MikeLigalig.com

KLM Airlines’ denial of Filipino WYD delegate’s flight hit

By Niña P. Calleja
Philippine Daily Inquirer
Tuesday, July 23rd, 2013


An Air France-KLM plane on an airport tarmac. The airline reportedly prevented an 18-year-old indigenous Filipino woman, who was en route to Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, for World Youth Day from boarding on her onward flight on July 20 at the Kuala Lumpur airport because she appeared “not ready to travel” even if she had a folder with full documentation supporting her trip to Brazil. PHOTO FROM AIRFRANCEKLM-FINANCE.COM

MANILA, Philippinesâ€" An 18-year-old indigenous Filipino woman who was en route to Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, for World Youth Day was denied boarding on her onward flight on July 20 at the Kuala Lumpur airport, because personnel of KLM Airlines said she appeared “not ready to travel” even if she had a folder with full documentation supporting her trip to Brazil.

Big business on Sona: Exhaustive, long but short on road maps

By Amy R. Remo
Philippine Daily Inquirer
Tuesday, July 23rd, 2013

MANILA, Philippinesâ€"Long and exhaustive, but short on road maps.

That’s how big business groups described President Aquino’s State of the Nation Address (Sona) on Monday.

Officials of the Philippine Chamber of Commerce and Industry (PCCI), Management Association of the Philippines (MAP) and Philippine Exporters Confederation Inc. (Philexport) said in telephone interviews they had expected a concrete set of action plans that would enable the country to achieve target growths.

striking SONA ending---

as delivered:

Ako po si Noynoy Aquino; ipinagmamalaki ko sa buong mundo: Pilipino ako. Napakasarap maging Pilipino sa panahong ito.
Maraming salamat po.

in english:

I am Noynoy Aquino, and I proudly say to the world: I am a Filipino. How wonderful it is to be a Filipino in these times.
Thank you.

(the english translation is as it appears at http://www.mykiru.ph/2013/07/noynoy-aquino-sona-2013-full-transcript.html#ixzz2Zto5CSQ9)

Good governance and justice:

*  Former leadership of the Technical Education and Skills Development Authority (TESDA) now being held accountable for overpriced purchases during the term of Augusto Syjuco Jr.

*  Indicted former officials of the Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corp. (Pagcor) who are accused of embezzling P26.7 million to produce a movie and spending P186 million to finance a party-list group

*  Former leaders of the Philippine National Police (PNP) being made to answer allegations regarding P131.6 million wasted on defective rubber boats and P105 million spent on anomalous purchase of secondhand helicopters

Agencies slammed:

*  Bureau of Immigration for the escape of brothers Joel and Mario Reyes (suspects in the murder of broadcaster Gerry Ortega) and Korean fugitive Park Sungjun

*  National Irrigation Administration for their “make-do” culture

*  Bureau of Customs, for permitting smuggling of goodsâ€"Compiled by Inquirer Research

http://newsinfo.inquirer.net/

Turnaround stories of government-owned and -controlled corporations:

*  Local Water Utilities Administration’s P870 million in  net profit in 2012

*  Metropolitan Waterworks and Sewerage System posted P2 billion in profit in 2012 from a P34-million net loss in 2010

Good governance and government savings:

*  P18.4-billion savings by the Department of Public Works and Highways

*  P2.9-billion savings in textbook purchase

Cabinet men praised:

Secretaries Armin Luistro (Department of Education), Rogelio Singson (Department of Public Works and Highways), Albert del Rosario (Department of Foreign Affairs) and the late Secretary Jesse Robredo (Department of Interior and Local Governments). (Also thanked soon-to-retire Presidential Security Group head, Gen. Ramon Mateo Dizon.)

Tourism:

*  Earned titles such as Best Tourist Destination, Most Romantic Destination, Best Diving Site, Palawan as Best Island in various travel magazines

*  4.3 million tourists in 2012; targets 56.1 million domestic travel in 2016

*  Tourism brought in 3.8 million jobs in 2012

*  Lifting of Philippine Airlines ban from flying to Europe

Infrastructure:

*  Ternate-Nasugbu Road

*  Aluling Bridge in Ilocos Sur

*  Laguindingan Airport

*  Inauguration of the Advanced Device and Materials Testing Laboratory to support the semi-conductor industry

*  Jalaur River Multi-Purpose Project II to benefit 24,000 farmers

*  PPP airports: Laguindingan; Tacloban; Bicol International; New Bohol; Mactan; Puerto Princesa

*  NAIA rehabilitation underway

*  Integrated Transport System Terminals in Parañaque, Muntinlupa, Quezon City

*  NLEx-SLEx Connector Road project

Procurement:

*  The Department of Science and Technology to assist in purchase of big ticket items

Legislative agenda:

*  Amend Cabotage Law

* Enact Fiscal Incentives Rationalization Bill

* Focus on Land Administration Reform Bill

* Review of PD 1638 and RA 8551 to ensure pensions of PNP and AFP personnel are timely and balanced

* Passage of Bangsamoro Basic Law before end of 2014

* Review of Marcos-issued decrees PD No. 1113 and PD No. 1894

* Review of Civil Service Code and PD No. 1

*  P2.268-trillion national budget

Benefits of men in uniform

*  21,800 housing projects for policemen completed in 2012; this year’s target of 31,200 houses to be completed next month

*  Calls on the Government Service Insurance System to assist in addressing the pension and benefits problems of police and soldiers

Peace and order situation:

*  Distribution of firearms and weapons to meet the goal of one pistol-to-one police ratio

*  491,929 licenses verified under Oplan Katok

*  Private armies down by 63 percent; election-related violence down to 77 cases

*  Peaceful elections in the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao

*  Accountability for the deaths of Ozamiz Gang members

*  Agreement with the Moro Islamic Liberation Front on the issue of wealth sharing between the Philippine government and a Bangsamoro autonomous entity

*  Reiterated the government’s commitment to uphold agreement.

Disaster preparedness:

*  Multi-hazard mapping complete for 28 most vulnerable sites; Greater Metro Manila area to be completed in 2014

*  525 automated water-level monitoring stations and rain gauges set up under Project NOAH

*  Cooperating with LGUs to relocate informal settlers

*  Allocation of P6.2 billion to address flooding in Metro Manila (Construction of the Blumentritt Interceptor Catchment area)

*  9,377 houses for “Sendong” victims; 4,374 additional houses underway

*  53,106 houses for “Pablo” victims; 17,609 additional houses underway

*  19,400 families to be relocated from Metro Manila waterways

*  Justice Secretary Leila de Lima to file cases against owners of structures who have closed or obstructed waterways

Education:

*  Erased backlogs in chairs, in textbooks, and about to address shortage in classrooms.

Agriculture/fish industry:

*  Agricultural sector grew 3.3 percent, triple that of 2012

*  Rice self-sufficiency on-target. The maximum to be imported would be the minimum access volume of 350,000 metric tons, including the 187,000 metric tons of buffer stock

*  Tap the potentials of coconut industry by intercropping; 434 sites targeted in 2013 for coconut intercropping

*  Cites the cold storage facility in Bataraza, Palawan province

*  Ongoing construction of ports, roads and other infrastructure to benefit the fishing industry

Agrarian reform:

*  The Department of Agrarian Reform has completed the list of beneficiaries of Hacienda Luisita; turnover of lots will start in September.

*  All notices of coverage under the Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Program will have been served by 2014.

Examples of those who contribute to nation-building:

*  Niño Aguirre, and police officers Edlyn Arbo, PO3 Felipe Moncatar and Dondon Sultan, and disaster relief workers and volunteers

Jobs:

*  Scholars of the Technical Education and Skills Development Authority, Department of Labor and Employment: Of the 503,521 people who graduated from their programs, six out of 10 have found jobs; and 70.9 percent of the graduates found employment in Tesda’s Information Technology-Business Processing Operations program, up from 28.5 percent from 2006 to 2008.

Social Welfare:

*  Almost 4 million household-beneficiaries of the conditional cash transfer program

*  Families with children up to 18 years old will be included in the program

*  Calls for reforms in the Social Security Service (SSS) pension scheme to address shortage of funds

*  PhilHealth coverage jumped from 62 percent of Filipinos in 2010 to 81 percent

*  Expanded Z benefit package to cover other conditions and diseases

*  Allotted P33 billion for the modernization of 4,518 hospitals, rural health units and health stations in the country

Highlights of President Aquino’s 4th State of the Nation Address

Philippine Daily Inquirer
Tuesday, July 23rd, 2013


President Aquino delivers his SONA at the 16th congress in Batasan Pambansa, Quezon City. Photo by Edwin Bacasmas/INQUIRER

MANILA, Philippinesâ€"Key strategies and principles:

*  Maximize opportunities for all, especially for those most in need.

*  “We are not content to wait for the trickle-down effect; we cannot leave their fate (receiving the benefits of progress) to chance.”

*  Inclusive growth drives every initiative, action and decision of government. Widespread opportunity is the key to comprehensive and sustained progress (e.g. TESDA scholarship, Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program and quality education)

* “Kayo ang aking lakas (You are my strength).”

may the most kagiron win.

Quote from: chicogon on July 23, 2013, 12:11:32 AM
Time to change Chic, too... to Balong. Bwahahaha jok jok jok Balong. Peace

inspiring idea.  i better change islander to diablo too.  kurrrog gyod ang magpabuingbuing ug pangilad.  

"Go and shake a tower" (Go and take a shower).

At a wedding: "It is kisstomary to cuss the bride."

Paying a visit to a college official: "Is the bean dizzy?"

"Such Bulgarians should be vanished..." (Such vulgarians should be banished).

Addressing farmers as "ye noble tons of soil".

And, the classic: "Mardon me padom, you are occupewing my pie. May I sew you to another sheet?"

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/

Witnesses claimed to have heard Spooner say:

On meeting a widow, he remarked that it was very sad, "her late husband was eaten by missionaries."

Calling a famous Irish play "The Ploughboy of the Western World".

"Blushing crow" for "crushing blow."

"The Lord is a shoving leopard" (Loving shepherd).

" A well-boiled icicle" for "well-oiled bicycle."

"I have in my bosom a half-warmed fish" (for half-formed wish), supposedly said in a speech to Queen Victoria.

A toast to "our queer old dean" instead of to "our dear old Queen."

Upon dropping his hat: "Will nobody pat my hiccup?"

He was apparently an amiable, kind and hospitable man though absent-minded. He also had a keen intellect, which is where his problems began. His tongue barely kept up with his thought processes resulting in an unintentional interchange of sounds, producing a phrase with a meaning entirely different from the one intended. That is what is now called a spoonerism. The more agitated the good Reverend became, the more acute the manifestation of sound switching.

By Telegraph Reporters
22 Jul 2013

The Reverend William Archibald Spooner was born in London on July 22, 1844. He was an albino and suffered defective eyesight and it is thought that this caused some of his verbal confusions which were later dubbed "spoonerisms". These included "it is kisstomary to cuss the bride". Spooner, who died in 1930, was an Anglican priest and scholar, he studied at New College, Oxford, before lecturing there for 60 years in history, philosophy and divinity.

Spoonerisms: remembering William Spooner

On the anniversary of the birth of the Rev William Spooner, we honour his unintentional comic interchange of sounds, known as spoonerisms.


Queen Victoria in 1897. She was supposedly the subject of a famous spoonerism, when William Spooner raised a toast to "our queer old dean" instead of to "our dear old Queen." Photo: PA

Metro Manila, exclusive new trailer

By Rupert Hawksley
22 Jul 2013

The new trailer for Metro Manila, a gritty Philippines-set thriller from director Sean Ellis, has been released exclusive to The Telegraph.

Starring Jake Macapagal and Althea Vega, the film, which won the Audience Award at this year's Sundance Film Festival, tells the story of Oscar Ramirez (Macapagal) and his family’s ill-fated search for a better life amid the hustle-and-bustle of Manila's seedy underbelly. After securing a job as a security driver, however, Ramirez becomes caught up in the violent drug culture that dominates large areas of the city.

Ellis joins a host of British film-makers who have taken their work abroad recently, including Gareth Edwards, who filmed Monsters in Central America and Gareth Evans who worked on martial arts thriller, The Raid, in Jakarta.

Ellis, whose other work includes the Oscar-nominated short film Cashback and dark thriller The Broken, was inspired to make his latest film after seeing a real life heist while on holiday in Manila.

Metro Manila is in UK cinemas this September

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/

Winning the World Cinema-Dramatic category of the Sundance fest. SEAN Ellis (third from right) shares winning moment with the team (from left) editor Richard Mettler, actors JM Rodriguez, Jake Macapagal, Ana Abad Santos and John Arcilla.

Per press notes, the script was in English, with thesps translating their own dialogue into Tagalog. Attractive indie actors Macapagal and Vega play it straight as the relocated couple, while Arcila sweatily hams it up as a complex villain.

Flashy tech work is slick to the point of grandstanding.

http://variety.com/

Inspired by an incident Ellis witnessed in Manila with two armored truck employees clad in full combat mode having a screaming argument, the screenplay (co-written with Hollywood scribe Frank E. Flowers) boasts the stock characters and situations, sentimentality, foreshadowing and melodrama of soap opera. Yet by cleverly blending these ingredients with those of an action caper, the pic presents a fresher appeal.

Although “Metro Manila” reps a departure from Ellis’ earlier charming romantic comedy “Cashback” and psychological horror exercise “The Broken,” it shares with those previous pics an obvious sense of formal craftsmanship. Even though he taps his technique at times to overly showy extent, the flashback scenes of a tense robbery remembered and a heightened rendering of a cautionary tale supply exciting visuals.

While the pregnant Mai finds employment among the bar girls/sex workers at Charlie’s (cue overfamiliar scenes of leering men pawing the teary-eyed new recruit), Oscar happens upon a position as an armored truck driver through the favors of soon-to-be partner Ong (John Arcilla). Ong not only supplies him with a clean shirt and a dirty joke for their department head known as the Laughing Buddha (Moises Mag Isa), but also moves him out of the slum and into a tidy apartment.



Naturally Ong has ulterior motives, namely to involve Oscar in a complicated robbery. But several unexpected plot twists result in the desperate Oscar coming up with a plan of his own.

When their rice harvest fails to bring in a living wage, honest but dirt-poor Oscar Ramirez (Jake Macapagal) and sultry wife Mai (Althea Vega) impetuously decide to seek a better life for themselves and two young daughters in Manila, despite having no contacts or even a place to live. With their motto “In God we trust,” they guilelessly fall prey to the first conman they meet, stripped of their savings, and without a roof over their heads.

Review: Metro Manila

Alissa Simon

A naive farming couple from the picturesque but impoverished rice-growing region of Banaue, northern Philippines, come to grief in the crime-ridden capital in Brit helmer Sean Ellis’s polished Tagalog-language soap opera-cum-heist pic “Metro Manila.” Overlong, sometimes inventive, and with a self-indulgent tendency to exploit cliche as if it didn’t exist, the pic might be able to parlay its Sundance World Cinema audience award into wider international exposure. French distributor Haut et Court signed on just before the festival screenings.

unswah?  kalinaw as in rest in peace?

17.
When: 60 CE in August
What: A comet
Associated historical event: Titus Imperator Caesar in his 5th consulship wrote an account in his famous poem” about a comet

18.
When: 65/66 CE - Jan.-April of A.D. 66 & July-Sept.  A.D. 65
What: A comet [and eclipses - Cf. #‎13 above!]- Halley’s Comet (Jan.-April of A.D. 66) and another “long-tailed star” (July-Sept.) A.D. 65.
Associated historical event: A comet observed prior to the death of Vespasian

more at http://adamoh.org/TreeOfLife.lan.io/NTCh/CometsAndEclipsesCorrelatedWithHistoricalRecords.htm

13.
When: 54 CE August 7
What: 2 lunar eclipses
Associated historical event: Vitellius short reign as emperor of Rome

14.
When: 55/56 CE Dec. of A.D. 55 to March of A.D. 56.
What: A comet - The length of the observation was fairly long, 113 days.
Associated historical event: Preceding the burning of the Temple in Jerusalem and the destruction of Jerusalem

15. & 16.
When: 56 CE
What: A pairing of a solar and a lunar eclipse within 15 days
Associated historical event: Celestial events occurring during the 3rd consulship of Emperor Vespasian and the 2nd consulship of the younger Vespasian

10. & 11.           
When: 46 & 49 CE
What: 2 comets
Associated historical event: Nero killed aristocrats in order to try to prevent the omens perceived in these comets.

12.
When: 54 CE seen between June 9 and July 9
What: A comet (preceding two apparent lunar eclipses within 3 days…)
Associated historical event: Comet and lunar eclipses reported by Dio during the reign of Vitellius

7.             
When: 26 CE Aug 1
What: A solar eclipse
Associated historical event: Solar eclipse predicted on Claudius’ birthday.

8.                 
When: 29 CE Nov 24 late AM
What: A solar eclipse
Associated historical event: This eclipse is tied to the fourth year of the 202nd Olympiad

9.                 
When: 39 CE March 13 to April 30
What: A comet
Associated historical event: Preceding Claudius’ death

4.             
When: 15/16 BCE,  most likely sometime between March and December
What: A comet
Associated historical events: 1. After Agrippa died.  2. Yeshua’s birth / Quirinius â€" at the time of the census / Augustus

5.             
When: 9 BCE “Nov 28  18:41 t” - UT
What: A total lunar eclipse
Associated historical event: Herod the Great died within a few months of a lunar eclipse

6.             
When: 10 CE June 30 at 11:19 hours (time of greatest eclipse).
What: A total solar eclipse, though only visible as partial over the Roman Empire
Associated historical event: Solar eclipse prior to the death of Augustus

A Rough List of Celestial Events Correlated with Historical Events:

1.             
When: 49 BCE during the lunar month of April 14 to May 12
What: A comet
Associated historical event: Following the death of Julius Caesar

2.             
When: 49 BCE August 9, at 11:30 hours local time
What: Solar eclipse
Associated historical event: Following the murder of Julius Caesar

3.             
When: 32 BCE in the lunar month beginning on Feb. 6
What: A comet
Associated historical event: Associated with the war between Augustus and Marc Anthony

A link between comets and meteor showers was suspected for a long time, but was only seriously considered by astronomers after the meteor shower of November 27, 1872.  The shower was recognized as debris from the Comet Biela.  Following this identification, the Leonid and Perseid showers were both discovered to be linked to the Earth passing through the path of comets.  Among the influential people in determining this were Denison Olmsted, who observed that the Leonids seemed to be originating from the same place in the sky; Urbain La Verrier, who first linked the orbital period of the Leonids with the orbit of a comet; and Carl F. W. Peters, who successfully identified that the Leonids were remnants from Oppolzer’s comet.

http://galacticghosts.blogspot.com/

The Nineteenth Century


Johann Encke

Comet Encke, named after Johann Encke, was observed separately in 1786, 1795, and 1805, without anyone successfully linking the sightings together as the orbit of one comet.  In 1819, Encke successfully used a mathematical process called an "integration," of the comet’s orbit, backwards. This allowed him to determine that these sightings were in fact of the same heavenly body.  After his prediction of the next appearance of the comet was proven correct, Encke went on to accurately foretell the next two times the comet would approach perihelion. He also developed an accurate theory for determining the orbits of heavenly bodies.  Using this theory, Marie Charles Theodor Damoiseau and Giovanni Santini separately predicted the return of Comet Biela in late November of 1832.

Medieval Comets


Woodcut of Townspeople Observing the Great Comet of 1577

The most notable occurrence of the medieval ages in regard to comets was the Great Comet of 1577.  It was an abnormally bright comet which was visible from Earth for a period of approximately 74 days.  This event is notable not only for the brilliance of the comet’s appearance, but also because several astronomers used various methods to disprove the theories put forth by Ptolemy and Aristotle.  These figures include Michael Mästlin, who used rudimentary parallax calculations to determine that comets were in fact celestial objects; Tycho Brahe, who was able to determine the position of the comet with greater  (but still vague) accuracy in addition to determining that the orbit of the comet was not circular, but oblong; and William IV, Landgrave of Hesse Cassel, whose own observations were used in conjunction with those of Brahe in validating his theory of the position of the comet being far beyond the moon.


Tycho Brahe

This treatment of comets was not universal, however.  Seneca the Younger, an advisor to Emperor Nero, proposed the idea that comets were in fact heavenly bodies.  His studies were based on research and study of the Babylonians’ astronomical observations as well as older classical thoughts on the subject.  However, because of the popularity and stellar reputations of Ptolemy and Aristotle, Seneca’s theories on comets were marginalized into the 16th century A.D.


Seneca the Younger

Classical Comets


Aristotle and Ptolemy

For a long time in classical Greece, comets were not considered to be celestial objects.  Both Aristotle and Ptolemy, considered the leading astronomers of their time, did not equate comets with heavenly bodies.  Instead, Aristotle considered them to be terrestrial objects formed in the atmosphere. Ptolemy did not mention them in his astronomical masterwork, the Almagest.

Comets Imagined as Swords

The Great Comet of 372 B.C. was considered to be a harbinger of impending doom.  The comet was thought to have brought about a catastrophic earthquake and tidal wave in Achaea.  Additionally, this comet may have been the first example of “comet splitting”, wherein a comet’s nucleus breaks into two or more pieces without discontinuing its orbit.  This “splitting” was especially evident in the collision of Shoemaker-Levy 9 with Jupiter in 1994.

the grinch who fined christmas.

Ancient Comets

Perhaps the earliest record of a comet sighting is in China in 1059 B.C.  At that time, two kings named Wu-Wang and Chou Hsin were engaged in a war over territory.  The Chinese astrological history relates a story of how a comet appeared in the sky during the clash of these two men, symbolizing the epic power struggle between the two kings.

Another comet sighting in the early days of civilization was in 974 B.C.  This comet may have Biblical significance, as it seems to coincide with David’s account of a sword hung over Jerusalem around the same time:

    And David lifted up his eyes, and saw the angel of the Lord standing between the earth and the heaven, having a drawn sword in his hand stretched out over Jerusalem. (I Chronicles 21:16)

How did people react to comets in the past?



Comets have long been associated with astrology, or the study of the heavens for the purpose of predicting the future.  Their appearance in the sky has been associated with prophecies of destruction and important shifts in culture.  This is largely due to the sometimes unpredictable orbits of comets and their fantastical appearance in the sky.

While most people no longer react to comets with the same fear and misapprehension, some cultures in the world today still look to them as portents of disasters and as objects of religious significance.

and what's with the obsession with winning?  it's as if life is to be lived only as a rat race.

this is not the only thread i'm reading, by the way.

7. Rockall

270 miles from Ireland


What's the minimum size for an "island"?

If you think Boreray sounds forbidding, try sailing 187 miles west of it. Rockall is the tip of an extinct volcano reaching 20 meters above sea level, in seas with waves recorded as high as 29 meters.

In 1955, it became the final territorial acquisition of the British Empire -- allegedly due to fears the Russians would build a missile battery on it.

Reaching Rockall

In the words of the Rockall Club, “visiting Rockall is difficult, completely weather dependent and not cheap."

Your best bet is contacting Kilda Cruises and arranging a tailormade excursion. Or you could sail there, lash yourself to the rock and claim it as your very own micronation -- but you wouldn’t be the first.

http://travel.cnn.com/

balong's nurse

6. North Sentinel Island

400 miles from Myanmar


About as close as you want to get to North Sentinel Island.

North Sentinel is one of the 572 islands making up the Andaman chain in the Indian Ocean’s Bay of Bengal.

It’s surrounded by dangerous reefs, but North Sentinel is intimidating because of its inhabitants. The Sentinelese want nothing to do with the modern world and have repeatedly rebuffed attempts to make peaceful contact, sometimes with deadly violence.

Reaching North Sentinel Island

You’re kidding, right? If the above description didn’t put you off the idea, this article about a pair of fishermen who strayed onto the island certainly should.

5. Boreray

60 miles off mainland Scotland


Everest is more conquerable than this little rock.


Love the Scottish islands, but want something with a little more bite? Head west of the Outer Hebrides and you’ll find the archipelago of St. Kilda, 40 miles into the Atlantic.

It’s one of Scotland’s five World Heritage sites, with a main island that was abandoned in the 1930s when crops failed. Imagine the surprise of archaeologists when they found that one of its least hospitable islands, Boreray, was occupied in prehistoric times.

Reaching Boreray

Since Boreray comes under the protection of the National Trust of Scotland, you need their permission to visit.

Then? Lots of time and lots of luck -- with a rugged shoreline and savage sea-swell, this isn't an island built for landings.

According to one guide, more people have reached the summit of Everest than have landed at Boreray since the NTS took ownership in 1957.

Quote from: diablo on July 22, 2013, 03:11:49 PM
unsa gani tong imong thread. secret messages of balong

go to the psychiatric ward.  you will find it there.

4. Bishop Rock

30 miles from England


Nice lighthouse, but not much room for anything else.

Regarded by Guinness as the world’s smallest island with a building on it, Bishop Rock stands at the end of Britain’s Isles of Scilly, where coastal waters give way to the fury of the Atlantic.

In 1847, engineers started building an iron lighthouse there -- and it washed away in a storm. Its extraordinary successor, first lit in 1858, stands to this day.

Reaching Bishop Rock

Visiting the most southwesterly point in Britain is surprisingly easy -- the St. Mary's Boatsmen’s Association runs day-trips from the Scilly Isles.

But as Martin Hesp notes here, even on a “calm” day you’re in for serious chop.

The image of Bishop Rock is used under a Creative Commons license, courtesy Richard Knights.

3. Bouvet

1,000 miles from Antarctica


Everyone welcome -- as long as you have a very good reason.

Tristan da Cunha is the remotest inhabited island in the world -- now, welcome to its uninhabited, far bleaker counterpart.

Its cliffs are sheer. It’s almost entirely covered by a glacier. In winter, its seas are pack-ice.

And its nearest neighbour is Antarctica, a thousand miles to the south. In short, idyllic.

Reaching Bouvet

The entire island is a nature reserve -- so unless you can make a compelling case for visiting, you’ll be blocked by Norwegian authorities.

Get permission and it’s now a simple matter of finding a research vessel, quickly mastering a valuable skill such as arctic geological surveying or marine biology and then getting someone to land you via helicopter (there are no ports or harbors).

If all else fails, try becoming an amateur radio enthusiast: in 1990 a multinational expedition of operators spent 16 days on the island.

since when did i become an analyst of yours, with the tag "my" that you so freely use?  i am in nobody's employ, mind.

then you sink down to self-pity, as in concluding that the word "hate" is for you.

grow up, balong. 

Quote from: diablo on July 22, 2013, 02:40:05 PM
tell hubag to stop calling me an idiot. no more rants and fantasies. stop dreaming that i am rich and powerful so i will scare hubag.

1.  sometimes, we deserve the name that we get, especially if we think we are most interesting such that we alone deserve the word idiot. 

2.  sometimes, we just have to believe that there are many idiots in the world.  no one idiot stands alone.

3.  sometimes, we are so scared of the rich and powerful, we tend to believe others are just as scared.

4.  at all times, it is better to be scared of zombies rather than of the rich and powerful.

2. Bear Island

400 miles off Europe's north coast


Somewhat like an oceanic Chernobyl.

Bjørnøya, better known as Bear Island, is the southernmost island in the Arctic archipelago of Svalbard, 400 miles north of mainland Europe -- but only on paper, given that it’s almost 150 miles south of the island chain it’s lumped in with.

It’s been a nature reserve since 2002 and has a lively history of failed occupation -- hard to believe for a place comprised of barren cliffs, near-zero precipitation and risk of leaks of radioactive material from the nearby wreck of a nuclear submarine.

Reaching Bear Island

Getting to the heart of Svalbard is a relatively simple matter -- there are daily flights from Oslo and Tromsø to Svalbard’s capital Longyerbyen, on the west coast of Spitsbergen.

Now it gets tricky. Research vessels infrequently call on Bear Island (the Norwegian Polar Institute makes an occasional appearance), while individually chartered boats and the occasional adventure cruise (such as this one from Polar Quest) haul in the remaining visitors.

good decision.  it looks like you eventually got tired of reading about yourself.

1. Tristan Da Cunha

1,750 miles from South Africa


Long way back if you forget your camera.

The British island group of Tristan da Cunha stands profoundly alone in the South Atlantic.

The nearest landfall is South Africa, 1,750 miles east, and to the west, South America is more than 2,000 miles distant.

It’s the world’s most remote inhabited island chain -- so precariously occupied that when a volcanic vent erupted in 1961, the whole population was evacuated to England.

Reaching Tristan Da Cunha

This is no easygoing excursion. To quote the official website:

“There are no package tours for independent travelers, no hotels, no airport, no holiday reps, no night clubs, no restaurants, no jet skis nor safe sea swimming.”

All visitors need to clear their arrivals in advance through the Island Council, and they also need to obtain a Police Certificate (a 40-day wait is typical).

Sailings: around 10 a year from Cape Town/Namibia, each taking five to six days to reach the islands, US$800-1,500 for a round trip. A list of available ships can be found on the official website: www.tristandc.com

World’s 7 most dangerous and remote islands

Snorkels and beach towels stay at home. Death and dismemberment await (seriously) on this collection of forbidding islands

By Mike Sowden
12 July, 2013

Idiotic TV shows and "latest apps" bumming you out on the 21st century?

Ready for some "me time" on the world’s remotest islands?

Golden sands and swaying palms are for pretenders -- the reality of solitude is different, as these terrifyingly distant landfalls demonstrate.

it looks like heaven has touched us here...

most of us enjoy hubag's post.  you alone are enjoying yours.  a food for thought.

stop obsessing with hubag.  it is making you crazier than you already are.  hubag is his own business.  you are yours.  besides, aside from you, no one else is complaining about hubag.   

aguy.  i never thought of these things.  time to change the name of banana republic to shakespeare.

you're not intruding.  this is a forum.  just don't start ranting endlessly in every thread about your tiresome fantasies so this whole ship called tubagbohol won't sink with you.

BALIK NA, bai tigs.  please don't make us wait for godot.

Panamanian forensic workers close a container holding a MiG-21 fighter jet seized from the North Korean-flagged ship Chong Chon Gang, during investigations at the Manzanillo Container Terminal in Colon city July 21, 2013. REUTERS-Carlos Jasso

The U.N. team is expected to arrive in early August once Panama has finished unloading the 155 meter (510 foot) ship.

The weapons were hidden under thousands of sacks of sugar on the freighter. Before the arms were discovered, Cuba told Panama the cargo was a donation of sugar for the people of North Korea.

The isolated Asian nation has asked Panama to release the ship and its 35 member crew, who were arrested and charged with attempting to smuggle undeclared weapons through the canal.

Panama has so far dismissed North Korea's requests.

http://www.reuters.com/

A Panamaian forensic worker carries out investigations on a container holding an object in the shape of a radar seized from the North Korean-flagged ship Chong Chon Gang at the Manzanillo Container Terminal in Colon city July 21, 2013. REUTERS-Carlos Jasso

Panama has asked the U.N. Security Council to investigate the ship and its contents amid suspicion that the vessel is in breach of a wide-ranging arms embargo on North Korea for its nuclear and ballistic missile program.

"One can't take undeclared weapons through the Panama Canal below other cargo," Martinelli said, adding that he had not spoken personally to any Cuban officials since they first asked for the ship to be released last Saturday.

Javier Caraballo, Panama's top anti-drugs prosecutor, said the planes gave off a strong odor of gasoline, indicating that they had likely been used recently. So far, Panama has not found anything not on the Cubans' list of ordnance, he added.

Alongside the two supersonic planes, originally produced by the Soviet Union in the late 1950s, officials found two missile radar systems on board the Chong Chon Gang, President Ricardo Martinelli told reporters in the Atlantic port of Colon.

The discovery, which included cables and electrical equipment, was made inside containers on the ship Panama had feared might contain explosive material. None was found.

After stopping the vessel bound for North Korea last week, Panama revealed it had found weapons in the cargo hold late on Monday. In response, Cuba said the shipment contained a range of "obsolete" arms being sent to North Korea for repair.

Panama finds MiG fighter jets on North Korean arms ship


Panamanian forensic workers close a container holding a MiG-21 fighter jet seized from the North Korean-flagged ship Chong Chon Gang, during investigations at the Manzanillo Container Terminal in Colon city July 21, 2013. REUTERS-Carlos Jasso

By Lomi Kriel
COLON, Panama | Sun Jul 21, 2013 9:32pm EDT

(Reuters) - Panamanian investigators unloading the cargo of a seized North Korean ship that carried arms from Cuba have found the two MiG-21 fighter jets the Cuban government had said were on board, the government said on Sunday.

what a beauty.  i'm whistling.

Moral lesson:

a. Do not disclose the relationship between you and the people in your contact list. Avoid using names like Home, Honey, Hubby, Sweetheart, Dad, Mom, etc.

b. And very importantly, when sensitive info is being asked through texts, CONFIRM by calling back.

c. Also, when you're being texted by friends or family to meet them somewhere, be sure to call back to confirm that the message came from them. If you don't reach them, be very careful about going places to meet 'family and friends' who text you.

-passed on my a friend

CELL PHONES

A lady has now changed her habit of how she lists her names on her cell phone after her handbag was stolen. Her handbag, which contained her cell phone, credit card, wallet, etc., was stolen. 20 minutes later when she called her hubby, from a pay phone telling him what had happened, hubby says 'I received your text asking about our Pin number and I've replied a little while ago.' When they rushed down to the bank, the bank staff told them all the money was already withdrawn. The thief had actually used the stolen cell phone to text 'hubby' in the contact list and got hold of the pin number. Within 20 minutes he had withdrawn all the money from their bank account.

Quote from: hubag bohol on July 20, 2013, 06:09:26 PM
He he, this reminds me of Mark Twain's facetious advice about how to deal with stray characters: Make them go to the back of the house and fall down the well...

better yet, let them burn in their own hell.

HAHAHAHAHA!  everything's coming up roses, bai tigs!

COMET SHOEMAKER-LEVY 9

Between July 16 and July 22, 1994, more than 20 fragments of Comet Shoemaker-Levy 9 collided with the planet Jupiter. Astronomers Carolyn and Eugene Shoemaker and David Levy discovered the comet in 1993. The Hubble Space Telescope took many spectacular pictures of this event as the comet's pieces crashed into Jupiter's southern hemisphere. It was the first collision of two Solar System bodies ever to be recorded. The impacts created atmospheric plumes many thousands of kilometers high that showed hot "bubbles" of gas with large dark "scars" covering the planet's sky.


http://amazing-space.stsci.edu/

COMET HALLEY

Comet Halley is perhaps the most famous comet in history. It was named after British astronomer Edmund Halley, who calculated its orbit. He determined that the comets seen in 1531 and 1607 were the same objects that followed a 76-year orbit. Unfortunately, Halley died in 1742, never living to see his prediction come true when the comet returned on Christmas Eve in 1758. Each time this comet's orbit approaches the Sun, its 15-km (9-mile) nucleus sheds about 6 m (7 yards) of ice and rock into space. This debris forms an orbiting trail that, when falling to Earth, is called the Orionids meteor shower. Comet Halley will return to the inner Solar System in the year 2061.

COMET HYAKUTAKE

On January 30, 1996, Yuji Hyakutake (pronounced "hyah-koo-tah-kay"), an amateur astronomer from southern Japan, discovered a new comet using a pair of binoculars. In the spring of that year, this small, bright comet with a nucleus of 1.6 to 3.2 km (1 to 2 miles) made a close flyby of Earth â€" sporting one of the longest tails ever observed. The Hubble Space Telescope studied the nucleus of this comet in great detail. This is not Comet Hyakutake's first visit to the inner Solar System. Astronomers have calculated its orbit and believe it was here about 8,000 years ago. Its orbit will not bring it near the Sun again for about 14,000 years.

we are not thrilled, clown.  we're so bored with your repetitious posts of conceit and hatred, some of us already want to get out because of you.

COMET SWIFT-TUTTLE 1992

This comet was first seen in July 1862 by American astronomers Lewis Swift and Horace Tuttle. As Comet Swift-Tuttle moves closer to the Sun every 120 years, it leaves behind a trail of dust debris that provides the ingredients for a spectacular fireworks display seen in July and August. As Earth passes through the remnants of this dust tail, we can see on a clear night the Perseid meteor shower. Comet Swift-Tuttle is noted as the comet some scientists predicted could one day collide with Earth because the two orbits closely intercept each other. The latest calculations show that it will pass a comfortable 24 million km (15 million miles) from Earth on its next trip to the inner Solar System.

   
COMET HALE-BOPP

On July 23, 1995, an unusually large and bright comet was seen outside of Jupiter's orbit by Alan Hale of New Mexico and Thomas Bopp of Arizona. Careful analysis of Hubble Space Telescope images suggested that its intense brightness was due to its exceptionally large size. While the nuclei of most comets are about 1.6 to 3.2 km (1 to 2 miles) across, Hale-Bopp's was estimated to be 40 km (25 miles) across. It was visible even through bright city skies, and may have been the most viewed comet in recorded history. Comet Hale-Bopp holds the record for the longest period of naked-eye visibility: an astonishing 19 months. It will not appear again for another 2,400 years.

bai tigs, balik na aron alegre gihapon ta dinhi.  let's just go on with what we like to do here.  if gollums talk to their smeagols tungod kay gitukmod ug my prrreciousss, sige na lang god kay the fact that we are elves and hobbits will never change bitaw.

how nice.  andre, many happy returns.  i don't know you really, but with your kuya here, i might as well be your tita too...

la raclee la lim.  gibunalan kay sige lag kahubog?

it must be a talking garage...

sometimes, the empire strikes back...

More than 40% of domestic violence victims are male, report reveals
Campaign group Parity claims assaults by wives and girlfriends are often ignored by police and media



more at http://www.guardian.co.uk/society/2010/sep/05/men-victims-domestic-violence

some are not as public as this, and not only in china...

kinsay mopauli sa pinas sa august 17 2013...

ipa-pick up ta ka, airport pa lang.


my banana republic is a yellow taxi driver.  tangkilikin ang sariling atin.  this is an advertisement.

just once, even if a husband hits a wife just once, no matter how slight it would be, my advice is to split the union at once.  this is the advice of a priest, a canon lawyer who used to be one of 3 priests in the archdiocese of cebu who decide on matters of marriage annulment.  let a husband beat a wife once, and by jove he will do it again and again.  once a beater, always a beater.

Quote from: Lorenzo on July 21, 2013, 11:06:35 PM
the author of this poem, emperor chenghua of the ming dynasty:



he was said to have been very fond of the family and cultural beautification. a man of the arts, so to say.

his beard looks like a wisp of smoke.

Quote from: hubag bohol on July 21, 2013, 07:23:04 AM
Hmm, why was the egg on the other side of the road?

Quote from: Lorenzo on July 21, 2013, 09:44:15 AM
hmmm, awww, dat is da sixty four dollar question.

Quote from: islander on July 21, 2013, 10:48:42 PM
it rolled.

why did it roll?

1.  eggs roll when there are 64 dollars inside it.  why?  ask the egg.  for all i know, it will jump with 65 dollars inside it.

2.  eggs roll because of its shape.  had it been square eggs, earth would have also been square and the likes of us would all look like sponge bob square pants (or is it insurectus?).

so why would a chicken cross the road for an egg? 

my, my, need anyone ask that?  there's the road to cross, there's the egg across the road, why should a chicken cross the road for a skunk?

Quote from: hubag bohol on July 21, 2013, 07:23:04 AM
Hmm, why was the egg on the other side of the road?

it rolled.

wa gyod intawoy chance nga nakabawos, bisan na man lang paak sa kiting, tsk, tsk.

stardust.jpl.nasa.gov
Stardust and Comet Wild 2

In 2004, the U.S. spacecraft Stardust passed near the nucleus of Comet Wild 2 and gathered samples from the comet's coma. Stardust was scheduled to return the samples to Earth in 2006. Also in 2004, the European Space Agency launched the Rosetta spacecraft, which was to go into orbit around Comet Churyumov-Gerasimenko in 2014. Rosetta carried a small probe designed to land on the comet's nucleus.


Contributor: Donald K. Yeomans, Ph.D., Senior Research Scientist, Jet Propulsion Laboratory.

Yeomans, Donald K. "Comet." World Book Online Reference Center. 2005. World Book, Inc. http://www.worldbookonline.com/wb/Article?id=ar125580.

http://www.nasa.gov/worldbook/comet_worldbook.html

Comet Shoemaker-Levy and Jupiter

In 1994, astronomers observed a comet named Shoemaker-Levy 9, which had split into more than two dozen pieces, crashing into the planet Jupiter. One of the most active comets seen in more than 400 years was Comet Hale-Bopp, which came within 122 million miles (197 million kilometers) of Earth in 1997. This was not an especially close approach for a comet. However, Hale-Bopp appeared bright to the unaided eye because its unusually large nucleus gave off a great deal of dust and gas. The nucleus was estimated to be about 18 to 25 miles (30 to 40 kilometers) across.


Hale-Bopp

Scientists unexpectedly found the nucleus of Halley's Comet to be extremely dark black. They now believe that the surface of the comet, and perhaps most other comets, is covered with a black crust of dust and rock that covers most of the ice. These comets release gas only when holes in this crust rotate toward the sun, exposing the interior ice to the warming sunlight.


www.jpl.nasa.gov

Another comet nucleus that has been seen by spacecraft cameras is that of Comet Borrelly. During a flyby in 2001, the Deep Space 1 spacecraft observed a nucleus about half the size of the nucleus of Halley's Comet. Borrelly's nucleus was also potato-shaped and had a dark black surface. Like Halley's Comet, Comet Borrelly only released gas from small areas where holes in the crust exposed the ice to sunlight.

Studying comets

Scientists learned much about comets by studying Halley's Comet as it passed near Earth in 1986. Five spacecraft flew past the comet and gathered information about its appearance and chemical composition. Several probes flew close enough to study the nucleus, which is normally concealed by the comet's coma. The spacecraft found a roughly potato-shaped nucleus measuring about 9 miles (15 kilometers) long. The nucleus contains equal amounts of ice and dust. About 80 percent of the ice is water ice, and frozen carbon monoxide makes up another 15 percent. Much of the remainder is frozen carbon dioxide, methane, and ammonia. Scientists believe that other comets are chemically similar to Halley's Comet.


The space probe Giotto passed near Halley's Comet on March 14, 1986. Giotto returned dramatic close-up images of the comet, including this one. Image credit: European Space Agency

Comets that pass near the sun come from two groups of comets near the outer edge of the solar system, according to astronomers. The disk-shaped Kuiper belt contributes comets that orbit the sun in fewer than 200 years.  Comets that pass near the sun come from two groups of comets near the outer edge of the solar system, according to astronomers. The disk-shaped Kuiper belt contributes comets that orbit the sun in fewer than 200 years. The Kuiper belt lies beyond Pluto's orbit, which extends to about 4.6 billion miles (7.4 billion kilometers) from the sun. The Oort cloud provides comets that take longer to complete their orbits. The outer edge of the Oort cloud may be 1,000 times farther than the orbit of Pluto. Image credit: World Book diagram by Terry Hadler, Bernard Thornton Artists

The life of a comet

Scientists think that short-period comets come from a band of objects called the Kuiper belt, which lies beyond the orbit of Pluto. The gravitational pull of the outer planets can nudge objects out of the Kuiper belt and into the inner solar system, where they become active comets. Long-period comets come from the Oort cloud, a nearly spherical collection of icy bodies about 1,000 times farther away from the sun than Pluto's orbit. Gravitational interactions with passing stars can cause icy bodies in the Oort cloud to enter the inner solar system and become active comets.

Comets lose ice and dust each time they return to the inner solar system, leaving behind trails of dusty debris. When Earth passes through one of these trails, the debris become meteors that burn up in the atmosphere. Eventually, some comets lose all their ices. They break up and dissipate into clouds of dust or turn into fragile, inactive objects similar to asteroids.

The long, oval-shaped orbits of comets can cross the almost circular orbits of the planets. As a result, comets sometimes collide with planets and their satellites. Many of the impact craters in the solar system were caused by collisions with comets.