Here is a really simple maxim I personally believe in and something that I always practice. It is something I live by.

A truly great leader prioritizes his men first and foremost. He likes to see them succeed, because he knows that their success is his own.

Clinical anecdotes

The Patient:

There was this guy in the hospital that was scheduled for surgery. On the morning of his operation he starts yelling that he wants coffee. The nurse comes in and asks him to be quiet, as he is disturbing the other patients. "But I've had coffee every morning for forty years and I want a cup of coffee NOW!" he screamed. The nurse quickly and silently counts to ten and replies, "Now sir, you realize thatyou are due to go into surgery in an hour and you can't have anything on your stomach. Couldn't you do without coffee just this once?" The guy starts to rant even more and the doctor comes in to see what is the matter with the patient. The nurse explains the situation to him and the doctor turns to the belligerent man in bed before him, "You understand that you can't have anything in your stomach before surgery, don't you?" "I don't care. I.Want. Some. Coffee!!!!" The doctor thinks for a minute and says,"Very well. I'll tell you what; the only way we can give you any coffee is through an enema. Would that make you happy?" The guy pauses and replies,"Well, if that's the only way I can get any coffee around here..." So the doctor tells the nurse to give the guy a coffee enema to keep him quiet.The nurse returns with an enema bag and a fresh pot of hot coffee. She pours itinto the bag, greases up the applicator and sticks it up the guy's ass."Ah, hot coffee!" the guy says with a satisfied tone. All of a sudden he starts into bitching and complaining again. "What's the matter this time?!" the exasperated nurse yells out. "It's too sweet!" the guy replies.

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The Dentist:

Then there's the woman who goes to the dentist. As he leans over to begin working on her, she grabs his balls. The dentist says, "Madam, I believe you've got a hold of my privates."The woman replies, "Yes. We're going to be careful not to hurt each other,aren't we?"

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The Doctor and the Nurse:

A doctor and a nurse just got married. As they were lying in bed one night, the doctor said to the nurse, "Honey, to avoid any problems, let's try the following system. When we go to bed at night, if you would like to have sex, pull at my penis one time....and if you don't want to have sex, pull at my penis 100 times!!"

Mind Your Manners

There are things in life that are not correct. Correct being that they are not as perfect as you want them to be. Mediocrity is everywhere, and one shouldn't just sit and not do anything. You will need to speak up and say the current condition must stop. This usually means you will upset a few people and change things they don't want to be changed. That's fine. You will not please everyone.

Saying the above, however, does not mean a person should present himself or herself as uncultured. Upset as you may be, you should never lose your temper. You should never attack another individual personally, but instead attack the issue. You will, after all, need to work with these people. Cooperation is the goal. Be strong in character...but have a kind voice and be professional in demeanor.

Sad to say but many so-called adults do not observe proper etiquette. Practice good manners; it is the mark of a refined person. Many people think if they are to be "true" to themselves with others, they don't need to act accordingly. Nothing can be so wrong. Everyone wants to be shown respect in some degree or another, and that's what etiquette and manners are all about. Some of you will often see your superiors using vulgar language, or dressed inappropriately, or conduct business unethically. Do not copy them. They got to where they are not because of these bad habits but in spite of them.

Here are some simple but important items everyone should consider:

1. Say "thank you" whenever someone shows kindness.

2. When you are invited to a special occasion, dress cleanly and a notch above normal.

3. Simply say "you're welcome" when someone says thank you. Never say "oh, it's nothing."

4. When a person went through a lot of trouble to get you a gift, kindly receive it.

5. Never sit at the head of the table unless invited to do so by the host.

6. Say "excuse me" after doing something inappropriate.

7. If arriving in line at the same time as another person, let that person go first.

8. Always clean after yourself.

9. When shaking hands, make sure your grip is strong and the part between your index finger and thumb is squarely against the other person's.

10. Never outright negatively judge someone by their looks. With everyone you meet, you should think to yourself "I like this person."

11. Treating a person poorly because of his or her social status is vulgar.

12. When borrowing something, make sure you give it back promptly and in the same working order.
For example, if you borrow your friend's car, make sure you fill it up with gas before returning it.

13. When handling other people's property, be gentle with it.

14. Be judicious when criticizing others. In fact, be indirect as possible.

15. Let the speaker finish his or her sentence before talking.

16. When in doubt, use the Golden Rule.

With the suggestions above, you should have good cooperation from most people. Truly, it's the small things that make a big difference. You'll be able to achieve your objectives as a result.

Romantic Idea no.10

If your partner is going away for a few days, tell her that you are worried about her so you have organized a bodyguard to look after her. Then give her a small teddy bear.

Glückliches Neues Jahr

I got this article from the website of my favorite bookstore which is A different Bookstore. Please read and make it known to all and help save the romance of paper.

In the last few months, the importation of books into the Philippines has virtually stopped. The reason why is explained in this article by Robin Hemley, a University of Iowa creative writing professor currently on a fellowship in the Philippines.

If you have no time to read the article, the essence is that the Bureau of Customs has decided to impose duties on the importation of books into the Philippines.
This, despite the 1950 Florence Agreement on the Importation of Educational, Scientific and Cultural Materials (which you can see here), which the Philippines ratified in 1979. The preamble of the agreement states: "Considering that the free exchange of ideas and knowledge and, in general, the widest possible dissemination of the diverse forms of self-expression used by civilizations are vitally important both for intellectual progress and international understanding, and consequently for the maintenance of world peace...", an indisputable proposition.
Here's an excerpt from Robin Hemley’s article:
...Over coffee one afternoon, a book-industry professional (whom I can't identify) told me that for the past two months virtually no imported books had entered the country, in part because of the success of one book, Twilight by Stephenie Meyer. The book, an international best seller, had apparently attracted the attention of customs officials. When an examiner named Rene Agulan opened a shipment of books, he demanded that duty be paid on it.

The importer of Twilight made a mistake and paid the duty requested. A mistake because such duty flies in the face of the Florence Agreement, a U.N. treaty that was signed by the Philippines in 1952, guaranteeing the free flow of "educational, scientific, and cultural materials" between countries and declaring that imported books should be duty-free. Mr. Agulan told the importer that because the books were not educational (i.e., textbooks) they were subject to duty. Perhaps they aren't educational, I might have argued, but aren't they "cultural"? No matter. With this one success under their belt, customs curtailed all air shipments of books entering the country. Weeks went by as booksellers tried to get their books out of storage and started intense negotiations with various government officials. What doubly frustrated booksellers and importers was that the explanations they received from various officials made no sense. It was clear that, for whatever reason—perhaps the 30-billion-peso ($625 million) shortfall in projected customs revenue—customs would go through the motions of having a reasonable argument while in fact having none at all. Customs Undersecretary Espele Sales explained the government's position to a group of frustrated booksellers and importers in an Orwellian PowerPoint presentation, at which she reinterpreted the Florence Agreement as well as Philippine law RA 8047, providing for "the tax and duty-free importation of books or raw materials to be used in book publishing." For lack of a comma after the word "books," the undersecretary argued that only books "used in book publishing" (her underlining) were tax-exempt.
"What kind of book is that?" one publisher asked me afterward. "A book used in book publishing." And she laughed ruefully.
I thought about it. Maybe I should start writing a few. Harry the Cultural and Educational Potter and His Fondness for Baskerville Type. Likewise, with the Florence Agreement, she argued that only educational books could be considered protected by the U.N. treaty. Customs would henceforth be the arbiter of what was and wasn't educational.
"For 50 years, everyone has misinterpreted the treaty and now you alone have interpreted it correctly?" she was asked.
"Yes," she told the stunned booksellers.
Throughout February and March, bookstores seemed on the verge of getting their books released—all their documents were in order, but the rules kept changing. Now they were told that all books would be taxed: 1 percent for educational books and 5 percent for noneducational books. A nightmare scenario for the distributors; they imagined each shipment being held for months as an examiner sorted through the books. Obviously, most would simply pay the higher tax to avoid the hassle. Distributors told me they weren't "capitulating" but merely paying under protest. After all, customs was violating an international treaty that had been abided by for over 50 years. Meanwhile, booksellers had to pay enormous storage fees. Those couldn't be waived, they were told, because the storage facilities were privately owned (by customs officials, a bookstore owner suggested ruefully). One bookstore had to pay $4,000 on a $10,000 shipment. The day after the first shipment of books was released, an internal memo circulated in customs congratulating themselves for finally levying a duty on books, though no mention was made of their pride in breaking an international treaty.

Please forward this or disseminate this in any way you can, in the name of reading.

A quick painful way out

I just read that former South Korean president Roh Moo-hyun just commited suicide by diving off a cliff, possibly because of all those bribery and corruption allegations that he is facing. Anyways if you haven't read about it you can read it here. Well anyways what's my point in writing this one then? Well I was just amazed how honorable, foolish and cowardly such an act is, but I like it because it shows that some people are still honorable albeit irresponsible. I do hope Mrs. Arroyo does the same thing, well I think it's much better if Mrs. Arroyo gets lynched by a mob! That will be the day!