Man On A Street

When I started earning a living I stopped having a life. . . Ouch. And so the Chinese, keen on priorities, say: Have a family first. Then build a career.

Quotation read by an FM radio jock: "A friend is one who is there for you—when he'd rather be anywhere else." So is a hostage.

“Men, it has been well said, think in herds; it will be seen that they go mad in herds, while they only recover their senses slowly, and one by one." -- Charles Mackay, 1852 Extraodinary Delusions and the Madness of Crowds (Thanks to www.holoscience.com ;) )

"The key word for us is simplicity," Mr. Kelly said. "If you eliminate service charges and hidden fees, you eliminate most of the problems and complaints. Then the only reason for people to call is to do business. And those are calls you're eager to take." Read more at NY Times .

This is an edited portion of a 2007 email reply to one of my PCLinuxOS 2007 graphic design buddies -- gryphen (we only know each other through user names; he's a very talented GIMP artist) -- he was going to design a logo that would represent Linux: I think I have seen a similar comment over at the PCLinuxOS forums saying in effect that the penguin logo is not inspiring enough to make people migrate from Windows/Mac. I admit it got me thinking for a while, then I decided I like Tux the way he is. :) First impressions on First Impression: The black oval beside the logotype looks like a seed of a tropical fruit to me -- I live in the tropics. :) Does it represent a cosmic egg? -- a symbol for the myriad things possible with open source? The universe in a nutshell? Tux viewed from the top? I think the orange parts need a bit more outline so they will stand out when converted to black and white. Andreas Dilger mentioned a some tips that may help. At any rate, you'll find designing...

In one of my workplace's cluster chatrooms, Juvenal, one of our dev specs, logged out and told his colleage: "Kelvs, take over -- don't be obnoxious and petulant, hehe." And i piped in with the equivalent softspeak: "Avoid being a neotenic anal orifice" -- "don't be an immature @$$hole." Neoteny. The retention of juvenile (Juvenal, this is another synchro, hekhek) -- baby, larval -- characteristics even up to sexual maturity. Kinda like being a retard. Except that this is to one's advantage. I could be one. I just had my 36th birthday the other day -- and my teammates brought a cake with fat "26" numeral candles -- whyy, thank you. : ) Some anthropologists think neoteny in humans (at least, Homo sapiens ) is a survival strategy that triggered nurturing instincts in the other primate species -- the Neanderthals et al -- they found us cute -- we resemble fetal chimpanzees. And mature toy dogs resemble fetal wolves. Question: Who do...

We want you to know our products and services are better than those of our competitiors. We are friendly. We are safe. We can be trusted. Here are our company colors. [Boss (to his staff): "Why do we consistently get a low confidence rating?"]

If you work for someone, then work for him: Speak well of him and stand by the institution he represents. Remember, an ounce of loyalty is worth a pound of cleverness. If you must growl, condemn, and eternally find fault, resign your position and when you are on the outside, complain to your hearts content. But as long as you are a part of the institution do not condemn it. ~ Elbert Hubbard Gawd. Generations of people have posted versions of this quotation in countless bulletin boards (there's a version set to stanzas so it reads like freeverse) . It's been posted so much, people automatically accept it without question. What many fail to grasp is the key idea: "If you work for a man, then he owns your @$$." A man. The owner. The one who can do what he damn well pleases. If you work for him, you are pwned -- and if you want to stay long in your job, cover your @$$ -- unless he tells you to bend over. A very practical advice from @$$-Kissing 101. But not for everybody...

Even if you can deceive people about a product through misleading statements, sooner or later the product will speak for itself. - Hajime Karatsu I love fortune (the command-line program): [caption id="attachment_121" align="alignnone" width="300" caption="Terminal with Fortune output"] [/caption] Googling for an easy definition led me to this delightful essay by Neal Stephenson on operating systems -- synchronicity galore -- I'll just add that Eloi were food for the carnivore Morlock. Oh, and some would call atrocious acts "Predator's Prerogative" rather than acted out fantasies of the unrespectful (don't mind me . . .).

A text message from a friend: An inspiring fact to bear in mind: Mathematics may not teach us to breathe oxygen and exhale carbon dioxide, or to love a friend and to forgive an enemy, but it gives us every reason to hope that every problem has a solution . . . . . . Oyes . . . or at least, makes some people believe they are God.

I remember watching a gory episode on Discovery Channel in the 90s (there's a similar portion on National Geographic's "Planet Earth"). It was about a raiding party of chimpanzees attacking (and eating) a straggler from another troop -- a mother chimpanzee and its young. The last frame was poignant (ok, the music could have been a factor): close-up on one of the perpetrators' face -- looking innocent like a puppy -- fade to white -- it was like looking at ourselves. Altamira . . . Lascaux . . . Art, Magic, Religion, War -- and haute cuisine -- all were hatched in the same caves -- probably by the same people . . . an ordinary grunt couldn't have conceived them . . . War is people feeding on itself. Painting itself with the blood of its victims, wearing their victims' skins (trinkets, trinkets, souvenirs and the ethnic chic) -- giving them special power, special knowledge . . . Art, Cuisine, Cannibalism (War) and Magic -- people who can paint, cook, eat you...

'Pag gusto, may paraan; 'Pag ayaw, may dahilan. If one wants, there's a way; If one does not, there's a reason.

Here's how the blog editing box appears in Firefox 3.0 for Windows: The Firefox Linux version looks like it's Windows counterpart. Below that is the Google Chrome (beta) version (not interested in Internet Explorer -- i use it up to puking point at work): The third pic is how it looks like under Konqueror in Linux: Looks like we're stuck with HTML tags under Konqueror right now. Who'll fix that, Friendster or KDE? I understand it has to be Friendster if it were a case of non-compliance to web standards (like many websites that prefer Internet-Explorer-take-it-or-leave-it). Last pic is of the formatting codes clogging the blog extracts: There's always version 2.0.1. ;) [Update: Yey! Most of these have been fixed :)]

Cebu's SunStar Daily (tabloid-sized newspaper) will soon publish a magazine dedicated to call center people (I raise my hand, ehem ;) ). Named Log/on, this magazine sports the slogan "dissecting the BPO culture." BPO -- Business Process Outsourcing -- is the idea that makes call centers thrive in India, China, and Third World countries like Pinas. ;) Hmm, wonder what they mean by 'culture' -- is it the behavior at work demanded by the clients'/vendors' bottomline? Is it the spirit generated by the interconnected lives of all the people high and low brought into this game? Or is it just the collective sleaze steaming (there's a pun) from the call center industry and it's camp followers -- some call it "The Call Center Lifestyle". Probably all of these. The teaser for the maiden issue is intriguing -- tattoed and blinged androgynous male, face hidden and the rest of the artwork obscured by a (is that x-tacy) haze of neon retro motifs . ....

By the way, Friendster Blogs 2.0 butted in [hehe] just as I was about to move my blog over at my  Multiply account -- which means i may have to stay with Friendster afterall -- finally, the long awaited "archives" link. . . . I use my Multiply account mainly for uploading pictures and t-shirt designs. Check these out: Hidden Landscape shirt -- for shroomies of all ages ;) WINWAMKOH (What If Ninoy Were A Macho Kind Of Hero) Dragon (Soccer) Ball I do have to try out blogging @ Multiply. [edit: been there, done that -- i like dis one better.] [edit2: now a friend is tempting me with WordPress -- hmm -- i'm not that wordy . . . but let's see. . . .] Ciao for now.

Good things come to those who wait. Amen. September was the month I had in mind to assemble my own PC -- meanwhile, I'm using a roommate's laptop for doing internet stuff -- we just got DSL wired last week, hehe. Can barely contain the urge not to oversurf. Sometimes things get annoying -- one is bound to hear "it's my turn!," "browsing while uploading pictures is going to make it slow," yada yada -- even though no one takes my place when i concede. Could have bothered to remember that I'm the one who solved the ethernet-not-working problem (i installed Linux). Sure does put the term 'personal' computer in a sinister light. Enough of that. As i said, I wanted to finally assemble my own PC this september but then things cropped up -- money matters i need to attend to (not me, i need very little -- people i care about) -- so i had to delay the target a bit. I hope this sacrifice turns out good. Or at least interesting. . . . A Chinese curse goe...

The Sanskrits say the soul forgets his past lives during reincarnation. Which can mean to forget past cares is a requirement to go on living. Interesting community -- I'm at the Jolibee restaurant beside the University of San Carlos Cebu main campus... Everybody is busy... Do they remember who San Carlos was? [Borromeo -- says an old friend with the same last name.]  Do they remember the role the religous orders played in the shaping of history since Sumer? Do they remember why girls in the school used to wear skirts and long sleeved blouses? (Ask the more conservative religious orders the same.) Magic. The early peoples painted themselves to attune with the spirit world. Ancient kings attired themselves to look like gods. Costume and makeup is magic. Magic is a big ingredient in the workings of political power. Black tie please. Oh, in contrast, Jesus wore a plain woolen robe. Lest we forget. It's ok to forget past cares. But not the lessons we need to learn. In this life or t...

Spanish courtyard of the Basilica de Sto. Niño de Cebu. In the heat of the afternoon, the splashing of the cherub fountain drowns other sounds. Inside, funereal silence among the kneelers... A long line waiting to touch and wipe and kiss the bullet-proof glass of the "original" Holy Child image. I love moments like this. I wonder what it was like in the Basilica de San Marduk de Babilonia. "The root of many tragedies is man's capacity to adore."

With its bundle of nerves, the growing fetus is like an erection. If so, then the fetal state is an extension of sexual bliss. The "Eden" state. If so, abortion may well be the greatest sacrilege: The most excruciating pain at the most joyous moment in living memory.

I'm copy pasting from Joe Padre's blog on the new Filipino spelling -- my only gripe is with General Rule V -- the use of letters F, J, V, and Z for borrowed words -- we freely exchange them with P, Dy, B and S -- "Siryusli -- yu dyast kant du dat -- piling biktoryus end weyb it in prant op mai peys." Here are sample new spellings: fiesta - fyesta affix - afiks brief - brif photo - foto cough - kaf gem - jem jacket - jaket soldier - soljer Vacation - vekayshun Value - valyu zone - zon cruz - kruz zoo - zo xylophone - zaylofon czar - zar scissors - sizors Sounds like the planners stopped at a beauty parlor on their way to presenting the draft in Congress. Their main contention is that "you can plan language." Wrong. Lasting language use comes from the bottom-up -- what people see as ok, is valuable, will allow them to lift up their current stations in life -- that's what they are gonna use (and the spellings that go with it). I'm going to update an o...

Shakespeare dressed his characters in contemporary costumes -- timeless messages are best delivered in contemporary packaging... Bizarre coincidences may just be the intersection of interpenetrating multiverses... True resurrection requires uninterrupted consciousness of the one who died. This could have led to belief in "Immortal Soul"... I tend not to believe in life coming out of "primordial soup" because that's like saying shit came before the bull. Life is the only creator of bullshit... Refuseth thou beauty?... In-yer-faces: Whoever said the only intuitive interface is the nipple forgot the pussy, the dick and the ass... (could be topics for future posts)

We have rats at the sewer back of our apartment, and mice inside the house. I am often in Bisaya mode, and now I realize we have no separate Cebuano terms for 'rat' and 'mouse' They are both 'ilaga' -- 'yatot' in Waray, 'daga' in Tagalog. Well, 'dagkung ilaga' for rats and ' gagmayng ilaga' for mice -- but that doesn't count because that's just describing their sizes . . . Some people may say the advancement of a culture is seen on the richness of its language. If this were true, then Inuit culture is very advanced indeed -- what with its hundreds of terms for snow. Truth is, like a tool, the best language to use depends on the occasion. Charles V said "I speak Spanish to God, Italian to Women, French to Men, and German to my Horse." Most good computer programmers know that. Take the term 'ilog' [eelohg] -- that's Cebuano for 'to grab something forcefully from someone with the intent of deprivin...

A very incomplete page on the ABS-CBN News Online site points to a TV ad explaining how system loss works (please google the brouhaha about MERALCO -- the Manila power utility owned by the Lopezes [who also own ABS-CBN, Manila Water, Sky Cable, etc . . . .heheh]) In case you haven't seen it, the add features a very prominent Pinoy actress (also owned by ABS-CBN) telling us that system loss is like the water that melts off the ice we buy (most Pinoys buy ice from mom-and-pop stores) mostly for our iced drinks. Which is a way of telling us that the ice water is part of the ice we buy and ergo, we should not balk if it's part of the cost we pay (cos we could have used it if it didn't melt away -- maybe we should put it in our iced colas as well -- "you bought it, you pay for it, you use it"). Analogies have their limits though. Water off the ice, on one hand, still reaches our homes and we could still use it (albeit not as ice -- but still water just the same). On ...

They say "Necessity is the mother of invention". . . I would add "Comfort is the killer of creativity." Steve Jobs did advise creatives to "Stay hungry." I'm not a fan of Steve Jobs but i think this time he's right. Many of the greatest artistic works were done under trying times -- a stressed Michelangelo (lying on his back on a platform while painting the Sistine Chapel ceiling) said "Jeez! -- I'm no painter!. . ." I'm not saying an artist should love suffering -- i only notice when an artist is most secure and content, the quality of his works become -- how do i say it -- "just-for-compliance," frivolous -- lacking spiritual power, compared to works done while experiencing life's trials . . . An artist is a kind of prophet -- Jason Mraz calls himself the "Curbside Prophet" -- given special insight into life. So an artist has the duty to call people's attention to better things -- to uplift their spir...

I don't know what to call these symbols yet — the working name is 'psycons' – I think this scheme is better than the old  ♀♂ -- it shows attraction, gender and relationships. Psycons in action . . .     You're lucky, if you and your partner have complementary sex, gender and receptivity combinations -- natural falling in love requires natural receptivity. Or else, without love, you may be subjecting your partner to the Jabba-The-Hutt Experience (of Princess Leia in 'Return of the Jedi' heheh). [to be continued . . .]

I talked recently about caregivers and then wham! -- Friendster pasted this picture on my homepage [edit: and on this page, I see]: Be a caregiver in the UK The Fates think they've been tempted [more like the Furies]. Ah, well . . . "whom the gods wish to destroy . . ." More Irony. . . At the moviehouse: Two techie sounding moviegoers criticizing 'Iron Man' for taking off by bending his wrists at an angle like a feminine male androreceptive -- "He's soo gay!" They did not notice their own weenie whiny voices -- they sounded like the ones they were lambasting. A funeral car ('San Fernando,' a funeral parlor in Cebu) blasting "Designer Music" along the way from delivering the day's last trip . . . Life goes on then . . .

A friend on YM chat shared his problems about his father getting sick and how medical expenses mount up everyday -- i told him i understand -- having had my aunt get sick of failed kidneys and how, for two years, we had to sell things off left and right, buying time, and how we all were miserable seeing her die a slow death (not much of a way to live.) The worst part is that his father did something hurtful to his family before, and now, is dependent on his family's unity -- the irony. But, for my friend, his family is his strength so . . . We switched topic to something lighter -- how he's currently amazed by Arnel Pineda and his fairy-tale rise to fame with 'Journey'. And, since i'm quick to rain on people's parades [crabby me], I immediately pointed out that Americans admire us and grade us for sounding like Americans (can't help it -- i'm currently a call cenner agent, trained on American accents and imitating them to keep a low profile) -- we have a...

There's this concept of 'synchronicity' -- seemingly unrelated events that have a connection because -- how do i say it -- they all occur because of the times they are in -- 'spirit-of-the-times' (yeah, dat's it). Of course, without the person to point it out, we won't know of the sync (yeah, right -- the old tree-falling-in-the-forest routine) -- and more recently the term has also been applied to people's innate ability to recognize patterns and to the patterns themselves -- even Cosmic Patterns (but i'm going off track). What I wanted to share was the TV show my housemates watched yesterday (I don't normally watch Sunday noontime concert shows [another aspect of that circle jerk that passes off as competition between the two (Philippine) networks waddahel). Noontime shows (prepare to pick up your IQ 25 floors down after watching) have a lot of commercials -- depending on the time of day and target audience. I watched the Nido milk commercial -...

I was asked today by an irate American caller why he is being made to pay surcharges used to fund the war of 1812 -- Huh? (war against England) I played along and learned that there's a feeling of resentment by some Americans about Puerto Rico -- being treated as "an American province yet the citizens don't pay taxes" . . . "Are you an American?" -- this after i confessed ignorance of American war history (except that 'war' between America and Philippines). Thereupon (naks!) he softened and went into an analogy of how Puerto Rico is to the US as Falkland Islands is to the UK (more :| ) -- Well, there's certainly the opinion that might makes right -- i write this just after an American customer in the Internet cafe talked loudly at the counter how he spent two hours writing emails and failed to send them (why he had to wait for two hours before calling the attention of the attendant is beyond me) -- he complained ("I'm talking, let me fin...

There's this thread in Istorya.net that working in a call center is a "no-brainer" -- so easy even a dumbass could do it? Heheh. I don't know. All i know is, working in a call center 'team' is not like in a basketball/baseball/soccer/whatever team sense but like a part of a team of racehorses -- you are made to run like hell over a burning racecourse set with landmines and thorns and booby traps and then there's the panel of judges at the finish line flashing scorecards rating you for how relatively unscathed you managed to be... Of course, you are fed like thoroughbreds -- unlike in other jobs where you are "kayod kabayo" [worked like a horse] and fed weeds at the end of the day... I take it back, not fed like throughbreds -- you can feed like a pig -- and so many do -- and they balloon up after a few months with the accompanying systemic diseases -- what with sitting all day and getting all kinds of crap both from both your bosses and customer...

I have always admired, what nowadays is called, 'elfin' appearance' -- slight, delicate yet strong, often pale ... Scandinavian mythological origins, online sources would say... (we have our own old myths -- the dalakitnons -- people of the banyan trees). Later sources would say inspiration for these would come from ingesting psychedelic drugs (i have only ever tried the Panaeolus species of magic mushrooms [in college]) -- "Machine/Fractal Elves," some would say. But i've always been drawn to the elfin phenotype since i was a child -- it couldn't have been the mushroom tea... So when, in our primate past, did we encounter -- and retain -- the memory of elves?

Two of us from the old Mulberry dorm 'family' went to Bohol to visit our friend's grave last February. We were met by another member at the port and we rode by bike from Tagbilaran to Batuan. It was raining all day but it was a good reunion. We lighted cigarettes -- we had no candles -- over the grave. It was good. We left the next day and our Boholano friend took us for a fly-by at the 'chocolate hills' viewing site where there's a hotel on the hilltop. Who would have thought we would find magic mushrooms on the hotel lawn? Well hello . . . old friends.

Indifference . . . it's heavy in the city. Some bask in it, sometimes it's alienating. . . . My phone was stolen from my office locker today (this is Cebu, afterall). I did not think this much introspection can come from the loss of a cheap cell phone. I've been basing my identity four years on a phone number. . . . Thank goodness for that heads-up. :p

I don't like to call my current workplace 'site' (it's a call cenner, for crying out loud). Many of my coworkers do ... it's hip. But the word 'site' for me evokes images where there's a big hole or burn in the ground or where there's a generally unpleasant thing happening -- crash site, mine site, bomb site, dump site  . . . . A beehive of frantic activity . . . On second thought, they may be right -- it is a 'site' afterall . . .

My body clock tells me it's time to sleep now . . . in preparation for my 2am shift tomorrow. I'm very sleepy and about to sink in. Speaking of deep -- i heard 'profound' means "just before you hit rock-bottom." Of the cliff? Where the best prayers are said -- just before one hits the bottom... And Terry Pratchett says 'wizard' came from "wyz" + "arse" = one who is, at the bottomline, clever. Don't mind me -- i'm just on my way to the bottom....

I'm currently working for a call cenner -- it's the in thing -- for pinoys like me who need the money and have a little English in their belts. It's the first company that i applied in -- and who hired me not for my degree (or lack thereof) -- during my exile to Cebu so I'm grateful. It's just that it's not my line of work -- i'm more at home doing graphic design than dealing with people. It's been six months since i got kicked out from my cocoon at Visca. [Speaking of cocoon -- isn't that the thing that rots in order to release the new creature?...] And so here i am in Cebu -- my workplace has it's share of people who were looked down on while they were in Visca -- and who have risen to be top-performers in their new career. They have 'metamorphosed' so to speak -- but not me -- I prefer to be on the sidelines, watching the parade -- i like to have the best view. I'll be here for a short while only, i hope -- then go for a job i'...