MikeLigalig.com

Quote from: BolBuhol on December 28, 2012, 04:33:09 PM
mga iro gid ni sila au au.  tits mi haw to dogi dogi..

Ilara ko tits. Iniro is yor piborit stayl...

Pathan women in the North-West Frontier Province of Pakistan during the Anglo-Afghan Wars used a method of execution involving urine. Pathan women urinated into prisoner's mouths. Captured British soldiers were spread out on the ground and fastened with restraints to the ground, then a stick or a piece of wood was used to keep their mouth open to prevent swallowing. Pathan women, taking turns one at a time, then squatted and urinated directly into the mouth of the man until he drowned in the urine. --Wiki

Quote from: taga tigbao on January 25, 2013, 03:54:55 PM
Hokkaido man usahay aho ihatag Bay Hubs. Pareho ra man siguro na.

Hokkaido? Unsa man ni, Japanese brand of cat food?

Kyut jud bitaw kaayo...

Quote from: wardiflex on January 25, 2013, 12:02:00 PM
ayay! kalain...

Di, oi...

Quote from: Lollapalooza on January 25, 2013, 11:34:33 AM
mura'g si Marquez kay imnon niya iyang ihi hehehe

Mao bitaw ni sekreto sa mga milyonir...

Quote from: islander on January 25, 2013, 11:26:01 AM
atot.  surefire man pod nga manimaho tang angso ana.  wa na lang nga lisod tunlon.

Humolan og tanglad aron mohumot...

Quote from: Lollapalooza on January 25, 2013, 10:43:38 AM
aw akong dulog magabie akong iring hehehehe looy permi kay matandayan gyud.. mobalos pod siya iya pod ilubong iyang kuko sa akong ti-il..

Ang angay idulog kanang tambok nga iring, sama ani niya...

Quote from: taga tigbao on January 25, 2013, 12:48:24 PM
Unsaon kaha pagpatambok ug iring nga ingani?

One can of Friskies 3x a day, segurado jud nga moburot imong mingkay, Bay Tigs...

Quote from: Lollapalooza on January 25, 2013, 10:55:05 AM
aguuyyy kalami i-cuddle ning iringa ni.... makagigil..

Nindot ni itupad og higda karong tingtugnaw, himoong heater...

Berlusconi sick with swine flu...

Kaugalingong ihi na lang, garantisadong safe...

Propaganda, n. Act in support of beauty enhancement initiatives.

Quote from: islander on January 24, 2013, 04:52:38 PM
aw, bahalag unsay edad, pangag o doble ba ug tango, we can be kind.  duklon sad ang angay duklon, hehehe. 

Then do it gently, please...

Quote from: islander on January 24, 2013, 04:45:43 PM
...and the die is cast.

Jawohl. Ich kann nicht anders.

Be kind to senior citizens, please...

Hmm, as in crossing the Rubicon?

Quote from: islander on January 24, 2013, 04:32:30 PM
aaahhh, that one... so useful, in fact.  kalooy sa nawong sa mawilikan ani kay di pautang.

Mopilit sa nawong morag til-as? Agoi, may na lang kaysa molahos sa ganganga nga baba...

Hmm, iba galing hang reaksyon sang waay na gid ginakaon dason manugkadawat sang lim-a ka kilong bigas kag dalwa ka latang sargingas haw...

Quote from: islander on January 24, 2013, 04:25:09 PM
wa man hinoon klaroha unsay iponon.  mahimo man moipon ug utang ba.

Ipon sip-on na lang...

Quote from: taga tigbao on January 24, 2013, 04:17:11 PM
It was not clear how the tribunal could help. While all its decisions are binding on countries concerned, it has no power to enforce them.

Yataps... Iksirsays in pyotiliti?

Delikadong mabitsinan ang keyboard...

Quote from: chicogon on January 24, 2013, 02:55:11 PM

May gani kon naay maipon...

Agoi, kon diha pay precipitation...

A young doctor boarded an airplane and took his seat. He was looking forward to a week-long conference in New York. As he settled in, he glanced up and saw the most beautiful woman boarding the plane. He soon realized she was heading straight towards his seat.

As fate would have it, she took the seat right beside his. Eager to strike up a conversation he blurted out, "Business trip or pleasure?" She turned, smiled and said, "Business. I'm going to the Annual Nymphomaniacs of America Convention in New York." He swallowed hard. Here was the most gorgeous woman he had ever seen sitting next to him, and she was going to a meeting of nymphomaniacs.

Struggling to maintain his composure, the doctor calmly asked, "What's your business role at this convention?" "Lecturer," she responded. "I use information that I have learned from my personal experiences to debunk some of the popular myths about sexuality." "Really?" he said. "And what kind of myths are there?"

"Well, she explained, "one popular myth is that African American men are the most well-endowed of all men, when in fact it is the Native American Indian who is most likely to possess that trait. Another popular myth is that Frenchmen are the best lovers, when actually it is the men of Jewish descent who are the best. I have also discovered that the lover with absolutely the best stamina is the Southern Redneck."

Suddenly the woman became a little uncomfortable and blushed. "I'm sorry," she said, "I shouldn't really be discussing all of this with you. I don't even know your name." "Tonto," the doctor said, "Tonto Goldstein, but my friends call me Bubba."


Bwahaha!

No komint gid haw...

Hala, paglinusiay mog bugan...

Meanwhile, the Commission on Audit (COA) reiterated that heads of government offices like Enrile can realign their respective budgets.

"Section 56, paragraph (2), of the GAA (General Appropriations Act) provides that departments, agencies, and offices are authorized to augment any item of expenditure within Personal Services and MOOE except confidential and intelligence funds which require prior approval of the President of the Philippines," said COA Chairperson Grace Tan in her reply to a query sent by Santiago last week.

She said the MOOE can never be discretionary or used as pork barrel for senators since this is allotted for general administration and support, legislative services, and operational requirements of about 35 congressional commissions and oversight committees.

"The GAA does not specify when the Senate President can or should exercise this authority (augmenting budgets through agency savings), nor does it prescribe a formula," said Tan.

Citing a report from the Senate resident auditor, Tan said Santiago's office received a total of P15,492,292 in additional MOOE on various dates in March, May, June, July, August, September, October, November, and December 2012.

On Santiago's request to itemize the earnings of senators and congressman, COA asked her to just refer to the 2011 Report on Salaries and Allowances (Rosa), which also contains compensation received by government officials from assistant secretaries to Cabinet secretaries, state corporations and even members of the High Court.

"We can only access payments to the aforesaid officials that are made from public funds. Any income that they receive from the private sector, if any, is beyond our jurisdiction; these are more properly within the jurisdiction of the Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR)," said Tan.

Santiago was furnished a copy of the income report. (Virgil Lopez/JCV/Sunnex)-- http://www.sunstar.com.ph/

Rene Cayetano and Enrile became allies during the waning years of the Marcos dictatorship. In fact, the older Cayetano was Enrile's spokesperson when he was arrested for the charge of rebellion with murder in connection with the bloody coup attempt in December 1989 against then President Corazon Aquino.

Enrile won the case in the Supreme Court since such crime does not exist in the country's penal laws.

In his speech last Monday asking the Senate to accept his resignation as the chamber's head, Enrile asked if Cayetano and the rest of his critics--Senators Antonio Trillanes IV, Miriam Defensor Santiago and Pia Cayetano would act differently had they gotten the P1.6 million extra funds for their maintenance and other operating expenses (MOOE).

"What would they have done if the funds were given to them? Would they have whined and complained? Or, as Senator Santiago herself suggested could be done - Would they have pocketed it instead of using it appropriately for the operation expenses of their own offices?" asked Enrile.

The Cayetano siblings found those statements offensive as Pia decided to donate the P250,000 "Christmas gift" also given by Enrile to the Department of Social and Welfare and Development (DSWD).

But younger Cayetano rebutted Enrile's claims, saying he is not aware of any debt that his family owed Enrile.

"My father worked for every single centavo and it is unfair for you to bring that up. How can he explain when he's dead?" he said.

"Nung tumakbong senador and aking ama (When my father ran for Senate), he practically gave his life to you. Nung panahon ni (During the time of) Cory, siya ang katabi niyo (he was beside you). Nung Edsa (1986), siya ang katabi niyo (he was beside you)," Cayetano replied, pushing Enrile to ask him if he also owed something to the late lawmaker.

Cayetano then said that they availed of a bank loan to buy a house but Enrile surmised if the loan covered payments for the wood to be used in construction.

He said that the elder senator should just stick to the issue, but Enrile told him that Cayetano probably did not expect him to come prepared to battle it out with him.

Their heated exchange would have continued if not for the intervention of Senator Franklin Drilon, who moved to suspend the session.

At the resumption of the session, Enrile apologized to Cayetano and said that he should not have brought up the issue of his father's supposed financial debt. He said that they should just "let the Divine Spirit determine whose truth is the correct truth."

After a 40-minute caucus, Cayetano took the floor to remind fellow senators that the issue has brought embarrassment to the institution, especially that many people in some parts of the country are experiencing floods due to incessant rains.

In his privilege speech, Cayetano said that for every lie that Enrile would utter against him, he has "100 truths to tell" about Enrile and Reyes.

Cayetano also called for a private auditing firm to look into the finances of the Senate. Late in his speech, however, Cayetano lamented Enrile's supposed bad attitude toward him, particularly on the assignment of committees and his constant criticisms on former President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo. Enrile had said that he and Arroyo are friends.

Also, Reyes was a close friend of Cayetano's political rivals in Taguig, where his wife Lani is the incumbent mayor.

The Senate leader shot back, recalling a misdeed of Cayetano's father, the late Senator Rene Cayetano, when they were still partners at the Ponce Enrile Cayetano Reyes Manalastas Law Offices (Pecabar) over 20 years ago.

Enrile said the late senator owed P37 million in their law office and that he worked hard to put up the firm to help feed Rene Cayetano's family.

Wednesday, January 23, 2013


MANILA (Updated) -- The hostilities between Senate President Juan Ponce Enrile and Senate Minority Leader Alan Peter Cayetano on Wednesday took a turn for the worse with both lawmakers hurling one personal brickbat against the other.

Cayetano turned the table against Enrile, whom he accused of giving him a hard time because of their political differences.

On top of that, he also claimed that Enrile has been giving his chief of staff, lawyer Gigi Reyes, a free hand in co-running the Senate that she was even allowed to attend and speak at senators-only caucuses.

This was apparently in retaliation to Enrile's privilege speech on Monday accusing Cayetano, his sister Pia Cayetano and Senators Miriam Defensor-Santiago and Antonio Trillanes IV of plotting to oust him from his post after they were not included among the senators who received his grant of P1.6-million additional cash gifts last December.

Enrile referred to his critics as hypocrites and cowards for resorting to a coup plot, which was foiled when his allies in the Senate voted to reject his motion to declare his position vacant.

Quote from: islander on January 23, 2013, 10:51:46 AM
mas motuo pa ko nga nikaratil ang mga taliban kun gahukas si harry pareha sa gibuhat niya sa las vegas. 

Hadlok patuwaron?

Quote from: Votives on January 23, 2013, 10:28:30 AM
tinuod gyud cguro ang trending yesterday sa yahoo na mentally ill si prince harry???

Naa lang guy gamay...

Quote from: islander on January 23, 2013, 10:58:24 AM
you mean, you know a male someone who has been molested by a female?  talkin' dog...

Naa, oi. Gikuyawan man gani siya...

Hmm, mga blat nga lbat...

By Alex Davies | Business Insider â€" 12 hours ago





Flying was less deadly in 2012 than in any year since 1945, but that does not mean all airlines are equally safe.

The Jet Airliner Crash Data Evaluation Centre (JACDEC), which collects information about aviation accidents and safety, has published its annual Airline Safety Ranking.

The ratings take into account the number and deadliness of the hull losses (destroyed airplanes) they have suffered in the past 30 years, how they have fared more recently, and how many flights they have flown without incident.

The results do not take into account the cause of the hull losses, or whether the airline is at fault, so they are not a perfect measure of how safely an airline behaves.

Of 60 ranked airlines, here are the 10 with the worst safety records, including the number of hull losses since 1983, and how many fatalities they caused:

#10 SkyWest Airlines: 3 hull losses; 22 dead

#9 South African Airways: 1 hull loss; 159 dead

#8 Thai Airways International: 5 hull losses; 309 dead

#7 Turkish Airlines: 6 hull losses, 188 dead

#6 Saudia: 4 hull losses; 310 dead

#5 Korean Air: 9 hull losses; 687 dead

#4 GOL Transportes Aéreos: 1 hull loss; 154 dead

#3 Air India: 3 hull losses; 329 dead

#2 TAM Airlines: 6 hull losses; 336 dead

#1 China Airlines: 8 hull losses; 755 dead

Quote from: BolBuhol on January 23, 2013, 05:00:50 PM
hinay na gid signal sang akon tb tb di ko na gid manogkita hang mga ritrato mo haw sir hubs.

Agoi, manuglooy ako sang imon, To, patsada gid hang mga hulagway ko subong...

Infectious Greed: How Deceit and Risk Corrupted the Financial Markets





Readers are unlikely to find a more readable explanation of how the financial system has changed since the 1980s and who came unstuck." Financial Times The still-unfolding financial story is terrifying. One by one, major corporations such as Enron, Global Crossing, and WorldCom are imploding all around us, prey to a greed-driven culture and dubious or illegal corporate finance and accounting. We have reached a perilous crossroads. In a compelling and disturbing narrative, Frank Partnoy brings to bear all of his skills and experience as a securities attorney, financial analyst, and law professor to tell the story of the rise of the trading instruments and corporate financial structures that now imperil the economic health of the country. Starting in the mid-1980s, he documents how each new level of financial risk and complexity obscured the sickness of corporate America. Finally, Partnoy offers clear policies that can save our financial system. Frank Partnoyis a professor at the University of San Diego School of Law. He has worked as an investment banker, derivatives broker, and criminal defense and securities attorney. He also consults on regulation of the markets and white-collar crime, and has provided expert testimony before the Senate committee investigating the Enron collapse. Partnoy is the author ofF.I.A.S.C.O.: Blood in the Water on Wall Street. He lives in San Diego, California. In 1984, Andy Krieger, a young Wharton grad and former Sanskrit scholar, began his career at Salomon Brothers trading currency options. It was an obscure and complicated new business, yet in a firm that included such legends as John Meriwether and Paul Mozer, Krieger invented a new way to make money. Hedging risky bets on the movement of currencies, he made $30 million in his first year, and ten times that a few years later. But as his trades became frighteningly large and complex, Krieger unwittingly became patient zero in the plague of corruption that now threatens American business to its very foundations. In a compelling and disturbing narrative, Frank Partnoy brings to bear all of his skills and experience as a criminal defense attorney, financial analyst, law professor, and best-selling author to tell the story of the rise of the trading instruments and corporate financial structures that now imperil the economic health of the country. Starting in the mid-1980s with the introduction of the first currency options and proto-derivatives, and taking us through such high-profile disasters as Barings Bank and Long-Term Capital Management, Partnoy traces a seamless progression to the dangerous manipulations that are coming to light today. He documents how each new level of financial risk, loss of control, and complexity obscured the sickness of the companies in question and pushed individuals to ever more ingenious deceptions. The still-unfolding financial story is terrifying. One by one, major corporations such as Enron, Global Crossing, and WorldCom are imploding all around us, prey to a greed-driven culture and to dubious or illegal corporate finance and accounting. Our financial system has suddenly reached a perilous crossroads. Although the story becomes more alarming with each new headline and disclosure, Partnoy offers a clear vision of how we reached epidemic stage and how we can regain control before further damage is done. --Henry Holt

by Nathan Hangen


I’ve found it just doesn’t pay to crow too much about what I’ve accomplished.

Sure, I celebrate when things go well. But I’ve found that talking too much about my achievements leads not only to criticism, but to disappointment.

There’s always going to be someone who’s done more or worked harder. And until they carve my name into the side of the moon, I see no reason in puffing myself up. The minute you get a big head is the same minute that reality smacks you and you realize that you aren’t as cool as you think you are.

So self-adulation is something I try to stay away from. But self promotion? That’s a whole different story.


If you take a look at the most successful (or talked about) people in any field, you’ll almost always see someone incredibly talented in the art of self-promotion.

Robert Kiyosaki, author of the Rich Dad Poor Dad books, mentioned at one point that he’s a “bestselling author” and not a “best-writing author.” Dean Karnazes, known as “The Ultramarathon Man,” is not the best athlete in his field, but he is by far the best at self-promotion.

More at: http://www.copyblogger.com/shameless-self-promotion/

Quote from: islander on January 23, 2013, 11:01:20 AM
tubag dajon, lord hubag.  ajaw ug lihay-lihay diha.

Bwahaha! As Lord Wittgenstein said, "Whereof one cannot speak, thereof one must be silent."

Quote from: Chongki on January 23, 2013, 10:52:35 AM
bai hubs, kinsa may guidimalas ron?

He he, moingon unta kog "Tekret", pero sa pagkatinuod di man maulahi ang taga TB kabahin sa mga balita nga naglambigit og mga banggiitan...

Quote from: BolBuhol on January 23, 2013, 04:26:47 PM
sang akon na pagsayasat ani ni nene haw, morag birgin pa hang imbornal ani nija haw. 

Hmm, bason birjin pagid hang lobot ya...

Quote from: bugsay on January 23, 2013, 11:18:38 AM
napahakan gyud tuod ang katigayonan..

Bwahaha! Nagabaan ni Botoy?

Bwahaha!

Quote from: Lollapalooza on January 23, 2013, 11:13:34 AM
ang manghud sa akong co-worker gikan ug abroad.. minyo na gud.. samtang, naligo, gibasa sa iyang asawa ang mga text msgs sa iyang cellphone.. sus kay naa mana'y nitext nga kulo ka didang unya nabasahan sa asawa. aw, paghuman ug ligo sa bana, sunog na iyang mga papeles, passport, visa.. karon, inorasan sa iyang asawa kung molakaw siya..

Agoi, basin mag-alintabo sa kaligutgot ang bana...

Hmm, mora diayg naay tag-iya ning mga iringa kay limpyo kaayo unya healthy pa jud...

Quote from: wardiflex on January 23, 2013, 03:39:36 PM
bacn iya ng simhoton inig human ug koot...

He he, kahibawo jud si Bay Wards...

Quote from: Votives on January 23, 2013, 12:24:55 PM
nanglugod sa iyang bugan nga tayaon...

Bwahaha! Aw, maayo gani kay nanglugod ra...

AFP January 23, 2013 9:24AM


In a shock verdict after prosecutors recommended 15 years imprisonment, Lindsay Sandiford sobbed as the court in Bali's capital Denpasar handed down the sentence.

She was found with a drugs haul worth $2.4 million in her suitcase as she arrived on a flight from Bangkok last May.

The grandmother from Gloucestershire said she was smuggling the drugs to protect her son. She says one of her co-accused had threatened to kill him if she did not comply.

However Indonesian police said she was at the centre of a drugs importing ring involving three other Britons and an Indian who have also been arrested.

"We found Lindsay Sandiford convincingly and legally guilty for importing narcotics ... and sentenced the defendant to death," judge Amser Simanjuntak told Denpasar district court.

Sandiford argued that she was forced into transporting the 4.79 kilos of cocaine and the prosecution had recommended a lenient sentence.

But the court ruled that she had not admitted her crime and had damaged Indonesia's hardline stance on drugs as well as Bali's reputation as a tourism destination.

As she was led back to jail, hiding her face behind a sarong, her stunned lawyers said she would likely launch an appeal.

"We object to the sentence. We never expected that our client would get the death penalty," said counsel Esra Karokaro. "We will discuss it first with her, most likely we will appeal."

Sandiford, in spectacles and with her hair tied back, hung her head low, turned pale and cried as the verdict was read out, while her sister Hillary Parson who attended the trial also sobbed.

The court rejected the argument that Sandiford had acted to protect her children, and said there were "no mitigating circumstances" to allow for leniency.

"Her action was against the government's effort to combat drug use in the country and she insisted that she never committed the crime," said another judge, Amser Simanjuntak.

"What the defendant has done could tarnish Bali image as a tourism destination," he added.

British human rights charity Reprieve said last month that Sandiford "was exploited by drug traffickers, who targeted her because of her vulnerability and her fear for the safety of her children".

The British embassy in Jakarta said it was providing consular assistance and that "the UK remains strongly opposed to the death penalty in all circumstances."

Two other Britons arrested in connection with the case received light sentences last month.

Rachel Dougall was sentenced to 12 months for failing to report Sandiford's crime and Paul Beales received four years for possession of 3.6 grams of hashish but was cleared of drug trafficking

A fourth Briton, Julian Ponder, is expected to hear his sentence at the end of this month after prosecutors recommended a seven-year jail term.

Indonesia enforces stiff penalties for drug trafficking, but death penalty sentences are commonly commuted to long jail sentences.

Gandjar Laksamana, a criminal law expert from the University of Indonesia, said that although the severe penalty shocked the defence, the prosecution's light recommendation was more surprising.

"The law regulates that the maximum penalty for such crime is death. So the question should be why the prosecutor did not ask for the maximum penalty," he said.

Two members of the "Bali Nine" who were arrested in 2005 are currently on death row, while the seven others face lengthy jail terms. A French man has also been on death row since May 2007.

Executions in Indonesia are carried out by firing squad, usually at night in isolated and undisclosed locations. The last one was in June 2008, when two Nigerian drug traffickers were shot.

Emelie Olsson falls asleep as he watches television in her apartment in Stockholm, January 17, 2013. Emelie is one of around 800 children in Sweden and elsewhere in Europe who developed narcolepsy, an incurable sleep disorder, after being immunised in 2009 with the Pandemrix H1N1 swine flu vaccine made by British drugmaker GlaxoSmithKline. Picture taken January 17, 2013. REUTERS/Ints Kalnins

The ECDC's Nicoll says early warning systems that give a more accurate analysis of a flu strain's threat are the best way to minimize risks of this kind of tragedy happening in future.

Salisbury agrees, and says progress towards a universal flu vaccine - one that wouldn't need last-minute changes made when a new strain emerged - would cuts risks further.

"Ideally, we would have a better vaccine that would work against all strains of influenza and we wouldn't need to worry about this ever again," he said. "But that's a long way off."

With scientists facing years of investigation and research, Emelie just wants to make the best of her life.

She reluctantly accepts that to do so, she needs a cocktail of drugs to try to control the narcolepsy symptoms. The stimulant Ritalin and the sleeping pill Sobril are prescribed for Emelie's daytime sleepiness and night terrors. Then there's Prozac to try to stabilize her and limit her cataplexies.

"That's one of the things that makes me feel most uncomfortable," she explains. "Before I got this condition I didn't take any pills, and now I have to take lots - maybe for the rest of my life. It's not good to take so many medicines, especially when you know they have side effects."

PANDEMICS ARE EMERGENCIES

Yet the problem with risk-benefit analyses is that they often look radically different when the world is facing a pandemic with the potential to wipe out millions than they do when it has emerged relatively unscathed from one, like H1N1, which turned out to be much milder than first feared.

David Salisbury, the British government's director of immunization, says "therein lies the risk, and the difficulty, of working in public health" when a viral emergency hits.

"In the event of a severe pandemic, the risk of death is far higher than the risk of narcolepsy," he told Reuters. "If we spent longer developing and testing the vaccine on very large numbers of people and waited to see whether any of them developed narcolepsy, much of the population might be dead."

Pandemrix was authorized by European drug regulators using a so-called "mock-up procedure" that allows a vaccine to be authorized ahead of a possible pandemic using another flu strain. In Pandemrix's case, the substitute was H5N1 bird flu.

When the WHO declared a pandemic, GSK replaced the mock-up's strain with the pandemic-causing H1N1 strain to form Pandemrix.

GSK says the final H1N1 version was tested in trials involving around 3,600 patients, including children, adolescents, adults and the elderly, before it was rolled out.

WAS IT WORTH IT?

In his glass-topped office building overlooking the Maria Magdalena church in Stockholm, Goran Stiernstedt, a doctor turned public health official, has spent many difficult hours going over what happened in his country during the swine flu pandemic, wondering if things should have been different.

"The big question is was it worth it? And retrospectively I have to say it was not," he told Reuters in an interview.

Being a wealthy country, Sweden was at the front of the queue for pandemic vaccines. It got Pandemrix from GSK almost as soon as it was available, and a nationwide campaign got uptake of the vaccine to 59 percent, meaning around 5 million people got the shot.

Stiernstedt, director for health and social care at the Swedish Association of Local Authorities and Regions, helped coordinate the vaccination campaign across Sweden's 21 regions.

The World Health Organization (WHO) says the 2009-2010 pandemic killed 18,500 people, although a study last year said that total might be up to 15 times higher.

While estimates vary, Stiernstedt says Sweden's mass vaccination saved between 30 and 60 people from swine flu death. Yet since the pandemic ended, more than 200 cases of narcolepsy have been reported in Sweden.

With hindsight, this risk-benefit balance is unacceptable. "This is a medical tragedy," he said. "Hundreds of young people have had their lives almost destroyed."

TRIGGERS?

Scientists investigating these cases are looking in detail at Pandemrix's adjuvant, called AS03, for clues.

Some suggest AS03, or maybe its boosting effect, or even the H1N1 flu itself, may have triggered the onset of narcolepsy in those who have the susceptible HLA gene variant.

Angus Nicoll, a flu expert at the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC), says genes may well play a part, but don't tell the whole story.

"Yes, there's a genetic predisposition to this condition, but that alone cannot explain these cases," he said. "There was also something to do with receiving this specific vaccination. Whether it was the vaccine plus the genetic disposition alone or a third factor as well - like another infection - we simply do not know yet."

GSK is funding a study in Canada, where its adjuvanted vaccine Arepanrix, similar to Pandemrix, was used during the 2009-2010 pandemic. The study won't be completed until 2014, and some experts fear it may not shed much light since the vaccines were similar but not precisely the same.

It all leaves this investigation with far more questions than answers, and a lot more research ahead.

Narcolepsy is estimated to affect between 200 and 500 people per million and is a lifelong condition. It has no known cure and scientists don't really know what causes it. But they do know patients have a deficit of a brain neurotransmitter called orexin, also known as hypocretin, which regulates wakefulness.

Research has found that some people are born with a variant in a gene known as HLA that means they have low hypocretin, making them more susceptible to narcolepsy. Around 25 percent of Europeans are thought to have this genetic vulnerability.

When results of Emelie's hypocretin test came back in November last year, it showed she had 15 percent of the normal amount, typical of heavy narcolepsy with cataplexy.

The seriousness of her strange new illness has forced her to contemplate life far more than many other young teens: "In the beginning I didn't really want to live any more, but now I have learned to handle things better," she said.

Independent teams of scientists have published peer-reviewed studies from Sweden, Finland and Ireland showing the risk of developing narcolepsy after the 2009-2010 immunization campaign was between seven and 13 times higher for children who had Pandemrix than for their unvaccinated peers.

"We really do want to get to the bottom of this. It's not in anyone's interests if there is a safety issue that needs to be addressed," said GSK's Begg.

LIFE CHANGED

Emelie's parents, Charles and Marie Olsson, say she was a top student who loved playing the piano, taking tennis lessons, creating art and having fun with friends. But her life started to change in early 2010, a few months after she had Pandemrix. In the spring of 2010, they noticed she was often tired, needing to sleep when she came home from school.

But it wasn't until May, when she began collapsing at school, that it became clear something serious was happening.

As well as the life-limiting bouts of daytime sleepiness, narcolepsy brings nightmares, hallucinations, sleep paralysis and episodes of cataplexy - when strong emotions trigger a sudden and dramatic loss of muscle strength.

In Emelie's case, having fun is the emotional trigger. "I can't laugh or joke about with my friends anymore, because when I do I get cataplexies and collapse," she said in an interview at her home in the Swedish capital.

30 MILLION RECEIVED PANDEMRIX

In total, the GSK shot was given to more than 30 million people in 47 countries during the 2009-2010 H1N1 swine flu pandemic. Because it contains an adjuvant, or booster, it was not used in the United States because drug regulators there are wary of adjuvanted vaccines.

GSK says 795 people across Europe have reported developing narcolepsy since the vaccine's use began in 2009.

Questions about how the narcolepsy cases are linked to Pandemrix, what the triggers and biological mechanisms might have been, and whether there might be a genetic susceptibility are currently the subject of deep scientific investigation.

But experts on all sides are wary. Rare adverse reactions can swiftly develop into "vaccine scares" that spiral out of proportion and cast what one of Europe's top flu experts calls a "long shadow" over public confidence in vaccines that control potential killers like measles and polio.

"No-one wants to be the next Wakefield," said Mignot, referring to the now discredited British doctor Andrew Wakefield who sparked a decades-long backlash against the measles, mumps and rubella (MMR) shot with false claims of links to autism.

With the narcolepsy studies, there is no suggestion that the findings are the work of one rogue doctor.

Europe's drugs regulator has ruled Pandemrix should no longer be used in people aged under 20. The chief medical officer at GSK's vaccines division, Norman Begg, says his firm views the issue extremely seriously and is "absolutely committed to getting to the bottom of this", but adds there is not yet enough data or evidence to suggest a causal link.

Others - including Emmanuel Mignot, one of the world's leading experts on narcolepsy, who is being funded by GSK to investigate further - agree more research is needed but say the evidence is already clearly pointing in one direction.

"There's no doubt in my mind whatsoever that Pandemrix increased the occurrence of narcolepsy onset in children in some countries - and probably in most countries," says Mignot, a specialist in the sleep disorder at Stanford University in the United States.

Insight: Evidence grows for narcolepsy link to GSK swine flu shot
By Kate Kelland, Health and Science Correspondent, Reuters
Jan. 22, 2013 12:03AM PST Jan. 22, 2013 12:03AM PST


STOCKHOLM (Reuters) - Emelie is plagued by hallucinations and nightmares. When she wakes up, she's often paralyzed, unable to breathe properly or call for help. During the day she can barely stay awake, and often misses school or having fun with friends. She is only 14, but at times she has wondered if her life is worth living.

Emelie is one of around 800 children in Sweden and elsewhere in Europe who developed narcolepsy, an incurable sleep disorder, after being immunized with the Pandemrix H1N1 swine flu vaccine made by British drugmaker GlaxoSmithKline in 2009.

Finland, Norway, Ireland and France have seen spikes in narcolepsy cases, too, and people familiar with the results of a soon-to-be-published study in Britain have told Reuters it will show a similar pattern in children there.

Their fate, coping with an illness that all but destroys normal life, is developing into what the health official who coordinated Sweden's vaccination campaign calls a "medical tragedy" that will demand rising scientific and medical attention.

Quote from: islander on January 13, 2013, 06:58:04 PM
purya.  i hope never to remember this ever.

He's as memorable as Freddy Krueger...

Klaro mo lang...

Quote from: islander on January 21, 2013, 03:21:19 PM
the immortal story... men in high places felled by women.

i guess this predatory tendencies have always existed.  it's just that women nowadays no longer keep quiet as victims.

Some women nowadays have become predators themselves.

Oi, manugpadala kagid sang abuloy sang mga ginadimalas haw, bason sumamot hang imon nga pagkapogito...

Quote from: BolBuhol on January 22, 2013, 09:32:09 PM
lahi mang to akon na tilawang sa maynila na tiratira, sa may anito in naho nabakal haw, krimi kag moinat inat.

Hmm, marka poday galing ang nabakal mo haw. Di ba medyo bahobaho gid?

Quote from: hubag bohol on January 23, 2013, 09:38:44 AM
Britain's Prince Harry, who compared shooting insurgents in Afghanistan to playing video games, has probably developed a mental problem, the Taliban said Tuesday.

Di pud tuod lalim, tiaw moy giisip nga mora rag gaduwa...

The Taliban have been waging an insurgency in Afghanistan for 11 years since being ousted from power for harbouring al-Qaeda chief Osama bin Laden after the 9/11 attacks on the United States.

During the war, they have faced more than 140,000 troops from over 50 countries but remain a serious threat to the Western-backed government with NATO troops due to withdraw in 2014.

"We have always wanted to capture or kill this prince, but he was mostly kept inside, safe, and in guarded places underground," said the Taliban spokesman, Mujahid.

"At one point when our mujahideen attacked the airport, we were aware of his presence there but he was hastily flown away."

This was a reference to a major Taliban attack on Camp Bastion in Helmand last September when Britain's defence minister admitted that Harry had been moved to a secure location.

Taliban commandos, armed with suicide vests, guns and rockets, and wearing US uniforms, breached the outer wall of Camp Bastion and destroyed six US fighter jets in unprecedented damage in the war.

The prince flies a £45-million ($71-million, 54-million-euro) aircraft, part of NATO's uncontested air power in Afghanistan where the Taliban are armed mainly with assault rifles, machine guns and rocket-propelled grenades.

The Islamists also use suicide attacks and homemade bombs which cause most of the casualties among both foreign troops and civilians in the Afghan war.

"This is a serious war, a historic war, resistance for us, for our people," Mujahid told AFP by telephone from an undisclosed location.

"But we don't take his comments very seriously, as we have all seen and heard that many foreign soldiers, occupiers who come to Afghanistan, develop some kind of mental problems on their way out."

Asked by Britain's Press Association if he had killed from the cockpit, Harry said: "Yeah, so lots of people have.

"Take a life to save a life," he shrugged. "If there's people trying to do bad stuff to our guys, then we'll take them out of the game."

The last time the Taliban suggested a foreign fighter had mental problems was when an American soldier was arrested on suspicion of killing 16 villagers in their homes during a lone night rampage in March 2012.

Staff Sergeant Robert Bales is on trial in the US, facing 16 murder charges. Seventeen of the 22 people killed or wounded were women or children and almost all were shot in the head.

By Usman Sharifi | AFP News â€" 11 hours ago


Britain's Prince Harry, who compared shooting insurgents in Afghanistan to playing video games, has probably developed a mental problem, the Taliban said Tuesday.

"There are 49 countries with their powerful military failing in the fight against the mujahideen, and now this prince comes and compares this war with his games, PlayStation or whatever he calls it," Taliban spokesman Zabiullah Mujahid told AFP.

Harry, third in line to the throne, said he had killed Taliban insurgents during a 20-week posting flying scores of missions over the restive southern province of Helmand in an Apache attack helicopter.

As co-pilot, Harry was in charge of the weapons systems in a two-man cockpit, firing Hellfire air-to-surface missiles, rockets and a 30-millimetre gun. He described the weapons systems as a joy.

"It's a joy for me because I'm one of those people who loves playing PlayStation and Xbox, so with my thumbs I like to think I'm probably quite useful," he said in interviews released Monday after the end of his posting.

Kind of late, if you ask me...

Quote from: BolBuhol on January 22, 2013, 05:52:44 PM
hambal niya sang imaginisyong sang nene kong makatilaw pagid sija kag blik kang to bol.

Manuglagmit ikaw gid hang nagakabirjin sang nene haw...

The 1981 book Genes, Mind, and Culture: The Coevolutionary Process by Charles J. Lumsden and E. O. Wilson proposed the theory that genes and culture co-evolve, and that the fundamental biological units of culture must correspond to neuronal networks that function as nodes of semantic memory. They coined their own term, "culturgen", which did not catch on. Coauthor Wilson later acknowledged the term meme as the best label for the fundamental unit of cultural inheritance in his 1998 book Consilience: The Unity of Knowledge, which elaborates upon the fundamental role of memes in unifying the natural and social sciences.

The inability to pin an idea or cultural feature to quantifiable key units is widely acknowledged as a problem for memetics. It has been argued however that the traces of memetic processing can be quantified utilizing neuroimaging techniques which measure changes in the connectivity profiles between brain regions." Blackmore meets such criticism by stating that memes compare with genes in this respect: that while a gene has no particular size, nor can we ascribe every phenotypic feature directly to a particular gene, it has value because it encapsulates that key unit of inherited expression subject to evolutionary pressures. To illustrate, she notes evolution selects for the gene for features such as eye color; it does not select for the individual nucleotide in a strand of DNA. Memes play a comparable role in understanding the evolution of imitated behaviors.