MikeLigalig.com

The First Insider Trading Scandal


In 1792, only a few years after America officially became a nation, it produced its first fraud. At this time, American bonds were like developing-world issues or junk bonds today - they fluctuated in value with every bit of news about the fortunes of the colonies that issued them. The trick of investing in such a volatile market was to be a step ahead of the news that would push a bond's value up or down.

Alexander Hamilton, secretary of the Treasury, began to restructure American finance by replacing outstanding bonds from various colonies with bonds from the U.S. bank. Consequently, big bond investors sought out people who had access to the Treasury to find out which bond issues Hamilton was going to replace.

William Duer, a member of Washington's inner circle and assistant secretary of the Treasury, was ideally placed to profit from insider information. Duer was privy to all the Treasury's actions and would tip off his friends and trade in his own portfolio before leaking select info to the public that he knew would drive up prices. Then Duer would simply sell for the easy profit. After years of this type of manipulation, even raiding Treasury funds to make larger bets, Duer left his post but kept his contacts inside. He continued to invest his own money as well as that of other investors in both debt issues and the stocks of banks popping up all over the country.

What are social networks?


A social network is a group of individuals (or organizations) who are connected through common interests, hobbies, lifestyles, relationships, faith or other beliefs. Websites such as Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, eHarmony and other online social networks and communities have made it faster and easier for users to meet, interact and establish connections with other users anywhere in the world.

Offline, social networking involves making these connections through membership in community service organizations, professional associations, faith-based organizations, multi-level marketing opportunities and singles groups, among others.

While social networking helps connect people with others who share similar interests or views, con artists infiltrate these social networks looking for victims. By joining and actively participating in a social network or community, the con artist builds credibility and gains the trust of other members of the group.

Decide

If you believe that an offer is a pyramid scheme, do not take partâ€"it is very likely that you will lose your money and you could be breaking the law. If the offer was made to you by a friend or family member, you should also warn them that they might be involved in a risky and illegal scam.

If you believe that the offer could be a legitimate multi-level marketing scheme, make sure you get independent advice before signing up or investing any money.

Do your homework

Pyramid schemes often look like legitimate multi-level marketing schemes. To tell the difference between them, ask yourself these two questions:

Are the rewards you have been promised based on product sales (by either yourself or others you introduce to the scheme)?

Are the products genuine products of real value, at a reasonable price and the type of thing that consumers will want to buy time and time again?

If you are unsure or answered no to either of these questions, there is a real chance that the scheme is a pyramid scheme.

If you have doubts about a particular marketing scheme, the ACCC, ASIC or your state or territory fair trading agency may be able to help. As with any other investment decision, you should seek independent advice (for example, from a lawyer or accountant) before you make a decision.

Protect yourself from pyramid schemes

If it looks too good to be trueâ€"it probably is.

Use your common sense: the offer may be a scam.

Do not let anyone pressure you into making decisions about money or investments: always get independent financial advice.

You can contact your local office of fair trading, ASIC or the ACCC for assistance.

Beware of products or schemes that claim to guarantee income or winnings.

Remember that family members and friends may try to involve you in a scam without realising that it is a scam: you should seek independent advice (from a lawyer or financial adviser).

As well as following these specific tips, find out how to protect yourself from all sorts of other scams.

Warning signs

You are offered a chance to join a group, scheme, program or team where you need to recruit new members to make money.

The scheme involves offers of goods or services of little or doubtful value that serve only to promote the scheme (such as information sheets).

There is a big up-front cost to pay for large quantities of goods.

There are no goods or services being offered for sale by the scheme.

The promoter makes claims like ‘this is not a pyramid scheme’ or ‘this is totally legal’.

http://www.scamwatch.gov.au/


What is a pyramid scheme?

Pyramid schemes are illegal and very risky ‘get-rich-quick’ schemes that can cost a lot of people a lot of money.

Promoters at the top of the pyramid make their money by having people join the scheme. Then they pocket the fees and other payments made by those who join under them.

In a typical pyramid scheme, a member pays to join. The only way for the member to ever recover any money is to convince other people to join up and to part with their money as well.

In contrast, people in legitimate multi-level marketing earn money by selling genuine products to consumers, not from the recruiting process. Be aware though, some pyramid scheme promoters disguise their true purpose by introducing products that are overpriced, of poor quality, difficult to sell or of little value. Making money out of recruitment is still their main aim.

People often hear about pyramid schemes from friends, family or neighbours. Normally, pyramid schemes recruit members at seminars, home meetings, over the phone or even by mail. Now email, usually as spam, is increasingly used to recruit members as well.

For the scheme to work so that everyone can make a profit there would have to be an endless supply of new members. In reality, the number of people willing to join the scheme (and therefore, the amount of money coming into the scheme) dries up very quickly. When the pyramid collapses (and they all do) relationships, friendships and even marriages can be destroyed over money lost in the scam.

In Australia, it is against the law not only to promote a pyramid scheme, but even to participate in one.

http://www.dfi.wa.gov/


Social networking in the Internet age allows people to connect to one another more quickly and easily than ever before. Investment promoters increasingly are logging on to find investors... and their money.

Before investing through a social network, ask yourself these questions:
1.   Have I verified that the promoter is legitimate?
2.   Do I understand the risks of the investment?

http://www.investopedia.com/
By Andrew Beattie


A true history of fraud would have to start in 300 B.C., when a Greek merchant name Hegestratos took out a large insurance policy known as bottomry. Basically, the merchant borrows money and agrees to pay it back with interest when the cargo, in this case corn, is delivered. If the loan is not paid back, the lender can acquire the boat and its cargo.

Hegestratos planned to sink his empty boat, keep the loan and sell the corn. It didn't work out, and he drowned trying to escape his crew passengers when they caught him in the act. This is the first recorded incident as of yet, but it's safe to assume that fraud has been around since the dawn of commerce. Instead of starting at the very beginning, we will focus on the growth of stock market fraud in the U.S.

[ig]http://www.oneblondewandering.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/12/Cute-duckling-scam.jpg[/img]

by Rafael Alberti
translated from the Spanish by A. S. Kline


          Search, search for them:
In the insomnia of forgotten conduits
In gutters blocked by the muteness of litter.
Not far from the pools incapable of retaining a cloud,
A lost eye
A broken ring
Or a trampled star.
          For I’ve seen them:
In the rubble momentarily appearing in the mist.
For I’ve touched them:
In the exile of a defunct brick,
Come to naught from a tower or a cart,
No longer beyond the crumbling chimneys,
Nor the tenacious leaves that stick to shoes.
          In all of that.
More in those stray splinters consumed without flame.
In those sunken absences broken furniture endures.
Not far from the names and signs that grow cold on the walls.
          Search, search for them:
Beneath the drop of wax that buries the word in the book,
Or the signature on the corner of a letter,
That brings the dust rolling in.
Near the forgotten fragment of a bottle,
The sole of a shoe lost in the snow,
The razor-blade abandoned at the edge of a precipice.

Bwahaha!

Apparent significance successfully subverted...

Quote from: islander on May 31, 2015, 09:52:45 PM
Modern Recreations

If you would like to check out a modern production of the Eleusinian Mysteries, the Aquarian Tabernacle Church uses the scant knowledge of the mysteries to recreate the known rituals every year around Easter during their Spring Mysteries Festival at the Fort Flagler State Park in Washington State. The ceremonies are open to anyone and provide a rare insight to one of the most popular societies of ancient Greece and Rome.

more at http://io9.com/5883394/the-eleusinian-mysteries-the-1-fraternity-in-greco-roman-society#sthash.DB5VcEgx.dpuf

Or, simply grab a copy of this book:

The Salmon Mysteries: A Guidebook to a Reimagining of the Eleusinian Mysteries





We’ve reissued The Salmon Mysteries, and it has a great new cover with artwork by the amazing Joanna Powell Cobert.

Demeter’s search for Persephone, her daughter lost in the underworld, inspired the Eleusinian Mysteries, a nine day celebration so powerful and awe-inspiring much of it remains a secret to this day. Now, in a radical reimagining of this potent and ancient story, renowned novelist and mythologist Kim Antieau updates the tale for modern sensibilities through the life cycle of a most remarkable creature: the salmon. Salmon live in two worlds: salt water and fresh water. They are shapeshifters, transformers, and finally, pilgrims searching for home. Relying on ancient sources and modern speculation, Antieau writes about what happened during the nine day celebration of the Eleusinian Mysteries and offers a template for creating your own mysteries to celebrate and honor the cycles of Nature, your community, and your life. The Salmon Mysteries is mystical inspiration and and a practical tool for transforming your life and your community. -- http://www.greensnakepublishing.com/

Hmm, Bugsay's cat?

The End

The Eleusinian Mysteries were closed down by the Christian Emperor Theodosius in 392 CE as he saw the ancient rites as inspiring resistance to Christianity and the `truth' of Christ. The temple of Demeter and every sacred site in Eleusis was sacked by the Arian Christians with Alaric, King of the Goths, in his invasion of 396 CE, leaving only ruins and rubble where once the people of the ancient world gathered to experience viscerally the truths of life, of death, and the promise of rebirth.

The Testimonials

Plato, an initiate himself (as Socrates was before him) mentions the Mysteries specifically in his famous dialogue on the immortality of the soul, the Phaedo, " our mysteries had a very real meaning: he that has been purified and initiated shall dwell with the gods" (69:d, F.J. Church trans). Plutarch, writing to his wife on the death of their daughter, says, "because of those sacred and faithful promises given in the mysteries...we hold it firmly for an undoubted truth that our soul is incorruptible and immortal. Let us behave ourselves accordingly"(Hamilton, 179). And, says further, "When a man dies he is like those who are initiated into the mysteries. Our whole life is a journey by tortuous ways without outlet. At the moment of qutting it come terrors, shuddering fear, amazement. Then a light that moves to meet you, pure meadows that receive you, songs and dances and holy apparitions" (Hamilton, 179). Cicero writes, "Nothing is higher than these mysteries...they have not only shown us how to live joyfully but they have taught us how to die with a better hope" and the historian Durant states of the mysteries, "In this ecstasy of revelation...they felt the unity of God, and the oneness of God and the soul; they were lifted up out of the delusion of individuality and knew the peace of absorption into deity" (Durant, 189).Waverly Fitzgerald sums the experience up clearly with, "It was said of those who were initiated at Eleusis that they no longer feared death and it seems that this myth confirms the cyclical view of life central to pagan spirituality: that death is part of the cycle of life and is always followed by rebirth."

The Mysteries

There were the Lesser Mysteries, which took place in the spring, and the Greater Mysteries which those who had been purified earlier took part in when September came. They walked the Sacred Way from Athens to Eleusis calling for the Kore and re-enacting Demeter's search for her lost daughter. At Eleusis they would rest by the well Demeter had rested by, would fast, and would then drink a barley and mint beverage called Kykeon. It has been suggested that this drink was infused by the psychotropic fungus ergot and this, then, heightened the experience and helped transform the initiate. After drinking the Kykeon the participants entered the Telesterion, an underground `theatre', where the secret ritual took place. Most likely it was a symbolic re-enactment of the `death' and rebirth of Persephone which the initates watched and, perhaps, took some part in. Whatever happened in the Telesterion, those who entered in would come out the next morning radically changed. Virtually every important writer in antiquity, anyone who was `anyone', was an initiate of the Mysteries.

Demeter and Persephone

Demeter, the goddess of nature, had a daughter, Kore, who was kidnapped and, by some accounts, raped, by Hades, lord of the underworld. Demeter searched for her Kore all across the earth in vain, finally coming to rest by a well in the city of Eleusis. There, disguised as an old woman, she cared for the queen's son, baptizing him nightly in fire so that he would be immortal. When the queen, one night, found her nursemaid placing her son in the fire she was understandably upset - but not as angry as the grieving goddess who then threw off her disguise and revealed her glory and her wrath. Mollified, as long as the people would build her a temple in Eleusis, Demeter taught the queen's son, Triptolemos, the art of agriculture. Zeus, king of the gods, persuaded Hades to return Kore to her mother as, in Demeter's grief, the crops were dying, people starving, the gods not receiving their accustomed tribute. Hades agreed but had tricked Kore into eating some pomegranate seeds and, if one ate in the land of the dead, one remained with the dead. As she had only eaten some, however, it was agreed she would spend half the year with Hades in the underworld and half with her mother on earth. Kore emerged from the underworld as Persephone (`she who brings doom') the Queen of the dead and, while she remained on earth, Demeter caused the world to be fruitful while, when Persephone was in the underworld, the plants withered and died; thus the seasons were explained.

The Eleusinian Mysteries: The Rites of Demeter
by Joshua J. Mark


What, exactly, this mystic ritual was, no one knows; but why the ancient Greeks participated in it can be understood by the testimonials of the initiated.

The Eleusinian Mysteries, held each year at Eleusis, Greece, fourteen miles northwest of Athens, were so important to the Greeks that, until the arrival of the Romans, The Sacred Way (the road from Athens to Eleusis) was the only road, not a goat path, in all of central Greece. The mysteries celebrated the story of Demeter and Persephone but, as the initiated were sworn to secrecy on pain of death as to the details of the ritual, we do not know what form this celebration took. We do know, though, that those who participated in the mysteries were forever changed for the better and that they no longer feared death.

Bwahaha!

"Watch out for false prophets. They come to you in sheep's clothing, but inwardly they are ferocious wolves." --New International Version

Informally, Gödel's incompleteness theorem states that all consistent axiomatic formulations of number theory include undecidable propositions (Hofstadter 1989). This is sometimes called Gödel's first incompleteness theorem, and answers in the negative Hilbert's problem asking whether mathematics is "complete" (in the sense that every statement in the language of number theory can be either proved or disproved). Formally, Gödel's theorem states, "To every -consistent recursive class  of formulas, there correspond recursive class-signs  such that neither ( Gen ) nor Neg( Gen ) belongs to Flg(), where  is the free variable of " (Gödel 1931).

A statement sometimes known as Gödel's second incompleteness theorem states that if number theory is consistent, then a proof of this fact does not exist using the methods of first-order predicate calculus. Stated more colloquially, any formal system that is interesting enough to formulate its own consistency can prove its own consistency iff it is inconsistent.

Gerhard Gentzen showed that the consistency and completeness of arithmetic can be proved if transfinite induction is used. However, this approach does not allow proof of the consistency of all mathematics. -- http://mathworld.wolfram.com/

Quote from: hubag bohol on May 31, 2015, 01:28:28 PM
Si Jef Karlsones, usa ka Amerikanhong turista, niingon nga nakauyon kaayo siya sa talagsaong lami sa bibingka.

Unsa pa kahay laing klase sa bibingka ang natilawan sa kanahan...

Ni Romeo T. Limpangog ug Brenda D. Batuto, GMR (Banat) | Updated May 31, 2015 - 12:00am


CEBU, Philippines - Dugang nakahatag og pagtagad sa mga bisita atol sa Gabii sa Kabilin ang pagpatilaw sa pagkaon sa luto nga bibingka nga nahimo’ng paborito nga lumad nga kalan-on sa mga Mandauehanon.

Si Jef Karlsones, usa ka Amerikanhong turista, niingon nga nakauyon kaayo siya sa talagsaong lami sa bibingka.

Ang dakbayan sa Mandaue usa sa mga gibisita sa mga nisalmot sa kulturanhong kalihukan diin nahimutang ang Mandaue Presidencia nga mao ang City Hall karon, Bantayan sa Hari sa barangay Looc ug ang nagbuntaog nga imahen sa Last Supper sa National Shrine of Saint Joseph.

Niadto’ng Biyernes sa gabii gibuksan ang ika-siyam nga Gabii sa Kabilin diin ang seremonya sa pagbukas gipahigayun sa Fo Guang Shan Chu Un Temple sa V. Rama Avenue, dakbayan sa Sugbo.

“The guest they will bring home, truth sincerity, kindness and beauty and this thru acts of goodness,” panalangin ni Ven Yung Guang, Head Abbess sa Fo Guang Shan Philippines.

Ang Gabii sa Kabilin naghatag og kahigayunan sa bag-ong henerasyon nga ma-edukar kabahin sa kasaysayan ug masinati usab nila ang mga kultura sa una’ng panahon.

Gödel's incompleteness theorems demonstrate that, in mathematics, it is impossible to prove everything.

More specifically, the first incompleteness theorem states that, in any consistent formulation of number theory which is "rich enough" there are statements which cannot be proved or disproved within that formulation. The second incompleteness theorem states that number theory cannot be used to prove its own consistency.

The theorem applies also to any theory which includes number theory, as long as the theory is consistent and as long as the theory is expressed as is usual in mathematics, following rules such as that the axioms and proof procedures are determined from the start and the expressions are of finite length. One major example of such a larger theory in mathematics is set theory, for in set theory one can define numbers and the operations on numbers, and prove the ordinary principles of arithmetic.

Gödel demonstrated this by encoding the liar paradox into number theory itself, creating a well-formed mathematical statement that referred to itself as an unprovable statement. By the assumption of consistency, we know that this statement is true (for, if it were false, then it could be proved, which would be inconsistent). But in virtue of its being true, it cannot be proved (for that is what it says). The final link in the chain of reasoning is the notion of "rich enough," which means that a system contains enough formalism as to be able to describe a statement which refers to itself as an unprovable statement. This is achieved, in part, by showing that (1) statements in arithmetic can be associated with numbers in arithmetic and (2) a proof in arithmetic can be shown to correspond to arithmetical computations on those associated numbers.

The "arithmetic" that the theorem refers to is more than just addition, subtraction, multiplication and division with whole numbers. It also includes statements about "all numbers" or "some numbers," for example, statements about prime numbers; "there is no largest prime number." And there are parts of arithmetic which can be proved to be complete (there is one such part which excludes multiplication), as well as other interesting and complicated areas of mathematics which have been proved to be complete and consistent. So one should be careful when saying that "arithmetic" or "mathematics" is incomplete. Some mathematical theories are complete, for example, Euclidean geometry; its completeness does not contradict Gödel's theorem because geometry does not contain number theory. Also, there is even a proof that arithmetic (in the sense of the incompleteness theorems) is consistent; but that proof relies on methods that go beyond that arithmetic.

In case that you think you can get around this by adding this true (but unprovable) statement as an additional axiom in arithmetic (after all, you know that it is true), what happens is that the proof changes so that it generates yet another statement that refers to its own unprovability from the new, enlarged set of axioms. -- http://rationalwiki.org/

Dirt-poor Tarantitot Botoyitot accepting the challenge of cool and calculating Milyonil Mangki...

Ni Bryner L. Diaz, GMR (Banat) | Updated May 31, 2015 - 12:00am


CEBU, Philippines - Patay ang usa ka 70-anyos nga lolo nga nadasmagan sa usa ka PUJ atubangan sa Lahug Elementary School sa niagi’ng hapon sa barangay Lahug, dakbayan sa Sugbo.

Ang namatay naila nga si Jesus Abella, taga Sunset Drive, Lahug samtang ang nakabangga mao si Leoncio Lana, 24, drayber sa jeep nga 04L ang rota.

Base sa imbestigasyon sa kapolisan nga ang biktima nisuway unta og labang tungod kay mopalit unta og sud-an bisan naglisud na og  lakaw.

Wala nakabantay ang drayber sa jeep tungod kay bag-o lang kini ni-overtake og laing jeep hinungdan nga napunggit ang tiguwang.

Napasok ilawom sa jeep ang tiguwang ug nakaangkon og  grabe’ng kadaut sa iya’ng lawas hinungdan nga gidala dayun siya sa Vicente Sotto Memorial Medical Center apan namatay pipila ka takna ang nilabay. Ang drayber sa jeep kasamtangan nga gitanggong sa Fuente Police Station.  (BANAT NEWS)

UN: Fewer hungry people in the world despite wars, poverty
http://bigstory.ap.org/
May. 27, 2015 5:44 AM EDT


ROME (AP) â€" The number of hungry people around the world has dropped to 795 million from over a billion a quarter-century ago despite natural disasters, ongoing conflicts and poverty, the three U.N. food agencies said Wednesday.

Countries in East Asia, Latin America and the Caribbean showed the most progress in reducing hunger, thanks in part to economic growth that didn't exclude the poor, investments in agriculture and political stability, the agencies said in their annual State of Food Insecurity report.

The report found that a majority of the countries monitored â€" 72 out of 129 â€" have met the U.N.'s ambitious Millennium Development Goals to halve undernourishment by 2015.

"The near-achievement of the MDG hunger targets shows us that we can indeed eliminate the scourge of hunger in our lifetime," said U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization's chief, Jose Graziano da Silva.

The agencies said the reduction in hunger and undernourishment came despite natural disasters, political instability and conflict in much of the developing world â€" even though the world's population had grown by 1.9 billion people since 1990.

The agencies said improved agricultural productivity, especially by family and small-scale farmers, and better social protection measures like food vouchers or school meal programs had had the most impact in reducing hunger.

Sub-Saharan Africa still had the highest levels of undernourishment in the world: Almost one in four people there don't get enough food to live an active and healthy life. Some West African countries that did invest in agricultural productivity and infrastructure managed to meet the U.N. hunger targets, the report found.

Ni Bryner Padilla, RUB (Banat) | Updated May 31, 2015 - 12:00am


CEBU, Philippines - Usa ka babaye gitabangan og patay sa 10 ka tawo nga nagmaskara tungod lang kay wala siya motug-an kun hain ang iyang kapuyo nga maoy ilang gipangita.

Natusaktusak sa mga bala ang kalawasan ni Sheryl Badayos, 27, taga Villa Mangga, Bulacao, Cebu City. Ang gipangita sa mga nagmaskara mao ang usa ka Rodel nga giingong maoy suspek pagpatay ni Orlando Abelgas, 50, nga matud pa bata-bata sa drug lord.

Si Badayos kauban ang iyang igsuon nga si Rochel ug usa pa ka kauban nag-inom diha nga miabot sa ilang gitagayan ang mga tawo nga nangutana asa ang kapuyo nga si Rodel.

Kay wala man g’yud motug-an si Badayos, gimandoan sa usa ka lalaki si Rochel ug ang kauban nga mopadaplin aron dili sila mapagan. Ila dayon nga gipusil si Badayos sa matag pangutana nga dili motug-an asa si Rodel.

Nakaangkon si Badayos og pinusilan sa iyang wala nga mata ug kalawasan nga maoy hinungdan sa iyang kamatayon.

Sari-sari nga kabhang sa mga bala ang nakaplagan sa kapolisan nga miresponde. Matud pa nga ang kapuyo ni Badayos gituohan nga maoy mipatay ni Abelgas kay matud pa usa kini ka “gun for hire.”

Gituohan nga manimalos unta ang maong mga lalaki kang Rodel apan tungod kay wala man motug-an si Badayos kun asa makit-an ang iyang kapuyo, siya na lang ang gipahimungtan.  (BANAT NEWS)

Breastfeeding Cover Model Pulls A Gisele And Multitasks On The Job
The Huffington Post     |  By    Cavan Sieczkowski
Posted: 05/29/2015 10:49 am EDT Updated: 05/29/2015 10:59 am EDT



Nicole Trunfio is another multitasking supermodel mom.

The Australian model and actress shared a photo on Instagram Wednesday of her on set with baby boy Zion, surrounded by her glam squad. The photo is reminiscent of a 2013 Instagram post from Gisele Bundchen, which showed Bundchen breastfeeding her daughter, Vivian Lake, as her team prepped her for a day's work.

https://instagram.com/p/3MQHBgQcjU/

World No Tobacco Day 2015: Stop illicit trade of tobacco products
http://www.who.int/
31 May 2015





Every year, on 31 May, WHO and partners mark World No Tobacco Day (WNTD), highlighting the health risks associated with tobacco use and advocating for effective policies to reduce tobacco consumption.

For World No Tobacco Day 2015, we are calling on countries to work together to end the illicit trade of tobacco products.

From many angles, the illicit trade of tobacco products is a major global concern, including health, legal and economic, governance and corruption.

Pero para nako, mas lami ang naay veggies ug gravy.

Pwede medyo uga ang pagkaluto...

Ang pinakalami nga parte mao ang kuyamoy...

Wa uroy ni komentaryohi ni Bay Bugsay...

A four-year-old boy comforts his 2-year-old sister.

The MNLF, which forged a peace pact with government on Sept. 2, 1996, has been an observer to the OIC, which is comprised of more than 50 Muslim states, including petroleum-exporting nations in the Middle East and North Africa.

Sema told The STAR that the presence of MNLF and MILF officials in the OIC’s annual foreign ministers conclave is a big boost to efforts meant to address the decades-old Moro issue hounding Southern Mindanao since the 1970s.

“Our presence here in Kuwait to represent the Bangsamoro people, to agree on how we can strengthen our bid for genuine peace in the homeland is providential. We must not hesitate to agree with each other on how to push the Mindanao peace process forward as one big family,” Sema said.

The OIC has been trying for more than three years now to foster MNLF-MILF solidarity to hasten the resolution of the quest for self-governance by Moro communities in the country. â€" With Jose Rodel Clapano

By By Edith Regalado and John Unson | Philippine Star â€" 5 hours ago


COTABATO CITY â€" The Philippine government is asking the 57-nation Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) to finally complete the tripartite review process of the implementation of the 1996 peace agreement with the Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF).

The review â€" snagged  for several years as government had its hands full with the peace process with rival faction Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) â€" tackles how the 1996 peace pact with the MNLF has been implemented and centers on the three remaining issues raised by the MNLF: establishment of a provisional government,  expansion of territory,  and sharing of minerals.
Also, leaders of both the MILF and the MNLF are expected to talk about the draft Bangsamoro Basic Law (BBL) at the two-day conference of the OIC in Kuwait starting today.

Although the two Philippine Muslim groups are at odds, their leaders â€" Al-Haj Murad Ebrahim of the MILF, ex-Cotabato City mayor Muslimin Sema of the MNLF, and lawyer Randolph Parcasio, representative of MNLF founder Nur Misuari â€" will sit together in a unifying sideline solidarity talk during the 42nd Session of the Council of Foreign Ministers.

The OIC organizers permitted Murad to talk about the prospects of the Mindanao peace process and the Moro communities under the administration of President Aquino.

Namit gid ini haw!

Quote from: dandansoy on July 20, 2009, 08:43:26 PM
Klase sa baki:
Baki nga tambok
Baki nga niwang
Baki nga bata
Baki nga tigulang
Baki nga lalaki
Baki nga babaye
Baki nga tomboy
Baki nga naay tumoy
Baki nga kusog molukso
Baki nga hinay molukso
Baki nga lami pritohon
Baki nga lami adobohon
Baki nga mahilig sa rock
Baki nga mahilig sa pop
oh, baki ikaw lang ang akong gikahidlawan
Lami kang, panitan, sukaan, pritohon unya sumsuman

Bravo! Kanay balak!

Ni Jojo C. Ugdol/EIM (Banat) | Updated May 29, 2015 - 12:00am


CEBU, Philippines -  Patay nang nadangat sa tambalanan ang usa ka lalaki human kini sulay pagpakgang sa iyang half- brother nga retiradong opisyal sa kapolisan nga padung untang maghikog kay siya maoy napusilan sa dughan.

Ang insidente nahitabo sa Barangay Mantayupan lungsod sa Barili sa nakalabay nga gabii.

Ang namatay naila nga si Giovani Bontilao, 44, samtang ang nakapusil kaniya mao si retired police Inspector Antonio Cervantes, 54, nagpuyo sa maong lugar.

Matud pa ni Sr. Insp. Julius Ompad, hepe sa kapulisan sa lungsod sa Barili nga nahinabi sa Banat News katapusang nadestino si Cervantes sa Mandaue City Police Office ug mi-avail kini sa optional retirement.

Sa imbestigasyon sa kapulisan ilang nasayran nga kauban ni Cervantes ang iyang duha ka mga half-brothers nag-inom niadtong higayona nga sila si Glenn ug Giovani Bontilao nga maoy nitrabaho sa gipatukod niining balay.

Matud pa unang mipauli si Glenn apan pipila ka minutos ang milabay usa ka buto sa armas ang ilang nadungog, nasuta nga nagpabuto niini si Cervantes ug sunod gibuhat ang pagtion sa armas niini tumong sa iyang tampihak.

Daling gilayatan ni Giovani ang igsuon aron kini pugngan apan nibuto kini ug naigo ang palad ni Cervantes, apan nilapos ang bala sa kilid sa lawas ni Giovani.

Ang duha daling gidala sa Barili District Hospital apan namatay si Giovani samtang si Cervantes ang gibalhin og laing tambalanan sa siyudad sa Sugbo.

“Frustration daw sa kinabuhi ang iyang nahinumdoman,” matud pa ni Ompad human niya naestorya ang retiradong polis. Wa makuha sa mga polis ang armas apan nakakuha sila’g basiyo sa bala sa kalibre .45 sa crime scene. Gipaabot pa kun dunay mopasaka og kaso sa mga igsuon ni Cervantes. (BANAT NEWS)

Here goes...

- toothy Botoy

Tamla? Unsang klaseha sa tinta?

Nagpanilap uroy ang maluibon...

Quote from: reyceniza on May 28, 2015, 08:38:41 PM

Agoi, best friend, best meal...

Ah, memories of eyeballs past... 

Kini lang ang para sa way nahot nga Botoy...

In his eyes, this obsession is linked to what philosopher Hannah Arendt famously called the "banality of evil" -- the idea that Hitler was born behind such ordinary walls into an ordinary, middle-class family.

"People want to see the birthplace of someone who was capable of exterminating large parts of the population in Germany, Austria and beyond," he said.

Locals, meanwhile, resent the attention, deploring that their pastel-coloured town is known for being the cradle of one of the world's most reviled political figures, rather than for its Gothic architecture or pretty river.

"The people here don't deserve this stigma," says district commissioner Georg Wojak. "Braunau's only crime was that Hitler was born here."

Try as it might, the town is unlikely to break the chains that tie it to Adolf Hitler.

He immortalised Braunau in the opening lines of "Mein Kampf", describing as "providential" the fact that he was born in "this little town on the boundary between two German states".

And residents are learning to confront the past more openly.

The days where they would point tourists looking for the building in the wrong direction are over, insists Raschhofer: "When I have guests, I always show them the Hitler house and the memorial stone. It's part of Braunau."


Story First Published: April 29, 2015 11:59 IST

'BANALITY OF EVIL'

The issue has generated strong discussion among the 17,000 residents of Braunau, near the German border, and beyond. Some want it to become a refugee centre, others a museum dedicated to Austria's liberation.

There have even been calls for its demolition - but the house is part of the city's historic centre and therefore under heritage protection.

For rally organiser Astrid Hainz, the memorial stone installed in 1989 is not enough.

Authorities ought to push harder to solve the issue even if it means "forcing the owner to sell".

"The house is here and we have a duty to deal with it," she says.

One person who remains noticeably absent from the public debate is the notoriously media-shy Pommer.

"She has inherited the house and pockets the money without fulfilling the terms of the agreement," local historian Florian Kotanko told AFP. "She could make history by giving the house to the republic."

Like the anti-fascist protesters, he believes that Braunau has a historical responsibility to deal with its legacy.

"It's short-sighted to say, let it fall apart or blow it up, because the fascination won't go away," Kotanko says.

In 1972, the Austrian government signed a lease with Pommer to prevent the premises from becoming "a pilgrimage site" for neo-Nazis, interior ministry spokesman Karl-Heinz Grundboeck told AFP.

Under the deal, the 800-square-metre (8,600-feet) structure can only be used for socio-educational or bureaucratic purposes.

At first the agreement -- which earns Pommer 4,800 euros ($5,150) per month in rent -- appeared to settle the moral dilemma: the Hitler house, as it is generally known, became a centre for people with disabilities.

In many ways, this represented an "ideal" solution, according to local newspaper editor Monika Raschhofer, because it offered a home "specifically to those who were eradicated under the Hitler regime".

But in 2011, the arrangement came to an abrupt end when Pommer unexpectedly refused to grant permission for much-needed renovation works.

Now, the state has decided to take more radical steps.

"We have made a purchase offer but at the same time we are also looking into the legal possibility of expropriation," said Grundboeck.

Evil Resident: Adolf Hitler's Birth House Haunts Austrian Town
World | Agence France-Presse | Updated: April 29, 2015 11:59 IST


BRAUNAU AM INN, AUSTRIA:  "Every year it's the same circus," mutters a resident at the sight of dozens of anti-fascist protesters stomping toward a large weatherworn building in the small northern Austrian town Braunau am Inn.

"Nazis out!" chant the demonstrators, many clad in black hoodies and sporting sunglasses despite the rain, their shouts ricocheting off the three-storey residence.

This is no ordinary town and no ordinary house: behind the fading facade of number 15 Salzburger Vorstadt Street hides the birthplace of Adolf Hitler.

And almost exactly 70 years since the Nazi dictator's suicide in the ruins of Berlin, it continues to stir up controversy.

The building has been empty since 2011 as its owner and the government remain embroiled in a bitter legal battle over its future.

Only a memorial stone gives a clue to the house's significance, reading: "For Peace, Freedom and Democracy. Never Again Fascism, Millions of Dead Warn."

Hitler may have just spent the first few weeks of his life here, but the property has been a thorn in Braunau's side for decades.

It belongs to local resident Gerlinde Pommer whose family has owned the building for more than a century, except for a brief period during World War II.

Oops!

http://www.fabiovisentin.com/

Violets (Viola) are a genus of Spring flowering plants in the family Violaceae. There are around 400-500 species of Violets in the genus. Violets are native to the temperate Northern Hemisphere and are also distributed in Hawaii, Australasia, and the Andes in South America. Violets are found in moist and slightly shaded conditions such as hedgerows.

The word 'Violet' comes from the Latin name 'Viola'. Ordinary Violets, Common Blue Violets, Sweet violets and Garden violets are some of the popular varieties of violets. Most Violets are small perennial plants, but a few are annual plants and some are small shrubs.

Kingdom
Plantae

Division
Magnoliophyta

Class
Magnoliopsida

Order
Malpighiales

Family
Violaceae

Genus
Viola

Violets typically have heart-shaped leaves, and asymmetrical flowers. The shape of the petals defines many species, for example, some Violets have a spur at the end of each petal. Flower colors vary among the Violets, many of which are violet as their name suggests, and some are blue, yellow, white and cream. Some are bicolored, often blue and yellow.


http://www.theflowerexpert.com/

Origin

Anyone coming across the expression 'shrinking violet' for the first time might be excused for being confused. You might wonder who Violet was and why she might be, like Alice in Wonderland, telescoping down to the size of a guinea-pig. The English language is chock-full of phrases that include people's names, for example 'For Pete's sake', 'Davy Jones' locker', 'Jimmy Riddle' and so on; and there's a whole page of 'Jacks'. By and large, with some notable exceptions like 'Sweet Fanny Adams' and 'Hobson's choice', these don't refer to real people. The violet in this case isn't an imaginary diffident woman but a flower. As for the shrinking, we don't mean reducing in size but modestly recoiling.

The Viola family of flowers includes violets and pansies, which are polychrome extroverts that seem just the opposite of shy. Their colourfulness makes them a favourite of municipal plantsmen around the world and even the horticulturally challenged amongst you must have seen them adorning park flowerbeds and traffic islands. However, the phrase 'shrinking violet' was coined in the UK before selective breeding turned the plants into images of steroidal blousiness. The native English violet (Viola odorata, known as the wood violet) is, as seems appropriate for our small green island, a reclusive and understated flower.

Fey Georgian gentlemen like Keats and Shelley were disposed to wandering around woodland composing poetry and it was a close friend of theirs who was doing just that when he gave the ground-hugging Viola odorata the name 'shrinking violet'. In a poetry magazine called The Indicator, the poet and essayist Leigh Hunt drew attention to the modest wood violet:

There was the buttercup, struggling from a white to a dirty yellow; and a faint-coloured poppy; and here and there by the thorny underwood a shrinking violet.

The expression may have originated as the lyrical name of a flower rather than a person but it is now mainly used figuratively to describe modest and introverted individuals. That figurative usage is first found in the USA. An early example of the phrase's use in print comes from the Pennsylvania newspaper The Titusville Herald, November 1870. The rather sarcastic article is about the New York businessman William Tweed, who was widely believed to have stolen large amounts of public money:

...deputations of the tax payers of New York waiting upon Mr. Tweed with the title-deeds of their mansions and the shrinking violet Tweed begging them to pardon his rosy blushes. Can it be that he is a humbug?

A search for 'shrinking violet' online these days brings up links to a weight reduction method that women may use to magically 'reduce by a dress size in one treatment', which nicely brings us back to where we started.


http://www.phrases.org.uk/

Noun   1.   shrinking violet - someone who shrinks from familiarity with others
shy person

coward - a person who shows fear or timidity
wallflower - remains on sidelines at social event





http://www.thefreedictionary.com/

I Bought an Island in Cambodia and Changed My Life
Yahoo Travel â€" Tue, May 26, 2015


Who: Melita Koulmandas Hunter, co-owner of Song Saa, a stunning private-island resort in Cambodia

Where: Cambodia

Why: My husband and I moved to Cambodia in 2005 for a 12-month adventure and ended up staying 10 years. We are both originally from Sydney, Australia, and met in Auckland, New Zealand, where Rory was working at Saatchi and Saatchi, and I had my own organic design business. We fell in love and planned on moving to New York City together. Just before we moved, Rory was offered an opportunity to run an advertising agency in Phnom Penh. As a designer, I have always been drawn to Southeast Asia, so we decided to take 12 months out and have an adventure, before taking on the bright lights of New York City. Ten years later, we haven’t moved to NYC…yet.

AFP PHOTO / POOL / PAVEL GOLOVKIN

Quote from: Mike Ortega Ligalig on June 10, 2007, 07:20:15 AM
“Average hours of work are longer for men than for women in almost every country reviewed in the report. The sole exception is the Philippines,” it said.

The role reversal in the Philippines showed that employed women were two to three times more likely than men to work exceptionally long hours of over 64 hours per week.

Citing 2002 figures, the ILO report said that working Filipino women worked 41.3 hours a week, slightly longer than the 40.4 hours a week put in by Filipino men.

Treatment

Treatment for thalassemia major often involves regular blood transfusions and folate supplements.

If you receive blood transfusions, you should not take iron supplements. Doing so can cause a high amount of iron to build up in the body, which can be harmful.

Persons who receive a lot of blood transfusions need a treatment called chelation therapy. This is done to remove excess iron from the body.

A bone marrow transplant may help treat the disease in some patients, especially children.

Outlook (Prognosis)

Severe thalassemia can cause early death (between ages 20 and 30) due to heart failure. Getting regular blood transfusions and therapy to remove iron from the body helps improve the outcome.

Less severe forms of thalassemia often do not shorten lifespan.

You may want to seek genetic counseling if you have a family history of the condition and are thinking of having children.

Possible Complications

Untreated, thalassemia major leads to heart failure and liver problems. It also makes a person more likely to develop infections.

Blood transfusions can help control some symptoms, but carry a risk of side effects from too much iron.

When to Contact a Medical Professional

Call with your health care provider if:

You or your child has symptoms of thalassemia
You are being treated for the disorder and new symptoms develop


http://www.nlm.nih.gov/

Symptoms

The most severe form of alpha thalassemia major causes stillbirth (death of the unborn baby during birth or the late stages of pregnancy).

Children born with thalessemia major (Cooley's anemia) are normal at birth, but develop severe anemia during the first year of life.

Other symptoms can include:

Bone deformities in the face
Fatigue
Growth failure
Shortness of breath
Yellow skin (jaundice)
Persons with the minor form of alpha and beta thalassemia have small red blood cells but no symptoms.

Exams and Tests

Your doctor will do a physical exam to look for an enlarged spleen.

A blood sample will be sent to a laboratory to be tested.

Red blood cells will appear small and abnormally shaped when looked at under a microscope.
A complete blood count (CBC) reveals anemia.

A test called hemoglobin electrophoresis shows the presence of an abnormal form of hemoglobin.

A test called mutational analysis can help detect alpha thalassemia.

   
Thalassemia is a blood disorder passed down through families (inherited) in which the body makes an abnormal form of hemoglobin. Hemoglobin is the protein in red blood cells that carries oxygen. The disorder results in large numbers of red blood cells being destroyed, which leads to anemia.

Causes

Hemoglobin is made of two proteins: Alpha globin and beta globin. Thalassemia occurs when there is a defect in a gene that helps control production of one of these proteins.

There are two main types of thalassemia:

Alpha thalassemia occurs when a gene or genes related to the alpha globin protein are missing or changed (mutated).

Beta thalassemia occurs when similar gene defects affect production of the beta globin protein.
Alpha thalassemias occur most often in persons from Southeast Asia, the Middle East, China, and in those of African descent.

Beta thalassemias occur most often in persons of Mediterranean origin. To a lesser extent, Chinese, other Asians, and African Americans can be affected.

There are many forms of thalassemia. Each type has many different subtypes. Both alpha and beta thalassemia include the following two forms:

Thalassemia major
Thalassemia minor

You must inherit the gene defect from both parents to develop thalassemia major.

Thalassemia minor occurs if you receive the faulty gene from only one parent. Persons with this form of the disorder are carriers of the disease. Most of the time, they do not have symptoms.

Beta thalassemia major is also called Cooley's anemia.

Risk factors for thalassemia include:

Asian, Chinese, Mediterranean, or African American ethnicity
Family history of the disorder

Quote from: Mike Ortega Ligalig on May 01, 2007, 01:22:24 AM
Ang kinahanglan sa babaye karon
maalam molalik sa awit nga iyang tukaron,
maabtik mangitag idalit nga sud-anon,
molihok bisag wala pay bendisyon.

Hala lihok, babaye, aron makadawat ka sa bendisyon ni Bay Bugsay...

He he, it's better to give a goat to get married rather than to marry a goat, as the following viral news item tells us...


Sudan man forced to 'marry' goat


A Sudanese man has been forced to take a goat as his "wife", after he was caught having sex with the animal.
The goat's owner, Mr Alifi, said he surprised the man with his goat and took him to a council of elders.

They ordered the man, Mr Tombe, to pay a dowry of 15,000 Sudanese dinars ($50) to Mr Alifi.

"We have given him the goat, and as far as we know they are still together," Mr Alifi said.

Mr Alifi, of Hai Malakal in Upper Nile State, told the Juba Post newspaper that he heard a loud noise around midnight on 13 February and immediately rushed outside to find Mr Tombe with his goat.

"When I asked him: 'What are you doing there?', he fell off the back of the goat, so I captured and tied him up."

Mr Alifi then called elders to decide how to deal with the case.

"They said I should not take him to the police, but rather let him pay a dowry for my goat because he used it as his wife," Mr Alifi told the newspaper.

He he, sangay ra og batasan. Dili ikaw ang sangay og nawong.

In some African countries, the skin and body parts of albinos are considered to have magical powers. As a result, many albinos are killed and have their body parts cooked up to make magical potions by alleged witch doctors. Albino body parts are meant to be useful in spells designed to bring wealth and power, and there is even a lucrative international trade. The limb of an albino person sells for $2,000â€"$4,000, while a complete set of organs can net up to $100,000.

Many people in the region believe that albinos are not real humans but rather ghosts or phantoms. Over 100 albinos were violently attacked in Tanzania from 2006â€"2012, with 71 ultimately being killed. Some political campaigners are even believed to visit fortune tellers who use albino body parts to divine the outcomes of elections, causing attacks to rise in 2015 in anticipation of the October presidential and general election.

In January of that year, after the well-publicized kidnapping of a four-year-old albino girl, the Tanzanian government announced a ban on witchcraft in the country and formed a task force to address the killings, including Ministry of Home Affairs officials and members of the Tanzania Albino Society. Their mission is to travel to regions most affected by the killings in order to liaise with law enforcement, investigate factors behind the atrocities, and review judicial rulings that may have been too lenient.

Meanwhile, Tanzanian police have had to deal with the fallout of witch hunts that occur when albino people go missing, after which vigilantes accuse innocent elderly women of involvement and sometimes hack them to death. Many of the women targeted had red eyes, which is considered a sign of being a witch in Tanzania. Many of those targeted have been women inheriting land, who are accused of witchcraft by male relatives who wish to take their property. -- http://listverse.com/

Quote from: hubag bohol on June 30, 2011, 09:28:12 PM



May unggoy kong gamay
Gisugo nako og kamay
Bantog rang nasarasay
Gipainom diay ni Bugsay.

May unggoy kong gamay
Gihinganlan nako og Bugsay
Bantog rang gakurog nga gabitay
Misundog diay sa iyang sangay.

As people are walking all the time, in the same spot, a path appears. --John Locke