Penguin tales

Merging all your disks into one in Linux

2011-05-28T06:24:00.001+08:00

I had accumulated several odd-sized hard disks over the years. Nearly 3/4 of these are filled with different research data, movies, documents, journal papers, music and other packrat files that I never got to arrange into a coherent sense.

I tried recently to allocate one disk for one type of file. Say a Music disk, a Documents disk, Movies disk etc. In linux it is easy to pretend that these subdirectories looks like one big disk since you would just link the disk to say /home/ganni/Music and have a music folder that goes directly to the Music disk.

However, as I thread through the files, it seems that kind of thinking is faulty. If I ever outgrow my Documents disk for example, then I would have to be forced to spill over its contents to the Movies disk and so on. Eventually probably in a year's time, I am back to where I am right now.

I thought of making one superdisk. There is of course the LVM option or logical volume management. This option can be done when installing ubuntu and choosing the LVM option, or of course making one in a live working system. The only fault here is that if one of the disks in the LVM fail, then the whole volume becomes unreadable. Since my disks are from different days and a mixture of different brands, I am not sure which of them will fail any time soon. LVM is an elegant though dangerous option.

I also considered union-fs (which the EEE PC uses) but I found an even better option for this. After some googling, I stumbled upon mhddfs. Now before I start moving my files, I will document how I will do it for those who are in the same predicament as I am. So for all the digital packrats there, here is an option for you to have a unified, fairly "safe" option to have your files in linux.

In the course of organizing my files, I tried to install different versions of linux. Ubuntu Natty was problematic for me since it does not have any good NVidia 3D drivers and it also has some problems with my AVRISP mkII programmer which I would be using for my electronics class this semester. I ended up falling back to ever dependable Debian but with a green face. I am now using LMDE or the Linux Mint Debian Edition, which has the polish of Linux Mint with the dependability and rolling updates of Debian Testing. Coolness! hehehe.

So back to mhddfs. First, we need to install it. So we fire up either synaptic or the terminal and install mhddfs. mhddfs is a FUSE plugin that combines data from several directories and present it in one directory.

$ sudo apt-get install mhddfs

Just following the recommendations from alj (https://www.nowhere.dk/articles/fuse-coolness-with-mhddfs) we first create a target directory.

For me the target directory is /home/ganni which will contain everything. Next would be mounting the drives on their own directories first

before joining them together. Apparently, it just makes you use the mounted directories as a single one via mhddfs.

One concern is hiding the mounted drives from showing up in nautilus. The solution from here (http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=1439003) is to mount them at /mnt and NOT at /media

So editing my fstab we now have:

/dev/sdf1 / ext4 defaults 0 0

/dev/sdd1 /mnt/sdd1 ext4 noatime,defaults 0 0

/dev/sdg1 /mnt/sdg1 ext4 noatime,defaults 0 0

/dev/sde1 /mnt/sde1 ext4 noatime,defaults 0 0

/dev/sda1 /mnt/sda1 ext4 noatime,defaults 0 0

...

Checking nautilus, indeed the disks do not show up. Then it is a simple command to have all the mounts show up as one single mega-drive by executing

$ sudo mhddfs /mnt/disk1,/mnt/disk2,/mnt/disk3 /home/ganni -o allow_other

I did this in single user mode (init 1) to be safe. I get rewarded by a single drive with lots and lots of free space. Hahah! Success!

All I need to do now is to make this a permanent thing. This can be done by putting in the line

mhddfs#/mnt/disk1,/mnt/disk2,/mnt/disk3 /home/ganni fuse defaults,allow_other 0 0

One other subtle thing is to enable the fuse module to be loaded first at boot. I spent several minutes figuring this one out. This can easily be done by putting the line

fuse

into the /etc/modules file.

I also needed to change the permissions and user/group since some of the files were from past installations of various linuxes. So a quick chown and chmod, I have all files now as my own.

Onto the next challenge, organizing all these files :-) Happy packratting!

Hacking my MSI Wind (Wireless card, USB Hub, bluetooth, 16gb flashdisk, wireless mouse)

2010-01-01T23:46:00.000+08:00

I just opened up my MSI Wind after its hard disk gave out. To check whether it was just a software crash or hardware (really!), I opened it up and swapped an old 2.5 SATA disk from an old (headless) computer. It worked which means that the current disk did not work any more. In the spirit of turning a "bad" thing to a good thing, this offered me a chance to hack out my Wind netbook.

First things first: replacing the hard disk. This was easy to do. Then I remembered that the RTL8187 wireless card of the Wind was quite crappy and thus decided also to get the wireless card (Intel) from the other computer and replace the one in the MSI wind. Thus the hacking starts!

I took out the battery and opened up the MSI wind by removing the screws and using my fingernail to pop out the back cover. Removing first the antenna connections on the wireless card and the screw that holds it down, it is now easy to take away the mini PCI card and pop in the replacement.

Before that, I need to unscrew the SATA hard disk out and replace it with the working HD. Putting all the screws back together, putting in the cover and the battery, all it needs it a test. I had previously installed Ubuntu 9.10 there and surprisingly it all worked. The wireless card was detected, the hard disk was working-- this means I have a working netbook again.

Yet, this is also an opportunity to put in Bluetooth as the original computer had none. I have an old bluetooth USB which protrudes 1/2 cm out of the side when plugged it. I surmised (correctly) that it will fit inside. All i need to do is to wire it in!

But why stop there? Searching the web, I found some blogsites (the MSI Wind forum was down probably permanently) that pointed the way. Finding an old USB hub, stripping it down to its barest minimum, checking the internet again for the correct USB wiring connections, I soldered the hub down, stripped a 16gb flash drive, stripped down the bluetooth dongle and got my wireless mouse dongle (which I got cheaply for the holidays) and connected them to the hub. That left me with a single port for "future" upgrades. :-)

I tried to put in the 3G smart bro stick inside but it was too thick and to separate them out needed special connectors that I don't want to make as of the moment.

I soldered the power carefully, the USB D+ and D- lines and the ground for the hub. Soldered in the USB stuff and placed the hub and the dongles underneath the hard disk. The flash disk was placed beside the hard disk so that I could see it light up when accessed. Using a glue gun and masking tape liberally since I don't have kapton tape, I fixed in the components and put in back the cover and the battery.

Turning on the power, I see now the bluetooth module is up in Ubuntu, the wireless mouse works and the 16gb disk is detected. Hardware hack done!

Not satisfied with this I now upgraded the Ubuntu 9.10 OS to the latest alpha (I know it is alpha software but this is "cutting edge" hacking hahah) Ubuntu Lucid Lynx 10.04 version (due on April 2010).

Now I celebrate the new year with a new OS and refurbished computer. Pictures to follow soon!

Happy new year!

Dams, flooding and power

2009-10-16T08:45:00.001+08:00

Dams, flooding and power

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Crowd Estimate for the February 29, 2008 Interfaith Rally in Ayala cor. Paseo del Roxas Makati City

2008-03-03T17:16:00.006+08:00

Crowd Estimate for the February 29, 2008 Interfaith Rally
in Ayala cor. Paseo del Roxas Makati City

Summary

				DENSITY, PERSONS PER SQ. METER				Tapering density
				1	2	3	4	Tapering density
	length	width	Area
A	100	30	3,000	3,000	6,000	9,000	12,000	7009
B	30	30	900	900	1,800	2,700	3,600
C	75	30	2,250	2,250	4,500	6,750	9,000	5257
D	380	30	11,400	11,400	22,800	34,200	45,600	26635
E	50	15	750	750	1,500	2,250	3,000
S1 (HSBC corner)	base:40	height: 18	360	360	720	2,160	8,640
S2 (all others, est)	others		300	300	600	1,800	7200

					With “replacement” factor +20%
	Most likely			41,910	50,292
	Most likely (tapering density)			47,511	57,013
	High estimate			59,760	71,712

		At maximum density	89,040	106,848
		At minimum density (1 per sq m)	18,960	22,752

Public announcements on the estimate of the size of the crowd in the February 29 has been varied. From a low of 15,000 from the PNP to a high of 80,000 from the organizers, the polarization of society seems to have spilled over to the estimates of the number of those who came last Friday. The politics of the numbers of a mobilization is obvious, as one story lead in the newspaper clearly put it: “The crowd is the statement”.

Every time a sizeable mobilization has been conducted, whether in Mendiola, Ayala or Edsa, conflicting estimates are issued that either downplay or magnify the data. Is there some way to effectively quantify the size of the crowd in a mobilization?

The most common and practicable way is to measure the area covered by the protest and measure, according to some density estimate, the number of those who attended. This estimation is most easily done with overhead shots and areal surveys. It would tend to have a bias against those who are under some shelter or inside a building but it would give a rough estimate on the size of the crowd.

Other methods could include real time computer tracking, visual count and even extrapolation from the amount of artifacts left by the crowd. It is also common practice for the organizers to have reports of attendance on how many they have mobilized for the event on which they empirically base their estimates.

Crowd density estimates stem from the fact that people usually occupy around a quarter of a square meter in a very crowded space. This translates to around four (4) persons in a square meter. Lower crowd density means a larger space between each person. We should note that crowd density is usually not uniform, except in very crowded areas, and will taper off from the central hub of activity in the mobilization.

In the February 29 mobilization, we divide the mobilization into 5 major areas. Section A is the area of Ayala going towards Herrera. Section B is the central area of the intersection, section C is along Paseo de Roxas facing the stage, section D is the side of Ayala towards Makati Avenue/EDSA and section E is the area behind the stage. Additional side areas such as the corner underneath HSBC building is designated S1 and other corners are collectively called S2. Note that sidewalks and other establishments are not included in this estimation. The table above summarizes the area and the crowd estimate depending on people density.

In the initial estimate, we use a crowd density of 2 persons per square meter

along area A, C and D. It was difficult to move within the central area as it remained packed even until the end of the program. In this light, we would be using 4 per square meter in B. Area E and S1 are similarly near the stage and thus have a higher density that the rest. For both, we would use 3 per square meter crowd density.

As the rally started around 5 pm, not all who came were already there. Due to delays from checkpoints and police barricades such as what happened to the UP students and professors in Philcoa, many still were coming even after the program's start. With others still coming in, as well as some already leaving, the crowd size relatively remained the same after early evening. With this we should account for the “replacement” crowd that came in after the rally began. Makati employees and other groups replaced those who left early in the program. We shall use a “replacement” factor of 20% to include those who came in late as well as those who were not counted by the estimation (in the establishments, on the sidewalks, etc).

Using the area for each section, the most likely density for each and the replacement factor, we arrive at the most likely estimate of the crowd size at approximately 50,300. At minimum density of one per square meter, the minimum is still above the one quoted by the PNP: 19,000 vs. the PNP's 15,000. High estimates would range from 60,000 to 70,000, not far from the peak quoted by the opposition. The theoretical maximum, at 4 per square meter, that the area can hold is 89,000 persons.

Tapering density

This estimate is based on a uniform distribution of people in each section. We need to considering further that crowd densities does not change abruptly. We therefore introduce a tapering estimate using a Gamma distribution for the crowd density. This is based on the observation that from a high of 4 per square meter at the center (the density at the area B), the crowd density will taper off gradually within the area considered as yo go far away from the center. This tapering model will account for the higher density in the front of the column than in the back. We apply this to sections A, C, and D.

Accounting for this tapering density, we obtain for a likely estimate, with replacement, of around 57,000 people as based on the areas consired in the following table:

Area in map	Crowd estimate with tapering density
A	7,009
B	3,600
C	5,257
D	26,635
E	2,250
sidelines	2,760
TOTAL	47511
TOTAL with replacement factor	57014

We used images from Google Earth as well as its software to model and measure the size of the streets. Perspective view was also employed to estimate correctly the area covered by the mobilization. The photos and the screenshot from Google Earth is presented in the last table below.

In summary, the crowd size during the February 29 Interfaith Rally is most likely 50-57,000 with a possible high of around 70,000. The police estimates of 15,000 are a far understimation of the size of the crowd since even at low densities, the number will still be around 19,000. The estimation is based on several shots of the crowd from different vantage points as well as screen grabs from different footages of the assembly. The lack of an aerial shot due to the no-fly zone order makes it difficult to have an simultaneous estimate of the crowd size at a particular time from an overhead point of view. We thus have to rely on photos from the buildings around the area.

In addition to the size of the crowd, it is also important to note the breadth of the forces that mobilized on February 29. The religious, business, militants and opposition groups that called for Mrs. Arroyo's removal have broadened since a few years ago. Who protests is as important as how many came. There is a pattern of increasing mobilization and a widening base in the calls for Mrs. Arroyo to step down.###

Live pics of Bloggers Kapihan 3.0 @Kape Tasyo #3

2008-01-19T16:10:00.000+08:00

Tonyo, Ederic and Jester sharing their experience of EDSA 2

Live pics of Bloggers Kapihan 3.0 @Kape Tasyo #2

2008-01-19T16:01:00.001+08:00

Bloggers listening and doing their live blogging at the BK3

Live pics of Bloggers Kapihan 3.0 @Kape Tasyo

2008-01-19T15:53:00.001+08:00

Speakers Rep. Satur Ocampo and GWP Sec. Gen. Tinay Palabay recounting
their EDSA 2 experience and its continuing relevance to the people.

New Year, New Cat

2008-01-17T16:07:00.001+08:00

Ham tasting a mouse.

How to configure your LG KU250 to work with Smart internet

2007-12-12T00:56:00.001+08:00

These settings will make your LG KU250 work as a high speed modem. In windows, install the PC suite and set the profiles to the following:
Country → Other
Network Provider → Other
Call Type → 3G-PS
Profile → MyProfile
APN → smartbro

Call Number → *99#
User Name →
Password →
(meaning: don't put anything on the username/password space).

(I am changing the APN to smartbro from internet. I think smart changed this sometime last year).

(For globe all you need to do is change the APN to http.globe.com.ph)

Protect your files from prying eyes with encfs+cryptkeeper

2007-10-22T23:18:00.001+08:00

With the ever increasing need for privacy amidst the intrusion of the government, one can use simple encryption tools to protect personal data.

In Ubuntu, you can use encfs and cryptkeeper. I tried it. Follow the steps here and you're on your way to make things harder for the intruders.

Of Call Forwading and Cell Phones: From Hello Garci to the Glorietta Bombing

2007-10-21T21:16:00.001+08:00

The news is abuzz about this person named Omar who claims he is from the RSM, which allegedly admitted to being responsible for the Glorietta Bombing.

Then there is this portion about the forwarding of the phone calls to the supposed number of Omar to the cell phones of Rep. Raffy Biazon and Bayan Muna deputy secretary general Roberto de Castro.

Two things are immediately clear. First, that there is the malicious intention to link Rep. Biazon and Obet de Castro to the bombing. Second, that whoever is doing this is using cell phone call forwarding to do this.

If I recall correctly, there is only one other incident where call forwarding was mentioned, it was when Doble (of the Hello Garci fame) said that he recorded the phone conversation between Garcillano and Gloria Arroyo using a phone where the calls to Garcillano have been forwarded to. This was presumably done by the ISAFP where he was working at that time. They must have the capability to do this (or at least the personnel "embedded" in the telcos to do it for them).

How easy is it to forward a call? You can try doing it in your cell phone right now. Various phones have that facility and even land lines have that a long time ago. All you need to know is the number to forward it to. It is a software switch in the telco's computers that you can turn on and off by dialing a certain sequence. Since it is just a software switch, it is not so hard to find a grain of truth in Doble's assertion that forwarding a call a different number as well as to the original phone (i.e. the "splitting") is possible.

This next part is quite easy as 1+1.

Who has the capability to forward calls? The original phone owner, aka "Omar", could have done it. He could have forwarded his calls to that of Biazon and de Castro with the obvious intent of dragging their names and their organizations to the Glorietta mess. Rep. Biazon and de Castro could have not done it because they were the ones at the receiving end of an obvious ploy to discredit them.

Senator Trillanes has said the military brass has something to do with it. And this leads me to realize that there is one other organization that could have done it. The ISAFP have already done it at least once, according to Doble, during the Hello Garci fiasco. Could they have done it again?

If whiskers make a cat...

2007-10-17T16:27:00.001+08:00

...then bears, dogs, and yes even seals, or robot "bears" can be cats. Imagine, here i am, loving every gadget that doraemon gets from his tummy pocket (see tummies have good uses too!) and thinking that he is a BEAR!

good thing tummies don't have whiskers...

Interesting article: Tuesday blues

2007-10-17T15:57:00.001+08:00

As if to answer some of my friends' problem with the days of the week, there is this article from the Onion. If we'd want to skip Mondays, there is still Tuesday to contend with. Check it out.

Btw, lisa pointed out that Doraemon is a ROBOT cat.

From www.theonion.com:

It Only Tuesday

WASHINGTON, DC—Tuesday's arrival stunned a nation still recovering from Monday's nightmarish slog, leaving some to wonder if the week was ever going to end.

Doraemon is a cat?

2007-10-16T11:58:00.001+08:00

I just discovered that Doraemon, the loveable blue cartoon, is a cat! What kind of "fan" am I? I always thought Doraemon was a bear. Tsk tsk tsk.

Powered by ScribeFire.

Your privacy: No picture, no ride

2007-10-04T09:40:00.000+08:00

The Manila Police District is now implementing a "No picture, no ride" policy in provincial buses. You cannot ride a bus unless your picture is taken supposedly for crime prevention.

At face value (pun intended), it seems good but does it really prevent any crime? It does invade your privacy. Privacy is not about hiding anything wrong, it is preventing the government and anyone else from intruding into every aspect of your lives.

I'll write more about this later.

No guts(y), no glory

2007-09-24T23:05:00.001+08:00

I'm actually downloading Ubuntu 7.10 (a linux distribution) a few weeks ahead of schedule. It is due to be officially out on mid-October but after I saw it from Rick's laptop I think I can already use it for day-to-day activities.

A genuine national information network not the NBN/ZTE deal

2007-09-21T16:39:00.000+08:00

When people do not have access to information services and telecommunications, and governance is hampered by slow coordination between the national and local government units, any improvement to the use and access of new technology is always welcome. Contrary to what this blog and the economics professors thought, we cannot leave connectivity and information services to the whims of profit nor should we leave it to a corrupt government.

I think we should differentiate the need for a genuine nationalized telecommunications network from the current NBN/ZTE deal that everyone, including the Senate, is talking about. One speaks of the need of our people to connect with each other, and the other smacks of paybacks, connections and lies.

The NBN deal: deeper into debt, deeper into corruption

The NBN project aims to interconnect 2,295 government agencies and 23,549 municipalities and barangays. The envisioned network will be financed by a government loan from the Chinese government as an Official Development Assistance (ODA). ODAs involving tied loans will favor the Chinese government and Chinese companies but not the Filipino people. In the end, the Philippine government will need to obtain millions from Filipino taxpayers to repay the debts incurred from the deal.

In addition, the NBN contract, instead of providing genuinely accessible communication facilities to the countryside, seemed to have been signed into just to fatten pockets of some government officials as the revelations of Jose de Venecia III show. Even if the NBN deal improves the communications between government agencies, it will still fail to sustain a national communications network because of the corruption and kickbacks of the current administration and its dependence on foreign technologies, expertise and financing.

The government is not new to such‭ ‬huge network.‭ ‬The DOST-ASTI maintains a similar network which interconnects different research institutions nationwide.‭ ‬Philippine Research,‭ ‬Education,‭ ‬and Government Information Network‭ (‬PREGINET‭) ‬has at least‭ ‬16‭ ‬access points for use of its partners all over the archipelago‭ [‬1‭]‬.‭ ‬On PREGINET,‭ ‬local partners connect to one of the access points which has direct connections to one of the‭ ‬4‭ ‬exchange points.‭ ‬The exchange points are then connected to the ASTI.

The view expressed by economists Fabella and de Dios assert that the NBN deal should be left to private telecommunications firms. They strongly abhor government control on the telecommunications industry which has expanded service coverage only in profitable areas. But was privatization ever beneficial to the people?

We can cite the power industry experience under the Electric Power Industry Reform Act of 2001 (EPIRA) as an example of the failed promises of privatization. Contrary to what has been claimed during the passage of the law, the EPIRA has not caused any real decrease in power rates. Aside from the initial and fleeting 30 centavo Power Act reduction, there has been no substantial decrease in power rates due to the EPIRA. Instead, the EPIRA has legitimized the onerous Purchased Power Adjustments from contracts entered into by the NAPOCOR and has led to increasing rates.

As advocates of science and technology for the people, we from AGHAM maintain that infrastructures such as a telecommunications backbone should be a responsibility of the government. Such a network which can provide the countryside with accessible communications facility must be part of the government services provided to facilitate industrial activity, commercial trading and domestic day-to-day activities.

Improving telecommunication services by using modern technologies, without corruption and foreign interests, will always be a welcome development for the people. ###

Meet NEKO, our new cat

2007-07-22T21:44:00.000+08:00

Here is "Neko" sitting on my chest. Just came in today. Its another case of calling a spade a spade since neko is just Japanese for cat. We're just calling him "pusa" or "cat". So original!

Skipping Mondays and looking forward to Fridays

2007-07-02T11:32:00.001+08:00

Skipping Mondays and looking forward to Fridays

A friend once told me that Mondays are so unkind.

I begged to disagree. It usually is for many, as it steals the weekend away and opens a new week of slaving on the computer at work. However, without Mondays, would we ever get our Fridays? One other online friend noticed the change in my gmail tag said that it's entirely relative. Weekends are technically part of the week, which would make it a week day... so the circular definition unbinds our cyclic weekday names to weekend-less weeks. Work without end. Amen.

Yet I agree with my second friend, it is relative. There are those days that are really harsh and would grate on one's sanity. Yet if it occurred in any other day aside from Monday, would you be cursing the day? Say Tuesday was the day unkind things happened, would Tuesdays be nailed to the cross of week days one tended to hate? Do you ever hear Garfield or saw a T-shirt saying: "I hate Tuesdays"? Nope. I think Mondays are overrated and unfairly targeted as it usually heralds the (relative) end of a weekend (The ending of which might not necessarily be bad, as some weekends can go haywire).

So while gmail tags might drive you to post to a blog and unusually bad Mondays can make you to cry, there are always four more days to smile about. Take any one of those four and you get the opportunity to add a bit of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere by opening a can of cold, cold beer.

http://japanesecorn.blogspot.com

2007-06-26T07:29:00.000+08:00

Subverting Privacy: The Human Security Act Ushers in Big brother
by Dr. Giovanni Tapang
Samahan ng Nagtataguyod ng Agham at Teknolohiya para sa Sambayanan (AGHAM)

We're all being watched.

In the guise of searching for criminals and terrorists, there are invisible eyes and intricate surveillance networks that can follow you as you walk the streets, go into establishments and invade even our own homes. Everyone leaves personal electronic tracks that reveal who we are, what we do and what we like to the prying eyes of law enforcement officials. They even use your own cellphone to track where you go and who you talk to. Adding to this real threat is a law that allows the government to "legally" pry your bank accounts, listen to your conversations and strip you of your right to privacy at its whim.

With the Human Security Act, Big Brother has indeed arrived.

The Arroyo administration's latest effort to combat terrorism raises concern that Filipinos are now at greater risk of intrusion from their own government. The legislation, popularly known as the Anti-Terrorism Act, contains provisions that build on law enforcement's ability to peek at e-mail, to use wiretaps, monitor credit card purchases and bank transactions and conduct searches of suspected terrorists.

The Human Security Act (HSA) was foisted upon us during the preparations for the May 2007 elections. On February, the Senate and the House of Representatives passed the bicameral version of the bill and President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo signed it into law in a matter of days on March 6, 2007.

The HSA not only subverts our right to privacy under the guise of security and anti-terrorism, it also endangers the general citizenry with a dangerously vague definition of terrorism and a cabal of implementors that has a record of wanton disregard for human rights.

It has also worrying prospects of being prone to abuse as it has vague definitions for terrorism that undermines our freedom of association, assembly and movement. The definition of “terrorism” is deliberately made vague and broad. Section 3 defines “terrorism” as an act of “sowing and creating a condition of widespread and extraordinary fear and panic among the populace in order to coerce the government to give in to an unlawful demand.”

The terror law can violates a person’s right to privacy. In Section 7 of the law, surveillance of terror suspects is allowed and authorities can use any means to intercept and record all communications of suspected terrorists and their alleged conspirators. Ostensibly, law enforcement officials need to get the Court of Appeals approval to conduct wiretapping and other forms of electronic surveillance but with the Hello Garci scandal, we know that they can perform this even without any such approval.

Your personal “Hello Garci” experience: Tracking and listening on your cellphone

Current technologies that make our day to day communications are vulnerable. The discovery of a crude telephone wiretap in the phonebox near the Aquino residence during election time is but a reminder how easy it is to listen in another's conversation. In the Hello Garci phone conversations, all those who called were recorded as clearly as they were heard by the user.

Cellular telephones, introduced as early as the 1980s, are still essentially radio devices. The cellphone service area is divided into small "cells" where an antenna tower is located to receive and transmit signals. A phone inside that “cell” monitors the strongest signal from the surrounding towers and attempts to register with it. If it can't find a usable paging channel or the registration fails in all available networks, the phone would show NO SERVICE. A cellphone has to register with a cell site to use its services and be useful to end users.

As long as a mobile phone is turned on, it periodically broadcasts a signal to the nearest cell sites to register itself to the network so it can receive phone calls and SMS. This very same technology that allows cellphones to function, also allows one to measure differences in the signal arrival time and thus locate the unit relative to the cell sites.

As cell phone units are but spruced up radios, they are subject to triangulation making every phone a physical locating device. There are newer phones with GPS chips but triangulation will work with every cellphone. It only has to be turned on and can be tracked even when not in a call. This is inherent in the way cellphones work. The only way to avoid tracking is to turn off your unit.

Furthermore, the police and military have boasted of their capability to monitor cell phone calls and track the locations of criminals that have led to their arrests. In a television interview last month, an officer of the Philippine National Police (PNP) warned that advanced wiretapping capabilities may have been used in the midterm elections

In Europe, SIM (subscriber identification modules) were used to locate and break up Al Qaeda cells. SIM cards connect cellphones to networks. Investigators were able to match the numbers with terror suspects and track some down in Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, Indonesia and several countries in Europe. Even without personal information, the authorities were able monitoring other phone conversations by building on the phone network of a single surveilled phone. The perception of anonymity in obtaining a new SIM card can give a false sense of security.

Registration of SIM cards will also not work. It acts on the false logic that “if you tell me your name, then I can tell if you are a terrorist”. SIM registration is only an additional burden to the public and does not in any way ensure that terrorists will be caught. As Hon. Crispin Beltran said, “Cellphones are not deadly weapons like guns that need to be registered”.

As terrorists are now able to use other methods to communicate, it is the public that is left to the mercy of authorities and law enforcement officials. A normal cellphone user in the Philippines sends on the average 10 SMS to other friends, co-workers and family. If a person is thus suspected of terrorism, at least 10 other people would be implicated with him.

Under the terror bill, once you are made a suspect, even without proof or conviction, your location, messages and conversations are now subject to recording and tracking. Your phone list, messages and conversations are now compromised together with those in contact with you.

We are all under threat to have our personal Garci experience. While we don't fix electoral results and receive phone calls from the President, an increasingly distrustful and paranoid government such as the current one can cause you trouble and put you under surveillance because of mere suspicion. The Hello Garci issue, far from being resolved, is bound to multiply with arbitrary surveillance under the HSA.

Internet and Computer (in)security makes you vulnerable to snoops

The internet is a complex network with a lot of security holes. In early May, the PNP lamented the lack of cybercrime laws even as it has its own IT forensics lab. It is not technically difficult to sniff on a computer network. Internet service providers (ISPs) can be required to provide client information that can be used to track your browsing and emailing activities.

Viruses, trojans and back doors can maliciously email files from your computer by exploiting the current weaknesses of the operating system. These viruses can be brought to your computer in many ways, through floppy disks, CD-ROMs, email, web sites, and downloaded files. Those wanting to put you on surveillance can just send you an email that can compromise your whole system.

The well known “Love Bug” virus that spreads by e-mailing copies of itself to everyone in an infected computer's address book forced many companies in May 2000 to shut down their mail servers to prevent it from spreading. Even without the intent of destroying any data, under the broad definition of terrorism in the Terror law, inadvertent release of such a virus can cause you 40 years of no parole.

Emails are believed to be by many as secure and private because of its use of a password to log in. However, your email travels from the originating host computer to the destination and often passes through several relaying hosts. At each point in the transmission, your email can be read, changed and even deleted.

The US has a network of listening points, collectively known as ECHELON that screens out data sources and forward it to the US National Security Agency for analysis. The PNP and the NBI recently has formed its Task Force on Cyber Crime and was trained by the FBI. In the recent ASEAN meeting there were agreements for sharing security information under the eASEAN security pact. In the recent arrest of Indonesian terror suspects, the tracking of cell phone transmissions by Australian police via U.S. satellites was important.

However, physical access to your computer should be of primary concern. In the recent illegal arrest of Pastor Berlin Guerrero, even without the Terror bill in force, soldiers who tortured the church worker forced him to yield the password to his email and computer. They deleted all his emails and put in other in its stead. This method might seem crude and without need of computer savvy but is also frighteningly effective.

Friendster anyone?

As the government seeks to reduce the privacy of suspected terrorists, it also has kept the so called Anti-Terrorism Council very powerful. It has powers to proscribe any organization as terrorist, put an individual as a suspect which immediately reduces his rights even without trial, open your bank accounts, listen in your conversations and even extend this to your friends. Never has been putting your friendship network in cybercircles like Friendster and MySpace have been dangerous to all involved.

If only one of them is suspected of terrorism, everyone in the network is subject to the Terror bill's peering eyes and ears. With so much power concentrated into a cabal of government officials, who under recent experience has not shown any reasonable respect for human rights, there is more than enough reason to worry. These situations make the Terror Act a bill of attainder, which criminalizes and punishes individuals on the basis of guilt by association.

The Anti-Terrorism Council has also powers to build and profile anyone or any organization it sees fit under the vague definitions of terrorism as Section 54 allows it to "Establish and maintain comprehensive data-base information systems on terrorism, terrorist activities, and counter-terrorism operations". It can also "Freeze the funds, property, bank deposits, placements, trust accounts, assets and records belonging to a person suspected of or charged with the crime of terrorism or conspiracy to commit terrorism".

The security risks of this information database is enormous. It is a myth that if only we knew who everyone was, we could pick out the terrorists amongst us. Huge amounts of private information will be overseen by the Terror Council which allows a select group of people to possess too much information and power.

Only a committee that includes the DOJ and the Solicitor General stands as a grievance committee that evaluates any complaints to the police and law enforcement officials. These are the same people that the government would mobilize to implement the Terror bill.

Your personal money trails

Every time you check your salary in your bank's ATM, or encash a check, or buy with a credit card, you leave an electronic trace that can be recorded and put into a database. Under Sec. 27 of the Terror law, bank deposits, accounts and records of suspected terrorists and their alleged conspirators can be examined by authorities. All information involving a suspected account, including transactions with other accounts, can also be opened up and investigated.

In addition, the existing Anti-Money Laundering Act will flag transactions involving more than PhP 500,000. The Anti-Money Laundering Council (AMLC) can freeze that account pending verification and further investigation. There have been reports of opposition candidates whose transactions during the campaign and elections were investigated by the AMLC to the detriment of these candidates. These capabilities to freeze and open accounts are often abused by those who can wield it.

Conclusion

That the Orwellian scenario ushered in by the Human Security Act is not fiction is bolstered by the events since the Garci scandal. From the Calibrated Pre-emptive Response, to PP1017, EO464, the arrest of Cong. Beltran and the experiences of the the Batasan 6, we have seen the extent to which the current government has tried to stretch legal boundaries to obtain its political ends. Together with the resistance of the people to these edicts and actions, the Supreme Court has struck down at these attempts to undermine civil liberties.

Under this context, we can view the Terror law as an attempt to silence all forms of political dissent under the pretext of fighting terrorism. Because the threshold for suspicion is vague, anyone is under threat. Groups like TXTPower who harness the texting generation in issues ranging from opposition to text tax to the Garci issue can be labeled terrorists if its advocacy for consumer rights have run counter to the current government's subservience to the whims of foreign financial institutions such as the IMF.

The opportunities to attack the legitimate rights of Filipinos are widespread under the new law, from harassing opposition groups to the collection of massive quantities of data on all citizens, innocent and otherwise. The terror law has no assurances to reveal the criminals but it has all the power to invade our privacy and subvert our rights.

Finally, what is more dangerous is that the fight against terror as stated by George W. Bush and Gloria Arroyo is open-ended. This raises concern that the government's new authority will last indefinitely and impact more on innocent citizens than its avowed targets. With the Terror bill in place the threat to our freedom now comes from the government and no other: the state itself is our terrorist.###

Merry Christmas in February: Scientists and Society redux

2007-02-20T12:03:00.001+08:00

This was a letter I made for AGHAM during our Christmas party last 2003 when I had my postdoc in Glasgow. I guess it summarizes most of my views about science and society that's why I am reposting it here (with some minor re-edit and formatting).

-----------

Dear All,

Equa asked me to write a message for our Christmas party. I thought of just giving the usual Hello, kumusta- Merry Christmas-Happy New Year version but since she was not specific enough, I guess I have latitude on what I could say here. I'll try to share how I feel about being a scientist in a first world longing to come back to a country where science and technology is relatively backward and stunted.

Most of us in one way or another got involved in AGHAM because there were some particular skill that were needed in a project or some activity that we were holding. probably out of actual desire to serve, or maybe even because of Equa's kulit or Erni's insistence or even because of Trixie's size (heheh), we were asked to share what we knew as a scientist. It is not easy to convince our peers in and out of the academe that it is possible for a scientist to be "involved" or even, as we usually put in our press releases, be activist scientists.

For most, it is easy to revert to the stereotype of being a scientist as an uninvolved and supposedly objective person. Probably because its the easiest and sometimes even the preferred stereotype by current society. Yet in the long run this runs smack into several contradictions in terminologies.

One, how can an objective person not see, feel and even measure the poverty, the oppression and the exploitation around him?

Two, how can one be uninvolved and yet interact with other people and material objects inside and outside the laboratory, where funds, infrastructure, and support systems would, in one way or another, ultimately reflect upon the current societal conditions the "uninvolved" scientist is in.

Three, it is not that easy to be truly and wholly "just be a scientist" in a country where science and technology is generally backward and stunted (no offense to people of my size!).

Yet, there are times when the myth of science's neutrality is used as a shield against the call of service to society. Most of our colleagues would answer "humanity" when asked the question of "for whom" they are working for. yet they would not acknowledge that this answer falls short of the precision that scientists we would want it to be, preferring instead the general term to the much more clearer division among exploiters and exploited, oppressor and oppressed, for it usually turns out that despite the scientists' grand dreams of humanitarian service, his work ends up to fattening the profits of the few.

There are a lot of bright people I know that would rather solve the research problem he or she has, rather than face and try to contribute in solving the general plight of our people. Some would say because the research problem is more tractable. But of course, we always would explain and counter that changing society is not just tractable, it is in fact currently underway.

The challenge is not just being scientists, for I guess with your own talents and abilities, one can be the stereotypical publishing "world-class" scientist. The challenge is being a scientist in a more meaningful way than is possible in the said stereotype.

That I guess is easy enough in the sense that one will always find some way he or she can contribute directly to the people's need. What would be difficult to overcome is the conditioning and passivity of the "objective rational" scientist stereotype, despite the fact that even in quantum mechanics, one cannot observe and not interact. In more geeky physics terms, once you project your measurement operator on your system to get a measurement, you have changed the set of eigenvectors of your system under observation. in other words, you interact with what you observe. hahahah :-)

AGHAM is here to facilitate that projection operation. Yet, as it is also true in quantum mechanics and statistics, on has to do the operation over an ensemble to get a meaningful result. one has to repeat the operation many times or its ergodic equivalent: have many operations done simultaneously. Have it done by more and more enlightened and progressive scientists.

We should therefore perform another function, and that is to expand more the ranks of the activist scientists who are ready to help in their own geeky (and non-geeky) way to the benefit of our people.

The requisites of an advanced science and technology where scientists can be true to their name are the same requisites that our people are clamoring for--national industrialization, agricultural modernization (as part of a genuine land reform), social justice, etc. that is why we are also happy to acknowledge our guests who are here with us to celebrate our common goal of a better future for all.

Kaya dapat merry tayong lahat this Christmas! Merry Christmas and Happy New Year sa lahat!

Hanggang sa muli,

Ganni

Pinoy in Glasgow

Christmas 2003

Italians march in US base protest

2007-02-18T16:49:00.001+08:00

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/6370671.stm

Italians march in US base protest

Protesters came from all over the country

Tens of thousands of people have marched in the north-eastern
Italian city of Vicenza against a planned extension of the US army base
there.

Organisers say the majority of local people are opposed
to US plans. They say Prime Minister Romano Prodi has ignored strong
local objections.

Mr Prodi is going ahead with a plan agreed by his pro-US predecessor, Silvio Berlusconi.

Despite fears of possible violence, the march passed off peacefully.

Schools normally opened on Saturday were closed, and the
US embassy warned Americans to avoid the city, as Mr Prodi appealed for
protestors to avoid violence.

Vicenza's mayor had feared the march would be
infiltrated by left-wing radicals from other EU states intent on
causing violence - as happened in Genoa six years ago, when rioting
during a G8 summit caused heavy damage, one death and many injuries.

Organisers said 100,000 people attended, while police put the number at 40,000.

Ministers banned

Marchers carried banners reading "America, No Thanks" and "Bases Go Home", and waved rainbow-coloured peace flags.

"There is no reason to have this base here," said Antonio Faitta, 25, who travelled from Genoa for the protest.

Special trains and buses from various parts of Italy arrived in Vicenza for the march.

People want to impose with violence a base that nobody wants
Local man

Many of them had been chartered by leftist parties and
the Greens, members of Mr Prodi's ruling coalition, although the prime
minister had banned ministers from attending the march.

The BBC's David Willey in Rome says the centre-left
government is embarrassingly split between those who want to respect
the decision of the previous centre-right coalition to agree to
Washington's request, and those who would like to see the Americans
out.

Thousands set off from the town's railway station with banners such as "No To The Bases" and "America No Thanks".

"We love our town and we want to protect it," a local protester told the BBC.

"Other people want to impose with violence a base that nobody wants."

Transfer from Germany

The Americans established a military presence in Vicenza more than half a century ago.

President George W Bush wants to strengthen the base,
the headquarters of the 173rd Airborne Brigade, by transferring from
Germany to Italy another 2,000 US soldiers.

This would bring the total number of US troops stationed in Vicenza to nearly 5,000.

The base provides over 1,000 jobs to locals in Vicenza and injects millions of dollars into the local economy.

A withdrawal could have serious local economic consequences.

I filled up my Gmail

2007-02-15T19:31:00.000+08:00

Amazingly, I filled up my quota in GMail.

I was emailing a reply to a love story quoted in the largest daily in the Philippines and surprise surprise, Gmail bombed on me. I guess I have to delete stuff now, which is sad since Gmail's promise was that you'd never run out of email space.

Sad.

BOYCOTT GLOBE!

2007-02-07T22:42:00.001+08:00

BOYCOTT GLOBE!

On Feb. 5, Globe Telecom reported annual net income or profits of 11.8 billion pesos for 2006, up by 14 percent from 2005. Revenues grew by four percent to 57 billion pesos. Globe said this is mainly due to the 1.2 million new subscribers for 2006, bringing the number of Globe subscribers to 15.7 million who have access to its network of 5,884 cellsites covering 98 percent of the country.

On the same day, Globe snubbed and defied on order by the National Telecommunications Commission to "hold in abeyance" or to suspend the controversial and scandalous 100 to 150 percent price increase in its Unlimitxt Permanent Service, as demanded by outraged subscribers represented by TXTPower.

Today, we call on all Gentxters and consumers to make their power known to Globe and like-minded corporate scum who disrespect consumers and who defy the law.

Let us unite and protest Globe's defiance of the NTC order and to protest its price hike concealed in a deviously-crafted "promo". Let us come together to show Globe that they owe their profitable standing to their loyal subscribers who once thought they are respected and valued by the company.

STARTING FEBRUARY 8, THURSDAY, WE IN TXTPOWER URGE ALL GENTXTERS AND GLOBE SUBSCRIBERS TO BOYCOTT MAJOR SERVICES AND PRODUCTS OF GLOBE TELECOM.

We who brought Globe Telecom from the failing and ailing company in the early 1990's to the giant it is now have the power. Together, let's show Globe who they are fighting and insulting by doing the following:

1.Limit SMS and Calls through the Globe network and find other ways to communicate
2.Postpone automatic and card reloads
3.Postpone GCash transactions
4.Postpone line applications
5.Refrain from getting icon/music/visual downloads from Globe
6.Refrain from using Globe's GPRS and 3G services

Yes, we must boycott and sacrifice now before Globe transforms all of us into a community of people with no self-respect and no sense of consumers rights. We must boycott Globe until it obeys the NTC order and restores the old Unlimitxt rates.

TXTPower
http://www.txtpower.org
February 7, 2007

Black hawk down redux: US launches airstrikes in Somalia

2007-01-09T17:45:00.001+08:00

I've written a month ago:

US military presence in bases or in exercises and training are usually seen as precursor to intervention and war. In East Africa, where around 30 US National Guard soldiers from Guam have been training Ethiopian commandos in supposed "anti-terrorism" exercises, tensions have already flared up over a long standing border dispute. It is no surprise nor an accident that the US have been doing these trainings near the border and that the Islamic Somalian leadership have resisted these presence.

And now, we are not too surprised that they have carried out their air strike.

ganni

----------------
http://newsvote.bbc.co.uk/mpapps/pagetools/print/news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/6243459.stm

US launches air strike in Somalia

The US has carried out an air strike against members of a suspected al-Qaeda cell in a village in southern Somalia.

The targets were reported to have been tracked by aerial reconnaissance and then attacked by a US gunship launched from a US military base in Djibouti.

The US believes al-Qaeda operatives held responsible for the 1998 bombings of US embassies in East Africa have been hiding in Somalia.

The Somali transitional government says many people were killed in the raid.

The air strikes took place a few days after the Union of Islamic Courts, which had taken control of much of central and southern Somalia during the past six months, was routed by soldiers from Ethiopia and Somalia's transitional government.

The US accused the Islamists of having links to al-Qaeda - charges they denied.

There has been no official confirmation from the Pentagon that the air strike took place, but correspondents say a statement is expected within hours.

Somalia's interim President Abdullahi Yusuf backed the US action.

"The US has a right to bombard terrorist suspects who attacked its embassies in Kenya and Tanzania," he said in Mogadishu, a day after entering the city for the first time since the Islamists withdrew.

The bombing is the first overt military action by the US in Somalia since the 1990s and the botched intervention - known as Black Hawk Down - in which 18 servicemen died.

'Opportunistic attempt'

The attack was carried out by an Air Force AC-130, a heavily-armed gunship that has highly effective detection equipment and can work under the cover of darkness.

The US has a right to bombard terrorist suspects who attacked its embassies in Kenya and Tanzania
Somali interim president
Abdullahi Yusuf

One report says the US attack took place on Monday afternoon on Badmadow island, in an area known as Ras Kamboni on the southern tip of the country close to Kenya's border.

After fierce fighting, Ethiopian and Somali forces said on Monday that they were on the verge of capturing Ras Kamboni, one of the Islamist's last strongholds, where many fighters are now said to be cornered.

Many other Islamist fighters are in hiding.

The BBC's Adam Mynott in Nairobi says the attack seemed to be an opportunistic attempt by the US to destroy an al-Qaeda cell that they had been tracking for some time.

The cell is believed to be behind the 1998 bombings of the US embassies in the Kenyan capital, Nairobi, and Dar Es Salaam, in Tanzania.

More than 250 people died in the two attacks.

The US also holds the same group responsible for attacks on an Israeli aircraft and Israeli-owned hotel in Kenya in 2002, in which 15 people died.

Meanwhile, the US military said on Tuesday it had sent an aircraft carrier to join three other US warships conducting anti-terror operations off the country's coast.

Military Access and Status of Forces Agreements: US license for impunity

2007-01-03T23:05:00.000+08:00

The general outrage over the transfer from Philippine custody to the US embassy of a convicted US serviceman Daniel Smith who raped a Filipina in 2005 is a direct example of the social costs of US military presence under the Visiting Forces Agreement. The violations of national sovereignty and territorial integrity of the country is aggravated by the US policy and practice of shielding its troops from criminal prosecution or jurisdiction under the host's judicial processes and system. The US resorts to blackmail when it suspended the Balikatan joint war exercises over the custody issue. When the Philippine president Gloria Arroyo and her functionaries relented, the US immediately announced the resumption of the war exercises.

Access agreements and status of forces agreements (SOFA), such as the VFA, have become increasingly important as US forces and bases have been reconfigured and plans to downsize its forces in the region are underway. In South Korea, Japan, the Philippines, Malaysia, Singapore, Thailand, Indonesia, and Australia, access to key host nation facilities, ports and airfields are critical to the US security objectives in the Asia-Pacific.

Access in lieu of bases

For the past three years (2003-2005), there has been an average of around 390,000 overseas US troops deployed around the world. This number is double that of the previous decade where overseas troops have been lowest (1993-2002) and is at levels similar to 1970-1992[1]. For the same period, the US has negotiated 20 treaties and/or agreements covering military deployment and personnel through Status of Forces agreements (SOFA), Mutual Logistic Support (MLSA) and/or Access and Cross-Servicing agreements (ACSA).

In contrast, in the previous decade (1993-2002) where US troop deployments have been reduced, there were 62 such treaties/agreements that were inked between the US and other countries, either by adding on access and cross-servicing and status of forces sections to existing agreements or inking new pacts. In all, the US has military, logistics and status agreements with at least 129 countries as of 2005[2].

Table 1. Access and Status of Forces treaties by the US and
Historical deployments of the US military
	1945-1970	1971-1992	1993-2002	2003-2005
SOFA/ACSA/MLSA	23	24	62	20
Overseas deployment	752686	462249	212277	389026
Overseas Bases	886	830	800	769

Two things are noteworthy: the reduction of US overseas military deployments during 1993-2002 and the closure of some of its bases were offset by the increased access due to the SOFA/ACSA/MLSA treaties negotiated during that period. More of these access and status of forces treaties are still being negotiated by the US with other countries until the present.

In the absence of a physical base, the US inked more than 80 bilateral agreements since 1992 to provide it with a range of access and status of forces agreements that it can call on depending on the need of the situation. In addition, through its use of advanced military technology, the US can apply greater amounts of military force over greater distances in shorter periods of time.

The number of troops stationed overseas has been reduced by more frequent but shorter deployment of troops. Advances in transportation, communications and military technology have maintained the productivity and effectiveness of overseas bases despite the relative reduction in numbers.

Coupled with the US bases in some countries, visiting forces agreements allow additional routine exercises, training and ship visits. Changi Naval Station in Singapore allows US naval combatants and include a pier which can accommodate US aircraft carriers. Thailand is an important refueling and transit point for operations in the Indian Ocean and the Arabian Gulf. Australia has long provided key access to facilities for US unilateral and combined exercises. The US makes 60-80 port calls per year to Hong Kong for minor maintenance and repair of transiting ships.

Access agreements such as Mutual Logistics Support Agreements (MLSA) or Acquisition Cross-Servicing Agreements (ACSA) makes available the use of host nation resources to support day-to-day and future operational requirements. It also enables joint training and exercises, "constabulary" operations, humanitarian and disaster relief operations. These provide the US access to basing and infrastructure necessary for its force projection without the need for permanent presence. The US is offers these countries money to upgrade and maintain infrastructure, bases and airfields. In addition, the US spent 265.7 USD M from 2001 to 2004 in training 4000 Indonesian, 1200 Filipino and 700 Thai police. Taiwan is also one of the region's largest weapons buyer from the US while the Philippines has been its largest recipient of military aid.

In its pursuit of its Global War of Terror, the Bush Administration deployed over 1,200 troops, including 150 Special Forces, to its "second front", the southern Philippines, to advise the Philippine military in their pursuit of the Abu Sayyaf Group. It has also increased intelligence sharing operations, restarted military-military relations with Indonesia and provided or requested from Congress over USD 1 billion in aid to Indonesia and the Philippines[3].

Like a gun pointed in the head

Following the logic of neocolonialism, US military presence in a country are a stark reminder and real source of control over a nation without necessitating formal political control over its territorial sovereignty. Just like bases, it can be likened to a loaded gun pointed at the government and peoples of its host country. Their presence intimidates and gives coercive power for the US to gain concessions from the host and allows it to interfere, in most cases with impunity, in internal affairs, commit crimes and violence on local people, wreak grave social costs and environmental destruction.

The 2004 National Military Strategy[4] outlines how it can increase the ability of the US military to rapidly deploy, employ, sustain and redeploy capabilities in geographically separated and environmentally diverse regions. These bases can also serve as launching pad for the preemptive strikes including nuclear attack, "peace-enforcement" and "constabulary" functions that the QDRR 2001 has called for.

The so-called "stability operations" are nothing but political and military intervention in domestic affairs and excuses for US military presence. In performing "peace-enforcement" and "constabulary" functions, such as that in Iraq, the US has shown its willingness to directly intervene to allow US companies and firms free rein in the plunder of Iraq's resources. In the Southern Philippines, under the guise of hunting for members of the Abu Sayyaf Group, the US military has provided training, war materiel, logistic support and "advice" to Special Forces of the armed forces of the Philippines. Military support has ranged from basic training to actual field exposure of US servicemen. The US has been spotted outside the areas where the ASG operates to those areas where the New People's Army (NPA) are known to be strong. That the US calls the Philippines its "second front in the war against terror" and that it has periodic and overlapping joint exercises with it is not an accident, it does this to strengthen its position in this country for the purpose of projecting control in the southeast Asian region.

Status of Forces vs. sovereignty

However, the recent Philippine experience with Daniel Smith is no different from the experiences of those countries that hosted US bases. After Okinawa was annexed to Japan, nearly 5,000 crimes involved the U.S. military and civilian personnel exceeded nealy 5,000, including twelve murder cases and 110 rape cases by 2000. In 1995, the rape of a 12 year old child in Okinawa triggered nationwide protests against the bases. In Korea, there were around 100,000 criminal cases involving US soldiers over the last 50 years with none convicted under Korean law. In the period of Dec. 1985 to 1986, 258 cases were filed against American servicemen in Olongapo courts where eventually 168 were dismissed, three were archived and one resulted in acquittal. For the same period in Angeles City, of 43 criminal cases three were dismissed while nine were classified as "pending arrest" since the accused were flown by U.S. base authorities to another country[5].

Recent U.S. war exercises have left a number of civilians, mostly children, killed. In the August 2000 Flash Piston exercise in Cebu, US Navy SEALs (Sea, Air, Land special forces) and their Philippine Navy counterparts held a secret exercise in the former Atlas Mine at Toledo where they left an unexploded rocket-launched grenade that blew up when local kids were playing with it killing two and injuring another. In March 2000, three US sailors were arrested and charged with bashing up a Cebu City taxi driver in a dispute over his fare. On 25 July 2002, Philippine newspapers reported the shooting of an unarmed Filipino civilian Buyong Isnijal by a U.S. soldier during a raid in the former's house. This was denied by the U.S. military despite the testimony to the contrary of the wife of the victim.

In the Philippines, the Daniel Smith transfer has exposed the puppetry of the ruling clique of Gloria Macapagal Arroyo to US interests. Hours after a short talk with US Ambassador Christie Kenney in Baguio, and less than a week after the US suspension of the Balikatan exercises, the Philippine government transferred the convicted rapist Daniel Smith to the US embassy in the middle of the night, during the lull of the break, sneaking like thieves, scared of being discovered. The long history of the Philippine government's subservience to US wishes is being replayed once more. This is a clear case of unequal access and status of forces agreements allowing US forces to commit heinous crimes with impunity.

People's response

The intimidation on the local population by the presence of US military personnel have generated a wide range of responses. In Iraq, the Iraqi people are proving to the US as they did to the British in the 1920s that colonial occupation is no longer profitable. This directly contributed to the defeat of US Republicans in 2006 as well as the issuance of the Iraq Study Group Report which admitted the difficulties the US is facing in its occupation. Similarly, successes in the resistance of the Afghan people through guerrilla warfare has forced the US military to share the burden and responsibility of "peace keeping" with its NATO allies. The government of Karzai has not effectively stemmed the Taliban nor has it provided for the well being of the Afghan people. Instead it is becoming more and more hated for serving US interests and making life more difficult for the people. In the Philippines, rallies and protests against her puppetry to the US cannot be divorced from the unresolved issues of legitimacy of the Arroyo government.

Through its military bases and access agreements, the US makes its presence felt in an ever widening circle driven by its greed for resources and markets. However, as this circle tries to expand, it encounters resistance as it faces the ire of oppressed people of the world. Nations have also stood firm in their assertion of sovereignty and independence against the onslaught of imperial greed and power. The people under the claws of neo-colonial control are steadfastly fighting for national liberation to break free from the shackles of imperialism.###

1. Tim Kane, U.S. Troop Deployment Dataset (March1, 2006), Center for Data Analysis, The Heritage Foundation
2. Treaties in Force, US State Department, 2006
3. Terrorism in Southeast Asia, 2004, CRS Reports for Congress, US Congressional Research Service
4. National Military Strategy, US Department of Defense, 2004
5. Roland G. Simbulan, A Guide to Nuclear Philippines, 1988, Manila: IBON Primer Series

The Year of Crossing Over: Common post

2006-12-31T11:20:00.001+08:00

Three years summarized in cliches*: 2004 was the year of jumping into the abyss. 2005, the year of tying up loose ends. 2006, the year of crossing over.

2006 was a year of literal and figurative departures: of working for still-detained labor leader and lawmaker Ka Crispin Beltran, of shuffling between Congress and Camp Crame and the Heart Center after Ka Bel's arrest, of getting married, of losing my mother-in-law to lung cancer, of moving house thrice, of starting work at an environmental network, of mournful but meaningful departures: Erika, Mommy Cel, Ka Pido, Roval, Ka Ochie, Auntie Tess, Ka Tirso, Lyn and Randy's fathers, Atty. Gojol and other activists assassinated by the Arroyo administration's death squads.

Will be spending New Year at the hospital, as my grandmother has pneumonia.

*Still can't figure out the exact character key for the letter 'e' with that strange mark on top.

*testing out the security limits of email to blog. apparently you can post to someone else's blog using it. as long as you know the email pair. tsktsktsk.

New year blues

2006-12-31T09:30:00.001+08:00

I always cherished the week between Christmas and New Year. For the past few years, it was when I get to go home and lounge around, eating leftover Christmas ham and all the goodies the visitors bring. This year the Christmas ham is still there, lasting for at least a week between my wife and me but I missed going home for the holidays. We spent Christmas eve at home but had to go back to Manila to visit my in-laws.

This year's Christmas break was also a time for the treasonous and Judas-like action by the government in turning over the convicted rapist Daniel Smith to the US embassy. They did it in the middle of the night, during the lull of the break, sneaking like thieves, scared of being discovered. Why? There was the US "postponement" of the Balikatan exercises that was supposed to be held next year. There is the long history of subservience to US wishes, and of course, there is the Visiting Forces Agreement.

That the government will transfer Smith to US custody is no surprise. The surprise is that they did this without Judge Pozon's order nor of the Court of Appeals. This unilateral decision of the DILG, DOJ and the DFA is a direct (and ungraceful) case of violation of our national sovereignty and laws. The concerted action of the three departments points no less to the direct action of the president. So now I guess this is a portent of the things to come this coming year: increased US intervention in military and political affairs and increased resistance of the people against this brazen puppetry of the Arroyo regime.

For those who still refuse to see the reasonableness of the label US-Arroyo regime, this is a striking example. For those who still see that the US is here because their benevolence, this should be an eye opener. For those who think that they can get away with it (that's the US and GMA), let's see what happens next year when the people get out of the holidays.

Puppets were supposed to be fun. This puppet makes me throw up.

Aloysius "Ochie" Baes, 1948-2006: Scientist for the People

2006-12-22T21:34:00.000+08:00

Aloysius "Ochie" Baes,: Scientist for the People

At this time when extrajudicial killings of activists happen left and right, Dr. Aloysius U. Baes-- Ochie-- quietly passed away at the National Kidney and Transplant Institute on December 21, 2006. It is not the manner of death, a poet once wrote, that makes someone a hero, it is the meaning drawn from the struggles against the foe, serving the people to his very last breath.

Despite our deep sense of loss over the death of Ochie, we celebrate the life of a man who has contributed much in the service of the oppressed and exploited people, full of significance and relevance to the Filipino people's struggle for national liberation and democracy.

A scientist through and through, he studied chemistry not only of elements and compounds but also the chemistry of society-- the complex interaction of Philippine society, working hard to change the current situation towards a better future for the oppressed majority. As an activist during Martial Law, he was one of those who faced incarceration in Marcos' jails. Afterwards, he went to the US where he obtained this Ph.D. while continually working among the Filipino community there in support of the struggle here in the Philippines. He continued this even when he transferred to Japan.

We were fortunate in AGHAM to have Dr. Aloysius Baes as one of our founding members and as the convenor of the AGHAM Laguna chapter in 2000. He was key in formulating the five concerns that a scientist could work in order to make science and technology serve the people-- in the environment, public utilities, food security and self-sufficiency, scientific and mass culture and national industrialization. He also clarified that the people themselves are the primary advocates of making science and technology for the people. He has also deepened our sense of environmental awareness driving home the point that the struggle for the environment is the struggle the people.

He never faced the dilemma of "scientific neutrality" because he never ceased to be a genuine scientist: objective and inquisitive, and yet clearly knowing where he stands in the objective reality of our society. He carried this standpoint in clarifying scientific issues through his expertise and his insightful explanations: in the toxic waste issues at the Clark Air Base, the Marinduque mining spill, in the Rapu-Rapu commission, and the Guimaras oil spill-- always explaining the effects to the people's livelihood and welfare despite the frequent obfuscation of the wrongdoers.

Ochie serves as an inspiration for all of us to take the standpoint of the people in our daily practice as scientists-- to always make science and technology serve the people. His memory will always be cherished and his life always worthy of emulation: Ochie Baes, Scientist for the People.###

WHAT MAKES A HERO

It's not the manner of death
That makes someone a hero.
It is the meaning drawn
From the struggles against the foe.

There is the hero who dies in the battlefield,
There is the hero who dies of hunger and disease,
There is the hero who dies of some accident,
There is the hero who dies of old age.

Whatever is the manner of death,
There is a common denominator
A hero serves the people
To his very last breath.

Siyentista ng Bayan: Aloysius "Ochie" Baes, 1948-2006

2006-12-22T08:07:00.001+08:00

Aloysius "Ochie" Baes: 1948-2006
Environmental chemist, professor, commissioner, consultant,
former Martial Law detainee, writer, poet, composer, musician,
Center for Environmental Concerns Philippines board chairman,
AGHAM founding member and AGHAM-Laguna convenor,
environmental advocate and scientist for the people.

He died of heart failure before 4:00 pm today, December 21, 2006.
His remains were brought to the Baes residence at Los Banos.
Interment date will be announced later.

Posting via phone

2006-12-21T09:54:00.001+08:00

Im doing this post in my phone via google blogger

Mobile blogging in the room

2006-12-20T07:21:00.001+08:00

The previous two posts are my attempts to post to this blog through my cellphone via wifi. Apparently, mail-to-blog (at least the blogger flavor) would not allow images to be attached. The most recent post was done using Google Documents and it seemed ok-- until I tried it out using different browsers in the phone. It would not load correctly since the browsers I have are not supported (Safari-based according to Nokia and Opera). There is a hack (putting "&browserok=true" at the end) but it is so slow and unreliable.

I tried also different applications-- Picoblogger, Shozu, Azure and Nokia's lifeblog. They would not let me log on to blogger so at the moment they are just software junk on my phone.

nb. I also had my first junk multimedia text with an application attached sent to me today. As with junk email, deleting the text is the best way to avoid a virus.

2006-12-19T22:01:00.000+08:00

Testing the limits of moblogging...

Moblogging images

2006-12-19T21:49:00.000+08:00

Testing the limits of email blogging. :-)

Christmas poem

2006-12-19T12:40:00.001+08:00

Randomly I took a book on our bookshelf and got Tudla at Tudling of Ka Amado V. Hernandez. It is an anthology of all his poems from 1921-1970. Amazingly, his poems ring as if they were written in our times. I picked this Christmas poem for AGHAM's Christmas party.

Ang Lungkot Kung Pasko

Ngayon ay Pasko na. Aking napapansing
kung may maligaya ay may malungkot din,
may gusaling tuwa ang tumataginting,
may dampang himutok ang nakikisaliw.

Kung may masasayang nagsisipaglakad
na laging may ngiti at bago ang gayak,
marami rin namang lumuluhang magdamag
at wala munti mang ligayang nalasap.

Talagang ang bawa't isa'y may katimbang,
pagka may liwanag, may dilim din naman;
kahit na ang pasko ay ukol sa tanan,
may natutuwa rin at may nalulumbay.

Sa isang mag-anak na wala ni tutong
ang lungkot sa Pasko'y lalang buhul-buhol,
habang nag-aaliw ang tanang mayroon,
lumuluha sila sa pagkaparool.

Nakita na natin kung anong himala
mayroon ang pilak sa bawa't nilikha,
kahit alam nating ito'y parang bula
Diyos ang malimit na nakakamukha.

May kawikaan ngang naririrnig ako
na siyang lagi nang nagkakatutoo:
"Pag-may salapi ka'y maningning ang mundo,
pagka naghihirap, walang Pasku-pasko."

Disyembre 25, 1930
Amado V. Hernandez
Tudla at Tudling sa "Kalendaryo ng Panahon"
Mga arawang tula sa kolum ni Hernandez
na "Sariling Hardin" sa pahayagang Pagkakaisa.

We are the words who tell us who we are

2006-12-19T12:26:00.001+08:00

I think it's Galeano but I cannot find the book I gave to Lisa. I guess as we all try to look for the right words to best say what we want, we need not look far, for what we do, who we are, tell everyone where we stand.

Lisa in Japanese

2006-12-18T21:48:00.000+08:00

Nice! This is the name of my wife in Japanese

Posting by email

2006-12-18T20:53:00.001+08:00

Of course you might have known about this feature already. However, I think we spend more time in front of our email client (and do most of our "writing" there) making this blogger feature a real treat.

I found about it while browsing instructables (www.instructables.com). Check it out at http://www.instructables.com/id/EFSBSB273CEP287GDF/

Three pictures

2006-12-16T00:52:00.001+08:00

Yesterday my wife and I went to meet my sister. On the way to the mall, we spotted this temperature gauge. Made me wonder whether it is measuring the heat outside or the political ferment of the people opposed to the charter change moves of Gloria Arroyo. Either way, it must be miscalibrated. If it is the heat outside it is measuring, 51 degrees is way too hot. At that temperature, plants should be wilting and people falling off due to heatstroke. If it is the political turmoil caused by chacha, it is under reporting. Instead of halfway the boiling point, it must be over it already as the palace is so busy keeping the pressure from increasing: by threatening the people who would be going to the rallies, bringing out the red bogey, and flexing its police and military muscle. However, they seem to forget that as long as a material reaches a phase change, adding more heat would only keep it at that phase. Serves them right to ignore physics...

The temperature has certainly risen at UP where the administration under Emerlinda Roman has done an ASEAN-like cancellation of the traditional UP Lantern Parade. Citing possible "damage to property" as a reason, Chancellor Cao emailed faculty and deans about the cancellation at about noon.

The real reason? The UP Board of Regents is meeting to decide on the 300% tuition fee increase and the students have trooped to the Quezon hall to demand that the regents explain it to them in person. Just like De Venecia and his ilk, the UP BOR went to another building at the UP College of Law and passed their decision on the increase which effectively makes the state university less and less accessible to students.

Just like their master, Emer Roman (and Cao) would go to great lengths to push with their agenda rather than face the students and faculty for a full accounting. Walang pinagkaiba, parehong natatakot sa protesta. Let's await the arrival of the storm first quarter of the coming year...

Of course there is the need to patiently study the upcoming situation and prepare. The need to arouse, organize and mobilize the students, faculty and the people to face the crisis in education and in our country. There is hope, as this last picture portray, where workers, peasants, and the people greet the new child reading a book.

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DPRK and the US: Who threatens whom?

2006-12-15T14:45:00.000+08:00

As the year winds up, there have been several news items outside the country that have made heads turn. One of them is the nuclear testing of the DPRK (that's Democratic People's Republic of Korea) last October 19, 2006. The media of course have repeated the US line of the supposed threat of WMDs that the DPRK testing signalled and that the testing itself was contrary to international law, so much so that it merited a UN resolution on the country.

What wasn't said in the papers is that the DPRK is not anymore a signatory to the Nuclear Proliferation Treaty and more importantly that it is the US who has already nuclear arms pointed at the DPRK in South Korea and Japan. Its two largest concentration of bases outside of Germany is in South Korea and Japan which it can saber-rattle every time it feels "threatened" by the DPRK. This coming from a country with the largest arsenal of nuclear weapon, the largest army and biggest deployment of bases overseas and despite the clear policy of non-aggression by the DPRK.

To know more about US bases and military access agreements read the following paper at AGHAM's website. My favorite line inside that paper: (On US bases) Its mere presence intimidates and gives coercive power for the US to gain concessions from the host and allows it to interfere, in most cases with impunity, in internal affairs, commit crimes and violence on local people, wreak grave social costs and environmental destruction.

Bad eggs and right conduct

2006-09-27T19:30:00.000+08:00

It is so easy to throw back barbs at the activists who threw eggs at Esperon in the form of condemnation and outright indignation, as one's sense of academic decorum is disturbed by the very vivid and graphic activity.

However, the condemnation can dangerously morph into uncalled-for anti-communist hysteria and McCarthyist red-baiting, as is being done by Alex Magno and his friends in the seats of power in Malacanang. In his intolerant column supposedly written in defense of free speech and intellectual tolerance in the university, he equates the incident to fascism and “communist terrorism”. Unfortunately, this only parrots and tows the military's dangerous –and fallacious--reasoning that unarmed activists are no different from their NPA targets.

Equally dangerous is the opinion that activists must have deserved being targets as they behave “badly”. This is not a case of fighting fire with fire. The AFP has guns. Students have only eggs and words. Esperon and his men have outrightly taken part in electoral fraud and have blatantly tolerated the abduction, torture and killings of unarmed civilians. Nothing can be more shameful than simply letting go of such iniquity. The activist students certainly put that difference in power in a graphic light with the pelting that happened.

This is the same General Esperon, mentioned a few times in the Hello Garci tapes, which is the reason he is also called a Hello Garci general. He is one among a few generals who helped in the cheating for Gloria in the 2004 elections. You can verify that by studying the contents of the Hello Garci tapes. There was a new book launched last Monday at the UP College of Law called FRAUD which documents the cheating in the 2004 elections.

This is the same General Esperon, who has made public in several instances his total absence for respect for the peace process. Did he not welcome with open arms "President" Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo's declaration of "all-out war" against the Left, and the accompanying grant of an additional P1-billion budget for state forces to use in the counter-"insurgency" campaign?

The "all-out-war" declared by Arroyo, by the way, is not specifically against the Communist Party of the Philippines, the New People's Army, and the National Democratic Front (CPP-NPA-NDF) -- which as organizations are engaged in armed struggle with the Government of the Republic of the Philippines (GRP) even as it strives to talk peace with its foe. It is against the Left -- a broad term which can be taken to include legal cause-oriented organizations like the Bagong Alyansang Makabayan (Bayan) and progressive party-list groups like Bayan Muna or even progressive individuals that earned the ire of the leading clique in power. There is no distinction between guerrillas and unarmed activists then.

This is the same General Esperon who continues to hide the Mayuga report. Is he scared that the Mayuga report will expose his role in Arroyo's massive cheating, and that he got his job not because of merit, but because of patronage? Yet he is being fast tracked in promotion over more senior staff in the AFP.

This is the same General Esperon, Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) chief of staff who said at the Melo Commissin that the military and Palparan are not the ones who committed the more than 750 extrajudicial killings of activists and civilians. Instead he was saying that the Left themselves are killing their members. He did not lift even a single finger touch Maj. Gen. Jovito Palparan, Jr. while the latter was calling Karen and Sherlyn members of the NPA.

With that, he has dismissed the charge that the two UP lady students, Karen Empeño and Sherylyn Cadapan, (abducted by the military in Hagonoy, Bulacan 2 months ago and still missing) and effectively saying that they were really not abducted by the military. Some of those students who attended that forum were friends of Karen and Sherylyn and you can very well imagine how they felt about it. Yet, despite these, the students have had decorum enough to throw only eggs.###

Modesty Aside

2006-09-20T23:13:00.000+08:00

"Modesty aside"
Si Mommy: Pinakamamahal na ina, asawa, kapatid at kaibigan

Gaya ng lahat ng bagay, ang buhay ng isang tao ay may dalawang di-mapapaghiwalay na bahagi para matawag nating buo. Ang umpisa-- ang pagsilang, at ang hantungan nito, ang pagkamatay. Ngunit gaya rin ng lahat ng bagay nasa proseso ng pagunlad at pagbabago ang makabuluhan at mahalaga sa yugto ng buhay. Nasa mga nagawa ng isang tao ang halaga ng kanyang buhay sa mga naiwan at kanyang pamilya.

Ang buhay ni Mommy ay isang mabunga, masaya at fulfilled na buhay. Mula noong kabataan niya bilang isang anak, madami na siyang kwento kung paano sila lumaki sa isang bubong kasama ang kanyang siyam pang mga kapatid. Mula sa mga kwento sa ilog ng Oroc-osoc, sa panahon ng Hapon hanggang sa pagoorder ng french orange juice sa Aristocrat--- masasaya ang kanyang mga ala-ala at kanya itong inuulit-ulit sa amin kahit na hanggang sa mga huling sandali.

Nagmula siya sa Caramoan, Camarines Sur at nakapagaral sa Maynila. Malaunan ay nakilala niya ang aking Daddy at noong sila ay ikinasal ay dito na sila tumira sa Malolos. Madami siyang kwento kung paano ang isang di sanay magluto ay nageeksperimento sa kusina, kung paano maglalakad ng naka-high heels mula sa highway hanggang bahay, kung paano siya tumitingin sa train na dumadaan pag umaga hanggang sa mga kwentong panakot na may paa sa puno ng mangga. Dito na rin siya nagpakahusay bilang isang optometrist na nagumpisa lamang sa iilang mga frames at sa isang maliit na opisina. Sa kanyang clinic nakilala niya ang marami sa inyo.

Iniluluwas pa niya sa Maynila ang mga salamin para doon ipagawa at siyempre kasama kami kapag ginagawa niya ito. Sa Avenida ang matingkad na mga ala-ala ko kay Mommy, pagkababa sa Philippine Rabbit kakain muna kami sa isang soda-fountain bago pumunta sa may Quiapo.

Doon kahit wala nang pera si Mommy ay kanya pa ring pinagsisikapan na pakainin kami ng pinakamasasarap, binibilhan kami ng pinakabago na mga damit at pinababayaan kaming bumili ng mga pocketbook at libro kahit na siguro kulang na sila sa budget.

Sa personal, ako ay binilhan ni Mommy ng mga science books at encyclopedia--- paisa-isa bawa’t buwan. Hulugan. Dahil alam nya na gusto kong magbasa at magtanong. Kung wala siguro ng mga librong iyon, di ako magkakainteres sa agham at baka di ako nag-physics, di nag-PT si Jay at di nag-medicine si Gennette.

Hindi kami tinipid ng aming mga magulang. Hanggang sa nag-Saudi si Daddy bunsod ng krisis sa ekonomya, naipaparaos nilang dalawa ang aming mga pangangailangan sa eskwela at sa kabahayan. Mayroon na siyang high blood kaya madalas din sya noong magkasakit. Pero kahit sa iba ay tumutulong pa rin siya at nagbibigay ng kahit maliit na makakaya kapag lumalapit ang nangangailangan.

Pero sa harap ng mga ito, gaya ng kanyang palaging sinasambit “modesty aside”, naipagtapos niya kaming tatlo sa mga pinakamagagandang iskwelahan hanggang maging mga propesyonal. She is always proud to tell everyone how her daughter and two sons are, most probably knowing that we are a living proof to all her achievements despite her sacrifices.

Naenjoy ni Mommy ang kanyang huling mga taon. Nakapagikot siya sa US kasama si Daddy, nakita ang kanyang mga apo, sila Bea, Tyrone at Abby. Napakasal niya ang kanyang mga anak, nakita nya na maayos ang aming kinaroroonan sa ngayon.

Totoo, mamimiss ko si Mommy pero hindi ko na siya hahanapan pa ng iba— naibigay nya ang lahat sa amin, pagmamahal, kagamitan at pag-aaruga. Paalam nga ito para sa atin pero ang bigat nito ay mula sa pagiging makabuluhan ng kanyang buhay para sa ating lahat. Masayahin si Mommy at hindi niya gusto ang maging malungkot tayo sa kanyang pagkawala. Dapat lamang na maging masaya tayo na si Mommy, si Asela, ay naging bahagi ng ating buhay—bilang ina, asawa, kapatid at kaibigan.

Maraming salamat po sa lahat ng dumalo. Isang masigabong palakpakan po ang ibigay natin kay pinakamamahal na si Mommy. ###

Eulogy delivered on September 9, 2006
Barasoain Church, Malolos City

A disaster waiting to happen: Narrow exits, lack of coordination and the push of poverty contributed to the Wowowee stampede

2006-02-06T13:42:00.000+08:00

February 6, 2006
Scientists group AGHAM say Wowowee tragedy a disaster waiting to happen: Narrow exits, lack of coordination and the push of poverty contributed to the stampede

"Narrow exits, lack of coordination, absence of exit plans, movement in multiple directions combined with a strong desire to reach an objective due to poverty is a recipe for panic-induced stampede", said Dr. Giovanni Tapang, chairperson of the activist scientist group AGHAM or the Samahan ng Nagtataguyod ng Agham at Teknolohiya para sa Sambayanan and coauthor of several papers on panic exit dynamics at the National Institute of Physics at the UP Diliman.

Tapang related the results of a study done with project leader Dr. Caesar Saloma, Gay Perez, Dr. May Lim and Dr. Cynthia Palmes-Saloma that were published in scientific journals Physica A and the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences USA in 2002 and 2003. The study done at the University of the Philippines demonstrated in simulation and actual experiments with mice that several factors can trigger panic-induced clogging at exits or passageways.

One factor is the width and design of the passageway. A narrow exit leads to collective slow-down that emerges among pedestrians crossing in each other's path. This slowdown (or jamming) reduces the number of people who can exit.

"This disruptive interference of paths can be minimized if you have guided railings near the entrances or entryways positioned far enough from each other. Such design was lacking in the Wowowee anniversary at the ULTRA", Dr. Tapang explained.

In their simulation and experiment, another factor was that exiting agents would tend to follow their nearest neighbor if they are not provided with a clear exit plan.

"In the Wowowee tragedy, the people gathering there apparently were not given a clear plan on how to enter or exit the ULTRA thus contributing to rapid clogging at the gate. The number of people is important although a panic-induced stampede can occur even in rooms with 30 people in it given the right conditions", the AGHAM chairperson added.

The biggest factor is the amount of panic or the drive to reach the exit. The study has shown that increasing the "panic parameter" decreases the number of those who can pass through the passageway: the higher the drive to reach the exit, the lower the throughput you will
have.

Tapang said that it is obvious that those who came to Wowowee was hoping to get big cash prizes up at stake in the show at this time of high unemployment, sinking wages and rising costs of commodities, rates, and services due to the RVAT and oil price hikes. "This push of poverty was the final element in the recipe leading to the tragedy", underscored Dr. Tapang.

"It could have been avoided if there was good planning and coordination and if there were none of the desperation of the people due to the hard times nowadays", concluded Dr. Tapang.###

1. Streaming, disruptive interference and power-law behavior in the exit dynamics of confned pedestrians, Gay Jane Perez, Giovanni Tapang, May Lim, Caesar Saloma Physica A 312 (2002) 609 – 618
2. Self-organized queuing and scale-free behavior in real escape panic, Caesar Saloma, Gay Jane Perez, Giovanni Tapang, May Lim, and Cynthia Palmes-Saloma, PNAS USA, Vol. 100, pp. 11947-11952 (2003)

Pink penguins and sembreaks

2005-10-22T15:29:00.000+08:00

Walking in UP campus the day after grades have been submitted is always a treat. For me, the last day of submission of grades marks the end of my semester. The campus is one of the few places in QC where there are still (standing) trees close to each other. These trees have overlapping crowns that can provide cover from the harsh sun at noon.

That's different from the cover one gets along C.M. Recto. A metrorail train and an "ICT" school provided respite from the alternating heat and drizzle yesterday. I bet these would not give us any cover from the naked fascism of the current regime in its Calibrated Pre-emptive Response. The fiberglass shields of the police serve as their own cover as they (i guess) secretly fear the wrath of more than 7,000 people who exercised their right to assembly and free speech. With all the talk and red baiting of the government and its apologists, the farmers from Southern Tagalog and Central Luzon and the urban poor community and supporters from the National Capital Region showed how paranoid the government is from its own people.

Just like the bench in this picture from http://folk.uio.no/tovear/, the "Strong Republic" of Gloria Arroyo will fall easily under the people's determined strength.

2005-10-21T02:44:00.000+08:00

10 after 9

its has been ten days after our ninth
and i love you even more than the first

Most northerly of penguins

2005-10-20T02:42:00.000+08:00

Doesn't really sound right: northerly.

This is a first post. The most northerly penguins are found on the equator in the Galapagos Islands. That's still in the Southern Hemisphere. So polar bears do not eat (which doesn't mean they cannot) penguins.

For more information see this Penguin FAQ.

Wondering why this talk of penguins? You've got to run like one to understand. :-)