IN the course of researching several topics over the weekend, I came to the conclusion that the world is frankly disturbing, and we are almost certainly just months or even weeks away from utter chaos on a grand scale. Among the fun that appears to have already been put on the schedule, a serious electricity crisis in Luzon involving astronomical power rates, power shortages or most likely both, will probably be the least unpleasant thing we will have to deal with.

But I'd rather not start a holiday week under a black cloud, so let's set all that aside for later consideration and take a look at a topic that is a bit more lighthearted, but still deserves some serious examination.