explaining how shipping works

 what does it mean to the world (and to us in SE Asia) to have Iran block shipping of oil?

A video about the logistics:

I only know a little about all of this. 

Some of our Filipino relatives work on ships. And when I worked in Liberia, a previous war shut the Suez canal so our hospital had the contract to treat the sailors on ships and  tankers that had to go around Africa, 

and although I never had to get a sailor off of a tanker, I did have to g go out past the port to evacuate a sick officer who had a stroke. On a tug boat at night. With all the guys teasing me (local Kru sailors and two of our nurses) if I was afraid of the water.

A son in law ran a helicopter mine sweeper years ago, around the time of the first Gulf war, and he showed us his copter after they came home. 

So I only have snippets of knowledge, and much of it 40 years out of date, which is why I posted the video.

But the back sory of this? China.

there is a major danger of economic depression here in Asia if the price of oil stays high.

 the prices of oil/disel and LPG for cooking has skyrocketed.

LPG for cooking used to be 600 per tank but recently it went up to 800... and yesterday it was 1400 pesos (30 dollars).

We can afford it but that means a lot of poorer folk will just go back to cooking with wood, which is a danger for housefires, asthma in kids, and destroying local trees.

then you have the problem of getting diesel for handplows to prepare the rice paddies for the main rice crop when the monsoon arrives.

Alas, we no longer have and waterbuffalo to plow the fields. And then there is the question if fertilizer, which is already high from the Ukraine war potash problem, will also go too high to buy.

We are organic, but when fertilizer goes up, ordinary farmers will be buying organic sources (e.g. chicken manure from the local chicken farms) so that price goes up too.

What this means is more older small farmers will be selling the fields to companies putting up solar panels (see previous post), and of course, more farmers digging their fields looking to find gold...

Sigh.

Could the oil crisis lead to Famine in the near future?

The Dictionary man

Right now, I am investigating Samual Johnson, the dictionary man: 

 Dr. Johnson wrote it. And his life is known also because James Boswell wrote his biography.

what started me on this was this podcast series:

It will take awhile to read or listen to the various books on the subject but hey it keeps me busy.

But one side issue: In his middle age, Johnson spent a lot of time dining with and even living with the Thrale family.

Since Boswell didn't like her, it takes a bit to find little things about her life, such as her husband cheated on her and she had many many pregnancies (10 or 12) of which only four lived to adulthood.

Feminist history might revive her place, and how her life echoes the limitations of women's choices in Georgian England.

Ironically, she escaped from the straight jacket of expectations after her husband died and she married for love: That was bad enough, but her choice was an Italian musician who had taught her children. She later moved to Italy etc. and yes she did write both a history of Johnson and books of travel. 

However she was condemned for this marriage by society, mainly because it meant she no longer was essentially a nursemaid to Johnson, but also because it meant she deserted her daughters.

Welcome home

The Astronauts returned back safely.

The real news is that this is more a reset than a pioneering mission: To remind Yanks of their past so they can get proper backing to NASA to embrace the future. The article at the link explains why.

Good news for a change.

Typhus in LA

 LegalInsurrection blog reports an outbreak of typhus in LA: Caused by not bathing and having body lice.

......

The internet: A summary

 

planting rice? Nope. Making electricity in Luzon

Putting solar panels on rich paddies to generate electricity for Manila.

Lots of local folk are working there, and many farmers (many of whom are aging and their kids don't want to be farmers) are renting out or selling their fields to these guys.

in other news, the price of diesel and LPG and gasoline has skyrocketed thanks to the Iran kerfuffle. This is affecting everyone here in Asia, including China,  

another thing going on: Lots of people are digging and panning for gold.

The fields are standing idle until the monsoon hits and the fields can be prepared to plant rice, so why not.

propaganda: It is not just the west doing this

 this guy is all over the internet, and no one ever heard about him.

Hmm... maybe Chinese propaganda? Who wudda guess?

the rescue

 

It’s a testament to the U.S. military that no amount of equipment is more valuable than a single airman’s life. https://t.co/nAuwzovtnK

— Armchair Admiral 🇬🇧 (@ArmchairAdml) April 5, 2026

all of this reminds me of the story in Michener's Tale of the South Pacific, about a rescue of a pilot

the effort to save a downed pilot (or 2 downed pilots) is not new. 

In Tales of the South Pacific, James Mitchener has a short story, the Milk Run, about a similar rescue effort in World War II: 

 We wasted the flying time of P-4o s, F4U s, and F6F s like it was dirt. We figured the entire mission cost not less than $600,000. Just to save one guy in the water off Munda. I wonder what the Japs left to rot on Munda thought of that? $600,000 for one pilot. Bus Adams took a healthy swig of whiskey. He lolled back in the tail-killing chair of the Hotel De Gink. But it s sure worth every cent of the money. If you happen to be that pilot.

 

Start at page 78.

 the story vaguely resembles this real life rescue of a downed pilot, where air support kept him safe until a submarine arrived to rescue him.

as for those who are against the war: Think of the alternative.

Even the Iraq war's alternative history is horrifying to anyone who unlike CNN knew the murderous Saddam who killed his own people would quickly re purpose his factories for WMD and get back those he sent to Syria.

It is like Gaza: weaponizing compassion so you let those who plan to kill you survive. And deliberately putting missiles and weapons in civilian areas so that civilian casualties can be blamed on those trying to destroy munitions. And of course don't forget all those reporters who are members of Hamas get their stories published as if they were true.

Pretending that Iran would not use a bomb against their enemies might be correct, except that they have spent billions to arm militias in Yemen, Gaza, Syria, Lebanon, and Iraq to destablize the Middle East, and having a bomb would stop anyone from stopping them.

Up to now, the threat of blocking oil kept the west from stopping them.

we won't see anyone bothering to note that removing the US acting as the world police will result in a lot of bad things happening.

Praise the Lord He is risen

 

Igbo, probably from Nigeria. We had many refugees of that tribe in Liberia because of the civil war back then.

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and equal time for Filipinos.

The Japanese are back and other local news

In recent days, I have seen a few Apache helicopters going over and yes, it is time for the joint Philippine military/US military exercizes, the Balikatan 2026. 

Usually this helps practice coordination for disasters etc. and usually includes not just the US training the Philippines for cyberwar and fancy stuff, but the Philippines special forces train the US troops in jungle warfare.

But this time there is a difference: Japan, who in the past has sent only observers, is now sending in soldiers to join the exercize:

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in other news, the big story of the day is the shortage of oil based products, needed for transportation and in the near future to plant the yearly rice crop.

But oil is coming from an unlikely source: the Philippines is one of several Asian nations buying that oil from Russia. Apparently, Russia was stopped from selling oil etc to Europe via pipeline, so stored it in ships and storage areas.

a behind paywall article notes that Trumpieboy sort of ignored this issue with China last year

And now is saying wink wink it's okay for Russia to sell this oil to Asia.

Hmm...

Dumb Trumpieboy or knowing what is coming and winking at Russia so they will be there to help Asian allies and China?

so anyway we have enough fuel for a month or so...but the price will go up which is bad news.

The Bodylanguage Venezuean guy explains what is going on.

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So what is happening to our area?

Well, Kuya just harveted the last field with our winter rice crop, but is having trouble finding people to dry it (usually we use sun drying, meaning put it on a flat surface such as a road, and then turn it periodically until it is dry enough to store..

But the reason he is having trouble finding someone to do this is twofold:

One, a lot of local folks are working to build the solar panel project here. this is a commercial of course, but gives you an idea of what is going on:

but this is not the only place our farmers are working:

There is a local gold rush.

People are renting back hoes to dig up the fields and then panning for gold.

I asked Kuya if they are finding gold, and he said enough to cover their expenses.

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One more item: the country is shut down for the Easter weekend, with folks headed to their home villages, and lots of processions and visita Iglesia and singing the Pasyon.

often people build small chapels for this: Emy used to do it up the street before she died, and one could hear the chant in similar small chapels constructed in side streets all over town. This expat explains it for you:

  

since covid it has not revived, maybe because the elders are dead ant the younger folks have work to do: I only heard singing from one such chapel this year.

Our barangay holds it in the local neighborhood chapel, and I donated a little money for food to feed the chanters and all the neighbors who came to the chapel to pray and get a free meal of course.

but today is Holy Thursday, so that singing is ending and today we visit the churches