August 2006
TeamCobra Anniversary
Filed Under Hobby
Our airsoft team, Team Cobra, has celebrated its first anniversary last Saturday at the U.P. DMZ. It was also like a re-enlistment game for the team since most of us went semi-retirement for various reasons…. mostly due to work. A lot has changed in the team compared to its early days as neophytes using all-china-made guns. The team has upgraded its arsenal from the lowly DEM83A2/GBMP5/BE AUG into Well-R6 and Classic Army CQB and some TM. Back in August 2005, we didn’t think we’ll eventually upgrade to CA even if CobraCommander is urging us. The price is just too high…. until Bonus time when everything seems to be a bargain. Initial team order of Well-R6 and R5 reached 18 units and then the others (including me) followed suit later. But for some, R6 isn’t just enough and that’s why you see a lot of my teammates holding a TM or a CA.
Back to the anniversary games, I would say it was one hell of a blast! U.P. DMZ is highly recommended. I always liked playing in a jungle/open field as compared with CQB and the DMZ offered a number of scenarios several areas to play in. And with a very competent team of marshalls from SOE-Force1, what else would you ask for? Food maybe? Well, it was our team anniversary and food is provided for.
Here are some pics
TeamCobra
Picture by Mudspike
Here with Kachu, Lacoste(Sgt. Bilko the croc), ScaredCrow(kwatog — that’s me!) and Sir Falluja
Picture by ogre © 2006
Erik, Skiper and Me
Picture by Mudspike
To Reflect and Act
Filed Under Personal
In very rare cases, you’ll find some good messages from the spam emails you get. Oh yes, forwarded messages goes directly to my deleted folder the moment in comes to my inbox especially those coming from outside the corporate network. But for some ‘internal spam’ which I sometime read (because I initially don’t know if that’s official communication or not, anyways), I find some good articles to read to reflect on.
One such case is the essay quoted below. It’s about why our country, The Philippines, continue to be poor up to this very day. I know most of you may have already received it and for sure some of you may have just ignored it. But for the sake of discussion, let’s dig into it.
First, the article…
To reflect and… Act.
The difference between the poor countries and the rich ones is not the
age of the country. This can be shown by countries like India & Egypt
that are more than 2000 years old and are poor. On the other hand,
Canada, Australia & New Zealand, which 150 years ago were
inexpressive, today are developed countries and are rich.The difference between poor & rich countries does not reside in the
available natural resources.
Japan has a limited territory, 80% mountainous, inadequate for
agriculture & cattle raising, but it is the second world economy.The country is like an immense floating factory, importing raw
material from the whole world and exporting manufactured products.Another example is Switzerland, which does not plant cocoa but has the
best chocolate of the world. In its little territory they raise
animals and plant the soil during 4 months per year.
Not enough, they
produce dairy products of the best quality. It is a small country that
transmits an image of security, order & labor, which made it the
world’s strong safe.Executives from rich countries who communicate with their counterparts
in poor countries show that there is no significant intellectual
difference.
Race or skin color are also not important:
immigrants labeled lazy in their
countries of origin are the productive power in rich European
countries.What is the difference then?
The difference is the attitude of the people, framed along the years
by the education & the culture. On analyzing the behavior of the
people in rich & developed countries, we find that the great majority
follow the following principles in their lives:1. Ethics, as a basic principle.
2. Integrity.
3. Responsibility.
4. Respect to the laws & rules.
5. Respect to the rights of other citizens.
6. Work loving.
7. Strive for saving & investment.
8. Will of super action.
9. Punctuality.In poor countries, only a minority follow these basic principles in
their daily life. We are not poor because we lack natural resources or
because nature was cruel to us. We are poor because we lack attitude.
We lack the will to comply with and teach these functional principles
of rich & developed societies.
Though I do believe in the principles presented in this essay, I would like to point out that canada, australia and new zealand aren’t really ‘new’ countries. People behind the success from these countries, including the U.S., came from Europe whose own civilization, as we all know, dates back to the fall of the roman empire. In the medieval period, europe is so plague with corruption and inept government that it went into wars and lots of transformation until the renaissance period where processes are established and things learnt from its past are put to good use. Little by little, those behavior and best practices are polished and implemented from generation to generation. And then every new generation adds improvement to what they inherited from their predecessors. So in all, it took hundreds of years and a thousand generation before they were able achieve their status.
But we don’t have to wait that long, because we can learn from their history. You see, all the information (in books, internet, media) are already there for our own consumption…Basically, to learn from them. Not just from the West but also from the East particularly from China and Japan. Unfortunately, the vast learning resources available to us are put to waste as the mentality we have in our nation constantly draws us back to square one. The incorrect interpretation of term nationalism and patriotism puts to trash whatever advances we, as a nation, have made…. The crab mentality has put this nation to where it was a hundred years ago.
In my own personal opinion, it will take at least two generations more before we finally reach the goal of development. I think it will take that much time at the very least in order to live with the principle mentioned in the essay and have that attitude needed to succeed. And it will not happen if that we will not start now… with us… The so-called GenerationX… If it starts from us, then our children will see a better future for their children. If we will not act now, then we can hope that the generation next to us may take the responsibility into their hands to put this country forward. But can you wait for that to happen? I can’t and I want my future children to enjoy the fruits of my labor. I want to give them a better life. And I hope you feel the same.
Amen?!?
