The moon was shining on the lake at night
The slayer T-shirt fit the scene just right
Your smeared mascara
I looked into your eyes and saw a light

You told me stories about your chickadees
They didn’t like BB guns or stupid archery
And Shaun the lifeguard
He let them use the pool all day for free

Then the conversation stopped
And I looked down at my feet
I was next to you and you were right there next to me
Then I said

Girl,if you’re wondering if I want you to (I want you to)
I want you to
So make them move (make them move)
cause I ain’t got all night

The rest of the summer was the best we’ve ever had
We watched titanic and it didn’t make us sad
I took you to Best Buy
You took me home to meet your mom and dad

Your mom cooked meat loaf,even though I don’t eat meat
I dug you so much,I took some for the team
Your dad was silent
His eyes were fixed to what was on TV

And the conversation stopped,and I looked down at the ring
Your folks were next to you
And you were right there next to me
And I said

Girl,if you’re wondering if I want you to (I want you to)
I want you to (I want you to)
I swear it’s true (swear it’s true)
Without you my heart is blue
Girl,if you’re wondering if I want you to (I want you to)
I want you to (I want you to)
So make the move (make the move)
cause I ain’t got all night

So much pain may come our way
There may come a day when we have nothing left to say

When the conversation stops and we’re facing our defeat
I’ll be next to you and you’ll be right there next to me
Then I’ll say

Girl,if you’re wondering if I want you to (I want you to)
I want you to (I want you to)
I swear it’s true (swear it’s true)
Without you my heart is blue,oh
Girl, if you’re wondering if I want you to (I want you to)
I want you to (I want you to)
So make the move (make the move)
Cause I ain’t got all night

from here

weezer official site http://www.metrolyrics.com/if-youre-wondering-if-i-want-you-to-lyrics-weezer.html

Wow I don’t know how accurate these stats are; But if this is true with cellphones and computer usage this high probably between 15-25% of the population uses the internet, we could support great products in the mobile and web parts of the local tech industry.

Still TV but…

In the Philippines, television still has the biggest influence on the voters at 70+%, higher than the 22% of the Internet.

Unlike in the US, where majority of voters belong to the middle class, most Filipino voters belong to the D and E social classes. Many of them, especially in the provinces, don’t have access to the Interent.

Nevertheless, Ong sees big potential in new media.

“Television is still the most influential. But new media might replace some of the mediums we are used to in the past. We want to know how viable it will become. This is our attempt to begin to explore [a] cyberspace campaign,” Ong said.

Lim said there are around 28 million Internet users in the Philippines. Out of this number, around 18 million are voters. “This is a huge number and the pie is growing,” he said.

In the 2007 elections, Lim said there were only about 10 million Internet users in the Philippines. Around 60% or 70% of the users then accessed the Internet in their offices. Now, around 60% to 70% of Internet users go to cafes.

“This is a people’s campaign. To be honest, this is an experiment. We don’t have much money. I had to be creative. Since we could not go mainstream, this is the most fertile [medium],” Ong added.

via Noynoy does an ‘Obama’, taps new media | ABS-CBN News Online Beta.

I’ve watch this before but like a good book, video/lectures affect you depending on what “you” is while you are watching it.

I don’t know why I asking myself this question repeatedly , but I’ve made it a weekly weekend thing to ask myself.

-Are your really happy?

-What’s keeping you from being happy?

-What would/could you change to be happy?

and the answers maybe a bit zen but as my previous post said. failure and success is the same thing.

you can find the TED talk here

Nice funny list, clickthrough to read the list!

10 Geeky Laws That Should Exist, But Don’t

* By Matt Blum |* November 10, 2009 |* 8:00 am |* Categories: Everything Else

There are many, many laws having nothing to do with government that are useful to know because they tell you something about how the universe works. There are Newton’s laws of motion, the laws of thermodynamics, Boyle’s Law, Heisenberg’s Uncertainty Principle, among many. Most of these laws have been known for a long time, but it wasn’t until a mere 19 years ago that Godwin’s Law was written.

If you’ve ever been involved in a discussion on Usenet, or have been following politics in the past decade or so, you’ve probably encountered Godwin’s Law. While Godwin’s Law is, alas, as true today as it was then, it seems unfortunate that there aren’t more widely accepted axioms to help us geeks define the characteristics of our world.

via 10 Geeky Laws That Should Exist, But Don’t | GeekDad | Wired.com.

Click through to read the whole article!

Rule number 1: My code is crap.

Rule number 2: Even if it’s crap, I care about my code.

Rule number 3: My opinion about my own code is wrong.

Rule number 4: My manager doesn’t care about my code, and he pays me.

via The four golden rules to be a better software developer. | Making Good Software.

I believe the key reason for so many problems in the world today is the fact we no longer have to see directly the repercussions of our actions. The degrees of separation between the consumer and the consumed have increased so much that people are completely unaware of the levels of destruction and suffering involved in the production of the food and other “stuff” we buy. The tool that has enabled this disconnection is money.

If we grew our own food, we wouldn’t waste a third of it as we do today. If we made our own tables and chairs, we wouldn’t throw them out the moment we changed the interior decor. If we had to clean our own drinking water, we wouldn’t waste it so freely.

As long as money exists, these symptoms will surely persist. So I decided, last November, to give it up, for one year initially, and reconnect directly with the things I use and consume.

via My year of living without money | Environment | The Guardian.

I fondly remember Obama’s vlog about the state of the campaign, specially for volunteers/supporters.  In “The West Wing” I think it was the last season, The campaign staff was telling Matt Santos the minority democratic presidential candidate that he has to have that “Presidential Voice”.  Matt Santos asked another staffer if she believed he needed to have the Presidential Voice, or at least sound presidential. She ansawered, the man makes the voice. I believe this is where Noynoy Aquino is, trying to find his voice. Hope he finds it in time.

Senator Aquino launches ‘Vlog’

By Maila Ager

INQUIRER.net

First Posted 16:16:00 11/10/2009

Filed Under: Internet, Eleksyon 2010, Elections, Politics

MANILA, Philippines – After joining the popular networking sites “Facebook” and “Friendster,” now comes a video log or “Vlog” for Senator Benigno “Noynoy” Aquino III to further boost his presidential bid next year.

For the first time also, Aquino answered questions from the media Tuesday through a video satellite from his residence in Times Street in Quezon City.

The video blog, dubbed as “60 seconds with Noy,” will be a series of 18 episodes to be posted in his various websites starting this Tuesday until November 27 or a day before he files his certificate of candidacy.

Aside from his official website, www.noynoy.ph, the senator also maintains an account with Facebook, Friendster, Twitter, YouTube, Multiply, and other sites created by his supporters.

via Senator Aquino launches ‘Vlog’ – INQUIRER.net, Philippine News for Filipinos.

People give the MMDA (Metro Manila Development Authority) a lot of flak for their ever changing rules and a lot of useless projects. I prefer to think differently. I see that the way the political system is structured here encourages doing nothing and not really solving anything. Whenever one tries to solve anything a powerful group or sector usually benefits from stopping you and the net effect is nothing is done.  That is what sets Bayani Fernando apart from alot of the politicians who has handled any line department for the government.

What sets him apart?

• Willingness to experiment: A lot of what bf (Bayani Fernando, bf starting now) does best is that he thinks like the engineer he was educated to be, and the experimentalist sensibilities that he may have naturally been born to. You can see this with the different schemes that he has concocted. From the throwing of dirty cloth to buses who open their doors at areas not designated as loading and unloading areas, to
• Use of Metrics: When I was still a college student I walked a lot and thus overpasses were my friend. During one of my crossing an overpass I happened upon people with counters happily clicking away with each car passing by quezon ave infront of the INC Central Temple. From sheer coincidence I was able to go at different overpasses  in the metro,  Philcoa, and a few more streets like the intersection of quezon ave and edsa. I was able to observe all these people from morning upto around 8 at night. This happened from monday to wednesday and at wednesday I was so curious that I asked them what they were doing, It seems they were tracking the number of cars passing by. Correct me if I am wrong but BF was probably the first MMDA chairman to do this. Simply put without the proper metrics , success and failure is just a frame of mind.
• Wise use of resources. The MMDA used convicts to do demolition of informal settlers. This helped in clearing up alot of informal settlers in many areas. (I wish I knew where to get data so we can compare the number of clearing operations at post pre and BF days). Although I do not completely agree with clearing informal settlers en mass.
• Pro Technology: MMDA was almost able to implement an IT enabled system that allowed traffic violations to be caught on camera and billed directly to the operator/car owner. I also see multiple Bayani Fernando google ads. This shows a surprisingly good grasp , if not at least a non technology averse personality.

This post may have been praising BF/MMDA alot but what I am just pointing out is that assuming almost everyone is tainted by corruption at least MMDA/BF has done more than most of the other PGMA appointees.

The challenges that the future hold are simply baffling. To be shackled or not be open to new ways of doing things, or at least to good ways of doing things is a sure recipe for failure. The people who came before us had many failures, but that does not mean we must fear failure, rather we must learn to learn from everything. Learn from mistakes. Learn from success. Let us embrace experimentation. Only through this can I win my bet the the Philippines would be A-OK in 20 years (3 years has already passed so its actually 17).

Bjorn Harsman and John Quigley describe Stockholm’s adoption of congestion pricing in a recent paper. Before holding a referendum on congestion pricing in 2006, the city conducted a trial. For seven months, drivers paid congestion charges upon entering Stockholm’s center. Officials also increased citywide bus service to demonstrate the benefits of the charge to non-drivers. In pretrial polls, the majority of residents opposed the charge. After the trial ended, 52 percent of residents voted in favor of permanent congestion pricing. Firsthand experience with the benefits of the scheme appears to have tipped the scales.

via Charter Cities: Meta-Rules: The Success of Congestion Pricing in Stockholm.

If you had asked me of examples of performance art I would never have thought about sand painting/pictures in the sand in a hundred years.

There is something so beautiful and haunting about this. got this from kottke.org  and hope you could watch it at least half way through!

This was about germany’s invasion of ukraine in the second world war. The artist was the winner of Ukraines’ 2009 Got Talent show.

This is a big issue for me , I repeat/paraphrase what is said below::”Drivers do not pay the full social cost of crowding congested urban roads during peak hours”. I slept through 1 hour of traffic from Commonwealth to Mega Mall. When I take the cab at night It takes a good driver less than 30 minutes to get home. We live in a world where our actions affect others this is the reason I confuse people when I say I am libertarian in principle but is very pro regulation. We want to maximize fun/happiness/freedom for everyone, and we cannot do this if not all social costs are front center. If we continue to be blind from these social cost. My 30 minutes lost everyday from traffic because buying a car, and more so driving a car is very inexpensive relative to what people can afford. When oil hit $100-120 per barrel level the streets were less congested, my commute was reduced by 15 minutes (although I noticed a lot more people were riding the buses and MRT/LRT). The fuel cost is only a factor not even directly involved with congestion, and the effect is noticeable to me. Good public policy is what is needed!

The logic of congestion pricing is fairly straightforward. Urban areas tend to have wasteful levels of congestion during peak commuting hours. Each car that enters the roadway contributes to congestion, polluting city air and increasing overall trip time. Describing the work of the late urban economist John Meyer, Edward Glaeser makes the succinct case for pricing road access:

Unless drivers pay the full social cost of crowding congested urban roads during peak hours, then those roads will remain overused and society will pay a large cost in wasted time.

Some cities tackle the problem by cordoning-off their centers and using electronic tolling to collect congestion fees. The fees rise during peak hours and decline during off-peak hours. To avoid the charge, some people commute during non-peak hours, some people carpool, and some others commute by train, bus, bicycle, or metro. Drivers who pay-up experience less congestion and shorter commute times. For higher income drivers, the benefits from less congestion outweigh the fee. The challenge for city officials is to ensure that people who stop driving end up better off as well. It’s possible to use revenue from the charge to upgrade public transport services, improving the commute everyone.

via Charter Cities: Meta-Rules: The Success of Congestion Pricing in Stockholm.