Rules for Good Grammar

1. Don’t use no double negatives.
2. Make each pronoun agree with their antecedents.
3. Join clauses good, like a conjunction should.
4. About them sentence fragments.
5. When dangling, watch your participles.
6. Verbs has got to agree with their subjects.
7. Just between you and i, case is important.
8. Don’t write run-on sentences when they are hard to read.
9. Don’t use commas, which aren’t necessary.
10. Try to not ever split infinitives.
11. It is important to use your apostrophe’s correctly.
12. Proofread your writing to see if you any words out.
13. Correct speling is essential.
14. A preposition is something you never end a sentence with.
15. While a transcendant vocabulary is laudable, one must be eternally careful so that the calculated objective of communication does not become ensconsed in obscurity. In other words, eschew obfuscation.

Taiwan’s massive earthquake did a lot of damage to the structures in Taiwan. It caused bridges, buildings and houses to collapse. In the wake of the earthquake, fires have also razed some areas. And that’s just some speculation based on what happened to Baguio, Philippines big earthquake way back when.

So Taiwan is far from the Philippines, roughly about 2 hours of travel by plane. However, the earthquake did not only affect Taiwan but other neighboring countries as well. It affected other countries in an electronic kind of way. The earthquake ruptured or caused a break in the trans-oceanic cables (TOC) connecting the Philippines, in particular, to the rest of the Internet. Well, not all connections were lost, for if it did, I’d be pulling what’s left of my hair. This calamity has also put in perspective how much we rely on “Teh Intarwebs.”

A lot of businesses rely on the Internet to conduct business, especially for call centers, which is currently a multi-million, if not -billion, -dollar industry. Some companies were forced to make their employees leave early because they don’t want to pay them for doing nothing. From a business standpoint, it’s the only way to cut down losses. For the employee, it’s lost income.

Telcos, of course, should not take this situation sitting down. In fact, they should be (standing up and) be doing something. It may take days to repair the damage to the TOCs, but they should be informing their customers that something is being done and how long it should take to fix things without any hitches. Like they already sent a diver with a swiss knife to go down into the depths of the sea and do a MacGyver with some gum and foil. Or something like that.

I, however, can’t do anything but applaud PLDT because my service at home is still up. Hopefully, it stays up for the entire duration that things get fixed. So I can brag about it. LOL.

Besides my applause for PLDT, my prayers go out for all the people who were directly affected by the earthquake. As the saying goes, “When you’re down, there’s nowhere to go but up.”

That was what I am. Emphasis on WAS. Not anymore.

About a year ago, a girl named Nicole met with the worst fate that could ever happen to a person. It was not death. Death would be a far better release from pain than being a rape victim. Yes, Nicole was raped. Raped by fellow humans. Raped by the media. Raped by bigotry and hatred. And it all happened in Subic.

Most rape victims would rather clam up and keep the traumatizing experience to themselves. Nicole did otherwise. It took a lot of courage to come out in the open, relive the experience by telling other people what happened, and waited. She waited for a long time. More than a year to get some results.

What she did had produced results. I just don’t want to think that the case had results because the media was covering it almost vigilantly. It makes you wonder why the media was watching it closely. Well, the accused were not just ordinary people. They were American soldiers. Now this fact makes me cringe. How could four people, who symbolize justice and defenders of the oppressed, be capable of doing such atrocities? In truth, not only was Nicole the victim here. All of those who idolize the Americans and who want to become one were also affected. They were all disappointed. I know I am, for I am also guilty of having a colonial mentality.
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Can your Desktop do this?

This is what my Desktop will look like after I’m done tweaking my Edgy Vaio. This, I promise to myself.

Sweet!

After trying the new shiny on my Edgy Vaio, I found out that my video card won’t be able to handle the rendering of XGL/Beryl.

Another promise broken. *sigh*