U.P.
Former CMC Dean Luis Teodoro,
in his latest article, writes about the relevance of the University of the Philippines in today's society, in light of the upcoming elections for the UP Presidency.
He didn't paint a pretty picture, to say the least:
Unfortunately, like most UP students who couldn’t care less, the public is not overly interested in who’s going to run UP for the next six years, primarily because they can’t see what relevance UP has to them.
True, some parents still think a UP education’s the surest way to riches, mostly through a UP College of Law or College of Medicine degree. But even that’s giving way to the thought that sending Junior to STI or AMA instead for a care-giver’s course so he can learn how to scour bedpans in a US nursing home could be simpler and even better.
This is UP’s current tragedy. Its relevance to Filipinos during the last several decades has become limited to how much more a UP degree can guarantee a good job than other universities–and even that belief is fading. What’s worse is that the more discerning, including some UP alumni themselves, tend to see UP as an institution that at the very least owes the Filipino people an explanation.
...
Considering the state of the country, and the pre-eminence of UP alumni in keeping it firmly on the road to economic, political and judicial perdition, shouldn’t UP be actually apologizing to the country rather than crowing about how many senators, justices, congressmen, presidents and secretaries of economic development and planning it has contributed to the government–not to mention the hordes of crooked lawyers, operators and corrupt businessmen it’s graduated?
But of even greater interest is how UP can change all that in the future, in terms of how the training it provides can actually make people ethical as well as skilled–in the arts of governance, for example, or in the practice of law, or, for that matter, in the mass media–so that, if they do end up in government, they can help end corruption rather than contribute to it.
In addition, it was asked during the same consultation, can’t UP training do something about the “departure-lounge syndrome"–meaning the widespread desire to leave the country to make money abroad the minute one gets a diploma? It’s not only the graduates of Fatima College of Medicine who make for the airport upon passing the Medical Board exams, after all. Entire UP College of Medicine classes have also been known to leave for the US within months of graduation.
...
UP has no other recourse but to find the road that would lead to something other than collective perdition. Otherwise the Filipino people might as well save their money and shut down UP, or else just keep it hobbling along in slow decay. Its sole consolation would then be only the fact that, at least, Maj. Gen. Carlos F. Garcia and all those stalwarts of Philippine Military Academy class 1971 now under investigation for corruption and various other offenses are not its alumni, and that there’s actually a school other than UP Filipinos can blame for the country’s woes.
[cross-posted from
ultraelectromagneticblog]
put the pain on the brain!
you remember the mind-busting puzzles
crimson room and its brother
viridian room, right?
you used a walkthrough, didn't you?
oh come on.
here are more fun, yet equally frustrating games. even i was surprised at how expansive these are.
and no, there aren't any full walkthroughs to be found.
tork
ogog
chasm
Firefox
I got bored, and this blog needs a little more love than what it's getting now.
So, this is the red panda, as I have previously
posted on my blog. It's the official mascot of the Firefox Browser. It's cute, it's red, and it's gonna eat some e's. rarr.
Seriously, if in your dictionary, browsing has been synonymous with inconvenience because of the annoying popups and unwanted installation attempts by third party software
(if typing the wrong URL gets you to a page full of ads, you'll know what I'm talking about), then I really urge you to try
Firefox.
Did you now that most Firefox users can surf for days without any of the annoyances that I mentioned? I'm serious. Browsing used to be fun...remember?. Firefox offers a lot of cool features that once you learn about them, it will make your browsing experience even a lot more fun and safe.
Switch2Firefox.com is an excellent page to visit to learn more about switching to Firefox.
Firefox is just a small download. The download is just about the size of two mp3 songs. It works in Windows98 and Windows XP. (works in mac and linux too!). Here is the
installer file, or you can just use the
zipped version if you don't want to run installers (just unzip and you're good to go).
Quick links
Download Firefox
Installer
Download
Zipped Firefox
Switch2Firefox.com
WTF - Arse Politica
howdy again, friends and neighbors! it's been so long since the last wtf, and you ain't gonna find no dose of pure wtf-ness anywhere -- but politics. so this time we got a list especially tailored for the wildest dumb-cow rodeo this year -- the 2004 american elections!
the heroes/villains voting guide - looks like i'm on skeletor's party.
the many faces of kerry - paranoid.
build a better bush - idiot bush? no difference with the original.
all your base are belong to us - the truth about dubya's military service.
the president's blog - a safe environment where I, the President of the United States, can freely express my opinions, emotions and life with the internet. ha!
the george bush show - white house hilarity -- in flash.
yard gnome - i'd get this for my garden.
the bush speech - raw and uncut. you put the words in his mouth!
kerry's vp candidates - the pros and cons of each.
bush is lord - enough said.
