Agusan del Sur, Mindanao, Philippines

A few pics I snapped on my visit to San Francisco, in Agusan del Sur, Philippines. It was a wonderful place, with beautiful people. I couldn't help but shed a few tears as I boarded the bus that would take me to Butuan for the flight back to Manila. I have so many memories of this place and much to share in the weeks to come.

Nanai's kitchen, where my meals were prepared for me.

The Changing Landscape of Social Networking & the Future of the Internet

I use Google Reader to subscribe to various news, blogs and podcasts. I also subscribe to many of the same sources via Facebook and Twitter. These days, I've noticed I spend more time on Facebook and less on Google Reader. Facebook puts my social, political and other interests all in one place. Social networking is no longer purely a social experience. The lines between the social, the personal and the private are becoming blurred.

Economy: Singapore vs. US

Just a quick commentary. I arrived in my second home of Singapore roughly 3 weeks ago. Since then, I have been working non-stop--literally 12-16 hours a day--on a software development project with an overly ambitious deadline. Therefore, you must excuse the simplicity of this post. It is late, and I'm lucky to have a thought in my head.

En route to Singapore, I had a stopover in Japan. My first observation was the obvious: the yen had strengthened quite a lot against the mighty US dollar. My overall experience in Japan has confirmed the value of a production-based economy.

If This Were Your Universe . . .

Suppose you were a wealthy and powerful parent. How would the world perceive you if these facts were discovered:

On the day they are born, you tell them they are already a bad person.

Some of your children are poor or happened to be born in a dark corner of the room, so you allow them to go without health care and suffer horrible diseases.
 

The diseases they suffer from were of your own invention.
 

You decide to create chaos to "test" them, and send an earthquake to destroy their home.
 

One of your daughters and son in law move away, become rich and happy while failing to adore you, so you destroy their entire city with a volcanic eruption.
 

You tell you favorite children to make war with your least favorite children.

The debt you don't know you have

You don't need to buy a home or a car to be in debt. You can be indebted without a loan or a credit card. Listen up!

Rent is debt if you sign a lease. Most landlords require you sign a six to twelve month lease.

Most people buy a cellphone through the service provider and sign a two year contract. That is debt. (That's why I bought an unlocked GSM phone in Asia and use always prepaid service). BTW, it is impossible to buy an iPhone in US without a contract.

You can't set up a new Internet or television service in your home or flat without a contract. Period.

The US market is designed to force people into debt slavery by its system of service contracts. When you have a contract, you're obligated for that period of time even if your circumstances change. That's debt.

I strongly encourage anyone who reads this to think twice before signing the dotted line. Do you really need an iPhone so badly you'd enslave yourself to it? It is your master for the duration of the contract. You are enslaved for two years to pay for a phone that will be outdated before the contract expires.

Think about it.