Rain pitter-pattering on the roof always makes me feel sleepy. The sound made by mellow raindrops falling gently on leaves and branches of trees always calls out to me like my old trusty bed does.

But this lullaby of nature can without any warning turn into a raging killer. Memories of last year’s Ondoy and the vicious floods it brought upon us are still fresh as they ought to always be. When this year’s first rain came, some of my friends in Taguig and Marikina had panic attack.

These friends of mine would find no comfort from the announcement by the Center for Research and Epidemiology Disasters that the country ranked first globally in terms of the number of disasters that visited the country last year. We took home the bragging rights, thanks to the 25 catastrophes we had.
China followed us in the list with a measly 16.

This makes us wonder how by the grace of God was the Philippines in the world’s list of happiest countries. It is either we are truly blessed or we are just plain stupid.

HP ousts CEO

In a development that once again proves that one’s station in life usually has no bearing on his or her capacity for making stupid decisions, Hewlett-Packard ousted CEO Mark Hurd after it was discovered that he had faked expense reports and other documents to hide a relationship with a contractor.
Previously, Hurd was being investigated over sexual harassment allegations. This rather unpleasant entry in Hurd’s curriculum vitae happened while he was in the midst of negotiating a new employment contract with the company worth at least $100 million.

Consequently, negotiations have turned into settlement talks focusing on Hurd’s “going away” pay.
I wonder, has Hurd been reading too much news reports about the Philippine government and politicians?

Google “balimbing?”

Internet activists are worried that online search giant Google has changed its online neutrality stance, or requiring Internet service providers to treat paying and non-paying content owners equally. This fear was triggered by media reports that Google and telco Verizon have agreed to allow online traffic to move faster for users who pay.

For online freedom advocates, this would be a direct hit to what they are fighting for — an Internet in which all content and traffic are treated equally.

Google promptly denied it has partnered with Verizon or any other telco in such a way that would harm net neutrality.

That’s all for the meantime, folks. Join me again next time as we keep on watching IT.