THINKING LOUD

How to Earn from Clicking Ads Online (PTC)

2011-04-19T22:12:00.000-07:00

Patience, Persistence, and Willingness to wait -- do you have these traits? If you do in addition to your internet connection, about 20 minutes a day to spare and an online payment instrument such as Paypal or Alertpay, then you are very well equipped to become the next millionaire.

If you think this is another false promise from some unscrupulous online marketer, think again. Because with the following steps I'm going to share with you, you don't have to PAY any registration fee. You don't have to buy any software. And you don't have to listen to any Paid Webinars. If that that doesn't stir interest on you, you may not continue reading this article, if so, please continue reading.

The business of I am talking about here is PTC or Paid To Click. PTC is a form of advertising whereby advertisers can be assured that their advertisements will be viewed by people (us) who log on these PTC sites and click ads to a small amount by doing so. It is good way for advertisers to be seen and for clickers to earn. You can earn around $0.01 per click of an ad. It may not sound much to you but this system that I am going to introduce will assure to increase your earnings by doing some easy to follow steps.

Step 1

Set up a new email account.

You will want to begin by setting up a new email account. The reason you want to do this is you are about to begin to construct your own work from home business and that’s exactly how you need to treat it. You will be dealing with 20, 30 maybe even 40 accounts on a daily basis. Because of this you will want a new email account to separate all your must read emails from PTC (paid to click) emails from your normal spam emails your existing account will no doubt be full of. You will also be able to separate all your email into their own files to keep good track of all your mail.

You might even begin to start to build a good contact list of people you have spoken with in forums, etc. For this I would strongly recommend using Google mail. The platform is simple to navigate through their spam filters are very effective and the tools included are things you will defiantly want to use. Down the left hand side you will be able to create new files for each of your accounts and create files for good contact lists. Have a play with the settings and personalize your account so it’s fun and easy to use.

Step 2

Opening New PTC Accounts

Below you will find a link which will take you to my personal list of sites you will want to join to start making money. This will be updated on a daily basis so make sure you keep checking for new sites to join to help boost your online income.

Follow this link:
PTC SITES TO EARN FROM

If you have existing accounts on sites this is not an issue. You will want to access these accounts and change your primary email address in your personal setting to have all mail sent to your new, clean PTC email account. You may want to have some tools to help you monitor every PTC site's performance like the Profit Tracker and the Site Guide. When joining these sites you may fill in these two tools to facilitate the analysis of your PTC sites. The profit tracker will help you see how much you are making from each site. The site guide is where you can categorize your sites to see at a glance who you trust most. This will be of great benefit when the time comes to upgrade an account. You will easily be able to choose who you want to put your money into.

Profit Tracker

Site Guide

As you can see these are very useful tools to have on hand. Using these you will save a great deal of time and potentially a great deal of money.

Many sites begin, get thousands of people to join and clicking and even investing their own money on referrals. They will then make money and close without paying properly. They will then open other sites using the same format only under a different name. You will also notice that they advertise all of their own sites, promoting other sites they have to pass around the same referrals and make the most from each of their members. This is why we join all sites, try them for a month and monitor their performance to ensure your time and effort is not wasted on sites that won’t pay. When you see these sites, I am not in any way suggesting you should not join them , you should join and make the money from them, the reason I am brining this to your attention is to make you aware and to urge you to be careful where you invest your hard earned money. This is where you will need to begin using tools effectively to ensure success.

Step 3

Clicking Your Ads.

So far you have a new email account where all your PTC emails go to. They should all be separated into different accounts and easy to navigate through. You should have joined and set up accounts on all the sites I have given you, all linked to your new business email account. You now know how to use your spread sheets to organise you sites and how to recognise potential scam sites. So now you can start making money safely.

On each of your accounts you will need to log in and click every add every day. If you have referrals you will not earn from your referrals if you have not clicked the sites minimum standard to day before. Do this for around 30 days. You will now want to start communicating with these sites and their members for regular feedback. This will give you a good indication as to whether you can trust this site or not. This is where you will need to be patient; however this is well worth waiting for. It’s always better to be safe than sorry. After 30 days you will have on average $1.2 in each account. This does not sound like much does it? However when you add all your accounts together...

If you have an account on around 20 sites you will have made $24 this month. Now remember you have still invested none of your own money and have been in the comfort of your own home just clicking a few ads a day. By now you will have a good idea on the sites you trust and enjoy using. Each site will generally have a minimum $2 payout. So for the next 30 days you Keep clicking and really start to filter out the bad sites. This is where most people flake out or give up but if you stick with it, you won’t regret it. You will need to do this because the next step is to invest the money you have made into one site. This next step will either make or break all the time and effort you have put into this system so far. This is where things begin to explode and get really exciting...

Step 4

Withdraw Your Money

You have now been clicking for 2 months and will have made on average $48 from all of your accounts and will have met the minimum payment threshold. You will now need withdraw all of your money from each of your accounts into your Paypal/Alertpay account. Once you have done this you can now pick your most trusted site to invest this money into to really kick start your money making system. For this I would strongly recommend using the site I have had the most success with:

With the money you have put into this one account you can begin to rent referrals. A referral is someone else on the same site as you. The benefit to renting these is each time they click you get paid. for example, if you have a standard account on this site which at this point you will, and you rent 100 referrals each time any of them click you make money. For every click any of your referrals make you will get paid $0.005. You will be able to rent referrals for 30 days at a time.

If each of your referrals clicks 4 times a day (which is the minimum standard) you will make $0.02 per referral daily.

100 referrals X $0.02 = $2.00 A day X 30 Days = $60.00 A month

Don’t forget about your other accounts. You still need to keep clicking and managing them on their performance. Remember to check my site index for new sites to join. The more sites you join and click on the more money you will make.

Step 5

Renting Referrals.

Now is where we will jump start your automated money making system. You should now have deposited your $48 into your Onbux rental balance. With this money you can now rent a 100 referral package. You can do this by logging into your account and going onto your account summary. This is located at the top right corner -- the tool bar labeled – Rent Referrals here you will be able to select the package you want to rent. You will now need to rent 100 referrals which will cost you around $22.

This will leave you roughly $26 in your rental balance of which you will want to leave there. You might need to recycle referrals and you will need this in your
balance to do this. Don’t worry we will cover this very soon. You will be able to rent a new referral pack every 14 days. Now you have 100 referrals you will now need to manage these to ensure they are all making you money. After having the 100 referrals you have just rented for 14 days you will need to rent 100 more.

The 100 referrals originally rented should have made you around $28 in 14 days. After renting your next pack of 100 referrals your rental balance should be around $32.

200 referrals X $0.02 = $4 per day X 30 Days = $120

Every 14 days you will be able to extend your good referrals, ditch the bad ones and off the profit rent more. Doing this your balance and referral list will keep growing.

Step 6

Managing Your Referrals

Now you have referrals you now need to know how to manage these referrals effectively to ensure they are all making you money. This can be done without using spread sheets or charts. You can simply use the Tools supplied on any PTC site. Each PTC site gives you tools like: Lock Filters, Auto Pay, Auto Renew, Recycling,etc., and it’s how you use these tools that determine whether or not you make real money with PTC. I will now explain what each of these tools do.

Lock Filters- These will lock any referral you have so when they expire after the 30 days you have rented them for, you do not lose them.

Auto pay- This tool will extend all of your referrals for as long as they are active and clicking. For every day they are active and clicking on the site $0.01 of the clicks that should be deposited to you daily will be held back as a 1 day extra payment. This means you keep them for longer without having to pay for them out of your rental balance.

Auto Renew- This will renew your referrals automatically so you don’t have to keep an eye on them.

Recycling- This will recycle any referral you have and exchange them for another one. This can be used when you have a referral who is not clicking. This may be because they have gone on holiday or have stopped using the site.

Flag Filter- you can mark specific referrals with coloured flags to keep an eye on them so you can easily spot any referral you are looking for.

Colour Filter- This can be used to easily filter out all your referrals from the most to the least clicks.

Out of all of these tools there are only 3 of which you will need or want to use.
These are Lock Filters, Recycling and Colour Filters.

Step 7

Upgrade Your Account

Now that you have at least 140 referrals and are managing them well, it’s time
to upgrade your account. Off of the profits you have made from your referrals you will be able to grow your balance to an amount where you will be able to upgrade your account. This will cost around $85 dollars which as you will have seen by now this figure is easily made. The upgrade amount depends on every site you use and will vary. Upgrading your account is a MUST DO. The benefit for this is simple; you will make twice as much money per referral. Instead of making $0.005 per referral click you will now make $0.01. You will also be able to rent referrals every 7 days instead of every 14. This means instead of making $28 every 14 days off of 100 referrals you will now make $56. Being able to rent every 7 days this means in 4 weeks you will be able to rent 400 referrals.

$56 X 4 = $224

Off your profits you will now be able to keep renting and extending your referrals and before you know it you will be making thousands. This is when you will see your account balance explode.

Step 8

The Strategy

By now after clicking on all of your other accounts and deciding which ones you can trust and which ones you can’t, you can now repeat the same process. You can either withdraw from each of your accounts and put the money into one, rent referrals, manage them and upgrade, or you can take the profits from your now exploding and successful account and put into one of your other accounts.

Now imagine this, if you repeat the process I have shown you, take your time and do it well and you eventually have 4000 referrals all clicking 4 times a day you will soon be banking $160 a day or $4800 a month.

Now, what if you have found 6 sites you can really trust, do you know how much you will be banking then?

You do the Math...

Massive Quake Hits Japan!

2011-03-11T05:42:00.000-08:00

(Frame content direct link: http://media.heraldsun.com.au/multimedia/2011/03/japan_earthquake/earthquake_skin.swf.)

http://www.theaustralian.com.au/

PTC Sites To Earn From

2010-09-18T23:01:00.000-07:00

The Pacman Could Be In for a Double Black-Eye

2009-12-18T03:06:00.000-08:00

After his historic claim to fame by beating a certified welterweight champ in Miguel Cotto and taking his seventh boxing championship, what could be next for our hero Manny Pacquiao?

Coming home to the Philippines, he had to tackle the sensational Krista-Manny issue and appease the press people. How did he fare? Yes, he was successful. All credits I afford though to the wife, Jinky, who regained her composure after that cry-at-the-mass incident. True to her commitment to her husband and family, Jinky stood up to the challenge of proving the rumors were untrue. As to the truth of her claims, I wouldn't speculate and I don't really mind not knowing. Nevertheless, she saved Manny from further fuss and buzz of the celebrity world.

Sure Manny beat the hell out of Cotto in that very exciting fight, but he didn't get out of the ring spotless. He also had his share of bruises and bumps including a swollen earlobe. I wonder how confident he was setting a concert right after the fight that he gamely did for not getting too battered to be sent to a hospital. Or was it Kris Lawrence who came to sing in Las Vegas? hehehe.

More singing engagements and appearances awaited the boxing king in the country. Recognitions by no less than the president and cheers from admiring masses were too much to ask for. Parties were everywhere for Pacman. Just last night, he made another concert party on his birthday. Happy birthday Manny!

Amidst the busy schedule of the People's Champ, he still has two colossal things to fulfill in, for me, a very short period of time. While enjoying the exploits of his recent victory, Bob Arum, unable to resist the temptation of a big payout, was negotiating with the Mayweather camp for the Pacquiao-Mayweather slugfest. Sure enough, Arum got the deal and got Manny to agree to a March 13 fight -- a little less than four (4) months from now. Coach Freddie Roach wasn't so optimistic. According to him, the fight requires more preparation since Floyd Mayweather Jr. is no ordinary fighter. While the respected coach expressed his discomfort with the schedule, Arum struck a 50-50 deal with the Mayweather camp and that proved to be too much to decline for Pacquiao. Could this be a case of a half-prepared Pacman going inside the ring against a fully-prepared Mayweather who is armed with sheer arrogance and a ton of boxing pride aside from his exceptional boxing skills? We all know that the guy is a very good fighter which would justify Roach's reluctance.

Notwithstanding time constrains with his upcoming fight, Pacquiao, as willing as he is to become a public official, is also embarking yet again on another congressional bid for, this time, Saranggani Province. The election period begins on February or March. I wonder he would be able to stage his campaign for the position while preparing for Mayweather. We all know that Manny is not really a favorite to win the congressional seat as he failed the first time he tried. Would another bid for it jeopardize his boxing career? Yes. With not much time to prepare for the fight and the distractions of a not so hopeful bid for a government office, The Pacman could be in for a double black-eye. Manny you are a master. You are too good a boxer to be a Jack of numerous trades.

Mabuhay ka Manny!

2009-11-15T03:02:00.001-08:00

Manny Pacquiao has once again lifted the country's pride and brought it into the limelight by snatching the WBO Welterweight belt from Puerto Rican Miguel Angel Cotto. Embarking into uncharted territories in boxing history, Pacman is now the only boxer to win seven (7) titles in seven (7) different weight categories. Congratulations Manny! Congratulations my fellow Filipinos!

That's the serious side of it. But, let me just tag this photo as I have always been wanting to do on every photo I see.

"Waaaahhh... Sila na pala ngayon!
Bad ka Kenny!"

photo credit: teampilipinas.info

The Book of Lists: People Whose Names Were Changed by Accident

2009-11-15T02:37:00.000-08:00

WILLIAM FAULKNER (1879-1962), novelist. After his first book, The Marble Faun (1924), was published, William Falkner discovered that a "u" had been inserted into his last name. He decided to live with the spelling rather than going through the hassle of correcting the error.
ULYSSES S. GRANT (1822-85), general and US president. The future civil war general was born Hiram Ulysses Grant. The prospect of entering the US Military Academy with the initials "H.U.G." embarrassed him, so the new cadet reversed the order of his names and started signing himself U.H. Grant. He soon learned that Rep. Thomas L. Hamer, who had sponsored his appointment to West Point, had mistakenly enrolled him as Ulysses Simpson Grant, "Simpson" being the maiden name of Grant's mother. Grant, finding nothing objectionable in the initials "USG", adopted the new name.
BUDDY HOLLY (1936-59), singer and songwriter. When Charles "Buddy" Holley signed his first contract with Decca Records, his last name was misspelled as "Holly". Reasoning that others in the recording industry would make the same error, Buddy kept the new spelling.
DIONNE WARWICK (1940- ), singer. When her first record, "Don't Make Me Over" was released in 1962, a printing error made Dionne Warrick over into Dionne Warwick.
OPRAH WINFREY (1954- ), television personality. Her parents intended to name her "Orpah" after Ruth's sister-in-law in the Old Testament. However, the name was misspelled "Oprah" on her birth certificate. Winfrey has used it ever since.

source: The Book of Lists

The Book of Lists

2009-11-09T05:07:00.000-08:00

Two years ago i got hold of this interesting book (thanks to my brother) The Book of Lists by David Wallenchinsky and Amy Wallace. I was amazed at how the authors are able to convey valuable and not so valuable information without having to tire up your eyes with lengthy explanations on various subject matters. It was simple, as the title suggests, they tell their stories in lists. For someone who sees a book as a sedative (???), this was an exception as I got engrossed going from one list to another. My fascination to lists went even further that I began to regularly visit Forbes.com for their equally interesting lists (some of them in picture!). I will share some interesting (although sometimes trivial) things I learned in a series of blog entries from The Book of Lists.

Points of Contradiction

2009-10-06T06:12:00.000-07:00

I am commending Rep. Juan Miguel Arroyo for his courage and sincerity in personally appearing at a GMA Network program to answer some questions raised regarding his alleged failure to declare properties and the ballooning of his assets over a short period of time. Yet, after watching his supposed act of transparency, the matter gets even more doubtful as the presidential son evaded questions and intended to pass them on to his lawyers. His public appearance, therefore, helped fan the fire of doubt of the people as he appeared to be defensive and too tentative to disclose vital information.

Further investigations by the Vera Files followed while Mikey, along with his lawyer tried for yet another time to address the doubts, this time at radio station DZRH with veteran radio commentator Joe Taruc. Following both the clarification attempts of Cong. Arroyo and the investigations conducted, several contradictions were noted, and hence the following list of observations based on the congressman's statements during the interviews:

"She doesn't own anything..." Mikey Arroyo was reffering to his wife, Angela, as having nothing to do with the 20-40 percent Beach Way Park LLC shares his immediate family owns. He also claimed (during the GMA Network interview) that Beach Way Park LLC owns the house at Beach Park Boulevard, Foster City, California. Yet, further investigations verified from the San Mateo County Assesor's Office that the Beach Way house is actually owned by Anegla Montenegro Arroyo, Mikey's beloved wife.
"Medyo nagkaroon tayo ng maraming regalo... tapos pag kampanya, siyempre kahit papano maraming tumulong sa atin..." Mikey was referring to the gifts he received during his wedding, the contributions he received during his political campaigns, and the subsequent good investments he had as the source of his assets in question. During his interview with Joe Taruc at DZRH, Mikey explained with his lawyer that the bulk of his additional assets as declared in his later SALNs was that of his wife's as she is independently wealthy (as his lawyer puts it). In an attempt to relate the new claim with his previous explanation at GMA Network, it would appear that his wife gave him enormous gifts for their wedding or his wife (along with other contributors) gave contributions for his campaign.
"... tapos pag kampanya, siyempre kahit papano maraming tumulong sa atin..." This was one of the reasons cited by Mikey for his ballooning assets. Investigations however proved that on his statement of contributions and expenses for the past two congressional elections, there were no donations to his campaigns. He reported that his campaigns were funded entirely from his own pocket.
"I own about 20-30%... 40... something..." Mikey Arroyo claimed that his immediate family owns that much of the Beach Way Park LLC. Later during the interview at DZRH, his lawyer emphasized that Cong. Arroyo is a minor share holder of the company. This could mean that there has to be only two (2) owners of the company for him to become a minor share holder. This might not be much of a contradiction until he discloses the name(s) of the reported co-owner(s) if there is any.
"Those shortcomings were amended the next year..." Mikey admitted to Monsod and Clavio during the GMA Network interview that he made errors in the first time he filed his SALN in 2002. Arroyo filed his regular SALN with P5M in personal assets which he said was erroneous. A supplemental SALN, he said, was filed the next year in the amount of P68.7M making the discrepancy figure more or less P63M. Cong. Arroyo's office a copy to the Vera Files which did not have a "received" stamp or the date of receipt by the Ombudsman. An investigation verified that the Office of the Deputy Ombudsman for Luzon and the Pampanga Human Resource Management Office did not have a record of both Mikey's 2002 supplemental SALN and his 2003 filing.
"They told me not to say it here..." Arroyo insisted that the house in Beach Park Boulevard is owned by Beach Way Park Limited Liability Co. (LLC) which he co-owns along with other share holders who, according to him, refused to be named in public. His failure to give the names of his co-owners raised more doubt and promted another investigation. The San Mateo County Assesor's Office has no record of a Beach Way Park LLC owning the Foster City property. The California Secretary of State, The US Securities and Exchange Commission, and the Philippine Securities and Exchange Commission also have no record of a business entity named Beach Way Park LLC.

Mikey Arroyo Tries to Explain his SALN

2009-10-03T01:16:00.000-07:00

Let us listen to Mikey Arroyo, a member of the House of Representatives and a presidential son, as he tries to explain his Statement of Assets, Liabilities and Net Worth in national television. I consider it a noble attempt to show transparency, but how transparent was it?

You be the judge...

Ondoy's wrath on Metro Manila

2009-09-29T03:43:00.000-07:00

Metro Manila ravaged by typhoon Ondoy as caught on camera:

My Alternative playlist on MySpace Music

2009-09-27T03:54:00.001-07:00

My Alternative playlist by Da Wing on MySpace Music - listen to songs & purchase MP3s

Shared via AddThis

The Economic Naturalist: Why do 24-hour convenience stores have locks on their doors?

2009-08-01T22:09:00.000-07:00

If you are the owner of a 24-hour convenience store, would you think of regularly closing the establishment for a particular time of the day for some reason? Apparently not, for closing half an hour will make it a 23.5-hour Convenience Store. lol. In other words, an owner would not think of closing the store for even a single minute of the day. But why do 24-hour convenience stores have their locks?

Of course our answer would be: "JUST IN CASE..." the store needs to close inevitably during emergency instances. In case the store temporarily runs out of stocks or becomes bankrupt, it has to close. In case no one is able to tend to it, it must also have to close.

While the answer is valid, Robert Frank points out another reason why these stores have locks it is difficult to find or even more expensive to purchase doors without locks. Industrial doors are sold mostly to establishments that are not open 24 hours a day. These establishments obviously have reasons for wanting locks on their doors. Therefore, door makers make doors with locks, thereby making production cost cheaper in following the same process. Making doors without locks deviates from the usual process and therefore needs an assembly line modification resulting to additional cost. Using doors with locks makes negligible cost on oddities compared to the manufacturing cost of those without.

The Economic Naturalist: Why fuel doors are on the driver’s side of some cars but on the passenger’s side of others?

2009-07-19T06:25:00.000-07:00

Any driver can be frustrated pulling up for gas only to realize that the gas tank is located on the other side of the car away from the pump. Would car manufacturers intentionally cause this to their prospective buyers and stand the chance of incurring opportunity cost (not to mention the added manufacturing cost)? Frustrating as it may seem, cars have their fuel doors on either side.

Some cars have it on the driver's side and some on the passenger's. I think you already have an idea why this is so. In case you didn't realize or didn't notice at all, Frank points out one good reason.

In some countries (USA, Philippines, etc.) cars drive on the right side of the road. It is more convenient for drivers to turn right, thus they always buy at gas stations they can enter by turning right. Suppose all gas tanks are located on the driver's side, all cars entering the station will have to park at the right side of the pump to load up. During busy hours, cars will have to line up on the right side of the pump only leaving the left side empty. By putting fuel doors on the other side of some cars, drivers can also load up on the left side of the pump thus shortening the waiting time. With this, the shortening the gas loading time greatly outweighs the cost of occasionally pulling up at the wrong side of the pump.

We will remember him somehow: A Tribute to Michael Jackson

2009-07-03T21:43:00.000-07:00

While going through my previous posts, i noticed that I once did a post citing a Michael Jackson song. Yes, I liked that song a lot and i never forgot to post its video on Facebook account as a tribute. Maybe MJ deserves a little more tribute from me from this site for the nostalgia.

I'm glad that after viewing the video, I now do not have to worry about that potted flower I left at school in 3rd grade...

The Economic Naturalist: Why do women’s clothes always button from the left while men’s clothes always button from the right?

2009-07-01T04:12:00.000-07:00

If not for Robert Frank's book, I would not know that men's and women's clothes button from different sides. Yes, they do! You can try comparing your buttoned clothes with that of your husband or wife. Men's clothes button from the right while women's clothes button from the left.

One can begin to think of a reason for this and make the conclusion that it is in the convenience of dressing up that button designs are based. If this is so, we will have to conclude that most men are right- handed and most women are left-handed. It seems that this is not the case. Most people are right-handed (almost 90%) yet they are not only men. A great number of women are also right-handed. Our conclusion that one's convenience (whether a rightee or a leftee) in dressing up seemed to be wrong in this analysis.

Yes, the reason is still convenience but not in the present context of history. We are talking of convenience in dressing up way back in time. When buttons first appeared in the seventeenth century, the wealthy people are the ones using them in their garments. During that time, it was the custom that men dress themselves while women have servants to dress them up. Having women's shirt button from the left made it easier for mostly right-handed servants to do the task. It was also convenient for men (mostly right-handed too) who button from the right to dress up by themselves. Aside from that, because a sword is drawn from the left hip with the man's right hand, the design helps to make it less likely to become caught in the shirt.

A norm, once established, resists change.

Rectangular Cartons and Cylindrical Cans

2009-06-04T04:26:00.000-07:00

You may sometimes get baffled by the random questions asked by your toddlers while strolling at the park, or buying groceries at the supermarket. You wonder how these seemingly simple questions are a little hard to explain. You should thank Robert H. Frank, a professor of Economics at Cornell University who seemed to have found sound and simple explanations to your children's inquiries. His explanations are contained in his book, The Economic Naturalist. I will try to devote a few entries on this fascinatingly relevant information.

Why is milk sold in rectangular cartons, while soft drinks are sold in round cans?

Frank offers a number of possible explanations for this:

Soft drinks are directly consumed from the container while milk isn't. Cylindrical cans fit more comfortably in hand while drinking.
Rectangular containers save shelf space. The shelf space they save counts much more in the case of milk than in soft drinks. Soft drinks can be stored in open shelves that cost less and with little (or no) operating expense. Milk, on the other hand, must be stored under a strictly regulated low temperature (to prevent spoilage). A specially made shelf then must be used to keep its freshness. These shelves cost more than an average one and always incur a bigger operating cost. Thus, every inch a pack of milk occupies is worth more than that of a soft drink can and must be maximized hence the rectangular cartons which practically fill every available space when arranged side by side.

Not Another Hayden Kho-Katrina Halili Video Blog

2009-05-29T06:49:00.000-07:00

Unarguably, Hayden Kho and Katrina Halili are among the most popular keywords in the Philippines to hit the search engines. No, you could be disappointed for this is not a site where you can find a downloadable free video of the immensely popular sex video. You can find them at your nearest “bangketas” anyway. I would just like to post my opinion on this issue highlighting a few observations:

Who are to blame?

For the controversy and scandal it has created, the following should be responsible:

1. Hayden Kho. For taking the initiative to record the act in video and supposedly keeping it for whatever intents and purposes he has in mind. Keeping the record makes him entirely responsible for whatever consequences that may result from its disclosure regardless of the means and situations that may have lead to it. Just as being responsible for everything one has to say, Kho is bound to be blamed for whatever might have happened to that video.

2. Katrina Halili. For crying out loud and announcing to the world about being violated. If she didn’t go public in her attempt to save her face and as she would say, the women, she (along with the other girls whom Kho had videotaped with him) would not have attracted the curiosity and peeping eyes of the press and the people.

3. The Press. For making the issue the main content of their every headline and top story and for tirelessly tinkering the otherwise personal issue of two individuals who, by the way, just happened to be known showbiz personalities.

4. The Politicians. For pouncing on the opportunity to advertise themselves to the public whose attention have been drawn to the controversy by making unsolicited opinions and conducting senseless televised hearings. I’ve never seen Sen. Bong Revilla as vocal with an issue (if at all) as this.

5. The Traders. The personalities and the people in general who, in one way or another have contributed to the reproduction, distribution, and display of the video and for stirring the controversy even further.

By Kikit: He Snores

2008-11-16T00:24:00.002-08:00

Kikit, a good friend and former officemate who now lives in Japan shares her thoughts and thinks loud with this entry:

He snores. She has probably heard all types of snoring - loud, soft, funny, disturbing and even alarming. But all these sounds have the same outcome - an agony in her sleep. It makes her restless and uncomfortable. She changes her sleeping positions until she gets exhausted with her own actions and falls asleep eventually. Without complaints, she experiences this every night in their ten years of marriage.

One day, he gets home with a news that he'll be sent to another city on a business trip for three days. A discreet sigh of relief came out as it means complete freedom in the bedroom. He readies his luggage and wishes her safety while he's away. As soon as he's gone, she leaps out of excitement for a peaceful deep sleep tonight. It's too childish but she feels that way.

After a hot shower that night, she lies down on the soft bed and closes her eyes. Yet, things seem unusual. She's still restless, she's still uncomfortable and she can't lie still in one position. She hears no snoring echoes, only the anticipated silence. It goes on for three nights. Something's wrong.

He arrives and knocks the door. When she opens it and sees his smile, she realizes one thing: the delight of silence is nothing compared to the agony from snoring.

Thinking About You

2008-11-07T17:10:00.000-08:00

Have you ever been so reminded of something by a song? I have been for quite a lot of times. The Bangles hit Eternal Flame always brings me to my younger years when we used to live near a cockpit, a rice mill and a tinsmith (imagine the noise we have to bear on any given Sunday). What does a cockpit, a rice mill or a tinsmith have to do with a love song? You will have to guess that the song, among other hits of the time, was played in between cockfights.

***

I realized that being exposed to hit songs at a young age can cause fixation to them. With all the happy memories of tumbling on stairways, crying over a banana cue, disassembling sister's precious watch, and losing a couple of cards from brother's super tramp collection, there is always a reverberating hit song associated to every significant childhood event. Michael Jackson's One Day in Your Life for some time did make me cry whenever I remember that I lost mother's potted flower at school after an event.

***

Just recently, while having a shower, a song occured to me -- Thinking About You. It was not a particularly popular song as it was a track from the album Pablo Honey, the same album that contained the smashing hit Creep. Radiohead struck the airwaves among the grunge tinged hits by Nirvana, Pearl Jam, Smashing Pumpkins, etc. It was during this time that the news about Kurt Cobain's suicide shocked us, grunge fanatics (self-declared), while undergoing our PMT officer training in high school. It was also during those "uto-an" training days that I was randomly asked to sing in front of fellow cadets/cadettes during a break. I could remember that I sang Creep in front of the cheering and jeering crowd. It was a shameful experience especially when what they are cheering or jeering about was my supposed affection for a girl in the corner with her head bowed down. While I try to forget the so-called Creep incident, Thinking About You still makes me recall.

Been thinking about you
Your record's a hit
Your eyes are on my wall
Your teeth are over there
But I'm still no one
And you're my star
What do you care?

Been thinking about you
And there's no rest
Should I still love you
Still see you in bed
But I'm playing with myself
What do you care?
When the other men are far far better

All the things you've got
All the things you need
Who bought you cigarettes
Who bribed the company to come and see you honey?

I've been thinking about you
So how can you sleep
These people aren't your friends
They're paid to kiss your feet
They don't know what I know
And why should you care
When I'm not there

Been thinking about you
And there's no rest
Should I still love you
Still see you in bed
But I'm playing with myself
What do you care?
When I'm not there.

All the things you've got
That you'll never need
All the things you've got
I've bled and I'd bleed to please you
... honey

Been thinking about you..

What do you care about Barack?

2008-11-06T03:22:00.000-08:00

While watching at a recap of the US elections at BBC last night, i was amazed to notice how the people reacted to Obama's victory. Many of them cried or were just so ecstatic when he made his victory speech. I later realized that the hope they were putting on Obama's shoulders is so enormous considering the economic situation the US is in right now. Some analysts said that the present economic slump ironically swung potential McCain voters to the other side and did pull off the win for Obama.

What's more amazing are the celebrations happening around the world in the eve of the victory. A holiday was declared in Kenya to celebrate the event. Wide screens were installed on parks in France. In Canada, a hockey game broke into cheers as the declaration of Obama was shown at the game's scoreboard. Kenyans obviously have the reason to celebrate as Barack Obama Sr. is a native. The French and Canadians also have their own reasons. I myself cannot deny that somehow the win or, to put it impartially, the election result had its effect on me. Do you also feel the same?

What do we care about the win? Erap does not care about it. Other politicians are interested on how campaigns were being run and what technologies were being utilized. For a common Filipino like me, the perspective is easy to share as most of us see it the same way. Most likely we ask: "Would there be a better chance for an exodus with the Obama presidency?" As hopes for a better living here dwindle, we pass our hopes on to Barack's shoulders. Good for Erap, he does not have to go. After all he has everything to do here. "Anak ng jueteng".

Something Fishy With Melamine

2008-10-12T04:30:00.000-07:00

While you may find it amazing to find a brand new NOKIA 5320 to be sold below PhP 10,000.00, check out Chinese made touch screen cellular phones pegged at more or less PhP 5,000.00 only. Almost always, the price of an item says so much of its quality. Does this mean that China made products which are way cheaper than most commercial brands have low quality? Could be. It's always an issue of Quality and Affordability.

China obviously wins over the issue of affordability. While people would want to give premium on quality, their purchasing power does not allow them. Inevitably, they settle for the cheaper products. China wins this economic tug-of-war hands down on countries with low income populace. A good share of the world market.

What better way is there to beat this overwhelming market for the cheap Chinese products than to pull down its quality to an unbearable level with propaganda. Melamine, lead content, etc. can instill fear and make people forget of the affordability of these products. Consequently, interested parties will win back the huge chunk of the world market, pulling back the rope of economy to their side. Do you smell something fishy?