Valedictorian Speech With Daria Morgendorffer

I wish MTV stayed cool like it used to be back in the 90s. Smart, thought provoking and brilliant, unlike all the crap MTV spews out now.

I got totally hooked on MTV when I was in high school. Staying up late and sneaking just to see shows like Late Night With Butt-head, Aeon Flux, The Head and The Maxx. I remember my mom used to hate Beavis and Butt-head and gets weirdly angry every time she caught us (me and my brother) watching the show. I don't know, but I could say -- that show mentally devirginized me... then came Daria, which isn't just mentally devirginizing but rather mentally abusing. The perfect show for growing teens! Daria, she actually taught me how to survive high school with caustic wit and a pair of combat boots. Anyway, its script were well-written, the scenes were very realistic and the characters were interestingly funny. I just don't understand why do amazingly well-written shows like this get cancelled, while crap like Family Guy and the Cleveland Show stay on the air? So I'm stuck with seemingly similar shows, South Park and The Simpsons.

Anyway, Daria had its moments, well almost every show. Sarky lines and witty statements all over. Below are some of my unforgettable Daria quotes:

Daria: People call me a feminist whenever I express sentiments that differentiate me from a doormat or a prostitute.

Daria: Unless the problem is, what's for dinner. Pizza can solve that problem quite handedly.

Daria: I have something to tell you two. Tom's not my brother.
Kevin: A-ha!
Daria: He is the mad scientist who built me. He has to hang around in case my internal organs fall out.

Jane: You have to distract Gary...
Daria: How?
Jane: You'll think of something. Use your womanly attributes.
Daria: Gotcha. I'll give birth.
Jane: That'll work.

Jake: Damn it, Daria! I'm not made of money!
Helen: Damn it, those bastards aren't going to take away my days!
Quinn: Damn it, Daria, you could've sounded like you meant it!
Daria: Damn it! It's MY turn to say damn it!

Daria: My goal is not to wake up at age 40 with the bitter realization that I have wasted my life on a job I hate because I was forced to decide on a career in my teens. - (One of my favorite Daria quotes.)

Daria: Like being in love there must be a corresponding painful side like losing in love, it's just a fact of life.

Daria: That's the road to happiness and personal satisfaction. That's why they don't want you to take it.

Trent: You know Daria, sometimes it's hard to believe you're in high school.
Daria: I find the situation unbelievable myself.

Helen: (On reading Daria's career aptitude test evaluation sheet.) A mortician? Your lack of interest in personal interaction makes you an ideal candidate for working with the dead. Daria, have you given any thought to your career plans?
Daria: I guess I'll just wait around for people to kick the bucket.
Helen: I can't believe you're not more ambitious.
Daria: You want me to kill people to drum up business?

Teenage boy: Where were you girls been all our lives?
Daria: Waiting for you. We were born in this room. We grew up in this room. And we're going to die in this room, alone.

Jake: Won't this camping trip be fun, Daria?
Daria: Yeah. Almost as fun as drowning.

Daria: Well, my history teacher hates me because I know all the answers, but there are some interesting idiots in my class.

But the best of them all, of course, was her valedictory speech. I can still hear clearly how she delivered her speech. Monotonous, calm and very Daria.

Daria: Um, thank you. I'm not much for public speaking. Or much for speaking. Or, come to think of it, much for the public. And I'm not very good at lying. So let me just say that, in my experience, high school sucks. If I had to do it all over again, I'd have started advanced placement classes in preschool so I could go from eighth grade straight to college. However, given the unalterable fact that high school sucks, I'd like to add that if you're lucky enough to have a good friend and a family that cares it doesn't have to suck quite as much. Otherwise my advice is; Stand firm for what you believe in, until and unless logic and experience prove you wrong. Remember, when the emperor looks naked, the emperor is naked. The truth and a lie are not sort of the same thing. And there is no aspect, no facet, no moment of life that can't be improved with pizza. Thank you.

Glad that it's now on DVD and I got myself a copy!

SMARTMATIC, not a smart move…

SMARTMATIC, not a smart move…

As far as I have understood from what I have googled regarding the history of AES (Automated Election System) in the US, the study of using this system started around 1960’s. Feb 15, 1965 - Connecticut's Secretary of State, Mrs. Ella T. Grasso, plans to ask the Legislature to amend the election laws to permit consideration of 11 modern voting and counting systems. On the other side of the electronic-unit issue is the position of the Automatic Voting Machine Corporation. Aside from the fact that the use of this technology would be ideal for federal government, the process of adapting the use of AES took them years of trial and error before considering application.

What is it for us?

Manila, Philippines – SMARTMATIC entered the scene November last year proposing the use of their PCOS (Precinct Count Optical Scan) machines aiming a fair, just and fraud-free election. About 50 million Filipinos have registered to vote in the 76,000 precincts using counting machines that would tabulate and transmit results electronically. These machines uses compact flash cards which contains smart algorythm commands to perform its duty and tabulate results flawlessly. According to some source, SMARTMATIC took 2 months to program all of these 76,000 compact flash cards for 76,000 precints and just now, less than a week before the actual election day, we have been informed that 100% of these flash cards contains erroneous program to count local ballots. COMELEC together with SMARTMATIC has to recall all compact flash cards that have been deployed and reconfigure them to read votes for the local ballots and it’s only because of some stupid layout error. If you come to think of it, the complexity of the system is far too ambiguous for us to adapt at this point in time. Re-programming and re-distribution of 76,000 compact flash cards in just 2 days is a tongue-in-cheek statement and could be the downfall of COMELEC and SMARTATIC which may result to failure of election. In return, we would still resort to parallel manual counting and that is obviously pathetic and ridiculous.

How safe are PCOS machines?

In Japan, votes in national and most local elections are cast by writing the candidate's or party's name on a blank ballot paper. In elections for the House of Representatives voters fill in two ballots, one with the name of their preferred district candidate and one with their preferred party in the proportional representation block. For the House of Councillors, the district vote is similar (In SNTV multi-member districts, several candidates can be elected, but every voter has only one vote). But in the proportional vote for the House of Councillors votes are cast for a party list (influences how many proportional seats a party receives) or a candidate (additionally influences which candidates are elected from a party's list). In 2002, passage of an electronic voting law allowed for the introduction of electronic voting machines in local elections. The first machine vote took place in Niimi, Okayama in June 2002. In 2003, a system for early voting was introduced. In the Japanese general election, 2009 a record number of more than 10 million Japanese voted early. Despite Japan’s technological advancement, they’d choose to adapt parallel manual counting system not until 2003.

Now, the anxious us would wonder how safe is it really for us to use these PCOS machines? My answer… We are not safe at all!!! It does not guarantee that these machines would be free from fraud and cannot be manipulated. Actually, it would be a lot easier to alter results. It could be done just by switching re-progammed compact flash cards to PCOS machines in order to manipule the tabulation system.

In conclusion…

The use of the system should not be taken lightly. This should have gone a rigorous study that should have taken years before considering the adapatability of not just our technological advancement but also the availablity of human resources knowledgeable enough to relay the process.

The few months SMARTMATIC spent pushing and forcing the application of the system is not enough to make a certain judgement that we would have a fraud-free and successful election. And I fear and anticipating its epic failure…

The Worst-Case Scenario

Why I have been single for so long...

This made me laugh really hard...

I don't usually write stuff about this and I'm not really too emotional when it comes to this kinda stuff (well, I've learned not to). I'm just that annoyed, but I know shit happens.

A woman not too familiar with me just came into our house bursting into tears, crying out that her husband has another woman. Now my mom, being the president of our subdivision's homeowners association couldn't really abandon her even if she's a total stranger. I, being too skeptic, even thought that her act was just a scam (Budol-Budol in layman's term) but nevertheless we let her in the house as she looks nothing harmful. She said she was a veterinarian with 3 children and had been married for 19 long years. She said she was happy with her husband and her husband didn't show any signs that he was bored of their marriage that's why she never would've thought that something like this might happen. She went to see my mom because the woman her husband is currently seeing actually lives near our house. She said she just wanted to talk and make her point straight to her. She even quoted that she wouldn't make any scandal and that she's far too educated to behave like that. We talked a lot about stuff while I listen to my dismay. You really couldn't tell anyone's current state if they're marriage is doing fine and going strong just by looking at them. Most of the time, those people who looked like they're not having any sort of problems are usually the ones suffering the most. I've met and talked to quite a few from different cultures of different ages. Having talked to these people I can say, I've become too cautious. That if I don't choose well enough, I might end up like these psychologically and emotionally abused women.

Going back, I'm just a bit disappointed of this reality that usually girls always get the blame. The woman the legal wife is talking about is only 22 years old. So young for a 50-ish guy. I even thought after learning that I am 3 years older than her that this would seem like you're making out with your dad or something and that's really gross if you ask me (no offense to anyone). But yet the wife is blaming it all to the girl, with a not-so developed mind (except me LOL) and still inexperienced in terms of morality and spirituality (which I believe you'll only acquire to understand as you age). Isn't that frustrating? Why not blame your husband? He's the one who left you anyhow. He's the one experienced enough to seduce (or even bribe) a woman half of his age. But then again, I don't really know the internal stuff so I couldn't really speak for the wife. The wife must have missed out something. She must have got no time for him anymore. She must have ignored the important things and these small things might cause the husband to grew out of love and grew stale of their marriage and partnership. I don't really know. It must be that the husband is just trying to find a little excitement that once he has when he was younger just this time he got caught uncovered. I'm not sure, I can't speak straight because I've got no experience myself. I'm just an observer.

I just don't get how can a woman of her age get seriously involved with a middle-aged guy knowing that he has a happy family. Is it because of money that you'll turn yourself blind? My rational thought can only think of this one thing. Disgraceful as it may sound, but I can't blame her, money makes the world go round. But then again to get yourself trapped in a pretty much embarrassing situation like this, would you still go for the money or choose to straighten up your life and die with dignity?

You know, nothing is too late if everybody just change. Not just the husband, the wife and the lover but also you and also me. All for the better... (Geez, I'm starting to sound like Karl Marx in search of Utopia! >,<)

Facts About The Esoteric Knowledge

People who don't have enough esoteric knowledge makes this world even worse...

This note was inspired by the people I deal with everyday. I always love the idea of learning a person by playing stupid around them to see their knee-jerk reaction towards the bluntness. If I feel even slightly insulted then that only means one thing, and you should know the rest.

What is Esoteric Knowledge?

Esoteric knowledge, in the dictionary (non-scholarly) sense, is thus that which is available only to a narrow circle of "enlightened", "initiated", or specially educated people.Esoteric items may be known as esoterica. In contrast, exoteric knowledge is knowledge that is well-known or public, or perceived as informally canonic in society at large.

Finally, it can be noted that esotericism, beside its scholarly and dictionary definitions, can be used in a loose, popular sense: not in order to denote e.g. mystical knowledge or practice, but rather informally to mean any perception or knowledge that is for the advanced individual such as theoretical physics, or that pertains to the minutiae of a particular discipline, such as "esoteric" baseball statistics.

My Views...

In short, esoteric knowledge are things you don't usually learn from any standard institution of learning. Esoteric knowledge are acquired either through meditation or contemplation. This could be traced on how you percieve things mainly in your childhood. People with esoteric knowledge are usually mistaken to be passive. Passiveness is totally different from open-mindedness. Open-mindedness shows the higher existential understanding of a person. If you look at some of the monks in meditation at a quantum level, the mind frequency produced in meditation is much higher than a person working out on a sweat which means you are communally being one with the universe.

On the other hand, if we're gonna talk about the telescopic evolution, a segment from my favorite movie "Waking Life," we have had some discussions about the new evolutionary paradigm that connects also to esoterism. If you try to perceive the heavy technical terms, you really wouldn't understand what the man is trying to deliver since the conversation came out naturally, existentialism, it's happening right now, right at this very moment, no pre-organization of thoughts.

Telescopic Evolution Excerpt:

"If we're looking at the highlights of human development, you have to look at the evolution of the organism and then at the development of its interaction with the environment. Evolution of the organism will begin with the evolution of life perceived through the hominid coming to the evolution of mankind. Neanderthal and Cro-Magnon man. Now, interestingly, what you're looking at here are three strings: biological, anthropological — development of the cities — and cultural, which is human expression.

Now, what you've seen here is the evolution of populations, not so much the evolution of individuals. And in addition, if you look at the time scales that are involved here — two billion years for life, six million years for the hominid, 100,000 years for mankind as we know it — you're beginning to see the telescoping nature of the evolutionary paradigm. And then when you get to agricultural, when you get to scientific revolution and industrial revolution, you're looking at 10,000 years, 400 years, 150 years. Uou're seeing a further telescoping of this evolutionary time. What that means is that as we go through the new evolution, it's gonna telescope to the point we should be able to see it manifest itself within our lifetime, within this generation.

The new evolution stems from information, and it stems from two types of information: digital and analog. The digital is artificial intelligence. The analog results from molecular biology, the cloning of the organism. And you knit the two together with neurobiology. Before on the old evolutionary paradigm, one would die and the other would grow and dominate. But under the new paradigm, they would exist as a mutually supportive, noncompetitive grouping. Okay, independent from the external.

And what is interesting here is that evolution now becomes an individually centered process, emanating from the needs and desires of the individual, and not an external process, a passive process where the individual is just at the whim of the collective. So, you produce a neo-human, okay, with a new individuality and a new consciousness. But that's only the beginning of the evolutionary cycle because as the next cycle proceeds, the input is now this new intelligence. As intelligence piles on intelligence, as ability piles on ability, the speed changes. Until what? Until we reach a crescendo in a way could be imagined as an enormous instantaneous fulfillment of human, human and neo-human potential. It could be something totally different. It could be the amplification of the individual, the multiplication of individual existences. Parallel existences now with the individual no longer restricted by time and space.

And the manifestations of this neo-human-type evolution, manifestations could be dramatically counter-intuitive. That's the interesting part. The old evolution is cold. It's sterile. It's efficient, okay? And its manifestations of those social adaptations. We're talking about parasitism, dominance, morality, okay? Uh, war, predation, these would be subject to de-emphasis. These will be subject to de-evolution. The new evolutionary paradigm will give us the human traits of truth, of loyalty, of justice, of freedom. These will be the manifestations of the new evolution. And that is what we would hope to see from this. That would be nice."

It's definitely not transhumanism nor religion nor politics. After watching this movie, this scene, over and over it finally came to me that he was simply explaining about the evolution of man bearing human traits of truth, of loyalty, of justice, of freedom. The new evolutionary paradigm only means that the SMARTER you are the more PASSIVE (in a wiser sense) you get and by this, war and predation would be a subject to de-emphasis, de-evolution. So in return, neo-humans are those who are being selfless, those who have true spirit, those who are open-minded, those who think of helping others, of being equal, of loving everyone.

Realizing these things helped me truly see myself, see what I am right now. Am I starting to become a subject to the new evolutionary paradigm, a neo-human or still on the stage of a Cro-Magnon man whom we cannot blame to embrace war and predation?

After hearing this from a Chemistry professor (Dr. Eamonn Healy - the one you see on the vid), having the vision of a peaceful future, you can't help but be optimistic about it. If this would truly be the track for the new evolution, then I wouldn't worry much about the future...

Mt. Daguldol Trek

What: Mt. Daguldol Trek with NaPoTrek
When: March 6-7, 2010
Where: Laiya San Juan, Batangas

Weekend with NaPoTrek. We decided to trek Mt. Daguldol. It was my first time exploring the mountain but it was a blast.

11th Takbo Para Sa Kalikasan

What: 11th Takbo Para sa Kalikasan
When: February 28, 2010
Where: Quirino Grandstand


DZMM Takbo Para sa Kalikasan has supported the maintenance of over 400 trees in La Mesa Watershed. This time, the fun run will boost the Pasig River Rehabilitation project through ABS-CBN Foundation Inc.’s Bantay Kalikasan.

15th Hot Air Balloon Fiesta

What: 15th Hot Air Balloon Fiesta
When: February 14, 2010
Where: Clark Field, Pampanga

The Philippine International Hot Air Balloon Fiesta (PIHABF) is an annual event featuring balloons from all over the world. Over the years, it has become a convention of sorts including aerosports and other aviation-related pursuits.

Yellow

Took a while to finish this one. Been busy with my studies, events and volunteer programs. I sure do hope I nailed this sunflower art this time and I feel kinda accomplished so hopefully you'll like it too.

Oil Pastel on Canson
New updates about my subject, planning on shifting to painting lighthouses. Was inspired by my aunt's trip to Capones. Hopefully my painting of the below subject would turn out to be something I wanted regardless of my imagined added effects.

Lighthouse in Capones

Coastal Clean-Up and Awareness Concert

Been busy with lots of stuff recently. Sorry for this retro post?!

What: Coastal Clean-Up and Awareness Concert
When: February 6-7, 2010
Where: Alaminos, Hundred Islands, Pangasinan


Recently we did a program for the cleanliness of Pangasinan's coasts and for the awareness of the people to save and restore the coastal mangrove ecosystem.

WHAT IS THE IMPORTANCE OF MANGROVES:

Mangroves are trees and shrubs that grow in saline coastal habitats in the tropics and subtropics – mainly between latitudes 25° N and 25° S. The saline conditions tolerated by various species range from brackish water, through pure seawater (30 to 40 ppt), to water of over twice the salinity of ocean seawater, where the salt has become concentrated by evaporation (up to 90 ppt).

There are many species of trees and shrubs adapted to saline conditions. Not all are closely related, and the term "mangrove" may be used for all of them, or more narrowly only for the mangrove family of plants, the Rhizophoraceae, or even more specifically just for mangrove trees of the genus Rhizophora.

Mangroves form a characteristic saline woodland or shrubland habitat, called mangrove swamp, mangrove forest, mangrove or mangal. Mangals are found in depositional coastal environments where fine sediments (often with high organic content) collect in areas protected from high energy wave action. They occur both in estuaries and along open coastlines. Mangroves dominate three quarters of tropical coastlines.

The volunteers...

Alliance for a cleaner Earth...

Thank God for the backstage pass... LOL XD

Walls of Hope Restoration Program

Follow up updates...

What: Walls of Hope Restoration Program
When: December 20, 2009
Where: Philippine Children's Medical Center (PCMC)


The use of imagery and color can affect the way a person feels. Studies show that therapeutic murals in hospitals provide holistic healing to any child who is about to be examined or given treatment. The presence of these colorful murals is also a powerful way of relieving stress and easing the hearts and minds of its visitors...

Our wall's main theme is the mythical creature Ibong Adarna...

Looks really great from afar...

4th Annual Firefly Brigade Christmas Gift-Giving Ride

Better late than never...

What: 4th Annual Firefly Brigade Christmas Gift-Giving Ride
When: December 19, 2009
Where: Around QC


Each year for the past three years, we don our Santa Claus and fairy costumes to go around Metro Manila to give out lootbags to kariton families along our usual bike commute routes to school, work or errands...

It was fun giving gifts. Self gratifying and soul rewarding...

I'm excited for next year... ^_______^

Made in the 80's...

Kinda bored. So sorry for this totally pointless note?! >,<

Proudly made in the 80's, although I kinda like 70's better...
Best things from the 80's as far as I could remember...

1. MTV
2. Perfect Strangers (It never occurred to me as a child just how queer it was for these two single middle-aged men to be living together... LOL XD)
3. Miami Vice
4. John Hughes movies
5. Eddie Murphy was funny
6. new wave/alternative
7. hair bands/hard rock
8. early hip hop
9. The Fox network
10. Solid Gold
11. Madonna was cool
12. Michael Jackson was cool
13. Debbie Gibson (When pop singers HAD talent, also would add New Edition & George Michael)
14. Back to the Future
15. Fast Times at Ridgemont High
16. Choudenshi Bioman
17. He Man
18. "Weird Al" Yankovic
19. Metallica were underground & had great music
20. Ghostbusters
21. Who Framed Roger Rabbit
22. Walkmans
23. young Jason Bateman
24. Only one lame boy band in the tail end of the decade, not tons like in 1999/2000 XD
25. Pee Wee Herman
26. Nickelodeon
27. No reality shows (Except for the nightly news and very few like "That's Incredible")
28. Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles
29. License To Drive
30. ripped jeans

Wild Flower on Yellow Soil

*While my iPod is blaring out Beautiful Balloon by Mew*

My 8th masterpiece... Nothing much to say but I'd probably rest for a while before creating another... LOL XD

Oil Pastel on Canson

Gumamela

At last I'm back on track... Bright and lively! First time this year I've ever felt satisfied with my work. I hope this level of momentum won't halt randomly... Anyway, my 7th masterpiece... Happy viewing! ^.^

Oil Pastel on Canson
Feel free to comment for future artistic development...

Thanks for dropping by! And I think I run out of Oil Pastels particularly Olive Green and Blush Pink... Oh boy... >,<

Violeta

I have this strange nagging feeling that my art has become denser. I should be more happier of the result but I'm not sure why I feel like something's missing... You tell me! Anyway here's my 6th masterpiece... Happy viewing! :3

Oil Pastel on Canson

Hydrangeas by the Well

At long last I was able to get a hold just a little of my time to finish this. I was not even sure if I still got that Van Gogh impact to it as my artistic momentum got halted for a long period due to unexpected Mafia Wars business. It was a bit off at first but overall I was satisfied with my work. Anyway, here it is...

Oil Pastel on Canson