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When the Fields Were Our Underground Pantry

When the Fields Were Our Underground Pantry Our childhood food did not all hang from branches. Some of it waited beneath the soil. Sweet potato, kamoteng kahoy, purple yam and arrowroot grew quietly underground. We could pass beside them without seeing the food they were making. Above the surface were leaves and stems. Beneath them, hidden from view, were roots and tubers that could help feed a family. Then there was apuler. It appeared in the wet ground associated with the rice fields. After the rice had been harvested, we could go into the field, pull up the plants and search through the soil for the small round corms attached below. We uprooted them, washed them very well, boiled them and ate them just as they were. They were only about one to one and a half centimetres across. Each had a covering or skin around it. Even after boiling, the inside remained pleasantly crunchy. The flavour was mild—almost no taste at all. We ate them anyway. The food hidden beneath our feet Children ar...
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Super El Niño, Killer AI, and Ten Feet of Horse Manure

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Super El Niño, Killer AI, and Ten Feet of Horse Manure Why history makes me skeptical of both doom and utopia. Every generation seems to get its own prediction of doom. Today, we hear warnings that a Super El Niño may bring devastating floods, droughts, heat waves, and economic disruption around the world. The risks are real, and organizations such as NOAA and the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) have warned that a very strong El Niño can significantly disrupt global weather patterns. [noaa.gov] , [wmo.int] At the same time, headlines are circulating about artificial intelligence. Some AI researchers have publicly expressed concern that future superintelligent AI systems could pose existential risks to humanity within the coming decade. Evan Hubinger, Alignment Science Lead at Anthropic, recently stated his personal belief that there is greater than a 10% chance AI could "kill all humans" within the next decade if the alignment problem remains unsolved. [cbsnews.com] ,...
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Location: Singapore
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When the Whole Community Was Our Orchard

When the Whole Community Was Our Orchard The other night, my wife and I found ourselves remembering the fruits of our childhood. One name brought out another. Camachile. Tieza. Pomelo. Guyabano. Guava. Abyang. Mango. Aratiles. Balimbing. Kaimito. Duhat. Siniguelas. Mabolo. Mulberry. Sampalok. Pias. Soon, we were no longer merely naming fruits. We were rebuilding an entire community as it once appeared—with tall trees beside houses, branches extending over open land, seasonal fruits hanging within sight and children who knew exactly where to find them. Decades later, many of those trees are gone. More houses now occupy the spaces where they once grew. Families expanded, land became more valuable, and open areas were gradually claimed for new homes. The change was understandable, perhaps even unavoidable. Yet every new structure seemed to take the place of a tree, a patch of ground or a small corner where something edible had once grown freely. Only after returning did we realize how muc...
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Location: Singapore
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🇵🇭 Pax Silica in the Philippines: Who Gains, Who Pays, and What the Documents Actually Say

🇵🇭 Pax Silica in the Philippines: Who Gains, Who Pays, and What the Documents Actually Say When a project promises billions of dollars in investment, hundreds of thousands of jobs, advanced technology and a place for the Philippines in the global artificial-intelligence economy, it is tempting to call it progress before the first building has risen. It is equally tempting to condemn it immediately as another foreign intrusion. Neither response is sufficient. Pax Silica must be examined according to what has actually been signed, what remains under negotiation, what the Philippine government promises, what foreign partners openly expect to receive—and what Filipino communities may be required to sacrifice. The truth is neither a government press release nor a protest slogan. But when the documented benefits, risks and obligations are unequal, neutrality must not become an excuse for silence. This article reflects publicly available information as of August 8, 2026. Because the binding...
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Location: Singapore
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The Scent That Led Me Back to the Fishpond

The Scent That Led Me Back to the Fishpond This morning, I harvested a couple of tender tips from my green Malabar spinach. I did not need scissors. I held a stem between my thumb and finger and pinched. It yielded easily—a quiet little snap that told me the shoot was young enough for the kitchen. Then came the smell. It was green, earthy and strangely familiar. For a moment, I was no longer standing beside my balcony garden in Singapore. That scent had opened a door, and through it I found myself back in Pangasinan, beside the fishponds of my childhood. I remembered a plant we called balangbang . The vegetable beside the water Balangbang grew along the sides of fishponds, close enough for some of its leaves to touch the water. It was not planted in neat rows. Nobody had to prepare a garden bed for it, buy a packet of seeds or draw up a feeding schedule. It simply grew where land and water met. Its young green growth could be gathered and brought home. The tender portions were made int...
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Location: Singapore
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Learning AOSP, Balcony Growing, And Now -- Hydroponics!

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 14-Jan-2026 So for those years when I was quiet, or not writing anything, life is going on. 2020, it was the pandemic. I was hired back by my first company here in Singapore , and I stayed for another 3 years. It was around the 3rd quarter of the 3rd year that I got a message from one of my former colleagues who asked if I want to be doing PROMIS again. We worked together back in 1997 in ADI Philippines doing, guess what? Yes, PROMIS. So our past experiences going back full circle. Work, that is. I thought about it, the skillset is familiar, and we're good at it, so I thought about the financial side. There's an increment which is considerable. I did not expect that amount, really. Which I learned afterwards that my full work experience was considered, which is at least 3 decades. Around 17 years was on doing PROMIS. So yeap, that gave me some leverage to catapult my base pay. And that additional amount was needed. Praise God for his wisdom! At the right time, I was offered ...
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Location: Singapore
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