I'm moving to a much more appropriate blog site.

New entries can be found at http://toyrant.bravejournal.com

Exposès are often shocking, even if some are "open secrets".

I wasn't shocked with the news of a General involved in graft and
corruption or a GSIS executive getting huge loans faster than he can
say "more moolah". But I was shocked at the amount of money that they
have amassed over the years. Keep it up and Erap's loot will pale in
comparison.

Next shocking exposè (and I'd like to focus on this one) is the
error-laden history textbook used in public schools throughout the
country. The book, "Asya: Noon, Ngayon at sa Hinaharap", has 430
errors in its 316 pages. That's 1.37 errors per page. It's disturbing
enough that spelling and grammar errors are present in a history
textbook, but when erroneous facts are fed onto millions of students,
you begin to realize how low the educational system can go. A recall
of the books will not happen, but a teaching note will be given to
teachers to correct the mistakes. Oh goodie! (said with eyes rolling
so fast, it's nauseating).

If it's any consolation, a European factbook has left Wales off the
map on its cover. A huge blunder but not as catastrophic as knowing
that your children will never get their facts straight!

While waiting for the Ortigas Bazaar Center to go into full swing, My
friend and I stumbled into a small and almost hidden restaurant along
J. Vargas St. in Ortigas. It\'s called \"Kubo sa Manila\". From the
outside, the place looks so ordinary and it almost has no personality.
I give 1 point for the kubo-style grilling area. It pales in
comparison to the more known establishment situated along that
quarter-mile stretch.

Anyway, our food adventure-level might have been way up, leading us to
give this Kubo a shot. The moment the door was opened for us, I felt
bad I gave the place such low marks on first impressions. The place is
fully-airconditioned and spanking clean. It has a homey feel to it,
then of course it has to be \'cause it\'s supposed to be a kubo! There\'s
a stack of golf magazines which led to the conclusion that the place
is a high-end kubo. It seemed \"off\" but the kubo is just at the back
of a golf mall (or probably a driving range). So it makes sense.

We ordered sisig, ginataang kalabasa, and my friend tried the lemon
grass (tanglad) tea. The ginataang kalabasa was superb, and the lemon
grass tea was so refreshing. It tasted like salabat but it wasn\'t as
overpowering. The sisig was a great discovery! I\'m a big fan of
Gerry\'s Grill sisig and it is the standard to which I measure other
sisigs with. But Kubo sa Manila\'s sisig just raised the bar one notch
higher. Maybe because it tastes like adobo and it\'s not dry and it has
the perfect texture. It almost melts in your mouth.

Ok. Now back to regular (toy) programming.

Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) Secretary Dinky
Soliman proposed that in exchange for food coupons, poor families will
be asked to do community service. And in addition to food coupons,
they will be given livelihood projects.

Now, this is another brilliant proposal from a brilliant Secretary. I
hope this works out because the DSWD will be able to weed out free
loaders from those that make an effort to free themselves from
poverty.

The US Food and Drug Administration has recently approved the use of
VeriChip. VeriChip is a computer chip that is implanted under the skin
that contains a patient's identification number which then corresponds
to a patient's medical history.

I feel quite uneasy having vital information stored in my body which
can easily be retrieved by a handheld scanner. I know that the
technology will revolutionize the way doctors identify unconscious
patients' conditions. I know that it has purely medical purpose for
now. But there's always the nagging question "what would they think of
next?". What if vital non-medical information are stored in the same
chip? (for whatever purpose it may serve). After all, the same
technology has already been used to trace missing pets.

It will take time before VeriChip hits the Philippines and I can
almost assure that its price will not be the same as its name.

According to the latest Social Weather Station survey, 15% or over 1
in every 7 Filipino family is hungry! This prompted the government to
initiate a food coupon system that will give Php 1,200 subsidy to each
of the 5 million poor families.

I don't oppose the food coupon program. In fact, I think it is a good
"temporary" solution. But that's just it. Temporary. Those who oppose
the program branded it as "insulting", "highly-ridiculous",
"artificial"..."two thumbs down" (ok, I added the last one for
effect). It's easy for them to say those things because they are not
hungry.

I am very aware that the government who's providing this temporary
relief is the very same government that caused the hunger problem. But
blaming the government will not feed the hungry. Food coupon will.

With the successful launch of SpaceShipOne, commercial space travel
has become a reality. That is if you have $250,000 and a steel
stomach. SpaceShipOne is the private aircraft that made two successful
flights surpassing the 62.5 miles above seal level altitude. It was
financed by software billionare Paul Allen of Microsoft.

I am no fan of air travel, so you can just imagine how unappealing
commercial space travel is to me. But this doesn\'t in any way discount
the efforts of the geniuses behind the breakthrough. Maybe I\'m just
too chicken to board a rocket ship and subject myself to 1001 dangers
of space travel. Maybe it\'s the travel cost, which is really
astronomical, I must say.

Or maybe I just don\'t get it.

Ig Noble Awards recognizes scientific research that "makes you laugh,
then makes you think". It is a spoof of Nobel Prizes alright, but the
best thing about it is that actual Nobel Laureates hand out the
awards!

This year, a father and son tandem were awarded the Ig Nobel Prize for
engineering for their patented "combover". Not familiar with the
"combover"? Let me help. I know you see guys who are bald on top but
have hair growing on the sides of the head. They actually let the hair
on the sides grow very long so that they can sweep it over the top,
hence, the "combover". It's so crude, that it becomes cutting edge.

The Ig Noble Prize for public health went to a woman who investigated
the "five second rule". This is the belief that food dropped on the
floor is still safe to eat if you pick it up within 5 seconds.

The highlight of this year's award was when the Ig Noble Award was
given to Daisuke Inoue, the inventor of Karaoke.

For more hilarious awards, visit: http://www.improb.com/ig/ig-top.html

Photo Caption:
Professor X: What combover? There's nothing to comb over! And singing
to my head will not make it grow hair!

Daffy Duck, Donald Duck, Howard the Duck and the rest of the duck (or
goose) community have reason to celebrate! They found an ally in
California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger when the latter signed the
Foie Gras Bill. The bill will put an end to the force feeding of ducks
and geese for the purpose of enlarging their livers. The ducks (or
geese) are fed large amount of food three times a day via a tube
inserted in their throats. Now, why the obssession to fatten the liver
of an innocent duck or goose? It's because of the popular French
delicacy Foie Gras (French for "fat liver"). More liver means more
liver dish to offer in the menu!

But here's the funny part..... Although it has already been signed,
the law will take effect in 2012. According to Schwarzenneger, "it
gives producers more than seven years to evolve and perfect a humane
way for a duck to consume grain to increase the size of its liver
through natural processes." (Yahoo News, September 30, 2004)

Did you get that? They want to put a stop to this liver-fattening
process but they still want a "humane" way to increase the size of the
liver by natural processes. Whether you force feed it or let the
ducks (in their own free will) consume huge amount of food, the plain
truth is out there - there's nothing natural in wanting to increase
the size of a duck's liver!

I guess you're not off the danger zone yet, Daffy & Co.

What better way to watch the UAAP championships than at the very last seconds!
Ok, obviously I was not able to watch the entire game. I only caught
the last 24.9 seconds. I watched it without keeping my hopes up
because I had kept my hopes up in many DLSU games during my University
years. And each time, I was not prepared for the fall. The number of
times the DLSU Archers won the championship during my time was zilch!

Feeling a little poetic today and this I have to say:

I don't need to give you the blow by blow account
The papers will do that for you everytime.
If you want to know what happened in the game
Check out the photo, it's just the same

Photo caption: Archers 68, Tamaraws 65