BRAIN DRAIN

My standard line when foreigners ask me if there’s any sport close to Filipinos’ hearts in the same way that baseball is America’s pastime? “The Philippines is a nation of basketball-crazed short people.” It’s true! Though billiards and boxing have grown in popularity owing to the country’s world-class athletes in those activities, there’s nothing closer to many Filipinos’ hearts than the good ol’ game of hoops.

Obviously, not many foreigners realize this, so I was happy to come across a report in the New York Times about Gilbert Arenas’ recent visit to the Philippines. Actually, I generally get a kick out of reading “positive” news about the country in the foreign press; but this one particularly made my day.

Oh, and based on the comments? Agent Zero is officially a-okay in my book. Really!

[A Filipino Embrace (The New York Times)]

Once again, my brother showed me a couple of Youtube videos that I just have to share:

Folks, meet Cyril Takayama. His Wikipedia write-up describes him as a Japanese-American illusionist. Judging from videos of his performances posted across the internet he’s cast in the same mold as Criss Angel and David Blaine, but without the blase and weird affectation the two put on for showmanship.

What’s so special about his brand of magic? Well, the videos speak for themselves. By way of commentary, however, let me say that it takes mad talent to literally bring the Lacoste brand to life…

…change the way anyone will look at hamburgers on a fastfood menu (and do notice he hasn’t any sleeves)…

…and, well, do something like this:

As these things go, I would think that there’re elaborate preparations undertaken behind the scenes, particularly with respect to the venue and equipment involved. Smoke and mirrors and all that. But even then, these are just some kinda wow.

Tips for better blogging of the DIY variety are common fare across the internet. The ones recently featured on Webmonkey, however, stand out for being sensible, practical and set up as an online wiki. Granted, the suggestions seem to apply more for those intent on blogging for a living, or for startup commercial blogs in general, but there’s a couple of useful tips that even the semi-serious about blogging may want to take to heart.

[Webmonkey's Tips for Better Blogging via Wired]

Whoa! Nearly missed the boat on this one, which is right up my alley: Foreign Policy (FP), a publication of the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace (and completely different from the journal Foreign Affairs) recently came up with their 2008 List of Top 100 Intellectuals.

Offhand, the list could perhaps be better named, grouping “intellectuals” in the academic sense of the word together with journalists, writers of fiction and at least one US Army general. Nevertheless, it is a fascinating perspective on the luminaries who shape public discourse around the world in some shape or form.

That and it’s quite fun just going through the roster just to see how many “intellectuals” one is familiar with. In my case, only about twenty-eight of the 100 FP had identified rang a bell. Whether that makes me more or less of a nerd than I already think I am I haven’t yet figured out, but I’m leaning towards “more”.

[Foreign Policy: Top 100 Intellectuals ( 2008 ) via The Leo Africanus]

This one’s been making the rounds on the interweb for quite some time now, so I might as well jump on the bandwagon (albeit belatedly):

Garfield Minus Garfield is a novel if not unusual take on Jim Davis’ trademark feline. The premise: the real star of the comic strip is not Garfield but his owner John. And how to make this point? By taking your usual Garfield comic and editing out the titular fat cat.

This is perhaps best articulated by the site’s unnamed author:

Who would have guessed that when you remove Garfield from the Garfield comic strips, the result is an even better comic about schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, and the empty desperation of modern life? Friends, meet Jon Arbuckle. Let’s laugh and learn with him on a journey deep into the tortured mind of an isolated young everyman as he fights a losing battle against loneliness in a quiet American suburb.

Having grown up reading Garfield, I must say that this does cast the comic in an entirely new light, albeit in a bizarrely twisted and occasionally sad sort of way. While some of the resulting comic strips are hit-or-miss in the humor department, they are nonetheless worth checking out.

It would seem that Mike Kunkel has been at it again.

Previously, the talented animator became a serious contender for “best dad ever” through his “Kids in the Class” project. But this doting father apparently has been doing much more to make his kids’ trips to school extra special. These past few years, it turns out, he’s been doodling on his son’s and daughter’s brown paper bags each time his turn would come around to prepare their lunches. If it were anyone else this might not seem out of the ordinary; but this is Mike Kunkel we’re talking about, so it’s easy to imagine how amusing those illustrations must have been.

True enough, the lunchbags became a big hit at the school among teachers and students alike, so much so that he’s decided to collect his favorite ones in a book and showcase the actual ones at a few art galleries. Mike explains it better himself, and one can only hope that the blog he’s set up will show them off at some point because these lunchbags are just too cool for school.

[Read: What are Lunchbags? (via Mike Kunkel's Lunchbags)]

Just a little Star Wars humor for fellow geeks out there.

The ad* belongs to the marketing collateral SpikeTV used to drum up viewership for their Star Wars weekend marathon. The above particularly caught my attention because of the in-joke. It makes a strange amount of sense, doesn’t it?

*The image is just a screenshot from the channel’s website as I couldn’t find a digital copy of the actual poster I’ve seen around town. But it’s practically the same thing.

This one falls squarely between “somewhat disturbing” and “oh I’ve always wanted to try that”:

Wired Magazine’s Kevin Kelley reports on the Geekdad blog that he and his son decided to have an impromptu lesson in anatomy by reassembling a chicken’s skeleton from bones leftover after a chicken dinner.

The result is a “chickensaurus” that’s actually quite interesting. Apart from pictures of the finished product, the article comes complete with a detailed description of how to go about the experiment on one’s own.

Chicken not included.

[Read: Chickensaurus Skeleton (via Wired's Geekdad Blog)]

I came home one evening to find my brother with a mischievous grin on his face.

“What’s up?” I ask.

“You have to see this,” he says, pulling out his laptop with several Youtube videos lined up in tabs on his browser ready for viewing. The first of these, evidently, was someone singing the Aladdin theme song A Whole New World.

Before I could blurt out “What the hell?!” at what I presumed would be an utter waste of my time, my brother clicked away and the video started to play. “Wait for it…” was all he said. So I waited. Then around 1:00 into the video I found myself doubled over laughing:

I think everyone will agree that it takes a lot of talent (and a great sense of humor) to pull this off. He also apparently has lots of potential as an animator, too. But in case a career in animation isn’t in the cards for Nick Pitera, I would think he has a bright future as a singer, be it solo or as a “solo group act”.

Now that’s talent!

In relatively belated news, it turns out that the 2008 Index of Economic Freedom prepared by the Heritage Foundation/Wall Street Journal has been available online for quite some time now.

As these things go, there are some noteworthy developments in the index compared to its 2007 counterpart. Hong Kong and Singapore remain at the top of the list, with Ireland edging out Australia for the top third spot. The United States, New Zealand and Canada round out the countries deemed “free” by the index, whereas the usual suspects — Libya, Cuba, Zimbabwe and North Korea — constitute the handful of “repressed” economies that dwell at the bottom of the list. Meanwhile, China finds itself dropping several notches on the index, ranked 126th out of 162 in 2008 compared to 119th out of 161 in 2007.

The Philippines also finds itself slipping in this gauge of economic liberties. Whereas the country came in ranked 97th out of 161 and was deemed “moderately free” in 2007 based on the index, in 2008 it ranks among the “mostly unfree”, coming in 92nd out of 162 with a score that barely edges out Pakistan. As in the previous year, the index reports that the Philippines does well in terms of trade freedom, fiscal freedom, and “freedom from government” (i.e. dependence on government spending to support the economy) yet performs poorest in the areas of investment freedom, property rights and most of all freedom from corruption.

Accompanying the Index Rankings are summary reports of the findings for each country. For posterity’s sake, the following is an excerpt from the report on the Philippines:

The economy of the Philippines is 56.9 percent free, according to our 2008 assessment, which makes it the world’s 92nd freest economy. Its overall score is essentially unchanged from last year. The Philippines is ranked 15th out of 30 countries in the Asia–Pacific region, and its overall score is roughly equal to the regional average.

The Philippines scores relatively well in just two areas: trade freedom and government size. Fiscal freedom is average because income and corporate tax rates are burdensome, although overall tax revenue is low as a percentage of GDP. The average tariff rate is low, yet non-tariff barriers are significant. Total government expenditures in the Philippines are equal to roughly 20 percent of national GDP.

The Philippines is relatively weak in business freedom, investment freedom, property rights, and freedom from corruption. The government imposes both formal and non-formal barriers to foreign investment. Inflation is fairly high, and the government subsidizes the prices of several basic goods. The judicial system is weak and subject to extensive political influence. Organized crime is a major deterrent to the administration of justice, and bureaucratic corruption is extensive.