The bureaucracy for the bureaucracy is very-crazy!

Bureaucracy has been defined as the combined organizational structure, procedures, protocols, and set of regulations in place to manage  activity, usually in large organizations. It is often represented by standardized procedure (rule-following) that guides the execution of most or all processes within the body; formal division of powers; hierarchy; and relationships, intended to anticipate needs and improve efficiency (source: Wikipedia).

Has bureaucracy realized its intentions? Judging from the way the government sector is vilified by its public, the answer is an obvious no. Why so? The government bureaucrats get much obsessed with the rules, regulations, and procedures that they readily lost sight of what they were supposed to do in the first place.  The process becomes more important than the output supposed to be produced.

If bureaucracy is harsh on the public, it is much more so on the government employees themselves. Imagine a bureaucracy for the bureaucracy. It is very-crazy.
(images from http://www.powayusd.com and http://positivesharing.com/)

Mayweather beats Mosley, money shames sugar

I just watched Mayweather vs. Mosley at the SM Cinema in Baguio. It was an impressive unanimous decision win for Money. It was a sour performance by Sugar. Shane upped his attack in the second round. He caught Money with a good punch that almost sent him down. In the third round, Money stepped up his offense. Shame had no counter-attack for the rest of the way. In the judges' cards, Shane won only the second round. When Money was asked if he's willing to bend on his demand for blood tests so the Pacquiao fight can materialize. He basically said no. After his impressive win over someone of took blood tests, he is on a higher ground to demand such tests.

I think Money shoots up to number one in the pound for pound ranking, overtaking Pacquiao. I don't see Pacman giving in to the blood test demands. Even if he loses in the elections, I don't think he'll fight Money.

Iron Man 2 delivers

I liked Iron Man 2. My kids, Vito and Popoy liked it as well. Genius Tony Starks (Robert Downey, Jr.) has that arrogant streak that befuddles everyone around him, including his friends but more so his enemies, specially those who try to control him and compete with him in vain.

The movie is not boring because the battle scenes are not overly drawn, unlike Transformers 2. The producers did a good job interweaving possible future movies into the storyline. They first did that in the Incredible Hulk 2 where they dropped hints of Iron Man 2. This time they're effectively announcing an Avengers movie with Iron Man but without Tony Starks. How will that be? asked Tony himself in the film. I think in the Avengers movie they'll be showing Iron Man in full costume all the time. Most probably they'll be using another actor.

Midway in the movie, Agent Coulson said to Tony that he is being reassigned to Mexico. I thought that was too much info and that detail had no bearing in the movie. And they just wanted to give the actor some speaking lines. We left while the credits are rolling and Highway to Hell is blaring. Bad move. People say at the end of credits they showed Agent Coulton found Thor's hammer found in Mexico. This is a hint of a Thor movie. We missed that.

There are some forgivable flaws. For all his genius, Tony Stark did not provide Iron Man suits any security features. He could have made the Iron Man suits work only when he is wearing it, after all he said he is Iron Man. As it turned out, anybody who steps even in for the first time it can make full use of its weaponry and flight capability.

People who expect prolonged fight scenes may find the manner Iron Man defeats the antihero too short. But it's alright with me and my kids. It makes us look forward to the next one.

Ang bise presidente ko may B - betkabs / Binay admits infidelity

Nobody cared much when Mon Tulfo wrote about the wife of a candidate for a national position who found out that her husband has a fashion model for a girlfriend. It was almost a dead giveaway as it mentioned that the photos were given to the candidate’s wife by a close rival

of their son who is aspiring for a local post. Plus, the second item in that column was about the mayoralty contest in Makati being a a three-cornered, close fight among Binay's son and 2 others.

Now cheesy photos of Chiz's vice president surfaced on the Internet. Faced with these, Binay himself has admitted that he had an extramarital affair. In the spirit of transparency, it's time for Chiz to update his commercial endorsement of Binay - "Ang bise president ko may B - betkabs! Ang bise presidente mo ba meron din?".

White hair chronicles XXVI - the age of hex and lotto

Pinoys have many ways to evade direct queries about their age. People pushing 30 say "nasa kalendaryo pa (it's still found in the calendar)". People older than 31 will say "nasa lotto pa (it's still in the lotto)". The age query will be followed up by "which lotto?". There are many lotto games in the gambling country that is the Philippines. The newest one, the Grand Lotto 6/55, gives many of my friends a reprieve, since they will soon be over the Super Lotto 6/49.

I used to tell people my age in hexadecimal terms. So back then when I say I'm 29, I conveniently omit to say that's in hex. Technically I didn't lie. People would tell me "maaga kang tinubuan ng puti (you had white hair early)". But I got away with it. I stopped using hex when 2A years old sounded like a ridiculous giveaway.

I can still say my age (in hex) is still in the calendar. Pretty soon I won't get away with it. But I can claim it's still in the lotto. Don't ask which. When I run out of lotto numbers, I will then say it's still in the Bingo. Ahh, but that's still a long time from now.