Jack-o

Young Michael on the cover of the recent Newsweek.

Hasn't so much devastated me, at least not having that urge to play his songs and download his videos, or worse horribly mimicking his moves and screeching falsettos. I did though, the screech, only to my colleague’s fervent request, while watching a recent spate of news via hotel cable in Pagadian. MTV has been showing his videos as well. After going back to Pagadian after a weeklong sun’s exposure courtesy of airport runways and national roads being rehabbed, we drank a couple of beers while listening to an old duo singing old songs (it’s free anyway). During the band’s break, Jacko’s old videos played incessantly. The crowd seemed to be mesmerized. I bet some of them don’t even remember where the trademark moves come from. The singing came back just in time to cut off Thriller. So we left.

so long, redneck.

I like this photo. Obama's wax figure was inaugurated days before his official swearing in Washington D.C. at Madame Tussaud's museum in Amsterdam. Meanwhile, a transcript (with video) of Obama's inaugural speech via NYTimes. Let's digress a little shall we, but, still in keeping with the fever, here are hot and fresh news bits, straight from the pan, from America's Finest News Source, The Onion: incessant jackhammering ruining Obama's speech, a probable hidden gripe from a former Democratic contender, and Bush dying from his sleep.

Bush-whacked

Hahahaha, a thousand times over. Feck you Mr. President. In a bid for a graceful exit, which will never happen anyway, Bush tries a security accord with Iraq, announcing it on a press conference with premier Nouri Al-Maliki. Instead, he gets a shock of his life courtesy of a pair of size 10 shoes from journalist Muntader-al-Zeidi. For all we know, al-Zeidi could have said, Merry Christmas, you dawg.

Editorial and opinion piece of Conrado de Quiros in today's PDI are all on it. Alas, we won't be seeing shoe attacks in press conferences at Malacañang, as Palace officials say Filipino journalists are more courteous.

Victory

I am way beyond happy. I mean, I'm ecstatic.

Americans made it happen. They put the first black president in the White House, something which had never happened for some 200 or so years. And hopefully after 200 years of independence, I sure do hope, even if I don't live up to see that day, that our country would elect a leader everybody can be proud of. But I don't think it will be 2010, unlike what Binay said in the news last night. We won't be replicating such a historical election in the Philippines. Taking our lot out of our quandary as a nation will go beyond 2010. We need some major CHANGE, people.

Obama did more than just win an election. He took people to voting precints - youth, women, elderly - in a turnout that's historical in itself. Obama didn't encourage them just to vote him. He made the people believe they can realize that change by exercising their right.

Meanwhile, some excerpts from Mr. President-elect's speech: The Independent has the full text or you can listen to it here courtesy of NPR.

"...You did it because you understand the enormity of the task that lies ahead. For even as we celebrate tonight, we know the challenges that tomorrow will bring are the greatest of our lifetime - two wars, a planet in peril, the worst financial crisis in a century."

"...But I will always be honest with you about the challenges we face. I will listen to you, especially when we disagree. And, above all, I will ask you to join in the work of remaking this nation, the only way it's been done in America for 221 years - block by block, brick by brick, calloused hand by calloused hand."

"...And to those Americans whose support I have yet to earn, I may not have won your vote tonight, but I hear your voices. I need your help. And I will be your president, too.

"...And to all those watching tonight from beyond our shores, from parliaments and palaces, to those who are huddled around radios in the forgotten corners of the world, our stories are singular, but our destiny is shared, and a new dawn of American leadership is at hand.

"...This is our time, to put our people back to work and open doors of opportunity for our kids; to restore prosperity and promote the cause of peace; to reclaim the American dream and reaffirm that fundamental truth, that, out of many, we are one; that while we breathe, we hope. And where we are met with cynicism and doubts and those who tell us that we can't, we will respond with that timeless creed that sums up the spirit of a people: Yes, we can."

Photo courtesy of foreignpolicy.com

Another threat

We maybe digging up below, underneath the Arctic seabed to be exact, not looking (and be blinded) up there where mighty Sun radiates UV rays, to find another threatening culprit to the increase in global warming.

Scientists recently discovered disturbing huge deposits of methane gas emanating from so-called "chimneys" in the Arctic region particularly in areas across the Siberian continental shelf. Increased levels of methane escaping from these "chimneys" is also connected to rising temperatures in the region, which as narrated in this article, has risen to 4C degrees for the past decades.

Picture this: if we have enough "methane chimneys" spread across the Arctic seabed, it could look like a perforated piece of styrofor, and crumbling the entire Arctic region is as easy as blowing air through these holes. Jeez.

Getty photo from dailymail.co.uk

Musharaff parallelisms, etc.

Pakistani President Pervez Musharaff resigned recently due to mounting political pressures and a resounding call for his ouster particularly from the rival party.

Musharaff resigned instead of facing Pakistan’s first-ever impeachment, but with a last defiant outburst of bravado.

"They want to impeach me now. Why do they want to do it?" a downcast Musharraf said in a televised address in which he denied any wrongdoing. "Do they want to cover their failure?"

...while few doubted he wanted a stable, religiously moderate Pakistan, his commitment to democracy was shaky. His popularity plummeted in 2007, when he declared a state of emergency and sacked independent-minded Supreme Court judges who could have barred his re-election.

He also became famous for “dragging” his nation into the US’s war on terror.

...the former military commando's decision to side with Washington after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks earned Western plaudits and an injection of much-needed aid that helped rescue Pakistan from bankruptcy and the status of an international pariah.

Matthew Pennington of Associated Press sums up Musharaff's 9 years in power.

The U.S. however is constantly doubtful of Musharaff's stance, with Pakistan's increasing propensity for terrorist coddling as political experts perceive Pakistan would be the next Al Qaeda stronghold. While political and public opinion have been increasingly unenthusiastic over the war, er, foreign policy on Iraq, US intervention would still likely to protract in the Middle East particularly in Afghanistan and Pakistan, though Iran may still be on on the sidelines.

Iran who has caught the US, er, the world's ire with its nuclear policies (mind you, the laboratories are terrifyingly amazing). Very funny and interesting though is that, Iran, whose President, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad is my current favorite president name, imported around $12 million worth of bull semen. What are they gonna use it for, hmmm? Jeez.

A $10,000 bet on climate change

Preceding the now-global initiative Earth Hour was a relatively small issue regarding a wager on climate change, which I found in the Foreign Policy blog. Albeit small in a plethora of issues in the sphere international politics (perhaps because of its too-academic and “scientific” nature), its impact on the remaining fight that could ultimately save mankind cannot be downplayed.

The wager is put up by forecasting expert J. Scott Armstrong of the Wharton School of Business and challenges Al Gore’s climate change forecasts which he presented in the 2007 Oscar-winning documentary An Inconvenient Truth. Armstrong, in his paper, "Global Warming: Forecasts by Scientists Versus Scientific Forecasts" also challenged the results of the United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) saying it as “unscientific” saying his predictions were far more accurate than the previous two mentioned. (See article and related links here)

Citing The New York Times article, the UN-IPCC recently presented grim forecasts if governments fail to respond to the lingering risk on global warming: “melting ice sheets that could lead to a rapid rise in sea levels and the extinction of large numbers of species brought about by even moderate amounts of warming, on the order of 1 to 3 degrees”.

The bet would require Gore and Armstrong to deposit $10,000 into an escrow account and the prize would go to the one who has closest to the accurate predictions of temperature, over a ten-year period, in 10 different weather stations around the world. The renewed deadline was supposed to be March 26. Gore has reportedly dismissed the challenge.

Gore would have only aggravated the forecast squabbling if he accepted the wager. And it would only do the world no good. I admire the efforts of Armstrong and his colleagues, but I reserve doubts on what point they want to prove. I suck at this stuff, forecasting and statistical analysis, because I suck at math. But we face such ominous times. I know that global carbon emissions are already way more than the world can take, polar ice caps are melting at such a rapid level, a sizable portion of Antarctica has been obliterated, and God knows if the hole in the ozone layer is still the size of Australia or much bigger now.

Surely, the devastation brought about by the Hurricane Katrina and its disastrous precedents couldn’t be any more than a retributive display of nature’s wrath than it is a big and horrific danger sign that no battle for accuracy can anymore abate.

The Shooter

The shooting of 32 people in Virginia Tech by a young Korean man is the worst shooting incident in America's history, after a similar shooting in a state high school some years before. The news was cringe-worthy not only because of the death toll but the fact that it was prominently reported that the criminal was Asian. Jessica Zafra in her blog was right in saying that most of us prolly thought 'Please not be a Filipino...'. Funny, how we come to think of our association to such abominable acts. Are we really that damned lot?

I can't help but think of Gus Van Sant's Elephant, the 2003 Cannes Palm D' Or (?) winner, which was inspired by a high-school shooting in the States. The film raises to the fore America's long-standing battle on gun culture and troublesome state of America's youth. Gun culture is also the subject of the Oscar-winning docu by Michael Moore Bowling for Columbine.

It was repeatedly reported in the foreign news that Cho, the Korean man responsible for the Virginia Tech shooting, was troubled and exhibits violent traits. Yet, he was also described by neighbors as quiet and aloof. Despite his being Korean in birth, it's also important to note that he was partly raised in the States. However, Foreign Policy blog noted the odd coincidence that the world-record for shooting sprees was by South Korean police officer who killed 56 in an 8-hour rampage.