This topic is just too controversial to ignore. Unfortunately for us ordinary Filipinos (tayong mga dukha), we have no choice but to endure the unnecessary waste of time that everyone is forced into as a result of the Hayden Kho–Katrina Halili scandal. No I’m not gonna tell you where to get those videos, the sick bloggers have that covered in the SERPs.
So I’ll just offer five lessons to be learned from all the trouble this scandal has brought:
Do not covet thy neighbor’s wife. Or husband, or boyfriend, or girlfriend. In plain terms, we should all know that having an affair with a person who’s in a relationship with someone else is absolutely wrong. Nothing in this world could justify the contrary. Though the 10 Commandments may have Christian origins, it’s message is found in most of humanity’s religions. There is nothing good in an adulterous affair.
Anything out of the ordinary may only be acceptable with the mutual consent of all concerned. It is a different matter altogether whether recording private erotic moments to video is the act of a sick mind, but it goes without saying that such an uncommon act must only be through both party’s approval. In fact, this goes for everything in life and society—like the Philippine Senate conducting an investigation on such a trivial matter—maybe they should’ve consulted with other sectors if there is a need for an investigation, and a public one at that.
Disk encrytion is a protection against data theft. Sensitive data should never be readily accesible. Private personal materials or confidential government records—they should only be available to the immediate persons that need them. To aide in security, consider disk encryption. Modern operating systems like OS X and Windows XP have it readily available. A better option is TrueCrypt which allows for on–the–fly encryption and plausible deniability, very handy if placed in a position where you are forced to reveal a password.
In crisis, silence may be your best defense. Maybe sometimes. I strongly believe that this scandal shouldn’t have grown this controversial without the media’s attention (that includes us bloggers and the rest of the online mob) and more importantly, it woud’ve slowly died down if not for the grandstanding of politicians too corrupt for just a bit of media attention.
Vote wisely in 2010. What you are seeing now is the undoing of Philippine politics. With an economic situation slowly getting worse, with a medical crisis in our midst, with a book tax issue that would’ve made us an international laughing stock, this is what we get—a full–blown media and political circus on a sex scandal of people who don’t even matter to 99% of Filipinos. Watch closely and be sure to remember the names you’re never supposed to write on a ballot in a year’s time, better yet never again in this lifetime. Think about it—this is where your taxes go, this is what you’ve bought with your 12% VAT on everything and that highway robbery of an income tax deducted monthly—a travesty.What a shame.
Taxes on book imports lifted
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But of course there’s no need to investigate who’s responsible for the stupid taxes anyway. Or should we look into it? #
I just updated Strip!, the WordPress plugin I wrote for WordCamp 2008. You can now strip/unstrip comments as you view post pages, which I think far more useful and intuitive.
I just had to update it with the current upswing in unrelated comments that are obviously left for impolite SEO purposes.
Published at around evening time of April 23, 2009
I got to know Bek in my first few days at my previous work; she was among the instructors for our eventful three–month training. I remember her as one of the cooler ones as she didn’t insist on using up all the scheduled time for lectures and exercises. She’d simply go through her module and trust us to do our part learning them well. Of course we wisely used the extra time left — we slept.
I guess that story somehow explains why I’m no longer toiling on an 8–to–5 deskjob but taking photos and blogging instead.
She became one of my closest friends as I ended up in the same project as her’s. That’s how we’d hear about Nitz, her boyfriend since their college days at UP, who’d regularly be at the office to accompany her on her way home. Bek was part of this camera–friendly clique who’d never say no to anything with a lens and a clicking sound. Naturally, seeing that I was very much into photography, she was one of those who considered me to shoot their wedding, just like Mervin & Bebbet.
Hana and I had so much fun shooting their prenup. These two were so game we had no trouble coaxing them to pose and smile. Point a camera in their direction and you instantly have a frame to capture.
Naturally, we had the session in UP–Diliman as this was where they met and fell in love. I would’ve wanted some shots that were related to their Geodetic Engineering background but I couldn’t think of one. Good thing they were still happy with the shots we came up with.
It was Hana’s brilliant idea to utilize guest sheets instead of a guest book for the wedding. It was far more useful as you could leave a sheet for every table in the reception, thus allowing more people to sign and leave messages for the couple. The images on this entry are actually the layouts of the sheets we used.
And because Hana had a happy creative urge, she decided to make an artwork out of the box cover for the sheets:
Their wedding was just as fun to shoot as the prenup but I’ll save those photos for another day.
I’m now reviving my tradition of doing a Five on Friday entry on days after Friday; I’d rather do it now than wait until next Friday. I feel like I cannot blog about other things if I don’t get this done now anyway. Besides, this would’ve made it to Friday if I wasn’t out with a bunch of blogger friends for a hearty dinner at Pacio’s. I’ve got a good excuse, I know.
About a few weeks ago, I finally got a MacBook. No more excuses like getting a cheap ultraportable alternative, no more cheating for an organized workspace. I’ve been loving everything about it that I regret not having done the switch a long time ago. I should tell you my five best reasons for being on a Mac:
UI Consistency. This may sound not too important for a good number of computer users but it’s simply a joy to use something that feels like one complete product. Nothing looks out of place. You don’t feel like you’re jumping around a hack–and–patch job that is typical of my ideal Windows–based setup from my previous workstations.
Simplicity. OS X fits my ideal way of setting up things. No need for messy installers and setup jobs, most apps come in simple drag–and–drop packages that you can delete if you no longer need them.
Performance. Windows can be made to perform well if you know what you’re doing. Unfortunately though, no matter how hard you tweak, regular restarts are necessary for a useful workspace. OS X behaves differently, perhaps a result of its Unix–based roots. I can go on for days without having to restart or shutdown. Now I understand why people prefer to just put their MacBooks on standby instead of completely shutting it down.
Style. I’m not kidding. The aluminum MacBook that I have now is beautiful. Just like most Apple products, I can’t help but look at this one while just admiring how classy it looks. When you get the chance to open a MacBook straight from its box, you’d see how much effort they’ve put in the little details. You will know you’re buying a well–thought masterpiece and not just a lousy excuse for another product iteration.
Battery Life. I know I can get better battery life from a top–end netbook but the MacBook can easily get more than three hours of use without compromising performance. After all, it has a true dual core processor that can run at full power if needed. From what I’ve been seeing, it wouldn’t be impossible to get close to five hours of mobile computing if I start cutting down on the unnecessary processes I’ve been running. Several dozens of tabs in Firefox just doesn’t make sense anyway.
I’m sure there will be a lot more to love about my MacBook in the coming weeks. Who knows, I might just become as big a Mac fanboy as Jayvee.
Cooking Vegetables
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“Excessive use of any of the controls we have available to us might demand immediate attention more effectively, but they seldom satisfy in the long run. Like perfectly cooked vegetables, the perfect print is neither overdone nor underdone, but just right.” #
Twouble with Twitters
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Because you gotta twit about everything? Think about it again. #
DFAT 2009 was a lot more than one would expect in a food appreciation tour that I just have to do a FoF installment for it. So here’s five things that make me say “I heart DFAT 2009″:
Xcelerator
The longest zipline in Asia, with speeds in the 70 to 120 kph range giving you the ultimate thrill and excitement. Now I do not want to sound like an advertisement but it truly is a wild experience especially on your first try — I was so excited I was screaming like a girl. At 200 feet above the ground, the view from the top of the small mountain is a sight to behold. Considering the short but tiring 15–minute trek to the top, you’d be thinking this better be worth the effort. After you take the shortcut down through the zipline and seeing everything below with a bird’s point of view, you’re hooked and craving for another run. Most of us did it thrice in two days. That’s my video at the beginning of this post while Hana’s is at the end.
Good food
Now this was the primary reason we were in Davao. After all, it was called the Davao Food Appreciation Tour. I couldn’t go into the details right now as I will be writing about the restaurants and their offerings separately, but I just have to tell you how good the food in Davao really is. And I don’t mean just the traditional tuna or durian or whatever picture that comes to mind, almost everything I tried was simply good.
Cheap food
I just told you how the food was, but now I’m telling you how crazily affordable they are. Some of the prices are so darn cheap you’d think it’s going to be bad, and you’d be pleasantly surprised to prove yourself wrong. Barkada treats wouldn’t be so hard on your budget if you do it in Davao, provided you get everyone to pay for their plane fare.
Good people
Collectively, we have never been pampered this well for a long time. Our hosts, both the restaurants and organizers, were downright spectacular. They took care of almost everything we could worry about that we just wandered around like tourists. Blogie had everything planned just right that we made it to our “official” destinations on schedule while still allowing for extra–curricular shenanigans (like going to the same restaurant twice, in one day). Andrew was mostly our designated driver and accomplice for all the unplanned surprises that we all went through (Nice new domain, btw). Chattee sure did take the PA role seriously and assisted us in everything, even with the shopping trip to SM Davao. Now we just couldn’t miss that one. Ria was also with us despite her having to juggle work with fun during DFAT 2009, and she sure did make us do the zipline thing by reminding us of the lonely walk back in case we chicken out. Jim, Migs, and Dom also joined us for most of the activities despite their busy skeds. I’m probably forgetting a bunch of other people right now but I’ll just say it this way — all you Davao friends are awesome!
Lachi’s Sanz Rival Atbp.
Okay the plan was to write nothing specific yet about food and restaurants, but this one I gotta get off my chest. Lachi’s should put up branches all over the Philippines to save our future. They serve food that is so good you’d leave with a big smile and a full stomach. If Filipinos eat food this good everyday then maybe we will all vote right come election time. (Okay, maybe that was a long shot.) Everything here is just right; a homey ambiance that gets you relaxed; food that tastes so good but never exaggerated that numbs your taste buds. If only they deliver their Sansrival and Unforgettable Spare Ribs all the way to Manila.
We had a blast in Davao last weekend and what was supposed to just be the 2009 Davao Food Appreciation Tour was in reality a fun adventure sparkled with a romantic surprise (here’s my raw footage) and a lot more. Unfortunately, I couldn’t get myself to write about it, or anything at all — at least not at this moment. It would be best that I leave you with some unrelated photos and reminders for now:
There is a lot more to blogging than just events. If you’re blogging just to get into events and score freebies, I suggest you rethink your goals.
There is money to be made in blogging. For some people, lots of money. But never interchange desire for money with the hunger for beautiful writing or the chance to make a difference.
Don’t spam.
You are not the greatest blogger in the Philippines. Not one single blogger will ever be. Stop acting like a VIP. These days, some bloggers act like the world owes them just because they write a blog. Wake up, you’re just like everyone else.
Stop saying things you can’t say to anyone directly. Don’t you ever blog something just because you have the constitutional right to freedom of expression. It’s just like real life you know.
There is a lot more to life than just blogging. Go out and bask in the sun, snap and a photo and meet some new (and old) friends.
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