2010 CPR Video by the AHA

A little more than a month ago, the American Heart Association released the new protocols for CPR which I posted in a previous entry HERE. It's supposed to be a more accessible and easier approach even for those without training.  

Now that it's been given time to settle into popular consciousness, here's a video they released briefly explaining it - 

As always, don't rely on "Youtube University" to actually learn REAL skills!

Movie Review: Due Date

They say that the end of the world would be heralded by the coming of the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse. In return, I really think that Zach Gal . . .Galifin . . . Gallfinsiks (!?!!) or whatever that flabby, bearded, moronic source of insane humor with the Greek surname would herald theirs! Given enough time and with plenty of opportunities coming his way, that comedian (from hereon referred to as Zach G.) would surely conquer our hearts, minds and most probably our souls too if we let him. His comedic talent is so that it borders on being phenomenally world-altering!

I was really looking forward to this movie ever since I got wind of its previews some time back. Personally I haven’t really seen any fresh faces that have come along lately from American comedy films to have made such a splash on the public. This mind-mashing funny character who made me almost pee from laughing in last year’s smash hit The Hangover. I mean wow! I can practically still picture the scene where Mike Tyson gave him a mean swipe that knocked him out cold with Phil Collin’s song on the background.  

Following the hallowed tradition of the road-trip-cum-quarrelling-buddies genre, the comedic counter-point and other lead role falls on the chameleon-like yet always with a hint of neurosis acting of Robert Downey Jr. (recently starred in Iron Man and Sherlock Holmes) whose character plays an expectant father trying to hurry home from several states away to his wife (played by Michele Monaghan) who’s about to give birth. A brief series of teeth-clenching events gets him restricted from taking his flight or flying anywhere else for that matter, thanks in no small part to the aforementioned Zach G, who happens to be an aspiring Hollywood actor! Then the maddening misadventure starts when the two inconveniently start their semi-cross country travel together on the road to Los Angeles.

As expected, there’s plenty of laughs to be had, interspersed with marijuana, brawling with disabled citizens, some near-fatal accidents, an interlude with  Downey‘s long-time friend (Jamie Foxx in a brief role), more marijuana, Mexican law-enforcement, and something involving dead family members in powder form. The effect is like the taste from a concoction you get when you mix-in several different ingredients you casually find in your kitchen poured all at once in a blender and set in high-speed; a lumpy, slurpy, sometimes coarse, sweet, sour, a bit spicy, sometimes sickening but altogether indescribably unforgettable! And if all that hasn’t grabbed your attention yet, there’s a pet canine self-pleasuring act involved as well!

The "Man Purse"

Funny!

A Perspective On Religious-Based Conflicts

Author Michael Baigent's name might sound familiar; in 1982 along with co-authors Richard Leigh and Henry Lincoln, they wrote the highly controversial, albeit speculative book The Holy Blood and Holy Grail. The writing in it drew varied reactions all-over, with obvious disapproval especially from Christians. Having read it myself, I found it interesting yet not really "shaking the foundations" of my beliefs since like I said, it was rooted much in speculation. They basically started the book with a proposition and ran away with it. It however was enough of an influence to inspire a later, more famous novel following a similar theme: author Dan Brown's The Da Vinci Code (which became a Hollywood film later).

Baigent recently wrote another book and this video was an interview to promote it. It's a three-parter but I only focused on the third part which to me is the core of what his message seems to be.

In today's world, the nexus point of  conflict between the three major world religions: Judaism, Christianity and Islam (the Abrahamic beliefs) is the city of the city of Jerusalem in Israel. The danger here is that one could look at it from a devout or even extremist believer's point of view as the culmination of eschatology or fulfillment of divine revelation from all three religions. Hence, its uneasy status as the source of potential conflict. Baigent offers insight into the possible way to solve this; a reverting to the  "inner" or mystical dimensions found in all three religions. By observing our beliefs this way, we break free from the rigid conventions or institutions that divide and isolate us from one another.

Burpees

I have a love-hate relationship with burpees. It can be a chore to do, but the rewards physically are worth it being one of the most excellent fitness and conditioning moves ever. It involves the whole body and improves your resistance.  As for its origins of its unique name, Wikipedia says;

According to the Oxford English Dictionary, the exercise was named in the 1930s for American psychologist Royal H. Burpee, who developed the Burpee test. Consisting of a series of the exercises performed in rapid succession, the test was meant to measure agility and coordination. It is not clear whether the exercise itself was invented by Burpee, or if his test merely popularized it.


Ok enough with the academics, click here for a demo.

1. Begin from standing then drop to a crouched position
2. Shoot out your legs to the back and drop your chest to the ground in a push-up position
3. Bring your legs back to your torso to finish the push-up cycle and then back to crouch
4. Jump as high from your feet as you can and reach up
5. Repeat

A variation I do is the crawling burpee: basically after the crouch, you crawl with your hands forward until you reach the push-up postion. Then pull up the legs to a crouch again and follow the same cycle. It's "gentler", lazier than the regular one.

Note: As with all exercises, warm-up and strech first! Taking it slow is also wise. As you progress you'll be able to increase how many you could do in a given time (i.e. - how many in a minute).

Have fun!

Metro Manila: "The 7-11 of Disasters"

Not really surprising given how vulnerable we really are, click below -

From Yahoo News

The question now is: how prepared do YOU want to be?

He Who Held the Bolo

 

Andres Bonifacio

I had planned on writing something earlier about the man known as "The Great Plebian" as we just celebrated the day honoring him (November 30th) but life got in the way. We either see images or actually get to pass by some statues of him frequently, frozen in a mythical stance of defiance, with pistol and unsheathed menacing itak (bolo) in either hand. But he was more than just a stone figure.  

We do have the great Jose Rizal of international renown as our national hero. If I had my way though, I think there's room enough for both of them to occupy such an honor. Looking at it from various points, he was nothing like Rizal. He wasn't born of privilege or landed wealth. He didn't receive higher education and learn from universities or converse with foreign intellectuals. He was born of humble stock and led a life that was marked by struggle and simplicity. Orphaned at an early age and being the eldest, he took it upon himself to give up school and support his siblings' studies by working and selling wooden canes and paper fans part time in the streets.

He had this silent fire burning deep down inside him. This is what enabled him not to to merely accept his "humble" stature in life and make something of himself. He never stopped reading and learning and had even amassed a collection of books including the Bible, Les Miserables, Religion Within the Reach of All, The History of the French Revolution, International Law, Civil Code, Penal Code, Lives of the Presidents of the United States among others. He would have had an understanding of Spanish, French and English, no mere feats for someone who only got the equivalent of the fourth grade.   

Most of all though, Filipino history remembers him as the founder, the "Supremo", of the Katipunan, the   revolutionary organization that spear-headed the resistance and struggle that ultimately won our freedom from the colonial oppression of Spain. While the rich and learned would've accepted being a vassal to Spain so long as their property and way of life would continue, that fire burning deep down Gat Andres inspired other "poor" men and women like him to unite and rise up, despite all the odds. He enabled them to dream something so fundamental in all of us that it was worth the great struggle and even certain death: freedom. Anyone who can inspire such a thing in people and work to attain it should certainly be held up high and be remembered. Again, no small feat for a mere "plebe".   

He was able to put into words this dream of freedom that grew out of a deep love for the homeland. It was a beautiful poem that stirs something inside the soul that makes us both proud and humbled as this nation's sons and daughters.  

He was and still is, the closest hero every common Filipino in this "poor" country of ours could look up to.

Maraming salamat po, Gat Andres Bonifacio!

Pagibig sa Tinubuang Bayan

Aling pag-ibig pa ang hihigit kaya
Sa pagkadalisay at pagkadakila
Gaya ng pag-ibig sa Tinubuang lupa?
Aling pag-ibig pa? Wala na nga, wala.

Pagpupuring lubos ang palaging hangad
Sa bayan ng taong may dangal na ingat,
Umawit, tumula, kumanta't sumulat,
Kalakhan din niya'y isinisiwalat.

Walang mahalagang hindi inihandog
Ng may pusong mahal sa Bayang nagkupkop,
Dugo, yaman, dunong, katiisa't pagod,
Buhay ma'y abuting magkalagut-lagot.

Bakit? Alin ito na sakdal ng laki,
Na hinahandugan ng busong pagkasi,
Na sa lalong mahal nakapangyayari,
At ginugulan ng buhay na iwi?

Ay! Ito'y ang Inang Bayang tinubuan:
Siya'y ina't tangi sa kinamulatan
Ng kawili-wiling liwanang ng araw
Na nagbigay-init sa buong katawan.

Kalakip din nito'y pag-ibig sa Bayan,
Ang lahat ng lalong sa gunita'y mahal,
Mula sa masaya'y gasong kasanggulan
Hanggang sa katawa'y mapasa-libingan.

Sa aba ng abang mawalay sa bayan!
Gunita ma'y laging sakbibi ng lumbay,
Walang alaala't inaasa-asam
Kundi ang makita'y lupang tinubuan.

Pati ng magdusa'y sampung kamatayan
Wari ay masarap kung dahil sa bayan
At lalong mahirap. Oh, himalang bagay!
Lalong pag-irog pa ang sa kanya'y alay.

Kung ang bayang ito'y masasa-panganib
At siya ay dapat na ipagtangkilik,
Ang anak, asawa, magulang, kapatid;
Isang tawag niya'y tatalikdang pilit.

Hayo na nga, hayo, kayong nagabuhay
Sa pag-asang lubos ng kaginhawahan
At walang tinamo kundi kapaitan,
Hayo na't ibangon ang naabang bayan!

Kayong nalagasan ng bunga't bulaklak
Ng kahoy ng buhay na nilanta't sukat,
Ng bala-balaki't makapal na hirap,
Muling manariwa't sa baya'y lumiyag.

Ipahandug-handog ang busong pag-ibig
At hanggang may dugo'y ubusing itigis;
kung sa pagtatanggol, buhay ay mapatid,

Ito'y kapalaran at tunay na langit!

The English translation as taken from this site: http://kasaysayan-kkk.info/docs.ab.pagibig.htm

Love of Country

What love can be
purer and greater
than love of country?
What love? No other love, none.


Even when the mind repeatedly reads
and try to understand
the history that is written and printed
by humanity, this (love of country) can be seen.

Holy love! When born
of a pure heart,
the humble and the backwoodsman, the poor, the unlettered
become great and respected.

Love of country
is always the desire of a man with honor;
In songs, in poetry, in his writings
the greatness of the country is always the theme.

Nothing dear to a person with a pure heart
is denied to the country that gave him birth:
blood, wealth, knowledge, sacrifices,
E'en if life itself ends.

Why? what is this that is so big
to which is dedicated with utmost devotion,
all that is dear
and to which life is sacrificed.

Ah, this is the Mother country of one's birth,
she is the mother on whom
the soft rays of the sun shine,
which gives strength to the weak body.

To her one owes the first kiss
of the wind that is the balm
of the oppressed heart drowning
in the deep well of misfortune and suffering.

Entwined with this is love of country,
everything that is dear to the memory,
from the happy and careless childhood
to the hour of death.

The bygone days of joy,
the future that is hoped
will free the slaves,
where can this be found but in one's native land?

Every tree and branch
of her fields and forest joyful to behold,
'tis enough to see them to remember
the mother, the loved one, and the happiness now gone.

Her clear waters --
they come from the mountain springs,
the soft whisper of the rushing wavelets
enlivens the sorrowing heart.

How unfortunate to be separated from the country!
Even memory is in sorrow's embrace,
nothing is desired
but to see the country of one's birth.

If this country is in danger
and she needs defending,
Forsaken are the children,
the wife, the parents, the brothers and sisters
at the country's beck and call.

And if our land, Filipinas,
is offended and her honor, reason, and dignity outraged,
by a traitorous foreign country;

What unhappiness and grief
will invade the heart of the Filipino?

And will not even the most peaceful
Rise to avenge her honor?

Where will the strength
to take revenge and to throw away life come,
if none can be relied upon for help,
but those suffering from slavery?

If his suffering and slavery
are in the mire of deceit and oppression,
one holds the whip, the chains that bind,
and only tears are allowed to roll down.

Who is there to whom her condition
Will not fill the soul with sorrow?
Will the heart most hardened by treachery
Not be moved to give her its life blood?

Will not, perchance, her sorrow
Drive the Filipinos to come to the rescue
of the mother in agony, trampled
underfoot by the mean Spaniards?

Where is the honor of the Filipino?

Where is the blood that should be shed?
The country is being oppressed, why not make a move,
you are shocked witnessing this.

Go, you who have lived
in the full hope of comfort,
and who reaped nothing but bitterness,
Go and love the oppressed country.

You who, from the stream of your breast,
have lost the holy desire to sacrifice,
Once more let true love flow,
express that love for the imprisoned country.

You from whom the fruit and flowers
of your life have been plucked
by intrigues and incomparable sufferings,
once more freshen up and love thy country.

You, so many hearts that... ?
of cheating and oppression of the mean in actions,
now rise up and save the country,
snatch it from the claws of the tyrant.

You who are poor without... ?
except to live in poverty and suffering,
protect the country if your desire is to end
your sufferings, for her progress is for all.

Dedicate with all your love --
as long there is blood -- shed every drop of it,
If for the defense of the country life is... ?
this is fate and true glory.

The moving song that put to life the equally moving words from the poem -