№ 841. Life, Myth & Meaning

 

№ 840. Field of Dreams

 

I first saw 

 

I first saw Field of Dreams on 25 December 1993, on ITV. My father had died on 11 January 1992. If you want to, you can stop reading now, because you don’t have to be a psychologist to work out why Field of Dreams made me cry.

№ 836. The Moral Bucket List

By David Brooks

April 11, 2015

 

 

ABOUT once a month I run across a person who radiates an inner light. These people can be in any walk of life. They seem deeply good. They listen well. They make you feel funny and valued. You often catch them looking after other people and as they do so their laugh is musical and their manner is infused with gratitude. They are not thinking about what wonderful work they are doing. They are not thinking about themselves at all.  

№ 835. Scriabin

 

№ 834. Find a piano. Play wherever you land

 Find a piano. Play wherever you land

№ 833. Federer

“I’m trying to get better at golf,” Federer mused, “I would love to start with an instrument again. I used to play the piano, so when I have more time, I’d like to dive into that because my four children and my wife play the piano.

“I hope I’m a good listener and a good decision-maker. Hopefully I’m a guy who people enjoy being around. I’m a big family guy. I love being surrounded by my friends – that’s really the priority in my life.” 

 

№ 832. Cubao

 

Kapitan Tambay

№ 831. Bruce Liu – Ravel: No. 3, Une barque sur l'océan, Miroirs, M. 43

Ocean's Embrace

№ 830. The medieval understanding of intelligence is exactly what we need in the age of A.I.

By Boyd Taylor Coolman August 17, 2026 

In a recent essay in America, Terence Sweeney drew attention to Pope Leo XIV’s consistent concern with education in his writings, including in “Magnifica Humanitas.” Mr. Sweeney noted the pope’s attention to a new reality: that in an age of artificial intelligence, especially in light of what the pope labels a “technocratic paradigm,” we are experiencing “certain currents of thought that interpret progress as surpassing the human condition, and which are often grouped under the labels of transhumanism and posthumanism.” 

 

Monet

№ 829. Stolen Treasures: Why The British Museum Refuses To Give Back Its Looted Artifacts

Elgin Marbles

 

Few institutions hold as much global prestige and controversy as the British Museum. Behind its grand façade lies a collection shaped not only by curiosity but also by conquest. Interestingly, many of its most famous pieces were taken during centuries of empire-building, yet they still sit behind glass in London.

So, let’s find out why the museum refuses to return what so many call stolen history.
 

№ 828. Alex Eala

For decades, the global perception of the Philippine nation has been defined by labor export and structural economic migration. The world has grown accustomed to seeing Filipinos through a lens of subordination—as domestic helpers, seafarers, nurses, and service workers. While these roles represent honest work and undeniable fortitude, they have allowed the outside world to view our people as permanently consigned to the socioeconomic periphery: a third-world population ill-equipped to compete in spaces reserved for global privilege.

 

Alex Eala

 

 

Eala’s emergence fundamentally dismantles that quiet prejudice. Her trajectory invites a necessary parallel to the late Arthur Ashe. When Ashe broke through the racial barriers of elite tennis in the 1960s, his presence was more than athletic; it was an explicit disruption of institutional exclusion. He proved that composure, tactical intelligence, and sustained excellence could dismantle the deeply held assumption that certain spaces belonged exclusively to certain people.

That historical thread reaches a poignant milestone at the upcoming US Open in Flushing Meadows. Given her ranking and global draw, tournament officials may well schedule Eala to play on Arthur Ashe Stadium—the centerpiece court named after the man who first broke tennis’ color line. For a Filipino woman to step onto that exact court, under the night lights of New York, represents a moment of profound symbolic weight.

Yet her rise also exposes a sobering truth about our domestic sports establishment. Eala’s development did not occur through traditional, underfunded Philippine sports federations. Recognizing the limitations of our local system early on, her family secured elite European training at the Rafa Nadal Academy in Spain, allowing her to acquire world-class technical conditioning while continuing to proudly carry the Philippine flag. Her trajectory illustrates that while Filipino talent is vast, our domestic institutions often lack the structural support necessary to cultivate it to its ultimate potential.

What international commentators find so astounding is not merely her baseline game or left-handed forehand, but the absolute composure. She does not play with the timid deference often expected of athletes from peripheral nations. She plays as an equal among equals.

For a nation long accustomed to being looked down upon, Eala’s success offers something far more durable than fleeting pride. It provides a sharp, undeniable refutation of the idea that Filipinos are inherently limited to subordinate roles on the world stage. Her presence at the highest echelons of professional tennis proves that when given equal preparation and opportunity, the Filipino can stand unbowed in any arena—country clubs included.

ATTY. JAMES D. LANSANG

 

№ 827. What end-of-life experts know about living well: love your wrinkles, celebrate birthdays and don’t obsess over work

Sarah Phillips

Thu 13 Aug 2026 10.00 BST   

 How can our understanding of mortality shape the way we live? Palliative care doctors and death doulas share the lessons they have learned

We will all face death one day, but our attitude towards this is individual. How can our understanding of mortality shape our approach to life? Here, palliative care doctors and death doulas share what they know about the end – and how it informs the way they live.

 

 

 

 

№ 826. All Saints

 

№ 825. IPOs Across ASEAN

Research Gate

 

№ 824. State of the Nation in Pictures

Philippine STAR

 

 

№ 823. Kapwa

In one of her classes Katrin came across the concept of kapwa in a paper written by Dr. Virgilio Enriquez, a Filipino psychologist who advocated for an indigenous psychology rooted in the heritage of Asian people. Suddenly, it all made sense to her; the quirks and idiosyncrasies of Pinoy behavior that were so unlike anything she encountered in Germany, from how Filipinos would always offer to share food or squeeze one more person into an overcrowded vehicle. Even the first EDSA revolution, where thousands massed on the streets to peacefully overthrow the government, was to Katrin a manifestation of kapwa on a grand scale. 

....Jamming with the cosmos is a groovy way of saying “Bathala Na.” In her book, Katrin describes Ba(t)hala Na as a mindset of improvisation and not fatalism, as interpreted by the Americans. “In the folds of unforeseeable events hide infinite opportunities,” she writes. “It recognizes that such situations can teach one to adapt and eventually turn unfortunate events into advantages, making defect into effect.” 

№ 822. Secret Washington Beach: Pacific Beach

 

Pacific Beach

№ 821. The Odyssey

rahalarts

 

№ 820. Space Race 2.0

Statista

On Friday, the bottom part of a rocket that had been launched just minutes earlier descended toward what looked like a stubby drilling derrick floating in the South China Sea. As the rocket stage, known as a booster, slowed almost to a stop and precisely maneuvered into the center of the structure, a grid of wires gently closed around it.

It was a remarkable success for a Chinese government-owned space company. On the inaugural flight of its new Long March 10B rocket, it nailed a critical step toward China’s goal of developing reusable rockets.

The wire-catching technique was also novel. By snagging the booster as it hovered above the platform, engineers eliminated the need to equip the booster with landing legs.

The milestone offered further evidence that China’s space industry, while still trailing that of the United States, may be closing the gap. Reusing rockets instead of discarding them after one launch enables a quicker pace of operation — more like jetliners — and reduces costs for the launching of satellites and other payloads.

But Todd Harrison, a senior fellow at the American Enterprise Institute, a think tank in Washington, was not overly impressed, noting that Elon Musk’s rocket company, SpaceX, first landed a booster more than 10 years ago with its Falcon 9 rocket. The Long March 10B is roughly comparable in size and capability to the Falcon 9.

“It means they are making progress,” Mr. Harrison said of the Chinese, “but not necessarily catching up to where U.S. capabilities are today.”

№ 819. Impossible Places