Wednesday, January 23, 2008

The Art of Sustainable Business and Development

One good news that greets me this morning is that Wallstreet has fought back after being down on its opening although stocks worldwide still plunged as reported by the Philippine Daily Inquirer and other newspapers around the world. However, a site that I accidentally made to pop out reminds me that a bigger concern could just be aggravating right now before our very eyes but we just refuse to recognize it. And that is environmental degradation. In fact it is one of the "Ten Threats" officially recognized by the High Level Threat Panel of the United Nations, together with Poverty, Infectious Disease, Inter-State War, Civil war, Genocide, Other Atrocities (e.g., trade in women and children for sexual slavery, or kidnapping for body parts), Proliferation of Weapons of Mass Destruction, Terrorism, and Transnational Organized Crime.

Let me share, just to vent, before, development workers and scholars could argue that there are necessary evils that we have to swallow just to usher in development in societies around the world. One of which is the deterioration of the environment. And so we thought that development is just about modernization and making money at all costs. Nowadays, that line of thinking does not hold water anymore. In the long and rich history of this world, we have understood that balance is paramount in everything that we do and everything that we have around us. That's the reason why sustainability has been one of our most favorite buzz words nowadays. And forward-looking people do not just speak of it and its principles but apply them, or actualize them if you may, in their endeavors and businesses. We now think long-term. But why not? This is the only world we've got. Sounds cliche? May be, but what the heck, that's just the truth! And this world is NOT JUST OURS. Lest we forget, there are other generations of human beings who will inherent this world from us, future generations that include our children and our children's children.

Can't we be a little more responsible and a little less greedy, even for our own descendants?

Let's ponder on this. Good day folks!

Btw, here's the website. Turn on your sound. It'll be better.

Tuesday, January 22, 2008

US market meltdown? All eyes on its economy as its stock markets open at this very moment

Okay, we may not be able to fully understand everything about it, but the bottomline is, whatever happens to the economy of the most powerful nation in the world, we will all going to be affected. So no wonder, all eyes are on the "Big Board" right now as US markets reopen as I write this. Major international media outfits are broadcasting live telecasts of what is happening right now in New York. But as of the latest, US markets continues to plummet on Wall Street opening bell with Dow Jones down by more than 400 points and Nasdaq down by 5% - this despite the rare US Federal Reserve interest cuts.

The million-dollar question hovering over right now is: Is the US economy on its way to a recession?

The next big question to ask is: How will the Philippine and other Asian markets react in the next few hours as the sun rises on our shores and the shadow of this crisis looms on the horizon?

While I hope for the best and I believe we should really do the same and stay calm, I say, better hold on and just be ready. This may lead to one hell'uva ride for all of us.

Good night, and good luck.

Saturday, January 12, 2008

Now this woke me up!

Imagine: The Transformers landed in the Philippines instead; this is what we'll get:






And this last fan video, entitled "Transformer 2 Casting Call", was made by someone from the United Kingdom, watch for the last robot!



Hahaha! But come to think of it, with a lot of these animators who create these animated films in Hollywood and elsewhere are Filipinos, the above are certainly not out of the question, bako? Kung animation lang naman, eh kayang-kaya natin - you can even ask the people from the Ateneo de Naga University Digital Arts and Computer Animation department.

Anyway, that certainly amuses and pumps me up. So, good morning everyone!

Go NOYPI! Transform and roll out!

Or in Irvin's words, Pilipinas umasenso ka! :)



By the way, what's your favorite "Transportmer" or "Pinoy Transformer" there? Defend your answer. Irvs you first. :)