Book Review: State of Fear

Michael Crichton's State of Fear is about climate change and how questionable is the science behind such mass belief.

As a thriller, State of Fear leaves much to be desired. The plot is simply hard to swallow -- a lawyer, an assistant, and a "paramilitary" MIT head of risk-analysis travel around the world stopping the nefarious plans of environmentalists in their quest to drive the world to hysteria. Character development is all but ignored, and the bulk of the novel is dedicated to debunking the myth of global warming.

But I'm just nitpicking here. If you're like me who enjoyed Crichton's pages upon pages of discussion about chaos theory or alien anthropomorphism in his previous novels, State of Fear continues this tradition.

Crichton begins his discussion by asking, "What is global warming?" Most of us would define it loosely as the phenomenon explaining the worldwide rise of temperature caused by the increase of greenhouse gases such as carbon dioxide.

Not true, says Crichton. Technically, global warming is the theory that increased levels of carbon dioxide and certain other gases are causing an increase in the average temperature of the earth’s atmosphere because of the so-called ‘greenhouse effect.’ (p. 81, italics in the original)

The keyword there is theory -- that global warming, despite all the hoopla espoused by the movie and environmental groups, is still unproven and that there are sciences supporting both the advocacy and the denial of it. Crichton offers dozens upon dozens of references debunking beliefs that most people already consider as truth, such as:

1. The thawing of glaciers
2. Carbon Dioxide is the leading cause of global warming
3. Ocean levels are rising

As hard to believe as it may sound, Crichton rebutts these 'truths' by citing actual studies and scientific papers. As one character in State of Fear concludes, “The threat of global warming is essentially nonexistent. Even if it were a real phenomenon, it would probably result in a net benefit to most of the world” (p. 407).

After reading the book, readers can't help but ask, "Is this true? Have we been fools to believe the environmental movement?" Like State of Fear's stand on global warming, the answer is -- we're not sure. With such a highly political topic, State of Fear has passionate supporters and detractors alike.

That, I think, is the best thing we can take from Crichton's book. Let's not be zealots and be carried away. Let us study, let us verify, before we espouse the things that TV and popular media tell us. Crichton also talks about this, actually -- how the establishment is advocating 'a state of fear' to keep its citizens in line. But the idea was underdeveloped. It would have been nice if Crichton digged deeper on this topic, especially considering it was his book's title, after all.

Talking about verifying before jumping into high horse of belief, I remember a question a pastor once asked me when I showed him archaelogical findings supporting the bible -- "Is Scripture still Scripture if it needs archaeological validation?" I haven't had the time to really sit down and answer his question but I will... soon.

The desire to write is slowly awakening again :)

250 km north

Friends. Beach. Stress-free weekend.



We should do this again soon :)

Marriage: A month in review

I love it. I know the preacher said things about being "one body" and all that, and I always thought it would be 'nice'... but actually being in it? Having this intimacy? It's mind-boggling.

Best parts for me are:

• Trapped in a two-seat kayak while we paddled our way around the 24-hectare Arrefecci (?) island (Dos Palmas, as it's more commonly known). It was just her and me against the elements, with the sea calm and silent. Flying fish would occasionaly jump from our sides, and sea gulls fly overhead. It was just the two of us there, and with God all around. We didn't know if we could make it, but we were laughing because it was us. It was the perfect start of our life together.

• Working together. It just comes naturally, without being forced into it. Like when Leah cooks and I take over washing the dishes. Or ironing clothes while the other cleans the house. She doesn't need to ask me, it just became natural.

• Growing closer together. Maybe it's voluntarily waking up early so I could prepare breakfast in bed, or choosing the stale pandesal so she can have the remaining good bread, but being married has made me sweeter... in my own way. And I'm looking forward to growing even closer to her through the years.

• Seeing Leah's attempts to master the kitchen. It's just so sweet seeing her efforts
  

Of course, there are also marriage demands that require me to adjust -- like the demands on my time and making allowances for leah's disgust on waking up early... but it's all worth it. As I've said on my vow, she's a gift undeserved, a blessing unearned, a treasure I will always cherish. Praise God for this marriage

Hitched

Yep, for those who occasionally drop by here and don't know yet, I've tied the knot last Feb 23. To see pictures of this wondrous day, go to my multiply site or choose one of the following:

Wedding Preps Friends & Family


Pre-wedding shots The Wedding

And for honeymoon photos, click here:

Through Australian Eyes

I'm excited to go to my blogfriend -- Henry Bateman's first exhibit here in the Philippines. He's an australian who has been living in our country for the past three years, and I've enjoyed reading about his troubles getting a PLDT connection, or how taxi drivers try to 'hustle' him into going round and round the metro just to get a bigger fee. He harps about basketball on the streets, the energy of riding a jeepney... things we Filipinos usually overlook because we've been here all our lives.

Now, here's our chance to 'see' our country through an Australian's eyes. Here's a copy of the invite he sent to me. For you guys who want to see great art and think at the same time, drop by Henry's exhibition:


Through Australian Eyes
One Workshop Gallery
2241 Don Chino Roces Ave, (formerly Pason Tamo) corner Sabio St, Makati City
March 4 to April 4
Opening Reception Tuesday 4th March at 7pm


Living in the Philippines has been an eye opening experience for Australian artist/photographer Henry Bateman.

For the last 3 years he has been a resident of this Island Nation and its influence has seen his work expand in ways he never imagined possible.

“There are aspects of Filipino life that stand in stark contrast to an Australian lifestyle,” Bateman said. “With my work I have tried to capture not only the physical differences but also the cultural differences that the Filipino lifestyle imposes on Australian sensibilities,” he added.

A painter who embraced digital photography 8 years ago, Bateman manipulates his digitally captured photographs on his computer to delve below the composition of the recorded moment. From each of his photographs he builds a new image that explores the underlying motivation that caused the shutter to be pressed when it was. “It is a journey in which the image dictates what directions to take,” Bateman said. “My major contribution is knowing when a destination has been reached,” he added.

“Through Australian Eyes” will be Bateman’s 14th exhibition, but his first in the Philippines. His work has been shown in Australia and the US with the most recent being a solo exhibition at The Australian National University in September last year.

My pc is dead! Long live the pc!!

It's been a week or so now that John and I finally gave up on my pc. It needs a new motherboard, and perhaps a new video card. A kick-ass processor sounds good too... but the point is, with the upcoming wedding, starting on a new house, and bulk payment for my parent's medicards, procuring the requisite parts may take longer than what I can tolerate (if you have to know, the next minute's already my limit.)

While I languish in this pathetic state of being pc-deprived, dreams of forming a spanking new system have been awakened in me. And while I know it's out of the question these days, one should never deprive himself of a dream.

Presenting the HP Blackbird 002...



Forget that much-hyped macbook air -- give me a true gaming system any day. This baby kicks ass on almost all current (as of second week January) gaming systems. To the enthusiast, here's a rundown of the goodies:

Processor: Quad Core - Intel(R) Core2(TM) Extreme Quad-Core 3.0GHz QX6850 performance enhanced
RAM: 4 GB 1066MHz CORSAIR PC2-8500 DDR2 SDRAM SLI Ready
Coolant: CPU and Graphic cards liquid cooling (NVIDIA gfx)
MoBo: ASUS Striker Extreme 680i
Video Card: Dual NVIDIA GeForce 8800 ULTRA, with 768MB of GDDR3 SDRAM (LC)
Physix Card: Ageia PhysX(tm) 100 Series PCI-E GFX Accelerator Card (Physics Acceleration)
Audio Board: Creative Audio Sound Blaster(R) X-Fi(TM) XtremeGamer Fatal1ty Professional
Power Supply: 1.1KW Power Supply
Storage: 1) RAID (0) Performance - 3 x 160GB 10,000 rpm SATA (primary OS storage)
2) RAID (1) Data Reliability - 2 x 750GB 7200 rpm SATA (secondary Data storage)
Optical Drives: 1) Super multi-drive, slim slots with Lightscribe (DVD+/-R/RW+/-DL)
2) Second Super multi-drive, slim slots with Lightscribe (DVD+/-R/RW+/-DL)
3) Blu-ray Rewriter and HD DVD-ROM Super multi-drive with LightScribe (CD-R/RW, DVD-R/RW/RAM, +R/RW, +/- R DL)
Displays: HP LP3065 30-inch LCD Monitor
Sound: 1) Bose Companion(R) 5 multimedia speaker system
2) Creative Fatal1ty Gaming Headset
Peripherals: Logitech Force 3D Pro

Configuration: $10,501.96 USD* or even with the relatively strong peso, it's around Php420,000. It's Godzilla-powerful AND matrix pretty. Crazy? I know. But what's the point of dreams if they're just run-off-the-mill?

And while I wait for a more opportune time for a PC upgrade, here's something my thumbs are busy with in the meantime:

* photos from the Hewlett Packard site and http://bobmeetsworld.com/

Free JVC video cam

Not for you, sorry. It's me who got the free JVC video cam from the company Christmas raffle.


The versatile JVC GRD796 includes a powerful 34x optical zoom and convenient Dual Recording capability for shooting still images during video recording. A large 2.7-inch wide screen LCD monitor aids the recording process, especially when shooting in 16:9 wide mode. The GRD796 comes with two data batteries for twice the recording time.

34x Optical Zoom/800x Digital Zoom
MiniDV Format, 1/6-Inch 680k Pixel CCD
2.7-Inch Wide Clear LCD Monitor
USB Interface, DV Input/Output (IEEE 1394 Compliant), AV Input/Output, SD Memory Card Slot
16:9 Wide Mode (High Quality), Dual Recording Capability
Auto Illumination Light
Digital Still Function (640 x 480 Pixels), HG Digital Still (Progressive Shutter)
3-Dimension Noise Reduction (3D NR)
Color Viewfinder
Stick Control
Power-Linked Operation
Data Battery (x2)
Auto Macro, Auto Iris
F Stop: F2.0 - 4.7, Shutter Speed: 1/60 - 1/4000
Full Range AF/Manual Focus
Full Auto/Manual White Balance
Super High-Band Processor
Multi-Languages On-Screen Display (7 Languages)
Data Button
AUTO Mode
Power-Linked Operation
Program AE/Digital Effects
Scene Transition (Wipes/Fades)
Dimensions: 2.44" W x 3.75" H x 4.50" D
Weight: 0.91 lbs.

This is great! I'm so happy! There's only one catch: I just don't have any idea what to do with it