Compuser Says

2006-10-29T09:28:00.001+08:00

(3) Ways

How do I love thee?
Let me count the ways.
I shall love you, in other ways, as I translate your
(1) thoughts into an admirable article – as your Writer.
(2) manuscript into publishable pages – as your Editor.
(3) rough draft into an enviable book – as your Publisher.
(4) technical into popular language – as your Rewriter.
(5) training needs into visible skills – as your Facilitator.
(6) demo needs into one-day wonders – as your Nerd; a
Computer Wizard, I can be an invisible worker for you.
(7) problems into solutions. as your Consultant.
And I shall but love thee better after edit.

(2) Windows

I love what I do. Let me tell me about
the 7 things I can do in that magical world of
Microsoft Windows & Microsoft Word -- and the
Wide Wonderful World of the Internet.

(1) Writing – I do write-ups and write-downs. Write-ups:
I do an interview and an article comes out in 24 hours. That fast. Write-downs: I read your article or manuscript and an abstract comes out in 25 minutes. That fast. (2) Editing – Edit while you wait if you like, in your office or home (if you have a computer), or right where you are (if you have a laptop). (3) Publishing – I can turn your manuscript into copies ready for distribution or sale within 3 months. (4) Translations – From rough to polished English; from Tagalog to English and vice versa; from Ilocano to English and vice versa. (5) Workshop facilitation – I can do a workshop on (a) writing, (b) editing, (c) newslettering, (d) book publishing, (e) files management. And any or all of that using the personal computer (PC). (6) One-Day Wonder – I can do a short workshop or lecture-demo on creative writing, creative editing, creative newslettering, creative book publishing, files management for 100 people – with the aid of 1 PC and 1 LCD projector. (7) Consulting – As long as it has anything to do with words and ideas and it can be typed on the computer, I can help you. Online or onsite, it's your choice. You know what? The first time we meet, no commitment necessary: Advice is free. Try me!

(1)
Who, Me?

In other words, like I'm Writer #700
(features) of the American Chronicle.

I have so far published 6 articles in the American Chronicle; no rejections, no pink slips (Click the link below to read). As a writer, I have been writing since high school, and that was 50 years ago. I'm 66 this year. Technical subject, popular subject, I've done them all, from A (Animal Husbandry) to Z (Zone Alarm). In other words, writing was my first love; it has always been. And do I revise what I write? Of course! I'm not perfect. Do you know how many times I revised this page? More than 200 times (the first 257 hits in my counter). As a translator, who is a writer in disguise, I recently translated into English (and wrote a book besides) Jose Rizal's valedictory poem which I retitled 'Adios, Patria Adorada' (Adios, Beloved Patria) - if you want a free copy, email me (see top right column for the address). I also love to translate technical papers into popular articles - there is that feeling of achievement that goes with it. It's a gift.

As a blogger, I have so many blogsites, each one an extension of myself and my many interests. Would you believe 22? Variety is the spice of life in the Internet, and in an Ilocano like me. In other words, your concern has probably already interested me greatly.

As an editor, I have been founding editor of a color magazine (Habitat, a quarterly), newsletter (Canopy, a monthly) and a technical journal in forestry (Sylvatrop, a quarterly) for the Forest Research Institute (now ERDB) of the Department of Agriculture and Natural Resources (now DENR). I have edited so many theses (highest grade: 1) and dissertations (highest grade: 1.25, University of the Philippines). I am currently the Editor in Chief of the Philippine Journal of Crop Science. I was the one who made that 3-year late technical peer-reviewed journal into an up-to-date publication. I also masterminded the creation and databasing of extended abstracts of this 30-year old journal, the abstracts beginning in March 1976 and ending at the current year, 2006. It's all in 1 CD, my idea. I also created the website for it: CROPScience Philippines.

As a photographer, I learned professional photography on the job for the publications I was editing. To improve my skill, I studied the works of masters (painters) like Leonardo Da Vinci, Michelangelo and Van Gogh while I was teaching at Xavier University in Cagayan de Oro City in Mindanao, Southern Philippines. At that time, 1968, they already had an excellent library at Xavier. In other words, I'm a good student myself.

As a teacher, I am a BSA graduate major in AgEd, UP; I wasn't too proud of that. I passed the very first Civil Service Teacher's Exam in 1965, 80.6%; I was proud of that. I taught high school (UP Rural High, Pampanga National Agricultural School, Asingan High School), and I taught college (UP Los Baños, Xavier University). I wrote my own syllabi in Floriculture, Horticulture, Olericulture, Scientific Reporting.

As a copywriter, I worked for Pacifica Publicity Bureau when it was still on top (no thanks to me). My good friend Orlino 'Orli' Ochosa and I learned a lot from Nonoy Gallardo and Teddy Bernardo, thank you very much. Orli gifted me with Edward De Bono's book, Mechanism Of Mind, and that changed my mental state from critical to creative.

As a computer wizard ... Ah, here I'm a self-made man, so God is not responsible for my mistakes. I can do word processing and practical desktop publishing with Microsoft Windows and Microsoft Word mostly: brochure, newsletter, book, annual report, proposal. Today, I can make Word XP jump through hoops (not to mention Windows XP). Stylesheet? Outlining? Columns? Mixed columns? Table? Sections? Table of Contents? Just a minute. Missing files? Give me 0.28 second. It's been a trial-and-error thing, but I've been a teacher willing to teach myself. And you can learn from my mistakes: no tuition fee necessary. You didn't ask, but as a father of 13 with 1 wife, I have had quite an education! I thank God for them, for today, for the computer, for the Internet - and for my country.

24 March 2006

2006-10-29T09:27:00.002+08:00

(4) Have you?
Find yourself here:
__/I have a manuscript for a book but no book.
__/I have had this idea for a book for like 10 years.
__/I have a beautiful proposal and but I can't write it.
__/I have the tapes of the seminar but no proceedings.
__/I am the Editor and we are behind by 3 years of issue.
__/I have dissertation I can't seem to finish.
__/I have an annual report to edit but I don't have the time.
__/I have staff who should know better.
__/I have 2 days to write my project report.
__/I have a training program and no training manual.
__/I can't translate technical to popular language.
__/Q: Who is the most important man in the company?
__/A: Everyone.
__/I have a newsletter that won't come out.
__/I have problems finding my files.
__/I have no problem with scientific names but they have.
__/I have a book of 20 chapters of 20 styles of writing.
__/I have a great opportunity to speak but not a great speech.
__/I couldn't use the computer if I had to save my life.
__/No funds (You). No proposal (Me).

25 March 2006

2006-10-29T09:27:00.001+08:00

(5) Word
The Word According To Frank.
Rumors of war (nuclear).
Rumors of coup (unclear).
Iraq is in civil war.
The Philippines is in a war of civilians.
The disgust is with the noisy minority.
The decision is with the noised-out majority.
The noise of the people is the noise of God.
You call it People Power.

25 March 2006

2006-10-29T09:26:00.003+08:00

(6)
Nostalgia
Yesterday, I was walking at Crossing (Los Baños) and I noticed for the first time piles of CDs labelled simply MP3, each at 60 pesos, or just a little more than 1 dollar. Now I don't wonder why I hear so many old songs -- I like that -- and even the young singers are singing oldies and goldies -- I like that even better.

27 March 2006

2006-10-29T09:26:00.001+08:00

(7)
Don't Fight

AIDS: AIDS is not the enemy – lust is. Crime: Crime is not the enemy – the criminal is. Corruption: Corruption is not the enemy – the corruptor is. Over-population: Over-population is not the enemy – uneven distribution of wealth is.

Writer's block: Writer's block is not the enemy – a critical mind is. Poverty: Poverty is not the enemy – iniquity is. Terror: Terror is not the enemy – the terrorist is. Disease: Disease is not the enemy – deteriorating conditions are. Illiteracy: Illiteracy is not the enemy – lack of access to education is. Squatting: Squatting is not the enemy – ambition for the good life is. Persecution: Persecution is not the enemy – the persecutor is.

Prejudice: Prejudice is not the enemy – the bigot is. Criticism: Criticism is not the enemy – the critic is. Erosion: Erosion is not the enemy – the eroder is. Low wages: Low wages is not the enemy – the low wager is. Over-spending: Over-spending is not the enemy – the over-spender is. War-mongering: War-mongering is not the enemy – the warrior is. Messiah politics: Messiah politics is not the enemy – the politician is. Unemployment: Unemployment is not the enemy – lack of entrepreneurship is. Election cheating: Election cheating is not the enemy – greed is.

Crass commercialism: Crass commercialism is not the enemy – the crass commercialist is. Military adventurism: Military adventurism is not the enemy – the military adventurer is. Intellectual dishonesty: Intellectual dishonesty is not the enemy – the intellectually dishonest is. Microsoft domination: Microsoft domination is not the enemy – Microsoft is. Intellectual piracy: Intellectual piracy is not the enemy – the intellectual pirate is. Pornography: Pornography is not the enemy – the pornographer is. Religious fanaticism: Religious fanaticism is not the enemy – the religious fanatics are. Sensationalism: Sensationalism is not the enemy – the sensationalist is.

Yellow journalism: Yellow journalism is not the enemy – the yellow journalist is. Communism: Communism is not the enemy – the communist is. Abortion: Abortion is not the enemy – the pro-abortionist is. A weak economy: A weak economy is not the enemy – uneven distribution of opportunities is. Negativism: Negativism is not the enemy – the negativist is.

The pests of the crop: The pests of the crop are not the enemy – the cropper is. The barrenness of the soil: The barrenness of the soil is not the enemy – the cultivator is. The odds: The odds are not the enemy – the bettor is.

Criminality: Criminality is not the enemy – instant gratification is. Scientism: Scientism is not the enemy – the scientist who has a closed mind is. Godlessness: Godlessness is not the enemy – Man who considers himself a god is.

5 April 2006

2006-10-29T09:25:00.002+08:00

(8) Quo Vadis, Gringo?

Coup vadis, Senator? For all your plotting, get understanding. While you're trying to evade capture by the Philippine police, don't try and evade logic.

With this, I'm challenging you to improve play in your own Game of C. For the challenge, I want you to read a book, play a game, read a paper.

Quo Vadis is a book on Christian and courtly lives written by a Polish Nobel Prize winner. It is for those who love high office but hate high crimes. It can be profitably read by anyone who loves change.

Quo Vadis is a game on political management by the Dean of computer game designers who happens to be a German. It is for those who like to be always in control. It can be delightfully played by 3 to 5 players who love company. A coup is a game. You'll love this game.

The Messiah is an online article but is really a mental game. I know because it was the one who designed it. It is for those who want to save their country from iniquity. It can be played by anyone and alone.

More.

(1) Quo Vadis is a book first published in 1896 in Poland (Amazon.com/). It is a famous novel by Henryk Sienkiewicz, a Polish writer, who won the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1905. It is one of the best-selling novels of all time. But watch out: The hero of the story, Marcus, a Patrician in Nero’s court, is converted from decadence (corruption) to Christianity by a lady believer, Lygia. When Rome sinks deeper into the mud of her own immorality, in desperation and/or madness, Nero burns Rome and blames the Christians. The book describes the last days of the Roman Empire. It reminds you of the present days.

(2) Quo Vadis is a computer game devised by Reiner Knizia and published by Hans Im Gluck, for those who want always to be at the top. This is a Game of Control. You are in the Roman Senate. You have 8 Senators with you. You work out the committees; you can advance only if you control the spaces in a committee. That calls for any or all of these Cs: compromise, collaboration, charging, concord, cooperation, concurrence, contribution, collection, connection, containment. You have to cut deals with one another in order to advance. Bob Rossney (gamecabinet.com/) describes it: It's a game of being clever. You can get shut out if you are not paying attention. You can be tempted with short-term gains that force you to defer long-term ones. I say: Coup is your last gambit, not the first.

(3) The Messiah Phenomenon is an article I have written for and has just been published by the American Chronicle. I wrote it with you in mind.

8 April 2006

2006-10-29T09:25:00.001+08:00

(9) Messiah!
I challenge you to play my game. I call it Messiah! You pretend to be the Messiah of your country and you look for all the signs of a true Messiah within the article. See if you can find all 19 of them. It's the new game in town! Especially if you are from the Philippines. Click on the link below for Amerian Chronicle to read me.

8 April 2006

2006-10-29T09:23:00.000+08:00

(10)
Genius in residence
I am a genius in residence - in Los Baños. You are your own genius in your own residence, or office or elsewhere. Now, if your genius cannot deliver, try my genius in writing, ghostwriting, editing, publishing, photography, interview, column writing, feature writing, creative writing, proposal packaging, annual report preparation, newslettering, book realization, popularization of science -- as long as it has to do with words & ideas, I can help you. Post a comment and you're really sending me an email.

9 April 2006

2006-10-29T09:20:00.000+08:00

(11)
The Impossibles.
Tell me about the impossibles.
The article you can't write.
The book you can't organize.
The newsletter you can't finish.
The interview no one can do.
The speech you can't begin.
The rewriting you can't imagine.
The term paper you can't organize.
The proposal you can't package.
The report you can't enliven.
The files in your PC you can't find.
The photographs you can't improve.
The campaign that doesn't take off.
The biography that is in limbo.
Let me hear you say something is impossible.
So that I can tell you nothing is impossible.

9 April 2006

2006-10-29T09:18:00.000+08:00

(12) I Will Be tHere.
Since 0500 AM (Monday, 10 April), for the last 7 hours I have been listening to only one song via the PC, to Steve Curtis Chapman's soft guitar ballad 'I Will Be Here' -- I had intended to listen to that song the whole day. Yes, it's crazy, but I've not been this enthused by a song before, and I'm 66 for crying out loud. I heard from my son Jomar that he is coming to the Philippines for an evening of non-gospel gospel music on the 7^th of May at the PICC 7-9 PM. I will be there.

To tell you the truth, I was never interested in Steve Curtis Chapman before, although I can see from the files in the family's hard disk (search by Google Desktop) that this soul singer is all over the place. Soul singer? I mean he sings with soul, into your soul. I say his music is non-gospel gospel music because he just sings what's in his heart. He doesn't preach, he doesn't teach – he just tells you what he thinks, what he feels. Look at that song:

I Will Be Here
Steve Curtis Chapman

Tomorrow morning if you wake up
and the sun does not appear
I,,, I, I will be here.
If in the dark, we lost sight of love
Hold my hand and have no fear
I will be here.

I will be here
When you feel like being quiet
When you need to speak your mind
I will listen.
And I will be here
When the laughter turns to crying
Through the winning, losing and trying
We’ll be together
I will be here.

Tomorrow morning if you wake up
And the future is unclear
I,,, I, I will be here.
Just as seasons are made for change
Our lifetimes are made for years
So I,,, I, I will be here.

I will be here
You can cry on my shoulder
When the mirror tells us we’re older
I will hold you
I will be here
To watch you grow in beauty
And tell you all the things you are to me
I,,, I, I will be here.

I will be true to the promise I have made
To you and the One who gave you to me
I will be here.

Just as seasons are made for change
Our lifetimes are made for years
I,,, I, I will be here.
We’ll be together
I will be here.

10 April 2006

2006-10-29T09:17:00.000+08:00

(13)
Don't apologize.
When you're emailing or blogging or speaking in a forum or meeting, don't ever apologize for not knowing more than you know – the impression I get is that you haven't done your homework, and you don't want that, do you? Just go on and say what you are prepared to say – you leave me the impression that that's all you want to say at the moment. Good enough. But if you want a better impression from me, do your homework!

11 April 2006

2006-10-29T08:57:00.001+08:00

(14) Essentialism
I just invented that term, and I'm offering it as a philosophical view of life opposite that of existentialism, which has been espoused by Jean Paul Sarte and Martin Heidegger and Albert Camus, and which declares that the universe has no meaning or purpose by itself, and it is up to anyone to create his essence and shape his destiny. I say essentialism is finding meanings in relationships.

11 April 2006

2006-10-29T08:56:00.000+08:00

(15)
The Best & The Brightest
(revised 23 April 2006)

We Filipinos have plenty of those.

We beat the Americans and British in their own language in public speaking and debates.

We re-invented the cell phone into an ubiquitous, practical means of communication.

We have many very beautiful women for a small country. Some of them have won international beauty contests: Miss Universe, Miss International.

We have the greatest poem of martyrdom in the world: 'Adios, Patria Adorada' by Jose Rizal.

We are the whale shark capital of the world: visit Sorsogon or Albay.

We have the poem that created a miracle in US Congress in 1905: The Americans would not allow the eventual self-governing of the Filipinos until one of them read aloud Rizal’s 'Adios, Patria Adorada.' They could not deny his sublime thoughts, superb language, - and it was only in an English translation, not a very good one at that.

We have the First Asian Great Soul: Jose Rizal. His campaign for social change in the Philippines and in Europe using non-violent methods predated Mahatma 'Great Soul' Gandhi by 22 years!

We invented People Power, in 1986, ousting a dictator. We re-invented it in 2001, ousting a corrupt and incompetent leader. After 1986, many countries liberated themselves from tyranny using little or no bloodshed. And it would not be farfetched to say that the earthquake of People Power was what toppled the monolithic structure called the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. Remember the USSR?

We have the most beautiful volcano in the world: Mayon, in Albay. It has perfect symmetry. Mt Fuji is beautiful, but it's boring, monotonous. Mayon is captivating and often hides her face, like a beautiful woman does. Mt Fuji hardly speaks, like a woman who has nothing interesting to say. Mayon is fiery and speaks her mind, all the more becoming more interesting to pay attention to, to love.

We have the most stunning rice terraces in the world, in Ifugao Province, Northern Luzon. All rice terraces are what the Unesco says they are: 'a landscape of great beauty that expresses the harmony between humankind and the environment.' But those of the Philippines are unsurpassed for being picture-perfect. If they were a woman, what entices people is the sex appeal.

We have the strongest natural fiber in the world: abaca.

We have the most diverse tropical rainforest. Our dipterocarp trees are much sought-after in the international market, what is known as Philippine mahogany: apitong, bagtikan, tangile, guijo, yakal, lauan.

We have the mot diverse sea life in our coral reefs. The Great Barrier Reef of Australia is so-called because of its sheer size (area), but in biodiversity, it cannot compete with ours because it is in a temperate region and only the tropics can host so much diversity in plant and animal life.

We are the #1 producer of coconuts in the world.

We have some of the most beautiful species of fish in the world.

We have fireflies. Do you know what fireflies are? They are little fairies.

We have the most delicious mango in the world, because of our geographical location, because of the soil.

We are the most hospitable Asians. Fr James B Reuter calls us 'the most lovable people in the world.' We are. (2nd sentence added 1 June 2006).

We are the most peaceful Asians.

We have many delicious fruits that are inexpensive: mango, banana, durian, rambutan, lanzones, duhat, santol, starapple, tamarind, papaya, watermelon, melon, jackfruit, pomelo,

We are rich (still) in natural resources: fish & shellfish, wildlife, wild plants, gold, natural gas, edible frogs, field crabs, bamboo, countless herbs for medicinal purposes, disease-resistant plants, tourist spots, plenty of sunshine, plenty of water - many countries don't have these.

We have some of the best athletes in Asia and the world, where height is not an advantage: billiards, bowling, boxing, golf, lawn tennis, swimming, marathon, chess, karate, cycling, fencing, rowing, gymnastics etc.

We have some of the best computer programmers in the world. That explains the world-class animation we are seeing right now in our telenovelas.

We have no divorce law. Do you know what that means? Society is protecting the women from being made toys of men of pleasure.

We have a beautiful tradition of respect for the elders. That means we value experience, knowledge handed down from generation to generation.

We are the most resilient of all races in the world – how else could we survive the oil crisis repeatedly?

And what do we do to some wise guys (or gals) who would be king (or queen)? We suffer fools gladly!

15 April 2006

2006-10-29T08:55:00.002+08:00

(16)
Music Maestro!

Did you know that the Philippines' own Gary Valenciano singing 'I Will Be Here' is featured in a website that is a personal homage to Ms Imee Marcos, daughter of First Lady Imelda Romualdez Marcos? (She will always be referred to as 'First Lady' as if she owns that title.) Visit http://www.angelfire.com/ and see for yourself. I didn’t know that, until I searched for that song and the composer and original singer of it, none other than Steven Curtis Chapman. It doesn't mean I'm endorsing Imee or the songs featured in that fan website; it only means I'm endorsing Steven, who is coming to town (Manila) this first week of May 2006: For details, click the link below. Steven Curtis Chapman is the Dean of Christian music makers (he's a composer as well as a singer): He has won 50 Dove Awards, many more than any other Christian music guys or dolls in the United States or elsewhere.

15 April 2006

2006-10-29T08:55:00.001+08:00

(17)
Your church or mine?

Having done a 1-week research on the gospel music artist Steven Curtis Chapman (for an article I have already submitted to American Chronicle), and having read a question about whether a non-believer can go to Heaven or not, assuming there is a Heaven, I'm not about to answer the question according to the tenets of the Roman Catholic church, of which I profess to be a member. I may have all the answers to all your questions about faith, and even 'if I speak with human tongues and angelic as well, but do not have love, I am a noisy gong, a clanging cymbal.' New American Bible

24 April 2006

2006-10-29T08:54:00.002+08:00

(18)
Existentialism

Steven Curtis Chapman talks to himself, to God (or listens to His words in his heart), to his family, to neighbors; he also reads – for inspiration, for insights into what is begging to be sung about. When he lost his voice once, lasting 3 months, he took time to read more books and they influenced his thinking, two in particular: 'Rumors Of Another World: What On Earth Are We Missing?' by Philip Yancey (Zondervan Sept 2003) and 'Don’t Waste Your Life' by John Piper (Crossway Books May 2003). He lost his voice and found other voices.

Steven must have learned from Yancey that some people seek to take apart while others seek to connect and put together. Reading on Yancey and his ideas on the Internet, I myself have come to realize that much of American life today is rooted in EXISTENTIALISM. The existentialist philosophy 'places emphasis on individual existence, freedom, and choice' – I quote from MLCE (no date, FortuneCity.com/). In contrast, I can say that what Steven has been doing is seeing the whole, sensing the parts as they relate to the whole, stating the message, especially the relating – a revolution in songwriting by itself. I shall call it here ESSENTIALISM.
With Piper's book, Steven says: 'I grabbed it on my way to Seattle, read it on the plane and before the trip was over, had written about 8 songs' (Sparrow Records, Biography). You anoint my head with oil, my cup runs over.

Excerpt from American Chronicle 'The Gospel Whisperer' by Frank A Hilario

25 April 2006

2006-10-29T08:54:00.001+08:00

(19)
May 1: Make Mine A Holy Day

The US Department of Labor says May 1 was declared a holiday as 'a yearly national tribute to contributions workers have made to the strength, prosperity, and well-being of our country.' Good idea! Now, therefore, since the Philippines' Labor Day celebration is a carbon copy of the US model, if you celebrate it any other way, you are desecrating the ideal of the worker. If you celebrate May 1 by demonstrating against the government, you are dishonoring the day. If you celebrate it by demonstrating for the government, you are honoring the source of policy for declaring the day as with honor.

30 April 2006

2006-10-29T08:53:00.001+08:00

(20)
Can anything good come
from the opposition?
Those whose fondest wish is for Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo to resign or be removed from being President of the Philippines can do better than fantasize. By opposition I mean those who would have nothing to do with GMA (including those media warriors who profess objectivity) and do not see that their politics of distraction & deconstruction punishes their countrymen - as well as insults the intelligence of the Filipino people. To those ladies & gentlemen who think highly of themselves, I recommend that they go and listen to Steven Curtis Chapman this Sunday, 7 May 7 PM at the PICC and get their politics right. Steven tells David Kuo in an interview (beliefnet.com):

'You know, ultimately politics isn't going to provide the answers. There is certainly a great opportunity for those in powerful positions to make a change for positive things. But as I've said before in 'Heaven In The Real World,' the answers don't lie in the right laws or the right legislation or even the right people in office. Ultimately, our hope is the hope of God's power at work evident in the lives of those who claim to be his followers and believers.'

Amen to all that!

30 April 2006

2006-10-29T08:52:00.000+08:00

(21)
Orphans of opportunity
Steven Curtis Chapman will be in Manila 7 May and perform at the PICC Plenary Hall at 7 PM; the concert is for raising funds to care for the elderly (in a place called Anawim – 'the lost and the forgotten'), to build houses for the homeless (in a place called Gawad Kalinga – a project which, because of its outstanding success, is becoming 'The Culture of Nurture'), and to help families adopt orphans (in a foundation called Shaohannah's Hope). I see here a romantic tale where a Presbyterian (Steven attends the Christ Community Church in Nashville) is working hand-in-hand (and ear-to-ear) with Catholics (FiSH Magazine). So, I'm worried more about the orphans of opportunity, those who have been abandoned by politicians who like to play a game called Power Play.

30 April 2006

2006-10-29T08:51:00.002+08:00

(22)
What's in a name?

What's in a name? That which we call 'Shaohannah' by any other name would smell not sweet, would not mean 'laughter' (Shao), would not mean 'gift of God’s grace' (Hannah). Shaohannah is the first adopted daughter of the Chapmans; she is an orphan from China. She is now 6 years old. Since then, the Chapmans had adopted 2 more daughters from China, and had set up Shaohannah's Hope, a foundation for helping families adopt orphans in the US or abroad. Her full name is Shaohannah Hope Yan Chapman. Steven describes the scene when his family 'took her in' (from FamilyChristian.com):

'When I saw my wife take Shaohannah and take her into her arms, and it really was like that scene in 'The Grinch Who Stole Christmas.' It's like your heart (expanding). And you can see it happen. You can see her go from an hour before, crying, saying, 'What if I can't love her as much as I do my other children? What if? What if? What if? What if?' and put her in her arms and it's just like, 'This is my daughter. This is flesh of my flesh. It’s part of me.' And God just does this miraculous thing. Our whole family, it's like we took her in, our love for her took her in but love took us or she took us in too. Our love for her – we were taken in as well.'

30 April 2006

2006-10-29T08:51:00.001+08:00

(23)
Adopt a miracle!

When a family adopts, it's the mother who is the most excited, and the most worried. That's because she feels she is the one who is mainly responsible for bringing up that child. Such feeling, if not knowledge, comes naturally, biologically, psychologically. The childless couple feel unfulfilled if they cannot bring up a child into the world; the family who love themselves enough not to be threatened with the coming of a new member feel fulfilled that they have become a bigger family, an extended family. But the mother has angst.

Steven Curtis Chapman, talks about the qualms, saying (Ashli O’Connell, 22 January 2006, tpe.ag.org/):

'My wife can relate to a lot of the fears that adoptive mothers struggle with - can I really love this child as much as I love my biological children. She says she can't believe the miracle that took place the day the girls were placed in her arms. God supernaturally creates a family in the same way He makes us a part of His family. That's why it's such a miracle.'

Go ahead, adopt a miracle!

1 May 2006

2006-10-29T08:50:00.002+08:00

(25)
Earthly love, earthly glow

In 2003, Steven Curtis Chapman released his 13th album, and it was 'All About Love' – I rather think Steven timed it to be #13 because it's all about love and 'the Christian music industry takes a dim view of earthly love songs' (Lisa Zhito, 'Love Story,' January 2003, Barnes & Noble.com). Lisa asks Steven, 'What do you think of that unspoken rule that Christian artists shouldn’t do love songs?' Steven says:

'I don’t know that anybody would say that's off-limits as much as we probably don't go there because it's not what’s expected. It seems like as you're writing songs about your spiritual life, and especially recently, with a lot of music really moving towards worship themes, it's become even less of a theme you'd hear in Christian music. We just don't write about our horizontal relationships with one another as opposed to the vertical relationship with God. I don't know why that is.'

Some people separate the spiritual from the earthly. In the US, this is not surprising because of the way earthly love is treated – a human right, so that you have the right of a child to education and the right of a woman to her body and so on. Steven has a different view from most Americans, including Gospel songwriters. He says:

'I really feel like this record is as deeply spiritual in every one of the songs as every record I’ve ever written. I write music out of my experience of and exploring God’s grace and where God shows up in my life. There's no place in my life where I have seen more profound relations of God and His presence and my need for Him than in my relationships, and particularly in my marriage.'

So, is a kiss spiritual, and romance, and passion?

'That’s what I'm most excited about with this record. I feel like it does operate on the level of realizing that God has given us all of our human experience – the power of a kiss, the feeling of romance and passion – as an expression of Himself in our lives. It is a deeply spiritual thing going on.'

Earthly love, earthly glow. It is not a human right – it is a divine gift.

1 May 2006

2006-10-29T08:50:00.001+08:00

(26)
A discerning moment

Steven Curtis Chapman remembers the defining moment in his life 'when the Gospel of Jesus Christ became amazingly clear to him' (Shannon Baker, 'Father’s Love,' 29 December 2004, Baptist Press, bpnews.net/). That was when he, his wife Mary Beth, and their children Emily and Caleb and Will Franklin adopted Shaohannah, from China, as part of the family. Steven says of it:

'Until we adopted Shaohannah, I didn't fully understand the depth of what Jesus has done for us. I was hopeless, without a future, without a name ... then Jesus came into my life, gave me hope and a future. He gave me a new name.'

That was when Steven suddenly realized: 'I am adopted!' Adoption is the Gospel of Jesus Christ; it is the 'visible Gospel' (John Piper). 'Adoption is the perfect picture of what God has done for each of us in making us His children through Christ.' When we adopt, we are living out the Christ in us.

After three adopted daughters from China, the Chapmans set up Shaohannah's Hope, a non-profit organization to help families adopt children in the US or abroad, providing information and financial help. They want others to share in the delight of discovery that we are all adopted in the first place. Being adopted is not a curse; it is a blessing from the heavens.

2006-10-29T08:49:00.001+08:00

(28)
Whispering hope

So I call Steven Curtis Chapman 'The Gospel Whisperer' in my American Chronicle article (click link below when you’re ready to read him according to me). I call him that because he doesn't shout it -- he just shares it; he doesn't attack those who do not believe like he does – he just talks about it; he doesn't speak in tongues – he just sings in the language of everyday life.

Jim Mueller asks him about his newest album, #14, 'All Things New' ('A conversation with Steven Curtis Chapman,' 2004, growthtrac.com/). Steven says:

'God is whispering to us, and sometimes screaming – through creation and all that goes on around us – He desires to renew all things including our hearts, minds, and relationships.' So God is a Gospel whisperer also. He is whispering hope.

How did Steven come to write the songs in the album? He had seen degeneration. He had begun noticing that the car was wearing out, the house needed painting, the bread was going stale, and he saw 'plenty of reminders all around' that things were 'declining.' And out of that sight of degeneration, he had the insight of regeneration. 'We look at God's truth and who God is and see He’s committed to renewing all things and making all things new.'

Hearts, minds, relationships. How about his old relationship with Mary Beth, his wife? Steven says:

'We've been married twenty years this October and I can honestly say my wife and I have never been more in love.'

'What about romance?' Jim asks. 'Is that still a reality for old married people and a houseful of kids?'

Steven says, 'We need to keep ourselves aware that we have to make time for ourselves. Even when I was making this record, Mary Beth came out and spent some time with me in Los Angeles. It was a special getaway time. We’ve been blessed to be able to do that.'

You don’t say!

'With three older kids, they can baby sit and give us a night out. We can escape to our favorite restaurant, grab a meal and gaze into each other's eyes – even if they're bloodshot and sleepy.' They can be whispering love.

2006-10-29T08:48:00.000+08:00

(29)
The Zero Challenge
To Steven Curtis Chapman

Steven Curtis Chapman has in my list (check out the link below) more than 150 songs with complete lyrics, the most number compared to all the websites I have seen, and they are legion. The songs are on many different subjects, and they make a good study by themselves as literature in song. Isn't he the Emily Dickinson of song? I have written a 'crazily long and rambling article' (in the eyes of Kristine Steakley, who herself has a crazily long title for a blogsite) on Steven Curtis Chapman ('The Gospel Whisperer,' American Chronicle; check out the link below), so I have seen how good he is, and how inventive, ingenious, inspired. I would like to say Steven's range of reach goes from A to Z, but I can't: He doesn't have a song with a title that begins with the letter Z (not to mention X). So here's my Zero Challenge to Steven: Compose a song about Zero. What about zero? I leave the songwriter in Steven in peace. I have faith that he will come up with something good, something very good, even excellent, beginning with Zero and ending way beyond. The possibilities are endless, stretching to infinity.

2006-10-29T08:47:00.002+08:00

(30)
The Xerox Challenge
To Steven Curtis Chapman

Here's my other challenge to Steven Curtis Chapman: Write a song about the Xerox, the ubiquitous machine that multiplies good and bad materials at 4 pages per minute or faster. Remember the original Xerox machine, with its ink smelling awful? It was so successful anyway it gave birth to an English verb: Xerox. Later, the Xerox gave birth to the plain paper copier and, lo and behold, the PPC is a non-smelly, classier, smarter, faster, cheaper device.

Like the PPC, SCC is classier, smarter, faster and chipper than the original Gospel music makers. You can xerox Steven Curtis Chapman, but you can’t copy him. He’s an original.

2006-10-29T08:47:00.001+08:00

(31)
WOrDOg & The Word
According To Bill Gates

This one's dedicated to BILL GATES' WORD, better known as MICROSOFT WORD, warts and ALL. I love ALL.

Yes, 'WOrDOg' sounds like 'bird dog.' That's intentional. If you ask me, that's a good name for a new blog in Weblog, Inc: WOrDOg. You write it like that, two eyes wide open. The way it looks describes exactly what I have in mind and want to say about two things, obviously: Word and Dog. Strange bedfellows, unless you're talking about a talking dog. I'm not. I give you my word I’m talking about Bill Gates' Word and the faunal species animal scientists like to call Canis lupus familiaris when they don't want to familiarize the layman in you with the species who owns the original canine teeth. A different species themselves, scientists like to talk among themselves; they're too technical. Me, I'd like to talk to you and not be technical. I'm a dog when it comes to digging out the treasures of BG's Word from the ground up. In other words, let me introduce myself, I'm a brand new species I have had the privilege of recreating and calling myself with a new name: WOrDOg.

Will Bill Gates be pleased? Probably not. They don't even allow dogs in Microsoft, unlike in Google. Long ago, it was dog eats dog when it came to the business of Netscape, that which started BG browsing, but that was as close as Microsoft could stomach the smell of that four-footed species. I'm afraid of dogs myself but, you know, to get rid of your fear, you have to confront it.

And why am I plugging a software that doesn't need my plugging, when I know that there's OpenOffice.org 2 that gives me WRITER and it's ALMOST AS GOOD as BG’s Word? The keyword is ALMOST. I love the idea of open source, but I love more the idea of a software that does my bidding, a software dog that I can make jump through hoops. And that's BG's Word. (Right now, you can make BG's Word jump yourself. Open an old Word file and, before doing anything else, press Shift+F5. Didn't work? Open another old file and try again.)

Are you the top dog or the underdog? I am WOrDOg, and I am both. Welcome to my blogworld. WOrDOg intends to teach you, or enthuse you, whichever comes first, about:

(1) Sometimes my love for BG's Word, the most powerful word processing software in the world. It will be my pleasure to show you how I came to think that this is so.

(2) Sometimes my unlove. There must be some lesson there somewhere, if only we can find it. And if BG's Word comes, can Bill Gates be far behind?

Now then, what you will be getting is THE WORD ACCORDING TO FRANK.

2006-10-29T08:46:00.000+08:00

(32)
Bill Gates,
The Future Is Now

If you haven't seen it yet, I will let you peek into the power of Bill Gates' Word by showing you a glimpse of Word 2003 (but also true of Word XP and Word 97) auto-format feature. Open your (or somebody else's) BG’s Word. Do this: Open a new (blank) document. Note the cursor at the leftmost of the first line. Now, press Enter – but do NOT press Tab after Enter. Type this paragraph:

BILL GATES, THE FUTURE IS NOW. I’M TRYING TO MAKE IT ALL MAKE SENSE. YOUR POTENTIAL INSPIRES ME TO CREATE A WEBLOG TO HELP YOU REACH IT. WHERE DO YOU WANT TO GO TODAY? DID YOU CHECK OUT THE LATEST WINDOWS XP PATCH LIKE YOU SHOULD? IT JUST WORKS. CLEAR, CONFIDENT, CONNECTED: BRINGING CLARITY TO YOUR WORLD. EASY AS THE QUICK BROWN FOX JUMPS OVER THE LAZY DOG!

Don't press Enter yet; instead, after typing DOG!, press Space, then press F4 repeatedly. See what happens? The sentences jump quickly onto the space one after another. That's auto-type. BG's Word isn't a lazy dog.

Now, position your cursor anywhere on the BILL GATES paragraph, click the right button of your mouse, click Format, Paragraph, Special, First line, OK. Magic! That gives you an indented first line. Now, with your cursor after the exclamation mark (!), press Enter. Do you notice what happens? The format called 'First line' is repeated automatically for the next paragraph. That's auto-format.

Next, type this sentence:

FIVE PUZZLED BOYS WATCHED SIX QUIET GIRLS KISS JUST ME, FRANK.

(That's Frank Hilario's version of the sentence that has all the letters of the alphabet in it, a pangram, for practice typing. According to Wikipedia, the THE QUICK BROWN FOX pangram is used to test typewriter and computer keyboards because 'it is coherent and short' and is favored because 'it describes a neutral, bland event which is unlikely to offend anyone.' Me, I don't want to be neutral; I don't want to be bland; sometimes I don't want to be short. So, I offer my FIVE PUZZLED BOYS pangram instead – while mine is much longer, it's more earthy, more exciting, more ridiculous and therefore more fun. Also, my pangram has my name on it. I invented that before the Age of the Dinosaurs (Typewriters) disappeared from view. Please note that it has NO DOG in it. I'm not that fond of dogs. At home, I walk the dog once in a while, but I'd rather walk an extra mile – I need the exercise.)

The first line format is still there, right? Press Enter at the end of the PUZZLED BOYS sentence paragraph. What happens? The paragraph format is repeated.

Go back to the BILL GATES paragraph. Now, select the words BILL GATES and click the icon B to make it bold. (Bill Gates makes bold moves too.) Then move your cursor to any letter of the word POTENTIAL and click the icon I to make it italic. (Bill Gates is always looking for potential business.) Move your cursor to anywhere on the word QUICK and click the icon U to make it underlined. (Bill Gates is sometimes quick to grab an opportunity.) So you have BILL GATES, POTENTIAL, QUICK in enhanced font formats. Bill Gates should be pleased.

Then, move your cursor to my PUZZLED BOYS sentence. With your cursor anywhere on the sentence, click Format, Paragraph, Spacing Before, type the number 12, OK. What happens? That's a magic double Enter. After the period in the sentence, press Enter. The spacing before is repeated.

Now, anywhere on the page, press Ctrl+A (Select All), then press Ctrl+C (Copy), then press Ctrl+V (Paste). Repeat Ctrl+V several times until you have several pages of text. Click View, Normal. Scroll to the first page and position your cursor on the first letter of the paragraph where you can see an automatic line breaking it or lying below it, then press Ctrl+Enter on that beginning letter (either a B or an F). That's a Manual Page Break.

Did you know that the first line indent, the spacing before and the manual line break are THREE OF THE MOST IGNORED COMMANDS IN THE WHOLE WIDE WORD? Everyone I know is guilty of this, including my children. (A prophet is not without honor except in his own country.) People don't ask what they can do to make things easier for them. I always say: 'If it's difficult, you're doing it wrong.' What people do when they want a first line indent is press Tab; what they do to create a spacing before is press two Enters at the end of a paragraph, line or sentence; what people do when they want a page break is press Enter, Enter, Enter, Enter, Enter!

You think that's no bother? Think of typing 100 pages; you have 1000 paragraphs all beginning with an Enter and all ending with two Enters. That's extra 1000 Tabs and 1000 Enters. That's a lot of time and effort wasted. Then, when you revise, as you will, you will Tab every paragraph you add and delete an extra Enter for every paragraph you delete. Not only that, you will either delete all those extra Enters to create another 'automatic' page break, or add extra Enters to create such a break. If in one revision you need 10 Enters per page to add or subtract, then for 100 pages, you will need to make an additional 1,000 Enters or 1,000 Deletes. And that's only for the first revision. And I'm giving you just a few examples of the unknown travails of working with a word processor without knowing the basics of it. A little knowledge is a dangerous thing most people are not aware of.

Suppose you want to change the basefont and the font size of all the paragraphs in that 100-page book and the boss wants it done in 30 minutes, new page breaks included? You will do it in 3 hours at a hurried pace with a harried look if you don't know Templates and Manual Page Break. Since I have mastered both, I can do it in 3 minutes flat.

My BILL GATES and PUZZLED BOYS examples are just a few little illustrations of the power of BG's Word. Now you have a good idea why as a writer (not to mention an editor and desktop publisher), I so love the word 'Word' because it reminds me of BG's Word, which is my favorite power tool, even if Bill Gates is NOT my favorite genius (Steve Jobs is). What you don't know until now is that in turn, BG's Word reminds me of the Bible. I'm a Christian; BG's Word is powerful in its own right, but that's two words, and it's of this world; you can imagine the power that comes with a single word, out of this world: BIBLE, which in turn reminds me of the Word that became flesh and dwelt among us: GOD. With God, His will is our command; with BG's Word, my will is its command. All's right with the world.

With one BILL GATES pondering the future, one DOG jumping and five BOYS puzzling, welcome to my Word-Wide World!

2006-10-29T08:44:00.000+08:00

(33)
Constructing With &
Deconstructing Word

Been there, done that. With Bill Gates' Word (that which everybody else likes to call Microsoft Word, or Word XP, or Word 2003), considering the writer and editor and desktop publisher in me, I have the most incredible software in the world. And I have the experience to prove it, the publication to show for it. It's the Potter to the Clay. BG's Word: On one hand, I can construct with it; on the other hand, I can deconstruct it. Like so:

(1) Constructing With BG's Word

As of the 1st week of May 2006, I have been for the last three and a half years the Editor in Chief of THE MOST ADVANCED SCIENCE JOURNAL IN THE WORLD. I refer to the Philippine Journal of Crop Science (PJCS), which on the 6th of May came out with its December 2006 issue; since the next issue is April 2007, that makes our journal PJCS advanced by a year, or 365 days. A world record, I believe. And you know what? We did it with BG's Word.

It was something impossible to do: Get hold of a technical journal that is a thousand days late and make it up-to-date in no time at all - immediately. Not too fast! I knew what the journal needed was a one-man-band: a competent editor who happened to be a competent writer who happened to be a competent desktop publisher. I had always been a writer since high school; I had been editor for years – now, which program should I use to be a better and faster desktopper myself? It took me a year to find out; in the end, I returned to an old flame. I tried Adobe PageMaker and I found out, like many a beautiful woman, she was too complicated for me. I tried MS Publisher, and she was beautiful and less complicated but still too slow for me. She didn’t excite me enough. So I chose MS Word over PageMaker and MS Publisher. I wasn't too sure, but I had been using MS Word since the People Power Revolution in my country, and so I thought she would make me the happiest man on earth. She did.

Because, suddenly, there was MS WORD XP - SHE HAD EVERYTHING I HAD ALWAYS WANTED ON MY DESKTOP, including a way to drag an object across a page or across pages. MS Word XP was a perfect match to my needs. Later came MS Word 2003, and she was even more perfect. I was in heaven. And so we made our journal not only up-to-date but well-advanced than all other journals in science in all the world, including the United States. To top it all, with all the shortcuts I know using MS Word, all the while I have been enjoying my desktop work, I became like a lover at play, making love to the page. After that, knowing and feeling good enough to exult, I created an information base (iBase): http://cropsciencephilippines.blogspot.com. I created that iBase in about a week, all 100 MB of it and, looking back, it looks like I had been lusting all the way to the knowledge bank.

Before this, did you know that Word XP is not simply a word processing software but a very powerful, very versatile desktop publisher? I affirm; I confirm. Word 2003 is even more so. I don't know about Word 2000 - I jumped from Word 1997 to Word XP, and it was like I jumped from the 20th to the 21st century. I've been using BG's Word since Word 4 (remember WordStar 4?) - no graphic interface yet - so Word XP is like 7th Heaven. If you are new to Word 2003, today you shall be with me in Paradise.

Always using text files from BG's Word, often importing photographs from Adobe Photoshop, occasionally copying graphs and tables from BG's Excel, I have with our PJCS singlehandedly created the only technical journal in the world that has adopted Word 2003 as its own desktop publisher, designing the cover and inside pages, formatting texts, layouting tables and graphs and images, revising and correcting and printing camera-ready pages, entirely with this software. You better believe it. If you have doubts, visit the website I told you above and read your heart out. Blessed are those that have not seen and yet have believed.

I created that blogsite actually in March 2006. The reason you can see a monthly archive dating back to January 2004 is that I simply changed the month and the year before I saved each and every post so that I can have many monthly archives. Total uploaded files are about 100 MB, and I wanted to distribute the pages for less bulky browsing, never mind the false '2004' as year of posting. Each entry in each post has the correct date entry anyway.

There is in fact an even earlier blogsite that I created and have all but forgotten till now: http://wordpro.blogspot.com. This blogsite says you have my word: BG’s Word is a world-class desktop publishing software. I posted the message ('Setting world records with Microsoft Word') 26 August 2005 yet, some 9 months ago, a month after I started my own blogging. Which means BG's Word is in an advanced state of composition.

With BG's Word, formatting columns is not a problem anymore, even mixing single columns with double or triple columns. I do it all the time. Click Format, Columns, Number of columns and select or type the number you want, OK. Be sure you are on Print Layout (click View, Print Layout if you are not).

Can you drag tables to anywhere within the document? Now you can. For this, you have to learn the art of the DRAWING CANVAS. I can't discuss it here now, but I can tell you one thing: with that artist's canvas, you can insert a table and drag it to anywhere you want, and all the time parting the waves of text you meet. You can also resize it, either make the box around it disappear or enhance it or embellish it.

Why this affirmation of a particular software that is particularly hyped already? (What you have so far seen is only the tip of an iceberg, a sexy iceberg.) A more pertinent question is: Do I admire Bill Gates? (He didn't program BG's Word, did he? He didn't even program DOS, or MSDOS for that matter.) Do I own Microsoft stocks? (I don't even own Microsoft socks.)

I'm WOrDOg. I just love BG's Word and I love the word 'dog' - which characterizes my behavior toward BG's Word. What my experience shows is that you have to have dogged persistence, not canine devotion to BG's Word, not listening only to expert advice, but having a devotion to discovering for yourself bones buried anywhere in the back and front yard. Sometimes I do have dog day afternoons, but all that comes with the territory. I am the first and best example of the dawning of a new plain truth that Being A Dog Is A Man's Best Friend.

Bill Gates must be pleased.

What about quality of images embedded in BG's Word when a document is printed camera-ready? No problem. If your image has high quality in the first place, BG's Word will show you high quality - you can resize it simply dragging any corner of the image. (Lesson: Use a high-quality digital camera.)

But really, I can do more than resize an image with BG's Word: I love it so much I have taught myself to deconstruct the software itself.

(2) Deconstructing BG's Word

I'll take Bill Gates' Word anytime and bite it to pieces, with gusto. Logical and illogical pieces. I salivate when I consider what BG's Word can do for me - more when I consider what I can do to BG's Word. And I can do plenty. I can change the menu so that you can no longer recognize it. It's easy if you know Tools, Customize. (Right now, I have added to my BG's Word menu these items: Options, Saves, Math, XFactor; that is, Saves for all Word windows open (I'm a multi-Word user); Math for Tools, Calculate; XFactor for Tools, Customize.) So, to deconstruct BG's Word, let me present to you what I shall call here The ChaosBrains Menu:

@LETTER @THESIS @BOOK @JOURNAL @ NEWSLETTER @REPORT @CHAOS @BRAINS

where @ is the specific icon, CHAOS comprises my research, notes, drafts and my mild and wild ideas, like this one, and BRAINS contains a separate document template (doTemplate) for each ChaosBrains submenu.

Each doTemplate of mine will automatically assign margins, mix of columns, basefont and character spacing, heading levels with fonts and sizes and spacings, drop caps, drawing canvases big & small, text boxes of all sizes and shapes and settings, running heads and page numbers, page breaks and section breaks ... the works.

And to each BrainChaos submenu, I will reassign all the commands I think I need, my favorites naturally, a few of them being: Search & Replace Format, Previous Edit, First Line Indent, Hanging Indent, New Windows, Save All, Autotext, Autocorrect, Table Autoformat, Format Columns, Insert Page Number, View Outline. And, of course, Styles and Formatting (Templates).

Now, about commands, if you ask Word 2003 to list all the commands, it will give you a list of 1,071 commands (click Tools, Macro, Macros, Macros in, Word Commands, ListCommands, Run). The list is incorrect; for instance, it simply puts down 'Templates' as one command. This is BG's Understatement of the 21st Century! If you ask me, Templates (it used to be called 'Stylesheet') is the most astounding and the most useful single feature of BG's Word (starting with BG’s Word 4 that I remember). And yes, Templates is one of the open secrets of BG's Word being an excellent desktop publisher in itself; Templates makes BG's Word the quickest, the most versatile, the most compliant (if you know your macros), the most efficient to use. After 20 years of dogged use, I should know, or help me Word. To Templates, my word is its command.

You understand why I'm enraptured with BG's Word, because of its power to transform itself, or turn itself into something new or entirely different. With the magic spell of BG's Mouse, I can construct and deconstruct BG's Word itself by itself. That’s more than macro power: that's user power. BG's Word enables me to be the POWER USER that I want. 'Stay with me flagons, comfort me with apples, for I am sick of love' - that's from the Song of Solomon.

But that's only because I'm WOrDOg, a doggedly persistent user, a discoverer of bones in the ground and skeletons in the closet. Top Banana BG's Word is now too complicated even for Bill Gates, even for John Dvorak. A word by way of reminder: In a hierarchy, the top banana has risen to his level of incompetence.

Ultimately, any software should make itself EASY FOR ANY USER AT ANY LEVEL - meaning, there should be no learning curve at all. All I'm saying is that BG's Word - as well as any other pretender to an intelligent word processing/desktop publishing software - needs a paradigm shift like I DON'T need a hole in the head!

2006-10-29T08:43:00.000+08:00

(34)
My Bio

I'm WOrDOg. My name is FRANK A HILARIO and I live in Luzon, the biggest island among the 7000 islands called the Philippines; I'm a Filipino and I speak Filipino as well as I do the language of the full-blooded Ilocano that I am, but in effect my brain lives in the United States of America, since I prefer to think and write in the language of the ones who colonized my country in the late 19th century. I like green bucks but not green jokes. So, I am a strange bedfellow to me and myself. Some of my countrymen call my propensity for things American COLONIAL MENTALITY; I simply call it CONGENIALITY.

I'm a farm boy who wanted to take up journalism in college and ended up becoming a teacher and passing, to be sure, my country's Teacher's Exam, 80.65%, which isn't so bad, in fact it's good. So, from the 20th to the 21st century, I have been teaching myself by myself, well, word processing and desktop publishing and tweaking MICROSOFT WINDOWS and MICROSOFT WORD at someone else's expense (HE'S A BILLIONAIRE anyway, if you know what & who I mean). As a teacher, my best student is me. So, for instance, I have taught myself up to guru level and gleefully been using Word 2003 - which I prefer to call Bill Gates' Word or BG's Word -- to productively one-man-band (rewrite, edit, desktop-publish) a highly technical journal, the PHILIPPINE JOURNAL OF CROP SCIENCE, so much so that this journal is now one year ahead in its issues. That's worth a Guinness Book of World/Word Record. (Check this out if you don't believe me: http://cropsciencephilippines.blogspot.com. And I'm talking of BG's Word as my desktopper, not Adobe PageMaker and not Microsoft Publisher or some other software that other editors and layout artists would swear by. I of course also taught myself, well, blogging, and you can see for yourself if you check out all the links you see when you visit my http://aromalight.blogspot.com. In fact I have more blogs than you can see.

I'm married to one woman, and intend to be so for the rest of my life. When people ask me how many children I have, I reply, only one. Only one? Only one – one dozen. I am that prolific. (But don't ask me about birthdays.) I am that prolific also when it comes to writing. That explains why I have so far written and published nine long feature articles in as many diverse topics for the AMERICAN CHRONICLE – here's the URL if you want to check me out (and find a bit more about me): www.americanchronicle.com/articles/viewByAuthor.asp?authorID=700

Note well this: I have more than 20 blogs (I prefer to call them BLOGSITES) and hundreds of posts (I prefer to call them BLOGS). To paraphrase Omar Khayyam:

My moving finger writes; and having writ,
Moves on: nor all your Piety nor Wit
Shall lure it back to cancel half a Line,
Nor all your Tears wash out a Word of it.

Above all, remember this: I am the fellow who when he writes, most of the time he uses BG's Word; sometimes he uses pen and paper – sometimes he uses his head.

2006-10-29T08:40:00.000+08:00

(35)
Blogs of quiet desperation
Bloggers like me lead lives of quiet desperation when they can't (don't know how) to post images on their blogsites, images they themselves select right where they are (folder). I just learned how to do it a few minutes ago, and this is my third photo post (for the first two, visit this website I created: http://ricedevphilippines.blogspot.com) last night. When I woke up this morning, about six, Wednesday, 24 May 2006, I had the hunch: Maybe Picasa (Picasa2) has a way to help me blog a photo without too much trouble. And it does! Click that photo, click Create, Publish to Blogger, type your text – and you’re done. 3 cheers for Picasa! (Well, I have 3 photoposts.) The one you saw before this, that of Steven Curtis Chapman, was by my son Jomar - I just cut-and-pasted it.

2006-10-29T08:37:00.000+08:00

(37)
UP Beloved:
A Great Revelation
photo by gomi at flickr

The University of the Philippines (UP) was created on 18 June 1908 by Legislative Act 1870 with Murray Bartlett as the first President. I want to celebrate the birth of UP by pointing out and improving on a historical mediocrity concerning our UP Beloved.

Today, 2 June 2006, I was looking at somebody’s proposed program for the induction of officers of a UP Alumni Chapter in Manila and suddenly I noticed that the Tagalog translation of ‘UP Beloved’ has been all along lacking in content and ideas. It seems to me the work of an intelligent but lazy translator, or of one whose translation was done too fast it couldn’t be but careless.

Some people like to sing ‘UP Naming Mahal’ and I like to sing ‘UP Beloved.’ - I don't. After this, I would also like to sing ‘UP Naming Mahal.’ This is the old translation:

U.P. Naming Mahal
U.P. Naming Mahal
Pamantasang hirang
Ang tinig namin
Sana’y iyong dinggin
Malayong lupain
Amin mang marating
Di rin magbabago ang damdamin
Di rin magbabago ang damdamin.

Luntian at pula
Sagisag magpakailan man
Ating ipagdiwang
Bulwagan ng dangal
Humayo’t itanghal
Giting at tapang
Mabuhay ang pag-asa ng bayan
Mabuhay ang pag-asa ng bayan.

Just reading it and you will say, why, it’s a pretty poem, and it is; it’s a nice song too. Now, if you compare it with the original (see below), you will appreciate it when I give it 2 stars (**) out of a possible five stars (*****).

I shall now use my RISC Rating judging a translation (see my blogsite http://indiosbravos.blogspot.com for more details on my RISC formula):

Rhyme. ‘UP Naming Mahal’ on the whole is Good.

Ideas. ‘UP Naming Mahal’ is Bad. There are at least 16 major ideas that the translation ignores and that are in the original: alma mater, united, joyful, loyal, sing, we, ever, be, echo, watchword, give out, password, songs, rare, sing, message. That’s unforgivable because the original song is very, very short. The original is exactly 75 words; 18 words omitted out of 75 means that the translation omits 24% of the words. Too many.

Style. ‘UP Naming Mahal’ is Good. You can’t really translate English style to Tagalog style without something missing in the translation.

Content. ‘UP Naming Mahal’ is Poor. These concepts or thoughts are not translated at all: ‘for thee united,’ ‘joyful voices,’ ‘echo the watchword,’ ‘give out the password,’ ‘sing forth the message.’ You can’t miss in a translation very important things such as these. And don't forget that if you choose to ignore ideas in the original, that's how much content you are not translating.

Other comments. ‘Di rin magbabago ang damdamin’ is a mistranslation of ‘Loyal thy sons we’ll ever be.’ In fact, it is an idea not found in the original. ‘Pamantasang hirang’ is quite inadequate a translation of ‘our alma mater dear.’ It does not translate 'alma mater.'

Now, here is the original UP anthem in English, from a poem by Tiogenes Velez:

U.P. Beloved
U.P. Beloved, thou Alma Mater dear
For thee united, our joyful voices hear
Far though we wander, o’er islands yonder
Loyal thy sons we’ll ever be
Loyal thy sons we’ll ever be.

Echo the watchword, the Red and Green forever.
Give out the password to the Hall of Brave sons rare.
Sing forth the message, ring out with courage
All hail, thou hope of our dear land
All hail, thou hope of our dear land.

And here is my own translation (2 June 2006):

UP Naming Mahal (Frank A Hilario '65)
UP Naming Mahal, Inang Diwang Hirang
Sa ‘yo’y kaisa, ang tinig masaya.
Saan mang marating, dako pa roon
Anak kaming laging tapat
Anak kaming laging tapat.

Bantay ulitin, pula’t lunti kailanman
Susi’y bigkasin sa Bulwagan ng Tapang
Ulat sambitin, giting awitin
Mabuhay, pag-asa ng bayan
Mabuhay, pag-asa ng bayan!

‘Bantay’ is poetic license for ‘bantay salita’ (watchword). ‘Susi’ is poetic license for ‘susing salita’ (password or keyword). I have to invent words. The trouble with Tagalog is that the vocabulary is limited as well as that the words that are there are too long even for simple ideas.

All in all, I daresay my translation is at least 95% close to the original in rhyme, ideas, style and content. Whether you accept it or not is beside the point – the point is that the old translation is not worthy of UP.

The Great Revelation: 'Ang tinig namin / Sana'y iyong dinggin.' That's supposed to translate 'For thee united, our joyful voices hear.' There is no expression of unity in those Tagalog lines, only a plea to be heard, that is, a plea for freedom of expression. Typical UP, not enough UP. This is an affront to Tiogenes Velez, who wrote the poem that became the lyrics of the song; this is an affront to the rest of us.

Now I have one good explanation as to why the Philippines is not united - Why, even in the University of the Philippines, the State University, which should set the example, which has given us many leaders of the country, we have been singing an anthem that completely ignores unity!

2006-10-29T08:34:00.000+08:00

(38)
Armed and dangerous
"Palace favors arming journalists - Gonzalez' is the news story of 23 May 2006 (inq7.net/) written by Tetch Torres Lira Dalangin-Fernandez. Justice Secretary Raul Gonzalez said that such a proposal was taken up in a Cabinet meeting, 'following a rash of killings of journalists' in the Philippines. I say that's solving a problem by changing the problem. Will the killing stop because the journalists are now armed and dangerous?

Our Filipino journalists are in fact already armed to the teeth, with something that is more dangerous than a gun that spits bullets. Let us not add fuel to the fire. They are already dangerous to themselves. They are armed with ISMS. NegativISM. AdventurISM. SensationalISM. Yellow journalISM. To make the world safe for Filipino journalists, let us require them by law to be armed to the teeth with another ISM, the Ilocano variety: ISEM, which means SMILE. Smile when you say isem. Today's pastoral SMS (text) from Fr Reuter says: 'People in the wealthy nations have money, but they don't smile. The Filipinos have no money, but they smile.' Filipino journalists should learn from their own kind. They should learn not to look the other way but to look at the bright side of life. They should remember that when one journalist points with one finger at someone, three fingers are pointing at him, or her.

14 June 2006

2006-10-29T08:32:00.000+08:00

(39)
How to solve corruption
the easy way: Do it yourself!
This is a photo of the cover of the book Total Misconduct by Samuel Clark (Disclosure Publishing, totalmisconduct.com/). It is a true story, the author claims. The book blurb says, 'The book police officials don't t want you to read!' The book presents a detailed account of corruption and official misconduct within the police department of Newark, New Jersey. That's as American as you can get.

That's thousands of miles away. Corruption is everywhere in the world. It started in Paradise, remember? The serpent corrupted Eve who corrupted Adam. When you say the Philippines is the most corrupt country in Asia, or the second, or the third, do you know exactly what you are saying? No you don't. Or, which is the same thing, you're wrong. The problem is corruption everywhere in the world, correct. But, tell me truly, which side are you: The Corruptor or The Corrupt? It takes two to tango. Corruption is a two-way street, not one-way traffic. The reason we have corrupt Americans and corrupt Filipinos is that we have corruptor Americans and corruptor Filipinos. When a driver gives a policeman 'coffee money,' that's corruption. When we apply for a license and we promise (and deliver on our promise) to give a little extra for someone's effort at having our papers processed expeditiously, we're as good as our word but that's corruption. When we 'reward' a BIR agent for 'helping' us with our income tax problems, that's corruption.When we award a bid to the 'lowest' bidder for some financial or other considerations, that's corruption. When you pay people to attend rallies and demonstrations, that's corruption. Corruption is help expedited. I think the only one we don't corrupt is the priest or pastor or preacher, because we can't really pay for sanctifying grace to come on cue.

There must be a lesson there somewhere for all of us. And of course there is. For that, we borrow from the slogan of the World Wide Fund which tells us how to stop the illegal wildlife trade, 'When the buying stops, the killing will too.' To solve corruption, we just rewrite that a bit: 'When the corrupting stops, the corruption will too.' Problem solved!

14 June 2006

2006-10-29T08:27:00.000+08:00

(40)
The Mona Lisa
of the 21st Century
I shall call her The Mona Lisa Girl. The first word that came to mind a few minutes ago when I saw this image at flickr (untitled, by picturebuzz) was: stunning.The next word was: 'Mona Lisa.' It is the most pleasing, most meanings-full, most refreshing, most inspiring photograph I have ever seen. This one is untitled, her mother's Mona Lisa, and in black & white; Da Vinci's Mona Lisa is oil on wood. Nicolas Pioch (WebMuseum, Paris, ibiblio.org/) says it is the lady's 'enigmatic expression, which seems both alluring and aloof' that has given the painting universal fame. I can say the same of this image, a photo-painting, a work of art, a work of heart.

The Mona Lisa has no eyebrows, if you didn't notice (I don't like painted eyebrows in any case). The Mona Lisa Girl has them, unpainted and unretouched, and they add to the look of natural beauty, of vibrance. The Mona Lisa looks alive, they say; The Mona Lisa Girl is alive. The Mona Lisa looks at you; The Mona Lisa Girl looks at life. The Mona Lisa was a favorite painting of Leonardo da Vinci; The Mona Lisa Girl is mine.

15 June 2006

2006-10-29T08:25:00.000+08:00

(41)
The adventure
of a lifetime
Voltaire says: Marriage is the only adventure open to the cowardly. I got that in the 'Quote of the Day' in my Personalized Google Homepage today. I say: Agree! And then if you do right by your spouse, you're not a coward anymore. Truth to tell, I wasn't a coward when I got married, but the first time I realized that I was a father, I got scared to death. I suggested to my wife to drop the baby. Just like that! She had the moral courage not to follow my advice, thank God. That baby now has her own baby, my first granddaughter. (In case you're interested, I had confessed that sin to a priest years ago.)

Courage, I now realize, must have something to do with the willingness to take responsibility for one's action, no matter what. Will you throw your wife to the angry waters or carry her across to safety? ('Waterfall' by Koleslaw, flickr.com/). That's all up to you. Voltaire (Francois Marie Arouet) was running scared all his life; he never got married - he had only the nerve to love and run. Marriage is a commitment; Voltaire was committed to his intellectual development but not to the institution of marriage. He was prolific, writing plays, poetry, novels, essays, historical and scientific works and thousands of letters; he defied authorities, but he was not brave enough to sign his name on a piece of paper called the marriage certificate - and he was not courageous enough to honor the man whose wife he stole.

2006-10-29T08:19:00.000+08:00

(42)
Can anyone teach
Web design without
being technical?

I want to learn how to create my own Web page(s). So I type this Google line:
“web design” “how to” “do your own”
(one line, typed exactly like that, including the double quotes) and I get ‘Thoughts on Web Design by Elliot Chabot (lawguru.com/) dated 19 April 19 1999, among others. I like what I see. The first words are: ‘Web site design – part art, part science, part philosophy, part mechanics. What follows are some of the lessons learned from the development of the US House of Representative Internet Law Library. It is a mixture of some of the common lore of the Internet, suggestions that others have put into print, and some items discovered through trial and error.’

Intelligent.

‘The first key to a successful Web site is to decide on the goal of your site. What is your purpose? What is your vision? The clearer your focus, the more likely you are to achieve it. The vision for your site is the foundation on which it is built. Strong sites call for strong foundations.’ xxx ‘The more original, useful material your Web site includes, the greater the likelihood that your Web site will be a success.’

Okay, I’m sold.

‘For those of you who would like to be able to deal directly with HTML codes, you might want to look at:

A Beginner’s Guide to HTML by the National Center for Supercomputing Applications, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.

HTML 4.0 Specification by the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C). The W3C is one of the primary standards bodies of the Internet.

I press Ctrl and click with the mouse pointer over ‘HTML 4.0 Specification’ and I find it too technical – definitely not for beginners. I press Ctrl and click over ‘A Beginner’s Guide to HTML’ and the screen says, ‘NCSA’s “A Beginner’s Guide to HTML” Bounce Page. ¶ ‘We’re sorry, but NCSA’s “A Beginner’s Guide to HTML” is no longer active.’

Arrrrrk!

I click on one of the alternative sites, for W3Schools, and I get ‘HTML Tutorial.’ I read; I understand, but I also I know I’m not getting what I want: I want to design a Web page – I know I have to learn HTML, but don’t tell me about HTML until you have taught me how I can design a page for myself, and how I can change that design. When I say ‘Web page,’ I mean the whole screen, not just a segment of it. First things first. Image by Weave, flickr.com - that's what I mean by Web design, Web page. With HTML as your first tutorial, you are assuming that I am not a tabula rasa – well, I am. That’s why I’m a beginner, you understand? A beginner knows nothing, nada, zero, zilch. Has my Beginner’s Luck run out before I even got to it?

I try the other links: “How to set up a website that works.” It doesn’t work on me. It’s just trying to sell Web design services. I click on “Bellcrest Web Design” and it gives me ‘Frequently Asked Questions,’ among them: ‘Why should I pay a Web designer when I could get my friend to it for free?’ And the answer is: ‘With today’s WYSIWYG (what you see is what you get) editors, most anyone can build a Web site. Not everyone can do it well.’

If I have seen a discouraging word, that’s the one. You see? They are not being helpful; they are just trying to tell me: Hire us! How do they know that 1 million of the rest of us can’t do it better than all of those programmers combined once we learn to do it ourselves?

Can anyone teach Web design without being technical? If no one can, I will, eventually, but first I have to learn it the hard way: technical. I will surf again for “practical Web design” – or I will just have to do it on my own, meaning grapple with all that technical language that only programmers can understand. Well, I’m back to the old adage: If you want it done right, you have to do it yourself.

2006-10-29T08:16:00.000+08:00

(43)
Jasmine Trias: #3 in #3
She's #1 in my heart

I watched the GMA7 show last night, 22 June 2006 Manila time, and I forgot to take notes! Blame it on age (66), but also blame it on why, it was so absorbing and inspiring I had tears in my eyes (I'm male, I'm sentimental - I'm a writer). I browsed the Internet too a few minutes ago and I was reminded that she was #3 in American Idol #3. In the TV show, 'The Jasmine Trias Story,' I learned that she was about going, going, gone ... when people, probably mostly Filipinos, began texting (SMS-ing) American Idol that they (the texters) wanted her to stay and so she was voted into the top 3. (Official photo from American Idol) The Philippines is not the text capital of the world for nothing. Based on the TV show, she lost because of a bad throat: tonsilitis, laryngitis, sore throat whatever. (I personally thought it was bad judging.)

I would like 'The Jasmine Trias Story' to be replayed (and replayed) because I like the story and I missed many quotables. As a writer, I feel that the story was very well written: if a writer can make another writer cry, he must be very good. Still, I can share three lessons. One (from my wife): How to be a good father (I know I am not a good father). Two: How to go on: Jas' father (I didn't get the name) was telling her that he was not a good father, he was not a good husband etc, but one thing he knew: His daughter was beautiful and had talent. Win some, lose some. 'Don't disappoint yourself,' he told her when she lost a contest. Three: How to succeed: Jas lost the audition for American Idol the first time. (I don't know if there was a second time.) Jas was going to give up on American Idol. It was too much for her. When American Idol 3 came to

2006-10-29T08:13:00.000+08:00

(44)
The Lady President Who Can:
Dr Emerlinda Ramos Roman

She could; she can; and she thinks UP can and we can. We believe her.

They urged her to run for President of the University of the Philippines because they thought the job was meant for her and that she could beat the odds. And she did. She became the 19th UP President, the very first lady to occupy that position.

She has the academic credentials. She is a product of UP Rural High. She graduated with a BSA degree from UP Los Baños in 1972, masteral degree in Agribusiness Management from UP Diliman in 1977, and a doctorate degree in Business Administration also from UP Diliman in 1989.

She has the experience. In between, she taught business administration and through the years held different positions: faculty regent in 1995, University Secretary in 1988-1991, Vice Chancellor in 1985-1988 and Chancellor of UP Diliman in 1991-1993, 1999-2002, and 2002-2004. She established the Diliman Interactive Learning Center (DILC), Center For International Studies (CIS), Computerized Registration System (CRS), and Research Dissemination Grant Fund (RDGF), which energized the international publication and presentation of papers by UP faculty.

And in those many years she won several awards, including Outstanding Professor, Outstanding Alumnus for Public Service (College of Business Administration), Outstanding Alumnus for Academic Administration (UP Los Baños), and Outstanding Citizen of Los Baños Award for Academic Administration (Municipal Government of Los Baños).

In her term as President, she is enervated with her belief that UP can maintain its stature as a center of excellence and culture, that UP can strengthen its position as the leading university in R&D in the country – a national university in the 21st century – and eventually in the region, that all UP campuses can develop to the stature of UP Diliman, and that UP can develop as a community of scholars with academic credentials comparable with those in the best universities of the world.

She can write and she can edit. She has published papers on, among other subjects, management control, human resource management, administrative policy, and organizational behavior. She has written these books: Cases on Strategic Management in the Philippine Setting (UP Press), Metro Manila In Search Of A Sustainable Future: Impact Analysis Of Metropolitan Policies For Development And Environmental Conservation (UP Press). She has co-edited three books assessing the leadership of three Philippine Presidents.

She can count many significant achievements: faculty development and faculty welfare programs, academic program improvement, modernization of Diliman’s laboratories and learning facilities, research productivity improvement, and technology infrastructure development in UP Diliman.

She believes in a UP that can continue to be both home and haven for those who can dedicate themselves to asking questions, those who can be honest in their search for answers and those who can go on and not expect honor or gratitude but only the opportunity to do more.

Her most immediate challenge is: Can she defend a controversial new charter that will redefine UP as a state institution generating its own resources without necessarily becoming commercial? We believe she can.

Know that as a manager, she is a consensus builder who will listen graciously and silently to all sides, but she can be forthright when she needs to.

She thinks she can inspire UP to reengineer its own bureaucracy to get rid of a lot of inefficiencies in order to provide better and more efficient services to its constituents.

She is going to be the Centennial President of UP in 2008, and that is where she thinks we can contribute. We can help raise funds to help elevate the University of the Philippines to world-class status.

With her, we can all dream.

By Frank A Hilario, 7 June 2006,

3 July 2006

2006-10-29T08:11:00.000+08:00

(45)

Fr Reuter's Legacy?
Sorry, it's gone!

Today, 20 July, from south of Manila I traveled 100 km to the campus of Ateneo de Manila University at Loyola Heights to look for Fr Reuter's Legacy. (When you're 90 years old like he became on 21 May 2006, you would be thinking of legacy, wouldn't you? By then, it would be too late: You should have thought of your legacy when you were still young.) In case you don't know him, he truly is an American Jesuit and more Filipino than the legion belonging to the loud crowd of Filipino patriots, more Filipino than the numberless noisy Filipino nationalists who are like the three infamous monkeys: See nothing good, hear nothing good, speak nothing good about the Filipino.

Filipino nationalists should learn from Fr Reuter, he who is not a nationalist! If you want to learn, listen to those not of your own kind – I’m speaking as a teacher. No, the Atenean Fr Reuter is not a nationalist: he is an internationalist – the difference lies in the inter, the among: the nationalist likes to act out while the internationalist likes to interact. As did the most famous Atenean of them all, the Philippines’ national hero, Dr Jose Rizal. The Ateneo taught Rizal what was best: love of fellowman, ad majorem dei gloriam, for the greater glory of God.

At the Ateneo campus, I asked two ladies, at different places, and the second, the receptionist at the Manila Observatory, kindly called someone at the Jesuit Communication office where I could find Fr Reuter’s Legacy. She told me she was told that they had run out of copies. Even St Paul had run out of copies. That was St Paul College – Fr Reuter’s book titled Legacy had been sold out! I was sad because I came for nothing and I was glad because I learned that Legacy, a collection of Fr Reuter’s plays and testimonies on his priest-ship and person-hood, is a bestseller in its own right. Legacy was a birthday gift to Fr Reuter by (extended) family, friends, admirers and advocates of this Jesuit teacher. An excellent legacy in itself.

What you would leave behind is your legacy. The image shown here is that of Sheaffer "The Signature Pen" since 1913. It is a photograph by Stompy which he titles 'Sheaffer Legacy 2 in stand' (flickr.com/). To me, the legacy is not the pen itself but the writing occasioned by the pen or, more importantly, the writer.

I went to Ateneo to buy a copy so that I can write a review of it and publish it in the Internet, in one of my blogsites, Lumos Reviews, located at this site:

http://lumosreviews.blogspot.com. I offer Lumos Reviews as a free service to book publishers here and abroad. But since the publishers have run out of copies, it meant that Legacy didn’t need any help from me as a reviewer.

I still want to buy a copy anyway. Because I know a good book is hard to find.

21 July 2006

2006-10-29T08:09:00.000+08:00

(46)
Give thanks without ceasing.
Thank you, Fr Reuter!

Give much thanks to everyone you meet: You can afford it!

If you are in the Philippines and subscribe to the pastoral text of Fr Reuter, unlimited text brought to you via your cellphone, as I do – if you don’t, you’re missing much – you will have noticed that the good Father keeps on giving thanks to God for this and that here and there this way and that way yesterday, today and tomorrow. For the list so far, 8 as of yesterday, I now turn to my blogsite http://thereuteralmanac.blogspot.com/, ‘My Reuter Almanac’ and give thanks I thought of and have been doing it:

21 July: ‘Thank you, Lord, for the sounds of life – the child, singing; the mother, calling; the laborer, working.

20 July: ‘Thank you, Lord, for the sound of birds, chirping peacefully in the trees; for the sound of the doggie barking; for the sound of the breeze in the rustling leaves.

19 July: ‘Thank you, Lord, for the morning sounds of life in the streets; men going to work; women going to Church; children going to school.

18 July: ‘Thank you, Lord, for the voice of a friend, for the small sound of someone who loves you, for the cheerful, comforting word.

17 July: ‘Thank you, Lord, for the sound of silence – the deep, peaceful, restful sound of silence; for the sound of music; for the sound of children, laughing.

16 July: ‘Thank you, Lord, for the fresh smell of the grass, especially after the rain; for the clean smell of soap and water; for the smell of incense in the Church.

15 July: ‘Thank you, Lord, for the sweet scent of the flowers; for the smell of breakfast, cooking; for the beautiful, innocent smell of a baby. Image from Rhoracio titled ‘Prokop giving thanks for the rainbow (flickr.com/).

14 July: ‘Thank you, Lord, for the breath of life – to be able to fill my lungs with beautiful fresh air, to be able to breathe in, and to breathe out.

That’s a lot of thank yous. And that’s not a lot of thank yous – it’s not enough. Didn’t St Paul say, ‘Pray without ceasing.’? Then I say, ‘Give thanks without ceasing.’ That’s why in my email, my tagline is ‘I thank, therefore I am.’ That’s also my rewriting of Rene Descartes, who has famously said, ‘I think, therefore I am.’ (Cogito, ergo sum; literally, the Latin means ‘I am thinking, therefore I exist.’ I think, therefore, that Descartes can be credited with the first public thought on existentialism. I think, therefore I am against any such Descarteism or existentialism.)

You complain about the unceasing rain. You want clear skies because you don’t appreciate that the whole heavens rained down on Noah and the Ark for 30 days, do you? Instead, you are much better off if you give thanks that the plants will have their thirst quenched, the parched earth will have its fill of moisture, the empty rivers will have their streams of water, the canals will get rid of your garbage for you. All’s right with the world even if it’s not all right with you.

You complain about the heat. Give thanks that you are not in the Sahara Desert. And if you are in the Sahara Desert? Give thanks that you can still endure it, that you can still give thanks.

You complain about the high price of gasoline. Give thanks that you can afford a car. Me? I give thanks that I can afford a bicycle and I can wear a crash helmet I can buy.

You complain that the price of tomato has gone up. Give thanks that you can still buy fresh tomato, with perhaps not so much pesticide residue in them.

You complain that your children don’t respect you as much as you think they should. Give thanks that you have the patience to suffer some indignity. If you don’t? Give thanks that you have children.

You complain about government officials being corrupt. Can you not give thanks that you can complain about it all? And then give thanks that you can do something about it – and then go ahead and do it – I mean, not simply protest in the streets with your other loud friends. Make sure that you are not one of those who are corrupt, or that you are not one of the corruptors yourself. If you give a ‘tip’ to get away from a ‘minor’ traffic violation, you are corrupting the police. Know that the corruptor is as guilty as the corrupted. If you ‘facilitate’ the approval of a passport, you are corrupting the DFA staff; if you collect ‘commission’ for approving a bid for a government road project, you are corrupting the Department official or a Congressman or someone connected to the Office of the President of the Republic. Before you shout ‘Down with the corrupt!’ look into the mirror first. I give thanks that man invented mirrors.

If you seduce the minds of the innocents with your non-sequiturs, irrelevancies, illogical conclusions about population and God, you are corrupting society. Still I can give thanks that you can corrupt all the people some of the time, you can corrupt some of the people all the time, but you cannot corrupt all the people all the time!

Thank goodness!
Thank Heaven.
Thank Heaven for Little Girls.
Thank Heaven!
Thank you.
Thank you!
Thank-offering.
Thank-you letter.
Thank-you-ma’am.
Thankful.
Thankful Poor, The.
Thankfully.
Thankfulness.
Thanking.
Thanks.
Thanks a million!
Thanks for the Buggy Ride
Thanks in advance.
Thanks to.
Thanks to God.
Thanksworthy.

22 July 2006

2006-10-29T08:07:00.000+08:00

(47)
A gathering of emails?
A metaphor for our time

GustavoG's 'Overview of relatIonships between groups' (flickr.com/)
I use GMail because it’s good. How good? I just found that out, and I’d like you to find it for yourself.

As I write this, 28 July 2006, Manila time, toward noon, if you are on the other side of the world, I know you are in the dark. Here’s what I have just learned from GMail; I mean, here’s what I just taught myself using GMail. The lesson has been there all along since Google created GMail thousands of emails ago, all mine (all 4,975 of them).

Today I learned to use GMail stars (my coinage) to work on groups of related files. Now, you may not realize how vital that is to me since you don’t know that I have 4,975 emails in my Inbox already, an average of 14 emails a day. My first email was from the GMail Team of course, dated 2 July 2005, marking My Liberation Day from my old, slow, simple-minded big-time emailer which is not Hotmail, not Lycos, not Netscape, not MSN, not AOL, not Geocities. I’m still using it because some people haven’t learned, and it’s still big-time and slow and insensitive.

Deadline for the Judi book Monday, 200 pages desktopped to be camera-ready. I’m the editor and desktopper too. I haven’t started my final working and desktopping on all those authors’ final revisions yet, and today is Thursday – since I have not been paying attention to my emails (not downloading the attachments, not even reading them – I’ve read all those 10 chapters 3 times word-for-word I’ll postpone reading them till the last minute), Now I have to look for all those attachments in those 4,975 emails? No. I click ‘All Mail’ on the left and I’m in the first 100 emails. Do I look inside each of these, and then look inside each of the next 100 emails, then the next 100? No. Something clicks in my mind, a gut feel: Try GMail stars. Maybe there’s something in there, a gatherer of emails. Yes! I learn in just a minute or two. So I begin to look for my Judi files – names I relate to the Judi book – and click to select. Then I scroll up and click ‘More Actions’ and click on ‘Add star.’ I’m on my way! I repeat that for each of the files I see as a Judi file.

Now I have all the Judi emails selected, starred. How to work on them? I click on the left ‘Starred’ and look! I got all 11 of them in one list, one place, to work on without worrying where the next one will be coming from. Actually, the 11 emails are a total of 39 emails, with related GMail entries – GMail calls them ‘conversations’ – embedded in one email file; for instance, the 4^th email file is actually 10 emails in one. A folder, Microsoft would call it, but it’s not a folder – it’s an association of files, with one invisible string attached. I like GMail’s tag: ‘Label.’ I’m glad GMail thought of compiling conversations – they talk to me in the language of their relatedness. Built by association, customized for being worked on as a group. Thank you, GMail!

A gathering of emails is a metaphor for our time. In one word? Relatedness. The files are communicating with each other, and to me. Related: To be or not to be, that is the question. ‘Tis a consummation devoutly to be wished. If the files don’t communicate, if they don’t consummate their relatedness, it will continue to be a Shakespearian tragedy, and we continue to be another Hamlet.

28 July 2006

2006-10-29T08:06:00.000+08:00

On the 3rd day,
it rose again
from the dead.

This is a tale of a resurrection of a body, somebody. And I know it’s true because I happen to know the person to whom it happened. It happens to be me. The body happens to be mine. I needed to be renewed. Something was very wrong with my body and it was public knowledge.

For 15 years until 3 days ago, if I spoke, what would come forth out of my mouth was a rain of saliva. And a gust of wind. Ask those who have talked to me face to face and they would offer their testimony.

For 15 years until 3 days ago, if I whistled, it was more a rush of air than sound. It was more a rash attempt than a rush of admiration of a beautiful young girl passing by. When I was young I loved to whistle. I know I could blow out a loud, meaningful, delightful whistle.

For the last 15 years until 3 days ago, when I smiled, the sun didn’t come shining through the gathering dark clouds. It was just clouds with a little silver lining, acceptable, but not inspiring. My smile didn’t seem sincere. All because I was trying to hide something behind that smile.

For the last 15 years until 3 days ago, I have had to grow and maintain a beard and a moustache. It’s not a dashing moustache, but it has had to do; it’s not an admirable beard, but it’s all I’ve got. I have had need of both of them to distract you from the fact of my discomfort for having an imperfect body.

And then, 3 days ago, it happened: The resurrection of the body. My body. In the area of the biggest hole in my face. My mouth. Specifically my upper jaw and my lower jaw. Overnight, they grew a beautiful pair of dentures!

Actually, I went to the dentist a week ago and ordered a good pair of dentures. The dentist took almost a week to work on them. Actually it took him only 2 days to fit those new dentures with these old gums, but I thought it was taking him forever. He was the one who

And so, 3 days ago, I could talk again without saliva coming forth out of the mouth of the aged. I’m 66 years old. I could smile again.

And so, 2 days ago, that is, yesterday, I could bite into my food again, hugely.

And today, I realized that I could whistle again! My whistle was dead, and now it had come back to life. The wind from my mouth burst forth and rose to the level of a great achievement.

I feel like a new man. Mine is a resurrected body. Resurrection means the act of bringing back to practice, notice or use; revival (American Heritage Dictionary). Image by FrankieT who titles it 'A new life is coming' (flickr.com/). The new springing out of or replacing the old, that is a resurrection. You don’t know how that feels. I have a new bite, a new whistle, a new voice – a new confidence. All that for the equivalent of a hundred dollars. Which all goes to show that a little goes a long, long way.

28 July 2006

2006-10-29T08:04:00.000+08:00

(49)
Lord of the Faith

The other day, my wife asked me about the proper cutting of the verse-lines (paragraphing) of James 2: 20-26, where the New International Version (NIV) differs from the Jerusalem Bible. Biblical or not, the cutting matters because the emphasis changes when you create a new paragraph – I should know; being a writer and editor for the last 30 years at least, I have encountered enough rewriting and done enough revising myself to appreciate the subtle differences you make when you create a new paragraph out of an old one to make two. Here are the paragraphs in contention (JB, July 1966):

Do realize, you senseless man, that faith without good deeds is useless. You surely know that Abraham our father was justified by his deed, because he suffered his son Isaac on the altar? There you see it: faith and deeds were working together; his faith became perfect by what he did. This is what scripture really means when it says: Abraham put his faith in God, and this was counted as making him justified; and that is why he was called ‘the friend of God.’

You see now that it is by doing something good, and not only by believing, that a man is justified. There is another example of the same kind: Rahab the prostitute, justified by her deeds because she welcomed the messengers and showed them a different way to leave. A body dies when it is separated from the spirit, and in the same way faith is dead if it is separated from good deeds.

Never mind how the JB (Roman Catholic) differs in the paragraphing of those lines with that of the NIV (Protestant). These two paragraphs from the New Testament add enough fuel to the fire that walls off the Protestants from the Catholics. The Protestants believe in sola fide (faith alone); they claim that faith alone is enough to save you, and once saved, you cannot lose your salvation. Sola scriptura (the Bible alone) is another battlecry of the Protestants; the Bible is the only source of truth about God.

Now, consenting without conceding sola scriptura, what do the Bible verses quoted above say? Faith alone is not enough! The Bible alone is enough proof that faith alone is not enough. In fact, Martin Luther himself said, ‘You are saved by faith alone, but if faith is alone, it is not faith’ (quoted by Philip Yancey and Tim Stafford, all-4-him.blogspot.com/). What’s this: The Lord of the Faith of the Protestants has been abandoned by his flock?

That was the other day. Today, I was re-reading those verses in the Jerusalem Bible and then, as is my wont with any book, I went to the preliminary pages of that book and read. That was when I noticed one more time that there was a list of those who collaborated in the preparation of this Bible. This time I read that list. And you’ll never guess who I found included in the enumeration: The Lord of the Pen himself, he who wrote The Lord Of The Rings: JRR Tolkien!

That book has been called the ‘greatest of the century’ and ‘the world’s most popular work of fiction,’ the work of a literary genius (Ethan Gilsdorf, 2003, boston.com/). And do you know who The Lord of the Faith was for Tolkien? Believe me, it’s The Lord whom the Roman Catholics believe in. Tolkien himself had insisted that The Lord Of The Rings is ‘a fundamentally religious and Catholic work’ (Joson Boffetti, 2001, crisismagazine.com/). Tolkien was fundamentally religious and Catholic.

Image by BeingKatie titled 'Lord Of The Rings Exhibition at the Museum of Natural History' (flickr.com/).

3 August 2006

2006-10-29T08:02:00.000+08:00

(50)
The art of hawking:
Consistency vs contingency

The lady calls out, ‘Hipon! Sariwa!’ Prawns! Fresh! Fresh from the icebox. In fact, her little bilao, a round, woven bamboo tray, lies on top of the icebox. (The lady in the photograph is Frances Bean’s own shrimp vendor, in Manila, image I downloaded from flickr.com/), and she has not only one but two Styrofoam iceboxes since she has more shrimps to sell. Except for the bilao of my lady, if you’ve seen a street vendor, you’ve seen them all. My lady is selling her wares at the sidewalk in Alabang, Muntinlupa, Rizal, an hour ride from Manila, from where I have just come from. Both ladies are doing exactly the same thing everyday they don’t give much thought of it anymore: Each abrogates a part of the public space for sidewalkers like me. Each is a hawker.

According to the SAC, street selling, sidewalk vending, ambulant peddling or hawking is a ‘coping strategy’ of poor people in order to survive (undated, sacoast.uwc.ac.za/). The banks in South Africa call it a ‘survivalist enterprise’ – no paid employees and little asset value (Francis Antonie, 2001 June, nu.ac.za/). Which tells me hawking is exactly like ‘subsistence farming’ – you get from the soil enough to be able to cultivate it the next time around. The way I see it, subsistence farming survives because farmers don’t know any better. Which means, nobody has taught them any better.

Is that the case with hawkers? From the point of view of the Government of Andra Pradesh in India, there are two reasons for the ‘long life’ of hawking (GAP, 2004, ourmch.com/). One, because the urban families encourage it, being an inexpensive source of items. Two, because the rural families encourage it, being highly labor-intensive, hence many people can engage in it. Sidewalks and street corners everywhere, jobs everywhere. Now then, where hawkers abound, many hands make light dreams and many bodies make heavy air. You can see a little money being made; you can smell urine and, sometimes something else.

‘It’s very, very difficult to make a living by selling on the streets,’ says Diego Cardoso of Los Angeles, California. ‘You do that when you don’t have any other options’ (Gilbert Estrada, 9 May 2005, newamericamedia.org/news/). Cardoso is part of the Custom Mobile Commerce project of California. From him, we learn that hawking has always been there throughout history.

Hawking happens mostly where it is illegal. From Cardoso, I gather that there are two implications of that. One is that the food hawkers can’t handle well the food they sell, endangering public health. Two is that the quality of the product itself suffers. For instance, there is not enough water for washing well – the used glasses are dunked into the same pail and they are pronounced clean. The oil is rancid, the meat tastes like yesterday’s leftover.

Has India perfected the art of hawking? The National Association of Street Vendors of India reports that the Indian Supreme Court has ‘declared street vending as a fundamental right’ (NASVI, 17 August 2006, nasvinet.org/). That takes the cake! That is perfectly logical and certainly anti-social; it is the ‘fundamental right’ of the minority to sell to survive versus the ‘fundamental right’ of the majority to be left undisturbed while walking on the sidewalk, crossing the street, or waiting for a ride – not to mention the right to clean avenues and non-smelly alleys and corners.

I remember my would-be mother-in-law hawking vegetables and such along Dart Street in Paco, Manila in the late 1960s. For her 12 children, with her bilao, she hawked her wares and more than survived – all the 12 went to school. Today not all have a college degree, but that was not her plan at all. At any rate, in her own way, she perfected the art of hawking.

I have never been outside the Philippines, so I thought the Filipinos had perfected the art of hawking. But just looking at the hundreds of images Flickr found me when I searched for sidewalk vendor (not italics, of course), convinces me that everywhere in the world, they have perfected the art of hawking: China, Iran, Italy, Mexico, Puerto Rico, Thailand, Ukraine, Vietnam, New York City.

Looking at many of those Flickr pictures, I say the rule of thumb of hawkers must be one and the same: Contingency, never consistency. They must be all pragmatists, doing what works, selling what sells.

In that case, pragmatism is like a self-aborting entrepreneurship. Hawking, you’ll never become bigger, or better. For an entrepreneurship to work itself into sustainable success, if I understand Michael Gerber right, based on his bestselling book E-Myth Revisited (New York, HarperBusiness, 1995, 268 pages), you need system, system, system, system, system, system – primary aim, strategic objective, organizational strategy, management strategy, people strategy, marketing strategy. And the 7^th is what you need to tie every other system together: systems strategy. The best hawker? Perhaps she has 1 or 2 or even 3 of Gerber’s systems, that’s all. Once a hawker, always a hawker.

17 August 2006

2006-10-29T07:57:00.000+08:00

(51)
Quantity Equals Quality
My Encounters With Hit Counters

25 August 2006

In all my blogsites (vs websites), and there are too many as to be unbelievable so I won’t list them down, I have been using Bravenet as my counter for Hits. I didn’t want to count Visits. I don’t want to discuss the difference between Hits and Visits generally because it will take a long time, and specifically because ... please read on.

I started blogging in 1990, then I stopped abruptly. I don’t know why. Then I resumed blogging in 2005, with a frenzy. You don’t know what you’re missing until you have written a few posts or messages and realized the power of the Internet to publish to the world at large. Last year, I called blogging 'the revenge of the unpublished writer,' which I was.

I started with blogsites without a counter. I don’t remember when I first used the Bravenet counter, but I remember my excitement when the numbers went up and up and up. Some blogsites counted up agonizingly slow, and a handful counted up fast enough to please me. More and more visitors were coming to read what I have to say.

Then I tried to put in Google ads in all my favorite blogsites. I even put in Amazon items like iPod and Canon cameras. I was going to get a certain commission for every sale. After a few months, I noticed that I remained a loyal, non-commissioned official blogger, so I decided to delete all those ads in my blogsites. No harm done to my ego.

The other day, 23 August 2006, the thought suddenly occurred to me: a Hit or a Visit is statistics; with a counter in each of my blogsite, what I have been doing is putting value to all my writings in terms of Hits. The lower numbers had made me sadder; the higher numbers had made me gladder. My happiness depended on the numbers that Bravenet were giving me, on the number of Internet reads or calls on any of the pieces I have written. If the number the counter was showing was low, that told the world hardly anybody was reading me. Not good for the ego.

All over the (Internet) world, the number of Hits (or Visits or Page Views) has become a measure of value; quality is now being evaluated by quantity – which defies logic. The number of visitors to your site is the measure of the quality of your site. If my ideas are revolutionary or different and only a handful read them in the Internet, those numbers are telling me that my ideas are not important at all? I can’t accept that. If another blogsite shows 100,000 Hits and the highest I can show is 157 Hits, that shows the other guy is a better writer? You can’t expect me to accept that.

So: starting the other day, I deleted all those Bravenet counter codes in my Blogger Templates. They just happened to be Bravenet – I would have deleted them if they were Microsoft counter codes, which they were not. So, in case someone asks for commitment of any kind, henceforth I shall refuse to stand and be counted!

Apt image from Ya Ya who captions it 'Counting Pollen' (flickr.com).
The butterfly is doing the quantitative analysis - counting pollens.
The quality of the pollen is not the insect's concern;
the quality of the honey is your concern.

2006-10-29T07:49:00.000+08:00

(52)
A Bag Of Fools

Today, 6 September 2006, I attended the morning session of the 42^nd Postgraduate Course MASTERY IN SURGERY: Emergencies In Surgical Care, tagging along with Dr Antonio C Oposa Sr, surgeon par excellence. The course is sponsored by the Foundation for the Advancement of Surgical Education Inc with address at the Department of Surgery, College of Medicine-Philippine General Hospital, University of the Philippines Manila; it started today and will end on the 8^th.

I can’t tell you anything about what the speakers said, including that of the Alfredo T Ramirez Memorial Lecturer Dr Crisostomo Arcilla Sr who spoke on 50 years of legacy in biliary surgery based on his own personal experience. What I caught him saying is that Dr Tetsuo Maki solved the problem of the ascaris worm in Japan by cutting the life cycle – he convinced the emperor to issue an edict on waste disposal.

What I want to share with you from the same occasion is the little poem that my newfound friend Dr Oposa recited to us, the last table to eat, that included the wife of Dr Arcilla Sr and his son named after him. By way of introduction, Dr Oposa said he was going to say something that he was sure we had not already heard or that we probably did not understand – we laughed. This is that poem:

A Bag Of Tools
R Lee Sharpe

Isn’t it strange how princes and kings,
And clowns that caper in sawdust rings,
And common people like you and me,
Are builders for eternity?

Each is given a bag of tools:
A shapeless mass and a book of rules.
And each must fashion, ere life is flown,
A stumbling block, or a stepping stone.

R Lee Sharpe was born in 1870 and lived up to 1950 (James D Sutton, docspeak.com/). For years he worked with his father who owned The Carrollton Free Press and a printing shop in Carrollton, Georgia, USA. He traveled a lot and wrote for magazines freelance.

This particular poem has been reworked into music by H Johnson and B Llewellyn and retitled Book Of Rules (clearlight.com/). I don’t like what they have done with the whole poem so I won’t quote them here.

We clapped after Dr Oposa’s recitation because we all felt it fit well the occasion – the common image of a doctor is one with a stethoscope hanging on the neck and a medical bag on his right hand, his bag of tools. Still, we don’t have to be doctors to do something right with our bag of tools. About the poem, Charles A Didier says that it is about destiny, and that our destiny is in our hands (4 May 1980, speeches.byu.edu/). That’s one way of looking at it. But I don’t have to think of destiny to decide what to do with my bag of tools, my talents, my multiple intelligences (following the theory of Harvard Professor Howard Gardner). The poem has also been used as an engaging message by Lee E Brackett, President of the Jackson Union County Habitat for Humanity (juchabitat.org/) and cited in a commencement address in Tennessee by State Senator Mark Norris (2000, marknorris.org/).

Apt image from Mary Brogdan who captions it 'Grocery bag air miles / genesis' (flickr.com/). Apt because it's abstract, and what you make of it depends on you.

So, what I get from all that is this: If I don’t do right by my bag of tools, it is nothing but a bag of fools.

2006-10-28T22:34:00.000+08:00

(3) Ways

(2) Windows

I love what I do. Let me tell me about
the 7 things I can do in that magical world of
Microsoft Windows & Microsoft Word -- and the
Wide Wonderful World of the Internet.

(1)
Who, Me?

In other words, like I'm Writer #700
(features) of the American Chronicle.

2006-10-28T20:50:00.000+08:00

Frankenisms

First posted 15 April 2006 in Frankenstein, now deleted
Image from The Dark Side who captions it ‘Suffering City’ (flickr.com/)

(1) If it's impossible, it's love.
(2) Hate hits back.
(3) Cry and cry again.
(4) Learn from your mistakes – nobody else will.
(5) If you grab, it becomes slippery.
(6) Two roads don’t make a right.
(7) When you're doing badly, you can't quit.
(8) Laziness is when you don't.
(9) Numbers don’t count – people do.
(10) Don't quit – rather, stop awhile.
(11) If anything can go wrong, you will.
(12) You see more if you don’t look.
(13) A one-word lesson from gardeners? Diversity.
(14) Learn from your mistakes – nobody else will.
(15) Two roads don’t make a right.
(16) Numbers don’t count – people do.
(17) If anything can go wrong, you will.
(18) Truth is just around the corner – don’t cut.
(19) I shrink, therefore I am.
(20) All the world’s a stage – if you’re acting.
(21) The moral of the fable is? Folk wisdom.
(22) The first mistake is not to try.
(23) Peace is May, War is Might.
(24) Google Earth shows it’s a small world.
(25) When you smile, you smile to yourself.
(26) 50% of the world hates. Love 100%.
(27) You create your own thoughts.
(28) To think creatively, don’t think.
(29) How do you translate a poem? With heart.
(30) How do you stop the rain? You don’t.
(31) Divided we stand, united we fall.
(32) I thank, therefore I am.
(33) What makes great writing? Great thinking.
(34) What triggers a viral attack? A weak body.

2006-10-28T20:49:00.000+08:00

Ways Of Seeing, Ways Of Saying

All moved from WaysOfSeeingWaysOfSaying, now deleted.
Image from Agnieszka who captions it 'Endless rain, endless rain' (flickr.com/)

23 March 2006

Equals?
Equality: Same Same.
Equity: Some Some.

The Eternal Blog: Yours: You’re assuming too much.
The Endless Blog: Mine: I’m assuming too much.

If you want to be forgotten, do good.
If you want to be remembered, do bad.

Packaging: The box is not the thing.
The box: The box is not the thing.

Global warming: People warming up to each other, friends and foes alike.
Global warning: Nobody was listening.

Prisoner abuse: The convict abused his wife.
Prisoner abuse: The convict abused his parole.

Concern for Iraq: Concern for the people.
Concern for Iraq: Concern for the bastards.

GM, Delphi, Dell buyouts: The new buy & sell economics.
GM, Delphi, Dell buyouts: The big fish swallowing the small.

Crocodiles: Human predators.
Crocodiles: Inhuman predators.

The passion of Christ: The Agony.
The passion of Christ: The Ecstasy.

Knowledge: ( )
EU bans 92 airlines from Europe: Go fly a kite.
Microsoft delays release of Vista: Something they can’t do without.
Microsoft delays release of Vista: Something I can do without.

Google syndrome: If you want to be creative and love technology at the same time, think like Google and be at different places all at the same time. When you finally collect your thoughts, you’ll find golden grains in the sands of your time.

Microsoft Xbox targets a wider audience: Playing games with you.
The news is what you make of it.

Terrorism: The ghoul outside.
Terrorism: The ghoul inside.

Google: Rewriting the search.
Google: Rewriting the searcher.

American Idol: The darling of idol busters, iconoclasts.
Labor protests: The gentlemen protest too much!

21 March 2006

auties.org::Individuality, Diversity, Equality, Achievement. IDEA. Another idea: ID(E)A E for Equity, which is easier to measure; (E) for the Enigma that enclasps and won't let go an autistic person.

17 March 2006

Winning.
Winning is the defeat of another.
Directions: Where you don’t want to go.
Covered walk: Trappings.
Newsletter: A love message.

Teaspoon: When you’re not in a hurry.
Tablespoon: When you are.

Extreme: Finishing early.
Barber: Have scissors, will massage.
BMW: A name to thrust.
Cup of coffee: Gulping partner.
Fried chicken: Wings.

Roller table: As you wish.
Coins: Pocket money.
Cell phone: Caller ID. (status symbol)
Wheelchair: I’m glad you’re not for me.

Teen trouble: Parent trap.

Drugs: Forgetting yourself.
Depression: Wallowing in the mud of your own making.

Secret weapon: ( )
Internet: Speed thrills.
A small child, you were once.
Contest: Winning by somebody else’s formula.

Ray Bradbury syndrome: If you want to be creative and hate technology at the same time, think like him. By word association. ‘He simply takes the words that come to mind and writes and writes’ (‘A map of the brain,’ Mccomas, klm.antville.org/). An excellent beginning.

Separate Peace: Everyone marching to a different drummer.
Capital punishment: Head snapping.
Innovation: Trying times.

Resources: What you value.
Resources: What you miss to value.

Servers: In the end, you serve yourself.
Health science: Doctor’s order.
Betrayal: A sudden turn for the worst.
Deja vu: Repeat performance.

College graduates: Solutions looking for problems.
Morning show: It’s the coffee, stupid.
Lifestyle: It’s not what you show; it’s what you are.

Business: Doing good, not necessarily doing well.
Proper perspective: Nice view you have here!
Identical: You lack identifiers.
Rigorous training: The trainer was exhausted.
Perfect pitch: Great buy!

Numbers: They got your number.
Crash: It didn’t happen to you.
Faults: Fancy that!

For the worse: It means you didn’t see any better.
Helpful fixer: Don’t fix the part – fix the whole.

Bookworm: Reading between the lines.
Bandit vs bandit: Robber match.

Mastermind: Grappling with choices.
Disease: Pleasures of the flesh.
Altar: A depressant. (of the ego)
Music beat: Can the sound be more important than the space?

Drummer: Silence come alive.
It’s not your world – it’s ours.
Closing: It’s not the end.

Notes: This time.
Sentence: It’s the end that matters.

Combat: A reminder of your mortality.
Military: A reminder of your brutality.

Thoughtful: Thinking ahead.
Bamboo grove: The multiplier effect.
Politician: Chameleon in the dark.
Faster: Relative.
Survive: Ultimately you survive yourself.
Check: Roses on paper.
Time: It’s what you have when you don’t have time for it.

Dealing: A win-lose situation.
Sharing: A win-win situation.

Editor: The writer’s pal or the writer’s fool.
Letter: It can be an email or the heart.
Runaway: In the end, you catch up with yourself.
Buy: Consider the options.
Rent: A nice, good 4-lettter word.

Contest: If you enter one, you’re already a loser.
Rules: It’s what people expert others to follow.
Teaching: A profession everyone thinks he’s good at.
Fellowship: It’s good to the last drop.

Education: Grasping meaning, not straws.
Score card: Counting numbers, not relevance.

Front: Depends on where your back is turned.
Coast: A place to stop.
Memo: A reminder to mind somebody’s business.
Reforms: When people want to change things, not themselves.
Future: It’s the past, which is today.

Science. When we think we know better.

Kermit the Frog: Delighting yourself.
Stop: The end of a sentence, a story, or a book.

Buying: When you think it’s the best choice.
View: Careful that you’re looking at the essence of it, not simply the framework.
Time: It’s between you and me.
After: What comes next, or later, much later.
Betrayed: Your choices can betray you.

Minority: The minority is not always right, but it can be better yet.
Meaning: It’s the measure, stupid.
Feeling: It’s related.
Province: Where you are even when you’re not around.
Advisory: Take my word for it: Advice is good for you.

Teenagers: People adults don’t understand.
Adults: People teenagers don’t understand.

Sex: If you think your teenager is having it, it’s too late.
Discrimination: It’s what you allow yourself into.

Anger.
Anger management is barking at the wrong tree.
Booze: When you bring your battle to the bottle.
Gays: Their kind of fun.
Alcohol: It can burn you.

Eating disorder: It’s not the eating, it’s the eater.
School: A place to grow, or only a place to stay a while.

Friends: If you lose a friend, he wasn’t at all.
Problem: Temporary insanity.
Perspective: Look for the link, not simply the look.
Perspective: What you see is what you get.
Exchanges: What you say is what you get.
Taking stock of the situation: A good measure of what you are.

Notes of discord: That’s music waiting to be written.
Peer review: What if you are better, or deeper, or original?
Peer review: One of the baddest inventions/conventions of science. It discourages originality.
Screening: Separating the chaff from the grain – but you can’t have grain without the chaff.

Steve Jobs: The man who made it his pleasure to entertain himself and, therefore, others.
The iPod: Small wonder. It’s Steve Jobs in disguise.

Black holes: Secrets of the dark.
White holes: Bugs in the rice.

Encyclopedia: ( )
Ambition: Castle in the head.
Imagination: It’s all in the head if you can’t take it to heart.
The inquiring mind: Do you mind?.

Steve Jobs syndrome: If you want to be creative and love technology at the same time, think like him and love what you are doing. ‘You’ve got to find what you love,’ he says. Follow your curiosity and intuition. When you lose, you still have the love.

Nobel Prize: Art or science according to the experts.
Land: The best managed can be the one abandoned.
Climate: What can you do about it? Live well.

People: Who you value.
People: Who you miss to value.

Government: The system everyone thinks he can change.
Government: The system everyone can change if everyone changed.

Past history: The thing that happened to your ancestors.
Present history: It’s called news and everyone tries to make it.

Wall: What separates people in time..
Opinion: What separates people in truth.

War: What countries would go to stop it.
Kinds of war: Classifying your guilt.

Distance: The distance worth measuring is from desire to desire.
Strategy: A brilliant plan without guarantees.
Pulp: What makes it important is the meaning you put into it.
Computing: Calculating.
Magic: Believing what you don’t know.

Brotherhood: A storehouse of love.
Brotherhood: A storehouse of hate.

Stupidity: Naivety misunderstood.

Broadcasting: Seeds to grow.
Broadcasting: Weeds to grow.

Crowd: Out of control.
Audience: In control.

Controlled burning: Checked-in hate.
Phenomenon: Talent suddenly shown? No, talent suddenly being noticed.
Spider: A bad metaphor for advanced searchers of information in the Internet.

16 March 2006

Brave.
Brave men tell no tales. Women too.
Laziness: Consider it done.
Criminal’s dilemma: The crook of the matter.
Action: Speaks louder than loud.

Driver: Don’t drink!
Drinker: Don’t drive!

Cheating: Group work.
Home schooling: ABC begins at home.
Drilling: Digging the same hole deeper.
Mouse: Tracking device.
Monitor: Big Brother is watching.

Crocodile Hunter: Haunted.
Paperboat: Dreamboat.
Grasping at straws: Desperate measures.
Crisis management: Dangerous liaisons.

Masquerade: Multiple disguises.

Singing with a wig: Musical hairs.
Smiling: Making yourself feel better.

Deep Thought: A paradox, since you can go there only when you’re not thinking of going there.
Don’t think! says Ray Bradbury.
Unthink, say I.
Lateral think, says Edward De Bono.
We’re thinking the same think.
If you want to be creative, think thoughtless thoughts.

Donna Williams syndrome: If you want to be creative, think autistic. Meaning how? No sequence, no logic, no corrections, no prompting. That is why thinking autistic is the perfect modern metaphor for a creative mind at work. (And that is the copywriter in me, turning a negative into a positive.)

Separate Peace: Everyone marching to a different drummer.
Capital punishment: Head snapping.
Bored listener: Hot seat

Consumer electronics: It consumes you.
Television: Idiot’s box.
Listening to the radio: Speaker-engaged.
Attention span: Pregnant pause.
Crackpot: He’s not what he’s cracked up to be.
Strumming a guitar: A way to pluck your way to fame.

Pair of love birds: Barefoot in the park.
Fisherman: Master of the Bait.
Fish: Bait-listed.
Crucial: Skip at your peril.
Escape artist: Looser as winner.
An indefatigable escape artist: A looser never quits.
Wallet: Container shape.
Loud speaker: Dummy.

Dog food: Canine fodder.
Phone call: This is a pick-up.
High poster ads: Tall Tales.

Hedge: It becomes more important when it’s not there.
Temptation: Moving people who are not moving.

Losing candidate: Running under a false impression.
Advertising campaign: Making a lasting impression.

Money: Paper & ink & faith.
Tailgater: Blind follower.
Barbecue thrown at someone: Heat-seeking missile.
Wake-up call: Because you’re sleeping.

Superhighway: It leads you even to where you don’t want to go.
In the net is not in the bag.
Conversation: Reassuring relationships or making new ones.

Dry soil: Mud cake.
Parched earth: Empty stomach.
Parched earth: Proof that water is food

Leaves: Catchers of the light.
Bamboo grove: The multiplier effect.
Sugarcane field at dawn: Sugar in the morning.
Cross-country: Tracking your mind.
Barbed wire: Invisible barrier.
White sand: Rampaging river.
Pool of water: Running water.
Monocycle, bicycle, tricycle: When you’re counting wheels.
Towel: Sign of water.

Banana Republic: Better be good!
Building a fence: A defining moment.
People in the shade: Cooler heads.
Heaven’s Gate: You’re either dreaming or dead.
Beast of burden: Animal labor.

Possessive pronouns: Pronouns don’t possess; people do.
Passing fancy: Goodbye glues.
Victory: The defeat of someone or something.
Carcinogen: It must have been something you ate.

Passing cars: You’re either enjoying the view or not moving.
Climbing Mt Everest: The summit is inside you.
Cake: The baker’s delight.
Golden apple snail: Don’t add water.
Burning rice hull: Burning soil.
Lot for sale: Sign of good times.
Acacia tree: If it couldn’t wait, it wouldn’t grow.

How long is a trailer truck? As long as necessary.

Elementary school: Where they don’t teach you the basics of life.
Basic education: Where they don’t teach you the fundamentals of living.

Tiles: Squared reference points.
Glass: Something to break or something to see through.
Village: Where people live or where people love.
Ricefield to subdivision: Food versus shelter.
Pigs in the pond: It’s the food.

Gasoline station: Where they fill you up as well as empty you.
Stalled vehicle: Motion sickness.
Bank: Keeper of secrets.
Balloon: Hot air rising.
Aircon: Cold comfort.
Buildings are people.

Children: They have no problems except adults.
Adults: They have no problems except children.

Leaves of grass: Walt Whitman’s song, my food.
Fiesta: A celebration of sorts.
Landscaping: Man-made nature.
Juxtaposition: When wrong connections make sense.

21 March 2006.

23 March 2006. Today, I claim inventing The Endless Blog. Like I wrote Kristine A: Entries to jog your mind, not convince you; change your perspective, not change your mind; give you variety, not fill you up. Gets Google-longer & looonger. The Endless Blog? I say not out of frustration but design. I also invented 'Google-longer' just now.

2006-03-15T04:45:00.000+08:00

Donna Williams says she's a techno-moron compared to me. Idiot she is not, Compuser says. She is this girl writer this boy writer most admires even from a distance: she is in Australia and I am in the Philippines. She is married. She is definitely autistic. Years ago when my wife was mad at me, she shouted: 'Palibhasa autistic ka! High-functioning nga lang.' It's because you're autistic. Even if you are high-functioning.' My reply was, 'So I'm high-functioning. So what's your problem?'

2006-03-07T19:11:00.000+08:00

Compuser says there are two ways to handle a gun: Use it. Don't use it.

2005-12-25T00:03:00.000+08:00

The Ten Commandments
Of Happy Discussing

Or, How To Be A Sport And Not Spoil The Fun

(1) Aim higher. Enlightenment is the goal, not showing off what you know. If you cannot convince someone, blame it on yourself. It’s either your position is weak, your discussion is poor, your presentation is faulty – or all of the above. Do some more research: Click that mouse. Go to the library. Ask.

(2) Open your mind. The name of the game is discussion. The process is important for the enlightenment to occur, so let it flow. Then, either you will open the mind of someone else, or that someone else will open yours. Learn to thank God for the learning.

(3) Don’t take on all comers. Stop! Don’t try to answer all the questions, explain all the complexities, lead all the discussions that are open. You are not omniscient; you are not perfect – none of us is. Relax! It’s good for the heart.

(4) Clean up your act. Make Your Mama Proud (MYMP): That’s the name of a popular band in Manila. They are rockers; they are original; they are clean; they are good. You can be brighter, original, clean and good too. And please make sure you say what you mean, and you mean what you say. And yes, correct grammar is always welcome, but it's the least of your worries.

(5) Illuminate, not assassinate. Explain by example, explain by analogy, explain with all your might. When you resort to name-calling, you don’t clarify your point – you only scarify the other person. Look for better things to say, not bitter.

(6) Enhance, not adulterate. Don’t dilute the arguments of the other party. Rather, try and strengthen your own. The point is not to win but to succeed. Otherwise, you can win the debate, but not succeed in renewing your mind, not grow up.

(7) Produce, not abrogate. Read, meditate, observe some more to get more ideas. If it’s negative, try and look for the positive; if it’s positive and it’s against your position, admit it. If it hurts so bad, at least don’t simply deny what the other side has said or pretend that it wasn’t said at all.

(8) Witness truly, not prevaricate. Supply the information if you can, and cite your source, but don’t invent when you run out of supply. Grow up!

(9) Appreciate, not denigrate. Don’t let your pride get in the way of admiring what doesn’t happen to be yours – a strong position, a neat argument, or an informed view of the other discussant. Sooner or later you will meet someone who knows more, or argues better than you. Acknowledge that – and you will make two people happy: him and you.

(10) Look for beauty everywhere. Get on with life! Whether you win or lose in a discussion or debate, look at it with rose-colored glasses. Take a bow, and then aim higher still.

2005-10-10T20:47:00.000+08:00

Software update

The Philippine government announced a month before its plan to field anti-software piracy agents starting September 19 this year, and it did. So, no more pirated software for me. Now I’m learning to use OpenOffice 2, an ‘office suite’ which I downloaded free from the Internet and which is an unabashed ‘translation’ of Microsoft Office. As a writer, editor and desktop publisher, I have been using Word since 1987, and I have grown to like it even as I have struggled to master it on my own, no experts asked.

Now I have to learn a different language: Why don’t I simply buy legal copies of Microsoft Windows and Microsoft Office and go on with my life as Editor of the Philippine Journal of Crop Science? I won’t do that because I’m thinking like this: Windows and Office will cost me P17,000, and that’s (almost) the cost of a good Pentium 4 desktop computer complete with the CPU assembly, monitor, mouse, keyboard, a twin-speaker system, and a CDROM drive. I can’t get over the thought that I have to pay for the software (it’s only 2 CDs) almost as much as I have to pay for the hardware. I can’t get over the thought that software is overpriced – well, it merely reflects the fact that we overprice intellectual work while we underprice manual labor.

2005-09-18T18:46:00.000+08:00

Smart WiFi: Just tell me where it hurts

September 5. Today, initiated into it by my eldest son, Jomar, I applied for a WiFi (wireless fidelity) broadband connection at the Smart Wireless Center in the commercial City of Calamba for our Pentium 4 PC at the university town of Los Baños. The same day, I received this text message: ‘Thank you for choosing SMART WiFi. You may now pay at any SMART Wireless Center near you using this Ref #406913683.’

WiFi is the acronym for wireless fidelity, fidelity implying that the electronic system faithfully ( ‘with fidelity’ or precisely) reproduces sounds or images. The monthly fee is a special P788 a month (down from P988, the rate in Metro Manila), with unlimited Internet access. That’s equivalent to P26 per day, where I would normally pay P20 an hour for Internet access. If our PC doesn’t have a LAN card, i would have to have it installed to make a local area network connection with the nearest Smart cellsite, which serves as the non-ISP (Internet service provider) bridge between our PC and the Internet. The LAN card costs P310, installed free in the PC. I’m going to have that LAN card installed and pay the P788 tomorrow; and hope that it will be the start of something great! Thank you Smart Communications.

September 13. On the 7^th, a Wednesday, I paid the P788 plus P1000 installation fee. I asked the girl how soon the WiFi would be installed, and she replied by a question: ‘4 days?’ She didn’t know for sure. She told me to wait for a call. I didn’t wait. Friday, I texted 5488 (based on the leaflet she handed me): ‘I paid P1788 for my WiFi connection in Los Baños. How soon can you install for Ref #406913683.’ The reply: ‘Hintayin na lang po ninyo ang call ng scheduler.’ (Please just wait for the call of the scheduler.’) No, I didn’t wait. I texted Saturday: ‘Any good news for my Los Baños WiFi #406913683?’ No reply. The next day, Sunday, I received a call from a girl, the Scheduler I suppose, telling me that my WiFi will be installed Friday, September 16. That long to wait? I thanked the girl anyway. It would be a nice birthday gift to me who was born on the 17^th of September 1940.

September 15, Thursday. I can hardly wait for tomorrow to make the WiFi connection to the wide, wide world. I asked the girl what time Friday and she said she didn’t know exactly.

September 16. 1600 hours, Friday. No sign of them. I send this text to 5488: ‘Still waiting for installing my WiFi which you scheduled for today. If you do it, my birthday tomorrow will be complete. Frank Hilario’ Reply to my text: ‘Sir verify ko lang po yong account name: Frank Agapito Hilario. Thanks!’ I reply, ‘That’s correct.’ But no more is heard from them. It’s 1820 hours as I write these lines. I intend to text them again tomorrow.

September 17, 0642 hours, Saturday. I text 5488: ‘Good morning! I’m inviting you to the town fiesta of Los Baños. It also happens to be my birthday.’ Still no show. I will text them again tomorrow, but nicely. I borrowed a CD from a neighbor – where I eat (for P15) a bowl of mami complete with calamansi, plenty of garlic, and plenty of hot chili – and there are 19 songs, mostly by local singers. Tell me where it hurts, MYMP. Love takes time, Mariah Carey. We belong together, Mariah Carey. Incomplete, Backstreet Boys. Thank you for your love, Dimsum. Better days, Dianne Reeves. Get right, Jennifer Lopez. Hold you down, Jennifer Lopez. The day you say goodnight, Hale. It’s like that, Mariah Carey. Deliverance, Kitchie Nadal. Get me, MYMP. Through the fire, Nina. Every little thing, MYMP. Sa kanya, MYMP. Minamalas, Mojofly. Limang dipang tao, Barbie’s Cradle. Heart of mine, Janno Gibbs. Pinakamagandang lalaki, Janno Gibbs. I intend to send a text message everyday with the title of a song from that CD and the singer. A gentle reminder that, hey, somebody cares – all you have to do is reciprocate.

September 18, about 1400 hours, Sunday. I text 5488: ‘Just tell me where it hurts. MYMP.’ In a few minutes comes the text from 0918-216-7514: ‘Sir, sa smart wifi p 2. San k u sa mayondon sir d2 na kmi.’ Translation: Sir, we are from Smart WiFi. Where are you in Mayondon? We’re here already.’ So I called and gave them directions. Since it is a little bit tricky to come to our place at 12571 Dangka Street, Mayondon, Los Baños, Laguna, because it’s a tiny street you can easily miss, I sent my son Edwin to the crossroad to watch for them. After about 5 minutes of waiting, I called again and gave added directions. In a little while, they got here. In about an hour, we were WiFi-connected. Thank you, gentlemen. Good job. 1619 hours. I remember to text: ‘We’re connected. Thank you Smart WiFi! Frank Hilario.’ Text back: ‘Thanks! For the update.’ The feeling is mutual.

2005-09-04T14:54:00.000+08:00

The Magnificent 7 of Management

Management is systematizing everything, from conceptualization to production to marketing to servicing. This new and radical paradigm is what I get understanding Michael Gerber’s 7 steps to success in management: (1) creating your primary aim, (2) creating your strategic objective, (3) creating your organizational strategy, (4) creating your administrative strategy, (5) creating your people strategy, (6) creating your marketing strategy, and (7) creating your systems strategy. (For more details, read Gerber’s bestselling business book The E-Myth Revisited, New York, HarperBusiness 1995, 268 pages), with more than 2 million copies sold to date. Compuser says, therefore, there are 7 magnificent components of management: (1) mission, (2) objective, (3) organization, (4) administration, (5) people, (6) marketing, and (7) systems. Systems covers everything. The Compuser’s Dictionary

2005-09-04T14:52:00.000+08:00

Knowledge management is information delivery? Knowledge management (KM) is ‘delivering the right information to the right person at the right time,’ according to Ruben Canlas Jr & Val Gonzales (‘Knowledge Management 1,’ Entrepreneur Philippines, December 2004: 50). The authors are principals of Digital Solutions, an IT consulting company (tech@digitalsolutions.ph). I say that theirs is a limited view of management. Following the Compuser’s definition of management as systematizing everything and Compuser’s paradigm of ‘The Magnificent 7 of Management’ (read elsewhere in this blogsite), it follows that KM involves mission, objective, organization, administration, people, marketing and systems. What Canlas & Gonzales describe is merely technology transfer or information delivery, not KM. From all that, knowledge management may be defined as systematizing the conceptualization, production, marketing of information and the servicing information users. The Compuser’s Dictionary

The Ten Commandments Of Creativity

2005-09-02T16:42:00.000+08:00

I.
I am the Word, your Good; you shall have strange Goods before me. Think about nothing and everything: Allowing the flitting in the mind of strange words or worlds is the beginning of creativity, the key to it. You do not have to be crazy but it works!

II.
You shall not take the name of your Goods in vain. All words are good: fantastic science fiction writer Ray Bradbury’s success using his technique of word association is an expression of that. Creativity is giving meaning to any number of relationships among any number of words and ideas, even when you know there isn’t – at first glance.

III.
You shall keep the Sabbath holy. Take time out. ‘The time to relax is when you do not have time for it.’

IV.
Honor your father and your mother. Learn from your elders, from those with experience, even or especially from those with different ideas.

V.
You shall not kill. Never say no to any idea, no matter how preposterous or absurd. Turn every negative into a positive. Look at the bright side of things.

VI.
You shall not commit adultery. Be pure in intentions. If you are not, you will never ever reach and travel the nirvana of creativity.

VII.
You shall not steal. Do not give in to temptation: Do not plagiarize.

VIII.
You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor. Creativity is your gift from God; what you do with it is your gift to Him. Do not misuse your creativity and invent whatever to destroy others.

IX.
You shall not covet your neighbor’s wife. It is good to be married to a dream. If others are married to theirs, let them be; if they are not, show them how. With creativity, let the best wife win!

X.
You shall not covet your neighbor’s goods. Creativity is not a license for badness. Do not invent whatever to make yourself richer at the expense of other people. Do not create for others what you do not want others to create for you.

Another world’s first: The Ten Commandments of Creativity according to Frank A Hilario, a Filipino and Roman Catholic. Brainstormed, written and rewritten on a virtual tablet of stone in Los Baños on the 30th of August 2005.

2005-08-26T18:56:00.000+08:00

Who said 'Out, out blog spot!' A parody from William Shakespeare's Macbeth. Lady Macbeth was an accomplish in her husband's, the King's death. She was being bothered by her conscience, as she should be. Once she was dreaming and she saw a blood spot on her hand, and she said, 'Out damned spot! Out I say!' My 'out' is the exact opposite of her 'out' - Shakespeare was known for his wordplay himself.

2005-08-26T16:39:00.000+08:00

Pat Evangelista A beautiful find, a rara aves.

2005-08-26T16:38:00.001+08:00

What is war and peace?Peace is not a fight. It’s more a flight: from violence, from revenge, from human justice, from condemnation, from blaming others but not oneself, from harsh words. That is why in this turbulent world, peace is deadlier than war, as in war you are one of two belligerents and you can kill and survive and be declared a hero; in peace, you are not a belligerent and you can be killed just like that, a martyr to your cause. War is the easy way out of a situation.

2005-08-26T16:38:00.000+08:00

What is creativity? Creativity is looking for relationships where you know there are none.

2005-08-26T16:37:00.001+08:00

The flash drive, the MP3 and the digitaker. I bought my first flash drive, a Twin Mos 128 MB, for 1,900 pesos last year, 2004. Then the office (that of the Philippine Journal of Crop Science) bought a 512 MB flash drive, a PQi. Then my son Jomar bought me a Next Base 128 MB all-around – a flash drive, an MP3 player, an FM radio, and what I call a digitaker, which is both a sound recorder and player. The other week, I bought a new model of a Twin Mos 128 MB flash drive – this one had a tilt cover to ensure you don’t leave the cover when you travel.

Now, why my preoccupation with flash drives? I’ll give you several reasons. (1) They’re called flash drives because they are fast, very fast – they are lightning quick when you copy files to them or from them. (2) They are instantly readable by every other computer – as long as you’re using Windows XP or higher as your operating system. No need to install them by software. (3) They have a huge storage area (up to 1GB). (4) They are tiny and easy to carry. (5) They are easy to use. (6) They keep you company when you don’t have any: you can play the sound or the music; the MP3 sound is fantastic. (7) They make an attractive accessory to the clothing one is wearing. And what do I see? The flash drive is the end of the tape recorder & player, the Sony Walkman and Discman, and the beginning of a new information technology (IT) revolution. IT is only right.

2005-08-26T16:37:00.000+08:00

What is a refill station? Refill station, also refilling station. A phenomenon all over the Philippines whereby they will refill your empty printer’s ink tank for a quarter of the cost of the original ink. Is the refill ink inferior to the original? Looks like. Does using refill ink damage your printer? Maybe. Will I go to the refill station again? Yes. I have been going back there for the last year or so, and I have been using several brands and several kinds of printers to advantage: Canon S200SPx, HP840C, Epson C60, Epson C45, HP 1020 Laser. (I have a new one at home, a Xerox 3116 Laser; it’s a long way to a refill, but it will definitely go that way.)

2005-08-26T16:36:00.000+08:00

Friends’ fry. 2005 August 21, I’m on a bus going to Santa Cruz , Laguna and coming from Cubao, Quezon City. Behind the row of seat across the aisle to my left sit two girls, good-looking. I saw the face of one and instantly I knew this applies: ‘Tell me your friend’s face and I’ll tell you who you are.’ Still, that’s not my story.

I happened to glance in that direction, very briefly, and I saw the girl on the right, nearer to me, bring a French fry to the lips of the girl next to the window and whose face I saw, the one in a hugging red T-shirt, and I saw her more-than-a-Mona-Lisa smile: She was at peace and enjoying the whole thing. I wondered why. Was she disabled? Was she a little sick perhaps?

I had to look again and find out. Surreptitiously, I glanced in that direction again and I saw why, or how. The girl in red was holding on her left hand a plastic cup of drink (probably tea) with the straw sticking out of the middle of the cup’s cover, and on her right hand a tiny plastic cup of white dip on the left hip of the other girl, both in blue jeans of course. You get the picture? One girl dips the fry on the cup and the fry goes to the open lips of the next girl. What do I call that? Friends’ fry.

A Blogger’s Pledge

2005-08-07T15:00:00.000+08:00

1. I shall not call people names.
I know that those whom I shall call names by any other name shall not smell and they may like me for it. I believe disrespect is bad manners and bad conduct; besides, it busts the ego, which happens to be mine: by calling people names, I shall be giving the impression that I have run out of ideas. I have done it before; I shall not pass this way again.

2. I shall be interesting.
It occurs to me that if I cannot be persuasive, I shall at least be intriguing, or enticing, or inspirational. I swear that a blog is a diary and, therefore, personal, but I shall want you to read my blog and, beyond that, I shall be glad it if you get to like the blogger.

3. I shall reinvent the wheel.
I shall consider the possibilities before, during and after blogging, and the non-possibilities, and know that I am on my way to being creative. I shall think about how to say what has been said before in a different way by, say, using another metaphor or making a paradigm shift. So, instead of shouting ‘Down with etcetera!’ I shall shout ‘Up with etcetera!’ I shall revise those slogans I have been shouting since the Flower Power days of the 1960s or People Power days of the 1980s. I shall reinvent myself. I shall call for the reinvention of the parliament of the streets; I shall use the blog for my street campaigns.

4. I shall check my facts.
I know that not having the facts at hand is a bad excuse for bad blogging, so I shall strive to know more than I think I know, and more than I believe I should. I know also that I have the biggest and the freest library in the world, the World Wide Web. If I am wrong about something, then I can always point to the Internet.

5. I shall keep it simple, stupid!
Unless I want to impress people, as I sometimes do, I shall not write sentences as complicated as the rules of English grammar. And I shall not use technical jargon unless I explain it one way or the other. And I shall not give you Greek without translating it, unless I don’t know any better.

6. I shall follow the 4Cs of writing.
I sense that at any time anywhere, 500 words is nice and easy to read, with or without graphics. Longer than that, say 1000 words, if I want to be read, and read again, I shall have to be clear and comprehensive and concise and coherent as well. Clear means I shall have made it understandable by itself. Comprehensive means I shall have covered the essential elements. Concise means I shall have made it as short as can be. Coherent means I shall have written it so that it flows as water and finds its own way from level to level.

7. I shall argue beautifully.
I shall use logic, induction, deduction if I so wish, but I shall never ad hominem or appeal to your emotions. If I want to be emotional, I shall be eloquent about it. I shall always bear in mind: There’s enough garbage thrown into the winds already.

8. I shall go back to the basics.
I realize that in blogging as in living, I need to go back to the basics. I shall be encouraged that in thinking what to say, thinking what to think, I can always go back to the Four Freedoms, by way of Franklin Delano Roosevelt. Or the Middle Path, by way of the Buddha. Or the Ten Commandments, by way of the Bible. Or by way of all of the above.

9. I shall think campaign.
I am sure my blogging is not a one-shot deal. I know I shall try to convince you to think, or act, or both. I shall make you think creatively first, act critically next. I know that you always think critically first, act creatively next; if I want you to think critically first, I shall need no blog – you’re thinking critically already. Now, I am convinced that I shall not be able to convince you to think creatively first in one blog, or two, or three – so I shall plan a campaign. I shall use the charm of Ms AIDA, a good friend of mine. Ms AIDA is a lovely, sexy sequence of presence: Awareness building Interest building Desire leading to Action. Heightened Awareness leads to Interest; Heightened Interest leads to Desire; Heightened Desire leads to Action – and Action leads to Awareness of more. With Ms AIDA, I shall need not only theory but more so practice – I shall see that practice makes perfect! And yes, I shall always think of a Win-Win Campaign, so that at the beginning I shall already be a winner.

10. I shall blog on!
I am certain that ‘These are the times that try men’s souls’ – that is true today as it was in the turbulent times of American patriot Thomas Paine. So, I know that my country needs bloggers with heart, not bombers with hurt. So, I shall not be the sunshine patriot or summer soldier Paine had warned about; as a writer, I shall deem it my duty to keep on writing for the sake of my beloved country, whatever my countrymen say about her. So, at the end of each blogging, remembering Romeo’s Juliet and with much passion I shall always say to you or to myself: ‘Good night, good night. Blogging is such sweet sorrow / That I bid good night till it be morrow!’

Written 2005 July 28/August 08 by Frank A Hilario

2005-08-05T17:38:00.000+08:00

What is Triskaidekaphobia?. Do you have triskaidekaphobia? It’s a fear of the number 13: tris is three, kai is and, deka is ten, and phobia is fear (American Heritage Dictionary). The Philippine national hero Jose Rizal didn’t have it. If you examine his valedictory poem, which I have titled ‘Adios, Patria Adorada’ based on the first three words of the poem (which others have titled lamely as ‘Mi Ultimo Adios’ or ‘My Last Farewell’), you can find ‘And’ (the Spanish ‘Y’) as the very first word in each of 13 lines of the poem of 70 lines. In fact, he begins two stanzas (10^th and 11^th) with ‘And,’ meaning it was all intentional. The grammatical rule is you don’t begin a sentence with ‘And’ or ‘But’ or whatever. So why did he do it? A secret message: If I have to be the one to be martyred, the one to be betrayed, so be it. It’s a haunting, message-full, well-crafted, beautiful poem, and we are lucky that those 13 Ands help make it so. The Compuser's Dictionary

2005-08-04T15:26:00.000+08:00

Checklist Management? Gerberian paradigm shift. And now, a great paradigm shift in management. American Michael Gerber’s mega-bestselling book The E-Myth Revisited contains the most revolutionary management idea that has appeared in the field of management in the last 100 years. From the latest Internet news, the book has sold more than 2 million copies. And this is not fiction.

I’ve read the book at least 2 times, word for word. I have also tried to catch the essence of every chapter of the book, condensing each so that I can put the book's ideas on only one sheet of paper. I always do that when I like a book, condense what the author is trying to say. I know that if I do that, I will be forced to understand what Gerber is saying and where he is coming from.

So, I can say we have a new management guru; move over, Peter Drucker and all the others. For the first time, management is doable by non-management graduates, by non-geniuses, by those who never had any previous training in management. Finally, management is simplified, beautified, satisfying and not terrifying, a reward and not a punishment.

And so, everyone can now succeed in management: the creative person (non-technical, non-managerial), the technician (non-creative, non-managerial), and the entrepreneurial mind (non-technical, non-creative).

What has Gerber wrought? He doesn’t have a name for it, so anyone is free to suggest. And since I don’t want to discuss something nameless, I have decided to call it checklist management – the name says it all. As far as I understand it, there are 7 separate checklists for a successful small business:

Checklist for the Vision – What is it? Does everyone share it?

Checklist for the Objective – What is the mission that will help bring about the vision? What is everyone’s objective to accomplish that Mission?

Checklist for the Organization – How big do you want the enterprise to be? What is the organizational structure?

Checklist for the Supervision – How will the enterprise deliver on the product or service? Are all the routines in writing and being followed?

Checklist for the People - Do the people working for the enterprise have the heart for the business? Do they do what they are supposed to do everyday without fail?

Checklist for the Marketing – How will the marketing and sales people succeed without fail? What are the protocols?

Checklist for all the Systems – How are all the vision, the objective, the organization, the supervision, the people and the marketing integrated into one whole?

Those are only sample questions, but you get the idea. Gerber’s book, not aptly titled, lists down what we must do to succeed in managing a small business. Watch out – when he says ‘small,’ he means as small as $1 million or as big as $500 million company. In fact, there is no limit to the idea of ‘small’ – the limit in business is how you manage using the Gerberian paradigm.

2005-08-01T16:59:00.000+08:00

Compuser Says. I am Compuser, a cockeyed optimist, an incurable romantic, an inveterate computer user who believes that man (embracing woman) has surrendered to the ways and wiles of computer makers and computer programmers (and their managers) – in other words, the machine has become the thinking machine and man the unthinking machine. The machine is the Confuser if we allow the men who make the machines to think for us.

Yuppies: It takes two of a kind

2005-08-01T16:58:00.001+08:00

Yuppies: Young city or suburban residents with professional jobs and materialistic lifestyles. (American Heritage Dictionary). Yuppies: Young men (embracing women) who bespeak of the University of the Philippines (UP), who believe that Andres Bonifacio, the brave man with a sword, should be the national hero of the Philippines, not Jose Rizal, the brave man with a word. The Compuser's Dictionary

What is Art?

2005-08-01T16:58:00.000+08:00

Art is a declaration of truth, or beauty, or goodness – or all of the above. The Compuser's Dictionary

2005-08-01T16:57:00.001+08:00

Who is the Compuser? Compuser, from computer + user. One who does not allow the computer software (the program) to enslave the user software (the mind). A software standard does that -- it sets the rules, borders, limits. That is why there is no creativity in software standards. The Compuser’s Dictionary

What is Mathematics?

2005-08-01T16:57:00.000+08:00

Mathematics is the science of repetition. Addition is repeated increase. Subtraction is repeated decrease. Multiplication is addition repeated on addition. Division is subtraction repeated on subtraction. The Compuser’s Dictionary

2005-08-01T16:56:00.001+08:00

What is Word Processing? Word processing is the art & science of working with words, ideas and images using the computer. The Compuser’s Dictionary

2005-08-01T16:56:00.000+08:00

Who is AIDA? A beautiful dream, the goddess of letters. AIDA is the art & science of campaigns, or the marketing of ideas, products, services, or people. You build Awareness first, or some knowledge. Then you build Interest, or deeper Awareness. Then you build Desire, or deeper Interest. Then you urge Action, or the fulfillment of Desire. The Compuser’s Dictionary

2005-08-01T16:55:00.001+08:00

What is Development Communication? Development communication, DevCom, is a paradigm of marketing ideas, products, services or people in the field of science; ideally, it is communication in support of development. DevCom was originated by Professor Nora Quebral of the University of the Philippines Los Baños (UPLB). The Compuser's Dictionary

2005-08-01T16:55:00.000+08:00

What is a SONA? The SONA is the yearly State of the Nation Address by the President of the Philippines, patterned after United States practice. As I write this, it is 21 July 2005; on Monday, 25 July, President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo will deliver her SONA before members of Congress inside the Batasang Pambansa. She is expected to paint a clean picture of the country. Outside, protesters are expected (100,000 bodies, one leader was claiming on TV) to deliver their own SONA and paint a dirty picture of the country. That's prostituting the art of painting. The Compuser’s Dictionary

2005-08-01T16:54:00.000+08:00

Use in a sentence: FPJ. I will be extremely delighted to have the honor to set on fire the FPJ of GMA during the SONA of 25 July 2005. The Compuser's Dictionary

2005-08-01T16:53:00.000+08:00

What is Tyrannosaurus rex, sp. nov. homo? 2005 July 26. This is a newly discovered species (species novum), classified as human (homo), of the type of tyrant kings (or would-be kings) who disagree with each other but who agree on one thing: They want their head of state out (finished, kaput, done, history), and who think and act like they are above the law. Remember Aesop’s fables; so what’s the cautionary tale now? Aesop says, ‘Any excuse will serve a tyrant.’ This is especially applicable, though not exclusively, to the case of Philippine President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo whom a union of oppositionists, a cluster of conspirators, and a motley of media people for two months now have been circling for the kill. The Compuser’s Dictionary

2005-08-01T16:52:00.000+08:00

Bush: ‘Read my lips.’ Compuser: ‘Read my blog!’ Idioms. Apparently, ‘read my lips’ was first said and became an idiom in the 1980s; it certainly was popularized by US President George HW Bush during the 1988 presidential campaign: ‘Read my lips: No new taxes.’ The idiom means, ‘Listen to me, what I’m telling you is true.’ Powerful language. Today, 2005 July 26, I a Filipino am inventing a new idiom: ‘Read my blog!’ To be sure, many others have earlier published the exact phrase ‘read my blog,’ but I am the first to propose it as an idiom of the times. And you know what, it is even more powerful than ‘read my lips’ because ‘read my blog!’ means ‘read my mind!’ Read my blog! The Compuser’s Dictionary

2005-08-01T16:51:00.001+08:00

What is Peace? Peace is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. The Compuser’s Dictionary