Michael Jackson: The Legendary Singer's Death

For the fans of Michael Jackson his death would remind them of what he contributed to the music industry. His performances marked the word legendary and being a singer, his fame led him to a superstar status. Reports about his death soared in the tri-media showing how people mourned on his death for it was really a loss in the music industry. It is undeniable that his love for music surpassed his trials like financial problems and involvement on legal matters.

Days before his death, he was rehearsing for his comeback shows in some parts of the world. It was reported that he died due to cardiac arrest but until the autopsy results will be released, the real cause will be disclosed. It could be remembered that he had strong follow-up albums with 1987's "Bad" and 1991's "Dangerous," but his music career started to collapse in 1993 subsequent to an accusation that he molested a boy who often stayed at his home. The singer denied any wrongdoing, reached a settlement with the boy's family, reported to be $20 million, and criminal charges were never filed. Eventually, the superstar experienced financial troubles and is set to pick up the pieces hours prior to his death.

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Requirements for the 2009 Philippine Bar Examinations

In this year, most of my friends are taking the 2009 Bar Examinations. Others kept the goal a secret in order to gain privacy and personal space. On my part, there is no use keeping it a secret since most of the people around me are aware of it. A stranger even asked me, "are you a born-again Christian?", which I replied that I am not. It was so funny because at that time, I was clad in a red shirt paired with a long skirt while bringing my newly-bought codal provisions which shone like a set of born-again scriptures! In connection, I need to keep a copy of the requirements and thought that there is nothing wrong keeping it here as long as the source is acknowledged.

IMPORTANT: Please USE THE APPROPRIATE PETITION FORMS (whether for new applicants or bar repeaters), printed on 8x13 SIZED BOND PAPER. INCORRECT PETITIONS SUBMITTED WILL NOT BE PROCESSED.

Applicants for the Bar Examinations must file a verified petition in the form prescribed by the Supreme Court (available at the Office of the Bar Confidant (OBC) for free) from June 1 to July 15, accompanied by the following documents:

A – FIRST TIMERS

1. Birth Certificate (issued by the NSO or Local Civil Registrar) –

- original or certified true copy
- legible
- In case of any discrepancy of entries between the Birth Certificate and Transcript of School Records, the applicant is required to submit a corrected birth certificate or corrected school records as the case may be.
- In the absence of birth certificate – apply for Late Registration.

2. Marriage Certificate (original or certified true copy)- for Married females only
3. Three (3) testimonials of good moral character each executed by a member of the Philippine Bar (form may be furnished by the OBC for free).
4. Official Pre-Law Transcript (original or certified true copy)

- In case the Rizal Course is integrated with another subject(s) appearing in the transcript, a certification from the school to that effect is required.


5. Official Law Transcript (original or certified true copy)
6. Certificate of no derogatory record from the Law School where applicant graduated.
7. Certification from CHED confirming graduation from the College of Law (C-2) - (Not applicable to graduates of UP or State Universities /Colleges governed by its own charter)
8. Three (3) copies of latest un-retouched photos w/ name IMPRINTED thereon – (1 ½ x 1 ½ )
9. Self-addressed and stamped envelope

B. REPEATERS (TWO-THREE TIMERS)

1. Three (3) testimonials of good moral character each executed by a member of the Philippine Bar (form may be furnished by the OBC for free).
2. Certificate of no derogatory record from the Law School where applicant graduated.
3. Three (3) copies of latest un-retouched photos w/ name IMPRINTED thereon – (1 ½ x 1 ½ )
4. Self-addressed and stamped envelope

C. REPEATERS COVERED BY SECTION 16 OF RULE 138 (Those who failed the Bar Exams for three or more times)

1. Refresher Course

- Individual certification under oath by professors that the applicant passed the following subjects (indicating the grades):
Civil Law Review I & II
Labor Law Review
Taxation Law Review
Political/Constitutional Law Review
Commercial Law Review
Criminal Law Review
Remedial Law Review

- Certification under oath by the Dean or Registrar that the professors mentioned above were bona-fide professors of the school where the refresher course was taken.

2. Pre-Bar Review Course

A. Certification executed under oath by the School Registrar that the applicant is enrolled in, and is regularly attending the Pre-Bar Review Course.

B. Certification of Completion of the Pre-Bar Review Course (to be submitted 60 days after Bar examinations.)
3. All the other requirements for repeaters under letter B above.

D. APPLICANTS (whether NEW or REPEATERS):

1. WITH PENDING CASES (civil, criminal, administrative, including cases filed with the Prosecutor’s Office and Office of the Ombudsman) must submit a:
* Certified true copy of Complaint/Information
* Certificate of pendency of the case/ Certificate of status
2. WITH DECIDED CASES (civil, criminal, administrative, including cases filed with the Prosecutor’s Office and Office of the Ombudsman)
* Certified true copy of Complaint/information
* Certified true copy of Decision
* Certificate of Finality of Decision
* Clearance from the Court, Prosecutor’s Office or From the Office of the Ombudsman, as the case maybe

Source: OBC: Supreme Court of the Philippines

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The Necessity of Education

Kahlil Gibran once said that “life without liberty is like a body without spirit”. The idea behind this thought is that liberty is the best tool to become fulfilled in this life. So then, how can we achieve liberty? Liberty is often understood as freedom. Freedom includes the ability to perform acts and exercise rights in the absence of restriction from other people. But, freedom should not be allowed to harm other people. Hence, we exercise freedom without injuring or damaging other people’s rights. Freedom is related to education because knowledge sets every person to become free from anything. If we have knowledge, no one would injure us and trample our human rights.

People who are educated are able to choose the best things in life because they are knowledgeable in different things. They can easily classify and identify what is best and not. Those people who are not educated find it hard to escape poverty because they do not know what to do and how to make decisions. Imagine the absence of schools and educational institutions in this world. The absence of academic institutions and schools would surely result to chaos and extreme poverty.

Simply, we need to educate ourselves in order to gain knowledge in this life. If a person is educated, it is easy for him to improve his life due to the various opportunities available for him. Education starts at a young age up to death. The basic steps in attaining education are attending nursery, pre-school, elementary, primary, high school, college, master’s degree, doctorate and vocational schooling. The steps in attaining education depend on what country a person belongs due to difference of educational approach and applicable laws. It is the responsibility of parents to educate their children and provide them opportunities to learn in school. The most relevant product of being educated is becoming a well-respected person in the community. Hence, we need to educate ourselves the best as we could.

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Friendship

Friends are special persons that make our existence in this world relevant. In fact, friends are our truest treasures. The presence of friends in our life make the day worthwhile and interesting. Sometimes, friends also serve as our angels especially in times of problems and difficulties. Hence, we should not forget to honor the friends that accompanied us in our journey in life.

There are myriad reasons why friendship is important.

First, friends are important for personal growth and success. It is undeniable that part of our success in life is our supportive friends and family members. Since we consider our parents as our friends, they complete the belief that parents are our best friends.

Second, we tend to love ourselves more if we have friends who accepted us for who we are. If we have good “vibes” with other people, we become blooming and attractive. In other words, we are able to spread peace and unity in our respective communities. Our friends are also considered as our support group when we encounter problems in life.

And third, friends help us focus on our daily activities. The constant reminders of our dear friends help us accomplish our daily tasks. Although the need of a helpmate in school assignments is important, we should not tolerate cheating in school activities then. Above all, friends also serve as corrector in our actions. Sometimes, we get offended due to the comments our friends offer, but we need also to listen to their comments. After all, they are our allies and connections in this tricky world.

Finally, true friends are also our refuge when we encounter social, economic, and health problems. Friends are able to incite us to perform noble deeds. Besides, friendship cannot be artificially created. It should be founded with common interests, love, kindness, and respect. We should always remember that our friends are our greatest resources and we should value them.

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Types of Friends

In this world, there are two things that makes your world go round. First, you meet the right persons and be friends with them. And second, you meet the wrong persons and still be friends with them. Why is that so? When you meet the right persons, you would enjoy their company and eventually value their friendships. But when you meet the wrongs ones, you would feel how tiresome it is to tolerate their attitudes.

In that sense, it is necessary to differentiate your friends in order to protect yourself from being harmed and violated.

1. True Friends. True friends are hard to find according to old adage. The secret of finding true friends is to be a true friend also. One fine story about meeting true friends was shared to me by a Muslim friend. His father died because of protecting a friend who was about to be killed in action by an enemy. His father offered his body to protect the life of his friend and that made the friendship sealed with loyalty and genuineness.

2. Part-time Friends. These kind of friends exist for some reasons. These friends will only appear in your life when they needed you. In a number of 100 friends, 5 of them are your true friends, and 95 of them are part-time friends. I suggest that you try to think over these realization.

3. Interest-based Friends. These friends are not really harmful, but they serve as your silent enemies. Interest-based friends have the same interest as yours, so the calculation is that they do the same things as you do coupled with the competition inherent in every existence. Thus, it is wise to think over who are those friends that might be your potential silent competitors.

4. Accidental Friends. Accidental friends are those conditional friends that may disappear in your life once the condition is lost. For instance, Isabelle becomes friends with her boyfriend's friends for years. When she and her boyfriend broke up, her closeness with her boyfriend's friends also loosened without counting the fact that her past boyfriend is already involved with a new girl. Accidental friends are very dangerous because they could use your past friendship with them to bring you down.

5. Plastic Friends. We know that plastics are non-biodegradable and are fake. In the field of making friends with people, being “plastic” is commonly used. Plastic friends are synonymous with “users” because they are often used interchangeably. These kind of friends are those who are good to you when they are in front of you, but when they are not, they would smite you by whatever schemes. Plastic friends are very dangerous because they are like snakes who are lurking within your comfort zones.

Since no one is an island, we still need to have friends with anybody. What we need to do is to choose our friends wisely in order to prevent disloyalty and problems. We want to enjoy our daily activities so we need to spend it with the right associates. Hence, what is important is a little number of friends who are mostly the true ones.

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Studying Military History

Military history has been beneficial to all who have taken the time to learn from it. It has very valuable lessons and should be taken very seriously in our profession. Those that do not learn from military history are condemned to repeat it. Some would ask the question: Why is it important for professionals to take time out of their busy schedules to study military history? In this blog, various arguments are presented in order to prove that learning military history is necessary in order to win battles.

Military professionals must not take for granted the need to study military history because there were many wars or battles that have been lost due to failure in learning military history. There are two well-known wars that were lost from not learning military history and these are the Napoleonic War and World War II: Germany vs. Russia. The failure in Napoleonic war was attributed to inability to prepare for human reactions in combat in relation to weather, terrain, and intelligence of enemy and friendly dispositions. Basically, the study of history is vital to understand the present and prepare for the future during Napoleonic war. Napoleon’s waterloo is the living symbol of his failure in the war due to failure in studying military history before the battle. With respect to Germany vs. Russia, the primary reason of the collapse of Germany’s forces was its deficiency of adequate allies and a battle of numerous fronts. Hitler’s belief that he was immune to international response contributed to the failure of studying military history in relation of possible enemy build-up of allied forces. Hence, the Napoleonic War and Germany vs. Russia battle could have been won had it not the failure of its leaders to induce intensive military history study.

Besides, there are wars and battles that have been won due to knowledge of military history. With these wars, military professionals could get insights and ideas on how to win a battle. The Ancient Wars of Korea vs. Japan and the U. S. Korean War are examples of battles that have been won due to knowledge of military history. These two wars proved to be monumental and successful due to the diligence of military professionals to pay attention to military history.

While it is true that not learning military history might hamper the will of military professionals to win a war, it is also acceptable that there are concrete reasons why learning military history does not work. The cases of Afghanistan vs. Soviet Union and China vs. same region could shed light why learning military history does not always work in winning a battle. The differences between the states involved in terms of cultural, political, geographical, and economic aspects were too great. It is difficult to integrate military history in relation to weather, terrain, and military intelligence tactics in battles between Afghanistan and Soviet Union as well as China against the same region because of the said differences.

Finally, military history has great added value for the professionals in the military. Those who do not learn military history are condemned to repeat, and cannot progress. Military professionals who failed to find time in studying military history are doomed to failure like what happened in Napoleonic War and Germany vs. Russia battle. In addition, exceeding confidence of leaders in war might contribute to failure in studying military history. Hence, military professionals especially officers and leaders must study military history in order to win a battle. It is a wise counsel for military professionals to pay attention to historical knowledge for their own good.

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Labor As We Should

The main reason why we need to work is to earn a living. We need to be hard working in order to increase our income. We also improve our skills in order to be promoted in work. But, what if there are other factors in work that make us bothered?

First, salaries may not be enough to support us and we need additional income. In this case, the element of time is necessary. In other words, if we know how to manage our time and juggle two jobs in every 24 hours we have, then there is no problem with this.

Second, there are people who wanted to destroy the reputation of the company you work for. In my case, I was bothered by some people who wanted to close the operation of the company because they were not promoted earlier. In my case, I just worked hard and leave the matter to the authorities.

Third, some office-mates are so noisy while working. In some cultures, work is no fun at all. But in my own place, work may be tied with fun. That is why some workers tend to abuse the work with fun moments while working.

And lastly, the element of monotony and laziness may bother workers at times. The best way to combat these problems is to remain positive and energetic while working.

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The Past

I love him one thousand days before I wrote this rant. Before, I thought he was the best guy on earth. He made me laugh, smile, think freely, and desire to improve my performance in school. I even consider him the most handsome guy on earth. Maybe because I was so in love, I practically played as the best lover for him.

My world turned upside down when I discovered that he was secretly dating with one of our common friends! Suddenly, my world feel apart as if I was lost in a treasure hunt. The sad thing is that, we already set our wedding plans. When the news of his infidelity was proven, I left him after giving him a smile. After all, crying is not the wise reaction. Now, I feel like the people around me laugh at my back knowing that I was cheated by my lover. Honestly, I could no longer smile the way I used to smile. I can no longer think freely without hating the one who betrayed me. And my performance in school was affected by what happened. However, the fact that I was heartbroken do not give him the right to make my world scramble. I stood up, picked the pieces, and start all over again. Yes, I hate him that much. But, I am willing to forget him just to see the other side of the fence. Who knows? I might be able to write a topic entitled “ Loser Ex-boyfriend”.

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The Role of Language

The question that should be answered goes like this: what is the role of language in the creation of meaning? Basically, the role of language in the creation of meaning is mainly as a channel by means of which experiences are being expressed through communication so that meaning in every interaction is being conveyed. In the experiences of men, there are concepts involved with corresponding meaning that should be expressed or conveyed logically. In other words, there should be transmission of concepts and situations from one person to another and language is the means by which this purpose could be made possible.

The creation of meaning is enhanced by the use of language in every human interaction. Essentially, the transition of one thought or situation to another is through speech or language within a conceptual inference processes. As an example, a person might report events, narrating what happened next. In that way, experiences and concepts that express meaning can be logically conveyed to other people. Aside from that, language is the medium through which both meaning and knowledge are created and formed. An example of this factor is when a teacher in a given class engages his students in verbal interactions that foster the construction of meaning and knowledge. Hence, knowledge and meaning are being relayed and explained to other people through the use of language.

Finally, we must realize that the creation of meaning to understand and converse apparent phenomena is a basic trait of human intelligence. Speech and language carries with it the power to convey meaning into its full potential. As humans create meaning, language is a tool that transmits the same from one person to another so that it can be useful to develop and establish knowledge in everyday living. Therefore, the creation of meaning could not be possible and be made useless without the utilization of language.

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