Viva Las Vegas!

Welcome to Las Vegas, the fabulous man-made City of Sin carved into the desert of Nevada. Where else can you find the Statue of Liberty next to the Sphinx, breathtaking theatrical and artistic performances next to mindless slot machines, fine dining next to “Margaritas by the yard”?! Fabulous, indeed!

Las Vegas is a mix of reality distortion, time and space travel, and exuberant fashion statements. Let's dive in!


On our way to watch a performance in Paris' most prestigious opera house, we crossed the Rialto Bridge in Venice and listened to the gondoliers signing while they maneuvered their gondolas through the narrow channels. We enjoyed a Gelato and Espresso in a cozy Italian street cafe. It was close to 8pm but the sky was still bright blue dotted with fluffy white clouds, and the birds sang for us.


The opera performance was amazing until the huge chandelier suddenly dropped form the ceiling! We were glad we bought the cheaper tickets, further back! The scene turned really ugly with behind-the-scene staff falling dead onto the stage! What was going on? After the show we heard the rumors of an "ghost" roaming around in the opera's basement. The newspapers blew up the whole story and called this criminal the "Phantom of the Opera". By the way, this weirdo is still at large!


The next day we had a murderous dinner. The invitation said dress informal so we did. Upon arrival we were seated with other guests. We socialized and mingled and soon found out about their weird hobbies! An elderly lady confessed she'd kill anybody trying to harm her puppies, kids, or husband. In this order? Yes! And, she'd use a gun. Does she have one? Of course! Hm... maybe this crowd was to be treated with caution!

Then, all of a sudden, police, guns, screams, blood, and a dead body! The organizers assured they have it all under control. So we sat down and continued with our dinner. This was very suspicious! I decided I need a cover up! For the rest of the night I was Samantha Summer from Manila, a dog fur-stylist by profession, the Alpha Female of my own business called "Doggy Style". As this I went down in (web)history that night, as I tipped off the police on who the murderer was. For my moral courage I received a plaque of appreciation as "Super Sleuth"!

After these two near death experiences we took it slow and watched "O", an "aquatic masterpiece of surrealism and theatrical romance". Once again, Cirque de Soleil managed to sit through a two-hour show with my jaws dropped! I'm a water animal, cancer by zodiac sign and Gambas (shrimp) by term of endearment. However, I clutched my six limbs around my seat as I watched performers climb a rope ladder all the way to the 30-meter-high dome of the custom-made theater just to drop effortless in what seems a tiny little bathtub on stage. Which stage? The stage morphed into a deep pool within seconds and vica versa! Would the artist land in soft water or die on the stage's hard surface? Will my super sleuth skills be needed again? I have a plaque!


The reasons people come to Las Vegas are varied. We had our own mission which we successfully accomplished. What happens in Vegas stays in Vegas? Not for us!

Tao po?!

Remember the last time you tried to renew your driver's license? I do. For many reasons. For one, I spent my whole birthday at the Land and Transportation Office (because I was wrongly informed that renewals can't be done earlier). Second, I had to pay a 'late fee' because the Land and Transportation Office's system was down and they couldn't issue my license. I had to come back later which pushed me in the field of expired license holders.

No discussion, not even with the senior manager helped. Instead of an apology for the inconvenience of wasting my time, I had to pay a penalty.

It's scenarios like this one which repeats day in day out in Philippine government agencies. And millions of Filipinos (and a number of foreigners like me who don't use fixers to get their local paperwork done) are exposed to inefficient, overworked, and underpaid government "service" providers. Customs, police, immigration and tax officers, traffic enforcers... The list is long. The feeling of helplessness is ever present.

To give (frustrated) Filipinos a voice to demand the government "service" that's promised to them and to point out shortcomings, is the goal of taopo.org. The tagalog term "Taopo" is used when knocking on someone's door, asking "anybody there?". Metaphorically used, the website taopo.org wants to knock on government's door.

But the site is not just another online platform to anonymously complain and rant. In fact, active citizenship to the founders of the site also means for citizens to provide solution to the problems posted.

The team of editors then gets to the meat of the postings and gets in touch with the respective government agencies involved to bring the issues to their attention (for example if garbage repeatedly is not picked up in a certain area of Metro Manila) and to follow up.

And, an agency or officer who actually helped solve a problem can be thanked and awarded - using the social media platform of course.

Taopo.org is a young but good example how the ordinary citizen, empowered through social media tools, can now become an active watchdog. A role once limited to the media as "fourth power" in a democracy (next to judicial, executive, and legislative branch in the government).

My license renewal is up soon. Let's see if it's going to be thumbs up or down at taopo.org this time.

The Brazilian (coffee) model...

... is one to learn from.

The biggest coffee producing nation shows the positive effects of an increasing local coffee consumption--3.1% in 2011. For one, it spurred the development of coffee related products such as coffee makers. For another, it led to higher quality coffee resembled in gourmet brands now filling supermarket shelves.

The coffee industry association ABIC, "attributes coffee’s comparatively rapid growth in the emerging economic power to increased disposable income that is also making consumers fussier about the coffees they drink in a nation long-accustomed to dark-roasted, lower-cost brews."

Brazilians consume 45% of the coffee the nation produces, leaving the rest for exports. In comparison, the Philippines' total coffee harvest merely covers 46% of local coffee consumption, leaving the gap for importers. So why not grow more coffee in the Philippines and have local coffee farmers cash in on the missing 54% of local coffee demand?

One reason Philippine farmers are reluctant to expand (or even to continue) coffee farming is the perceived low price they get out of their green coffee beans. A big junk of the local coffee harvest is of medium quality. Mainly attributed to lack of modern farming technologies and adequate post-harvest treatment. The result: low price for low quality beans. Without the incentive to actually earning money from coffee, farmers convert their fields to other crops.

But the perception of low income from coffee is wrong. Coffee can be a very viable business, as every coffee roaster will tell you. No wonder. The key to earning more money from coffee is to process green coffee beans into roasted and eventually brewed coffee. The answer is an appropriate roasting technology, designed to function in the coffee growing region.

A company who took on this challenge is the Philippine coffee company Bote Central, Inc. It designed and manufactured a fridge-sized roasting facility which runs on LPG. Now, farmers can add value to their low quality coffee beans which are unsuited for the high paying export market.

On top, drinking their own coffee they start to understand quality--or the lack of it. Just like Brazilians are used to drinking "dark roast" (which basically means roasted long enough to make an equal bitter taste, the secret to hide impurities), Filipinos are used to drinking 3in1 instant coffee.

The model to copy is to stimulate local consumption by enabling farmers to process their coffee and earn more from it. There is no better incentive than a financial one. Soon farmers will convert and expand their farms to coffee trees, filling the 54% gap to cover local consumption. And maybe more...

New York City, again and again

The Holiday Season is most probably the worst time to go to New York City! There are thousands of people in the streets. It’s like rush hour times ten plus tourists. And us right in between! The crowd is collectively moving and stopping, like suitcases on a conveyor belt. One can trust the “wisdom of the crowd” to be pushed to and moved past the city’s most scenic highlights.

Beggars like us are no choosers and the Big Apple is always worth a visit! We bundled up warm to walk the streets in the blistering cold. Despite mild temperatures and a glimpse of sun, the wind notoriously whips through NYC, accelerated by funneling high risers seaming the streets.

Rising, not as high as the Twin Towers, are six of the seven buildings which once marked the World Trade Center site. A year ago, Glenn and I saw the foundations and first stories of the new towers going up. Today, they are almost complete, their mirror-like facades magnifying the buildings’ appearances through endless reflections.

The National September 11 Memorial & Museum is open to the public. Tickets are free but only a limited number is available per day and we were surely too late to fall in line.

Instead, we fell in line to get a subway ticket to get closer to Radio City Music Hall. NYC’s subway network is great for two reasons. First, it’s a fast way to cover a lot of ground quickly relaxing your feed (assuming you got a seat). Second, it’s a great place to conduct social studies and to find an answer to “what does an American look like?” I’d say nothing proves the “Big Apple” to be a melting pot better than the endless different faces in a New York City subway train.

The “Christmas Spectacle” at Radio City Music Hall turned out to be a Christmas debacle for us… At the box office we found out we had bought tickets for the following day! Of course, no exchange or refund was possible for online purchases. Armed with a warm pretzel in hand we conveyor-ed back to Time Square.

At Times Square preparations for the infamous New Year’s Eve ball drop were in full swing. We saw the practice run of the ball going up and dropping down - two days ahead of time! Unfortunately no camera was handy to capture this moment. And of course, no repeat for us either.

To treat ourselves we took the famous New York yellow cab for a short ride along 6^th Avenue. The highlight of the day was dinner at the interactive Jackle and Hyde Club. In Dr. Jackle’s and Mr. Hyde’s laboratory dining is a mix of food intake, responding to actors, and exploring each floor of the four-leveled restaurant. It is advised and encouraged to keep an eye out for singing skeletons, talking rhino heads, an ominous-looking Frankenstein, and secret boxes.

Ayn Rand and Wikipedia

Following the current discussion about SOPA and PIPA, and Wikipedia's 24-hour black out response to it I can't help to think about Ayn Rand.

Ayn Rand was, foremost, a philosopher who developed her own understanding of how people and the world works. She called her philosophy "Objectivism".

In various essays, lectures, and even novels Rand explained her ideas. "Atlas Shrugged", her master piece which she worked on for 12 years, came to my mind when I read Jimmy Wales', co-founder of Wikipedia, interview with CNN.

Asked why Wiki decided to shut down its English site Wales said: "Free speech includes the right to not speak. We are a community of volunteers. We have written this thing that we believe to be a gift to the world. We don't charge people for it. It's freely available to anybody who wants to (use it)."

In "Atlas Shrugged", in the face of increasing government regulations and forced takeover of intellectual and private property, the inventors, the entrepreneurs, the productive people of society decide to shut down. Not violently. They simply make use of their right to walk away from their invention, their investment, and their volunteered effort to serve society.

Needless to say that Ayn Rand's Atlas Shrugged world soon sinks into chaos as the incompetent take over.

Freedom of speech is yet another topic in this whole discussion, which is covered nicely under the veil of "protecting the rights of the people". I agree, intellectual as well as physical property should be protected by all means. But at what cost? Civil liberties such as freedom of speech?

As Wales' says: "The Supreme Court has held that code is speech. And it doesn't matter that it's done on a computer or done face to face or done in a newspaper, reporting the facts of the world is protected speech. I don't believe the DNS blocking provisions will pass First Amendment muster... [...]".

Are we about to over regulate the internet into censorship? Just like China does?

Of course, no democratic government would openly infringe on people's rights to freedom of speech. There would be a law "protecting" society which might force us to give up a little piece of our personal rights. And most people would nod in agreement that society needs to be protected from terror, thieves, and pornography. What they don't realize is their giving up on constitutional rights. Once those rights start corroding, there is no stopping it. As the Wiki page sums it up: "SOPA and PIPA build a framework for future restrictions and suppression". Ayn Rand argued the same line when the first laws to prohibit pornography in the US came into ruling.

It is incredible for me to see what foresight Ayn Rand (1905 - 1982) had and how her observations about people, society, the government, and laws and regulations hold true, especially today. Atlas Shrugged first published in 1957! It is one of the most fascinating books I've ever read. Today, it reads like the script of the world wide stage play we see on the news.

12th Hobie Challenge

... and this time we'll be part of it!

Mere 50 days before we will explore the smallest and most remote islands around one of the Philippines' most magnificent tourist spots - Palawan - on our Hobie Cats!

Team Tiger Gambas is registered (look for us under "participants"), excited, and very careful not to break any limbs or boat parts!

Exploring the Philippines on a boat, even as small as a Hobie 16, is just amazing! No other mode of transportation is more suited to go between islands so small they are not even tagged on Google earth yet.

A Challenge? Our pleasure!

SCOPE in the news

100% Philippine made! This is Human Nature's thrust for its skin care products. As much as possible, ingredients are sourced locally and processed by local communities.

It was only a matter of time before Human Nature's and SCOPE's paths would cross!

Human Nature's (Gandang Kalikasan) “president Anna Meloto-Wilk announced that the company is currently in talks with the Philippine Business for Social Progress (PBSP) through its partnership with German development agency-GIZ, the Strategic Corporate-Community Partnership for Local Development Program (SCOPE), and the University of Cebu, for the sourcing of raw material for Mango Butter.”