Profiling The Blogger's Workplace

Maybe we now have close to 40 million blogs around the globe, and still counting. We have been served up a plethora of insights about who these bloggers are and what they blog about. We invariably catch passing glimpses of them around town, in WiFi hotspots lugging their laptops. We see them in airports parlaying waiting time to rapt sessions on the web reading or writing blogs. We know friends who are bloggers and in personal conversations, they tell us about themselves and their blogs. Many of the more successful bloggers came from mainstream media and so we have known of them previously as journalists. In fine, we do pretty much have a good profile of who the more visible bloggers in our virtual world are.

But they do not account by any estimation for the bulk of bloggers. And precisely because these are members of the “citizen journalism” caste or more popularly, members of the Pajamas Media, they stay and lurk in anonymity, creating their blogs and reading other blogs in the privacy and secrecy of their little worlds at home. And indeed, mostly attired in their creased pajamas, lingerie, shorts, and I’m quite sure, a number bare naked at their computer table their fingers humping at the keyboard as they create their blog entries.

Click to read more.

Differentiating Between Walking And Jogging

Anaerobic thanks to French left-wing media and intellectuals for now providing us with a more esoteric comparison between walking and jogging.

The Belmont Club links to a news item which essentially criticizes newly-elected French President Sarkozy for electing to publicly take up jogging, rather than the more stately and revered art of walking. And the left-wing critics are irked even more because Sarkozy on several occasions opted to wear his favorite NYPD T-shirt during his public jogs.

Anyway, according to these same intellectuals, “Western civilisation, in its best sense, was born with the promenade. Walking is a sensitive, spiritual act. Jogging is management of the body. The jogger says I am in control. It has nothing to do with meditation."

Now I may not be an impartial observer since I jog regularly, but I also participate in long walks on occasion when I get more time to burn with my extra calories. I find both practices exhilarating and invigorating. And thus, many of us similarly inclined may find the entire issue at the very least, quite silly.

But walking is meditation, and jogging is not? Now, that is quite a wimpy stretch. Any uncorrupted mind can meditate in most any situation or form of activity the person may be engaged in.

For this I am reminded of a sermon from long ago given by an old grizzled Jesuit father to a group of antsy teens forced to hear Mass in the middle of a torrid summer noon. He intoned, a pastor was giving a sermon on prayer and praying to his diverse parishioners in some rural town of the south. He proceeded to ask his parishioners in attendance what would be the proper way or position to pray. Each parishioner gave his or her own version on how to pray - kneeling down with hands clasped close to the chest, sitting down with eyes closed and lifted up, etc. In short, all pious motions in obvious respect for the Almighty.

Until, one timid black man in the back started his turn and said he was confused why they should have special set positions in order to pray properly. And he proceeded to unravel his case. One day, he said, while fetching water from narrow and dark well, he fell and landed head first at the shallow bottom of the well. He thanked God that the water was shallow and did not drown him. But for God's sake who was going to save him from his predicament, since he could not move an inch, or lift himself out of that well, and worse, pretty soon the water level will rise and drown him? So in that most unusual position, he prayed to God like he had never done before.

And later on, some kindly soul got him out of the well, feet first. Now that was one effective prayer!

One commenter (RWE) at the Belmont Club had a thoughtful comment:

To the contrary, I have enjoyed many reflective moments during my runs, and once I even wrote a whole paper in my head during a run; the topic was options for launching the X-33 from Cape Canaveral. I probably have gotten even more useful thought out of my runs than my daily walks with my dog.

But I have found that I can run quite a bit faster if I don’t think about anything but running. Concentrating on speed really helps - but it is not nearly as much fun, and the effort required has nothing to do with physical exertion.

I agree that one could productively do a lot of mental gymnastics during runs or jogs, and personally, many knotty problems have been resolved during regular jogs.

But unfortunately and I surmise I speak for many of us, we do a lot of thinking, daydreaming, and more typically listening through the ear buds of our MP3s, because we do not want to be reminded that we are indeed jogging and not sitting down and enjoying a thirst-quenching Gatorade. Jogging is still a very irksome and wearisome rote and the less we are reminded that we are actually doing it the better. And thus for us, singularly focusing on the run, may not make us run further. We are just glad to be done with it without really being ever-alert that we are actually doing it.

And RWE ends with this tail-end snipe at the French. I suppose that he just couldn’t end without the obligatory sharp retort.

Maybe the president of France could take up bicycling – but, come to think of it, since Lance Armstrong came along perhaps that is not very French any more, either

And if I may add, isn’t American Tour de France winner, Floyd Landis, about to be exonerated of charges against his most recent tour win?

Religiosity From The Past

(Click images to enlarge)My late maternal grandmother was of great religious faith, having been born and raised in the City of Cebu, Cebu, one of the islands in the Visayas Region of the Philippines. On this city was planted the cross that circumnavigator Ferdinand Magellan used to symbolize the archipelago’s being deeded and dedicated to Mother Spain as her own; and which to this day, that religious symbol still stands on the very same site and securely protected inside a kiosk

My grandmother was quite steeped in the diligent practice of the many enduring rituals of the Catholic Faith. Said her rosary regularly, read from her many missals and devotional prayer books, went to Mass during Sundays and holydays and other days when able. Everything done in Spanish, the language she was taught by her elders.

Click to read more.

A Second Look: On Microfinance

While I have had many looks on the subject of Microfinance over these many years, it might be apropos to give it that old college try of laying out all the possible unvarnished results, both pro and con, on the subject. Especially given the wide acclaim and commendable laurels now heaped upon it by the global community, capped recently by the Nobel Peace prize choice of the father of the movement, Mohammad Yunus.

Now since global attention has been riveted to it, promises of billions of dollars more have been generated and gathered for its many ambitious plans. The august United Nations has lent its own somewhat tarnished credibility by posturing a more aggressive stance against the worsening global poverty and promising to promote microfinance activities. In the process, bringing in hardy support from the private sector, ranging from an unlikely ally in the person of a George Soros and from the usual overnight billionaires, the likely benefactors of the tech era; and yes, even internationally-revered banking institutions like Citigroup and Deutsche Bank have joined in . Thus, to date billions of dollars have been marshaled around the globe to fund various microfinance projects from an array of institutions all united under the umbrella of microfinance institutions (MFI).

So, is global poverty on its way to a museum as Mr. Yunus forecasted for Bangladesh?

First, some sobering generalizations before delving into the particulars.

1. Is poverty, whether globally, country-wide, or even community-wide, completely eradicable? The realistic answer would be NO. Even the most prosperous country in the globe, the US, unabashedly declares its own poverty rate at double digits, 10-12% of total population. So imagine how much truly more in countries like China, India, and countries in continental Africa? Did not even our Judeo-Christian master, Jesus Christ, admit that “the poor will always be with you”? Thus, even granting the best of human conditions, poverty will continue to stare mankind in the face in its many ugly manifestations The best that can be done is to “alleviate” it as much as is humanly possible.

2. Microfinance is not the one singular wooden peg that when applied can nail global poverty to its coffin, rather think about it as one of many nails applied to a cage to keep pernicious poverty at bay and not allow it to rampage through entire communities or countries.


3. Somehow like any newly emerging solution Microfinance has to evolve into as many manifestations as may be required by unique sets of circumstances prevailing through the very diverse regions of our geography.

Once our diffused perceptions about Microfinance get grounded on the harsh realities detailed above, then maybe we can view and use it in manners befitting our reasonable expectations of it.

But first, the escalating and stark presence of poverty globally could no longer be ignored in the august chambers of international bodies and even in the ornately-adorned corporate boardrooms. These people knew that some things urgent had to be done to address it, or even the promised equalizing benefits of globalization will fall to naught.

And the microfinance movement was germinated to address that huge chasm that forever alienated the poor from having access to credit and resources that would allow them to alleviate their dire conditions. The movement gathered steam and now was become a world-wide movement, supported and participated by a myriad of organizations most with the clout to gather and generate billions of dollars of resources.

And microfinance, or microcredit, or micro loans, have become household names empowering countless numbers of the poor to get control of their miserable lives and help themselves with the resources now available to them.

But our No. 1 assumption above tutors us that the “poor will always be with us”, we can only alleviate conditions from among their numbers. Thus, we are now shown that by and large microfinance has helped those primarily above the poverty line, rather than those in the lowest rungs. And we can find the easy answer within our very own human nature. Unfortunately, not many of us are born or were designed to be entrepreneurs, to use tools (resources and skills) to catapult ourselves way beyond subsistence levels. Many of us are simply good at being good industrious employees or followers. Enterprising capitalists will have to show us how to optimize our earning capabilities and productivity. And also, with very meager resources, the poor’s capabilities to take risks are severely restricted, inherent business risks in economic activities that could bring better results.

In its earnest efforts to operate microfinance as a “market-based” business, we are finding out that at times interest rates charges are higher than what other more informal sources like moneylenders charge. Thus, in effect those microcredit clients are not getting optimum impact from productive endeavors they are engaged in. Thus, many continue to wallow in the mire of subsistence levels.

Therefore standing alone microfinance cannot hope to tackle the formidable task of property alleviation, regardless of the ardor and/or resources ploughed to it.

A three-pronged approach is recommended, adding big business and the government into the mix.

We have learned that markets alone, however free and equitable, cannot stand the rigid tests required for an effective solution to global poverty. Labor-intensive Big Business with its acquired capabilities to generate good-paying jobs, their being able to avail of economies of large scale, their deep pockets to afford them to use new and leading technologies, and very importantly, their abilities to improve individual workers’ productivity opening the avenue for them to earn more from their labors and thus improve their collective lives, are a good instrument for poverty alleviation. Entrepreneurs should be goaded and/or encouraged to spread their reaches to those areas in dire need. And in an imperfect world of finite resources, many instances may require that elusive capital be devoted to endeavors generating more jobs rather than to nobler endeavors such as microfinance activities

And for their part, governments should undergrid free markets with serious and earnest support, so as to become vibrant and effective participants in bringing about change. For there are certain common-good activities that governments are tasked to perform as primary responsibilities for their very existence, monopolistic public services that should form the basic infrastructure from whose level property alleviation should start from. Such basic services as public water, farm-to-market roads, public power and energy, public waste disposal, and yes, public health care.

Right now situations abound where even if the poor have considerably improved their lot and yet they still are unable to avail of some of the most basic of public services such as good potable water and sanitary waste disposal systems.

Thus, this irony. Where one capital city in South Asia boasts of an astronomical increase in the number of cell phones owned by the residents, and yet, 50% of them defecate in public because they have no toilets.

How sad, indeed.


Related reading.

The Evolution Of The Affordable Computer

In the not too distant past, I had prided myself in having built my own PCs (desktops, specifically) at prices considerably lower than prevailing market prices for similarly-built units.

After building, tweaking, and upgrading countless PCs both at home and work, I finally ended the personally-commissioned project, capping it with a PC that had a total cash outlay of $140.










I had proudly thought then that it would be a while before commercial versions of PCs could top that record. Granted that some parts used by me were salvaged from some junked PCs.

My unheeding pride came crashing down when Nicholas Negroponte of MIT came out with his $100 laptop project some years back. This commendable project, primarily intended for distressed countries which suffer from affordability problems, continues to this day and one can follow its successes and grandiose plans on its wiki site.

Now, comes this latest news from Popular Science:


The $72 PC






Click to read more.