The Crucifixion of Cruz.

‘Public Sinners’ as Communion of Church & State

March 30, Sunday, Manila time. It’s the week after Holy Week and I understand some well-meaning Filipinos want to crucify Lingayen-Dagupan (Pangasinan) Archbishop Oscar Cruz for condemning our President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo (GMA). Both are Catholics, one the former President of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines (CBCP), the other the current President of the Philippines. Two wrongs don’t make a right. Two heads at loggerheads are no better. ¶ Where else in the world but in the Philippines where you can witness real-life crucifixions? Click here for full essay

PS,

‘PS comma’ is how to read my little title; it’s a mantra born in my mind just this morning, March 24, Manila time. It is a new mantra for creative thinking; reminiscent of Edward de Bono’s ‘Po’ (no comma), I’m offering it as a mind-blogging phrase for you to mine your gray matter and come out with copious ideas. Contrary to grammatical rules, my comma is not meant to indicate a pause, a temporary stop; instead, my comma is meant to be a prompt, to indicate a request to finish a silent ‘and?’ and a silent ‘so?’ and a silent ‘however?’ and a silent ‘nonetheless?’ and a silent ‘nevertheless?’ and a silent ‘but?’ and a silent ‘for?’ and a silent ‘nor?’ and a silent ‘yet?’ and a silent ‘or?’ Silence means ‘Yes?’ Click here for the full essay

A Thinker’s Faith.

Rebel Thinker Writes, ‘PS, I Love You’

This is Chapter 4 of my book Rebel Thinker Writer’s Guide For Non-Dummies (Chapter 3 is ‘Serendipity X,’ frankahilario.com). This new chapter is about how I can teach you to start writing with a great idea when you have no idea to begin with in the first place! ¶ I want the best for you. And how am I going to give you that? Today, I shall give you a mantra, the likes of which you’ve never seen before – and neither have I, since I just invented it today – the magic of which you don’t have to imagine after this. Click here for the full essay

Your Metaphors Man.

‘The Journey Back To Me’ – Ricky Lee

Truth revealed. There are 3 things that make the Catholic distinct from any Protestant chic: While Protestants believe 100% in the Bible, Catholics believe 100% in the Bible, 100% in Holy Tradition, and 100% in the Magisterium, the teaching authority of the Church. So I say, the Protestants are Okay in that they believe in God 100%; the Catholics are A-OK in that they believe 3 times more – they believe 300%. Of course, I’m a Catholic.

So, what is truth? To the Catholics, truth is what the Bible says, and what Holy Tradition Click here for full essay

An Inconvenient Troth.

The Mess Media In The Philippines

With the Manila Muddle created by themselves, Manila mass media are now trying to control, provide, sell information towards their kind of revolution, which is described by Archbishop Angel Lagdameo, President of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines (CBCP) (abs-cbnnews.com) as ‘a new brand of people power.’ I believe the Archbishop and the arch enemy of every Philippine President, the Manila mass media, are misreading the signs of the times. Or trying to change them. Click here for the full essay

The Stonecasters.

‘We Are Our Own Best Enemy’ – Tony Meer, Filipino

February 25 – 22 years after People Power 1 drove out of this country benevolent dictator President Ferdinand E Marcos, 7 years after benevolent clown President Joseph Estrada was deposed by People Power 2, many jokers and jesters are still trying to stage People Power 3 against President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo. They are the stonecasters at the adulterous woman of biblical times. They hate the sinner, not the sin; if they hated the sin, they would have to hate themselves. ¶ You can hate at your convenience. Click here for full essay

Serendipity X.

The Rebel Writer Writes, ‘To X Or Not To X’

Disorder out of disorder? Yes. That’s the way I know creative thinking begins, with something that is seemingly un-pregnant with the promise of a brainchild. Once you accept that, your days as an un-creative writer are over. Then you will be the father of a brainchild one after another. Prolific. Terrific! Click here for full essay

PC Fools.

The Rebel Writer Writes Of Masters & Slaves

The great science fiction author Ray Bradbury says, ‘A computer is a typewriter. I have two typewriters, I don’t need another one’ (James Hibberd, 2001 August 29, archive.salon.com). So, one of my favorite writers is one of my PC Fools. Having written 107 essays in the last 105 weeks in the American Chronicle alone, edited and desktop-published my own book (read ‘My American Book,’ frankahilario.com), I know that in creative writing, if you don’t fool around with the PC, you’re a fool. Click here for full essay

TLE

‘To love everyone.’ I imagine Jesus Christ answering my unasked question. ¶ ‘Sir, you’re telling me that that is the greatest commandment?’ ¶ ‘Yes, sweetheart.’ ¶ ‘But Sir, why is it the greatest commandment?’ ¶ ‘Simple. Because it’s impossible.’ ¶ One can be so sadistic, really. I understand. I have to. It doesn’t mean I can do it, but if I am to follow, I will will it, will all my heart, will all my soul, will all my mind. Click here for full essay

Ana’s Lament.

Learning Life’s Lessons, Maria Sharapova’s Phoenix Rises

The Serbian loser was disappointed, of course; she had only her tears to show. The Canadian reporter was disappointed too; she had only her complaints to write. They were both missing the point – the January 26 Australian Open victory of the Russian winner was of another kind. It was psychological. It was less a tennis player’s mastery of her opponent than a tennis player’s mastery of herself. Your first and best opponent is always yourself.

It’s a point of view. ‘The tennis was hardly memorable: unimaginative at best, tense, error-prone and mediocre at worst.’ That is Stephanie Myles of Canwest News Service  Click here for full essay

My Law Of Graffiti.

The Rebel Writer Writes, And Having Writ, Moves On

I am not a scientist, thank God. I believe science is too serious a matter to be left to scientists alone. This time I’m going to write about theory and practice of science writing – I theorize, you practice.

Based on his deduction, Isaac Newton comes up with his Law of Gravity in 1687; based on his assumption, Albert Einstein revises Newton’s Law with his Theory of Special Relativity in 1915; based on my intuition, I have just revised both geniuses with my Law of Graffiti, 2008. The British mathematician is revised by the Click here for the full essay

To Harvest The Sun.

To Sow The Wind And Reap The Whirlwind

October 1988: Professor Hartmut Michel wins the Nobel Prize for Chemistry. January 2008: The feisty and prestigious Professor Michel continues to wage a campaign against biofuels, comes to the Philippines and wins over, among others, the feisty & prestigious Philippine Daily Inquirer – he doesn’t win me to his side. Awe-inspiring Nobel Prize winners are not always right, and neither is the awe-inspiring Inquirer.

About all the world’s biofuel strategy, biofuel is tragedy, in effect Michel is saying. More precisely, he calls it Click here for the full essay

The Smart Revolution.

Ethanol Corn Or Sugarcane? ‘Sweet Sorghum Is Smart’
– William Dar, ICRISAT

Sorghum makes a revolutionary theory: Smart! For biofuel, a paradigm shift from American corn to American sorghum, from Brazilian sugarcane to Brazilian sorghum, that’s smart. To make ethanol, corn is fine, sugarcane is sweet, but sweet sorghum is sweet smart.

‘Sweet sorghum is the smart crop,’ Director General William Dar of the International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics (ICRISAT) says over lunch on broiled chicken Click here for the full essay

My Crazy Dozen.

The Rebel Writer’s Guide For Non-Dummies

Who am I talking to this time? They would be public speakers, lecturers, PowerPoint presentors, resource persons, debaters, reviewers, essayists, biographers, autobiographers, authors, ghostwriters, columnists, journalists, consultants, managers, even proposal packagers in science. And why is that? All of them must be good writers first before they can be good at what they’re supposed to be doing. Those who can afford can hire good writers, so I’m not writing for those dummies.

Why am I not writing instead A Writer’s Guide For Dummies? Because there are too many of them already. The non-dummy reason I will not write a dummies’ book for writers is that you can’t write if you’re a dummy. A dummy is thick-headed, dull-witted, dense, unintelligent, boring. Click here for the full essay

100 On 100.

Celebrating Centennials & Counting

A record, I suppose; for the record, I Francisco have written 100 Franciscan essays published online by the American Chronicle in the last 100 weeks, from February 2006 to December 2007. I didn’t count before, but those 100 now makes me feel I count a lot.

100 suddenly is important to me, you understand. I tell you, 100 is a perfect count; I’m 100% sure of that. Literally, the word ‘percent,’ per + centum (Latin), means ‘per hundred.’ Figuratively, 100 means perfect, excellent. In journalism, you write 30 and you’re finished; in science writing, I write 100 and I’ve just began. Click here for the full essay

Lists & Families.

The End Of One, The Beginning Of Another?

Today, December 31 (Manila time) is the day of the Holy Family of Jesus, Joseph & Mary according to the calendar of the Roman Catholic Church worldwide. In the Philippines, the only Roman Catholic country in Asia, the interjection ‘susmaryosep!’ actually has the names of the Holy Family but in a different order: Jesus, Mary, Joseph. The order has significance in Philippine culture, which is familial and, yes, matriarchal: At home, a mother is more important (and more powerful) than a father. The mother mentioned before the father; I don’t know about St Joseph, but as a father, I don’t mind.

I don’t mind feeling less important because I feel that, actually, to the Filipinos neither the mother nor the father is important – the family is. Click here for the full essay

Translating A Hero.

When Words Collide And Meanings Get Lost

Now that I’ve done my own bit of translating 19th century Spanish to 21st century English, I personally know that something is always lost in the translation. In the case of the greatest patriotic poem of that century, ‘Adios, Patria Adorada,’ I hope the loss is not too much of a good thing.

Why did I a non-linguist translate the Philippine National Hero Jose Rizal’s ultimate poem? I didn’t feel comfortable with the translations I had read. While I couldn’t speak Spanish to save my life, I was vaguely unimpressed with what I saw when I compared those translations with the original (consulting the English-Spanish dictionary) and against each other (consulting my own English translation that I kept revising). Click here for the full essay

Inventing A Hero.

Each Of Us Looking Through The Mirror Of Everyday

Every December 30, my country the Philippines celebrates Rizal Day, in honor of Jose Rizal, The National Hero, the one who gave his life for his country showing the fire in his mind when he had the choice to fight with the fire in his hands. Filipino nationalists say he was invented by the Americans. They don’t know the Americans. He invented himself. My hero!
¶ I’m not that kind of hero. So, what kind am I? ¶ I final-edited the book by Glenn May published in 1997 by New Day (Quezon City, Philippines): Inventing A Hero. The subtitle tells you enough of its contents: The posthumous re-creation of Andres Bonifacio. The author casts doubts on much of the bits and pieces of information we know of Bonifacio, the second most popular national hero of the Philippines, by questioning Click here for the full essay

What’s Wrong With Christmas?

Nothing. What’s Wrong With You?!

‘Merry Christmas anyway!’ Whatever Mikep was trying to say in his email, on December 19, I made the mistake of replying to my good friend with that greeting. He emailed back, ‘You know very well Christmas is a pagan holiday. So let’s celebrate!’

That’s a triple strike. One, Mikep is American, pagan – he has no religion; so, let the pagans celebrate! Two, he’s in the USA, I’m in the Philippines. Three, he knows that I, Filipino, am Roman Catholic, and it was the Catholic Church that instituted the celebration of Christmas on December 25, thank you very much. Click here for the full essay

New Gaia Hypothesis.

No Rules, No Borders, No Limits, No Wheels?

You heard it once: ‘Why reinvent the wheel?’ You heard it a thousand times: ‘Don’t reinvent the wheel!’ Once in a while, someone thinks: ‘Why not reinvent the wheel?’ I think differently: I’m a wheel – and I’m reinventing myself.

Earth itself has been reinvented. Aristotle (384-322 BC) saw Earth as the center of our universe; Copernicus (1473-1543) made us see that our Sun is the center of our universe, our planets revolving around it (csep10.phys.utk.edu). (Nonetheless, I say that if you are individualistic, conceited, selfish, lustful, you are Earth around which Planets revolve.) Click here for the full essay

American Corn.

Funny How George W Bush’s Biofuel Trap
Invades Our Animal Planet And We Go Ape

I’m eating Yankee corn, and it tastes funny. Well, I’ve always known that the Americans are laughable. I’m a Filipino.

Actually, I’m not eating corn; I’m eating chicken. I’m eating the chicken that ate the Yankee corn. It’s not funny – it’s expensive.

Actually, I’m not eating chicken. My insides are eating me. You know, I’m debating with myself, and I hate it when I lose. I lose when I eat the Philippine chicken that ate the American corn because it’s hardly affordable. The chicken or the corn? Both. Click here for the full essay

My American Book.

Embracing Science Embracing Faith

A newsmagazine has just given birth to a book by one of its writers; the newsmagazine is American Chronicle based in Beverly Hills, California, USA; the book is by a Filipino based in Manila in the Philippines, Frank A Hilario. The book: Team ICRISAT Champions the Poor, published 2007 November abroad by the International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics based in Andhra Pradesh, India. The book comes with an inside back pocket with a CD, which contains the book itself in portable document format (pdf), that which opens with Adobe Reader. Excellent! Print and pdf in one package: I like to think that that is ICRISAT’s way of saying, ‘You can’t have too much of a good think.’ ¶ It is a think book. Click here for the full essay

December Lights, December Meanings.

Building Individuals Building Institutions
Building A Country Called The Philippines

The History Place (historyplace.com) gives me a good list of what happened or who died or who was born who was important in the month of December throughout recorded time, but it misses on the most patriotic date celebrated in my country, the Philippines: 1896 December 30, in the early morning of which the frightened Spanish conquistadores executed Dr Jose Rizal, a man of peace whose very personality reminded his enemies the greatness his race was capable of. Click here for the full essay

Merry Christmas, Rich!

What Do You Do With The Poor? Wrong Question

Know what? At 5 early this morning, December 11 Manila, surfing the Web, I suddenly realized the New Testament is very funny. Here’s a sample verse, this one from Matthew 11:5 (ESV 2001, semanticbible.com): ¶ The blind receive their sight and ¶ the lame walk, ¶ the lepers are cleansed and ¶ the deaf hear, and ¶ the dead are raised up, and ¶ the poor have good news preached to them. ¶ Not fair! ¶ The national hero of the Philippines, Jose Rizal, himself wrote on the first page of his first book Noli Me Tangere (1887): Click here for the full essay

The Indian Rainmakers.

To Pray For Rain, Build A Pond & Get Rid Of The Witch Doctor

People, water is every country’s greatest natural treasure, I say – no, people are not resources; they’re more – but we take water for granted until there’s a drought, we take people for granted until we know they’re not coming back. That’s when we lose not only the water, not only our loved one but also our reason. We pray.

Governor Sonny Perdue, Pastor Maurice Watson and others prayed for rain on the steps of the Capitol of Georgia, the US of A on November 13; I wrote about it Click here for the full essay

GMA’s Trip To History.

The Gain In Spain Fails Merely On The Plain Of Brain

If you belong to the Filipino opposition, or if you are plain of brain, which may be the same thing, you will not appreciate the fact that because of GMA’s visit to Spain Monday, December 3, the Spanish and Philippine Governments will be implementing infrastructure projects worth a total of euros 206M in the Visayas and Mindanao (Michael Lim Ubac, globalnation.inquirer.net). That’s only an example. That to me proves that the euro has a strong faith in my country as the dollar, Spain as the US. Click here for the full essay

how do you popularize science?

you don’t popularize science; rather, you popularize the demand.

or you match the need with the supply, you don’t push the supply (top to bottom approach in the dissemination of technology; this is supply-pushed) and look for the need; instead, you should look for the need and then supply the technology (bottom to top approach – this is demand-driven). i learned supply-push demand-driven from nsta director general emil javier in 1981 or 1982. he had that good a grasp of technology diffusion, marketing, whatever you call it. want more? click here for the full experience of frank’s stream-of-unconsciousness