A Health, Education or Climate Change Trust

This is just a light bulb moment for me:

If there is an opportunity for people to help build a trust fund for concerns that matter most to them, will they readily and willingly support it?

My idea is for people who invest in the stock market to donate their fractional shares of stocks to a trust that they prefer. The trust will then fund programs that will benefit the public with bias for the poor and underprivileged.

Even those who do not invest in the stock market can donate should they be so inclined. But it is up to the trust fund officials (government people) to encourage the people to do so.

I thought of this while ruminating on the amount of money people are willing to give to their religion.
I have this feeling that as people become more secular, they will be more inclined to this idea that will ultimately benefit society of which they are members of.

But this is just a thought.

My take on EDSA People Power 30 years after

People who say that EDSA People Power is a failure and blame government for it should re-examine their understanding of People Power.

While it is true that very little or even nothing much has changed in the lives of many of our people, the responsibility for effecting change rests on the People. It can not be franchised to government or anybody. Our mistake is to believe that we can do so.

I will not say that EDSA People Power is a failure. Rather, I consider it still as a work in progress. But for its promise and potential to be realized, we must correct our understanding of it.

People Power is not about telling government what to do, but showing government what to do and how.

Panagbenga Pocket Gardens

It is Panagbenga month in Baguio and as part of this celebration, organizers have put up pocket gardens in Burnham Park.

The pocket gardens are nice enough and it may be a good idea if barangays all over the country would try to put up and maintain mini or pocket gardens in their area where having parks is not possible due to dearth of space.

Rice

 

Like our Asian neighbors, rice is a very important part of the Filipino diet.

 

We know that there is a large variety of rice and we may be familiar with some of their names and cooking quality. But for the most part, our knowledge of rice is superficial because it is from the perspective of consumers. And we believe that what we know about rice is enough.

 

Yet there are advantages to knowing rice in a more professional and scientific manner.

 

For one, we can prepare better food by knowing how best to prepare the rice that we have.

 

For another, knowing rice better can help us spot rice fraud or substitution. This is a common practice among many rice sellers and most of the time, consumers are helpless victims.

 

Having a better knowledge of our rice will also help as avoid the trap of false advertising.

 

It really does not hurt to learn more about rice.

 

 

 

 

 

Local wrap

 

I have always appreciated our local mats with beautiful designs made by weavers from various areas of the country. They are nice to sleep on and make good wall/floor decors or even decorative house ware items such as boxes and all around containers.

Seeing mats on display at a Filipiniana store however made me realize that if the beautiful patterns of local mats can be adapted for paper, it may be possible to come up with a uniquely Filipino packaging style and material.

This may not be a new idea and there may be others who have tried this before. But the critical thing is to come up with the best execution of the idea that the public will appreciate and support. Who knows what other things can be spawned pursuing this craft?

Alerted by a dream

I had just gone to bed and fallen asleep when I was jolted wide awake by a bad dream of an intruder having hidden behind my room door.

As I realized that it was just a dream I decided to check on our doors. And good that I did because I found out that I had forgotten to lock a door leading to my room.

Did my subconscious alert me or was it just a coincidence?

A lesson from Jack Ma

photo taken from the internet

Jack Ma is not a new name to many people nowadays. Most of us know him as the founder of internet marketing website Ali Baba and one of China's richest man today.

We may admire and envy his success now but I believe what we can pick up from his story of his success is how he also had his fair share of failures and rejections before - and the importance of being resilient and staying the course to your dream.

This is my toast to Jack Ma, whose story inspires and encourages me to continue pursuing my own dream.

Priveleged mammals

People are supposed to be intelligent beings with the ability to care, protect and even make the world a better place.

Sometimes however, by our behavior we simply show we are nothing but privileged mammals who know no better.

We know what is right and what is good but just the same we go for what is simply gratifying. We litter, we pollute and destroy our environment.

But when nature fights back and hit us, we call ourselves victims.

Yes we are victims. But our aggressor is not nature but our selves.

Promoting our local fruit wines

Among the gifts I received last Christmas was a bottle of Bignay fruit wine.

I am not a wine connoisseur so I will not deign speak about its quality. What I wonder though is if locally produced fruit wines can have a steady market to make their production viable and a worthy investment.

Some ideas I thought of while pondering how to create and sustain a market for local fruit wines are:

1. create "bubble wine" which is like the artificial caviars produced from molecular gastronomy techniques. This is merely a novelty which will eventually wear off but at least it would have stirred interest for the wine.

2. create liqueurs and syrups for cocktail drinks
3. make them into cooking wines and salad vinegars
4.promote local fruit wines as official "toasting" or ceremonial wines
5. look for and tout their health benefits
6. improve packaging and promote as tourist souvenir item

Paalam at pagbati

Ang bilis ng panahon. Isang taon na naman ang magtatapos ilang oras na lang.

Saan kaya tayo dadalin ng bagong taon?

Sa harap ng mga hamon na kumakaharap sa atin, hindi tayo walang magagawa at di tayo dapat walang gawin.

Ang ating pagpapasya ang magtatakda ng ating kapalaran.

Ang ating pagkilos ang magiging kasaysayan.

Malaya tayo na isipin lang ang pagsulong ng ating sariling kapakanan. Natural lang iyan sa mga hayup na kabilang tayo bilang nilalang.

Ngunit ang mga nakakaunawa ng pagkakakawing natin at ng ating interes sa isa't isa at handang iwala ang sarili sa pagsulong ng kapakanan ng pangkalahatan ang siyang mag-aangat sa atin hiwalay sa hayup - mikrobyo o matsing- at ituring ang ating uri na mga matalinong nilalang.

Paalam 2015! Mabuhay 2016!