MikeLigalig.com

As many people said when President Aquino made that historical statement for the world to hear, it is not about him being a thief. As far as I know, no one has accused him of being a thief. It is about how he chooses to react to the mess that he currently finds himself in. He cannot always blame the former administration for their failings and corruptions for so long before he has to take responsibility for the office that he holds. No one is denying that GMA left a royal mess for him when she stepped out of office, but the fact remains that he is in charge now. What is he going to do about it?

Aligning his messages is certainly a step in the right direction. It is about time, President Aquino appointed Secretary Herminio Coloma of the Presidential Communications Operations Office (now known as the Press Secretary) to be his lead spokesman. In this way, his messages will not be misunderstood or misquoted as they will all come from and be vetted by the same source. Henceforth, Coloma will be the top dog in the Palace, the primus inter pares in the press office.

One can’t help but ask â€" if these pioneering private sector companies can get help to those in need, why can’t the government?

Again, the sad reality here is that the public is already suspicious and therefore every single move the president makes will be met with skepticism and mistrust. Unless major changes happen, this will always be the case. And in fairness to the president, his is not a job that anyone would envy. He seems to find himself in a lose/lose situation. Almost every decision he makes from this point on will be met with anger from one sector. I guess at the end of the day he has to ask himself what he wants his legacy to be and make decisions based on that. It’s truly time that he stands up for himself in more ways than one.

Another perfect example is the calamity relief fund. News has been going around about Senate President Franklin Drilon trying to circumvent the Supreme Court TRO to free somewhere around P2.4 billion in pork that should be converted to “savings” for the calamity relief fund. However, the first question remains â€" why is the president’s calamity relief fund drained to begin with and where did it all go? If Drilon is allowed to push this forward and get the funds doesn’t it just seem that we are okay with the president not needing to account for the calamity fund that he previously had? Are we okay with it just disappearing?

Let’s face it, most of the calamity relief these days is coming from the private sector. I know I am not the only one who has noticed the good work being done by private groups to get aid and relief to those in need. Why has it been so hard for the government to get their help to the people when other organizations can do so? We must commend the work done by the networks ABS-CBN, GMA, and TV5 as well as other companies like Meralco, Maynilad, Philex, Smart, and PLDT for sending medical missions to Bohol and Cebu led by my colleague Mike Toledo. In addition, Ramon Ang of San Miguel must also be commended for his continuing efforts as well as Francis Tolentino of the MMDA in rescue and retrieval missions.

Indeed, the president has had numerous opportunities throughout this entire pork barrel scam to make a difference and prove that his administration is more than just words, but he has yet to truly do anything. This is because the President and Congress refuse to let go of their pork barrel despite the fact that they can’t account for where it goes. It seems almost ridiculous when you think about it. They refuse to give up the people’s money that they have even though they can’t accurately account for where over P10 billion has already gone? Seriously, I hope that the administration understands why they are losing the public’s trust.

Plus, though they have been able to pull the wool over the public’s eyes before, I hope they realize that with information available at the click of a button, the public is not going to be so easily fooled anymore. While the president may eventually call for the abolition of the pork barrel (PDAF), changing its name to the new Disbursement Acceleration Program (DAP) isn’t going to fool anybody. What they are demanding now is transparency in government and proof of where their hard-earned tax pesos are going? Until that is something the president can do accurately, there will always be mistrust when it comes to the use of public funds. Can you really blame the people?

Too many cooks in the Palace press office
INTROSPECTIVE By Tony Katigbak (The Philippine Star) | Updated November 6, 2013 - 12:00am


One year ago to be exact, I wrote a column entitled “A three-headed Hydra in Malacañang” about having too many voices speaking for the presidency. Today, the president is sadly finding out that his strategy of appointing three communications groups has truly backfired. In fact, his public image is on a steady decline because his spokespersons are doing such a poor job addressing the nation’s concerns â€" most of all when it comes to the pork barrel issue. The ideas they have tried when it comes to addressing this concern are almost laughable and, so far, not a single one has worked.

I think that whoever thought of advising President Aquino into taking 17 minutes out of primetime soap opera slots to talk about his daang matuwid was completely off base and downright ludicrous. Unless the president was going on air to break some earth shattering news such as he was going to give up his own pork barrel and keep just a fraction for calamity purposes, the viewers most likely cursed him for cutting into their viewing time only to tell them everything they have already heard before..

"For Nasa, this number â€" that every fifth star has a planet somewhat like Earth â€" is really important, because successor missions to Kepler will try to take an actual picture of a planet, and the size of the telescope they have to build depends on how close the nearest Earth-size planets are," said Andrew Howard from the faculty of the Institute for Astronomy at the University of Hawaii.

Howard said: "An abundance of planets orbiting nearby stars simplifies such follow-up missions."

Some may have thick atmospheres, making it so hot at the surface that DNA-like molecules would not survive.

Others may have rocky surfaces that could harbor liquid water suitable for living organisms. Last week, however, Howard and their colleagues provided hope that many such planets actually are rocky. They reported that one Earth-size planet discovered by Kepler â€" albeit, a planet with a likely temperature of 2,000 Kelvin, which is far too hot for life as we know it â€" is the same density as Earth and most likely composed of rock and iron, like Earth.

Kounteya Sinha, TNN | Nov 6, 2013, 06.36 AM IST


LONDON: On the historic day when India launched its first rocket to Mars to look for the presence of methane, an indicator of life, Nasa has for the first time come to the conclusion that as many as two billion planets in our galaxy may be suitable for life. The nearest, according to astronomers, could be a mere 12 light years away.

Nasa's Kepler spacecraft, now crippled and its four-year mission at an end, has provided enough data to complete its mission objective: to determine potentially habitable planets in our galaxy, the Milky Way. The findings say our galaxy probably contains at least two billion planets that, like Earth, have liquid water on their surfaces and orbit around their parent stars in the "habitable zone" for life.

Based on a statistical analysis of all the Kepler observations, astronomers from the University of California and University of Hawaii estimate that one in five stars like the sun have planets about the size of Earth and a surface temperature conducive to life.

"What this means is, when you look up at the thousands of stars in the night sky, the nearest sun-like star with an Earth-size planet in its habitable zone is probably only 12 light years away and can be seen with the naked eye. That is amazing," said Erik Petigura from UC Berkeley. However, just because a planet is the size of earth may not mean it is habitable.

Oi, di tawon pakilubot si Botoy...

Quote from: taga tigbao on November 06, 2013, 10:27:29 AM
Hi Ho Hello! Gikan pas bakasyon injong amigo. Magsugod tag hagdaw sa balitang pangpanahon ron.

Wilkam bak, Bay Tigs! Daghan kang angay ipaambit nga mga kalamboan sa atong panahon karon.

Wow, Ashleigh and Pudsey...

Niining tuiga lang, pipila na ka higayon nga mikunsad ang buhawi sa Kabisay-an...

Quote from: islander on November 05, 2013, 11:58:00 PM
the banana republic does that to me, actually.  most especially when i have a toothache.

Ah, so it's the other way around! You're the doggy in the pic!

Uganda, Kenya and Rwanda, as well as aspiring member of the bloc South Sudan, said last week in Kigali they were launching a single customs territory to boost business by eliminating non-tariff barriers. Burundi and Tanzania were not present.

"Tanzania was supposed to lead the integration process, but is not seen to be doing that. This is because the country has been opposing the fast-tracking of the proposed political federation and has been against key land reform issues," said Tanzania analyst Benson Bana.

The bloc launched a common market in 2010, but missed its target of having in place a common currency in 2012. The stated goal is a political federation, though analysts say that is likely to be many years off if it happens at all.

(Additional reporting by Elias Biryabarema; Editing by Edmund Blair/Mark Heinrich)

UGANDA DISMISSES CONCERNS

Kenya, home to the port of Mombasa that is vital to land-locked Rwanda and Uganda, has held several meetings with both Kampala and Kigali about speeding up the transit of goods.

The three nations have agreed on plans for a new railway that will connect the three states. At a meeting in July, Kenya said it would allow Rwanda and Uganda to collect customs on goods at arrival at the port to help speed up clearance.

"The meetings that Uganda, Kenya and Rwanda have had where Tanzania did not participate were for discussing infrastructure projects to connect the countries involved in these ventures," Okello Oryem, Uganda's junior foreign affairs minister, said.

"They have nothing to do with EAC affairs or the integration process in the sense of the traditional meetings that we're used to," he told Reuters.

Tanzania, he added, was invited to any gatherings that involved meetings about the community.

"Tanzania has officially raised its concerns to the EAC council of ministers and we have also asked the EAC secretariat for some explanations."

Analysts say Tanzania, which is also a member of the 15-member Southern African Development Community, has dragged its feet over moves towards deeper economic integration including the free movement of workers and trade.

The East African Community began as a tripartite body in the 1990s that brought together Kenya, Tanzania and Uganda, with Rwanda and Burundi joining in 2007. It has since moved faster than other African blocs towards deepening trade ties.

But relations within the group can be testy. Tanzania's recent call for nations in the Great Lakes region to talk to rebels to help end Congo's conflict riled Rwanda, which saw this as meddling and an attempt to prod it into negotiations with a group it blames for the 1994 genocide.

Tanzania also asked Uganda to mediate.

By Fumbuka Ng'wanikilala
4 hours ago


DAR ES SALAAM (Reuters) - Tanzania has complained to the five-nation East African Community that it is being sidelined in discussions on future integration by members Kenya, Uganda and Rwanda, highlighting strains in one of Africa's main economic blocs.

Tanzanian officials demanded an explanation after the three states agreed on a new railway that would link them up, but without connecting Tanzania, and on moves to create a single customs area in a series of meetings that excluded Tanzania.

Uganda, one of those blamed for creating the rift, said the three-way talks had not covered matters of integration and said there was no effort to sideline Tanzania, the group's second biggest economy after Kenya.

"We want to know why these three partner states have been holding high-level meetings to discuss regional integration issues without informing us," Tanzania's deputy east African cooperation minister, Abdulla Juma Saadalla, told Reuters.

He he, basin borit characterized by high heat and pressure, pwede na...

Quote from: islander on November 01, 2013, 03:18:29 PM

yes, these are tombs.

Hmm, modest tombs pero ang coffin sa sulod ingon ani...

Quote from: islander on November 01, 2013, 05:39:24 PM

The Schwarzenberg family's coat of arms, done with at least one of every bone in the body. Image: goldberg [Flickr]

Real cool...

Art historian Meike Hoffmann, an expert on “degenerate art” at the Free University of Berlin, offered a glimpse of some of the works during a slide show at Tuesday’s news conference with prosecutors.

She showed works she said had not been known to scholars, or known only from documents without any extant photos to give an idea what the work looked like.

“Such cases are of high importance to art historians,” she said.

A painting of a woman by Henri Matisse that was confiscated by the Nazis in France during World War II is not in the established catalogue of his works, she said.

A Chagall gouache of an allegorical scene also isn’t among the artists’ listed works. Works such as an unknown self-portrait by 20th-Century German artist Otto Dix and a woodcut by Ernst Ludwig Kirchner add new breadth to what’s known about them, Hoffmann said.

Hoffmann, an expert on the German expressionist movement that Kirchner belonged to, said the woodcut gave new insight into the artist’s use of colour.

Experts haven’t yet been able to determine where the Chagall came from, she said, describing the research as “very, very difficult.”

“When you stand in front of the works, see the ones that were long thought to have been lost or destroyed and in a relatively good state â€" some of them dirty but not damaged â€" you have an incredible feeling of happiness,” Hoffmann said.
Some 500 works have undergone at least preliminary examination. Some correspond to known works that appear to have been legally sold, although their recent whereabouts may have been unknown.

For instance, a work by Courbet, previously in lists of his work, of a girl with a goat was found to have made its way into the collection through an auction in 1949 â€" after the end of World War II. A Franz Marc work, “Landscape with Horses,” was identified as coming from an art museum in Moritzburg, Germany.

Nemetz defended the delay in making the find public. He rejected calls to make images available on the Internet to help potential owners, citing copyright and security concerns.

The 121 framed and 1,285 unframed paintings were found in one room at the apartment, where they were “professionally stored and in a very good condition,” said Siegfried Kloeble, head of the customs investigations office in Munich. He said it took a specialist company three days to remove the paintings from the apartment; officials refused to specify where they are being kept.

Prosecutors are now probing whether the works were improperly acquired by the suspect, who they said hasn’t asked for them back. They did not identify him and said they are not currently in contact with the collector.

The collection includes works by 20th-century masters such as Pablo Picasso, Max Liebermann and Ernst Ludwig Kirchner and earlier works by artists including Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec, Gustave Courbet, Auguste Renoir and Canaletto. It also features work as old as an etching of Christ’s Crucifixion by 16th â€"century German master Albrecht Duerer.

It’s unclear how many of the works might be subject to return to pre-World War II owners.

Prosecutor Reinhard Nemetz told reporters in the Bavarian city of Augsburg that investigators have turned up “concrete evidence” the find includes both works that Nazis classed as “degenerate art” and seized from German museums in 1937 or shortly after, and other works that may have been taken from individuals. The Nazis often forced Jewish collectors to sell their art at pitifully low prices to German dealers or simply took them.

“Degenerate art” was largely modern or abstract works that the regime of Adolf Hitler believed to be a corruption influence on the German people. Many such works were later sold to enrich the regime. An art expert working with prosecutors said those sales are legally valid, even if other works in the collection may eventually be found to belong to survivors of Nazi persecution or their heirs.

By: David McHugh The Associated Press, Published on Tue Nov 05 2013


AUGSBURG, GERMANYâ€"A hoard of more than 1,400 works of art found at a Munich apartment by German investigators following a routine customs check offers a treasure trove for art historians including previously unknown works by masters such as Marc Chagall and Henri Matisse.

Officials now faced a daunting challenge: to identify the art, determine its legal situation and find the rightful owners of the works, many of which may have been seized by the Nazi regime.

So far, officials said they have done at least preliminary research on only about 500 of the pieces.

A newly discovered self-portrait of the German painter Otto Dix is beamed onto a wall during a news conference held by the Augsburg state prosecutor Reinhard Nemetz and expert art historian Meike Hoffmann from the Berlin Free University on Tuesday.

The apartment in an upscale Munich district was searched in February 2012 as part of a tax investigation that started with a random check by customs officers on passengers taking a Zurich-Munich train in late 2010.

Prosecutors said the check aroused their suspicions enough to launch a preliminary tax probe against one man. They wouldn’t give further details, citing tax secrecy laws and the ongoing investigation. No charges have been filed. Germany has been on the hunt for tax cheats for several years after stolen bank records showed that thousands of German citizens had bank accounts in Switzerland.

"What's interesting is how bishops are going about gathering the information. Some bishops are taking Francis's drive further forward, while others are putting on the brakes," he said.

In England, for example, the questionnaire is available online so individuals can express their opinions directly, while bishops elsewhere "believe their role is to filter the answers", he added.

Pope Francis has shown a more open style since being elected in March and a desire to bring the Catholic Church more in touch with the lives of ordinary people, although experts say he is unlikely to bring about major changes in doctrine.

Francis has said priests should baptise children even when the parents are not married and, when asked recently about his views on gays, he replied: "If someone is gay and seeks the Lord with good will, who am I to judge?"

He said the consultation also showed Francis, who has said the Catholic Church is too "Vatican-centric", wanted more "collegiality".

Cardinal Peter Erdo, president of the Council of the Bishops' Conferences of Europe, referred in particular to the increase in cohabiting Catholic couples who do not intend to marry, saying "the phenomenon requires a deepened reflection."

Archbishop Bruno Forte, special secretary of the synod, said "the Church has to better its understanding, it is not a static body. We do not have the answers ready, but we cannot behave like an ostrich, with its head in the sand."

Vatican expert Marco Politi, who writes for the Italian weekly L'Espresso, told AFP that "it is hugely significant that the Church, instead of presenting its 'truth' on families, civil unions and homosexuality from on high, wants to hear about the experience of the local faithful."

On remarried divorcees, who under the current rules are not allowed to receive Holy Communion in a Catholic church, the questionnaire asks: "Do they feel marginalised or suffer from the impossibility of receiving the sacraments?"

On divorce and separated couples in general, it asks: "How do you deal with this situation in appropriate pastoral programmes?"

The initiative is part of preparations for a synod of bishops next year and another in 2015 that the Vatican said will formulate "working guidelines in the pastoral care of the person and the family".

Lorenzo Baldisseri, head of the synod of bishops, told reporters that the meeting's theme "reflects very well the pastoral zeal with which the Holy Father wishes to approach the proclamation of the Gospel to the family in today's world".

"Concerns which were unheard of until a few years ago have arisen today as a result of different situations, from the widespread practice of cohabitation... to same-sex unions," it said.

Religious watchers said the 39 questions were unusual because of their non-judgemental, practical nature in what could be a signal of greater openness and increased pastoral care regardless of a believer's background.

Referring to gay couples, one questions asks: "What pastoral attention can be given to people who have chosen to live in these types of union?"

"In the case of unions of persons of the same sex who have adopted children, what can be done pastorally in light of transmitting the faith?"

2 hours ago



Pope Francis celebrates a mass in St.Peter's Basilica at the Vatican, on November 4, 2013 (AFP Photo/Vincenzo Pinto)


Vatican City (AFP) - The Vatican on Tuesday launched an unprecedented worldwide consultation on modern families including same-sex couples as part of Pope Francis's drive to reform the Catholic Church.

A questionnaire has been sent to bishops around the world asking them for detailed information about the "many new situations requiring the Church's attention and pastoral care".

http://www.euronews.com/
05/11 13:04 CET


In Bangladesh, 152 soldiers have been sentenced to death by a special court for their role in a mutiny four years ago.

The convicted are among some 850 people accused of murder and arson at the headquarters of the country’s border guards. Four of those charged have died during the trial while 20 others are on the run. The rest remain behind bars.

Some 4,000 people have already been found guilty of involvement in the mutiny, all in mass military trials. They have been jailed for up to seven years.

A total of 74 people were killed when a bloody rampage erupted in the capital, Dhaka, and quickly spread to a dozen other towns.  Copyright © 2013 euronews

Quote from: islander on November 05, 2013, 05:28:03 PM
the owner is forcing the dog to look like him.  success!

Hmm, the way you force your Banana Republic to smile?

Other residents have also questioned the ground-penetrating-scanning (GPS) conducted by MGB on Poblacion Uno.

Doris D. Tan, a Boholana who is convinced of the looming danger in said place, wrote: “If there is a gaping sinkhole in the midst or very near my home and a report has been released by the authorities that this opening is an entrance of not just a single cave but a honeycombed caves, would I still wait for my government to tell me what to do?”

“It is the same way that during an earthquake and even at its aftermath, people refuse to go back to their houses and opt to live in tents for fear that the next aftershock will bring their houses down on them. And nobody ordered them to do that. It is the instinct of self preservation. So, if there is a great probability that the ground under my feet will at anytime give in, what do you think will I do?”

Sinkholes, according to Britannica Encyclopedia, is defined as a “topographic depression formed as underlying limestone bedrock is dissolved by groundwater. It is considered the most fundamental structure of karst topography.”

“Sinkholes vary greatly in area and depth and may be very large. There are two main varieties, one caused by the collapse of the roof of a cavern, the other by the gradual dissolving of rock under a soil mantle. Collapsed sinkholes generally have steep rock sides and may receive streams that then flow underground. The soil-mantled sinkhole is generally shallower than the collapsed sinkhole and receives local drainage; it may become clogged with clay and hold a small lake. Some sinkholes, formed at low sea-level stages during the Pleistocene epoch, are now half-drowned and are known as cenotes,” the resource book said. (MIKE ORTEGA LIGALIG)

Long before the Oct. 15 earthquake that struck Bohol and killed 209 persons while leaving more than 650 injured, Tirol had once predicted that a strong earthquake, such as has not been experienced before, could happen in Bohol after 2006 or 100 years after a strong quake hit here a century ago.

“I do not blame anyone for not listening to my warnings.  My warnings were too far ahead.  I begun my warnings in 1998 and keep on repeating until I became like a broken phonograph record.  When I made a warning of the return of the 1906 Tagbilaran earthquake for the 100 years cycle (for 2006), the Late (City) Vice-Mayor Rizalino Israel challenged me to stand at the shorelines of Taloto to see the “tsunami”.  I could not explain why the earthquake actually returned seven years late,” Tirol wrote in his weekly column.

Meanwhile, MGB officials have recommended that five puroks in Poblacion Uno are marked unsafe due to geological disturbances following the Oct. 15 earthquake.

A forced evacuation plan is eyed for some 20 families, out of the affected 200 families, whose houses are situated in the “very high risk” area of Poblacion Uno .

But certain residents opposed the evacuation plan, saying they would rather perish in the very place they can call their own rather than living in an inconvenient evacuation site.

Pressed to comment whether he supports the planned evacuation of some 200 families living in five puroks in Poblacion Uno who may be in danger of being swallowed by sinkholes, also called by other experts as underground caves, Tirol answered: “Only for the houses over the crack.”

Asked further if he has any advisory to those who are worried of their safety, their homes, and property, Tirol replied: “Ang advise maggikan ra sa mga alagad sa gobyerno. Ang ako opinion o panahom lang.”

In 1998, Engineer Jes Tirol became a voice in the wilderness incessantly urging church and government officials to undertake a retrofitting project on Bohol's centuries-old churches so that these structures of national heritage could withstand earthquakes.

But his calls fell on deaf ears. Tirol, writing in his weekly column in the Bohol Chronicle, lamented that church officials instead of undertaking massive retrofitting of church buildings they became engrossed with “beautification.”

http://boholchronicle.com.ph/





A famous historian, author, and engineer has downplayed people's fears over the presence of some 100 sinkholes in the province and in the city, saying there is nothing to worry about the sinkhole mania that puts residence at the edge of their seats.

Engineer Jes Tirol, when asked by the Chronicle whether people should go gaga over sinkholes and how they should deal with their jittery emotions, replied: “Nothing to worry. The MGB (Mines and Geosciences Bureau) report is lacking. It did not consider that limestone also becomes marble.”

Quote from: islander on November 05, 2013, 05:25:24 PM
i guess i have to dye my hair blond to make your dream come true, bai hubs.  that's you trying to scare...

Hmm, how did you know that I am naturally copper-haired?

Sweetie was only real in that she existed in an internet chat room for ten weeks. Launched from Amsterdam, she attracted more than 20,000 sexual predators from 71 countries who asked for sex performances.

Santbrik said the men were from all walks of life and came from a variety of professional situations. They were “fathers, musicians, an architect,” he told AFP.

“Our worst-case scenario is that the same will happen with this phenomenon as with child pornography, which is now a multi-billion dollar industry in the hands of criminal gangs.”

One man identified only by his screen name, “Older4Young,” said he was a 35-year-old father of two from Atlanta, Georgia in the US. He offered Sweetie $10 to undress on camera.

“Turn on your cam,” he wrote. “I’m horny.”

Posing as Sweetie, Tres des Hommes workers said they never made first contact in the chat room, but instead waited for predators to begin a conversation with the girl. Activist Hans Guyt said it is more necessary than ever to trick predators into soliciting children online because the problem is only getting worse and rendering international borders irrelevant.

“We identified ourselves as 10-year-old Filipino girls. We did not solicit anything unless it was offered to us,” he said.

Sexual crimes end in arrest most often when the victim comes forward. Yet when the victim is a child, and under the control of an adult who is selling that child for profit, law enforcement is forced to get creative.

“The biggest problem is that the police don’t take action until child victims file reports, but children almost never report these crimes,” Guyt continued. “The predator won’t come forward. The victim won’t come forward. This requires a new way of policing.”

http://rt.com/news/
Published time: November 04, 2013 22:39
Edited time: November 05, 2013 08:20



Screenshot from YouTube user sweetie


Over 1,000 pedophiles around the world have been caught soliciting online sex with a 10-year-old Filipina girl that they did not know was the computer generated product of an anti-exploitation sting, a Dutch human rights group has said.

The girl, known as ‘Sweetie,’ was created by Terre des Hommes Netherlands as a way for the organization to notify the public about how frequently children in developing countries are victimized. The group said it has turned over the identities of the perpetrators willing to pay for sex with Sweetie over to law enforcement.

“They were ready to pay Sweetie for sexual acts in front of her webcam,” Albert Jaap van Santbrink told AFP in The Hague on Monday.

Quote from: Chongki on November 05, 2013, 02:17:18 PM
bakas ko bai

He he, atong agnihon si Bay Bugsay, maybe he is also willing to make the ultimate sacrifice...

Quote from: islander on November 05, 2013, 02:56:33 PM

Ooops, a not-so-kingly position...

The king, with matching royal girth

“Truth for anyone is a very complex thing. For a writer, what you leave out says as much as those things you include. What lies beyond the margin of the text? The photographer frames the shot; writers frame their world. Mrs Winterson objected to what I had put in, but it seemed to me that what I had left out was the story’s silent twin. There are so many things that we can’t say, because they are too painful. We hope that the things we can say will soothe the rest, or appease it in some way. Stories are compensatory. The world is unfair, unjust, unknowable, out of control. When we tell a story we exercise control, but in such a way as to leave a gap, an opening. It is a version, but never the final one. And perhaps we hope that the silences will be heard by someone else, and the story can continue, can be retold. When we write we offer the silence as much as the story. Words are the part of silence that can be spoken. Mrs Winterson would have preferred it if I had been silent.

"Do you remember the story of Philomel who is raped and then has her tongue ripped out by the rapist so that she can never tell? I believe in fiction and the power of stories because that way we speak in tongues. We are not silenced. All of us, when in deep trauma, find we hesitate, we stammer; there are long pauses in our speech. The thing is stuck. We get our language back through the language of others. We can turn to the poem. We can open the book. Somebody has been there for us and deep-dived the words. I needed words because unhappy families are conspiracies of silence. The one who breaks the silence is never forgiven. He or she has to learn to forgive him or herself.”

― Jeanette Winterson, Why Be Happy When You Could Be Normal?

“I had no one to help me, but the T. S. Eliot helped me. So when people say that poetry is a luxury, or an option, or for the educated middle classes, or that it shouldn’t be read at school because it is irrelevant, or any of the strange stupid things that are said about poetry and its place in our lives, I suspect that the people doing the saying have had things pretty easy. A tough life needs a tough language â€" and that is what poetry is. That is what literature offers â€" a language powerful enough to say how it is. It isn’t a hiding place. It is a finding place.”

― Jeanette Winterson, Why Be Happy When You Could Be Normal?

Grove/Atlantic, Incorporated, Mar 6, 2012 - Biography & Autobiography - 224 pages

Quote from: Chongki on November 05, 2013, 07:21:27 AM
masamang damo

...nga dili sibsibon sa mga kanding sa kamatayon kay makalanag.

Quote from: hofelina on November 04, 2013, 03:38:00 PM
she is campaigning in advance to promote her son Bong Marcos for 2016 elections...as President!

Bisag sakit, magpatuli ko kon mapresidente si Bongbong...

Quote from: Lorenzo on November 04, 2013, 12:33:08 PM
waray gid.

Waray uraw...

DAVAO. The Catholic Cemetery is now very quiet after the All Saints and All Souls Days mob have left. There is but this boy who is gathering candle wax on top of the tombs. (Seth delos Reyes)

Quote from: islander on November 04, 2013, 10:59:06 PM
consider yourself lucky, then, that you can strangely distinguish between what is and isn't strange.

My distinguishing between what is and isn't strange appears strange to you because, after all, strangeness is in the eye of the observer.

Klaro nga house pet kay tambokikoy man...

He also ran at the Tokyo Marathon last March...

By: Philippine News Agency
November 5, 2013 5:16 AM





InterAksyon.com
The online news portal of TV5


DAVAO CITY - Dengue cases in Davao Region grew this year compared to last year with most number of cases coming from Davao City, an official of the Department of Health (DOH 11) regional office said.

Mary Divine Hilario, chief of DOH 11 health education and information, said the number of reported dengue cases posted 9,593 as of October 30, 2013 as against the 8,412 recorded in the same period last year.

However, the number of deaths due to dengue dropped to 60 this year compared to last year’s 90 death incidents, she said.

Of the 60 death incidents, 30 occurred in Davao City, Hilario said.

Of the 9,593 dengue cases reported, 5,757 are from Davao City, mostly from the Buhangin District, Hilario said.

She further reported that Compostela Valley registered 971 dengue cases, Davao del Norte 731, Davao Oriental 1,113, and Davao del Sur 1,004.

Hilario said the rise in dengue cases could be attributed to many reasons, among others, lack of cleanliness campaign, unpredictable weather condition and floodings.

Sa amoa mao ni ang mula, usada para cargar...

Woman vs. Man: who wins?

There is existing evidence that humans may not be naturally equipped to be multitaskers. Working on several tasks simultaneously has been seen to divide attention, which taxes the brain. This can cause a reduction in productivity, according to Arthur Markman, who is a professor of psychology at the University of Texas, Austin.

“There’s a small number of people who are decent multitaskers â€" this concept of a ‘supertasker’ â€"but at best, it’s maybe 10 percent of the population, so chances are, you’re not one of them,” Markman said. “The research out there will tell you that there are a couple of people who are good at it, but it’s probably not you.” â€" TJD, GMA News

Where are those keys?

An extremely interesting observation was that women scored significantly higher than men on the challenge that made them search for a lost key. This led the scientists to suspect that women might have better cognitive control than men, especially with respect to preventing, monitoring, and planning behavior.

Previous studies have also found women to be better at “real world” multitasking. Mothers, for one, do it more often than men, although they enjoy it less.

The researchers, however, admit that there is currently not enough experimental evidence about the multitasking differences between the two sexes. “Instead, we hope that other researchers will aim to replicate and elaborate on our findings,” they said in their study.

In a second experiment, 47 women and 47 men were made to complete ordinary, real-life activities, including locating various restaurants on a map of a city, solving easy arithmetic challenges, and sketching a plan for finding misplaced keys.

Again, both sexes were ordered to perform their assignments simultaneously and for a limited time. Additionally, the volunteers were interrupted by a phone call that, if answered, demanded from them answers to general knowledge questions.

In this second experiment, the women also outperformed the men.

The researchers believe the results of their study suggest that women are better than men when it comes to making quick switches between varied tasks.

“Men and women did not differ significantly at solving simple arithmetic problems, searching for restaurants on a map, or answering general knowledge questions on the phone, but women were significantly better at devising strategies for locating a lost key,” the researchers said in the online journal, BMC Psychology.

Game on!

The first experiment gathered 240 individuals, equally divided between the sexes. The volunteers were asked to play a computer game in which they engaged in two separate activities. It was observed there that, speed and accuracy-wise, there was no difference between the performance of the two sexes.

The participants were then asked to play the game again. This time, however, they had to perform the tasks simultaneously. Though the speed of both sexes were significantly affected, the women were only slowed down by 61 percent. In contrast, men experienced a 77 percent slowdown.

Simply put, the women were quicker.

GMA News Online â€" 11 hours ago


The popular belief is that the fairer sex is expert at doing a whole lot of things, all at the same time. The results of a study in the UK hint that it's no mere fable: women really are better multitaskers than men.

Psychologists at the University of Leeds, the University of Glasgow, and the University of Hertfordshire had men and women compete against each other in a set of two experiments, according to LiveScience.

Ellen DeGeneres looks like Henry David Thoreau

http://static3.businessinsider.com/

Humba na pood...

But, thanks to his new active lifestyle, Buddha’s on the up-and-up!

Something tells me that might have been a significant factor in Buddha’s portly physique.

The Daily Mail reports, “Chris Achord, owner of the Cat Shoppe, said in August that Buddha had developed a love of human food and would not eat cat food.”

The water helps to relieve Buddha of his own body weight and lowers the impact on his joints. He’s been steadily losing weight since he started his walking habit!

This is Buddha. He was surrendered in August to the Metro Animal Care & Control department in Nashville after his human passed away.

He’s no ordinary feline, though. No, Buddha is pretty much double the average cat, at least in weight, measuring 31.4 lbs when he was rescued.





Penny Adams, volunteer at the Cat Shoppe/Dog Store, is helping this more-to-love lad reach a healthier weight.

They started an exercise regimen for Buddha, having him walk on an underwater treadmill!

Buddha The Overweight Cat Uses An Underwater Treadmill To Get Fit
The cutest workout routine of all time!
http://www.buzzfeed.com/
posted on September 10, 2013 at 12:15pm EDT

Quote from: islander on October 30, 2013, 05:20:22 PM
but cats in space are not strange, bai hubs.  cats anywhere are okay, you know.

Well, I don't find it strange that you think cats in space are not strange, Madame.

The hygiene hypothesis is a theory that says children in developed countries may be more susceptible to allergic diseases because of a lack of exposure to certain infectious agents, which has caused a problem with the natural development of the immune systems. The theory has been used to explain a wide number of medical trends, including the fact that people in developed nations suffer from more allergies, have widespread autoimmune diseases, and have a problem with acute lymphoblastic leukemia in young people.

One of the first people to propose the theory was David P. Strachan in an article published in the British Medical Journal in 1989. Since that time, the theory has been heavily investigated in the study of allergic disorders. It has expanded to suggest that human exposure to bacteria is important for immune system development. The hypothesis argues that people who have better hygiene and effective medical care may have impaired regulatory T-cells. One publication has even speculated that the hygiene hypothesis could be responsible for autism.

The research is interesting, but the theory is far from being accepted by the medical community. It is also far from presenting a potential solution to the problem because kids absolutely need immunization and good hygiene. Some other potential causes for the outbreak of allergies in developed countries include infant feeding (formula), overexposure to allergens, and exposure to pollutants. -- http://listverse.com/2

Kaldereta material...

"However, people with highest cholesterol levels are at highest risk of a heart attack and it's also clear that lowering cholesterol, by whatever means, lowers risk."

Cholesterol levels can be influenced by many factors including diet, exercise and drugs, in particular statins, he adds.

"There is clear evidence that patients who have had a heart attack, or who are at high risk of having one, can benefit from taking a statin.

"But this needs to be combined with other essential measures, such as eating a balanced diet, not smoking and taking regular exercise."

Statins are a group of medicines that can help lower rates of cholesterol in the blood.

Cholesterol can also be reduced by eating a healthy, balanced diet, maintaining a healthy weight and doing regular physical activity.

22 October 2013 Last updated at 23:37 GMT

He says saturated fat has been "demonised" and any link with heart disease is not fully supported by scientific evidence.

The food industry has compensated for lowering saturated fat levels in food by replacing it with sugar, he says, which also contributes to heart disease.

Adopting a Mediterranean diet - olive oil, nuts, oily fish, plenty of fruit and vegetables and a moderate amount of red wine - after a heart attack is almost three times as powerful in reducing mortality as taking a statin, writes Dr Malhotra.

However, Prof Peter Weissberg, medical director at the British Heart Foundation, says studies on the link between diet and disease frequently produce conflicting results.

Unlike drug trials, it is difficult to carry out a controlled, randomised study, he says.

Saturated fat is the kind of fat found in butter and lard, pies, cakes and biscuits, fatty cuts of meat, sausages and bacon, and cheese and cream.

Eating a diet that is high in saturated fat can raise the level of cholesterol in the blood, which increases the risk of heart disease, according to NHS Choices.

Most of us eat too much saturated fat - about 20% more than the recommended maximum amount.

The average man should eat no more than 30g of saturated fat a day.

The average woman should eat no more than 20g of saturated fat a day.

But the British Heart Foundation said there was conflicting evidence.

It added reducing cholesterol through drugs or other means does lower heart risk.

Studies on the link between diet and disease have led to dietary advice and guidelines on how much saturated fat, particularly cholesterol, it is healthy to eat.

Millions of people in the UK have been prescribed statins to reduce cholesterol levels.

Dr Malhotra, a cardiology registrar at Croydon University Hospital, London, says the "mantra that saturated fat must be removed to reduce the risk of cardiovascular disease has dominated dietary advice and guidelines for almost four decades".

http://www.bbc.co.uk/



Dr Assem Malhotra explains why some saturated fats may not be so bad after all


The risk from saturated fat in foods such as butter, cakes and fatty meat is being overstated and demonised, according to a cardiologist.

Dr Aseem Malhotra said there was too much focus on the fat with other factors such as sugar often overlooked.

It is time to "bust the myth of the role of saturated fat in heart disease", he writes in an opinion piece in the British Medical Journal.

Hirit pa jud...

Anadir wan...

Kini maoy hawod...

Quote from: hofelina on November 03, 2013, 06:47:29 PM
naay bongot nga wig Hubs, pwede na siguro

Kanay nindot, pwede hus-on. Angay ipares sa naggamit og pustiso...

Version sa Banat...



Babayeng tinun-an gipatay sa mga hubog
Ni Bryner Diaz (Banat) | Updated November 4, 2013 - 12:00am


CEBU, Philippines - Patay ang usa ka dalaga nga gipusil sa silingan niini kuyog sa iyang higala sulod sa panimalay sa biktima sa Ybañez Compound, barangay Mambaling sa dakbayan sa Sugbo.

Ang biktima naila nga si Robelyn Binondo, 19, 4th year college na sa usa ka tulonghaan sa dakbayan sa Sugbo.

Samtang ang suspetsado naila nga si Reymond Quipte, molupyo  sa maong lugar.

Subay sa imbestigasyon sa Homicide Section sa Cebu City Police Office, ang igsoon sa biktima nga si Rolan mipasangil kang Quipte nga maoy mipusil sa iyang igsoon nga babaye.

Matud pa nga nagkuyog ang suspek sa mga higala sa bodega sa iyang amahan ug didto nag-inom. Apan giingong natugaw ang biktima ug gibadlong ang grupo, apan inay nga mopatuo nasuko hinuon ang suspek ug gisulong ang biktima.

Apan dihang nagkaatubangay na walay daghang estorya gipusil dayon kini sa suspetsado pipila ka higayon hinungdan sa pagkaigo niini sa dughan, tuo ug walang bahin sa lawas ug sa iyang tuong bukton. Sumala pa nga nakasuway pa unta og dagan ang biktima apan gigukod kini sa suspek ug gitiwasan pagpusil sa likod ang babaye nga maoy hinungdan sa kamatayon niini.

Human sa maong hitabo daling misibat ang suspetsado kuyog sa iyang mga higala.

Gidala sa H. W. Miller Sanitarium Hospital ang biktima apan gideklarar na kini nga dead on arrival sa mga attending physicians. Usa ka manhunt operation karon ang gilusad batok sa suspek ug sa mga kauban niini. (/EIM) (BANAT NEWS)

Night

Avoid watching intense TV shows, paying bills, or engaging in other stimulating activities an hour or two before bedtime. Instead, dim the lights to stimulate the release of melatonin and do a few relaxing yoga poses (such as Legs Up the Wall and Child's Pose) or 10 minutes of deep breathing or meditation. If you have a bathtub, use it. (Adding relaxing lavender oil will help.)

Evening

Eat dinner several hours before bed to give your body time to digest, and avoid spicy or heavy foods if you're prone to heartburn. If you drink wine or beer, do so "three or four hours away from bedtime," advises Walsleben; while alcohol may speed the onset of sleep, it can disrupt the sleep cycle later.

Afternoon

At lunchtime, choose wisely: An animal study published in the journal Cell Metabolism in November 2007 linked a high-fat diet with a disrupted circadian clock. At least three hours before bed, get some exercise that raises your heart rate. "Aerobic exercise in the late afternoon -- even just walking home from work -- can help you burn off the stress of the day and raise your body temperature," Walsleben explains. "This has the potential to deepen your sleep later on." Also, avoid taking siestas during the day to help maintain your sleep drive.

By Martha Stewart Living | Healthy Living â€" 13 hours ago


Morning

Wake up at the same time every day, whether that's 5:30 or 8:30. This ritual will help maintain your circadian rhythms and make it more likely you'll fall asleep at the same time every night, too. (Yes, you can sleep an hour later on weekends.) As soon as you wake up, "get into some sort of daylight situation really quickly, even if it's just stepping out on a balcony," suggests sleep expert Joyce Walsleben, R.N., Ph.D. Bright light suppresses the production of melatonin, a sleep-inducing hormone in your brain, and helps set your body clock. If you're going to have coffee, this is the time. Walsleben recommends that women avoid it from noon on, and limit their morning dose to a cup or two. And keep in mind that "if you drink an 8-ounce cup in the morning," cautions Rubin Naiman, Ph.D., "you may still have small amounts of caffeine left in your blood at bedtime."

Photo credit: https://sites.google.com/site/thebrockeninglory/


Pughak...

Quote from: bugsay on November 04, 2013, 02:16:47 PM
ka lingin sa itlog...

...nga gihinayhinay og ingkib sa kangitngit...

Quote from: islander on November 04, 2013, 01:49:38 PM

The partial eclipse of the Sun as seen from Saida, Lebanon on 3/11/2013. The pictures span the beginning to the maximum eclipse as seen from this location. This eclipse was a rare “hybrid” eclipse, appearing as either an annular or total eclipse from different locations on Earth. These images were taken with an 8 inch Schmidt Cassegrain Telescope fitted, of course, with a solar filter. Credit and copyright: Ziad El-Zaatari

Ping pong balls man ni, klaro kaayo...

Gamit na lang ani aron di ka mamiligro...

Way lami ang drawing of lots ug coin toss. Sambara unta. Sa nag-tie og 167 votes, ka-167 mag-pik. Sa 195, 195 pud. Himoon ang kombate sa sambara anha jud sa public square, dayon naay cheering squad both sides, cheering all the way, every time modaog ilang manok...

By Charlie Lagasca (The Philippine Star) | Updated November 4, 2013 - 12:00am


BAYOMBONG, Nueva Vizcaya , Philippines   â€" In the effort to end the impasse over who won last Monday’s barangay elections here, community elders advised the two co-winners to draw lots to break the tie.

The local board of canvassers proclaimed Baluyan Inway Pagnas as the duly elected chairman of Barangay Cabanglasan in Kayapa town, besting his own uncle, Manuel Inway Basilio who lost in the draw last Thursday.

Both Pagnas and Basilio obtained 167 votes in the barangay elections last Oct. 28.

Through the mediation of community elders, the two agreed to resolve the deadlock through the drawing of lots.

Earlier, reelectionist Severino Fontanilla prevailed in the coin toss over his brother, Isagani Fontanilla, for the chairmanship of Barangay Gabut, Dupax del Sur town.

The brothers both obtained 195 votes and agreed to break the tie through coin toss last Oct. 29, a day after the polls.

Under election laws, rival candidates obtaining the same votes are allowed to draw lots or toss a coin to resolve the tie.

Quote from: hubag bohol on November 04, 2013, 01:42:06 PM
Sumala sa imbestigador sa kapulisan, ang biktima nakahimo pa sa pagdagan apan giusban sa pagpusil sa suspek hinungdan nga nahagba na kini.

Kaway puangod sa hayop...