Animal, Vegetable, Junk: An Account of Man's Relationship with Food

This book takes a long look at how we have transformed the way we get and consume our food.  Bittman -- a bestselling cookbook author, journalist, and food writer--  gives a comprehensive account of how man obtains his food, from hunter-gatherers to early agriculture and industrial farming.  He argues that the food we eat now is not the same as what our early ancestors ate.  He noted that deceptive marketing techniques made us unhealthy through the years.  How we presently produce our food is also not sustainable and harms us and the environment than good.

Bittman also touched on the politics of American agriculture.  He cited how its expansion excluded black Americans from some government programs and how current practices continue to disadvantage certain groups.  His most damning arguments include how the US Department of Agriculture continues to favor big companies and disregard the people’s and the environment’s welfare.  

Despite painting a bleak scenario for the agriculture industry, Bittman says that a systemic overhaul of the sector could still save it.  He offers an ecological solution he calls "agroecology.” However, he admits that there would be resistance, especially from those in power.  

Most parts of this book sound like a scathing criticism of modern agriculture and American politics by an outraged man. To be fair, Bittman did a lot of work and research to cover not only agriculture and food production but also the underlying socio-political issues. The effort shows in the number of references he cited and the pages dedicated to his endnotes. However, he started proselytizing his ideas in the final chapters and sounded like a propagandist for veganism and social organizations. 

ANIMAL, VEGETABLE, JUNK

A History of Food, From Sustainable to Suicidal

By Mark Bittman

Houghton Mifflin Harcourt

Kindle Edition (4087 KB)

Published on February 2, 2021

COVID 19: Things You Can Do While in Quarantine

You probably know by now that the Expanded Community Quarantine (ECQ) imposed by the government has been extended again up to May 15.  The quarantine covered the entire island of Luzon, including the capital region of the country, to prevent the coronavirus or COVID-19 from spreading.  When it was first implemented, the ECQ was supposed to end after a month.  Since the number of infected persons continued to rise, the government extended it up to the end of April. 

Just two days ago, the government decided to further extend the ECQ to up to May 15 but only in certain areas where the infection remains high.  Unfortunately, the National Capital Region remains under strict quarantine.  That means we still have 20 days before us.  

I've been working from home since the start of the ECQ, and that kept me entirely occupied in the last 39 days.  If you have been spending the past five weeks just binge-watching on Netflix, then you must be screaming by now to get out of the house.  Relax, there are other things you can do in the next three weeks.  

clipart-library.com

Try decluttering your closet.  I spent the weekends during the quarantine going over my clothes.  Since I didn't go out much, my clothes remained hanging in the closet, and I realized that there were a lot of them.  I tried Marie Kondo's spark of joy method during the first pass, and I ended up with fewer clothes. However, my clothes were still packed tightly, and I next used Joshua Becker's suggestion to ask myself, "Do I really need this?" Some shirts and pants didn't pass the test and went to the 'donate' box. I am still working on this, and I will do my shoes next.

Remember how we keep on putting off reading our books because we do not have enough time?  Well, the next three weeks give you enough time to read at least one good book.  I have already read some books in between doing my work. You can even start blogging about them after reading.

You can also start or go back to your hobby.  When prices of vegetables went up a few days after the start of the quarantine period, I told the people in the house that we will use the empty pots in the garden to plant our own vegetables.  The Department of Agriculture is giving out seeds for those who want to start a vegetable garden in their yard.  We haven't done it yet, but with two extra weeks, I think we can begin to become urban farmers.  Some people even started crocheting tiny couches for their cats!

The President said that the best time to lift the ECQ is when a vaccine is already available.  There are about 70 teams around the world working on developing a vaccine.  If all things go well, we may have a vaccine by December this year.  However, if something goes wrong, it will take up to the second half of 2021 before we have something to fight the virus.  In the meantime, relax and let us all be safe and stay at home,

"What If?" Answers some of the most bizarre questions

I just finished reading this very amusing book named, "What if? Serious Scientific Answers to Absurd Hypothetical Questions"

The author, Randall Munroe, is a physicist who used to work at NASA as a roboticist. He created the webcomic xkcd, which features stick figures and deals with science, technology, and math themes.  Alongside this webcomic, he created whatif where he answers questions sent to him by his readers.

The webcomic actually has a cult following and has already received over 70 million hits.[citation needed]  The book is a compilation of some of the more bizarre questions he's received and answered since he started the project.

This is the first time I encountered Munroe and his work, so I am pretty amused by his writing style.  He answers questions that if I or anyone asked a school teacher, I would be immediately dismissed as impertinent.  Consider the following questions:

• What would happen if everyone on Earth stood as close to each other as they could and jumped, everyone landing on the ground at the same instant?
• How quickly would the oceans drain if a circular portal 10 meters in radius leading into space were created at the bottom of the Challenger Deep, the deepest spot in the ocean?
• If someone's DNA suddenly vanished, how long would that person last?
• How much physical space does the Internet take up?
• What would happen to the Earth if the Sun suddenly switched off?
• If an asteroid was very small but supermassive, could you really live on it like the Little Prince?

Houghton Mifflin Harcourt

And my favorite: What would happen if you made a periodic table out of cube-shaped bricks, where each brick was made of the corresponding element?    His answer: You can stack the top two rows without much trouble; The third row would burn you with fire; the fourth would kill you with toxic smoke; the fifth would do all of those and give you a mild dose of radiation; the sixth would explode violently and; Do not build the seventh row.  He gave a more detailed explanation of these answers in the same chapter.

All of these and the rest of the other main questions were answered meticulously by the author using scientific facts and his brand of humor.  Yes, sometimes the reader needs a little background about the things he says but this won't stop you from enjoying the book.   Also, don't forget to read all the footnotes, which were also as entertaining as the main texts. There's even a running joke about his constant use of [citation needed]. 

In between the questions are inserts called "Weird (and worrying) Questions From the What If? Inbox," and these contained even stranger questions (example: What is the total nutritional value of the average human body?) which Munroe answered with some funny stick figures or even deliberately left unanswered.

And one more thing, many of the questions and answers lead to scenarios of the destruction of our home planet, which may be the reason why the author, after discussing the effect of the different magnitudes of an earthquake (Q. What if a Richter magnitude 15 earthquake were to hit America at, let's say, New York?),  ended his book with, "Sometimes it's nice not to destroy the world for a change."

I really enjoyed reading this book.  I laughed and learned a lot while reading it. Even if it's your first time encountering the author and his work, you will still find the book very interesting.  

What if? by Randall Munroe

Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 303 pages

Available from amazon.com

Kindle Unlimited: Over 600,000 Books Available But...

I recently received an email from amazon.com inviting me to avail of a 30-free day trial of their new service, Kindle Unlimited. The idea is great for any book lover: for thirty days you are free to read as many books as you want (and can) from 600,000 titles. After the trial period, you only need to pay $9.99 per month as subscription.  It also comes with a complimentary three-month Audible membership, which gives access to additional 150,000 audiobook titles.

from amazon.com

This is good news for someone like me who loves reading and at the same time owns a Kindle reading device.  Yes, you can also read through any of the free reading app from the company and the audiobooks are available to those who own Kindle Fire. 

So what is the "but" on the title for?  For three reasons. First, although 600,000 title seem a lot, at present I couldn't find the kind of titles I am interested in and want to read.  I expect Amazon will improve the selection later but right now it is extremely limited.

from amazon.com

Second, if I choose to stop the subscription, I will lose all the books.  This is because I don't own them and only rent them from the service.

Lastly and related to my second reason, the price of the subscription.  I like reading books at a leisurely pace or at my own pace. If I really like the book, I can finish it in one to three days.  Sometimes, I read it only when I have the time. Most of the books for Kindle are at or near the $9.99 price point, the same amount as the subscription.  I do not see myself buying one book per month so that means that there will be months that I'd be obligated to pay for the service which I cannot use.


I am not discouraging anybody from trying the service.  You may want to take advantage of the free 30-day trial subscription for now.  I am sure that heavy readers would find Kindle Unlimited as a great way to enjoy reading books and save money at the same time.

What Reader Species Are You?

Hi everyone! I would like to share with you what I found on the Internet a while ago. Laura E. Kelly developed an infographic that shows classifications of book readers based on their habits and practices.  It follows the  Linnaean classification charts of living things, you know the domain, class, family, genus, species sort of thing for plants and animals.  I had fun using it that's why I also want you to check out what species of book reader you really are. I am what she calls a "cross-species mutt."

Please include attribution to Laura E. Kelly with this graphic. (Click to view at original large size.)

Visit Laura-e-Kelly.com for more about books, reading, and authors.

Dan Brown's Inferno: More of the Usual Stuff

Dan Brown's latest book, Inferno, has everything his fans would expect from him: a nice setting, clues and codes hidden in works of art, conspiracy theories, you get the drift.  After all, this is another story centered on Robert Langdon, Harvard professor and symbologist.

The story begins with Langdon waking up in a hospital not knowing where he is and without any  recollection of the last two days.  He narrowly escapes an attempt on his life , thanks to a female doctor, Sienna Brooks.  But even with this memory loss, he was able to unlid a sinister plot by a mad scientist to unleash a virus (codenamed Inferno) that will "thin the herd", the herd being us humans.  How did he do it? By interpreting hidden codes and symbols in Inferno of the Divine Comedy by Dante. And yes,  with a little help from his eidetic memory.  

Just like any of Brown's novel, this one is filled with details like the height of the building, the make of a car, motorcycle or plane and even the brand of clothes Langdon was wearing.  For example, everybody he met thought that changing from a Harris Tweed to a Brioni suit made Langdon look more Italian.   If anything, the way he described Florence and Istanbul would make Brown a great TLC travel show host.  There is even a tour now of the Hagia Sophia in Turkey based on the book.

The book is quite a page turner, I stayed up until 1AM just to find out if the virus will be released.      However, somewhere in the last 14 chapters of the book, everything collapsed.  Just like the house of cards that one of the characters keeps on talking about (change one card and the entire thing will shift and fall).  The frenetic story telling came to a drag and twists after twists were revealed.  Personally, the revelations only confirmed what I have suspected since the first few chapters.  Maybe it was my desire to prove my self right that kept me reading up to this point. When they were confirmed, my reading energy just dropped.

Dan Brown wrote this book with his built-in audience (aka loyal readers) in mind.  Critics be damned, the book is a hit everywhere!  It even got a publicity boost right here in our country when a government official reacted on Sienna Brook's telling herself that her stay in Manila was like running through the gates of hell.  A minor twist in the story which at most,  is amusing.

Inferno by Dan Brown is available in Kindle edition from amazon.com.

Fall of Giants and Winter of the World: A Review

I just finished reading Ken Follet's works one after the other: "Fall of Giants" and "Winter of the World", which are part of the Century Trilogy.  Both books are massive. Kindle gives a reading time for each book at 16 hours.  It took me weeks to finish them.

The books are about five families in different parts of the world, Russia, Germany, Britain and the USA, which were intertwined by events of the last century.  Follet introduces them to us in Fall of Giants, which took place in the 20s and 30s and pretty much covered events leading to and during World War I, the Russian Revolution and political events that changed the course of history, including women's suffrage.

The second book, Winter of the World introduces us to the next generation and mostly offsprings of the characters in the first volume.  We also see changes in the lives and social standing of many of the characters.  For me, this is darker than the first book because it dealt about the atrocities of the Nazi Regime, the terror of World War II and the savagery of the Red Army which was supposed to liberate Berlin after the war.  Oh, and it also set the stage for the cold war with the introduction of the atomic bomb.

Follet described everything in vivid imagery.  He is a master of description: from the darkness of the coal mine pit, to the battlefields in France, the blitzkrieg, and the harsh Russian winter.  Follet described everything so well that you could almost even smell his characters when he says that they haven't bathed for weeks.  

I think this is why I got hooked with these books and kept me turning page after page.  Follet made me feel like I was part of the events as they unfold.  It felt like, I was sitting beside the Dewars while they were negotiating for the establishment of the United Nations or when the British Parliament was debating whether to unseat Chamberlain or not.  It does help that the reader knows basic modern history but it is not necessary.

This brings us to the next point I want to make.  Follet made the reader learn history and the behind the scenes stories about the events without the reader noticing it.  I learned a lot about the conditions of the miners in Wales and how the British women won their right to suffrage by reading this book.

Spending weeks reading these books also made me feel that I knew these families well enough that I am interested to what would happen to them. "Winter of the World" ended in a hopeful note, on Christmas Day, with Carla von Ulrich surrounded by her family singing a Christmas Carol.   

I am looking forward to the third and final installment of the trilogy.  

Fall of Giants and Winter of the World are both available for Kindle on amazon.com.

Defending Jacob: A Family Drama (SPOILER ALERT)

Defending Jacob by William Landay is a court drama, a family story, a suspense-thriller all rolled into one. The story is told to us by the father, Andy Barber, the First Assistant District Attorney of a small town in Massachusetts whose life and career took a bizarre turn when his 14-year old son was accused of  murdering a schoolmate.

Landay tells how this once happy suburban family became a portrait of a troubled family.  While he was able to keep his son out of jail and keep his family intact, it resulted to the loss of friends and colleagues. The reader could earlier surmise that what ever the outcome of this trial, Barber is finished.

Landay keeps everyone guessing whether Jacob actually killed his classmate thus laying out the groundwork for everyone to make a judgement.  And then he pulls out a twist.  While Barber insists that his son is not capable of murder, it turned out that violence do run in the family.  It was revealed that Andy's father and Jacob's grandfather is behind bars because of killing a girl.

This revelation will ultimately result in an horrific ending that one would probably not see coming.

The book is a real page turner, the details of what goes on in the life of a defendant in a murder case and how it could impact in the family will keep the reader involved.

(Defending Jacob by William Landay 421 pp.)

Amazon announces four new Kindle Readers

I woke up this morning to some great news from Amazon.com.   The company announced not one (as earlier posted) but four new Kindle e-readers, with prices starting at US$79.  On the Amazon website, CEO Jeff Bezos called the new devices the "best Kindles we've ever made." 

The top of the line among the new Kindles is the Kindle Fire.   The Kindle Fire offers Wi-Fi connectivity and a web browser called Amazon Silk which will use cloud computing to speed access to content over the Internet.  The device is basically a souped up version of the Kindle with a 7-inch color touch screen.  Many pundits are claiming that this gadget is the only real threat to Apple's iPad.  For one, at US$199 it is really way cheaper than Jobs's tablet.  However, Kindle Fire does not come with a camera, a microphone and a 3G connectivity which may not appeal to those who want to these features.  

One of the things that stopped me from considering Kindle Fire is its backlit screen.  I have a first generation iPad and I have to admit that I find it hard to read on it for a long period of time.  Unless Amazon can transpose e-ink technology, I think this gadget will be good for consumption of other media, namely music, magazines and movies which does take long periods of time.

What I am considering is the new Kindle Touch.  This new addition to the Kindle family comes with an easy to use touch screen to make it easier to turn pages, all you need to do is tap to turn a page.  It still comes with e-ink technology and connects through Wi-Fi for access to the Amazon Store.  It is only 6 inches and is lighter at 7.8 ounces.  Battery life is also great - it can last for two months on a single charge without the wireless connection.  If you leave the wireless on, it will still work for 6 weeks on a single charge.

I would really want to know more about the X-Ray Feature of this gadget.  Amazon explains it as "a new technology that lets customers explore the 'bones of the book'."  It says that with just a single tap, readers can see all passages across a book that mention ideas, fictional characters, historical figures, etc. that interests them.  I think it's worth exploring.

A 3G enabled model of the device will also be available.  The Kindle Touch will be available at US$99 with special offers.  What this simply means is that you will receive special offers and sponsored screen savers.  However, these will only appear when you are not using your device or at the bottom of the screen.  Amazon promises that it will not interfere with our reading.  If you don't want these special offers then opt for the one that does not come with it, priced at US139.  Prices for the 3G enabled model start at US$149.  Both models will be available on November 21, 2011.

If you don't want a touch screen model, there's the Kindle.  The new latest generation Kindle is for readers who want the lightest, most compact Kindle at an incredible price. The latest generation Kindle features a new design that is 30 percent lighter at just 5.98 ounces, 18 percent smaller, and turns pages 10 percent faster. Kindle is now small and light enough to fit easily in your pocket and carry with you everywhere, yet it still features the same 6-inch, most advanced electronic ink display that reads like real paper, even in bright sunlight.  It comes with a price tag of only US$79 and is available starting today at Amazon.com.  

(all images from amazon.com)

Squirrel Seeks Chipmunk: Modern Fables from David Sedaris

In his latest book, David Sedaris stopped talking about his self and made animals do the talking for him.  The result is Squirrel Seeks Chipmunk: A Modest Bestiary a compilation of short fables that are more for adults than for children because they can be quite disturbing..

Disturbing because Sedaris gave the animals human qualities, weaknesses and problems.  We find an altruistic mouse taking care of a snake, a vain sheep meeting a manipulative crow, and a squirrel and chipmunk dating against the wishes of everyone around them.  The other characters are equally not so good models of good behavior.

Unlike in other stories where animals behave the way they naturally do, the ones in this bestiary are more human than animals.  I cannot blame anyone who, at one point while reading this, would ask why even use animals when human characters would do.

It's also the outcome of the stories that they can be quite disturbing to the reader.  Somehow, because of  their bad behavior and weaknesses, the animals end up dead, eaten, clobbered or chained.  And everything was told in graphic and grisly detail.

Fans of David Sedaris who are used to his funny autobiographical musings will be surprised that his usual wry humor was stripped to the minimum in this volume.  The lack of humor may or may not be because the author decided not to be funny.  There are some moments here and there but on the whole, most of the stories failed to be funny.  One might think that Sedaris must be running out of things to say and decided to take the fables route.  Unfortunately, he was like a fish out of water.

Was Humpty Dumpty Really an Egg?

Last night while sitting in the darkness during Earth Hour 2011, I suddenly remembered a segment on Sesame Street that I saw as a child (see bottom).  It featured Kermit the Frog as a newsman and he was reporting Humpty Dumpty's fall and the efforts of the king's men and horses to put him back together.

Then it struck me.  Why is it that illustrations accompanying the nursery rhyme show Humpty Dumpty as  an egg?  My first step was to check the rhyme and see what it says about Humpty Dumpty.  It goes

from picturebook.com

Humpty Dumpty sat on a wall.

Humpty Dumpty had a great fall.

All the king's horses and all the king's men

Couldn't put Humpty together again.

 No where in the rhyme can we find that Humpty Dumpty was an egg.  One can only deduce that he was one because all the king's men and horses could not put him back together after he fell from the wall.  Therefore he was fragile and easily broken.  What could be more fragile than an egg?

Since I couldn't stop wondering what Humpty Dumpty really was, I tried to do some research online. (As an aside, I find it really strange to do this after telling you not to believe everything that is on the Internet.)

I found several theories being put forward as to what Humpty Dumpty really was.  One of these is that "Humpty Dumpty" was an old English slang for an obese person or a clumsy person who is prone to falling down.  Another theory said that the rhyme started out as a riddle in the the early 1800s.  Over time, everyone got the answer correctly (an egg) and the riddle was not asked anymore but became a popular children's rhyme.  

I also came upon a site which says that Humpty Dumpty was actually a powerful cannon used to defend a walled city called Colchester.  The cannon was placed on a wall adjacent to St. Mary's Church.  When the city was laid to siege, the wall was destroyed by a mortar and sent Humpty Dumpty falling to the ground.  The cannon broke into pieces and all the king's men (infantry) and horses (cavalry) tried to fix it in vain.  

The most famous depiction of Humpty Dumpty was an illustration in Lewis Carroll's Through the Looking Glass.  The picture, drawn by John Tenniel in 1871, shows Alice meeting Humpty Dumpty for the first time.  In the story, Alice found Humpty Dumpty sitting on a wall with his legs crossed.  The girl wondered how the egg could keep his balance. Humpty Dumpty engaged Alice in a conversation about words and their meanings which left the girl more confused than enlightened.

In the Sesame Street segment, Humpty Dumpty was put together again.  An overjoyed Kermit the Frog gave him a rather strong pat on the back that sent him falling off the wall again.  The king's men and horses went back to work on fixing him, blaming the frog for the unfortunate incident.

So was Humpty Dumpty an egg, a cannon or a clumsy obese man?  Let's see what he has to say about it. In Lewis Carroll's "Through the Looking Glass", when Alice asked him what his name means, the cranky egg replied :

`My name means the shape I am -- and a good handsome shape it is, too. With a name like your, you might be any shape, almost.' 

Equally baffling is why an egg would want to sit on a wall.  That is, however, another good topic for discussion later.

Here's the video of the Sesame Street segment:

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 1

I finally watched Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 1 yesterday one week after its local release.  It wasn't my intention to miss the opening weekend but I got sick so I wasn't I able to go to the movie house.  One of the advantages of watching it late though is the crowd has relatively thinned and there's no need to fall in line just to get to tickets.

This is of course the second to the last movie about the boy who lived, based on the final book in the Harry Potter series.  Although I was excited to see how the movie treated the original material, I deliberately downgraded my expectations this time because I was disappointed in the last two installments.  That is why I am glad to find out that among the 6 movies produced so far, this one stayed closest to the book.  Nevertheless, there were still some materials that were left out, although it was referred to in passing.

In Deathly Hallows Part 1, we follow Harry's search for the remaining horcruxes and witness the return to power of Voldemort and his death eaters.  It began with an ominous statement from the Minister of Magic himself and this set the tone of the whole movie.  We see the three young protagonists dealing with more adult problems now, including the possibility of death.  In fact, somebody close to them died in the early part of the story and another one died in the end.  The final scene seems to be a warning to everyone that the next chapter will be even darker.

Some of my friends who obviously did not read the book asked me why there were so many new characters in this movie.  I explained that these characters will be, hopefully, explained more in the second part.  Others pointed out that the middle part, when Harry, Hermione and Ron went into exile, dragged and slowed down the movie. I also wondered why the director decided to stretch this part when there were other parts of the book that were interesting, including the family background of Dumbledore.  

I read somewhere that the entire series took 10 years to complete.  No wonder some of the characters already looked too old.  Alan Rickman looked so old in the few scenes he was in.  The three main characters, especially Daniel Radcliffe who played Harry Potter, already looked old to be 17 years old.

Nevertheless I truly enjoyed the movie.  For one, the special effects in this one are far more superior than in the earlier films.  This installment already covered almost two-thirds of the book.  If the next one will also stay close to the original material, then it will be even more exciting.  There will be a half blind dragon, a return to Hogwarts and a battle scene that will include centaurs, house elves, giants and lots of wizards and witches.  It would be fun and I can't wait.

On the Brink: From the Man in the Center of the Storm

On the Brink: Inside the Race to Stop the Collapse of the Global Financial System is the first hand account of former US Secretary of the Treasury Henry Paulson Jr. of what happened before and during the 2008 financial crisis that almost brought the world to its knees.

Paulson's narrative was fast paced and in very simple language. The reader does not have to be well-versed in financial matters to understand what Paulson wanted to say. His recollection of the efforts of his colleagues and staff to save the financial institutions affected by the crisis was very informative.

In fact, reading the book is almost like being there with Paulson during the times when he made critical decisions and his meetings with key personalities in the race to save the US Financial System from complete meltdown.

I am particularly amused at his account of the meetings of Congressional leaders before they took up the Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP) Law, especially the one where the House members from both parties engaged in a shouting match and almost came to blows because they could not agree on the legislation.

To his credit, Paulson did not sound like he was rationalizing his actions and his decisions during those turbulent months. His recommendations in the book's afterword are also worth exploring. I just find this section of the book a bit like an academic lecture though.

If you want to know the whys, whats and whos of the 2008 financial crisis, read Hank Paulson's On the Brink.


On the Brink: Inside the Race to Stop the Collapse of the Global Financial System by Henry Paulson is available in Kindle Edition from amazon.com.

Kindle for Mac Now Available

After being labeled as "Coming Soon" for months, Amazon finally released its Kindle application for Mac this week.  It is a free download from the Amazon.com site.

The application has the same functionality as the PC version and only runs in Intel Macs and requires Mac OS X Leopard or Snow Leopard.  Download took less than 10 minutes and just like any Mac OS X application, the user must drag dmg file unto the Applications folder.

Kimdle for Mac OS X has the same functionality of its PC sibling.  The user can change the size of fonts for easier viewing.  However, it also does not give the user the ability to right down notes and annotations.  I hope this will be one of the features amazon.com promised to include in its future release.

My favorite feature of course is the Whispernet which synchronizes all Kindle applications across platforms.  When I downloaded and opened one of my books, I was immediately brought to the page I was reading on my Kindle for PC application.

I don't know if Amazon.com timed the release of this software just before the iPad becomes available in the market.  The iPad of course has the iBooks e-book reader application which has a more appealing GUI than the Kindle.  However, iBookstore won't be available here in the Philippines so I would be sticking with both Kindle for PC and Mac OS X for now.  Or until my Kindle arrives.

Neil Gaiman in Manila: The Nightmare

If you've been following this blog, you've probably noticed that I have several posts on the Neil Gaiman book signing event sponsored by Fully Booked, a local bookstore chain. Well, it happened last night March 18 and it was anything but a dream date.  It was a nightmare.

In fact, the nightmare began even before we got to the venue.  We had to change taxis because the first one we were in hit a van it was following.  My initial reaction was to tell my friend that this could be a sign of what would happen that night.

My friend and me got there a little late because we have to attend a meeting before going there.  We registered and were assigned the number 380 & 381.  We looked at the crowd and some were standing and others were sitting and the floor.  The organizers after milking us with PhP2000 did not even have the decency to provide some sitting implements for their customers.

Time ticked and the crowd was getting rested.  An announcer who was trying to put on a phony British accent kept reminding the crowd to take care of their number stubs and prepare their books for signing.  He also told the crowd to fall in line once their numbers are called.

I watched the crowd entertain themselves by re-reading their books.  One little girl dropped a bottle of water smack into the table where Neil was suppose to seat.  Security guard shooed off the people in the area.  Had Neil been there, he could be heading home with a bump on his noggin.

All of a sudden, the staff of the bookstore started screaming excitedly and DJ with phony accent tried to work out the crowd by saying that Neil Gaiman has arrived.  Indeed, Gaiman appeared from the side of the stage  in a black shirt under a black blazer.  The girls in the crowd started screaming and the boys started screaming too as he climbed on the stage. My friend and I looked at each other, wondering if we somehow lost our way and wandered into a rock concert.   The special guests, well that's how I see them because they were the only ones sitting on chairs while we all waited standing or squatting, started taking photographs, obstructing our view of Mr. Gaiman.

Gaiman went into action and directed the clueless staff how the line would move and flow.  From where we were, I could see him showing where he wanted the people to stay .  Then he started signing books.  It was 5 in the afternoon, the skylight roof of the Rockwell North Tent was still lit by the sun.  First to get her book signed was a girl who squirmed in delight when Gaiman hugged and kissed her.

It went on and on, after around thirty minutes, Gaiman has not even finished signing the books of the first 25 lucky patrons.  My friend and I decided to go around the mall separately and told each other to come back by 7PM maybe it would be our turn by then.

I went back at the venue to find out that Gaiman was signing books of patrons 51 to 75 and it was almost 2 hours since he started on this.  I looked around for my friend and he was no where in sight.

By this time, some people who were probably office workers on their way home looked curiously at the crowd.  Perhaps they don't know Neil Gaiman and were wondering what the commotion was all about.

I decided to go around the mall again and have a sandwich. I ate my sandwich on a bench at the 2nd floor while watching the event unfold below me

The initial thrill has evidently died down.  Either that or fear has started creeping in on everybody that this gig will last longer than expected.  The kids who were awhile ago screaming their love and devotion to Neil Gaiman were just huddled in one corner, staring at each other's blank faces.  Maybe they have been worn down by the non-stop playing of Everything but the Girl's "Walking Wounded" CD which appeared to be playing on a loop since the time we arrived there at past 3 in the afternoon.

I was about to drink my cola when the can slipped from my hand and created a puddle at my feet.  I was reminded of the taxi mishap earlier and I started thinking that could this be sign number 2?

Anyway, after getting bored watching the signing from above, I went down to the venue again and started browsing the books on sale.  I looked at where Gaiman was and noticed that he already took off his blazer.  A pregnant woman approached him and a look of distress swept through his face.  He stood up and started giving directions again, at times pointing towards the pregnant woman.  After a while, DJ with phony accent called on all pregnant women to go in front of the line.  Some of the girls squatting on the floor screamed, "I'm pregnant! I'm pregnant!!"  But they all looked like they were still in high school.

By 8PM, everybody seemed to have been drained of his energy.  Even Neil had to leave and everybody guessed he must have taken a leak or something.  After all, he's been drinking from a dark sports bottle all the time.  Maybe the summer heat was getting too much for him plus the fact that at that point, he must have signed some 500 books.  I was worried that if he washed his hands after taking a leak, he might get pasma but my friend said that he should wash his hands because he wanted to shake his hand when his turn comes.

We continued browsing the books on sale and Neil came back to sign more books. My friend pointed at something on the counter and I almost choked.  Staring straight at me was Neil Gaiman's cardboard face on a stick.  It was supposed to be a fan.  But it must be the most expensive cardboard fan ever because it was priced at 150 pesos each!  My friend commented that the picture looked more like Bob Dylan than Gaiman.  It was creepy to me because it looked like someone decapitated Neil and placed his head on a barbecue stick

Then there was an announcement that Neil will not put dedications anymore.  He will just put our name and sign our books.  My friend's eyes widened.  The girl at the counter explained that the dedications were slowing things down so they have to be eliminated.  Our jaws dropped in disbelief.  After all, we spent a few days thinking what to ask Neil to write down our books.

Neil continued signing his books but he seemed to get irritated everytime someone took a picture of him and the flash hits his face.  He signaled not to let the flash hit his face.  By this time, the shops inside Rockwell started to close for the day and the lights in some hallways were dimmed.  There were still 75 patrons to go before us and we have resigned to the fact that we would still be there by midnight.

We were finally called and we gleefully fell in line.  We were still thinking what to tell Neil when we finally stand before him when this guy started getting those yellow strips of paper where we were suppose to write our name.  He was acting like an SS guard barking ""Let me have these papers, no more personalized signature, no more flash photography, Neil Gaiman is already mad!"

Everybody was shocked and angry.  One dude in spectacles approached us and in a tone that reminded me of my Math teacher told us, "We have to rush this because my priority right now is to make Neil Gaiman happy."

Whoa! We told him how about us who paid 2000 pesos to get our book signed and waited six hours, we are not their priority?  His answer was even worse than the first one, "If I can't make him happy tonight, I might not be able to make him come back!"  He then arrogantly stepped away from the simmering crowd.

I didn't listen to the other things he said because my ears were hot as lava.  My friend was clenching his teeth and murmuring something in my ear that I can't understand.

When I finally got before Neil, he asked me how I was doing that night.  All I could say was, "I waited for six hours and I am being rushed by these people." Neil looked at me and said, "Oh I am sorry for that.  You see they said we have to do this quickly because the mall is closing for the night."  I shut my mouth because I wanted to tell him that I've just been told that HE was the one who wanted this rushed because he's getting mad.

Neil signed my books without even writing my name on it.  He handed me my books and smiled before signing the books of my friend which were literally shoved in his face.

My friend and I left the place huffing and puffing in disappointment.  When we looked back, Neil was still busy signing books, the lights in the mall dimmed and only those in the area were lighted.

My friend reminded me about the earlier mishap we had with the taxi.  He seriously thought that something was trying to stop us this afternoon to go here and this was what we got for not heeding the warning.  His idea was so surreal it could make a good Neil Gaiman short story.

Neil, if ever you decide to come back to our country, please do not deal with those people from Fully Booked.  They made you into a money making venture.  I have nothing against you and I will still continue to read your books.  But this would be the last time I will go to your book signing because I can't let myself be trampled upon again like what happened last night.

The Numerati.

In The Numerati author Stephen Baker tells us that we are slowly being reduced to algorithms which will make it easier for business, government and even the medical field to target us in the future.

With the help of powerful computers, the Numerati, - mathematicians, computer experts and analysts are digging into our data and slowly creating a mathematical model of humans.  Baker divided his book into seven chapters. In each chapter, he explained how this model could help employers optimize their workforce, advertisers to put the right ads on our emails, help government identify terrorists, make political campaigning more effective, and help medical practitioners identify people with Parkinson's even before the onset of the disease. In the last chapter, Baker and his wife acted as guinea pigs to an online matching company.  

Our online behavior is a rich source of data, according to Baker.  Every click we make on Internet sites, every email we send and membership to social networking sites will enable the numerati to put us into "buckets" or categories and make us even more identifiable by those who wanted to make us their audience.  Even as I write this blog, there is a possibility that some data miner is already scrutinizing my past entries bit by bit.  

In another chapter of the book, Baker reveals how our data will be obtained in the future.  Medical scientists are already trying out magic carpets and walls that monitor subtle changes in the way we walk, talk and move in bed to identify signs of sickness.  We could even end up like the cows in one form where microchips are implanted in their guts to identify them in case they produce bad meat.

While the book expounded on how our data are gathered and the many possible uses of the algorithms that can be made out of them, it did not fully explain how the numerati go about their tasks in transforming our data into mathematical models.  Perhaps, Baker assumed the process would be too complex or even intimidating for the average reader.  Another reason I could think of is that maybe Baker thought that one whole chapter on this process would slow down his narrative.  However, anybody interested in math and wants to know more about the subject matter of modelling will be frustrated that the book didn't have that much information.  All he could tell us is that data are fed into a computer which does all the computation following the set of instructions given by the computer programmer.  Then numerati then looks at the computations and draw conclusions.

In the conclusion of the book though, Baker readily admits that there is still a long way to go before a mathematical model of ourselves could be developed.  Human behavior is so complex that scientists are still unable to fully grasp it in spite centuries of studies.  I think I agree with him that in the end, it will be us who will determine who we really are and whether or not this elite group of mathematicians really get us right.

The Numerati is available from Amazon.com

Date with Neil Gaiman

My fellow Neil Gaiman fan in the office and I finally decided that we will go to the Neil Gaiman book signing event on March 18.  This afternoon, we went to Fully Booked Store, the sponsor of the event, to buy 2000 pesos worth of Gaiman's tomes.  This purchase gave me a pass to the book signing event.

I picked up three books namely, Signal to Noise, The Graveyard Book and M Is for Magic.  Unfortunately, Mr. Gaiman will only sign two books per pass holder and I have several books by him in my collection.  I must decide before the appointed time arrives.  Whoever said that life is full of tough choices was not lying.

Since March 18 is a Thursday, my officemate and I could only wish that we will have an official business outside of the office that day,  Unfortunately, we have to be at the event before 2 in the afternoon to register and get our number for the event.  With only 17 days to go, we must really come up with a plan on how to go there.

Neil Gaiman in Manila This March

I can't help getting excited with the email I received last Thursday morning.  Neil Gaiman will be in Manila on March 17 to 18, 2010.  He'll be at  the 3rd Philippine Graphic/Fiction Awards Night on March 17 where, if I read it right, he will reveal the winners in the different categories.  He will also unveil the Philippine Graphic/Fiction Anthology, a collection of the winning entries of the same contest.  There will also be a raffle during the event where the winner will have a free dinner with Mr. Gaiman.

On March 18, he will have a book signing activity at the Rockwell Power Plant Mall in Makati.  To be part of this event, one must buy at least 2,000 pesos worth of Gaiman's book in a single receipt starting February 27.  The buyer will then be eligible to a pass that he or she will present during the book signing.  By the way, Gaiman will sign two books per person, yes only two books.

My office mate and I are thinking of going there to have our books signed. We were already making a list of books that we will buy when someone pointed out that March 18 is a work day. Bummer.

School's Back!

Tomorrow, some 18 million Filipino kids will troop to their schools as classes start for school year 2009-2010. I am just not sure how many of these kids will find a classroom to stay in, a chair to sit on and a desk to write on. I also wonder if all 18 million kids will have a book for each of their subjects and if these books even contain accurate and up to date information.

Of the 18 million boys and girls, 13.1 million are elementary students and 5.6 million are high school students. If you notice, there is a large disparity between the number of kids in elementary and high school. A 2008 study showed that of every 100 children who enter Grade 1, only 65 reach Grade 6, only 43 finish high school and only 2 enter college. (Manila Times)

In the meantime, the perennial problem of lack of classrooms continue to haunt the country. In spite government efforts, the current classroom to student ratio is 1:50. Daunting if you ask me because when I was in school, there were only 35 of us in a classroom. Even then, our teachers were complaining that there were too many of us in one class. I expect to see another photo of kids having classes under a tree on the front pages of newspapers the day after tomorrow.

Don't expect this problem to go away in the near future. The country has one of the highest birth rate in the region at 2.3 percent or some 1 million or more babies born in a year. Give or take seven years and these babies will also demand for classrooms.

The lack of teachers is still another problem that's been with the system for a long time. Some teachers are tasked to teach several grade levels at a time. With the low pay they receive, some leave the country to work as house helpers in other countries. Aside from the small number, the quality of some mentors are also questionable.

The children who will go back to school tomorrow have other problems to face. One is the high price of school supplies. Notebooks, school pads, pencils and ballpens have become more expensive in recent years. I looked around for school bags last Friday and I found out that the average price of each is 400 pesos. Parents with more than two children going back to school tomorrow will need at least a thousand pesos for school bags alone.

Then there's also the need to buy shoes and school uniforms. Even if the education department kept repeating that school uniforms are not compulsory. I think it would be more expensive in the long run to buy clothes for kids to wear to school. What parents would want their child to go to school in worn out or tattered clothes?

The most recent concern of course is the spread of the A H1N1 influenza virus. The weather bureau expects a rainy first week of classes. It would be damp and cold, a great environment for viruses to flourish. Putting 50 kids in one classroom does not help of course. There's also the lack of lavatories and toilets in most schools. This may not be a problem in private schools or even government schools in the city, but those in the far flung areas of the country may be in need of these facilities.

Government promises to eliminate most, if not all the usual school opening kinks in the future. Unless it gives education the attention and action it deserves, these problems will remain for future generation of school children.

Books for every Filipino

Our President has finally acted on the controversial import duty imposed on books by the Department of Finance and the Bureau of Customs. Yesterday, she ordered the department to to scrap the taxes imposed on imported books and reading materials. (I have a post on this here)

According to her spokesperson, "The President wants books to be within reach of the common man. She believes reading as an important value for intellectual formation, which is the foundation of a healthy public opinion necessary for a vibrant democracy.” (The Philippine Star)

Thank you Mrs. President for your concern for the Filipino people. Unlike your subordinates in the finance department who have limited or narrow appreciation of the importance of books in learning, you have shown your desire to make books within our reach. Still, many of us think twice before even buying a copy of a book we desire.

Even without the added tax the DOF wanted to impose, books are presently beyond reach of the common man. Most paperback books cost more than 300 pesos, hardbounds cost more. Even local publications are priced not lower than 200 pesos, a princely sum for many Filipinos who earn just 275 pesos a day. That is why in many cases, books are not even in the list of essential things to buy for many Filipinos. I for one has to save just to buy a book and pray that when I have enough money to get it, the book will still be there. Indeed, there is still a lot to do if you really want books to be "within reach of the common man."

One of the things you could do is to provide for public libraries. Local governments may set up libraries in their areas that could provide reading materials for their constituents. They do not necessarily need to buy new books since there are hundreds of ways to get stocks for their libraries.

I remember when I was small, this was at the height of the Martial Law years, our community has a small public library where one can come and freely read books. I don't know when this library was erected but before I got to college, it was gone. The old structure was torn down and in its place now stand a carwash,

While some communities continue to have public libraries, these are through efforts of private citizens who probably share the President's belief in the importance of reading in intellectual formation. These libraries receive little, if any at all, support from local governments.

Many of my fellow book lovers have come up of ingenious ways to spread the joy of reading, There's bookmooching where one gets credit for giving someone else his book. He could use this credit to ask for a book from other people who will in turn get credit for giving him the book.

Why can't government apply something like this and give individual book donors credit that they could use to buy new books for themselves? This will encourage many people to give away books they have read to those who cannot afford them and they could buy new books which they could donate again in the future.