The Perils of Phones.

I had Vibber uploaded into my Iphone recently so my relatives in  the U.S.A can phone me and I can call them for free. I have also "facetime" and Skype. And I have "facebook" and internet connection via Iphone.

Then of course, the old reliable email adds to the connectivity to the outside world.

But the other day, one associate informed me that she was texting an important meeting which we didn't receive. The text was sent to a Nokia which we suspect had been acting strangely, meaning some texts are not being processed and received.

The sender was thinking we didn't care about the event, and we were thinking, she didn't call for a meeting.

In today's highly wired world, the technology which is expected to improve mass communication sometimes becomes the source of mis-communication.Why? Because we rely too much on it.

We think that if we email someone, s/he'd see it right away and respond. But we never think that sometimes emails go directly into a receiver's spam folder because of the filtering or privacy settings that s/he had inadvertently done to her/his program.

Or when we send an SMS to someone, we immediately think it's been sent successfully and received successfully. We do not see lag-issues, provider issues, and sometimes, "low-bat" or "no-load" issues. Some phones or providers do not process text messages when the receiver's phone has no pre-paid load, and the message is kept hanging somewhere.

Ourselves, we try to email and text at the same time for important issues and concerns we want known and taken up if we are expected to be the initiator of something.

And of course, a "live call," is always the best, because no load or with load, we can always reach someone.

I remember an old, 1984 phone commercial of AT & T, " Reach out and touch someone." Play it here.

Unfriend friend.

Social networkers amass friends on networking sites to show off to friends the numbers. A lot of times people just point and click without really thinking if someone is worth befriending.

To find and make someone a friend is easy because of the global reach of the social sites.

Getting a friend and kicking out a friend are easy does it.

But what do you do when a friend starts shouting vitriolic attacks against you, posting, as if in blind items usually done by showbiz columnists?

One, you can also deliver punches and blows on line.  Two, you can keep silent. Three, you can send and then exchange private message. Four and if the attacks get worse, you can bring the person to court. 

Friends who prowl and attack on line are cyber bullies. Friends who choose to send private messages to point out issues are prim and proper cyber netizens.

People who get hurt because you didn't buy into their financial woes, or those who dip into existing trivial spats, or those who harass out of ignorance, envy, spite, malice, and pure evilness do not deserve your attention and time, anyway. Unfriending these viles is your best and sane option.

Like Count Dracula, cyber bullies will suck you dry.

Equal Air Time.

Super Bowl is the greatest show on earth that can command a hefty million dollar for a mere 30-second television commercial. Why? Because millions of Americans, and millions of other nationals elsewhere watch its live telecast.

Paying money to have a product or service get noticed by consumers is as old as the Bible. Remember when Jesus Christ drove off the money changers from the Temple? The peddlers were hawking their wares in the vicinity of the Temple, in all probability, screaming, thus adapting a way of marketing or advertising their product.

Ordinary people who want to get noticed employ the same tactic. Whether it is a man or woman trying to seduce a lover, or a child wanting a parent's attention, or a student clamoring for teacher's time, or a politician vying for people's votes, even a malicious person trying to inflict pain on an adversary or an innocent bystander.

In this age of digital information and the Internet, a suitor would use the social networking sites to get into a girl or boy's circle and tweet, post, or chat - and declare his/her interest and intention. Or maybe use a blog to tell his/her story to flaunt his desire.

Being so accessible and being totally free, the Internet is today's POTENT medium of advertising or marketing products, services, ideas and ideals, love and hatred.

People who use the social networking sites to declare love and hatred should be ready for its consequences. If you post a message with the intention of piquing the ire of someone, then beware. The party at the other end is reading and ready to respond!

There are many self-righteous people out there in the digital world who would use their facebook and twitter accounts, and quoting and twisting verses from their religious orientation, to suit their agenda, and attacking those whom they regard as enemies.

Voila, the aggrieved party notices it, and counter attackss - armed with knowledge and pure understanding of issues. Then, the originating party would either clam up, up the ante, de-friend the aggrieved person, or resort to other media to continue the affront, such as spam text via cellphone.

Today's battle, whether between nations or private individuals are fought in a different field. It is waged in the arena of youtube, facebook, twitter, and blogs. Different ideologies are living and breathing in thousands of blogs, corporate giants and ants, governments and all types of local and international agencies and organizations host websites that promote their products, services ideals and agenda.

The private citizen takes care of its own private issues in the same manner: broadcasting through the web and the other public domains and social networks.

It's the reality of today. Face-to-face battle in the public eye.

Just today, the United Nations declared access to Internet as one of the basic human rights.

Everyone in our household is armed for such a battle.

Passwords.

Imagine a never ending pit where digital trash bins are emptied. There, you'd see gazillion data and images being dumped second after second 24/7. You'd see characters - letters, numbers and oddities - flowing down just like lava cascading down a volcano.

You'd see Passwords from people around the globe hanging by the threshold - others jumping freely while others hold on by the side and by the slopes.

How many passwords have you got? How many have you dumped and recycled? How many have you forgotten, and thus disabled your access to certain emails and accounts?

Personally, I've lost track of some email accounts, membership blogs and a couple of important on- line transactions due to my inability to remember some passwords.

Remember, when you sign up for something, you are routinely asked or assigned a password, and the instigator wants you to give a strong password, a combination of characters that are difficult to detect or hack. So you come up with unforgettable ones that you couldn't remember in your waking hours.

I change passwords for emails and facebook frequently to avoid cyberhackers. So I've trashed some wonderful passwords, along the way.

Dumping passwords and deleting files into cyber garbage or recycle bins are no easy tasks. Oftentimes, you move files into the trash but you end up not emptying it. You keep thinking, I might need them later, or do I really have to remove them?

Passwords sometimes become like personal friends or even lovers ; you don't want or you cannot get rid of them, you simply become too attached to them.

I know that.

It seems the whole nation has something to say about Venus Raj, and that includes me.

I see the girl as elegant, beautiful and confident. In my book, she should have gotten the title of Ms. Universe had she answered the question in a slightly different manner.

This is the first time I've watched the Ms. Universe contest in about twenty five years.  Beauty contests are no big deal in Canada and the U.S.A.  

But I'm here in Manila and instead of watching more news of the Quirino Grandstand carnage, I opted to see beautiful women. 

Yes, Venus should have used an interpreter.  Why?

English is not her first language.  It is her third language. Her first dialect/language is Bicolano, second, Tagalog, and third, English.

So when the question was read to her and before she answered, she did some translation in her mind - English to Bicolano, then Bicolano to English.  That will take several seconds.

Her enunciation or pronunciation was great; she was easily understood.

If she used an interpreter/translator, she would have gained more time (first, she already understood the question read in English, second, she could already have formulated the answer by the time the translator read the question in her native dialect).

If she used an interpreter/translator, she would have blurted out the answer in 

Bicolano, not worrying about grammar or use of adjectives or nouns,  Then the interpreter/translator would have used the right adjectives, adverbs, whatever else is needed.

I had several experiences interpreting for Filipinos while working in Toronto.  In my first job in Canada, I was called one time to interpret/translate for a young Pinoy who was a client of Goodwill Industries.  The teen suffered from mental disorder and was being rehabilitated and placed for employment.  His counsellor sought an interpreter to understand him much better, so he could be given better intervention.

In a second place of work, we had a unit called Interpretation Services.  This unit did interpretation for immigrants and new Canadians.  I did several interpretation assignments for this organization.  I remember interpreting for an old Pinay who was being interviewed/assessed in a hospital.  Again, the interpretation service was very vital because the interview/assessment was the basis for medical care she would receive later. 

Although Filipinos are more fluent in English than most immigrants or citizens of other non-native English speaking countries, some Pinoys still need interpreters/translators to be better understood.

In the Ontario province, immigrant tradespeople (skilled labour) who are going to take the certificate of qualification exam to be accepted into their trade are allowed to bring an interpreter during the exam, provided the interpreter is not a tradesperson (e.g not an electrician, nor a millwright, etc).

Having an interpreter in crucial moments is a must.

Remember Mr. Gorbachev, a former Prime Minister of Russia and husband of Raisa Gorbachev?  

He visited the U.S. just when Russia was opening up to the West and the Americans were amazed and ultimately loved him because he gave such beautiful speeches and answers to interviews using an interpreter. President Ronald Reagan who wore a hearing aid heard every bit of word he said. 

It's Okay. Going...Going..

LEFT - At the early hour of the Ondoy flood, in front of my sis' house in Tandang Sora.


My trusted Kodak digital camera was a calamity of Ondoy. It got soaked in my carry on overnight when I rested the bag on a chair that was already wet. I don't want to buy a new camera because I have another spare in TO, so for now, I just make do with my cell phone camera.

This digital Kodak, though about five years old still gave me excellent pictures. So, it was going, going...now, gone. And though gone, it's still okay to call it my own.

It seems true of a package I sent which was left unclaimed; so it was going..going, now gone. And this I can also call my own.

And as to weather upheavals, the fluctuating wind and tempest - I'd rather call them Nature's own.

So if it's just a mirage once more, I'd just call it Nature's call.