Tagalog Translation

New blog site

2005-09-30T00:30:00.000+02:00

As I am too busy with two jobs - translation/interpretation and administration - it'll be difficult for me to find time to update my blog here. Since I always check my emails on hotmail, I created a blog there with pics and music included. It'll be a mix of private and professional diary. Wishing that colleagues and clients continue to visit this and the new blog too. Here's the other blog in MSN: Translator and dreamer

Fair Trial for Paco Larrañaga

2005-04-30T13:54:00.000+02:00

Today I received a call from SEPROTEC for an interpretation job on Monday in a hospital in Barcelona. As I am working full time at the moment, I turned the offer because of incompatibility with my job. Tagalog translators and interpreters in this Spanish city are so scarce I think we're only 3 or 4 so it's difficult to get our service.

I'd like to publish as well here in my blog the petition of many Spanish people to have a fair trial for Paco Larrañaga presumably one of the suspects of the abduction, murder and rape case of the two sisters Marijoy and Jacqueline Chiong in Cebu City. The Spanish government as well as the European Union are now taking actions to appeal to the decision of the Supreme Court in the Philippines. For more details and for your much needed signature, please visit Qué website: www.quediario.com.

Translation of script

2004-12-04T17:26:00.000+01:00

After going to Nokia Club Service Point in Gran Vía to pick up my two free tickets to the film The Incredibles (the store was already closed), I went to have lunch in typical Spanish restaurant. While there I received a phone call from a client in UK for a translation job. I barely heard her since everybody was shouting (mind you this is not the normal talk here in Spain) while eating!

I instructed the client to send me the document and arranged the mode of payment. We agreed to have the translated text delivered on Monday.

No holiday for me - Spain has a long weekend this week from today until the 8th!

Found time at last! Wow Philippines!

2004-12-03T23:27:00.000+01:00

Whew! After a long "hibernation" - I've been too busy with my other full time work - I have found time to at least update this blog of mine.

During these last 3 days, I was assisting the Philippine Department of Tourism Attachè in Paris and PICC Manager (Robet Garcia) in their daily dealings with potential tourism clients in EIBTM fair in Barcelona. It was a big event for me to be able to participate in this "promotion" of our country to the world especially the Europeans. It's about time that we become "aggressive" in our publicity of the Philippines. I've learned a lot from the presentations done by Mr. Domingo Ramón Enerio a.k.a Chikoy. Visitors as well as delegates from other countries praised the booth we set up - the Boracay white sandy beach as a backdrop. It was a pity that nobody from the private sector came to this international happening. The interpretation/translation task I did here was almost nil since everyone spoke English. My wish is that they open a Tourism Bureau also in Barcelona to help boost the promotion and marketing of Philippine tourism in Spain.

It was so nice to meet and make friends with other Filipinos living in Norway, the USA and Belgium. I am looking forward to seeing them again here in Barcelona for the next EIBTM fair or even sooner.

Translating Fund Raising document

2004-08-27T17:23:00.000+02:00

I have been very busy with the translation of a fund raising document of an NGO here in Barcelona. It's full of reference about the Philippines way of raising funds.

Interpretation job on Sunday morning

2004-08-22T15:39:00.000+02:00

I was awakened by the ring on my mobile phone. It was the agency calling for an interpretation job at the Barcelona court. I was a bit reluctant to get the job because it's a long way here in Cornellá to the center of Barcelona. And the thing is it's Sunday! However, when I heard that there was a big compensation of almost the double I usually get from my other regular-job-providing agency, my mouth just uttered the word yes.

The job was about (again) child abuse. This time around the father of the child charged his wife of maltreatment. The funny thing though is that his wife filed a few days ago a lawsuit for abuse. It seems that his wife is a battered person not only his daughter.

The only problem I have had with this work was with the word "denuncia" (report/file a complaint) in Spanish. I was a bit hesitant to translate into "reklamo" (claim - it may mean only verbal claim without any formal complaint) since the term in Spanish implies more serious action. So I decided to use the near equivalent "naghain ng demanda" (filed a complaint/lawsuit). It was indeed understood by the father.

Dreamtranslator

2004-08-19T19:42:00.000+02:00

My new blog.

I've been busy with translation work of the essays though I should be on vacation. Anyways, the new blog will be tackling the theme of dreams, my dreams. So folks I would be sharing my "deepest being." Don´t be scared...

Translation of a book

2004-08-15T20:09:00.000+02:00

Today I was offered a job to translate Ashok Gollerkeri's essays, which will be compiled to complete a book. The language will be in Tagalog. As excited as any translator can be, I am now flexing my muscles to commence this work. It's a very profitable one taking into consideration that 25% of the royalties will be given to me, the translator. But there's a catch since I have to look for the publisher myself. So friends out there, is there anyone who can lend me a helping hand regarding this? Any Filipino publisher out there?

Silver lining

2004-08-14T19:40:00.000+02:00

Yes, the two checks for translation and editing job from Merrill Corporation are here! They always pay on time though someone seems to forget to change my new address in their database because the checks arrived at the former house I was staying.

And my friend Shirley is now recuperating from lung surgery. Things to be glad about after the stormy Friday the 13th. Thank God!

Lies and more lies

2004-08-13T14:48:00.000+02:00

What supposed to be a 30€ an hour interpretation job at Barcelona court turned out to be a 0€ all-day-charade-lie game for me.

I was summoned to appear at the court today (with only 30 minutes notice) to interpret on behalf of a Filipino accused of a crime. So excited to go there, I forgot that I had to do another important thing - collect the payment from a flatmate. I missed the train and metro. I wouldn't arrive on time... Worried about the bad omen this day offers, Friday the 13th, my instinct told me to go after her and abandon the idea to go do the interpretation job. She was in the bank taking out money when I called her. Then, after an hour of waiting she still hadn't showed up. There was no money after all. The check she issued bounced last week. Obviously, there was no funds in her account. Spain, Spanish bureaucracy, Spanish siesta, Spanish mañana habit... Grrr!

All morning we were arguing, going back and forth to the bank with no success and eventually I lost the assignment at the court. "Killed" 2 jobs in one day!

Interpretation on child abuse

2004-08-12T19:01:00.000+02:00

Filipinos are known for being caring, loving and patient breed of people. However, like every other human, we err and sometimes we hurt the ones we love. Discipline out of love (more often it leads to abuse) is the subject of my interpretation job today.

She is a typical Filipina mother who works so hard to give all the best for her child. For 9 long years she bore all the hardships life has given her just to bring up her son (deaf-mute)in more than a normal way. The great barrier between them over these years being away with her son while working abroad was ended when she finally got the chance to petition him. Her husband died a year ago. She now has the custody of the child. What she thought would be a paradise being with her son turned out to be an everyday headache. Problems with communication emerged and she had to look for ways to learn to understand him. She started attending sign language classes but that was not enough because her son has even deeper problem - a psychological one.

Spanish people are not accustomed to seeing their child beaten rather parents are beaten verbally by their children. That's the sad reality. They protect children here in a way that you cannot even pinch their ear because its tantamount to abuse and they can sue you for it.

The interpretation job was fairly easy, it was in Spanish<->Tagalog. One thing I was a bit uneasy was when I tried to explain and elaborate what the mother had exactly exposed and elaborated about the alleged beating of the child, the caretaker didn't give the time to finish all I had to interpret. Parang naiintindihan niya yung sinabi ng nanay ng bata kahit hindi! The caretaker was obviouly biased with what the child had declared to her. She was so sure of the abuse because the neighbors always hear the mother shouts at her deaf-mute son. So I asked permission to end interpreting the version of the mother because there was a lot of juicy and crucial information in there. Valuable information is already lost when you don't hear attentively to someone but even more in terms of "translating" if that particular information is not shared and expressed. Finally, the caretaker told the mother to focus on her deficiencies (communication, housing, etc.) and should try to be more patient and understanding with her son. They will be under surveillance and if one incident of abuse is manifested again then her son will be under the custody of the center for good.

From my point of view and based on the evidence I saw, there was no abuse only misunderstading. Discipline is quite different here in Spain or if I can generalize it, in Europe.

I protest, we protest

2004-08-12T14:38:00.000+02:00

When 11-M in Madrid happened everybody was aghast by the horror it caused to Spain and Europe. Everybody was wondering if it was the equivalent of 11-S in New York. Indeed it was after Spanish authorities (some of them tried to manipulate the information so to stay in power longer-Aznar and Co. blaming erroneously ETA for it) found out that the culprits were the terrorist group Al Qaeda. However, the Spanish people as well residents (let's not forget there was a Filipino victim there too) fed up with the lies of the former Spanish government officials decided to end this brazen maneuvering by sending messages to their friends and families to rally against these liars. Some went to the headquarter of the PP (People's Party) in order to air their disgust and blame the officials for their secrecy regarding 11-M. Thus, massive mobilization through text messaging in Spain started. And the end of Aznarism began.

Now on the other side of the Atlantic, as Americans prepare for the crucial November elections the effect of massive text messaging trend is just starting to be felt:
Text Messages for Critical Masses. Here's wishing that Americans utilize this new tool to save their government from liars in the present administration just like Spanish people accurately have done recently.

Anyone want to join me for a peace rally in Barcelona? I'll massive-text you for the venue! Better go to the beach myself - alone!

Hoax hate letter

2004-08-10T19:03:00.000+02:00

Internet is a worldwide success as well as hoaxes sent through this means. In a flash a message whether it is true or not can travel around the world and spread whatever information it carries with it. This afternoon I was "lucky" to be a recipient of a hate letter against the Filipinos. I reacted stubbornly without a second thought resending the letter to my Filipino friends around the world. A few minutes passed and I tried to look for the accused person who allegedly wrote this hate letter. To my surprise, the person did not have anything to do with it and few other articles even a lawsuit were confirming the lies behind this missive. I was so naïve! I felt perplexed and ashamed when I figured out that this hoax has been circulating since 2001! A major and widely read newspaper in the Philippines was sued for printing it. The much respected Philippine Daily Inquirer was, as I was today, a victim of this e-hoax. Fearing that my email to friends might trigger an unstoppable chain letter therefore collapsing some net traffic, I followed up my email by expressing apology to all the recipients of my recent e-hoax turned e-spam.

So friends be careful on the false information circulating on the net. Investigate first before making a stand.

Dreams and translation

2004-08-09T17:19:00.000+02:00

It was daytime, afternoon or maybe night time. The only thing I was sure and could remember was I was inside a church or a theater - it was dark with the only source of light was my own eyes' white part.

I was standing right in front of the stage as the lone "actress" dressed in yellow Victorian gown and cap lay awake in bed like the grandmother of Little Red Riding Hood. Waiting anxiously about what to happen next, my eyes just saw in New York minute hands with cake or rice offering to me first as a gift and then to the old woman protagonist on stage. There were more people in the amphitheater (suddenly I realized what it was) watching anxiously the scene. The next thing I could recollect was I needed to go to the bathroom and pee...

Startling though they may seem, my dreams have been recurring in the last year or two: dogs biting me or even gnashing my limbs, swimming naked or half-naked, flying too low on an airplane, winding stairs with missing rungs and of ocurse, the worst of all, the stage. As I have read in one of those books tackling the interpretation of dreams, the stage is the equivalent or a premonition of an imminent danger or bad happening. I tried to keep record of these recurring dreams and one thing I noticed is that, in particular the stage scene, really has a true effect and happens to me. Just this weekend my lodgers left the house without saying goodbye but the promise of paying their share this week. Where in the hell will I find them now? My dream two nights back was right. Or it was my "interpretation" or metaphorically speaking my "translation" of that particular dream?

An interesting read about dreams and translation can be found here:

Dreaming and the Impossible Art of Translation

Thanks Jacek for this informative link!

New 101Translations Project Manager

2004-08-04T20:25:00.000+02:00

I've just received an email from a former project manager of a translation agency, 101Translations, I often work with. The following days will be a new start to providing information again to be able to update their database. Of course, frequent collaborators like me will still be given priority in jobs. I just hope the new project manager is as efficient and kind as the one who was in-charge of that post, Giovanni Giusti.

Welcome Bellinda Zabcic!

At last, I've got the book

2004-08-03T20:03:00.000+02:00

After two weeks of endless waiting, finally the famous book "La sombra del viento" has landed in my hands. So excited to read the first few pages, I even felt the haste to sight translate the words as they passed before my eyes. I'm also taking notes of some important events and things so as not to miss them when the real translation work begins.

I'll soon share with Filipinos the delight of "knowing" another world through the translation of this book. So friends, look forward to the Tagalog version of this work.

The Philippines according to blogs

2004-07-30T17:20:00.000+02:00

This very informative weblog is a must see http://houseonahill.net/"

Difficult translation of a traffic accident

2004-07-28T18:58:00.000+02:00

A recent job was sent to me regarding a traffic accident. The text is hand written (almost undecipherable) . The difficulty lies not on the handwriting but on the lack of punctuation marks, no commas, no periods! So the sequence of action was a bit blurred when I started to read the whole text. I only got the whole meaning when I started to sort of cut the long phrases and put commas and periods where they are needed. The document was like a spoken version of what happened. My duty was, as a "bearer" of the message, to get the message across being sure that the reader really understands the flow as much as the intended meaning of the one reporting the accident.

The manner of writing was hastily done due to the state of the person after the accident occurred and it was not a matter of style. He could be very angry and nervous at the time and was only thinking of getting out of the police station and fixing his broken mirror fast. I took that into consideration and analyzed thoroughly the meaning of the written words and tried to express that message in a more organized and understandable way. Of course, to tell the true account of the accident it must be "well-phrased" and intelligible to the authorities who will examine it so they can make proper decisions concerning the matter.

I think these justify the final translation of that accident.

Tungkol sa Pagsaway

2004-07-26T13:53:00.000+02:00

Reading on the essay of Erich Fromm "On Disobedience," I encountered this bit of truth:

"Why is man so prone to obey and why is it so difficult for him to disobey? As long as I am obedient to the power of the State, the Church, or public opinion, I feel safe and protected. In fact it makes little difference what power it is that I am obedient to. It is always an institution, or men, who use force in one form or another and who fraudulently claim omniscience and omnipotence. My obedience makes me part of the power I worship, and hence I feel strong. I can make no error, since it decides for me; I cannot be alone, because it watches over me; I cannot commit a sin, because it does not let me do so, and even if I do sin, the punishment is only the way of returning to the almighty power. In order to disobey, one must have the courage to be alone, to err and to sin. But courage is not enough. The capacity for courage depends on a person's state of development. Only if a person has emerged from mother's lap and father's commands, only if he has emerged as a fully developed individual and thus has acquired the capacity to think and feel for himself, only then can he have the courage to say "no" to power, to disobey. A person can become free through acts of disobedience by learning to say no to power. But not only is the capacity for disobedience the condition for freedom; freedom is also the condition for disobedience. If I am afraid of freedom, I cannot dare to say "no," I cannot have the courage to be disobedient. Indeed, freedom and the capacity for disobedience are inseparable; hence any social, political, and religious system which proclaims freedom, yet stamps out disobedience, cannot speak the truth. "

Something to think about this summer...

Tagalog linguists for US government anti-terrorism project

2004-07-24T21:09:00.000+02:00

Today I received an email from the list for translators and interpreters a job post for Tagalog translators/interpreter and linguists. It seems that the US government is recruiting Tagalog linguists and other language experts in Arabic, Dari, Pashto, Amharic, Tigrinya, Urdu, Serbian/Croatian/Bosnian/Montenegrin, Haitian Creole, Somali for this noble project which is anti-terrorism. If anyone is interested, please visit the Aset Quality webpage (www.asetquality.com) or just send your resume to live@asetquality.com.

Enough said about terrorism. I hope they make a good deal of money out of it.
Going to see the movie Fahrenheit 9/11.

Festilingua 2004

2004-07-22T21:05:00.000+02:00

An exciting event will unfold in Barcelona during the last warm days of September and first few cool days of October. After having a reunion with fellow teachers and translators at

Instituto de Lenguas y Culturas del Mundo

for this forum of languages of the world, I have decided to include a promotion here in my blog so that people will know about it.

The tentative program is the following:

Around the world of languages in 7 days

-Promotion of Languages and Cultures

Marathon of Languages of the World

-Continuous language lessons in 65 languages

Workshop on Calligraphy

Linguistic Conference

Conference on Culture

So to recap, there will be 7 complete days to learn the basics of these languages, conferences and other cultural activities. Various embassies will participate in this event too. If anyone's interested in attending or just to see how this happening develops, please click on the right sidebar under Instituto de Lenguas y Culturas del Mundo.

PITPIT: Is it a bird, a plane...?

2004-07-18T23:02:00.000+02:00

It reminds me of the classic song in the 70's I think by Celeste Legaspi and written by the master lyricist himself, Levi Celerio  (Guinness Book of World Records: "The only leaf player in the world is in the Philippines"):


May pumukol sa pipit sa sanga ng isang kahoy (Somebody shot a pipit perched in a branch of a tree)
At nahagip ng bato ang pakpak ng munting ibon (And the wing of the little bird was hit by a stone)
Dahil sa sakit, di na nakaya pang lumipad (It couldn't fly no more because of the pain)
At ang nangyari ay nahulog (And what happened was it fell)
Ngunit parang taong bumigkas, (But it spoke like a man,)
"Mamang kay lupit, ang puso mo'y di na nahabag, ("Cruel man, your heart pity has none)
Pag pumanaw ang buhay ko (If my life be gone)
May isang pipit na iiyak!"      (Another pipit shall moan)

Pitpit is a Spanish word which refers to this bird we call pipit in both English and Tagalog. It caught my attention the other night when a Spanish man talked about this cute species. The word could have pass onto to Tagalog by deleting the t in the first syllable for easy pronunciation. Or it could be just through an imitation of its onomatopeic way of singing.

Interesting blog about the Philippine languages

2004-07-17T14:02:00.000+02:00

It's a privilege to present to you my friends this new blog I found at Seasite Tagalog forum. The brains behind this weblog is Christopher Sundita from Washington, USA. He is a Filipino born in the USA (Bruce, your song's great) and an avid linguistics buff. Your mother must be so proud of you, Chris.

You can read his in depth entries regarding Philippine languages at Salita Blog

I also included the blog at the right side bar under interesting links so you'll never miss his smart posts.

La Sombra del Viento (The Shadow of the Wind)

2004-07-16T15:16:00.000+02:00

I've been trying to get hold of this book in the public library all over Barcelona but to no avail. The librarians informed me that they have a long list of reservation for this latest bestseller novel in the Spanish language. At least I have to wait until the month of November or December to be able to borrow it. Thinking that it costs 20 euros in hard bound copy, I am a bit reluctant to spend the money since I can in fact just buy a pocket book for less and even better borrow it in a library.

My interest in this book is to translate it into Tagalog, maybe a hard task but for the benefit of the Filipinos who can't understand Spanish (although I have seen already a version in English) I'll do it. The easy and yet hard part is the title. Of course, from the first glance it's easy to render it as "Ang Anino ng Hangin." Very metaphorical isn't it? On second thought if we analyze profoundly the title itself and its meaning, it seems unnatural and illogical. Unnatural because we can not see wind and it has no shape nor form. Likewise in a logical sense we can ask the question, how can it cast a shadow in the first place? So the title as simple as that can play a major and crucial role in the "interpretation" of the entire novel. Does the translation "Ang Anino ng Hangin" retain the original metaphorical meaning? Well, that remains to be seen. I have the duty first to read whole book.

I am also surprised with the versions Spanish translators of movie titles render famous films like "Some like it Hot" (Con faldas y a lo loco - In skirts and crazy?) , "Waking Ned" (Despertando a Ned - Waking up Ned [isn't Ned supposed to be dead in the film?]), "Unbreakable" (El protegido - The protegé), etc. Great imagination some translators have!

Tanikalang Ginto

2004-07-14T20:50:00.000+02:00

This webpage is really full of interesting stuffs about the Philippines: language, culture, travels, etc. It's like finding a treasure.

Free translation for freelance translator

2004-07-13T20:49:00.000+02:00

A familiar email just popped up into my inbox this morning. The email contains a request to translate some lines from a chat session from somebody I don't know. And it talks about a trivial declaration of love! As much as I want to help this girl in her search for the meaning of the lines written in a chat but I don't do free long translations (more than 250 words) anymore just like any doctor who doesn't do a free consultation.

Mass vs mass

2004-07-12T21:53:00.000+02:00

Just finished reading "Angels and Demons" this afternoon. The climax seemed quite predictable after having read his other best-selling novel. However, it tickled my funny bones with the witty exchange of remarks of the two protagonists at the end of the book: "neutrinos have mass - "I didn't know they were Catholics."

It's hard to translate the term mass in Tagalog without recurring to and using the original English term. In Tagalog, "misa" would surely be amiss since it only means the religious celebration of the Eucharist.

Polish is synonymous of Catalan

2004-07-12T14:03:00.000+02:00

The English-Catalan, Catalan-English Collins dictionary has included the term Polish (polaco) as Catalan. It means that Catalan is as difficult as the Polish language. Moreover, it connotes a very negative meaning especially for Catalan people who speak it. The origin may have come from the difficulty of understanding Polish by a Spanish speaker, who in turn also resists to understand Catalan. Surely, this would come as an insult for most Catalans.

See: www.e-noticies.com

That damn apple again

2004-07-08T21:05:00.000+02:00

A striking discovery for me today as I read the book by Roberto Beretta and Elisabetta Broli, "Enigmas de la Biblia al descubierto" about the apple that was supposedly eaten by Eve. In the book, the authors intelligently noted that there was a wrong translation of the Latin term "malus-malum," which indicates bad and apple . Upon close scrutiny of the whole chapter of Genesis 3, we can find that there is no mention of the apple but rather of another fruit- the fig. Says Genesis 3:7 Then the eyes of both of them were opened, and they realized they were naked; so they sewed fig leaves together and made coverings for themselves. The authors concluded that it's logical that they took leaves from this tree - after eating its fruit - by its proximity to them. In fact in the Jewish tradition, they consider the forbidden fruit as the fig not the apple as widely known in the Christian world. Anyway, in matters of faith is this so crucial? Not really but here we see deception resurfaces again. If you ask me, I shall just translate the word malus as fruit since we really don't know which fruit it was originally as no one has ever known Eden.

The world is an APPLE

2004-07-07T14:47:00.000+02:00

POMUM. The Spanish equivalent for APPLE the translator of The Da Vinci Code rendered. Amazed by this equally brilliant translation of the missing "orb" which led to the fall of the human race and in contradiction, the "fall" which gave birth to modern science, I wonder if this can be used also in Tagalog translation. The first fall cursed and "grounded" us all while the second blessed us with a wider understanding of the world we live in and ushered in progress. Obviously, apple in Tagalog is, like in Spanish (manzana, plural form is manzanas), mansanas*. Using this term means losing the original intended five-letter-word key to the secret. And of course, would lose meaning in the book since it would not fit in the cryptex for being too long a word. But then again, pomum is not a Spanish word at all! It's Latin which means fruit, apple in English. Universally, apple is also known by its scientific name Malus pumila . (I'm so flabbergasted maybe our family name Rosaceña came from apple's family name Rosaceae!) DRAE (the official Spanish dictionary) does not include it in the famous and likewise infamous dictionay. Nonetheless, the rendering of pomum is quite ingenious. Would that be also good for Tagalog translation?

* It's so curious to note that many Spanish words we have in Tagalog like "oras (hora - hour, time), boses (voces - voices) and mansanas are in the plural form though we normally refer and use them in the singular. An example is "Qué hora es?" - Ano'ng oras na?

Funny thing happened in FNAC

2004-07-06T17:14:00.000+02:00

I was browsing the other novel of Dan Brown (got really interested in his books about conspiracies, spies and secret societies ) "Angels and Demons" in FNAC bookstore when someone unknown called me on my mobile phone. Surprised and a bit suspicious on who the caller was, my throat reluctantly gargled the words "Hola, diga." Then on the other line I heard a sweet voice of a non-native Spanish speaker who told me she found my details in the web. Hmmm, a line in the novel "Angels and Demons" described a scenario like this one... My paranoia was getting in on me but fast! Had she not introduced herself as a half-Belgian, half-Filipina I would not definitely have kept the conversation going in the first place. Later, I found out that she would like to know more about the art of Translation and of course, the one thing that matters most - its profitability. She also told me that she considers learning Tagalog again since she got a job that needs to be translated in our native language. So I agreed to meet up with her on Thursday afternoon to talk about these matters. Another opportunity lurks just around the corner of Via Laietana...

Baptism

2004-07-05T14:20:00.000+02:00

This is the day of reckoning, my first day in the world of blog! Things related to my translation works and life will be posted here and be updated every other day, not to say everyday. So cruel world I'm out here!

The Code

2004-07-05T13:52:00.000+02:00

Just like any other normal person in the world who has read The Da Vinci Code, I am so excited and at the same time paranoid of what's the real truth out there. As a translator I can't help imagine the vast repercussion this novel would create if the facts described in the book were really true. Although I knew some of them even before I read the book, I was amazed and scared to death having them known again in a different light. My next step was to investigate further on these facts - but what good it could do if all the information in the world was tainted with deception and falsification?