A Post For The Facebook Addict

I would like to thank Mr. Stan James for allowing me to publish his post in whole here on my blog. Here in The Philippines, it seems to me that the only thing that ranks higher than browsing Facebook is worshipping TV celebrities. His thoughts are too important to merely summarize.

FACEBOOK ACQUAINTANCES THE NEW TV STARS

Yesterday afternoon I shared a cold drink with a friend in one of Berlin's beer gardens, taking a short break from the current heat wave to talk about my research. "I used to be on Facebook a lot," she said, "but found that it left me feeling bad about my life." It's a sentiment that I've heard from lots of people over the last few months: you see others leading amazing lives, and wonder why your life seems so not-so-amazing in comparison.

My friend was quick to point out that she knows rationally that this makes no sense. Of course those people have problems too. Of course they post pictures of vacations (but only the flattering ones) and not of boring days at work.

In my trips back to Colorado, I have been struck each time by the discord between people's Facebook lives and what they say in private. On Facebook they have been on an amazing vacation to exotic beaches. In person they confess that the vacation was a desperate attempt to save a marraige. On Facebook they have been to gliteratee tech conferences. In person they confess they haven't been able to sleep for months, and are on anti-anxiety medication from the stress of financial pressures on their company. It is a strange case of schadenfreude for me to hear this, knowing that I had been jealous of their beach time and glamor.

What's interesting is that this feel-bad Facebook effect seems to come from a distinct source: not-so-close Facebook friends.

In the case of true close friends, you know about all the crap that is going on in their lives. From deep interaction, you know the specific pains and doubt that lies behind the smiling profile picture.

No, the life-comparison danger comes from the weak ties; from those people you met at a conference, or the friends from High School that you haven't interacted with since they friended you last year. From these people you get a constant stream of life, edited to show the good parts.

Since TV was invented, critics have pointed out the dangers of watching the perfect people who seem to inhabit the screen. They are almost universally beautiful, live in interesting places, do intereseting work (if they work at all), are unfailingly witty, and never have to do any cleaning. They never even need to use the toilet. It cannot be pschologically healthy to compare yourself to these phantasms.

So it's interesting that social networks have inadvertantly created the same effect, but using an even more powerful source. Instead of actors in Hollywood, the characters are people that you know to be real and have actually met. The editing is done not by film school graduates, but by the people themselves.

In the end, my friend’s strategy seems to be the right one: don’t spend too much time purusing the lives of people who aren't in your life. And spend more time learning about the uncut, unedited, off-line lives that your friends are actually living.

(This is, by the way, in stark contrast to reading about my life on this blog... my life, which is always an adventure, always perfect, and always filled with friendly people, lush jungle, and yummy food.)

Republicans Have Plans To Create Job Growth

House Minority Leader John Boehner (Congress' top Republican) today, when asked what the Republican party would do to stimulate job growth, responded with a 3-pronged strategy:

"The first thing I would do is repeal Obamacare," Boehner said at the Christian Science Monitor luncheon. "It is a giant impediment for employment. Not only will it ruin the best health care system in the world, it will bankrupt our country."

So plan #1 to stimulate the economy to create jobs is to repeal legislation that is not even operational yet.

"Secondly, no cap and trade," Boehner added. "You raise the cost of energy, you raise the cost of doing business."

So plan #2 to stimulate the economy to create jobs is to never enact legislation that has never been enacted.

"Thirdly, not raise people's taxes," he concluded. "You want to get the economy going, give some people certainty about what the tax rates are going to be."

So plan #3 to stimulate the economy to create jobs is to leave taxes the way they are.

To summarize, the Republicans will create jobs by:
Plan #1: Stopping a program that hasn't begun yet.
Plan #2: Blocking legislation that doesn't exist yet.
Plan #3: Not raising taxes.

Andrew Sullivan summed it up so well today:

Long ago, this was my basic assumption about the immediate future of the GOP. They could not cognitively handle that they had supported an administration that spent like left-liberals, poured trillions into nation-building in failed states, fought a war on dramatically false pretenses, authorized illegal torture by presidential decree, lost a major US city, and turned a surplus into a spiraling deficit, leaving no wriggle room for when a storm like the financial collapse of 2008 occurred. So they simply went into denial, and blamed everything on the person who inherited this catastrophe.

Reduced to a purer rump based in the South, they reinforced their worst tendencies, as parties often do after losing elections in landslides. They became more anti-illegal immigrant, they chanted slogans about "liberty or tyranny" rather than offering proposals to solve our many problems, they became older and whiter and angrier. And because of the enduring recession and a centrist attempt to find a way for working poor to afford health insurance, they blamed all their woes on a black communist, taking from whites and giving to minorities. And from this strong elixir, they gained an appearance of strength. They may well do well this fall as a protest vote.

But what then?

That's the sad question: The Republicans have gotten everybody angry and riled up, but as illustrated above, they don't have any coherent plan to fix the problems that America is currently facing. Really: If the Republicans had a jobs bill or their own economic stimulus program or their own financial reform or their own social welfare ideas, don't you think that the #1 Republican, when asked about how his party was going to stimulate the economy, would have trotted out some of them instead of saying (essentially), "We won't raise taxes"?

It's the politics of contrarianism, and it's just terrible that it is actually working.

Sad And Mean

Working its way around the blogosphere today is this story:

A video was released by a Republican blogger of a black lady who works for the United States Department of Agriculture giving a speech to the NAACP (the Afro-American-interest U.S. civil rights organization). Her job at the USDA is to assist farmers in financial distress. In that speech, she talks about how, when assigned to help a white farmer, due to that farmer's race, she provided that farmer with less help than she would have if he had been black. The Republican blogger claimed that this was evidence of the racism that pervades the NAACP, to whom this lady was giving the speech.

The lady was forced to resign her job.

Now, it turns out that the excerpt of the speech in this video that shows this evidence of racism was part of a larger speech of redemption from her admitted racism: The event in question happened when she was working for a state agency, long before she was hired at the Department of Agriculture. She was using it as an example of how she overcame her own racism... a story of her redemption. (She eventually saw the error of her ways, worked with the white farmer to help save his farm for the next 2 years, and apparently is now considered a friend by that same farmer of whom she spoke.)

I always say that there are people out there who are paid to make you stupid. I should probably add that there are also people out there who are paid to make you scared, hateful, and bitter.

Please Bear With Us

I don't know why, but I always try to put up posts in chronological order. I wanted to put up a Daily Report on my day last Saturday (hanging out with friends at the pool, going in to CDO for the evening), but the USB port on our laptop has broken and I can't download the photos from the camera to the laptop, and then get them on my blog.

So I'm waiting to put up posts until I can post about last Saturday. I know... silly.

Well, the laptop is being repaired and should be ready in a day or two. Then I'll have the photos from last Saturday up. I'll probably just post a reminder in some future post that the former post has been put up. How does that sound? It sounds more sensible than having a logjam of things to put up, I think.

The Most Popular Thing On The Internet Today

Being in The Philippines, I have no idea what is going on in America sometimes... especially in popular culture.

However, I can tell you that if you don't know about Old Spice Guy, you won't get to call yourself cool for at least the next 5 or 6 days.

Well, actually... since Old spice Guy is already finished and you didn't know about him before he finished up, it's too late: you aren't cool. That's okay... me neither. Oh well... on to the next great thing that none of us uncool people will be told about until it's too late.

Daily Report: 15 Pictures In 15 Minutes

I finished work earlier than usual today, and Tyson was sitting around looking bored, so I decided to take him for a walk and do another "40 pictures in 40 minutes" thing.

Unfortunately, the battery of the camera wasn't fully charged and died after 15 minutes. That was okay though because it was about to pour down rain... Tyson and I headed home and got there just as the skies opened up.

The Saga Of Missing Missy

You have to read this to see how funny it is.

Apparently some secretary (named Shannon) at an advertising firm lost her cat. She sent an e-mail to one of their graphic artists (named David) telling him to make a "missing cat" poster that she could place around her neighborhood. One problem: David obviously doesn't like Shannon very much. The rest is just wonderful.

The Best Retort Ever

Comic gets totally zinged by an audience member.
Comic gets totally even with just three words.

Daily Report: World Cup Final(ly)

Sunday... half day.

As per usual lately, I didn't do much today: Watched TV, cooked some Jili Chili.

At 2:30 in the morning we all woke up to watch the World Cup Finals. I'm sure you saw it. Christ, what a boring... then annoying... then then frustrating... then LONG game that was. By the end, I stopped caring who won and just wanted somebody to score a goal so I could go back to bed.

Who Is Doing The Most To Fight Illegal Immigration?

Of course you should have guessed by now, but here's the data:

Deportations of illegal immigrants have been steadily rising under President Bush, and continue to rise under President Obama.

Daily Report: Fish Fry

Not too much going on today. I've bitched to Landlady Maggie (as Landlord Jumz is out of town for 2 weeks) about the fact that my house has no water. She sent some guys over today who puttered around for a while. Don't know if they fixed things or not. We can put water into the cistern on the roof and it will provide the house with water... but whatever we don't use immediately will drain out in 3 or 4 hours. Since central Jasaan always runs out of water from about 8 a.m. to 5 p.m., that means that once the cistern is empty, it stays empty for the rest of the day... at least until mid-evening.

Epril went in to CDO today to pick up some Star Trek DVDs for me, and Ednel went with her and bought some cream dory fish (about 120 pisos per kilo) to do a fish fry for me. I really can't stand the fish that Filipinos regularly eat, which is the small, highly smelly breeds of fish with grey to brown to dark red flesh. Cream dory is a catfish with very nice white meat.

Anyway, Ednel made some beer batter cream dory fried fish for lunch, and everyone thought it was quite good. I found it to be only so-so: When cooked, cream dory doesn't become flaky like a proper cod, but instead becomes a bit more mushy or crumbly. Oh well. I've heard parrot fish is another good option. We'll try that next. (And your fish suggestions in the comments are always welcome.)

I was watching a program on Discovery Science about brewing beer. Apparently it's a pretty popular home hobby. I thought since I like beer so much, that might be fun — assuming that home brewing is legal in The Philippines, which I don't know. I went online and looked at prices. You can buy a complete home brewing kit for under $200... but the price of the ready-made ingredient packages are $40 (not including the cost of getting them to The Philippines), and only yield about 20 liters... so about $2 per liter. Too expensive: A liter of San Miguel beer only costs $1.10.

It was off to bed a bit early so that I could be up for the World Cup game between Germany and Spain at 2:30 a.m. Steve came over and watched it with Susan and Epril and me. Very good defensive game, and I think that the right team (Spain) won.

I won't be getting up at 2:30 a.m. to watch the Uruguay-Germany consolation game on the 10th, but obviously the finals between Spain and The Netherlands will be a big event that none of us will be missing.

Best Buy Suspends Employee For Funny Video

... and it is funny.


This new viral video tearing up YouTube is essentially a fanciful conversation between a phone salesman and a customer using a text-to-speech program. It rather aptly illustrates some people's obessional desire to own a product based on nothing more than their hidebound notions of what is best.

When Best Buy (who, importantly, is not mentioned in any way in the video) found out that the person who made the video was one of their employees, they insisted he delete the video. (You can't do that!) When the video's creater refused to remove it, they suspended him. (You can't do that!)

So, now it is my duty to make sure that not only does this funny little video get just a little bit of extra exposure, but also to make sure to hang it around Best Buy's neck like a big fuck-off block of cement in the process.

Daily Report: Cabull and Footbawl

Four days ago, Epril went to Parasat and signed us up. "Make sure to get the digital box and digital package so that I can watch World Cup," I told her.

What the guy at the company told Epril (apparently) was that there were no digital boxes, and asked if we would take an analog box temporarily instead. What Epril heard from the guy at the company was that there were no digital boxes on hand today, and that they would come out once they had a digital box in a few days and install it then.

So the Parasat guys got here today and did the installation. It wasn't until they were almost done that I noticed that they were installing an analog box. "Sorry, no digital boxes," I was told.

There are three problems with this: The analog cable box only goes up to channel 99. So the digital channels that I'm already paying for (in the 100's, 200's, and 300's... which are the ones I most want to see... History Channel, 4 Discovery Channels) I won't be able to watch. Second, based on what I've heard, some people wait weeks or months for digital boxes from Parasat. (They are always out of stock.) Third, World Cup is on channel 354. My analog box can't show that.

"But sir, you can watch World Cup on the analog box." (Well, that must be true since Steve down the street has an analog box and I've been watching World Cup there.) "Can we install the analog box and then come back in a while with the digital box?" At first I said no, because I figured once the guys left me with a completed installation, they'd possibly forget about me and my not having a digital box; better leave things unfinished to ensure their return. Then I said yes, because I still wanted to watch World Cup and it was entirely possible they wouldn't return anyway. "We'll be back with a digital box," the installation guys said as they left.

An hour later, I get a phone call from Parasat. (1) "I'm sorry sir. We are out of digital boxes." (2) "No sir, we don't know when more digital boxes will be arriving... maybe a week or two weeks... but as soon as they do, we'll get you a box." (3) "Yes sir, you can watch World Cup on your analog box. It's on channel 26, Pay Per View. Just agree to pay 500 pisos and we'll turn it on for you."

The first part was annoying because it meant that I was getting sold something of which Parasat had no supply. The second part was really annoying because, as far as I'm concerned, "I don't know... a week or two weeks" is the same as "I don't know." But that last part just pissed me right off: I had to pay again for something I had already paid for with my digital subscription.

So I went on the CDO Expats group on Yahoo and wrote (with language condign to my pissed off mood) about what had just happened. In the other members' replies were the hoped-for condolences and commiserations and shared bad experiences with Parasat. Also, I know that Parasat keeps an eye on our Yahoo group for disgruntled customers (of which there are many): If you go into a Parasat office and yell at them, it won't do any good. But go on the internet and make a stink...

Within an hour, a lady from Parasat who is a member of the Yahoo CDO Expats Group had posted a reply to my original post, apologizing. She guaranteed me that my World Cup Pay Per View would be free. She guaranteed me that my bill would not include the digital fee until I got a digital box. An hour after that, she called me back saying a digital box had just been left at the office from a customer cancelling his or her account and would I care to have that installed first thing tomorrow? Then, at 8:00 tonight, the cable guy showed up at my house with the digital box and installed it and refused all tips.

Now I appreciate that. But there are two facts to consider. First, Parasat is a company that has 3 things without which it cannot survive: (1) Lots of big satellite dishes to catch the signal, (2) lots of cable to carry the signal, and (3) lots of cable boxes to broadcast the signal. So first: Why would Parasat ever run out of cable boxes at all? When I went there 2½ years ago and wanted digital, I was told they had no digital boxes. When I went there 1½ years ago and wanted to upgrade to digital, I was told they had no digital boxes. So this stupid situation I was in is not something new.

Second: I'm certain that I am not the only person waiting for a digital cable box from Parasat right now. I'm certain that the digital cable box in my living room should have gone to someone else who had been waiting longer than I had: Someone who didn't go online and yell and swear as loudly and publicly as I did. I realize that's a bit of a damned-if-you-do / damned-if-you-don't thing to lay on the people at Parasat who went out of their way to help me out. But I'm a bit too polite to write this blog post without apologizing to the person whose box I received: in case anybody who is waiting for a digital box from Parasat is reading.

Anyway: I've got my Parasat digital cable installed after a bunch of unnecessary frustration and ranting. Parasat: Get your act together, and figure out a way to keep an intelligent supply of digital boxes on hand. It's simply bullshit that you keep running out of something; that you can't learn your lesson after 2½ years about how many boxes to order from your supplier so that you don't run out. Really.

Anyway, I was up at 2:30 a.m. to watch the Netherlands score one of the prettiest goals of the World Cup on their way to a 2-3 victory. They are my underdog team of second option (after beating my Brazilians) to beat either Germany or Spain. Tomorrow night is the match the world is waiting for: It's literally even odds on Germany or Spain.

Because Every Country Is The Best At Something

I had seen this link before, but lost it and couldn't post about it.

It's a world map, with every country listed as being the best at one particular thing.

The Philippines... #1 in the world at text messages.
Thailand... #1 in the world in condom use.
America... #1 in the world for serial killers. (Heheh.)
Australia... #1 in the world for car thefts.
England... #1 for closed circuit TVs
Canada... #1 for fruit juice consumption.
Latvia... #1 for women. (I don't know what that means.)
Ireland... #1 for quality of life. (If you say so.)
Netherlands... #1 for Ecstasy.
Germany... #1 for solar panels.

Cheat Or You Die

Women are the logical creatures who base every decision on carefully-considered reasoning and the rational and noetic exercise of the mind to reach sensible conclusions in all instances.

Men, of course, on the other hand are emotional, prone to being capricious and desultory in their thinking, often not considering either all the facts or all the consequences of their behaviors.

It is therefore a grand benefit to women that science can come along like this and help men determine what is right, what they should think, and how they should behave... because as every woman knows: Men have a terrible time figuring out that kind of thing on their own.

Why do middle-aged men risk so much for flings?

With the caveat that every situation is different, one factor we think deserves more attention is the role of testosterone (T) in middle-aged men’s eroticism. In their twenties, men’s T levels begin a long decline, often experienced as diminished passion and appetite for life. Suppressed T levels are associated with depression, heart attacks, dementia, and overall mortality rates from 88 to 250 percent higher. One of the few things that can reliably and immediately revive a man’s sagging testosterone is exposure to a new woman. One researcher found that even a brief chat with an attractive woman raised men’s testosterone levels by fourteen percent within minutes. In Sex at Dawn, we suggest that many men may be confusing the hormonal changes triggered by an affair with actual “love,” thus leading them to make ill-advised decisions catastrophic to their families, their marriages, and eventually themselves.

Daily Report: Forth a Jil, Aye

Epril looking good. Sorry I
had to get into the picture
and spoil it.

Even the Australians got into
the Fouth of July spirit.I was up at 5 a.m. this morning to get work done before running off to town with Epril for a Fourth of July party. After finishing work, I walked with Tyson down to the barber and got my beard trimmed. Epril hired a makeup artist to come and do her hair and makeup.

I started to explain to Epril that Fourth of July parties are about bathing suits, baseball caps, burgers, beans, and beer... but then I thought I'd rather see Epril all prinked up and looking fabulous, so I didn't explain too much or for too long.

The party was a tremendous bunch of fun. I met some really great new expatriates, including Marion, a Polish-American from North Carolina. There was also Tim from Hawaii who, when challenged to prove his Hawaiian credentials (as, for some reason I've never understood, is always required before anybody believes you are a "real" Hawaiian), pulled out a ukulele and sang songs — in Hawaiian — in a fantastic baritone. Finally, there was Dave (I think... I might have that name wrong) from England. He was one of those Brits who has spent his life traveling around the world, working in all kinds of exotic locations. He even got to hang out with Henry Rollins a couple of times when he was working as a roadie, which made him my hero for the day. Oh... also Kevin, the ex-cop from California, who is living in Claveria, which is up in the mountains behind Jasaan: A very nice guy.


Cagayan de Oro's new/old mayor, Vincente Emano, was supposed to make an appearance at the party, but apparently blew us off. That seems to be pretty much par for the course with this particular fellow when it comes to showing up. Just as well really: I don't care to meet him, and I doubt I'm alone in that sentiment. I think we are all going to miss Mayor Jaraula.

Anyway, lots of beer was consumed. Lots of burgers and cole slaw and steaks and sausages and potato salad were consumed. All in all, a great day.

Late in the evening, it was home with Driver Chris... I was asleep the moment my head hit Epril's lap in the back seat.

Interesting Fact Check Post On Oil Spill

Read here.

It seems like a lot of the Republican talking points about how Obama is handling the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico are a bit of sophistry.

I especially found interesting the claims that Obama delayed and/or refused help of "foreign aid" with regard to the spill. It seems that almost all of those oh-so-friendly offers of "foreign aid" were actually foreign governments coming along and saying, "Hmm... see you got yourself a bit of an oil spill. Well, it just so happens I've got 100 miles of oil skimmers. I can let you have them for only 10% over retail."

Oh. Thanks a lot, buddies, but if we have to, we'll buy American skimmers in that case. No wonder Obama turned them down — or actually, he didn't in the end and grudgingly paid for the "aid", but I could understand why he might have refused: Apparently, whenever the U.S. sends aid to other countries, it's always free of charge. Whenever other countries offer aid to the U.S., it's always C.O.D.

Mexico was the single, solitary, only country on the planet to offer equipment and supplies to help clean the oil spill free of charge (and for obvious reasons... the spill effects them directly). Even Britain charged America for the oil dispersant it was offering as "aid", by the way... nice touch there. This isn't a new thing, apparently it's always the case with "aid" being offered to America: The U.S. is unique in the world in offering disaster relief without charge.

I'm as surprised as you probably are about that... and it obviously explains a lot when it comes to America dealing with offers of "aid" during times of emergency. It was wrong to automatically assume that what is true for America is true for everybody else. Well, now we know.

Another Republican sticking point is this supposed failure of Obama to suspend the "Jones Act", like President Bush did after Hurricane Katrina. The Jones Act is a stipulation that only American ships can transport cargo between two American ports. With lots of aid coming from American ports to New Orleans, suspending the Jones Act so that foreign ships could help carry that aid was sensible after Hurricane Katrina. However, since no domestic inter-port aid is involved in the oil spill, the Jones Act does not need to be suspended.

Why Northern Mindanao Is A Great Place To Live

Hat tip to Dew on the Expats CDO Yahoo Group for linking to this image below:

I've mentioned it before, but here is statistical and visual evidence for my claim: If you are going to move to The Philippines, there is a good chance that at some point you, your house, and your loved ones will get smacked well and good by a typhoon. It's not a joke: People die here every year in the monstrous storms that are born Southeast of the country and descend with regularity upon this archipelago.

Except for Northern Mindanao, where I live.

Look at the picture below, tracking the path of every typhoon to have hit the Philippines since 1947. The state of Misamis Oriental is placed out of the way of the normal path of the storms, with large clusters of mountains to the East and South that deflect any typhoons that come in our way in an anywhere-but-here direction.

If you're going to live in The Philippines, as far as the avoidance of typhoons goes, this is the one single best place to settle.

A Much Prettier Flying Car

Coming off Wednesday's post on the oh-so-ugly but oh-so-real flying car (or, more accurately, driveable airplane), comes this followup: A truly pretty flying/driving vehicle... although not quite reality just yet: The Samson Switchblade.

It seems to me that the main problem with flying cars is what to do with the wings. When the wings of the Terrafugia Transition mentioned in the other article are folded up, the car winds up looking like one of those billboard advertisement trolleys you see running around town.


As you can see: Not so with the Switchblade. With this design, the wings swivel forward and underneath the chasis, like a pair of jacknifes. And the rest of the vehicle's style: Sleek, you have to admit. In my personal opinion, aside from the outré (but obviously necessary) rear tail section, this little number meets my already-admitted desire that my flying car look like a Ferarri.

Anyway, best of luck to Samson in making their Switchblade a (safe, viable) reality. Like the Tesla before it, style is every bit as important as function when promoting a new technology. The Switchblade has style.

Supersonic Jets With No Sonic Boom On The Way

When the Concorde went out of service in 2003, it was one of the few times in modern history that consumer technology took a step backwards. Although ticket cost and passenger capacity were the principal reasons why supersonic flight never gained a foothold in the air travel market, the fact that supersonic flights were limited to flying over the ocean due to the sonic boom (thus limiting the ability to expand into other areas) was another reason for the Concorde's retirement.


Now two companies, Boeing and Lockheed Martin, are working on concepts for supersonic jet designs that reduce or totally eliminate sonic booms in flight — something I did not realize was remotely possible.

The Lockheed design uses an inverted parabolic shape over a V-shaped engine array. The parabola would control air flow in a way that would lessen the shockwave, NASA says. It also has improved range, payload and environmentally friendly designs.

The Boeing concept, below, also uses a V-shaped twinned tail section, and like the Lockheed jet, it also places the engines on top of the wings. The Concorde, like nearly all current commercial aircraft, put the engines beneath the wings.

As Wired's Autopia blog notes, the design takes advantage of the wings as a natural sound barrier.

My personal opinion is that a "boomless" supersonic jet that can get someone from New York to Los Angeles in 2½ hours will do fairly well. However, the 100-person capacity and $10,000 ticket will continue to be a problem... forever. Unless the passenger capacity can go up by a factor of 10 and the cost of the ticket be divided by 10, supersonic flight (no matter how fast or "boomless" it gets) will remain a niche luxury market on very limited routes: Most people will never find it necessary to spend $9,000 to save 6 hours of time.

However, if this "boomless" design does indeed become a reality (and engine technology improves at its current rate), by dint of market forces alone, I do honestly think that in the next 50 years, we will see a 1,000-passenger jet that can do Mach 3 — making the JFK-LAX flight under 2 hours — and selling tickets that aren't much more expensive than current costs.

Daily Report: New Shoes Old Shoes

The work that Landlord Jumz did on the water system seems, so far, to have been a complete waste... or actually made things worse: The water still slowly drains out of the rooftop cistern through some unknown leak. The difference now is that instead of it being just the upstairs bathroom that has no water, it is the entire house that has no water.

God, I find the Filipino tendency to occasion repairs that consist entirely of half steps and duct tape to be hugely annoying. What is surprising here is that I thought that such tendency existed primarily in the bamboo hut segment of the population, but it seems that my eminently more-intelligent landlord suffers from the same Filipino affliction of "do as little as possible for as low a cost as possible" and then fool oneself into thinking everything is just like new.

And it's me who's paying the price.

I had a small company of welders come to the house today to watch a video on YouTube about how to build a smoker. It was a fantastically detailed 70-minute long video with the guy pointing out everything in detail, holding up a tape measure to show all the measurements... even if you didn't speak English, you could figure it out.

The welders, after watching it, first asked me to draw them a plan, apparently because they still couldn't figure out — after looking at 70 minutes of detailed video — what they were looking at. Then they asked ME to go out and buy all the necessary parts to do the build and they would weld the thing together. Then they asked ME to at least put together a list of every part necessary to build the smoker as if I were the welding and fabrication guru.

Again: As little as possible.

It was payday today, so I sent Epril off to CDO to get cash and pay bills. (We still don't have an ATM in Jasaan — this place's one true drawback.) Hopefully the Parasat Cable installation will be tomorrow. Epril came back with some McDonald's chicken sandwiches for my dinner. (Very happy.) I watched Wimbledon on television.

Oh. Epril bought me new sandals today. I started wearing them, but then Epril told me, "No Jil, those are your good sandals. You aren't allowed to wear those every day. You only wear those when we go in to town. For around the house, you have to wear your old sandals." She then brought me my old sandals and took my new sandals away.

God bless a wife who will treat me like a 6 year old from time to time. Not because I need it; because it's emotionally fun and endearing, and a little mothering is like a warm blanket no matter how old we get.

At 10:00, I (joined by sister-in-law Susan) went over to Steve Wallis' house to watch World Cup. It was my team, Brazil, against the Netherlands. The play started off so well for Brazil, and the first half was everything I expect from my brasilieros. Then, the second half came along and it seemed as if all of the spirits from the Brazilian players excorporated and settled in the Dutch players, while the Brazilian players became zombies. They wound up losing 2–1.

Daily Report: Misread Signals

Landlord Jumz finished his repairs on the house, which included some new doorknobs, fixing the kitchen sink, fixing the ceiling in the office bathroom (which I didn't really care about since nobody goes in there, except me maybe once or twice a week), and doing something to the water system so that all the water flows on a single system (instead of having the top 2 floors run off the rooftop reservoir, with the ground floor running off the street supply).

Jumz also ran a water pipe directly from the rooftop reservoir, along the outside of the house along the back wall, through a hole in the wall next to the sink, along the wall of the master bathroom, through the air behind the shower curtain rod, and directly to my shower head to provide it better water pressure.

Well, (a) it certainly does provide better water flow in the shower, (b) no guests will see the "wall pipes" up in the master bathroom (though now that I've written about them, probably somebody will ask), and (c) the resale value of the house isn't my concern. I just think it's a bit jungle, if such an adjectival usage exists.

Of course, if Jumz had just replaced the clogged spigot in the master bathroom to which the shower head was attached (which I did point out to him), it would have had pretty much the same effect as the "wall pipes" with a tenth of the effort, a tenth of the price, and had no effect on the house's appearance. Oh well: I recommended if he was going to replace the pipes (in the walls), he should put in a larger diameter vertical main. That's sort of what I got, just not where I expected.

Anyway, we'll see if the water system stops bleeding off now. That was the major problem: Whatever water was put in the reservoir overnight when the pump was on would drain out by mid-afternoon. All of the other concerns that still need to be addressed are secondary.

It was a dreary day all day today. Ednel and I tried making cheese sticks out of some leftover mozzarella. Note to self: The cheese definitely has to be frozen first before putting in the fryer. Oh well.

My home security alarm system (named Tyson) went off at about 2:00 this morning, and I have to say I provided a poor response. At the first flurry of barking, I stuck my head out the window and told Tyson to be quiet. Then, when he started barking again, I did the same, thinking if there was a third time, I'd have to give him a beating. I then thought better and put on my robe and went to see if anything was actually amiss.

Tyson had cornered a cat in a crenel/cliff up on the second floor back patio. Instead of telling Tyson "good job" for raising the alarm regarding this (in his eyes valid: in my eyes not-so-serious) breach in our defenses, I told him to be quiet again. (The cat, seeing me show up and thinking that her evening had just gone from bad to worse, opted to jump the 20 feet down into the neighbors' yard below. I saw her shadowy figure stalking off in the gloom, so she survived the leap.)

Anyway, I'll have to remember now not to pooh-pooh the Tyson Alarm again, and make sure that I thank Tyson instead of admonishing him next time.

Daily Report: Smooth, Straight, Stale Sailing

Back to life. Epril's back from her trip to Leyte. I have a definite phobia of ferries here in The Philippines. I'll save myself the effort of linking to 200 news articles about overcrowded ferries sinking in rough seas, if you don't mind... but you know what I'm talking about. So when Epril sent me a text message (15 minutes after leaving port on the overnight ferry going back to Mindanao) saying, "Big st0rm!scary.." I wasn't at all happy, and lost a bit of sleep over that.

But my darling wife made it back to Mindanao without swimming part of the way... so all is well.

Today, Landlord Jumz was here with workers starting repairs on the house. I think their primary goal is to replace the entire water system in the house. Well, I doubt they will go that far, but hopefully they will seriously upgrade it and fix what needs to be fixed.

I'm getting Parasat Cable installed at the house. I let the Dream Satellite run out after about 14 months of usage. Dream Satellite only had 40 channels (of which I would watch 5 channels and the rest of my family an additional 5) for 650 pisos per month on one television, while Parasat has 100 channels (of which I will watch 20 channels and the rest of my family an additional 5) for 1,350 pisos per month on two televisions. I'm keeping the Cignal though... I love my HDTV.

Two days before payday. French toast all around. I've got to get caught up on my bills now: I'm still working to catch up after my 2-week hiatus with my computer down. Work took a dip this past week with Epril not being here. I've got Ednel's school to pay for, I borrowed some money, the electricity bill is due, the bulb on the television needs to be replaced, and Landlord Jumz got a letter from the phone company claiming that I owe 12,000 pisos for a phone that I've never used.

Epril's cousin stopped by the house. He asked for a donation to buy some things before going off to seminary. (Epril vets all the people who stop by with such requests, so only the "real" ones get through.) I gave him 2,000 pisos for that. Kid sister Kristel (I had been spelling it Crystal) asked for 500 pisos to buy her drum majorette uniform. I "loaned" 2000 pisos out to the bikini open organizers that I'm probably never going to see again also.

To be honest though, I'm much happier spending money on things like a cousin's trip to seminary, or a drum majorette uniform, or a beauty pageant, or something else that helps someone out, than I am on things like fancy dinners or new clothes.

(Don't let my neighbors find out I said that.)

Anyway, it was a quiet evening in front of the television. Than read a bit of my book. Then off to sleep.

I Guess It Was Unreasonable To Expect A Ferrari

It's fugly, but no doubt it's as close to a proper flying car as we've yet seen: It meets all road safety requirements, and can still fly.

The two-seater Transition can use its front-wheel drive on roads at ordinary highway speeds, with wings folded, at a respectable 30 miles per gallon. Once it has arrived at a suitable take-off spot — an airport, or adequately sized piece of flat private land — it can fold down the wings, engage its rear-facing propellor, and take off. The folding wings are electrically powered.

Its cruising speed in the air is 115mph, it has a range of 460 miles, and it can carry 450lb. It requires a 1,700-foot (one-third of a mile) runway to take off and can fit in a standard garage.

It's just under $200,000 and they are taking orders.

I suppose if you think about it as a plane that you can drive home when the weather is too bad... or when you are too stoned or drunk to actually fly the thing... it's not a bad little machine.

I Agree With The Dog

Do you remember the movie, "Dumb and Dumber"? The two dumbest guys on earth go on a road trip in a dog-shaped van. On the road trip, they pick up a guy whose car had broken down. As they are riding along tormenting their passenger by just being themselves, Lloyd says to the guy, "Hey, wanna hear the most annoying sound in the world?"

Then, 16 years before the 2010 World Cup, he does a spot-on immitation of a vuvuzela.

Daily Report: Wins and Losses

I've been oversleeping while Epril is on vacation. She's usually my alarm clock, waking up before me, tweeking my nose and giggling and tickling me, and then once I get up, she goes back to sleep.

I got a bit of work done before the pay period ended at noontime. Maggie and Jumz, our landlords, stopped by today. They are going to be fixing up the house, and I showed them through the house and everything that needs repairs: Mostly the water system, and window latches and doorknobs. I'm glad that those things are finally going to get fixed.

Then I had a bit of lunch, and looked at some bar-be-que sites online. I've decided to try to build a smoker (actually, to hire someone to weld one together) and make bar-be-que. It should be fun, and I really do miss Bob's ribs from Pattaya, which I am going to try to duplicate. (Bob has been giving me some tips via e-mail in addition to what I've been able to learn online.)

In the afternoon, I did an additional hour of work — rare for a Sunday afternoon. Then I took Tyson for a walk... which I've been neglecting to do lately.

In the evening, I video chatted with Epril in Leyte. All the sisters-in-law joined in: They got to see their grandmother (on their father's side) for the first time in almost 15 years, and vice versa. (Epril told me apparently while we were chatting there was some drunk Australian guy wandering around confused outside the internet café she was chatting in... quite a way out into the jungle, so a bit odd. She didn't talk to him.)

After that, I watched a bunch of History Channel porn: A two hour special documentary on The Black Death, and then a one hour documentary on the archaeological record of Stonehenge. That's viewing heaven.

Then, at 10:00, I went over to Steve's house and watched England get crushed by Germany in the World Cup. Drank too much beer too. Hic.

Daily Report: Bachelorized

Epril and her parents have gone on vacation to the island Leyte. (In my simplified mind-map of The Philippines, Leyte is the north-south oblong island immediately north of the northeast Maine-like prominence of Mindinao, just east of the circular central island of Bohol and the north-south Cuba-shaped island of Cebu.) They left by ferry on Wednesday night and will be back next Tuesday.

Leyte is where Epril's family comes from. They moved to Jasaan when she was very young. So although everybody here in Jasaan seems to be distantly related to Epril, everyone in Leyte is too. Most importantly though, her grandparents are there, and she has not seen them in a very long time.

Anyway, it is just me and the sisters here at the house for now. I've been working and lying around not doing much of anything other than that.

Pondering The Rights Of Free Speech Limitations

I understand that most European countries — Canada as well — have laws limiting speech against religion, race, or nationality... inflammatory or derogatory speech that either accidentally or purposeflly elicits anything from hurt feelings to violence.

Not in America.

I don't know the details of exactly what these Christian missionaries said or did (when the cameras weren't rolling... see below) at a Muslim festival in Dearborn, Michigan, this past weekend that caused their arrest. But if they were armed only with words and Christian literature, then their arrests were a huge violation of their right to free speech.

Oh... and here is video that seems to show them doing absolutely nothing (and saying absolutely nothing) other than handing out copies of the gospel. They were told by police that they can't be within 5 blocks of the event with their Christian tracts.



But: I'm thinking now of the "God Hates Fags" people that picket funerals and spew Biblical hate at anybody within earshot: Say what you want about them, they are the undisputed masters at ensuring their right to free speech. Even they (all sue-happy, law-degree-holding, free-speech fanatics) often/always have to be some distance away from the target of their "protests" when they show up. If those particular people are forced to stay back 5 blocks, it must be a legally-enforceable free speech restriction that they cannot dispute. I never minded that restriction before; I thought it wasn't a bad idea.

But now I have to do a little thought exercise, because this situation in Dearborn is what happens when the limitations we impose upon free speech are used equitably and without prejudice to the content of a group's speech: If I can support keeping one group of people 5 blocks away from another group of people because the first group's speech is so hateful that it makes everyone in the second group angry, why can't I support keeping another group of not-so-hateful people 5 blocks away from a group of not-so-offended people because their speech may make someone angry?

I can't. Not anymore.

It's called learning. It's a lifelong process.

Daily Report: Undescended

Poor day of work today. I occasionally get sidetracked with something on the internet that sucks all work interest clean out of my body. It's a handicap I've learned to live with.

I was in front of my desk at 8 a.m., but didn't work until 11. Then my lunch break never finished. I stayed at my desk until 9 at night, thinking that some grand flash of motivation would strike me cold and set my sights back on track, but I was just kidding myself.

After that, it was down to the bedroom where I played on the laptop the most addicting, enjoyable, cute, awesome game I've seen in a while: Plants Vs Zombies.

Jilicious Steaming Bowl of Archives

Over on the right column of this fabulous ode to everything Jilific, I've added the Jiltastic Archives from my old Thailand blog, Jil In Pattaya to the current archives. Now, if you go to the pre-2008 links, you'll get to read about my Jilarious adventures in Thailand.

Yup: Almost five years of bloggy Jilliness now. Can you believe it's been that long Mom?

I Wonder How Long Blu-Ray and 1080 Will Last

I was pondering this today: There are already computer monitors out there that put out more than 2000 horizontal lines of resolution, and there are already home projectors on the market that do the same. In your home in the distant future (or as close as your local cinema today), there are movies playing at 4000 lines of resolution.

So, knowing that 2000 lines can be done today, how long before we start seeing a push for that resolution?

I say this because I was watching the U.S. Open at 720 lines on my 60-inch television last night. With my 20/20 vision, I can see a huge difference between a 720-line broadcast and a 1080-line broadcast. When the 100-inch-plus televisions start becoming popular in the next 5-8 years (and don't tell me they won't; we all know better) a crystal clear 1080-line picture that is spread over 4 times as much screen real estate is going to start looking even fuzzier than the 720-line picture on a 60-inch screen. (And don't tell me we won't be sitting as close; we all know better.)

Since the only ways that the television companies make money is to sell televisions, they have to keep coming up with new reasons to buy televisions: New features, new technologies, and (most importantly) bigger numbers... bigger screens, bigger resolutions.

I give 1080-line pictures until about the year 2025 before they go to the 2K format. For Blu-Ray, I give the format a much longer shelf life, since it already has enough space on it to hold a 2K movie. You can expect the Blu-Ray storage medium to last for another 15 years beyond that, I think.

Well, I'm just pondering on my lunch break. Back to work I go.

World Cup Thoughts

AFRICA: The host continent is barely there. It looks like only one or maybe two out of the six original African teams will advance past the initial rounds.

EUROPE: Most surprisingly, out of the always-big European teams, half of them (Spain, France, Germany, and England) are all either out or nearly out, leaving only Italy, Portugal and the Netherlands as sure to advance. Other lesser-known teams like Switzerland, Slovenia, and Slovakia are also looking to advance. That gives 6 European teams (none of them particularly strong) out of 12 to advance to the final 16... and all 4 of the biggest upsets so far are the 4 originally-favored teams mentioned above.

ASIA: North Korea, New Zealand, and Australia out; Japan and South Korea advance. That's about what was expected.

AMERICAS: Of the final 16 teams, it looks like 7 of them will be from the West side of the Atlantic. Most importantly, there were only 8 South/North America teams out of 32 in the original field... only Honduras will not advance.

THE ODDS: Brazil 20% chance of winning. Argentina 17% chance of winning. Netherlands 15% chance of winning. Uruguay 10% chance of winning. (source)

Daily Report: Rooftop Party

Not too much going on today. Epril and I had Dave from Kimaya and his fianceé Jessa, along with Steve from around the corner and his wife Helen, and his out-of-town friend Kiven and his girlfriend Cherry over for dinner on the rooftop. It was a drizzly, glum night up there in the jungle perch, but we made the most of it with bar-be-que chicken (my grandmother's recipe), my newly-discovered Jili Chili, corn on the cob. Ednel (just back from chef's school with a new recipe) made some chicken breast in white wine sauce, and Dave brought along a nice roasted cucumber dish.

Real History Is Coming Soon

Just to summarize, the director of the fusion project at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory says that in the next few months, the attempt will be made to create a brief-but-controlled fusion reaction — a temporary miniature sun — on earth, and to use that successful attempt as the foundation to create a sustained fusion reaction on earth before 2020.

No joke:

Finally achieving fusion energy may be closer than everyone thinks. For decades the dream has been to employ the reaction that powers stars to generate high-volume electricity without the drawbacks of fission reactors — no high-level waste, no weapons application, no risk of meltdown, no use of uranium, and (as with fission) no greenhouse gases.

Ed Moses is director of the National Ignition Facility (NIF) at Lawrence Livermore Labs. Focusing massive amounts of laser light for a billionth of a second, the NIF is expected to demonstrate ignition of a fusion reaction (more energy out than in) for the first time in the coming year, followed by the prospect of a prototype machine for generating continuous clean energy by the end of this decade. That could change everything. The NIF itself is a spectacular work of "technological sublime."

Imminent fusion power

All the light we see from the sky, Moses pointed out, comes from fusion power burning hydrogen, the commonest element in the universe — 3/4 of all mass. A byproduct of the cosmic fusion is the star-stuff that we and the Earth are made of.

On Earth, 4 billion years of life accumulated geological hydrocarbons, which civilization is now burning at a rate of 10 million years' worth per year. In 1900, 98% of the world's energy came from burning carbon. By 1970, that was down to 90%, but it has not decreased since. It has to decrease some time, because there is only so much coal, oil, and gas. During this century every single existing power plant (except some hydro) will age and have to be replaced, and world energy demand is expected to triple by 2100.

To head off climate change, fossil fuel combustion has to end by about 2050. The crucial period for conversion to something better is between 2030 and 2050. The ideal new power source would be: affordable; clean; non-geopolitical; using inexhaustible fuel and existing infrastructure; capable of rapid development and evolution. Moses' candidate is the "laser inertial fusion engine" — acronym LIFE —being developed at Lawrence Livermore.

The question, Moses said, is "Can we build a miniature Sun on Earth?" The recipe involves a peppercorn-size target of hydrogen isotopes deuterium and tritium heated to 200 million degrees Fahrenheit for a couple billionths of a second. To get that micro-blast of heat, the National Ignition Facility (NIF) uses lasers — coherent light — at a massive scale. Laser engineer Moses notes that photons are perfect for the job: "no mass, no charge, just energy."

Moses ran a dramatic video showing how a shot at the NIF works. 20-foot-long slugs of amplified coherent light (10 nanoseconds) travel 1,500 yards and converge simultaneously through 192 beams on the tiny target, compressing and heating it to fusion ignition, with a yield of energy 10 to 100 times of what goes into it. Successful early test shots suggest that the NIF will achieve the first ignition within the next few months, and that shot will be heard round the world.

To get a working prototype of a fusion power plant may take 10 years. It will require an engine that runs at about 600 rpm — like an idling car. Targets need to be fired at a rate of 10 per second into the laser flashes. The energy is collected by molten salt at 1,000 degrees Fahrenheit and then heats the usual steam-turbine tea kettle to generate electricity. The engine could operate at the scale of a standard 1-gigawatt coal or nuclear plant, or it could be scaled down to 250 megawatts or up to 3 gigawatts. The supply of several million targets a year can be manufactured for under 50 cents apiece with the volume and precision that Lego blocks currently are. Moses said that 1 liter of heavy water will yield the energy of 2 million gallons of gas.

Fusion power, like nuclear fission power, would cost less per kilowatt hour than wind (and far less than solar), yet would be less capital intensive than fission. For the constant baseload power no carbon is involved, no waste stream, no possibility of meltdown or weaponization, and there is no such thing as peak hydrogen.

Daily Report: De Profundis

A great day today. I was down in front of the TV upon waking to watch Game 7 of the NBA finals. I haven't watched a basketball game for real since moving to Asia, and haven't been an NBA fan since the Houston Rockets' 1994-1995 two-season dominance... but I rooted for The Celtics because I'm an East Coaster... more "Beacon Hill" than "Burbank".

After that, it was up to the Jungle Perch where I busted out a fabulous 3 hours of work (and doing what used to take 5 hours before my professional rejuvenation as of late). I'm finally — I think; after 2 years — getting my groove back at work. I'm past the mental anger and hangup of earning half what I used to for the same amount of work, and I'm now finding a new cadence and way of focusing myself for the duration of my workday that is succeeding. Of course, I think that is the fourth or fifth time I've claimed something like that in the last 2 years, so that claim may seem a bit shopworn, but the fact is in the days before my computer crashed — and especially the 3 weeks since its return — I've had a marked and sustained increase in my work performance.

Anyway, being payday, it was off early from work and in to town. How nice to be back to a regular paycheck again after my computer's unexpected demise. So a visit to the ATM, and then Epril and I treated Warren and Jen out to food at Siam (the Thai place) and then went and shopped at Robinson's. I spent 4,000 pisos and didn't come away with much: There was a bottle of vermouth and a jar of olives for my martinis, razor blades and shaving cream, 2 kilos of chicken and a half a kilo of pork, a small block of cheddar cheese, and a bunch of cleaning supplies. Then, of course, there were the usual "nickel and dime" items that filled out the list... but still not much.

After that, it was back to Warren's house where I looked at the plans for the new house he and Jen are going to be building out on the golf course, and advised him on a bit of web publishing for his job.

Then it was home with Driver Chris, with a stop at Jollibee for ice cream along the way.

Like I said: A simple, well-played day.

Jil The Schatchen Makes An Introduction

Okay. Here is my first Jungle Juliet. Her name is Mary Jeanne, she's 19, 5 feet 7 inches tall, and is studying computer science at university. She'd like to meet a nice fellow. So, if you are interested, then write to me at jilwrinkle at yahoo dot com and I'll forward your e-mail along to Jeanne and maybe she'll write back.

The Video Game Industry Is Dying, He Thinks

I just got done reading this article. It claims that (and I'm inclined to believe that) the billion-dollar video gaming industry is dying a slow death because it fails to come up with new and innovative games and interfaces to keep people addicted.

That's true... but only just.

What is going to happen first is that the video game consoles (PlayStation, Nintendo, X-Box) will probably start dying off as people start connecting their computers to their big-screen televisions. Computer video cards and processing speed will continue keep pace with video game demand, and consoles aren't really necessary except for the fact that most people don't have their computer connected in any way to their living room TV. That will change.

What is going to happen second is that the computer games that are successful, instead of being reintroduced every 3 or 4 years, will start moving heavily into the expansion pack market. Once you've completed all of the adventures in New York, you can buy a passcode to start on Chicago or Miami. And, the thing is that unlike older expansion packs, which are just more of the same, the new expansion packs will probably also upgrade the game back in New York City too. That's already happening.

What is going to happen third is that the game engine (the durable skeleton around which a game's looks and method of play is created, and where most development money is spent) will be much longer-lasting and allow a much more dynamic range of looks, so that a gaming company can put out 10 or 15 games per year (instead of one or less), all of which look quite different... all of which look great... all of which are low cost (after the creation of the game engine)... and all of which bring in cash from users on a regular basis.

Also (something that hasn't been done yet), fourth, the game engine itself will be able to be upgraded from inside preexisting games. This is the holy grail of gaming. Impossible now in all except the most simple games, but once it can be achieved, people will never have to buy a new version of the same game again: The old one just keeps upgrading and upgrading (for a nominal fee, of course).

Say, for example, that you have a flight simulator. An upgrade to the game (not the game engine) would include adding more types of planes, more airports and cities... "same-same but different". An upgrade to the game engine itself would include adding in better quality graphics, or perhaps a way to include wind sheer or a hurricane or turbulence that wasn't there before, or perhaps a dogfight scenario, or perhaps an entire subroutine where you can manage an airport. Being able to add things like that to an existing game is very difficult.

Finally, what you will be seeing is games that operate on a combination of the already-existing World of Warcraft (WoW) and Zynga business models: Thin client games in which your computer handles the creation of game play and player input— the picture, the action — with a smaller program, while the game's process and progress (as well as the gigabytes of game data) is held remotely on the game company's servers, and sent to your computer as needed. What is important is that these games be dynamic, expandable, and once they fail to draw further players, can be retooled and retargeted for a new audience without spending a billion dollars.

Zynga is a good example of the infancy of this type of gaming, with FarmVille (which is a huge financial success) and their also-ran versions PetVille, FishVille, Café World, Mafia Wars, and on and on and on. These are simple games that can have upgrades added to them instantly, that all operate on the same rudimentary game engine and can be expanded upon and redesigned for an endless array of gaming purposes. While Zynga may offer up simple fare for free, this model of programming — matched with WoW's thin-client computer processing — will be the model for all future games.

Yes, of course all of these processes are already in place and being used: My PS3 upgrades its operating system, and the games will get patches and upgrades downloaded to them as well. But the unnecessary bits (the consoles) and processes (hundred-million-dollar budgets) haven't been removed yet. Also, instead of monthly upgrades, there will be daily upgrades, with player cash spent on a far more regular basis to keep things moving forward. Thousands of cookie-cutter games will be shot out of the barrels of the video game manufacturers at low cost, and then money will be snared in memberships, upgrades, expansion packs, bonus items, et cetera.

Will it mean the death of console games? Yes. Will it mean the death of $300-million-dollar video game development budgets? Yes. Will it mean bigger and better video games? Probably not. Will it still be fun to play? You betcha.

Daily Report: Carnivore House Party

Nothing too special today. However, in the afternoon I did go with Epril and Susan to a party in Barangay San Antonio.


Epril wants me to find a kano husband
for her friend on the right. Anybody?I had a good time there. Food was served and it was yummy as always. There was hamonada, caldareta, afritada, humba, adobo, and pancit.

Filipino food is good, in my personal opinion... the recipes are great. However, there are some major drawbacks to Filipino cooking: It isn't the recipes themselves that are to blame, but instead is the ingredient selection and meal planning where things go wrong.

Look at the table set up:
Here are a bunch of fantastic dishes set out, ready to be eaten. However, first what you can't see: Most of the cuts of meat being served are either 75% or higher bone content, or 75% or higher fat content. That's on purpose. Many of the recipes are designed to use poor meat: The hamonada uses joints and spines braised in a sauce; the humba uses skin and fat. If these dishes were just prepared with some higher quality cuts, they would be fantastic dishes.

Here is what you probably did notice: No vegetables. The average Filipinos simply do not eat vegetables or fruits at any level that would be considered a "balanced" diet. And they almost never take in milk or cheese. Filipinos eat almost exclusively starches and meat. None of those dishes on the table contains anything green in it. Only the afritada has a few carrot slices in it, and the caldareta had a few dried peas.

I'm going to talk with Ednel and see if we can put together some "balanced" and "gourmet" Filipino dishes... to see if we can make something healthier.

Daily Report: It's A Toque

Today I joined Susan and Epril at the Grand Caprice Hotel to watch Ednel go through the ceremony in which she "graduated" to being a "chef in training", symbolized by getting her first chef's hat — called a toque (pronounced "tuke").

I forgot, as always, that Filipinos just love to occasion every one of life's steps, no matter how small. So, first there was an hour-long church service. Then, there was a grand procession of the students and staff. Then the various school administrators gave speeches. Then there was the preferment itself. Then a candle lighting ceremony. Then various students gave speeches. (I swear, one of the students said this: "The secret ingredient? It's love.") Then, to finish it off, all of the chefs-to-be turned, faced the audience, and sang "You Are The Wind Beneath My Wings".

Schmaltz is Yiddish for "Pinoy".



After the ceremony (define irony...), to a group of culinary students and their master chef professors, The Grand Caprice Hotel served what had to be the worst food in the history of the Philippine catering industry... and it was cold to boot.

After that, I took the 3 sisters out to Zax until about 11:00. We had some better food there. Driver Chris got us back to Jasaan.

Daily Report: Party, Pooh, and Pageant

The power was out again, the first time in a week. The rain is starting to come more regularly now, meaning that the hydroelectric power will probably be back up to full capacity soon. Unfortunately, my generator wouldn't work: a morning of work was lost. The repair man will be here tomorrow. I suspect, with the sputtering and stalling that there is a problem with the spark plug or ignition.

In the evening, Epril, Susan, and little Doreen joined the Clines, the Honeycutts, and Winnie The Pooh at little Danny Hughes' birthday party. They had a great time. Meanwhile, I was out to dinner with Mike and Warren (and Jen) at Basamanggas Resort for dinner. (Dinner was very good, if pricey.)

After dinner, we all went back to my place for some beers on the front porch, and then off to Barangay San Antonio where I had gotten Warren and Mike spots on the judging panel for the barangay's bikini open beauty pageant.





Lots of awards to hand out.There were only 8 contestants tonight, and lots of familiar faces. I didn't mind giving up my seat on the panel of judges... and still got to hand out some awards due to my sponsorship.

After the pageant was over, on a lark, I invited all the beauty queens to go out with us, and they agreed. I'm sure you won't blame me if, as a guy, I puff out my chest and say that I took 8 beauty queens out partying tonight, right? So all of us went to Glitz, Ron's bar in Jasaan, and had food and drinks, and hung around until about 1 in the morning.

Epril made friends with some of the girls in the pageant, and once again I'm thinking about putting up some "personal ads" on my blog for beauty queens who would like to meet some nice guys. We'll see if it leads anywhere this time.