InForNation | MagandangBalita.com

Ladyshwalla, the bride-to-be, twitted a link from a Saudi online paper entitled “Imagine a World Without Filipinos.” Initially, I thought it was the email that circulated where hospitals, oil tankers, the IT industry, call centers and many other sectors plunged into chaos when Filipinos suddenly disappeared.

To my pleasant surprise, it was an article by a Saudi national. It spoke of how dependent they have been on Filipinos. And the clincher:

We should pay respect to Filipino workers, not only by employing them but also by learning from their valuable experiences.

Wherever the Filipino worker maybe, in Saudi, Canada, Singapore or Makati, Tarlac or Naga - you are held in high esteem.

Coincidentally it’s the birthday of Jose Rizal today.

Filed under InForNation, Inspirations, People

Go to the Naga City market. On the level (is it second or third) where the chapel is, something smells fishy. It reeks, it stinks.

But in a weird kind of way, you’ll like it. It’s called “badi” in Bicol or “tuyo” in Tagalog.

Dried fish.

Some of them can really get slaty, though there are unsalted variants. When you do get the more salty ones, I would advise you to wash them (that’s what we do) to lessen the salt strength. I’m willing ot bet soaking them in vinegar would also do the trick, specially with the dried squid. I suppose frying them and adding sugar would give you a sticky, pungent but tasty provincial fare.

Does that make you salivate and want to reach out for sinangag and suka or kamatis?

The smell is not as bad as it seems. Just imagine yourself eating breakfast on a drizzling cold morning. Goes well with black native coffee.

Filed under General Interests, InForNation

• 1 comment

Pan - entire; Gaea - also spelled as gaia - meaning earth. Pangea Day, literally Entire Earth Day.

This is not about the Earth Day celebrated some weeks back (though I’m all for that too) where we turned off our lights for one hour. This is about a dream come true about a dream. A dream shared by everyone on earth.

Her dream: World Peace, like you, me and the beauty pageant contestant. It is really our desire, right. But we ask ourselves “But what can one person do?” I think she asked the same question and she came up with a first step: To meet together. I agree.

From Pangeaday.org

In 2006, filmmaker Jehane Noujaim won the TED Prize, an annual award granted at the TED Conference. She was granted $100,000, and more important, a wish to change the world. Her wish was to create a day in which the world came together through film. Pangea Day grew out of that wish. Watch Jehane Noujaim’s 2006 acceptance speech now.

Pangea Day, the day the world comes together through film.

Pangea Day is over and many Asian countries, including the Philippines, as Technogra.ph blogged, missed the four-hour event because of the time difference. Though we didn’t get to participate actively, it was just the beginning. There is still a lot to do.

Am just wondering if any Filipino film maker submitted, or any Filipino was part of any film or organizing the event, or if there was a Philippine representative in any of the seven cities where the event was. It would be great to hear (or read) first hand info with a Pinoy perspective.

If it’s any consolation, we could trace Pangea Day to a Filipina who had an influence on Jehane. In her 2006 TED talk, she mentions a certain exchange student named Donna from the Philippines.

From the TED talk video:

“A long time ago, about forty years ago, my mom had an exchange student named Donna.”

(Note the Rosary, Missal and “Belo”)

(Donna eating ice cream.)

“And this is Donna teaching my Aunt a Filipino dance.”Unmistakably Filipina, either an Igorot or Muslim dance.
Anybody who knows her? Where is she now, the Filipina behind Pangea Day? Might be a great story for FilipinaImages.com.

Images captured from the TED.com talk.

Filed under Bright Ideas, General Interests, InForNation, Inspirations, The Future

• 3 comments

5 AM. Along the road towards the highway. We are heading home, back to Manila after a week of vacation.

The farmers are already up and about. A few jeepneys and trucks have begun their route. The day has begun, we have a long trip ahead of us.

Five hundred meters from the railroad crossing is a stretch of several fields. On ther right, a majestic sight greeted us.

What a beautiful going away gift God gave.

A new dawn. I feel it empowering me with renewed energy and vigor. It was as if my whole being basks in the glory of a new day.

Life is awesome.

Filed under Simple Joys, General Interests, InForNation

• 2 comments

Lately, I have been getting more invites and updates from Multiply, Friendster, Facebook, LinkedIn and other social networks that I’ve signed up with. Truth to tell, my initial thoughts on these were not quite positive. I just joined to check what they had offer and have a “presence” just in case I can use them later. That was about the time when Web 2.0 and social web buzzwords were fairly new and unproven.

A conversation with an educator friend convinced me that these tools were ripe for the picking so to speak and will continue to be used in several ways. Communities are being built and developed around these sites and applications, and people are finding all sorts of uses. What used to be the realm of “just hanging out online” is now “collaboration, advocacy, communication, contribution, connective and collective.” This is not to say that everything is good and rosy. Like any other tool, it depends on how you use it.

Little by little, I am now integrating social media and web 2.0 in my digital lifestyle. Not because it is hip, but because I find value in them, and foresee that it is a great avenue for education, communication and collaboration.

You might notice that I’m putting in Twitter in the sidebar. If you follow me at http://twitter.com/junasis, you will only receive good news, info and quotes. I am now looking into integrating my posts into the social web pages. I’d also like to see my blogs adopt web 2.0 tools, specially upgrading the Wordpress versions and putting in useful widgets. Maybe re-designing it to be like a dig-like site, contributory and user-driven. If someone can help me make this happen, I am open to collaborations.

Filed under Bright Ideas, General Interests, InForNation, BlogLight

• 4 comments

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