Brain Contour

I was having my daily news reading on philstar.com when the picture (below) of a man gathering rattan fruits, locally known as littuko, caught my attention. I had seen the fruits before in the Philippines, but never thought that it’s from the rattan tree, more so, that it could actually be eaten. The snakelike rattan fruit is small, about 1.5 inch in diameter.

According to those who have tasted the fruit, it is sour, akin to a tamarind taste.

You have the top-notch ideas but your command of the written English is limited. You can speak in English and understand the language, but you cannot even spell 75 percent of what you say. Your grammar construction is, almost always, something to jeer about. Nevertheless, you possess the academic degree and the know-how you insanely desire to share with your intellectual peers through published scientific papers. Would you ever let a lexical deficiency hinder your rise to the top of the scholastic ladder?

No way – says few of the people I know. I personally know a research scientist whose first language is not English, whose sub-par writing skills could easily send peers to frown, if not, jerk. But he manages to impress people with good write-ups and well-written documents. The key is to be smart — let others do the writing or the editing (read: flipping it 75%, recall that you cannot even spell 75% of your words) for you! Hire or pay for an academic ghostwriter for your scientific papers. Or get it for free by befriending the better-schooled American writers. Or could also be any person whose English skills are par excellence, someone who could spell receive with “e after c” and not “i after c”. A ghostwriter could edit and refine your rough draft or even create an article from start to finish based on your basic idea.

Journal Online

I never fail to read her articles as they are really in a class by itself, a far cry from the rest of the news reports posted on Journal Online and from those I often read from Philippine Star or the Philippine Daily Inquirer. If you translate verbatim a tabloid article written in Filipino, the exact match is Zaida delos Reyes-Palanca’s English article. Read the samples below.

The map below shows the latest results from a Forbes study, using IRS data, on where Americans moved from one county to another during the year 2008. I specifically picked Brookings, South Dakota and I was not surprised to see more of comings than goings. This is most likely due to the influx of students to the county. The South Dakota State University in Brookings is the largest university in the state.

SDSU Wecota Hall First Floor

Never mind the grammar, but the note is a threat to my existence at the basement. He specifically picked me when I am not the only one drinking coffee in the room, neither the only one throwing coffee cups in the waste bin.

For the past weeks, I have been complaining about the cleanliness of room 008. I have never talked to the cleaning guy, but the Center’s secretary. Although, I am pretty sure the admin has already been informed regarding the problem, it looks to me the guy has not done anything about it (yet) for weeks now since the complaint was raised.

The State of Peace Map

Here is where we stand among the bottom countries (with average scores):

CNN’s GPS host, Fareed Zakaria, is the only CNN host worth watching on TV. The rest, like Anderson Cooper and Larry King are a joke! Fareed Zakaria is the voice of wisdom and he is the only one who can dig beneath the surface. I love this guy and his show.

Watch the video below as he broke his silence over the BP oil spill.

Radio and TV Host, Glenn Beck

I have never been a Glenn Beck fan. To me, what Glenn Beck says on TV (or tries to explain on TV) is full of ignorance that a ten-year-old kid can explain issues even better. What he did to Pres. Obama’s daughter, 11-year-old Malia Obama, confirms the twisted 10-year-old brain of Beck. In his radio program this morning, Beck mocked and attacked the intelligence of Malia. He and his co-host crossed the line, laughed at the expense of an 11-year-old girl.

He was the one who said to leave kids of public figures on the sidelines. But he was also the one who broke his own rule. Oh yeah, what do you expect from a 10-year-old brain?

Beck’s attack on Malia came from Obama’s statement yesterday during the Gulf oil spill press conference. The President said his daughter asked for an update on the oil leak “You know, when I woke up this morning and I’m shaving, and Malia knocks on my bathroom door and she peeks in her head and she says, ‘did you plug the hole yet, Daddy?” That line — did you plug the hole yet, Daddy? — ticked Beck’s tiny brain.