Jeepotel as cheap hotel

This is just a light bulb moment sparked by my frustration with the lack of decent and affordable accommodation when I travel around the country, especially in the Cordillera area.

My first thought was to convert jeeps into some sort of RVs for rent. Then another idea is to make them into expandable mobile rooms. Or as another option, why not just a chain of low cost lodging using the gaudy design of jeepneys as motif.

Personally, I am not a fan of the jeepney as a transport vehicle which I believe should now be replaced with more modern, convenient and rapid modes of transport.  What we should do with the jeepney is to evolve it for other uses  and the Jeepotels is just one idea.

Jeepotel may sound like 'cheap hotel' but so what?

Algorithms as a tool for conquest

Much of history is the history of people warring and conquering other people. But whereas firearms and other physical weapons have been used in the past, in this digital age, a new method of conquest and control of the people have been deployed without most of the target people realizing it.

This weapon is algorithm which feeds the mind with its propaganda until a person becomes nothing more than a pliant and submissive follower.

Surplus population

As science and technology advances, the traditional reliance for manual labor gradually becomes unnecessary. As production of goods turn more and more to automation and robots, humans become superfluous leaving them with no value at all. Wealth is concentrated in the hands of those who have knowledge and machines but everyone else is left behind.

These people become the surplus population and their role is reduced to being carriers of the human code. Is this development the only prospect for Homo sapiens?

My insight on meditation

I have been practicing mindfulness/awareness meditation for some time now - over a year and what I like most about it is that I find that it helps me sleep deeper and better at night.

But despite the long time I have been practicing it already, I still find it hard to keep my mind focused on my breath for more than a few seconds. I am aware though when my brain gets to a dream state and I know that somehow I have gone into a different mental state.

I do not believe in the religious or supernatural aspect of meditation. However what I go for when I meditate is to get it back to a precognitive state when I become simply aware of my environment and nothing more. Much like our earliest ancestors when we were just beginning on our path to be humans.

My recent plant haul and Rosemary challenge take 2

Happy to finally have a Balibago plant and a couple of wide leafed calatheas to tend to. Bought them at the recently held plant show at the Bonifacio Global City.

There is something in plants that I find relaxing and so even if I am very bad at taking care of them, I can not resist the challenge of doing so.

My big challenge though is how to keep a rosemary alive for a long long time and grow it into full size. I just love its fresh and clean aroma.

This is actually the second time I will be doing this as a challenge as my first attempt ended in failure.

One thing I like about plants is that with them, you can fail unlimited times but they always give you another chance to better the next time around.

And this is a lesson we should keep in life.

The Foldscope - making science and the microscopic world accessible to more people

wip

Media exploitation of the poor in disguise

These days, it has become common among ordinary people to seek redress for their grievances through media. Some people may have valid and legitimate reasons but there is also a possibility that they are on the wrong side. When this happens, innocent parties are victimized.

This is the reason why we should not encourage media to delve into this kind of "public service". What it is doing is to perform a role that another agency should be doing and giving a people a false understanding of the role of our institutions. In a way, this is exploitation of the people's grievances as media use them for their self promotion and publicity.

This tendency of people to seek media help instead of going to agencies of government designated to ensure fair justice for everyone is a big failure of government. But many people do not realize this at all.

How do you answear the question "do you believe in God?"

When asked this question, most people will tend to answer with either a yes or a no, and some explanation if the answer is negative.

But another way of responding to this question is to reply with a question " Which god?".

Actually there are thousands of religion each with a god different from each other. Most of the time, people fall into the religion according to geography - they assume the religion that is dominant in the place where they were born and grew up in.

This idea may be unacceptable to hard core believers in their religion, but they are free to contradict this with their facts.

lindol sa mindanao

wip

My take from "wisest man in the room"

wip

Goals give our lives purpose and our contentment comes from the satisfaction of achieving them.

It is not always easy to reach our goals but I have learned that those who can focus do better than others who do not or can not.

A guide for myself: Focus. Keep away from distractions and avoid toxic and negative people who may not be in the same page as you are. They can not help but can even drag you down.

writing letters to foreign officials

wip

Derek Thompson idea - Maya

wip search on you tube, also book

Reading and writing are uniquely human skills

If there is one important trait that we humans have over other animals, it is the ability to encode our environment and experiences thru symbols and share it with others. This is done through reading and writing and only us humans over other animals have this ability.

Individually, we are limited by our environment and personal experience. But reading allows us to transcend ourselves and milieu and infinitely broadens our environment.  Through reading, we become more than what we are as we acquire knowledge and information that we otherwise would not have. Reading feeds our mind and gives us an important link to each other in space and time.

As our daily life becomes more complex and busy, we tend to neglect to feed our mind by reading. We do this but only to our own disadvantage.

But when we read, we should also be conscious of what we read because not all information have the same value. What we put in our head becomes us and so we must also be discerning and careful about what we read.

Ang pambo-bobo ng media

WIP

shows like KMJS or Rated K featuring supernatural or very shallow topics instead of helping people understand important public issues

Freedom of thought vs Religion

wip

The writing on the wall...

wip

wip

My loot from the Centris plant market

My growing flowering/ornamental plant collection: Blue Iris, amaryllis, peace lily, pocket gabi and camia

I can't always go to 'nature' and so I just try to bring 'nature' to me. Luckily, at least I still have some space where I can maintain some kind of a plant collection. 

In my latest visit to the Centris Sunday market my loot were two varieties of the odoriferous camia and a medium sized Peace Lily/spathyphylum?  The other plants in the picture were bought at different times earlier and while I manage to keep them alive, I could not make them flower again.

I refuse to use fertilizers though. What I like to do however is to make a rich, nutrient laden soil/compost which I have not really gotten around to doing...yet.

My other plant project idea in mind is to create a pocket garden of our indigenous plants featured in our coins. 

Secular spiritualism day activities

feed the mind, learn a skill or a craft in line with one's passion, read about science, take in culture- food, literature, art, travel and discover new places, socialize with a community project, meditate, engage in a physical activity

secular spiritualism is best as a communal or shared practice.

secular spiritualism is the wings that will take man to realize his highest potential. It is based on Truth and constant doubt.

FAST can save lives

From an NHK program : WIP

Liar spotting

From a TED talk given by

Lying is actually a social collaborative activity. There is the liar of course but without an accepting audience the lie will not succeed and die.

Lying is mainly a mental activity and psychologists have devised ways to identify liars and their lies by pointing to red flags and traits found in lying persons.

wip

Isang pagbubulay tungkol sa pagiging relihyoso ng ibang mga tao

Sinisikap kong intindihin kung bakit at paano may mga taong buong buo ang pagtanggap sa kanilang partikular na relihyon at isara ang isip sa libong iba pang relihyon.

Isang palagay ko sa pagkarelihyoso ng mga tao ay dahil sa kanilang relihyon, nakakakita sila ng 'komunidad' na kung saan meron silang nakikitang lugar nila na nagbibigay kabuluhan sa kanilang buhay.

Ngunit isa pang maaaring paliwanag kung bakit kumakapit ang mga tao sa relihyon o sa idea ng isang makapangyarihan diyos na dapat sambahin as sunurin kahit ang batas nito ay gawang tao lamang ay sa dahilang karamihan sa mga tao ay may mga sitwasyon na gusto nilang mawala kaya nangangailangan sila ng taga sambot nito. Maaring ito ay isang kasalanan, pagsuway sa batas panlipunan, matinding kalungkutan o kung ano pa man.

Hindi ko hahadlangan ang mga tao na piliin ang kanilang paniniwala. Ang sa akin lang, sana ay makita ng mga tao ang pagkakaiba ng pagiging relihyoso sa pagigign ispirituwal.

The value of prototyping

Prototyping an idea from a brainstorm is the first step in realizing an idea.

Instead of finding arguments against the idea, the better practice is to come up with a prototype, no matter how simple in order to create a hard physical model of the idea. If the idea truly has merit, then the prototype can be further improved and leveled up until it reaches a more realistic stage until it becomes fully functional.

The language of consequence

When leaders become drunk and demented by power, they become blind to reason and begin to act with impunity. They speak with arrogance and lose the capacity to speak the language of civility. They fancy themselves as gods, above the law and infallible.

Some people may just prefer to tolerate or ignore these leaders. But in doing so, they may be unwittingly just encouraging the behavior of these leaders' arrogance.

The better way to deal with them is not to talk to them in the usual way but to teach them a well deserved lesson in civility and diplomacy through the language of consequence.

Life hack- understand the difference between dreams, goals and a plan

Almost all people have dreams and fortunate are those who get to realize them.

But dreams do not happen by themselves. It is people who made plans to get to their dreams who are rewarded by its realization or attainment.

Since dreams are free, many people entertain grandiose and very ambitious dreams without really have a plan to make their dreams happen, and so nothing really happens.

It is better to have more modest dreams but with a clear step by step plan to reach them. Or perhaps, we should break down our grand dreams into smaller doable units that we can realistically act upon for the moment.

Big dreams may paralyze us into inaction but the important thing is that we get moving even with little steps that move us forward. And before we know it, we are where we want to be.

Vietnam. Philippines. Friends.

Salamat Vietnam. Salamat kaibigang tunay!!!

IDEA: K-12 Plus Bookstore

Inspired by a vision of a highly literate and educated people, this bookstore will be a place where people can find and buy books for their level.

Philippine May flowers and Sakura envy

 Cherry tree in full bloom. (photo taken from the internet.)

Many Filipinos are aware of the Cherry blossom season in Japan and they usually envy the Japanese for having such a great and beautiful flower.

As for me though, while I also admire the great beauty of cherry blossoms even if just through pictures, I think we have the capacity of creating our own local attraction with our native or nativized flora. 

Dona Aurora plant, just one of many native flowering plant in the Philippines

What people should reaize is that it while the cherry blossoms are beautiful in themselves, it is what the Japanese people did, planting thousands of trees, planting strategically with a view to how it can look in the future and taking very good care of the trees that enhanced the beauty of the flowers and enabled a tradition to grow around it.

Holiday ideas

1. Science Day
2. UN Day
3. WPS victory day
4.

The first battleground in fighting poverty is in the mind

Fighting the mentality of poverty wip

Filipino Can Workers Coop

Finding good reliable labor in the country is always a big problem. Most skilled workers are under the employ of contractors and labor middle men that unnecessarily jacks up cost of any construction work. And often, the work does not end up satisfactorily.

As a remedy, an idea occurred to me to gather tested skilled workers and organize them into a collective where they can be assured of continuous jobs and at the same time, fair compensation for the work that they do.

Already I know several good people and using modern social media instruments, their services can be promoted on line.

Since I am thinking of marketing this idea to ex pats living abroad but mainly in Canada, I thought that an appropriate name for the coop would be Filipino Can something something.

But this idea needs much much more thinking.

Science Day Parade idea

November 10 has been designated by UNESCO as world science day. One of the activities that we can hold to observe this occasion is a parade depicting the history of our universe, the ascent of man and development of societies, the birth and growth of science and celebration of science heroes

Social entrepreneurship vs Cooperative entrepreneurship

wip

This letter from the Spanish Embassy

After a long wait I finallyt got a hard copy of the official response of the Spanish Embassy to my letter inquiring how I may possibly forge a sister town partnership between Pateros, my hometown and Arrasate/Mondragon in Spain with a view to adapting the successful corporate cooperativism pioneered in that Spanish town.

This history of cooperativism in Mondragon is very interesting.  wip

The letter disclosed that the embassy can only support public and official exchanges but not person-public ones. I am a little disappointed but I fully understand and respect this protocol.

Still, I am hoping and determined that this response will not be the end but the beginning of my dream for Pateros.

Autophagy: Can hunger be the best medicine?

A history of hunger and deprivation may have given people a fear of being hungry or the habit of constant eating with a belief that being hungry makes us weak and ill.

But recent studies actually point out to the opposite direction. Going hungry and food deprivation for periods of time can be good for us. The reason is 'autophagy' which came from the greek word 'auto' meaning self and 'phagy' meaning eat - self eating. And one researcher who found an explanation for this body process even won a Nobel Prize for it in medicine in 2016.

The theory goes that when we deprive ourselves of food for an extended period of time, our body begins to get nutrition from unwanted and waste material in our system thus effectively cleaning and making our body healthier.

If this theory holds up to more studies and becomes better understood, then indeed, going hungry when we are sick may turn out to be the best medicine.

False values lead to false targets

Truth based values are not materially quantifiable. But in a materialist world, many people have come to embrace false values that lead them to pursue unworthy goals.

Our education culture is one of the saddest example for this. In most of our public and even private schools, students can go through the motion of schooling for years without really learning anything.
It is said that some teachers are afraid to fail students because they are afraid that it will reflect badly on them as a teacher.

Instead of mastering how to read, write, speak articulately and calculate they go for grades and honors which at times can be spurious. 

True learning should be its own reward and can be recognized in the simplest of rites. But lately there is even a trend of holding noisy and very public graduation ceremonies in malls even if this is a completely unnecessary exercise.

In the end, students may earn a "diploma" even if in reality they are still virtually illiterate and innumerate.

Thoughts on the recently held National Food Fair

Every year, I look forward to the trade exhibits organized by the Department of Trade and Industry to get an idea of what our people are up to from around our country. More often though my expectations are way over what I find and I go home consoling myself that next time, things can be better.

For this year, my most interesting take home from the National Food Fair held in Mega Mall last 14-17 March 2019 was a sea food crackling called 'kibit' from Quezon. I had seen it before but it now comes in better packaging. It is quite unusual but does not really taste special. Not something to ook forward to buying again.


Another thing that caught my eye was the attractive packaging of chocolate from Mindanao. I am hoping that our local chocolate industry continues to improve and become competitive with international brand chocolates.

In this kind of exhibit, I see opportunities in areas of condiments and sauces, instant foods, innovative foods, etc. However, the success of our food industry depends on how we support and strengthen our agricultural sector. My question then is if we are doing enough for it.

Changing the minds of others

People who have gotten into an argument with other people may realize how hard it is to change other people's minds. This holds true in many aspects of life like in religion, business and even political decisions.

Most of us assume that it is a matter of stating our logic for something, complete with solid proof and evidence to persuade other people to abandon their belief and embrace a new one. However, most of the time, this does not happen even if the person holding on to a 'wrong' belief is already put at a disadvantage. And we become very frustrated.

The reason for this is logic is part of the higher function of the mind and often, one's belief is wrapped in a layer of emotion that one must also address first to proceed further in his mind. This is human nature because this is the way the human mind developed. First as a tabula rasa, then came emotions related to our personal comfort then finally, thought and awareness.

The way to change people's mind then is not to directly appeal to his intellect but to do this by appealing first to his emotion. But even before this, we must be able to make a good connection with the person we are trying to convince. We must establish to the person that we are allies with a joint interest. Then try to understand the emotional underpinning of the person's belief and work from there.

Political campaign as theatre

wip

POPP- a community cooperative enterprise

If poverty is the absence of wealth, then the solution is to create wealth and ensure that it is fairly and equitable shared by those who helped in its creation.

This POPP laundry detergent venture is an experiment on how a people in a community can come together and work towards a common goal of creating wealth through a cooperative enterprise.

The formula is simple: get people together, identify a needed product, produce it, and sell it. All involved will have a stake in the business and a right to dividends apart from fair wage for labor.

Hope this experiment works.

Pleasing customers by underpromising but over delivering

I am one happy and satisfied customer today of a Japanese owned eye glasses shop. Am also grateful about a lesson I learned from them on how to please a customer.

When I ordered a pair of eyeglasses, I was told that I will have to wait for ten working days for my eyeglasses to be ready since it requires special work and that work will have to be done in Japan. I was resigned to their schedule but even if the ten days have not passed, I got a text message that my glasses were ready for pick up.

It may be a trivial thing but I am happy about this because I really need these glasses for relief from constant eye strain and dizziness.

Now I can work and study again. And there is no more excuse.

Our moral and spiritual crisis

wip

Bikes for rent in Pasig

Bikes for rent in front of the Department of Education and Sports in Ortigas. But how does the scheme work?

I passed by these bikes for rent in the Pasig Ortigas area in front of the Department of Education and Sports main office.

I am all for self propelled modes of transportation, including and primarily walking and I support this undertaking even if just on an experimental basis.

I hope this initiative succeeds and that many people take to this mode of transportation. Hopefully, this can spread to other areas also. But local governments must also realize the important responsibility they have to ensuring pedestrian and bikers' safety

Idea for a parol for all seasons

Since the parol is the Christmas ornament most associated with the Philippines, might as well make it a permanent symbol of goodwill and adapt it for greeting cards and tourist souvenirs.

I have been toying with this idea for a long time but I could not work it out. But this candy packaging just gave me an idea and hope that this is a doable project....with the right people.

Learning Spanish

I regret not having taken the chance to learn Spanish seriously when I was in college. But now, I am trying to make up for that wasted opportunity by self studying the language. I am doing fine at the basic level now and happy that I can read with reasonable comprehension many articles written in this language.

Many Filipinos, both old and young see Spain in a dark light as a ruthless colonizer and oppressor of our people. This may be true but this was in the past. Because of this thinking, our people miss out on the many good and positive aspects that Spanish culture and keeping good relations with that country can bring us. Besides, modern Spain is very different from the old one that believed they own half of the world.

I don't know how far I can master the Spanish language but one of my goals in learning this language is to establish a sister city partnership between my town and Mondragon, Spain which has a very successful cooperative model that I hope to adapt locally.

But maybe this idea is just a quixotic dream.

Para sa mga madaling mabudol budol sa Facebook

May epidemya ngayon ng katangahan at Facebook ang pinakamatinding magpakalat nito. 

Sa facebook, laganap ang fake news at maraming tao ang naniniwala rito ng walang tanong tanong. At napakahirap pang baguhin ang kanilang paniniwala kahit may patunay at ebidensya ng ipakita sa kanila.

Para sa mga ganitong tao yata ginawa ang sticker na ito na nakita ko sa isang pampasaherong jeep.

Republika ng Pateros blog video project

Just an idea to work on a blog/video project about my town.

Needed: computer/internet savvy  people, writers, ham actors, artistic people

- promote community building campaigns
-showcase talents
- tell a story drama, commedy
- sell Pateros products and merchandise
- give community and personality development tips
-  citizenship values building

This will be a profit making enterprise operated as a cooperative