My travels to places where there are no paths to follow.
“The universe is a pretty big place,” Dr. Ellie Arroway used to say in Contact.
So, if you see nothing but stupidity around you these days—and I don’t mean just in your favorite media (including social media)—it’s good to keep this reminder in mind.
It means that sentient beings and intelligent civilizations continue to exist elsewhere—and I don’t mean we need to look in other star systems beyond Earth. Continue reading “The Universe is a pretty big place, she said”
How to detect fake news?
I think the brouhaha about “detecting fake news” (and the underlying notion of “fake news” itself) is utterly wrong because it teaches people to think in simplistic boxes, in almost black-and-white terms.
Hey people, I’ve got news for you (and it isn’t fake): Continue reading “How to detect fake news?”
In the Philippine political scene in recent decades, dilawan (literally, “yellow-colored”) has come to refer to a certain set of populist slogans, symbols, and simplified notions that first alluded to certain prominent leaders and events of the anti-Marcos struggle in the 1978-1986 period until the EDSA People’s Power revolt.
(This is not to be confused with the earlier and pejorative dilawan or yellow labor groups in the trade union movement, which were generally seen as anti-worker and pro-management.)
The political dilawans have evolved greatly since then, but the constant reference to the Aquino family (Ninoy, Cory, and increasingly, their children) and their near-mythical role in the final years of the anti-Marcos struggle remain—especially Ninoy’s martyrdom and Cory’s crusade before, during, and after her 1986-1992 presidency. Continue reading “Three Dilawan generations”