Sunday, February 25, 2007
Human Logic: A Parable
"Why do animals seem healthier than people?"I asked a scholar, and he answered: "Because our species have become accustomed to a sedentary lifestyle borne of our transition from hunting and gathering to agriculture and civilization."
I asked a priest, and he answered: "Because we have been blessed with the gift of knowledge, thus our bodies are not as capable. Still, my child, do not worry, for we have been appointed stewards and stewardesses of all of God's creations."
I asked a kid, and he answered: "Simple. Jungle gyms."
Sunday, February 18, 2007
The Guide Climbs the Tower...
Finally, the renovation is complete. Happiness.Been working on the new code for quite some time. CSS = headaches, but I think the result more than makes up for them.
Before someone starts asking, "Why Ivory Tower?"...
Wikipedia: Ivory Tower (aka I <3 Intellectualism)
And before anyone sues me...
Ivory Tower illus. by Margaret Organ-Kean
I guess that's enough befores. Now for the afters.
Sunday, February 11, 2007
Society Preys on the Unassuming
Left LB just this morning at around 10AM, arrived in cubao at about 12:30PM without eating anything yet, since I'd figured I'd just eat on the way home. Then Flip (real name Felipe) the driver tells me that we have to pick my bro up in Katipunan, so I'd figured I'd settle down and just have a big lunch somewhere there. A Pancake House joint catches my eye. And because Pancake House = good fried chicken (for me, at least), I decide to order a combo meal. I look in my wallet, and I find exactly P200 worth. The menu says P170. I know there's a service charge, so I estimate it to come close to 200. I order, have my lunch, and ask for the bill while drinking the last few sips of my iced tea. I look at the bill.Combo meal, 170.
Service charge, 14.
Then I see VAT, 20. And this basically adds it all up to P204. I stay calm and composed-the way you are expected to behave when sitting in a place inhabited more often by rich old folks than college students- but inside I'm screaming every curse I can come up with. There are no coins in my wallet. I go through my pockets, and luckily I find exactly P4 in coins in those smaller pockets you find in the right leg of your denims.
Moral of the story? No wonder people never go out without extra cash on them. You never know when society will, with its claws of copper and bronze, suddenly pounce on you and your wallet. All because you didn't leave P20 for the freaking VAT.
Sunday, February 04, 2007
On Writing and Human Nature
Writing is an art. Art imitates nature. Writing is unique to humans. This is why writers always need a certain level of understanding with regards to human nature. Nobody can write, much less conceptualize a text to write, without comprehending the fact that everybody has a personal logic that, save for a few lapses, will define their actions, no matter how flawed that logic may appear to others, who, if you think about it, have only their own logic to gauge others' principles with.I know, I know, I sound so Kantian-Existensialist.
