By Izah Morales

She’s 57 years old and is blogging for two years now.

“I’m not embarrassed to say my age because it proves that I’m still kicking and blogging,” says Marianita Girlie Villariba, educator, feminist and psychologist at the Education for Life Foundation.

Yes, Villariba is not your ordinary golden-aged woman who is afraid of technology and would rather stick with what is conventional.

“Parang may kulang sa araw ko ‘pag hindi ako nakapag-blog or nakapagbasa ng mga blogs [When I have not blogged for a day or have read others’ blogs, I feel that something’s lacking],” says Villariba.

Blogging has indeed become part of her daily routine aside from reading newspapers and magazines.

Her conversation with a friend who is into the study of babaylan or priestess led her to blogging.

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By Izah Morales
INQUIRER.net

MANILA, Philippines – For the past few days, subscribers to the online social network Friendster were complaining about having unknown people in their friends’ list.

It happened right after the website announced that it was undergoing maintenance.
In a recent blog entry, Friendster explained that the power outage in their outsourced data center in Santa Clara, California caused the downtime.

Friendster said its servers are located in Santa Clara, California along with other 50 companies.

Friendster said it was not the only company that experienced the unscheduled downtime.

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By Agence France-Presse

KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia — Malaysia’s leading blogger, Raja Petra Kamaruddin, was Friday released from detention under controversial internal security laws after a court ruled the government had no right to hold him.

Raja Petra, a vocal government critic who had been held at a notorious detention camp since September, wept and embraced his family after being freed by the Shah Alam High Court.

“I’m realy glad it’s over. I’m really tired. The judge’s decision proves that there was no justification for my detention,” he said, calling for an end to the Internal Security Act (ISA) which allows for detention without trial.

“We have to fight all-out and get the ISA abolished,” he told reporters.

Looking haggard and dressed in a brown T-shirt and jeans, Raja Petra was garlanded by dozens of supporters outside the court before stepping into a maroon Rolls Royce provided by a supporter to ferry him home.

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I AM just wondering if there is a possibility that our legislative body can enact appropriate regulations or laws perhaps to put a stop to all bullying going around the Internet. As of now, negative blogs and comments are spreading around the net through various sites. Decent beings are disturbed and many innocent souls are put to shame. Reputations are put to risk. I learned that in some parts of the globe, Internet bullying is a criminal act. In South Korea, identities of people who post comments and the like are required to be disclosed, their contact numbers need even to be placed in the Internet for easy identification in event that someone wants to sue for libel or one infringes on privacy. In the US, teenage suicide linked to Internet bullying is becoming out of control. We do not want this to happen to our youngsters, and even to adults who cannot stand the pressure of being intimidated. I don’t know if Internet bullying is already incorporated in our Electronic Commerce Act already but if it is, well and good, let us put it into operation.

Cindy Hisona, Banga, Bayawan City via e-mail