CUTE CAT-AND-CHILD PICTURES

Cute and lovely cat-and-child pictures here.

THE WONDERS OF MATH

1 x 8 + 1 = 9

12 x 8 + 2 = 98

123 x 8 + 3 = 987

1234 x 8 + 4 = 9876

12345 x 8 + 5 = 98765

123456 x 8 + 6 = 987654

1234567 x 8 + 7 = 9876543

12345678 x 8 + 8 = 98765432

123456789 x 8 + 9 = 987654321

1 x 9 + 2 = 11

12 x 9 + 3 = 111

123 x 9 + 4 = 1111

1234 x 9 + 5 = 11111

12345 x 9 + 6 = 111111

123456 x 9 + 7 = 1111111

1234567 x 9 + 8 = 11111111

12345678 x 9 + 9 = 111111111

123456789 x 9 + 10 = 1111111111

9 x 9 + 7 = 88

98 x 9 + 6 = 888

987 x 9 + 5 = 8888

9876 x 9 + 4 = 88888

98765 x 9 + 3 = 888888

987654 x 9 + 2 = 8888888

9876543 x 9 + 1 = 88888888

98765432 x 9 + 0 = 888888888

1 x 1 = 1

11 x 11 = 121

111 x 111 = 12321

1111 x 1111 = 1234321

11111 x 11111 = 123454321

111111 x 111111 = 12345654321

1111111 x 1111111 = 1234567654321

11111111 x 11111111 = 123456787654321

111111111 x 111111111 = 12345678987654321

from Jarius Bandoc. Thanks!

A MAYOR ON A MAD RAMPAGE AS FATHER LOOKS ON

A mayor who feels he owns the world mauls  with his bodyguards a helpless old man and a teenage son, as the father, a cabinet member and peace adviser, watches on.

Shameless people!

The Peace Adviser who watched as his mayor-son went into a mauling rampage.

A MAN-MADE STAR TO POWER THE WORLD

Scientists plan to ignite tiny man-made star

The capsule containing the 'fuel' on which laser beams will be concentrated. The aim is to generate temperatures of more than 1,000 million degrees Celsius. Photo: Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory

It is science’s star experiment: an attempt to create an artificial sun on earth — and provide an answer to the world’s impending energy shortage.

While it has seemed an impossible goal for nearly 100 years, scientists now believe that they are on brink of cracking one of the biggest problems in physics by harnessing the power of nuclear fusion, the reaction that burns at the heart of the sun.

In the spring, a team will begin attempts to ignite a tiny man-made star inside a laboratory and trigger a thermonuclear reaction.

Its goal is to generate temperatures of more than 100 million degrees Celsius and pressures billions of times higher than those found anywhere else on earth, from a speck of fuel little bigger than a pinhead. If successful, the experiment will mark the first step towards building a practical nuclear fusion power station and a source of almost limitless energy.

READ MORE.

ALEX MAGNO’s DOUBLE STANDARDS

Alex Magno of Philippine Star says:

I nearly fell off my seat last Wednesday listening to Cory Aquino declare Edsa Dos a mistake and apologizing to the president deposed as a consequence of a people’s just indignation against a regime of corruption.

If he were anywhere close, I would have given him a little push so he would fall real hard on his sorry ass.

Regardless of my conviction that EDSA 2 was a mistake,  to this day I give allowance to the sentiment of those moments.  It was a politically explosive scandal and it surely did not help that legalism ruled the day when it would have helped defuse the simmering situation, using common sense, to have had simply allowed the opening of the so-called second envelope which was the center of controversy.  It was made even worse with Estrada reduced to taunting his foes with roguish statements like ” pupulutin kayo sa kangkungan!” or “mag-presidente muna kayo@#!” But as they say, it is all bridge over the water now.

But back to Mr. Magno.  Magno was with EDSA 2 and as he says, he will always be proud having been with the mass movement.    Here he goes:

… We were in the streets then because it had become abundantly clear that a band of thugs had overrun our government…

We were in the streets then because corruption had become so flagrant that the future of our children was in jeopardy. We were in the streets then because, despite the obvious costs to our institutions, a government that offended our common morality had to either step down or be deposed.

…They apportioned among themselves all the areas where power could yield profit.

We were in the streets then because the political leadership had become an embarrassment…

… And yes, we were in the streets then because critics of the powers-that-be were kidnapped and killed, their remains burned and their bones ground to conceal the dastardly deed.

W-wait.    Teka, teka,  sandali lang.  Hold it there.  Did we copy him correctly?

Really now, because if Mr. Magno  did spend time to reflect on his words more, how would he  have missed it… how would he have missed  the glaring fact that his very descriptions of the Estrada regime he proudly claims he helped depose then now more accurately describes the very regime he now serves with unquestioning loyalty?   Talk about thugs in the GMA government beginning with Chavit Singson and the First Thug, if you can find competition.  Talk about having apportioned power to wherever profit could be had beginning with IMPSA scandal to NBN-ZTE.  Talk about a leadership that has become an embarrassment beginning from “Hello, Garci!” to FGs recurring “diarrhea”.  Talk about disappearing critics of government and compare figures with General Palparan.  Talk about flagrant corruption and how the fuck we slid down to being now, how so shameful, the most corrupt country in Asia eight years since GMA was put into power in the name of, hold your breath, moral regeneration.   Talk about other embarrassments, scandals, thuggery, immorality, sheer shamelessness, etcetera… and  see if  the GMA government is in any danger of losing out in the contest in both quantity and quality, in gravity and sweep.

The point Mr. Magno is this: your description of Estrada’s government is correct on most counts,  but if it were correct then it is more so now—  magnified and multiplied ten or so times.  But the big, big difference is, wonder how it escapes your brilliant mind, you rose to help depose Estrada’s government in EDSA 2 then and proudly claims participation like a badge of honor, while now you serve in various highly-paid capacities defending with vehemence this government.  How’s that for moral consistency, you, asshole?!

At least, Estrada possessed legitimacy earned through a democratic contest nobody questioned.

Since when did it become a mistake to cry out loud against the rape of our institutions?

LOL! or better yet ROFL!  You call this now political grandstanding, don’t you?

… Cory is just being her plain self. For her there are no historical meanings larger than her pet peeves. There are no large principles that cement bonds that outlast the vagaries of everyday politics, only alliances of conveniences and transient friendships.

When Cory was president, the political lines were always defined by who she likes and who she dislikes. She never went beyond the politics of personality. She did not let the logic of statesmanship overwhelm her own sympathies and antipathies.

That is her operational code. She goes by how she feels towards specific individuals. She honors debts of gratitude and feels bad if the favors she had given are not returned when she expects them to be.

That is also the operational code of the variety of elite politics that has ruled this country for generations. Cory does not only personify it; she lives it.

I do not dispute these propositions, but hey, do not those descriptions apply more accurately now to the President you presently serve so well?    Dispute me by giving us names of  personalities in GMA government suggesting excellence and competence, or patriotism and love of country– if I would run out of fingers in my two hands, let’s see.

Double standards, pure and simple.  And Alex Magno knows it.  But he dishes them out like a  piece of wisdom.  Fucking asshole, this Alex Magno!

A SHORT SHORT STORY I LIKE

Little Brother™

By Bruce Holland Rogers

PETER had wanted a Little Brother™ for three Christmases in a row. His favorite TV commercials were the ones that showed just how much fun he would have teaching Little Brother™ to do all the things that he could already do himself. But every year, Mommy had said that Peter wasn’t ready for a Little Brother™. Until this year.

This year when Peter ran into the living room, there sat Little Brother™ among all the wrapped presents, babbling baby talk, smiling his happy smile, and patting one of the packages with his fat little hand. Peter was so excited that he ran up and gave Little Brother™ a big hug around the neck. That was how he found out about the button. Peter’s hand pushed against something cold on Little Brother™’s neck, and suddenly Little Brother™ wasn’t babbling any more, or even sitting up. Suddenly, Little Brother™ was limp on the floor, as lifeless as any ordinary doll.

“Peter!” Mommy said.

“I didn’t mean to!”

Mommy picked up Little Brother™, sat him in her lap, and pressed the black button at the back of his neck. Little Brother™’s face came alive, and it wrinkled up as if he were about to cry, but Mommy bounced him on her knee and told him what a good boy he was. He didn’t cry after all.

“Little Brother™ isn’t like your other toys, Peter,” Mommy said. “You have to be extra careful with him, as if he were a real baby.” She put Little Brother™ down on the floor, and he took tottering baby steps toward Peter. “Why don’t you let him help open your other presents?”

So that’s what Peter did. He showed Little Brother™ how to tear the paper and open the boxes. The other toys were a fire engine, some talking books, a wagon, and lots and lots of wooden blocks. The fire engine was the second-best present. It had lights, a siren, and hoses that blew green gas just like the real thing. There weren’t as many presents as last year, Mommy explained, because Little Brother™ was expensive. That was okay. Little Brother™ was the best present ever!

Well, that’s what Peter thought at first. At first, everything that Little Brother™ did was funny and wonderful. Peter put all the torn wrapping paper in the wagon, and Little Brother™ took it out again and threw it on the floor. Peter started to read a talking book, and Little Brother™ came and turned the pages too fast for the book to keep up.

But then, while Mommy went to the kitchen to cook breakfast, Peter tried to show Little Brother™ how to build a very tall tower out of blocks. Little Brother™ wasn’t interested in seeing a really tall tower. Every time Peter had a few blocks stacked up, Little Brother™ swatted the tower with his hand and laughed. Peter laughed, too, for the first time, and the second. But then he said, “Now watch this time. I’m going to make it really big.”

But Little Brother™ didn’t watch. The tower was only a few blocks tall when he knocked it down.

“No!” Peter said. He grabbed hold of Little Brother™’s arm. “Don’t!”

Little Brother™’s face wrinkled. He was getting ready to cry.

Peter looked toward the kitchen and let go. “Don’t cry,” he said. “Look, I’m building another one! Watch me build it!”

Little Brother™ watched. Then he knocked the tower down.

Peter had an idea.

---

When Mommy came into the living room again, Peter had built a tower that was taller than he was, the best tower he had ever made. “Look!” he said.

But Mommy didn’t even look at the tower. “Peter!” She picked up Little Brother™, put him on her lap, and pressed the button to turn him back on. As soon as he was on, Little Brother™ started to scream. His face turned red.

“I didn’t mean to!”

“Peter, I told you! He’s not like your other toys. When you turn him off, he can’t move but he can still see and hear. He can still feel. And it scares him.”

“He was knocking down my blocks.”

“Babies do things like that,” Mommy said. “That’s what it’s like to have a baby brother.”

Little Brother™ howled.

“He’s mine,” Peter said too quietly for Mommy to hear. But when Little Brother™ had calmed down, Mommy put him back on the floor and Peter let him toddle over and knock down the tower.

Mommy told Peter to clean up the wrapping paper, and she went back into the kitchen. Peter had already picked up the wrapping paper once, and she hadn’t said thank you. She hadn’t even noticed.

Peter wadded the paper into angry balls and threw them one at a time into the wagon until it was almost full. That’s when Little Brother™ broke the fire engine. Peter turned just in time to see him lift the engine up over his head and let it drop.

“No!” Peter shouted. The windshield cracked and popped out as the fire engine hit the floor. Broken. Peter hadn’t even played with it once, and his best Christmas present was broken.

---

Later, when Mommy came into the living room, she didn’t thank Peter for picking up all the wrapping paper. Instead, she scooped up Little Brother™ and turned him on again. He trembled and screeched louder than ever.

“My God! How long has he been off?” Mommy demanded.

“I don’t like him!”

“Peter, it scares him! Listen to him!”

“I hate him! Take him back!”

“You are not to turn him off again. Ever!”

“He’s mine!” Peter shouted. “He’s mine and I can do what I want with him! He broke my fire engine!”

“He’s a baby!”

“He’s stupid! I hate him! Take him back!”

“You are going to learn to be nice with him.”

“I’ll turn him off if you don’t take him back. I’ll turn him off and hide him someplace where you can’t find him!”

“Peter!” Mommy said, and she was angry. She was angrier than he’d ever seen her before. She put Little Brother™ down and took a step toward Peter. She would punish him. Peter didn’t care. He was angry, too.

“I’ll do it!” he yelled. “I’ll turn him off and hide him someplace dark!”

“You’ll do no such thing!” Mommy said. She grabbed his arm and spun him around. The spanking would come next.

But it didn’t. Instead he felt her fingers searching for something at the back of his neck.

MEET DR. PARDIS SABETI, MY KIND OF LADY

Dr. Pardis Sabeti

Wired, by Kevin:

Evolutionary geneticist at Harvard who heads her own lab, vocalist and bass player in her band “A Thousand Days”. Rated 49th on the Telegraph’s list of the top 100 living geniuses.

Amazing lady, amazing human being.  She’s my choice for Sexiest Geeks of 2008 at Wired.  Is she single yet?

A NICE ANECDOTE

A  man sat at a metro station in Washington DC and started to play the violin; it was a cold January morning. He played six Bach pieces for about 45 minutes. During that time, since it was rush hour, it was calculated that thousands went through the station, most of them on their way to work.

Three minutes went by and a middle aged man noticed there was musician playing. He slowed his pace and stopped for a few seconds and then hurried on to meet his schedule.

A minute later, the violinist received his first dollar tip: a woman threw the money in the till who, without stopping, continued to walk.

A few minutes later, someone leaned against the wall to listen to him, but the man looked at his watch and started to walk again. Clearly he was late for work.

The one who paid the most attention was a three-year-old boy. His mother hurried him along but the kid stopped to look at the violinist. Finally the mother pushed hard and the child continued to walk turning his head all the time. This action was repeated by several other children. All the parents, without exception, forced them to move on.

In the 45 minutes that the musician played, only six persons stopped and stayed for a while. About 20 gave him money but continued to walk their normal pace. He collected $32. When he finished playing and silence took over, no one noticed it. No one applauded, nor was there any recognition.

The real Joshua Bell

No one knew this – that the violinist was Joshua Bell, one of the best musicians in the world. He played one of the most intricate pieces ever written with a violin worth $3.5 million.

Two days before his playing in the subway, a Joshua Bell performance sold out at a theater in Boston at seats averaging $100.

This is a real story. Joshua Bell playing incognito in the metro station was organized by the Washington Post as part of a social experiment about perception, taste and priorities of people.

The outlines were: in a commonplace environment at an inappropriate hour do we perceive beauty? Do we stop to appreciate it? Do we recognize talent in an unexpected context?

One of the possible conclusions from this experience could be:

If we do not have a moment to stop and listen to one of the best musicians in the world playing the best music ever written, how many other things are we missing?

Lifted from Ducky Paredes’ column. Thanks!

AN INSPIRING LIFE STORY

He was a polio victim at five.  His parents built for him a cage where to hide.  In family portraits, his picture did not appear.  He fought hard against life’s cruel impositions and went on to become one of 2008 TOYM awardees.

I noticed tears welling in my eyes as I read the news story.

THE ART OF SHOE-THROWING

The Bush shoe-throwing incident is generating art and other miscellanies.

GWBush re-enacting Neo in the Matrix in a hailstorm of shoes.

Truly hilarious!

I AM SCARED, MIND READING TECH IS HERE!

Dark, evil thoughts preoccupy my mind and I see things in a different, sometimes perverse, way so the prospect of a technology being able to read the mind and expose the secrets residing there  scares me.

Researchers from Japan’s ATR Computational Neuroscience Laboratories have developed new brain analysis technology that can reconstruct the images inside a person’s mind and display them on a computer monitor, it was announced on December 11. According to the researchers, further development of the technology may soon make it possible to view other people’s dreams while they sleep.

Truly scary.

Read more.

THE CON-ASS IDIOCY OF KAMPI

Luis Villafuerte, Mikey,  Ronnie Puno and the rest of Kampi, read this, you math illiterates:

The whole of Congress has 261 legislators: 23 senators + 238 congressmen.  If you adhere to the idea that the two chambers are co-equal, you do not refer in any manner to numbers for clearly 23 is not equal to 238.  The insanity you are advancing, that the two chambers should convene and vote as one on the issue of charter change,  looks like this:

261=100%;

Senate:  23 /261= 8.81%;

Lower House:  238/261=91.19%

Where oh where do we find the concept of co-equality and bicameralism here, you idiots?  And you want lawyers with titles of Associate Justice and Chief Justice to join the fun through an experiment in convoluted writing which you hope could be induced through proper motivation and make  ‘em shame the profession yet even more since Shakespeare’s  “let’s kill all the lawyers”?

Jesus Christ, whatever happened to you, people?  Have you lost it all?

DIARRHEA and MIKE ARROYO

MIKE ARROYO FULL OF SMILE

The incident about the Peru-bound flight of President GMA that took a detour to Osaka, Japan puportedly because Mike Arroyo was having a heart attack, later downgraded to diarrhea, is generating insidious whispers of a grand wrongdoing in the process of unraveling.   Antonio Abaya writes about it, Diarrhea in midflight, and calls for a Senate investigation if only “to salvage what is left of our national self-respect.”

Is it really true that Mr. Arroyo was about to be arrested by the FBI in LAX for money laundering activities? We have a right to know.

Is it really true that President Arroyo has been black-listed by US authorities and may set foot on US soil only for UN-related meetings and conferences? We also have a right to know.

The key element to ascertain in such a Senate investigation would be the coordinates of the plane when the decision was made to make almost a 180-degree turn to Osaka. This can be extracted from the pilot, co-pilot and navigator under oath, with the understanding that perjury would cost them their licenses.

It can also be verified by the aircraft’s voice and cockpit recorders, as well as by the electronic records of the Los Angeles and Osaka control towers, all of which, presumably are beyond being corrupted by Filipino politicians and their lackeys.

If I remember right, Lito Banayo, from whose article this post have lifted much, dismissed it as a product of fertile imagination of a Mike basher.

Yet, people are wondering:  do you remember the FG missing a Manny Pacquiao fight yet?

Diarrhea, diarrhea, … diarrhoyo, such a beautiful merging of words.

THIS QUOTE MADE ME LAUGH

“The most unfair thing about life is the way it ends. I mean, life is tough. It takes up a lot of your time. What do you get at the end of it? A Death! What’s that, a bonus? I think the life cycle is all backwards. You should die first, get it out of the way. Then you live in an old age home. You get kicked out when you’re too young, you get a gold watch, you go to work. You work forty years until you’re young enough to enjoy your retirement. You do drugs, alcohol, you party, you get ready for high school. You go to grade school, you become a kid, you play, you have no responsibilities, you become a little baby, you go back into the womb, you spend your last nine months floating…

…and you finish off as an orgasm.”

– Geoge Carlin

BEST MINDS

Discover Magazine: 20 best brains under 40… in the field of science, I suppose…

Terence Tao, mathematician

Jeffrey Bode, organic chemist

Katey Walter, ecologist

Amy Wagers, stem cell biologist

Joseph Teran, mathematician

Jack Harris, applied physicist

Sarkis Masmanian, biologist

Doug Natelson, condensed matter physicist

Michael Elowitz, biologist

Changhuei Yang. electrical and bioengineer

Adam Riess, astrophysicist

Nicole King, molecular and cell biologist

Luis von Ahn, computer scientist

Tapio Schneider, environmental scientist

Sara Seager, astrophysicist

Jon Kleinberg, computer scientist

Edward Boyden, euroengineer

Richard Bonneau, systems biologist

Shawn Frayne, inventor

Jonathan Pitchard, geneticist