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Is Your Favorite Source of Information "Trust Me Bro"?

It's something to think about Facebook comments section , right? I can't decide if I should allow unmoderated comments. The world of comments can be so annoying these days.   It's one thing if one comments for constructive criticism . However, one could really think about how many comments (even under Anonymous or troll accounts) are just there to derail. News about the Philippines' getting newer reforms such as more foreign direct investments (FDIs) have a lot of stupid comments too. I'm not surprised with comments such as, "It's Duterte's gift to China!" or "Allowing foreign telecommunication companies will risk our security!" When I ask for the sources on Facebook, I tend to get the argument that's as foolish as, "Trust me bro!" A lack of intelligence is one thing. It's another thing to ignore common sense. This meme makes me laugh at the pyramid of learning. Okay, I have a high school diploma during K+10. I soon had ...

My Experience with a Cataract and Laser Eye Surgery

What really scared me was when my left eye got blurred. At first, I was hoping it was just a dry eye. I had my check-up done. My worst fears were confirmed by my cloudy vision. I had a cataract but at age 37? It was pretty young. It was a developmental cataract or a developmental defect . I was told that there was no other choice but to have surgery. I was pretty scared. I decided it was time to really view cataract surgery and discover the amazing use of laser cataract surgery. It's a good thing I dismissed the bogus claims of cataract-dissolving drops.  Above is a sample video of what was shown in the hospital. I was nervous at first about what could happen. Having been told by the doctor (and will not disclose further details out of respect for the doctor's privacy) that it'll take faster than the manual surgery was a relief. I was willing to spend more on laser surgery rather than have the bladed procedure. I could say I was scared of the bladed procedure. I heard that ...

Learn the Facts, Not Gossip, from Reading Lee Kuan Yew's "From Third World to First"

The Straits Times I could remember ordering the book From Third World to First ( sometime after electricity and Internet connection got restored) in January. I wanted a copy of the book but it's that hard to secure. So, I used Shoppee to order the book shipped from Indonesia . There's so much misinformation that I read on Facebook about Singapore. No, I'm not just talking about using the late Flor Contemplacion as an excuse. Instead, it's all about Singapore's development. I felt that my best "Christmas Gift" (it was bought with my savings, not given) was having a copy of this book. It was written by none other than the great statesman, the late Lee Kuan Yew, the father of Singaporean Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong.  There are a lot of misconceptions about Singapore's progress. Some people have written on Facebook gossip about Singapore's progress. These are the following gossips I could read on Facebook such as: Singapore only opened to foreign di...

How the COVID-19 Pandemic and Anti-Vaxxers Made Me Remember the Great Louis Pasteur

It has been some time since I got vaccinated for COVID-19. Yes, we're achieving herd immunity. Yet, what truly bothered me in 2020 was the rise of the anti-vaxxers. There was even this crazy British conspiracy theorist named Kate Sheminari. During the pandemic, I decided to do a review of Louis Pasteur himself. Today, we have the Institut Pasteur in France, an international center for biomedical research. One may say that Edward Jenner was the man behind vaccination. True, we had Jenner and his fight against smallpox. We might as well discuss Louis Pasteur , the man whose name is used for the word pasteurization .  I remembered watching a cartoon about Pasteur himself. It's often easy to credit Pasteur for milk. That's why I decided to get some milk tea after every vaccination. However, we need to credit Pasteur for the use of the attenuated microbes. It's said that his first vaccine used on humans was the rabies vaccine. Meanwhile, the experiment started with chicken ...

Typhoon Ruping: My First Super-Typhoon Experience Before Last Year's Odette

As the first anniversary of recovering after Typhoon Odette will be arriving (December 17), I'd also write about Typhoon Ruping which happened in 1990. I was only in Kinder-1 so it wouldn't be easy to remember especially since I'm already in my late 30s. Typhoon Odette was an experience made hard but we soon had a generator, repairs soon started, and there was higher technology. I'd still think about Odette and what it was like living without solar lights, relying on that smelly methane lamp as a source of light, and studying was hard. Reading with insufficient light is very bad for one's eyes. It was also that time that everywhere, just everywhere, it was brownout, and electricity returned before Christmas. In the case of Odette, Christmas and New Year were  delayed to January.  I could remember living in an old house in downtown, Cebu. I'd say it was like living in a haunted house. The childhood trauma was there. I could think about all the shaking in that old...