Recently, McDonald’s Philippines launched an ad that featured two children.

This incurred a reaction from the Catholics Bishop Conference of the Philippines as reported by yahoo.com.ph the other day asking for its removal from the air.

I agree with the bishops that these children are too young to be exposed to this kind of relationships.

Instead, they should be taught values such as pagiging Maka-Diyos, Maka-kapwa-tao, at Maka-bayan.

In the comments section of the news, those who posted are either naïve or just as perverted as the ones who created the ad.

It’s just an ad, the naïve say. I disagree. It’s more than just an ad. Ads are created to persuade — either consciously or subconsciously. That’s why millions of pesos are involved in creating such ads.

There’s nothing wrong with puppy love, the pervert would say. I disagree. Where in the world did they get the term puppy love? When Paul Anka sang that song, puppy love was about 17-year-olds! The ones shown in the ad are not even 7! Great childhood memories do not have to involve such ‘relationships.’

Let these children play. Let these children learn about the world they live in. Let them learn the primary necessary skills to be a productive citizen of this country. Relationships such as BF-GF (and eventually marriage) needs maturity. There is a time for that. Ages 7-17 is not just it.

UPDATE: McDonald’s pulled out the ad in response to the CBCP’s plea. Yahoo News reports.

On one of the comments, PinoyTechNews mentioned that

Globe should clamp down on the 5% abusive users instead of “penalizing” the 95% of its subscribers.

I agree that this is what should be done.

However, the problem is identifying those 5%. And where did Globe get those numbers? I think they are just throwing us “ceiling figures”… that is, they look at ceiling and ‘guess’ the figures. LOL.

Another problem is their definition of ‘abusive users.’ How can they delineate categories between someone downloading a 6-CD Linux Distro from someone downloading a pirated HD movie? Both would exceed the 1GB limit.

So if going above the 1GB limit is the only criterion for an ‘abusive user’, both the legal and illegal downloaders fall in the same category.

Now, I use Linux. I download distros all the time. I hate to be labeled ‘abusive user’ when I pay fairly for the service rendered. And labeling loyal clients (who pay for their service) does not help Globe’s image at all.

So for my very first droid device, I chose HTC Wildfire. Thanks to Abe of YugaTech for doing a good review on this unit.

Wildfire is HTC’s entry level device, which means it is the most inexpensive among their android devices. Although the OMEGA of the htc droid devices, Wildfire still does a good job. Until I started to explore around.

The first thing I looked for is how can I customize this phone to my liking. I’ve been a Linux user for almost 13 years now. So I’m used to tinkering and modifying linux boxes the way I like them to be. And to my disgust surprise, the Android OS is not as free as I want it to be. I don’t have the superuser privilege that I usually have in my linux boxes. I’m just given an ordinary user’s privilege. Now, that won’t do, especially for freedom lovers.

I searched the net and there is a way to gain this super access to my device. They call it ‘rooting’ your phone. However, this is a hack based on a discovered vulnerability to the code. And doing this will void one’s warranty. How awesome is that?

I can surely perform this ‘rooting’ process. Why not? It’s still  my device and I can do whatever I like with it. But I can’t. Not right now.

So my questions are, how come the kernel on this device (and any Android device for that matter) which is supposed to be free, locked? And in order to be free, why must one resort to a hack?

This is the only gripe I have against my device. It’s mine. But not really. HTC (along with other big companies and manufacturers, yes Google, I’m looking at you), lulls us to think that we have ownership. But the reality is, we do not. They still own the devices we have (in one way or another). I have only one gripe, but it is the most fundamental one. All the others are resting on this one — freedom to use your device the way you want it.

I remember what the Lord Jesus said about freedom. He is the only source of true freedom. This world cannot offer freedom the way he can. In the book of John he said,

“So if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed.” John 8.36

So maybe I’ll just install Ubuntu on Wildfire and see what it does.

I just want to make this first post one that really piques my interest. It’s about how most of us think about wealth.

No, I did not do a comprehensive survey on this topic. This is just based on my observation, which I believe you can verify via your own as well. Two recent events (one national, and one personal) have suddenly made me ponder on how we Filipinos think about wealth. Anyway, if I have the time and energy later on, I might do a full blown research on this.

The first event is when the grand jackpot prize of Philippine Lotto crossed the half-billion-peso mark. Suddenly, lines to buy a ticket grew astronomically.

Via: 4.bp.blogspot.com

From this event, we can see that there are literally throngs of Filipinos wanting to get wealthy. Who wouldn’t want that half-billion added to their asset? However, the method of acquisition through lottery winning is questionable on many accounts.

First according to my statistics teacher, the chance to hit the correct combination of numbers is sub-atomically small. And so, there is no assurance that you’ll get your money back. It’s like throwing your bet into a black hole. Good as gone.

Secondly, my ethics professor said that betting in lotteries like this makes you covet the prize money. And coveting is — uhrm how should we say this — sin.

And there could be more. My friend Nathan Montenegro wrote a master’s thesis on the concept of swerte. This research is valuable if we want to get into the Filipino psyche on wealth.

And so, even from this simple event, we can glean the insight that most Filipinos wanted wealth — through the fast lane.

The second event that triggered these lines of thought is when I went to National Bookstore and saw a book on wealth by Colayco.

Via colaycofoundation1.com

It looks like nobody wants to buy this book. While it was quite crowded in the National Bookstore, there was no line (like the one above for the lotto outlets) for this book.

Well, it could be the price of the book that stops them from buying it. But at Php95.00, would one consider this expensive? I don’t think so.

I picked up the book and read the table of contents. Then it dawned on me why it’s not being bought. The book is about acquiring wealth THE HARD WAY. Uh-oh.

I looked around if anyone would be picking up that book and taking it to the checkout counter. No one else did.

Honestly, I also did not buy the book. It’s not because I did not believe in it. It’s because I already have a similar book I got as a Christmas gift from a friend. So in the spirit of Colayco’s book, I saved my Php95.00 for other things because I already have one similar to it. But had I not previously gotten a book on that same subject, I would  have bought it in a heartbeat.

So between easy to get wealth and hard to get wealth, I think the former wins hands-down.

My prayer and hope is that we as a nation rise up from this sad state. The Colayco Foundation is doing a valuable service to the nation by increasing awareness on wealth management on the grass roots level. I’m not a staff nor a member of that foundation, but I agree with their financial principles.

For us Christians, we give first to God what is right, then we manage wisely what is left.

My hope is that this post would somehow break the spell and give me a good kickstart.

What better way to start blogging again than entering a contest about doing something I really love to do.

Yugatech has launched a contest online and I decided to join. Not because I’m dying to have that laptop (okay, I admit that laptop is really a GREAT motivator), but to engage my crusty, rusty, tech-mind once again.

This will be my official entry to YugaTech’s contest.

So here’s my 10 fun things I can do with a new Lenovo Laptop. I’ll present them in gist and explain in detail afterwards.

Gist:

1. Overclock
2. Para-Virtualize
3. Hyper-Virtualize
4. Engage in Cloud Computing
5. Power Cruncher in Video Editing
6. Media Center
7. WiFi Hotspot
8. LFS
9. Make It Growl
10. Energy Conservation. Clean and Green.

Detailed

1. Overclock

Why settle for a wimpy 2.67 GHz speed when you can overclock it to its max? Lenovo engineers have just specified a safe  clock speed for ordinary users. But for a power user of this laptop, maxing out its clock is a real pleasure. This is ‘fun’ for power users.

Safety? I think this unit is built like a tank. It has safety features built in for protection.

2. Para-Virtualize

Why settle for one operating system? Why bother for a reboot to just get into another OS? These are options of old. Paravirtualization is now the THING. Two OSes running at the same time is now a possibility.

Paravirtualization has matured. There are various options out there that would allow paravirtualization of a machine in order to run OSes side by side. No more OS wars. Let there be peace and synergy among OSes.

I think Lenovo can handle this quite well. Looking at its specs, I can safely run 3 OSes at the same time! [Maybe even 4 if I install AndroidOS as the fourth one]. This makes this laptop a powerful computing beast.

3. Hypervirtualize

Who says only rack servers can do a server’s job? That’s only a myth founded during the jurassic age of computing. With Hypervirtualization, I can run several servers on this Lenovo.

Come to think of it, I can configure this laptop to be a webserver, mail server, dns server, dhcp server, ntp server, and brace yourself… FILESERVER! How would I do that with a 320GB harddrive? You don’t. What I’ll do is make use of its eSATA interface. It compensates for the teeny weeny internal harddrive. To use this cool feature of Lenovo, I’ll buy large external harddrives that has eSATA interface. That is, IF I want this laptop to be a mobile file server.

4. Engage in Cloud Computing

This is possible because of number 3 above. The latest Ubuntu server release allows one to setup a machine cloud-ready. Now, with several servers running on one Lenovo laptop, one can make a cloud cluster. Cool, huh?

Anyways, this is a good way of making one’s feet wet regarding cloud computing before taking the big plunge.

5. Power Cruncher in Video Editing

Most of the time, one’s machine is just cranking up just about 12% of its CPU power. The remaining 88% is idle. Lenovo’s Core i3 will be put to good use for power-hungry video editing functions. Of course, 100% for all the cores will mean more electricity consumption. But if video editing is one’s job, then when the paycheck comes, that electric bill will be taken cared of.

I use ffmpeg to convert all finished videos into other formats. I think Lenovo can handle this just fine. With its overclocked Core i3 and 2GB of RAM, dv to any format can be done without hiccups.

6. Media Center

Now, Lenovo’s specs is an overkill for this one. Watching movies, listening to music, photo management, etc., will just be a walk in the park.

However, those optimized movies (h264+aac) will need Lenovo’s Core i3 processor power for smooth playback.

My 6 year old son will greatly benefit from this. I think rendering highly optimized Backyardigan videos without hiccups will really make him happy.

7. WiFi Hotspot

Want to make all your neighbors happy? Make your Lenovo laptop a mobile WiFi hotspot. Thanks to its WiFi 802.11 b/g/n capability, one can share a 3G connection with others.

I may do this once in a while, especially during our DSLs downtimes. LOL.

8. LFS

This stands for Linux From Scratch. I believe this is one’s test for Uber-Geekiness. Go have a read over here: Linux From Scratch and that’s what I intend to do on this Lenovo laptop.

9. Make It Growl

Who says Snow Leopard is just for Intel Macs? For US $29 [the retail price of Snow Leopard install DVD], one can turn his Intel PC into a mac. (Software wise, of course). That is on top of the time and effort one will have to invest to make this a possibility. Now, I am not sure if Lenovo would void my warranty for installing Mac OS X. Anyway, the experience and the education one will get from this activity far surpasses voided warranties.

I can also install Mac OS X as a virtual machine on this Lenovo laptop, if I want to preserve my warranty.

10. Energy Conservation

We live in Baguio City where temperature ranges from 8 degrees Centigrade to about 25 degrees Centigrade. In the cold months of December to March, a heater for the house would be nice. We have a fireplace, but we try to limit down the number of times we have to use it. CO2 emissions is getting alarmingly high here in our city. So the alternative electric heater might be better.

So where does Lenovo laptop comes in? I think it can serve as a mini-heater for our small bedroom. With its Core i3 running full 100% during crunch times, I think the heat it dissipates to the air would be enough to elevate ambient temperature by a few degrees.

So all I have to do is schedule all my movie format conversions from December through March and use the heat energy it would otherwise waste on any other day.

Conclusion

So there you go. Although YugaTech described it as an entry-level laptop, with the right tweaking and optimizations, one can turn this seemingly small device into something great.

I’ll be happy to document how those above items went. That is, if I ever get that laptop.

Here’s mine.

I live in a beautiful compound here in Guisad, Baguio City. We’re covered with pine trees. Just last summer, my wife improved our frontyard, converting the almost-jungle piece of land into a beautiful garden. Our porch is facing southeast and it is very gorgeous to watch the sunrise coming up at an angle. The air is very crisp at 15 degrees centigrade. The morning fog mixes with the herbs in our garden that would bring a rush of excitement to one’s nerves. A cup coffee at hand would complete those beautiful praise-filled mornings in our porch. But as they said, some good things never last.

Every morning at 6am, our neighbor across the street would take out some trash and burn them. This my friend is a taste of hell.

It all began when Baguio had its (in)famous garbage problem. People were then forced to find alternative ways to dispose their garbage; burning included. This really irritates me: emotionally and physically. I have weak lungs. I suffer hard bouts of coughing when exposed to irritants (dust, molds, smoke). My neighbor (whom I am supposed to love) is not helpful at all.

So instead of perching on my porch, I just decided to move inside. But the smell of burning trash do not respect boundaries. It has invaded my living room! I even asked the Lord if it is okay to pronounce a curse on all trash burners. Of course He did not like the idea. Instead, he taught me a lesson. He reminded me of hell.

During the time of Jesus, people were already burning their garbages. In Jerusalem, that would be in the valley of Hinnom. When Jesus needed an image to describe the future state of those who rebelled against God and rejected the Son of Man, he found the valley of Hinnom a useful illustration. I can now imagine the shock of the disciples (and the brewing anger of the Pharisees) as they turn their heads toward that cursed valley. Fire. Smoke. Decay. Death. Scary. The smell that hounds me every morning is nothing compared to the Hinnom Valley. And the one in Hinnom Valley is no match to the situation in Hell.

As the evil smoke from the trash being burned across the street rises and poisons Baguio’s air, it now serves to me as a reminder of Hell. So I decided to offer a smoke, a fragrant one, to counter that. The prayer of the saints are like incense rising to the very throne room of God. And if you’ll excuse me, I have much praying to do for my beloved city.

An Intertextual Sermon from Ecclesiastes
Preached during PBTS Chapel Service on August 19, 2008

Introduction

Meaningless! Meaningless! Seminary is Meaningless!
What would a student gain from three years of training in the seminary?
A student comes and a student goes, and yet the churches are still the same. The more students we have, the more churches that needed them. The need is just endless!

Every year we have commencement exercises, and every year we also have enrollments. We enroll. We graduate. We finish. We start all over again. It’s just an unending academic exercise. A futile chasing of the wind.

All these seminary study is wearisome. And all the courses are still the same. The subject matters do not change. What has been discussed will be discussed again. What has been asked will again resurface. And to what end? Students forget the lessons once outside the classroom. They only study for the quiz, and then nothing more. Who cares about Hatshepsut in our churches? Does it matter who the Pharoah of Exodus is? Or if my pronunciation of the Shema is perfect? Does anyone care whether I use my left or my right side of the brain in preaching? Will I be asked whatever happened in AD325 at the Council of Nicea? Will my rough breathing mark be noticed in my counseling sessions? (Probably if I forget to brush my teeth). Does it matter if my quarter note is terminated a little bit too early? Or if I “accidentally” sung a quarter rest in measure 35 of an old old hymn? I wonder if my congregation would require that my sermon should follow strictly the Turabian format. All these studies are meaningless. A chasing after the wind, or in Baguio’s case, a chasing after the fog.

Wisdom
When I was a still an M.Div. student, I was wrestling with this concept. What a waste of time! Souls are waiting to be saved. Churches are yearning for strong leadership. Congregations are wanting for strong biblical sermons. And yet there I was. In the seminary. Working as a Xerox Operator. Highly underpaid. Memorizing conjugations in my spare moments inside the bathroom. Answering ditty questions aboard a Victory Liner Bus on my way to my Field Education assignment. Squeezing all my time to cover even just the basics. However, I told myself: “Patience, Mhac. This will surely pay off.”

So I decided that meaning in the seminary life must be to become THE valedictorian. Suddenly,  I felt a strong urge to be at the top of my batch. I don’t want to just be a normal seminarian so I focused myself to study. Study. Study. Study. Then I observed. I’m missing a lot of things! The more I learn, the less I understood. The more I knew, the more I become ignorant. “For with much wisdom, is much sorrow; as knowledge increases, grief increases.” My classmates who are not studying seems happier than me! That, too, is meaningless!

Achievements
So I decided I’ll try achievements. I thought that this might bring meaning to my seminary life. I built websites. I fixed computers. I created the Student Academic Records database. Yes, I have the power to erase all your 98s in a click of a mouse. Oh well, make it two. I setup the Local Networking here in campus. I got extra bucks from friends who are willing to pay; and a box for those who could not.

However, I realized this too is meaningless. A chasing after the fog. Yes, I was the popular handy computer technician on campus but it is wearisome. People knock at your door during unholy hours just because their monitor is all black. And it is more frustrating that it’s all black because they did not plug it on the wall power outlet! Computer repair is meaningless! What is new now will be old in 6 months’ time. What a waste!  I also noticed that it’s the same virus I remove every week! A chasing after the fog.

Skirts and Pants
Then I turned my focus on finding a partner. Maybe that is the real meaning of seminary life. What is wrong in finding a lifetime partner here? Here you can find the godly, the godly, and the godly women of God. So I increased my radar reception to the opposite gender. I started looking for friends. Yes, friends, as in pare, amiga, prayer-partner… I thought, there’s nothing wrong with that. Seminarians long ago provided the precedent. So it is okay to hunt and peck while here in the seminary. So I searched. I searched. I searched. Did I tell I searched? Oh well, this too, I found was meaningless. I sung with the Survivors “the search is over!” I’ve had enough. This too, is a chasing after the wind.

Mystery of Time
What is three years of seminary life? Is it just a passing moment? I say, enjoy your stay here. Enjoy it while it last. There’s a time for everything. A time for quizzes, a time for games; a time for eating, a time for sleeping; a time for essays, a time for identifications; a time to write your research paper, a time to report them; a time for work, a time for play; a time to come, and a time to go (don’t plan on staying longer than necessary); there’s a chapel time, there’s library time; there’s prayer time, and there’s also fasting time. Everything here has its perfect time. Dr. Bong made it sure that you are properly occupied while being here. You all undergo this ordeal. And to what end? I already asked that question. So I say, enjoy while it last. Stand in awe of God. He has placed you here.

Injustice
However, I also observed another meaningless in the seminary. It is but natural to see that there is wickedness in places like dark alleys and red light districts, drug dens and gang headquarters. But  to my shock, there is also wickedness in the seminary! Students lie and cheat. They plagiarize. They are lazy and gossips. They are lustful and living a double life. I’m shocked! All along I thought that this is a holy place; that evil and wickedness stop at its gate. I thought that once I’m inside, all evil will vanish. How can this be happening? It’s meaningless. I can’t explain it. So I admired the alumni, who have already been long gone from this place, more than I admire the current students. But then, better than either of them is someone who has not yet enrolled; and has not seen the evil activity done under the sun.

I have seen more injustice in the classrooms. My cheating classmates passed without any problem — because they had their cheat sheets. We who are righteous suffered the rigors of preparation and the torment of long nights of study, and all we got were just passing grades. It’s another meaningless activity in the seminary, a chasing after the wind. My cheating classmates hired people from the outside to read and summarize a book. They had the money, so no problem for them. We who are honest and poor, stayed until 12 midnight to read the book and type up a summary. And both kind of students got the same grade. All of these are meaningless, an academic injustice done in the four walls of the seminary.

Enjoy Life
So I say, enjoy your seminary life. It is but three short years of your life. After this, the cruel world is waiting for a naive seminarian like you. “… the righteous and the wise, and their works are in God’s hands.” We do not know what really lies ahead of us. Both cheaters and honest face the same thing. “As it is for the good, so it is for the sinner.” Plan now. Take quizzes now. Fall in love now. Make your essays now. Answer your ditties now. Read the assigned books now. Because tomorrow, there will be no more activities like these in the churches where you are going.

Invest Time and Effort Wisely
So I say be wise. Whatever you do here in the seminary do it with all your heart. Does it rain when there is no rain cloud? Does the ground produce sayote without someone planting it? Does an object gain a potential energy equal to the product of its mass and the square of its acceleration due to gravity without someone picking it up and placing it on an elevated surface? In the same way, you must invest your time and effort wisely. “Just as you don’t know the path of the wind or how bones develop in the womb of a pregnant woman, so you don’t know the work of God who makes everything. In the morning sow your seed,
and at evening do not let your hand rest,
because you don’t know which will succeed,
whether one or the other,
or if both of them will be equally good.”

“Remove sorrow from your heart,
and put away pain from your flesh,
because youth and the prime of life are fleeting.”

Fear God
So remember God in your seminary days. Before the final bell is rung and you can’t interact anymore; before the final exam is given and all reviewing is at an end; before the deadline for submission and you can’t type the answer anymore; on the day the grade is computed and your requirements are graded. Remember God. Before the evaluation is handed in, before your name is finally included in the graduating list, before your clearance has all been signed. Remember God. Before you don that black toga, before you turn the tassel, before your certificate of graduation is handed to you. Remember God.
So what is seminary life, really? Is it really vanity to spend three long years for seminary training? “The conclusion of the matter is: fear God and keep His commands, because this [is for] all humanity. For God will bring every act to judgment, including every hidden thing, whether good or evil.”

It’s not that I have anything to write, but I have to divert my energy somewhere else, namely, my dissertation.

I’m happy to announce that I have completed my dissertation. At the time of this writing, three Faculty members of our Graduate School (ABGTS) are examining it  thoroughly. Their approval/disapproval will determine whether I graduate or not.

Anyways, since the monkey ( I should say gorilla to be more precise) is off my back, I can now re-enter blogdom as an active participant. Oh how I wish to pour out my ideas and thoughts here.

As a re-entry post, I would like to recommend the reading of this cross-cultural book on romance by Kuya Kevin.

Basta Love Life: Making Wise Relationship Decisions

And now something to soothe your heart:

Can you find some similarities?

Hint: Both are applying general principles across a wide range of media.