Elections

Stop me if you've heard this before

""An election .... is usually a chance for an ordinary voter to make a quick buck, enjoy a free meal and perhaps even grab a souvenir t-shirt at a campaign rally.

For the man in the street, it is sometimes difficult to tell the difference between the parties and candidates; they rarely live up to their campaign promises anyway.""

Typical elections in the Philippines? Yes, but it turns out also typical in Bangladesh. Fortunately for Bangladesh, there is something different this year.

""No-one is offering us money or anything else this time," said Abdul Jalil, a rickshaw puller in the capital, Dhaka. "Previously, we would get cash or other gifts during elections."

Bangladesh goes to the polls on December 29 for a parliamentary election the interim government says will be the cleanest in years -- if not the country's history. The election, the ninth since independence in 1971, will end nearly two years of mostly emergency rule and return the country to democracy."

I can only hope for the same thing happening in the Philippines in the next elections.

Nagkalimutan

Kanina, ibinalita ng ABS-CBN na humingi na paumanhin si dating Pangulong Cory Aquino kay dating Pangulong Erap Estrada dahil sumama si Pangulong Aquino sa pagpapatalsik kay Pangulong Estrada.

Kay daling makalimot ni Pangulong Aquino, parang nakalimutan na niya yung mga kabaluktutang nangyari nuong kapanahunan ni Pangulong Estrada. Hindi naman nag-alsa ang mga Pilipino laban kay Pangulong Estrada dahil sa trip lamang nila. May mga dahilan, at malaki ang katunayan na mangurakot nga si Pangulong Estrada, mayroon tayong mga bank account, at meron tayong witness na si pangulopng Estrada ang pumipiram sa bank account na ito.

Mas malaki pa nga ang katibayan sa kabaluktutan ni Pangulong Estrada kaysa sa kabaluktutan ni pangulong Arroyo. Puedeng dahil sa mas matalino at mas pinong mangurako si Pangulong Arroyo, pero huwag naman natin kalimutan na porket kasama ngayon ang mga taga suporta ni Pangulong Estrada sa mga gustong magpatalsik kay Pangulong Arroyo, ibig sabihin wala ng sala si Pangulong Estrada.

Never Again, yan ang naging motto ng mga oposisyon nung panahon ni Pangulong Marcos. Sana maalala ni Pangulong Aquino ito.

Update: Dec 23, 2008

Mukhang di lang ako ang nagulat sa paghingi ng paumanhin ni Pangulong Aquino, merong istorya ang PDI at reaksyon ng ibang tao dito.

God Angrily Clarifies 'Don't Kill' Rule He Made for Humans

Responding to recent events on Earth, God, the omniscient creator-deity worshipped by billions of followers of various faiths for more than 6,000 years, angrily clarified His longtime stance against humans killing each other Monday. (This may just be the most serious Onion story ever written.)

read more | digg story

The 5 Most Retarded Causes People Are Actually Fighting For

For every great cause, there is an equally retarded one. Here are five of them.

read more | digg story

Brotherhood of Thieves

Isa sa mga dahilan kung bakit hindi na ko nakakapag sulat sa blog na ito ay dahilo sa busy ako sa paglalaro ng 9Dragons, isang MMORPG o online game kung saan gagawa ka ng character at mag-aaral ka ng kung-fu. Gustong gusto ko yung mga pelikulang kung-fu ng bata pa ako kaya ako sinubukan at nakawilihan ang larong ito.

Wutang ang una kong character, ngayong medyo mataas na siya gumawa ako ng bagong character at naisipan ko na gawin itong kasapi ng Brotherhood of Thieves. Siyempre ang una kong naisipang ipangalan sa character ko na magnanakaw ay Mando, kaya lang may nauna na sa akin. Sinubukan ko yung Palos, mayroon na ring nakakuha. Yung pangatlo kung naisip na pangalan ay Erap, wala pang kumukuha.

Ngayon tuloy ang pangarap ko ay mag-gawa ng hero band sa 9Dragons na kasapi lang ay Brotherhood of Thieves pero pulos sikat na pangalan ang kasapi, Macoy, Imelda, Gloria :).

Takuna

"Atheist ako, pero pag nasa bahay, nagro-rosary kami ng nanay ko, eh kung magalit sa kin yun. - Socio 11 Prof."

Wala lang, natawa lang ako. Galing sa isang forwarded e-mail na supposedly quotations from UP teachers.

LHC Scientist Confuses Star Wars with Star Trek,We're Doomed

The scientific world is shocked today as Michael Zeller—a professor of physics at Yale who has been working at the Large Hadron Collider—reportedly misquoted the Star Trek tagline "Where no man has gone before" and, further shattering the Universe time-space fabric, attributed it to Star Wars.

read more | digg story

AltMed can lead to death

The quackometer has this story where a charlatan exploits South Africa's misinformation on HIV/AIDS to sell vitamin pills as cure, and people died. His conclusion is a harsh one for those who think alternative medicine is a harmless.

"Every supporter of alternative medicine in the UK has a little guilty role to play in this tragedy. By using the same arguments as Rath, such as the evils of drugs and the naturalness of vitamins, you are responsible for the deaths of real live people. Alternative medicine is not just the idle plaything of the middle classes from Islington. It matters. And when our Universities teach it as if it was science, and our hospitals offer it as if it was medicine, then charlatans are able to use this as justification for their own self-interest."

'I Have All the Books in the World.. All But One' [COMIC]

Mister Bookseller is unsurprisingly about a bookseller, but what's curious is that his shop seems to have a copy of each book ever--- in fact, it has all the books ever. All but one. Touching and beautiful comic. Safe for work.

read more | digg story

Remembering Solzhenitsyn

I probably would not have read Alexander Solzhenitsyn's works if I were not a socialist. His stature as a critic of the Soviet Union and it socialist system made me curious about his works. I remember finding a copy of 'One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovitch' on sale from National Bookstore. It's back cover was missing but I bought it anyway because I wanted to read it. I was expecting a book full of political polemics, but found a book full of human relations, and this made it a more effective critique of Soviet authoritarianism in particular and authoritarianism in general.

The problem was aside from the back cover, the book was also missing the last page. I had to read the lat page at National Bookstore where I borrowed a copy for a few minutes. 'Ivan Denisovitch and his other books 'Cancer Ward', 'The First Circle', and 'August 1914', strengthened in me, an abhorrence of authoritarianism.

The Soviet Union is now in the dustbin of history, but it's lessons should not be forgotten, so should Alexander Solzhenitsyn's works.