sum of it all... a resolve to be...

Just a little bit stronger
Just a little bit wiser
Just a little less needy
(And maybe I'd get there.)

from Maria Mena's Just a Little Bit

Scholastic Impact of Video-Gaming

Children dreaming of becoming brilliant surgeons, hear the good news. Video-gaming could well become one of the elective courses, if not one of the core courses, in medical schools of the near future.

In a brief presentation at the Beth Israel Center in the United States, Dr. James C. Rosser, an associate professor at the Department of Laparoscopic Surgery, discussed a study aptly titled, “Are Video Game Players Better at Laparoscopic Surgery Tasks?” Leading his team of other investigators from equally distinguished Universities across the US, Dr. Rossier put forth several interesting findings of their study.

Video-gaming has been notoriously written off in previous researches on account of its established correlation with decreased academic performance, decreased pro-social behavior as well as aggressive thoughts, feelings, and behavior. It is likewise correlated with smoking, obesity and a string of physiological stimulations. Such notoriety is slightly diminished by the research team’s hypothesis.

Alternatively, some earlier studies which evaluated psychomotor skills vis-à-vis video game activity which demonstrated that “video-gamers showed superior eye-hand coordination, more rapid reaction time, superior spatial visualization and increased capacity for visual attention and spatial distribution.” Taking on the results of previous studies, the team suggested that surgeons who had previously played video games would have better skills in a standardized laparoscopy and suturing program, thus establishing a correlation between playing video games and improved performance in the said program.

After carefully controlling other factors, including the amount of time spent in playing video games, as well as the content, form and game mechanics, their results indicate that there could be a good side to video gaming chronicles. “Video game skill and past experience with video games are significant predictors of laparoscopic skills and suturing capability after controlling for sex, years of medical training and number of laparoscopic cases performed (p <0.01),” Dr. Rosser explained.

The study population included 33 surgeons and the methodology was composed of three elements, namely the questionnaire, the laparoscopic skill and suturing program (top gun), and the video game tasks. The first one probed on the respondent demographics as well as their video gaming history and surgical specialty and experience and the number of laparoscopic surgeries they have handled. The program was composed of laparoscopic and suturing drills. Lastly, the video game elements were chosen based on perceived correlation with the aforesaid skills.

Performance of certain tasks has been shown to improve with video game simulators, as in driving skills and flying planes. Amidst the ever-increasing sales of video-games worldwide, side by side the cost-effectiveness of alternative training models and other accompanying advantages of simulation such as error prevention, and taking out ethical issues in using living subjects, using video game simulators in improving laparoscopic and suturing skills opens a more interesting field of practice for future physicians; and you would no longer be surprised when you find a surgeon in pre-op, playing Trauma Center (Nintendo game) to warm up before minor invasive surgical procedure.

don't you go anywhere

http://progressiveboink.com/archive/calvinhobbes.htm

you squeeze my tears out

from http://progressiveboink.com/archive/calvinhobbes.htm

words fail me

The transmogrifier story. (from http://progressiveboink.com/archive/calvinhobbes.htm)

from calvin and hobbes

"Some people are pragmatists, taking things as they come and making the best of the choices available. Some people are idealists, standing for principle and refusing to compromise. And some people just act on any whim that enters their heads. I pragmatically turn my whims into principles!" -- Calvin

all grown-up

did you miss the rugrats when they turned the show into "all-grown-up"?

you remember how when you were little, you have this little impression that there are just some things which are simply not for kids; that some things, like certain conversations and discussions are only for grown-ups? well, there are those kids who were fortunate to be treated "maturely" by the grown-ups around them, as a result, albeit without aiming to generalize, these kids grow up with a more mature take on different things. if they used the "grown-up thoughts" well, then good for them. otherwise, they would just feel that a good amount of their childhood had been taken away from them.

why all these talk about grown-up thoughts anyway? after welcoming another year, and finding yourself counting the days once more, you simply couldn't help but feel how quickly time passes, and you realize that as the clock turns, nothing stays the same. everything changes. inevitably.

with the inevitable, and with the realization that nothing remains the same, you learn the value of acceptance. difficult as it is to embrace change and to detach oneself from certain ideals, memories, experiences, and individuals--learning to accept the certainty of change somehow makes it easier for you to keep going and free yourself from a weighed-down state which is largely of your own making.

when you grow-up, you teach yourself to accept that there are a lot of things which are bound to happen, sooner or later. for one, you cannot expect that a child remains a child forever. some times, no matter how strongly you wish to feed your inner-child, circumstances put you in a position where a little of that inner-child dies. and you can't say you didn't try saving her.

sooner or later, you have to forgive yourself for things which you have been tying off your neck, like a bar of lead pulling you deep to the ocean, in the past; the same way that you have to forgive others for whatever pain, hurt, and injustice you may have experienced because of them.

when you were little, you were told that some things have to wait. that you can do certain things when you're old enough. that everything is part of molding you to become a the best person you can be. when you're grown up, you should be grateful for everybody who took responsibility and cared enough to nurture you. still, when you get old enough, you take it upon yourself that certain restrictions will have to be maintained.

maybe growing up isn't too bad. if watching all the films you want is good enough reason. ha!

from Henry David Thoreau

" I hate quotations. Tell me what you know."

i am a pig

I have gained a lot of weight since last year, but that's not why I am calling myself a Pig. I am neither one of those government officials whose business and sole purpose in life is to thicken their already protruding potbellies as they ceaselessly corrupt every institution in this country.

I am a pig. I was born in the year of the Pig and 2007 is supposed to be my year. Well, life has generally been good, there remains alot to be grateful for. Every time a new year comes, people become interested in fearless forecasts and predictions of what the coming year will bring us. Apparently, I am one of those people, hehe. Though we are not to take these predictions seriously, and make them rule our lives and ruin our decision-making, these stuff are plainly interesting.

While searching chinese new year sites, I came across a description of the Chivalrous Pig, that is, erm me, I found myself agreeing with some and denying others. hehe

Here goes the chivalrous pig...

Years
1923, 1935, 1947, 1959, 1971, 1983, 1995, 2007, 2019, 2031

Pig personality traits
Intellectually curious, honest and tolerant, those born in the Year of the Pig can be relied upon for their loyalty and often make true friends for life.

Like the knights of old, Pigs are often highly regarded for their chivalry and pureness of heart, and will often sacrifice their own well-being for the greater good.

The Pig can be very naive, however, and may easily fall victim to the unscrupulous who take advantage of their idealistic nature - as Pigs see everyone as loyal and caring as they are. Although forced to play the fool many times, they will just as likely hold fast to the notion that everyone is at heart decent and admirable.

Stubbornly optimistic, the Pig will not tolerate those with well-meaning advice on how to be a Pig, but since they dislike quarreling and discord their anger usually cools quickly. Sometimes looked upon as a snob, the Pig just finds it right and natural to exhibit good manners whenever possible. Their main goal in life is in serving others, and no matter how difficult circumstances become the Pig will never waiver or retreat, forging ahead in the sure knowledge that all will be well.

Pig people love to read, are generally thirsty for knowledge, and not readily talkative, but if presented with an opportunity to discuss topics of interest with like-minded individuals Pigs may find themselves talking non-stop for hours!

People born in the Year of the Pig are trusted associates in whatever career they happen to choose and often shine as entertainers, social activists or politicians.

Pigs are most compatible with : Rabbit, Sheep

Famous people born in the Year of the Pig : Lucille Ball, Humphrey Bogart, Thomas Jefferson, Ernest Hemingway, Alfred Hitchcock, Mahalia Jackson, David Letterman, Arnold Schwarzenegger

***

I wish all the good things about the Pig are true about me, haha. The not-so-good points, could use a lot of working out on moi part. Then again, the best thing is still about knowing thyself, beyond your chinese zodiacs or beyond anything else outside yourself.

let us raise a glass for a blessed and fruitful 2008...

bakit maiinis ka kay gma (isa lang sa maraming dahilan)...

sa totoo lang, hindi dapat tayo naiinis sa mga panahong ito, kapaskuhan at magbabagong taon, pero minsan, mahirap talagang hindi maapektuhan (tama bang wag na lang magpaapekto). kawawa lang kasi ang mga pilipino. at isa akong pilipino. masaklap. nakakainis. pero marami sa tin, kasama na ako, parang wala nang pag-asa na meron pang magbabago. sabi nga ni ate, "not in our lifetime". siguro, damihan na lang natin ang pampasaya, "happy thoughts" ikanga. let our happy thoughts drown the sad realities we are facing.

Link: http://www.philstar.com/index.php?Opinion&p=49&type=2&sec=25&aid=2007122598

Opinion

Where is progress in overseas jobs?
GOTCHA By Jarius Bondoc
Wednesday, December 26, 2007

It is to Arturo Brion’s credit that over a million more Filipinos landed jobs overseas this year. Given a target, the labor secretary set out to meet it. Besides, those workers would have added to the worsening unemployment and hunger had they not gone abroad. And so a total of 9 million overseas Filipino workers will remit $14 billion by end-2007. Truly manpower is the country’s bigger export than semiconductors and electronics.

It is to the government’s discredit, though, that Filipinos are finding work only by leaving their families. That 121 Filipinos leave every hour is a malady, given the demographics. Most of the men who leave are aged 29-35 years, while the women are 25-29. The government is not providing the youth with the promised bright future after college or vocational school. And as the educated youths spend abroad their most productive years, the country is also deprived of their talent.

Ironically the so-called boom in overseas placement comes under an economist President. Laymen cannot grasp what economic philosophy it is that makes Gloria Arroyo see growth in sending away the country’s best minds. Perhaps all Filipinos are dimwits and only Arroyo values which direction the country is going. All they know is that as many as three of every ten overseas worker families end up broken. Too, that children of oversees workers are likely to drop out of college because sadly unguided. And, that the officials who are supposed to assist them instead mulct them of travel money at the airports.

The government is fond of talking big — about greatness in achieving national goals through unity and all that blah. But the macro doesn’t matter to desperate families. Youths take up courses to be able to work abroad — not to be fulfilled and fruitful in chosen fields. Physical therapy, care giving and merchant marine used to be the top picks. Then, even doctors switched to nursing and women took to welding. Parents even egg supple and pretty offspring to become “cultural dancers”. Hope to get out of the poverty rut is only in dollar salaries.

It doesn’t always work out. In a growing number of cases, jobseekers abroad end up with false contracts and lower-than-agreed salaries. Or, their employers turn out to be fiends who hurt or rape and then sell them to white slavery. Or they run afoul of incomprehensible laws and land in jail. Or they simply get sick and cannot fulfill the duties they flew out to do. With 9 million Filipinos out there — a tenth of the population and a fifth of the manpower pool — thousands of them per day are bound to encounter serious trouble.

The majority of workers who survive their stint abroad fortunately are able to save enough to build homes and buy better food. Perhaps that is where the government can somehow claim credit: the economy perks up every time a worker comes home. But then again, they return uninspired to practice their trades precisely because of the very reason they left: bleak futures under bad governance. They end up going into overcrowded small businesses of tricycles.

A theory in the ’80s held that Filipinos are among several races that have missed the bus to industrialization. (Perhaps Arroyo is an adherent of that notion.) RP supposedly should no longer dream of putting up a strong steel-and-technology that manufactures machines to make other machines. It should instead focus on exporting talent as its contribution to global growth. And such talent exports should range from the highest end of scientists, engineers and surgeons, to the lowest end of a-go-go dancers, escorts and circus freaks.

If that were so, the manpower export binge would also need a steady production line. Schools have to train the workers is the spectrum of skills. But even the education system is sinking. The economist-President has not started to reverse the deterioration that everybody has been talking about for a decade.

Really, where is the economic progress there?

* * *

It’s bad enough that government, in the name of poverty alleviation, permits mountain dwellers to hunt deer and birds at will. What worsens it is that rich members of air rifle clubs take to the forests and shoot at will, as if patay-gutom. The website of one such club in Negros brags of their photos with dozens of mangled doves and mallards slung on their shoulders.

“The poachers should be punished and the penalties to be slapped should be strong enough to stop these practices and serve as a warning to others,” says Sen. Juan Miguel Zubiri, a conservationist and executive director of the Philippine Cockatoo Conservation Program and the Philippine Deer Foundation. “This is not just about ecological balance; it’s about natural heritage and biodiversity legacy,” he adds, noting that collections of insects and agricultural pests also surged in recent years.

I say just hang those macho shooters by their balls.

* * *

E-mail: jariusbondoc@workmail.com