Network with us!

And by "us", I'm referring to myself as the "royal we". Exchange links, be on the "Friendly Friends" section to the right, and any other online activities you can think of. Post a comment below or email... meh who uses email these days. Just do comment below.

If you're into emailing, contact me at howard.duckie@gmail.com. Still post a comment here if you do email there, since I haven't checked that for months.

Guess who's worse than the MPD?

May God send his entire army of guardian angels to protect the little children standing in the way of Lindsay and her dealer.

Amen.

Tapusin ang mga Jejemons!

If you've been following me on Twitter, I recently changed my Twitter handle to @JejemonDefender since I lost a bet. So...

Hey Jejemons just go back to Friendster and don't invade Facebook! Jejejeje.

Top 10 annoyances of... lefties

Left-handed people comprise about 10% of the population, but never has been a minority so oppressed by the majority, even Adolf Hitler will look like a baby.

I'm left-handed, but there's one stark difference: I was trained to write with the right hand. Like how the heck can a person writing with his right (oooh, "write" is synonymous with "right!" It's a travesty!) hand be called left-handed? Well, I do all of my other stuff primarily with the left hand, like eating, and, what are the other stuff you do with only one hand? I know of one, but I'd rather not say it here. Boys would know that, though.

What's even made it worse for me is that I have a lazy eye, and the lazy eye is the left eye. So I'm a person who is left-handed but writes with the right hand who primarily sees the world through his right eye.

10. Left-handed people are evil.
Ever noticed that many words pertaining to "left" are inherently bad? Like, "sinister" is Latin for "left" but if you're "sinister," you are bad. If someone leaves you, you are "left" with no one. If there are two of you, your companion is "right" beside you, even though the person may be situated on your left. We are often told to fight for our human "rights" but there are no human "lefts". If you have "two left feet" you're a bad dancer.

Ambidextrous people are efficient on both hands. Guess what is the Latin word for "right"? (Clue: It's that kid who has a laboratory.) And what's the opposite of ambidextrous? Ambisinistrous.

9. You can't play polo
Like as if I can play the sport where people ride horses, then they hit a ball with a long hammer. If you're left-handed, playing polo with the rest of the field right-handed is dangerous. Imagine yourself being trampled by horses!

8. Right-hand drive
Hey at least, the steering wheel is on the left. At least the Brits, and most recently Samoans drive on the left side of the road.

Pinoys drove on the left until 1945's Battle of Manila when Americans got all confused and ordered all traffic should be on the right.

7. Camera freak? Where's the shutter button?
Yes, on the right. Ah, this is the fault of mass production, since all manufactured goods should be created primarily for right-handed people, producing goods for left-handed people may produce a dent on profits. Getting specifically left-handed goods is either impossible, costs higher or they have to be custom made.

6. Even mice hate you.
Well, since I write with my right hand, using a computer mouse on the right side seems pretty easy. At least it's easier to implement mouse to work on the left side, since software can make you do it, and the mouse buttons have the same size. You're screwed if the table your computer is resting is suited for mice on the right side.

5. Wanna be like Prince? By "Prince" I mean the artist formerly known as Prince.
Guess what, there's a dearth of left-handed guitarists out there. Sure you can make your guitar left-handed by removing all the strings, then re-arranging them in reverse but who does that? Or you can strum in reverse.

4. Wanna cut something up?
If you're left-handed, using a pair of scissors will be a mighty pain in the ass. That's why I aced my home economics classes; my mom would do those projects at home. LOL. If you're an engineering student, life must be hell.

3. There are no left-handed fictional characters
Well sure, there might be, and you'd probably be a fan boy if you notice it, but there has to be a fictional character who is left-handed whom you can easily spot.

For one, Timmy Turner in The Fairly OddParents pitches left. And hey, one of those vampires in Twilight is left-handed too. Don't ask me how I knew those.

2. The spoon and fork are reversed.
When you go to a high-class restaurant, you'd see the spoon and fork (or the fork and spoon) on the right side of the table, with the fork on the left side of the spoon. Everywhere in that restaurant, all of them are arranged that way. Like come on, I'm not asking for restaurants to ask their customers at the entrance what hand they use most often, but they can probably reserve two tables at least in which at least one plate has the fork situated to the right of the spoon.

1. The "beak" of the dipper is situated on the "wrong" side
If you have those dippers (or in Tagalog, tabo) that has a "beak" on one side (think of it as a pitcher, only that you'll use it in a bathroom), if you hold it with the right hand, the water will naturally flow towards the beak. Now if you're left handed, the water flows to the opposite side.

Now that there is virtually no difference on which side of the dipper you'd use, but when I see water going to the "wrong" side, it feels as if I'm doing a mundane task such as pouring water into the toilet bowl wrongly, but there isn't really no right or wrong way to do it. It just sucks. Or pours.

When Donald meets Howard

It's been a long time coming, and no, I'm referring to La Salle's impending elimination in the UAAP, but it is the meeting of the two formidable ducks in Avian land: Howard the Duck and Donald Duck.

One had numerous blockbusters, spawned Jeff Van Gundy as a sports anchor, spawned Miley Cyrus and Hannah Montana, and made Zac Efron male (ah wait, it was Mickey who did that).

The other bombed his movie, ruined Lea Thompson's movie career, won a Raspberry Award, and placed Ellen Page at the map with her charming performance as Kitty Pride (ah wait, it was Jean Grey and Cyclops who did that).

The two universes were created in the storyboards of artists who drew, painted, and gave life to entirely different types of characters: one were wholesome, colorful and playful. The other were violent, lively, and dark. Both were endeared by fans. They had separate fanbases. And the art gave life to movies, TV shows, music, theme parks, eh wait, I'm talking about Disney already.

What does this give us? Are we seeing the consolidation of the industry? Would one company give way? Would Miley dye her hair red to be Mary Jane? Would Nick Jonas wear tights to be Spidey? (Ooooh. Niley. Don't ask me how I learned about that.) Would Erin Andrews be the more athletic Invisible Girl? Mickey Mouse becoming bad ass to be inducted as an honarary X-Men member

A more frightening prospect would be Mark Jackson being spewed with green paint to become The Hulk.

We are at a paradigm shift. The future generations might learn about this character in another medium; but as comic books come and go, and eventually become obsolete, the characters live forever.

(This is dedicated to "Howard the Duck" creator Steve Gerber who died on February 10, 2008.)

Is that your final answer?

If you've been following me on Twitter, you've found out already that I was a part of the audience of TV5's Who Wants to Be a Millionaire? hosted by Bossing Vic Sotto. It was the second season premiere, and Joey de Leon was the guest contestant.

So how was the show? Did TV5's canteen served up awesome food? Did some perky contestant got too... perky? Did Joey win the 2 million pesos cash prize? (By the time you read this anyway the episode had aired already.)

So many questions. They'll be answered. After the jump.

So the set was rather small. The black background gives it a spacious feel when you see it on TV. The director briefed the contestants, and since it seems that he doesn't have a floor director, he himself told the audience what to do, like when to clap, how loud the clapping should be, and how loud should we show our love to Bossing.

While the director was briefing the contestants, we've overheard him telling the contestants that since it is the second season premiere, Bossing Vic will have a special guest contestant, no other than the one and only, the controversial Joey de Leon.

The contestants had a dry run of "Fastest Finger First," then a few moments later the show is on the way, since Bossing is in the building!

So after the audience yelled out their lungs, Bossing carried out his usual introduction, but a really perky young girl was giggling hysterically so she had to go out, and Bossing has to have a "Take 2." Then he called out the carry-over contestant from the first season's last episode.

He was on the P100,000 question and he took a long time in answering, the question was: "What is the capital of Finland?" Actually, he answers to Bossing the correct answer (Helsinki), but when Vic asks him if that is his final answer, he backs off, and the cycle repeated for like ten times. He eventually got mustered emnough courage to blurt out "final answer" and we was right. This was edited out on the broadcast version. He really took a long time to figure it out. He still walked away with P150,000 when backed out in his last question.

So now it's Bossing introducing the man that needs no introduction, Joey de Leon. Joey bulldozed his way through the first five questions; he didn't even let Vic ask him, "Is that your final answer?" There was even a question on who is Philippine basketball's "The Big Difference," and everyone had a hearty laugh when Jimmy Santos was one of the choices.

The next five questions weren't that easy, but Joey used deductive reasoning to weed out the right answer. Joey even had the time to bash Willie Revilliame. On the P100,000 safe haven question, Joey faced a tough question. It's about the play on which a certain movie is based upon. He followed his guts and went with "Casablanca" but right before he asked the audience and used his 50:50. I thought it was the other choice so I gave the wrong answer to Joey. LOL.

Now Joey is on the P400,000 question, and it's about Aristotle's lantern. Joey originally picked the correct answer (sea urchin), but he deviated when he used the reasoning that "Aristotle's lantern" has to do with knowledge or intelligence. Since the dolphin is the most intelligent among the four choices (the other choices are sea horse and another sea creature), he stuck with dolphin. Vic informed him he was wrong, but the kids at the PGH will still get P150,000 from the show.

Ah, so it's dinner break, and we had to go back to the ABC-5 canteen. And the food was cold already. I saw the giggling girl being chased by her chaperon, and we resume the events, next week, since I don't want to preempt TV5.

Goodbye, Michael

Once every decade humanity experiences a death of an icon, a death that has touched the lives of everyone.

This decade, it happened twice. On 2005, Pope John Paul II died. As the decade nears its close, humanity sees another icon, albeit completely different, not as holy, but just as potent.

Perhaps what was different from Michael Jackson's death is that no one saw it coming, or to put it more aptly, no one expected it to be this soon, in this circumstance. People might have had expected a more bizarre death, like he fell off a hotel while dangling himself covered with a blanket, or probably of too much dizziness in riding those Neverland rides, or perhaps other more morbid things.

But he died via cardiac arrest. Not as creepy, but just as surprising, and mysterious.

Today's generation heard of Jackson via their parents, who were probably fanboys and fangirls of the man. They recounted to their offspring that they found their spouse at a record bar looking for the Thriller cassette tape, or at a bar while dancing to Jackson's music. He impressed your mom by embarrassing himself with his own heartfelt rendition of the moonwalk.

Another medium where today's generation learned of Jackson was via television that covered the latter years of life, away from Off the Wall and Bad – his numerous run-ins with the law, his 1993 sexual assault case that was settled out of court, his ranch turned into a theme park, his 2005 child abuse case that ended in a not guilty verdict, and now his death. We can even say the stars of today emulated him; Justin Timberlake with his grooves, and Britney Spears with her life.

We may never understand the man, nor even base it with society's standards of how a person must live, for he was different, not in the case that he was above us, but with the reason that despite we saw him everywhere, even in instances where we should've never seen him, we never really knew him.

Society treats people like Jackson differently; since he is a public figure, he should put himself above other people's expectations on how to live. Yet society overlooks the fact that people like Jackson, aside from being under the microscope constantly, had probably no idea on how to live a life worthy of society's whims; or even live a normal life.

That's why we may never understand Jackson, his logic, his morals, his life and how he displayed himself. Yet society will put those bad things behind him, and will remember Jackson not as the man who had a eccentric life, but rather as a man that was never understood, for he was an icon, who excelled in human endeavor in ways other people not scrutinized by society were never able to do.

Teh jinx

It may not be my intention, and I apologize to all concerned, especially Cavs fans, but not you, David Stern, that my poll jinxed the Cavs-Lakers Finals.

As a result, I won't be commenting about the NBA Finals for their duration, even on my Twitter updates. Let's see how long can I hold out. Maybe WTP can say something. Maybe.

This post has not been authorized by the Iranian government

Schindler's List won seven Oscars Awards, been voted by Germans as the best movie in 2000, and perhaps countless other multitudes the Iranian government either ignores or denies. So what better way to celebrate the two months into the fifteenth year of its Philippine release with a top 10 scenes of the film? (Yes, this was completely random.)

10. OMFG, we're so cheery we're about to get gassed!
Those poor little Jewish kids never saw it coming. While singing some Yiddish(?) song blasted over the loudspeaker, joining hands stomping their feet onto the dust, probably for the last time, they were hauled into a truck; their parents never saw it coming either, and the parents teaefully say their final goodbyes as the kids... they were still all cheery.

This has an accompanying scene that'll be mentioned later.

9. You are liberated by the Soviet Army! Now say "w00t!"...
...or else we'll shoot you, or better yet, throw you into the Warsaw ghetto, give you false hope that we're assisting you, then you Jews would have an uprising where you'll be decimated by the Nazis.

8. Where's the train? WHERE IS IT?
And I thought I hired the best Aryan drivers outside of the Reich.

7. Our factory is so bad, the Nazis didn't care.
Like seriously, either the Nazi government was falling apart, or they simply too engrossed on solving the "Jewish Question" once and for all they forgot one factory produced one crappy mortal shell after one another. The Nazis won't use mortars anyway in decimating the Jews.

6. "Now would be the time to do it. Here they are; they're all here. This is your opportunity. Or, you could leave, and return to your families as men instead of murderers."
But sir, we actually do not know how to use these rifles. Can we gas them instead? At Manila's dreadful air?

5. I said, "Why are you beating me?"
He said, "The reason I beat you now is because you ask why I beat you."

Epic.

4. "How many more do I have to type?"
Izthak, if you're too tired, I'd get a Nazi to do that for you, and he won't type anything.

3. "Their fingers polish the inside of shell metal casings. How else am I to polish the inside of a 45 millimeter shell casing? You tell me. You tell me!"
Oskar does have a point, you know.

2. Eeeew! Poop! And you're turning me away here?
Those kids were smart. No wonder Hitler really hated them for a reason.
And now you why a large part of the film was in black and white.

1. Lemme be a Nazi and I'll give a lot of Deutschemarks!
Perhaps Schindler had Filipino blood? He'd bribe his way through life. Or maybe he's Prince Caspian.

The craziest thread titles in PinoyExchange's IMTV forum

The ten threads you should be flocking to. Not the crazy NBA forum, or to the Hoops forums nobody cares about. But those LMTV threads sure take the cake (see #3).

Note: Only includes threads with replies within the last month, excluding continuation threads (too many fangirls squeeing/fanboys drooling) and off-topic threads (Be like Prince William: Learn Swahili in three days!). That's just like 356 threads of corniness.

10. •BreakingDawn•-"I love you""I wispered"'You are in my life now"~zone1
You should realize that I have to include a Twilight related thread here.

9. AI8 | ADAM LAMBERT | Blood of A True Rockstar!
Hey, if Miley Cyrus can be a rockstar, why can't this AI8 contestant be one too?

8. ms. Jennifer Aniston - America's Sweetheart thread IV
I thought prefixing "Miss" to an actress's name only applies in the Philippines. Like Ms. Vilma Santos, Ms. Judy Ann Santos, heck Ms. Kris Aquino.

7. ASHLEY TISDALE LIKES HER SELF ♥ thread 1 [ashleytics]
Didn't realize the Tiz was such a narcissist.

6. The Adorkable Anoop Desai [Home of the Desai'ples Thread II]
The thread is not about dorks, or pies, but is about AI8's Anoop. The UNC fanboy.

5. =Zac Efron and Vanessa Hudgens= ♥♥ZaNessa Love♥♥ HSM Sweeties- Just Wanna Be With You
This reminds me of two songs: "It's Gonna Be Me" and "I Wanna Be With You". Well, another Mandy Moore song but I won't say lest I get to be labeled as a Mandy fanboy. Heh.

4. Cook | Archuleta LIVE in the Philippines!
OhMyGosh, I'm not spending my lunch money for this!

3. Korean/JPN/TW Film/TV Etc. 6 - Home of D' Ulzzangs, Asian Idols, Boylets & Pedokrases
I am assuming this thread is about Asian telenovelas. Or something like that. Must be the few places the LMTV peeps hang out at the IMTV forum. (Full disclosure: I didn't include other Asianovela threads since they'll take the cake, see below).

2. American Idol 8's KRATT: It Is The New CAKE!!!
If you thought only fanboys had lesbian fantasies of girls doing it, you are terribly mistaken.

1. •Nessasters: Vanessa Hudgens • A Wish Upon A star • zone 01•
Yes, dad. Vanessa Hudgens fans call themselves "Nessasters." It's like disasters but hairier. And with less Zac Efron.

In defense of Chris Brown

Nothing to find here. Move along.

Of crabs, dwarves and Ateneans

A long, long time ago, in a galaxy far, far away, there lies...

...heck just read it.

Since you even bothered to see what's beyond the jump, I have some Christmas goodies for ya!

Where OMFG meets WTF

With "Gossip Girl's" OMFG promos such a huge hit, I figured I may as well pay tribute to them with my pathetic versions. Enjoy... or don't.





Added April 17:


Quickpost this image to Myspace, Digg, Facebook, and others!
The original ads:


Photos c/o the CW.

Education: The Keys to Filipino Progress

The Filipinos are not empowered, in fact, they are playing on the mud of mediocrity. They pass on the time playing cards, drink gin in the middle of the morning, go to the nearest cockpit and waste their monthly earnings away. They are worthless.

And these same people are same people who vote for useless candidates come election time. During the poll season, these candidates will shower them with money, gifts and everything else, in exchange for their votes. And when these candidates get elected, they do virtually nothing to alleviate the situation.

To ask whether it is the government’s job to alleviate them out of poverty is not the question: it is the primary job of the government to ensure each and every citizen receives adequate care, and that the wealth of the state is distributed equitably.

For these people to be empowered, something has to be done. By education with moral regeneration may be one of the answers. And by being educated, a person becomes enlightened; he becomes empowered.

Universal Declaration of Human Rights, Article 26

(1) Everyone has the right to education. Education shall be free, at least in the elementary and fundamental stages. Elementary education shall be compulsory. Technical and professional education shall be made generally available and higher education shall be equally accessible to all on the basis of merit.

(2) Education shall be directed to the full development of the human personality and to the strengthening of respect for human rights and fundamental freedoms. It shall promote understanding, tolerance and friendship among all nations, racial or religious groups, and shall further the activities of the United Nations for the maintenance of peace.

(3) Parents have a prior right to choose the kind of education that shall be given to their children.

The Universal Declaration of Human Rights full text here is clear: everyone has a right to education. I repeat: education is a right, not a privilege. Not just people who can afford, but everyone, even the mentally challenged.

Every Filipino family wants to improve their life. No wonder television commercials advertising intelligence when they drink milk (or other substance) abound. Intelligence helps in acquiring education. Education can be answer to remove the Pinoys out of their mediocre situation.

Yet the Republic seems to forget this. The constitution says that education should have the largest allotment in the general appropriations act, it is actually often second to debt payments. Also, the Republic is one of the lowest in educational spending in the ASEAN.

Although the state provides free public education, the typical elementary school is nothing more than a meeting place of children where they wallow on the mud of mediocrity. Although they are in schools, it appears that they are not educated. Students outnumber chairs and desks. And the intelligent students (the teachers’ pet) gets all of the books, depriving other students of having books, a tool essential for education. The teachers that they see are borderline qualified (some can’t even speak fluently the language). And to top it all off, schools in rural areas are too few to accommodate large number of willing students. The public elementary schools are diploma mills.

Before you tell me that how about the science high schools, they are the exception, not the rule. How I wish the government can apply the same strategies to at least 2/3 of the regular public schools! That would solve the problem of mediocrity that is plaguing the Filipinos.

But what comes after elementary education? This is where the government struggles to meet the standards. Government institutions of higher education, although they can compare with the private institutions for quality (at least in the metro, with the likes of UP, PUP and PLM), they are few in number. They fail to meet the high demand of students. This is where the private schools kick in.

The private schools are divided into two types: non-sectarian and sectarian. The non-sectarian schools are run by private individuals and are primarily businesses. The sectarian schools belong to the many different religious denominations. These schools are not taxed, and are primarily non-profit. However it is the same schools that have the most expensive fees (although some non-sectarian schools also have uneconomical fees)

Although these private schools are supposedly non-profit, they continually maintain expensive fees. Their common line of argument is that they should not suffer the “quality” of education by reducing their fees. Also, it is these same schools that have a number of “extra-curricular” activities, such as athletic competitions (where money is gravely needed, especially if they are gunning for a championship).

The government has asked the Filipinos to tighten their belts countless times already. Yet they haven’t asked these institutions to do the same. Educating a generation of Filipino youth will go a long way in transforming the lives of future generations of Filipinos. A decade of little suffering will help transform the way this country is going.

The question is: Are these institutions (or the people who came from these institutions) willing to do this? Or are they the ones who are preventing the progress? Because after all, they used to be (today they claim not to be) exclusive, and this exclusiveness should not apply to anybody. Imagine that kid from on the street corner came from an “exclusive” school. Perhaps being a member of this school wouldn’t be rosy.

Several students of public institutions slept on the street just to pass their course. And now they are heads of mighty firms. Imagine the Philippines where everybody has the right to education. How sweet would that be.

Happy Mother's Day... Not

Happy Mother’s Day… Not

People are always inventing holidays, especially secular “non-religious” holidays. There is Independence Day, National Heroes’ Day and acts of heroism day (Armstice Day, Cinco de Mayo or Araw ng Kagitingan). Even supposedly religious holidays are fast becoming non-secular. Take Christmas for examples, some U.S. states prohibit the display of Christmas décor in government property.

Then comes Mother’s Day. Now don’t get me wrong. I love my mom, and everybody else’s mom, but are we losing grasp of what Mother’s Day is?

First, lets look at the time of the year Mother’s Day is celebrated. Its on the second Sunday of May (actually in other countries, it’s between March and May). Haven’t you noticed that there is revenue-generating holiday after Easter? (Labor Day is a holiday but entrepreneurs actually lose money on that day). The next “revenue generating” holiday is (gasp!) Father’s Day, then Fourth of July. So the entrepreneurs actually have to earn money or else they’ll go kaput. And oh, it’s a Sunday so there are no labor disruptions, unless you work every Sunday.

Just like Christmas, Mother’s Day is the time of the year capitalists earns big money. Imagine the people who’ll try to please their mom by buying them the most fancy of gifts. Or treating their mom to some fancy (how I love that word) restaurant. Love is really in the air, or is the smell of money and the sound of cash registers?

Moms deserve recognition, but the recognition that we are doing on Mother’s Day is unbecoming of being sons and daughters. Moms don’t need more gifts they need more love. Yes, gifts symbolize love but some of us give gifts just for the purpose of celebrating Mother’s Day. We have lost the true meaning of Mother’s Day (just like Christmas).

Love can be expressed by not giving gifts. That is the highest form of love any person can give to anyone. Unconditional and “un-financial” love.

Karol Józef Wojtyła (1920-2005), Pope John Paul II (1978-2005)

FIRST, THE FACTS
May 18, 1920 – Born at Wadowice, Poland
November 1, 1946 – Ordained as priest
1958 – Named auxiliary Bishop of Krakow
December 30, 1963 – Appointed Archbishop of Krakow by Pope Paul VI
1965-69 – Participated in the Second Vatican Council
1967 – Named Cardinal by Pope Paul VI
August 1978 – Participated in the Conclave that elected Pope John Paul I.
October 16, 1978 – Elected pope, the first non-Italian in 455 years.

Pope John Paul II reigned the third longest pontificate in history of the Catholic Church.
Reportedly canonized and beatified more persons than all his predecessors put together.
According to the New York Post, the Pope performed three exorcisms: to a woman during 1982, on a 19-year old teen on St. Peter’s Square last September 2000, and on September 2001, to a twenty year old woman.
An airport in Balice, Poland, near Krakow was named for him.
Received the Charlemagne Award (in 2004, the award is awarded by the city of Aachen, Germany to persons who contributed to the European idea and European peace.
The first country he visited during his pontificate was Mexico on 1979. The ;ast was on Lourdes, France August 14-15, 2004. He visited Poland 9 times, France 8 times, the United States 7 times and the Philippines twice. The pope has visited 127 countries in 104 pastoral visits, the more than all of the previous popes put together.
The largest mass presided by a Pope was on the World Youth Day in Manila. Organizers expected one million pilgrims, but four million people turned out, a papal record.
Visited the Royal and Pontifical University of Santo Tomas, the Catholic University of the Philippines twice, on 1981 and 1995.

THE MAN FROM A FAR COUNTRY
Italians were somewhat dismayed when they finally saw the new pope. He was not Italian, and has was referred by many as “a man from a far country.” In fact, he came from “behind” the Iron Curtain, in Poland, a Soviet satellite state.

Location was an important factor. The Italian cardinals temporarily suspended an election of a non-Italian pope when a compromise candidate, Albino Luciani (John Paul I). But with the unexpected (some allege shady) death of Pope John Paul I, the second conclave of the year was promulgated. The two Italian cardinals who were “papabili” (or in a crude English translation, popepable, or candidate for the papacy), Giuseppe Cardinal Siri, and Giovanni Cardinal Benelli. As with the previous conclave, a compromise candidate was needed, and with a dearth of uncontroversial Italian cardinals at that time, Karol Wojtyla was chosen, using the name “John Paul II” out of reverence to his predecessor.

LIBERAL CONSERVATISM
His efforts to make the papacy more humane (a move initiated by John Paul I), alienated some quarters. Yet this move made him a worldwide superstar. His weekly audiences were in layman’s terms, “sellouts” (though it was free). The loosening of the regality of the papal office was seen by some as the humanizing of the Catholic Church itself.

However, he was staunchly conservative, or orthodox, in a Christian sense, on major social and political issues. He opposed abortion, euthanasia (with some exceptions), contraception, capital punishment (the death penalty), homosexuality (an intrinsic moral evil), same-sex marriage (attempts to pit human rights against family and man), war (he actively opposed Gulf Wars I and II), and liberation theology.

His stance on liberation theology was the issue of contention nearest at the heart of the Catholic Church. He criticized the over-emphasis on the “political liberation”, instead of “spiritual liberation.” This arrangement takes the church out of the loop.

Another issue near the heart of the Catholic Church is his opposition in the ordaining of female priests. In this time and age of feminism, female presidents, Prime ministers and monarchs, the pope still opposes the ordination of women, and he even refuses to acknowledge the Anglican Church (the Church of England), a church that ordains women (by a very close vote, if I may add).

The Pope took the recent child molestation scandals (a la Michael Jackson) of Catholic priests with great sadness. He verbally reprimanded the erring priests, with Rome staying away, as the Vatican refused to bail out individual dioceses.

The Pope was also outspoken on several political issues. He pressured former Philippine president Ferdinand Marcos to lift martial law or else he won’t visit the country. Lo and behold, the former strongman of the archipelagic republic lifted (at least in words) martial law. In 1981, the Pope visited the Philippines for the first time, as a Pope.

He threatened to abdicate the throne of St. Peter to pressure the Polish communists to allow Solidarity (the labor union opposing the communists) to operate freely. His anti-communism stance was seen by many as his greatest political achievement. The fall of communism could have happened without him, but through the Pope, it came quicker. Solidarity was legalized, the Berlin Wall fell, and Communism was in shambles by the start of the 1990s.

THE POPE OF THE CATHOLICS
He was adjudged as the “pilgrim pope.” Instead of demanding every Catholic to make the pilgrimage to Rome, he himself reached out to the people. Taking advantage of the available breakthroughs in technology (jet travel, satellite TV), he had reached more people than anyone else living. This outstanding feat made him more endeared by the people, the people’s pope, as they say. He brought Rome to the people.

And for a lot of people, seeing the Pope was a once in a lifetime moment. People flocked his appearances, and he addressed hundreds of thousands of people in a single meeting. The largest papal mass was held in Manila during the 1995 World Youth Day. Organizers expected one million, yet four to five million people arrived to hear the mass. The love of the people was so overwhelming. Seeing him was the nearest way of seeing God.

THE POPE OF THE NON-CATHOLICS
His tolerance of other religions is so remarkable, that he was the first pope to recognize the State of Israel. Previous Popes pronounced Jews as the reason on the crucifixion of Christ. And with that pronouncement, anti-Semitism became so widespread. As a matter of fact, Pope John XXIII was seen by many to have committed the sin of omission by refusing to speak against Hitler’s extermination of the Jews during World War II.

During his Millennium pilgrimage to the Holy Land, a matter of contention of three Abrahamic religions: Christianity, Islam and Judaism, he brought together the sons of Abraham closer than anyone has imagined doing. He was deeply sorry for the mistakes of the Roman Catholic Church have made against the Jews. His visit to the National Holocaust Memorial evoked memories of the War. He made peace with the Jews. And that made a point of no return with the church’s relationship with the Jews.

However, the day before that, he went to the archenemies of the Israelis: the Palestinians. He visited a concentration camp where Yasser Arafat. He brought hope to the Palestinians as he supported the ideals of a Palestinian nation, side by side with Israel.

While Judaism and Islam are “external” religions, an “internal” religion – that of the Greek Orthodox Church needed some good fixing. And on 2001, after 1,291 years, a Pope (the Western church) visited Athens, Greece. No Eastern Orthodox leaders greeted him at his arrival. Black flags were seen in Athens as defiance to papal authority.

The Pope met with Archbishop Christodoulos of Athens. The Archbishop said that the Roman Catholic Church has not been heard a single request for pardon for the "maniacal crusaders of the 13th century. The Pope responded by saying "For the occasions past and present, when sons and daughters of the Catholic Church have sinned by action or omission against their Orthodox brothers and sisters, may the Lord grant us forgiveness," to which Christodoulos immediately applauded.

The rift between the East and West has never been closer.

THE POPE FOR THE AGES
Pope John Paul II led the church in its crossroads (as a matter of fact, the Church is perpetually in its crossroads). In unstable times he helped shaped the church as a potent political force not only in Europe but the whole world as well. He drew the lines where the church can’t cross, and he carved the future of church. The changes he made helped bring back the people who left the church due to the changes of Vatican II. Those reforms would long outlive the current century.

He brought the church to the people. His unbelievable quest to touch every household, of any faith, did not only introduce Christ, but brought hope to the people with no hope. Calamity victims sought to him as the shining light at the end of the tunnel. His works against the “Culture of Death” may alienate some, but it shows Catholicism’s unwavering fight against unjust death. A pacifist to the core, he fought for the civilians who’d be at the first line of fire. His death marked the end of an era, not only to the Roman Catholic Church, but to the whole world as well.

Viva il papa! May God bless him, as St. Peter waits at the gates of heaven, God’s servant has now entered the Kingdom of God. Yet, he stays at the hearts of everyone he has touched forever.

REFERENCES:
Pope John Paul II, From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
List of pastoral visits of Pope John Paul II outside Italy
Karlspreis
USTExchange: John Paul II: The Configuration of a Living Saint.

Message Board Behavior

Since the inception board of the Internet, bulletin board services (BBS, informally known as bulletin boards, and web forums.) have been an integral part of the World Wide Web. This basically allows people to interact with anyone anywhere. Along with email, message boards are one of the driving forces of the Internet.

And with the popularity of message boards, net etiquette (or netiquette), was instituted to lessen unruly and inappropriate behavior. Even the way you type words can mean something. When you type in ALL CAPS, it means you are shouting. Smileys developed as web users expressed emotions. Typing in txt lingo makes you look stupid.

With message boards, people can be entirely new persons. With the perception that you can be anonymous on the Net, you can rant and rave all you can. Sometimes, your web persona can be the complete opposite of what a person really is.

One of the primary purposes of message boards is interaction between members. And with different subforums dividing the universe of topics (such as Television, Politics and Sports), members can post (as in a bulletin board) threads (topics), where other members can reply. Occasionally, there are “off-topic” posts, instances where the reply has no connection with the thread. In this instance, moderators (abbreviated as “mods”) and administrators (the “admins”) can reprimand and even sometimes ban (remove permanently) the erring member.

And it is not just off-topic posts that add color to a message board. On a sensitive topic, discussions can get too heated for everyone’s comfort. This leads to posters attacking another member, because either he disagrees with the opinions of the member (legally called as ad hominem), or that member has nothing else to do (this event often called a flamewar).

It is perfectly legal and moral to disagree with a member, as long the poster presents his opinion and attacks the opinions, via presenting logical arguments that refutes the argument of the original poster. However, some members are really hardheaded and can’t understand basic netiquette. These posters attack the member, saying that the original poster is an idiot and is a loser, throwing away the arguments of the original poster. This often leads to flamewars where the original poster replies with the second poster’s “flamebait” (originally came from jailbait). This would lead to their posts from being off-topic, and on some occasions, the whole thread would be locked (where posters can’t reply to the thread anymore).

Attacking a person whom disagrees with you, and not that person’s arguments would lead to enemies, instead of the original purpose of message boards to gain more friends. And stirring up trouble online would ultimately lead to worse events offline. And it is better to help in making your message board safer and an enjoyable space in the World Wide Web.

And with that, happy posting!

Visit these great message boards: USTExchange, Manila Tonight, Pinoy TV Central

They're Mapuans, Not Malayans!

PERSONAL STORY:
It has come to my attention that the Yuchengco Group of Comapanies, the new owners of the Mapua Institute of Technology, has just changed the name of the school to Malayan University, effective next academic year. The "new" university would offer new programs, such as Psychology and Business courses. The name "Mapua Institute of Technology" would still remain as the engineering college of the said university.

The students and alumni vehemently oppose the move, saying that the school would lose its luster as one of the premier engineering schools in the country. Mapua has the reputation of producing some of the best and finest engineering practitioners in the Philippines. Imagine this conversation:

A: Tol, saan ka nag-graduate?
B: Sa Malayan University!
A: Malayan ano? Saan iyon? Akala ko ba engineer ka, baka insurance agent ka!

Clearly, the old students of Mapua, are striving really hard to pass the board exams with flying colors. However, with the recent move of the new administration, all of their hard work would futile, since no one really knows what Malayan university is. They might know that Malayan is a name of an insurance agency. The name simply doesn't correspond to the institution

The incoming freshmen had been duped on thinking that they would study at Mapua, yet when they go to thier first day of school. Akala ko ba Mapua itong pinasukan ko, e bakit Malayan University ang nandito?

The alumni, ten years from now would have to contend with this kind of conversion:

A: Tol, saan ka nag-graduate?
B: Sa Mapua
A: Mapua? May ganoon pa ba?

And imagine what would Don Tomas Mapua (the original founder of Mapua Tech), who used to cheer for his Cardinals on the NCAA, beating the likes of Ateneo, La Salle, Letran and San Beda, would do if he finds out about this travesty? If it is possible to rise from the grave and scare the hell out of the new owners of his proud school, he could have done that.

Clearly the new administration has missed the point. However, they can still change their minds. All is not lost. Mapuans are Mapuans, they can never be Malayans or even Yuchengonites. The proud engineering school along Muralla can never be known by another name.

Bring the name back to Mapua. Bring it back what it is supposed to be.

POSTSCRIPT: As of this moment, Mapuans, old and new, are currently demonstrating along Muralla Street. The Walled City is full of people wearing black t-shirts as a symbol for their disgust on what their school administration's despicable acts. Let us all hope and pray that the school administration would come to its senses and revert to the revered name of Mapua Institute of Technology.

The Long Road to Nowhere

On my way home to Bulacan, my mom warned to be sleep on the bus. Why? Due to the insanely long lines at the toll gates at Balintawak. Now why were there long lines at the Balintawak tollgates? The motorists are complaining their lungs off at the insanely high toll fees.

Lets put it this way: When you’re heading to Valenzuela exit coming from Balintawak, you’d pay about P3.00. Today, the Lopez-owned Manila North Tollways Corporation (MNTC) charges you about P40.00 for the four kilometers you use on the NLEX. On the average, the toll fees rose 388%.

Now did they improve the road conditions, by 388%? Well essentially, although the roads drastically improve, it wasn’t a 388% improvement. Let’s put it this way (again): Jollibee charges you about P62 for a Chickenjoy value meal. Now lets say, Jollibee made the chicken 50% bigger, gave you two extra rice, gave you half a liter of Coke, for the price of P303!

As you can see, the toll hike was unreasonable, untimely, and unpractical. Unreasonable since although the roads improved, it wasn’t enough to make them charge us 388% more. Less gasoline wasted? Only if they can prove that we can really save 388% more as compared to the previous condition on the NLEX.

Untimely since, the recent price hike of Meralco (another Lopez-owned company), unstable fuel prices, the impending increase of consumer goods (thanks to the Pres. Arroyo-sponsored VAT bill), and increasing prices of raw materials, this would give further headaches (and stomachaches) to the Filipino people. The Filipinos are already starving due to the high prices of consumer goods, and with this hike in toll fees, several goods from North Luzon (especially vegatables from Baguio) will increase their prices. Several bus companies will hike their fares. And the MNTC guy even had a nerve on saying that there is absolutely no reason for transport companies to increase their fares!

Unpractical since, aside from the North Luzon Expressway, the only alternative route is the McArthur Highway, which is probably the least maintained road in Luzon. Potholes and unmonitored traffic made the highway one of the slowest roads in the planet. And many people are used to using the NLEX, using any other road would be suicide for those who doesn’t know the proper way.

What made it worse is that the MNTC apparently gave the motoring public one night of preparation. They’d announced that they would raise toll fees on February 9, on the news programs. Although many people are expecting the increase anytime soon, they were caught off guard by the sudden hike in toll fees. Drivers and motorists complained to the toll clerks that they were not informed (who really believes, or is branwashed by, the Lopez propaganda machine, TV Patrol?).

The MNTC must understand that the Philippines is really going to the dustbin. Unless something is done, we would be seeing Argentina 2002 all over again. The MNTC be compelled to see that the motoring public can’t afford a 388% increase in toll fees. All hell might break lose if they’d insist on their demand of crazily high toll fees. The riding public can swallow a 100%, or even a 200% increase, for it approximates the improvements done on the NLEX. But a near 400% increase is simple a tough pill to swallow. Where are we driving at? The yellow brick road?

So I’m inviting you Filipinos to sign the Slash NLEX Toll Fees petition. United we stand, divided we fall. Let us be united in the endeavor of resisting unreasonable price adjustments by the capitalists. After all, it is we, the people, which made them filthy rich.

Read the MNTC's side of the story here.