The “rectum surgery scandal” in Cebu has been getting a lot of attention, and rightfully so, as the doctors behaved abominably in making fun of the man who had to have a long, cylindrical metal object surgically removed from his nether regions following a night of passion with a stranger. Seems that Mr. “X” hooked up with a dude who shoved a body spray container up his anal orifice, maybe with or maybe without consent, it’s not actually clear. This by itself was a bad enough situation.

Problem was, some wise guy took a video and uploaded the procedure in YouTube, including the apparently spontaneous celebration of the surgical team after the successful removal of the foreign object. The sight of the doctors and nurses whooping it up was disgusting, with the head surgeon apparently spraying the contents of the canister all around to show that, contrary to earlier speculations, it was not empty.

Public outrage, as reported in the Inquirer, led Congresswoman Riza Hontiveros-Baraquel to file House Resolution 524 asking for a probe (ooops!) and : Read the rest of this entry »

JuicyCampus.com is a website focusing on gossip, rumors, and rants related to colleges and universities in the United States, according to its Wikipedia page.

The site describes itself, somewhat high-mindedly, as an enabler of “online anonymous free speech on college campuses” and “as a place for both entertainment and free expression.” Through various services such as offering access to anonymous IP servers, it allows users to post messages and comments anonymously and supposedly without possibility of identification. Readers can also vote on which posts they find “juciest” or
most provocative. There is no registration process — anyone may post and anyone may read the posts. Set up in August 2007, the site now contains message boards relating to around 60 U.S. colleges and universities, and growing. As its crows on its website “We are SOOO popular!”.

The JuicyCampus founder and main proprietor, 2005 Duke University alum Matt Ivester, claims he conceived of the forum as a place where students could gossip without fear of
consequence from peers or administrators, but he never expected the site’s content to turn so nasty.

“It’s a gossip site and we never said that it’s not. I guess we didn’t realize how mean some people can be.” Mr. Ivester intones piously in an interview with the Yale Daily News.

JuicyCampus, doubtless owing to its vast commercial potential, is now owned by Lime Blue, a Nevada state limited liability company. Read the rest of this entry »

After Yahoo officially rejected Microsoft’s takeover offer on Monday, saying it was too low, Microsoft ominously, albeit diplomatically, replied that Yahoo’s response was “unfortunate” and that its proposal was “full and fair” and repeated earlier statements that it might consider “all necessary steps” to ensure the deal is completed. Does this sound like dialogue from a classic Mafia movie to you ? Read the rest of this entry »

An “activist” Supreme Court has been quietly but irrevocably redefining the Philippine legal landscape by institutionalizing remedies for the protection of human rights. In September 2007, the SC promulgated the rules governing the issuance of the Writ of Amparo (derived from the Spanish word “amparar”, meaning “to protect”). The writ is issued by the courts in favor of a petitioner whose right to life, liberty, and security has been violated or is threatened with violation by an unlawful act or omission of a public official or employee, or of a private individual or entity. The promulgation of the rules on the issuance of the writ was in response to the threats, extralegal killings and enforced disappearances prevalent in the country. The writ provides the private individual with a “weapon” to keep the wolves of private or state-sponsored oppression or coercion at bay.

Another tool for the protection of individual rights has lately been brought to the fore, with the promulgation by the SC in January 2008 of Administrative Memorandum 08-01-16-SC prescribing the new rules for the Writ of Habeas Data. The writ in general is designed to safeguard individual freedom from abuse in the information age by means of an individual complaint filed in court to protect the image, privacy, honor, information, self-determination, and freedom of information of a person. It is a remedy available to any person whose right to privacy in life, liberty or security is violated or threatened by an unlawful act or omission of a public official or employee, or of a private individual or entity engaged in the gathering, collecting or storing of data or information regarding the person, family, home and correspondence of the aggrieved party. Read the rest of this entry »

It’s a jungle out there. Those who flounder, or at least show declining earnings, are eaten, or more accurately, given an offer they may not be able to refuse. As reported in the New York Times, Jerry Yang, the chief executive of Yahoo, was finishing a regularly scheduled company board meeting Thursday night when his assistant interrupted him with an urgent phone call. It was Steven A. Ballmer, the chief executive of Microsoft, and his message was curt. He did not call to negotiate. Microsoft would make public a hostile $44.6 billion offer for Yahoo early Friday morning in a bold move to counter Google’s online pre-eminence.

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