What’s common between Captain Mendoza and Venus Raj?

 “Mean what you say and say what you mean.”

The biggest blunder the recent “Major, major” twin tragedies (excuse me for bringing this up again but it’s a must) that happened in the hostage-taking drama and Ms. Universe were all about miscommunication. You can never be wrong in taking communication for granted.

If the dismissed Captain Mendoza were true to his heart to say that he will not hurt his hostages, he may still live up to his family's honor. If Venus Raj (Ms. Philippines) humbly used a translator to answer her question and not be purely overwhelmed by the emotions of the pageant, she wouldn’t be finishing 4^th runner up in the recent 2010 Ms. Universe pageant.

“Ask,” I always tell people when they’re not sure of what they’re observing because through more information, you can never go wrong. Using the right communication, we will avoid fights, quarrels, and God forbid – death and yes, 4^th runner up finishes.

If you want to improve your communication, read this article and improve your skills keeping peace wherever you work and live. The article headlines ten things you should never forget when talking to anybody. If you are one that gets a lot of complaints when people talk to you, this article is for you.

Posted via email from Born 1973

2010 Emmys recognizes Filipino illustrator

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We're raking it in. US-based Filipino Illustrator Joseph 'Joe' Andrew Mateo, 38, won an accolade most of us (especially artists) would only dream of - winning the Emmys. Joseph has been featured so many times in the past by several media outfits showcasing his journey from his mediocre artist life to the most-renowned illustrator artist that he became known to be today.

Mateo won the Emmys for the upcoming Pixar-Disney produced made-for-TV feature-length animation, "Prep and Landing." If you've watched any Pixar movie before like Toy Story, The Incredibles, and Up, then you wouldn't be a stranger to this newest offering. It's funny, full of humor, and all the sensibilities of a Disney movie. Mateo's career of fifteen years in Disney is definitely bearing more fruit than he could ever imagine. It's giving a lot of local artist in the country hopes and dreams to hone their craft and be given that chance for recognition. To see some of his works, watch Prep and Landing's behind the scenes here.

Congratulations, Joe and mabuhay!

Read more articles about Joe Mateo here:
Philippine Star (June 3, 2007)
GMA TV
IMDB

Watch the trailer here:

Disney's Prep and Landing website

 

Photos by: Disney.com

Posted via email from Mabuhay

2010 Emmys recognizes Filipino illustrator

See and download the full gallery on posterous

We're raking it in. US-based Filipino Illustrator Joseph 'Joe' Andrew Mateo, 38, won an accolade most of us (especially artists) would only dream of - winning the Emmys. Joseph has been featured so many times in the past by several media outfits showcasing his journey from his mediocre artist life to the most-renowned illustrator artist that he became known to be today.

Mateo won the Emmys for the upcoming Pixar-Disney produced made-for-TV feature-length animation, "Prep and Landing." If you've watched any Pixar movie before like Toy Story, The Incredibles, and Up, then you wouldn't be a stranger to this newest offering. It's funny, full of humor, and all the sensibilities of a Disney movie. Mateo's career of fifteen years in Disney is definitely bearing more fruit than he could ever imagine. It's giving a lot of local artist in the country hopes and dreams to hone their craft and be given that chance for recognition. To see some of his works, watch Prep and Landing's behind the scenes here.

Congratulations, Joe and mabuhay!

Read more articles about Joe Mateo here:
Philippine Star (June 3, 2007)
GMA TV
IMDB

Watch the trailer here:

Disney's Prep and Landing website

 

Photos by: Disney.com

Posted via email from Mabuhay

Filipina named California Chief Justice

via youtube.com

If in case you haven't heard yet, another Filipina (and the very first Filipino at that) made me proud again a day after another Filipina took the 4th place title of Ms. Universe. This proud daughter of The Philippines stepped on to become the Chief Justice position of the state of California, Court of Appeals Associate Justice Tani Cantil-Sakauye. Cantil-Sakauye was handpicked by Governor Schwarzenegger for her ability "to independently and fairly interpret and administer the law." Her conservative roots started when she took law in UC Davis and served as deputy District Attorney in Sacramento County. Before becoming an Associate Justice of the Third District Court of Appeals, she was the superior court judge and municipal court judge, serving in each position for seven years.

You can watch the confirmation happen, even honoring her Filipino roots, in a second-generation recording of this event with Philippine News.

From me and from everyone, Hon. Cantil-Sakauye, mabuhay and congratulations as you become one of the many people who make this nation proud.

Posted via email from Mabuhay

Eight shallow questions about last night's hostage drama

Nothing will justify what former policeman Rolando Mendoza did last night to make the public take his side but what is more troubling is how the police did their job. Obviously, the police did not do a stellar performance in saving more lives or avoiding bloodshed during the drama and this brings forth a lot of questions what should have or shouldn't have happened. This goes the same with the media coverage: Did the presence of media hampered the effectiveness of the police operation? We just don't know. I'm posting some of those questions below to open discussion and learn valuable lessons from this as a concerned citizen of this nation. This will educate us and give us a broader understanding about the unfortunate incident that took place last night.

On the policeman's dismissal - We all know the disgruntled police officer snapped after hearing he lost his job from the service courtesy of the investigation made by the Office of the Ombudsman:

1. Why wasn't the former policeman's motion for reconsideration heard?
2. How many more cases like this is happening or will happen because the authorities in justice are not doing their job?

Just before the shooting started - It started minutes after the police (with full media coverage) took the hostage taker's brother into custody

1. Who authorized the arrest of the brother of the hostage taker that potentially started the situation?
2. Did the police know that the tourist bus have a television monitor to know what was going on when they arrested the brother of the hostage taker?
3. Didn't they know that the media will swarm on the arrest of the hostage taker's brother?

On the assault - If you watched the live or taped coverage of the drama, you'll have the same questions

1. What were the SWAT doing smashing the windows instead of using night vision goggles to track down Mendoza inside the bus?
2. In smashing the windows why were the police lacking materials to perform their operation like having ladders to smash the windows?
3. Why did the SWAT team go inside the bus without night vision goggles or even a flash light?

Photo credit: Pat Roque/AP (bus) / smh.com.au/AP (rolando mendoza)

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Posted via email from Bad Politics

What is this public-owned vehicle doing in Megamall?

Due diligence is a must to keep the public aware (in this case, Manila City residents) of public officials wanton abuse of our tax money for their own private needs.

This pictures were taken today (Ninoy Aquino's death anniversary day) at SM Megamall Building B, around 11:30 AM, at its second level parking. The two Manila City Tax-owned vehicles with District 1 Manila Congressman Asilo's name on it, were parked right in front of the mall's doors. Notice how they took out the plate number of the public vehicle to avoid being detected. However, they could not take away the conduction sticker off the windshield of the vehicle. They thought they won't be detected.

Ninoy's death in 1984 was the Filipinos' awakening of his/her consciousness of what should be done to right the wrong.

Does Rep. Atong Asilo know this? Does Mayor Alfredo Lim know this?

It's sad that such barangay public officials just don't get it. Let's fire these abusive people, please.

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Video007.3gp (84 KB)

Posted via email from Bad Politics

Starbucks is now offering Free wifi

via mashable.com

This news is from the U.S. but the main question now is when would Starbucks Philippines implement this? This is definitely great news especially to the Filipino market who loves to go online with their new found multimedia toys like iPhone, iPads, Macbooks, Vaios, and other smart phones. To many of the online community, this initiative by the coffee shop giant is long overdue. Starbucks is a place for reading books, studying, and research. Having this new feature will give more people reasons to go and enjoy the ambiance this Seattle-based coffee place offers. After this great news, you should know that Starbucks will also offer exclusive content only they could give customers. It's called Starbucks Digital Network or SDN. The said network will offer exclusive customers exclusive content only they could provide. According to Helium.com, when online inside their shops customers will get to choose five channels to get exclusive content for their purpose: News, Entertainment, Wellness, Business & Careers and My Neighborhood. Now, how exclusive this will be relies heavily on how enjoyable the experience is. Right now, it sounds promising, with Apple iTunes providing free downloads in the Entertainment channel of this SDN. The other providers are The New York Times, Wall Street Journal, and USA Today.

With this new feature, I sure hope Starbucks will win more customers but like I said it all depends on what their content can provide customers so we'll see how this will figure out in their operations.

Posted via email from Everything Customers

Why Google Wave Will Live

No matter how much bashing Google Wave gets, I still think this Google application is a genius. The moment I got wind of its Beta testing, I requested for an account and started toying with it. As soon as I started using it, I saw all the possibilities that I can do with it to help me in my work and personal life. In fact, I dubbed it as the "Facebook-killer" because you can do so much more interactivity with it. In fact, I find Facebook (FB) mundane nowadays - reading other people's stats is not really that interesting for me. Yes FB gets me connected with other people but I need something more useful and meaningful that will last longer than pop culture - hint-hint.

People, especially in the Philippines, love chatting and sharing stories with one another. And Google Wave is perfect for that. In fact you can never go wrong with chatting because people need to exchange words than just posting and not knowing if people will connect or not. Google Wave thread any conversations (like gmail, of course) you make but with photos and other visual capabilities that could make the interaction more meaningful. You can share pictures, do polling, plan events, draft and edit documents, share music and videos, brainstorm. . .there's so much possibilities you can do with it. In fact, people that I asked to try it said they liked it too - especially when we start editing work online and real time.

With all the promise Google Wave can give me, I hope Google will not take The Wave out. I like the wave and there's huge potential in what it can do to help people get meaningful connections both at home and at work. I feel Google Wave didn't get the chance to be known more for people to enjoy its full potential.

Trivia
Aside from "Facebook-killer," do you want to know what other names I gave it to tell people about it? Other names I gave were "Yahoo! Messenger on Steroids" or "Email meets Facebook meets Yahoo! Messenger." How can you not love Google Wave?

Posted via email from Everything Customers