For the past couple of weeks local media have been reporting on the oil spill in Guimaras. From that also came follow-up features like possible health hazards the spill imposes, Senate investigations/blame-game and of course, how to clean it up. It's the amount of reportage (or specifically, the subject) on that last one that's bewildering.
Hair. Seems human hair is perfect for absorbing oil spills like a mop. Now cut and shaven hair is being collected all over the country. Jailed convicts are volunteering getting their chromes domed. Salons are collecting and donating their hair haul. Congresswoman Imee Marcos crudely suggested that her fellow politicians donate their spare wigs to the cause (though her mom Imelda's hair alone could probably suck up a liter or two, easy). There was even an event organized to collect the cut hair of celebrities. (Right, because nothing sucks up goo like famous hair.)
Noble intentions aside, this is the 21st century. It's not like WWII where Americans were encouraged to save every scrap of metal they had for the war effort. There are alternatives out there, people. All this hair talk is becoming this year's AIDS ribbon.
Scientists have already come up with several strains of oil eating bacteria like Bio-System B35, which is probably more efficient. And unlike clumps of hair saturated with crude oil, the bacteria won't leave a mess that would resemble the world's largest clogged shower drain.
UPDATE: Okay, it turns out NO formal study has been done on the effectiveness of human hair for cleaning up oil spills. None. Seems the idea was based on the use of coconut husks and its own effectiveness. Long story short: "Genius" thought coconut husk = human hair = just as effective! Also, environmentalists opposed to the idea say the untreated human hair (particularly those that come from salons) might do more harm, as the artificial chemicals in the hair might interact w/ the already messed up enviroment.
Aug 30, 2006
Aug 29, 2006
Photoshop Fun
The Before Pic...
...and the After Pic.
...and the After Pic.
Spot the differences! There is no prize involved. My services are now for hire. :)
Aug 28, 2006
Days Gone By
Haahh... updates, updates... This long blog entry was inspired by my missing-in-action-friend (several months and counting) Bitey's recent long blog entry.
Aug 25. The week was mostly spent anticipating the Beijinoy reunion dinner w/ Manol, who's back from Shanghai on vacation. Heavy rains delayed my departure from the house, and 40 minutes was spent trying to find a parking spot (30 of them at Greebelt3's basement parking when the booth lady wanted to charge me the minimum 40 bucks, and in a Seinfeld-ish moment I protested, saying that's fine if I actually parked my car here, so in the end she just made me sign the receipt and let me out). It was when I tried out Greenbelt's valet parking service that I found P90 reasons why more people don't.
Finally got to Recipes. Turns out I have been here before. And I didn't like the food back then. Ah, but it's the company that counts, right? Well, I was reminded why I hate being late. Either you run out of good seats, or most of the only people you know start/have to leave. Weng, Kathy and Tin left, and soon me and Pyao (and later on Dave, Lyndon and Dennis to some extent) were left with Manol and his Shanghai posse, w/c he failed to introduce properly to us, w/c made for lots of listening but no talking on my end. Already I has getting Oyster Boy flashbacks.
Now as much as I like to accomodate a friend's requests for "wanting to see everyone," I wish Manol had planned separate get2gethers for Beijinoys and Shanghainoys. Sigh. I'm just saying: my ability to handle a large group of people improves when I know them all.
Aug 26. With 2 hours to kill before Wilson picks me up from home (and off to Rockwell where I was in charge of videotaping SJCS Batch '86's 20th anniv reunion), I drove out to Starbucks at Ash Creek to meet up with Lola. We exchanged items: for her the Firefly, Mirrormask and Neverwhere DVDs (w/c I burned for her), for me the Tim Burton's Corpse Bride movie photobook. Took pictures and chatted the rainy hours away. Finally I dropped her off at SM Centerpoint.
CUT TO ME and WILSON driving off to Rockwell (with brief SEGUE to FRIEND'S HOUSE in Greenhills to pick up the nametags). Wilson and Ogie were in charge of the multimedia presentations (read: slideshows). I, having seem to much Battlestar Galactica or NYPD Blue in my lifetime, started going off with fast zooms in and out, 3-5 second cut scenes and really giving the autofocus a workout. The first half of footage taken would be best seen as a montage.
The second half was comprised of the program proper, with the slideshow, games, and a raffle. We got there at 6:30 PM and left 6 hours later. Too bad the one Batch 86er I was most familiar with (besides my brother)-- Katherine Go-Alcantara-- didn't attend.
Aug. 27. Hunh. Weird. Completely blacking out on what I did yesterday. Oh, yeah, planning for a dinner reunion with the HuaQing Apartment Bejinoys.
Okay, so the post wasn't as long as I thought.
Aug 25. The week was mostly spent anticipating the Beijinoy reunion dinner w/ Manol, who's back from Shanghai on vacation. Heavy rains delayed my departure from the house, and 40 minutes was spent trying to find a parking spot (30 of them at Greebelt3's basement parking when the booth lady wanted to charge me the minimum 40 bucks, and in a Seinfeld-ish moment I protested, saying that's fine if I actually parked my car here, so in the end she just made me sign the receipt and let me out). It was when I tried out Greenbelt's valet parking service that I found P90 reasons why more people don't.
Finally got to Recipes. Turns out I have been here before. And I didn't like the food back then. Ah, but it's the company that counts, right? Well, I was reminded why I hate being late. Either you run out of good seats, or most of the only people you know start/have to leave. Weng, Kathy and Tin left, and soon me and Pyao (and later on Dave, Lyndon and Dennis to some extent) were left with Manol and his Shanghai posse, w/c he failed to introduce properly to us, w/c made for lots of listening but no talking on my end. Already I has getting Oyster Boy flashbacks.Now as much as I like to accomodate a friend's requests for "wanting to see everyone," I wish Manol had planned separate get2gethers for Beijinoys and Shanghainoys. Sigh. I'm just saying: my ability to handle a large group of people improves when I know them all.
* * *
Aug 26. With 2 hours to kill before Wilson picks me up from home (and off to Rockwell where I was in charge of videotaping SJCS Batch '86's 20th anniv reunion), I drove out to Starbucks at Ash Creek to meet up with Lola. We exchanged items: for her the Firefly, Mirrormask and Neverwhere DVDs (w/c I burned for her), for me the Tim Burton's Corpse Bride movie photobook. Took pictures and chatted the rainy hours away. Finally I dropped her off at SM Centerpoint.CUT TO ME and WILSON driving off to Rockwell (with brief SEGUE to FRIEND'S HOUSE in Greenhills to pick up the nametags). Wilson and Ogie were in charge of the multimedia presentations (read: slideshows). I, having seem to much Battlestar Galactica or NYPD Blue in my lifetime, started going off with fast zooms in and out, 3-5 second cut scenes and really giving the autofocus a workout. The first half of footage taken would be best seen as a montage.
The second half was comprised of the program proper, with the slideshow, games, and a raffle. We got there at 6:30 PM and left 6 hours later. Too bad the one Batch 86er I was most familiar with (besides my brother)-- Katherine Go-Alcantara-- didn't attend.Aug. 27. Hunh. Weird. Completely blacking out on what I did yesterday. Oh, yeah, planning for a dinner reunion with the HuaQing Apartment Bejinoys.
Okay, so the post wasn't as long as I thought.
Aug 25, 2006
Aug 19, 2006
Pre-weekend Outings
I don't really have a quota for how many times a week I go out w/ friends, or that it has to be on weekends. It's just that in these 2 instances I was the invi-tee, not the invi-ter (are those even words?). And who doesn't like hanging out w/ friends?
WEDNESDAY: I met up with Diana, TinTin and JC at Bon Appetit in Rustan's Makati for the restaurant's cold buffet dinner. We were later joined by Tin's BF Pei (from Thailand), whom we then accompanied to TGIFridays to watch him eat. I asked Tin and Pei if people ever mistook them for siblings, and it turns out it was quite often. Not surprising, given their slightly similar facial features and skin tone. Hell, I thought Pei was her brother when he joined us at Bon, but only because I didn't recognize him at first, since when I first met him a couple of months ago his hair was much shorter. Afterwards we all walked back to Pei's apartment at Oakwood to pick up their stuff. Nice digs. Gotta say, if I was planning a military coup with disgruntled AFP cadets, this would be a nice place to do it.
THURSDAY: Went to the Megamall branch of Powerbooks to meet up w/ Lola (also bought third Ex Machina tpb on sale). The plan was to watch a German silent film that was accompanied by music from Radioactive Sago Project (w/c beats listening to... silence or the sound of popcorn being chewed, I guess). She said she received email saying the movie was supposed to show there. The papers I read said the movie was showing at Greenbelt (and did so 2 days ago). Turns out I and the papers were right. While we made our U-turn from the end of the theatre lobby (Supermans Returns still playing, apparently), I saw couples w/ bewildered looks, as if also finding out that the German film was nowhere to be found. I'm guessing they got the same email as Lola.
In the end we just chatted the night away at Starbucks in Ash Creek in Ortigas Street, w/c, IMO, was a better way to spend to evening.
WEDNESDAY: I met up with Diana, TinTin and JC at Bon Appetit in Rustan's Makati for the restaurant's cold buffet dinner. We were later joined by Tin's BF Pei (from Thailand), whom we then accompanied to TGIFridays to watch him eat. I asked Tin and Pei if people ever mistook them for siblings, and it turns out it was quite often. Not surprising, given their slightly similar facial features and skin tone. Hell, I thought Pei was her brother when he joined us at Bon, but only because I didn't recognize him at first, since when I first met him a couple of months ago his hair was much shorter. Afterwards we all walked back to Pei's apartment at Oakwood to pick up their stuff. Nice digs. Gotta say, if I was planning a military coup with disgruntled AFP cadets, this would be a nice place to do it.
THURSDAY: Went to the Megamall branch of Powerbooks to meet up w/ Lola (also bought third Ex Machina tpb on sale). The plan was to watch a German silent film that was accompanied by music from Radioactive Sago Project (w/c beats listening to... silence or the sound of popcorn being chewed, I guess). She said she received email saying the movie was supposed to show there. The papers I read said the movie was showing at Greenbelt (and did so 2 days ago). Turns out I and the papers were right. While we made our U-turn from the end of the theatre lobby (Supermans Returns still playing, apparently), I saw couples w/ bewildered looks, as if also finding out that the German film was nowhere to be found. I'm guessing they got the same email as Lola.In the end we just chatted the night away at Starbucks in Ash Creek in Ortigas Street, w/c, IMO, was a better way to spend to evening.
Aug 12, 2006
Is Isagani A. Cruz Homophobic?
If there's one thing I learned from journalism (or as least media's depiciton of journalists like J. Jonah Jameson and The Daily Show), one way to avoid libel charges is to phrase your would-be controversial statements in the form of a question.
Isagani A. Cruz, Former Philippine Supreme Court Associate Justice, a name so famous he needs to use his middle initial to distinguish him from Isagani R. and Isagani plain, wrote this in his column in the Philippine Daily Inquirer (color scheme and emphasis mine):
The man seems to be coming from the same school of thought that says watching movies or tv programs depicting either sex or violence will make you sexually active or violent. I have yet to hear of any incident or study that says repeated viewings of Queer Eye or Ellen would eventually change a youth's sexual orientation. Teach you better manners or grooming tips, maybe. Better people skills, maybe.
"Must we allow homosexuality to march unobstructed?" Do you think they're organzing formally somewhere in the city, sir, hatching up schemes to wreak havok on the heterosexual community? Lightning gay rallies, perhaps?
If anything, we should be warned of not against the gay population, but against people like Isagani A. Cruz who seem to view gays as some kind of threat to humanity.
Isagani A. Cruz, Former Philippine Supreme Court Associate Justice, a name so famous he needs to use his middle initial to distinguish him from Isagani R. and Isagani plain, wrote this in his column in the Philippine Daily Inquirer (color scheme and emphasis mine):"Now homosexuals are everywhere, coming at first in timorous and eventually alarming and audacious number..."
"And the schools are now fertile ground for the gay invasion... Now many of its pupils are gay, and I don’t mean happy. I suppose they have been influenced by such shows as “Brokeback Mountain,” our own “Ang Pagdadalaga ni Maximo Oliveros”..., “Queer Eye for the Straight Guy,” and that talk program of Ellen Degeneres, an admitted lesbian."
"Is our population getting to be predominantly pansy? Must we allow homosexuality to march unobstructed until we are converted into a nation of sexless persons without the virility of males and the grace of females but only an insipid mix of these diluted virtues? Let us be warned against the gay population, which is per se a compromise between the strong and the weak and therefore only somewhat and not the absolute of either of the two qualities. Be alert lest the Philippine flag be made of delicate lace and adorned with embroidered frills."
Holy crap, there are just so many things wrong with this piece. Want proof? Replace the words gay/homosexual with, I dunno, black or Muslim to see how bigoted it sounds.The man seems to be coming from the same school of thought that says watching movies or tv programs depicting either sex or violence will make you sexually active or violent. I have yet to hear of any incident or study that says repeated viewings of Queer Eye or Ellen would eventually change a youth's sexual orientation. Teach you better manners or grooming tips, maybe. Better people skills, maybe.
"Must we allow homosexuality to march unobstructed?" Do you think they're organzing formally somewhere in the city, sir, hatching up schemes to wreak havok on the heterosexual community? Lightning gay rallies, perhaps?
If anything, we should be warned of not against the gay population, but against people like Isagani A. Cruz who seem to view gays as some kind of threat to humanity.
Aug 11, 2006
My Favorite Martian Mug
A crappy way to start the morning. (Good thing this was the only crappy thing to happen.)
My ceramic Marvin the Martian coffee mug (gift from Rachelle Tesoro, w/c has survived all these years, and even followed me to Beijing) was already filled with breakfast: Quaker Oats and Ovaltine. I turned around to head for the breakfast table to get some sugar. Seems I was carrying the mug a bit too low. Mug makes contact with the very-old-just-there-to-fill-up-that-gap-between-kitchen-counters gas range.
Suh-Mash!!!
A million pieces (if u include the dry oats and Ovaltine) all over the kitchen floor. Argh!
I mourn for my Marvin the Martian mug. Now all I'm left with is the big-@$$ yellow mug-bowl (or mowl) that I got in China.
My ceramic Marvin the Martian coffee mug (gift from Rachelle Tesoro, w/c has survived all these years, and even followed me to Beijing) was already filled with breakfast: Quaker Oats and Ovaltine. I turned around to head for the breakfast table to get some sugar. Seems I was carrying the mug a bit too low. Mug makes contact with the very-old-just-there-to-fill-up-that-gap-between-kitchen-counters gas range.
Suh-Mash!!!
A million pieces (if u include the dry oats and Ovaltine) all over the kitchen floor. Argh!
I mourn for my Marvin the Martian mug. Now all I'm left with is the big-@$$ yellow mug-bowl (or mowl) that I got in China.
Aug 6, 2006
My Beijinoy Weekend
This weekend I decided to hang out with my friends. True, I've made such decisions before w/ little success due to the unavailability of said friends (most of us have lives to live, I know), but thankfully that wasn't the case this time.
SATURDAY. I cut short my trip to SM North EDSA (mall-wide sale, comics, ridiculous traffic, etc.) to meet up with TinTin Ngo back at my house. Afterwards we drove to Diana's to pick her up before our final destination of the Promenade in Greenhills where we watched The Ant Bully (I'd do my usual 10 Thoughts On blog but the film just wasn't that interesting). Dinner at a new chicken resto (also not interesting enough for me to recall its name) followed, where I saw my cousin Osing, also having dinner w/ lady friends.
SUNDAY. Four days since my workout w/ Lyndon, and my upper body still hurts. This is what skipping weight-training for a week and a half does to you.
Even if I had lots of PC TV and comics to catch up on I opted to invite Diane (Ngo, no relation to TinTin) --who was feeling a bit down that day-- out to Greenhills (yeah, yeah, I'm shot for original ideas). My fears of a long drive time from my house to hers (and back) turned out to be unfounded as Congressional Road wasn't as traffic-ridden as I thought it would be, at least not at 2:30 in the afternoon. Picked her up, drove out to the Promenade where she had seafood crepe while I had a strawberry-banana fruit shake at Victor's crepe cafe (w/c I noticed had gotten smaller).
SATURDAY. I cut short my trip to SM North EDSA (mall-wide sale, comics, ridiculous traffic, etc.) to meet up with TinTin Ngo back at my house. Afterwards we drove to Diana's to pick her up before our final destination of the Promenade in Greenhills where we watched The Ant Bully (I'd do my usual 10 Thoughts On blog but the film just wasn't that interesting). Dinner at a new chicken resto (also not interesting enough for me to recall its name) followed, where I saw my cousin Osing, also having dinner w/ lady friends.SUNDAY. Four days since my workout w/ Lyndon, and my upper body still hurts. This is what skipping weight-training for a week and a half does to you.
Even if I had lots of PC TV and comics to catch up on I opted to invite Diane (Ngo, no relation to TinTin) --who was feeling a bit down that day-- out to Greenhills (yeah, yeah, I'm shot for original ideas). My fears of a long drive time from my house to hers (and back) turned out to be unfounded as Congressional Road wasn't as traffic-ridden as I thought it would be, at least not at 2:30 in the afternoon. Picked her up, drove out to the Promenade where she had seafood crepe while I had a strawberry-banana fruit shake at Victor's crepe cafe (w/c I noticed had gotten smaller).
Aug 2, 2006
PC TV Pilot Previews
One advantage of getting more harddrive space is I can now download entire seasons of shows I never had the space to do so before. This time it's the entire runs of The Larry Sanders Show (finally!) and Sports Night. The former's a quick watch while the latter's jarring w/ the canned laugh track (any fan of Aaron Sorkin's shows know that his type of humor and laugh tracks don't mix).
Also (through no effort of my own) got to watch a couple of plilot shows that are supposed to debut (assuming they don't suck) this fall in the US. Now for some lazy descriptions and snap critiques, which are the reason why I'd make a crappy show pitcher.
Also (through no effort of my own) got to watch a couple of plilot shows that are supposed to debut (assuming they don't suck) this fall in the US. Now for some lazy descriptions and snap critiques, which are the reason why I'd make a crappy show pitcher.
- Angela's Eyes: Female FBI agent who's a human lie detector. Looks promising.
- Blade: The Series: this is after the movie trilogy. Pretty dark, literally. For a Daywalker you don't get to see Blade out in the afternoon sun much.
- Class: from the maker of Friends, w/c might explain the all-white cast. Funnier than Friends.
- Eureka: Northern Exposure meets Dexter's Lab. Promising.
- Our Thirties: Not funny.
- Psyche: Guy with keen eye for detail tells people he's psychic. Imagine Monk, only younger and w/o the OCD.
- Secrets of a Small Town: Big-time reporter returns to her hometown chasing a story. Secrets not enough to keep me interested. Pass (unless you're a real big fan of Angie Harmon).
- Runaway: The Fugitive with family members along for the run, only the wife's not dead and there's no One-Armed Man.
- Studio 60 On the Sunset Strip:
Behind-the-scenes of a Saturday Night Live type show, brought to you by the guys who made The West Wing. Watch it for Amanda Peet, if nothing else. (hottie...) - The Angriest Man in Suburbia: Comedy. Promising.
- The Shark: James Woods as loudmouthed defense lawyer turned prosecutor, complete with young legal team. Think House with lawyers, only more over-the-top, particularly the high-tech mock courtroom Wood's character had built underneath his house.
- The Singles Table: Comedy starring Harold of Harold & Kumar Go to White Castle. Funny.
Brokeback Batman?
When I read that Heath Ledger is set to play the Joker in the next Batman movie, I happened upon a picture of his online that I just had to tweak. It just seemed perfect.
Well, just to give you an idea for what to expect in a year or so.
