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The Chris Lao flood incident: what the MMDA could have done

August 5, 2011August 5, 2011 Ilda 47 Comments

Poor Christopher â€œChrisâ€ Lao. He is not your average guy. He seems like the type of person who would not hesitate to just do things. Whether it is driving through a flooded street or speaking his mind in front of millions of people in front of a TV camera, he apparently would not think twice….

Civics, Media

Senator Zubiri resignation: Is it an admission of guilt?

August 5, 2011 Ilda 22 Comments

Quite a number of Filipinos were shocked by the news that Senator Juan Miguel Zubiri had filed his resignation following allegations of electoral fraud during the 2007 senatorial elections. The move was a first in Philippine political history. There has been no Filipino public official on record who resigned out of delicadeza or shame in…

Civics, Crime, Culture, Government, Politics, Society

Empathising with flood ‘victim’ Christopher Lao

August 4, 2011August 4, 2011 benign0 24 Comments

The latest “victim” of the most recent media (both old and new) circus is a guy named Christopher “Cris” Lao. The poor sod apparently drove his car past motorists who had prudently stopped at both ends of a recessed and flooded section of a Manila road and ended up with a car submerged and, perhaps…

Civics, Culture, Lifestyle, Media

Facebook exec: Let kids play more video games

August 3, 2011August 3, 2011 benign0 5 Comments

It’s a surreal WTF moment. In a gathering of Silicon Valley “technorati” in Palo Alto, California yesterday to “dole out advice” on “job creation,” Facebook COO Sheryl Sandberg emphasised the need for “better education” to “foster growth, competitiveness, innovation, and job creation.” Sounds good so far. But then she lets out these doozies: Sandberg talked…

Education, Media, Society, Tech Talk

CHED and Twitter users: why ‘Tweeps’ should stop playing God

August 2, 2011 benign0 8 Comments

I’ve seen two “reports” about the whole false brouhaha being raised about the reluctance of the Philippines’ Commission on Higher Education (CHED) to start using “social media” to broadcast information that supposedly is relevant to its “constituency”. Self-described “social media practitioner” Tonyo Cruz went as far as calling the CHED a “village idiot” for not…

Tech Talk

The catch-phrase administration of President Noynoy Aquino

August 1, 2011 benign0 29 Comments

Score so far in this game of clever marketing that Philippine President Benigno “Noynoy” Aquino III is playing on the Filipino people — three. As in three catchy slogans that have so far proven to be effective in its stickiness to the Filipino psyche: – Use of the Yellow pedigree platform and its symbols —…

Development, Media, Politics

The US debt ceiling crisis: How the world’s mightiest nation may run out of money this week

July 30, 2011 benign0 20 Comments

Anytime between the the 3rd and the 10th of August this year, 2011, the government of the United States of America may run out of money. The estimates vary depending on who is doing the reckoning — the White House, Wall Street hacks — but either way, as with most things associated with going broke…

Economy, Government, Politics