What are we to imitate?

Original link for the story

How could a mere homo sapiens imitate Jesus Christ on his walking on water? Remember, He is also spirit - of a level very much different from man's category, therefore capable of doing things man cannot do.

This is also not the point Christ wanted to make. We are not to imitate His miracles. If we are to imitate Him, it should be in loving our brother as He had exemplified. Love, He said, is the greatest commandment that man must follow.

The story exemplifies the great accountability of anyone preaching for Christ. If one lacks understanding, then he may not have been appointed for the job.

Hanging young girl for "having a sharp tongue"

Original link for the story

Everywhere you go, you can read of Freedom of Speech being nailed to its cross many times over in a day. Or so they thought.

However, Freedom of Speech is a spirit.

It cannot die – as long as there are fighters willing to fight for it.

If the young girl's sin was only in reminding the religious judge “to punish the main perpetrators of moral corruption not the victims,” who do you think is more in the right?

Who has killed more, Satan or God?

Original link for the story

Wrong mathematics! How could satan have killed only 10? Killing is not just physical! The worst kind of death is spiritual and satan has caused many to die that way - and is still at it.

Katrina rescuer is sued by boat owner

>>>>> A Broadmoor man who said he rescued more than 200 residents after commandeering a boat left by a neighbor during the flood after Hurricane Katrina is being sued by the boat's owner for taking it "without...

In case of emergency, asking permission for the use of anything takes a backseat. Where life is at stake and societal interest is concerned, the owner of everything is the owner of owners. How base to stoop that low. Are the lives of 200 dependent on his measly permission?

Da Vinci coders vandalising

Original link for the story

Such kind of treasure hunting now validates the brainsick effects of that Da Vinci novel. Meanwhile, Dan Brown can just laugh out loud at these fools believing every fairy tale he has churned out while he enjoys his money without any sense of responsibility.

Research - not an excuse for lazy bones

Original link for the story

Young people need to be trained to wake up early. Therefore, they should sleep early to be able to do this. If melatonin after puberty does not show up until 9 or 10 p.m. or whatever time, the child is still responsible for seeing to it that he or she is out of bed to do his tasks at the proper time. Waking up early is a healthy habit to develop.

Classes are not the only reason for waking up early. There is making use of the daytime responsibly to consider.

Research on melatonin should not be used as an excuse for lazy bones. At best, melatonin comes on from 10 p.m. to 2 a.m. and one must take advantage of that by sleeping. Whatever one is doing at the time it comes on, it does not deflect from the fact that everyone is given an equal number of hours each day and an equal number of hours each week. It is then the lookout for everyone to use time responsibly.

Telephone and Internet communications intercepted

August 18, 2006: An excerpt from a story in The Detroit News

Bush wiretaps illegal

Feds will appeal Detroit judge's ruling

By GREGG KRUPA

Let’s see what happens next. This is great America. Let’s see the example she gives to the world. In other countries like Maharlika, the President can easily escape from persecution, thanks to her party mates and the influence of whatever church group favors her.

Where telephone and Internet communications are intercepted without warrants, in the local level, it can always be done. Now, this is a test case for America. Let's see how American justice can be any different.

For terrorism you say?

Johnny, How did you know?

Tips For racial profiling (by BigBadJohnny)

My friend,

How did you know all these things? It looks like a case of just answering the police officer in a manner just to save one's skin. But after that, what? And how can you be so sure of your liberty after mouthing out lies?

Why should I deny that I believe in a Supreme Being? Will the police take my lie for his question?

Oh, Johnny, come on! You're like one teaching children with lollypops still in their mouths. Have you forgotten that people now stand more for their rights, and speak out their minds? Are you not tired of being bullied that long? I would rather tell the truth than expect lies to protect me.

Here's to freedom!

The Problem is that IQ is not EQ

Original link for the story

Commendable! You can only find one in a million people like this. Unspoiled by materialism, power, and attention. However, I think he is over-doing it to the point of making such an attitude a liability.

If the story is true - 1) that he is unemployed, and 2) that he is depending on her mother’s $74 pension, then spurning a million-dollar prize for his solution to a century-old puzzle known as the Poincare Conjecture is indeed foolish.

Imagine what a million-dollar prize would do. If Grigory "Grisha" Perelman did not want the money, then he could just donate it to charity. Wouldn’t he be able to help his mother a lot with this money instead of being a burden to her financially? If his mother knew of his decision, would she be happy with this “innate modesty” of his son?

The story presents a side of him, too, as having been affected with what people thought of him. It is said he was not re-elected in the Steklov Institute in St Petersburg as a member in 2003 wherein he suffered a crisis of confidence and since then set himself apart.

Now that Perelman has shown himself smarter than most, his shunning a prize and lack of interest in it all the more shows him as proud and incapable of adjusting to the flaws of others. Well, after all, research says intelligence quotient is not necessarily emotional quotient.

When we think about it, our gifts are not exclusively ours. They were given for a noble purpose, therefore, should not be taken lightly as absolutely ours to decide what fate they would fall under. We could use our gifts and what influence and good they bring to help other people and society as a whole.

News . . . . Here it comes

Animal Compassion Like no Other

Original link for the story

Man can learn from such show of animal compassion. It would do a lot of good for society if this kind of monitoring translate into documentaries and finally into movies for wider viewing. In our day-to-day concerns sometimes we lose awareness of others and show no concern for their suffering - much less want to do something, although we see them very much in need of our understanding.

Go, Research and Talk about Depleted Uranium

Re: U.S. Soldiers are Sick of It

Associated Press 10:20 AM Aug, 12, 2006
Original link for the story

A letter to the soldiers:

Yes, please do research. That is the only recourse for anyone wanting answers. Radiation is really invisible, tasteless, has no smell and its presence very hard to prove.

One thing though that you have to be ready to face is this: Any stand on depleted uranium (DU) needs a study or research for basis. Research to be conclusive of its findings needs numbers “to be clinically significant." In this regard, you will hardly have the required percentage because the gargantuan total population of soldiers expected to have been subjected to depleted uranium must be considered. This is the tyranny in numbers.

A mild example that could be given for this is the case of a cosmetic drug suspected to induce suicidal tendencies. There were several adverse drug reaction reports on this that included psychotic tendencies received by the FDA but it could not stop its manufacture – because of numbers. The British Association of Dermatologists was saying it needed at least 80,000 volunteers to be tested for the drug for findings to be conclusive.

Now, in your case they laugh at your measly 32 because it is “far too small” But 32 is 32 lives, you say? Because the number of soldiers in both Iraq wars is more than 900,000 – and this becomes the so-called population from which you base your sample.

Right, go around and tell your comrades about DU – and its possibilities. Perhaps you might yet save others from becoming zombies like you. While others need numbers in order to move, you have your dear health at stake. There is nothing better than health that man needs to hold on to in order to survive. How else can you think when you also lose your brain to DU?

Postscript: Wired News had reported that this was written by Anonymous, perhaps because I had attended to posting first before updating my account then. Here was my follow up -

I wrote this letter. And I am responsible for...janeabao on 08/14/06 4:55 GMT

I wrote this letter. And I am responsible for what I wrote. I am wondering why it came out as written by "anonymous." Please make the necessary correction.
janeabao

And this guy backs me up!

"DU is 60% as radioactive as natural...yogrr on 08/15/06 8:53 GMT

"DU is 60% as radioactive as natural uranium". Technically true, but uranium can't be found in "pure" form in nature. It is mined from rocks containing about 0.1% uranium oxide. On the other hand, depleted uranium shells used by the U.S. Army contain 96.5% uranium. That explains why the alloy used in DU shells is actually hundreds of times more radioactive than any uranium ore found in nature.

None among the Foolish shall Understand

Evangelicals urge museum to hide man's ancestors
By Mike Pflanz in Nairob

Original link for the story

From the title alone, Telegraph is in no better position to understand man’s creation than the reporter. To say “hide man’s ancestors” is already assuming that indeed man has evolved from apes! How ready are you to accept such a conclusion?

Granting that man has evolved, why did man today have to stop evolving from his present self that he fails to come to a higher level of understanding and insist on believing he has evolved?

There is no stopping those who prefer to remain fools. Those who refuse to believe that there is a higher being and that man has a better destiny than just evolve, are part of those prophesied to lack understanding. Indeed, the Bible says, none among the foolish shall understand.

Measuring the Preacher Soriano of Dating Daan

Re: Movie-TV board suspends Brother Eli’s ‘Dating Daan’
By Bayani San Diego Jr.
Inquirer
Last updated 00:54am (Mla time) 08/13/2006

Published on page F1 of the August 13, 2006 issue of the Philippine Daily Inquirer.

The reporter wrote: Laguardia quoted the memo, which stated: “[The] utterances of Soriano… constitute a violation of Section 3, par. (c), v and vii of Presidential Decree No. 1986 and its Implementing Rules and Regulations.”

When you write news and you mention a law or statute or whatever regulation you said is being violated, you should spell out or at least give a gist of the concerned regulation. At least when you do this, you preclude mistaking paragraphs that are supposed to be violated. In this regard, I think your writer is mixed up in mentioning the supposed paragraphs. Paragraph v is about drugs.

I have scanned for that regulation from the Internet and this is what it says of Section 3, par. (c), v and vii of Presidential Decree No. 1986

SECTION 3. Powers and Functions. - The BOARD shall have the following functions, powers and duties:

c) To approve or disapprove, delete objectionable portions from and/or prohibit the importation, exportation, production, copying, distribution, sale, lease, exhibition and/or television broadcast of the motion pictures, television programs and publicity materials subject of the preceding paragraph, which, in the judgment of the board applying contemporary Filipino cultural values as standard, are objectionable for being immoral, indecent, contrary to law and/or good customs, injurious to the prestige of the Republic of the Philippines or its people, or with a dangerous tendency to encourage the commission of violence or of wrong or crime, such as but not limited to:

i) Those which tend to incite subversion, insurrection, rebellion or sedition against the State, or otherwise threaten the economic and/or political stability of the State;

ii) Those which tend to undermine the faith and confidence of the people in their government and/or the duly constituted authorities;

iii) Those which glorify criminals or condone crimes;

iv) Those which serve no other purpose but to satisfy the market for violence or pornography;

v) Those which tend to abet the traffic in and use of prohibited drugs;

vi) Those which are libelous or defamatory to the good name and reputation of any person, whether living or dead; and

vii) Those which may constitute contempt of court or of any quasi-judicial tribunal, or pertain to matter which are sub-judice in nature.

Provided, however, That deletions or cuts must not be made on the master negative of the films, and that such master negative shall be deposited with the Film Archives of the Philippines and shall be released for export purposes to the film owner only upon showing of the proper export permit; Provided, finally, That the film owner shall execute his own undertaking that such master negative shall be exclusively used for export purposes and not for local showing;

To supervise, regulate, and grant, deny or cancel, permits for the importation, exportation, production, copying, distribution, sale, lease, exhibition, and/or television broadcast of all motion pictures, television programs and publicity materials, to the end that no such pictures, programs and materials as are determined by the BOARD to be objectionable in accordance with paragraph (c) hereof shall be imported, exported, produced, copied, reproduced, distributed, sold, leased, exhibited and/or broadcast by television;

Respondent Eliseo Soriano can be better appreciated for his merits or demerits by looking into where he comes from.

First, Soriano is a preacher tasked to spread the word of God. Second, because of his mission, he has the Bible for his authority on the width and breadth of his speaking. Therefore, in case of conflict, he would take the first cause.

Telling the truth – if only to use it for the spread of God’s word, has no limits. For example, what bad practices he sees that must be stopped, Soriano would tell it as it is. Otherwise, he would fail in his mission.

This is the lot of a preacher faithful in his mission. He would willingly suffer than fail in his task. Let the whole world be against him but he has his God to satisfy. Laws that are man-made, if they contravene God’s word, are toothless. He has a more powerful God to obey.

Sharpening the Mind

FOR Asad Yawar (AlexYawar)
Is the Internet killing the Protestant work ethic?
The World Wide Waste?

The Internet is viewed differently by each worker. It depends upon the individual really – whether she uses it for just playing, whiling away the time for chatting, trying to win games, or enjoying some shows.

There are others, however, who make use of the Internet in the most positive way, looking for ways to improve themselves. In between heavy writing tasks, they would take time to shift attention by reading publications, reacting to them, or developing their own blogs. I refer to this group that lately got media attention. In cyberspeak, they are referred to as bloggers that media now considers as possible source for news, opinions, and ideas.

These kinds usually are into many sites - of critical thinking organizations, of language experts, and of several writers’ groups and news organizations. They are there to read ideas, react, and contribute their share sometimes by writing. They do this as diversion. And in doing so, would they be considered wasting time?

In the long run, they can contribute to the organization just by developing their thinking. As such, they will have earned their salaries in a more profound and lasting manner as they use their minds in speaking at meetings, in writing for publications, in research, in proposing for changes, in reaching out to policy makers, and many more. The trick is in being able to set a balance so that work itself does not become the diversion while navigating the Internet becomes the rule.

The truth is, we do not measure productivity by constantly making sure that workers pound directly on the product. It is best that they take time to calibrate their mind, which is the necessary tool for thinking.

koteet, 2006/08/13 00:38

Don't abandon questions

FOR Deepak Adhikari (deeplog)
A Nepali Journalist Abroad - OhmyNews International
An interview with Dharma Adhikari on blogs, citizen journalism and mainstream media

"So write with empathy, not cynicism."

I hope you don't mean readily believing what one sees and hears. When one is a critical thinker, she takes things slower than most others, asking herself why, why, why.

koteet, 2006/07/31 14:31

Female Bus Driver Accused of Raping Boy, 13

Original link for the story

The details in the story are scanty. The writer should have written more backgrounder for reader appreciation. But the topic is quite alarming!

Male or female, the evil knows no gender. This is so because the adversary - who uses willing people - knows that he has but a short time left.

Listening to radio a matter of life, death

JERUSALEM -- A radio station that broadcasts silence has become popular in Israel since the war with Hezbollah began a month ago.

Original link for the story

War and its cruelty has always been with Israel ever since. Rooting from the biblical times, every child born an Israelite will have to be a war baby. He then has to live through life - running away as if forever. Somehow, Israel had its fill of “favored nation” history, which may explain why it has to deal with wars until now – small but protracted – as though needing to learn a lesson. But isn't this the lot of those being loved and cherished?

Blogs in Research Too

Article Feedback
For Article: Bloggers as Sources: What's Your Take?
Posted by Jane Abao 8/8/2006 9:26:08 PM

I don’t come mainly from a news organization but I do write news. In writing for news, I have not thought of using blogs as... I don’t come mainly from a news organization but I do write news. In writing for news, I have not thought of using blogs as my source. However, I had tried using it for research.

There was a time I had to look into [Product A] and its so-called prime, and its relationship to [Product B], another competitor. This calls for user input, I thought. I did not have the luxury to do surveys as my primary obligation was to write - from literature.

I was blessed to find blogs of one who seemingly acted as press relations man but not quite. He was writing about the sponsored surveys of [Product A] and giving out statistics, and developments regarding the product. I had included his write-ups in my review since they were not opinion pieces. Moreover, his blogs had allowed a comments portion where users were able to argue their cases.

In his blogs, I was able to collect a good portion of comments from direct users of both products from the United States and United Kingdom - debating well on the issues. From there, my research was enlightened about one category and that was location of users. At the same time that some of these commenters accused the blogger of public relations, they wrote very useful information.

In a set-up where the piece is followed by comments from the public, I guess blogs can be useful even in news. What is important, I think, is not in their identity because bloggers use only user names, but what information they were sharing. In the case I am discussing, the main writer whose writings were being commented on, had his full name in the very first piece he wrote for the company. I had to trace it from there and that’s where I discovered he was being introduced as an intern from the University of Virginia. This information was very important to me, as I was able to identify him in his subsequent blogs.

To me, my research was enhanced by my inclusion of those information from the blogs.

The Ism or the Journalists?

Article Feedback
For Article: Citizen + Pro Journalists + Money = NewAssignment.net
Posted by Jane Abao 8/7/2006 7:44:26 PM

The Newsletter of August 7, 2006 on the line-up for seminars at the right portion says CitJ + Pro Journalism? By Amy Gahran. However, on... The Newsletter of August 7, 2006 on the line-up for seminars at the right portion says CitJ + Pro Journalism? By Amy Gahran. However, on clicking for contents, I found Amy talking about Jay Rosen’s Citizen + Pro Journalists + Money = NewAssignment.net.

I say, there is a world of difference between talking about the ism and talking about the mix of journalists. Citizen Journalism already claims it is a mix of citizen journalists and professional journalists. I had expected a discussion on the ism as promised by the tickler first mentioned.

On the ism, how does one do this despite the fact that the two work on different paths? For example, while one would go for inverted pyramid, the other one comes in whatever form. While one comes, following time-honored approaches, the other one follows an uncharted path. While one comes edited, the other one comes pristine, unedited, fresh from the citizen, etcetera.

How does one ride astride these two horses? Is it possible?

Being an Intellectual

FOR cobert (criticalthinking.org)

You Otta Be an Intellectual!

My interest in ‘disinterested knowledge’ has led me to many of your discussions on the topic in the following sites aside from the Criticalthinking Forums: 1) James Randi Educational Forum, 2) Hypography Science Forums, 3) PhysOrgForums, and 4) ShadowsIntheCave.com. I don’t know where else you log in.

I find you are yourself a book to read. I will take time to read them all – in my already tight time. It is better than the senseless communication people today spend time in. At least I know I wouldn’t be wasting precious time.

In some of these sites, you leave some personal touch and it is easier to understand you because you leave some history of your thinking on some constructs.

Thank God for the kind of people like you.

Masturbate-a-thon?

Original link for the story

What kind of Reutersspeak is this? Because public masturbation is encouraged to raise amounts, are we now going towards public sex? And for how much per time, per exposure? Are we now that destitute for money? Heaven forbid that we all be punished for these. May only the masterminds have their due.

Gestation in 20 Seconds

FOR Matt Pressnall

9 months of gestation in 20 seconds

So where is motherhood in the whole scheme of things? This video may be funny but has no sensitivity for womanhood. It maybe all right for entertainment in the homes of those concerned but not for public consumption.

How far are they going to tear eve for laughs? As it is, being woman is already being minority. If you make merchandise of this video, it is already perversion on your part. But the more hell for those who have conceptualized this.

What makes us human?

FOR Dr. Armand Leroi
Imperial College London

Re: The unfortunate 'rat people' of Pakistan could provide the answer.

What makes us human? Not this gene or that gene. Not being free from being a chua or a rat. What makes us human? It is the capacity to love this kind of people, to accept them as they were made. Or should we make specimens of them as freaks from malfunctioning human parts? How do we know our premise is right?

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/core/Content/
displayPrintable.jhtml?xml=/connected/
2006/08/01/echuman01.xml&site=17&page=0

Missing the water for the cola

FOR Sylvia Rozario
(merinews, Power to People)
Missing the water for the cola
05 August 2006, Saturday

We blame the cola companies, of course, because it is their lookout to make sure that the water they use is clean and uncontaminated. You do not point a finger on somebody assuming he is faultless so that you can be faultless. The government is quite far from the chemical pots of the cola companies. Even if they place proper norms against adulteration, the so-called chemists may not obey them. It does not need an implementor of rules to act before one does his job properly. It is not really a case of stimulus-response, you know. The cola companies are not inert bodies peopled with unthinking individuals. They have minds of their own – even without government cranking norms for them. Therefore, the cola companies take the blame – not the government, not the media.

Why do Bloggers Blog?

FOR Dr. William R. Adan

You wrote: I don't quite understand why some people are in [blogging].

"Blog" is derived from the words web and log. Blogs are the media these days. Blogs may be projected in Google through metadata and they can be scanned when one conducts a search. From there, they can be picked up for use.

Blogs afford the writer some voice and some power. Access to traditional media is limited as we can see.

You wrote: So you don't have to be sad about how events in writing turn out.

Most bloggers blog to be able to respond to events. Without a ready venue for writing, blogs offer a perfect answer to this need.

I have my own blogs, but I stay connected with Poynter Institute and OhMyNews International, and some writers' sites besides. The first is a journalism institute and the other one works along citizen journalism. So I ride astride two horses with differing thoughts. I am curious with citizen journalism and am sympathetic to their cause, but this early I know I lack the nerve to be reading the stories. It needs patience since most citizen journalism outputs do not come in the package and approaches we were taught in school.

I have the hunch that these people are at the forefront today. It also seems they get the more respect. You know how traditional media is detested now because of its failings. And with it, traditional journalists are not looked upon with the same regard they had before.

You wrote: Writing is a grand exercise. Crafting words, lines and phrases excites and disciplines the mind and by itself is rewarding.

I say, you've answered your own question.

Bloggers with a Fight

FOR Marsha Walton, CNN

For Article: Cell phones: A new tool in the war-zone blogosphere
Posted by Jane Abao 8/2/2006 10:35:52 PM

We cannot pigeon-hole bloggers into one. There are some blogs that are as knowlegeable and disciplined as the bloggers could put it - because th...We cannot pigeon-hole bloggers into one. There are some blogs that are as knowlegeable and disciplined as the bloggers could put it - because they have been formally trained in journalism and communication. It is only that they do not have the same exposure as others. This explains why we think this kind does not exist.

Some blogs go beyond what people think as just ranting. They even have a fight focused. I, for one, am fighting against the way people freely use communication as an art - as stray bullets leaving people with plenty of scars. There are many decadent ways communication could go. I zero in on that.

Mountains Are Never Conquered

. . . But try bitterness