Gail Ilagan, in a commencement speech she recently delivered, argues that exporting people reflects a warped sense of priorities.

Cebuanos, he said (he is one) are quite thrifty, and so among other things, many tend to still go home for lunch.  He says there really isn’t an office worker culture yet in that city, although a new kind of worker has emerged: the call center employee….  It seems though, that Cebu’s saturated, if this article’s any guide.Here’s something remarkable: Project Gutenberg of the Philippines.Sustainable Business praises Inq7.net’s coverage of environmental matters.And, since today is my 36th birthday, the obligatory Amazon Wish List.

Earthquake in IndonesiaThailand’s The Nation editorializes on the economic dangers of a parliament unable to convene.Hugo Chavez’s kiss of death.Slate on What the framers [of the US Constitution] would say about raids on congressional offices.Hanging judge: former Chief Justice Davide in limbo over his U.N. appointment.Futile flags is my column today, inspired by this Manila Times feature, on the makers of flags.World press leaders debate how to join Internet revolution Ethan Zuckerman on the dangers of breaking up the internet into “internets”Jakob Nielsen: one billion internet users, and another billion in a decade.A colleague inquired as to when the parliamentary system envisioned by the 1973 Constitution became a semi-parliamentary one.  This time line is very helpfulBlair’s Congressional gold medal;Region 6 demographics, courtesy of Iloilo City Boycomelec AKO has a practical suggestion for promoting English proficiency.Bunker Chronicles points to the First Family of Taiwan’s media woes.Measly Meanderings on the perils of entrepreneurship.In Online Journalism Review, a columnist-blogger discusses the balancing act required by two different kinds of writing.Bloggers Punzi and La Vida Lawyer helped with Talk of the TownMamutong points to an intriguing item on the Japanese and Mindanao.Out of my mind on vigilantism.

Parellel Universes (pioneering Philippine medical blog)Shrinkette puts together something we’ll see pretty often in the future: the blog equivalent of a festschrift for a departing (or departed) blogger.Manuel Buencamino pondersfilm clip of the interview and this follow-up story from The Guardian.photos of the first working prototype of the $100 laptop computer.  Ignatian Perspective on computing obsolescence.The San Francisco Chronicle launches a podcast channel for Filipinos, a groundbreaking effort.  What’s interesting, besides the effort, market, and subject matter, is that the podcasts will alternate between different Philippine languages.

What really happened is explained by Dr. Marc Lamont Hill: the context of the statement and why it has been found objectionable by so many, though he suggests Snow was a victim of a culture that doesn’t consider the feelings of others….  Then again, prying1 says it’s all much ado about nothing -another case of political correctness run amuck.I’m inclined to agree with Lamont, if only because the tar baby story itself is a kind of age reference: only Filipinos of my generation know the story, just as American whites of Snow’s generation may know it without realizing how it’s viewed as a racist image or epithet by non-whites.  The speed at which things can change is actually best demonstrated by my generation: I think we were the last to think nothing of being taught to sing “Yankee Doodle” in school, and read about Abraham Lincoln in classes.The Suburban Ecstasies writes a hard-hitting critique of what he considers the reverse-racism of other conservatives, such as the one I most like to dislike, Michelle Malkin: he say’s she’s on the warpath on allegedly racist statements made against her, but really, she’s only being selective about the facts.

I watched The da Vinci Code on opening night and it was a complete waste of time and money.  Slate’s review sums it up best: Worse than the book.  The reactions and reviews sum up everything wrong with the film.After the movie, one of the people I watched the film with, who’d apparently never read the book, asked me what I thought of the book.

The tar baby By Manuel L. Quezon III WHAT was orchestrated along the lines of Lenei Reifenstahl’s propaganda masterpiece “Triumph of the Will” (her film of the 1934 Nuremberg rally of the Nazis) has turned into a scene straight out of Walt Disney’s “Song of the South,” in particular, the fable of Brer Rabbit and [...]

My column for today is The tar baby.  In it, I refer to a couple of things: Triumph of the Will, and the fable of Brer Rabbit and the tar baby.  The tar baby story in the original dialect.Another version of the tar baby story in a more readily understandable form.

My Arab News column for this week is Are Filipinos Ready to Cha-Cha Just to Get Rid of President Arroyo?Neal Cruz broke in his column today what’s been the scuttlebutt for some time: Senator Miriam Defensor.  Together with Newsstand’s survey of interesting, emerging political developments, one can see the shift in strategy that’s taking place.The “people’s initative” has been put on the back burner, and the President’s decided to pursue a Constituetnt Assembly once more.

His presentation is on Charter Change and the nature of parliamentary versus presidential, and unitary versus federal.  Charter Change MBC-1.pptHere is a PowerPoint presentation by Christian Monsod explaining not only his opposition to Charter Change as proposed, but also indicating the need to find a peaceful, constructive, solution to the political crisis.  I have told him both privately and in meetings (as well as other people) that I find myself agreeing with many, if not most, of his proposals.