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You can't stop eating


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Stress causes the brain to release hormones, including adrenaline, which energizes your muscles for a "fight or flight" response. Once the adrenaline wears off, cortisol tells the body to replenish its lost energy stores with food. The problem is, when you're stressed for reasons that don't involve crazy levels of physical activity (say, running from a saber-toothed tiger), you're biologically wired to eat when you don't really need to. High-fat and high-sugar comfort foods increase pleasure chemicals in the brain to trick you into temporarily feeling better. (That's why you crave a pint of ice cream after a terrible, horrible, no good, very bad day. And you're not alone. An American Psychological Association survey found that among 3,000 adults, 40 percent deal with stress through emotional eating. If you can't stop eating, try adding to your plate these 14 foods that are proven to reduce stress!

You can't concentrate


iStock/Nikada

In the short term, stress can boost your brainpower by releasing hormones that enhance memory storage and improve concentration. But chronic stress fries your attention span—affecting your ability to focus on work projects (bad) or your surroundings while driving (really, really bad). In extreme cases, excessive amounts of the stress hormone cortisol can deteriorate your memory, according to the University of Maryland Medical Center. Here are some more signs you're more stressed than you realize.

7 Signs You're Headed for a Nervous Breakdown

Claire Nowak

If you're stressed and experiencing these symptoms, you might be ready to snap.

What exactly is a nervous breakdown?


iStock/kieferpix

"Nervous breakdown" isn't an actual medical term or a mental illness, but it could indicate a serious health problem like anxiety or depression.  The Mayo Clinic defines a nervous breakdown, or mental/emotional breakdown, as a situation in which someone cannot function normally because of overwhelming stress. There are physical, mental, and emotional warning signs for these episodes, but they may not be as obvious as you might think. Pay attention to the following nervous breakdown signs, especially if you have more than one and they last more than just a few days. Talk to your doctor about your symptoms so you can get the right kind of help to tackle your extreme stress and start feeling better. Don't miss these warning signs of depression.

for mr webmaster: wondering here why the space after the post in reply #3 is so big. tried to modify it more than once. it's stubborn. thanks.                                                                           

Palestinians across the board cannot see a scenario on the horizon that could improve their situation significantly. The most realistic vision sees a continuation of the miserable status-quo for a long time, with things slowly getting worse for the Palestinians.

Life in the occupied Palestinian territories is unbearable and hopeless. We desperately need to rise and act before we fall deeper into the abyss.

The views expressed in this article are the author's own and do not necessarily reflect Al Jazeera's editorial stance.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR: Jalal Abukhater, a Jerusalemite, holds an MA in International Relations and Politics from the University of Dundee.

https://www.aljazeera.com/

We need to act before we fall deeper into the abyss
The situation, briefly described here, should cause alarm in every Palestinian concerned for the future of their people. Hopelessness felt across Palestine is dangerous, especially as most Palestinians now feel they have no real friends in the international community.

Since the founding of the Palestinian Authority, Israel has been exercising boundless control over Palestinian people and territories, without feeling the need to make any concessions. Sadly, the Palestinian leadership has been actively fighting against any radical change to this desperate state of affairs.

In the West Bank, the Palestinian struggle for freedom has been effectively criminalised by the Palestinian Authority's own security apparatus. The order the leadership created in the West Bank only serves political, economic and security elite. Years of negotiations and international diplomacy bore little to no fruit. The Israeli government acts as if Palestinians are nonexistent, but at the same time imposes laws and horrific policies that render Palestinians totally powerless.

Second-class citizens

Meanwhile, Palestinian and other non-Jewish citizens of Israel are faced with their own wave of discrimination, highlighted most recently by the controversial Jewish Nation-State Law. The law turned their marginalisation into a de jure matter, rather than de facto, as it had been before. By diminishing their status as citizens and stripping Arabic of its designation as an official language, the law left no room for anyone to claim Israel is a "democracy" that treats all its citizens equally.

The official response by the Palestinian leadership to this law has been weak, to say the least. In the West Bank, the Palestinian Authority failed to put forward a coherent response. So far, it merely engaged in cycles of "loyalty" campaigns whenever its legitimacy was questioned. Most recently, in the build-up to the 73rd session of the UN General Assembly, it repeatedly broadcast slogans emphasizing Palestinians' national duty to support the leadership at this "historic moment".

The situation in Gaza is even worse. The besieged strip's economy is in "free fall", says a recent report from the World Bank, citing the 11-year Israeli blockade as the reason, along with internal political rivalries plaguing the strip.                                 
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                             

Forgotten in Jerusalem

In Jerusalem, the governing Israeli authority's negligence of the Palestinian population of the city is staggering. In the city, 72.9 percent of the Palestinian population lives below the poverty line and less than 10 percent of its municipal funds are spent on the Palestinian residents, despite their high municipal tax contributions. Areas such as Kufr Aqab and Shufat Refugee Camp, which fall within Jerusalem municipal boundaries, are literally walled out and left to rot without any municipal services.

Over 320,000 Palestinians who live in East Jerusalem are not considered citizens by Israel. They are unable to move anywhere else, because if they do so, they may permanently lose their legal right to reside in Jerusalem. They are facing an overwhelming lack of housing, an inadequate school system, high municipal taxes (that they do not see a return on), and an overall rough standard of living.

Palestinians in the city are worried that they may be further victimised in the coming days as result of new Israeli policies regarding municipal boundaries of Jerusalem. They are also concerned that President Trump's looming "deal of the century" may force them to give up their residency in the city and get full Jordanian or Palestinian citizenship. They fear no one is trying to stop the Israeli efforts to cleanse Palestinians from Jerusalem.

A divided West Bank

With the proliferation of Jewish-only settlements, permanent checkpoints, and settler-only roads, the West Bank is no longer a cohesive unit. The looming cleansing of Bedouin communities, such as Khan Al-Ahmar, threatens the permanent dissection of the West Bank into separate units.

Every road that connects major population centres in the West Bank is now dominated by an average of three to five permanent checkpoints. The journey between the cities of Hebron and Ramallah (43km), for example, takes a minimum of two hours for a Palestinian due to the nature of the roads we are allowed to use. For comparison, an Israeli could drive the same distance on wide, safe and well-lit roads in half the time.

With planned settlement expansion in E1 area (Jerusalem), Palestinians will soon be forced to use more remote and treacherous bypass roads. Those roads include Al-Mu'arajat, Wadi Al-Nar and the new Anata-Ezariye bypass, which were all built to keep Palestinians off Israeli roads that cut through the West Bank, such as Highway 1 and Highway 60.

Hopelessness in the occupied Palestinian territories

Palestinians can't continue to live like this. We need to rise and act before we fall deeper into the abyss.

by Jalal Abukhater
16 October 2018


Demonstrators shout slogans during a protest against Israel's plan to demolish the Palestinian Bedouin village of Khan al-Ahmar, in the occupied West Bank, October 5, 2018 [Mohamad Torokman/Reuters]

Today, nearly five million Palestinians who live in the occupied West Bank and the besieged Gaza Strip are trying to survive day-to-day life, without any real long-term hopes or expectations. In the 25 years since the signing of the Oslo Accords and the founding of the Palestinian Authority, Israel has expanded and entrenched its control over Palestinians' lives in every way imaginable and now, it is pushing ahead with a more extreme agenda than ever before - it is hoping to forever eradicate Palestinian hopes of achieving either a sovereign state at the 1967 borders or becoming equal and dignified citizens in a single bi-national state.

When Duterte, whose reputation had preceded him as autocratic mayor of the provincial city of Davao in the remote south, ran for President, Trillanes focused his watchdog attention on him. In the most notable instance, he brought a case of hidden wealth against him and found some validation for it in findings by the Ombudsman. But it remains unanswered with a waiver that will allow the opening of his accounts to decisive scrutiny; instead, it has provoked suits and threats against Trillanes. The idea is to quiet him or at least keep him busy with himself while Duterte and Arroyo get ready to mount their plot.

If we still don't see it or remain in denial of it and do nothing about it, we're in for another shaming by history. – Rappler.com

https://www.rappler.com/thought-leaders/

Thus, the biggest crime in electoral politics went into the books as the biggest joke as well, indexed as "Hello, Garci...", taking from Arroyo's greeting that opened her phone conversations with Commissioner Virgilio Garcillano.

Before the election, early in the third and last year of her inherited presidency, 2003, she had crossed paths with Trillanes. A naval intelligence officer at the time, Trillanes led a mutiny to protest a creeping politicization and corruption in the military. He was kept in jail for all the 7 and a half years Arroyo remained in the presidency. Granted amnesty, along with his comrades, by the next President, Benigno Aquino III, he took up the Senate seat to which he had been elected while in jail.

The tables, meanwhile, were turned on Arroyo. Like her predecessor, she was charged with plunder, and detained in a military hospital, a humanitarian concession for a critical spinal injury that would heal miraculously once she went free: she shed her ever-present neck brace upon her acquittal by a Supreme Court dominated by her own appointees within a few weeks of Duterte's accession to the presidency. She has since sat in Congress, serving, as a physical presence, the last of the 3 straight terms to which she was elected by her home district.

A sense of desperation is, indeed, detectable in her moves. The latest one is to do with a congressional resolution pretending to further the Duterte regime's avowal to switch to a federalist government from the unitary one that has stood since independence. The resolution is remarkable for its provision removing the term limit for all members of Congress, which suits her particular purpose: it allows her to run again and keep her House seat long enough to be able to secure for herself a place in the ruling authoritarian clique she and Duterte intend to establish ultimately.

The Senate has junked the idea offhand, but, with a Senate that has backed Duterte almost as a rule, a compromise is not unlikely.

    The idea is to quiet him or at least keep him busy with himself while Duterte and Arroyo get ready to mount their plot.

At any rate, a much too spoiled and fairly lucky child of politics, Arroyo cannot be expected to stop herself insisting. As vice president, she took over from President Estrada upon his ouster in midterm, 2001, for plunder. After serving out his leftover term, she ran for a regular 6-year term of her own. Then, confronted with evidence of vote-rigging, of which the most damning were conversations caught on tape with an election commissioner, she confessed. But, in the absence of any popular indignation or serious attempt to prosecute her, she simply assumed office and carried on as a fraudulent President.

Arroyo and Duterte are bound in a conspiracy so brazen a special thickness is required for anyone to honestly miss it: they are plotting to perpetuate themselves in power because it's the only way they can escape being brought to justice for their crimes. They want to appear running on separate tracks, but it's difficult to disguise their shared destination: dictatorship.

Duterte, a lazy-minded and not so psychologically stable Marcos idolater, has been looking to precook the right emergency, and he seems to have decided on the most recycled one: everyone who's after him is a communist son of – as he is wont to say of anyone he dislikes – a not so very nice mother. He's hoping it would make for a salable pretext for declaring martial law or a revolutionary government. If he has been unable to act on his plot yet, the only plausible reason I can think of is he has not sold it fully to the indispensable armed forces.

Arroyo is definitely the more tested operator. But she's afforded limited chances to work her tricks. She did succeed in displacing Duterte's old friend Pantaleon Alvarez as Speaker, something once thought unthinkable to even attempt. That she has been able to get Duterte to abandon his boy is chilling testament to her great resources and political savvy. Still, her coup may have come a little too late: her unrenewable congressional term ends in less than 9 months.

OPINION | NEWSPOINT

Making our own shameful history

Arroyo and Duterte are bound in a conspiracy so brazen a special thickness is required for anyone to honestly miss it

Vergel O. Santos
October 13, 2018



In the latter half of this generation, we as a people professing to be a nation have been making shameful history. Not that we have not made enough of it; the greater spectacle is not that we have been repeating ourselves, but that we have been surpassing ourselves.

In the current episode, the principal characters are a former president, a sitting one, and, ranged against their vicious alliance, a battler whom we, by our own obliviousness or default or collaborationism, have cast as a sort of Quixote who would be lucky to have one loyal, never mind all-but-useless, Sancho Panza along. Actually, the tragedy is as much our own as his: our Quixote is up against a real enemy, not an illusory one, and, further, an enemy that, not unlike a plague, chooses no victims.

These 3 characters are, in that order, Gloria Arroyo, Rodrigo Duterte, and Antonio Trillanes IV, and here's how the dynamics work between them.

Quote from: islander on October 16, 2018, 07:25:25 PM
He says that by the time people realise what is happening with climate change, it may be too late.

Turned into an animation narrated by Hawking's artificial voice, it was shown at the book launch.

"It was very emotional. I turned away because I had tears forming," Lucy Hawking told AFP on hearing her father's voice again.

"It feels sometimes like he's still here because we talk about him and hear his voice - and then we have the reminder that he's left us."

https://www.straitstimes.com/

He says that in the next 50 years, we will come to understand how life began and possibly discover whether life exists elsewhere in the universe.

"He was deeply worried that at a time when the challenges are global, we were becoming increasingly local in our thinking," Lucy Hawking said.

"It's a call to unity, to humanity, to bring ourselves back together and really face up to the challenges in front of us."

In his final academic paper, Hawking shed new light on black holes and the information paradox, with new work calculating the entropy of black holes.

Hawking says the human race had to improve its mental and physical qualities, but a genetically modified race of superhumans, say with greater memory and disease resistance, would imperil the others.

He says that by the time people realise what is happening with climate change, it may be too late.

Hawking says the simplest explanation is that God does not exist and there is no reliable evidence for an afterlife, though people could live on through their influence and genes.

The cosmologist was propelled to stardom by his 1988 book A Brief History of Time, an unlikely worldwide bestseller.

It won over fans from far beyond the rarefied world of astrophysics and prompted people into asking the mastermind his thoughts on broader topics, answered in his final work.

MULTIPLE CHALLENGES

In his book, Hawking says humans have no option but to leave Earth, risking being "annihilated" if they do not.

He says computers will overtake humans in intelligence during the next 100 years, but "we will need to ensure that the computers have goals aligned with ours".

"He was regularly asked a set of questions," his daughter Lucy Hawking said at the Science Museum in London.

The book was an attempt to "bring together the most definitive, clearest, most authentic answers that he gave.

"We all just wish he has here to see it."

Hawking, who was wheelchair-bound due to motor neurone disease, dedicated his life's work to unravelling the mysteries of the universe.

Stephen Hawking's final book offers brief answers to big questions


Son and daughter of British scientist Stephen Hawking, Timothy and Lucy Hawking, answer questions during an interview at the global launch of Stephen Hawking's final book at the Science Museum in London. on Oct 15, 2018. PHOTO: AFP

OCT 16, 2018, 12:24 AM SGT

LONDON (AFP) - Stephen Hawking's final work, which tackles issues from the existence of God to the potential for time travel, was launched on Monday (Oct 15) by his children, who helped complete the book after the British astrophysics giant's death.

Hawking was forever being asked the same things and started work on Brief Answers to the Big Questions last year - but did not finish it before he died in March, aged 76.

It has been completed by the theoretical physicist's family and academic colleagues, with material drawn from his vast personal archive.

Quote from: islander on October 14, 2018, 01:01:04 PM

The House has also served as base of such unsavory characters as a convicted wife murderer (Ruben Ecleo Jr.), a child rapist (Romeo Jalosjos), and a kidnapper (Jovito Palparan Jr.). Even the surviving half of the "conjugal dictatorship" (Imelda Marcos) holds court there.

We must remake this story of our lives.

chatogarcellano@gmail.com

https://opinion.inquirer.net/

The House has also served as base of such unsavory characters as a convicted wife murderer (Ruben Ecleo Jr.), a child rapist (Romeo Jalosjos), and a kidnapper (Jovito Palparan Jr.). Even the surviving half of the "conjugal dictatorship" (Imelda Marcos) holds court there.

We must remake this story of our lives.

chatogarcellano@gmail.com

https://opinion.inquirer.net/

Complaints have since been filed by aggrieved OFWs against Bertiz at the House ethics committee. For his outrageous behavior at the airport, the House, quick to protect one of its own, is giving him a mere reprimand. He had earlier complained of chest pains and had managed hospital confinement—an old trick in which seasoned politicians like Speaker Gloria Arroyo, a former president, are experts.

And here we are in the political silly season. It will once again be made painfully obvious that, but for a small number of esteemed lawmakers, Congress, its two current leaders each with a checkered past, continues to be a mockery. In the House, for example, most members represent vested interests, family businesses, landed clans, and political dynasties, and the party-list system has been bastardized as easy entry for billionaire businessmen (for one, 1-Pacman Party-list Rep. Mikee Romero), privileged progeny (Arroyo's elder son Rep. Mikey Arroyo of Ang Galing Pinoy, a party-list group for security guards), and, yes, types like Bertiz.

And if not in the Senate, the wannabes will make do with the House of Representatives. The woman who made a constant scandal of the generously funded Presidential Communications Operations Office that Malacañang has decided to revert to the Office of the Press Secretary has made known her wish to have a run of the lower chamber, to replace, per scuttlebutt, the disgraced ACTS OFW Rep. Aniceto "John" Bertiz.

As it turns out, Bertiz owns a recruitment agency, Global Asia Alliance Consultant Inc., said to be one of the Philippines' biggest. The man purports to represent overseas Filipino workers, but in fact his firm recruits them as a business. The main point of a business being to turn a profit, his is a clear case of conflict of interest. It came to light early this year but slipped into the public consciousness only in the wake of Bertiz's recent caper at the airport, when he bristled at being told to take off his shoes as part of security protocol and virtually rubbed his ID card in the security officer's face.

A raft of wannabes driven by that same heady ambition are once more declaring themselves ready for a seat in the Senate.

An actor and old hand is itching to get back in the saddle, and Senate President Tito Sotto, a senior official of the Nationalist People's Coalition, can't be bothered by issues like overpriced fertilizer that have dogged the party's new member or his wife's dollar-smuggling conviction in the United States. Two ex-senators who stand accused of plunder in relation to the massive looting of the pork barrel are unashamed and do not see the charges as an obstacle to returning to their old haunt. The dictator Ferdinand Marcos' eldest child is practically champing at the bit.

Even the President's faithful photobomber, now addressed as "Special Assistant" by all who understand the awesome weight of being closest to power, considers himself primed for the delicate and difficult business of legislation.

One wonders why the President had lately employed such a withering tone toward his spokesman, saying, by his own account, "Eh di sige" when the latter expressed the wish to quit. The apparent turning point for Roque was being left with egg on his face regarding the President's visit to a hospital for important medical procedures, when he had insisted to reporters that the boss was just taking a day off in Bahay Pangarap.

Still, Roque seems willing to proceed even minus his principal's expressed approval. There's nothing like ambition to drive a survey bottom-dweller to damn the torpedoes and sail full speed ahead.

COMMENTARY

Wannabes and charlatans on the march

By: Rosario A. Garcellano
Philippine Daily Inquirer
October 14, 2018

Poor Harry Roque. To be told pointblank, after all the contortions he had to make to finesse his principal's statements, that he should desist from dreaming of making it to the Senate because he wouldn't win, and even soldiers wouldn't vote for him: He has every right to be nonplussed. The President had been calling him "Senator" for a number of times before then, Roque whined to reporters. The putdown is a "game-changer," he added, suggesting a drastic change in his political plan about which, at any rate, he had been annoyingly coy.

naa ba niy sumpay 911? mora man god ug hanging ang estorya.

The same can be said about reversing the economic damage brought about by the martial law years under a strongman, who left the country in a state of collapse and with a whopping $26.7 billion in debt, which we will be paying until 2025.

It took decades-long macroeconomic reforms under Ramos, Arroyo and Aquino for the Philippines to discard its "sick man of Asia" reputation. That alone should remind us about the long-term challenges faced by reformists and opposition leaders once populists and strongmen step down from power.

The blatant erosion in rule of law in recent years, and the dramatic deterioration in the image of the Philippines around the world, will likely take years, if not decades, to reverse.

https://opinion.inquirer.net/

First of all, critics tend to overlook the very factors that catapulted outside-the-box candidates like Trump or Duterte to the presidency. Populists win mainly because they ask the right questions in the most provocatively captivating way. In the case of Duterte, he exposed the hollowness of our democracy by highlighting the grip of oligarchs and political dynasties on our national political economy.

Second, and more crucially, however, populists tend to provide horrible answers once they are in power, thanks to their simplistic solutions and often self-defeating policies, which are resonant during elections but tend to exacerbate existing problems once implemented.

The greatest price of populism is usually systematic damage to carefully built institutions. Under Joseph Estrada, for instance, corruption was so rampant that the Philippines' tax collection rate virtually collapsed. It was only recently, after almost two decades, that we managed to match the tax effort rates achieved under the Ramos administration.

And so is the common refrain among the chattering classes, whether the Democrats in America or liberals in the Philippines. Many critics of Donald Trump and Rodrigo Duterte speak as if all the problems faced by their respective countries are solely due to the character of contemporary leaders.

According to this logic, were the incumbent president to step down, whether constitutionally or extraconstitutionally, things will somehow jolt back into "normality." In the case of Trump, Democrats hope to unseat him through impeachment proceedings, namely over his campaign team's alleged collusion with Russians. As for Duterte, who enjoys supermajority support in Congress, his critics, having given up on the prospect of impeachment, are increasingly obsessed about his health conditions.

There are, however, two problems with this approach (not to mention it's more likely that Trump and Duterte will remain in power for years to come):

The problem, however, is that a lot of smart people, including those in the so-called "creative classes" of intellectuals and journalists, tend to ignore Gramsci's indispensable advice.

Across the world, news cycles are largely shaped, dictated and focused on larger-than-life personalities who project an artificial sense of immortality, perfection and potency. In the world of politics, strongmen populists best capture these characteristics. They are the ultimate celebrities, enjoying both power and fame (or notoriety).

Over the past year, I have traveled half-a-dozen times between Manila and Washington. As I always joke during my talks in the United States, "the tree (our former colonial power) doesn't fall from the leaf (former colony)." Politics in the two countries is eerily similar: polarized, ugly and demoralizingly unpredictable.

HORIZONS

The day after Duterte

By: Richard Heydarian
Philippine Daily Inquirer
October 09, 2018

In his legendary "Prison Notebooks," Italian thinker Antonio Gramsci said, "[a] common error in historico-political analysis consists in an inability to find the correct relation between what is organic and what is conjunctural."

In layman terms, he's warning against losing sight of long-term challenges and wider societal transformation amid contemporary obsession with what sociologist François Simiand called histoire événementielle ("evental history"), namely short-term ephemeral events driven by personalities.

Imprisoned by Mussolini, Gramsci never allowed his transient personal suffering as well as bitter partisan spats blind him to the underlying socioeconomic shifts in Italian society and the broader Western world. It was precisely the perceptiveness and depth of his thinking, as reflected in his "Prison Notebooks," which made him one of the most celebrated thinkers of the past century.

si bugsay nang nag-model ug red underwear.

"Hence the study lacked the ability to reliably test the effects of vitamin D on risk of hip fracture. So, it is too soon to suggest making changes to health recommendations on vitamin D for bone health based on this study," he said.

The pros and cons of vitamin D supplements have long been debated, with some worrying about the consequences if people with deficiencies stopped taking them.

Vitamin D is found in a variety of foods. Fatty fish, such as tuna, salmon, cod and mackerel, all contain high levels. Other foods, like milk and orange juice, can be fortified with it.

In a previous report, Dr. Clifford Rosen, professor of medicine at the Tufts University School of Medicine and senior scientist at Maine Medical Center, told CNN that it's generally better to get vitamin D from the sun and food than from supplements.

https://edition.cnn.com/

Ongoing debate

Critics of the Lancet study noted that only 6% of the trials were done in populations with vitamin D deficiency, who would stand to benefit most from supplementation.

"We know from meta-analyses that have managed to obtain individual participant data that the health benefits of vitamin D supplementation tend to be most marked in people who have the lowest vitamin D levels to start with," said Adrian Martineau, clinical professor of respiratory infection and immunity at Queen Mary University of London.

Others point to some of the trials in the meta-analysis having a small number of participants and short treatment spans.

"The report included all available trials of vitamin D, but such trials included too few participants, used an insufficient dose of vitamin D, and had an insufficient duration of treatment," said Dr Robert Clarke, professor of epidemiology and public health at the University of Oxford.

Not a cure-all

Bolland suggests doctors and health officials currently recommending the vitamin to older patients as a way to prevent osteoporosis or brittle bones should stop. "Clinical guidelines should be changed to reflect these findings," he said.

In a related comment article, J. Chris Gallagher of the Creighton University Medical Center in Omaha, Nebraska said "the context for this analysis lies in the fact that many patients (and doctors) have been persuaded by various studies and social media that vitamin D is a cure-all."

"This thinking is reminiscent of the fervour that supported the widespread use of vitamin A, vitamin C and vitamin E years ago, and all of those vitamin trials later proved to be clinically negative."

The suggested extra-skeletal health benefits include cancer and heart disease, which previous research has shown to be inconclusive.

The findings add to previous research suggesting that vitamin D supplements do not prevent disease for the majority.

The research, published in the Lancet Diabetes & Endocrinology, analyzed data from 81 randomized controlled trials -- involving more than 53,000 people -- that studied whether the over-the-counter supplement helped in fractures, falls and bone density. Most studies included women over the age of 65.

The team concluded that vitamin D does not prevent fractures or falls, or have a meaningful effect on bone mineral density, concluding that there is little justification in taking them to "maintain or improve musculoskeletal health," adding that there is no need for more trials to explore this.

But the research also concludes the supplement is helpful in preventing rare conditions such as rickets and osteomalacia in high risk groups, which can occur after a prolonged lack of exposure to sunshine, resulting in deficiency.

Vitamin D supplements don't improve bone health, major study finds

By Tara John
October 5, 2018


The study found that vitamin D supplements did little to help fractures, falls and bone density.

London (CNN) Vitamin D supplements do not improve bone mineral density or prevent fractures or falls in adults, finds a large study that advises health professionals to stop recommending the supplements to most patients.

The vitamin has long been associated with a decreased risk of a number of conditions, such as osteoporosis and hypertension, in addition to keeping bones strong by helping the body absorb calcium -- which is why many use it during the dark winter months.

But the study's authors say there is "little justification" in doing so when it comes to bone health.

"Our meta-analysis finds that vitamin D does not prevent fractures, falls or improve bone mineral density, whether at high or low dose," lead author Dr. Mark J. Bolland, associate professor at the University of Auckland in New Zealand, said in a statement.

Quote from: islander on October 04, 2018, 06:34:12 PM

[...]"Congressmen, Cabinet members, judges, colonels, even their relatives and staff... not all of them act that way, but they're usually the hardest to apprehend because they think they're untouchable."

the horror, the horror!

Yes, we know who you are.

You are public servants who act like kings and queens.

You are taxpayer-funded officials who act as if taxpayers money is yours to give or take away.

You think the country belongs to you — but it is you and your arrogant behavior that do not belong  to our country.

https://opinion.inquirer.net/

-underscoring of names in this article is the poster's

"Don't you know who I am?" ask the John Bertizes of our land, condescending on the very people they are supposed to serve, mocking the rules they are supposed to uphold.

"Don't you know who I am?" they repeat, demanding the urgency of acknowledging their power and acquiescing to their privilege.

The tenacity of our "VIP culture" is also buttressed by the fact that it trickles down across the political hierarchy. In 2016, Talisay, Batangas, town councilor Florencio Pesigan arrived at the Department of Foreign Affairs office in Lipa to get his passport, and when he was asked to wait for his turn along with the other applicants, he got mad, cursing and shouting: "Konsehal ako!" "What's your name?" he asked the security officer. "I will have you removed, you don't know me, I will have you removed!"

Fortunately, he was suspended by the Ombudsman, but how many more like him — especially those not caught on camera — manage to get away with impunity?

If we go far back in time, we will be reminded of Makati Mayor Junjun Binay, who, after being barred from leaving through a restricted exit of Dasmariñas Village, angrily confronted the guards, and ordered the local police not just to let them have their way through the exit, but to bring the guards to the police station. Jejomar Binay, then vice president, defended his son, saying that he "deserved some courtesy."

Meanwhile, going back to the airport, we also have the case of Sandra Cam, who last year demanded free access to a VIP lounge, boasting that "in three months, I will be a member of the Cabinet," adding that she was speaking on the phone with Bong Go. Even imaginary power, apparently, comes with an imagined sense of entitlement.

To the credit of the government, there have been attempts to penalize haughty officials (Republic Act No. 6713, a law regulating the conduct of public officials, actually exists). But these efforts have been undermined by the government's double standards across various administrations.

Bertiz's behavior has been rightfully called out as a clear case of abusive behavior, but even more lamentable is the fact that his behavior and attitude is actually not uncommon among our public officials. Emboldened by their position and the sense of entitlement that comes with it, they behave as if they're "very important people," and consequently, that others must be less so. "Don't you know who I am?" they ask, expecting that their titles—or those of their connections—will give them preferential treatment.

Just two months ago, there was the similar case of Christine Villamora Estepa, a Department of Justice prosecutor who, when accosted for illegal parking, raised her voice and even allegedly hit one of the traffic enforcers. Apparently, such cases are quite frequent. As one MMDA official told me: "Congressmen, Cabinet members, judges, colonels, even their relatives and staff... not all of them act that way, but they're usually the hardest to apprehend because they think they're untouchable."

SECOND OPINION

The banality of John Bertiz

By: Gideon Lasco
Philippine Daily Inquirer
October 04, 2018

The video footage says it all: A man goes through airport security, is told to take off his shoes, but, instead of complying, gets angry, flashes his ID, snatches the security officer's own ID, and reveals himself to be a congressman — a position which, in his view, entitles him to special privileges.

The social media backlash was swift, and the party-list representative — Aniceto "John" Bertiz III — was revealed to be the same person who, just days earlier, told the latest batch of agricultural and biosystems engineers that "those who don't know Sec. Bong Go will not get a PRC license."

At first, Bertiz blamed the airport officials, saying he was berating them for "Chinese-looking passengers" who were not asked to remove their shoes during inspection. But subsequently released video footage and eyewitness accounts belied his claim. Eventually, he apologized, but not without offering the lame and misogynistic excuse that "he has a monthly period once a year."

The pilot said Agung's last words to him were: "Batik 6231 runway 33 clear for take off".

Sirait added that Agung's rank has been posthumously promoted by two levels "as a form of appreciation for his outstanding dedication towards the deceased" said the organisation.

The tale of his sacrifice quickly spread online, where he was hailed a hero.

http://www.theweek.co.uk/

He was quickly rushed to hospital having suffered internal injuries and a broken leg. Realising they were unable to treat him, doctors summoned a rescue helicopter to take him to a different hospital for specialist care, but, Agung died before the helicopter arrived.

"Agung dedicated himself to his job until the end of his life and did not leave the control tower until the plane took off," Didiet KS Radityo, the corporate secretary for Air Navigation Indonesia, told the Jakarta Post.

Spokesman for Air Navigation Indonesia, Yohannes Sirait, said the decision may have saved hundreds of lives.

"When the quake happened, he was giving clearance to Batik Air to take off and waited for the plane to be safely airborne before finally leaving the ATC cabin tower," said Sirait, a spokesman for Indonesia's air traffic control service.

Indonesian air traffic controller killed in earthquake hailed as a hero

Oct 1, 2018

Anthonius Gunawan Agung died after staying in tower to guide a plane carrying hundreds of passengers to safety



An air traffic controller in Indonesia is being hailed as a hero after he died ensuring that a plane carrying hundreds of people made it safely off the ground.

Anthonius Gunawan Agung, 21, was on duty at an airport near the city of Palu when a 7.5 magnitude quake hit Indonesia's Sulawesi island on Friday.

His colleagues who were not handling aircraft evacuated the control tower, but "Agung stayed at his post until the plane had safely departed", says the BBC.

The building began to shake soon after the plane left and, "fearing he would be trapped beneath the debris if the tower collapsed around him," Agung jumped from a fourth floor window, the Daily Mail says.

Lucy Brown

"Or if there's only one dog, a court may do like, 'OK, you get the dog a month at a time, a week at a time," said family law attorney Atousa Saei.

Assemblyman Bill Quirk, a Hayward Democrat who introduced the law, said it's time family pets got the status they deserve — family members.

Quirk himself has a Maltese-ShihTzu mix named Luna and calls himself "the proud parent of a rescued dog."

He found an ally in California's pet-loving governor, who has a photo of "first dog" Lucy Brown on his website.

"When she is not out exploring the family ranch in Colusa County with the governor and first lady, Lucy can be found guarding the office and herding staff at the state Capitol," according to her bio. /jpv

https://newsinfo.inquirer.net/

"I think it's a good idea. I personally have a little rescue bichon poodle named Rodney King Stone. He's like a family member," said family law attorney Megan Green of Los Angeles, who has seen her share of divorce cases where couples battled relentlessly over the pet.

In one case, a woman said the dog was a gift from her husband, but the husband maintained he was the one who took care of it. They finally worked out an agreement just ahead of trial.

Without the law that goes into effect on Jan. 1, attorneys say judges have often had to get creative in reaching agreements when both sides say they can't bear to part with their pet.

Some judges have put the dog between the would-be owners and tried to determine who it liked the best. If a family had two pets, a judge would sometimes suggest splitting them up.

California divorce courts go to dogs as pets gain status

Associated Press / September 29, 2018


FILE – In this Feb. 23, 2012, file photo, Steven May, right, walks with his dog, Winnie beside his attorney, David Pisarra, with his dog, Dudley in Santa Monica, California. California courts could be going to the dogs, and maybe the cats too, under a new law signed by Gov. Jerry Brown. The law, signed Thursday, Sept. 28, 2018, gives judges the discretion of applying rules similar to those in child-custody cases when determining who gets the family pet following a divorce. It takes effect Jan. 1, 2019. (AP Photo/Nick Ut, File)

LOS ANGELES — California courts could be going to the dogs — and maybe cats, too — under a new law granting judges authority to settle disagreements over who keeps the family pet in divorce cases the same way they handle child-custody disputes.

Until now, Fido and Kitty have been considered family property, a status giving them little more standing in a divorce than a family's big-screen TV.

Under a bill signed Thursday by Gov. Jerry Brown, pets will still be considered community property but a judge deciding who gets to keep them will have the discretion of weighing such factors as who feeds them, who takes them to the vet and on walks, and who protects them.

Fast facts on Botox:

-Botox is the most popular non-surgical cosmetic treatment, with more than 6 million Botox treatments administered each year.

-Botox is a neurotoxin derived from Clostridium botulinum, an organism found in the natural environment where it is largely inactive and non-toxic.

-Botulinum toxin is used to reduce fine lines and wrinkles by paralyzing the underlying muscles.

-People also use Botox to treat excessive sweating, migraines, muscular disorders, and some bladder and bowel disorders.

-Botulism, an illness caused by botulinum toxin, can cause respiratory failure and prove deadly.

-Just 1 gram of botulinum toxin could kill over 1 million people. Two kilograms could kill the entire human population of Earth.

https://www.medicalnewstoday.com/

So, they've fallen out just because of tourists and a TV show?

Not really. This falling out might actually be a sign of bigger underlying issues.

The Dalai Lama - the Tibetan spiritual leader who Beijing sees as a separatist threat - visited Sweden earlier this month.

Chinese state media however, has denied that the feud has anything to do with the Dalai Lama.


Image copyright: GETTY IMAGES
Gui Minhai's imprisonment has been an ongoing issue of contention. He is pictured on the right.

And there's also the ongoing issue of Gui Minhai, a Swedish citizen and bookseller based in Hong Kong who was seized by Chinese authorities in January while travelling to Beijing on a train from Ningbo in eastern China.

He was with two Swedish diplomats and was said to have been on his way to see a Swedish specialist doctor. Chinese state media, however, accused Sweden of trying to spirit him out of China.

According to Viking Bohman, an analyst at the Swedish Institute of International Affairs, the most "plausible explanation" for the breakdown in relations is Gui Minhai.

"I think as long as Gui Minhai is in captivity in China this will be a big point of friction... If calls for the release of Gui continue to grow in Sweden, and if China won't budge, the relationship is likely to suffer."

Reporting by the BBC's Yvette Tan

https://www.bbc.com/

The Chinese government was equally enraged.

"[This program] amounts to a gross insult and vicious attack on China and the Chinese people," said foreign ministry spokesperson Geng Shuang. "We strongly condemn [it]."

He added that the ministry and the Chinese Embassy in Sweden had "lodged stern representations and strong protest" with Stockholm.

SVT entertainment director Thomas Hall told the BBC that the ambition of the show was to "comment on current affairs by using satire and humour".

He clarified in a statement that the segment was published on Youku to "gather Chinese reactions", adding that "this was a mistake, as the entirety of our message and ambition was then lost... we recognise that this may have been an insult, for which we are truly sorry."

How did Chinese people react?

An overwhelming amount of Chinese people on the Twitter-like platform Sina Weibo have reacted with anger.

It wasn't long before the hashtag #SwedishTVShowInsultsChinesePeople started to trend, gaining more than 34 million views.

"This is unforgivable. I admit the Chinese tourists behaved embarrassingly, but they should not insult the whole of China like this. They should apologise," said one commenter.

"They purposely dubbed the sketch in Chinese... obviously they want us to know they are insulting us," one said.

"The way to stand up to Sweden is to boycott them. Do not travel there, boycott IKEA, H&M and Volvo," said another user, with many others posting similar comments.

"If you see a person walking their dog on the street, this does not mean they have just brought their lunch," she goes on to say.

The video says Chinese people are racist, but Sweden welcomes black people, Arabs, Jews and "even homosexuals".

"Because in Sweden, we believe in the principles of universal human worth. Although this principle does not apply to the Chinese," the narrator says.

The video ends with the host saying that Sweden welcomes Chinese tourists, but they would be beaten if they misbehaved.

The sketch went viral on Youku, the Chinese equivalent of YouTube.

Is that all?

No - things soon got worse. After a few weeks of silence, relations worsened when on 21 September when Svenska Nyheter, a satirical television show aired on national Swedish broadcaster SVT, took a stab at Chinese tourists in general.

The show aired the video footage of the tourists being carried out of the hotel - and also included a sketch, which was dubbed over in Mandarin and uploaded to the Chinese video sharing site Youku - about do's and don'ts for Chinese tourists.

In the sketch the host not defecating "outside historical heritage sites" and while eating. (strange, uncorrected sentence retained as bbc's original.- poster)


Image copyright: SVT
The Swedish TV show uploaded a video to Chinese site Youku about do's and don'ts for Chinese tourists

Image copyright: BTV
Chinese national broadcasters, including Beijing TV, aired the footage

As the video spread, the Chinese embassy in Sweden demanded an apology from the government, saying that the police actions had "violated the basic human rights of the Chinese citizens".

However, a manager from the hotel told Swedish newspaper Aftonbladet that the family had booked their rooms on the wrong day, and when they were told that, "refused to leave".

How did this all this begin?

Earlier this month, a video emerged of Chinese tourists allegedly being thrown out of a hotel by police in Stockholm.

A Chinese man and his parents had allegedly arrived at the hotel at midnight - hours before they were due to check in. They asked to stay in the lobby but were refused, and eventually were forcibly removed by police.

In the video, the Chinese man is seen yelling in English "This is killing. This is killing", while falling over dramatically. His mother is seen wailing and crying in Chinese, saying "help", while police officers look on.

It was later posted on Chinese social media, where it has received millions of views and thousands of mixed comments. Some users criticised Swedish police for treating them so harshly, while others point out the the family was unnecessarily "dramatic".

Beijing accused the show of using "vulgar language", adding that it was "full of discrimination, prejudice and provocation" against China.

The Swedish broadcaster, on the other hand, said it would be "apparent" to a Swedish speaker that the show was "comedy".

But how did both countries get here and could there be more to the feud than it seems?

Why Sweden and China have fallen out so badly

26 September 2018


Image copyright: SVT
Satirical programme Swedish News did a segment on Chinese tourists in last week's episode

It's a diplomatic spat no one saw coming, but tensions have over the past few weeks been escalating between China and Sweden.

It all started earlier in September when Chinese tourists were removed from a hotel by Swedish police, a move which was heavily condemned by the Chinese government.

But matters were made worse when a satirical Swedish television show joked about Chinese people eating dogs and defecating in public.

Arrest Trillanes – Makati court

By: Tetch Torres-Tupas
September 25, 2018


Sen. Antonio Trillanes IV. INQUIRER FILE / LYN RILLON

The Makati City Regional Trial Court Branch 150 has ordered the arrest of Senator Antonio Trillanes IV for the 2007 Manila Peninsula siege.

Trillanes is facing a case for rebellion before Branch 150 Judge Elmo Alameda.

However, it was dismissed following the granting of amnesty by then President Benigno Aquino III.

more at: https://newsinfo.inquirer.net/1035961/arrest-trillanes-makati-court#ixzz5S6YflyQI

Philippines senator Antonio Trillanes arrested after weeks holed up in Senate

By Euan McKirdy, CNN
Updated 0841 GMT (1641 HKT) September 25, 2018


Philippines senator Antonio Trillanes (L) leaves a police station after being arrested in Manila on September 25, 2018.

(CNN)A prominent Philippines lawmaker and critic of President Rodrigo Duterte who has been holed up in the country's Senate has left accompanied by police officers after an arrest warrant was ordered by a Manila court.

Senator Antonio Trillanes IV was arrested on charges of rebellion, following an earlier move by the president to revoke an amnesty granted to the senator for his involvement in a number of coup attempts that happened over a decade ago.

"I will go with the arresting team when there's a warrant, no matter how unjust that warrant may be," Trillanes said, according to CNN Philippines.

more at: https://edition.cnn.com/2018/09/25/asia/philippines-duterte-antonio-trillanes-amnesty-arrest-warrant-intl/index.html

Senator Antonio Trillanes is arrested today, 25 September 2018, on the strength of an arrest warrant issued by Makati Regional Trial Court Branch 50.

mavoang koh.

let's celebrate!

it looks like it still needs to heal from a visit to a plastic surgeon in brazil.

pareidolia

noun  par·ei·do·lia  \ ˌper-ˌī-ˈdō-lē-ə , -ˈdōl-yə \

-the tendency to perceive a specific, often meaningful image in a random or ambiguous visual pattern

The scientific explanation for some people is pareidolia, or the human ability to see shapes or make pictures out of randomness. Think of the Rorschach inkblot test. —Pamela Ferdinand

afir, the long lost brother of high-five:

Real change requires us to all change. For real change to happen, our longer-term goal is a new generation of leaders who come from the poor.

This is not a time for silence or indifference, or self-censorship in a climate of fear and retribution. This is the time to think deeply about our future, to organize and to do something worthy of this country.

This is admittedly a difficult agenda. But we have done this before and we can do it again. We have fought five of the last six presidents on issues of principle and have won all of them. As a Pulitzer Prize winner reminds us, the only way people lose power is when they think they don't have any.

— Speech delivered at the PCIJ Forum on "Democracy & Governance in the Philippines: Deficit, Surplus, and Unfinished Business", July 5, 2018, Pasig City, Metro Manila

http://pcij.org/

Real change requires both a transformational leader and a transformational people. Every other combination would be dysfunctional to our objectives, such as:

•   a transactional people and a transactional leader that is about bargaining about power and money. This may be our real situation today.

•   a transactional people and a transformational leader, which would require a long-march; and

•   a transformational people and a transactional leader that will result in revolution.

Second: I believe that there is a statesman in every politician and it is up to us to find it in whatever way we can. Democracy is about dialogue and compromise. Maybe the President can be persuaded to consider alternatives that are not divisive and will directly help the poor without changing the form of government, assuming he has no other agenda.

If that approach fails, we would have a battle for the hearts and minds of the people, a battle in which education campaigns, legal activism, and intelligent advocacy would be more effective than sloganeering and street action calling for people power upheavals to bring a duly-elected president down.

We must not only be well-meaning; we must also be correct in our cause and in the manner of pursuing it.

But suppose there are proposals that may be acceptable under other circumstances. Do the benefits from those changes exceed the costs of authoritarian powers to President Duterte even beyond his present term to 2022?

Some people say that the President suffers from illnesses like Narcissistic Personality Disorder" or NPD and of paranoia, which exaggerates threats to himself that is manifested in streaks of vindictiveness. I believe, though, that the issue about him is not "mental illness" but of "dangerousness," especially if given total powers. And the costs of that on human rights, on social justice and on the economy far outweigh the benefits from the proposed charter change.

How then do we proceed?

First, we have to do our homework. Let us do a thorough and objective study of the ConCom recommendations, as well as the moves of the Congress in the weeks ahead. There may be constitutional reforms worth considering, assuming the government is willing to refine rather than overhaul, like judiciary reforms, voting of the president and vice-president in tandem, a run-off of the presidency. And then there are the major revisions by legislation of the Local Government Code – some 30 provisions arrived at in a nationwide consultative process in 2014 among the academe, LGU officials, central government officials, and NGOs.

As one commentator said, changing the structure now with so many uncertainties is like boarding a plane without knowing its destination. So why not consider the cautionary insights of experts like Prof. Gene Lacza Pilapil of the U.P. political science department, who I believe has done the most exhaustive research on institutional design literature. Among other things, Pilapil has observed that there is no consensus on the superiority of a federal to a unitary system of government (there are in fact about 160 unitary systems and about 27 federal systems) and vice-versa. There are arguments on both sides between federal and unitary systems on several key indicators that include: human development, economic performance, income inequality, democratic stability, quality of democracy, rule of law and anti-corruption campaign, and there is no meaningful difference in performance between the two.

Pilapil also suggests reform rather than overhaul for democratic countries with functioning systems. If there is no superiority of either one, why the need to overhaul? Institutional overhaul tasks are too institutionally and intellectually complex for the lofty goals that proponents talk about. From the enthusiasm of the 1990s there is a lot of sobering in the realization that actual empirical outcomes did not conform to the glowing theoretical predictions of reformers.

No democratic country with an existing unitary-presidential setup has been crazy enough to make these constitutional overhauls of form and systems at the same time, (like building a fully functioning political party system to replace political dynasties). There is, after all, the law of unintended consequences to contend with.

Secondly, on the substance: Will Congress in a ConAss adopt the good provisions of the ConCom? The ConAss version will surely reflect the power plays of the political dynasties and the compromises of the self-interest of politicians. Senate President Vicente Sotto III has already said that Congress will not pass an anti-dynasty law and President Duterte has publicly said he is not in favor of it. Then again, the two-degree proposal is already tokenism since the Ateneo and World Bank studies define a political dynasty as one of extended families, inter-marriages, and of clans, of which there could be anywhere between 178 (Ateneo) and 200 (WB).

Moreover, some members of the ConCom have reportedly admitted that one of the imponderables is whether federalism will merely empower these dynasties to become more entrenched. There is also the possibility of political violence as they fight for supremacy in the regions. There is, after all, the law of unintended consequences especially in an inductive process as federalism, as admitted by one of authors of the PDP-Laban version, will only indirectly address the urgent problems of mass poverty and gross inequalities.

It is also not clear if all the regions will become federated states immediately even as they strive to stand on their own and if the equalization tax system will work in this regard given the diversity of resources and of capabilities of the regions.

What we have thus is a total overhaul of the country's institutions, system of governance and the bureaucracy under the leadership and direction of President Duterte. This at a time when we should be addressing the twin problems of mass poverty and gross inequalities.

What are the imponderables? First, on the process: The issue of joint or separate vote by the Senate and the House in the Constituent Assembly. What if the SC says the vote must be separate? And what if the three-fourth vote of the Senate cannot be marshalled by the administration?

Then there is the imponderable of what the President really wants. The imponderable of whether can free and fair elections can be conducted under martial law. And finally there is the judgment of the people in the plebiscite.

But then, can it postpone the 2022 elections if the transition process takes longer than expected?

SECTION 8. All officials of the government under the 1987 Constitution shall continue to hold their office and exercise their respective powers and duties under such terms and conditions as may be provided in the transition plan.

SECTION 9. Permanent employees of the government separated from service as a result of the reorganization of government shall be entitled to separation pay, early retirement pay or retirement pay, or other appropriate benefits accruing to them under existing laws. In lieu thereof, at the option of the employees, they may be considered for employment in the Federal Government, the Regional Government or in any of its subdivisions, instrumentalities, or agencies, including government-owned or controlled corporations and their subsidiaries in accordance with the existing civil service laws, the corporate charters of these corporations, and other relevant statutes.

SECTION 4. The Federal Transition Commission shall ensure people's participation by involving faith-based, civil society, indigenous peoples, sectoral, non-government and other community based organizations in the transition, especially in the selection and screening of appointees to the new government.

Is the President allowed to run for the presidency of the Federal government? The transitory provisions:

SECTION 5. The first national, regional and local elections under this Federal Constitution to elect the President, Vice President, Regional Senators, District Representative, Proportional Party Representative, regional and local officials shall be on the 2nd Monday of May 2022. They shall assume office at noon on June 30, 2022.

SECTION 6. The term of the President and Vice-President, which shall end on June 30, 2022, shall not be extended.
The caveat, however, is that there is no explicit prohibition on President Duterte's running on the second Monday of May 2022 under the new constitution.

SECTION 7. All laws, decrees, executive orders, proclamations, rules, regulations, letters of instructions, and other executive and judicial issuances not inconsistent with this Federal Constitution shall remain valid until amended or repealed.

SECTION 3. The transition plan shall include the following:

a) The respective transition plans for the different branches of the Federal Government, the independent Constitutional Bodies, the Federated Regions and other component units;

b) The fiscal management and administration plan including, but not limited to, generation of revenue and resources and their appropriation, allocation, and expenditure;

c) The establishment of mechanisms for people's participation in the transition.