The great English poet and playwright William Shakespeare was born today 444 years ago. Yes, 444 years ago! Talk about living forever. To this day, children and adults…

April 23rd is World Book and Copyright Day, according to the United Nations. Let’s celebrate it by reading more books, especially local ones. We should also encourage more people to become writers. Here’s a little story about a writer who died and was given the option of going to heaven or hell…

Paraguayans have opened themselves to political change as they elected the independent presidential candidate, Fernando Lugo. Lugo used to be a Roman Catholic bishop but he had to let go of his religious vows when he decided to run for office. During his campaign, he promised a government for…

Immanuel Kant believed that there is no way we can describe the actual reality. The only thing we can talk about is our representation of our perceived reality. His views were probably the inspiration in movies like Roberto Benigni’s “Life is Beautiful” and the Wachowski Brothers’ “The Matrix” …

Today is the 38th world celebration of Earth Day. And of course Global Warming is a big issue. And if you’re not yet convinced that we’re feeling the heat, here’s proof that will surely convince you…

Pro-JPEPA senators will be feeling the heat from Filipinos who believe that the government has once again outdone themselves when it comes to pimping our Motherland to other countries, in exchange for economic aid. According to the swimmers who braved the waters of Manila Bay, the treaty will allow large and high-tech Japanese fishing vessels to sweep our waters and get all the fish they want. But the government says that we don’t have to worry about any shortage in fish supply. Keep in mind that this is the same government who’s also telling us not to worry about the shortage in rice supply. So I guess it’s okay for Japan to catch all the fish they want because our government says it’s okay…

Quote of the Day

Our quote today comes from Queen Elizabeth II who celebrates her 82nd birthday today.

The upward course of a nation’s history is due in the long run to the soundness of heart of its average men and women.

When there’s a newly-opened mall, people rush to see what’s in it. When there’s a new iPhone model, we can’t help but be curious about its new features. When your favorite singer has a new song, you have this uncontrollable urge to check it out. It’s almost human nature to be fascinated by what’s new. Something is triggered in our brains and we instantly get turned on by the novelty of the latest things.

Well I’ve got good news for you! There’s a new weblog in the Pinoy blogosphere and it’s made especially for you.

When you see hundreds of people standing in line for hours under the hot sun so they can buy 2 kilograms of NFA rice - so that they can save P50 - who do you blame?

When you look back and see that during the time of President Marcos, we were a rice-exporting country but today, we are one of the world’s top importer of rice, who do you blame?

When you realize that our neighbors, Thailand and Vietnam, are the world’s top exporters of rice and yet many of their advances in rice farming were developed in the International Rice Research Institute in Laguna, who do you blame for our own country’s lack of progress in rice farming?

Filipina moms love to remind their children to switch-off unncessary lights and electrical appliances. Who can blame them? No one wants to pay expensive Meralco bills. Well, our moms have found new allies among scientists who study climate change. And their message of energy conservation is now being broadcast on a global scale - thanks to the World Wildlife Fund for Nature and other organizers of Earth Hour 2008, a global movement to raise awareness for climate change.

If you join this global movement, you will achieve three goals:

1. You will be part of a worthy cause
2. You will help raise awareness for environmentalism
3. The success of Earth Hour 2008 will spur more global movements and calls for action

As they say, success breeds more success. After this project, there will be more online movements that will call for simple but effective actions. Register now and be part of the online network that will empower ordinary citizens, like you and me, to become modern-day environmentalists.

Sa Mahal Kong Kapatid,

Congratulations! You made it! I’m sure your mind is filled with memories and reflective thoughts as you close a chapter of your life.

Graduation is not only the end of a chapter. More importantly, it symbolizes the first step in your next journey. And as you begin your next adventure, I would like to share with you these two poems and six pictures that have guided me in this game we call “Life.”

You and I belong to the digital generation and whether we like it or not, we leave digital footprints wherever we go in cyberspace. When we use our emails, surf the net, update our Friendster or Facebook, and write posts and comments in weblogs, we leave permanent traces of our past and present that might affect our future.

To help us understand how our digital footprints affect us, let’s use an Edward de Bono thinking tool that I often use in class with my students. It’s called PMI (Plus, Minus, Interesting) and it’s a simple graphic organizer that can help us weigh the advantages and disadvantages of our digital footprints.

…As of this writing, Vietnam’s Ha Long Bay is in the lead and the Philippines’ Tubbataha is in 32nd place. 32!? That’s why we should unite and improve our ranking. With your help, we can make it happen…

…In 2006, the money generated by tourism in Thailand was equivalent to the money brought in by OFWs. Should we look into boosting our tourism industry’s potential as a billion-dollar earner? Can we follow in the footsteps of our neighbor, Thailand? Can tourism be one of the solutions to the “brain drain” caused by the diaspora of our workers?…

…The tourism industry is highly competitive and every country wants a bigger slice of the pie. Tourists rely on online reviews, word-of-mouth, promos and international recognitions. This online elections for The Seven New Wonders of Nature is our chance to boost the tourism industry in our country…

It would always be the same crooks, the same money interests who would take fullest advantage of democracy or any kind of government in the Philippines, while the poor and the brave would always lose out. The batters change in the game of Philippine politics, but the baseball team remains the same and the game remains fixed.

- Ninoy Aquino [1]

As we celebrate the 28th anniversary of the EDSA People Power Revolution, it would be good to look back on the wisdom of the man who inspired us to unite as a people and defend our country against a corrupt government. We are more aware of Ninoy’s oft-quoted, “The Filipino is worth dying for,” but I chose the one above because it is more suitable to our present times.