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FINEST KIND CLINIC AND FISHMARKET.... Discussing medicine, culture, and the joys of cooking Pansit.
Monday, August 13, 2007
Family news
Here are news links to the Palenke fire...several different stories on how it started.
and why it took so long for the firemen to arrive (and no hydrants).
LINK
LINK2:
Earlier, FO3 Simons aid the fire, which started at the center portion of the market at about 2 a.m., reached general alarm level as of 4:30 a.m.
“Ang gitna ng palengke ang nasunog, ang tinitinda doon mga damit, grocery, plastic (The center part of the market was burning. Stalls in that part sell clothes, groceries and plastic items)," he said.
Simon said power has been cut off to the market and neighboring areas to prevent electrical fires from starting.
He said no one was reported injured as of 4 a.m., and that the cause of the fire remained undetermined.
As of 6:30 a.m., dzRH radio reported that while the flames had stopped, explosions were still heard at the market.
Its correspondent said there was no watchman or market administrator at the scene as of Sunday morning. Vendors wept upon seeing the fire.
and why it took so long for the firemen to arrive (and no hydrants).
LINK
LINK2:
Earlier, FO3 Simons aid the fire, which started at the center portion of the market at about 2 a.m., reached general alarm level as of 4:30 a.m.
“Ang gitna ng palengke ang nasunog, ang tinitinda doon mga damit, grocery, plastic (The center part of the market was burning. Stalls in that part sell clothes, groceries and plastic items)," he said.
Simon said power has been cut off to the market and neighboring areas to prevent electrical fires from starting.
He said no one was reported injured as of 4 a.m., and that the cause of the fire remained undetermined.
As of 6:30 a.m., dzRH radio reported that while the flames had stopped, explosions were still heard at the market.
Its correspondent said there was no watchman or market administrator at the scene as of Sunday morning. Vendors wept upon seeing the fire.
Terror related headlines below the fold
Laser pointed at plane in Australia...the article mentions that there have been 80 laser attacks on planes...every once in awhile you read about this in the US...wonder if anyone is counting the numbers or arresting anyone?
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In the Philippines, Father Bossi is going to Italy...and Catholic foreign missionaries will be banned from Mindanao.
They claim no ransom was paid, but few here believe it. Indeed, the fact that the Indonesians from Abu Sayyaf can now get the MNLF to break the truce and ambush another convoy of Philippine soldiers suggest that they now have a lot of money to spread around. LINK.
Due to pressure from Japan and Canada and leftist groups, the government allowed time for the MILF to give back the kidnappers and those who mutilated the Marines. Instead, now we read the MNLF is now protecting the kidnappers and terrorists...money will buy you anything...and crime/terrorism/militants overlap each other, along with the usual feudal politics/political corruption mean it will be a problem to clean up. And now that the army is preparing an offense, we hear cries for peace by the same groups that destroyed the peace....
So cry havoc and let slip the dogs of war...thanks to the Italian government paying ransom.
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------------------------------------
In the Philippines, Father Bossi is going to Italy...and Catholic foreign missionaries will be banned from Mindanao.
They claim no ransom was paid, but few here believe it. Indeed, the fact that the Indonesians from Abu Sayyaf can now get the MNLF to break the truce and ambush another convoy of Philippine soldiers suggest that they now have a lot of money to spread around. LINK.
Due to pressure from Japan and Canada and leftist groups, the government allowed time for the MILF to give back the kidnappers and those who mutilated the Marines. Instead, now we read the MNLF is now protecting the kidnappers and terrorists...money will buy you anything...and crime/terrorism/militants overlap each other, along with the usual feudal politics/political corruption mean it will be a problem to clean up. And now that the army is preparing an offense, we hear cries for peace by the same groups that destroyed the peace....
So cry havoc and let slip the dogs of war...thanks to the Italian government paying ransom.
----------------------------------------
Family News
The shops of the palenke are no more, but the vendors who come in for Palenke day (i.e. Monday) have booths all over, including in the vacant lot across from the park and in the street on the north side of the Palenke. The concrete buildling on the corner is still standing.
The electricity and cable TV went back on last evening.
And the small cat that lives in the bedroom after being mauled by the dogs had a kitten. She kept hiding in the closet, so we closed it...and she ended up having the kittens in our bed instead. Serves us right. Luckily she only had one. She is now in a box in our bathroom.
Joy and Chano have another trade fair this week in Subic. They said we could go with them, but it's hard for me and lolo to do a one day trip like that, so we will probably stay home.
The electricity and cable TV went back on last evening.
And the small cat that lives in the bedroom after being mauled by the dogs had a kitten. She kept hiding in the closet, so we closed it...and she ended up having the kittens in our bed instead. Serves us right. Luckily she only had one. She is now in a box in our bathroom.
Joy and Chano have another trade fair this week in Subic. They said we could go with them, but it's hard for me and lolo to do a one day trip like that, so we will probably stay home.
Fiesta Time
This time, it is a fiesta of Vietnamese families...over 40,000 people attended a celebration in...Carthage Missouri...in honor of the Virgin Mary. Link2
Catholicism...it's not just for white Europeans anymore
Catholicism...it's not just for white Europeans anymore
Sunday, August 12, 2007
Nefertiti needed a face lift?
A closer look using specialized light source shows that Nefertiti had eye bags and wrinkles.
Speculation is that they were subtly placed there to imply she was wise, since in those days wrinkles meant experience and wisdom.
Or maybe they didn't pay the artist, and he was having his revenge
Family news: no more palenke
The dogs woke me at 2:30 am, but I just thought they heard revelers returning home.
About 3, I heard some sirens and then the electricity went off, so I placed candles in the bathroom and in the kitchen and checked the door was shut. Nothing there but a tricycle driver sleeping across the street. But the sirens continued, and we heard noise outside, so at 3:45 I went outside with a candle and saw Joy investigating the shouting.
She lives on the second floor, and when she was on the staircase noticed a glow in the east. Soon everyone was up investigating, and we could see a huge glow and smoke coming from the Palenke. At 4, Dita arrived with the news. There was an "electrical" fire that started about 2am, and the sirens were all the various fire fighting equipment coming to help quell the blaze.
We got things ready in case the fire spread, but luckily only concrete buildings are between us and the palenke, and the wind was light and to the south...which meant all the street vendors on the main street got burnt out too. (The Tsinalis/sandal festival is coming, so a lot of temporary booths were along the street, separated only by a ten foot parking lot).
In the US, usually fires at 2 am are arson, planned so not to kill anyone. Was this arson? I don't know...but there had been talk to move the palenke out near Waltermart and the newer part of town. Now this will probably be done.
The bad news is that a lot of our neighbors ran small shops in the palenke (what woke me was them racing to try to save their stock...but it was too late).
Since ordinarly shop keepers don't usually have insurance, there will be a lot of families losing their livelihood, and the ones to benefit will be the outsiders who have capital to place shops in the new palenke.
Sigh.
About 3, I heard some sirens and then the electricity went off, so I placed candles in the bathroom and in the kitchen and checked the door was shut. Nothing there but a tricycle driver sleeping across the street. But the sirens continued, and we heard noise outside, so at 3:45 I went outside with a candle and saw Joy investigating the shouting.
She lives on the second floor, and when she was on the staircase noticed a glow in the east. Soon everyone was up investigating, and we could see a huge glow and smoke coming from the Palenke. At 4, Dita arrived with the news. There was an "electrical" fire that started about 2am, and the sirens were all the various fire fighting equipment coming to help quell the blaze.
We got things ready in case the fire spread, but luckily only concrete buildings are between us and the palenke, and the wind was light and to the south...which meant all the street vendors on the main street got burnt out too. (The Tsinalis/sandal festival is coming, so a lot of temporary booths were along the street, separated only by a ten foot parking lot).
In the US, usually fires at 2 am are arson, planned so not to kill anyone. Was this arson? I don't know...but there had been talk to move the palenke out near Waltermart and the newer part of town. Now this will probably be done.
The bad news is that a lot of our neighbors ran small shops in the palenke (what woke me was them racing to try to save their stock...but it was too late).
Since ordinarly shop keepers don't usually have insurance, there will be a lot of families losing their livelihood, and the ones to benefit will be the outsiders who have capital to place shops in the new palenke.
Sigh.
Saturday, August 11, 2007
Well, eat ma grits
Of the peoples who settled North America, some preferred a life away from the towns. These self-reliant backcountry people lived for generations on the same land. They may well have learned survival from the natives that once lived on the same land. These people ground their corn or made their hominy and grits. By social norms, they were considered "...an inferior class of white hill-dwellers in some of the southern United States...." They were disparagingly called crackers. "The name is said to have been applied because cracked corn is their chief article of diet; it is as old in Georgia and Florida as the times of the revolution." (Century Unabridged Dictionary, 1889)
Banana torture
n Indian suspect was forced by police to eat 50 bananas as a laxative, to retrieve a necklace he was accused of stealing and swallowing.
When the bananas failed to produce the desired effect, police fed Sheikh Mohsin rice, chicken and local bread.
Finally the necklace, which appeared on an X-ray taken on the suspect, was excreted and retrieved...
Actually, in the US, they use GoLytely to retrieve contraband.
Gift item of the day
A windup mp3 player.LINK2
These things would be popular here because the price of batteries is so high, but alas it costs over $300..., like most "green" technology on this website means only the rich are able to afford it...
Actually, I have bought "wind up" radio/flashlights...and in both the rechargeable battery died after two years so they won't hold the charge from the crank, and I can't find replacements. So now they "run" on regular batteries...duh.
Happy 75th birthday Lego
LEGO website HERE
Free Magazine about Lego HERE.
The future of evolution: Legomen.
LEGO CLUB EXCLUSIVE -- Recent scientific studies have shown that humans are slowly evolving. Scientists predict that by 2037, humans will become more of a blocky shape, have yellow skin, and skin will harden into more of a plastic substance. Other scientists say that hands will also turn more simplistic, appearing much like grappling claws. Along with this, humans will have the amazing ability to detatch and reattatch limbs. The bottom of our feet will be able to stick to bumps and grooves in the earth, and the world itself will take on a LEGO-like appearance.
Friday, August 10, 2007
The hottest year on record is ....1934?
Did a Y2K computer glitch lead to a lot of falsely high temperatures being reported, temperatures that "verified" global warming?
Headlines below the fold
OH NO! NOT MY ANTIPERSPIRANT!
Aluminum connected to Alzheimers? or is it just that a lot more people are living to be over 80 nowadays?
Aluminum connected to Alzheimers? or is it just that a lot more people are living to be over 80 nowadays?
Nice girls finish first? Right. Actually, there are a lot of "clean" living actors and actresses in Hollywood. It's just that most of them don't hog the headlines.
Time machines is possible...LINK...
Finally, a green solution that might work here...converting poop and garbage to methane...
Talapia one, mosquitoes zero...fish eat mosquito larvae. well, yes. about time you noticed...
Libya admits they tortured medics who "admitted" injecting children with HIV...ah, hear the protests...not.
Another marine cleared from murder charges at Haditha...well, at least the Beeb noticed...
Weatlh gap spreads across Asia...well yes. The poor living in rural area are still poor and no worse off than they used to be (indeed, many are better off). The main problem is when people leave their farms and become homeless in cities.
Thursday, August 09, 2007
Typhoon
Well, last week they were busy seeding clouds to stop the drought, and the Catholics declared Friday as a day of prayer.
So now we have the tail end of a typhoon, and it's been raining for 24 hours. Lots of flooding of roads and even bridges are closed, so Joy wasn't able to go to Manila for a meeting. Here we are on high ground and near enough to a river for the water to run off, so we are safe.
But we have a "brownout" and are on generator, so blogging will be spotty.
So now we have the tail end of a typhoon, and it's been raining for 24 hours. Lots of flooding of roads and even bridges are closed, so Joy wasn't able to go to Manila for a meeting. Here we are on high ground and near enough to a river for the water to run off, so we are safe.
But we have a "brownout" and are on generator, so blogging will be spotty.
Wednesday, August 08, 2007
Don't forget to celebrate
Friday is national S'mores day....
Recipe: if you have nothing better to do, try it.
Or try the original one:HOW GIRLS
MAKE S'MORES
(1) Place Hershey bars on graham crackers.
(2) Toast marshmallows. (3) Place toasted marshmallows on Hershey bars to melt chocolate.
HOW BOYS
MAKE S'MORES
(1) Eat Hershey bars.
(2) Eat marshmallows.
(3) Throw graham crackers at other boys.
Recipe: if you have nothing better to do, try it.
Or try the original one:HOW GIRLS
MAKE S'MORES
(1) Place Hershey bars on graham crackers.
(2) Toast marshmallows. (3) Place toasted marshmallows on Hershey bars to melt chocolate.
HOW BOYS
MAKE S'MORES
(1) Eat Hershey bars.
(2) Eat marshmallows.
(3) Throw graham crackers at other boys.
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