...

On hiatus.

[trees-and-planets]

— Fyodor Dostoevsky, The Brothers Karamazov

[apocryphics]

leslie jamison

[proustiansleep]

“We will sometimes fail to produce what we should, or to write or speak articulately enough, to be “right,” to be thoughtful or expansive enough, to consider the whole range of historical circumstance, to be responsible at our work’s distribution—but our failure is part of the collective project. We brave our errors in thought for the possibility that to see that their demonstration will allow others to get toward rightness. We brave the humility to learn from fair criticism, and also learn that usefully distanced shrug at the inevitable appearance of the jealous or maligning kind. We brave clumsy writing or speaking, that even in a crude form, a necessary idea will emerge as material for others to refine. When we are silent, we learn it makes room for others to speak. It’s not just our errors we become brave about, but our projects’—and our own—incompleteness. You can stop fearing death, too, if you begin to think of the collective project of being alive in the common world, that one’s own end and the end to one’s work and one’s love is not the end of what is right or good. What needs to go on will.”

— Anne Boyer, Tender Theory

[probablyasocialecologist]

“Yes, the Middle Ages stumbled into some scientific dead ends. But so will we. The Roman farmer Palladius was aware that lead is poisonous — yet we continued to pump it through our cars and into the air we breathed until the very end of the twentieth century. And if, as Bernard of Gordon recognized, much medieval disease was caused by medicine itself, this problem has not gone away either. Of course, modern science has made our modern lives longer and more comfortable in ways medieval people could only imagine. But the biggest barrier blocking further progress may be our own complacency. The doctrine of ‘scientism,’ the belief that an infallible scientific method is the only route to reliable knowledge, is, in its own way, as dangerous as blind religious faith. As long as science is a human activity, it will have human flaws. In this respect, perhaps the many mistakes of the Middle Ages can teach us some helpful humility, and motivate us to identify opportunities for improvement in our own day.”

— Seb Falk, The Light Ages: The Surprising Story of Medieval Science

[cruciform-solidarity]

“Adoration consists in holding onto the nothing—without reason or orign—of the opening. It is the very fact of this holding on.”

— Jean-Luc Nancy, Adoration

[backupcontentt-deactivated20230]

“Are you familiar with the frightening sensation of melting, the feeling of dissolving into a flowing river, in which the self is annulled by organic liquidization? Everything solid and substantial in you melts away in a wearisome fluidity, and the only thing left is your head. I’m speaking of a precise painful sensation, not a vague and undetermined one. As in a hallucinatory dream, you feel that only your head is left, without foundation and support, without a body. This feeling has nothing to do with that vague and voluptuous weariness by the seaside or in melancholy dreamy musings; it is a weariness which consumes and destroys. No effort, no hope, no illusion can satisfy you any longer. Shocked witless by your own catastrophe, unable to think or to act, caught in cold and heavy darkness, solitary as in moments of profound regret, you have reached the negative limit of life, its absolute temperature, where the last illusions about life freeze.”

— Emil M. Cioran, in “Weariness and Agony” from On the Heights of Despair trans. by Ilinca Zarifopol-Johnston (University of Chicago Press, 1992).

[mitsukerarenakute]

T plus four days in the Marcos administration

As of 7PM, there is still no Secretary of Health. An Undersecretary was designated as OIC and will attend the Cabinet meeting tomorrow.

Two regimes are fond of symbols: authoritarians and incompetents. Since both are part and parcel of the last administration, there were many symbolic gestures galore during the final days. Our unit got some awards, probably as consolation prizes; "Sorry for not listening. Hey, have a Presidential Citation instead!". Imagine caring so little about the approval of the previous president and receiving it anyway. And some people were so proud of it! How can one feel validated by receiving an honor from a dishonorable politician? The mind boggles.

We still function without a Secretary. Most of the work that we do happens regardless of the number of parties being held in Malacañan Palace or the volume of rumors on who shall be appointed. There are still sleepless nights, especially when trying to account for how many vaccinated (too few). All of our directors are in danger of being completely fired by Vic Rodriguez. But the reports have to be made. The deaths have to be counted. The samples have to be submitted.

I'm being asked to submit requirements for overseas graduate school. I still hesitate, for fear of being found wanting.

[philosophybits]

“Language is an instrument. Its concepts are instruments. … Concepts lead us to make investigations. They are the expression of our interest and direct our interest.”

— Ludwig Wittgenstein, Philosophical Investigations

[cheekybug1]

[mitsukerarenakute]

T minus 24 days before the Marcos administration

Still no SOH announcement.

Back to office is still a dreadful concept, if only because depending on vacations really isn't healthy as a coping strategy. Thankfully lotion helps with the sting.

Sitting down for a long-form essay is much harder than before. Maybe it's better to schedule hobbies, too.

[manfrommars2049]

Rules For A Reasonable Future via WorkReform

[mitsukerarenakute]

T minus 26 days until the Marcos administration

I used to wonder why it's really hard for some people to defend Sass Sasot from homophobes until I remember this meme:

Of course they're wrong but it's really easy to fall into this line of thinking. At its core it's really just a massive cope, one that is part and parcel of a democracy split between irreconcilable positions.

The fact that people are having this discussion during Pride Month just makes it more weird.

[mitsukerarenakute]

T minus 27 days before the Marcos administration

I have not been here before.

Mountains are good spots for planetariums and observatories. It seems a waste to let this one fall into ruin a mere 16 years after it was constructed.

Can science and technology even be considered a priority of local government? It can maintain museums and tourist attractions, yes, but a planetarium requires somewhat specialized personnel. Who else can give context to the night sky?

[mitsukerarenakute]

T minus 28 days before the Marcos administration

I've been on official travel this week. Last Sunday, I landed in Bohol — my first trip to Central Visayas.

I learned a lot from the activity (it was also my first official emcee gig), but as usual, values clash. This trip was completely unnecessary if we had low expectations of the event. Everyone suffered during the pandemic, and it would still be unfair to have no substantial output on taxpayer expense. We did our best nevertheless; I cannot be more proud of my teammates.

Right now, I'm in Legazpi City in service to an Assistant Secretary.

I do hope we have substantial outputs too. Laboratories are an important component of the pandemic response; it's a shame to let those investments go to waste. We have some ideas to advance public health laboratory work, at least.

Maybe I'll go back to have a vacation. I'd like to see Mayon by myself one time. Even though he is not as friendly as Mother Ocean, respects must still be paid.

[mitsukerarenakute]

T minus 29 days until the Marcos inauguration

As of press time, no presumptive DOH Secretary has been named. The transition team is ready with no-one to receive the turn-over.

We have our own little calculations who shall be the next SOH; however, no candidate holds appeal. The hope is that a weak President (and, make no mistake, he is weaker than Rodrigo Duterte) will be supported by a strong Secretary. The fear is that no-one can measure up to the already-low bar that is Francisco Duque III.

It is obvious that the public health sector needs not just a respite from years of mismanagement but a change in paradigm. Social services have long suffered from a combination of Imperial Manila and local government misprioritization, but health is unique in that it only recently gained a fixed budgetary allocation at the local level and that its implementation is primarily a mandate of local government. Paul Farmer used to talk of a preferential option for the poor where the best health services are reserved for those with the least resources in society. This should be our goal, and the challenge to the incoming SOH is to further leverage the initial work (sloppily) done by this administration to work towards that.

This is why I hate having to have a hospital specialist as an SOH. They have no overarching public health vision. There is a reason why the best SOH was a rural health physician for 30 years. Only a very select cadre of people have similar experience, and all of them went for Leni Robredo.

As for me, my work has always been cut out. This is going to be the third administration I will be serving whose President I do not agree with personally, politically, and policy-wise. However, the goal remains, a fixed star for a narrow life.

[mitsukerarenakute]

Putangina mo

Bakit na naman 😂 sorry na

[mitsukerarenakute]

Nako Sir, Sana talaga blooming but I think its quite the opposite 🥲 hahaha

Oh bakit? haha haggard mag-aral ba