Making Science serve the Country

Recent Tweets about proposed legislation to “institutionalize a permanent, science-based, multidisciplinary national institution for climate resilience and disaster risk reduction [to be] named the UP National Climate Resilience Institute” make me very happy as that is a very important matter for the Philippines. A scientist like Dr. Mahar Lagmay who spearheads such work is making … Continue reading

Spaced out dreams and AI fiction

It wasn’t Kidlat Tahimik‘s first movie I watched as a teen that brought me to Munich nearly 30 years ago. Maybe it was the science fiction I read as a teen that primed my dreams of being in the tech scene. Or was it the sense of having grown up in a country that “only” … Continue reading

What lies ahead?

2025 will be a difficult year for many countries. As this blog’s focus is the Philippines, the question is what to expect there for this year. Some of these questions are important and serious. Some just happen to be my part of what I am observing or are food for thought. Let us question the … Continue reading

Buy Rubber Boats! The Earth is Melting!

Typhoon Ondoy was an eye-opener for the Philippines a few years ago. People still talk about it. Secretary Teodoro lost the rubber boats and Manila washed out to sea on a river of plastic bags. Preparations are better these days, the rubber boats have been found and some communities are banning plastic bags, but too … Continue reading

Elitism, Mars and JoeAm’s House

If you were fighting the rain last week, perhaps you missed the video from the U.S. about “Seven Minutes of Terror“, the Curiosity expedition to Mars. “Curiosity” is a nuclear powered robotic rover that will help earthbound creatures decide if there is a different place that can sustain human life. Gadzooks, but NASA marketed this … Continue reading