personal AnGoL – Page 80

January 9, 2010

rePost::The magic moment « Paulo Coelho’s Blog

The magic moment
Published on January 7, 2010 in News. 235 Comments
Paulo Coelho
We have to take risks. We can only truly understand the miracle of life when we let the unexpected manifest itself.
Every day – together with the sun – God gives us a moment in which it is possible to change everything that makes us unhappy. Every day we try to pretend that we don’t realize that moment, that it doesn’t exist, that today is just the same as yesterday and will be the same as tomorrow. But if you pay attention, you can discover the magic instant.
It may be hiding at the moment when we put the key in the door in the morning, in the silence right after dinner, in the thousand and one things that all seem the same to us. This moment exists – a moment when all the strength of the stars passes through us and lets us work miracles.
Happiness is at times a blessing – but usually it’s a conquest. The magic instant helps us to change, drives us forward to seek our dreams. We shall suffer and go through quite a few difficult moments and face many a disappointment – but this is all transitory and inevitable, and eventually we shall feel proud of the marks left behind by the obstacles. In the future we will be able to look back with pride and faith.
Poor are those who are afraid of running risks. Because maybe they are never disappointed, never disillusioned, never suffer like those who have a dream to pursue. But when they look back – for we always look back – they will hear their heart saying: “What did you do with the miracles that God sowed for your days? What did you do with the talent that your Master entrusted to you? You buried it deep in a grave because you were afraid to lose it. So this is your inheritance: the certainty that you have wasted your life.”
Poor are those who hear these words. For then they will believe in miracles, but the magic instants of life will have already passed.
in “By the river Piedra I sat down and wept”
via The magic moment « Paulo Coelho’s Blog.

Part of the finding your passions series of posts due to the phase of my life of the same name, I’m presently in. Which is another name for Fucked Up Life. joke only.(good thing only a few reads the whole thing hehehe)

January 9, 2010

rePost::Graduate School in the Humanities: Just Don't Go – Advice – The Chronicle of Higher Education

I’ve been thinking of Graduate School for a long time now and I have to admit that me going or not going is boiling down to the Question; Do I really want to or are their other reasons?? It is part of this search , this anguish filled search for meaning, for passion, for life.

I have found that most prospective graduate students have given little thought to what will happen to them after they complete their doctorates. They assume that everyone finds a decent position somewhere, even if it's “only” at a community college (expressed with a shudder). Besides, the completion of graduate school seems impossibly far away, so their concerns are mostly focused on the present. Their motives are usually some combination of the following:
* They are excited by some subject and believe they have a deep, sustainable interest in it. (But ask follow-up questions and you find that it is only deep in relation to their undergraduate peers — not in relation to the kind of serious dedication you need in graduate programs.)
* They received high grades and a lot of praise from their professors, and they are not finding similar encouragement outside of an academic environment. They want to return to a context in which they feel validated.
* They are emerging from 16 years of institutional living: a clear, step-by-step process of advancement toward a goal, with measured outcomes, constant reinforcement and support, and clearly defined hierarchies. The world outside school seems so unstructured, ambiguous, difficult to navigate, and frightening.
* With the prospect of an unappealing, entry-level job on the horizon, life in college becomes increasingly idealized. They think graduate school will continue that romantic experience and enable them to stay in college forever as teacher-scholars.
* They can't find a position anywhere that uses the skills on which they most prided themselves in college. They are forced to learn about new things that don't interest them nearly as much. No one is impressed by their knowledge of Jane Austen. There are no mentors to guide and protect them, and they turn to former teachers for help.
* They think that graduate school is a good place to hide from the recession. They'll spend a few years studying literature, preferably on a fellowship, and then, if academe doesn't seem appealing or open to them, they will simply look for a job when the market has improved. And, you know, all those baby boomers have to retire someday, and when that happens, there will be jobs available in academe.
via Graduate School in the Humanities: Just Don’t Go – Advice – The Chronicle of Higher Education.

January 9, 2010

rePost::Kilalanin! A presidential forum moderated by Mike Enriquez on dzBB – Nation – GMANews.TV – Official Website of GMA News and Public Affairs – Latest Philippine News

I’m beginning to think that all these presidential forums etc are only really helping the news organizations to drive viewers to their show. Why? Because if history has anything to tell us; People who vie for the presidency would lie,cheat,steal to get it. We have no way of holding them accountable. Even in an advance democracy we have Barack Obama lying about campaigning for the public option, what can we expect from our more gullible and manipulated media. I’m not saying that knowing your candidates views on stuff isn’t important. What I’m saying is that; what we should be doing is looking at what they earlier promised when they ran for public office and how they followed through with their promises.

Kilalanin! A presidential forum moderated by Mike Enriquez on dzBB
01/09/2010 | 05:35 PM
Listen to an audio recording of Kilalanin! – a presidential forum with four candidates in Alabang on Sunday, January 9, moderated by Mike Enriquez and broadcast on dzBB. The four featured candidates:
* Benigno “Noynoy” Aquino III
* Richard “Dick” Gordon
* Gilbert “Gibo” Teodoro
* Manuel “Manny” Villar
via Kilalanin! A presidential forum moderated by Mike Enriquez on dzBB – Nation – GMANews.TV – Official Website of GMA News and Public Affairs – Latest Philippine News.

January 8, 2010

rePost::Ginkgo Biloba Fails Again | Singularity Hub

It’s been taken as a mental health supplement for hundreds of years, and is also said to benefit blood flow, and combat free radicals. Yet according to a paper recently published in the Journal of the American Medical Association, ginkgo biloba had no discernible affect on the mental acuity of people as they aged. This comes on the heels of a 2008 study by the same team that showed that ginkgo had no affect on Alzheimer’s or dementia. The JAMA report is a blow to the reputation of the plant and could prove potentially damaging to suppliers of the supplement who sell over $100 million in the US alone. For those looking to boost their mental agility, or to simply keep it strong as they age, it looks like ginkgo biloba is no longer a good option.
via Ginkgo Biloba Fails Again | Singularity Hub.

Finally, hope they could study all these miracle drugs that are siphoning money mostly from people who can’t afford it.

January 8, 2010

rePost:: Are Passions Serendipitously Discovered or Painstakingly Constructed?

Short Case Study #2: The Bored Programmer
Let’s tackle a non-academic example. Imagine a young man working in web development firm. His days are spent hacking CSS and doing some mild javascript programming. The pay is fine and the projects are interesting enough, but a feeling of dread is starting to tinge his daily commute.
“I’m not passionate about this,” our fictional programmer thinks. “Do I really want to spend the rest of my life doing the first random job I stumbled into, even if I don’t love it?”
The traditional view of passion recommends that this programmer immediately summon the courage to quit his job and find something that fits his passion. (Tim Ferriss tells the canonical story of this form: an overworked LA lawyer who dropped everything to open a surf shop in Brazil.)
The mastery-centric view, however, denies that such a priori passions exist. There’s probably no new job that would immediately grant him the feeling of passion he seeks. That can only come from mastery.
Assuming that the programmer doesn’t hate his job and the people he works with, he should instead consider generating a passion for his work by finding something he can master.
For example, over the next couple of years, he might put in serious time to become a Ruby on Rails expert — allowing his company to branch off into more complicated projects, and earning him more respect, pay, and flexibility in the process. Gaining this mastery could transform his view of his job as something he tolerates to something he loves. And it will accomplish this feat with more certainty than a sudden move to Brazil.
via Study Hacks » Blog Archive » Are Passions Serendipitously Discovered or Painstakingly Constructed?.

I recently quit my job for the same reasons. I’ve been asking these questions since. Interview after interview I am faced by the seeming lack of interesting programming jobs here. Mind you I didn’t even say Interesting and Well Paying programming jobs. This I admit is a little disheartening. What am I to do???? Hope I find out before the middle of march.

January 8, 2010

Travel Hacking: Smart Ways to See the World | Get Rich Slowly

ravel full-time for less than $14,000 per year
While I was blowing $530 on a single day in Orlando last month, professional world-traveler Nora Dunn was contributing a guest post at I Will Teach You to Be Rich in which she describes her own quest to see the world. Dunn writes:
I “retired” from the rat race at the tender age of 30 to embrace my life-long dream of traveling the world, before life had a chance to get in the way…I am not rich. I am not a trust child, nor do I have rich parents, a sugar daddy, or a stream of income that allows me to live the high life on the road. Full time travel doesn’t have to be expensive, and after two years on the road, I’ve learned plenty of tricks to travel the world without breaking the bank, and without an end in sight.
via Travel Hacking: Smart Ways to See the World | Get Rich Slowly.

I’m seriously trying to think if this is possible for me. BTW the linked article was a treasure trove of advice.

January 8, 2010

rePost:: Why You Should Quit Your Job and Travel around the World

It happens to me every time I travel overseas. I talk with people who hear about where I’m going, and they always say the same thing: “That sounds amazing! I wish I could do that.”
My reply is always the same: “What’s keeping you from it?”
I’m not being judgmental; I’m just trying to figure out what people’s motivations and priorities are. There really could be a good reason why someone doesn’t travel much, but the responses I hear back is usually variations of these answers:
via The Art of Non-Conformity » Why You Should Quit Your Job and Travel around the World.

January 8, 2010

rePost:: Beware of Life

Several weeks ago, three hikers also died on our nearby Mount Hood in a tragic accident.
After their deaths, there was the usual pontification about what they could have done differently. Despite the fact that they were all experienced climbers, and despite leaving for the hike when weather conditions were good, some people blamed their “risky behavior” and suggested various reforms that wouldn’t have made any difference in their case.
While I was away for my end-of-year vacation, I scanned through the comments on our newspaper’s website. “I don’t want to say they deserved to die,” one person said, before going on to explain why they deserved to die for pursuing their passion.
Fatal accidents are sad. I wish they wouldn’t happen, and I wish we could bring back the lost hikers. But I also don’t think they should have stayed home, and I don’t think they are that different from the 21,833 others who died earlier this year.
I propose that the greater risk is to play it safe all the time. Properly experienced, life is a very risky behavior.
via The Art of Non-Conformity » Beware of Life.

January 8, 2010

rePost::Why I Love Scientists – Freakonomics Blog – NYTimes.com

2. When Amy Wagers surgically joined a young mouse and an old mouse so that their bloodstreams became shared, healing to muscle damage in the old mouse occurred much faster than it did in other old mice. Something in the young mouse’s blood helped repair the old mouse’s tissues. If that “something” can be isolated, who knows how many different uses it might have.
My prediction: the first humans to get their hands on that “something” will be professional bike racers.
via Why I Love Scientists – Freakonomics Blog – NYTimes.com.

I’ll gladly join an experiment for this if that someon you will be joined with was hot. hehehe.