tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13340076899757487982024-03-13T16:35:34.185+08:00The Daily BlusterBlustering Through Life and Blogging About Historystrangebananahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05402885506843045831noreply@blogger.comBlogger95125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1334007689975748798.post-40550865702676834032017-05-30T08:30:00.002+08:002017-06-01T15:42:09.189+08:00Vincent<div style="background-color: white; color: #1d2129; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; margin-bottom: 6px;">
Vincent Van Gogh’s paintings are valued today at hundreds of millions of dollars. One of the world’s greatest painters, he is also one of the most influential figures in Post-Impressionism art.<br />
Ironic, because nobody wanted his paintings when he was alive. </div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #1d2129; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; margin-bottom: 6px;">
He was a “weirdo” and nobody really understood him. Except for the few friends he had with other struggling, unsuccessful painters, one of whom he quarreled with, a quarrel that resulted in Van Gogh cutting off his ear with<span class="text_exposed_show" style="display: inline; font-family: inherit;"> a razor. </span></div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #1d2129; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; margin-bottom: 6px;">
<span class="text_exposed_show" style="display: inline; font-family: inherit;">He also suffered from delusions and had psychotic breaks. He seldom ate and drank heavily. He was one of those tortured souls who had so much to give but was largely ignored. His genius and artistry nobody really got while he was alive. He was an idealist, a sensitive soul who had too much empathy.<br />Imagine somebody like that living today. </span></div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #1d2129; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; margin-bottom: 6px;">
<span class="text_exposed_show" style="display: inline; font-family: inherit;">At age 37, Vincent Van Gogh - struggling with depression, mental illness, and thinking that he was a failure - killed himself. </span></div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #1d2129; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; margin-bottom: 6px;">
<span class="text_exposed_show" style="display: inline; font-family: inherit;">You know, maybe Don McLean was right, maybe this world was never really meant for one as beautiful as Van Gogh's soul.</span></div>
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And speaking of Don Mclean…</div>
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strangebananahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05402885506843045831noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1334007689975748798.post-60847170170470991522016-07-29T14:25:00.004+08:002016-07-29T15:21:10.227+08:00Against Stupidity, The Gods Themselves Despair<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
Empathy means the ability to
understand and share the feelings of another. It’s the capacity to go inside
the head of another being – be it human or animal – and experience what that
other being experiences. If you lack this ability, it would be difficult for
you to be compassionate to others. For example, if you see a person slaughtered
like an animal in the streets and your first thought is, “<i>Pusher kasi e</i>” (even if you literally know nothing about that
person) and feel something like unholy glee bubbling up your stomach, then you
feel a sort of pride that you made the right choice in the last election,
meanwhile not feeling anything about the person whose blood is staining the
ground, and the sound of that person’s parents’/loved ones’ heartbreaking cries
makes you think, “<i>Kung walang kasalanan
yan di yan papatayin</i>!” (If he’s innocent he wouldn’t have been killed!) And
an image of your idol’s smug, smirking, and gloating face flash before your eyes and you feel a sort of
thrill that is almost sexual - well then. You might have a problem. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<a href="https://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/wicked-deeds/201401/how-tell-sociopath-psychopath" target="_blank">A person lacking empathy and compassion might be a psychopath.</a> <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
And, if you’re an adult that has
gone through life not fully understanding (and doesn’t particularly care to
know) the meaning of such <i>nebulous </i>concepts as “due process,” or “innocent until
proven guilty,” or you think that “human rights” are for sissies who are “out
of touch with reality,” then there is no hope for you. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
One would just hope that you do
not breed. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
It’s one thing if you’re just an
uneducated smegma, but it’s another thing if you are an idiot by <i>choice</i>, and is not even aware that your stupidity is so ingrained
the gods themselves despair. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
But perhaps the rest of us can still do
something for the children. Maybe there is still hope that the next Filipino generation
might not be a generation of psychopaths. Worth a shot, right? <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
So how could one develop empathy
and compassion? <a href="http://www.express.co.uk/news/uk/690969/Scientific-research-reading-novels-help-encourage-empathy-news" target="_blank">Encouraging them to read is one way.</a><o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
That’s why I encourage kids to
read literature and explore the world. It’s a small step. But it’s a step in
the right direction. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjrSSa8hyphenhyphen8IvJmD3bEPXqyEJbWB60lTXT5Q-TzTaN8hhQZzwhri6KXGpM4hurGNpx4w7UOSkmJ3S1Vqf5M6SLxO4cLZTeUCowMun8-L153PmJ7FmpNkh9P5n43HqyKDx8Cj9xCYuWJ_X_o/s1600/FlowersForAlgernon.jpg" imageanchor="1"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjrSSa8hyphenhyphen8IvJmD3bEPXqyEJbWB60lTXT5Q-TzTaN8hhQZzwhri6KXGpM4hurGNpx4w7UOSkmJ3S1Vqf5M6SLxO4cLZTeUCowMun8-L153PmJ7FmpNkh9P5n43HqyKDx8Cj9xCYuWJ_X_o/s400/FlowersForAlgernon.jpg" /></a></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
For example, it is extremely difficult
to not feel empathy after you have read “The Little Prince,” or “The Old Man
and the Sea,” or “Flowers for Algernon.” And “To Kill a Mockingbird”! Let’s not
forget Atticus and his kids Scout and Jem. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
And so we come to my point:
literature should be taught at all levels. Because literature is not only about
language. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
It’s about life.<o:p></o:p></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
strangebananahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05402885506843045831noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1334007689975748798.post-51504196478167197262016-06-01T11:15:00.001+08:002016-06-01T11:15:21.965+08:00Things Cyberpunk<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
“The sky above the port was the color of television, turned
to a dead channel.”<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
So begins William Gibson’s seminal cyberpunk novel,
<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neuromancer" target="_blank">Neuromancer </a>(1984). <o:p></o:p></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhVj6TU3Z2dz64rtPdED6fLe8TulOXTVJwlrzrF2q8tQxi70HcY3E6lPIX8__93fm64nO9foP9zH7zMpoxAvrm8-lmrHq38OFh8EjhStje867lfXi0oJBXbtryLW7LUAyyp9Z1rfF1Xwpg/s1600/neuromancer.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhVj6TU3Z2dz64rtPdED6fLe8TulOXTVJwlrzrF2q8tQxi70HcY3E6lPIX8__93fm64nO9foP9zH7zMpoxAvrm8-lmrHq38OFh8EjhStje867lfXi0oJBXbtryLW7LUAyyp9Z1rfF1Xwpg/s320/neuromancer.jpg" width="209" /></a></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
Cyberpunk is a subgenre of science fiction that features
advanced technology vis-à-vis a dystopian society – a kind of high tech world
juxtaposed with a broken-down social order. Or in other words, high tech/low life.
<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
Think Star Trek suffused with the despair and helplessness of
“The Grapes of Wrath,” then throw in the gang wars and mob bosses of the “The Godfather,”
and instead of governments, mega corporations rule the world, each fighting for
supremacy. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
William Gibson is considered to be the founder of cyberpunk.
However, many writers before him had written all sorts of proto-cyberpunk
novels, most notably Philip K. Dick, he of the “<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Do_Androids_Dream_of_Electric_Sheep%3F" target="_blank">Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep</a>?” fame, the novel that served as inspiration for the classic cyberpunk film (and
one of my personal favorites), “Blade Runner.” (Read up on <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Philip_K._Dick" target="_blank">Philip K. Dick</a> –
many of his works were later adapted for the big screen, including “Total
Recall”.)<o:p></o:p></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh2qT78r0BlF_FTS3glCmQtXMmB3vV3RHm7kWFb99yGaTvh5PRTy8IQL8-Jvvobo5mEHCuT-7GfKkIPg8fTma4L0n3XEL8QIxT4-YSnb0Iw8ejpsDvLUPAbyKJPH7fw4tP2vYuaydkKhas/s1600/blade+runner.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh2qT78r0BlF_FTS3glCmQtXMmB3vV3RHm7kWFb99yGaTvh5PRTy8IQL8-Jvvobo5mEHCuT-7GfKkIPg8fTma4L0n3XEL8QIxT4-YSnb0Iw8ejpsDvLUPAbyKJPH7fw4tP2vYuaydkKhas/s320/blade+runner.jpg" width="213" /></a></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
Besides “Blade Runner,” (and “Total Recall”) other notable cyberpunk
films are The Matrix, Johnny Mnemonic, Judge Dredd, Robocop, and Gattaca. In
video games, <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deus_Ex:_Human_Revolution" target="_blank">Deus Ex: Human Revolution</a> – incidentally one of
the best video games out there of any genre – is the best example of this. <a href="http://store.steampowered.com/app/300550/" target="_blank">Shadowrun: Dragonfall</a> is also good – immersive, and with a
very satisfying tactical combat gameplay.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
The novel that brought me to cyberpunk, however, is Neal
Stephenson’s <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Snow_Crash" target="_blank">Snow Crash</a>, where the protagonist is a katana-wielding pizza
delivery guy/hacker named Hiro Protagonist (get it? “Hero” and protagonist”). <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
Recommendations: Diamond Age, another Stephenson novel; Paolo Bacigalupi’s The Windup Girl (technically, this novel belongs to <i>biopunk</i>, a subset of cyberpunk dominated by themes of
biotechnology). <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
Check out this list:<a href="http://bestsciencefictionbooks.com/best-cyberpunk-books.php" target="_blank"> http://bestsciencefictionbooks.com/best-cyberpunk-books.php</a> <o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
<blockquote class="tr_bq" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="background-color: white; color: #252525; line-height: 22.4px; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">The future is already here - just not evenly distributed. </span></span></blockquote>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="background-color: white; color: #252525; line-height: 22.4px; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"> William Gibson</span></span></div>
strangebananahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05402885506843045831noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1334007689975748798.post-18104248158733805532016-04-26T17:10:00.000+08:002016-05-31T09:17:00.851+08:00Simply Surreal<div class="MsoNormal">
Yes it’s a very real possibility that he might win. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
But you know, it would have been nice to have a leader that
would make us proud. To have a statesman – a statesman who knows how to deal
with world leaders and win us friends in other countries – lead us. Someone who could make us want to
shout out to the world, “Yes this person leads us. This person embodies our
aspirations, our ideals as a people.”<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
It would have been nice to have someone who could bring out
the best in us, and teach us compassion and empathy. Someone who could be an
inspiration to our youth. Someone who could balance the budget, who could
straighten out our fucked up, labyrinthine tax and banking laws, and improve
our abysmal educational system. Someone who could get to the root causes of
criminality, to actually do something about them and not just slaughter petty
criminals and call it justice. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
That would have been nice, you know? <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Instead we are saddled with a <a href="http://www.dw.com/en/who-are-the-philippines-top-presidential-candidates/a-19035071" target="_blank">group of candidates</a> that includes
the most<a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/morning-mix/wp/2016/04/25/after-disgusting-gang-rape-joke-philippine-presidential-contender-duterte-widens-lead/" target="_blank"> repulsive, pathetic, and ill-mannered characters ever to run for political office. </a><o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
It would have been funny, but these people would affect the
lives of millions of people. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
It troubles me. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
It also troubles me that a lot of people seem willing and
eager to embrace Martial Law, and welcome curfews! Simply surreal. Somebody please tell me it
ain’t true. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
But I suppose we will survive this. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
To quote Samwise Gamgee:<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
“It's like in the great stories, Mr. Frodo. The ones that
really mattered. Full of darkness and danger they were, and sometimes you
didn't want to know the end. Because how could the end be happy? How could the
world go back to the way it was when so much bad happened? But in the end, it's
only a passing thing, this shadow. Even darkness must pass. A new day will
come. And when the sun shines it will shine out the clearer. Those were the
stories that stayed with you. That meant something. Even if you were too small
to understand why. But I think, Mr. Frodo, I do understand. I know now. Folk in
those stories had lots of chances of turning back only they didn’t. Because
they were holding on to something.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
That there's some good in this world, Mister Frodo, and it's
worth fighting for.”<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
You know what’s tragic, though? That the country has no “the
way it was.” We’ve always been a basket case.<o:p></o:p></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
And now we have come to this. Our history has paved the way
for the rise to power of somebody like Duterte.<o:p></o:p></div>
strangebananahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05402885506843045831noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1334007689975748798.post-46712691128378128772016-04-08T10:59:00.002+08:002016-04-09T17:10:03.080+08:00Being "Bayot"<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
Is “bayot” an insult? I’m wondering
because last night I heard Rodrigo "Digong" <a href="http://attracttour.com/2016/04/full-video-mayor-rodrigo-duterte-calls-mar-roxas-bayot-gay/" target="_blank">Duterte on TV</a> saying this in
reaction to Mar Roxas’ expression of disbelief to his (Duterte’s) incredible claim
that he could eradicate criminality in the first six months of his presidency,
if and when he gets elected.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
The way he said it, his body
language, the tone, his facial expression – all convey his meaning, that <i>bayot </i>(gay) is something so hateful and disgusting that he reserves that judgment to those
who dare question the pronouncements of Emperor Digong. Well, to be fair, that
is probably his most benevolent method of answering his critics. I suspect he
has far more <a href="http://opinion.inquirer.net/90943/reading-between-the-duterte-lines" target="_blank">“creative” methods of silencing them.</a><o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
I can just hear his followers saying, “<i>Buti
nga bayot lang e. Dapat sa iyo pinapatay</i>.” (You should be thankful you're just being called <i>bayot</i>. You should have been killed.) And they’re right. They will inform
you this, with unholy glee and righteous anger, with blazing, fanatic eyes and
hands gesticulating wildly (or maybe pounding furiously on the keyboard), while
pointing out that Davao is heaven on earth. After all, Duterte’s critics are - to
hear those people drunk on Duterte-flavored Kool Aid describe them – stupid,
ignorant, uneducated criminals, and deserve to be raped and murdered, including
their families (I wish I were joking). <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
And another thing – is that man
capable of answering criticisms without resorting to insults and veiled and
not-so-veiled threats? You know, I seriously doubt it. After years of being THE Optimus Maximus of Davao, it probably hadn’t occurred to him that
others might be right, and he – <i>dare I say it?</i> – might be wrong. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
He still hasn’t given an
unequivocal answer though, on how he would rid the country of criminality
within six months. That would be a feat for the ages. I get that political
promises are a synonym for excrement (bovine, human, and whatnot) but this promise
is so laughably far-fetched and prodigiously absurd, that it deserves to be in
a class of its own. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhNY2C54r-Shp6m_Lf_r75iJjKP8dm046qXb_xn6dwuhZLgw__b4P8TVkBNTXSksOzZOmf6I_qpo4LY4tZpn7B8YEvhUPW7qkqXGg_2LlUBX3riZvXNko0vASrVxOBRAImzWxID-Nj2jGE/s1600/load+of+political+promises.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="263" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhNY2C54r-Shp6m_Lf_r75iJjKP8dm046qXb_xn6dwuhZLgw__b4P8TVkBNTXSksOzZOmf6I_qpo4LY4tZpn7B8YEvhUPW7qkqXGg_2LlUBX3riZvXNko0vASrVxOBRAImzWxID-Nj2jGE/s320/load+of+political+promises.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
We all have a sneaking suspicion of
what he is up to, and it is troubling that his followers are okay with it.
They welcome it, in fact. You could hear their collective panties dropping when
Emperor Digong announced that he would bring back curfew – that endearing facet
of Martial Law. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
Is the Philippines this broken that
we welcome people like this self-styled demigod to hold the highest office in
the land?<o:p></o:p></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
Yes, I fear it has come to this. <o:p></o:p></div>
strangebananahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05402885506843045831noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1334007689975748798.post-32940800405401018802016-02-03T12:07:00.000+08:002016-02-03T12:09:55.192+08:00Adjective Order<div class="MsoNormal">
Adjective Order is one of those obscure English grammar
rules that nobody told us about in college. A summary on how it works:<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Look at these two squares. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjBmpW70szMa497Vu-0zDsOyWL9bXFZQ857lFZKYYydN_shSMyK-cBxkMSHj83yy1LoAPx3bMzaTEuGtoUXKyHHDNDtfAtaJ4Zy9PQKrmp8HwY-diWgFd0OiUKHFD0-OuNlMCi80O5GgAg/s1600/adjectiveorder.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjBmpW70szMa497Vu-0zDsOyWL9bXFZQ857lFZKYYydN_shSMyK-cBxkMSHj83yy1LoAPx3bMzaTEuGtoUXKyHHDNDtfAtaJ4Zy9PQKrmp8HwY-diWgFd0OiUKHFD0-OuNlMCi80O5GgAg/s1600/adjectiveorder.png" /></a></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
How would you describe the objects? The image on the left
you’d probably describe as a big, red square, because that’s what it is, right?
Now, what if you describe it as red, big square? Does that sound right to you? It
sounds quite a bit off, doesn’t it?<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
It’s because there is a specific order of describing things
that for some reason English speakers have established as the proper way. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
When you are describing a noun using two or more adjectives,
the adjectives are usually in a particular order. Opinions come first, e.g.
gorgeous, ugly, etc., before factual ones. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
There are several levels of order. The Cambridge
Dictionaries Online lists ten:<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle">
Order relating to examples<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle">
1 opinion unusual, lovely, beautiful<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle">
2 size big,
small, tall<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle">
3 physical quality thin, rough, untidy<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle">
4 shape round, square, rectangular<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle">
5 age young,
old, youthful<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle">
6 color blue,
red, pink<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle">
7 origin Dutch,
Japanese, Turkish<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle">
8 material metal, wood, plastic<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle">
9 type general-purpose,
four-sided, U-shaped<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle">
10 purpose cleaning, hammering, cooking<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
EXAMPLES<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
She was wearing a beautiful new red dress.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The countertop has ten small round plastic bottles.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
He bought some interesting Russian iron ornaments at the
flea market.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
She is selling her beat-up 10-year-old German car.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
It happened during a miserable scorching afternoon.\<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
An obscure rule, but I think the majority of us follow this unconsciously
without realizing that there is actually such a rule. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Protip: Just remember <span style="background: #f0f3fc; color: #222222; font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 107%;">OpShACOM (Opinion, Shape,
Age, Color, Origin, Material)</span>. <o:p></o:p></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
strangebananahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05402885506843045831noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1334007689975748798.post-43681103226669777482015-04-23T09:39:00.001+08:002015-04-29T08:31:22.591+08:00Looking Back<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: 14.7pt; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="color: #444444; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 10.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-PH;">It’s so strange to see someone
watching herself dance 75 years ago. The image of a 102-year-old woman
juxtaposed with her youthful, beautiful, and vital self is unsettling, and
makes you think thoughts that you often ignore. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiLwd604Jp_clsioZ81VxG3oMD0uXRoCD2sdcT-gQibW1wnjZCd-KI729A_lP0iWK0quR0Wr_zcNQHqFaSvnnDycN4CzX3PfbKFDrC1Vzq0pQ9hKc1S1pkf-GZm_bnbiJK6EGhBzCXsWM8/s1600/alice.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiLwd604Jp_clsioZ81VxG3oMD0uXRoCD2sdcT-gQibW1wnjZCd-KI729A_lP0iWK0quR0Wr_zcNQHqFaSvnnDycN4CzX3PfbKFDrC1Vzq0pQ9hKc1S1pkf-GZm_bnbiJK6EGhBzCXsWM8/s1600/alice.jpg" /></a></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: 14.7pt; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="color: #444444; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 10.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-PH;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: 14.7pt; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="color: #444444; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 10.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-PH;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: 14.7pt; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="color: #444444; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 10.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-PH;">You could see through her eyes that
she’s reliving it—she can hear the music and feel its rhythm, feel her feet as
they strike the floor, feel the adrenaline rush of doing what she likes best
and doing it good.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: 14.7pt; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="color: #444444; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 10.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-PH;">Someone once said not to fear growing
old, because it is a privilege denied to many. That’s true, of course, but
there are moments when one feels that growing old is the saddest thing that
happens to us.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: 14.7pt; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="color: #444444; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 10.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-PH;">She’s remembering it all. It’s all in
her head still. She was beautiful, she was lithe, and she was a really great
dancer.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: 14.7pt; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="color: #444444; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 10.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-PH;">I guess that’s what our most precious
possessions are—our memories. We are still 12 or 16 or 21 inside.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: 14.7pt; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="color: #444444; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 10.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-PH;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<iframe allowfullscreen="" class="YOUTUBE-iframe-video" data-thumbnail-src="https://i.ytimg.com/vi/bktozJWbLQg/0.jpg" frameborder="0" height="266" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/bktozJWbLQg?feature=player_embedded" width="320"></iframe></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: 14.7pt; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="color: #444444; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 10.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-PH;"><br /></span></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: 14.7pt; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: 14.7pt; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="color: #444444; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 10.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-PH;">We’ll all grow old and die someday,
but we pretend that we are immortal. We’ll see our loved ones grow old and die,
or they’ll see us grow old and die, and everyone will suffer devastating loses
that are too much for anybody to bear.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: 14.7pt; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="color: #444444; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 10.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-PH;">You’d think that that is enough for
us to treat each other with compassion and love, but no. We go out of our way
to be cruel and be simply mean to others, just because we can. We join clubs to
be exclusive, then form a clique within that club to be even <i>more</i>exclusive.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: 14.7pt; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="color: #444444; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 10.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-PH;">We have different religions that
claims to spread love and peace, but the opposite is happening. We
discriminate, or we simply kill people, who don’t worship the same gods we do.
It’s a scary world out there, and the various religions with all their promises
did not make the world a safer place for the billions of people out there.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: 14.7pt; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="color: #444444; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 10.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-PH;">At the end of the day, we are reduced
to our memories of what we once were. So goddamn it, let’s all make memories
that we can look back on, memories that can make us smile and say to ourselves,
“Damn, I was an awesome, badass mofo.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: 14.7pt; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: 14.7pt; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="color: #444444; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 10.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-PH;">Didn’t mean to be so morbid, but as I
said, this video of Miss Alice Barker made me think of things that we often
ignore.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="color: #444444; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 10.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-PH;"><br /></span>
<blockquote class="tr_bq" style="color: #222222; font-size: 14px; line-height: 1.42857142857143em; margin-bottom: 0.357142857142857em; padding: 0px;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Anybody can look at a pretty girl and see a pretty girl. An artist can look at a pretty girl and see the old woman she will become. A better artist can look at an old woman and see the pretty girl that she used to be. But a great artist — a master — and that is what Auguste Rodin was — can look at an old woman, portray her exactly as she is… and force the viewer to see the pretty girl she used to be…. and more than that, he can make anyone with the sensitivity of an armadillo, or even you, see that this lovely young girl is still alive, not old and ugly at all, but simply prisoned inside her ruined body. He can make you feel the quiet, endless tragedy that there was never a girl born who ever grew older than eighteen in her heart…. no matter what the merciless hours have done to her. Look at her, Ben. Growing old doesn't matter to you and me; we were never meant to be admired — but it does to them. Look at her!</span></blockquote>
<span style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: 10.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-PH;"></span><br />
<div style="color: #222222; font-size: 14px; line-height: 1.42857142857143em; margin-top: 0.357142857142857em; padding: 0px;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Jubal Harshaw, Stranger in a Strange Land, by Robert Heinlein</span></div>
</div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
strangebananahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05402885506843045831noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1334007689975748798.post-41069817314228745702015-04-03T09:37:00.000+08:002015-04-03T09:37:33.116+08:00There's Just No Easy Way<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
“How do you say, in polite
English, ‘<i>Punta muna ako sa kubeta;
taeng-tae na ako!</i>’ (I have to go the
toilet; I’m about to shit myself!)?”<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
In a (Philippine) website that
deals mostly in computer parts and peripherals, there was this thread about
English grammar. Presumably, the thread starter (commonly referred to in
internet forums as the <i>TS</i>), who was
one of the regulars of the aforementioned site, has trouble expressing himself
in grammatically correct English. As the site is quite popular, and the site
members come from diverse backgrounds, many contributed to that thread, and
competently answered the TS’ and other posters’ questions regarding English
grammar. The “English” thread, suffice it to say, was one of the site’s most
active threads. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
Anyway, the question quoted above
was just one of many. I stumbled across it one afternoon a few months ago. It
appeared that the <i>poster</i> works for a
firm run by Americans. During one particularly unforgettable meeting with his
American supervisors, he found himself in a predicament that necessitated the above-quoted
question.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiB0aADTjqVDcFap9xDokH8_rt3zH69dC9eLUB9oBXypZNLycsMyw7P31ontY8KN-Hui116t4mOMt7kdVP31Lkp4DLi-84I436rZ6GTL7DBewJm4gBo9OKffnyMfOEgUL7Awoj5W34R1MI/s1600/for+blog.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiB0aADTjqVDcFap9xDokH8_rt3zH69dC9eLUB9oBXypZNLycsMyw7P31ontY8KN-Hui116t4mOMt7kdVP31Lkp4DLi-84I436rZ6GTL7DBewJm4gBo9OKffnyMfOEgUL7Awoj5W34R1MI/s1600/for+blog.jpg" /></a></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
He apparently never forgot the
helplessness and despair he felt when the first “rumblings” of trouble started
deep inside his bowels, and discovering to his horror that he couldn’t just
very well blurt out “<i>Sandali, taeng-tae
na ako</i>!” to the white faces around him in the conference table. He had to
think of a way to let his needs known in a tactful and polite way—and in <i>English</i>, to boot. Ultimately, he managed
to avoid being embarrassed—that is, he avoided soiling himself—through sheer
will, I suppose.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
Determined to never again experience
the horror and helplessness he felt in such a situation, he posted his question
in the “English” thread of the site mentioned above. Just in case he needed to
extricate himself again, no doubt. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
One poster suggested this one: “Please
excuse me; I have to go the comfort room.” However, other posters pointed out,
correctly, that Americans are not familiar with the term “comfort room,” as
used by Filipinos to refer to <i>toilet</i>.
“Toilet” would be the most obvious word, and was suggested instead, along with
other words that bordered on being flowery (to convey politeness, presumably) and
all saying the same thing, i. e., going to the toilet. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
I posted my observation that a
person, in such a situation, has more things to worry about than grammar; that
he still managed to concern himself about what words to use while in such a dire
predicament is a testament to his, well, <i>sphincter</i>
control. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
Others would just probably bolt
for the door. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
Besides, other people in the
room would already have an <i>inkling</i> of
what was going on, as such a condition is usually betrayed by malodorous
emanations. Bolting for the door then
would be perfectly reasonable. Embarrassing, sure, but the alternative is
horrifying. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
My toes curl at the thought of <i>me</i> suffering that unhappy fate.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
strangebananahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05402885506843045831noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1334007689975748798.post-7838502150803326812015-02-11T16:09:00.001+08:002015-02-11T17:08:20.816+08:00From Cross-stitching to Explosions<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
Misis Djyli is the username of a young housewife who, for
the past few months, had been uploading her cross-stitching projects on YouTube.
It’s her hobby, and clearly she loves it—you can hear the happiness in her voice as she
presents her cross-stitches. I am not an expert on cross-stitching, but
hers look beautiful, at least according to the few comments on her YouTube channel.
<o:p></o:p></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
Here's one of her earliest uploads:</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<iframe allowfullscreen="" class="YOUTUBE-iframe-video" data-thumbnail-src="https://ytimg.googleusercontent.com/vi/5NVnb90uPKg/0.jpg" frameborder="0" height="266" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/5NVnb90uPKg?feature=player_embedded" width="320"></iframe></div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
Almost nobody watches her cross-stitching videos, but it didn’t
seem to bother her—she just kept making and
uploading them. </div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
Her latest video, however, has currently over a million views, and it does not
show her cross-stitching. It shows her town being bombed, and her normally
happy voice is gone. She is crying and
sounds very afraid on the video, and you can hear a baby crying in the
background. The woman, you see, lives in Ukraine. She lives in a town called
Kramatorsk, and the town was recently attacked by Russians (or perhaps ethnic Russians
who call themselves <i>Russian freedom
fighters</i>) using bombs or maybe rockets.</div>
<o:p></o:p><br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<iframe allowfullscreen="" class="YOUTUBE-iframe-video" data-thumbnail-src="https://ytimg.googleusercontent.com/vi/cc9Kh-OL4sQ/0.jpg" frameborder="0" height="266" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/cc9Kh-OL4sQ?feature=player_embedded" width="320"></iframe></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
It’s kind of shocking to see two sides of this person—in her
old videos, she sounds cheerful and pleased with her cross-stitches, and in her latest, she’s terrified, and crying.
She’s so afraid for her child. This is a stark contrast
from her old videos, where she sounds calm and perfectly content, and then this—a
normal, average person being affected by war. She must feel so helpless.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
For sure, the coming days for her and her family will be
tough. I hope they make it through the hard times, and Misis Djyili can make another
video of her cross-stitches.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Constantia","serif"; font-size: 11.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">I don’t understand a word
of what she is saying, but I hope to hear her normal voice again. </span></div>
strangebananahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05402885506843045831noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1334007689975748798.post-66696227184419010692014-11-25T13:39:00.000+08:002015-01-14T11:03:13.463+08:00Warning: Spoiler Alert<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Georgia","serif";">I was watching
that “I see dead people” movie years ago when this so-called friend called me
up and asked me what I was doing. I said I’m watching this movie with Bruce Willis in it, and there's this kid who sees dead people. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">He said, “Oh
yeah. Saw that. Bruce Willis is the ghost.” Then he laughed. I played it cool,
but I was seething. I thought of Cthulhu and considered summoning him. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">I don’t remember what he said afterwards, what he called
me up for, or even what we talked about, but every time I see him (which is about once or twice a year, thank heavens) I imagine him being gnawed on by a good-sized <a href="http://starwars.wikia.com/wiki/Rancor" target="_blank">rancor</a>.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Georgia","serif";">I remembered
this incident because I just finished reading “Fight Club,” Chuck Palahniuk’s
novel. Nobody called me up to spoil anything for me, but I did see this shirt
on some website:<br />
<!--[if !supportLineBreakNewLine]--><br />
<!--[endif]--><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgMECD_QchxWPN-0_lJwHZ06Z6_sI-k2rDQwj0KKBmmts-QhrHVgyAMyJD2GpAwA5V02ApHe4IiJ88GvB86942JNqazbO4PrT508OKxqo9ZUD4KNlGGDuaGnuoy3EJObOQLPoG3tWiCgtA/s1600/spolier+shirt.gif" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgMECD_QchxWPN-0_lJwHZ06Z6_sI-k2rDQwj0KKBmmts-QhrHVgyAMyJD2GpAwA5V02ApHe4IiJ88GvB86942JNqazbO4PrT508OKxqo9ZUD4KNlGGDuaGnuoy3EJObOQLPoG3tWiCgtA/s1600/spolier+shirt.gif" height="240" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">This shirt is diabolical</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Georgia","serif";">I was only on
the first few pages of the book when I saw this, so the whole time I was
reading, this was flashing on my head, like a neon sign: Tyler Durden is not
real Tyler Durden is not real. Over and over.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Georgia","serif";">Didn’t matter,
though—I had a good time reading the book. Still, it would have been quite an
experience had I not known that bit about Tyler Durden.<br />I've read years ago George RR Martin's A Song of Ice and Fire, and I could have revealed massive spoilers to my friends when the TV series came out. But I didn't <i>(pats myself on the back). </i>I'm awesome that way<i>.</i></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Georgia","serif";">Unlike my <i>good-only-as-rancor-food</i> <i>former</i> <i>friend,</i> who, had he been a book reader, would not have hesitated to call up (or text) every one he knows and tell them about Ned Stark or about The Red Wedding. Thank god the only thing he reads are labels on cheap gin bottles. <o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Georgia","serif";"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Georgia","serif";">Spoilers like these
probably won’t affect the price of rice in the Philippines, but for someone
like me who still feels galactically pissed off at that TV executive who
cancelled Firefly, it can be infuriating. These little things can all add up. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Georgia","serif";">And
they all comeback to bug you at three in the morning.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
strangebananahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05402885506843045831noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1334007689975748798.post-75622736100487911552014-10-24T08:47:00.000+08:002014-10-31T11:48:38.762+08:00Typhoons and Earthquakes in the Philippines<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Constantia","serif";">The
Philippines has more than its fair share of disasters, and not because the
country is particularly cursed or anything, but because the entire archipelago—purportedly
composed of 7,100 islands—lies on a region in the Pacific Ocean called the
“Ring of Fire” (actually, the area is shaped more like a horseshoe, although to
be fair, “The Horseshoe of Fire” doesn’t have the same impact as the “Ring of Fire”).
About 40,000 kilometers long, the “ring” runs from the southern tip of South
America, up along the coast of North America, across the Bering Strait, down
through Japan, the Philippines, Indonesia (the Ring of Fire’s western edge
extends into the Indian Ocean), and to New Zealand. The “Fire” part of the <i>Ring of Fire</i> is because a string of 452 volcanoes dot this line,
like a malevolent game of connect-the-dots. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgBjARKzfZR5y330p3PsWT6RDZZUVKPiZs6C5l_X1d8qZNjrBl11fCgQQK1X80NqSSMvwWL0O8143R9JLfodWSbfe256gIDuAJ3RK2rkp9FrD0aqoAJmYo1GjKsBw4rfdpBu4MGMNlESsE/s1600/ring+of+fire.gif" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgBjARKzfZR5y330p3PsWT6RDZZUVKPiZs6C5l_X1d8qZNjrBl11fCgQQK1X80NqSSMvwWL0O8143R9JLfodWSbfe256gIDuAJ3RK2rkp9FrD0aqoAJmYo1GjKsBw4rfdpBu4MGMNlESsE/s1600/ring+of+fire.gif" height="176" width="320" /></a></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Constantia","serif";">The
regions along this line experience volcanic eruptions and periodic earthquakes—majority
of them small, hardly-felt tremors, and the few devastating ones that kill
thousands and cause tsunamis that can kill even more.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Constantia","serif";">Besides
being right on the edge of the Ring of Fire, the Philippines is also practically
next door to an area in the Pacific where typhoons regularly spawn. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Constantia","serif";">And,
as luck would have it, the country is right in the typhoons’ path—a sort of
doormat for typhoons as they make their way towards the Asian mainland. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgFLrrzjRK9HpNBTG1x2mBZ5eIRSUS5erwuUSGYlprmlrmnHyDOvwL4rnMmrtdO3E84pSN10a1Fsvb72KyBXDsb6G5vPjKcLvS22nzro0We7_6kRUyMFjd8pGwzuPQUh6D9hGKo5udFo_4/s1600/typhoon.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgFLrrzjRK9HpNBTG1x2mBZ5eIRSUS5erwuUSGYlprmlrmnHyDOvwL4rnMmrtdO3E84pSN10a1Fsvb72KyBXDsb6G5vPjKcLvS22nzro0We7_6kRUyMFjd8pGwzuPQUh6D9hGKo5udFo_4/s1600/typhoon.jpg" height="172" width="320" /></a></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Constantia","serif";">This
means that besides molten rocks and earthquakes, the Philippines also
experiences weapons-grade winds that can tear down homes, uproot trees, cause
storm surges, as well as torrential rains that can trigger flashfloods,
landslides, and destroy crops and properties.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Constantia","serif";">Approximately
80 typhoons develop in this region yearly, and about 19 enter the Philippine
Area of Responsibility (PAR). About six to nine of these typhoons make
landfall, making the Philippines the country most exposed to typhoons. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Constantia","serif";">No
wonder our country is among the world’s most disaster-prone countries. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<h1 style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: 11.0pt; line-height: 115%;"> </span></h1>
<h1 style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: 11.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Right
On Top of Plates<o:p></o:p></span></h1>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Constantia","serif";">Tectonic
plates, I mean. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Constantia","serif";">These
are part of the Earth’s mantle—massive, irregularly shaped slabs of solid rock
just under the planet’s surface, upon which large section of the Earth rests. They
are called tectonic plates by scientists. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Constantia","serif";">There
are about 8 major plates, and dozens of smaller ones, each carrying a piece of
the world on top, making our planet seem like a gigantic jigsaw puzzle. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Constantia","serif";">Tectonic
plates vary greatly, from a few hundred to thousands of kilometers across. The
Pacific Plate and the Antarctic Plates are the largest. Each plate’s thickness
also varies, ranging from less than 15 kilometers to about 200 kilometers or
more. The plates constitute the lithosphere, which is a layer of rock on the
top of the Earth’s mantle. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj2QpaI2HrZT6sEdg2KxMToDNX76VmemPfczKSl-b3Gpgl5piZsARRCfUyGqDuA0-d8VvU9Ixk9dDhAKJDVxr0Fwj3AlBiKCrcHombiTUyicEP9kR3zx2h15VJ3nRWitGQhbKeBZw76l2U/s1600/earthcone275x188.gif" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj2QpaI2HrZT6sEdg2KxMToDNX76VmemPfczKSl-b3Gpgl5piZsARRCfUyGqDuA0-d8VvU9Ixk9dDhAKJDVxr0Fwj3AlBiKCrcHombiTUyicEP9kR3zx2h15VJ3nRWitGQhbKeBZw76l2U/s1600/earthcone275x188.gif" /></a></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Constantia","serif";">Beneath
the lithosphere is a partially molten rock layer called asthenosphere. Driven by
forces from deep beneath the earth, the plates slowly move across the planet’s
surface, interacting with other plates, diverging, colliding, and slipping past
each other. The edges of these plates, where they bump and grind against other
plates, are the sites where earthquakes commonly happen, and where many
volcanoes are active. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Constantia","serif";">These
movements also influence the form of the planet’s surface. Where the plates
meet, mountain-building occurs—besides earthquakes, volcanic activity, and
oceanic trench formation.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Constantia","serif";">According
to the plate tectonics theory, Earth’s outer shell is divided into several
plates that glide over the rocky inner layer above the core called the mantle. Actually
a modern version of Alfred Wegener’s Continental Drift Theory first proposed
in 1912, this theory explains how the Earth’s continents move around the
planet. Tectonic plates probably developed very early in the Earth’s
4.6-billion-year history. They have been drifting since, pressing against each
other, then separating again, like some fiery and explosive dance that has been
going on since the beginning of time, in the process forming and shaping the
world as we know it. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Constantia","serif";">The
plates move about the same rate as the growth of your fingernails, so the world
that we know today is different from what it was millions and millions of years
ago. And millions and millions of years from now, the world will wear a face
unrecognizable to us. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Constantia","serif";">Most
of the boundaries between individual plates are hidden beneath the oceans, so
they cannot be seen. They can be accurately mapped, however, from outer space
by measurements from satellites. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Constantia","serif";">Plates
change over time, like many features on the surface of the Earth. Plates that
are composed of denser materials, like an oceanic lithosphere, can sink under a
lighter continental plate, and can eventually disappear completely. There are actually
plates that are in danger of disappearing.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Constantia","serif";">The
Philippines, as we have mentioned, is in the Pacific Ring of Fire, where the oceanic
Philippine Plate and a few much smaller plates are subducting, or sliding
under, along the Philippine Trench. Moreover, scientists consider the
Philippine Sea plate as unusual, because almost all the boundaries of the
surrounding plates are converging. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Constantia","serif";">This
means that the country is being squeezed by two large tectonic plates—the
Pacific Plate and the Eurasian Plate. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<o:p><br /><i>Note: This is an excerpt from my forthcoming book, "Disaster Management for Filipinos"</i></o:p></div>
strangebananahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05402885506843045831noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1334007689975748798.post-50588212656028381762014-06-05T09:41:00.000+08:002014-06-08T07:57:34.085+08:00Harnessing the Anger of Trolls<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">"If you
want to do something evil, put it in something boring."- John Oliver<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEho8FZxcS_Fssb9JZxWxFttAvn0-1b8b4td6X9JZ-OjQcwKs6L5Wa47aOaJxb_aAGj3iAhXnNDgVgcegSchN937zG5iGd8HI7f-NyJZxWcjK_idh-_J1JcANYCB247d73Yc_Ph8p6YTO38/s1600/John-Oliver.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEho8FZxcS_Fssb9JZxWxFttAvn0-1b8b4td6X9JZ-OjQcwKs6L5Wa47aOaJxb_aAGj3iAhXnNDgVgcegSchN937zG5iGd8HI7f-NyJZxWcjK_idh-_J1JcANYCB247d73Yc_Ph8p6YTO38/s1600/John-Oliver.jpg" height="320" width="216" /></a></div>
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">John Oliver,
host of the HBO comedy show “Last Week Tonight with John Oliver,” made one of
the most brilliant rants in the history of internet. Not only was it funny and made people laugh, but it also made them outraged about something a great majority are clueless and apathetic about: <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Net_neutrality" target="_blank">net neutrality</a>. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<iframe allowfullscreen='allowfullscreen' webkitallowfullscreen='webkitallowfullscreen' mozallowfullscreen='mozallowfullscreen' width='320' height='266' src='https://www.youtube.com/embed/fpbOEoRrHyU?feature=player_embedded' frameborder='0'></iframe></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-US" style="background: white; color: #333333; font-family: "Georgia","serif"; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">The rant was directed
against the US Federal Communications Commission’s <a href="http://www.cbc.ca/news/technology/the-net-neutrality-battle-for-equal-access-vs-pay-for-premium-internet-1.2620804" target="_blank">proposed net neutrality regulations</a>,
which was deemed so egregious it forced activists and corporations to be on the same side. The FCC, however, invited the public to post their comments on their website.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">And this made Mr. Oliver appeal directly to the trolls
and lurkers and other internet commenters out there to “seize their moment” and
let their outrage show using their most potent weapon: the keyboard.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"> </span><span lang="EN-US" style="background: white; color: #333333; font-family: "Georgia","serif";">"For once in your life, we need you to channel that anger, that badly spelled bile that you normally reserve for unforgivable attacks on actresses you seem to think have put on weight...or politicians that you disagree with...</span><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, serif;">or photos of your ex-girlfriends getting on with their lives</span><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, serif;">...or non-white actors getting the part of fictional characters</span><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, serif;">...</span><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, serif;"> We need you to get out there and for once in your lives, focus your indiscriminate rage in a useful direction. Seize your moment, my lovely trolls. Turn on caps lock and fly my pretties, fly! Fly! Fly!"</span></blockquote>
<div class="MsoNormal">
</div>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">Is John Oliver’s call on internet commenters as rousing as Theoden’s speech to
the Rohirrim, as stirring as Churchill’s “Finest Hour” speech to the British? Well, I wouldn't go that far, but it apparently worked. FCC’s website “experienced technical problems” after
thousands upon thousands of faceless commenters flooded the website with their outraged comments. Website's up now, but the point was made.<br />They heard you, John Oliver.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
strangebananahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05402885506843045831noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1334007689975748798.post-58785748611846549692014-03-05T09:37:00.001+08:002014-04-08T16:00:27.548+08:00Nothing To Lose<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">I was reading <a href="http://newsinfo.inquirer.net/582357/smc-scuttles-land-donation-to-healing-priest" target="_blank"><span style="color: blue;">this article</span></a> about a
so-called “healing priest” and it struck me that even in the 21<sup>st</sup> century,
people are still gullible enough to trust “faith healers.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">There are a lot of reasons for
this (poverty and miseducation among them), but </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">in this day and age</span><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">, </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">you’d think that people</span><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"> would think twice about trusting those who claim to heal all kinds
of diseases through prayers and faith alone. Mind you, the “healers” would make
it clear that their healing powers did not come from them, but from a “higher
power.” These mysterious power source would range from the Baby Jesus (or the adult one), “Mama Mary,”
from a magical dwarf (I’m not kidding), a mysterious hermit, or even from an old
lady who claims to be a reincarnation of Jesus.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">Filipinos lap these up. Even today, there are many p</span><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">eople in the country's rural areas that still believe in </span><i style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">anting-anting</i><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"> (amulets). It’s not a coincidence
that people in areas that are mired in poverty and with low literacy rates are
the ones that have the most superstitious beliefs. But even those who are
supposed to be college-educated also believe in all sorts of </span><i style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">anting-antings</i><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"> and
in the supernatural and the paranormal. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">Like these faith healers. Although many had been <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Psychic_surgery" target="_blank"><span style="color: blue;">revealed</span></a> as nothing but <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MCAB5aHX3LM" target="_blank"><span style="color: blue;">con men</span></a> and <a href="http://www.skepdic.com/psurgery.html" target="_blank"><span style="color: blue;">charlatans</span></a>, they are still flourishing in this country. What's more, they
do not lack for patrons, even from those who are "educated," and from
the middle class.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">Maybe it’s also a cultural thing? The inhabitants of the Philippines after all practiced a form of animism and other indigenous beliefs during pre-colonial times. Believing in <i>magic healers</i> is not that too great a leap for a people who, until now, believe in <i><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kulam" target="_blank">kulam</a></i>. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">There are also those who turn to faith healers as a result of desperation. "What have we
get to lose?" is often what they tell themselves to justify their decision to trust these sleazy purveyors of false hopes. But it is this attitude, this
desperation, that these con men count on.<br />And, it pains me to admit this, our inherent gullibility. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">Reading about this <i>healing priest </i>reminded me of <a href="http://www.randi.org/site/index.php/jref-news/1239-mdc-changes.html" target="_blank"><span style="color: blue;">James Randi’s Paranormal Challenge</span></a>,
where a million dollars is offered <span style="background: white;">“to
anyone who can demonstrate a supernatural or paranormal ability under
agreed-upon scientific testing criteria</span>.” </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">James Randi, a stage magician,
enemy of charlatans, and a "debunker" of fantastic claims, had said: </span></div>
<blockquote class="tr_bq" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">"</span><span style="color: #181818; font-family: "Georgia","serif"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-PH;">There exists in society a very special class of
persons that I have always referred to as the Believers. These are folks who
have chosen to accept a certain religion, philosophy, theory, idea or notion
and cling to that belief regardless of any evidence that might, for anyone
else, bring it into doubt. They are the ones who encourage and support the
fanatics and the frauds of any given age. No amount of evidence, no matter how
strong, will bring them any enlightenment. They are the sheep who beg to be
fleeced and butchered, and who will battle fiercely to preserve their right to
be victimized."</span></blockquote>
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<span style="font-family: "Georgia","serif"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-PH;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; font-family: Georgia, serif;">The challenge was
first offered in 1964, and so far, no one has won the prize.</span><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgD257Rl_KqhoJ6Ee-xrJBOxaejbaGe-Vh7tU6Xghc0tA6S0mSh4JPg0qJlOUkAvLTuk9BV52hYmdVYsGFpuOEy-b9HW9qWo_i3qrphzCyAvXXg9jPqRyHMWo2wIjuuZbFySnEFWJJMgdo/s1600/randi2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgD257Rl_KqhoJ6Ee-xrJBOxaejbaGe-Vh7tU6Xghc0tA6S0mSh4JPg0qJlOUkAvLTuk9BV52hYmdVYsGFpuOEy-b9HW9qWo_i3qrphzCyAvXXg9jPqRyHMWo2wIjuuZbFySnEFWJJMgdo/s1600/randi2.jpg" /></a></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; font-family: Georgia, serif;">The article I linked
above is about the aborted deal between one of the country’s top corporations
and the foundation headed by a certain Father Fernando Suarez, a “healing
priest.” The deal was about a 33 hectare land in Cavite (a province a few
kilometers south of Manila) to be donated to Fr. Suarez’s foundation.</span><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; font-family: Georgia, serif;">A Catholic priest, Fr.
Suarez had planned to build a giant statue of Mary on the donated land, a
statue that, if built, will rival Rio de Janeiro’s Christ the Redeemer in terms
of size. This giant statue would reportedly cost about a billion Philippine
Pesos (around 22 million USD).</span><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; font-family: Georgia, serif;">The Philippines is
among the poorest countries in the world, and is often ravaged by typhoons and
other natural disasters. A statue that would cost this much to build in a
country like ours is nothing short of obscene.</span><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; font-family: Georgia, serif;">This is not just your
run-of-the-mill religious devotion; this is fanaticism of the nauseating kind. </span></div>
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<!-- Blogger automated replacement: "https://images-blogger-opensocial.googleusercontent.com/gadgets/proxy?url=http%3A%2F%2F1.bp.blogspot.com%2F-_AzO8HBLZq4%2FUxZ7RZFNWJI%2FAAAAAAAAAeQ%2FAp9-JKN4pzs%2Fs1600%2Frandi2.jpg&container=blogger&gadget=a&rewriteMime=image%2F*" with "https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEitBnxTlkVdz1pWuQ6Xa-N-35BE6LhAhoqh4SYgKHTn1Q6RFYgHMOEYARAWOuZQamdrzctWJCCCOjXd7U7etREqhCaKQ6DfZNwCfWqEnDEKCPyiplxhsGTSwUupZHDxW5kU_DnXlYqZv_A/s1600/randi2.jpg" -->strangebananahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05402885506843045831noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1334007689975748798.post-79392619822325336092014-01-15T08:36:00.001+08:002014-01-15T08:36:42.150+08:00Writing Tips From Elmore Leonard, Kurt Vonnegut, and Neil Gaiman<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: 15.75pt; margin-bottom: 7.5pt; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;">
<span style="color: #333333; letter-spacing: -.75pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-PH;">Authors have different writing styles. To somebody
who is halfway literate, Hemingway’s works are as different from Dan Brown’s as
Mozart’s music is from Kenny G’s. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: 15.75pt; margin-bottom: 7.5pt; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;">
<span style="color: #333333; letter-spacing: -.75pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-PH;">It’s not surprising then that different authors
have different writing advice. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #333333; letter-spacing: -.75pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-PH;">Compare the different advice given by these three great
authors:<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<b><span style="color: #333333; letter-spacing: -.75pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-PH;"><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elmore_Leonard" target="_blank">Elmore Leonard</a><o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhaXhK_fMPFxHjInifMV-vDFiLcz9bIXG_iLAT2-iBPS1ChouH6WTElbx9IiH4x8yuOkg8o0swtEBJA_27jmPWceGKwzkRMDitssOY3YlxHbxhPwLqWuWYrGEu6ufQftfmoFFYPAgCG9cM/s1600/elmore+leonard.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhaXhK_fMPFxHjInifMV-vDFiLcz9bIXG_iLAT2-iBPS1ChouH6WTElbx9IiH4x8yuOkg8o0swtEBJA_27jmPWceGKwzkRMDitssOY3YlxHbxhPwLqWuWYrGEu6ufQftfmoFFYPAgCG9cM/s1600/elmore+leonard.jpg" /></a></div>
<br />
<ol start="1" type="1">
<li class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; color: #333333; line-height: 15.75pt; margin-bottom: 7.5pt; mso-list: l2 level1 lfo3; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; tab-stops: list .5in;"><b><span style="letter-spacing: -.75pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-PH;">Never open a book with weather.</span></b><span style="letter-spacing: -.75pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-PH;"><o:p></o:p></span></li>
</ol>
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<span style="color: #333333; letter-spacing: -.75pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-PH;">If it’s only to create atmosphere, and not a
character’s reaction to the weather, you don’t want to go on too long. The
reader is apt to leaf ahead looking for people. There are exceptions. If you
happen to be Barry Lopez, who has more ways to describe ice and snow than an
Eskimo, you can do all the weather reporting you want.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<ol start="2" type="1">
<li class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; color: #333333; line-height: 15.75pt; margin-bottom: 7.5pt; mso-list: l2 level1 lfo3; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; tab-stops: list .5in;"><b><span style="letter-spacing: -.75pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-PH;">Avoid prologues.</span></b><span style="letter-spacing: -.75pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-PH;"><o:p></o:p></span></li>
</ol>
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<span style="color: #333333; letter-spacing: -.75pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-PH;">They can be annoying, especially a prologue
following an introduction that comes after a foreword. But these are ordinarily
found in nonfiction. A prologue in a novel is backstory, and you can drop it in
anywhere you want.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: 15.75pt; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in;">
<span style="color: #333333; letter-spacing: -.75pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-PH;">There is a prologue in John Steinbeck’s </span><a href="http://www.amazon.com/Sweet-Thursday-Penguin-Classics-Steinbeck/dp/0143039474/?tag=braipick-20" target="_blank"><i><span style="color: #990000; letter-spacing: -.75pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-PH; text-decoration: none; text-underline: none;">Sweet Thursday</span></i></a><span style="color: #333333; letter-spacing: -.75pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-PH;">, but it’s O.K.
because a character in the book makes the point of what my rules are all about.
He says: “I like a lot of talk in a book and I don’t like to have nobody tell
me what the guy that’s talking looks like. I want to figure out what he looks
like from the way he talks. . . . figure out what the guy’s thinking from what
he says. I like some description but not too much of that. . . . Sometimes I
want a book to break loose with a bunch of hooptedoodle. . . . Spin up some
pretty words maybe or sing a little song with language. That’s nice. But I wish
it was set aside so I don’t have to read it. I don’t want hooptedoodle to get
mixed up with the story.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<ol start="3" type="1">
<li class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; color: #333333; line-height: 15.75pt; margin-bottom: 7.5pt; mso-list: l2 level1 lfo3; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; tab-stops: list .5in;"><b><span style="letter-spacing: -.75pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-PH;">Never use a verb other than “said” to carry dialogue.</span></b><span style="letter-spacing: -.75pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-PH;"><o:p></o:p></span></li>
</ol>
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<span style="color: #333333; letter-spacing: -.75pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-PH;">The line of dialogue belongs to the character; the
verb is the writer sticking his nose in. But said is far less intrusive than
grumbled, gasped, cautioned, lied. I once noticed Mary McCarthy ending a line
of dialogue with “she asseverated,” and had to stop reading to get the
dictionary.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<ol start="4" type="1">
<li class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; color: #333333; line-height: 15.75pt; margin-bottom: 7.5pt; mso-list: l2 level1 lfo3; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; tab-stops: list .5in;"><b><span style="letter-spacing: -.75pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-PH;">Never use an adverb to modify the verb “said” …</span></b><span style="letter-spacing: -.75pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-PH;"><o:p></o:p></span></li>
</ol>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: 15.75pt; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in;">
<span style="color: #333333; letter-spacing: -.75pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-PH;">…he admonished gravely. To use an adverb this way
(or almost any way) is a mortal sin. The writer is now exposing himself in
earnest, using a word that distracts and can interrupt the rhythm of the
exchange. I have a character in one of my books tell how she used to write
historical romances “full of rape and adverbs.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<ol start="5" type="1">
<li class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; color: #333333; line-height: 15.75pt; margin-bottom: 7.5pt; mso-list: l2 level1 lfo3; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; tab-stops: list .5in;"><b><span style="letter-spacing: -.75pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-PH;">Keep your exclamation points under control.</span></b><span style="letter-spacing: -.75pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-PH;"><o:p></o:p></span></li>
</ol>
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<span style="color: #333333; letter-spacing: -.75pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-PH;">You are allowed no more than two or three per
100,000 words of prose. If you have the knack of playing with exclaimers the
way Tom Wolfe does, you can throw them in by the handful.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<ol start="6" type="1">
<li class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; color: #333333; line-height: 15.75pt; margin-bottom: 7.5pt; mso-list: l2 level1 lfo3; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; tab-stops: list .5in;"><b><span style="letter-spacing: -.75pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-PH;">Never use the words “suddenly” or “all hell broke loose.”</span></b><span style="letter-spacing: -.75pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-PH;"><o:p></o:p></span></li>
</ol>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: 15.75pt; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in;">
<span style="color: #333333; letter-spacing: -.75pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-PH;">This rule doesn’t require an explanation. I have
noticed that writers who use “suddenly” tend to exercise less control in the
application of exclamation points.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<ol start="7" type="1">
<li class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; color: #333333; line-height: 15.75pt; margin-bottom: 7.5pt; mso-list: l2 level1 lfo3; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; tab-stops: list .5in;"><b><span style="letter-spacing: -.75pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-PH;">Use regional dialect, patois, sparingly.</span></b><span style="letter-spacing: -.75pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-PH;"><o:p></o:p></span></li>
</ol>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: 15.75pt; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in;">
<span style="color: #333333; letter-spacing: -.75pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-PH;">Once you start spelling words in dialogue
phonetically and loading the page with apostrophes, you won’t be able to stop.
Notice the way Annie Proulx captures the flavor of Wyoming voices in her book
of short stories</span><a href="http://www.amazon.com/Close-Range-Wyoming-Annie-Proulx/dp/0684852225/?tag=braipick-20" target="_blank"><i><span style="color: #990000; letter-spacing: -.75pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-PH; text-decoration: none; text-underline: none;">Close Range</span></i></a><span style="color: #333333; letter-spacing: -.75pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-PH;">.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<ol start="8" type="1">
<li class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; color: #333333; line-height: 15.75pt; margin-bottom: 7.5pt; mso-list: l2 level1 lfo3; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; tab-stops: list .5in;"><b><span style="letter-spacing: -.75pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-PH;">Avoid detailed descriptions of characters.</span></b><span style="letter-spacing: -.75pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-PH;"><o:p></o:p></span></li>
</ol>
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<span style="color: #333333; letter-spacing: -.75pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-PH;">Which Steinbeck covered. In Ernest
Hemingway’s </span><a href="http://www.amazon.com/Complete-Short-Stories-Ernest-Hemingway/dp/0684843323/?tag=braipick-20" target="_blank"><i><span style="color: #990000; letter-spacing: -.75pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-PH; text-decoration: none; text-underline: none;">Hills Like White Elephants</span></i></a><span style="color: #333333; letter-spacing: -.75pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-PH;"> what do
the “American and the girl with him” look like? “She had taken off her hat and
put it on the table.” That’s the only reference to a physical description in
the story, and yet we see the couple and know them by their tones of voice,
with not one adverb in sight.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<ol start="9" type="1">
<li class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; color: #333333; line-height: 15.75pt; margin-bottom: 7.5pt; mso-list: l2 level1 lfo3; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; tab-stops: list .5in;"><b><span style="letter-spacing: -.75pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-PH;">Don’t go into great detail describing places and things.</span></b><span style="letter-spacing: -.75pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-PH;"><o:p></o:p></span></li>
</ol>
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<span style="color: #333333; letter-spacing: -.75pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-PH;">Unless you’re </span><a href="http://www.brainpickings.org/index.php/2013/05/01/margaret-atwood-women-writers/"><span style="color: #990000; letter-spacing: -.75pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-PH; text-decoration: none; text-underline: none;">Margaret Atwood</span></a><span style="color: #333333; letter-spacing: -.75pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-PH;"> and can paint scenes with language or write
landscapes in the style of Jim Harrison. But even if you’re good at it, you
don’t want descriptions that bring the action, the flow of the story, to a
standstill.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: 15.75pt; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in;">
<span style="color: #333333; letter-spacing: -.75pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-PH;">And finally:<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<ol start="10" type="1">
<li class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; color: #333333; line-height: 15.75pt; margin-bottom: 7.5pt; mso-list: l2 level1 lfo3; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; tab-stops: list .5in;"><b><span style="letter-spacing: -.75pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-PH;">Try to leave out the part that readers tend to skip.</span></b><span style="letter-spacing: -.75pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-PH;"><o:p></o:p></span></li>
</ol>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: 15.75pt; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in;">
<span style="color: #333333; letter-spacing: -.75pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-PH;">A rule that came to mind in 1983. Think of what you
skip reading a novel: thick paragraphs of prose you can see have too many words
in them. What the writer is doing, he’s writing, perpetrating hooptedoodle,
perhaps taking another shot at the weather, or has gone into the character’s
head, and the reader either knows what the guy’s thinking or doesn’t care. I’ll
bet you don’t skip dialogue.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: 15.75pt; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in;">
<span style="color: #333333; letter-spacing: -.75pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-PH;">My most important rule is one that sums up the 10.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: 15.75pt; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in;">
<b><span style="color: #333333; letter-spacing: -.75pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-PH;">If it sounds
like writing, I rewrite it.<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
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<br /></div>
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<b style="line-height: 15.75pt;"><span style="color: #333333; letter-spacing: -.75pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-PH;"><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kurt_Vonnegut" target="_blank">Kurt Vonnegut</a></span></b></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjmIPX4Lv8yACu6bbPT1ZNFQB21j6AdRCvuBbHArgssjGm6nFUfTrJ34BSPBuy_556ztLzPgLN70kBjsmZibkg9y3dmvQGFYbrd4QQViiDJPkuaBtsF_K4s3EmtNaMVZEN-rgYiuAgTvDI/s1600/kurt+vonnegut.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjmIPX4Lv8yACu6bbPT1ZNFQB21j6AdRCvuBbHArgssjGm6nFUfTrJ34BSPBuy_556ztLzPgLN70kBjsmZibkg9y3dmvQGFYbrd4QQViiDJPkuaBtsF_K4s3EmtNaMVZEN-rgYiuAgTvDI/s1600/kurt+vonnegut.jpg" /></a></div>
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<b style="line-height: 15.75pt;"><span style="color: #333333; letter-spacing: -.75pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-PH;"><br /></span></b></div>
<ol start="1" type="1">
<li class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; color: #333333; line-height: 15.75pt; margin-bottom: 7.5pt; mso-list: l1 level1 lfo2; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; tab-stops: list .5in;"><span style="letter-spacing: -.75pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-PH;">Use the time of a total stranger in such a way that he or she will
not feel the time was wasted.<o:p></o:p></span></li>
<li class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; color: #333333; line-height: 15.75pt; margin-bottom: 7.5pt; mso-list: l1 level1 lfo2; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; tab-stops: list .5in;"><span style="letter-spacing: -.75pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-PH;">Give the reader at least one character he or she can root for.<o:p></o:p></span></li>
<li class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; color: #333333; line-height: 15.75pt; margin-bottom: 7.5pt; mso-list: l1 level1 lfo2; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; tab-stops: list .5in;"><span style="letter-spacing: -.75pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-PH;">Every character should want something, even if it is only a glass
of water.<o:p></o:p></span></li>
<li class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; color: #333333; line-height: 15.75pt; margin-bottom: 7.5pt; mso-list: l1 level1 lfo2; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; tab-stops: list .5in;"><span style="letter-spacing: -.75pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-PH;">Every sentence must do one of two things — reveal character or
advance the action.<o:p></o:p></span></li>
<li class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; color: #333333; line-height: 15.75pt; margin-bottom: 7.5pt; mso-list: l1 level1 lfo2; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; tab-stops: list .5in;"><span style="letter-spacing: -.75pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-PH;">Start as close to the end as possible.<o:p></o:p></span></li>
<li class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; color: #333333; line-height: 15.75pt; margin-bottom: 7.5pt; mso-list: l1 level1 lfo2; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; tab-stops: list .5in;"><span style="letter-spacing: -.75pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-PH;">Be a Sadist. No matter how sweet and innocent your leading
characters, make awful things happen to them-in order that the reader may
see what they are made of.<o:p></o:p></span></li>
<li class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; color: #333333; line-height: 15.75pt; margin-bottom: 7.5pt; mso-list: l1 level1 lfo2; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; tab-stops: list .5in;"><span style="letter-spacing: -.75pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-PH;">Write to please just one person. If you open a window and make love
to the world, so to speak, your story will get pneumonia.<o:p></o:p></span></li>
<li class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; color: #333333; line-height: 15.75pt; margin-bottom: 7.5pt; mso-list: l1 level1 lfo2; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; tab-stops: list .5in;"><span style="letter-spacing: -.75pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-PH;">Give your readers as much information as possible as soon as
possible. To hell with suspense. Readers should have such complete
understanding of what is going on, where and why, that they could finish
the story themselves, should cockroaches eat the last few pages.<o:p></o:p></span></li>
</ol>
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<br /></div>
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<b><span style="color: #333333; letter-spacing: -.75pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-PH;"><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neil_gaiman" target="_blank">Neil Gaiman </a><o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgdb3cFhw9_QqlB6SDKBv6DUogxNOb0Eni9gWuLb3UQ2bDij3GmbbUFfaZdOjy0mJdEkk7vpKoqkInLU1j61IRcufz9JZmDEUxKf25oSMMLgBfPfuQnYLD14LaC-58PSBcryMbDFDDY-LM/s1600/neil+gaiman.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgdb3cFhw9_QqlB6SDKBv6DUogxNOb0Eni9gWuLb3UQ2bDij3GmbbUFfaZdOjy0mJdEkk7vpKoqkInLU1j61IRcufz9JZmDEUxKf25oSMMLgBfPfuQnYLD14LaC-58PSBcryMbDFDDY-LM/s1600/neil+gaiman.jpg" /></a></div>
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<b><span style="color: #333333; letter-spacing: -.75pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-PH;"><br /></span></b></div>
<ol start="1" type="1">
<li class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; color: #333333; line-height: 15.75pt; margin-bottom: 7.5pt; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; tab-stops: list .5in;"><span style="letter-spacing: -.75pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-PH;">Put one word after another. Find the right word, put it down.<o:p></o:p></span></li>
<li class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; color: #333333; line-height: 15.75pt; margin-bottom: 7.5pt; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; tab-stops: list .5in;"><span style="letter-spacing: -.75pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-PH;">Finish what you’re writing. Whatever you have to do to finish it,
finish it.<o:p></o:p></span></li>
<li class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; color: #333333; line-height: 15.75pt; margin-bottom: 7.5pt; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; tab-stops: list .5in;"><span style="letter-spacing: -.75pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-PH;">Put it aside. Read it pretending you’ve never read it before. Show
it to friends whose opinion you respect and who like the kind of thing
that this is.<o:p></o:p></span></li>
<li class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; color: #333333; line-height: 15.75pt; margin-bottom: 7.5pt; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; tab-stops: list .5in;"><span style="letter-spacing: -.75pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-PH;">Remember: when people tell you something’s wrong or doesn’t work
for them, they are almost always right. When they tell you exactly what
they think is wrong and how to fix it, they are almost always wrong.<o:p></o:p></span></li>
<li class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; color: #333333; line-height: 15.75pt; margin-bottom: 7.5pt; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; tab-stops: list .5in;"><span style="letter-spacing: -.75pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-PH;">Fix it. Remember that, sooner or later, before it ever reaches
perfection, you will have to let it go and move on and start to write the
next thing. Perfection is like chasing the horizon. Keep moving.<o:p></o:p></span></li>
<li class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; color: #333333; line-height: 15.75pt; margin-bottom: 7.5pt; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; tab-stops: list .5in;"><span style="letter-spacing: -.75pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-PH;">Laugh at your own jokes.<o:p></o:p></span></li>
<li class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; color: #333333; line-height: 15.75pt; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; tab-stops: list .5in;"><span style="letter-spacing: -.75pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-PH;">The main rule of writing is that if you do it with enough assurance
and confidence, you’re allowed to do whatever you like. (That may be a
rule for life as well as for writing. But it’s definitely true for
writing.) So write your story as it needs to be written. Write it honestly,
and tell it as best you can. I’m not sure that there are any other rules.
Not ones that matter.<o:p></o:p></span></li>
</ol>
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<span style="color: #333333;"><span style="letter-spacing: -1px; line-height: 21px;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div>
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strangebananahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05402885506843045831noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1334007689975748798.post-82082888982167857932013-11-13T08:07:00.000+08:002014-03-05T15:17:36.445+08:0086-Year Old Man Tells His Life Story<div class="MsoNormal">
Sometimes, we find something in the internet that makes us smile, something that touches us, and makes us feel happy, even for a brief and fleeting moment.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Whoever this old man is, his account of his life throughout the years, told in rage comic, made me shed a few <i>manly</i> tears. <o:p></o:p></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
And as this is <a href="http://strangebananadailybluster.blogspot.com/2011/11/it-always-rain-in-november.html" target="_blank">November</a>, he reminds of my own father. <o:p></o:p></div>
Click here for a larger image: <a href="http://imgur.com/r/happy/Cpdaq" target="_blank">86 years old...</a><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg-PeERd2uxe8lWQwlT1UJM2jTn6U-pSqOdO3YiGBP6Z7hVVxdORBgJMbUIVrm0WVqdlqD3aq8AlL-sumipIeYMrbD4QCRHksWzd0xphROOGsgU_pXYqCkeCCyY6ZUgDyY8FO6c-_cL3fg/s1600/86.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg-PeERd2uxe8lWQwlT1UJM2jTn6U-pSqOdO3YiGBP6Z7hVVxdORBgJMbUIVrm0WVqdlqD3aq8AlL-sumipIeYMrbD4QCRHksWzd0xphROOGsgU_pXYqCkeCCyY6ZUgDyY8FO6c-_cL3fg/s1600/86.jpg" /></a></div>
<br />strangebananahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05402885506843045831noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1334007689975748798.post-70832519151384856602013-11-04T18:10:00.000+08:002014-03-10T13:31:10.302+08:00Of Loneliness and Unheard Songs<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Constantia","serif";">Whales, like many mammals, are social
animals. Some travel in groups, called “pods,” while some travel alone. Some
whale species, like the blue whale and the humpback, are also known to
communicate with each other by making vocalizations, called “<a href="http://www.pmel.noaa.gov/acoustics/whales/sounds/whalewav/nepblue24s10x.wav" target="_blank">whale songs</a>.” Although
researchers have yet to fully understand the hows and whys of whale songs, they
do notice that whales’ karaoke night frequently happens during mating seasons,
which suggests that whales use some sort of cetaceous pickup lines—or perhaps “love
songs,” that invite the females to mate. Their songs are heard by other whales
for thousands of kilometers. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEic6jgfdphPTO3_qvoU9NFdfBxDdjSIuPK2uL67ZWISpsGw9-gs_wlHw_JpOunxUWZ0D-oC718mJN7z3NrlLw0-5IHSr5Rbw2QAEYuaea3ay36ijMPjiI-6MdWoxTv8-nKojfNdl57e83U/s1600/forever+alone+whale4.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEic6jgfdphPTO3_qvoU9NFdfBxDdjSIuPK2uL67ZWISpsGw9-gs_wlHw_JpOunxUWZ0D-oC718mJN7z3NrlLw0-5IHSr5Rbw2QAEYuaea3ay36ijMPjiI-6MdWoxTv8-nKojfNdl57e83U/s1600/forever+alone+whale4.jpg" /></a></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Constantia","serif";"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Constantia","serif";">These whales either sing alone, or in
a group. They may sing together, in tune with one another. (A choir made up of
humpbacks is awesome. I am picturing them in my head right now—with their mouths
open, of course.)<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Constantia","serif";">Some researchers even suggest that
whales recognize each other by the song they are singing, even those coming
from a different pod. Of course, <a href="http://www.whalewatchingtravelguide.com/why-do-whales-sing.html" target="_blank">different researchers</a> have different ideas on
what these songs mean. But many agree that the sounds produced by these
majestic creatures are often beautiful, sad, and haunting.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Constantia","serif";">But what happens if a whale’s song is unheard
by other whales? Whale songs are sung in a particular frequency, so that other
whales can hear them. What if a whale sings in a different frequency? <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Constantia","serif";">For years, a whale has been doing
this, singing a song that no other whales can hear. It has been roaming the
world’s oceans, alone. The whale belongs to no pod—it has no family, no
friends, no partner. It doesn’t even follow the usual whale migration route.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh61hBrMzAIxDpj2QIh2tpFgu23AHNy_QDLl9UVy98vwLh278LZiARaqk4YyDWF1gujeuQhsmBs9TeaUikwDrxWF3L_ugBRm5EBbvh3ksbUf9KhAwrUzYsij3wF8aGDeRwth_X9OXC-l4U/s1600/forever+alone+whale.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh61hBrMzAIxDpj2QIh2tpFgu23AHNy_QDLl9UVy98vwLh278LZiARaqk4YyDWF1gujeuQhsmBs9TeaUikwDrxWF3L_ugBRm5EBbvh3ksbUf9KhAwrUzYsij3wF8aGDeRwth_X9OXC-l4U/s1600/forever+alone+whale.jpg" /></a></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Constantia","serif";"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Constantia","serif";">The whale first caught the attention
of the U. S. Navy in 1989 when their instruments (hydrophones built to track
submarine movements) picked up an unusual frequency coming from the whale. It
had all the characteristics of a whale song, but the whale has been singing a
song at a frequency that no other whales can hear. Whales usually sing between
15 and 25 hertz; the forever alone whale, on the other hand, sings at <i>52 hertz. </i>The whale might as well have
been speaking in Klingon to a group of Hmongs.<a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2004/12/21/science/21whal.html?_r=0" target="_blank"> Members of the team</a> that track down this whale say that “all signs are that the sounds come from a single
animal, whose movements ‘appear to be unrelated to the presence or movement of
other whale species.’”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Constantia","serif";"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Constantia","serif";">They recorded that distinctive whale
song again in 1990 and 1991. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Constantia","serif";"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Constantia","serif";">Nobody knows for sure what species
this whale is, but with its unique call, scientists can easily track the whale.
They call this whale The Loneliest Whale in the World. The whale swims on, year
after year, singing its own beautiful, mournful and haunting song, unheard and unanswered.
<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhZfL7bDNIsfjJqw_EJu2llqWoUwYCypI3cYifUNNnvOtkNA0Y5vOir2F-jDqNFJCCDpAgFf4xCIqp7FjSfK9v0EB_jyhq8zIT0x6K63VVGfxnuoFz_qrEYaKDGSyqQrSUU3ukm28k04WA/s1600/forever+alone+whale2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhZfL7bDNIsfjJqw_EJu2llqWoUwYCypI3cYifUNNnvOtkNA0Y5vOir2F-jDqNFJCCDpAgFf4xCIqp7FjSfK9v0EB_jyhq8zIT0x6K63VVGfxnuoFz_qrEYaKDGSyqQrSUU3ukm28k04WA/s320/forever+alone+whale2.jpg" height="128" width="320" /></a></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Constantia","serif";"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Constantia","serif";">At the Woods Hole Oceanographic
Institution, scientists stated that the whale’s voice has since deepened,
compared to its voice in 1992. The whale may have grown up since then.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Constantia","serif";">They speculated that the whale might
be a hybrid between a blue whale and another species, or else a malformed
whale. <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2004/12/21/science/21whal.html?_r=0" target="_blank">The research team was </a>even contacted by deaf people who suggest that the
whale might be deaf. Or maybe it is the last surviving member of an extinct
species, in which case it truly is the world’s loneliest whale. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Constantia","serif";">It has been tracked as far north as
Aleutian and Kodiak Islands, and as far south as the coast of California. The
whale swims about 30 to 70 kilometers each day, and the longest distance it traveled in one season was reported to be more than 11,000 kilometers, recorded
in 2002-2003. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Constantia","serif";">In the whale’s case, loneliness does
not seem to affect its health. It has survived for all these years being alone,
singing its own song. What do you suppose it's thinking? Maybe it gets puzzled
sometimes? </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Constantia","serif";">“I keep calling out to them, why wouldn’t anybody out there answer
me? Hello? Hello!”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEicY6v8Tu7AEmXeKpWVp8NKaMeauUZI6Rp62Tg0S5Rw6Dh1rX158BFkV8eGCklpSJMGfJYB1-kVkIkOUkOfCQOzuHi0iuOi58k-p8Ij8LqftTI_O1EnyWjHslN73hEiYgtr6xmScRj65hs/s1600/forever+alone+whale3.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEicY6v8Tu7AEmXeKpWVp8NKaMeauUZI6Rp62Tg0S5Rw6Dh1rX158BFkV8eGCklpSJMGfJYB1-kVkIkOUkOfCQOzuHi0iuOi58k-p8Ij8LqftTI_O1EnyWjHslN73hEiYgtr6xmScRj65hs/s1600/forever+alone+whale3.jpg" /></a></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Constantia","serif";"><br /></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Constantia","serif";">Then again, the whale might be the
cetacean equivalent of an antisocial geek, who shuns other whales. But I don't think so. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Constantia, serif;">Whatever <b>he </b>is, I hope he doesn't give up; I hope someday he would find another who can hear him sing. He is still out there, swimming by himself, singing his heart out, his voice reverberating in the cold waters of the North Pacific. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Constantia, serif;">And who knows? Maybe someday another whale will hear his <a href="http://www.pmel.noaa.gov/acoustics/whales/sounds/whalewav/ak52_10x.wav" target="_blank">song at 52 hert</a>z.</span></div>
strangebananahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05402885506843045831noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1334007689975748798.post-8894674438089252772013-10-31T11:38:00.002+08:002013-10-31T14:53:59.719+08:00Keith Richards and The Search For The Lost Chord<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Constantia","serif";">For someone who was in the Top Ten
Rock Stars Most Likely To Die for ten straight years, Keith Richards of the
Rolling Stones shows remarkable resilience, considering his rock-star
lifestyle.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Constantia","serif";">The music magazine New Musical Express
(NME) put Keith Richards (or “Keef”) on this list way back in 1973. They
finally removed his name when, after ten years, the legendary Rolling Stones
guitarist showed no signs of slowing down, either in his music, or in his work-hard-live-hard
way of life.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Constantia","serif";"></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Constantia","serif";">1973 is forty years ago; it’s 2013,
and he’s still about, and had just finished a 50<sup>th</sup> year anniversary (!)
tour with his band, The Rolling Stones—arguably the greatest rock and roll band
there is today. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiBAKlFC4tgh-sieBgw1e1AFbnKRH_a2zIrivwkxR6H4qkMW1xMUp_I-pGl-zu43iNksVwYLVPsem7FfyfFBi1aY31bcTks3gFY2uZaJ-Eb7gLPNQ7tkB_meh-6MOfH1O46PNruAT-yu1Y/s1600/stones.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiBAKlFC4tgh-sieBgw1e1AFbnKRH_a2zIrivwkxR6H4qkMW1xMUp_I-pGl-zu43iNksVwYLVPsem7FfyfFBi1aY31bcTks3gFY2uZaJ-Eb7gLPNQ7tkB_meh-6MOfH1O46PNruAT-yu1Y/s1600/stones.jpg" /></a></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Constantia","serif";"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Constantia","serif";">Keith Richards may be among rock and
roll’s greatest guitarists, and the undisputed King of the Guitar Riffs, but he
(and the rest of his band) did not start out at the top. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Constantia","serif";">In his memoir <i>Life</i> (written in collaboration with James Fox, published 2010),
Keith Richards recounts that he started out as a blues fan, trying to emulate
the likes of Chuck Berry, Muddy Waters, Jimmy Reed, Robert Johnson, and other
old time blues legends. The Stones were among the first true “rock stars” (with
all that title implies), but they also put in a lot of hard work to hone their
skills, scrounging around for what gigs they could find, and to learn, learn,
and learn some more. Talent and desire helped Keith Richards get started, but
hard work carried him the rest of the way—along with all the drugs and alcohol
he can ingest. Which was the reason why he was in that list, for ten
years—apparently, the amount of drugs and alcohol that passed through his
system was enough to kill any other mortal; but of course, Keith Richards is
not an ordinary mortal. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgBBAFUfKxDfvuZ5Dq4KB-5ie0YSoR4GVV0y9_1oJ2ad2-6lDpP9JHNf9YYRkLgDkTi2u2rEwN4OCC_dlLw0yMW0QTuE_TWw9eRkWEIRByhwDK-eeDh-t7VOnzc-mE4nqOJX4r4bAdMOdo/s1600/Keith_Richards_Hannover_2006.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgBBAFUfKxDfvuZ5Dq4KB-5ie0YSoR4GVV0y9_1oJ2ad2-6lDpP9JHNf9YYRkLgDkTi2u2rEwN4OCC_dlLw0yMW0QTuE_TWw9eRkWEIRByhwDK-eeDh-t7VOnzc-mE4nqOJX4r4bAdMOdo/s1600/Keith_Richards_Hannover_2006.jpg" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Keith Richards (2006)</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Constantia","serif";">When the Stones get to tour in the USA
(their first, in 1964), and get to meet their idols, Keith Richards have this
to say: <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Constantia","serif";">“We’d been playing this music, and it
had all been very respectful, but then we were actually there sniffing it. You
want to be a blues player, the next minute you fucking well are and you’re
stuck right amongst them, and there’s Muddy Waters standing next to you. It
happens so fast that you really can’t register all of the impressions that are
coming at you. It comes later on, the flashbacks, because it’s all so much. It’s
one thing to play a Muddy Waters song. It’s another thing to play with him.”</span></blockquote>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Constantia","serif";">The Stones’ music is deeply rooted in
the blues. The band was initially formed by the members’ mutual passion for the
blues in its purest and rawest form. Keith Richards lived and breathed the
blues; he listened to every blues record he could find, him and Mick Jagger,
until he absorbed their mighty teachings. Adding his own, he created something
new and wondrous. This is what makes the Stones’ music distinct—Keith’s guitar
riffs, along with Mick Jaggers’ vocals.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Constantia","serif";">Keith Richards in his early years
tried to emulate the playing style of one his blues heroes, Jimmy Reed. His
description of how he tried to emulate his hero sounds very much like hard work:<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Constantia","serif";">"But to dissect how he played, Jesus.
It took me years to find out how he actually played the 5 chord, in the key of
E—the B chord, the last of the three chords before you go home, the resolver in
a twelve-bar blues—the dominant chord, as it’s called. When he gets to it,
Jimmy Reed produces a haunting refrain, a melancholy dissonance. Even for
non–guitar players, it’s worth trying to describe what he does. At the 5 chord,
instead of making the conventional barre chord, the B7th, which requires a
little effort with the left hand, he wouldn’t bother with the B at all. He’d
leave the open A note ringing and just slide a finger up the D string to a 7th.
And there’s the haunting note, resonating against the open A. So you’re not
using root notes, but letting it fall against a 7th. Believe me, it’s (a) the
laziest, sloppiest single thing you can do in that situation, and (b) one of
the most brilliant musical inventions of all time."</span></blockquote>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Constantia","serif";">The book also recounts the bands’
touring days, from touring in a van to a major commercial endeavor, a massive
corporate machine involving private jets, a small army of roadies, technicians,
engineers, lawyers, reporters, hangers on and other <i>personnel</i>. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Constantia","serif";">And groupies, as well as all sorts of drugs and booze to cope with the demands of being on the road.
To hear Keith tells it, it is extremely difficult for a band on a tour with
just coffee or soda and enthusiasm powering them up. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Constantia","serif";">Johnny Depp, a long-time fan of Keith
Richards, has stated in interviews that he modeled Captain Jack Sparrow after
the Stones’ legendary guitarist. </span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Constantia","serif";"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEibjcaO7Fa2uvwnNE9sHeeFhK48OywtbW5V_HPm33u9FMdkQo1wmnGef3kGP-aKcnyMuuTpwUdFf6hFbwhXg0frrCLj4dALh9VvxAjxX4_45ysfj1hoOVWMWPFzMh7Hz_BfKwslnczsD3M/s1600/teaguesparrow.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEibjcaO7Fa2uvwnNE9sHeeFhK48OywtbW5V_HPm33u9FMdkQo1wmnGef3kGP-aKcnyMuuTpwUdFf6hFbwhXg0frrCLj4dALh9VvxAjxX4_45ysfj1hoOVWMWPFzMh7Hz_BfKwslnczsD3M/s1600/teaguesparrow.jpg" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Keith Richards as Captain Teague Sparrow, Captain Jack Sparrow's father in the film franchise "Pirates of the Caribbean"</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Constantia","serif";">He counts Keith Richards as a friend.</span><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiCdwm1o-4Lwd3i-61ue5E9jAiuF_aLwwgFocNqZ5pusgBei5Hshmy49Xn33Rh_IsuvgE1Q9latPorf8gEENRfmkhaxOHnKof5mggTbigoLN4wiKg9zZwaCOdMqdNUTdjKuhbysMsKFmCY/s1600/johnny-depp-keith-richards-1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiCdwm1o-4Lwd3i-61ue5E9jAiuF_aLwwgFocNqZ5pusgBei5Hshmy49Xn33Rh_IsuvgE1Q9latPorf8gEENRfmkhaxOHnKof5mggTbigoLN4wiKg9zZwaCOdMqdNUTdjKuhbysMsKFmCY/s320/johnny-depp-keith-richards-1.jpg" width="234" /></a></div>
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Constantia","serif";"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Constantia","serif";"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Constantia","serif";">In the book, the Stones’ guitarist
says that Johnny Depp was just this timid, quiet friend of his son, Marlon, who
always hangs around their house. He mistook him for a drug dealer. When his son
explained things to him, he exclaimed to the famous actor, when he next saw
him, “Edward Scissorhands!”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Constantia","serif";">It turns out that Johnny Depp has
always been in awe, and has always idolized, Keith Richards.<a href="http://www.starpulse.com/news/Dave_Simpson/2013/07/08/johnny_depp_finally_completes_keith_ri" target="_blank"> He had just finished a documentary</a> about the life of his idol, a film four years in the making.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Constantia","serif";">Speaking of Marlon Richards, it is quite
remarkable that the son of a rock and roll god and a famous model, brought up in
a household with two heroin-addicted parents with an unorthodox lifestyle, could grow up as normal as he did. While other people in similar situations
self-destructed, Marlon Richards grew up with both feet firmly planted on the ground.
<a href="http://www.dailymail.co.uk/tvshowbiz/article-1327167/Keith-Richards-son-Marlon-real-hero-growing-normal.html" target="_blank">Growing up</a>, he was often left alone, which he did not mind, “…because it was
exhausting with Anita [Pallenberg, his mother] and Keith.” Marlon, a father of
three, is a gallery curator, graphic artist, and a photographer. He lives
quietly in a farmhouse with his family, a life vastly different from the days
when he, as a six-year-old kid, accompanied his father on tours. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Constantia","serif";">Keith Richards is for many years now sober, and has given up hard drugs. He is grandfather to four kids, a rock legend,
with a body of work that would be remembered for as long as humanity listens to
music. <o:p></o:p></span><br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEikl7ROTR6DZScwRfJOeHDrjAHdaKXaSMNmD6Y7KRA_MYx15EEasg2L-pANNdrVlgu1AGKIMqRVBTEDHHcYP9VCabnhqYrs1KiN3LsKnmuGe7eVa1chOzZ6o_A1TP62dVqQjinYErGov_s/s1600/Keith-Richards-family.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEikl7ROTR6DZScwRfJOeHDrjAHdaKXaSMNmD6Y7KRA_MYx15EEasg2L-pANNdrVlgu1AGKIMqRVBTEDHHcYP9VCabnhqYrs1KiN3LsKnmuGe7eVa1chOzZ6o_A1TP62dVqQjinYErGov_s/s320/Keith-Richards-family.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Wih wife and two daughters</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Constantia","serif";"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Constantia","serif";">The autobiography is extremely
entertaining, with enough anecdotes and vignettes from various stages of Keith’s
life to make rock fans happy. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Constantia","serif";">The tone of the book makes you feel as if you are
right there with him, drinking beer, you listening slack jawed, while Keith
Richards, strumming absent-mindedly on his guitar, rambles on about his life, his
music, his band, the people he loves (and has loved), and what it means to be
Keith Richards.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjLQEpOzzAfvs4IlHCHvp9BbjL3d5bu0PFS8n5dh0Ml8OGYJ7zy7H_nDI6XKdOnVKM43QoInm5z_QEYvVvjkhEGVyM7FvgMHMGjnc6eBRLHTsZ-JxKMev4SUF5O52MPWfGkZsnMLxvJHRo/s1600/keith+with+guitar.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjLQEpOzzAfvs4IlHCHvp9BbjL3d5bu0PFS8n5dh0Ml8OGYJ7zy7H_nDI6XKdOnVKM43QoInm5z_QEYvVvjkhEGVyM7FvgMHMGjnc6eBRLHTsZ-JxKMev4SUF5O52MPWfGkZsnMLxvJHRo/s1600/keith+with+guitar.jpg" /></a></div>
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Constantia","serif";"><span id="goog_1043455224"></span><span id="goog_1043455225"></span><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Constantia","serif";">“It is impossible not to end up being
a parody of what you thought you were,” he says.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Constantia","serif";">Now go read the book.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
strangebananahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05402885506843045831noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1334007689975748798.post-43873813729624871832013-10-30T14:39:00.000+08:002013-11-05T09:12:04.966+08:00So You Think Evolution Is Just A Theory? <div style="line-height: 18.0pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Constantia, serif; font-size: 11pt;">Many
people have been told that evolution is just a theory, and that it is, at most,
a hypothesis, or even a guess. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 18.0pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Constantia, serif; font-size: 11pt;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 18.0pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Constantia, serif; font-size: 11pt;">A
scientific theory, however, is different from the theory the general public is familiar
with. Many of us equates theory with hypothesis, which is erroneous. To a
scientist, a <b>theory</b> is an <i>explanation</i> of a phenomenon. A <b>scientific law</b>, on the other hand, is a <i>description</i> of a phenomenon, and can be
proven by a mathematical equation. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjMcWULac5D42ft0QFHRQWV6JmH4vdApzssJEFoDKiaT7tujV-P_sGk97IxnoL_IRcapjzpcyvpWT5gDkg3d-ESUhQTglCMbghpKqETfnAf8mI8ue8X6EG0FNwaZoJ12cEhqKS4Rr_frdc/s1600/theory.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjMcWULac5D42ft0QFHRQWV6JmH4vdApzssJEFoDKiaT7tujV-P_sGk97IxnoL_IRcapjzpcyvpWT5gDkg3d-ESUhQTglCMbghpKqETfnAf8mI8ue8X6EG0FNwaZoJ12cEhqKS4Rr_frdc/s1600/theory.jpg" /></a></div>
<div style="line-height: 18.0pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Constantia, serif; font-size: 11pt;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 18.0pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Constantia, serif; font-size: 11pt;">To
illustrate: <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Newton's_law_of_universal_gravitation" target="_blank">Newton’s law of gravity</a> describes how gravity works, which basically
means that things fall down if you let go of them. His <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gravitation" target="_blank">theory of gravity</a>, on
the other hand, is an attempt to explain <i>why</i>
this happens (although modern scientists accept Einstein’s Theory of Relativity
as a better explanation of gravity). Newton’s and Einstein’s theories will
always remain theories, because they are <i>explanations</i>, and different from a <i>law</i>, which <i>describes </i>things. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg8eQoqu6FJEvd2Q4l31ksJXW8gmksN2jJJn9buP_V2h-Yu1tteE7_3M198X-4fVEE1rJEvRbKtkig_S9ep9eUV2fpRGKD1qfLgtPx4mByTGXEMdURfBWU5iBdiyBHfgG-8msMzUpDiUec/s1600/theorieslaw.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg8eQoqu6FJEvd2Q4l31ksJXW8gmksN2jJJn9buP_V2h-Yu1tteE7_3M198X-4fVEE1rJEvRbKtkig_S9ep9eUV2fpRGKD1qfLgtPx4mByTGXEMdURfBWU5iBdiyBHfgG-8msMzUpDiUec/s320/theorieslaw.png" width="241" /></a></div>
<div style="line-height: 18.0pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Constantia, serif; font-size: 11pt;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 18.0pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Constantia, serif; font-size: 11pt;">A
scientific theory therefore does not graduate into a scientific law, as many
misinformed people seem to believe. A scientific theory meets these three
requirements: it should be supported by evidence, is testable and falsifiable,
and can be used to make predictions. <br />
It is common to hear people say, “Oh, it’s just a theory. I’ll believe it if it
becomes into a law.” They think that a scientific theory, if backed by further evidence,
“graduates” into a law. This is not the case. To reiterate, <b>a scientific theory does not become a law</b>.
It never does. <o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Constantia, serif; font-size: 11pt;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Constantia, serif; font-size: 11pt;">(Read:<a href="http://science.howstuffworks.com/innovation/scientific-experiments/10-scientific-laws-theories.htm#page=0" target="_blank"> 10 Scientific Laws And Theories You Should Know About</a>.)</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Constantia, serif; font-size: 11pt;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 18.0pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Constantia, serif; font-size: 11pt;">Moreover,
a theory should not be confused with hypothesis. A hypothesis is an educated
guess made by scientists as an attempt to explain the cause of an event or
phenomenon. They then rigorously test this hypothesis through experiment and
observation, and if enough evidence is found to support it, and it repeatedly
passes various tests it is subjected to, then it graduates into a theory. The <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Evolution_as_fact_and_theory" target="_blank">theory of evolution</a>, in more than a hundred and fifty years of study,
experimentation, and observation, passes these tests with flying colors. It has
never failed any crucial test. It has never been seriously challenged, only
refined, and an overwhelming amount of evidence has been found that supports
it. Evolution, in fact, is the basis for biology, without which biology and
medicine wouldn’t make sense. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 18.0pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Constantia, serif; font-size: 11pt;">Someone who dismisses evolution as just a theory probably is just confused, and is
unaware of what a scientific theory means. But if this someone is a figure of
authority, like a pastor, or a teacher, they probably mean to confuse you, or
even mislead you, and are letting their beliefs and prejudices cloud their
judgment. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg4hDY4pHakYPLZJPajeDE0dGjVeOhxNDKvW9Kr2ckeBnAPthKnL7L5kfCgTfO0ooz6W-n8tZeCbpMbqzOzL3Ys_ff5KVoBtK8NpMdDG8Zntu1OC_xmaqtQP2F0XiuLp3XJpJWD55AKdyE/s1600/justatheory.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg4hDY4pHakYPLZJPajeDE0dGjVeOhxNDKvW9Kr2ckeBnAPthKnL7L5kfCgTfO0ooz6W-n8tZeCbpMbqzOzL3Ys_ff5KVoBtK8NpMdDG8Zntu1OC_xmaqtQP2F0XiuLp3XJpJWD55AKdyE/s1600/justatheory.jpg" /></a></div>
<div style="line-height: 18.0pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Constantia, serif; font-size: 11pt;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 18.0pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Constantia, serif; font-size: 11pt;">Many
Christians (and other religionists) think that evolution is anti-God. This is
not true. <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Catholic_Church_and_evolution" target="_blank">The Catholic Church</a>, in fact, accepts evolution as a valid scientific
inquiry.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 18.0pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Constantia, serif; font-size: 11pt;">Read this quote from <a href="http://www.ewtn.com/library/PAPALDOC/JP961022.HTM" target="_blank">Pope John Paul II's address to the Pontifical Academy of Science</a> (1996), in which he reaffirms the Church's position regarding evolution:</span></div>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span style="background-color: white; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; font-family: Constantia, serif; font-size: 11pt;">In his encyclical<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span></span><i style="text-align: start;">Humani Generis</i><span class="apple-converted-space"><span style="text-align: start;"> </span>(1950), my predecessor Pius XII has
already affirmed that there is no conflict between evolution and the doctrine
of the faith regarding man and his vocation, provided that we do not lose sight
of certain fixed points.... Today, more than a half-century after the
appearance of that encyclical, some new findings lead us toward the recognition
of evolution as more than a hypothesis. In fact it is remarkable that this
theory has had progressively greater influence on the spirit of researchers,
following a series of discoveries in different scholarly disciplines. The
convergence in the results of these independent studies—which was neither
planned nor sought—constitutes in itself a significant argument in favor of the
theory.</span></blockquote>
<div style="line-height: 18.0pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Constantia, serif; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 18pt;">Pope Benedict, in fact, calls the conflict between "creationism" and evolution <i>absurd</i>:</span></div>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span style="background-color: #f9f9f9; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; font-family: Constantia, serif; font-size: 11pt;">Currently, I see in Germany, but also in the United States,
a somewhat fierce debate raging between so-called "creationism" and
evolutionism, presented as though they were mutually exclusive alternatives:
those who believe in the Creator would not be able to conceive of evolution,
and those who instead support evolution would have to exclude God. This
antithesis is absurd because, on the one hand, there are so many scientific
proofs in favour of evolution which appears to be a reality we can see and
which enriches our knowledge of life and being as such. But on the other, the
doctrine of evolution does not answer every query, especially the great
philosophical question: where does everything come from? And how did everything
start which ultimately led to man? I believe this is of the utmost importance.</span></blockquote>
<div style="line-height: 18.0pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Constantia, serif; font-size: 11pt;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 18.0pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Constantia, serif; font-size: 11pt;">As
the eminent evolutionary biologist Richard Dawkins puts it,</span><span style="font-family: Constantia, serif; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 115%;">“</span><span style="font-family: Constantia, serif; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="color: windowtext; text-decoration: none; text-underline: none;">Today the theory of evolution is about as much open to
doubt as the theory that the earth goes round the sun.</span>”</span></div>
<div style="line-height: 18.0pt; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="line-height: 18.0pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Constantia, serif; font-size: 11pt;">Unfortunately,
most of those who deny evolution have already made up their minds, not because
of some scientific reasons, but because their faith would not let them have the
idea of a universe not put in order by some Creator. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 18.0pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Constantia, serif; font-size: 11pt;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 18pt; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Constantia, serif; font-size: 11pt;">“The
way to see by Faith is to shut the eye of Reason.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div style="line-height: 18pt; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Constantia, serif; font-size: 11pt;">--Benjamin
Franklin<o:p></o:p></span></div>
strangebananahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05402885506843045831noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1334007689975748798.post-82826876017882599502013-10-29T18:02:00.000+08:002013-11-22T11:02:52.161+08:00“If We Evolved From Monkeys, How Come There Are Still Monkeys?”<div style="line-height: 18.0pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Constantia, serif; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 18pt;">This question is a favourite among creationists; they often ask this to dismiss
the Theory of Evolution. Although this probably dates back from the time of Charles Darwin, many creationists, when engaged in a discussion (<i>especially </i>in an online discussion), act
as if they had just discovered this particular </span><i style="font-family: Constantia, serif; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 18pt;">zinger.</i><span style="font-family: Constantia, serif; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 18pt;"> They believe this is irrefutable, an argument that would
surely reduce those smug, know-it-all evolutionists into blubbering idiots trapped in an existentialist despair. If you see this question in an Internet discussion board, this is usually followed by “HAHAHA,” which tends to make the impression that creationists are raving lunatics.</span></div>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjrqP9C1Tr7jydnv46bg31xiBm_x1ARiQkIvkMwyYRDZcTqQEkd369J_vA-G4e8Ap3jLiPWCkh0XlM36M4PYjMugKnopSnx6NbL6AmNlyACn36KeWJBYrE032LocdYnE99ib4eVNmAcsJk/s1600/Charles_Darwin_as_an_ape_(1871).jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjrqP9C1Tr7jydnv46bg31xiBm_x1ARiQkIvkMwyYRDZcTqQEkd369J_vA-G4e8Ap3jLiPWCkh0XlM36M4PYjMugKnopSnx6NbL6AmNlyACn36KeWJBYrE032LocdYnE99ib4eVNmAcsJk/s320/Charles_Darwin_as_an_ape_(1871).jpg" width="237" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">This caricature of Charles Darwin with the body of an ape was used since the late 1800s to ridicule him and his ideas about evolution</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div style="line-height: 18.0pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Constantia, serif; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 18pt;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 18.0pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Constantia, serif; font-size: 11pt;">To be
fair though, there are people out there who ask this question out of genuine
curiosity, maybe because they were told (and taught) all sorts of misinformation
and fed lies, deliberately or inadvertently, about science, particularly evolution—of
which many have a serious misunderstanding. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 18.0pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Constantia, serif; font-size: 11pt;">It is
also interesting to note that the website “<a href="http://www.answersingenesis.org/articles/2010/09/21/humans-evolved-from-apes" target="_blank">Answers in Genesis</a>,” a creationist
site that advocates the literal interpretation of the book of Genesis' account of
creation (“Creationism”), discourages their followers from using this as an
argument. They had probably realized that this is one of the dumbest things a person could
ask, when attacking evolution. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 18.0pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Constantia, serif; font-size: 11pt;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 18.0pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Constantia, serif; font-size: 11pt;">And
here are the reasons why:<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 18.0pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Constantia, serif; font-size: 11pt;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 18.0pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Constantia, serif; font-size: 11pt;">Nowhere
in the theory of evolution does it say that humans evolved from monkeys. What
evolution shows (among other things) is that humans and modern apes (including monkeys) descended from some ape-like creatures millions of years ago. <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Human_evolution" target="_blank">Humans and the modern apes share a common direct ancestor that existed 5 to 8 million years ago</a>; the species diverged into separate lineages, one of which
developed, ultimately, into apes, and the other evolved into early humans called
hominids that became the ancestors of modern humans. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Constantia, serif; font-size: 11pt;">There have been a number of different hominid species; many are close
relatives. Most of these species became extinct without giving rise to other
species. Some of these species that we know today through fossils are almost
certainly Homo sapiens’ direct ancestors. We may never know the exact number of
hominid species that existed and their relationship with each other, but our
knowledge increases as <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2013/10/18/science/fossil-skull-may-rewrite-humans-evolutionary-story.html?_r=0" target="_blank">new fossils are found</a>. </span><span style="font-family: Constantia, serif; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 18pt;"> </span></div>
<div style="line-height: 18.0pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Constantia, serif; font-size: 11pt;">The “monkey
question” also assumes that ancestral forms must disappear as evolution takes
place, which is not the case. It is important to know that it is possible for a
species’ direct ancestor (that is, the species itself, not the individual) can
exist for a long time without evolving. If for example the species became isolated
from the rest of the population, and there are no environmental pressures for the
species to evolve, then they can go for millions of years with no (or very
little) evolution (see <i><a href="http://rationalwiki.org/wiki/Living_fossil" target="_blank">living fossils</a></i>).
In these conditions, the species would have no biological imperative to evolve.
<i>This means that evolution does not have
to occur, if there are no reasons for it.<o:p></o:p></i></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 18.0pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Constantia, serif; font-size: 11pt;">If
however part of this species’ population migrates into a habitat with a new set
of conditions, (e.g., new food source, presence of predators, etc.) then there is
pressure on the species to evolve. The species may evolve into a new one over
time, while the ancestor remains relatively unchanged. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgqwug4_S2BVwqGuvbvrMg27ovTqAdR1I0BXHQqmfUyMBx7QxhxSTO-TAcE9mE63OpF5K4ITbyXDqP3KMIyJY3bsbXKNL_JnzDGJpEUZO6FS7JCsXLdKxN6vwGT2vqEbhnGrGLAxunxlPM/s1600/Darwin-chart.PNG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="119" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgqwug4_S2BVwqGuvbvrMg27ovTqAdR1I0BXHQqmfUyMBx7QxhxSTO-TAcE9mE63OpF5K4ITbyXDqP3KMIyJY3bsbXKNL_JnzDGJpEUZO6FS7JCsXLdKxN6vwGT2vqEbhnGrGLAxunxlPM/s320/Darwin-chart.PNG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Charts like these are misleading, for it suggests that humans developed in a linear and progressive manner, from monkey-like to human-like. This is probably one of the reasons that inspired the <i>monkey questio</i>n.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div style="line-height: 18.0pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Constantia, serif; font-size: 11pt;">Creationists
do not acknowledge that evolution have happened, and is still happening. Evolution takes a multitude of paths, and not through a process in which species
progress up a sort of “stages” or “ladder” in a linear manner. Evolution is not
random; rather, random factors affect evolution, and the species that had the best
results from those random factors survive.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 18.0pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Constantia, serif; font-size: 11pt;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 18.0pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Constantia, serif; font-size: 11pt;"><br /></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Constantia, serif; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 18pt; text-align: justify;">Next:
<a href="http://strangebananadailybluster.blogspot.com/2013/10/so-you-think-evolution-is-just-theory.html" target="_blank">So You Think Evolution Is </a></span><a href="http://strangebananadailybluster.blogspot.com/2013/10/so-you-think-evolution-is-just-theory.html" target="_blank"><i style="font-family: Constantia, serif; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 18pt; text-align: justify;">Just A Theory</i><span style="font-family: Constantia, serif; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 18pt; text-align: justify;">? </span></a>strangebananahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05402885506843045831noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1334007689975748798.post-56334789455924672112013-10-17T11:55:00.000+08:002013-10-18T08:35:38.715+08:00Neil Gaiman On the Importance of Reading, Libraries and Daydreaming<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<b style="background-color: #fcfcfc; color: #756464; font-family: Verdana, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 23.03125px;">"Well meaning adults can easily destroy a child's love of reading - do not discourage children from reading because you feel they're reading the wrong thing. There is no such thing as the wrong thing to be reading and no bad fiction for kids."</b><span style="background-color: #fcfcfc; color: #756464; font-family: Verdana, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 23.03125px;"> - Neil Gaiman</span></blockquote>
<div style="background: white; line-height: 13.5pt; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Constantia, serif; font-size: 11pt;"><span style="color: #333333;"><i>(The following is Neil Gaiman's speech during the<a href="http://readingagency.org.uk/news/media/neil-gaiman-delivers-our-second-annual-lecture.html" target="_blank"> The Reading Agency's annual lecture held on October 14, 2013</a>)</i></span></span></div>
<div style="background: white; line-height: 13.5pt; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Constantia, serif; font-size: 11pt;"><span style="color: #333333;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div style="background: white; line-height: 13.5pt; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Constantia, serif;"><span style="color: #333333;">It's
important for people to tell you what side they are on and why, and whether
they might be biased. A declaration of members' interests, of a sort. So, I am
going to be talking to you about reading. I'm going to tell you that </span><span style="text-decoration: none;">libraries</span> </span><span style="font-family: Constantia, serif;"><span style="color: #333333;">are
important. I'm going to suggest that reading </span><span style="text-decoration: none;">fiction</span><span style="color: #333333;">,
that reading for pleasure, is one of the most important things one can do. I'm
going to make an impassioned plea for people to understand what libraries and librarians
are, and to preserve both of these things.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div style="background-color: white; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: no-repeat no-repeat; line-height: 13.5pt; margin: 0in 0in 9.75pt;">
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: "Constantia","serif"; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">And I am biased, obviously and enormously: I'm an author,
often an author of fiction. I write for children and for adults. For about 30
years I have been earning my living though my words, mostly by making things up
and writing them down. It is obviously in my interest for people to read, for
them to read fiction, for libraries and librarians to exist and help foster a
love of reading and places in which reading can occur.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjndOmoftQiU2B4-rvSPQMedQ6vHQx5JxYb0b7a6HUCYgh98KiCrWub1cMyP8LeRbOfJ9GvkkhTuRIO7yqOk9Q4cTeW5rMSXoXmvQ94kxLjLninTDCD8iU_sa6OFAQygYV6M40Uml0J0TI/s1600/Neil+Gaiman+Reading+Agency+Lecture06.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="209" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjndOmoftQiU2B4-rvSPQMedQ6vHQx5JxYb0b7a6HUCYgh98KiCrWub1cMyP8LeRbOfJ9GvkkhTuRIO7yqOk9Q4cTeW5rMSXoXmvQ94kxLjLninTDCD8iU_sa6OFAQygYV6M40Uml0J0TI/s320/Neil+Gaiman+Reading+Agency+Lecture06.JPG" width="320" /></a></div>
<div style="background-color: white; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: no-repeat no-repeat; line-height: 13.5pt; margin: 0in 0in 9.75pt;">
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: "Constantia","serif"; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="background-color: white; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: no-repeat no-repeat; line-height: 13.5pt; margin: 0in 0in 9.75pt;">
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: "Constantia","serif"; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">So I'm biased as a writer. But I am much, much more biased
as a reader. And I am even more biased as a British citizen.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="background-color: white; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: no-repeat no-repeat; line-height: 13.5pt; margin: 0in 0in 9.75pt;">
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: "Constantia","serif"; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">And I'm here giving this talk tonight, under the auspices
of the Reading Agency: a charity whose mission is to give everyone an equal
chance in life by helping people become confident and enthusiastic readers.
Which supports literacy programs, and libraries and individuals and nakedly and
wantonly encourages the act of reading. Because, they tell us, everything
changes when we read.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="background-color: white; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: no-repeat no-repeat; line-height: 13.5pt; margin: 0in 0in 9.75pt;">
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: "Constantia","serif"; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">And it's that change, and that act of reading that I'm
here to talk about tonight. I want to talk about what reading does. What it's
good for.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="background-color: white; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: no-repeat no-repeat; line-height: 13.5pt; margin: 0in 0in 9.75pt;">
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: "Constantia","serif"; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">I was once in New York, and I listened to a talk about the
building of private prisons – a huge growth industry in America. The prison
industry needs to plan its future growth – how many cells are they going to
need? How many prisoners are there going to be, 15 years from now? And they
found they could predict it very easily, using a pretty simple algorithm, based
on asking what percentage of 10 and 11-year-olds couldn't read. And certainly
couldn't read for pleasure.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="background-color: white; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: no-repeat no-repeat; line-height: 13.5pt; margin: 0in 0in 9.75pt;">
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: "Constantia","serif"; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">It's not one to one: you can't say that a literate society
has no criminality. But there are very real correlations.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="background-color: white; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: no-repeat no-repeat; line-height: 13.5pt; margin: 0in 0in 9.75pt;">
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: "Constantia","serif"; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">And I think some of those correlations, the simplest, come
from something very simple. Literate people read fiction.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="background-color: white; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: no-repeat no-repeat; line-height: 13.5pt; margin: 0in 0in 9.75pt;">
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: "Constantia","serif"; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">Fiction has two uses. Firstly, it's a gateway drug to
reading. The drive to know what happens next, to want to turn the page, the
need to keep going, even if it's hard, because someone's in trouble and you
have to know how it's all going to end … that's a very real drive. And it
forces you to learn new words, to think new thoughts, to keep going. To
discover that reading per se is pleasurable. Once you learn that, you're on the
road to reading everything. And reading is key. There were noises made briefly,
a few years ago, about the idea that we were living in a post-literate world,
in which the ability to make sense out of written words was somehow redundant,
but those days are gone: words are more important than they ever were: we
navigate the world with words, and as the world slips onto the web, we need to
follow, to communicate and to comprehend what we are reading. People who cannot
understand each other cannot exchange ideas, cannot communicate, and translation
programs only go so far.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="background: white; line-height: 13.5pt; margin-bottom: 9.75pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in;">
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: "Constantia","serif"; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">The simplest way to make sure that we
raise literate children is to teach them to read, and to show them that reading
is a pleasurable activity. And that means, at its simplest, finding books that
they enjoy, giving them access to those books, and letting them read them.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="background-color: white; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: no-repeat no-repeat; line-height: 13.5pt; margin: 0in 0in 9.75pt;">
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: "Constantia","serif"; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">I don't think there is such a thing as a bad book for
children. Every now and again it becomes fashionable among some adults to point
at a subset of children's books, a genre, perhaps, or an author, and to declare
them bad books, books that children should be stopped from reading. I've seen
it happen over and over; Enid Blyton was declared a bad author, so was RL
Stine, so were dozens of others. Comics have been decried as fostering
illiteracy.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="background: white; line-height: 13.5pt; margin-bottom: 9.75pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in;">
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: "Constantia","serif"; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;"><br />
It's tosh. It's snobbery and it's foolishness. There are no bad authors for
children, that children like and want to read and seek out, because every child
is different. They can find the stories they need to, and they bring themselves
to stories. A hackneyed, worn-out idea isn't hackneyed and worn out to them.
This is the first time the child has encountered it. Do not discourage children
from reading because you feel they are reading the wrong thing. Fiction you do
not like is a route to other books you may prefer. And not everyone has the
same taste as you.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="background: white; line-height: 13.5pt; margin-bottom: 9.75pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in;">
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: "Constantia","serif"; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">Well-meaning adults can easily destroy
a child's love of reading: stop them reading what they enjoy, or give them
worthy-but-dull books that you like, the 21st-century equivalents of Victorian
"improving" literature. You'll wind up with a generation convinced
that reading is uncool and worse, unpleasant.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="background-color: white; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: no-repeat no-repeat; line-height: 13.5pt; margin: 0in 0in 9.75pt;">
<br /></div>
<div style="background: white; line-height: 13.5pt; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
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<div style="background-color: white; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: no-repeat no-repeat; line-height: 13.5pt; margin: 0in 0in 9.75pt;">
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: "Constantia","serif"; font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">Continue reading here: </span><a href="http://www.theguardian.com/books/2013/oct/15/neil-gaiman-future-libraries-reading-daydreaming?CMP=twt_gu" style="background-color: transparent;">http://www.theguardian.com/books/2013/oct/15/neil-gaiman-future-libraries-reading-daydreaming?CMP=twt_gu</a></div>
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strangebananahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05402885506843045831noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1334007689975748798.post-72354004978808349302013-10-08T15:34:00.000+08:002013-10-08T18:10:34.080+08:00So Long, Mr. White<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Constantia","serif";">So
long, Mr. White.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Constantia","serif";">It
is a very strange thing, when the defeat of a “monster” like Walter White—meth king,
murderer, child-poisoner, destroyer of lives—evokes regret in us, the viewers.
We feel sorry that his “empire,” his life, his world as he knows it, goes up in
wisps of smoke like burned-off crystal meth on a strip of aluminum foil. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh_GZf4lwQ4hwQL_q9O8RwDJVTM2_6bh0pTxkASAb7uaHF0q0QvDy3VIMdqoD-CYoEvpSmUPFZ2BUJysLcu9BMlaUCMWFPVodKRACj8keZeyDKE_uIWORUw-bc41HaXaTERJ9dDW_0xB3A/s1600/Breaking-Bad-Logo.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh_GZf4lwQ4hwQL_q9O8RwDJVTM2_6bh0pTxkASAb7uaHF0q0QvDy3VIMdqoD-CYoEvpSmUPFZ2BUJysLcu9BMlaUCMWFPVodKRACj8keZeyDKE_uIWORUw-bc41HaXaTERJ9dDW_0xB3A/s1600/Breaking-Bad-Logo.png" /></a></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Constantia","serif";"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Constantia","serif";">It’s
to the credit of everybody involved in the production of the TV show <b><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Breaking_bad" target="_blank">Breaking Bad</a></b>—the writers, production staff, directors, show creator Vince Gilligan, and
of course the actors—that this show can make us empathize with a man like Mr.
White (played by Bryan Cranston, who was ridiculously, stupendously good in
portraying the rise of timid, beaten-by-life middle-aged high school teacher
into “Heisenberg,” the brilliant, efficient, resourceful, brutal meth kingpin,
and his descent into his own purgatory—eschewed by his own family, hunted by
the whole world, hiding, planning his own brand of "redemption," desperate for one final
defiant act that would validate all his “hard work”). </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Constantia","serif";"><br /></span></div>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEho8uD1W95qufE4rcunIGfl36VpCPYQ1KRWI5EI3upru7amdIHN7AIPJplPu0zvwo7V4dMi6kBPBWTnUrFnqopVqUYdUVNIAyvHrNfZWcSG0DpoPM34x5A8ZrHxttTZgAN2HwPKDzTUF6g/s1600/heisenberg.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEho8uD1W95qufE4rcunIGfl36VpCPYQ1KRWI5EI3upru7amdIHN7AIPJplPu0zvwo7V4dMi6kBPBWTnUrFnqopVqUYdUVNIAyvHrNfZWcSG0DpoPM34x5A8ZrHxttTZgAN2HwPKDzTUF6g/s1600/heisenberg.jpg" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fHKrCs1rFRI" target="_blank">"Say my name."</a></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Constantia","serif";"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Constantia","serif";">If
you haven’t watched “Breaking Bad,” then you’re in for a treat, you lucky
bastard. Schedule a whole weekend to watch the whole thing</span><span style="font-family: Constantia, serif;">. </span><span style="font-family: Constantia, serif;">You won’t regret
it.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Constantia","serif";">That
last episode is hailed by many as one of the finest hours in TV history,
although frankly, I think the episode “Ozymandias” (third from last) could also
serve as the show’s last. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Constantia","serif";">I
like Walter White to somehow survive the whole thing.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Constantia","serif";"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Constantia","serif";">Speaking
of monsters, it’s interesting to note that <a href="http://grrm.livejournal.com/337511.html" target="_blank">George RR Martin</a> (author of <a href="http://strangebananadailybluster.blogspot.com/2013/06/of-dragons-and-kings-and-queens-and.html" target="_blank">A Song of Ice and Fire</a>, from which the TV series “Game of Thrones” is based) says that “Walter White is a bigger monster than anyone in <a href="http://gameofthrones.wikia.com/wiki/Westeros" target="_blank">Westeros</a>.” Now <i>that</i> is saying a lot—King Joffrey (a
character in <i>Game of Thrones</i>) does not in any way inspire sympathy—he is just a
straight-up monster, through no fault of his own. After all, his mother is
<a href="http://gameofthrones.wikia.com/wiki/Cersei_Lannister" target="_blank">Cersei</a>. <i>(Warning: Game of Thrones spoiler ahead) </i>His death made me feel
something akin to “unholy glee.” <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Constantia","serif";">Also,
now that Mr. Martin has finished watching TV, maybe he can now finish writing Book
Six of A Song of Ice and Fire. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
strangebananahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05402885506843045831noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1334007689975748798.post-11687573603614724352013-09-13T17:03:00.001+08:002013-10-29T17:40:11.362+08:00Cursed, Part 2--The Case Against GMOs<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Constantia","serif";"><a href="http://strangebananadailybluster.blogspot.com/2013/09/cursed-part-1-ode-to-rice.html" target="_blank">(Continuation)</a><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Constantia","serif";">It turns out that these <a href="http://www.slate.com/blogs/future_tense/2013/08/26/golden_rice_attack_in_philippines_anti_gmo_activists_lie_about_protest_and.html" target="_blank">“rice farmers” weren't actually what they say they were</a>; they were actually misguided
activists who moronically believe that food crops that carry the tag “GM”
(genetically modified) are automatically bad. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Constantia","serif";">The rice plants that were destroyed
were <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2013/08/25/sunday-review/golden-rice-lifesaver.html" target="_blank">“endowed with </a><span style="background-color: white; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial;"><a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2013/08/25/sunday-review/golden-rice-lifesaver.html" target="_blank">a gene from cornand another from a bacterium, making it the only variety in existence toproduce beta carotene, the source of vitamin A. Its developers call it “Golden Rice.</a>” If made available to people, a cup of this <a href="http://www.irri.org/index.php?option=com_k2&view=itemlist&task=category&id=764:golden-rice-at-irri&lang=en" target="_blank">rice </a>variety would provide
half an adult’s daily recommended intake of Vitamin A. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-US" style="background-color: white; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; font-family: Constantia, serif;">Vitamin A
deficiency causes the death of millions of people around the world, and could
also cause blindness among children.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEit_AQRM3E5bTTnvXgK7lhK3kM6N0iBDuM91-tv0O38rkezW8rIMTSNEO9a71biOCkGfPfKesc1BPJ_zaLvgLHmeVlUKqIOxkw5SKMNkMJy9lGnY0MpmTIM7Jbge6TExIQwYrSPkFic848/s1600/goldenrice.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEit_AQRM3E5bTTnvXgK7lhK3kM6N0iBDuM91-tv0O38rkezW8rIMTSNEO9a71biOCkGfPfKesc1BPJ_zaLvgLHmeVlUKqIOxkw5SKMNkMJy9lGnY0MpmTIM7Jbge6TExIQwYrSPkFic848/s1600/goldenrice.jpg" /></a></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-US" style="background-color: white; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; font-family: Constantia, serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-US" style="background-color: white; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; font-family: Constantia, serif;">The
vandals were members of the Kilusang Magbubukid ng Pilipinas (KMP), AnakPawis
Party list, and MASIPAG, organizations that ironically style themselves as
pro-farmer and pro-poor. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-US" style="background-color: white; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; font-family: Constantia, serif;">They were
there to stage a protest versus GMOs, a protest that quickly turned into an
orgy of rice plant-killing when a group broke away and destroyed the rice
plants in the trial fields, to the consternation of the real farmers who
witnessed the attack. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 15pt; text-align: justify; vertical-align: baseline;">
<span class="apple-converted-space"><span style="font-family: Constantia, serif;"><span style="line-height: 18pt;">GMOs (genetically modified organisms) have always been a target
for these “environmentalists,” who think that we should all return to “traditional”
or “organic” agriculture. However, </span><span style="line-height: 24px;">isn't</span><span style="line-height: 18pt;"> agriculture itself always been </span></span><i style="font-family: Constantia, serif; line-height: 18pt;">unnatural</i><span style="font-family: Constantia, serif;"><span style="line-height: 18pt;">? Since Homo sapiens found a
more efficient alternative to the hunter-gatherer lifestyle around 10,000 years
ago, humans have been genetically-altering most food crops. <o:p></o:p></span></span></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 18.0pt; margin-bottom: 15.0pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; text-align: justify; vertical-align: baseline;">
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Constantia, serif; line-height: 115%;">Take for example the<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span></span><span lang="EN-US"><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Banana" target="_blank"><span style="font-family: "Constantia","serif"; line-height: 115%;">banana</span></a></span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Constantia, serif; line-height: 115%;">. The “natural” form of the banana is vastly
different from the banana that we enjoy today. The “genetically unmodified”
banana was a tasteless, mushy fruit with large seeds, and shaped differently
from the modern banana.<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span></span><span lang="EN-US"><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rice" target="_blank"><span style="font-family: "Constantia","serif"; line-height: 115%;">Rice</span></a></span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Constantia, serif; line-height: 115%;">,<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span></span><span lang="EN-US"><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wheat" target="_blank"><span style="font-family: "Constantia","serif"; line-height: 115%;">wheat</span></a></span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Constantia, serif; line-height: 115%;">,<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span></span><span lang="EN-US"><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Corn" target="_blank"><span style="font-family: "Constantia","serif"; line-height: 115%;">corn</span></a></span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Constantia","serif";">, are
food crops <span lang="EN-US" style="line-height: 115%;">similarly far removed from their wild
ancestors. Do these food crops cause illnesses?</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Constantia","serif";"><span lang="EN-US" style="line-height: 115%;">Genetic modification,
basically, is a shortcut to get the more favorable traits in a crop. Selective
breeding would produce a similar result, but that would take considerably more
time.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
</div>
<div style="line-height: 18.0pt; margin-bottom: 15.0pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; text-align: justify; vertical-align: baseline;">
<span class="apple-converted-space"><span style="font-family: Constantia, serif;">Point is, <a href="http://www.exposingthetruth.co/truth-about-gmos/#axzz2ejCRtwUz" target="_blank">not all genetically-modified foods are harmful</a>; nor are
they made solely for the benefit of multi-national corporations, like the
much-maligned <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Monsanto" target="_blank">Monsanto</a>. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 18.0pt; margin-bottom: 15.0pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; text-align: justify; vertical-align: baseline;">
<span class="apple-converted-space"><span style="font-family: Constantia, serif;">Genetically modified foods made it possible for a good part of
humanity to exist. <a href="http://issuu.com/no_planet_b/docs/organic_4_ever" target="_blank">If the world would rely solely on “organic foods,” the food production would only be sufficient to feed about 4 billion of the world’s population.</a> Should the rest of humanity be asked to please quietly die from
hunger because there are people who think GM foods are “yucky”? <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 18.0pt; margin-bottom: 15.0pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; text-align: justify; vertical-align: baseline;">
<span class="apple-converted-space"><span style="font-family: Constantia, serif;">People like <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Norman_Borlaug" target="_blank">Norman Borlaug</a> (the greatest man you probably never
heard of) made it possible for hundreds of millions, billions even, to have
something to eat. Without this man, many of
us in the Third World would probably never have been born. If people need somebody to worship, idolize, and to emulate, it should be this man.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgBUyyQAkaWdxAmJ0WO2gvJfkN8yoi07I7eZAunVJpKJjgmjEgDLFqea2_Ut9Z7kYGQCmfwHeyX3hfqzLU-OhPfAKCq2MpHHA5gdS2DAyHAJ0_ec2ogNBUufisTwuCmQqcwZcXRyOtJlO8/s1600/220px-Norman_Borlaug.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgBUyyQAkaWdxAmJ0WO2gvJfkN8yoi07I7eZAunVJpKJjgmjEgDLFqea2_Ut9Z7kYGQCmfwHeyX3hfqzLU-OhPfAKCq2MpHHA5gdS2DAyHAJ0_ec2ogNBUufisTwuCmQqcwZcXRyOtJlO8/s1600/220px-Norman_Borlaug.jpg" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: small;">"He fed five thousand people? Noob." </span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div style="line-height: 18.0pt; margin-bottom: 15.0pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; text-align: justify; vertical-align: baseline;">
<span style="font-family: Constantia, serif; line-height: 18pt;">Known as the “Father of the Green Revolution,” Mr Borlaug, </span><span style="font-family: Constantia, serif;">who also helped prevent a </span><a href="http://strangebananadailybluster.blogspot.com/2011/03/world-according-to-thomas-malthus.html" style="font-family: Constantia, serif;" target="_blank">Malthusian</a><span style="font-family: Constantia, serif;"> scenario,</span><span style="font-family: Constantia, serif; line-height: 18pt;"> had a
PhD in plant pathology and genetics. He developed high-yielding and disease resistant
food crops that doubled the food production in many countries around the world,
in the process saving more than a billion people from starvation.</span></div>
<div style="line-height: 18.0pt; margin-bottom: 15.0pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; text-align: justify; vertical-align: baseline;">
<span class="apple-converted-space"><span style="font-family: Constantia, serif;">The question of whether this is a good thing for the whole world
in the long run is neither here nor there. That we are alive is sufficient reason for
me to consider this a <i>good thing</i>.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 18.0pt; margin-bottom: 15.0pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; text-align: justify; vertical-align: baseline;">
<span class="apple-converted-space"><span style="font-family: Constantia, serif;">Tons of researches have been done on the safety of GM crops, and the
vast majority of them say that <a href="http://thebreakthrough.org/index.php/programs/conservation-and-development/the-truth-about-genetically-modified-food/" target="_blank">they are safe to eat</a>. Banning GM crops would
mean condemning a good chunk of the world’s population to starvation. Moreover,
GM crops still has the potential to feed many, many more—millions are still
going hungry around the world. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 18.0pt; margin-bottom: 15.0pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; text-align: justify; vertical-align: baseline;">
<span class="apple-converted-space"><span style="font-family: Constantia, serif;">To be fair, some criticisms of genetic modifications may not be
easily dismissed as irrational rants, and these should be addressed by scientists; otherwise, the case versus GMOs would further spiral down into fear-mongering and plain disinformation. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 18.0pt; margin-bottom: 15.0pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; text-align: justify; vertical-align: baseline;">
<span class="apple-converted-space"><span style="font-family: Constantia, serif;">Indeed, the subject of GMOs is an emotional one, and anybody doing
a research on the subject would be swamped by tons of literature that can be found in the
internet, both pros and cons. That's why it is important that we should employ a healthy skepticism in reading about this subject, and not be swayed by <a href="http://newsinfo.inquirer.net/480695/farmers-eco-warriors-vow-to-block-golden-rice" target="_blank">slogan-spouting activists-for-hire</a> who are nothing but vandals and thugs. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 15pt; text-align: justify; vertical-align: baseline;">
<span class="apple-converted-space"><span style="font-family: Constantia, serif;"><span style="line-height: 18pt;">Many say that because of Green Revolution, </span></span><i style="font-family: Constantia, serif; line-height: 18pt;">population explosion </i><span style="font-family: Constantia, serif; line-height: 18pt;">happened, </span><span style="font-family: Constantia, serif;"><span style="line-height: 18pt;">especially in the
Third World; because of this, the resulting increase in the population in this part of the world
is ultimately detrimental for all of us. So basically what they're saying is that for the rest to survive, some of us have to die—by starvation, perhaps? While that
<i>may </i>have some merit (if one thinks about it in a cold-blooded, mass-murderer, and <i>Stalinesque </i>way of thinking), it would be difficult for
them to look for volunteers. </span></span></span><span style="font-family: Constantia, serif; line-height: 18pt;">I know I </span><span style="font-family: Constantia, serif; line-height: 24px;">wouldn't.</span><span style="font-family: Constantia, serif; line-height: 18pt;"> </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Constantia, serif; line-height: 18pt;">But I might know a few who
would be perfect candidates.</span></div>
<div style="line-height: 18.0pt; margin-bottom: 15.0pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; text-align: justify; vertical-align: baseline;">
<span class="apple-converted-space" style="line-height: 18pt;"><span style="font-family: Constantia, serif;">Additional reading:</span></span><a href="http://www.skepticalraptor.com/skepticalraptorblog.php/richard-dawkins-talks-gmo-crops/" style="line-height: 18pt;">http://www.skepticalraptor.com/skepticalraptorblog.php/richard-dawkins-talks-gmo-crops/</a></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
strangebananahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05402885506843045831noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1334007689975748798.post-74456727511002230652013-09-05T18:12:00.000+08:002015-02-18T13:54:23.328+08:00Cursed, Part 1--An Ode to Rice<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Constantia","serif";">Like most Asians, Filipinos love to
eat rice. They eat rice at almost every meal. It’s their staple food, their go-to food, the ultimate comfort food. No Pinoy meal is complete without it.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Constantia","serif";">Just as Eskimos have many words for
snow, Filipinos also have several words that refer to (no, not snow) <b>rice</b>—they have
about seven. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Constantia","serif";">There’s <i>kanin</i>, which means cooked rice; <i>palay</i>—unhusked
rice; <i>bigas</i>—husked, uncooked rice; <i>bahaw</i>—leftover <i>kanin</i>; <i>tutong</i>—the burnt
part of <i>kanin</i>; <i>binlid</i>—<i>bigas</i> that got
crushed during the milling process; in some Visayan languages in the country's south, there’s even a
term for the unhusked rice (<i>palay</i>)
that got accidentally mixed with <i>bigas</i>: <i>pasi</i>. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Constantia","serif";">They eat rice with <i>ulam</i>, which many Filipinos think is <a href="http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/viand" target="_blank"><i>viand</i> </a>in the English language (it’s not). An <i>ulam</i> is any dish, usually
protein, eaten in tandem with rice--it makes scarfing down platefuls
of hot, steaming <i>kanin </i>more enjoyable. The <i>ulam</i> is usually strong-tasting
ones like the adobo, a dish so tasty that a <i>nibble</i>
can flavor several mouthfuls of rice.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Constantia","serif";"><br /></span></div>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgr3E3hDBnSbRmWWlN1d2XHKJA8ankskcDCpiZxjuaeQr7qp0hyphenhyphenjn1I7PBR_ovCxvT8SVR0s9tvmrYw1aHFy1YmovrW4CX5t_FirfIsw9B1hWAflNdv6zKzKCDZeCz4BbCqW_juCyVHk4Y/s1600/adobo.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgr3E3hDBnSbRmWWlN1d2XHKJA8ankskcDCpiZxjuaeQr7qp0hyphenhyphenjn1I7PBR_ovCxvT8SVR0s9tvmrYw1aHFy1YmovrW4CX5t_FirfIsw9B1hWAflNdv6zKzKCDZeCz4BbCqW_juCyVHk4Y/s1600/adobo.jpg" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">This adobo is about ready to repent--it looks absolutely sinful.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Constantia","serif";"><i><br /></i></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Constantia","serif";"><i>Ulam</i>
can be vegetable, fish, or meat-based. Some even make an <i>ulam</i> out of <i>pancit</i> (fine noodles cooked with bits of meat or shrimp and
vegetables, seasoned with soy sauce, and is a complete meal in itself). <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Constantia","serif";">For Filipinos, meals revolve around
rice. When they see an unfamiliar foreign dish, their first thought is usually,
“Will that go well with rice?” And if the dish looks so mouth-watering it requires no identification,
they’d exclaim, “That would be so delicious with rice!” (<i>Ang sarap </i></span><i style="font-family: Constantia, serif;">niyan</i><i style="font-family: Constantia, serif;"> sa kanin!)</i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Constantia, serif;">To many Filipinos, all other foods are there to enhance the experience of the consumption of <i>kanin</i>. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Constantia","serif";"><i><br /></i></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Constantia","serif";">There are also those who say that they are not “<i>busog</i>” (the
feeling of fullness in one’s stomach after eating a hearty meal—not just
satisfied, mind</span><span style="font-family: Constantia, serif;">—</span><span style="font-family: Constantia, serif;">the stomach needs to be <i>distended </i>to get that </span><i style="font-family: Constantia, serif;">busog</i><span style="font-family: Constantia, serif;"> feeling) if rice is not included in their meal. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Constantia, serif;">To bolster the feeling of being </span><i style="font-family: Constantia, serif;">busog</i><span style="font-family: Constantia, serif;">,
they drink a glass or two of water after eating, after which they sigh
audibly (</span><i style="font-family: Constantia, serif;">ahhh</i><span style="font-family: Constantia, serif;">), indicating that they are, indeed, </span><i style="font-family: Constantia, serif;">busog</i><span style="font-family: Constantia, serif;">.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Constantia","serif";"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Constantia","serif";">A cold, sweating glass of water is the
perfect end for a typical Filipino meal. Without it, the dining experience is incomplete. That glass of cold water is the Dorothy Boyd to the meal
that is Jerry McGuire.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhy4PS0SG72kt_3wZRipNMCSM5470vIhneHNvS0N7AMQpD5D2cBThmNl8VYas4VHwyooW2LRljqz2j8xkXLRtb_81VkZC5Io3QVtxwf-D_iWzU-ctIJBYdjfx4mAJO33id3VcNvtUrVLXc/s1600/glass+of+water.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhy4PS0SG72kt_3wZRipNMCSM5470vIhneHNvS0N7AMQpD5D2cBThmNl8VYas4VHwyooW2LRljqz2j8xkXLRtb_81VkZC5Io3QVtxwf-D_iWzU-ctIJBYdjfx4mAJO33id3VcNvtUrVLXc/s1600/glass+of+water.jpg" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">"You complete me."</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Constantia","serif";">Suffice it to say, Filipinos have
almost a mystical-like veneration towards rice—wasting it is a huge no-no, and, for farmers who slog through muddy rice fields cultivating this <i>gift from the gods</i>, willfully
<i>destroying</i> (<i>gasp!</i>) the plants that bear these life-giving grains is considered a
sacrilege that merits a curse from the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anito" style="font-style: italic;" target="_blank">anitos</a><i>. </i>They call this curse, “<i>busong</i>.” <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Constantia","serif";"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Constantia","serif";">This is why I am skeptical that the
<a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2013/08/25/sunday-review/golden-rice-lifesaver.html?pagewanted=all&_r=2&" target="_blank">reported attack on genetically-modified rice plants</a> that occurred last August 8
in an IRRI (International Rice Research Institute) research field in Bicol was indeed
carried out by rice farmers. No sane rice farmer would even <i>dream </i>of destroying
live rice plants.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Constantia","serif";"><br /></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Constantia","serif";"><a href="http://strangebananadailybluster.blogspot.com/2013/09/cursed-part-2-case-against-gmos.html" target="_blank">Continued here.</a><o:p></o:p></span></div>
strangebananahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05402885506843045831noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1334007689975748798.post-73475300149900510452013-08-13T12:02:00.000+08:002013-08-29T09:00:39.651+08:00The Need For A Miracle<h2>
People Worship Weeping Tree In California, Tears
Are Actually Insect Excrement</h2>
<div>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span style="font-size: 11pt;">A growing number of Catholics in Fresno, California believe that a
tree outside St. John’s Cathedral is weeping God’s tears.</span><span style="font-size: 11pt;">“When you say ‘glory be to God in Jesus’ name’ the tree starts
throwing out more water,” parishioner Maria Ybarra told <a href="http://www.wptv.com/dpp/news/national/People-pray-at-tree-outside-St-Johns-Cathedral-in-Fresno-California-say-tree-weeps-Gods-tears" style="outline: 0px;"><span style="border: none windowtext 1.0pt; color: #0077ee; mso-border-alt: none windowtext 0in; padding: 0in; text-decoration: none; text-underline: none;">KGPE-TV</span></a>. Ybarra was the first person to feel the drops of
liquid, which began falling from the Crape Myrtle tree on Wednesday. As news
spread, more and more people gathered under the tree to pray. “I said my prayer
and asked the Lord to give me a miracle cause I’m really, really sick,”
Rosemarie Navarro said.</span></blockquote>
</div>
<h2>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Constantia, serif; font-size: 11pt; font-weight: normal;">Continue reading at<a href="http://www.buzzfeed.com/ellievhall/people-worship-weeping-tree-in-california-tears-are-actually" target="_blank"> this site</a>.</span></div>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg-8YVDwE7L6nS_j5Vzqai1rx7y0cRPVxCO7iaoxj5nDH1q30_qxTn3hLbOleLGQoIdF68RhS7Rk13jHc13fz-mtOUPS1usJXBGcFd82MazfjxK8H28utCVLcmGdAODxfF-2e7rmQxXyYo/s1600/insect.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg-8YVDwE7L6nS_j5Vzqai1rx7y0cRPVxCO7iaoxj5nDH1q30_qxTn3hLbOleLGQoIdF68RhS7Rk13jHc13fz-mtOUPS1usJXBGcFd82MazfjxK8H28utCVLcmGdAODxfF-2e7rmQxXyYo/s320/insect.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-PH; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">Aphides,
the insect whose poop is mistaken for Holy Water. If you look closely, you'll notice the
little bugger is laughing his ass off.</span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: Constantia, serif; font-size: 11pt; text-align: justify;">Here is another account: </span></span><span style="background-color: white; color: #111111; font-family: Constantia, serif; font-size: 11pt; font-weight: normal; line-height: 27pt;"><a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/08/12/tree-weeping-gods-tears_n_3743657.html" target="_blank">California Parishioners Believe Tree Is Weeping God's Tears; Arborist Says It's Just Bug Excrement</a></span></div>
</h2>
<h2>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Constantia, serif; font-size: 11pt; font-weight: normal;">This
reminds me of a recent episode of
the TV program </span><a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=953idLbU3QU" style="font-family: Constantia, serif; font-size: 11pt; font-weight: normal;">Kapuso Mo,
Jessica Soho on GMA</a><span style="font-family: Constantia, serif; font-size: 11pt; font-weight: normal;">7 showing Filipinos worshiping (or “venerating”, they’d
deny that what they do is actual worship) a tree inside someone's backyard,
because the trunk has an image (more of a sketch of an outline, really)
resembling that of a human figure wearing a sort of </span><i style="font-family: Constantia, serif; font-size: 11pt; font-weight: normal;">hijab</i><span style="font-family: Constantia, serif; font-size: 11pt; font-weight: normal;">. They superimposed an
image of the Virgin Mary on it and decided that it IS the Virgin Mary.</span></div>
<span style="font-weight: normal;"><u1:p></u1:p>
</span><div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Constantia, serif; font-size: 11pt; font-weight: normal;">And
people flocked to it, and prayed to that tree growing in someone's backyard.
They brought towels and used these on the image on the tree. They
then used these same towels on their bodies. Not long after, a few had
claimed that their illnesses were cured, or that their sick child, who had been
sick for some time, suddenly showed signs of recovery. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<span style="font-weight: normal;"><u1:p></u1:p>
</span><div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Constantia, serif; font-size: 11pt; font-weight: normal;">An
agriculturist explained that this “outline” is caused by insects in the tree
trunk, but I don’t think anybody heard him.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<span style="font-weight: normal;"><u1:p></u1:p>
</span><div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Constantia, serif; font-size: 11pt; font-weight: normal;">One can’t
really blame these people. What one feels, mostly, is sadness: that people
should have to resort to this nonsense because
they couldn't afford to go to a decent hospital. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Constantia, serif; font-size: 11pt; font-weight: normal;">They need to believe in something, anything—that would take care of them; they<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span><i>want</i><span class="apple-converted-space"> </span>to believe that a father- or
mother-figure is always there for them. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<span style="font-weight: normal;"><u1:p></u1:p>
</span><div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Constantia, serif; font-size: 11pt; font-weight: normal;">And if
they see no evidence for this, if all they experience in life is one gigantic
and life-long snub, all the more they are eager and willing to believe anything
like these supposed “miracles.” Or even manufacture a few.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<span style="font-weight: normal;"><u1:p></u1:p>
</span><div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Constantia, serif; font-size: 11pt; font-weight: normal;">Who else could they turn to? Where
else would they go? The better life they believe they would have is not even in this world; they believe they would have that life <i>after they die</i>. If people can believe this, they'd believe <i>anything</i>.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Constantia, serif; font-size: 11pt; font-weight: normal;">What’s even more tragic is that rulers, religious leaders, and other charlatans throughout history know
this, and how<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span><u>useful<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span></u>this simple fact is in manipulating people. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<span style="font-weight: normal;"><u1:p></u1:p>
</span><div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Constantia, serif; font-size: 11pt; font-weight: normal;">History
has been the account of one long scam after another inflicted upon the gullible.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<span style="font-weight: normal;"><u1:p></u1:p>
</span><div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Constantia, serif; font-size: 11pt; font-weight: normal;">It is not
a coincidence that mostly<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span><i>miseducated<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span></i>people and/or people living in poverty-stricken areas are prone to believe in all manners of
superstition.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<span style="font-weight: normal;"><u1:p></u1:p>
</span><div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Constantia, serif; font-size: 11pt; font-weight: normal;">There is
something very wrong about all this, yes, but I don’t think making </span><span style="font-family: Constantia, serif; font-size: 15px; font-weight: normal;">them</span><span style="font-family: Constantia, serif; font-size: 15px; font-weight: normal;"> </span><span style="font-family: Constantia, serif; font-size: 11pt; font-weight: normal;">understand various scientific principles and natural phenomena around us would open their eyes. After all, it is much easier for them to believe instead in a supernatural being. It's comforting, and effortless, too.</span></div>
<span style="font-weight: normal;"><u1:p></u1:p>
</span><div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Constantia, serif; font-size: 11pt;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">It’s just
not the lack of proper education; it’s the whole shebang—the culture, the
society, the poverty. <u1:p></u1:p>Superstition goes soul-deep in these
shores.</span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
</h2>
strangebananahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05402885506843045831noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1334007689975748798.post-16128976499335978212013-08-02T10:52:00.001+08:002013-08-02T11:11:28.696+08:00Introduction to Ancient Hebrews<div class="MsoNormalCxSpFirst" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Constantia, serif; font-size: 12pt;">The Hebrews, who settled in Palestine about
4000 years ago, were a nomadic tribe that came from southern Mesopotamia. They
were among the many peoples who lived in the Fertile Crescent. </span><i style="font-family: Constantia, serif; font-size: 12pt;">Hebrew </i><span style="font-family: Constantia, serif; font-size: 12pt;">came from the Hebrew word </span><i style="font-family: Constantia, serif; font-size: 12pt;">Ibri</i><span style="font-family: Constantia, serif; font-size: 12pt;">, which means people who passed
over, or people from the other side. Their story is told in the Bible.</span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgpqvxTpZifBgECiEfaqJJY9cFpeRpJ_BPg6ov8T3y6FlIx4VVQt3oOoqtVJ2hOs-ot0GOdyd4nylsATsCH8D0VD7AYZSVi6Jmkt8E58fPl45zgDFsdzTlsGT_tXKyqGTYOl9WajXPxWfs/s1600/canaan.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: justify;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgpqvxTpZifBgECiEfaqJJY9cFpeRpJ_BPg6ov8T3y6FlIx4VVQt3oOoqtVJ2hOs-ot0GOdyd4nylsATsCH8D0VD7AYZSVi6Jmkt8E58fPl45zgDFsdzTlsGT_tXKyqGTYOl9WajXPxWfs/s1600/canaan.jpg" /></a></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpFirst" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Constantia, serif; font-size: 12pt;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Constantia","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"> The
Old Testament mentions that the first Hebrew was Abraham, who lived in the
Sumerian city of Ur. Travelling with his family, he came to Syria, then to
Canaan (Palestine), where he eventually settled. His grandson Jacob (Israel)
had twelve sons after whom the twelve tribes of Israel were named. A famine in
Canaan resulted in Jacob leading his people to safety in Egypt. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Constantia","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">The Hebrews are
also called Israelites. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Constantia","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">The Israelites later became slaves in Egypt, until a
religious leader named Moses brought them back to Canaan. Before they could
establish their settlement in Canaan, however, they had to fight off all the
people occupying the land, which they believed was promised to them by God.<b><o:p></o:p></b></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Constantia","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">For forty years, the
Hebrews wandered in the Sinai Desert. During this time, Moses received many
laws, including the Ten Commandments. After the death of Moses, Joshua
succeeded him. The Israelites finally entered the Promised Land under Joshua’s
leadership. <b><o:p></o:p></b></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Constantia","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"> The
Israelites had set up a kingdom around 1000 BC. Under three kings—Saul, David,
and Solomon—Israel prospered. David, who, tradition has it, was a shepherd who
became famous for defeating the Philistine giant Goliath, united the tribes of
Israel into one nation and made Jerusalem its capital. Solomon, David’s son,
made Jerusalem into an impressive city, and built a magnificent temple
dedicated to God. While at it, he also built an extravagant palace for himself.
King Solomon is famous for his legendary wisdom. He negotiated with powerful
empires in Egypt and Mesopotamia, in the process increased the kingdom’s
influence.<b><o:p></o:p></b></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Constantia","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"> Solomon’s
structures and extravagance, however, took its toll on the Israelites. Heavy
taxes and much forced labor were required to support such projects. Eventually,
revolts erupted soon after his death around 930 BC. The kingdom split into two:
Israel to the north and Judah to the south. This disunity severely weakened
Israel. The Hebrews were not able to fight off the invading armies that
followed. <b><o:p></o:p></b></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Constantia","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">Israel fell to the
Assyrians in 722 BC, while Judah was conquered by the Babylonians in 586 BC.
Jerusalem’s temple was destroyed by King Nebuchadnezzar, and many Israelites
were forced into exile. During their captivity, the Israelites became known as
Jews. The term <i>Jew</i> comes from the
Hebrew <i>Yehudi</i>, which<i> </i>originally referred to the tribe of
Judah. This exile was the start of the Jewish Diaspora.<b><o:p></o:p></b></span></div>
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: justify;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh9FhXov0f1vOcVZUuPEV541hA2Bp_nzgAL5b9BIGtyFKv-3t3q7CAFwGIP41A-_6lVu3FCHuqXxGevjxe17V5rePyVujsAq6dPIT9lEp5It6TCesYOXCPY-3JdVgsObrtNmsFXfzpBb6w/s1600/CyrusTheGreat.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh9FhXov0f1vOcVZUuPEV541hA2Bp_nzgAL5b9BIGtyFKv-3t3q7CAFwGIP41A-_6lVu3FCHuqXxGevjxe17V5rePyVujsAq6dPIT9lEp5It6TCesYOXCPY-3JdVgsObrtNmsFXfzpBb6w/s1600/CyrusTheGreat.jpg" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Sculpture of Cyrus the Great</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Constantia","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"> Fifty
years later, in 538 BC, the Persian ruler<a href="http://www.cyrusthegreat.net/" target="_blank"> Cyrus the Great</a> allowed many Jews to
return to Israel and rebuild their temple. After Alexander conquered the
Persian Empire, Israel fell under the control of the Greeks. Like many other
small groups in the region, they continued to live under a series of foreign
conquerors—the Persians, the Greeks, and the Romans. <b><o:p></o:p></b></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Constantia","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Constantia","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"> The
king of ancient Israel was not an absolute monarch. He had to obey the <i>Torah</i>, which contains the first five
books of the Old Testament, and contains laws, both religious and secular. The
Israelites viewed the Torah as God’s revealed instruction to Israel, and not
even the king was above it. If the king’s commandment was in direct violation
of the <i>Torah</i>, the ministers were not
duty-bound to enforce it. The <i>Sanhedrin</i>
acted as the supreme court of Israel. <b><o:p></o:p></b></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Constantia","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"> Like other Bronze and Iron Age populations,
the economy of ancient Israel was dependent on agriculture. The production of
valuable trade goods such as jewelry or weapons made from metals was also vital
to their economy, as well as ceramics, field labor and craft production. <b><o:p></o:p></b></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Constantia","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">Ancient Israel had no
public buildings during this period, and central government was still in the
nation’s future. As a result, the family was the most important social
structure during this time. Families lived in small houses, and connected by a
courtyard to the houses of close relatives.<b><o:p></o:p></b></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Constantia","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">The home in ancient
Israel was central to education, work, and leisure. The ideal Israelite family,
according to the Bible, was large and patriarchal; however, excavated
structures from this period suggest that average family size consisted of only
four to eight people. High mortality rates and a short lifespan kept most
families from achieving the biblical ideal.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Constantia","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">Women in ancient
Israel usually spent much time in their homes, processing the raw food
materials that the men brought in from the fields. They were responsible for
making sure that the food the men brought in will last until the next harvest.
Childcare and daily upbringing were mainly the responsibility of women, since
men were out in the fields or fulfilling their military duty. The husband was
obligated to support his wife, although she could own property. Marriage was
assumed to be an economic partnership, among others. If the husband could not
pay his debts and went bankrupt, he, along with his wife, could be sold into
slavery.</span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgbBGEv4PoKXYDJo-dxYxpbDFSFc1CecAWgEMemmssVK4BKKBa_b8WXbD6sEJsmchN16bU0R9WldPtPYT2dOWrbyMDE5xXTpRJ6Imi5uEX8Pd6QV67QdeqVgmEmjVAsVs44gQi-34_FdzM/s1600/hebrrew+women.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: justify;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgbBGEv4PoKXYDJo-dxYxpbDFSFc1CecAWgEMemmssVK4BKKBa_b8WXbD6sEJsmchN16bU0R9WldPtPYT2dOWrbyMDE5xXTpRJ6Imi5uEX8Pd6QV67QdeqVgmEmjVAsVs44gQi-34_FdzM/s1600/hebrrew+women.jpg" /></a></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Constantia","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Constantia","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">We can assume that
the wife also worked hard to help her husband from going bankrupt, and prevent
this unhappy event.<b><o:p></o:p></b></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Constantia","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpLast" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Constantia","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">Education in Ancient
Israel was centered on religion. The <i>beth
ha-sepher</i> (or <i>heder</i>) was a
community-maintained elementary school. Elementary education started at the age
of six; a school for boys from ages 15-17 was also established. To those who
wanted to further their study, a <i>rabbinic</i>
education (rabbinic--pertaining to the Jewish religious leader, the <i>rabbi</i>) was provided in the <i>Bet Ha-Midrash</i> (House of Study),<i> </i>usually located close to the synagogue.
In addition, the father is required by law to teach his sons not only the <i>Torah</i>, but a trade as well. The
daughter’s early education, on the other hand, was mainly the responsibility of
the mother. <b><o:p></o:p></b></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Constantia","serif";"> The Hebrews has had a great impact
on history, despite their comparatively insignificant origins and resources.
Their religion, Judaism, greatly influenced two other major
religions—Christianity and Islam. The Old Testament derives from early Hebrew
scriptures. The Bible is the greatest single influence on religion, ethics, and
literature of the Western world; the three major religions of the world are all
rooted in it.<b><o:p></o:p></b></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Constantia","serif";"> Judaism, the religion of the
Hebrews, is monotheistic; that is, they worship one God—Yahweh, creator of
everything. Through Abraham, God made a <i>covenant</i>,
or a promise, with the Hebrews: Abraham and his descendants will be the Chosen
People, and that Yahweh will protect them, in return for obedience. Moses later
renewed this covenant; the Ten Commandments, and other laws, were part of this
covenant with God. Judaism does not permit God’s representation through images.
Early Hebrews believed that they alone lived under God’s protection, for they
were His chosen people. Later, they believed that their God was also the God of
all people, and of the universe. Because of this belief (of one God for all), the
Hebrews came to believe that one must love not only one’s neighbor, but one’s
enemy as well—an entirely new idea.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgSxmwtUMAEuutoUuTQhdM96gmauhr2ccIYFySzDKti9HEp_YJMt5-Bnqs69O4KsxAlwNL43Ra6l1QpbQomSPtgMPrOg-lOrhc33PkMSYlnRjbQJKk7jZk3bPTfxg9uZsImUs4pYkHVwyI/s1600/myths.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgSxmwtUMAEuutoUuTQhdM96gmauhr2ccIYFySzDKti9HEp_YJMt5-Bnqs69O4KsxAlwNL43Ra6l1QpbQomSPtgMPrOg-lOrhc33PkMSYlnRjbQJKk7jZk3bPTfxg9uZsImUs4pYkHVwyI/s1600/myths.png" /></a><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Constantia","serif";"> Other stories in the Bible—<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_creation_myths" target="_blank">the Creation</a>, the temptation and sin of the first humans (and their expulsion from
an idyllic “garden”), the Flood—<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comparative_mythology" target="_blank">have similarities with the legends of other earlier civilizations</a>. Abraham, however, introduced the concept of one God in
an age where polytheism was the norm. Akhenaton in Egypt and Zoroaster, if you
remember, had the same idea (belief in one god), but the religions they founded
did not have the impact that Judaism had to the world. <b><o:p></o:p></b></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Constantia","serif";"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Constantia","serif";"> Music played a large part in the
culture of ancient Israel. The Bible, in fact, is rich with references to music
and the role that it played with the social, political, and religious aspects
of ancient Israel. Returning warriors, especially during the time of David,
were often welcomed by singing and dancing women. Worship of course would not
be complete without music, as well as the celebrations, like thanksgiving for a
bountiful harvest, marriage, and others. The destruction of the Temple by the
Romans in A. D. 70, however, made the Israelites abandon the music that they
had so loved. <b><o:p></o:p></b></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Constantia","serif";"> </span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Constantia","serif";">From A. D. 66 to 70, the Jews
rebelled against their Roman conquerors. In the savage fighting that ensued,
Jerusalem was largely destroyed. The remaining Jews were again driven into
exile; the Diaspora was at its height at this time. Thereafter, the Jews were,
for two thousand years, without a country of their own. They lived among “gentiles,”
becoming the most persecuted people in history. Despite all this, however, they
were able to preserve their own identity—their culture and their religion.
What’s more, they have also outlasted all the other civilizations that were
their ancient contemporaries and left a remarkable legacy of
accomplishments. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpFirst">
</div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpFirst" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
strangebananahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05402885506843045831noreply@blogger.com0