Tag: No. 2

FOR AL GORE, people are like frogs jumping into a pot of boiling water, a metaphor the former American vice-president deliberately affirmed in his award-winning documentary.

“If a frog jumps into a pot of boiling water, it jumps out again because it senses the danger. But if the same frog jumps into a pot of lukewarm water that is slowly being boiled, it will just sit there until the temperature continues to rise and until it is rescued,” Gore said in his documentary about global warming.

IT WAS October 2004 when some Pre-com Society officers wanted to borrow James Christopher Domingo’s Basic Accounting notes. Ashamed of his penmanship, he decided to modify them, and with eight gel pens and a ream of bond paper, he rewrote all 188 pages.

It was a good thing he did the revision because eventually the rest of the Commerce population, through photocopying and word of mouth, would enjoy the edge of having his notes.

JULY 21, 2007 will go down in history as the day when thousands of avid readers flocked various bookstores as early as seven in the morning to grab their copies of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, the final installment of the much-loved series written by J.K. Rowling. According to reliable sources, the last book of the Harry Potter series has sold more than 33,000 copies in the Philippines on its first week of release, and that is just from one leading bookstore. Overall, the Harry Potter series has collectively sold more than 325 million copies worldwide, making author J.K.

“The mind is its own place, and in itself can make a heaven of hell, a hell of heaven.” – John Milton

IN A SOCIETY where the pressure to be thin is so overwhelming, it’s no surprise that thousands of people worldwide resort to unsafe diet pills or worse, develop eating disorders just so they can shed off the extra pounds.

“All things are within reach, but we must do the reaching.” – John Foppe

I HAVE always been inspired by stories of success just like the visionary John Foppe’s phenomenal triumph over the disadvantages of not having arms, of being disabled. In his inspirational talks, one lesson that Foppe persistently wants people to emulate is about being resourceful. Despite life’s adversities, Foppe encourages people to be self-sufficient because “everything we need to succeed is within us and all that is left for us to do is to tap and use these things to our advantage.”

STRUCK BY the brief Varsitarian update on the Magna Carta for UST Students in the June issue, the Central Board (CB), the legislative arm of the Central Student Council (CSC), has written a rejoinder, citing “factual errors and opinionated portions” in the report.

The letter was signed by 19 local council presidents and CSC head Reyner Villaseñor and was published by the Varsitarian in this issue virtually in toto in the mail section on the next page.

DEMONIC, coercive, and unconstitutional. Ironically these have been thrown at a law supposedly crafted to eradicate terrorism that endangers national security.

Despite protests, President Macapagal-Arroyo signed Republic Act No. 9372, or the Human Security Act (HSA), into law recently and even without the implementing rules, has gone on to implement it. The implementation, according to National Security Adviser Norberto Gonzales, is meant to avert acts of terrorism and guarantee the well-being of Filipinos.

EVERBODY makes plans, but it’s disheartening to note that things may not always come one’s way. I’ve experienced these upsets many times, especially in high school.

Upon entering our high school’s pilot section during my sophomore year, I planned to stay until I graduate with honors. But as competition grew intense and as I devoted less and less time for studying each day, I found myself booted out of the section at the end of the school year.

ILLUMINATING mankind’s path toward salvation, the “hounds of God” continue to bear the torch of truth on their mouths since their father, St. Dominic de Guzman, founded the Order of Preachers in 1216.

According to Fr. Roy Rodriguez O.P., provincial promoter of vocations of the Dominicans in the Philippines, ignorance is the origin of sin, and teaching the truth is the only way to liberate mankind from error.

DID UST violate the deed of donation that gave the University its 22-hectare España campus in the early 1920s when it decided to spin off the UST Hospital into a separate entity?

The simple answer is “No,” because the hospital remains a charitable institution attached to the Unviersity, although it is expected to generate profits for the first time in years.

UST Rector Fr. Ernesto Arceo, O.P., has dismissed the claims, while UST’s top historian is saying the claims made by newspaper columnists are historically doubtful, at best.