Thursday 26 February 2009

Internet Hell!

"Hell", some philosophers say, is the separation from god or atman (or whatever you want to call the universal bond of kinship).

Yes, I spoke too soon. I have not been liberated from the 'internet hiatus' yet. I have been in Web Hell for almost two weeks now, separated from my all-knowing god, the Intarwebz. I trust that I do not need to mention the name of my internet provider. If yours is working fine then we do not have the same one.

I am really cheesed off.

On the other hand, I can still smile because I can play The Battle for Middle Earth II now. Weeeeeeeeeeh! I just need some patches to fix all the crashing. (Help, anyone?)

P.S. I am squatting on someone else's Wi-Fi.

Friday 20 February 2009

Breeder

Name: breeder [noun]

Some people like to refer to heterosexualists as "breeders" stressing that the latter are defined by their capacity/duty/want to reproduce or "breed". We think this is not only unfair but a fallacy. It is absurd to think heterosexualists generally desire for offspring and homosexualists generally abstain from begetting them. Also, calling heterosexualists 'breeders' is potentially offensive as it suggests that reproduction comprises the primary use of their sexual identity.

Remember that reproduction is a biological function. The only people exempt from this function are those who cannot successfully reproduce offspring ie: the infertile (and even there, there is some chance to reproduce). Homosexuality does not render a person infertile nor does heterosexuality promote fertility. Simply put, you do not even need a sexual identity to reproduce. For blokes, you just stick it in and the rest will follow.

Silly, silly label. Almost anybody can be a breeder.

Setting Things Straight (Part 2)

The second part of 'Setting Things Straight' is nigh. It is a series on the terms, names, and labels many people today use that, as we believe, need a lot of questioning before we actually use them. You are also invited to question them as much as you want, given that you put a lot of thought in it (yes, we do not allow nonsense here).

The first term/label to scrutinise is "breeder".

You fool! No man can kill me!

Back from my long, unwanted internet hiatus. It was terrible. Can you imagine the torture? Thankfully, gaming has kept me sane all this while.

I know I promised some of you that I would write on some very important things. Now that I am back to bumming (yes, after two years, I am back), I should have every chance to write.



However, with keeping myself sane, I acquired an addiction at the same time - to BFME. BFME or The Lord of the Rings: The Battle for Middle Earth is an RTS game not unlike Age of Empires, Age of Mythology, Battle Realms, and Warcraft III. If you loved playing AOE back in hi
gh school (if you are my age), and loved the LOTR films, you are going to love BFME. As a huge plus, if you loved reading the appendices of the LOTR books, you are going to love The Battle for Middle Earth II – which focuses on the War of the North away from the pesky Fellowship. And it gets better. BFME2's expansion: The Rise of the Witch King is based on the events before The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings – taking you into the history behind Angband’s rise.



My addiction has run so deep that I have dreamt nothing but my conquests of Middle Earth. And I have not even gone to playing BFME2 (which I am dying to play). Unfortunately, the game does not accept MX400 video cards (of which I have currently installed). By Sunday, I hope that my father (who is the real techie) would have finished upgrading the PC so I can also play Conquest.


I just love this. I feel young again! Goodbye professional, premature grown-up! For now.

Sunday 8 February 2009

The Good News

Lately I have been reading some very interesting news from a very interesting news blog "Good Times Manila". You have got to check it out!

Gloria Arroyo has secret 'imaginary friends'
Most Filipinos believe they were switched at birth
Angel Locsin and Marian Rivera get into an argument in QC bar
Sharon miraculously survives 20 floor plunge
Hayden Kho hooks up with Madame Auring
Loren sips coffess as Villar slowly dies
Sorry, no Barack-Gloria movie
Greenpeace sues Korina for polluting the air
Mike Enriquez hospitalized after cave mishap
Kim Chiu swept off her feet - literally
Mistaken identity makes Charice Pempenco cry
Marian's temper flares at salon
Group protests 'homoerotic scenes' in new soap
Pacquiao daughter to change name

Do not forget to read the About page afterwards.

Note: "It’s not for those who have little or no sense of humor, and certainly not for those who cannot laugh at themselves. It’s for those among us who look at life a little differently from the norm. It’s for folks who can laugh unreservedly at human foibles – their own and those of others, especially."

PS: Happy 10,000th page view to GTM!

Thursday 5 February 2009

Setting Things Straight (Part 1)

Sex refers to the male and female duality of biology and reproduction. Often, individuals of the two sexes attract one another and communicate their readiness to procreate through biological changes, or, in social species, through courtship behaviours.

An organism's sex is defined by its biological role in reproduction, not according to its sexual or other behaviour. The female sex is defined as the one which produces the larger gamete and which typically bears the offspring. In contrast, the male sex has a smaller gamete and rarely bears offspring. (In humans and other mammals, only the female sex may bear the offspring.)

Gender, in common usage, refers to the social differences between males and females. Gender identity is an individual's self-conception as being male or female, as distinguished from actual biological sex. Gender and sex are not interchangeable.

A cisgendered individual is someone who feels their sex and gender are "consistent”; they have male reproductive organs and can derive a strong psycho-emotional affiliation with that possession. An intergendered individual is someone who feels their sex and gender are inconsistent; they have male reproductive organs but feel a strong psychological/emotional affiliation with the opposite sex; they often have a tendency to resort to transvestism ("cross-dressing"). A transgendered individual is someone who feels they belong to both male and female.

Sexuality refers to sexual behaviour in all sexual organisms. Human sexual behaviour or different human sexual practices encompass wide range of activities such as the search for a partner or partners, interactions between individuals, physical or emotional intimacy, and sexual contact.

Sexual orientation refers to the direction of an individual's sexuality, usually conceived of as classifiable according to the sex or gender of the persons whom the individual finds sexually attractive. The most commonly used categories of sexual orientation are heterosexuality (being sexually attracted to members of the opposite sex), homosexuality (being sexually attracted to members of the same sex), bisexuality (being sexually attracted to members of either sex) and pomosexuality (being attracted to people without the distinction of gender or sexuality). There have been many discussions on whether sexual orientation is mostly malleable or predetermined.

The terms gynephilia (sexual attraction to females) and androphilia (sexual attraction to males) are occasionally used when referring to sexual orientation as many find the terms homosexual and heterosexual to be unclear in several respects.

Sexual identity may be used as a synonym for sexual orientation, but the two are also sometimes distinguished, with identity referring to an individual's conception of themselves, and orientation referring to "fantasies, attachments and longings" and/or behaviour. In addition, sexual identity is sometimes used to describe a person's perception of his or her own sex, rather than sexual orientation. The term sexual preference has a similar meaning to sexual orientation, but is more commonly used outside of scientific circles by people who believe that sexual orientation is, in whole or part, a matter of choice.

"Minn tími mun koma!" (My time will come!)

Indeed her time has come. Jóhanna Sigurðardóttir (I just love Icelandic names!), the originator of this iconic phrase in the Icelandic language, is an Icelandic politician and the current Prime Minister of Iceland.



Just this Sunday gone, 1 February 2009, she became Iceland's Prime Minister after the previous government under Geir Haarde tendered the resignation of the coalition government to the President. Coincidentally, she is a woman who is also married to another woman in civil union. Her current life partner is, author and playwright, Jónína Leósdóttir.

Although many people in the West have already dubbed her the first female and first openly "gay" head of government of the modern era, most people in Iceland do not seem to care. As long as she can do her job right, who she is or what she does seems to matter very little.

In the Philippines however, if I may inject, even your least popular neighbour is bound to be in the headlines the minute he/she opens up to "liking" someone of the same sex. I just wish they would care less about the things that do not concern them.

Wednesday 4 February 2009

Mga Bagong Kautusan Sa Lansangan



1. Ang mga lalaking mahilig bumukaka sa mga upuang pangmaramihan ay tutuliin upang magkaroon sila ng angkop na dahilan upang bumukaka. Ang mga tuli na ay tutuliing muli.


2. Ang mga taong hindi makapag-abot ng bayad kahit wala naman silang mga katabi ay lalagyan ng pandikit sa puwet upang habang buhay na itong nakadikit sa upuan.

3. Ang mga mahilig pumara sa maling babaan ay pabababain sa gitna ng kalsada upang makipagpatintero sa mga rumaragasang sasakyan. Kapag sila ay nabangga, sadyang iiwan ang kanilang mga bangkay sa kalsada ng limang araw upang maging babala sa iba.

4. Para sa mga bus na tayuan, ang mga mahilig lumugar sa harapan kahit sa Cubao pa sila bababa galing Ayala ay gagawing konduktor.

5. Ang mga sinungaling at suwapang na konduktor na mahilig magsabi ng maluwag kahit masikip na ay siyang pauupuin sa sinasabi nilang maluwag.

6. Ang mga driver ng jeepney na mahilig tumigil sa walang katao-taong lugar upang magpuno ay sasakyan ng mga ligaw na kaluluwa.

7. Ang mga mahilig sumingit sa pila ng LRT o MRT ay gagawing bag inspector upang sila na palagi ang nasa harapan ng pila.

8. Ang mahilig manulak sa LRT o MRT ay ipagtutulak ng tren kapag ito ay nasira.

9. Ang mga kotseng mahilig sumingit sa trapiko ay gagasgasan ng kaha (kung bago ang pintura) o bubutasan ng gulong.

10. Ang mga mahilig magtapon ng resibo ng tollgate sa lansangan ay gagawing street sweeper. Kung ipahihintulot, maari rin silang gawing puno.

11. Ang mga traffic enforcer na mahilig mangotong ay tatanggalan ng suweldo. (Please help me think of a harsher punishment here.)

12. Ang mga motosiklista (motorcyclist) na mahilig humagitgit at humarurot sa lansangan ay pilit na ipapanuod ng "The Goriest Road Accidents on Earth"; papanuorin nila ito ng isang linggo habang kumakain.


There. Did I miss anything else? Please let me know.