Help Japan

Red Cross
donate here or text REDCROSS to 90999 to give $10 from your phone

International Medical Corps
http://www.internationalmedicalcorps.org/

Japan Earthquake and Tsunami Relief Fund
http://www.globalgiving.org/projects/japan-earthquake-tsunami-relief/

Google Crisis Response
http://www.google.com/crisisresponse/japanquake2011.html


For those that need to get information about a person in Japan, you can use Google's Person Finder: 2011 Japan Earthquake.


Sources:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/03/11/how-to-help-japan-earthquake-relief_n_834484.html
http://news.yahoo.com/s/yblog_newsroom/20110311/wl_yblog_newsroom/japan-earthquake-and-tsunami-how-to-help

revolution

Years ago, I didn't think anything would happen when I joined some outreach activities. I just wanted to get out there and help. Then, I told some friends about it and sent them an email with the details. They weren't really into it. So I thought, well that's that. But I didn't know that the word had spread. Now, I see posts in facebook from co-workers that I didn't really know that well, inviting people to the same outreach I joined years ago.

Another friend thanked me when I invited her to join a training seminar I attended for special kids. She said she was planning to do that full-time in the future and the seminar will be her starting point. I'm so happy to know that others are also getting involved.

You may think that what you're doing doesn't influence anyone but it does. Last Friday, we celebrated the 25th anniversary of the EDSA Revolution. It was also last Friday when angry protests calling for change swept Middle East. Both of these revolutions started from small seeds, and it grew and grew and grew, until it became a revolution. From one simple act, like Rosa Parks saying "I ain't movin" and refusing to give up her seat for a white passenger, you can make change happen. Even if it's small, it will ripple out. It's a start.

rescuing art

When World War II ended, a group of men and women began hunting for works of art inside salt mines, caves and castles. They found more than 6,500 pieces in a salt mine near Salzburg, including Da Vinci’s “Lady with an Ermine”. In another German mine, they uncovered a Rembrandt self-portrait, along with others hidden there by the museums. The atmosphere in these caves, cool temperatures and moisture in the air, helped in preserving the paintings. It also protected them against the war, the bombs, the Nazis and the looting.

Who are these people so committed to saving our art?

They.. are the Monuments Men..   (superhero entrance music plays)

Kidding aside, these people are real life heroes that played a crucial role during WWII. They hid art, sometimes even moved it to different places, and risked their lives in doing so. Here's an excerpt from monumentsmen.com:


The “Monuments Men”, were a group of approximately 345 men and women from thirteen nations who comprised the MFAA section during World War II. Many were museum directors, curators, art historians, artists, architects, and educators. Together they worked to protect monuments and other cultural treasures from the destruction of World War II. In the last year of the war, they tracked, located, and in the years that followed returned more than five million artistic and cultural items stolen by Hitler and the Nazis. Their role in preserving cultural treasures was without precedent.

Today, like the art they protected and found, there is an ongoing quest for the stories of their lives.  The Monuments Men Foundation is now in its fifth year of research for their bios.  Some are already complete, some only with pictures, while others are still just a name.  Click here to help out.  Who knows, maybe you'll find you knew one of them all along.

Sources:
http://www.monumentsmenfoundation.org
http://www.popmatters.com/pm/article/little-known-monuments-men-hunted-art-treasures-stolen-by-nazis/
http://www.wikipedia.com

happy birthday, andrea bocelli!

When Andrea's mother was pregnant with him, she became sick and had to be admitted to the hospital.  Doctors made a mistake with the diagnosis.  They thought she was having appendicitis.  She received treatments, like having ice applied on her stomach.  After it was over, they advised her to abort the child.

"They told her it was the best solution because the baby would be born with some disability," he says.

She refused to listen and chose to keep the baby instead, and so in September 22, 1958, world-class tenor Andrea Bocelli was born.

There are many good arguments on why people choose to abort or even abandon a child, but there's so much more that we do not know and understand.  There's a lot of things we cannot foresee.  Life has its reasons too.

Sources:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Andrea_Bocelli
http://www.christianpost.com/article/20100623/renowned-singer-andrea-bocelli-tells-abortion-story/index.html
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/worldnews/article-1285058/Andrea-Bocelli-praises-mother-aborting-doctors-told-born-disabled.html

chili pepper chill

http://www.thedailygreen.com/

Deep in the Arctic, carved inside a stone mountain, lies the Doomsday Vault. It's a locked, airtight structure that contains something more precious than money or gold. It carries seeds. Half a million variety of crops from different countries all over the world.  It's our safety deposit box against climate change, wars or any catastrophes.

Last week, several chili pepper seeds like, Wenk's Yellow Hots, Pico de Gallos (this a common ingredient in salsa) and San Juan Tsile were added to the collection.  They were delivered by a delegation of US Senators.

"The journey of the chili pepper from the indigenous cultures of the Americas to its current status as an essential ingredient in many Indian and Asian cuisines is a marvelous example of the global disbursement of agricultural diversity," Senator Tom Udall said. "I'm very pleased that we are saving one of New Mexico's most famous and most delicious crops in the Svalbard Global Seed Vault."

Besides chili, they also brought other seeds like peanuts and melons. There is now approximately 250 million seeds in the vault, with each variety having 500 seeds.  Check out their database here.  We can expect that number to grow in the future, but I hope we don't have use them anytime soon.

Sources:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Svalbard_Global_Seed_Vault
http://www.valleymorningstar.com/news/spices-76967-chili-vault.html
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science_and_environment/10603656.stm

slick solution

On Aug. 11, 2006, M/T Solar I, an oil tanker, sank near one of the provinces here in the Philippines.  500,000 liters of fuel leaked out of it and into Guimaras Strait.  It damaged marine sanctuaries and reserves, and affected the provinces' fishing industry.  It was the worst oil spill of our country.

One of the surprising material they used in cleaning up the oil is human hair. Oil sticks to hair, as observed when a person hadn't shampooed for days.  A strand of hair has tiny scales that can hold small amounts of oil.  It's a process known as "adsorption".  A pound of hair can adsorb a quart of oil, and hair filled booms can be reused up to a hundred times.  And once they're all used up, the oily hair can be burned as fuel or be made into fertilizer, with the help of worms.

This clever idea came from Philipp McCrory, a hairdresser from Alabama.  He was watching a news segment about the 1989 Exxon Valdez oil spill and saw how difficult it was to remove oil from an otter's fur.  He did a little experiment, filled a nylon stocking with human hair, dumped a gallon of motor oil on his son's plastic pool and dipped the stocking in it.  Two minutes later, the water was clean.  He patented the idea.

The government started a "Stop the Oil Spill" drive and about 15,000 inmates from a maximum security prison donated their hair.  Five hundred salons and schools around the country also participated in the activity.

Today, the same thing is being done to help clean up the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico.  Matter of Trust, is a nonprofit organization participating in the campaign.  They contacted salons, pet groomers, wool farmers and others to solicit donations for hair, fur, wool or nylon pantyhose.  For those interested, you can click on their link above to sign up.  As stated by BBC News, donations of around 450,000 pounds of hair and fur are now arriving each day.  Some people even provided warehouse spaces near the area of the oil spill to house the hair.

Sources:
http://www.gi.alaska.edu/ScienceForum/ASF14/1401.html
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/14584306/
http://cbs4denver.com/local/hair.oil.spill.2.1680495.html
http://www.greenvilleonline.com/
http://www.matteroftrust.org/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Guimaras_oil_spill

something to laugh about

Someone brought imported candies and chocolates to the office this week. I got the ones I haven't tasted yet. I was so focused on what they would taste like that I didn't notice there was a joke on the wrapper--and I noticed just now that there are TWO jokes on the wrapper.  Here's one of them, it's pretty funny:

Little things like this do a lot to brighten a hard day. Sometimes, it's the only thing that keeps us going. It's such a blessing when we find something to laugh about despite a tragedy. Yesterday, I watched Jimmy Kimmel's compilation of reporters struggling to pronounce the name of that volcano in Iceland.

It's a big story. We all want to talk about it, we all want everyone to know about it and yet nobody knows how to say it! I don't even want to type it. Air travel stopped; businesses lost money. I bet there's a lot of people out there who wants to curse the volcano-- only problem is they don't know how to say its name!

Sources:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ur2N1XG-NcQ

Laffy Taffy, Strawberry Fresa (joke by Patrick B., San Antonio Tx)

aware

In a study published by The New England Journal of Medicine, researchers found that some coma patients may have the ability and the awareness to communicate.

When an area of the brain is active, blood flows through it. So going by this fact, they asked the patients (even though they're not sure if the patients can actually hear them) to imagine different scenes that will activate the different areas of the brain. An image of a forehand stroke hitting a tennis ball means Yes, while a scene of themselves navigating their way around a familiar place means No. The first one turns on the motor or the movement part, and the second one uses the spatial part of the brain. The researchers then monitored the blood activity using a brain scan.

One patient, a 29 year old vehicular accident victim, answered 5 out of 6 personal questions correctly. He was believed to be unconscious for five years. They were all wrong.

His father's name is Alexander.

"We were astonished when we saw he was able to correctly answer questions asked by simply changing his thoughts.", says Dr. Adrian Owen, leader of the team that developed this technique in Cambridge. "Not only did these scans tell us that the patient was not in a vegetative state, but, more importantly, for the first time in five years it provided the patient with a way of communicating his thoughts to the outside world."

Sources:
http://uk.news.yahoo.com
http://news.sky.com/
http://www.ft.com/
http://www.mirror.co.uk/
http://content.nejm.org/cgi/content/full/NEJMoa0905370

pinatubo

"Pinatubo", means "to make something grow". It's also the name of an active volcano here in the Philippines. It erupted almost two decades ago, July 1991. I remember it was raining and we were watching the news. We looked out the window and everything was covered in ash. We thought it was snow.

About 800 people were killed and thousands more lost their home & livelihood. I think the ones most affected are the Aetas, an indigenous tribe living in the mountains. Up there, they had their own world, standing still and unchanging-- unaffected by what's happening in the country. They've never been under Spanish or American rule. I'm not even sure if they participated in the war. According to WikiPilipinas, "They have adjusted to social, economic, cultural and political pressures by creating systems and structures within their culture to buffer the impact of change."

When the volcano erupted, they were uprooted and forced to come down, relocated to government-organized resettlement areas. Living here is hard, they were given small portions of land but it's not ideal for growing crops. Some found work as farmhands, some as beggars. Most of them are illiterate and uncivilized. Marginalized and discriminated, it's almost impossible to go back to their original way of life.

Today, several support groups, like the EVACF, are helping the Aetas. They teach them entrepreneurship, provide loan assistance and scholarship. You can also help out, click here. Last year, President Arroyo handed out CADTs (Certificates of Ancestral Domain Titles) to 601 Aeta families. Another NGO, Foundation of Our Lady Peace Mission, has another interesting project: the Indigenous Peoples Community Health Workers Development Program, where they train "barefoot doctors" (chosen members of a tribe) on things like proper health education, diagnosis and treatment of common illnesses, parenthood and family planning. These barefoot doctors go back, and serve their community, as well as spread the knowledge to the rest.

Then, last February 2009, a series of children storybooks, written and illustrated by the Aetas and Mangyans (another indigenous tribe) was published.  It tells stories about their past, and their Gods.  They've waited for a very very long time and they still have a long way to go but I think slowly, the Aetas are moving on with life.

No matter how much we resist, change really is inevitable. It will come, whether we're prepared or not. And when it does, it will take something away-- something we love, our belongings, our beliefs or maybe even our way of life. But it doesn't mean we'll be left with nothing, because with change comes the chance to grow. I went to Pinatubo last weekend with some friends and I was amazed at how beautiful it is now-- calm blue water, happy tourists, clear skies with scattered clouds, small plants and trees already covering the mountains and the warm sun shining on us. It's like being inside a painting.

Sources:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mount_Pinatubo
http://en.wikipilipinas.org/index.php?title=Aeta
http://www.evacf.org/livelihood.html
http://www.evacf.org/Help.htm
http://newsinfo.inquirer.net/inquirerheadlines/nation/view/20090608-209288/100-tribal-healers-gather-for-summit
http://www.indigenousportal.com/Education/Mangyan-Aeta-folk-write-own-storybooks.html

help haiti

• If you're in United States, text “HAITI” to “90999″ to donate $10 to the Red Cross, or donate directly to their website


• Pledge to Yele Haiti Earthquake Fund or text Yele to 501501 to donate $5


• TransformHaiti.org


• Donate through Unicef


• Check out Interaction.org for an updated list of organizations accepting donations


• Oxfam's earthquake appeal (UK)


• Stand with Haiti, donate to Partner's in Health


• Donate Now - Haiti Crisis, International Rescue Committee


• Doctors Without Borders


• ShelterBox


• Haiti Earthquake Support, ArchitectureForHumanity.org


• Haiti Earthquake Relief, WorldVision.org


• HelpHaitiNow.org, donate via Paypal


• Direct Relief International


• Buy a Help Haiti shirt , it creates awareness and all proceeds will go to One Dome at a Time Emergency Fund


• Soles4Souls.org


• Care.org


• The Salvation Army, Haiti Earthquake Disaster response


• Save the Children


• New! Globe users can donate to Philippine Red Cross for Haiti aid. Just text REDAMOUNT to 2899, donation amounts: 10, 25, 50, 100.

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

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