Fats, Vitamins and Minerals

This morning, I found a dead cockroach in one of the studios and saw that ants have started converging around it. In a few minutes, the dead cockroach have started moving - very slowly - being carried off by the ants to their den in our computer room.

It was a slow but visible painstaking process, especially when the ants reached the studio’s doorway out into the livingroom. The floor of the living room was slightly raised, maybe about a centimeter over the floor of the studio.

There were ants pushing and there were ants pulling and there were ants tugging at the dead cockroach’s antennae (I call them “whiskers”). There were plenty of on-looker ants too, moving about, and some were just still, alone, others in pairs, sometimes in threes and at most in fours.

Trevor and I finished lunch and the ants hadn’t managed to lift the dead cockroach out into the livingroom. They were turning the thing around, deciding whether to lift it by the head thru pulling its whiskers or to lift it by its bum, or by its side.

I asked Trevor if God should give them a hand. Trevor said no and that we should stick to the Star Trek Enterprise principle of no intervention. I said, well I’m sure they’ll figure something out, and when they do we’ll hear a loud applause.

While Trevor was washing the dishes, I saw it happen - the ants lifting the cockroach by the bum and carrying it through the doorway and out into the livingroom. I couldn’t help but cheer.

In a few minutes they crossed the livingroom and were on their way towards the computer room. Getting through the doorway was easier because the floor of the computer room was lower, and so the ants just had to push the cockroach down.

Soon they were crossing the room, passing under my chair and heading for the hole in the wall behind the boxes where Trevor had stocked away many of his books from Amsterdam.

But there was another obstacle - the thick cord of the electric fan.

Just as with the studio doorway, the ants tried lifting the cockroach over the cord, turning it around many times, trying by the bum, by the head and by the side. I thought, oh they should know better by now that lifting the dead cockroach by the bum is easier. But what made things more difficult was that the ants pulling the cockroach by the whiskers have insisted on pulling it through under the cord. What was worse was that they kept on doing that against the other ants pulling and lifting the cockroach by the bum.

It was turning into a futile tug-o-war.

I asked again if God should interfere and Trevor said no. I thought, well, I’m sure these smart ants will sort something out by themselves.

Minutes and then an hour passed and the ants have visibly become exhausted. There were less of them now and many that previously swarmed around have stopped moving. There were so much more “on-lookers” now.

Suddenly, someone rang. It was our cleaning lady. She comes twice a month to do a general clean-up of the apartment. Trevor and I greeted her and then she started cleaning up in the studio. I thought that at least the computer room would be the last room to get cleaned so the ants would have time to sort out their cockroach problem.

When I came back to the computer room to see how they were doing I was shocked to see that they have managed to cross the cockroach over the cord. I quickly called Trevor and asked him if he saw how they did it.

Trevor admitted that he lifted the cord to let the ants through.

I was disappointed, of course, that God interfered.

Trevor reasoned that he had to do something before the cleaning lady gets to them.

Strangely enough, a few minutes later, I noticed that the ants were in the same place a few inches past the cord. They haven’t moved forward at all but have been turning and turning that dead cockroach around and around and around.

I told Trevor, look what you’ve done! What a disaster!

They were doing fine, I said, until they discovered “religion”!

It must’ve been nearly an hour that the ants moved that dead cockroach round and round in the same place. They really got screwed up.

However, they did finally manage to snap out of their cockroach carousel impression. By the time the cleaning lady started doing the computer room, the ants and their dinner were all safely hidden away in their den.

It will probably rain again soon, I thought, which was why the ants have been so busy … In the meantime, I finally finished a rejoinder to the piece I wrote about IPR and intellectual imperialism, thru Korakora Proyekto.

Just before the typhoon, managed to attend a public forum on privacy, security and public interest, a workshop on privacy issues, and a meeting for a new research on censorship and surveillance. It’s been quite a while since I’ve been actively at work again, and this time, I am learning to take it really easy and actually enjoy everything.

Still not very good with eating out while working though, because I like to concentrate on my food, something which I learned to do only recently (end of 2004) and has allowed me to enjoy eating, to eat more and be healthier.

And so - am working again, this time on a cultural policy meeting in Singapore next month. Although notices have been brief, I’ve managed to produce enough material and methodology earlier this year which I think now find very good implementation for the event. But it is still work - and luckily I can do the preparations at home, which allows me to stop working, to cook and focus on the pleasure of eating! Of course, there’s also my pink crocheted dress which I hope to finish before the trip next month.

I am not so crazy about going to Singapore again, but it could be an interesting visit for Trevor. I do look forward to visiting the supermarkets and getting loads of Horlicks!

Dear friend in the arts,

You might be mildly aware that there is an ongoing campaign towards the strengthening of Intellectual Property Rights (IPR) enforcement in the Philippines as the United States Trade Representative (USTR) announced plans in April 2008 to pursue more aggressive IP protection schemes with its trading partners around the world.

This global campaign aims to include stronger IPR provisions (often promoted by the USTR as “world-class” IPR provisions)  in many free trade agreements being pursued with many countries, calling for more sophisticated protections for digital products such as software, movies and music, and implementing stronger protection for US patents and test data (which are monopolized by large pharmaceuticals and needed by domestic regulators for the registration of generic medicines after their patents have expired) in the pharmaceutical industry.

The approval and enforcement of touted “world-class” IPR provisions into trade agreements aim to allow US products and services more access into more markets around the world especially in the developing countries, the liberalization of investment laws to enable more US claims into domestic resource, and the removal of export barriers where these currently exist in national law or in the implementation of obligations under the WTO-TRIPS Agreements.

Today, even higher standards of IP protection and enforcement are being brought upon countries of the developing world through the new narratives of security, border control and police enforcement.

Following the overwhelming demoralization of alternative business, creative cultural practices and development models in many developing countries by casting them in the wide rhetorical sensationalist net of “piracy”, “counterfeit”, “theft” and “illicit”, higher standards in international IP protection and enforcement are being spear-headed by the US through a new non-transparent treaty-making process involving a handful of the wealthiest countries in the world with interests inimical to the domestic development policies of many developing countries.

Touted as the “Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement” or ACTA, this proposed treaty aims to create a new global standard for a stronger top-down enforcement regime covering strict enforcement of intellectual property rights related to Internet activity, criminalization of copying under a wide variety of contexts, and higher IPR enforcement measures in trade in information-based goods hiding behind the issue of false trademarks.

Another forum being used by the US and the wealthiest countries in the world in their IP expansionist agenda is under the World Customs Organization (WCO)’s proposed Standards Employed by Customs for Uniform Rights Enforcement or SECURE. SECURE brings IP enforcement beyond the existing standards of the TRIPS Agreements through the back-door of international border controls, proposing to  enlarge the powers of Customs Administrations to be the watchdog of IP enforcement and give them authority well beyond their current mandate.

While IP units have already been established within the Philippine Bureau of Customs and in customs agencies in other countries, the campaigning, giving of grants and the bullying have apparently not moved the IP agenda up in the time the USTR desires. ACTA and SECURE, two of the many “war against terror” instruments being pushed before the end of term of the Bush Administration, intend to seal with certainty the winnings of the long and aggressive political and ideological IP campaigns launched against the intellectual, economic and cultural sovereignty of developing countries worldwide.

The Arts as IP-Philippines centerpiece

In April 2007, the Intellectual Property Office of the Philippines (IP Philippines) celebrated World IP Day with member states of the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO). The centerpiece of the local celebration was the opening of an art exhibition in a gallery space called “Alab Art Space” located at the ground floor of the IP office building. “Alab” boasts of being the first art space in an IP office in Southeast Asia.

In a special section called “Exhibits Asia” in The Philippine Star, Thursday, April 26, 2007, there were three news articles: (a) IP Philippines celebrates World IP Day, encouraging creativity among Filipino artists, entrepreneurs, inventors; (b) BSA awards citation to Pilipinas Anti-Piracy Team; (c) Pilipinas Anti-Piracy Team cracks down on users/sellers of pirated software in Davao City.

Advertising for the IPO press release included Lacoste, Business Software Alliance (BSA), Microsoft, Vera Law, BNU Intellectual Property Attorneys, iProbe (investigation and consulting firm), and the Pilipinas Anti-Piracy Team (PAPT) consisting of the National Bureau of Investigation, Optical Media Board and Philippine National Police.

As announced in the press release, part of the mandate of the IP-Philippines is training, campaigning and servicing for the protection of IPR as an important strategic tool for national development in the current global knowledge economy, with not a single mention of alternative IP domains such as the commons, open-source and copyleft licensing nor the on-going contestation of the IP regime worldwide especially in the developing countries.

With some kowtowing to the arts in the effort to highlight the rhetoric of “protection of intellectual property rights helps stimulate creativity and innovation”, IP-Philippines celebrated World IP Day through the signing of an MOU with the US Patents and Trademarks Office for the joint effort of safeguarding US intellectual property in the Philippines, upgrading Philippine intellectual property law to be “at par with international standards”, and the creation of mechanisms by which patented technologies may be commercialized.

With the arts being advocated as IP-Philippines’ centerpiece, I call on all artists to challenge the “piracy” and “counterfeit” discourse of the Intellectual Property Rights regime in the Philippines and worldwide, to continue to follow local and international developments in IP protection and enforcement, and to (re)claim and enhance the creative process by taking commentary, questioning and exposing the myths of the IP expansionist regime.

As an artist confronted with the balancing of the multiplicity of perspectives, possibilities and outcomes in the creative process, I am appalled that mainstream media continues to lack miserably in providing a more balanced picture of the true social and political battles being waged against the IP campaigns in the Philippines and worldwide. I am appalled at the lack of a more creative and critical journalism that transcends the template of “good IP enforcers vs. bad pirates” in the stream of anti-piracy actions being urged by the US, a foreign country imposing its will against Philippine sovereignty.

If IPR was created only as a means to encourage further creativity for the ultimate benefit of all society in contrast to the more traditional forms of property rights that are designed to protect the private interests of their owners, then why are protection and enforcement measures more suited for these more traditional forms of property rights being imposed upon intellectual rights? Why are intellectual rights being made more and more absolute like property rights? Why is copying being demoralized as “theft”, “piracy” and “illicit”? Why is copying called stealing even though the original does not disappear?

Is there evidence that without IPR protection, creativity will cease and that works produced will be substandard? Is the business model of IP the only way or the best way to encourage innovation and creativity? Is the selling of an idea and the commodification of culture the way for creators to profit from their labors?

Why are IP protection and enforcement standards and agreements being made by a few rich countries in secrecy, with meetings suddenly announced as concluded, taking the process away from international scrutiny especially in the interest of developing countries?

Is creativity measured by plus points gained with the USTR through catching up on “global competitiveness” and manipulating our legal, social and political systems to be at par with so-called international standards?

Is local creativity and innovation really stimulated by providing the level of IPR protection and enforcement determined by the USTR and by increasing market access for companies (mostly US entertainment, media and pharmaceutical) relying on intellectual property protection?

With our imperceptible compromises, will we still recognize our Privacy, Freedom of Expression Rights and our Creativity when these have been destroyed by the moralistic campaigns of the US-led IP expansionist coalition?

Is society and the creator truly the beneficiary of the global IP regime?

Through our practice and understanding of art, I hope that these questions be constantly asked to challenge the IP agenda. These are the burning issues that define the kind of society we envision for the future; let this not be overwhelmed by the patronage of IP-Philippines and its counterparts in the global IP expansionist regime.

Sincerely yours,
Fatima Lasay
http://korakora.org/proyekto/

Just several days ago, I had to admit defeat on the challenge to crochet an entire dress: I ended up cutting the unfinished dress in half, separating the top (sleeveless blouse) from the bottom (an over-the-knee skirt).

The reason for the failure was poor design planning: as a single-piece, the dress looked horribly unflattering on the body because of the waist/hip band design right under a vertical strip along the front of the blouse, thus creating a bulge at the stomach.
So now, I have a blouse and skirt! Below is a photo of the blouse. I removed the brown buttons and replaced them with a crocheted lace with wooden beads at the ends. It actually looked sexier as a laced-up blouse. I also put some tiny seed pearls on the squares at the lower part of the blouse.

And below is a photo of the skirt, which is slipped on and keeps in place since it stretches and clings to the body (not too tight but just enough).

And, feeling rather frustrated with the attempt to crochet a whole dress, I decided to work on a blouse I made a few months ago. I wasn’t completely satisfied with this blouse, especially the lower part done in filet crochet because it looked so stiff and was too short. So what I did was cut away the filet crochet part, hem up the ends and then continue crocheting the lower part. And yes - here I go again - the challenge is to turn this blouse into a whole dress!

Below is a photo of the blouse-into-dress in progress.

I hope this time it works out!

Just as I hope that things work out on the advocacy front - when problems seem to be rushing down on us like a tropical depression, from ACTA to the WCO’s SECURE programme! And I am such a slow worker - crochet or other!

Last night, what a shock to see a young dead lizard in our room!

There has been a number of lizard morbidity in the apartment lately, beginning with the big dark scarred tail-less lizard we called the Big Boss. He fell from the ceiling with a loud splat right beside me.

After that was a small lizard that probably got caught by the door or got trampled on by some people coming in and out of the apartment the other day. There has been quite some activity here - our landlady has decided to get the window grills out in the laundry area painted.

Then just last night, we saw another small lizard apparently dead in the living area (Hmmm…).  And now this lizard in the bedroom.

We suspected that the little lizards might be dying because of the smell of paint and paint thinner. Work has been going on for three days now. Trevor told me that such types of paint have been banned in some places in Europe already, such as the Netherlands. Well, for obvious reasons the owners of the apartment decided to use cheap enamel paints (I would probably use water-based acrylic which is also not very expensive) although they did use very expensive odorless-fast-drying paint in their own house. I guess they don’t mind killing other people!

As there might be more renovation work to take place here (following a rent increase for sure), it’s time we picked up a bit more speed on the plans to settle out of Manila …

The fiesta went quite well this weekend - really noisy - and someone organized some parlor games for young people along our street. It was sunny all day and a group of gay performers visiting from Cavite entertained with their dances and fire-eating stunts. They came in via a jeepney hired for about 1,700 pesos for a few days, according to their hired driver, to join fiestas in Parañaque, Manila and then ours. I asked the driver if he owned the jeepney, he said no, and pointed to the old woman sitting inside it, he told me, she owns the jeepney. He added that he was just the driver. I asked him if they’ve been here before, he said no. So I thought that the routine must be quite popular (impressive drumming and some 5 or 6 gays in ati-atihan -style or other costume (last year I think it was safari) and one or two of them very skilled in fire-eating.

They are extremely talented, certainly much better than the amateurs around here who beat drums and jump up and down. There have been plenty of very impressive drumming recently though, so I guess people have been practising more.

Anyway, the jeepney driver asked if Trevor was my husband and I said yes. I asked if lots of women in his town marry foreigners and he said, yes, there has been a growing number of women marrying foreigners. So I asked how the relationships were and he said not very well. I asked why. His explanation was quite poetic, I thought,

“May kama ka na, hindi ka pa nakuntento. Ngayon ay nasa banig ka na lang, di lang banig, sementong malamig pa.”

He said, describing the women, You were given a bed and you are not content, now you only have a mat, worse you have a cold ground to sleep on.

The women, he said, also fooled around a great deal.

He asked if Trevor was a good husband. I said yes, and I described to him how we live. He seemed pleased that we live rather simply and are happy. When I mentioned that Trevor was already retired and not working he said, “alagain na lang”, that is, just someone who needs caring. I thought he meant it negatively but he added that it was good because he is my husband, and couples look after each other.

I realized that “alagain” had a more positive connotation to some people especially when it referred to family looking after each other. Or perhaps I confused it with “palamunin” which meant a mouth to feed, which can have a negative connotation especially when referring to lazy young able-bodied men in the family, but has a more jocular connotation when referring to younger people or people who have just lost their jobs and still live with their parents.

Actually, I was about to ask the driver and gay dancers if they would wish to perform at the church (just a few more yards from where they parked the jeepney) in order to attract more people and earn more money, when I realized that the church here (which can be quite conservative) would consider these things blasphemous. I guess the same with the kids playing games with long eggplants hanging between their legs, which Trevor saw on his way back to our apartment.

When the religious procession began in the evening it started to rain.

Today we celebrated lunch at a nearby restaurant with Auntie Pin and family - it’s auntie’s 80th birthday. Plenty of food, we even had some for take-out! Below is a photo of Edward after eating…

And below I took a photo of the pond surrounding the restaurant - plenty of fish - and coins!

Anyway, all day that Sunday fiesta I’ve been thinking of that gay performance group. They work really hard and I can imagine invest a lot in their skills, costumes, make-up. I wondered if they earned enough through their fiesta-hopping and if they encountered aggressive towns… It would’ve been nice to chat with them but they all had to go and work …

I also thought about those women, especially in small towns, who had unsuccessful relationships with foreign men. It must’ve been quite a disaster for the men too. Actually, Trevor and I met an Australian woman at an airport in Thailand who said her ex-husband has married twice, all to Filipina women who just took money from him and dumped him - and that he was doing it all again. She thought that he was really stupid.

Then I thought about a few Filipina friends of mine, women intellectuals, who have just married foreign men and are very happy. So it also seems that quite a number of young intelligent Filipina women are now marrying foreign men (not Americans!), not for purely economic reasons but more for intellectual reasons. Well, not intending to put down Filipino men but it does seem that the local intellectual-cultural machismo landscape (at least in the city centers) has degenerated…

Here are two crocheted purses that I finished yesterday. These use thick yarn and the finer crocheting thread, as well as bright yellow-orange ribbons running through what are often referred to as “beading” in old crochet books.

I also managed to write a long-overdue text for the second in my Finding Linux series (thank goodness!) - over at Proyekto.

And … an amazingly sunny day today, when nearly all throughout the summer season it has been raining. Trevor said it’s been just like an English summer. Yes, that’s quite rare here, but pleasant, since the city seems spared from the sweltering heat. There was even a typhoon several days ago.

However, now, the summer weather seems to be cooperating just in time for the last week of the May fiesta. They also trimmed the trees outside a few days ago when the rains took their pause. I took a photo of the view outside, the houses across us are now visible, and so are we.   The tree’s branches, however, are still pulling at the electricity wires in what to me seem a dangerous way. There is an electric post nearby with a tree clutching it. When it rained the other day I heard the sizzling sound of electricity, so I reported it to the electric company and they came right away to fix it.

Ours is not the most pleasant location, actually, if one is not able to adjust to the noisy environment inherent in t-junctions: cars honk when they reach the junction, the trees provide good shade for noisy tricycles, the jeepneys pass along this corner too, as well as all religious processions. And there are two hair salons facing each other across the street - a beauty salon run by gays and a barber shop run by studs. They frequently tease and bicker. But we are used already to all the noise, often it is quite lovely noise, the chatting and teasing, the barking of dogs in the morning, but not so much the motor cars and tricycles. Especially unpleasant are the horribly loud motorcycles, I keep asking Trevor why on earth they have to rev up their machines so much.

Usually, the motorbikes rush along the streets in the early early morning, waking everyone up. And more, the noise and vibration coming from the motorcycles trigger the alarms of the cars parked along the sidewalk, and we are all left with the cacophony of electronic crows and chimpanzees. The past two early morning weekends the parade came along with great noise, Trevor told me, and I just slept through them all.

It is especially noisy this early evening because they have taken advantage of the clear weather to put up the banderitas for the fiesta. They have this long ladder along the sidewalk, several people around it teasing each other.

So, summer is back, I think … maybe …