Where the Hell Is Matt?

A dear friend once told me: Who needs a home when the whole world can be your home? The link below shows a person who has the whole world as his home. Enjoy the video.

About the video: 14 months in the making, 42 countries, and a cast of thousands. Thanks to everyone who danced with me. Make sure to click “watch in high quality” right underneath the video. Link: WhereTheHellIsMatt?

Watch/download it here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zlfKdbWwruY

Or here:

Merry Christmas, Matt!

(I got a little bit emo while watching this video. I do not know if this is because of the music or the idea of travelling so much around the world. Good times.)

Present!

Guys, I’m still alive. For all of you who emailed me (I received hundreds of emails — 356 to be exact — asking why I was not posting anything or replying to any of their posts), thank you for your concern. That cannabis post (Hi, KG!) was just so inspiring that I had to quit smoking and try something less harmful.

And this photo has nothing to do with this post.

Anyway, I am back, and I’ll probably be posting some posts soon. But for now, let me just share with you an email that I received from The Banana Man himself, aka Potassium Boy!

20 Rules in any Office

1. Rule 1. - The Boss is always right.
2. Rule 2. - If the Boss is wrong, see rule 1.
3. Those who work get more work. Others get pay, perks, and promotions.
4. Ph.D. stands for “Pull Him Down”. The more intelligent a person, the more hardworking a person, the more committed a person; the more number of persons are engaged in pulling that person down.
5. If you are good, you will get all the work. If you are really good, you will get out of it.
6. When the Bosses talk about improving productivity, they are never talking about themselves.
7. It doesn’t matter what you do, it only matters what you say you’ve done and what you are going to do.
8. A pat on the back is only a few centimeters from a kick in the butt.
9. Don’t be irreplaceable. If you can’t be replaced, you can’t be promoted.
10. The more crap you put up with, the more crap you are going to get.
11. If at first you don’t succeed, try again. Then quit. No use being a damn fool about it.
12. When you don’t know what to do, walk fast and look worried.
13. Following the rules will not get the job done.
14. If it weren’t for the last minute, nothing would get done.
15. Everything can be filed under “Miscellaneous” .
16. No matter how much you do, you never do enough.
17. You can do any amount of work provided it isn’t the work you are supposed to be doing.
18. In order to get a promotion, you need not necessarily know your job.
19. In order to get a promotion, you only need to pretend that you know your job.
20. The last person that quit or was fired will be held responsible for everything that goes wrong.

Good times!

Cannabis Less Harmful than Drinking, Smoking

Cannabis is less harmful than alcohol or tobacco, according to a report by a British research charity Thursday, which called for a “serious rethink” of drug policy.

The Beckley Foundation, a charity which numbers senior British and other academics among its advisors, said banning cannabis has no impact on supply and turns users into criminals.

“Although cannabis can have a negative impact on health, including mental health, in terms of relative harms it is considerably less harmful than alcohol or tobacco,” says the report by the Foundation’s Global Cannabis Commission.

- details on Physorg.com

I was supposed to argue against this claim but then, I am just a lowly social science graduate; the researchers and scientists who made this report/study have PhDs, specialization, and you know, the whole she-bang. Let me just repeat their report for clarity:

Cannabis is less harmful than alcohol or tobacco…

No buts, no ifs. So, the next time you drink a beer or puff a stick of cigarette — no, I’m taking that back. Let’s make it proactive. The next time you THINK of having a bottle of beer or puffing a stick of cigarette, always remember you are doing something harmful. Don’t risk your health. There is something a less harmful than those two.

Doobi, anyone? Nyahaha.

(PS: I shouldn’t have doubted Bob Marley’s and Chito Miranda’s wisdom on this matter.)

(PPS: I even got the image of the cannabis leaf from Web4Health website.)

US Congress OKs 700 Billion Bailout Plan

The US Congress approved the USD 700 billion (I was supposed to write this in figures but I keep on getting lost with the number of zeros, hehehe) bailout plan for their economy. This happened just 10 minutes ago. I think.For those who are following this news, and are happy that this is finally over (well, not exactly over, but a very, very big step), I am sure you can now sleep well at night. Or go to work without worrying too much. By the way, that amount (USD 700 billion)is equivalent to around 30 years of Philippine national appropriation or budget, ceteris paribus.

Here’s a post from Yahoo!regarding the historic move by the US Congress.

Congress OKs historic bailout bill
Friday October 3, 1:57 pm ET
By Julie Hirschfeld Davis and David Espo, Associated Press Writers
Congress enacts historic legislation providing bailout for troubled financial industry

WASHINGTON (AP) — With the economy on the brink and elections looming, Congress approved an unprecedented $700 billion government bailout of the battered financial industry on Friday and sent it to President Bush for his certain signature.

The final vote, 263-171 in the House, a comfortable margin that was 58 more votes than it garnered on Monday. The vote capped two weeks of tumult in Congress and on Wall Street, punctuated by daily warnings that the country confronted the gravest economic crisis since the Great Depression if lawmakers failed to act.

Bush was poised to make a statement on the historic vote.

More… http://biz.yahoo.com/ap/081003/financial_meltdown.html

 Good luck to all.

UP Centennial Year

I am not sure if I’ll still be able to witness my alma mater’s next centennial (hehehe), so, I am posting here a memento I got courtesy of my brother — Oble on a 100-peso bill.

 Mabuhay ang Iskolar ng Bayan!

(2008.10.02, a bit late post…)