So the president has continued his insistence of letting a vaccine dictate the end of his hold on the country. Disregarding the risk of rushing our way to it, or even the possibilty of not having one at all, there are reports of problem of dropping case numbers for some makers in the UK to get a good test going.

As of this writing cases in PH have climbed (disregarding the low death numbers), and whether this trend continues as we try to know whether this is the fabled "second wave," let's think of how the president will deal with the possibility that this short climb is isolated and will continue dropping while the vaccine is still a trial. Of course, assuming that he'll let Filipinos return to normal is too optimistic, he can't let this opportunity go to waste.

And based on the comments regarding this statement, everyone else has delegated their risk assessment to the all-knowing leader. Only a handful have dared point out the issue of how long everything has to halt for the sake of a vaccine, but oh please make us safe Mr. President.

What will most likely happen if cases start dropping and no vaccine is in sight is to rehash the old nth-wave scare, which can only go on for so long. With enough time people will realize these matters and eventually disregard the rules.

"But don't be complacent!" Is the new rally cry, as people do a slow return to civilization and every scaredy-cat fears that the stupid populace will think that the virus is gone and can go back to licking stuff and touching each other, as people usually do.

But really, there's reason enough to believe that the virus has petered out, and there's no need to fear any more. In fact, if this trend continues I can argue that even in the second wave there will be less deaths than recoveries.

If that's the case, what of the panacea that is the vaccine? If it does come out it might not even be as necessary as wanted, and Filipinos are still reeling at the last time an experimental vaccine was released en masse. Dengvaxia's caveat could have been fixed by waiting longer or putting it on the fine print, but good luck convincing every Filipino to take this new one.

There might be a good enough reason to believe that even without collective amnesia people will flock to the nearest syringe point. The insistence that this virus is really deadly has scared everyone enough that nothing else will convince them outside of a cure. To make matters worse, there are rarely any countering voices in the Philippines to matter. These two factors are enough to mingle with government reluctance to bring home the point of no return until vaccine, even if the official numbers say there's no need.

Well then, will the lockdowns continue? Not really. The welfare well will run dry, jobs will disappear, psyches will be wrecked and possible unrest can happen because that is just oppressive. So there will be a veneer of freedom but just enough to make sure no one complains. Stores will deal with limited capacities and lines longer than they should be, public spaces will be heavily monitored by magical pain lines. At least you don't have to stay in.

But the longing for the usual will prevail, and before you know it, no one is following anything any more. And soon enough this virus will be endemic and cause not even a blip in the lives of everyone. The government can't just lock them back in again; banking on the people being servile has its limit when they are no longer fooled

There is a solution, though: admit that this whole lockdown thing was an overreaction, a mistake, and open the country. The damages done by forcing everything to stop will be enormous, but alas, if you don't die of the thing, it doesn't matter. Now it has to.

Risk is everywhere, and no amount of safetying can imprison a people forever.

You might think that you're a member of society, that your purpose in a nation is to become part of it through participation, may it be through work, expression or any other means of exercising your citizenship.

But that was before the plague. Now you're just a possible risk, nothing more.

What is your worth now other than one more person who might succumb to a disease? Unless your importance has been arbitrarily decided upon based on what work you do, you're pretty much a liability. Ever since we changed the goal to total eradication of the virus we have been stripped of the things we used to do, for your safety since you cannot decide for yourself and tend to jump every cliff you see.

Why can't you be allowed to this or that, because you might get infected, that's all there is. It doesn't matter if the circumstances are favorable since you follow every metric, even if the chances of this dreaded transmission are slim anyway. There isn't even any clear idea on how the sick gets to you, but a microscopic thing like a virus does get tired at six meters or something and can't be bothered to go through a mask, just trust us on this.

There isn't even a dignity in being infected; unless you're a special case you're just another number in the graph. If you want your sickness to have meaning you have to be (1) young or (2) manage to get the virus in circumstances usually deemed safe. Outside of these, it's your fault for letting yourself get sick you heartless bastard.

If you do recover, a scenario more likely than you think, you better be too young or too old to matter. It doesn't even matter if your recovery results in more recoveries than deaths, there are still people who have the thing and more of the thing will come so no reason to celebrate yet, unless it's a cure.

And every death is a tragedy, but it's better to let every mourner cry in their own terms than to cram a camera in the room because look this guy died of mysterious disease outside of stereotype.

The main reason these outlier cases are reported is not simply newsworthiness. If you see a report of a kid dying of the disease, that would widen the scope of its victims in your mind; the trends stop to matter as this outlier tells us this thing doesn't discriminate.

Mind you, if perchance you get te virus but don't show any symptoms, somehow you're a walking risk even if you don't look any different from whenever you do get ill. All talk of asymptomatic carriers is just another form of the total disregard of your humanity by painting you as a risk even if you don't know it.

I don't want to get conspiratorial, but why is simple socializing punishable now? Is this a way to make sure that we only see each other as threats? Good luck with that, if anything, man's need for socializing will make this futile.

I started this with a want to write about how we're reduced to a possible infection, but really, are we going to let that be the norm?

No one has dared ask the most important question: What do we need to do to open the country?

Disregarding any statistics, death tolls, requirements etc., I will posit a theory I've cobbled up from various bits of stolen ideas: Lockdowns will end only if politicians will come out good afterward.

Here is the basis of this piece, but I have a bit of an addition to this in the form of the cure gambit, a heavy insistence on only resuming matters when a cure or vaccine has been found.

Let us begin with the information of a new virus, and cases have appeared in the country. You don't want to be blamed for letting people get infected and perish, so you take the only sensible measure you know to ensure little to no spread happens; you lock everything down.

The early pretext for doing so is that less spread means less cases, less beds to fill and less strain on the system. That's pretty fine, yes, we'll stay in.

But then new worries come, what if you open up and a second wave occurs (because you didn't let people get the antibodies enough, but that's a different matter, this virus is very special don't you know)?

You're very certain cases will rise if you open up, where the people will immediately start coughing at each other and lick every surface they come across as soon as they leave their homes. It's not like you've drilled it enough in their heads that this thing is really deadly and that you can stave it off with these things you recommend they do, and everyone's looking at the number of people who have had it instead of seeing those who have died or recovered; no one's the wiser.

Even if you accept the second wave, you can't exactly accept being blamed for any additional deaths caused by whatever fallout happens during the follow-up, if at all. You don't fear the spike as much as being seen as the cause. 

The alternative is stagnation and depression caused by forcing the country to stop, but even if you say all that is better than virus deaths, the resources needed to sustain handing out stuff to those staying in is not exactly unlimited. Your means of getting revenue are heavily limted, and the well is bound to dry up. Even if you do manage to find some money-making magic, not everyone is going to be happy to let their hard work go to waste, especially if your check is measly compared to what they used to earn.

Either way, you have to come out of this as a hero.

Maybe this is why no one has answered this question, because it will mean making a decision that doesn't only affect the nation, but with the person in charge. Is he willing to take the risk and let the people decide, or would he try to avoid the blame by insisting his way is the only way?

As a last card, you assure everyone that this has to continue, that you cannot fully relinquish your hold onto them, not until a cure is found. This disease is so deadly that the only way out is by eliminating it. Really, you've masked your fear of being blamed by trying to be a savior and hoping no one notices the shift in goalposts.

But when will this cure come? In the Philippines, a mass inoculation of a dengue vaccine caused a large controversy when negative effects came. The irony of the president being fully secure of reopening only on the availability of a vaccine is great. Then again that past vaccine is the last administration's fault, this one is going to work, promise.

Maybe as a compromise, you'll let people go back to their stuff, with additional rules to make it seem like something is being done to keep the inevitable climb from being steep. If things go bad you can just shut everything down and prevent any blood on your hands.

And thus begins the new normal, but by then the people ought to know better.

Nova Gallery Manila in Makati has closed its doors on February 28, 2020. Here is a piece I have written about the first and only exhibit I have seen in it.

MENAGE A TREATS

Peije, Cheryl Owen, and Raine Sarmiento's Diversity

Three artists, each with their unique topics, team together with a mix of ideas that meet together just as watercolor meets paper in Diversity. Personality, nature and possibilities gather together in this exhibit.

Owen's drawings harmonize women and nature, with portraits of women interacting with nature's various elements. One could think that they're pictures of goddesses of each of nature's seemingly sentient forces.

Peije, meanwhile, takes on a person's personality and visualizes them through faces and the additional details that surround them, telling a story that hides behind the straight faces, with the title adding a starting sentence to this tale.

Sarmiento asks questions that tickle the imagination and make us wonder. These 'what ifs' ask of eating without consequences, longer nights and breathing underwater among other questions. The answers lies within a portait and the writings on the wall, the most that we could speculate.

Each artists' contribution is unique in themselves, but Diversity unifies them, creating an exhibit that tells three ideas, but reads like a seamless story. With such artistic output, three is a crowd.

Humans are ritualistic by nature. Even as some have declared that we have no need of religion, we are still bound by ritual; creating procedures, promulgating protocols and going through the motions. No one can witness someone breaking rules and leave without an opinion of the delinquent.

As things change so are the rituals. Traditions adapt to changes caused by paradigm shifts while keeping the spirit of the ritual. In drastic changes things are a bit different, and maybe even traditions get relagated.

I'm talking about all this because for want of sanitation we get insanity. Everything changed in an instant, and now we're trying to live both in a germ-free world and the cloud at the same time.

Any time someone risks leaving the house, he has to mask up and be wary of being too close to someone else. Now he sees everyone as a risk, as the virus can enter without a symptom. In this view he must also see himself as a possible victim, as who knows how he will get this virus that flies through the air.

Stores are barely functioning in this emptiness, enforcing preventive measures defeated by merely having people outside buy stuff. If the lines are hundred people does it matter if they're spaced apart? What we have is a crowd that denies itself to be one. 

And you can't even go outside in the first place without a good reason. What an unbearable existence.

Returning to the store he must deem himself clean by leaving everything he bought in a decontamination zone and immediately head to the showers to cleanse himself. If handwashing was effective then no one will have acquired this disease, therefore everything must be cleaned.

Failure to follow any of this will result in the off-chance that someone gets infected one way or another, we never really know how this thing does its magic. If someone gets it it's because of not following protocol, if all is safe then it means the protocol is working regardless of efficacy. We will do it because we think it works and fear disaster if we do not do so.

Thus the possible creation of a new ritual, a ritual that can be linked to life and death thus making its importance that much higher. Say whatever you can about how some rituals are connected to luck or spiritual matters, by the time you convince that doing something makes them less likely to die they will do it as often as they can.

Of course we don't say such connections outright. We have to frame it in the language of chances and correlations, not that it matters as it translates to the people as if-then actions. It doesn't matter if there are other factors in play, this thing will ensure I'll be less likely to get it. Taken to its extreme you may find yourself taking every bit of advice on TV and doing things you won't do otherwise, even if it looks ridiculous. What an unbearable existence.

This segue is important as sometimes goods have to be bought from the dreaded outside world, by couriers who are seen as brave in this period of time, and they have in your doorstep something that might have the virus. It can remain on surfaces, and anything that is matter has a surface.

In any other circumstance will you not wipe a package of bread with disinfectant, but you can't risk it now, can you? You've gone this far. Now every foodstuff has to be cleaned before they're opened, and later on you'll have to clean every other item you bought. 

If you find yourself realizing you're putting alcohol on yourself to pick up another bottle of alcohol, it's probably too late. What an unbearable existence.

Finally, what of the old rituals, like work and play? We have that covered too. This is different than whatever I have been talking about as we are witnessing the changes in things being done. Conferences on Zoom, shows being done in houses, the pretense of exploration, there is almost no need to go outside, we have everything for you. You don't want to die, do you?

I guess we have to pretend. This video call is as good as face-to-face, the picture of the place you wanted to visit until all this happen is almost like being there and things will be done at this meetin- hey, come back. 

Stay in, it's for the better, we'll make up for it by distracting you enough. Don't think about the consequences of this, because the losses will only happen if you disobey. Every thing you do is for your safety, no matter how asinine, so please keep doing them.

There will not be a new normal after this. After all the fear that this virus gave the populace it's impossible that there won't be societal consequences; even if a cure is found we will no longer be as reckless as before, and we will keep on doing the rituals that we have made when we were still in a state of doing anything to keep the plague from approaching us. Just like the story of the newlywed bride cutting the sides of the roast before putting it in the oven, we might keep on doing these and not know what they mean. 

Some rituals fall out of favor when it no longer serves any purpose. How long will these rituals that we have made, as a necessity of these times, continue? Even after the cure these preventions will be done, way after its practicality, just like a man who cannot stop lining books up until they're even.

What an unbearable existence.

In the Decameron, Giovanni Boccaccio started his story collection with a grim look at a Florence affected by the Black Plague. People dying left and right in a terrible way, bodies being sent out for disposal in droves, it's a plague that confounded the populace from the doctor to the friar to the layman. Everyone was scrambling to find a way to avoid the fate of the rest, to varying effect. And during all this, ten young people decide to flee to the countryside and tell stories.

Sadly, this countryside is nowhere to be found today, not physically. 

As of this writing, the Philippines is in a lockdown of sorts, already in its fourth tedious week, my waning sense of time probably making me miss the mark. A new plague came, but unlike the people of 14th century Europe, better measures have been made to combat this disease. But the images of bodies dropping still remain in the form of numbers on the screen, and as much as no one can even approach those inflicted by the bubonic, neither can anyone else touch those who has the corona. People die in solitude and are not allowed to mourn for. It will be a surprise if merely touching the clothes of those who had been infected will also cause contagion.

The advice is obvious: remain indoors. Businesses are closed and no one is allowed outside for no reason. The television offers nothing but reruns and news updates, connected by the repetition of things. This can't go on forever, but while Boccaccio chronicled 10 days, the lockdown is expected to last a month.

I'm saying all this because I have been stuck in this house ever since the start of this quarantine. With only cable and an internet connection to get by it's not as fun as my usual routine as I cannot simply leave for whatever matter. We can still buy supplies, but with supermarkets almost running out of stuff and the risk of getting something else for free in there, shopping is kept to a minimum.

Right now I'm not alone, my family is also stuck in this place, with the only person with a job not going in for he has other health issues to deal with and possibly adding another one isn't worth it. My niece goes on with her usual ways through all this, a bit oblivious to the events around her, something may be a bit off, but whether she notices it is not for me to know.

Board games are not a good idea as the child will simply spoil everything, and I have no want to talk to them about my current state of affairs, so most of my conversations have been online. Also online is where I look for things to waste time, and find that I had wasted it too much for my liking. My plans to write or read tends to get overriden by useless things.

A few days ago an argument broke out at home, and now I have to witness my mother and my sister not giving each other any notice whatsoever. My sister ask why I get affected, but how depressing a sight is it to see a mother and daughter try to avoid each other? The place has become quiet, and not even the cheerful noise of my niece can fix that.

Some things you can never take for granted, you don't know what it is you have until it's gone. It's easy to noticed how one's mundane activities were once circumstances force him into a new habit. Being stuck in this house makes me miss for those one would not usually miss, and I don't even go out often.

The places that are usually busy are silent, the loudest of districts has become ghost towns, this is an unusual sight for anyone. Also jarring is how social life has to pause, keep its distance. Even an interaction with a stranger has to make way for safety, everyone is a possible carrier and it's not worth risking it.

What isn't silent are the hospitals and media places, patrols and borders; somehow the country must keep going, even with a terribly undermanned staff. Medical facilities are busy, goods still have to be distributed and the deliverymen must deliver through the deserted roads filled with an unkown air.

The Decameron concluded with the three boys and seven girls heading home and moving on with their lives. I hope for the day where we can go outside and see the sights again, the places and experiences. For now, a short walk away feels like miles.

A Complete Course of Volapük by Aug. Kerckhoffs, Introduction

What follows is an introduction of an old Volapük course. The rest of the course will be slowly posted here chapter by chapter. While there are more modern resources to learn this first attempt of a universal constructed language, there is still merit to seeing how learning such new languages was tackled in the old days. With the relative success of Esperanto and the philosophy behind it, Volapük had been shoved aside to the margins as a curiosity. This is not to say that Volapük was not without problems and did not have any involvement its own decline, but it was also Volapük that seemed to be the first widely-accepted answer to the question of how can we be made to understand each other easily in a world that sees itself more connected than before. 

Creating a new language is a daunting task, from building words to making the grammar work. How can one create a language that will fully cover every linguistic situation it will make? Volapük came with a simple proposition: make everything regular. This concept has its first complete manifestation in this language and its idea has always been a goal for those creating a language that is meant to be easily learned.

The fanaticism over a new language becoming the world lingua france had faded by the time English had maintained the stronghold for this position, but the hope of a linguistic equalizer has never waned within those who support constructed languages.

For a course for a language created for the goal of universal use, this introduction is rather aware of the constructed nature of Volapük. It is insisted that of Volapük will not have its own original literature. While this is framed under the refutation of the idea that Volapük will become the sole world language, it is a disservice to think that a language cannot have its literature because of its form. Esperanto showed how it can be done, but so far, these original works have not been translated.

[Volapük set new language ideas to the table that few linguists have taken interests, nor have language creators utilized such features to better effect.]

Esperanto is now seen as the model conlang, but let us not forget Volapük's role as the first that tried to speak for the world.

[to be added on]

Note: The Volapük of this course may have some differences to the Volapük known nowadays as laid out by Arie de Jong. 

Author's Introduction: