Not All Quitters Are Losers

Sometimes A Cel Phone Camera Is Handy...

...especially when you don't have a camera with you when you see images worth preserving, like the one above.

Photo taken with my Sony Ericsson K610i at the Manila Yacht Club.

Still So Much To See...

My Lakbayan grade is B-!

How much of the Philippines have you visited? Find out at Lakbayan!

Created by Eugene Villar.

Searching for Solutions

The Surpreme Court, upon the prompting of Chief Justice Reynato S. Puno, will be organizing a National Consultative Summit on Extrajudicial Killings and Enforced Disappearances in response to the spate of extrajudicial killings that seem to have taken a permanent place on the front pages of our national dailies.

More on that later. For now, here's the logo (designed by yours truly) for the event.

Senator Chiz Escudero Oath-taking

Guns Don't Kill People?

What's the difference between a crazy man and a killer?

The latter owns a gun.

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(Note: Printed in the Letters to the Editor section of the April 24, 2007 edition of the Philippine Daily Inquirer)

There's a line members of gun clubs often use to defend gun ownership: "Guns don't kill people, people kill people." Don't blame the gun, blame the guy pulling the trigger.

So when Virginia Tech senior Cho Seung-Hui kills 32 people with a legally-obtained 9mm Glock pistol, don't blame the weapon, or the laws that allow him to buy such weapons, or the lawmakers who drafted these laws in the first place––no, blame the obviously psychotic 23-year old.

The trouble with this logic is that a mentally unstable person wouldn't have been able to take these many lives with a swiss knife, or a machete, or even a chainsaw. The only way one man can kill so many, so quickly, is with a gun. In Cho's case, a Glock he legally purchased last March.

Was this guy given a psychological test before being sold the gun to determine his capacity to use such a dangerous weapon responsibly? The answer is no. In Virginia, if you are over the age of 18––as Cho was––all one has to do is pass a criminal background check before one can buy a pistol.

It shouldn't be that easy. Yes, citizens have a right to protect themselves. But who protects us when these gun owners lose it? When road rage, dementia, or depression pushes them over the edge of reason?

That's a question the students of Virginia Tech––and those in other universities in the US––are asking right now. And it's a question we in the Philippines should be asking ourselves as well.

Have iPod, Will Travel... and Get Run Over

Surgeon General's Warning: iPod use may be dangerous to your health.

Earlier this year, Ilya Kiselev, 20, was run over and killed while crossing Fifth Avenue in Manhattan. Kiselev, who lived in Brooklyn, was wearing iPod headphones at the time.

The death of Kiselev and two other New Yorkers who were fatally injured after being run over in New York's streets while listening to their iPods has prompted the introduction of legislation that would "ban people from listening to music players or using electronic devices that would hamper their awareness of their surroundings while crossing the street." NY State Senator Carl Kruger wants pedestrians fined $100 for violating such a ban, and his chief of staff, Jason Joppel, explains why:

“The individuals were tuned into iPods and tuned out to the surroundings around them, and they stepped off the curb into the path of an oncoming bus or truck or car,” he said. “All three were fatally injured. In one case people, were screaming at the person to watch out, but the person couldn’t hear them because iPod [headphones] were in the person’s ears.”

If common sense won't get iPod users in New York to keep the volume of their iPods down while walking around its streets, then maybe the hundred-buck fine might.

Read the original article here.

Coffee and Wi-fi

How soon till coffee shops in Manila offer wi-fi for free? It's already being done in the US, where free wi-fi is a basic service provided by caffeine peddlers. It's a by-product of the intense competition over there, where the constant battle for customers has forced cafes to do what has to be done to fill their seats.

Over here, most coffee shops offer wi-fi through airborne access; for 100 bucks, you can buy a prepaid card that allows you to surf the net for an hour––quite steep. For 200 pesos more, you can buy a prepaid card that gives you five hours of internet access, a better deal, but still more expensive than your friendly neighborhood internet cafe.

Given how expensive these wi-fi prepaid cards can be, and how often I need to connect to the net, I thought it prudent to sign up for a Smart Bro promo that allows its subscribers to have unlimited access to airborne access wi-fi hotspots for 100 pesos a month, which is added to one's Smart Bro bill. It's been a very good investment. I visit a wi-fi hotspot at least once a month (even if I have internet at home), and each time I surf for at least three hours. As I always have my Powerbook with me, a visit to Starbucks usually means I can surf while enjoying my cafe mocha.

(An aside; people sometimes ask, "Don't you every get tired of the internet? You're online at home and at work; why do you have to go online when you go out?" My answer is "no, I never get tired of the internet." There's really no limit to what can be done online these days. My Powerbook is my main communication and information tool, and without the internet, it wouldn't be as powerful a tool.)

Today I was pleasantly surprised to see that Gloria Jean's Megamall, where I get my post-gym caffeine and internet fix, now offers wi-fi for free. They have this big tarp that announces this, and by the look of the place––which was rarely full when I used to drop by––the free wi-fi seems to be attracting its fair share of customers.

There is no doubt in my mind that their profits are going to jump. If there's something I've learned from visiting the online Mac communities, it's that people love free wi-fi. If a hotel, restaurant, or coffee shop offers free wi-fi, you can bet that people attached to their laptops, and consequently, the internet, will visit. When I was looking for a hotel in Legaspi City for me to stay in when I visited last year, my primary consideration was access to the internet; when I want coffee, internet access, not the taste of a cafe's lattes, is my main consideration.

Pretty soon, businesspeople are going to realize that if they want to attract customers, they're going to have to provide free access to the internet, in one form or the other. When that day comes, a lot of laptop-luggers––myself included––are going to be very, very happy.

Upgrade

Google has done some fine stuff with Blogger; it now allows lazy bloggers like me to make wholesale changes to one's blog without much effort. One can now reformat in a jiffy, adding new elements here and there without much of a sweat.

God, thank you so much for technology.

Hearing is Believing

I am voting Chiz Escudero for Senator. Because he is how our senators should be: knowledgeable, intelligent, and articulate. We put him in the Senate, and we will get out vote's worth. We make him senator, and we will get what our taxes pay for––a legislator who knows the law and how to make laws.

But don't take my word for it. Listen to the Philippine Daily Inquirer's election podcast here or here.

The Weekender

Snickers came up with an ad that has two mechanics going all Brokeback while eating the chocolate bar. I found it funny. But it seems a lot of people don't, according to this article by the NY Times. Snickers has pulled the ads.

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Also in the NY Times, an article on couples who don't get along in the kitchen. Would never happen here. If there are fights, it's because some wives feel their husbands don't spend enough time IN the kitchen.

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Jessica Zafra doesn't often write about politics, but when she does, she makes a lot of sense, without boring you to death. She gives instructions on how to vote, which is actually a list of qualifications of undeserving candidates. "Bear in mind," she says, "that the desire to serve your country, no matter how sincere, does not in itself make you fit to hold public office. I want to play in a Wimbledon final, but am prevented by my total lack of tennis-playing ability." Well played.

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Another reason to pack up and move to the North Pole:

Cesar Montano has decided to run for a seat in the Senate under the Administration. Fellow actor Richard Gomez has, too, as an independent. I believe that being an actor doesn't automatically make one unfit to run for public office, but they should, at the least, have demonstrated their capacity to do the job if they're elected. Says Tourism Secretary Ace Durano on Montano's candidacy: "Popularity was never a consideration. It’s credibility and capability to advocate the platform of government of the administration."

Yeah, right.

Chiz Escudero for Senator

Enjoy the ad. Listen to the music. Read the papers. Watch the news.

Vote for Chiz.

Georgia On My Mind

Somehow, I don't think Ray Charles had this on his mind when he composed this song.

Anyway, here's a question. Let's say you're a parent, and you catch your 15-year old daughter giving consensual oral sex to a 17-year old guy. How would you have punished this fiend? Would you call his parents and tell them to keep his son away from your daughter? Would you beat him up? Lecture him on the values of Good Manners and Right Conduct?

Genarlow Wilson was sentenced 11 years––a mandatory 10 years in prison and 1 year on probation––for being caught with his pants down. Georgia law can be harsh on them hormonally-charged teenagers.

Going Bananas

Whoever wrote these classic lines deserves a special place in hell. Thanks to Karen for the link.

If Only Life Were This Easy...

Your Language Arts Grade: 100%

Way to go! You know not to trust the MS Grammar Check and you know "no" from "know." Now, go forth and spread the good word (or at least, the proper use of apostrophes).

Are You Gooder at Grammar?
Make a Quiz

Somewhere in heaven, my paternal grandmother is smiling.

Thanks to JM for the quiz.

I Picked Up A MacNugget While Surfing The Net

What happens when one combines creativity, a sense of humor, talent, and a Powerbook. Go to Happy Slip for more videos.

Macs: 4, PCs: 1

That's the score here at Coffee Bean and Tea Leaf Tomas Morato. There are two Powerbooks (including mine) and two MacBooks (one black, one white). The lone PC is a Dell laptop whose owner is camped out in one of the darker corners of CBTL, obviously hiding his less attractive piece of machinery.

He he.

There may be hope for Macs in this country yet.

Apple Introduces the iPhone

Apple CEO Steve Jobs introduced the iPhone yesterday at MacWorld Expo 2007. Like the iPod, it looks like it's going to be an industry-revolutionizing product.

Go here to read more.

They say a picture is worth a thousand words. Well, here it is:

The bad news? It won't be available in Asia till 2008. Damn.

(Those in the US are lucky. It'll be available in June 2007, and will be available in Europe in the last quarter of this year.)