Matter of Life and Death

It is a common knowledge that some areas in Manila are not safe. For almost twelve years stay in Manila, nothing really bad happened to me until I experienced a traumatic life event which made me realize that the Murphy’s Law is haunting me, this time on a Tuesday evening.

Comfort is one of the reasons why I prefer to sit on the passenger seat beside the driver’s seat, at least in a public utility jeepney. Sitting beside the driver minimizes the disruption brought about by incoming and alighting passengers.

Happy Moments before the Encounter with Thieves
After much prodding and encouragement that we both meet Chef Lawrence in San Juan, Sheila finally yielded to have dinner at Café Ysabel in San Juan. Seeing Chef Lawrence Zafra and Sheila Mendoza-Ampongan over a sumptuous dinner at Café Ysabel (where Chef Lawrence works as Chef/Educator), was such a refreshing experience. After almost five years without any communication with Lawrence, I was able to track him through Tonton Manong , a student of Chef Lawrence and Jay’s brother. Immediately after exchanging few text messages and taking advantage of my short stay in Manila, we decided to meet over dinner to update ourselves about our personal and professional lives. Having bonded sometime during our New York Life days, we felt that we need to find time to discuss latest events after a protracted hiatus.

When I learned that Lawrence is a Chef/Educator, the movie Ratatouille came to my mind immediately. I anticipated seeing Lawrence wearing his Chef hat. Surprisingly, Lawrence showed-up with his Chef attire (minus the hat) with his name printed on the left side of his upper garment. Chef Lawrence looked like a growing young teenager who has an earring on his left ear lobe. He showed up wearing a smile. Lawrence still looked the same the last time we bonded together except that he lost his kinda bulging belly. He looked like a young kid in school. Lawrence has changed though. He is now married to a beautiful lady and seems to possess positive outlook in life. I would like to think that he has this unswerving faith after battling a serious attack. His experience in the hospital and his struggle refreshed my thoughts that indeed there are things in life which we do not know the recipe or the blueprint no matter how hard we try. We truly are not in control of everything.

Lawrence packed enseymada and the shy slices of thin crust pizza for me. Such gesture of Lawrence, whom we know as frugal, made him even more admirable (Sheils, you have to agree). ;-)

Impending Disaster
On my way home, I decided to drop by on my cousin’s house and proceeded back home. After sitting comfortable on the passenger seat, the driver halted the jeepney to accommodate a passenger which decided to sit beside me. Few seconds after, he pointed a six-inch long narrow but sharp knife on my knee and asked me to bring-out my phone. It was a real disaster. I can’t jump out of the jeepney because I’m sandwiched by him and the driver. The music kept on playing and the few passengers who were sitting near the rear entrance of the jeepney seemed unaware to what is exactly happening to me. Trying to play safe, I said “I don’t have a cellphone.” With my camera bulging on the right pocket of my denim jeans, the young man pointed to it using the knife and said, “Here.” Instantly, I complained “It’s not a cellphone, it’s a calculator.” He is about to believe me because the camera bulges a square figure and not a figure of a common cellphone unit but somebody right at the back sitting next to me pulled my collar and whispered “Bring it out!” I tried to negotiate and asked if they will accept money, but the guy sitting behind me pulled my collar even tighter and the other guy positioned the knife as if he is about to stab me. Realizing that I only have P250 inside my wallet, I surrendered and take my precious N70, codenamed Spencer, from the right pocket of my polo and handed it to the thief who sat beside me. That was the last time I embraced Spencer. After accepting it, he warned me not to alight which I respectfully accepted by saying "Opo" to save my life, soul, my camera, and all the contents of my wallet. Had I known that such thing will happen, I could have proceeded home without the stop over.

Expecting a New Friend
It was painful losing the mobile phone but there was no remorse. Bad things truly happen in an expected time and place. Mom cried so hard upon learning what happened. Good thing, I still have all the pictures and the camera is safe. I still use the same mobile phone number since I’m using a post paid line. The only difference is that I’m using a new handset which will not interest thieves, not at all. Globe Telecom is about to deliver my free unit. Hopefully, it will have a longer lifeline on my custody. Pray for me.

Wolfram Alpha versus Google Squared

The newest search engine Wolfram Alpha is pretty much limited yet provides well-researched entries compared with Google (co-founded by Larry Page and Sergey Brin) which happens to be truly comprehensive in terms of its search results. Wolfram Alpha aims to provide reliable and technically exact data needed by conscious data consumers; hence, it carries itself as a computational knowledge engine as opposed to an ordinary search engine. Wolfram Alpha is a brainchild of Stephen Wolfram.

Wolfram Alpha being a computational knowledge search engine provides answers to whatever query you input beginning from A to Z and all letters in between. I tried to key in 1+1=0 on the search box under the impression that it will give me a case where it is possible to arrive at zero and show me the fallacy it committed along the way. But the only result it showed me is a very concise answer: FALSE. Still trying my luck, I hit the same formula on Google and Google impressively gave me as its first entry: Two “proofs” that 1+1=0. Well, the Google result is truly more interesting.

Wolfram Alpha was initially made known to the public during its soft launch Alpha mode on 15 May 2009. Wolfram Alpha aims to provide logical answers to queries and does not provide websites which contain the actual query entry on the search box. Further, it provides highly analyzed data which have appropriate and applicable sources.

On May 12, 2009, Michael Arrington described Google Squared as an advanced search engine which provides results on a spreadsheet with specific data on each square box. Yes, Google Squared is yet to hit the cyber space on the latter part of this month on labs but the rivalry between the two advanced engines are now hitting newspapers, newscast, and podcasts as well. The rivalry is grounded on the desire to provide well-structured search results to satisfy consumers because search engines are all now finding ways to provide well-structured, concise, and reliable data which is honestly the direction of all search engines. Yes, we all need reliable and valid data, not just buzzes and opinions. The latest buzz expects Microsoft to launch its newest Live Search codenamed Kumo, which means "cloud" or "spider" in Japanese relative to the Kanji used, on June 2nd. In Asi, a language widely spoken by many Bantoanons from the Philippines, Kumo means to mix the rice and the toppings/dish/viand by the hand. Hence, asking "Will you "Kumo" it?" literally means "Will you mix the rice and the toppings/dish/viand using your hand?" Searching Kumo will surely require a hand and whatever combination of results it shows, it will definitely give the person a distinct and unique interest compared if the results appear individually.

For now, let’s patiently wait for the Google Squared and Kumo and personally see which advanced search engine tickles our fancy. Till next searchology!

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Photos were taken from separate websites:
Wolfram Alpha: http://www.webpronews.com/
Google Squared: http://www.techcrunch.com/

Listen More

From telenovelas to real life situations, relationships always play a big role. Those heart breaking events during our teenage days are our testaments to the undeniable fact that relationships are part of our existance. Yes, you have your own love story, your father has his own story to tell, you know the love story of your grandfather, and up to the theater we have the story of Brad Pitt and Jennifer Aniston. Yeah, ask Angelina Jolie she knows it too well. However, one must note that relatioships are not only romantic, we too have parental, filial, platonic, etc. Life involves relationships and indeed, relationships make us truly human.

To engage in a relationship is to listen more than the music and words that the ears can hear. Relationships require us to be sensitive to the environment beyond what the skin can feel. To connect with another human being is to gasp for air during difficult times and endure the pains in life. To bond with another person is to exercise the ability to flashback and use the faculty of imagination and think beyond what can be seen in the horizon.

I’ve seen people wearing smiles and filled with joy but on the other end, I’ve seen people sobbing because of fear and loneliness. I’m concerned with the latter. Can we truly comfort our loved ones or even strangers by giving them sound pieces of advice when they’re hurt? Perhaps. Some people probably need a hug to alleviate the pain that envelopes them and somehow feel the warmth of another human being and feel the security that the other person can offer. But probably the best thing that we can do is simply listen patiently to those people who are hurt inside and let their stories be heard. Sometimes, we are too impatient to listen. The reason why we have two ears and one mouth is probably for us to LISTEN MORE and talk less.

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This was first published in my Friendster Blog on May 8, 2005.

The Limits of PERFEKTION

I have a student who loves the famous line: Practice makes perfect. The funny thing about it is the fact that he added something into it … but nobody is perfect; so, why practice? For him, since perfection is unattainable, there is no point in struggling to achieve perfection owing to the fact that even constant practice still guarantees imperfection. I sort of quizzed myself as to whether or not perfection is achievable/attainable.

When we try to imagine a perfect circle for example, we immediately picture a circular object whose circularity is flawless (no irregularities) ; otherwise, the object is imperfect. A perfect examination means a perfect score. The latter is easy to imagine but to objectively identify the criteria of a perfect circle is obviously a tedious task. One has to be aware of the fact that the human eye does commit error. What may seem to be a perfect circle viewed by a naked eye may not be perfect at all when viewed 100 times larger by a microscope. A perfect line may look like a broken line whenever viewed by a microscopic eye, say of an eagle. (I haven’t been an eagle. At least as far as I know.)

Thus said, is it still possible for us to talk about perfection? The Online Dictionary defines the word perfect as something which is entirely without any flaws, defects, or shortcomings. But is there such a thing as perfect in a world where everything seems to possess flaws and shortcomings? Try to share the qualities of your perfect girl and everybody would say… in your dreams man.

Amidst the elusive objective existence of something which is perfect, does perfection exist? If a circle is perfectly circular and it does not exist, is it really perfect or simply near-perfect?

Existence here means spatio-temporal existence. Whew.

There are perfect ideas and there are imperfect presentations of ideas. The former refers to a mere existence in one’s mind and the latter refers to spatio-temporal existence.

Is it more logical or acceptable to say that spatio-temporal existence evidently shows the imperfection of something which used to be perfect? Perfect girlfriends are all perfect in mind but not until one lives with that ideal-perfect girl.

Watchatink? Ahhhh! Nosebleed. How about when we try to imagine a perfect fiasco, perfect poor, or perfect ugly?

Let me save myself now because no matter how I try to swim, I feel like I’m about to drown. It seems that the concept of perfection which is a product of the limited brain of a limited human being is not at all perfect. Every effort to assert the concept of a perfect something failed since it possesses a limited quality which is within the bounds of a limited human brain.

The concept of perfection by which many people are exposed seems to be beyond comprehension and beyond description. The moment we define the word perfect, the definition by itself limits the concept of perfection. Or should I say that whenever we say that something is perfect, what we actually mean is that it is perfect according to the point of view of an imperfect human being.

Who decides whether something is perfect or not?

Dogs see the world the way they see it simply because they are constructed the way they are. With their anatomical make-up, it is but logical to think that they see the world in a wholly different manner the way we (humans) see the world. Of course, gold fishes see the world in an extremely different manner. Bats see the world upside down and I would like to believe that their inverted position of viewing the world simply shows a different reality. Who decides what constitutes perfection?

Please wake me up and tell me. If you are having a hard time waking me up, please hit me using my pillows but please don’t ask me whether or not I’m asleep because I am. ;-)