they say so.

Men are just happier people -- what do you expect from such simple creatures?

Your last name stays put. The garage is all yours. Wedding plans take care of themselves. Chocolate is just another snack. You can be President. You can never be pregnant. You can wear a white T-shirt to a water park. You can wear NO shirt to a water park. Car Mechanics tell you the truth. The world is your urinal. You never have to drive to another gas station restroom because this one is just too icky. You don't have to stop and think of which way to turn a nut on a bolt. Same work, more pay. Wrinkles add character. Wedding dress, $5000. Tux rental, $100. People never stare at your chest when you are talking to them. The occasional well-rendered belch is practically expected. New shoes don't cut, blister, or mangle your feet. One mood all the time. Phone conservations are over in 30 seconds flat. You know stuff about tanks. A five-day vacation requires only one suitcase. You can open all of your own jars. You get extra credit for the slightest act of thoughtfulness. If someone forgets to invite you, he or she can still be your friend. Your underwear is $8.95 for a three-pack. Three pairs of shoes are more than enough. You almost never have strap problems in public. You are unable to see wrinkles in your clothes. Everything on your face stays its original color. The same hairstyle lasts for years, maybe even decades. You only have to shave your face and neck. You can play with toys all your life. Your belly usually hides you big hips. One wallet and one pair of shoes one color for all seasons. You can wear shorts no matter what how your legs look. You can "do" your nails with a pocket knife. You have freedom of choice concerning growing a mustache. You can do Christmas shopping for 25 relatives on December 24 in 25 minutes.

No wonder men are happier.

---
but are they really happy?

out of words

i look up and remember that
we settled for another kind of lunacy.
another form of madness.

once again.

backward going fast forward

It has always been a question of how well we fast track our lives to run in pace with it; and never vice versa. Technology will not stop for us. It will continue running its course no matter how many lives it leaves behind.

Students who have been born and believed to survive without a computer find this piece of technology rather bothersome. Everything now comes in an instant. One touch, one click and viola… you get what you want. However, this principle doesn’t work for those who were born to believe that easy come is easy go. That hard work is the only tactic one could flawlessly pull through life.

Companies and corporations have been linking themselves online with high hopes of employment. But this has a benefit heavily concentrated to the urban people depriving those in the rural areas of a job they badly need. That is why the poverty threshold, the minimum amount of income per family, in rural areas have been going uphill. Simple, they do not get a job. They do not have the right information that there is. They do not have enough computer equipments to know that there exists information.

And while urban yuppies are busying themselves for online applications of passports and visas, those in the rural areas are desperately dropping every inch of effort just for a fare to the city. Everything for an overheard job fair.

But the rural population is not composed of subhuman beings. Their needs and aspirations are similar to those living in urban areas—bound to meet reality and not be trashed after each and every technological breakthrough. Technology development should take place keeping what they have in total view.

Most of the technology development that takes place for rural areas is carried out with an aim to keep it simple so that the devices can be made rural themselves. And for some time, the emphasis of technology developers for rural areas has been on catering for needs (with small improvement) rather than creating a demand. But are they supposed to shift their gears? In the name of advancement, yes.

The need for rural technology development should be recognized; for a problem isn’t problem at all with denial present. Rural areas having higher market potentials must be taken note of. Then a project could be collaborated by the industrial sector, NGOs, LGUs, researchers and workers.

Technology developers should not shy away from complex and sophisticated technologies for rural areas. They only need to have a good plan. They only need to base their plan with what is present, something deficient from the theories formulated on them.

But the question of as to whom the technology is created for should not be set aside. Rural areas are different from that of the urban. Their conditions call for another set of solutions. The economic situation of these people precludes any or little participation in this process. However, if presented properly and given the right aims… their seemed inability to earn big and earn well do not have anything to do with their ability to push themselves to development.