In Search of General Perfection

The top five of the moment:

5) It has been a while since I've blogged, and I have been missing opportunities to write about the past few current events, one of these being the death of Corazon Aquino. If you are unfamiliar with Filipino History, she was the first president to to be democratically elected after the collapse of Ferdinand Marcos' nearly 20 year dictatorship. She coincidentally became the first female Filipino president as well. Corazon Aquino climbed the political ladder practically overnight after her husband Benigno Aquino was assasinated on the tarmac of then Manila International Airport in 1983. What made her so popular even at this point was that she was never involved in the mess that is Filipino politics (she was a housewife before she became president), which was something the country needed after two decades of total corruption and oppression.

Even though my parents moved to the US by the time Marcos was kicked out of office in 1986, I still know the stories of how my mom and dad's families were "involved" during Marcos' regime. I have an uncle on my mom's side who was actively a part of the protests against Marcos. There were even many times when my grandma had to hide his protest papers every time the government searched through their house. My dad and his brother was arrested by Marcos' cronies when a neighbor accused them of conspiracy against the state (my grandparents and that neighbor were not quite in good terms). The only reason the arrest made it through was because the neighbor knew someone high in the government chain, which is a testament of the widespread of corruption within the Filipino government. My dad and uncle were housed in Malacanang Palace for a few days, and then they were released and exonerated. Apparently my grandma heard about the arrest while she was vacationing with my grandpa in South Vietnam (my grandpa's story as an OFW is just as crazy). She also knew someone in the Filipino government...the personal secretary to Imelda Marcos.

While it is true that the Philippines is arguably still in a tight bind, especially with Gloria Arroyo in power, at least it is not in some crazed military dictatorship during the Marcos years. There are those that still remember and wish the times of Marcos, the years of massive infrastructure improvements and relative safety. On the other hand, would anyone of us trade our freedoms and liberties for the sake of "safety"? I think this was the argument during the 9/11 years in the US. We can definitely argue how a democratic republic may not be the best government for everyone, but whenever I hear someone argue this, I always remember the quote from Winston Churchill: "It has been said that democracy is the worst form of government except all the others that have been tried."

Well, except China, but that's for another discussion.

4) I usually don't read the random Xanga entries that get emailed to me (If you have a Xanga account, you know about this). However, there was one that caught my eye. In South Korea, they computer generated the ideal Korean woman by putting all the features of all the most beautiful Korean female celebrities together. They came up with this:



What's so crazy about this (and what the Xanga entry pointed out) was that she doesn't look Korean. Rather, she looks like a Caucasian...a white person! Perhaps this would be the same result if we combined the features of other ethnicities as well. At the end of the day, perhaps our ideal person is a white person.

Regardless of the argument, I don't know about "ideal", but she is beautiful and worth the effort to ask her out.

3) Is it me or are there more assholes in the road than I remembered? The one thing I noticed about NorCal driving is that it is slow or that there are people that drive really fast but don't know how to drive well (if that makes any sense). There are definitely people who don't know how to drive in SoCal as well. However, I love that they drive faster AND they have a better idea of how to do it.

And the biggest assholes on the road...old people! I hate them so much. Either they are the worst drivers on the road or that they are total pricks and tailgate you like no other. It just makes me more unsympathetic about old people.

2) There was this article about a guy who decided to live without money. Yes, you read that correctly. He lives in a cave and scavages for food and clothes. He has a blog as well, which he maintains using the internet at the library. He doesn't even take advantage of government assistance since that is still using money, our money! He's like a modern day John the Baptist sans any of the religious influences. One of the quotes he as to why he just decided to give up on money was:

Money represents a lack. Money represents things in the past (debt) and things in the future (credit), but money never represents what is present.

How fucking profound is that?! Money and possessions is just a concept, an idea, even though I and virtually everyone else buys to the idea that money is my way of survival and physical bliss. However, he is definitely bold and brave to live off the grid and without cash. It is definitely not a lifestyle for everyone in the modern world, but is just rather "innovative" considering how much we do depend on wealth to make a decent living.

The actual article is here. It is just awesome.

1) There was another article that came out stating that organic food had NO health benefits. FINALLY my justification to despise organic food even further. It makes conceptual sense. Organic apples are like mass produced apples. The only difference is that mass produced apples may be genetically altered, or have artificial pesticides, but they are still apples! They have the same nutritional facts as the organic one.

Now I respect those that buy organic because they have a concern as to how this animal was treated or how this head of lettuce was grown. However, my concern is rather how it tastes! Also, those pesticides or those genetically altered seeds may have a negative environmental toll (which was beyond the scope of this study), which makes organic foods more environmentally friendly. HOWEVER, if you believe that organic food is OVERALL healthier than the mass produced food, then I and this study strongly disagree. Besides organic food is more expensive than the mass produced version, which in my eyes makes it rather elitist. If we are going to solve world hunger, organic foods is probably not the best solution. I doubt that some starving kid in a village in Africa is going to ask where did his food come from. I will admit that certain organic foods tastes much better (for example, tomatoes or steak). But that's it. It's not healthier. Deal with it.

My goal of living healthier is not by eating organic, but rather eating less! Just eat less food and save some money at the same time. How about that?

The article is located here.

That is all.