MikeLigalig.com

He he...

Bwahaha!

Bwahaha!

THE FOOLS AND THE DRUM


TWO fools heard a drum sounding, and said to themselves, "There is some one inside it who makes the noise."

So, watching a moment when the drummer was out, they pierced a hole in each side of it, and pushed their hands in. Each felt the hand of the other within the drum, and exclaimed, "I have caught him!"

Then one said to the other, "Brother, the fellow seems to be a stubborn knave; come what will, we should not give in."

"Not an inch, brother," said the other.

So they kept pulling each other's hand, fancying it was the man in the drum. The drummer came up, and finding them in such an awkward plight, showed them with his fist who the man in the drum really was. But as his fine drum was ruined, he said, with a sigh, "Alas! fools have fancies with a triple wing!"

Unquestionably modern--the one on the right, I mean...

http://www.kurtloba.co.uk/

The Cocoa Industry     

Today about 70% of the world's chocolate comes from West Africa, while the remaining bit is harvested in Central/South America and Asia. About 40% of the world's cocoa comes from the small West African country Ivory Coast where in 2002 it was discovered that 284,000 children were trapped in bonded labor on cocoa farms. 15,000 of those children have been trafficked from surrounding countries, the majority of which are Mali, Benin, Togo and Burkina Faso. Ghana, Nigeria and Cameroon, West Africa's other cocoa producers are also known to receive and provide trafficked children. In 2001 a senator from Iowa, Tom Harkins and a House Representative from New York, Eliot Engel attempted to create a bill requiring chocolate manufacturers to put a label on their products showing the chocolate products that were not made by slaves. The chocolate industry protested this act saying that it would cause consumers to boycott, hurting the cocoa farmers even more by bringing in less money, and causing them to use more slaves. The chocolate industry began publicizing action they would take to eliminate child slavery in order to stop the government from taking action. The Chocolate Manufacturers Association adopted the Harkins-Engel Protocol aimed at establishing mechanisms to end “the worst forms of child labor.” Harkins and Engel set a 2005 deadline for the chocolate companies to eliminate child slavery, however it was extended to 2008 when it was not reached. The 2008 deadline has passed with little change made.

According to the World Cocoa Foundation 50 million people worldwide depend on cocoa as a source of livelihood.  It is a 13 billion dollar per year industry in the United States bringing in over 400 thousand tons of cocoa beans. By the time these cocoa beans reach the big chocolate manufacturers it is impossible to know which beans were harvested by slaves, and which were not.


More at: http://knol.google.com/k/modern-day-slavery#

Hmm, nindot ning dapita tukoran og building nga at least 15 storeys...

An estimated 800,000 people are trafficked across international borders each year; approximately 50 per cent of all victims are children; 126 million children work in the worst forms of child labour â€" one in every 12 of the world’s five- to seventeen-year-olds; there are an estimated 300,000 child soldiers involved in over 30 areas of conflict worldwide, some younger than 10 years old.

According to the reports, women and children make up the overwhelming majority of victims, typically being sold into the international sex trade for prostitution, sex tourism and other commercial sexual services, and into forced labour situations in sweatshops, construction sites and agricultural settings. In other forms of servitude, children are abducted and forced to fight for government military forces or rebel armies, and to act as domestic servants and street beggars.

These people have no choice over the course of their lives, no rights, and are often beaten, abused and threatened with violence. Slavery is flourishing in many parts of the world and it is every bit as ugly as it was 200 years ago. Contemporary slavery takes various forms and affects people of all ages, sex and race.
The reports of these crimes are buried in the mass media, somewhere between the coverage of the war in Iraq and Hollywood divorces. The exploitation of human beings, the robbing of the soul in the worse way, or the degradation of the innocent carries less weight in the mass media.


More at: http://news.maars.net/blog/2011/03/24/modern-slavery-people-for-sale/

For those who escape servitude, the road to freedom can be uncertain. A UN fact sheet on contemporary slavery hints it may be easier to free the body than the mind: "Even when abolished, slavery leaves traces. It can persist as a state of mind - among its victims and their descendants and among the inheritors of those who practiced it - long after it has formally disappeared."

To see what happens when a country does no more than liberate its slaves, says Bales, look at the US. "It had one of the largest botched emancipations in human history. Four million people dumped into the economy without any kind of tools, capital, education, political participation, rehabilitative care. Nothing. And we're still paying the price."

Rehabilitation, as crucial as it is, is still an infant science. Lone individuals like Vivek and Vidyullata Pandit in northern India, a husband-and-wife team, have developed their own system of rehabilitation for bonded laborers. But more universal treatment protocols are perhaps years off. Currently, programs adapt models used for victims of torture or domestic violence.

"Bondage can be compared to living in a prison or a mental institution," Bales writes in "Disposable People." "Those who get out have to learn about living in the 'real world.' "

And sometimes, freed slaves do return to their slaveholders, unable to cope outside the strict confines of their former existence.

"The three most important things people need to fight bonded labor," says Vidyullata Pandit on the website of the Unitarian Universalist Church, which funds their work, "are knowledge of the law, self-confidence to bring about change, and ... conviction to ensure they don't go back to bonded labor once they are released."


http://www.csmonitor.com/

The UN declared 2004 International Year to Commemorate the Struggle Against Slavery and its Abolition, even though, ironically, there are more slaves now than there were even at the height of the transatlantic slave trade.

Enforcement is one stalling point in its eradication. A Human Rights Watch report issued in July, for instance, looks at the pattern of exploitation of foreign domestic workers in Saudi Arabia. Although the Saudis are held to account for a judicial system that makes its almost impossible for foreign nationals to appeal their circumstances, says Sarah Leah Whitson, executive director of Middle East and Africa for HRW, the sending countries shirk their responsibilities, too. "They need to better protect their nationals," she says. "Unfortunately, each one [of the sending countries] says, if we make it tough for Saudi [Arabia] then they will just go to Pakistan [for foreign workers]. And Pakistan says, if we make it tough, then they will just go to the Philippines. So it's a race to the bottom."

Even when law enforcement is not in question, uncovering cases can be like looking for clues in the dark. Last year, only nine trafficking cases were prosecuted in the US with a total of 17 convictions - the smallest sliver of those working the new slave trade. "The thing that is unique about human trafficking and enslavement," says Bales "... is that it's a crime of seriousness equal to kidnapping, torture, murder etc. and yet it has the 'dark figure' [a criminologist's term for crimes that remain hidden, unreported] of bicycle theft."

The conditions of those enslaved are usually filled with physical and mental abuse and violence - or at least the constant threat of it - and sometimes unimaginable deprivations. Girls are frequently "broken in" to the profession of prostitution, for instance, through beatings and rape, and if they are rebellious, they may end up dead. Long hours, sometimes 15 or more a day, with no days off, privacy, or adequate food are common.

Part of the confusion about slavery, says Bales, is that it has evolved over the centuries and what we traditionally thought of as slavery - chattel slavery - looks very different these days. But the definition remains the same: "Slavery is the status or condition of a person over whom any or all of the powers attaching to the right of ownership are exercised" (Slavery Convention of the League of Nations, 1926).

In his book "Disposable People," Bales says ownership is no longer an attractive proposition for most slaveholders because the price of slaves is so low. In 1850, a slave would cost about $40,000 in today's dollars. Now, you can buy a slave for $30 in the Ivory Coast. The glut "has converted them from being the equivalent of buying a car to buying a plastic pen that you use and throw away," he says. That makes maintenance of the "investment" a low priority, and little care is taken for slaves' well-being.

The most common type of slavery is debt bondage which traps 15 million to 20 million in loan agreements they can never pay off. Others are lured by false promises into forced labor situations, where they are coerced to stay under threat of violence. Slavery also includes the worst forms of child labor and sexual exploitation of women and girls.

The fastest growing type, however, is trafficking ("forcing and transporting people into slavery"). According to a Department of Justice report in June on human trafficking, 600,000 to 800,000 people are trafficked across national borders each year (and millions more are trafficked within their own countries). Of those, about 80 percent are female, and an estimated 70 percent end up in the commercial sex trade, the report says. The United Nations estimates that the profits from human trafficking (about $9.5 billion last year) rank it among the top three revenue earners for organized crime, after drugs and arms. In 10 years, it's expected to be the top source of revenue.

This rapid rise has been met with new laws in the US (the Trafficking Victims Protection Act 2000, which was reauthorized and expanded last December), a rapid ratification of the UN Convention against Transnational Organized Crime put forward in 2000, which also came into force last December, and greater sharing of information and coordination among nations to combat trafficking.

Lack of public awareness is strikingly apparent in developed countries, where few are conscious that it is not exclusively a third-world problem.

Although the numbers are small relative to the worldwide challenge, in the developed world slavery happens uncomfortably close to home. For instance, between 14,000 and 17,500 people are trafficked into the United States annually, according to the US government, most forced into the sex trade, domestic servitude, or agricultural labor. At any one time, between 52,000 and 87,000 are in bondage. And much of that is in plain view, in towns and cities across the country, experts say. People simply don't recognize it.

In June, an Indian domestic in Brookline, Mass., won a court case against an Omani couple who had barred her from leaving their apartment unescorted for more than a year, forcing her to look after their four children, cook, and clean without proper pay or meals. An alert neighbor who caught wind of her plight helped her escape.

But that is the exception, suggests Tommy Calvert of American Anti-Slavery Group in Boston. "Law enforcement and legal professionals don't always identify a victim of slavery as such." And the public is even less likely to recognize the signs.

Last month, the State Department issued a fact sheet urging citizens "to help end modern-day slavery" and warned "it may even be happening in their own backyards."

It's where domestic violence was 35 years ago, Bales say. No one talked about it, no shelters existed, and no one had written a pamphlet laying out what it looked like.

That's about to change. A pamphlet on slavery is in the works, says Bales, who hopes to get it distributed to neighborhood watch groups around the US before the end of the year, if funding comes through. The draft, titled "How can I recognize trafficking victims" includes a list of "visible indicators" of whether an establishment is holding people against their will and the physical signs that a person might be enslaved. Once people are better informed, he expects a flood of cases.

Slavery is not dead, just less recognizable.
Today, 27 million people are enslaved, more than at the height of the transatlantic slave trade.
   
By Susan Llewelyn Leach, Staff writer of The Christian Science Monitor / September 1, 2004


Slaves are cheap these days. Their price is the lowest it's been in about 4,000 years. And right now the world has a glut of human slaves - 27 million by conservative estimates and more than at any time in human history.

Although now banned in every country, slavery has boomed in the past 50 years as the global population has exploded. A billion people scrape by on $1 a day. That extreme poverty combined with local government corruption and a global economy that leaps national boundaries has produced a surge in the number of slaves - even though in the developed world, that word conjures up the 19th century rather than the evening news.

"For an American audience, their conceptualization of slavery is locked into a picture from the past," says Kevin Bales, president of Free the Slaves (www.freetheslaves.net), a nonprofit in Washington. "It's fixed in the slavery of the deep South and it's about African-Americans being enslaved on plantations with chains and whips and so forth."

Modern-day slavery has little of the old South. Of those 27 million, the majority are bonded laborers in India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, and Nepal - workers who have given their bodies as collateral for debts that never diminish no matter how many years, or sometimes generations, the enslaved labor on. Cooking the books is an early lesson for slaveholders.

Yet despite this new largely unacknowledged slavery epidemic, Dr. Bales is optimistic. While the real number of slaves is the largest there has ever been, he says, it is also probably the smallest proportion of the world population ever in slavery. Today, he adds, we don't have to win the legal battle; there's a law against it in every country. We don't have to win the economic argument; no economy is dependent on slavery (unlike in the 19th century, when whole industries could have collapsed). And we don't have to win the moral argument; no one is trying to justify it any more.

The fact that it's still thriving, he explains, comes down principally to ignorance about the institution and lack of resources directed at eradicating it.

“The Omen” Series





Main Villain(s): Damien Thorn; Damien’s followers (AKA: Thorn Industries); Satan; Satan’s followers
Number of Movies: 5 (including 3 original films, 1 made-for-TV movie, and 1 remake)
Amount of Money Grossed, to date: $162,520,100 (not counting the made-for-TV movie)
Average Amount of Money Grossed, per film: $40,630,025

Ah, the Anti-Christ, born from an evil as old as time. What better horror film icon than one who has been over 10,000 years in the making?

“Texas Chainsaw Massacre” Series





Main Villain(s): Leatherface and his family; some shady organization (from part 4…I really don’t know how to explain them)
Number of Movies, etc.: 6 films (including 1 remake and 1 prequel; also, “The Texas Chainsaw Massacre: The Next Generation” was released into theaters twice); 1 video game
Amount of Money Grossed, to date: $164,925,750 (not counting the video game)
Average Amount of Money Grossed, per movie: $27,487,625

One might think that such a classic sequence of horror films would be higher on this list; however, due to financial issues with the first “Massacre”, and the terrible 4th film (which was released a second time to cash in on the new-found fame of Matthew McConaughey and Renee Zellweger), Leatherface will have to settle for 9th place. I sure hope he doesn’t have a bone to pick with me…

“Amityville Horror” Series





Main Villain(s): Well…a house; a doll-house…yes, a doll-house; the people who originally lived in the Amityville house, before the Lutzs; several others (I haven’t seen all of the movies yet)
Number of Movies, etc.: 9 films (including 3 original movies, 1 remake, 4 direct-to-video films, and 1 made-for-TV movie)
Amount of Money Grossed, to date: $170,533,321 (not including the sequels not shown in theaters (.i.e.: the made-for-TV movie)
Average Amount of Money Grossed, per movie: $42,633,330.25

The “Amityville Horror” anthology is one of the most underrated, under-appreciated horror film franchises on this list. Spanning over 30 years, this exercise in terror is truly for the ages!

“Paranormal Activity” Series





Main Villain(s): An unnamed demon/spirit
Number of Movies, etc.: 2 films
Amount of Money Grossed, to date: $192,671,717
Average Amount of Money Grossed, per movie: $96,335,858.50

While many may say that “Paranormal Activity” is not quite a franchise yet, it has certainly earned the same amount of money as one! These revolutionary filmsâ€"inspired by classics, such as “Cannibal Holocaust”, “[Rec]“, and “The Blair Witch Project”â€"have already proven themselves as a contender in the league of horror cinema!

“Scream” Series





Main Villain(s): Stuart; Billy; Mickey; Debbie Salt; several others (I haven’t seen “Scream 3″ in a while, and I have yet to see “Scream 4″)
Number of Movies, etc.: 4 films
Amount of Money Grossed, to date: $293,553,139 (not including Scream 4)
Average Amount of Money Grossed, per movie: $97,851,046.33 (not including Scream 4)

“Scream” is one of the few horror-film franchises that is satiric in nature. It is also one of the few in which each film has a completely different killer(s). While it’s only #6 on this list in amount of money grossed (to date), it has one of the highest amounts of money grossed (per film)!

“A Nightmare on Elm Street” Series





Main Villain(s): Freddy Kreuger; Jason Voorhees; the dream-demons
Number of Movies, etc.: 8 films; 1 TV show; 1 video game; a 900-number that you could call to get scared over the phone (no, I am not joking)
Amount of Money Grossed, to date: $307,420,075 (not counting the video game, TV show, and 1-900 number-profits)
Average Amount of Money Grossed, per movie: $38,427,509.38

Freddy is one of the most recognizable faces (or lack thereof) in cinema history; he is also one of the most creative, twisting dreams to suit his needs. His terror spread from Elm Street, to Hollywood (“Wes Craven’s New Nightmare”), and then to Crystal Lake. If those numbers are any indication, his reign of terror will continue to be very well funded!

“Halloween” Series





Main Villain(s): Michael Myers (although, his father was also a villain in the remake, if you think about it…); a creepy old guy who makes killer masks; a satanic cult; the orderlies who raped that poor girl in the remake; the guy who bails Michael out of prison
Number of Movies, etc.: 10 films; 1 video game
Amount of Money Grossed, to date: $307,729,650 (not counting the video game)
Average Amount of Money Grossed, per movie: $30,772,965

Michael Myers is one of the oldestâ€"and most recognizedâ€"horror movie icons in American history. Whether it was John Carpenter, or a suddenly competent Rob Zombie, “Halloween” has always been the deadliestâ€"and one of the most profitableâ€"of holidays!

“The Exorcist” Series





Main Villain(s): Pazuzu (the demon that possesses Reagan); several others (I have not seen “The Exorcist II: The Heretic” in a while, and I haven’t seen “The Exorcist III” yet)
Number of Movies, etc.: 7 films (4 of the original films, 1 prequel, 1 director’s cut, and 1 hardcore porno called, “The XXXorcist” (no joke))
Amount of Money Grossed, to date: $331,592,458 (not counting the porno)
Average Amount of Money Grossed, per movie: $47,370,351.14

“The Exorcist” is unique, in that the villain of the story actually possesses the heroes/heroines. It is by far one of the most terrifying series of films in history; so terrifying was the original “Exorcist”, that famous Christian Billy Graham claimed that the reels of film themselves were possessed by demons!

“Saw” Series





Main Villain(s): John “Jigsaw” Kramer; Jill Tuck; Detective Mark Hoffman; Dr. Lawrence Gordon; Amanda Young; and…well…technically, many of their victims (considering how many of the victims were given a choice as to kill or be killed…if you haven’t seen the film(s), it’s kind of complicated…)
Number of Movies, etc.: 10 (including a direct-to-DVD release, the short film the first “Saw” was inspired by, and a fan-made film); 1 video game
Amount of Money Grossed, to date: $342,510,598 (not counting the fan-made film, short film, direct-to-DVD release, and video game)
Average Amount of Money Grossed, per movie: $34,251,059.80

The most recent horror film franchise in American cinema is also one of the most successful! “Saw” turned horror cinema on its ear, by creating a horror movie icon who doesn’t kill his victims directly, but rather gets them to kill each other! Brilliant!

“Friday the 13th” Series





Main Villain(s): Pamela Voorhees; Jason Voorhees; a crazed ambulance-driver; Freddy Kreuger
Number of movies, etc.: 12 (including the remake, and “Freddy vs. Jason”); 1 TV show; 1 video game
Amount of Money Grossed, to date: $380,637,525 (not counting the TV show and video game)
Average Amount of Money Grossed, per movie: $31,719,793.75

Neither Jasonâ€"nor this franchiseâ€"can be stopped! With 12 films (2 of which, don’t even feature Jason as the villain), a relatively unrelated television show, and a mask that will never leave the memories of camp-counselors everywhere, Jason isn’t just a fierce, unrelenting killer: He’s also a very wealthy, fierce, unrelenting killer!

by Gregory Arden, www.listverse.com

Horror films have been a part of American (and international) culture since the very beginning of cinema. In the last 40 years alone, we have seen so many new icons of horror; from Freddy to Jigsaw, and Jason to Pinhead. But are these nightmarish juggernauts also the stuff money is made of? We’ll see, as I present to you the top 10 most financially successful (highest-grossing) horror film franchises (Note: Many of these films are 15+ years old, so the amounts of money shown are in 2007-2011 U.S. dollars, and the amounts of money are only the profits of films (not TV shows, video games, etc.); also, there are some spoilers!):

1  “Friday the 13th” Series
2  “Saw” Series
3  “The Exorcist” Series
4  “Halloween” Series
5  “A Nightmare on Elm Street” Series
6  “Scream” Series
7  “Paranormal Activity” Series
8  “Amityville Horror” Series
9  “Texas Chainsaw Massacre” Series
10 “The Omen” Series

The number of slaves today remains as high as 12 million to 27 million, though this is probably the smallest proportion of the world's population in history. Most are debt slaves, largely in South Asia, who are under debt bondage incurred by lenders, sometimes even for generations. Human trafficking is primarily for prostituting women and children into sex industries. It is the fastest growing criminal industry and is predicted to eventually outgrow drug trafficking.

Total annual revenues of traffickers were estimated in 2004 to range from US $5 billion to US $9 billion. Due to the illegal nature of trafficking and differences in methodology, the exact extent and growth of the industry is unknown. According to United States State Department data, an "estimated 600,000 to 820,000 men, women, and children [are] trafficked across international borders each year, approximately 70 percent are women and girls and up to 50 percent are minors. The data also illustrates that the majority of transnational victims are trafficked into commercial sexual exploitation." However, they go on to say that "the alarming enslavement of people for purposes of labor exploitation, often in their own countries, is a form of human trafficking that can be hard to track from afar." --Wiki

What types of slavery exist today?


Bonded labour affects millions of people around the world. People become bonded labourers by taking or being tricked into taking a loan for as little as the cost of medicine for a sick child. To repay the debt, many are forced to work long hours, seven days a week, up to 365 days a year. They receive basic food and shelter as 'payment' for their work, but may never pay off the loan, which can be passed down for generations.

Early and forced marriage affects women and girls who are married without choice and are forced into lives of servitude often accompanied by physical violence.

Forced labour affects people who are illegally recruited by individuals, governments or political parties and forced to work -- usually under threat of violence or other penalties.

Slavery by descent is where people are either born into a slave class or are from a 'group' that society views as suited to being used as slave labour.

Trafficking involves the transport and/or trade of people -- women, children and men -- from one area to another for the purpose of forcing them into slavery conditions.

Worst forms of child labour affects an estimated 126 million** children around the world in work that is harmful to their health and welfare.

** ILO


http://www.antislavery.org/

What is modern slavery?


Millions of men, women and children around the world are forced to lead lives as slaves. Although this exploitation is often not called slavery, the conditions are the same. People are sold like objects, forced to work for little or no pay and are at the mercy of their 'employers'.

Slavery exists today despite the fact that it is banned in most of the countries where it is practised. It is also prohibited by the 1948 Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the 1956 UN Supplementary Convention on the Abolition of Slavery, the Slave Trade and Institutions and Practices Similar to Slavery. Women from eastern Europe are bonded into prostitution, children are trafficked between West African countries and men are forced to work as slaves on Brazilian agricultural estates. Contemporary slavery takes various forms and affects people of all ages, sex and race.

Common characteristics distinguish slavery from other human rights violations. A slave is:

    * forced to work -- through mental or physical threat;
    * owned or controlled by an 'employer', usually through mental or physical abuse or threatened abuse;
    * dehumanised, treated as a commodity or bought and sold as 'property';
    * physically constrained or has restrictions placed on his/her freedom of movement.

Bike enthusiast taking a break...

Quote from: islander on April 17, 2011, 12:07:15 AM
who will eat men?  

Hmm... Frogs?  



Killer Meat-Eating Frogs Terrorize San Francisco
Wednesday, March 14, 2007





Meat-eating killer frogs have invaded a pond in San Francisco's Golden Gate Park, leaving environmentalists wondering how to stop their deadly march before they move on to bigger waters.

The African clawed frogs have chomped through everything from turtles to fish in Lily Pond, near the California Academy of Sciences, the San Francisco Chronicle reported.

The frogs, which can grow up to 5 inches in length, have even gone cannibalistic.

"They've eaten everything they can get their mouths around, and now they're eating each other," Eric Mills of the animal-rights group Action for Animals told the newspaper.

Park officials have pulled some 2,500 of the frogs from the pond since 2003. They are taken to a fish and game facility where they are euthanized by a nerve poison, the paper said.

But the frogs keep coming back. Last week, the city's Animal Control and Welfare Commission voted to ask the city for cash to drain the pond and terminate the population once and for all, the paper reported.

"The fear is they will get out," Richard Schulke, president of the city's Animal Control and Welfare Commission, told the paper.


http://www.foxnews.com/

Quote from: islander on April 16, 2011, 11:43:47 PM
throwing bad winds is for both royals and commoners 

Igo rang nagyam-id ang rayna, nakaingon tingalig, "Maayo mo kay karon pa mabiktima..." Bwahaha!

He he, binuangon tiguwanga. Basin naa pas likod...

Bwahaha! 

Di ba daghan mang kaayong kaliwat og Hapon sa Davao? 

“NO GLASS-THROWING INCIDENT” â€" BM Tirol
http://www.boholtimesonline.com/
10 April 2011


What was reported in newspapers as a glass-throwing incident inside the halls of the Sangguniang Panlalawigan was “not true”, says board member Godofreda Olavides-Tirol.

“I did not throw a glassful of water at Atty. Filipina Asoy-Piollo, chief of staff of the Vice Governor’s Office,” the lady board member from the third district corrected the report.

A source inside the provincial board said that what actually happened was Tirol’s emotional outburst out of disappointment upon seeing a document, bearing her signature submitted to the office of the vice governor, that was returned to her office with many erasures.

“I banged the table, disgusted at what I saw, but not to the extent of throwing a glassful of water,” board member Tirol clarified Friday.

She could be very assertive, expressive but she knows what and when to say things without venting her emotions on physical acts like glass throwing, Tirol added.

The vice governor’s chief of staff Atty. Filipina Asoy-Piollo also confirmed that there was no such incident as reported.

“It was about the submitted Annual Procurement Plan of board member Tirol submitted for approval with the vice governor’s office. There were allegedly erasures but I had nothing to do with it. In fact, APP of every board member doesn’t need or carry my signature,” Piollo said.

Board member Tirol is on her comeback stint after completing three terms as elected provincial board member of the third district. She now chairs two committees; on Tourism and the Welfare of Women and Children.

She is also well-remembered as the author of the Bohol Children’s Code; Philippine’s first enacted local legislation protecting welfare of children which is internationally recognized by the United Nations International Cultural and Educational Fund (UNICEF). She is a Doctor of Philosophy and is the present Dean of Graduate Schools, University of Bohol.

“Such erroneous report offended my family, my children who know the real me,” Tirol said.

“Dili man gani ko manglatos sa akong mga anak (I do not even whip any of my children),” she added.

Tirol is also a national awardee as ULIRANG INA, conferred to her by the National Women’s Council (NWC) in 2004. (Reports: EdCom â€" VGO)

Daghan ang di angay apilan kon tigulang na, kay magkasayopsayop lang...

10 April 2011


MARIBOJOC â€" Catching and trading of house-dwelling lizards, locally called “Tuko” are banned by the municipal government, reports said.

The latest craze of catching these obscure reptiles, not only for having pets at home, is catching fire among the children who are now enjoying summer vacation because of its lucrative come-on prices offered by buyers.

Report said that Mayor Leoncio Evasco has ordered the prohibition following reports his office intercepted that Koreans are roaming around and enticing local residents to produce these geckos or “Tuko.” Each of these insect-eating lizard costs not less than P2,000 each, the report said.

The mayor said that these creatures that mostly reside at home are there for ecological balance. According to the research, lizards either at home or in the vineyard serve as predators to insects harmful to plants.

It was not immediately known whether the Department of Environment and Natural Resources has also forbidden or not the catching or trading of the reptiles.

Lizards, like alligators, also produce high-end custom-made leather belts, bags and other fashion accessories. In western countries they, like dogs, are made as pets.

Unconfirmed report said that the catching of these lizards are essential in the on-going research for drugs for cancer and other ailments beyond the cure of modern-day medicine.

A study in United States found that a new medication derived from the saliva of the giant Gila lizard has offered hope for those suffering from diabetes and obesity published in American Chronicle.

“Bronx VA Medical Center endocrinologist John Eng discovered the active ingredient in Byetta, called exenatide, in the early 1990s while looking at a sample of of Gila monster saliva,” author Steve Hammons said.

Hammons continues, ”Byetta can lower glucose significantly in people with type 2 diabetes. Some patients have reported that their blood sugar has dropped to normal.

Additionally, many physicians and overweight patients report significant weight loss of from 5 to 60 pounds.” (RVO)


http://www.boholtimesonline.com/

Blessed is the person who is too busy to worry in the daytime and too sleepy to worry at night. 

MISCOMMUNICATION. Governor Edgar Chatto explains that
the administrative row in the Provincial Sanggunian is merely
a case of miscommunication, not a scandal. He said that the
meeting of the legislative staff of the board members and
the members of the local finance committee and provincial
budget office last week gave the staff the opportunity to
better understand the complex procedure in government
procurements. (foto by SDDiputado)





What was reported in newspapers as a glass-throwing incident
inside the halls of the Sangguniang Panlalawigan was “not true”,
says board member Godofreda Olavides-Tirol.“I did not throw
a glassful of water at Atty. Filipina Asoy-Piollo, chief of staff
of the Vice Governor’s Office,” the lady board member from
the third district corrected the report.

http://www.boholtimesonline.com/2011-miscommunication.html

Cool pacifier. Pacifies the babysitter, too...

Ah, another Lazy Sunday. Kalami sa katulog ni Botoy! 





Sweet is the sleep of a laborer, whether he eats little or much, but the full stomach of the rich will not let him sleep.
--Ecclesiastes 5:12, English Standard Version (©2001)

Alas dos pasado man gud sa kaadlawon, katulogon pa tingali ang drayber sa SUV ug si lola...

Nila ni Romeo T. Limpangog ug Darrel A. Carumba/WC (Banat) Updated April 17, 2011 12:00 AM


CEBU, Philippines -  Patay ang usa ka biker nga lola human kini dasmagi sa usa ka hit and run nga sakyanan samtang siya nagbisekleta didto sa barangay Tayud, lungsod sa Liloan kagahapon sa alas 2:00 pasado sa kaadlawon.

Ang biktima mao si Gloria Aquinod, 73, minyo, nga nagpuyo sa maong dapit samtang ang nakadasmag mao ang SUV nga sakyanan nga gimaneho sa wala hiilhing driver nga kusog kaayong mipabulhot sa pagpadagan.

Si PO3 Raul Flores sa traffic section sa kapolisan sa maong lungsod miingon nga usa ka Wendel Malait, 19, nga usa ka drayber habal-habal sa maong lugar maoy usa sa nakamatikod sa paglagapak sa biktima sa karsada kay nadasmagan sa sakyanan, hinungdan nga gigukod dayon niya ang sakyanan apan wala kini hiapsi.

Matud pa ni PO3 Flores nga base sa ilang imbestigasyon nasuta nga naandan na sa biktima ang pagsakay og bisiklita sa matag kaadlawon sa pagtambong sa awrora nga ilang pagahimoon uban sa mga relihiyosang mga silingan.

Dugang pa niya nga paingon unta ang biktima sa nahimutangan sa iyang mga silingan nga nagtapok sa usa ka balay sa maong lugar kay ilang iprosesyon ang ilang Santos.

Samtang nagpadagan sa iyang bisiklita, nasugatan niini ang naghaguros nga SUV gikan sa dakbayan sa Mandaue ug paingon sa amihang lungsod sa lalawigan sa Sugbo.

Dugang pa ni Flores nga dihang milugapak ang bumper sa sakyanan, nalagpot usab ang biktima nga maoy hinungdan sa grabeng kadaut sa kalawasan niini.

Si Dr. Francisco dela Cuesta nga maoy municipal health officer sa maong lungsod maoy nagdeklarar nga patay na ang biktima. (BANAT NEWS)

Dogs not allowed, eh?

Presko nga paniudto...

http://www.edgardolantin.com/

Spend Holy Week with charitable works

Instead of just the usual Visita Iglesia, one can spend Holy Week visiting the sick in hospitals, or doing other charitable work, a Catholic bishop suggested.

Lingayen-Dagupan Archbishop Socrates Villegas said such activities can reinforce the traditional activities like the Visita Iglesia and Stations of the Cross.

“As we keep our pious practices like the Stations of the Cross, confessions, Visita Iglesia and penitensiya, let us also consider making acts of charity to the poor as the way to share in the spirit of the Lenten season," Villegas said in an article posted on the Catholic Bishops' Conference of the Philippines news site.

He said doing acts of charity can be an alternative way of spending the Holy Week meaningfully.

The prelate said one may “consider visiting 14 patients in our government hospitals and meditate, as you visit them, on the sufferings of Christ."

Near them, one can see “how the sufferings of Christ continue in the midst of us," he said.

"Prayers can be inspiring and penances can be admirable but only love can redeem. Only love saves. Love alone sanctifies us," he added.

Villegas also recommended jail visitation as another way to share God’s love and mercy to those behind bars.

“We can bring them our prayers and greetings and volunteer to be couriers of their letters that they want to send to their loved ones who are unable to visit them," he said.

Villegas said one can also bring food and clothes to the poor in honor of Jesus’ humiliation at Calvary.

He recalled the late Pope John Paul II’s visit to the Philippines in 1981, when lepers from Tala Leprosarium were brought to him so he could bless them.

Yet, the Pope knelt before a leper and kissed his leprous hands and exclaimed, “My Lord!"

“Give love this Lenten season. Pour love into your prayers. Let your penance overflow into charity," Villegas stressed. â€" LBG, GMA News

http://www9.gmanews.tv/

Holy Week not a vacation

Holy Week should be a time for conversion and not vacation, Catholic bishops reminded Filipino Catholics over the weekend.

Batanes Bishop Camillo Gregorio lamented the habit of some Catholics to observe Holy Week by going on vacation somewhere, such as the beach in Boracay.

“It’s saddening because Holy Week has become a time for vacation for some people. They forgot that it is a time and opportunity for a deeper conversion. This is also a time where we can be one with God," he said in an interview on Church-run Radio Veritas.

Excerpts of the interview were posted Friday night on the Union of Catholic Asian News website.

But Gregorio said he is hoping that the faithful will learn the importance of silence in the observance in the coming days from Palm Sunday up to Easter Sunday.

“There is a reason why God taught us how to be silent and that is a very good lesson for all us. Let us be silent so as to deepen our faith and reflection," he said.

“That is my advice to everyone. Allow the Lord to enter you in the hours of this silence in your hearts," he added.

For his part, Cotabato Auxiliary Bishop Jose Colin Bagaforo echoed Bishop Gregorio’s appeal to the faithful.

“Holy Week is a time when we relive the passion and death of Christ which led to our salvation," he said.

“This week is not for rest and recreation, rather it’s a time for prayer and sacrifice," he added.

Appeal for 'green' Holy Week

Meanwhile, a Catholic bishop and an environmental group called on Filipino Catholics to observe a “green" or environmentally friendly Holy Week from April 17 to 24.

Caloocan bishop Deogracias Iñiguez Jr. said a green Holy Week is a timely call in response to the wastefulness that threatens the environment.

"A green Holy Week is a timely call in response to the wastefulness and greed that is blatantly trashing our fragile environment. I encourage everyone to plan for an earth-friendly and spiritually-nourishing week. As stewards of God’s Creation, it is our shared responsibility to respect and preserve Mother Earth and protect her ability to support and perpetuate life," Iñiguez said.

He also pointed out this year’s “Alay Kapwa" theme is “Our Neighbor and Environment, Our Responsibility."

“Let our Christian faith radiates in the way we relate and nurture the environment," said Iñiguez, who heads the Catholic Bishops' Conference of the Philippines public affairs unit.

For its part, the EcoWaste Coalition also noted that this year's Earth Day coincides with Good Friday.

“We are inviting the faithful to celebrate the Holy Week with a pledge to cut back on garbage and pollution as part of our spiritual works of penance, charity and reconciliation. Abstaining from wasteful consumption during the holidays and beyond augurs well for both Mother Earth and the future of our climate change-threatened nation," EcoWaste president Roy Alvarez said.

He added the fact that this year's Earth Day falls on Good Friday is indeed good for the environment as this should "mean less cars on the streets, less energy use in malls, less noise, less non-essential consumption and less garbage."

"Let Good Friday be a Good Earth Day as well," he added.

04/17/2011 | 08:45 AM





Filipino Catholics started the Holy Week on Sunday with Eucharistic rites that focus on remembrance of the triumphant entry of Jesus Christ to Jerusalem.

In many churches in Metro Manila, churchgoers waved "palaspas" (palm fronds) at the priest, as they call to mind the similar act Christ's followers did to greet him when he entered Jerusalem. Also, at certain points of the Palm Sunday Eucharistic rites, the faithful hold their palm fronds aloft as the priest sprinkles Holy Water on them.

They also recalled Christ's subsequent Passion and Death as the Gospel passages detailing these events were read during the Mass.

Priests wore scarlet to symbolize Christ's shedding of blood as his supreme sacrifice.

Sunday's activities ushered in the Holy Week, where Filipinos recall Christ's suffering and death, and his eventual Resurrection on Easter Sunday.

In Quezon City, radio dzBB's Manny Vargas reported vendors were selling palm fronds from P10 to P25.

Aw, wa diay ni sa Balingsya? Naka-imagine mag gud ko ani nga itugway ilawom sa corn tree...

Cake for word lovers...

Hmm, morag cake man diay tingali ni...

Quote from: islander on April 16, 2011, 10:04:24 PM
buot ipasabot, di sakto ang "lawas natusok sa bala" (mao nga ang title sa thread/news item "lawas natusak sa bala") pero sakto ang "bala nakatusok sa lawas"?  ang lawas natusaktusak sa bala, ang bala nitusoktusok sa lawas?

Hmm, di ko seguro nga sakto ang "natusok sa bala". Seguro hinuon ko nga sakto ang "natusok sa barbecue stick"...

Kon daghan ang samad, natusak. Kon daghan jud jamo, natusaktusak.

Extreme caution advised...

Nakakita na kag ingon ani in person, er, in carabao?

Quote from: Raquelproud boholana on April 16, 2011, 11:16:43 PM
Ang problema Toy kay ug naay backyard wa poy seedlings or naay seedlings wa puy backyard.

Naa puy way backyard, way seedlings, unya wa pa juy interes mananom...

Mora mag ang koral maoy gilumot kay green man. Hmm, basin naay expert nga pangagpas ani si Engr. F. S. Vistabel...

Basin botelya unta tong iyang gikuot, mangayo sa pundo, unya ang 45 may nabunot...

He he, gag writing at its best...

Quote from: islander on April 16, 2011, 11:32:31 PM
should that happen and there's a sound, just look at the person next to you.  this might give you the chance to make others believe that the unusual sound came from someone else, hehe. 

Salamat sa imong pagpaambit sa imong modus operandi, Ms. Isle...

Oi, heavenly man diay ang tirada aning Inday Aspo...

Quote from: islander on April 16, 2011, 09:54:15 PM
dili, dili ko ganahan ani kay mapugos kog pabungot ug goatee ang design aron lang ko ma-super fashionable.  nisuway na kog pabungot sa una di mahimo kay gapikas.

Aw, angayan diay ang bungoton ani? Bwahaha!

Quote from: Raquelproud boholana on April 16, 2011, 11:05:27 PM
Shart- when you try to fart but s*** instead.

Nyaks! We may say that this is one of life's little surprises...

Quote from: Raquelproud boholana on April 16, 2011, 11:05:27 PM
Sukad nag change ko ug diet more on green leaves murag sobra pa sa 14 times a day man siguro mo pass ug gas at least odorless hahahha pero loud raman.

Sa ato pa efficient na ang makina...

Bwahaha! Hapsay jamog nawong, an!

 

Quote from: islander on April 16, 2011, 10:07:51 PM
at least, kahibawo ta hof nga he farts 28 times a day!

Oi, nganong doble man? Kay sigi kong yampungad dinhis atong lim-aw?

Quote from: hofelina on April 16, 2011, 09:33:09 PM
porbida Doy, malipay jud ko sa imong posting kay pirmi ko ma-ulit!

He he, kahibawo man gud ko nga naay daghang scientific-minded diris TB!

He he, di man kaha ka drug mule, Bay Glace...

That's it, No More Superman Comics for You!

What good are tax codes if they stand in the way of saving all mankind?

"A member of my church wanted to confirm that he would be able to take a tax deduction for his donation of sperm to a sperm bank," recalls a Massachusetts CPA. "He was about to have prostate surgery and he feared he might be impotent afterward, so he wanted to preserve his sperm for future generations."

"His reasoning was that the gift of his sperm was such a value to humankind that he should surely be able to take a tax deduction for it.

Someone's a Few Fries Shy of a Happy Meal

New Jersey requires residents to pay a use tax on items purchased out of state if they were not charged enough sales tax. Sure, it can be a big moneymaker on things like electronics. But a Happy Meal? Meyer elaborates.

"I explained the use tax to a client who called the next morning and asked, 'If I get a take-out meal in Pennsylvania and they only charge 6% sales tax, do I owe the extra 1% to New Jersey?' He was talking about less than $1 he would owe New Jersey, but he doesn't want to miss one tax that he owes."

"'The answer is no,' I told him; he doesn't owe the extra 1% if he eats it in Pennsylvania. But if he brings it back to New Jersey, then he owes the 1% difference."

A Public Relations Scandal

Finally, no craziest tax roundup would be complete without a working-girl entry.

"A call girl who wanted to report her income so she won't get in trouble with the IRS told her accountant her occupation was in public relations," Meyer says.

Hey, they both involve billable hours!


http://www.foxbusiness.com/

He'd Better be a Doctor or a Porn Star

The self-employed sometimes take liberties with the dues and subscriptions deduction, as this Massachusetts CPA found out by accident.

"A self-employed real estate professional had thousands of dollars in dues and subscriptions. When we reviewed the details of the account, the client was trying to deduct some personal subscriptions to adult magazines. We convinced the client to treat those items as a nondeductible personal expense."

Does it Count if I Wrote the Checks in There?

Home office deductions continue to entice would-be tax evaders. The rule: Improvements to the office portion itself are deductible; improvements to the rest of the house may be reimbursed based on the percentage of total square feet devoted to the office.

But one of Sibley's clients had other plans.

"The most troubling return was a lady that was self-employed who demanded that she get to deduct more than $30,000 she had paid in remodeling her home," says Sibley. "The only trouble was, the area that was remodeled did not include her actual home office."

A Little off The Top -- Of My Taxes!

Some taxpayers just get a wild hair when it comes to shaving their tax burdens.

"I was preparing a tax return for a state trooper who was trying to deduct everything under the sun," says another Massachusetts CPA. "He had listed haircuts as a deduction. I asked him why he thought haircuts were deductible. He replied that his hair had to be cut short as a requirement of his job."

Did he provide the trooper his tax trim? Naw.

"I responded that your employer probably requires daily bathing, too, but you can't deduct the soap."

And if The Fridge Breaks, I'd Starve to Death!

Ah, the evergreen home security system ploy. We've seen legitimate home businesses try to claim their dogs and even cats as a security expense. Me-ow! But the Hunter Group in Fair Lawn, N.J., reports that one client had a personal stake in her home security system.

"One client tried to write off the cost of her home security system. Rationale? If the client's home was burglarized and she was killed, she could no longer pay taxes."

Reckon she could write off food and clothing as well.

Hey, I'm Just a Giving Kind of Guy!

Ah, the wedding tale! This nondeductible expense ploy pops up every year in different guises, sort of like those bridesmaid gowns that come in colors not found in nature that you'll never wear again. Most try to squeeze that $50,000 whopper into business travel and entertainment, or T&E, expenses ("Hey, I invited my clients!"), but some just want it any way they can get it.

"I had a client who insisted on deducting the cost of his wedding," says a Massachusetts CPA. "He could not understand why this was not deductible, and I could not understand where he expected to record it. As a charitable donation? Like he was nice enough to marry her?"

I guess as long as it's not bigamy, it's big of him.

What Would Tony Soprano Do?

Sometimes tax preparation can involve some off-the-books negotiation, as Don Meyer of the New Jersey Society of CPAs relates.

"The manager and family member of a famous entertainer recommended the purchase of a $2 million building for office and production space, confident that it would be a $2 million write-off for tax purposes that same year," Meyer says. "When the manager found out the truth -- that it would take over 30 years to recover the expense -- the manager was upset, embarrassed and agitated.

"At one point in the drama, a suitcase with a very significant amount of cash appeared as incentive for the accountants to somehow 'make it work.' The suitcase full of money was refused and the extravagant claim never made it onto the tax return -- at least not the one the accountants prepared before they resigned the account!"

By Jay MacDonald
Published April 12, 2011


Did you hear about the human sperm deduction? The cop who wrote off his flattop haircut? The interstate cheeseburger incident?

Behold Bankrate's sixth installment of the year's craziest, laughably outrageous, utterly true tax deduction tales, culled from the seasonally imbalanced minds of certified (if not certifiable) public accountants from across the land, some of whom requested anonymity.

Our past forays into tax return weirdness turned up some very naughty behavior indeed as desperate taxpayers sought to slip past the taxman everything from breast implants to barking security systems and an expensive "time monitoring system" made by Rolex.

As always, we preface this ride on the crazy tax train with this warning: Do not try this at home. The IRS, while jolly sorts themselves, don't take lightly any attempts to shirk your tax obligations.

In the spirit of what not to claim, we present Bankrate's 10 craziest tax deductions, 2011 edition.

Wholly Unholy Travel Expenses

Dallas CPA Ken Sibley has represented his fair share of country preachers over the years, pious seekers who, for the most part, hewed closely to the path of righteousness. Then came one holy man whose travel and entertainment expenses sought the off-road shortcut to tax savings.

"The minister, new to us, wanted to take travel and related costs incurred when the full family traveled the country looking for real estate investment property," Sibley says. "But none was ever found, and none had been purchased for the past several years."

Maybe he was searching for the promised land.

Quote from: islander on April 16, 2011, 11:02:36 PM
Punishment is not a matter of revenge or even justice, Father Carroll wrote. It is the community rising to reaffirm values seriously violated. “Not to react as a community would be to reduce a community’s values or ‘common conscience’ to personal preferenceâ€"and invite collapse.”

Hmm. Records show that time and again we have neglected "to reaffirm values seriously violated".

Botoy in anticipation of Lazy Sunday...

Trying to describe the experience of going to space has been difficult from the very beginning. When Yuri Gagarin, the first man who went into space, returned to Earth, there was a huge reception in his honor. As his close friend and cosmonaut colleague Alexei Leonov tells it, then-premier Nikita Khrushchev cornered Gagarin "So tell me, Yuri," he asked, "did you see God up there?" After a moment's pause. Gagarin answered, "Yes sir, I did." Khrushchev frowned. "Don't tell any one," he said. A few minutes later the head of the Russian Orthodox Church took Gagarin aside. "So tell me, my child," he asked Gagarin, "did you see God up there?'" Gagarin hesitated and replied "No sir, I did not." "Don't tell anyone."

    * Anecdote in New Age Journal, Vol. 7 (1990), p. 176

Of course, I'm sure this is the pair you like best...

And yet another..

And another...