala namang ginagawa para maiwasan yung pandaraya. Yung organisasyon na tuwing eleksiyon na lang ay nagpapakahirap para mabawasan o maiwasan ang pandaraya sa Pilipinas, sila pa yung nababatikos.

Full disclosure: naging member po ako ng NAMFREL, hindi mataas ang naging posisyon ko, hanggang watcher lang.