Sa Borobudur

Borobudur is a ninth century Mahayana Buddhist monument in Magelang, Central Java, Indonesia. The monument comprises six square platforms topped by three circular platforms, and is decorated with 2,672 relief panels and 504 Buddha statues. A main dome is located at the center of the top platform, and is surrounded by seventy-two Buddha statues seated inside perforated stupa.

The monument is both a shrine to the Lord Buddha and a place for Buddhist pilgrimage. The journey for pilgrims begins at the base of the monument and follows a path circumambulating the monument while ascending to the top through the three levels of Buddhist cosmology, namely, Kamadhatu (the world of desire); Rupadhatu (the world of forms); and Arupadhatu (the world of formless). During the journey, the monument guides the pilgrims through a system of stairways and corridors with 1,460 narrative relief panels on the wall and the balustrades.

Evidence suggests Borobudur was abandoned following the fourteenth century decline of Buddhist and Hindu kingdoms in Java, and the Javanese conversion to Islam. It was rediscovered in 1814 by Sir Thomas Raffles, the British ruler of Java. Borobudur has since been preserved through several restorations. The largest restoration project was undertaken between 1975 and 1982 by the Indonesian government and UNESCO, following which the monument was listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Borobudur is still used for pilgrimage, where once a year Buddhists in Indonesia celebrate Vesak at the monument, and Borobudur is Indonesia's single most visited tourist attraction. - wikipedia

Photo courtesy of May Velous/Malaysia

How media failed in covering terrorism (Some thoughts from a conference)

Misreporting of information is one reason why the situation hasn't improved in the fight against terror. Media is partly to blame. The basics of journalism were not observed. In most reports multiple sourcing were not used, words were used without any definition, jargons were all over stories.

These were some issues raised in one of the sessions in this week's intermedia dialogue in Bali. There were more issues/concerns raised. There were long discussions, lengthy meetings, debates, like in any other meeting.

So what's the next move? Where is the media in this age of globalization going? Will we continue to be relevant to our readers? Is there really a difference now between what we call the Western press and those working in countries like the Philippines?

You can imagine how difficult it is when more than a hundred journalists from almost a hundred countries come together in one room and talk?

The atmosphere is different in the evenings when they gather in the hotel bar to share a beer and talk about their exploits. Conferences like this is a kind of soul searching for us in the media.

Bali

7 May 2008
11 p.m.

Just got out of the hot tub. I just have to have a smoke. I deserve a hot bath and a stick of cigarette. I have been sitting the whole day in the Third Global Inter-Media Conference here at the Grand Hyatt in Bali, Indonesia. A lot of challenges facing media have been discussed, primarily the problem of corruption and unethical media practices.

It has been a long trip yesterday. I left Manila 8 in the morning, arrived in Singapore (where a Filipina saleslady convinced me to buy the latest Giorgio Armani perfume for men) at about lunch time, took another plane to Jakarta, where I transferred to a domestic airline (Garuda) for the one-hour-and-a-half bumpy plane ride to Bali.

I haven't been around yet. From the airport I went straight to the hotel. It was already evening, so there was not much to see along the way. An expensive batik polo shirt was waiting for me, courtesy of the Indonesian government, for the formal dinner in the evening with the Foreign Minister. It was a fun night of Bali culture – dance, songs, etc – that I was moved to buying two carvings – an Indonesian rice god and Rama and Sita.


I spent time attending all the sessions, taking down notes, interviewing media experts from around the world – about a hundred-and-thirty of us – and, of course, eating. I had three medium grilled lobsters during dinner the first night!

So now, to my cigarette before I indulge myself with a restful night that I haven't had for some time now.

Yogyakarta photos

In Bali and Yogyakarta

Pinoy humor daw (forwarded)

Mrs. Tanoy is a very kuripot Ilocana. When her husband died, she inquired with the newspaper, asking the price for the obituary.
The ad taker said: "300 pesos for 6 words."
She said: "Pwede ba 2 words na lang? 'TANOY DEAD', para mura."
Ad taker: "No Mom. 6 words is the minimum."
After thinking for a while, Mrs. Tanoy said: "Ok, para sulit ang aking pera, ilagay mo, "TANOY DEAD, HIS TOYOTA FOR SALE."

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Boy: Nanay, anong ulam natin?
Nanay: Tignan mo na lang dyan sa ref, anak.
Boy: Eh wala naman tayong ref, di ba?
Nanay: O, e di wala tayong ulam. Konting common sense naman dyan!

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Caloy: Tay, di ba sabi mo bibigyan mo ko ng P100 pag pumasa ako sa Math?
Tatay: Oo. Bakit, pumasa ka ba?
Caloy: Gud news, tay! Di ka na gagastos ng P100,
bumagsak ako.

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Man at 33 quits smoking. That's Will Power
At 43, quits drinking. That's Will Power
At 53, quits gambling. That's Will Power
At 63, quits having sex. And that's Power Failure!

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Kano (trying to speak Tagalog): Meg-kanow isang kilow mang-gow?
Tindero: One way.
Kano: Meg-kanow?
Tindero: I sed ONE WAY.
Kano: Aynowng ibig sabeyhin ng one way?
Tindero: Isang daan. Understang?

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Erap: Kalokohan! Di ako naniniwala! Walang taong ganun kataba!
Loi: Saan nanggaling ang balitang yan?
Erap: Dito sa dyaryo. Sabi; "British tourist lost 2000 pounds."

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MMDA (with pen and ticket to a traffic violator): Name?
Foreigner Driver: Wilhelm Von Corgrinski Papakovitz.
MMDA: Ahhh okay...(sabay tago ticket)...Next time be careful, ok?

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BF: Sunduin kita mamaya ha. Bubusina nalang ako pag nasa harap nako ng bahay nyo.
GF: Sige. Anong kotse ang dala mo?
BF: Wala. Busina lang!

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Nag-aapply si Tomas na security guard...
INTERVIEWER: Ang kailangan namin ay taong laging may suspicious mind, highly alert, insistent personality, strong sense of hearing with a killer instinct. Sa tingin mo ba qualified ka?
TOMAS: Sa palagay ko po hindi. Pwede po bang yun misis ko nalang ang mag-apply? Very qualified siya dito.

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Always remember, when SHE cancels a date, she has to. But when HE
cancels a date, he has TWO.

Do delinquent bloggers go to hell?

There's always a reason.

There's no time. I'm too busy. I have a lot of things to do than blog. I don't even have time to read.

I have been a delinquent blogger, so punish me.

* * *

Ms Joan suggested the book, and I went hunting for it.

"Do Travel Writers Go to Hell?" is a fun read and brought my mind away from the troubles of May Day and the demands of work. (Aside of course from the problem of money that seems to preoccupy our every waking hour.)

Thomas Kohnstamm is a travel writer who, at one time in his life, studied Latin American Studies in Stanford. He has since wrote for various publications, including Lonely Planet.

"Do Travel Writers Go to Hell?" is not a tell-all book about how stupid people are to read travel books (especially the Lonely Planet). It's a book that tells us how some travel writers feed us bullshit and how most of us swallow everything - hook, line and sinker... and the whole shit.

By the way, got to go. I have to look for some travel guide for my trip to Bali.

Notes on proteins, the Nobel Prize, the secret of life

It was a privilege to meet and listen to the distinguished Nobel laureate Aaron Ciechanover who talked about "Life and death - Why our proteins have to die so we shall live."

Some things he said just hit me.

He observed that people these days seem to be always in a hurry - for a deadline, meeting friends, getting rich, getting famous, winning awards. Where are they hurrying to really? He said most are really rushing to nowhere.

One secret of success is just making the right choice and doing what one wants to do. When you make a mistake, you just turn around, like when making a wrong turn you just make a U-turn and start again. One can't just be wrong the second time around.

For a Nobel Prize winner, he was so candid to advise people not to be too serious about awards, prizes and recognitions. One must be serious about what one does, he said. After winning the award, he said he still has to wake up early in the morning and go to work. There's no vacation in life.

Another secret of success/life, he said, is selecting the right teacher or mentor.

Then he talked about proteins. He said 10 percent of our proteins are destroyed every day. It takes 15 to 20 days to destroy it all. If you think that when you look at yourself on the mirror it's the same face that stared back at you two weeks ago? You're wrong, he said. It's a new face because all your proteins have already been replaced.

The roles of intracellular protein:

1. Quality control
2. Control of processes
3. Differentiation and morphogenesis

Thanks to the work of Professor Ciechanover it is possible to understand at a molecular level how the cell controls a number of central processes by breaking down certain proteins and not others. It led pharmaceutical companies to initiate efforts to develop medications, and one successful drug to combat cancer is already on the market, with many more in the pipeline.

He said people are living longer these days because we have been defeating diseases through science and because we have learned hygiene. He also said that people are not getting older because age is a matter of spirit and what one can do.

Although he said a lot of alternative medicines and homeopathic practices might be effective, many still haven't passed the scrutiny of scientific investigation and proven scientific standards. People should be educated about science, he said.

He advised governments and authorities to give importance to people's access to medicine. He said drug prices are high because some people want to take advantage of others.

He said: "We live in a complicated world of corruption and stealing."

Professor Ciechanover is a 2004 Nobel Laureate for Chemistry and a Distinguished Research Professor in the Faculty of Medicine of the Technion Institute of Technology in Haifa, Israel.

Born in Haifa, Ciechanover received his Master of Science in 1970 and his MD in 1975 from the Hadassah Medical School of the Hebrew University in Jerusalem. He received his doctorate in medicine in 1981 from the Technion and has been a Distinguished Research Professor at the Center for Cancer and Vascular Biology and the Director of the Rappaport Family Institute for Research in Medical Sciences at the Technion. In 2004 he shared the Nobel Prize for Chemistry with Professor Avram Hershko, his teacher, and Professor Irwin Rose for the discovery of ubiquitin-mediated protein degradation, a mechanism by which the cells of most living organisms cull unwanted proteins.

On Eco, Pacquiao and nothing at all

While thousands of Filipino Catholics wave their "palaspas" and as priests sprinkle Holy Water on the faithful, I browsed Umberto Eco's "On Literature," a collection of essays, articles and speeches.

I was waiting for Manny Pacquiao and Mexico's Juan Manuel Marquez to exchange blows early on Palm Sunday when I wrote this to while my time.

Eco is supposed to be a hard read until one plunges into the text and enjoy the stories that support his insights.

Reading Eco is not unlike watching, or preparing to write about boxing, especially if one is not really a fan of the sports pages. One only appreciates the game when blood starts oozing from under the boxers' eyelids.

One has to plunge into the experience (when reading Eco or watching Pacquiao and Marquez). It's like learning how to swim in a river in one's hometown during the first few days of summer after school closes and the grading cards are distributed to excited parents.

Unlike boxing though, there are no fast and hard rules in learning, or in swimming, or politics in the Philippines, for that matter, if one's goal is only to enjoy a great book, the cold water or the wheeling and dealing of politicians.

Eco would even suggest, in his "On some Functions of Literature," to penetrate the "textual labyrinth...like a knitting needle going into a ball of wool" with the use of the electronic hypertext.

(Yup, that's computer programs available free on the Internet that allow us to write stories as a group, "joining in narratives whose denouement one can change ad infinitum.")

"Hypertextual narrative has much to teach us about freedom and creativity," Eco writes.

It's not so unlike the feeling one gets after watching a good fight when something within seems to rekindle one's interest to visit a gym or start a serious health regimen, not to be a fighter like Pacquiao, but just to look good in a summer outfit for a walk on the beach one early summer morning.

Dream on.

A gift for myself on my birthday