MANILA, Philippines – Japan's magnitude-9 earthquake and resulting tsunami demonstrated once more the indomitable spirit of that country and its people.

Never in the history of humankind has the world seen such a disciplined and closely knit people.

Unlike what happened when catastrophes and disasters visited other places (ranging from the mightiest United States to the humblest Haiti), there were virtually no looting, no vicious surges in crime rates, and almost no panic buying.

Television broadcasts have been showing orderly lines of law-abiding citizens, who despite the desperateness of their situation, are calmly and patiently waiting for their turn at food stores and service stations.

Unfortunately, the disaster also put on display the not so pretty side of nuclear energy, one of the cleanest energy sources today. It also bares for all to see how fear of radiation can drive the world's peoples into near hysteria.

Proof of this irrational fear is how "effective" those radiation-hoax text messages that circulated among mobile subscribers last week. Just look at how many clueless souls went to their village health centers for a quick swab of iodine antiseptic on their necks.

As an aside, those text messages have spread beyond the Philippine borders to several other Asian countries, even as far as India.

It's a pity that Japan's nuclear woes will certainly discourage more people from adopting the clean energy technology. After all, despite its being a virtually non-polluting power source, people do not want to live with a nuclear sword of Damocles hanging over their heads.

 
Android Beats iPhone Safari

Software vendor Blaze, finding too much time on its hands maybe, decided to do a no-holds barred street fight between the iOS 4.3-based iPhone 4 and the Android 2.3-based Samsung Nexus S smartphones.

Some 45,000 tests were conducted involving 1,000 Fortune1000 Web sites to gauge the smartphones' speeds in loading up Web pages.

According to Blaze's report, Android's Web browser proved 52 percent faster than Apple's iPhone Safari.

The Nexus S showed itself faster than Steve Jobs' smartphone in 84 percent of the Web sites tested.

Immediately after publicizing its results, numerous critics questioned Blaze's testing methodology.
 
Ouch!
 
Rarer Than a Blue Moon

So what's rarer than a blue moon?
 
A perigee moon, that is.
 
While a blue moon happens only once about every two and a half years, a perigee moon shows itself once about every 18 years.

The last one happened during the weekend – last Saturday night, and the last one before that occurred in March 1993.

If you happened to miss last weekend's spectacle, you have to wait until 2029 for the next one.

But do not fret if you did miss it, especially if you're reading this. At least, some prophets of dooms were once again proved inaccurate.

At least a couple of them said the larger-than-usual moon meant the world would end last weekend.

That's all for the meantime, folks. Join me again next time as we keep on watching IT and some other things.