stress reduction, the filipino way

Aside from offering excellent ACLS , BLS, IV Therapy, and PALS training in its conveniently located center in Wilshire Boulevard, Los Angeles, EducateSimplify is now also offering a great stress reduction training in the Philippines. So for those who are interested in trying some traditional Filipino way of alleviating stress, you may email info@educatesimplify.com or call 18883270003 or 2133005045

ACLS in Los Angeles California

ACLS or Advanced Cardiac Life Support  is a set of scientific treatments designed for immediate treatment of healthcare emergency situations such as strokes. ACLS concentrates on the value of primary life support CPR to individual survival; the incorporation of efficient primary life support with advanced cardiovascular life support interventions; and the value of efficient team connections during resuscitation. It thus requires comprehensive healthcare knowledge and training to master ACLS.

CreativeResol-ve Healthcare Company provides the latest skills with the incorporation of 2010 AHA Guidelines for CPR and ECC in its training program. The 2010 Guide were modified by the AHA and International Liaison Committee on Resuscitation to concentrate on BLS as the primary of ACLS.

Conveniently located in the town center area Los Angeles area, CreativeResol-ve provides very affordable exercising and qualifications program. ACLS Initial is priced at $180, ACLS Renewal at $140 and Skills Session is at $100. They also offer package that provides combination of sessions that helps you to save money.

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thoughts on sona

Teddy Locsin is right: the mainstream media is not asking PNoy the right question. All they care is to talk about the personal and trivial about the president. And that is not more obvious than in the online poll of ABS-CBN News that puts the president’s love life and marriage prospects as the number in their survey of what the people would want to hear from PNoy’s State of the Nation Address.

The Al Jazeera interview was an intelligent one, and PNoy has given us a glimpse of the depth of his knowledge of the situation of the country.

risky gamble

the cbcp’s response to the pcso scandal seemed to be clever at first look. by responding as a group, the bishops hope that they can bring with them the weight of the church as a moral organization and institution, thus minimizing the possible impact of the scandal to their already dwindling moral authority. it may also appear that the church as an organization is being wrongly attacked by a government to weaken its influence on the issue of the rh bill.

but what if it fails? the possibility of failure here is substantial considering that this is an issue of perception, and that the ploy that this is related to rh bill battle is holds no water. whether or not the bishops can clear their names will not really matter in the end. the perception alone that they were involved in corruption will linger and sow doubt in the minds of the people, even to the most fervent believer. clearly, this most recent scandal has rattled the organization that it now appears on a total defensive posture. it might be that the fight against the rh bill, the rekindled divorce issue in the country, and now, the corruption in its own ranks, have taken its toll on the bishops that it is now unable to discern which is a proper thing to do. perhaps they now have too much on their plate as ‘attacks’ are now coming from different directions. on the other note, these bishops can only blame themselves for their misfortune. while they have been astute politicians in cassocks, they must remain, at least in the public eye, morally uptight.

while the number of bishops benefiting from the previous administration is only limited to a few, the statement from cbcp maintaining that their ‘conscience is clear’ without even investigating the concerned bishops threatens to further weaken their moral and political influence. with this, the organization can easily be accused of double standard and hypocrisy; that it quickly condemns perceived bad behavior of individuals other than their own, but turning a blind eye on the erring members of its ranks. religious institutions have been dabbling with politics for far too long under the guise of service to god, now one of its sources of legitimacy is being threatened by the fire that they have been playing with.

pages left for the bookworms

it’s been a while now since i last read and actually finished a book. as far as i can remember, the last academic book i read was on philippine political economy written by walden bello. there were a few novels but most of those were ebooks i read when i’m bored in the office; but none that requires rigorous thinking and undivided attention, or a dictionary at the least. it’s also been a while since i last bought a book, with a chess guide that i just browsed for about a week and left it to be covered by dust as my latest acquisition. clearly, i’ve lost something which i am used to be proud of myself of: a vociferous reader. maybe it has something to do with my work, but may also have something to do with my access to other forms of getting information.

for the past few months, i’ve heavily relied on audio and video downloads. i can remember that when i didn’t have access to the internet, i had to look for, and read all of john grisham’s novels in paperback. now, i only need to search for, say, lord of the rings trilogy, a few clicks, a couple of days of waiting, and done, i have my audio book read by a british and complete with sound effects. i can listen to it while engaging in other activities such as traveling or playing computer games.

this generation is said to be less inclined to reading, at least, the print materials; i do not necessarily disagree. in a way, i am one of those. for my part, i am simply take advantage of the opportunity and access that i have. i admit that i am able to retain more information when i see and read it rather than just listen to it, but repetition can compensate for that. i am traveling approximately 2 hours a day, which i spent on listening to audio materials, from the audio edition of the economist, to podcast, to novels. by the time i arrive at the office, i am already aware of what happened to the world without reading anything. if didn’t understand something, i will repeat it while going back to the apartment, so by the time i arrive, i can proceed with my part time job. given the choice, i would love to read, but i don’t have that luxury right now, maybe after two years.

it is also good that i do not read excessively anymore; just two semesters after i entered college and i was already wearing eye glasses, a product of reading an average of 6 hours a day on weekdays, and considerably longer on weekends where i have more time and when the dorm is very quiet. i am not wearing eye glasses anymore; i first left my glasses at home when i went to manila but i didn’t bother to have my eyes checked after that. it doesn’t bother me so i guess it’s just ok. in fact, it must be ok because i am currently spending (sometimes wasting) 16 hours a day in front of a computer and laptop monitor without having problems with my eyes or vision. well, it actually makes me wonder…

however, for all the convenience and practicality of listening to audio materials of books or conference transcripts, if available, there is still something great about reading them. it has something to do with the ‘feel’ of the paper or of the fine print or the smell of the ink and the pages. and for a margin scribbler like me, i love to see my notes on the edges of the pages and in between lines and paragraphs; there is an illusion that you understood what you read when you see your handwriting there. but maybe this is just a product of being born in age of transition from papers to monitors; you tend to romanticize it.

the curse of populism

In 1998, joseph estrada embarked on a populist campaign platform to capture the presidency, depicting himself as the savior of the masses. His strategy was so effective that now, some 13 years later, populism has become the de facto choice of candidates seeking for public office. But it is without its curses to the candidate who wins on such campaign platform.

A few months ago, the approval rating of President Aquino was soaring at an all-time high. You call it honeymoon period, over optimism of the people that borders despair and impatience for progress, or whatever. However, with the onslaught of after-effects of global financial crisis, the increase of the prices of petroleum products and practically everything else, people are now thinking that the president is lazy and incompetent. Aquino is now seen not as a solution, but a problem.

During the campaign period, all presidential candidates wooed the poor by promising an end to poverty. Aquino’s anti-poverty campaign is anchored on the political, even vengeful: the elimination of corruption and the persecution of former president. The political is so far a failure, and so by the same logic, the economic. The institutional limitations and barriers erected by the former president is enough to make Aquino inutile in pursuing her. And now, the economic problems are catching up, has even overtaken, the political. Like all populist candidates, he positioned himself as the cure-all to the problems of the country. In order to win an election, one must promise the impossible, and suffer afterwards. Now he is the single biggest target whenever something not right happens.

On the institutional/systemic level, populist campaign strategy makes the presidency synonymous to the person occupying it—seemingly capable of everything. The fact is the presidency, even though it is the highest and most powerful position in the land, is still an office, an institution. This means that it is part of a larger system of government, has limitations, subject to laws and rules, part of the bureaucracy, a co-equal of two more branches and therefore subject to checks and balances, and most importantly, a power player that must engage in conflict and compromise with other offices as necessity dictates.

Populism seems to be very fit the ‘Filipino political culture’. But if the past events are to be the bases, populist strategy could backfire in short notice. But then again, if you are a candidate your only objective is to win, and populist strategy is the most promising way to get what you wanted. Forget that it will haunt you afterwards; after all, the curse is not as powerful as the presidency.

the tao of pnoy

this is not, in anyway, a comparison between the very adorable and huggable fictional character winnie the pooh and the president (in case there’s a misunderstanding: the president is not fictional, okay? although right now, some would like to delude themselves that he is). they just don’t compare. i’m not also, at least not yet, joining the growing criticism against the president for doing nothing. on the contrary, deputy spokesperson valte has a very valid point: people don’t actually understand that the president has his own working style. and no one can also disagree with her observation that the president is very hard-working; she sees it, we do not, she’s being paid to say it, we are not. and who are we to say which is which? but we cannot also ignore the piling evidence (but i’m not including them here because that would be un-cool, and this article is supposed to be cool. besides, my new blog is already full of serious stuffs) that the president is not doing enough. but then again, he is doing something, however ineffective those may be. the effort must be recognized. if you do not agree with this, then perhaps you did not experience, either in high school or in college, passing a subject because your teacher saw your effort. going back… it is the choice of the plurality of the nation, we must deal with it.

making a parallelism between winnie the pooh and benigno aquino iii would be a condemnation to pooh. but the striking resemblance is simply hard to ignore, and so yes, i’m making a parallelism. but no, i’m not condemning pooh. now this seems to be a contradiction. but it can also be considered a paradox, just like wei wu wei.  so maybe pnoy’s actions, or lack of it, is a form of wei wu wei, a derivation of wu wei. (if you don’t know the concept of wu wei, think of master oogway of kung fu panda. ‘there are no accidents…’).

now, those who are criticizing the president must be missing a very important point. his own ‘working style’, can in fact be interpreted as being one with the universe and in harmony with the laws that govern the growth and decay of a tree, the swaying of the grass and leaves in a windy plain, the movements of the clouds, the beautiful falling of a droplet to a petal that you can only appreciate in slow motion and in a high definition screen, the choreographed movements of the planets, the silent and colorful explosions of the stars, and practically all the things you can watch in national geographic channel… uhmm, the exploding star doesn’t seem to fit. but the point is, we are currently governed in accordance with the laws that govern the universe itself, and what better way than to be governed by the laws of the universe?

so those who are hitting the panic button already, just sit back and relax. do not resist the tao, instead go with it and let the natural course of things unfold. remember pooh does a lot of stupid and sometimes reckless things, but he wasn’t harmed. we will be alright if we let the tao of pnoy lead us.

terrorism from instrumentalist and organizational dynamics perspectives

it is understandable why the Americans are celebrating for the death of osama bin laden, the man behind the al-qaeda that carried out the September 7 attack on the twin towers and an attempt to blow the pentagon, the symbol of american military might. bin laden’s death is perhaps, more than anything, just a moral victory for the Americans, who for the last 10 years of its war on terror has  only seen failures after failures. this is a big boost to the American psyche that badly needs it. the killing of bin laden is without doubt an important psychological victory for the united states and its allies on the fight against terrorism.

but now that the emotions began to simmer down, real analysis on the effects of the event to the broader war on terror will begin. whether the death of bin laden would have a significant impact to terrorists organizations and networks and the fight against terrorism remains to be seen. using two approaches on the question of whether bin laden’s death will have an effect on the terrorist organization al-qaeda, will lead to different conclusions, and by extension, implications.

from an instrumentalist point of view, terrorism is viewed as a means to a (political) end. in this perspective, terrorism is seen as a response to external stimuli (e.g. government policy). since terrorism is a means to an end, it usually follows that terrorist organizations act on the basis of calculation of possible gains, or the costs of a possible failure, the consequences of inaction, and the probability of success or failure. now, the actions may occur for several reasons, namely: the value sought is very important; the cost of trying is low; the status quo is intolerable; and the probability of success, even at a high cost, is high. terrorist organizations may also act out of desperation. since only few organizations actually attain their long-term political objectives, it is safe to conclude that from the instrumentalist perspective, terrorism is a failure, and the only reason terrorist organizations continue to exist is that they were able to attain tactical objectives in the form of publicity and recognition.

on the other hand, organizational process theory states that terrorism can become self-sustaining regardless if it attains its political objectives or not. this approach posits that the fundamental purpose of any organization is to sustain itself, although the goals of those occupying leadership positions within the organization may transcend mere survival. the actions of terrorist organizations are therefore a product of internal dynamics. the survival of the organization is thus highly dependent on its capability to provide tangible and/or intangible incentives to its members.  individuals join these organizations for varying reasons, such as feeling belonging, acquisition of social status and reputation, attainment of one’s ideological aspiration, and material gain. organizational theory is thus both good in explaining why a terrorist started and why it continues to exist.

first blood

the result of the first games of the semi conference finals is just as what i wanted: victories for new teams. in a way i hope that it dawns the new era for new bloods in the nba that has been dominated by traditional teams such as la lakers and boston celtics for quite a long time.