Author Archives: Arbet Bernardo

7
Nov

Self-censorship as masturbation

Posted by | Categories Ink

Oh, the irony.

The National Press Club commissioned the Neo-Angono Artists Collective to do a mural for the club’s restaurant, in time for the opening. The guest of honor was Gloria Arroyo. Supposedly, the Presidential Security Group made a routine inspection. And during the inauguration, the mural was “altered.” The artists cried censorship; NPC claims it just removed the politically-charged parts of the mural.

If that is not censorship, I don’t know what else to call it.

Alright, let us define censorship. Wikipedia, take it away:

Censorship is defined as the suppression or deletion of objectionable information, as determined by the Censor.

Typically censorship is done by governments, religious and secular groups, corporations, or the mass media, although other forms of censorship exist.

I still wonder why reporters join that club. After all, isn’t that club involved in other controversies? Read this column by Neal Cruz, who has been following the shenanigans of the NPC.

Irony. A group of press people practicing censorship. Philippine society has indeed taken a great stride. To idiocy.

(Yeah, I know, the title is not relevant. But I like the way it sounded. =P )

7
Nov

A good liar keeps up with his lies

Posted by | Categories Ink

Wow. A month after we found out that cash were given to congressmen at the Fortress, now comes someone who is pointed as the one who distributed the cash. And that someone claims that the money came from their party, KAMPUPOT, este, KAMPI. Wow.

Can you believe that? I don’t.

1. Why only now? Abante and Villarosa should have made that admission on the day the issue was forced out. The timing reeks of planning. After all, after Panlilio and Mendoza exposed the cash gifts to governors, the supposed source of funds admitted giving cash two weeks after the fact. And since there was no visible and audible outrage, the people has given the politicians a clear signal – rob us more, fool us more. So admitting now is just OK, right?
2. Why give money to non-party mates? You take care of your own, right? Poor Angelica Jones. (Background: the showbiz actress ran for the position of provincial board member under KAMPI. She lost, and blamed the party for not supporting her.)
3. Where did KAMPI get all that money? Mike Arroyo? Iggy Arroyo? Jose Pidal? Wow, I had no idea KAMPI is this rich. Maybe I should join the party, no? Most probably I’d get the laptop that I am eyeing. Hmm.
4. Ronaldo Puno once claimed that the money did not come from them, instead pointed to Lakas’ Jose de Venecia.

One caveat: Remember Crispin Beltran’s claim that one Francis Ver, former KAMPI henchman, tried to bribe him to endorse Pundido, este Pulido’s not-so-pulido complaint? Maybe there’s truth in that accusation, after all. See? Lying will not help you; indeed, a good liar must keep up with his lies, otherwise his crimes will be exposed.

And yet the people are content watching Pinoy Big Brother and Zaido. Oh well. Kudos to ABS-CBN and GMA7 for such a wonderful job of insulating us from mundane idiocy called GOVERNANCE.

—

You know, if I were a senator, I will get my Php200 million pork barrel and allocate one million for each Filipino. And with around 80 million Filipinos, I will still have a surplus; I will invest that so that for every Filipino born after such distribution, they will get a million, too. Now, ain’t that cool?

Or maybe a laptop for every Filipino, plus a 3G phone.

7
Nov

Energy conservation measures proposal

Posted by | Categories Ink

Because the price of crude oil reaches ridiculously new heights, and despite the annoyingly repetitive claims of economic turnaround (obviously a product of hallucination caused by that narcotic called POWER), the Department of Energy is asking us poor blokes to save on energy. Taking heed of their illustrious call, I am therefore proposing the following mitigation measures.

1. Build more LRTs. All main thoroughfares should be covered. Let a thousand LRT lines bloom. This measure will eliminate the need to use gas-guzzling motor vehicles. If feasible, build inter-island LRT lines.
2. Use computers for only four office hours per day. Use a typewriter and/or calculator for other tasks. Read newspapers instead of blogs. Utilize the laggard postal system instead of email.
3. Turn off lights during daytime. If possible, don’t turn them on unless essential and necessary. The use of candles is highly encouraged.
4. Cellphone use should be limited to one unit per family, and should only be used for eight hours per day. Develop cranks as cellphone chargers.
5. Develop a nationwide septic tank network, wherein methane produced by all septic tanks in the country are collected and stored as fuel.
6. Public utility vehicles shall only be allowed to ply their routes during rush hours. Private vehicles shall only be allowed to travel during non-rush hours, except in case of emergency.
7. TV and radio should only broadcast from 4AM to 10PM and 6PM to 10PM. Networks are encouraged to produce shows that are not energy intensive. Use of non-essential equipment shall not be allowed, like excessive lighting.
8. Congress shall convene for one month only. Members of Congress shall only be paid for that session month. They shall hold their sessions at SM Mall of Asia’s Music Hall, all expense paid by SM, of course. If not possible, session shall be held at the Quirino Grandstand.
9. The President and Vice-President shall be limited to one provincial trip per week. It is encouraged to plan ahead so that these officials can cover as much ground as possible during said trips. The President shall be limited to one foreign travel during his term, and he can only travel for a maximum of one month. The Vice President is not allowed to travel abroad.
10. The courts shall hold their hearings at basketball courts. Each case shall be disposed with within 5 working days, including reconsideration appeals.
11. Laptops shall not be allowed outside the office or home. The four-hour-per-day rule applies for office use.
12. People are not allowed to fart, unless the fart can be collected for methane.
13. Use of non-electrical fans are highly encouraged. Aircons shall only be allowed from 10AM to 4PM, and the minimum temperature is 20 degrees Centigrade.
14. Families shall prepare a meal that is good for the entire day. Food recycling is highly encouraged.
15. The use of freezers shall not be allowed except for medical purposes. Ice cream and other related industries are encouraged to go into other, less energy-intensive business.
16. Holidays that use a lot of electricity are banned.

Feel free to add your suggestions. Let us all take responsibility to conserve energy and decrease our dependence on oil.

6
Nov

There he is

Posted by | Categories Journal

There is this man who is such a bore. He cannot maintain/keep a conversation. No one wants to chat with him on any IM. He even tried to elicit reactions to his “clever” status messages, not knowing that people don’t see them as clever; they reek of attention-deficit syndrome. In fairness to the man, he really tries hard in maintaining a conversation, but words always escape him. He always runs out of things to say.

He is saddened by the fact that people only talk to him when they need something from him or they need his help. Of course he is glad to be of help, but the fact remains that people only remember him in times of need. What if its his turn to need help? Would anyone come?

He did not even dare answer those questions, as the answer would only make him more depressed than ever.

How does it feel to be lonely? Just look at that man. There he is, typing away at the keyboard. There he is, staring at the IM, waiting for anyone to reply to his messages, waiting for anyone to send him a message. There he is, walking alone the road. There he is, at the mall, walking alone. There he is, staring at nothing.

There I am.

6
Nov

Random links of interest, 2

Posted by | Categories Byte

Some juvenile thingamajigs for everyone.

* The end of the world is near (or so Chicken Mafia may think): Hello Kitty phone lands in the US. Yay!
* Oh, some Hello Kitty AK47 and My Little Pony toy carbines for your daughters, little sisters, little nieces, and godchildren. Nice to start them young, eh? Yay!
* The Capcom Blog releases some character art for Super Street Fighter II HD Remix (that’s a long title for a rework of a game), after being outed by Kotaku. Aside from downloadable copies of artworks, some mistakes in the art works were discussed.

6
Nov

There is a Google Phone

Posted by | Categories Byte

Google has not ruled out Google Phone. There somewhere in Googleplex is a reference device made by HTC, code-named Dream (appropriate name, if you ask me). Forbes has the following details on the reference device:

It is thin, about 3 inches wide and 5 inches long, and features a touch-sensitive, rectangular screen. Unlike the iPhone, the screen is also time-sensitive: Hold down your finger longer, and the area you’re controlling expands. The bottom end of the handset, near the navigational controls, is slightly beveled so it nestles in the palm. The screen also swivels to one side, revealing a full keyboard beneath. (The screen display changes from a vertical portrait mode to a horizontal display when someone uses the keyboard.)

The Dream design makes the core functions–e-mail, text documents and YouTube–readily available by putting icons that open those applications along the top of the screen. In its guts, the phone runs a virtual machine so that applications, like the browser, can launch once during a session, then reside in the background. That way, if someone sends you, say, a YouTube video link, you can run it immediately, without restarting the browser. The browser also downloads large files in stages to cut the time it seems to take to bring them onto the phone.

And if things work correctly, HTC is ready to mass-produce the device by 2nd half of 2008. I just hope it is cheap.

6
Nov

Open Handset Alliance takes on everyone else

Posted by | Categories Byte

And that includes the giants: Nokia, Sony Ericsson, Microsoft, and Apple.

After much speculation, Google, together with other technology partners, made two major announcements today.

First, the Open Handset Alliance was introduced. The group was formed to “accelerate innovation in mobile and offer consumers a richer, less expensive, and better mobile experience.” No, there is no gPhone, but there will be “gPhones”. What the OHA wants is an open ecosystem for mobile development through an open platform.

The OHA also introduced AndroidTM. Android is an open mobile software stack, which includes an operating system, a user interface, middleware, and applications. The ecosystem that the OHA envisions centers on Android as the platform for development. That means all partners comprising OHA are committed to develop hardware and software based on Android.

The opportunities are vast for all stakeholders, including end users:

1. For developers, it will be easier to develop and push applications for mobile phones, at a lesser cost and learning curve. The Alliance will also provide mechanisms for commercialization and distribution of applications.
2. For mobile operators, they will be able to offer cheaper phones and differentiated products. They can customize an Android-enabled device to their own specifications.
3. For device manufacturers, it is much tougher, since all of them will produce devices based on a single platform. This should spur manufacturers to innovate in order to differentiate their products. Using a single and open platform allows them the flexibility in developing devices.
4. In the end, this gives consumers a wider array of choices. And who knows, if someone from the Alliance releases a user-friendly toolkit, consumers can make their own applications even without programming knowledge.

Will the Alliance succeed? That remains to be seen, couple that with the way non-members react.

Google press release
Official Google Blog entry on OHA and Android

5
Nov

Vlogging as ultimate form of citizen journalism

Posted by | Categories Ink

As I was taking pictures during a fire near our place (blog entry here), taking a video came into my head. However, I only had a 64MB M2 loaded in my Sony Ericsson P1i (the bundled 1GB M2 was being used by my brother for the M600i; the phone doubles as his music player), so I was not able to take a video. The phone’s internal memory is actually 160MB.

There is another reason why I did not take a video.

—

Video blogging or vlogging is relatively new here in the Philippines. Vlogging is actually blogging using video as medium (as opposed to the traditional text). But why engage in vlogging at all?

Let’s face it. Pictures are better than words. Moving pictures more so. You can easily convey your message via video. Just look at how effective those crap that the giant networks spew at us.

Vlogging for me is the most effective implementation of citizen journalism. During the online blog/comments debate on blogging as privilege, one commenter in this blog used the broadcaster as an analogy to blogging: not everyone can be a broadcaster, not everyone can be a blogger, so blogging is not a right. (Yeah, it does not follow, and just because not everyone can be a blogger, blogging ceases to be a right.) While it is true that the networks control (1) what can be shown and (2) who can present, these limitations are surmounted by vlogging, disregarding the prohibitive economic factors.

Journalism has three forms: print, radio, and TV. All of the three are controlled by commercial interests; there is no completely-independent media entity. But blogging changed that equation. Can’t see your written piece published by the leading paper? Post it online. Frustrated radio broadcaster? Do a podcast. And now: rejected by a talent scout to be a news anchor? Vlog!

Citizen-journalism has its own sphere of online debate, mainly centering on whether bloggers can be journalists, and whether bloggers should be bound by journalists’ code of ethics. We will skirt those issues and instead put vlogging in the Pinoy context.

We are limited by the vagaries of technology and economics. While the necessary requirements of vlogging are relatively cheap (as compared to last year), these equipment are not available for most of us. For example, the minimum requirement might be a cameraphone with a decent memory module. Smart and Globe market LG KU250 as a cheap 3G phone for Php 6000. It has a camera and a measly 10MB internal memory, but you can use a microSD card for expansion (you can get 1GB microSD for less than Php 1000 at CDR-King). If you are earning minimum daily wage, tough luck.

Second, as pointed out by some bloggers, the Internet penetration rate in the Philippines is depressingly low. Blogging remains (as of now) a domain for middle and upperclass Pinoys. There are free blog hosting services out there, but can Pinoys afford the computer and internet time rental?

Third, and the most superficial (yet the most serious hindrance): not everyone is telegenic. This is one of the criteria that networks impose on prospective talents. After all, who would take ME seriously if I vlog? But again, vlogging removes this hindrance; a vlogger is now under the mercy of the general vlog viewers. The hindrance is gone; the new hindrance is whether the people will accept you or not. At least there is no subjective gatekeeper anymore. Your audience is now your master. You know, some might say “Ang kapal naman ng mukha nya” (That person is so thick-faced), but that’s part of a vlogger’s life. Vlogging is not for those who lacks confidence; and Filipinos do not lack confidence.

When that day comes, when an ordinary citizen can post a video of himself reporting on local events and politics, journalism will never be the same. Vlogging will be the vehicle for citizen journalism.

—

Going back to the incident stated at the beginning, one more reason that I did not shoot video. When incidents like this happen, I always try to put myself in the shoes of the involved, in an attempt to gauge the raw emotions brought about by the event. The first thing that came into my mind was anger and annoyance. There is something perverse in documenting the misery of others, as if shooting pictures, taking videos, interviewing victims as the disaster happens is just so wrong. I was so ashamed of myself – I stopped taking pictures, went home, and left the mobile phone at the computer table.

—


(In support for Coy Caballes’ uBlog, iVlog project on Pinoy vlogging.)

5
Nov

Fiery Friday

Posted by | Categories Journal

Last Friday, at 30 minutes before seven in the evening, there was a fire across the street, both from our rented apartment and from my aunt’s house. Well, here’s Wikimapia for your reference.

The place where I live is marked in blue, my aunt’s house is marked in black, and the firezone in red. The road at the left of the firezone is named Sampaguita, the road at the right of the basketball court is Kampupot, and below, 10th Avenue.

I had just finished eating dinner and was about to open the TV when a neighbor came in shouting, “May sunog sa Kampupot!” (There’s a fire at Kampupot!) So off I went, and saw the blaze. People were in panic mode, running away with their belongings and loved ones. Some were crying, even if they were not affected by the blaze. The direct victims of the fire were able to save nothing but the clothes they were on.

Dad kept on calling two phone numbers, supposedly for some fire engines. One was a wrong number, the other was busy. But when he got through, the operator answered that they were already swamped by calls for the same incident, and that fire engines were on their way.

I went near the fire as it blazed, and took some shots using my Sony Ericsson P1i phone. Here are some shots:

There was this mother with a little girl who stayed at a walkway going inside our aparment complex. The mom was done crying. All she was able to save was several thousand pesos, her daughter, and nothing else. The father was at the fire site, looking helplessly as their house was razed. I know, it was useless, but I think he was afraid to face his daughter when the kid begins asking difficult questions.

Which the kid did.

While the fire was razing (and I was done looking around), the kid asked her mom, “Pwede na tayo umuwi?” (Can we go home now?). And when her father arrived, she asked, “Pa, yung bike ko?” (Pa, where’s my bike?)

The fire was completely put out by 10PM. Here’s a news report by GMA7 (correction: Kampupot is a street, not a village). According to some witnesses, the cause was overloaded electrical wires due to illegal connections.

2
Nov

Magic sand and wolf poop

Posted by | Categories Journal

You will never know where you’ll get new information. Me, I got some new ones from watching those educational shows from KBS World. Yes, a Korean channel.

Well, it’s not bad, since they have subtitles.

Anyway, I got to see this TV show entitled Sponge earlier. The concept is simple. The show asks the viewers to send in interesting but not-well-known factoids. The TV show then verifies if the information is true. If true, here is where the TV show shines. Instead of presenting the fact in a straightforward manner, they make a game out of it. They get several famous Korean personalities as contestants, and they ask these contestants to guess the answer to a question or to complete a statement. After the personalities have answered the question, a video clip about the correct answer is shown. Afterwards, the factoid is rated, and if it gets 5 stars, the sender wins US$1000.

So, today I have learned that sheep avoids wolf poop at all costs. Yes, these meek animals are so afraid of wolves that they are also afraid of wolf poop. The show did three experiments to prove the factoid. First, they place food near wolf poop, and several animals were released in the cage. All animals ate the food except the sheep.

Then, they placed a pair of food and poop in a green patch of land where sheep roams. They placed poop of tiger, bear, leopard, and wolf. The sheep clearly stayed away from the food besides the wolf poop.

In the third experiment, they have a box with a partition. They placed wolf poop on the other side and covered it (the cover is almost air tight), and food on the other. So they placed the box on a field, and the sheep munched on the food. But when the other partition was opened, the sheep fled.

Ok, did you know there is a kind of sand that will never get wet? Yes, there is such a sand, and they call it magic sand. They put the sand on a series of tests, including immersing it in water, and pouring magic sand on water. It seems that to make magic sand, you coat the sand with hydrophobic substances, making it water-proof.

Well, yeah, they get to receive absurd factoids, and they have a segment called – what else – Absurd Sponge, to present these useless factoids in a funny way.

Now, how I wish the giant networks produce shows like these instead of the usual crap out there.