DGTE-CBU-DVO Trip
Last December 19, I left Dumaguete to go home to Davao via Cebu. I had the chance to meet some of my friends in Cebu. These are some of the pictures that we took despite the fact that time was running short. I was supposed to board the plane at around 6:00 in the evening but unfortunately, I was stuck in traffic and the plane left without me. Anyway, it doesn’t matter. I enjoyed their company.
The Palengke Senator
Sen. Mar Roxas, known as the charismatic and maka-masa Mr. Palengke and known to be as one of the staunch supporters of the Anti-Gloria and Anti-Cha-cha movement, joined the rally yesterday to express their “righteous anger” against the revision of the Constitution through a Constituent Assembly.
“Putang ina! Patayin ang Gloria-forever Cha-cha na ito!”, screamed Sen. Mar Roxas during the rally.
Mr. Senator, there are proper channels to express your disgust with the government. Publicly cursing the government and uttering profanity in front of thousands of Filipinos (including nuns and children) are not what I expect from you.
Mukha ngang bagay talaga sa iyo ang tawaging Mr. Palengke dahil sa bunganga mo.
User Interfaces: the mouse and its cousins
The computer mouse just turned 40 years old earlier this week. And from the time it was first demonstrated by Douglas Engelbart in 1968, it evolved from the one-button device made of wood to the present day 2 to 3-button device that comes in different sizes, shapes, and colors.
Undeniably, the computer mouse helped us over the years to interact with the computer but with the advent of single-touch and multi-touch interfaces today, users are slowly moving away with the point-and-click interface using the mouse.
Single-touch interfaces were developed in the early 80s. It uses a touchscreen panel where it could only sense a single point in the screen. This is common in PDAs and early laptop touchpads.
On the other hand, multi-touch interfaces allow users to touch multiple points in the screen/touchpad using highly-sensitive pads, light emitting diodes and cameras that can capture both heat and pressure.
This technology was first seen in phones when Apple, right after it acquired Fingerworks, launched the iPhone in 1997.
Jeff Han, founder of Perceptive Pixel and developer of the multi-touch interface first seen in TED (Technology, Entertainment, Design), is also one of those who took user experience to a whole new level. The idea behind Han’s multi-touch screen system is that users can directly interact and manipulate objects, pictures, sound, and some desktop applications using their fingers (plural form).
So what can we expect from user interfaces in the future? Honestly, the possibilities are endless. But there’s one thing for sure: We will surely have the best user experience than any computer mouse could offer.
Plurk + Facebook = <3
I just migrated to Facebook after Friendster had a problem with missing friends. For now, I am sticking to Facebook. And just recently, my plurks can now be read by my facebook friends using the new API.
However if you don’t want your Facebook friends to read your plurks, you can always check “Don’t post to Facebook” option.
Why I teach?
While I was in my class the other day, one of my students asked me, “Sir, why did you become a teacher?” I did not respond to her question for a couple of minutes. Instead, I just smiled at her and continued with my discussion.
The moment I stepped out from the classroom, I reflected on her question.
Working as a supervisor by day and a teacher by night is not as easy as it sounds. Juggling my precious time is no easy feat especially when I get off from my 1st job at 5 in the afternoon and rush immediately to my second job. Tardiness is not an excuse. A minute wasted because of tardiness is a minute wasted from a student’s learning.
So why did I choose to become a teacher? Let me first present some facts about our country today.
A lot of Filipinos students right now are taking Nursing and Business courses. It’s a reality, right? Everywhere you look, nursing schools and review centers are sprouting like mushrooms.
According to CHED’s Statistical Bulletin last 2004-2005, 19% of tertiary students all over the country, both in private and in public/state colleges, are enrolled in medical and allied health courses, 22% is enrolled in business related courses, and only 15% is enrolled in education science and teacher training courses. However, the number of nursing enrollees is increasing each year due to the demand of nurses abroad.
If this trend continues, less and less students will enroll in other courses, particularly and most importantly in education science and teacher training courses. Consequently, we will have fewer teachers in the future. In fact, our country is starting to lack competent teachers.
Perhaps this is one of the reasons why there is a decline in terms of quality in nursing education despite its sudden “boom”. According to CHED, the 2004 Nursing Board Exam had a 49.40% national passing rate. A year after, it slightly went up to 51.69%, but gradually decreased to 45.17% in 2006 and 45.44% in 2007.
In addition, a survey from the Health Alliance for Democracy (HEAD) showed that 85 to 90 percent of nursing faculty members in our country are planning to work abroad.
The question now is: who will teach these students if our teachers continue to leave the country? I’m not just referring to teachers who teach nursing. Some of my teachers in IT, in fact, already left or are planning to leave the country.
Basically, I am doing my part. Even if it’s just in a small way, I am serving my students, my community and, ultimately, my country, as well. Even though teaching is not financially rewarding compared to other white-collared jobs, seeing the spark of learning in my students’ eyes is just enough for me. I believe that I am contributing and setting them to a right path towards success both in school and in their lives.
So why I chose to teach? Simple. I want to make a difference. If you also want to make a difference, teach. Together, we can make this country stand in its own feet again. There will come a day when we don’t have to go abroad to work and earn money. Our teachers will soon retire from their jobs. Some will leave this country. But we can’t blame them. We shouldn’t allow that someday our students will face an empty blackboard with no teacher to teach them. It’s time for you to make that move and make a difference. Teach.
Philippines Dictionary Project launched
What started out as an experimental program to a local public school in Negros Oriental, the idea of book loans suddenly grew into something bigger and better.
Ms. Nina Patawaran, a dedicated supporter of children’s literacy in the Philippines, together with Silliman University and with the support of the Department of Education, recently launched the Philippines Dictionary Project last November 7, 2008.
The project aims to provide dictionaries to poorly funded public elementary schools in the form of a book loan.
However, interested schools will be asked to pay a rental fee of PHP 500 per school year for the 50 dictionaries to be lent out, which will help defray Silliman University’s expenses particularly with the protective book covers.
The project uses the Scholastic First Dictionaries (ISBN 0439798345). It’s fully illustrated but has a few words in it. It also doesn’t use the convential phonetics found in most dictionaries.
Source: The Scholastic Store
Scholastic First Dictionary. Source: http://www.scholastic.ca
Selected public elementary schools will now be able to access these high quality, age-appropriate dictionaries that would otherwise be unavailable in their respective communities.
I had the chance to talk Ms. Nina Patawaran and she said that some of these dictionaries were even donated by some of her friends coming from different nationalities (Greek, Brazilian, British, American, etc.). She even had an officemate (a janitress in their office) who donated one dictionary for the project.
It’s nice to know that the rest of the world is helping for this project. Whether you’re rich or poor, Filipino or not, you can help in this project. If you guys want to be part of the Philippines Dictionary Project, you can contact Ms. Nina Patawaran at philippinesdictionaryproject@gmail.com or Chiara Cruza of Ayala Foundation, Inc. at (+632) 752-1101 or email her at cruza.cl@ayalafoundation.org.
Cash donations go to the Ayala Foundation, Inc., an established non-profit organization in the Philippines. Donations in kind are also welcome.
NOTE: My Disclosure Policy
On Loving
This is my first and hopefully my last blog about love. I’m not comfortable writing about love but this is definitely worth pondering on. A friend of mine posted this in Friendster.
“True love is a rare gift, which not all of us find in life and most love sayings agree with this perspective. This is true especially in a romantic love context. Love does not imply joys all the time, in fact, we come to know from love sayings that love has both seasons within it autumn and spring.
Love sayings make the affect of joys and sorrows of love all the more strong. Love saying talk about all sorts of experiences in love, good and bad simultaneously.
It often happens that we fail to discern between true love and obsession or lust and in this case, we find lots of love quotes explaining deceit in love. You can find lots of love sayings lamenting the loss of love while at the some time, there are endless quotes which celebrate the joy of.
The numerous love sayings confirm the infinite aspects of love and experiences of different lovers. Despite the endless experiences and expressions of love, it is a universal emotion and it remains the same in all sorts of love; all love saying articulate the same essence of love only the expression is different.
Coming up with your own love sayings is a great way to express your personal perspective towards love. Love has many aspects and everyone has a particular view about it, as they describe in their personal love sayings.”
I see you nodding your head. True, eh? Leave your insights.
