AS a matter of routine, I reserve an hour or two during the weekend, usually on Sunday morning, to prepare my schedule for the week, which includes selecting the topics for my columns. I do this because most of my columns do require some research, and I have to fit time for that into the calendar. Besides, I like things organized; I have rarely been described as 'spontaneous,' and when I have been, the person saying it has been wrong.

However, there are sometimes things that can knock me off course, notions that are so ridiculous or infuriating that I have to break my planned workflow to address them. One such thing was the underpants-on-head level of stupidity revealed in a story that inexplicably made it to the front page of The Manila Times yesterday (Monday) morning under the headline, 'Diamond dust injection may help reduce global warming.'