Side A

Pwedeng sabihin na Side A na yata ang pinaka-paborito kong banda. At least 3 beses ko sila napanood ng live at binili ko lahat ng album nila mula unang album hanggang Will I Ever at Remember December, bago ako "nawala" sa fandom kasi naging busy na. First time ko sila napanood, their line-up was their longest running one: Joey G, Joey B, Kelly B, Ernie S & Naldy G. 

Eheads ang pinaka-iconic Pinoy band sa palagay ko, pero sila 1 beses ko lang pinanood at siguro yung first 3 albums lang nila ang binili ko. Pero kasi yung musical abilities, song-writing, and performances ng Side A ay ibang level. 

Ngayon lang ulit ako "nagbalik-loob" sa Side A at ngayon ko lang nalaman na iba na pala ang line-up nila; wala na si Kelly, Joey G at Joey B. Pero ito ang na-realize ko din sa Side A ngayong 2023 - mahina ang social media presence nila. Sayang, mas kilala pa siguro sila lalo na internationally, pero I guess hindi nila talaga aim yon. Or mahina ang marketing support behind them, including yung pag-handle ng media in general. Napanood ko ang interview ni Boy Abunda kay Joey G 9 years ago -- medyo underwhelming ang mga sagot ni Joey G. Pwedeng ang dahilan noon ay ang mga tanong ni Boy or ang production team (hinanda ba nila si Joey G sa mga tanong or on the spot talaga?). Or baka hindi lang talaga strength ng Side A ang media handling (or ayaw nila; hindi nila prayoridad iyon). 

Kasi nga mga henyo talaga sila pagdating sa musika, at siguro kontento sila sa mga buhay at pamilya nila sa labas ng musika. And maybe selfish on my part - I just want to see more of Side A.

#didyouknow that .1+.2-.3 does not equal zero in probably all computer programs?

That includes pieces of software like Matlab, Python, and so on. They’re all just good at hiding that fact. Here’s an explanation: https://docs.python.org/2/tutorial/floatingpoint.html

"Trellis" is used in Filipino English to really mean what word in North American English? #didyouknow

The answer is…

FedEx Philippines... really? @FedExHelp

I expected a package to arrive before I fly on Friday, July 11, 2014. I was going to bring said package to the event I was attending over the weekend.

The package was attempted to be delivered on Wednesday, July 9, but I wasn't at the office when the courier was there. My hours are from 3 o'clock to 12 midnight so it wasn't until I got to the office that I learned there was an attempt to deliver the package --- and that it was FedEx doing so. It was going to be my first time to interact with FedEx.

God and National Anthems #didyouknow #prustrations

There is no explicit mention of "God" in the Philippine National Anthem, whereas in Canada's and the United States', there are:

"God keep our land glorious and free!" (from O Canada.) 

"Blest with vict'ry and peace, may the Heav'n rescued land, Praise the Power that hath made and preserved us a nation! Then conquer we must, when our cause it is just, And this be our motto: "In God is our trust."" (from Star-Spangled Banner.)

I haven't checked on other national anthems, but considering that at least 97.5% of people in the Philippines belong to a religion that believes in one all-powerful God and only around 71.5% and around 75% in Canada and the US, respectively, I found it odd.

Okay, atheists and disillusioned Catholics, fire away!

Some people claim that PNoy's camp rigged the 2010 elections in their favor.

So now I'm confused.

1. Did PNoy intentionally let Mar Roxas lose to Binay?
2. Or was Binay really PNoy's preferred VP?
3. Or PNoy didn't care about the VP position as much as his or the other positions?

Facts, please. They're better than opinions.

[quote them] An American man's experience of India

There's this rather lengthy article about one white American man's experience of India.  It's about 4,229 words long. The comments are also an interesting read. Check 'em out at this ad-sponsored URL: http://j.gs/1BZH.

A lone (or a few) rotten eggs in a basket...

Dunno (a.k.a. too lazy to search) who said this first, but:

A lone (or a few) rotten eggs in a basket makes it seem like a basket full of nothing but rotten eggs. 

Anyways, I think we can learn two lessons from this saying:

If you give a little love... #quoteme #quotethem

Dunno if anyone's said this or something like this before, but it's a theme I believe in and that has caught my attention lately:

"If someone did some little nice thing for you, do it many times over to others."

Here's an example on Quora: http://qr.ae/1g5WA.

It's so easy to expect the worst to happen. #thoughts

Isn't it the end of the world yet? Despite all earlier predictions of such kind of an event being disproven by time, here we were again, faced with another similar prediction and there we were again, or at least some of us, thinking or expecting it to be true.

A reaction to a reaction on the recent shooting at an elementary school in the US

Last post, I talked about those shootings as well, stressing on the importance of parenting, and how people don't seem to see or how they seem to ignore how parenting played a role in that very, very unfortunate incident. It is a very difficult topic to discuss in one blog article. But I failed to mention one more thing that people don't seem to see or that they seem to deny as to what might also have caused that very sad incident: mental illness.

For that, I link to this article written by a mother who has had to deal with a son who has one, and has demonstrated violent tendencies of his own:

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/12/16/i-am-adam-lanzas-mother-mental-illness-conversation_n_2311009.html

Condolences to the families of innocent lives taken away prematurely

You've probably heard the news, or if not yet, check this out:


http://news.blogs.cnn.com/2012/12/14/shooting-reported-at-connecticut-elementary-school/

Pacquiao will be fine and he should consider fighting again.

Hey, boxing and Pacquiao fans. He'll be fine. It is better to be KO'ed (and for Manny, doctors have said he is okay after performing CT scans on him), or to have some swells, cuts and bruises, than receiving consecutive blows to the head and not being KO'ed at all.

Now, check this out first, will you. This is a good read: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Muhammad_Ali. Oh, and this: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lineal_championship#Records.

Can people who don't know anything about boxing (the sport of, and/or the business of), please stop saying anything about boxing?

[On the Pacquiao vs Marquez 4 boxing fight]

Can people who don't know anything about boxing (the sport of, and/or the business of), please stop saying anything about boxing? It's annoying.

It was a good fight, they were both game, one guy made one mistake, one guy capitalized on it, it could have gone either way.

Congratulations to Marquez, he was obviously the better man, but they both still end up with huge amounts of money that even I would train for and fight anyone for the same amount or even less.

Because tens of millions of dollars is called an opportunity. And winners don't let opportunities walk away. Meanwhile, losers, unable to see opportunities, would have all the reasons and all the excuses and all the names to hurl at winners.

I've asked this before, but I ask it again.

Are you a winner or a loser?

Go on. Call me names and tell me your excuses.

"Hurt People Hurt People and Healed People Heal People." #quotethem

Enough said. Anyone who knows who was the original who said this quote?

Reach for the moon or reach for the stars? [quote them]

Image copyright: NASA. 

There's this quote I've heard many times over now, and it goes something like this:

"Reach for the stars. If you fail, at least you'll land on the moon."

Then on one of the videos documenting Felix Baumgartner's record-breaking jump "from the edge of space" at supersonic speeds, I saw this:

"Shoot for the moon. Even if you miss it, you will land among the stars."

Is religion insufficient? [quote them] [thoughts]

A friend shared one of The Dalai Lama's status updates on Facebook just this past week:

"All the world’s major religions, with their emphasis on love, compassion, patience, tolerance, and forgiveness can and do promote inner values. But the reality of the world today is that grounding ethics in religion is no longer adequate. This is why I am increasingly convinced that the time has come to find a way of thinking about spirituality and ethics beyond religion altogether."

I wanted to ask my friend who shared this if she will be "singing an REM"¹ anytime soon?

[thoughts] Dear God...

1.

God received a letter that went: "Dear God. Please help me quit smoking. Love, Anonymous."

He then replied, "Dear Anonymous. Just quit smoking already. Love, God."

God received another letter: "Dear God. Please help me lose weight. Love, Anonymous."

He then replied, "Dear Anonymous. I already gave you help. I call it choice. Love, God."

Dear Alfonso: Many Filipinos have two given names. [did you know?]

Dear Alfonso,

We thought of naming you "Juan Antonio" and maybe a future sister "Maria Monica," and call you by your nicknames, "Wanton" and "Mamon," but we think Alfonso is just perfect.

We chose a Spanish version of your name, although it could have been of many other forms: Alphonsus, Alphonso, Alphonse, Alfonse, Alonzo, Alonso, and so on. Your mom and I think that Alfonso just sounds better with our Spanish/Italian-sounding family name. If you wish to take on a different form of your name, feel free to do so, but we think you'll love Alfonso just fine. Most of your future friends (i.e. children of our friends, who are your contemporary) also have Spanish-sounding names, like Anton, Sofia, Franco, Javier, Teresa, Julia, and so on. Some have English-based names, but you know at this time and age, the language origin doesn't matter anymore. It's the meaning behind the name that is most important. Yours means "noble and ready."

[quote them] Kurt Cobain

“Wanting to be someone else is a waste of the person you are.”

— Kurt Cobain

I can't believe it has been more than 18 years already.