Author: vabenissimo

The Blood Man

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In Australia, Joe Mannana plans to make a trip to donate his blood.

What is so interesting about this man?

First, he is 79-year-old.

Second, he has donated his blood over 1000 times during 36 years.

Last, he has saved over 20,000 lives of infants and mothers.

Born with RH- A blood type that can also be replaced with RH+ A blood type, he indeed is a rare man with mutant but precious blood.

He began this donation marathon after he survived a difficult surgery that demanded a special blood like his. However, the doctors later realized that the operation proceeded successfully even after wrong type of blood had been transfused into his body. Since then, he decided to save other lives and contribute to the medical experiments.

Even though he has already been marked as a significant benefactor of the medical field, he continues to incessantly donate every possible drop of his blood.

FAT TALK

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“Ew. I am so fat.”
“OMG. Stop it. You are so skinny.”

A rally of nonsense complaints between females, this is called FAT TALK.

Teenage girls, especially, behave such for the following reasons:
To draw an attention,
To express their discomforting body shape,
To make their “friends” uncomfortable,
etc

Every girl experiences Fat Talk.

However in the midst of this prom season, the complaints get worse, much worse. I frequently catch girls in their prom dresses or in front of mirrors spill their words casually, “I am fat.” Gosh. Yes, you are fat, if and only if you fall for the media that purports extreme thinness and gross starvation.

If obesity is the concern, try to be healthy—exercise, eat balanced meal, do not binge eat, and sleep well. But, do not starve.

Hunger is a disease. It leads to starvation, then to death.

And, this Fat Talk is also a disease. Once a girl speaks of her “fatness,” her listener goes on to another to complain, and the cycle runs on and on until the girls runs out of their self-esteem.

So, next time when a friend say, “OMG. I am so fat,” be ready to shush her.

Roadkill

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For my second driving experience, I was scared to drive from LA to Ojai.

My fear was not within the moment I entered seemingly endless and bloody competitive 101 freeway near Hollywood on Sunday, but with the thought of roadkill.

Neither words nor pictures can vividly describe my abhorrence and regret for the sights of remaining parts of helpless and lifeless animals on the roads.

During my first experience of driving, I had almost crashed my car against a mountainside due to two squirrels popping out of who-knows-where.

I know their lives are important. But please, my life is important too.

As much as I could, I want to save them and avoid harming them.

Thank Buddha, Allah, God, Jesus, and all other supernatural forces.

I did not end any innocent life, but just observed many. I mean six, all in one trip.

After my successful drive for two hours, I now lay with unavoidable exhaustion. But, my fingers and some parts of my brain remain active enough to google “how to avoid roadkill.”

And here is what I have found.

Reduce the speed and drive less.

These solutions being great help, I now lay not only weary but also hopeless.

Raise Your Weapon

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Titles, reputations, and rumors kill me.

They spread like fireballs and grow infinitely at a blinking rate.

Who on earth could possibly find themselves intelligent enough to title another?

How does one assure that he or she is not observing the silhouette of another?

Age, class, and wealth.

Should these factors really grant one the power to be judgmental?

Phony, fake, genuine, inconsiderate, kind, spoiled, thoughtful, respectful, ignorant, rude.
Even if one finds such titles necessary and appropriate, one should never forget that these adjectives can act as fatal weapons in tearing apart another’s heart.

Once this principle is disregarded, the war begins.

As in retaliation, the two sides will unconsciously hold a grudge against each other. Although difficult and disturbing to recognize, this vicious cycle is an inevitable part of human nature.

In fact, reputations must stem from some sort of solidity, but never from nothingness.

One word, and it’s all over.

So please, raise your weapon. And fire, until your enemy cries for mercy, it is the only way to survive.

Raise your weapon.

Life as a Teenager

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Just a year ago when I was striving to survive my junior year, comtemplating about my life was considered as an act of luxury.

Now that I have gotten so much time to kill, I brood over making right “choices.”

How much should I allow my parents, friends, and other mentors to interfere with my decision-making?

How do I know if I tried my best?

And, am I on the right track?

Since I have to put an end to my teen phase soon, I ponder, ponder, and ponder once again about EVERYTHING. I am pretty sure some seniors experience the same.

All my dilemmas sprout from this single fact; I soon will not be considered as a child, but as an adult.

My life as a teen was fabulous. My immaturity and childish ignorance had been the best excuses for my mistakes. But, the thought that these excuses will no longer be valid terrifies me.

On the bright side, my mind-processing skills have improved vastly over the time. As I look back, the questions that I had during my middle and high school years sound so inane, except for a few that I still struggle to answer.

Hopefully, I will find a balance soon between this sense of ambiguity and assurance.

Until then, my migraine will probably to linger. Urgh.

Microsoft Takes an Advantage of Japan’s Misery

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A tsunami swallowed the East Coast of Japan. Radiation penetrated through construction, livestock, plants, and the citizens. Earthquake of the magnitude 9.0 shook the cities with absolute terror.

And, what did Microsoft do?

The company slyly attempted to take an advantage of this ongoing adversity.

It tweeted, “How you can #SupportJapan – http://binged.it/fEh7iT. For every retweet, @bing will give $1 to Japan quake victims, up to $100K.”

Business Smart, but Ruthless.

In the midst of such suffering, Microsoft wanted to be the parasite of the suffering victims.

Discredited by a huge crowd for its vicious attempt to market Bing, the Microsoft retweeted, “We apologize the tweet was negatively perceived. Intent was to provide an easy way for people to help Japan. We have donated $100K.”

A round of applause for Microsoft’s generous offer, Please.

Let me rephrase — I did not mean “generous,”but “Heartless.”

Click here to view the article.

Haiti’s Possible Call for a Coup D’etat

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After the earthquake, cholera outbreak, and hurricane, Haiti is suffering through another revolution, a presidential election mainly between two candidates.

The first candidate is Michael “Sweet Micky” Martelly who used to be a popular “bad boy” komba singer. He throws night parties or “presidential campaigns” to raise his popularity successfully.

Another candidate is Mirlande Manigat who had been the first lady in 1988. Her image is much more trustworthy and responsible than the one of Sweet Micky.

Seems pretty clear about who should become the president, right?

But apparently, Haitians are confused between these two: on one side, they want a fun and easy-going president to ease their grief momentarily while the other side desires justice and orders.

How did they end up in this mess?

Read More »

Mani Pulite

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A 74-year-old man paid for a 17-year-old teenager girl prostitution.

Who is this man?

He is Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi.

Known for his notorious behavior strictly against morals, he has been in office since 1994 and dominated the Italian government.

But, how does he remain to hang onto his power?

This golden strategy lies within his prosperity. His stunning ability to manipulate the Italian political system with his power abuse sealed the lips of victims for years, until now.

Since this teenage Moroccan belly dancing prostitue called Ruby Rubacuori has been presented to the shocking public, his troubles finally spilled out on the table.

Italians have desperately waited for this moment. I remember during a dinner, two Italian college students suddenly yelled out his name in joy for having him tried on court officially and finally.

At another time, this woman from Rome complained about his terms through a story; because previous Italian politicians relied excessively on bribery, the citizens voted on Berlusconi, a wealthy man who could not possibly ask for more materialistic possessions. Then, she went on about how the old times are much better than this snobby man worsening the already inefficient government system.

And, she ended her story by repeating “Mani Pulite” (Clean Hands)–an Italian way to investigate the corruptions within the political world through an official judicial process.

As a response to his frustrated citizens, Berlusconi says he is not worried about trial.

Well, his trials will be run by a panel of three women judges. And, he has recently completed a plastic surgery for his nose and teeth that have been badly ruined by his protesting crowd.

Perhaps, he should be prepared a bit better for his worst nightmare.

Amen, Berlusconi.

Easy Steps to Hack a Smart Phone

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Which digits should you defend the most in your life?

Most people would say their social security numbers.

But, in the 21st Century, things changed. Many of us now possess this multifunctional device called “smart phone” where we input our innermost personal information negligently.

So, let me make a slight change to the question above.

Which digits should you defend the most today?

It’s your phone number.

A hacker can gain your social security number, pictures, texts, and name me other personal information in three easy steps.

First, get the number and name of the smart phone owner. This is when business cards become particularly handy.

Second, send programs such as snoopware, simphishing, spam, bluetooth, to trap the device.

Third, uncheck the SSL and “wipe” or hack the device for information.

Now this “smart” phone would not sound so smart anymore.

To maximize our smart phone security, downloading “Norton Smartphone Security” is strongly recommended.

However, “We’re still in the late ’90s when it comes to security on mobile devices,” Tyler Shields, a computer and mobile security researcher, said.

What can we truly do?

Give yourself a second thought before typing anything onto your exquisite device. Because it can bring you harsh consequences within seconds.

Check out this article from New York Times and videos.

Never Let Me Go

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We want to avoid death and accomplish to live a “perfect” life which explains why plastic surgery, organ transplants, and other genetic modifications are taking place in our current society.

These practices may prolong our lives, give temporal aesthetic pleasure, and also blindfold us from understanding how much our only life genuinely worth.

Finishing the film “Never Let Me Go” directed by Mark Romanek, I was moved by every inch of its messages, especially of one regarding mortality.

It is never safe to play with our human nature. Drug abuse such as increase usage of botulism, operations, and test tube babies all give a chill to my backbones and frowns my eyes.

But, we constantly try to achieve “perfection” and underappreciate our flaws.

Our issues of insecurity and death should be readdressed. Then, we would more likely to become happier.

I see life as a fleeting beauty. Because life destined to end at a given point, it shines and worth like nothing other.

Perhaps, we first need to learn how to let some things go.