A conversation late last night / early this morning with Big Boy and LR over ice cream, cheese rings and coke brought about this nugget of wisdom / crap:

"Between love and hate, hate is easier. The very nature of love requires reciprocation and no matter how much you shower love on anyone, it never guarantees that it will be returned. Hate, one the other hand, does not require equal feelings. It is quite possible, and very easy, to hate someone who does not hate you back. And yes, when you heap hate on someone, it's entirely possible that they would learn to hate you right back -- but that hardly matters as hate does not require to be returned."

(Sleep deprivation x the time of the day or night) + (weirdoks) + (sugar) = random pieces of brilliance.

Or statements I feel will bite me in the ass at some point.

Tags: demented doses, good days, number 42 theories, tripping away
coordinates: changi airport
state of mind: impatient
background noise: people waiting to board planes

It took a couple of Michio Kaku videos on youtube, a full night's rest, ranting to MS, JM, JK, SS, NP and other women, breakfast and a couple of ciggy breaks to finally calm down after watching "The Labyrinth of the Butterfly" last night. I was prepared for it because The Turtle told me about two years ago that the play (and the book that it was based on) totally dissed Michio Kaku.

Now, if you have any clue about me (or had at least traveled with me twice, or asked me about my favourite things in life), you would know that I would lose an arm to be Michio Kaku. And that I absolutely love his work.  I owe this man for bringing physics back to me, who has made me feel less of a Failed Physicist-Wannabe. This man is one of a handful of theoretical physicists who have de-mystified phsyics and quantum mechanics for regular human beings. He is one of the few scientists who actually take a stand against nuclear weapons and war. He is one of the even fewer physicists who write about women physicists and the lack of such women in the world of physics. This is a man who may not necessarily be gender-sensitive or feminist, but is not a sexist.

This is how I've always perceived Michio Kaku, so I was absolutely gutted when last night's play painted him as a sexist loser who designed "Molly" the highly-sexualised female robot straight out of sexist geek fantasy. First things first, Kaku is a theoretical physicist. His life's work is the M-Theory (one of the major strands of the Theory of Everything, whom he also calls "The Mother of All Theories"). He is not an applied physics person. I can't imagine him building a robot at all. I've heard about photos of him and the robot he invented, Molly, who was a mechanical Angelina Jolie of sorts. I have never seen that photo of Molly.

Secondly, here's a clarification of how Kaku wrote about Molly the robot: 2020 Vision (the 4th article on the page). I have to rely on the internet for actual quotes at the moment, I don't have my bookshelf with me (I haven't had it in over a month, in fact). I have read Kaku writing about Molly before, but she had never struck me as a highly-sexualised mechanic representation of the dirtiest male fantasies (of a subservient woman with big tits). It's been a while since I revisited "Visions", Kaku's book around the future of science and tech where he talks about Molly, but I've always thought that Molly was kind of like the voice in your head that reminds you of things and makes your life easier and safer. Not necessarily the sex-bot that was acted out in last night's play. I think our own discomfort at male girl-robot fantasies were assigned to last night's Molly, which resulted in Kaku being totally villified. Which is unfair.

Lastly, I've been thinking about last night's Molly and some of the points that were raised about a year ago when I was doing a gender evaluation training for a software localisation project.

So Nepal, 2007. We were talking about the fact that in text-to-speech software (which was particularly useful for illiterate communities), the male voice was much easier to use. It has to do with the differences in the decibel and frequency ranges of women's and men's voices. According to the geeks, in Asia, we did not have the skills and capacity to work with a female voice in text-to-speech software (the skills are available in the US, they said). This results in the absence of (literally) female voices in software that is localised in Asia.

We, the gender advocates in that meeting, said that it was important for women users (especially those who were dealing with their own fears of tech) to be able to hear voices in their software that they can relate to. Simply put, there must be a way to have female voices in the localised text-to-speech software.

So back to Cape Town 2008. If the premise is that having female voices in technology is empowering to women, why then do we have a problem with female-looking /-sounding robots? Wouldn't such an entity be empowering to women as well? Wouldn't such a creature be something that we can relate to as women (as opposed to a male robot)?

Or is the problem we have with Molly the fact that she was presented as a thing that did household work? That she had big boobs last night? That she was highly-sexualised?

Or is the problem because Michio Kaku is male and he was represented as having created her? Is this a problem even if nothing of Kaku's work point to his sexism?

Would Molly and Michio have been saved from ridicule and mockery if they had switched sexes?

Tags: activist stuff, awid08, awid2008, feminist rambling, geekery, pop culture, reviews of everything, tripping away, women and tech
coordinates: cape town
state of mind: grumpy
background noise: people buzzing at the FTX Hub

Tali, the 6-year-old I was hanging out with in Johannesburg taught me this Barney song:
"I hate you, you
Let's go out and kill Barney,
With a baseball bat and a 4 x 4,
No more purple dinosaur."

(sung to the tune of that irritating Barney song)

This is possibly one of the most disturbing songs I've learned from a child. And that's saying plenty because I know a lot of special (read: weird, highly-intelligent, funny) kids.

Tags: pointless posts, pop culture, tripping away
coordinates: kalk bay, cape town
state of mind: sleepy
background noise: kalk bay sounds

<sigh> I miss Slackerville already.

Last week was spent slacking in Malaysia with the Polish Tourist, jhybeturtle and EM, where nothing was accomplished except:

• finishing more than a carton of cigarettes
• drinking flavoured, authentic Polish vodka
• eating awesome meals
• hanging out in random coffee shops
• a trip to Melaka for Japanese tourist photo ops, pineapple tarts and Nyonya food
• conversations that were good for my soul
• familiarising myself with Kate Bush (and loving her Wuthering Heights)
• hanging out with Kaffir and Kamus (the super cats)
• laughing my ass off in huge amounts
• sleeping at odd hours in the morning, and waking up late
• losing hours to the Time Blackhole
  

Slackerville.

I think the appropriate word here is tambay. Something I have not done in long periods of time since the Weirdoks kinda grew up and became busy adults. Something I have not done in large amounts since Big Boy left for Perth. Something I have not done since my head caved in and sucked the life out of me.

A week in Slackerville.

I miss it already. But the thing is, knowing that Slackerville is a Limited Edition place and time makes it more special. Imagine living in Slackerville forever. Man, I would die! What about my To Do Lists? What about my goals? What about my need to account for every waking hour? What about the tension I maintain to hold everything together?

Spending the rest of my life in Slackerville will kill me.

But missing Slackerville is not about wanting to spend the rest of my life there. It's about remembering what happened there and cherishing the people you shared it with. And most importantly, it's making sure that you take the time out to visit Slackerville again -- and to not wait too long to do it again.

Pictures of Slackerville are on my Flickr page.

Tags: number 42 theories, tripping away
coordinates: somewhere in singapore
state of mind: okay
background noise: Tracy Bonham -- Mother, Mother

Yes. A few times. The most memorable one was in the Black Sea in Varna, Bulgaria. Mostly because we had to hide from overly-eager security guards. Didn't stop us from doing it for a few nights though...

I reckon everyone should swim naked all the time. Because it's one of the best feelings in the world.

Tags: pointless posts, tripping away
coordinates: somewhere in malaysia
background noise: Never is a Promise -- Fiona Apple

There were three reasons why I was looking forward to this trip:

1. Hanging out with  the apc peeps and friends.
2. Gorging on books at Kinokuniya.
3. Going home after my last trip for the year.

The last reason has had me sleeping with a smile on my face. Seeing the kitty cats again, hanging out with the Weirdoks, being there for PM's Xmas Surprise, spending time with Big Boy and Ozman, Xmas preps with the family. I've been drooling over the thought of all that.

But, since no one bothered to tell me that my flight home today was much earlier than my original flight, I'm pretty much stuck. Thank goodness I have friends with flats to squat in!  I couldn't believe how difficult it was to get a flight that would have me back home before Xmas. I eventually had to use a good amount of my airmiles to get a seat on the 22nd. A seat that would have me spending a night in Bangkok before heading home. 

The Turtle says it's the universe telling me to stop traveling. And I agree.

I want to go home.

Tags: bad days, tripping away
coordinates: kuala lumpur
state of mind: grumpy
background noise: ben10 on tv

Ben Templesmith, the dude behind the awesome graphics in Fell, the 30 Days of Night series and Singularity 7, was in Manila last Monday (there's a big chance that he's still there). It sucks.

Because while he's in my city, I'm not there.

I have loved Ben Templesmith's work since that day in July 2005 when I bought Singularity 7 in a comic book store somewhere in Haight in San Francisco. I was over the moon when I found out that he collaborated with Warren Ellis to create Fell, which is one of the best comic books that has come out in the past two years. I have since collected his 30 Days of Dark series. Yes, I'm on of those annoying fans.

When I found out that Ben Templesmith was going to be in Manila around the time that work was going to place me in Rio de Janeiro, I seriously considered tending in my resignation. Then I realised that there's no way I could justify to anyone why I would quit my job just so I can line up for hours so I can have three minutes with a comic book artist (no matter how totally awesome he was)... and yeah, the kitty-cats need to be fed. So I had to keep my job.

So I tried to be mature and made arrangements. I was going to experience Ben Templesmith in Manila vicariously. Or die trying.

Fortunately, there's this lovely young man, Pa3k, who loves his godmother. He took my comic books for Ben Templesmith to sign. He lined up for hours. He chatted with me earlier to tell me everything about the Ben Templesmith experience (including how Ben Templesmith said that my name was unique--- woohoo he knows my name!!!). He had this picture taken:




And while I'm pretty pumped about having  my Fell TPB signed, and my name written in ink by such talented hands, I'm still kind of bummed out about missing the whole thing. I am dying with envy.

Growing up is so over-rated.

Tags: geekery, life in manila, pop culture, tripping away
coordinates: rio de janeiro, brazil

Came back from Boracay yesterday. I saw the beach twice -- when I got off the pier Wednesday morning, and when I got boarded to boat to airport yesterday noon. 

It's not as bad is it sounds. For one, I was there to attend some government consultation on a major ICT project. So it was a work trip. A busy one at that. Started at 8am, ended at past 5pm with an hour lunch break in between. And I wasn't up to having a 5-minute lunch so I can spend the rest of my lunch break at the beach. And by they end of the day, I was just too wiped out to do anything but head to my room for long shower.

Besides, I got a new tattoo done a week ago and everyone knows that new tats can't soak in water in its first month. So I wasn't going to swim anyway. And being at the beach when you can't swim is just plain frustrating. So I avoided the beach.

(And I hate sand, by the way.) 

But the real reason why I had no interest in going to the beach in-between work hours was because I spent all my free, alone time (well, as much as I could) reading Warren Ellis' Crooked Little Vein. I got the book weeks ago but I was saving it for this particular trip because: (1) I wasn't looking forward to the trip (have I mentioned that I hate sand?); (2) I wasn't planning on being one of those Party People in Boracay; (3) I needed something to take me away from what I had expected to be a grueling meeting; and (4) I'm a firm believer in delayed gratifications because it builds character.

Well, the meeting wasn't as tedious as I had expected. It was actually very productive. And Crooked Little Vein wasn't as good as I expected it be. It was better.

At most, I had expected it to be novelised version of Transmetropolitan set in more current times and with a burned out private detective named Mike McGill taking the place of Spider Jerusalem as the main protagonist. I would have been happy with something like that.

But Crooked Little Vein takes what I loved about Transmetropolitan -- its political sophistication, grit, wit and hilarious seriously kick ass female characters -- and turned it into something more. Something more current. Something more relate-able. And while it didn't have the amazing graphics of Transmetropolitan, Ellis' writing more than makes up for that. His depiction of the underbelly of American society, and his characterisation of the main characters and the other characters they meet in the course of the story, don't need nifty art work. Ellis' writing is graphic enough.

Mike McGill, the main character and narrator of the story, is one hell of a man. He's a Shit Magnet -- he always finds himself in the middle of the most bizarre situations that never fail to sicken him. Simple private detective cases like a woman asking him to investigate her husband because she feels he's cheating on her leads to McGill finding the husband in the middle of a ostrich farm, performing tantric sex on the ostriches. Or a simple plane ride from Texas to Vegas has him sitting next to a serial killer, who then proceeds to  debate with him about the idea of the "mainstream" and the "underground" in the context of a world where the Internet has a page on just about every kink known to men, women and animals.

I think one of the most hilarious scenes is when he finds himself in a small gathering of Macroherpetophiles (MHPs) -- people who have a fetish for big reptiles. People who want to have sex with Godzilla. That chapter alone had me laughing so hard.

And it gets worse (or better) from there. Mike and his assistant, Trix, travel across America in search for the Secret Constitution of the United States, believed by the current government to be the one thing to bring America back to its roots. An America where deviants of all sorts would no longer exist. Funnily, in the search for that one book to "save" America, Mike and Trix encounter the most bizarre sexual deviants. I warn you, every other person in this book has a kink.

But more than an exposition of obscure sexual fetishes and kinks in modern day America, the story is about power and conservative political agendas. It's also about the potential of the Internet to shift power structures. It's also a story of a man's self-discovery. And interestingly enough, it's also about Love.

And yeah, the references to Bester's Stars, My Destination made me love Warren Ellis just a little bit more.

*****

So, I'm really not so bummed about not spending any time at the beach in Boracay.  I wouldn't have missed reading this book for the first time for anything.

Tags: pop culture, reviews of everything, tripping away
coordinates: manila, philippines
state of mind: content
background noise: the sound of creme brulee baking

"It is too hard for the average user to use Free and Open Source Software".

Is it really?

Earlier today, during one of the first sessions of Asia Source 2, the statement was presented during the Spectogram (an activity where participants are asked to position themselves along a spectrum of 100% agree and 100% disagree; a great way to get participants revved up for sessions, by the way). The statement almost completely polarised the crowd.

I stuck with the gung-ho crowd that went with 100% NO that FOSS was hard to use for the average user. My two cents on it was about perception and availability of FOSS, that most people think that using FOSS is hard because all they're exposed to are the proprietary software that comes bundled with their machines. People think Internet Explorer is easy to use because they have yet to discover the beauty that is Firefox or Flock. Those FOSS browsers are not only easy to use, they actually work so much better than IE.

One of the participants said it best (I think his name was Samer and I know for sure he's from Egypt), to paraphrase:
Let's be realistic about the tools that average users need: productivity tools, a browser, an email client. The FOSS alternatives to these types of tools are no harder to use than the proprietary ones.

And I just have to share what Sree's ultimate reality check on the ease of use of proprietary software (again paraphrasing):
How many of you use Windows? How many of you have had viruses on your computers? How many of you have had to reinstall Windows because of a virus problem?

Like totally.

*****

To be honest though, if the reason why there's been so little FOSS uptake is because common FOSS tools are not user-friendly, I'd be able to sleep better at night. I'd be like "Well then, FOSS is a bitch to use, no wonder no one uses them! OK night, night!"

But it's not that. It's not about ease of use. It's about being locked into a certain way of doing things. I mean, let's take the IE vs. Mozilla browser example. Both browsers offer users a way to configure its use. The difference is that in IE, (I think), you can get to that functionality by clicking Edit >> Internet Options; in the Mozilla browsers, you go to Tools >> Preferences. Is one way of doing it easier than the other? Is one way better than the other?

Or is it simply because more people are used to clicking Edit >> Tools to configure their browsers because more people can't be bothered to use anything beyond what's been bundled with their machines?

If this is the case, then the reason why Windows is the most used operating system is not because it's soooo easy to use, but because Bill Gates got into deals with computer vendors about bundling Microsoft products. It's not that FOSS is hard to use, it just takes some effort to shift from old ways of doing things on our machines -- old ways that have been force-fed to most users.

So ultimately it's about choice. One can either choose to learn alternative software or to choose to work with what's immediately available. One can customise their user experience or choose the default settings.

But man, who wouldn't want that oh so tingly feeling of moral superiority that comes with using FOSS?

Tags: asiasource2, tripping away
coordinates: sukabumi, indonesia
state of mind: awake
background noise: a gazillion languages i can't understand

It's been:
37 days since my last new pair of shoes
27 days since the last GEM workshop
28 days since Christmas
21 days since 2007 started
12 days since Fly Girl turned Mrs. Fly Girl
11 days since Cover Girl and Acid Attacks left
9 days since Big Boy went back home to Perth
7 days since work re-started for me
3 days since I last played pool
2 days since I left Manila
1 day since crunch time for the Asia Source Camp started.

That's what's been going on.

It will be:
9 days 'til Slap and Pop's birthday
10 days 'til I see Lucia and Alfonso again
12 days 'til I have to leave home again
13 days 'til I see some of my favourite people in the world again
23 days 'til I see the Weirdok Apprentice and her parents
25 days 'til I stay put for a while.

Tags: pointless posts, tripping away
coordinates: sukabumi, indonesia
state of mind: awake
background noise: people working