ribbed.us …

I have never cared for Filipino politics. The modern day Filipino political scene is corrupt, petty … and resembles a Filipino Hollywood than it does an institution working for the people. Growing up as a young boy was different. When I came into this world, Marcos’ dictatorship had just ended. The Philippines had hope … and a face that it could proudly show to the world that after centuries of colonialism … that yes we are Filipino and yes we are free. Rest in peace Cory Aquino. Your country owes you a debt that can only be repaid by being good stewards of a gift you have given. I can only hope that the Filipino people step back and reflect on the kind of leadership the Filipino people need and deserve.

Below is a short excerpt of a 1996 TIME article that made Cory Aquino the 1986 Woman of the year.

Less than 24 hours after Marcos had had himself inaugurated, he was being helped off a plane in Hawaii, sickly, exiled and bewildered. His former home, Malacanang Palace, was now a melancholy tableau of abandoned power, overrun by thousands of revelers. The new leader of the Philippines was the reserved housewife who had worn plain yellow dresses every day of her campaign. For her determination and courage in leading a democratic revolution that captured the world’s imagination, Corazon Aquino is TIME’s Woman of the Year for 1986.

Whatever else happens in her rule, Aquino has already given her country a bright, and inviolate, memory. More important, she has also resuscitated its sense of identity and pride. In the Philippines those luxuries are especially precious. Almost alone among the countries of Asia, it has never been steadied by an ancient culture; its sense of itself, and its potential, was further worn away by nearly four centuries of Spanish and American colonialism. The absence of a spirit of national unity has also made democracy elusive. Even Jose Rizal, a political reformer shot by the Spanish and a national hero, called the Filipinos “a people without a soul.” Yet in February, for a few extraordinary moments, the people of the Philippines proved their bravery to the world, and to themselves.

Aquino’s revolution with a human face was no less a triumph for women the world over. The person known as the “Mother of the Nation” managed to lead a revolt and rule a republic without ever relinquishing her buoyant calm or her gift for making politics and humanity companionable. In a nation dominated for decades by a militant brand of macho politics, she conquered with tranquillity and grace.

Partial eclipse at Manila Bay. Beautiful. Click for a larger image.

What’s happened to the setting Sun? An eclipse! Two days ago, the Moon eclipsed part of the Sun as visible from parts of Africa, Australia, and Asia. In particular the above image, taken from the Mall of Asia seawall, caught a partially eclipsed Sun setting over Manila Bay in the Philippines. Piers are visible in silhouette in the foreground. Eclipse chasers and well placed sky enthusiasts captured many other interesting and artistic images of the year’s only annular solar eclipse, including movies, eclipse shadow arrays, and rings of fire. Another partial solar eclipse will be visible from the Philippines in July. That event, however, will likely be better remembered as a total solar eclipse visible to those occupying a long thin swath of Earth that starts in India and extends through China into the Pacific Ocean.

This is something I usually wouldn’t write about. I am not a follower of “Pacmania”, but this was a pretty good bathroom read. You can find scans of the article’s four pages here.

I especially love the part where the article mentions how people just hang around his house … social welfare. So so Filipino. Then again, that happens wherever anyone comes from nothing to something … other people always think they are owed their share.

Read on for the full text of the article.

PS. Readiris Pro 11 is a pimp OCR.

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Taking a page out of Wikipedia, search giant Google has unveiled in the Philippines a map-making tool that allows the user community to map the Philippines by contributing photos, names of streets, and other information.

via Google Cache (Manila Bulletin)

So yes, do something productive so that when I finally go back, I can use a GPS and an overlay of Google Maps to get around. With streets in the Philippines and the reliability of crowdsourcing, there will be doubts. With enough people contributing and correcting data, the wisdom of crowds will eventually prevail. Manila Bulletin has taken the story down for reasons unknown and I have yet to see any other sites online that confirm this. However, Google Mapmaker is available for anyone in the world to use and contribute.

Matt from Wordpress is in the Philippines for Wordcamp.

the immigration/customs forms here are sponsored by a booze company.

lol

I love you Philippines. haha

UNICEF has released their 2007 Photos of the year and this placed 3rd place. Just another news story the Philippines can be proud of in addition to Thriller.

On her ninth birthday, Annalyn S.* was photographed by German photographer Hartmut Schwarzbach, happily jumping on a red sofa that she had found on the garbage dump near the city of Manila (Philippines). It has been three years now that Annalyn and her family have lived beside Manila’s enormous garbage dump called “Aroma Smokey Mountain”. That’s where her family lives in a charcoal burners’ camp.

Like most other children in this camp, Annalyn has to search for wood among the garbage every day, bring it to an oven and monitor the charcoal production amidst acrid smoke and unbearable heat. Together with her siblings and parents, she has to bring thousands of liters of water to extinguish the fire and collect the finished charcoal. The family has to hand over most of their yield to the local mafia.

Like almost all children here, Annalyn is malnourished and thus much too skinny and small for her age. She looks like a five-year-old. Many of the children can neither read nor write and do not attend any school. One day, Annalyn wants to be a teacher.

Great to be in the company of other notable winners such as arranged child marriages and child labor. Smell the sarcasm in this post.

I’m inviting everyone interested in gaming to our very own little forum, the brain child of one dbgg1979. Even if you are only slightly interested in gaming, perhaps P2P is your thing, come and sign up. If you’ve been going or have been to one of our LAN parties, then this is definitely for you. We expect topics to be varied and the discussion from … from Windows gaming to Linux to P2P to more adult natured topics.

We’ll be pushing more features as things progress and from my recent talks with jiggy, he wanted the hardcore gamers and technical people here to come take part and moderate our forum. If you are one of these, hit up jiggy and see if you qualify. I personally will be holding a smaller stick in moderating the forum. My point is, the forum is about targeted fun with less rules and the company of those who share your passion for gaming and the internet lifestyle. No political discussion here, we can leave that for the fools on Political forum.

Come one, come all! to …

BFWGaming