The Multiplication of Good

I've been thinking about this since the overwhelming help that arrived from all over the Philippines, even overseas, to ease the effects of the tragedy of typhoon Ondoy on the Filipinos.

Millions of donations were received, thousands of volunteers worked.

I thought [in Tagalog, siyempre :'p] "If only these people had been doing something like this even before the tragedy, the separation of the poor and rich wouldn't have been so great."

What "Would OF Been" Better??!

I just have to talk about this fast.

I'm really irked. Have you seen comments all around the web telling how things "would of been better" if this were that or that were this? It's not "would OF". "Would HAVE".

"Would HAVE".

Come on.

I'm pissed. With the amount of time and number of times it's already been used, I'm just thinking that people would figure out it's wrong and help each other correct it. How difficult is it to know and remember?

YouTube has a lot of these... oh, poor YouTube! ;'o

Geez, English isn't my mother tongue and I see Americans making this mistake. Please, guys... don't insult yourselves.

Lyra Silvertongue

I only realized today, after re-watching the last 3rd of the film The Golden Compass on HBO that the name "Lyra" was an... "aural anagram" for "liar". It was so obvious. She was the liar who (with the compass) can see the truth in everything.

The thing that really bothered me about that movie was that the protagonist was an expert liar. It was sort of a coincidence also that earlier this week I read about the movie in a blog (or was it a forum?) saying that the trouble with the movie was that Lyra had no respect for authority. I didn't really notice, nor did it bother me much when I learned about it. And although respect for authority is important, questioning the motives of leaders is also important. However, true learning can only be gained by giving due regard to someone (or something) other than oneself.

Now, I'm not absolutely honest with everything and everyone, but I am not "a liar", and definitely a bad one :'p


"Speak the truth always, even if it leads to your death." ~Godfrey of Ibelin, Kingdom of Heaven

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Some links (with some interesting facts) on the name "Lyra":
Lyra on Answers.com: http://www.answers.com/topic/lyra
Lyra on PokeMyName.com: http://www.pokemyname.com/firstname_27331_lyra.htm

†

Free Laundry for Typhoon Ondoy's Victims

This is the unedited message I received in my Facebook inbox from Atty. Raul Lambino earlier today:

+Please pass+ +Please pass+ +Please pass+

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FREE LAUNDRY FOR TYPHOON ONDOY'S VICTIMS!

Today October 3, 2009, in a lunch meeting with my client MR. WYDEN KING, owner of KALINISAN STEAM LAUNDRY, INC., one of the biggest industrial laundry company in the country that serves various big establishments like hotels, hospitals, & garment factories, he has told me that KALINISAN is offering FREE LAUNDRY & WASHING of all clothing materials (linens, bedsheets, pants, shirts, dresses, etc.) to all victims of typhoon Ondoy in Marikina, Quezon City, Cainta, Pasig, Taguig, Antipolo City and other areas in NCR, Rizal & Southern Tagalog. He instructed me to help disseminate this information so Kalinisan can immediately serve our people.

After the meeting, I immediately called up Mayor Mon Ilagan of Cainta, Rizal about this development and texted various friends in the media. Then I went to the Kalinisan warehouse at No. 10 Manggahan St., Bagumbayan, Libis, Quezon City where the factory is situated and conferred with the people in charge of the operations. I saw some dirty clothings already arriving from numerous victims and even saw more than 500 people-evacuees who are comfortably housed at the Kalinisan warehouse and supplied with foods, water and other needs mostly from Mrs. Peachy King, wife of Mr. Wyden King. Their condition is much-much better of than those who are now in other evacuation centers.

We enjoin the concerned LGUs, government agencies, NGO's , foundations, other individuals and the victims themselves to bring to Kalinisan such cloth items if they have the logistics to do so, or coordinate with their respective LGUs how we can effectively carry out this mission.

You can get in touch directly to Kalinisan by calling or texting these numbers: Tels. 6350601 to 05 local 128; CP # 0917-8909577 look for ALEX MALCO; or 0917-8591917 look for ESPIE DITABLAN. Likewise, you may call or text me at 09178936630.

Please pass this Note to others & let us do our little share in helping and uniting our nation by alleviating the plight of those who are most in need at such kind of moment. God bless us all.

ATTY. RAUL LAMBINO

Calamity Relief Needed ~Philippines

Calamity relief in the Philippines urgently needed due to typhoon Ondoy/Ketsana. Please help if you can. Send donations, spread the news, send thoughts and prayers... Some details can be found here:
> http://ferdinandcc.org/
> http://tourism-philippines.com/philippines-flood-donation-appeal/
> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tropical_Storm_Ketsana_%282009%29
> YouTube videos with keywords "Ondoy", "Ketsana": http://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=Ondoy%20Ketsana&search_type=&aq=f
> How you can help: http://pinoyissue.blogspot.com/2009/09/public-service-how-you-can-help-ondoy.html
> Donating to Manila from abroad: http://moongirl.wordpress.com/2009/09/28/donating-to-manila-from-abroad/
> Definitely Filipino, a Facebook group: http://www.facebook.com/i.am.filipino?ref=nf


Thank you very much.
May the Force be with Us all.

+ + +

(Just a personal account of the event:
(I just got back from Vincentian Hills Seminary (atop a forested hill) in Angono, Rizal (Philippines) one of the "less affected" areas (though also experienced flooding and cut off of services), and the scene is gloomy. Along with priests, seminarians, sisters, high school girl retreatants (who should have gotten home on the 26th to Pampanga that is hundreds (or thousands?) of kilometers away), the feast of St. Vincent de Paul (Sept. 27) was "celebrated" in drab. A narra tree by the small bridge down the slope was uprooted, and as electrical cables were caught up in its branches, the big electrical post fell down onto the road. Our electricity was cut off, including phone connection, wi-fi connection wasn't available so even with the laptops on battery we won't be able to connect for help or see what's happening outside, and our cellphone signals went dead for a long time; or the signal went on and off sporadically. We didn't receive news on TV, nor get our newspapers. We were somewhat stranded (we could go downhill, but only on foot and the area around was still muddy or flooded) in the seminary for 2 days and I didn't know how bad the situation was until I went out in a van for the first time to attempt going home to Quezon Province on Sept. 27 and drive into the towns of Taytay and Cainta in Rizal, to Antipolo and back to Angono, Rizal. But It was only tonight (upon returning to Lucena City, Quezon Prov.) that I really learned how wide the damage was: frontpage news nationwide, dozens of people already dead, lots more properties lost or damaged, and still a lot of areas flooded).
)

Ondoy situation map for Metro Manila (you could also zoom in to see Vincentian Hills Seminary (labeled "Vincentian Seminary") somewhere in Angono, south of Metro Manila):

> http://maps.google.com/maps/ms?ie=UTF8&hl=en&msa=0&msid=110868206150348750692.00047479b6400ee29bd89&ll=14.645791,121.107874&spn=0.107954,0.154324&source=embed

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ABOVE: Front view of Vincentian Hills Seminary in Angono, Rizal. To my right is downhill to the gate, some 200-500(?) meters away

BELOW: Down the slope from the seminary just inside the gate, a concrete electrical and communications post blocks the way.




ABOVE: Approaching the bridge to the gate of the compound. At right is the fallen narra tree. The muddy part with water is the bridge, clogged under by dirt, wood, mud... so that the water passes over it, not under. A makeshift bridge was made (far left of photo) by Mr. Noynoy, a Vincentian Hills Seminary cook.
Beyond you can see the fallen concrete post.

BELOW: A view from the fallen post. The fallen tree cannot be seen, at the left. Some cables still connected to another post, far into the photo. (Thinner cable at the left of photo was caught in the fallen tree's branch.)



ABOVE: The concrete avenue now looks like a dirt road.

BELOW: An appliance store in Rizal Province. One of the many business establishments damaged by the typhoon.


BELOW: Flooded street at the side of Puregold grocery/supermarket in Taytay, Rizal