Bounded by Mel Rubi

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What is Boundead?

Boundead (born of the undead) is a post-apocalyptic science-fiction action, adventure fantasy thriller about finding hope amidst the supernatural entities. Over a thousand years, after judgement day killed most of humanity, the dead great and small comes back to life as monsters. Evil is the new order and all must bow to a living idol. But one named Ayr, who struggles combatively the pain, hate and aggression within in search of peace from a dark world of no hope, will be the guiding light for the weak. 

Today I'm Just Grateful

I'm just grateful for all the people who helped me along the way. I've been through some rough patches and yes at times, with barely enough food to eat and give my family - I'm grateful to have known a lot of people who were kind enough to help me. I've once had the experience of a good man who did the groceries for my family and that almost made me cry - if I wasn't such a tough nut to crack.

I've learned a powerful lesson today: never spite people who helped you in the past.

Sometimes, it's really difficult to repay kindness with kindness. We are placed in situations of grave turmoil and seeming insanity that we forget what's up and what's down. We become angry at the unfairness of life. We become angry at people who did us great harm and yes, people could do that. They could ruin our lives just as they could make it better. And yes this anger could be directed at others who only mean us well.

Make no mistake about it, just as there are people who would help us. There would also be people who would screw us up. But that shouldn't make us mistrustful about the intentions of others. In the world of business and in the increased pace of modern life, we should not let the bitterness of the past pave the way for the future.

If you're reading this and you've helped me, know that I am grateful for more than the financial support that you've given me.

I know that there are some debts that cannot be repaid in cash.

For that, I'll do my best to pay it forward if not paying it back to you in kind.

Why the Syria and Egypt Situation is Important for Me and for Filipinos

A lot of you may be wondering why I keep writing about the situations related to Syria and Egypt. Why does it matter what a Filipino in the Philippines thinks about what is going on half a world away? To answer that, I would have to present statistical facts.

"Remittances continue to be the country’s main economic growth driver, equivalent to 10 percent of GDP."

(Malaya Business Insight, May 16, 2013)

• The Middle East as a region is where millions of overseas Filipinos are working. They are also known as OFWs.(Source: Country Migration Report Philippines 2013, International Organization for Migration)
• Saudia Arabia - 1,550,572 Filipinos
• UAE - 679,819 Filipinos
• Qatar - 342,442 Filipinos
• Kuwait - 186,750 Filipinos
• Overseas Filipino Remittances (Source: Country Migration Report Philippines 2013, International Organization for Migration, p. 115)
• Saudi Arabia - $1,613,237,000 (USD)
• UAE - $877, 981,000 (USD)

Related Material

• OFW inflows surge to 6 month high (Philstar.com, August 16, 2013)

According to the BSP, about three-fourths of cash remittances came from the United States, Saudi Arabia, the United Kingdom, the United Arab Emirates (UAE), Canada, Singapore and Japan.

Saudi Arabia is one of the top three countries where Filipinos are "deployed" in. It is a full 1,956 km away from Syria and 1,611 km away from Iraq. Now we go back to the statements made a few days ago by Iranian Foreign Ministry Spokesman Abbas Araqchi

"We want to strongly warn against any military attack in Syria. There will definitely be perilous consequences for the region,"

"These complications and consequences will not be restricted to Syria. It will engulf the whole region."      

As of 6:21 AM EST, I still cannot access the New York Times website because it was allegedly hacked by the Syrian Electronic Army. However my Google News feed picked this sobering title up,

"Strike on Syria Would Cause One on Israel, Iran Declares" 

(Google News link to New York Times, August 28 2013 or This Nonfunctional NYTimes Link)

Lastly, a troubling connection to take note of:

"Saudis offer Russia secret oil deal if it drops Syria"

(Telegraph.co.uk, August 27, 2013)

New York Times Hacked - Why?

With a decision soon to be made within a matter of days regarding possible Western intervention in Syria, some US websites have fallen prey to hackers. Foremost among these is the New York Times. As to who these hackers really are, that remains to be seen. The Australian IT company handling the domain of the New York Times indicated that the breach came from a domain reseller that was based in the US. The reseller has yet to be named.

To quote:

"Melbourne IT said credentials of one of its resellers (the username and password) were used to access a reseller account on Melbourne IT's systems." 

"Melbourne IT chief executive Theo Hnarakis, who announced on Tuesday he would step down by the end of the year, told Fairfax Media he wasn't prepared to name the reseller but said it was based in the US." 

(Sydney Morning Herald, August 28, 2013)

Initially and speaking speculatively it would seem that the propaganda machines are running in full force from all fronts. There are so many unverifiable pieces of information that are floating around and are being presented as facts. Worst, everybody is speculating based on speculations based on propaganda. To such extent that meaningful discussion is becoming obliterated to the extremes. 

For one, posing the question of who these Syrian Electronic Army are seems quite circular in nature. Moreover, hacking the New York Times doesn't seem to make much sense if propaganda is their agenda. What would that accomplish except raise the suspicion against the US government itself?

Think about it. If Western information dissemination is what the Syrians are after, they should have hacked Google itself because of its capability to aggregate information not just from one US based newspaper but all over the world. 

This brings us to the hypothesis that the act of hacking was not meant to paralyze US media because that is practically impossible, but to send a message of confusion and further speculation. To be sure, it was meant to polarize the discourse and feed the fires of wanton speculation that would surely emanate from the act of hacking itself. 

The key to finding the truth here is in determining the identity of the US based domain reseller and to find their links and political affiliation. 

The World Contemplates War in the Middle East - Again

August 27, 2013 10:57 pm Philippine Time

XX number of (days, weeks, months) before the Meltdown
(This blog post is an update to an ongoing work I've been playing around with for a while:
Watching the World Meltdown)

An online activist friend went on about how "corporate controlled mass media" is not relaying "everything" to the general public and how the Illuminati is controlling our minds. He went on to describe the Military Industrial complex and how Western nations are planning on attacking Syria as a pretext to draw Iran in a broader war. He mentions that it is all about oil and controlling the region. 

Mentioning the Illuminati, by my books seriously puts a dent in the said friend's credibility. That's not to say that I don't believe him but rather question the sources of his information. For what it's worth, these brave men and women of the "corporate controlled mass media" are still the most reliable of sources. 

Most "independent journalists" or bloggers are relatively unknown and hence unreliable to a certain degree. Yes, that includes me. To be sure, no media outlet could be 100% impartial and objective. Journalism standards aspire to such levels but at times fall short for they oftentimes become a part of the story too.

But then again, it is one thing to question the ethics of a whole group of professionals, it's also another to say that what they're saying is a collective lie.

With regards to the current developing situation in Syria, one thing is for sure - thousands are dying and chemical weapons are being used against civilians. Regardless of who is using it, the fact that it is being used against civilians is an extremely grave issue that must be addressed forcibly. It simply is a lose-lose situation whether or not conspiracy theories are true.

Syria: What the Big Heads are Saying

US Secretary of State John Kerry

"The administration is actively consulting with members of Congress, and we will continue to have these conversations in the days ahead. President Obama has also been in close touch with the leaders of our key allies, and the president will be making an informed decision about how to respond to this indiscriminate use of chemical weapons." 

(Washington Post, August 23, 2013)

Omran Ahed Al-Zoubi, Minister of Information Government of Syria on Lebanese TV

"If the US leads a military intervention, this will have dangerous consequences. It will bring chaos and the region will burn."

(BBC, August 25, 2013) 

Joshua Landis, Director: Center for Middle East Studies

"The US must respond to the use of chemical weapons in a forceful manner, but should not launch a broader intervention in Syria.

Preserving the widely respected international norm banning the use of chemical weapons is a clear interest of the US and international community.

The US, however, should avoid getting sucked into the Syrian Civil War. Thus, it should punish Assad with enough force to deter future use of chemical weapons, but without using so much force that it gets drawn into an open-ended conflict."

(JoshuaLandis.com, August 26 2013)

US Defense Secretary of Defense Chuck Hagel

"We are prepared, we have moved assets in place to be able to fulfil and comply with whatever option the president wishes to take, if he wishes to take any of the options he’s asked for. We are ready to go, like that."

(The Guardian, August 27, 2013)

US House Speaker John Boehner Communications Aide Brendan Buck

“The Syrian regime has blatantly crossed President Obama’s red line, the White House has acknowledged, by using chemical weapons on its people,”

(Speaker.Gov, August 26, 2013) 

Russian President Vladimir Putin

“President Putin said that they did not have evidence of whether a chemical weapons attack had taken place or who was responsible.”

(RT.com, August 26, 2013) 

Iranian Foreign Ministry Spokesman Abbas Araqchi

"We want to strongly warn against any military attack in Syria. There will definitely be perilous consequences for the region,"

"These complications and consequences will not be restricted to Syria. It will engulf the whole region."

(The Guardian, August 27, 2013)

Tweets about "Syria"

Ben Affleck as Batman: What's with All the Insanity?

It was a question that needed to be asked: why is everyone flipping out over Ben Affleck being Batman?

It is one that pries into the deepest and darkest recesses of our collective soul. Internally, it is a question that implores us to take a deeper look within ourselves and to handle and confront all the muck and poison that churn within. Externally, it makes one think about the powers that be and how they divert public discourse during these crucial times.

The answers are unsurprising, provocative and at the same time somber.

First, head over to CNN.com and you'd see the same barrage of Batfleck related posts. In times when far graver issues are perambulating around the webosphere such as the Syrian debacle, the imminent and perceived collapse of the Egyptian government, the re-introduction of a newer version of SOPA and the Fukushima nuclear problem one would think that people should be weighing in more.

People should be focusing their creative abilities to come up with innovative solutions to these problems.

But we're not doing so, instead we close our eyes.

A great percentage of the Internet instead create Batman-Ben Affleck Internet memes, some of which are not even funny. I am one of them and I admit that I am guilty for doing so. I have done it to earn more views. You see, in my 7 years of experience writing for the Internet, people don't read blog posts like these. The greatest bloggers have always been the ones focusing on the crass and the personal lives of public figures. I have to earn money too, and introspective thought-provoking posts do not make money.

The most famous bloggers find something or someone and rip them apart for the carnal pleasure of the reading masses. It is an International phenomenon. If the Internet has taught me one great important thing - it is this: people are mostly the same regardless of culture, nationality or geographical location.


Viral Marketing

Viral marketing has ceased to be a buzzword but the process that it embodies continues to permeate. One just needs to find something disgraceful, horrendous, scandalous or in short something that polarizes public opinion and thought to such visceral extent that it generates enough attention to make people feel that it is important to them. People need to feel that they're weighing in on something important.

The same thing is happening with the Batfleck issue.

How exactly do you revive a movie franchise that has been creatively exhausted for several decades and generations? Superman and Batman are not my generation's heroes. They're not even the younger generations' heroes, they are my parents' heroes. Yet we continue to see different angles, incarnations, twists and revivals that continue to force themselves in our thoughts. That's because of their branding clout. These two are among the most marketable of heroes.

How do you churn out interest. In this case, the way to go about it would be to create a debate. Unfortunately, the debate is shallow: whether or not Ben Affleck is suitable to don the Batsuit or drive the Batmobile and do Bat things. The discourse is even shallower, go ahead and ask anybody who creates these memes why Ben Affleck is ill suited to be the Batman. You won't get an intelligent reply.


Where did the debate start?

I don't have a clue. But if you are a licensed and practicing spin doctor, the more likely answer would be themselves. Create a self perpetuating debate on a trivial matter to focus people's attention on a non-issue. The big websites (aka Mashable, etc) and the small bloggers like me hang on to the coattails of these debates and earn our tiny share of the advertising market.

At the same time, it creates anticipation.

Questions such as these arise:

• Will Ben Affleck deliver an Oscar worthy performance in the movie?
• Will he be better than Christian Bale?
• Will he just suck at it?

All of which are unimportant yet already embedded and ingrained in the subconscious minds of the consuming public. Because to answer them would be to have to watch the movie itself.

Will I watch the movie?

Of course.

I need something to write about other than the existential implications of the oncoming apocalypse.

Ben Affleck as "Batman" Spurs Meme Overload

Movie in question: the sequel to (Superman) Man of Steel. The Character: Batman.  The man who will play the part: Ben Affleck. No it's not going to be a comedy but they might as well make it so. Why? Because the Internet says so. Well, it's either that or Christian Bale has a horde of redditors churning up memes like angry elves in Santa Claus' factory.

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The Power of Vicks Vaporub

It is like slightly solidified "uhug" or "sipon" (mucus) yet as refreshing as the minty breeze of dawn. 

My 3 year old son, Alex came running up to me with a hurried expression.

"Biks papa." he said while handing me the small canister.
"Okay, thank you." I said, not really knowing what his intentions were.
"Put it ander my bak." he exclaims, and I got a few and rubbed it as quickly as I could.
"Is that good?" I asked.
"Yesh, tenk yu!" he said scurrying off to his ate's. 

Vicks Vaporub is one of the things that give almost any Filipino fond memories of their childhood. It is applied for almost any condition regardless if it works or not.

Somebody has a cold or cough? Rub it on their nose, chest and back.
Somebody has a headache? Rub it on their temple.
Somebody wants to pretend to cry? Rub it just beneath the eyes. Perfect for movie stars. 

It can cure almost anything.

The Bay of Abandoned Blogs

It was an eerie sight that is all too telling. There were dark clouds in the horizon, ravaged ships hovering and misty wisps of fog obscuring my view.

"Take her slow, I want to take a closer look", I almost whispered to nobody in particular as I held a small and rusty lamp.

The ship reluctantly moved forward at a cautious pace. The sight of so many fallen ships was overwhelming and telling. I held firm as I took stock of each one of them. Some of which I followed through my travels in this ocean of bits and bytes.

It was akin to reading one painful story at a time. What's worse is that I was reading words that were unwritten, pictures that were not posted and souls that have simply moved on or maybe, disappeared.

I knew the captain of this one: big dreams, audacious personality and with eyes that sparkle with candor. The mast hung low and there was a gaping hole at its port side. Last post: 2 years ago.

Welcome to the Bay of Abandoned Blogs

The port itself has seen better days. Weathered and in tatters, many have absconded to bluer seas and more profitable adventures. I myself have had to occasionally enlist as a freelance sailor in the crew of Captain Jason "Goodblogs" Trout. A notable merchant ship plying vegan articles, e-cigarettes and fancy 3D printers, they pay well and have helped me with keeping my own ship afloat.

"Hello! Hello!" I yelled as I saw a tiny flicker of light from one that I have previously failed to see. It was the fabled DreamWalker.

"Ahoy there!" I yelled again.

There she was, the Captain. She waved.

Overjoyed at the sight of another soul I managed to exclaim haphazardly,

"How be ye doin' this day? What be ye doin' in th' bay 'o Abandoned blogs? Well, I be glad that ye're still sailin'!" 

My pirate speak needed some work. 

Thankfully she just smiled and shrugged her shoulders. Hopefully, this should mean that she didn't understand a word I said. That's fine with me. 

"Well, I better be goin' now. It was nice seein' ye again."

And with that I waved tipped my hat.

*Creative commons image via flickr

Cataclysms and the Heroes/Villains They Create

Cataclysms are in many ways eye opening, but before I begin writing this, please do extend some time to research the right way to help my fellow countrymen who are now wallowing in waist and knee deep floods.

Would it matter if I didn't put the date and the source to this picture?
Image via Flickr

As a Christian (both Catholic and Protestant), we were taught that a horrible and devastating end would come some day and that a savior would come and emancipate us. But only if we have faith.

This notion taps into the deepest fibers of our instincts regarding self-preservation. Self preservation is natural and it goes beyond moral notions of good, evil, right and wrong.

My observations regarding most religions is that they share this common denominator: the desire to control the natural tendencies of humans. The foremost of these has to do with sex. Whether you are Muslim, Jewish, Protestant or Catholic, religious dogma regarding sex is the one that's the most strictly enforced. The debates are rancorous and fought fiercely and at this moment in history, I believe that we are on the edge of a defining moment. But that's a story for another day and time.

Cataclysms have always fascinated me for it is a time when the laws of man are subverted by the laws of nature.

When the cataclysm ends, it is here where we see three types of people: villains, heroes and the weak.

Social order is thrown in chaos. The cataclysm forces our eyelids to open to the bitter and scary truth that we are vulnerable.

What used to be the "controlled" in society exert their physical might over the weak regardless of the latter's previous status in orderly society. If you have what they need, they will come and get it. If you cannot defend it, you will lose it. That is just a fact of life: brutal, painful, subversive and chaotic.

You can see it when the looters come and ravage you and what you worked for. You are powerless, they take and they consume. Everything is up for grabs.

Heroes

The heroes arise from the weak. Out of a sense of conviction and justice they are moved to use whatever it is in their power for those common perceived notions of good. We glorify super human abilities yet the true heroes are without these. They only have what they have at the moment to defeat the villain.

To put it crassly: if a thief breaks into somebody's home and a person of sufficient size and power grabs a lead pipe and hits the thief on the head, would that make the person a hero? To the eyes of the family who is being victimized, yes. But how about to the eyes of the thief's infant who is waiting for his father to bring him some food?

In this instance, the lead pipe and the person made all the difference. Christianity would have espoused notions of self sacrifice and to convince the thief that he need not steal anymore. But Christianity is part of the order imposed by man. Cataclysms erase that in terms of ratios. The more powerful the cataclysm, the more drastic the subversion. However, the more that people are aware of these notions and are in universal accord, the more that they are espoused. But hunger drives many to the brink.

Real heroes don't need superpowers, they just need the courage to create change.



After the cataclysm has passed, the hero is rewarded. More often than not, he is accorded the status of leader and political superior. Because he espouses the majority held notion of a universal value or good, he is given the power by the many to protect and uphold this. He thus becomes the king.

Contrast this with comic book romanticism where the hero chooses the path of anonymity and shuns away this kind of power. (Well, except Iron Man's Tony Stark - the hero who dwelled in riches and technology.)

Levels of Cataclysm

As I've mentioned previously, "the more powerful the cataclysm, the more drastic the subversion". A cataclysm that ends and then spurs local civic organizations to move and act is among the lowest of all cataclysms. More often than not, we are yelled at by the media to get moving and to go out of our comfort zones to become heroes in our own little ways.

Contrast:

• 100 dead, help and donate to the Philippines
• URGENT: 1,000,000 dead, floating around, help and donate to the typhoon victims in the Philippines

True Cataclysms

If you want to hear about a true cataclysm or the triumph of evil over good, you just need to look back at the things you already know and have forgotten or chosen to ignore.  

A Better Way to Earn Money From YouTube - Patreon.com

Nope, not all of us can be like Charlie and his brother. Love their video by the way :)



But some of us on YouTube do create content that's worthy of patronage or at the very least a dollar tip or two for the hours, days and even weeks of effort. That's exactly what Patreon is for. A virtual tip jar for the intrepid creators not just on YouTube but for creators of every kind.

If you've ever watched a video of somebody that really moved you and changed your life for the better, Patreon is a better way to give that person the appreciation that they deserve apart from your ad click.

How does $1000 dollars a video sound like?

That's totally up to your fans and supporters. Take for instance Smooth McGroove.

People can choose how much they can give you for every video that you make. The lowest is $1 but it can definitely go higher. Patrons who give higher are then given extras and bonuses like access to downloads, exclusive videos and the like. Sounds like a very good plan to me. 
Patreon.com

The Phenomenon of "Silly"

Silliness abounds like a horde of fire ants nesting atop a mahogany tree. They are often expressed through words. Some have the effect of injecting rabid humor, contextual at its best and spontaneous. And some fall flat and become plain silly and unfortunately, unfunny.

Oftentimes and as I have observed them, when the rich and the powerful tell jokes in a party those who hang by the threads of these people's success are inclined to ensure that they bring along their customary "Haha, that's really funny!" laugh.

But that's not always the case.

On the Internet, plain and simple "silliness" with no element of humor is simply ignored. They are relegated to that constipated country of unwanted memes floating around consuming valuable bandwidth.

Yet the Internet thrives on silliness

Misconstrued, misunderstood and unfortunately perpetuated by everyone, silliness is a prime commodity on the Internet. As a freelance writer, I am inclined to perpetuate this phenomenon on a specific realm.

I play with words and see how people react to them and what I've discovered having written for many years on the Internet is not at all encouraging.

People take verbal and even action from "serious silliness". That's the sort of silliness that evokes feelings of anger, sorrow and shock.

This brings me to the next question: How long can the Internet sustain its power to shock, anger and make us sad?

A few days ago on YouTube, I somehow chanced upon one of the greatest cataclysms of our time. The 2004 Tsunami  (Wikipedia). I've forgotten about it and relegated it to the lower levels of my consciousness along with petabytes of other information.

230,000 people died that time.

Numbers have a profound effect on our minds. The bigger the number, the more we pay attention to somebody, some event or some matter.

Take for instance, what if I wrote as a blog title that

• I won $1,000,000 in the powerball lottery and I'm giving it away.
• I won $10 online in a logo design contest and I want to share half of it.

Which would you click on?

To further illustrate, compare:

1. 1 person read my blog today. 
2. 1,000,000 people read my blog today. 

Marketers and advertisers know fully well the significance of the difference. It is a quantifiable one that can be translated into value oftentimes expressed in real world currency.

On the other hand, compare this:

1. 1 "regular" person got murdered today somewhere.
2. 1,000,000 died today because of an accident.

Here, the thought process becomes more complicated. Issues of morality, spirituality, justice, right and wrong come into play. The debate of whether one life matters more against a million is brought into the discussion. Think beyond the debate. "Value" becomes part of this debate.

Back to silliness

In pseudo-mathematical form. The currency of the Internet relies on silliness.

More silly/shocking = More page views = More sales or subscriptions = More revenue

With the additional iteration that this "more silly / more shocking piece" is delivered by someone who is trustworthy or experienced in the particular field.

With that out of the way, let's ponder on this last thought: will there ever be a time when we would no longer be surprised by the silliness of things / people / events online?

Google Adsense Pay Day

My modest Adsense earnings

Homeschooling Our Children

Today my wife got a call from the Philippines' Department of Education. My kids passed their PEPT examinations. The test was crucial for their admission to a paid homeschool program that we've been planning for a long time. As I write this, my wife and eldest daughter are getting dressed to go to the Lipa City office of DepEd to get the results.

That's the third goal we were able to achieve in this year.

The first one was to find a new lessee for the commercial space in Paranaque city.
The second is to pay off a long standing debt.
The third one is to enroll them in this paid homeschool program.

We are going to enroll them this August in the Living Heritage Academy or the School of Tomorrow based in Paranaque.

A guide to homeschooling in the Philippines - Source Philippine Daily Inquirer