firecrackers

One of our dogs died today, Fuji. She had been with us for more than 10 years. Every New Year's eve, she always hid at the back of the house, scared of the sound of the firecrackers. I remember, there was even a time when she surprised us by leaping over a 5 feet wall (with the help of the washing machine) because of the noise.  We laughed.  She was not a big dog, and looking at her, you'd never know she would be able to jump that high.

A few days before she died she can no longer stand up. Her legs were twisted with arthritis and she refused to eat. We all knew it was only a matter of time. My aunt and mom were always telling me that we should just have her "put to sleep". I refused. She had survived a lot of things before and came back stronger than ever, I feel like she deserved all the life she can get. I did my best to take care of her. I imagined her, an old dog, closing her eyes, dying peacefully in her sleep.

But it wasn't like that at all. It got to the point where it was painful to just look at her. She was so thin and, yesterday, she had saliva dripping from her mouth. She was barking (sort of) and we couldn't do anything but wait. She died with her eyes open. We buried her this morning. In the afternoon, we saw a butterfly with purple spots in the place where she died. I believe it was her, saying goodbye.

It's now 5:14 pm here and already I can hear firecrackers outside. The usual stuff: trianggulo, plapla, bawang, etc. Looking at them, you'd never know they were packing so much power and could make that much noise. What a way to end the year, crying while writing a blog entry. I miss her.

difficult people

This app in Facebook is almost always right on target.

On this day, God wants you to know...
... that difficult people are very important, - they teach you tolerance and acceptance. If all was going your way all the time, you would become a spoiled child, wouldn't everyone? Difficult people are just one of the ways God teaches us to expand beyond our egos and accept other perspectives on life.

For me, there's no such thing as an "easy" person. Everyone's difficult because each of us is unique-- different ways of thinking, backgrounds and views on life, personalities. It's always hard for me to adjust. I get uncomfortable when there's unfamiliar company. Plus when I'm with people, I tend to get the feeling that you have to entertain them. You have to talk about interesting things, you have to talk about yourself, you have to talk about the things you have in common-- you just have to Talk. You have to work and work and work to fill in the silence. Dead air is hell.

I do have friends and I've known them for years. These relationships are time tested and we've gone through a lot. I can count them in one hand though. Most of the people I know, I know that they're just passing through. I work with them, try my very best shot at small talk and that's it. Shallow connections. Why not make them deeper? I don't know. There's always something that prevents me from doing that. Maybe it's me, maybe it's them. Maybe the chemistry isn't right. I don't know. It's just difficult.

It sucks but I believe this is one of life's most important lesson-- tolerance and acceptance. It will be painful and it will take time. Everyone has a reason for doing the things they do, and I have to dig deeper to understand.

heavenly peace

In 1816, Father Josef Mohr wrote a poem about the night when Christ was born. It was a simple poem, describing a time of happiness and longing for peace and comfort. At that time, he was an assistant priest in Mariapfarr, Austria. The Napoleonic wars had just ended, and an economic depression left many unsure of the future.

Two years later, he showed it to Franz Gruber, the choirmaster, and asked him if he could compose a melody. It was the day before Christmas. Their church organ was broken, and they needed a song for the Mass that could be accompanied by a guitar. Franz got to work and on that Christmas eve, "Stille Nacht, Heilige Nacht" (Silent Night, Holy Night), was born. Father Mohr sang tenor and played the guitar while Franz sang bass.


A hundred years later, their song became part of a miracle.

Soldiers fighting the Great War were promised a victory by December and assured they'd be going home to celebrate.  It was never delivered-- the war lasted for four more years.  But on the cold Christmas Eve of 1914, something happened. The German troops, despite the danger, placed lighted candles on trees. They held some of these over their heads, sending a holiday greeting to their enemy. The British, on the other side, saw it and held their fire. They heard the Germans start singing "Stille nacht, Heilige nacht" and immediately recognized the melody. They responded by singing English carols.

Frank Richards, author of the memoir Old Soldiers Never Die, writes about the truce: "We stuck up a board with 'Merry Christmas' on it. The enemy stuck up a similar one. Two of our men threw off their equipment and jumped on the parapet with their hands above their heads as two of the Germans did the same, our two going to meet them. They shook hands and then we all got out of the trench and so did the Germans." He also says that some German soldiers spoke perfect English, one of them even saying how fed up he was with the war and how he would be glad when it was all over. The British agreed.

They lit a common campfire in "No Man's Land", a small bombed out terrain between them. Sitting around it, they exchanged gifts such as whisky, jam, cigarettes and chocolates. The truce lasted through Christmas night, but in some areas, it continued until New Year's Day.

Today, a cross stands near Ypres, Belgium, the place where the trees twinkled as a song of peace interrupted the war. It was created in 1999 and its inscription reads:

"1914 - The Khaki Chums Christmas Truce - 1999. 85 Years. Lest we forget."

"Stille nacht, Heilige nacht" by Josef Mohr and Franz Gruber

Sources:
http://www.stillenacht.at/en/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christmas_truce
http://home.snu.edu/~hculbert/silent.htm
http://www.holytrinitynewrochelle.org/yourti14724.html

on silence

There's a small chapel on the 9th floor of the building where I work. Lately, I've been going there more often, following the afternoon Mass. I sit by myself, breathing in the incense. I stare outside or at the floor, think about work, my life so far, or what I will do in the future. Sometimes, flute or piano music plays from the speakers, or a catchy song plays in my head. I secretly watch the others, some are reading a novena book while some are praying. I try to guess what they are asking for and I hope that they get it.

I'm not sure if this is Peace. I often feel guilty for leaving my workstation, going all the way down there and then sitting for 5 to 10 minutes doing nothing. I feel like I'm wasting time not being busy, but I feel happy as well because I have a place and a time all for myself. Nobody I know goes there at that hour. A small window of freedom. I've been going for over a week and it's becoming a habit.

I hear no clever talks, no humor, no kind words, no sharing of one's self. It's blank-- but it's not empty. Something fills me, and I'm craving it more and more. I didn't realize my hunger for silence; and something is happening to me that I didn't expect: I'm more focused at work, better at conversations, more patient and more tolerant of others. Those moments bring out something in me. Out of nothing, the better part of me grows.

YouTube's most watched video of 2009

She's the youngest of nine children and lives in Blackburn with her ten-year-old cat, Pebbles.  The plan was to be a musical theatre singer like Elaine Page but you'd never know the power of that voice only by looking at her.  People had always made fun of her appearance and learning disabilities.  Nonetheless, there is always that dream-- to hold on to and pursue.  She took singing lessons from Fred O'Neil and attended the Edinburgh Acting School.  She auditioned for shows and recorded independent CDs. In 1999, she spent all of her savings to pay for a professionally cut demo tape, which she sent to record companies, radio talent competitions, local and national TV.

It all took a backseat though, when she had to look after her sick mother-- the same person who urged her to join a TV talent contest and “take the risk” of singing in front of an audience larger than her parish church.  Her mother died at the age of 91 last 2007.  She decided to join the contest as a tribute-- and her performance got her a standing ovation and a worldwide audience.   Today, she has a #1 debut album and 120 million views in Youtube. Best of all, she's known as the woman who shut up Simon Cowell.

Sources:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Susan_Boyle

Entomophagy

http://www.nuffy.net/articles/world-strangest-food.html

Entomophagy is the practice of eating insects--  grasshoppers, spiders, ants, scorpions, beetles and the like.  They're not what most people would normally have for lunch but they're a delicacy in countries such as Thailand, China and Mexico.  Here in Pinas, we still consider them exotic but there are some places where you can satisfy your cravings for an adobo or a fried beetle-- although I don't know exactly where those are and I haven't eaten anything like that yet.

According to the Entomological Society of America, insects generally contain more protein and are lower in fat than traditional meats.  In Central Africa, caterpillars and grubs are a source of protein and energy.  A study done by the UN states that:

"For every 100 grams of dried caterpillars, there are about 53 grams of protein, about 15 percent of fat and about 17 percent of carbohydrates. Their energy value amounts to around 430 kilocalories per 100 grams. The insects are also believed to have a higher proportion of protein and fat than beef and fish with a high energy value.

Depending on the species, caterpillars are rich in important minerals such as potassium, calcium, magnesium, zinc, phosphorus and iron, as well as various vitamins, the FAO study revealed. Research shows that 100 grams of insects provide more than 100 percent of the daily requirements of the respective minerals and vitamins."

Of course there are still risks involved.  We can't eat all insects-- and even those that are considered safe could have been exposed to pesticides and toxins.  It's best to get your bugs from a reliable and trusted seller, or maybe you can start a farm and raise your own.   I think it's best to start with crickets (kuliglig).  They're one of the most popular to eat and there's a ton of websites listed on Google about how to raise them.  Here's an easy one to follow from Wikihow.

Aside from being an alternative source of nutrition and energy, insects are also a potential source of income.  The website Insects are Food offers advice and assistance to Entomophagy entrepreneurs.  You can send them an email with your questions here: info@insectsarefood.com.

Sources:
http://www.thisislondon.co.uk/news/article-23489201-just-the-cricket-eating-insects-is-good-for-us-and-for-the-environment-scientists-claim.do
http://insectsarefood.com
http://www.afrol.com/articles/14734
http://www.locusviridis.co.uk/sections/archives/category/entomophagy

trunk sale

Apologies, I haven't checked my admin email account for this blog in quite a while.  I wasn't really expecting anything.  When I last checked the inbox, the only thing I had (aside from the "please moderate" notifications) was the test mail I sent to myself.  Anyways, it turns out there's a new mail for me!  My first one ever!  I'm so happy-- and sleepy (it's 5 minutes 'til midnight).  It's about my animal friends post.

Hello -

I just spotted your mention on your site of Tarra & Bella, and the
Elephant Sanctuary - thanks so much for helping to spread the word
about the important work that they do! I'm in Publicity for Tilbury
House, a small independent publisher, and we published two books
written by the Sanctuary co-founder, Carol Buckley: Travels With Tarra
and Just for Elephants. I thought you might be interested to know that
through December 31, we are holding a "Trunk Sale" - for every 100
copies of our two elephant books that we sell, we'll sponsor a
much-needed item from the Sanctuary wish-list. These include 100lbs of
peanut butter (a favorite snack), elephant-sized meals, and land for
"the girls" to roam. The books are available directly from the
Sanctuary (www.elephants.com), as well as other online retailers and
bookstores nationwide. If you'd like more information, just let me
know.

Thanks again!

Kind regards,
Sarah

------------
Sarah McGinnis, Publicity
Tilbury House, Publishers
103 Brunswick Avenue
Gardiner, ME 04345
800-582-1899
Facebook: http://tinyurl.com/c2cnav
www.tilburyhouse.com

These books are great for Christmas presents-- plus you'll be helping out the Elephant Sanctuary.  So for those interested, please visit http://www.elephants.com/estore/ and go grab a copy!

built-in kevlar

Jessica and Gabriella (abcnews.go.com)

Two years ago, Jessica Forsyth was shot by her boyfriend four times with a .44-caliber Magnum pistol. One of the bullets almost got her major blood vessels, spine and heart, if it hadn't been for the 6-inch titanium plate in her collarbone.

Dr. Greg Casey, a trauma surgeon from Hurley Medical Center says, "[Forsyth's] very, very lucky that she had that plate there. It probably saved her life. If [the bullet] had struck her spinal column, we might be dealing with a quadriplegic patient or a paraplegic patient. She was blessed to have that plate."

The plate was from the two accidents she had when she was a kid. When she was 8 years old, she broke her collarbone when her brother pushed her off a merry-go-round. Five years later, she fell off her bike and this time, the bone split in half. The doctors had to put in a titanium plate to help heal the fracture. She had always tried to hide the scar.

The plate saved her-- and the life of her unborn child. Forsyth didn't know that she was four months pregnant at that time.

"I was actually in the emergency room, and the doctor came over and told me, and I yelled at him. I did. I remember I was so mad," she said. "I told him to go back and check it again."

She gave birth to a baby girl last September 2007. Gabriella is now two years old and Forsyth feels that she is a sign of good luck for her.

"We're just so blessed that we still have her," Rhonda Poston, Forsyth's mother, said at the time, "and in addition to that we're going to have a baby!"

Sources:
Michigan teen shooting survivor - http://abcnews.go.com

delays

They were on their way to cover a major news event when a companion asked if they can go by the hotel first. He said he needed to get his laptop and use the bathroom. It has to be expected. In every trip, there's always someone like this. Someone who forgets something and they have to go and get it. Or there's someone who doesn't feel too good and they would have to stop.  Knowing the delay could cause them to miss the event, they still decided to let him have his way.  They'll just have to catch up-- fast.  They broke away from the convoy. Hours later, they found out that everyone was massacred-- a total of 57 people. That could've been a solid 60. The three of them could've been part of the most brutal election related crime in the country.


Hotel incident made us skip media convoy at last minute -http://services.inquirer.net
In Maguindanao, spared journalists are thankful for being late -http://www.gmanews.tv

davaotoday.com

heroes awakened

"Our planet is filled with heroes, young and old, rich and poor, man, woman of different colors, shapes and sizes. We are one great tapestry. Each person has a hidden hero within, you just have to look inside you and search it in your heart, and be the hero to the next one in need." - Efren Penaflorida

I was reading the stories of the Top Ten CNN Heroes for 2009 and I realized that a lot of them had something in common-- these heroes started out as victims: a drug addicted war veteran, a cancer patient, a teenager that was raped, impregnated and infected with AIDS, a kid from the slums, an amputee. That hero within was shook awake, forced to stand up and fight the battle. A constant battle which I don't think they ever expect to end. That's one of the things I both admire and envy about them, their inexhaustible supply of strength and motivation.

Aside from Efren, one of my favorite among the ten nominees is Jorge Munoz. He is a Colombian immigrant who runs a mobile soup kitchen in Queens, New York. As a bus driver, he earns $700 a week and spends about $400 to $450 to fund the endeavor. It takes up most of his time and their apartment space. Where does he get his motivation?? I refuse to believe that he never had any doubts about it. I'm sure there are times when he felt tired and crazy and just wanted to stop, save some money and start his own family. But why still do it? What makes him go on? It's amazing.

Even more amazing are the ones that heed the call even though they didn't have to. Budi Soehardi was a pilot living in Singapore with his family and yet they reached out and helped the orphans in West Timor. Brad Blauser brought wheelchairs to Iraqi kids and Doc Hendley turned wine into water for developing countries. These people saw the need, went ahead and got to work. It's that simple.

We look at heroes and immediately we think of grandeur. Superman and saving the world. Grand transformations and dramatic revelations. We look at them and think, I can never do that. But maybe that's because we put them in a really high pedestal. Helping is not easy but it's not impossible. Heroes are not that hard to find. Just decide, get to work and be one.

cigarette butts and a bus ticket

My uncle was fixing something in the back of our house when a white flurry thing ran past him. It was bigger than a mouse but just as fast.  He didn't want to mess with it, saying it was an "alaga ng maligno" (pet of an evil spirit).  So we decided to go and catch it and name it "angel". It was nowhere to be found.

Guinea pigs aren't as common in my uncle's place as it is here, so he's not used to them. I think when we can't explain things, we usually associate them with the supernatural. I guess this is where most of our superstitions-- most of our beliefs come from. So I wonder what will happen if we looked deep deep deep into our beliefs and searched for the truth behind them? What will we find?

I was reading a book about occult last week. There was a section dedicated to amulets where the author tells about an incident in Africa where she was attending a ceremony. She noticed that the people had a small pouch hanging on their clothes. She asked to see its contents and was surprised to see cigarette butts, a bus ticket and some other items that are considered rare in that part of the world.

Is that what we will find? Cigarette butts and a bus ticket? Will all the things we uphold and believe to be special turn out to be nothing? Scary-- but the real question is, will we ever get to that point? Will we ever know the truth? Should we pursue it or should we let it lie hidden-- and continue believing? Is knowing the truth a gift or a curse?

Does it really matter in the end?

on being perfect

ssabfoundation.org

A few years ago, a rumor was going around that a local celebrity here in Pinas is a kleptomaniac.  From what I've heard, they said that her husband just pays off the shops she stole from, so they wouldn't talk about her condition. 

There were comments like "Hindi talaga ginawang perfect ni God ang mga tao, si Lucy, mayaman at maganda nga, klepto naman."  (God never really made anyone perfect.  Look at Lucy, she's rich and beautiful... but a kleptomaniac.)

I read that her response to this was that if this issue makes others feel blessed, or makes others feel better about themselves knowing that she isn't as perfect as they thought, then somehow, something positive still came out of it.

...now THAT is just perfect.

training

I'm excited to watch the Pacquiao-Cotto fight tomorrow-- of course my money's on Manny. I think some people would want to skip the fight though and go out instead. It's a good day to travel, because whenever a Pacquiao fight is on, there's less traffic and lower crime rate. He's that good!

yantok

Pacquiao was featured in the news a few days back. They showed his trainers hitting his sides and stomach with a yantok (some sort of stick). It desensitizes him to pain, they said. Well, it could work.. I guess it's better than drinking your urine.

Use of unorthodox equipment for training is not exclusive to boxing. Football players in GridIron Training lift and push items like 5 ton tires, ship anchor chains, sledgehammer and prowler sleds. I think this is also a form of Junkyard Training, where athletes make use of everyday objects to build up their strength. There's a bunch of videos in YouTube about it, but this one is my favorite. It's of football player, LaDainian "LT" Tomlinsons:



It's not just the body that's getting pumped here, the athlete's creative muscles are working as well. Tim Lajcik, a mixed martial arts fighter, writes about how Eugene Jackson, a UFC veteran, perfected his guillotine choke move:

"He developed his formidable constricting strength upstairs in the dispatch office using an old truck inner tube. Eugene tied off a foot and a half section of the tube and wrapped the section in duct tape so that he could inflate it to high pressure. Then, Eugene squeezed the inflated section of the tire in the crook of his elbow like it was a neck. Using various locks (guillotine, rear naked choke) he'd squeeze against the tube's air pressure repeatedly, or hold the lock for minutes at a time to build his muscular endurance."

Junkyard Training is cheap and effective, but as this study recommends, it should be planned and monitored for each athlete. It can cause an extreme stress to the person, physically and mentally-- imagine pulling a car for about a quarter of a mile. If we're not careful, the training-- not the opponents, will be the cause of our athletes' defeat.

UPDATE (11/16/2009): Manny won! Yey!

Sources:
http://salemnews.com/pusports/local_story_286005945.html
http://timlajcik.net
http://www.nmsu.edu/~ucomm/Releases/2008/may/junkyard_training.htm

can you tell me how to get

Growing up here in the Philippines, I was only able to watch my first Sesame Street episode when I was already, I think, fourteen or fifteen. Back then I was just getting into the pop culture of the 90s, the music (eraserheads), the books (sweet valley), movies (Steven Seagal and Van Damme, my father is a big fan! heheh) and the TV. There's another show though, a local tv program, that I still hold dear and is a very big part of my childhood -- Batibot. It's also a children's show and for its first year, it was co-produced with Children's Television Workshop. The show ran from 1984 to 1998. I miss it! Batibot is always a favorite topic whenever people reminisce about their past. I always expect one of them to imitate Kiko Matsing's voice.

The concept of both of these shows is simple yet incredibly effective. Personally, I learned a lot from them and I still remember the humor, as well as the lessons. Batibot made me appreciate the uniqueness and importance of Pinoy culture. The muppets in the show are like teachers-- and old friends that never grew up. It's also cool that there are muppets in other Sesame Street productions that teach something significant about our society. I only found out about them today. Maybe we should all be required to watch them? There are still a lot of things we need to learn.

* Kami: A bright yellow HIV-positive Muppet on "Takalani Sesame" in South Africa who teaches AIDS awareness

* Haneen: A playful orange and pink monster with a vibrant personality who teaches tolerance on "Sesame Stories," shown in Israel, Palestine, and Jordan

* Zeliboba: This multicolored Muppet, who always wears a neck tie, was inspired by the tree spirits of Russian folklore. In Russia, Zeliboba and his buddies on "Ulitsa Sezam" encourage optimism, nutrition and health.

* Pino: Another one of Big Bird's cousins, Pino, is a blue bird who lives on "Sesamstraat" in the Netherlands. His catch phrase is "echt waar" ("really?"), and he helps children with socio-emotional development.

* Businka, a bright pink Muppet from Russia who finds joy in everything

Sources:
List of characters from international versions of Sesame Street
How elmo works

Treasure Trove: sewage gold

ottoman coins - http://www.presstv.com

the Find
A pot of gold coins dating back to the Ottoman Empire

the Lucky
Municipal workers in the village of Surekli in Southeastern Turkey. I don't think they got to keep it though. The area has been cordoned off and Mardin Museum archeologists were called to check it out.

the Place and the Time
The news came out Oct 4 2009. It was found 2 meters below the ground in (as mentioned earlier) the village of Surekli, in the southeastern province of Mardin, Turkey.

How in the world!?
By accident.  They were excavating the ground and laying down pipes for the village's new sewage system.

Sources:
http://www.presstv.ir/detail.aspx?id=107933&sectionid=3510212
http://www.archaeologydaily.com/news/200910072348/Pot-of-gold-found-in-Surekli-sewage.html

the Reign of Edward III

Using a software called Pl@giarism, a literature professor was able to detect traces of Shakespeare in an unattributed play from the 1500s titled, "The Reign of Edward III".

The software compares writing patterns between two or more works and produces a list of phrases common to them. It's usually used to check the originality of a student's work. Sir Brian Vickers, from University of London, used it in examining the play and found 200 matches between Edward III and Shakespeare's other works.

"With this method we see the way authors use and reuse the same phrases and metaphors, like chunks of fabric in a weave," says Vickers.

And it looks like this play is a collaboration between Shakespeare and another playwright, Thomas Kyd. There's also a match of 200 phrases between this play and his works.

"In Edward III, it's quite a typical arrangement; Shakespeare writes three scenes near the beginning and one later on, presumably to guarantee some kind of continuity," says Vickers. "It's a very good play, but it suffers from some inconsistencies - characters who appear in some of Shakespeare's scenes don't appear later on."

It took Prof. Vickers two years of research to identify the play's possible authors, even if he has the expertise and the software, it still wasn't easy. "You have to go on hunches - you can't just feed in all the numbers on every play and sit back," he says. "But what I'm hoping to do is bring about a marriage between human reading and machine reading. If you distrust computers, you won't advance at all; if you have just computers and know nothing about literature, you're likely to go wrong as well."


Sources:
http://www.time.com/time/arts/article/0,8599,1930971,00.html
http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/discoblog/2009/10/21/plagiarism-software-solves-mystery-of-unknown-shakespeare-play/

notes

Losing someone close to us is painful. That's why the idea of ghosts-- of being able to communicate with the dead, is more comforting than scary for me. Ghosts bring back the life and the love we had and make us feel that these still go on, that we are still with our loved one.

Elena Desserich passed away two years ago yet she is very much alive in her family's heart. No, her ghost isn't haunting them, but her presence is still felt in their house. She found another way to extend her love. Before she gave in to cancer, she hid little notes all over the place containing messages for everyone close to her, including her great-aunt's dog.

"We started to collect them and they would all say 'I love you Mom, Dad and Grace.' We kept finding them, and still to this day, we keep finding them," Keith Desserich told WLWT television in their hometown of Cincinnati, Ohio. “We were finding them in our briefcases, we were finding them in our books, we were finding them in our dresser drawers, we started finding them in Christmas ornament bags.” Elena hid a lot of notes, and so far her parents were able to fill three containers with them.

"Finding them felt like a little hug from her, like she was telling us that she was looking over us even though she wasn’t with us.”, said her mom, Brooke.

Aside from the hidden notes, Elena also gave each of her parents a sealed one, which they do not plan to open.

“That’s our one insurance policy, that we’ll have that one note from her,” Brooke told Meredith Vieira from TODAY. “I know there’s something very special in that note — but there’s some sort of comfort that it will never come to an end.”

from Elena

Sources:
http://www.notesleftbehind.com/
http://today.msnbc.msn.com/id/33505351/ns/today-today_books/?gt1=43001

connections

Here's a picture I took of our pets taking a nap after a big lunch (check out that belly). We've always been curious why these dogs never fought with the cat.

our pets

They bark at other cats but not this one, they always got along. How does one being connect with another? Here are other pairings that show how friends can come in all forms and sizes.


Suryia and Roscoe

suryiaandroscoe.com

"Roscoe looked really thin and a little lost so we fed him and took care of him. He followed us through the gate and ran over and found Suryia. As soon as he saw Roscoe, Suryia ran over to him and they started playing. It was unusual because dogs are usually scared of primates but they took to each other straight away. We made a few calls to see if he belonged to anyone and when no-one came forward, Roscoe ended up staying.", says Dr. Bhagavan Antle, founder of The Institute of Greatly Endangered and Rare Species (TIGERS).



Owen and Mzee

owenandmzee.com

 “It is incredible! A less-than-a-year-old hippo has adopted a male tortoise, about a century old, and the tortoise seems to be very happy with being a ‘mother’,” ecologist Paula Kahumbu, who is in charge of Lafarge Park, told AFP. “After it was swept away and lost its mother, the hippo was traumatized. It had to look for something to be a surrogate mother. Fortunately, it landed on the tortoise and established a strong bond. They swim, eat and sleep together. The hippo follows the tortoise exactly the way it follows its mother. If somebody approaches the tortoise, the hippo becomes aggressive, as if protecting its biological mother,” Kahumbu added.  


Tarra and Bella

elephants.com

"When it's time to eat they both eat together. They drink together. They sleep together. They play together," says Carol Buckley, co-founder of the Elephant Sanctuary in Hohenwald, Tennesee. Bella, the dog even lets Tarra pet her tummy. When she suffered a spinal cord injury, Tarra visited and just stood outside the sanctuary office for days until she was able to walk. "She just stood outside the balcony - just stood there and waited," says Buckley.

 I noticed that most of these connections started when they were either very young or have experienced loss.  I guess some special bonds are formed when one is at his weakest and the other willingly gives time to be his companion.  There's no big secret, nothing spectacular needed in order to connect-- you don't even have to be from same species. You simply have to be there.

Sources: 
http://www.suryiaandroscoe.com/their_story.asp 
http://www.floristone.com/hippopotamus-tortoise.html http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2009/01/02/assignment_america/main4696340.shtml

snack time!

The other day, I used a spoon that had some cheese spread on it to slice out a small portion of ube (purple yam). I was so surprised to discover that it tasted good. I almost ate the whole thing.

I call this the Cezurple!

So, I went online and researched how other snacks came to be..

A dinner guest at Moon Lake Lodge (Saratoga, NY) kept complaining about the fried potatoes. He sent them back several times, saying they were too thick and soggy. The chef, George Crum, got so fed up with him, he decided to slice the potatos so thin they couldn't even be eaten with a fork. His plan backfired-- the guest loved it. Soon, it became a regular item in the menu, under the name "Saratoga chips". Today, it is more popularly known as the potato chip.

Another interesting snack genesis is about how, in San Francisco 1905, a kid forgot that he had left some soda drink out on their porch. It was a cold night, so the drink froze to the stir stick. That day, Frank Epperson's Epsicle, now known as the Popsicle, was born.

I tried looking for the origins of some of my favorite Pinoy delicacies. I wasn't able to find any :(. A lot of them seem to have come from other countries. The Chinese gave us siomai and siopao, as well as the balut. Empanada came from the Spaniards. But what about Halo-halo? Kropek? Otap? Belekoy? Sinukmane? Sapin-sapin? Each province in the Philippines boasts of their locally made products yet there are no records of where these delicacies originated.

I'm still searching for a legit origin of a Pinoy delicacy. I know I'll find one soon, and I'll be writing about it here. For now, I'm happy discovering (and eating!) a different treat for every island I visit.

Sources:
http://www.ideafinder.com
http://www.wikipedia.org

solitude

It's Sunday evening and I'm alone, churning out another blog post. They say writing is one of the loneliest work there is. Not really. It is a solitary activity--physically, but here, imagination's your only limit. You can travel anywhere, go back in time, be anyone you want.

There's one place I can think of where a writer will be very productive. Prison. You're confined, there's tons of material, minimal distractions and plenty of time to think. Anybody familiar with Misery? Yep. There's even a literary genre called Prison Literature which, as the name implies, are works written when the author was in prison or under house arrest. Someone even made a list of top ten books written in prison.

Two great books under this genre are, "Don Quixote" and "A journey around my room". It's interesting that in Don Quixote, the author escapes to Spain with his knight, going on adventures and fighting windmills; but in A journey around my room, the author relishes his confinement. He was in house arrest for six weeks and during that time, he wrote about the furniture, paintings and decorations in his room. He related these to his life, and in doing so, his memories and reflections surface.

Aside from writing, here's another thing you can do in prison:


When we're alone, what we have is that very limited and very precious commodity, time. We don't realize it at first, so we kill time: games, tv, etc. Eventually, we get bored. So we think, we imagine and soon, we look around and work at something. We're standing on fertile ground. In solitude begins Creation.

Treasure Trove: anglo-saxon gold hoard

http://news.nationalgeographic.com

the Find
About 1,500 pieces of gold & silver ornaments and other military artifacts, some are even decorated with precious stones. These treasures are of Anglo-Saxon origin and it dates back to 675 - 725AD, about the same time period as the poem "Beowulf". Experts believe that these belonged to a defeated king or a warlord and were collected during wars in the kingdoms of Northumbria and East Anglia. Some of the objects were bent and twisted, and others appear to have been deliberately removed from where they were used to be attached.

The hoard has officially been declared a treasure and will be up for sale to a museum in Britain. According to Leslie Webster, former keeper at the British Museum’s Department of Prehistory and Europe, ‘This will change our understanding of the dates of early Christian manuscripts, our perceptions of seventh-century people and where power lay,’.

the Lucky
Terry Herbert, a 55-year old former coffin factory worker, previously unemployed, now a millionaire. The proceeds of the sale will be divided in half between him and the unidentified landowner. They could be in line for a "seven-figure sum."

the Place and the Time
Authorities wanted to keep the location secret to ward off looters but I was able to find a few articles that state exact location and the name of the landowner. It's an english farmland :). Herbert and the owner are friends and he signed a written contract to split anything that he will find 50-50. He found the first of the items on July 5 2009 and then spent the next five days looking all over the place for other pieces.

How in the world!?
By an 18-year old metal detector bought for £2.50. Herbert says, "I have this phrase that I say sometimes – “spirits of yesteryear take me where the coins appear” – but on that day I changed coins to gold. I don’t know why I said it that day, but I think somebody was listening and directed me to it. Maybe it was meant to be, maybe the gold had my name on it all along. I was going to bed and in my sleep I was seeing gold items.’

Terry is a metal detector enthusiast and is used to his hobby being mocked. ‘I’ve had people go past and go “beep beep, he’s after pennies”, he said. ‘Well no, we are out there to find this kind of stuff – and it is out there.’


Sources:
The field of gold: How jobless treasure hunter unearthed greatest ever haul of Saxon artefacts with £2.50 metal detector [dailymail.co.uk]
Huge hoard of Anglo-Saxon treasure uncovered in UK [news.yahoo.com]
Highlights of Anglo-Saxon hoard [www.independent.co.uk]

concrete alternatives

Aside from shipping containers, people are continually finding other eco-friendly alternatives in building houses.  With all that has been happening-- extreme changes in the weather, earthquakes, tsunamis, oil shortage, I think there's an increased awareness in everyone about the dismal state of our planet.

Ever seen the movie Back to the Future?  There's a scene where Doc arrives in his DeLorean and he's running low on fuel, but instead of filling it up with gas, he fills it with trash.  A car running on garbage-- that's pure genius.  Well, we may not have that yet (this looks bogus) but people are looking into using garbage for building houses.  The use of plastic as an aggregate for cement is one of the alternatives for concrete.  One of the cities here in the Manila have bought a pulverizing machine to try this out.  Another company in Massachusetts, Conigliaro Industries, already have several projects made with their Plas-Crete.

[caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="250" caption="salt building, http://www.conigliaro.com"][/caption]Aside from plastic, other waste products can be used as fillers.  GigaCrete™, the brainchild of British architect Andrew Dennis, uses waste paper, recycled cardboard, recycled polystyrene, agricultural waste fibers, and paper sludge as fillers.  About 80% (by volume) of GigaCrete™ products can be composed of these waste materials.

Bitublock, from Dr. John Forth of the University of Leeds, is not yet market ready but it has potential. It's also made from waste products like recycled glass, metal slag, sewage sludge and incinerator ash.  These are mixed with bitumen, a sticky binder used in road paving. The end result, is a "high-performance product that is about six times stronger than the traditional concrete block".

There's a lot of promise in all these efforts.  One thing though, from some of the comments I've read, there are still some people that would rather spend their money on something that's been proven to last-- and proven to be safe.  They may think it's great that we're doing all these for the environment, but there's still some hesitation on using these products.  I hate to end this negatively but I've been trying to search for a high-profile project that uses these materials and I wasn't able to find any.  I don't know, I guess it's all relatively new and it may take some time to catch on.


Sources:
http://www.americanrecycler.com/07used02.html
http://www.inhabitat.com/2007/11/15/bitublock-concrete-will-be-obsolete/
http://www.treehugger.com/files/2007/06/gigacrete_an_al.php
http://www.conigliaro.com
http://www.inhabitat.com/2009/09/21/plastic-concrete-repurposes-landfill-waste-into-building-bricks/#

container houses

As everyone knows, a huge flood happened here in Manila about a week ago (and there's another storm up north this week). There were several municipalities hit by typhoon Ketsana: Marikina, Rizal, Pasig and Laguna.  I'm not sure how accurate this is but I heard that people living in those places are now moving out and selling their PhP 15 million houses for only PhP 5 million. It's a big discount but I don't know if anyone's buying.  Most people are now going for real estate situated on higher ground.

Here's an idea, how about getting one of those houses made out of shipping containers? If you want to move, you can simply have your house transported to another lot. It's durable-- designed to withstand tough conditions, as well as cheap and environment friendly.

port-a-bach.com

You need to have it insulated though and I'm not sure what will happen if lightning strikes.  Also, you should bolt it down so it doesn't get stolen or displaced when a big flood comes, like what happened here:

shipping container displaced by the flood, stuck on road divider
from PinoyExchange.com - '40 ft. shipping container as a house'
posted by KuyaDanny

For those interested to learn more about this topic, you can visit http://www.shipping-container-housing.com/.  It contains tips, links to companies that build container houses, background info on the industry and even a history of shipping containers.   According to them, "shipping container housing can represent a real solution to social and ecological problems".  I agree.  Who knew that inside that cold hard steel lies a warm cozy crib?

Sources:
http://www.pinoyexchange.com

a diamond in the rough

lifegem.com

Did you know that a part of us can be physically transformed into a diamond? Diamonds are created from Carbon and about 18% of our mass is made up of that stuff. It can be extracted from a lock of our hair or from a deceased person's ashes. Once extracted, it needs to be subjected to extreme heat and pressure, the same process that authentic diamonds go through. This will convert the Carbon into diamond crystals. The crystals can then be cut and designed and the resulting gem is set in a ring or a necklace or whatever piece you'd like.

It's amazing to realize that we can produce something so beautiful. Last week, I was having lunch with some people and I accidentally drooled on myself. The saliva spilled out of my mouth and sort of yo-yo'd down my shirt. One of them saw it, pointed and laughed at me. It would've been easier if everybody laughed but they didn't. So I just looked down on my shirt and wiped it off, and then I remained quiet the whole time. I just get so disgusted with myself sometimes.

I'm sure I'm not the only one with this kind of experience. It's hilarious when it happens to other people but when it's us, sometimes it's hard to get over the embarassment. Sure it will be funny when we look back on it, but when you're in that moment, you just want to die. It just makes your self-hatred turn up a notch.

There's no way around it, these things just happen out of the blue. There are even people who laugh at us even if we didn't do anything embarassing. One thing I hate about myself is I make people laugh at me to get them to like me. I humiliate myself and clown around. It's a habit I'm trying to break-- and I'm still working on loving myself enough to stop it. I know it will take a long time, building your self-respect and coming to terms with yourself, learning, getting back up, reflecting and improving.

However painful, I think these things that we're ashamed of are part of the whole process of becoming better, some sort of baptism by fire. We'll just have to suck it up and cope with the pressure as well as we can-- without letting it harden us. Hopefully, we'll come out of it wiser and radiant, beautiful like diamonds.

di5vwkgcx6

Sources:
http://www.lifegem.com

the good within

..the world is full of trickery.
but let this not blind you to what virtue there is;
many persons strive for high ideals,
and everywhere life is full of heroism.

~ Desiderata by Max Ehrmann

"Muelmar Magallanes, a powerful swimmer who braved rampaging floods to save more than 30 people, but ended up sacrificing his life in a last trip to rescue a baby girl who was being swept away on a styrofoam box. Family members and people whom Magallanes saved hailed on Monday the 18-year-old construction worker a hero, as his body lay in a coffin at a makeshift evacuation center near their destroyed riverside village in Quezon City.“I am going to be forever grateful to Muelmar. He gave his life for my baby. I will never forget his sacrifice,” said Menchie Peñalosa, the mother of the 6-month-old girl whom he carried to safety before being swept away himself." - Judge on Jet Ski saves 100; teener dies after rescuing baby, 30 others from newsinfo.inquirer.net
"He went to his house and got his kid's inflatable swimming pool. inflated it and ferried his neighbors to higher ground. Mind you, this was in the cinco hermanos area right beside the marikina River. After ferrying his neighbor, he didn't stop there. He want back with the makeshift lifeboat to get his other neighbors who had kids and ferried them to higher ground. He did this several times for the rest of the residents in the area. He even drove a wounded guy to the hospital. All this he did after having his arm operated on last thursday." - The unsung heroes of Ondoy from tsikot.yehey.forums	"For the people of Sta. Monica in Novaliches, this Quezon City judge on a Jet Ski who plucked dozens of residents from swirling flood waters on Saturday is 'Superman.' 'I was so shocked by the situation when I heard that around 150 houses were already flooded,' said Judge Ralph Lee of Regional Trial Court Branch 83. 'I heard that so many families were already stranded on their rooftops because water from the Tullahan River was already overflowing,' Lee, 49, told the Inquirer. Lee drove from his Fairview home for the stricken community 30 minutes away with his personal water craft, life vests and two rubber boats he used on weekend wakeboarding sorties and mobilized a rescue effort that saved 100 lives." - Judge on Jet Ski saves 100; teener dies after rescuing baby, 30 others from newsinfo.inquirer.net
"CALAMBA CITY, Philippines - A member of the 16th Infantry Battalion of the Philippine Army and four members of the Citizens' Armed Forces Geographical Unit (Cafgu) drowned in a sudden surge of flood water while conducting rescue operations in Famy, Laguna at the height of typhoon Ondoy Saturday. Another Cafgu man remained missing." - Soldier, four militiamen die in Laguna rescue from newsinfo.inquirer.net
"On the way back to the gate, others were also accommodated. Babies were priority, as many were already showing signs of dehydration and exposure. We could not ignore them. I helped as much as I could, but there were just too many victims. In the end, we had to promise that the boat would return." - A Mother's Ordeal in Ondoy's Aftermath By Atty. Trixie Angeles	"Cabrera said three PARC staffers brought cat food and human food to PAWS directors Heidi Guzon and Gwen Protacio who have been trapped since Saturday with their 50 cats on the second floor of 11 Emerald St., Liamzon Subdivision, Pasig City. Three dogs from Provident Villages in Marikina City arrived at PARC Monday. There are now 185 cats and 40 dogs sheltered at the center." - Abandoned pets: Storm Ondoy’s forgotten victims from newsinfo.inquirer.net
"MANILA - I stared at the picturesque scene before me. Mountains of clothes and biscuits were dotted by old and young volunteers. Men and women, both frail and able-bodied, were carrying bags of canned goods, bottled water, and noodles to cars, vans, and trucks. A long line of people were signing up, whether to help pack items, to lend their vehicles, or to be deployed to storm-hit areas." - Volunteers flock to Ateneo to help 'Ondoy' victims from www.abs-cbnnews.com
"Private individuals and public institutions alike have flung their doors wide open to shelter those displaced by the floods. Television networks and retail businesses are gathering donations in bulk and delivering them to devastated areas or their respective evacuation centers. Churches and civic organizations are also taking up the cause by organizing fund drives, feedings, and daily sessions for packing relief goods." - Youth Volunteers Aid Ondoy Relief Efforts at Muntinlupa Red Cross from www.femalenetwork.com	"When typhoon ‘Ondoy’ devastated greater Manila, causing floods and stranding people, Pinoy and Hollywood celebrities made the effort to help the victims of the calamity." - Stars Descend to Help ‘Ondoy’ Victims from www.accesspinoy.com
Typhoon Ondoy relief operations: where to donate

ondoy / ketsana

www.pagasa.dost.gov.ph

Yesterday, I was trying to write a post when I heard my mother yelling at someone on the phone.  She was near panic because there was a big flood on the other side of our subdivision where some of our relatives are living.  They live near a creek and the water overflowed.  We didn't have any problems on our side so I thought the rain was no big deal but as it turns out, it's a different story for the other areas of the Metro.

We were all worried of what could happen if the rain didn't let up.  A lot of houses were already submerged in water.  People, including children, are on the roof of their houses or on elevated parts of street, helpless and waiting out the storm.  Some are guarding their appliances because it might get stolen.  They were also worried about the electricity.  One live wire plus flood equals hell.

My mom paid two guys to fetch our cousins.  They passed one street where the water was chest high, so one of the kids had to be carried.  They also had to be careful of open manholes while dodging the trash and cockroaches drifting on the flood.  They were crying when they arrived at our place.  Their mother was left behind, guarding the house and things while their father had gone off to work and had been stranded for hours.

The downpour slowed down in the evening and soon, our aunt was able to go visit us.  The kids ran and hugged her, she just laughed it off.  We gave her a blanket and some old clothes to bring back to the others who didn't have anything to wear.  They spent the night at our house.

Today, the sun is out and the storm moves on but water is still everywhere.  The weather bureau says that nearly a month’s worth of rain fell in just six hours over Metro Manila.  Consequently, Marikina and Pasig River overflowed.  We had local movie stars calling TV programs from their rooftops asking to be rescued.  A lot of people are still stranded and couldn't get home to their loved ones who are trapped and helpless.  As of 10 am today, more than forty people have died and there are some that are still missing.

There's a news program right now, where you can call in and pledge a donation.  One of the hosts was trying to rationalize, saying that this is God's way of making us realize that we need to call him and he's making us strong.  Other people are blaming the Government for not fixing the drainages and spending millions of emergency fund money for foreign trips.  Some point a finger to humanity for destroying nature.  However way you want to look at it, I think all of us contributed to the problem.

The challenge of this blog is to see the good in things but right now, I don't think there's anything good in this tragedy.  I'd like to agree with the host and say that this will make us strong and united and all that, but really, isn't it a whole lot better if the storm didn't happen in the first place?  I'd still prefer to live in a flawless world, thank you very much-- but that will never happen will it?  Shit happens every single day and the chances of us living in a harmonious environment with the perfect climate are growing slimmer every second.  No, I don't think I'll be able to find the good in here-- but I'm hoping that we'll be able to find the good in us.


Donations to The Red Cross Rescue and Relief Operations can be sent via Globe or Smart. Send RED (space) (amount) to 2899 (Globe) and 4483 (SMART). Donations can be made at 10, 25, 50 and 100. Kindly repost this.

http://helpondoyvictims.wordpress.com/
http://pedestrianobserver.blogspot.com/2009/09/help-ondoy-victims-in-philippines.html
3 drop-off areas designated for Ondoy victims' donations

the lost years

Last Monday was an Islamic holiday, Eid ul-Fitr.  It marks the end of Ramadan.  It was a non-working holiday so I happily spent the day alternating between watching TV and surfing the net.  Here's an interesting fact that I found: there's a part in both Muhammad and Jesus' life that are unknown, several lost years that are unrecorded.   Muhammad started preaching when he was around 40 years old.  Jesus started when he was in his thirties.  Before all that, there's an information gap between their childhood and adult years.  We do know that Muhammad dabbled in trade and he married at 25 but little is known of him during his later youth.  All we have are speculations but no actual history of who they were and what they did. What happened to them during those years? 

I do hope that someone will discover actual records of the life that they led before their ministry.  Maybe Jesus worked as a carpenter, building furnitures & houses everyday, while Muhammad was a merchant, bargaining with traders and counting his profits & losses.  It just makes them more within our reach-- working, needing the money, tired, bored & frustrated.  I think it makes their history richer. It's funny that such ordinary details could make one's history rich.  It just makes them more human than gods.

But it wouldn't be funny if that's all a person will ever have.  It wouldn't be funny at all if the history that he could've made goes by unrecorded, lost for good.

birds on the wires

Are there gifts in hiding around us?  Or do we take what we see and create a gift out of it?  Do we find them or make them?  In this picture, Jarbas Agnelli saw music instead of birds.  He translated it into a tune, using the birds as notes and sent the music to Paulo Pinto, the photographer.  This led to an interview in the same newspaper where the photo was printed.

Sources:
http://www.vimeo.com/6428069

the father of the green revolution

2006 Norman Borlaug Congressional Gold Medal

"When the Nobel Peace Prize Committee designated me the recipient of the 1970 award for my contribution to the 'green revolution', they were in effect, I believe, selecting an individual to symbolize the vital role of agriculture and food production in a world that is hungry, both for bread and for peace." - Dr. Norman Ernest Borlaug (1914-2009)

Norman Borlaug was born on a farm near Cresco, Iowa in March 25 1914.  He spent his childhood and teenage years working with the crops and animals.  In 1933, at the urging of his grandfather, he left the farm and enrolled at the University of Minnesota.

His encounters with the unemployed and the starving during the Great Depression shaped his outlook on life.  It was also around this time that he met Prof. Elvin Stakman.  He became involved in Stakman's research on plant breeding methods and the professor suggested that he take up Plant Pathology.

In 1944, he became part of The Cooperative Wheat Research Production Program, which focused on increasing wheat production in Mexico.  It was not easy.  They didn't have enough training and equipment, and the local farmers refused to cooperate.  The epilogue of his book, "Norman Borlaug on World Hunger", reveals his initial regret.  He wrote: "It often appeared to me that I had made a dreadful mistake in accepting the position in Mexico,".

But after several years of research, harvest time finally arrived.   He developed Pitic 62 and Penjamo 62, two disease-resistant varieties of wheat that produced more grain than usual.  By 1963, Mexico achieved production six times larger than in 1944.  95 percent of the crops were Borlaug's varieties.

After Mexico, his wheat strains were sent to India and Pakistan.  In five years, Pakistan's wheat yields increased dramatically from 4.6 million tons to 7.3 million tons.  By 1968, Pakistan became self-sufficient in wheat production.

India produced 20.1 million tons of wheat in 1970. There wasn't enough labor to harvest the crops; not enough carts to bring it to the threshing floor; not enough jute bags, trucks, rail cars, and grain storage facilities. They even closed down schools to use the buildings for grain storage.  They were also able to save 100 million acres of virgin land from being converted into farmland.

He began work in Africa in 1984 with Ryoichi Sasakawa, chairman of Japan Shipbuilding Industry Foundation.  Production of maize, sorghum, wheat, cassava and cowpeas increased.  The project will also be extended to Benin, Burkina Faso, Ethiopia, Ghana, Guinea, Mali, Malawi, Mozambique, Nigeria, Tanzania, and Uganda.

Norman Borlaug passed away last Saturday, Sept 12, 2009 at the age of 95.  He died of lymphoma.  A lot of us, though, didn't know who he was until now.  Scientists predicted that a global famine will happen because of the population explosion, but Norman's discoveries saved us all.  He led a very fruitful life that has yielded much to humanity.

Sources:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Norman_Borlaug
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090913/ap_on_re_us/us_obit_borlaug

Marquez and his urine

As part of his pre-fight regimen, Juan Manuel Marquez drinks his own urine.  This practice is called Urophagia and it's part of a larger field of alternative medicine called Urine therapy.

It's incredibly nasty but it has been in existence for a long time in several cultures.  A lot of sources say that it's best to drink morning urine, taken mid-stream.  You can start with a few drops and then work your way to a full glass.

Aside from drinking it to improve one's health, urine can also be used for the following:

• Gargling for toothache and sore throat
• Vaginal douche
• Ear and eye drops for infections, glaucoma
• Sniffing to clear sinuses and preventing colds
• Application on the skin for massages, healing skin problems
• Hair and scalp massage to stimulate hair growth
• Drinking for meditation

Although advocates say that there are tons of benefits from drinking urine, it's still best to take it with a grain of salt.  It tastes better!  Just kidding.  Aside from Wiki, I found this good article about this topic.  Will Marquez win the fight against Mayweather?  I don't know.  All I know is urine will never be my cup of tea.

Sources:
http://www.lifepositive.com/Body/traditional-therapies/urine-therapy.asp
http://en.wikipedia.org
http://www.youtube.com

on knowing a person

LIRA - Aranya
by M.B. Schwab

I went to a funeral last Monday.  Car accident.  A lot of people died this year, Cory Aquino, Michael Jackson, Farrah Fawcett, John Hughes.. and now a friend.  I attended a poetry workshop last year and we would meet every weekend, 8 hours every Saturday and Sunday.  There were about 20 to 25 of us and we would listen to lectures and critique each other's poems.  We participated in literary events, created a folio and held a fellows' night last December.  Now, our batch will never be complete.

We read his poems.  Some are poignant, some are funny and then there was one that seems to connect with his sister.  This was all a surprise to his family because they did not know that he wrote.  It's sad that they're seeing this side of him for the first and final time. I feel lucky to have been part of that side for one whole year and now we're introducing it to the people closest to him.  We're celebrating his art.

Everybody's so complex, so many sides, so many levels, I don't think we can really REALLY know anyone.  In addition to that, we're growing, learning and changing each minute.  I don't know about you but I'm having a hard time just getting to know myself.  It's even harder to open up and share yourself to other people, harder still to accept each other's shortcomings. But I think we can at least be aware of these difficulties-- and understand that overcoming these stuff will ultimately bring us closer to each other or, at the very least, it will bring us closer to ourselves.

John Baldessari's Throwing four balls in the air to get a square (best of 36 tries)

desordre.net

In this series of pictures, Baldessari attempted to get a square.  He selected 8 of the best out of 36 tries (36 tries is the standard number of shots on a roll of 35mm film).

It seems that none of them look like a perfect square though, the shape is random and the thrower doesn't have full control of the outcome-- but that's only because they're seen from a single point of view.  The shape's perfection actually depends on how we view the ball formation.  Shift the angle a little and soon we'll see a perfect square for each of the photos.

We can't always control how things turn out but we can always control how we look at it.   :)

putpockets in london streets

A putpocket is the exact opposite of a pickpocket.  They slip money in your pockets without you knowing.  If I hadn't read this article about them, I would've taken this to be an urban legend.  I mean, what for??  Turns out this was an ad campaign for TalkTalk, a British mobile operator.  The idea is that TalkTalk puts money back in your pocket by making you pay less for phone calls-- so switch to TalkTalk now! heheh.

Carried out by a team of 20 reformed pickpockets, this is a unique ad campaign and it will surely cheer people up during these gloomy times.  Finding extra cash when you least expect it, especially when you need it the most, is an instant upper.  I saw the video on YouTube and just seeing the sign, "Rejoice! Putpockets operate in this area." makes me smile.

Why can't we do that here in the Philippines??.. but  I guess if we did, everybody would be hanging around those areas for hours pretending to be some bystander or a pedestrian.  Or maybe people will just beat up those putpockets, thinking that they're really snatchers/pickpockets instead.

Is it better to be smart in giving or should we just give mindlessly away?  TalkTalk's ad campaign is what I would call smart giving.  It's an investment.  I know some smart givers who donate food instead of money to beggars so it won't be spent on gambling or rugby (to get high on).  Some would rather give their money to charities.  Some doubt the charities and give to the church.  Some believe in providing work for others, while there are others, really smart givers-- that prefer not to give at all, haha!  How in the world did giving become so complicated?

Sources:
http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSTRE57I45C20090819
http://www.youtube.com

Hidden Presents

"Hidden Presents" is one of the quests in the online game, "Asheron's Call".  There are 12 gifts hidden throughout the land and you have to find them.  One of the characters says, "The only giant gift box I want would be full of ale!".  When you find all 12 gifts you will be rewarded with a Polar Ursuin Lair (I don't know what that is) and a title.  I found their community wiki here.

I haven't played it yet but I delight in the concept.  There's always something joyful in discovery.  We're always searching for something new-- places, people, things.  There's comfort in the familiar but it's the unknown that almost always brings excitement in our life.

I discovered Asheron's "Hidden Presents" because that was the name I originally wanted for this site.  I had been planning this for quite awhile and stupid me, I didn't even bother to recheck google when I registered the domain.  So here I am, I just finished researching and going about with my domain change and adjusting the blog. It just doesn't feel right to have the same name as the game.

I'm still getting used to the new name -- "gifts in hiding".  I guess while not all discoveries make us excited, most of them makes us a little wiser.

Sources:
http://asheron.wikia.com/index.php/Hidden_Presents

silly string

We're in the middle of a battlefield. Suddenly, a Humvee shows up. It's covered with scrap metal and it has an old bulletproof windshield at the top. We get a glimpse of what's inside. A group of soldiers with a can of Silly String on their vest. They're carrying rifles with muzzles sealed with a condom and a rubber band. The injured ones have tampons plugged on their wounds.

It paints a funny picture but it also shows just how fiercely ingenious people can be.  The silly string is used to check for tripwires; condoms protect the rifles from sand; the scrap metal and bulletproof windshield acts as defense against enemy fire.. and tampons are just the perfect absorbent.  They even come in different sizes-- ideal for any kind of bullet wound.

Read the complete article here-  A Serious Use For Silly String

afloat

In one of the beaches in Mexico, a strange island can be seen floating nearby. A man-made place created from thousands of empty plastic bottles. This is the Spiral Island.

It was built through good old-fashioned hard work. Richie Sowa, the owner of Spiral Island, got all the empty bottles he can find and put them all in one big net. Once he had the base in place, he put plywood, bamboo, white sand and plants on top of it.

Construction started in 1998 and since then Richie never stopped. Even when Hurricane Emily came and destroyed most of it. He rebuilt it again and until now he is always adding something new. It currently measures 20 meters in diameter. It has beaches, a house, 2 ponds, a solar-powered waterfall/river, and solar panels. His source of food are the plants in the island, cooks them using a solar cooker, and his water comes from the rain. Amazing.

Here's a kid on her own island.  She can't swim and we weren't able to bring any floaties.




Sources:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spiral_Island
http://greenupgrader.com/1821/spiral-island-constructed-from-recycled-bottles/