GRPundit

I read somewhere that nothing still beats music when it comes to efficiently bringing multiple human minds into natural brain sync. And the massively in-sync coming together with a hundred to a thousand others we experience in, say, rock concerts and dance clubs is perhaps as close as we get to non-technology enabled borgism. If you think about it, in the music business, elite musicians wield so much power over the minds of their fans. Perhaps social networking is the music of the Web and like the rock stars of the older medium, those who are most savvy at playing its features get to define the 'borg'. Those who aren't or who merely consume rather than produce meaningful content are doomed to be subject to its groupthink. I also read that there is strong evidence that the constant info updating of social media is the active ingredient in inducing the dopamine fix on the brain that makes it as pleasurable or addictive as music, sex, and eating. Considering how increasing...

Many of the structures put up in resorts and for housing tourist facilities in the Philippines I find are made of bamboo and other durable indigenous materials. And they look great too. So why can't more of these materials be used for building? Bamboo grows fast and abundantly in the Philippines. It is also well suited for the tropical climate as it does not rot or deteriorate the same way other building materials do under the oppressive humidity of the tropics. Perhaps cultivating bamboo for use in construction of low-cost housing and the training of builders in the lost art of constructing using bamboo should be something promoted for inclusion in government poverty alleviation programs and in the public education system.

I feel so empowered here. Behind the wheel of a car, I can cut across three lanes in a highway, muscle my way through an intersection, and drive as fast or as slow as I want wherever and whenever I want to.

Thanks to Noemi "the MomBlogger" Dado for the nice chat over coffee yesterday. Apologies to Rochelle for the misunderstanding. I would have liked to meet up with you as well. I'm sure we can find the time for another meet up in the next few days. In the mean time, it's great to be on the ground putting a new layer of perspective on my observations of our fine nation. Hopefully, I'll be finding the time to share them online (opportunity and net access quality permitting). Watch this space!

So what if Shamcey Supsup did not win the Miss Universe beauty pageant? She's hot and she's smart. Obviously, Filipinos can't be satisfied with taking what is self evident . Instead we want credentialled validation. What does that say about our society? Simple: Philippine society is bankrupt of substance and conviction . Without substance and conviction, people need to be told what to believe in. Add lack of substance and conviction into the the brew that is a society that also lacks a tradition of critical thought, and we get the obvious outcome -- a society that, to borrow the words of modern-day philosopher John Ralston Saul, is "obssessed by bread and circuses, Heroes, and the need for leadership". So it takes a crown on the head of Supsup to get Filipinos to believe she is a winner. Strange. Filipinos are renowned for fancying themselves God's gift to the human race despite nary a smidgen of a track record of any collective achievement to speak of. Ho...

Whether or not the Reproductive Health (RH) Bill is passed, private enterprise - specially the media - and private citizens still have the power, resources, and influence to mount an information campaign to get Filipinos to practice sensible and responsible reproductive activities. An over emphasis on legislation to control what is essentially an activity fully within the control of each individual seems to be spelling out a sad lack of personal accountability and initiative in our society.

Some people presume to judge other people's work on the basis of what motivates them. Usually they will be "inspired" by people who claim to do what they do out of "selfless" sense of "duty" or those who say they find a "higher purpose" in what they do. Well, there's plenty of that going around in Medieval societies such as the Philippines. Perhaps go and attend a plenary session in Congress, or listen to a politician's campaign speech when elections are around the corner, or go listen to a priest's sermon at a Catholic mass. You'll find a lot of that self-righteous and self-important bullshit in those places. Let's not presume to judge the right of an endeavour to exist on the basis of what motivates whoever effects it. Henry Sy and the other taipans, for example, are motivated mainly by profit. But at the end of the day, the enterprises they built employ thousands of Filipinos. And yet him and other rich folk are demonis...