Also bookmarked for later reading: Not Dead Yet (a disability group) has a new president, who points out that in the past, the medical profession helped encourage you to live, and the emphasis was to make society handicap friendly.
but now the new idea is to let you "chose" with the implicit idea that you are worthless, so chose to die is good.
FINEST KIND CLINIC AND FISHMARKET.... Discussing medicine, culture, and the joys of cooking Pansit.
Sunday, November 10, 2013
Saturday, November 09, 2013
Family news
No, we were not hit by the supertyphoon (it hit south of here...we got only rain and some wind).
Helen's son had a birthday party today so we are all full of lechon etc.
Lolo is better.
Helen's son had a birthday party today so we are all full of lechon etc.
Lolo is better.
Friday, November 08, 2013
Family news
It's overcast, and the new typhoon heading towards the Visayas is getting headlines (alas, it will hit the area destroyed by last month's earthquake). We even made the bbc...
Right now the Visayas are under signal 4, but Manila is signal one, meaning rain and moderate winds.
FYI: The large billboards here can be taken down if a storm is due.
we are north of Manila so should only get rain, unless it veers further north like the one last month that landed us in the eye of a moderate hurricane that was originally predicted to land south of here and we quickly went from signal one to signal three before the TV cable went out.
when I say "signal one" etc. check out this gif:
the one that hit us was signal 3, so we lost roofs from houses, a lot of the rural chicken farms and storage houses, and some trees, but most of the damage was to the almost ripe rice, which was flattened.
-------------------
Joy was in Manila yesterday selling at a trade fair, and got a lot of gift orders for Christmas. Hopefully the specialized rice in gift packs of Chano's designs and the small thigamagigs that he designs will let us break even this year.
Right now the Visayas are under signal 4, but Manila is signal one, meaning rain and moderate winds.
FYI: The large billboards here can be taken down if a storm is due.
we are north of Manila so should only get rain, unless it veers further north like the one last month that landed us in the eye of a moderate hurricane that was originally predicted to land south of here and we quickly went from signal one to signal three before the TV cable went out.
when I say "signal one" etc. check out this gif:
the one that hit us was signal 3, so we lost roofs from houses, a lot of the rural chicken farms and storage houses, and some trees, but most of the damage was to the almost ripe rice, which was flattened.
-------------------
Joy was in Manila yesterday selling at a trade fair, and got a lot of gift orders for Christmas. Hopefully the specialized rice in gift packs of Chano's designs and the small thigamagigs that he designs will let us break even this year.
Thursday, November 07, 2013
Family news
Joy left with a delivery to Manila at 5 am this morning...we have lots of rice orders and orders for gift items (Chano designs these and subcontracts them to be made by local folks).
The rice is being harvested, but no news there: Some of our rice is on higher ground so should be okay, and the rice drier is working so we don't lose part of the harvest waiting in line for our turn for the rice mill to dry it.
Ruby is busy with her youth group at church doing dancing etc. Keeps her busy.
Right now, she has exams with her home school.
She is waiting for the movie "Hunger games" (I am waiting for the Hobbit) and is reading the last Percy Jackson book: The bad news is that her brand new copy was in the car when they got caught in the last typhoon so is unreadable. Oh well.
the bad news it that another typhoon is coming, but will hit the center of the Philipines, where they had the earthquake. Hopefully we won't get hit, except with rain.
When we went to Luz' restaurant to get HaloHalo, we again saw some soldiers getting take out. Ruby says they are indeed here helping to keep the peace with last week's elections, but says we will probably have more problems after they leave.
The rice is being harvested, but no news there: Some of our rice is on higher ground so should be okay, and the rice drier is working so we don't lose part of the harvest waiting in line for our turn for the rice mill to dry it.
Ruby is busy with her youth group at church doing dancing etc. Keeps her busy.
Right now, she has exams with her home school.
She is waiting for the movie "Hunger games" (I am waiting for the Hobbit) and is reading the last Percy Jackson book: The bad news is that her brand new copy was in the car when they got caught in the last typhoon so is unreadable. Oh well.
the bad news it that another typhoon is coming, but will hit the center of the Philipines, where they had the earthquake. Hopefully we won't get hit, except with rain.
When we went to Luz' restaurant to get HaloHalo, we again saw some soldiers getting take out. Ruby says they are indeed here helping to keep the peace with last week's elections, but says we will probably have more problems after they leave.
Wednesday, November 06, 2013
Quote of the day
LINK
VDHanson defends Obama's middle east policy.
Of course, he was warning that the US would revert to isolationist policies years ago, during the Bush presidency, when everyone, including the Euroweinies, were hitting on Bush's policies of killing bad guys.
and ironically, it is the wildcatters of the fracking industry that make it possible for America to thumb it's nose at those who hate us.
Rule One: never bluff an isolationist to yank all his forces from your country.
VDHanson defends Obama's middle east policy.
Of course, he was warning that the US would revert to isolationist policies years ago, during the Bush presidency, when everyone, including the Euroweinies, were hitting on Bush's policies of killing bad guys.
...a tired public shrugs the equivalent of “whatever.” In theory, it understands that any time the U.S. stays home, others less lawful and stable take up the slack — and the ensuing chaos comes back to haunt us.
But voters are exhausted by Afghanistan, Iraq, and Libya — and the ingratitude that seems to follow from those who were beneficiaries of vast investments in American blood and treasure. Americans are collectively sighing that, in relation to whatever we do in the Middle East, Middle Easterners have a grating propensity for scapegoating America for their own self-inflicted miseries.
and ironically, it is the wildcatters of the fracking industry that make it possible for America to thumb it's nose at those who hate us.
Stuff around the net
How do you move huge blocks of stone when your carts can't carry the load?
You drag them via roads of ice.
sounds right. In Minnesota, the logging season was winter, because you could easily haul out the logs, whereas in summer, the place was a bog...
---------------------------------
The two minute hate of the day is about Ted Cruz's father.
I'm not sure what this is about, but isn't hitting family below the belt? It should be...but Obama and Bush both had their ancestors bashed, so I guess not.
Even JFK was not immune to such things: at a time when anti Catholic sentiment was strong in the south Harry Truman opposed JFK and noted it was not his religion that was in question, but his father's financial shenanigans and his pro Nazi sympathies:
famous quote: it's not the Pope, it's the Pop...
Kennedy defused the controversy by joking:
-------------------------------
FYI: Dr. Who is 50 years old.
---------------------------
lecture of the week:
Rocky Squirrel, unwanted illegal alien.
or you can listen to Butterflies and Fractals.
------------------------------------
India launches probe to Mars.
----------------------
Don't Lutherans screen their pastoral candidates for mental illnesses?
On the other hand, the headline claiming she is a "star" is deceptive: if you read the entire article, you find that this "star" has an audience of...180 people...and hypes her book in her sermons.
-------------------------------------------
Pope fights against modern slavery.
includes drug dealers using kids to smuggle or sell drugs, prostitution (where often the women take a job to be a maid, etc. and then find they are groomed as prostitutes) and organ donors/surrogate mothers, who often are paid a pittance while the "middle men" get all the money.
The western press often reads the Pope's sayings through the eyes of western culture, but he is actually speaking to those of us in the Third world, where the majority of Christians live.
===================
Philippine news:
another day, another typhoon: This one predicted to hit the Visayas on Friday (south of here).
the typhoons are causing food prices to go up, which is bad news.
---------------------
Father Dizon, RIP....more here.
----------------------
--
You drag them via roads of ice.
sounds right. In Minnesota, the logging season was winter, because you could easily haul out the logs, whereas in summer, the place was a bog...
---------------------------------
The two minute hate of the day is about Ted Cruz's father.
I'm not sure what this is about, but isn't hitting family below the belt? It should be...but Obama and Bush both had their ancestors bashed, so I guess not.
Even JFK was not immune to such things: at a time when anti Catholic sentiment was strong in the south Harry Truman opposed JFK and noted it was not his religion that was in question, but his father's financial shenanigans and his pro Nazi sympathies:
famous quote: it's not the Pope, it's the Pop...
Kennedy defused the controversy by joking:
“I have just received the following telegram from my generous Daddy. It says, ‘Dear Jack: Don’t buy a single vote more than necessary. I’ll be damned if I’m going to pay for a landslide.’
-------------------------------
FYI: Dr. Who is 50 years old.
---------------------------
lecture of the week:
Rocky Squirrel, unwanted illegal alien.
or you can listen to Butterflies and Fractals.
------------------------------------
India launches probe to Mars.
----------------------
Don't Lutherans screen their pastoral candidates for mental illnesses?
On the other hand, the headline claiming she is a "star" is deceptive: if you read the entire article, you find that this "star" has an audience of...180 people...and hypes her book in her sermons.
-------------------------------------------
Pope fights against modern slavery.
includes drug dealers using kids to smuggle or sell drugs, prostitution (where often the women take a job to be a maid, etc. and then find they are groomed as prostitutes) and organ donors/surrogate mothers, who often are paid a pittance while the "middle men" get all the money.
The western press often reads the Pope's sayings through the eyes of western culture, but he is actually speaking to those of us in the Third world, where the majority of Christians live.
===================
Philippine news:
another day, another typhoon: This one predicted to hit the Visayas on Friday (south of here).
the typhoons are causing food prices to go up, which is bad news.
---------------------
Father Dizon, RIP....more here.
----------------------
--
Tuesday, November 05, 2013
Stuff around the web
November 2 is not only the 50th anniversary of the death of CS Lewis, but his space triology is now 75 years old.
actually, as a kid I never read Narnia, but as a sci fi reader I did read Out of the Silent Planet and loved it, but I disliked the other two books because they were preachy and snarky, and parts of them evolved into fantasy (fantasy as in Delusion, not as in fiction). But then I dislike a lot of Lewis' writings, whose prose and fiction seem a bit bitter on the edges.
Lots of irony in the first book, for example when Ransom translates the highfalutin concepts of the bad professors into Martian.
And some say that the Ransom character (in the earlier book) was based on Tolkien.
In concrete terms, I "see" Tolkien's writings as a silver filigree: beautiful with every small detail in the correct place...
but I see Lewis' writings as a Marvel comic, with good guys and bad guys and a subtle distortion of reality to fit what he wants to preach at you to shove his opinions down your throat.
and although Tolkien romanticizes women, at least he likes them and admires them when they are achievers (Luthien anyone?).
But you get the feeling that Lewis doesn't really like women at all...or understand them. Peralandra's "Eve" is so stupid as to make me angry. And yes, I know a lot of men think "Til we have faces" is a good novel from a woman's point of view, but it's really not: she thinks like a man. And no men who happily review the novel seem to realize the lead character there is a caricature of a bitter lesbian who is still in the closet and has a crush on her sister.
-------------------------------
Downton Abbey this week had Lady Mary in the pigstye: reminded me of Eva Gabor of "Green Acres".
Yes, it is on TV here, but they are a year behind, and Lolo often changes the channel, so I download it illegally to watch.
------------------------------------
Science factoids of the day:
The Kraken may have been real
not nowadays, but in the times when Nevada was under water.
--------------------------------
If Dengue and Yellow fever hit your town, blame global warming, says Mom Jones, which allows the mosquito to live in northern climes.
but even they admit:
why, yes.
Dengue/yellowfever is carried by different mosquitos than malaria, but wait till they find Malaria once decimated those who visited the swamps/port areas of England
and may have existed in Anglo saxon times.
I'll have to look it up, but some types of these mosquitoes don't survive winter so have to be re introduced to cause epidemics...so climate change does affect epidemics.
----------------------------------------
PlatypusZilla...
---------------------------------
from Queen of hearts:The history of Blue Willow China.
why the pattern was destroyed by the Manchus and later reintroduced from the west
a love story is behind the design...a princess in love with a servant who is being forced to marry a Duke escapes with her lover...
Via TeaAtTrianon
---------------------------------
actually, as a kid I never read Narnia, but as a sci fi reader I did read Out of the Silent Planet and loved it, but I disliked the other two books because they were preachy and snarky, and parts of them evolved into fantasy (fantasy as in Delusion, not as in fiction). But then I dislike a lot of Lewis' writings, whose prose and fiction seem a bit bitter on the edges.
Lots of irony in the first book, for example when Ransom translates the highfalutin concepts of the bad professors into Martian.
And some say that the Ransom character (in the earlier book) was based on Tolkien.
In concrete terms, I "see" Tolkien's writings as a silver filigree: beautiful with every small detail in the correct place...
but I see Lewis' writings as a Marvel comic, with good guys and bad guys and a subtle distortion of reality to fit what he wants to preach at you to shove his opinions down your throat.
and although Tolkien romanticizes women, at least he likes them and admires them when they are achievers (Luthien anyone?).
But you get the feeling that Lewis doesn't really like women at all...or understand them. Peralandra's "Eve" is so stupid as to make me angry. And yes, I know a lot of men think "Til we have faces" is a good novel from a woman's point of view, but it's really not: she thinks like a man. And no men who happily review the novel seem to realize the lead character there is a caricature of a bitter lesbian who is still in the closet and has a crush on her sister.
-------------------------------
Downton Abbey this week had Lady Mary in the pigstye: reminded me of Eva Gabor of "Green Acres".
Yes, it is on TV here, but they are a year behind, and Lolo often changes the channel, so I download it illegally to watch.
------------------------------------
Science factoids of the day:
The Kraken may have been real
not nowadays, but in the times when Nevada was under water.
--------------------------------
If Dengue and Yellow fever hit your town, blame global warming, says Mom Jones, which allows the mosquito to live in northern climes.
but even they admit:
In the past, yellow fever in the United States made its way as far north as New York City. In 1793, an outbreak even wiped out 10 percent of Philadelphia.
why, yes.
Dengue/yellowfever is carried by different mosquitos than malaria, but wait till they find Malaria once decimated those who visited the swamps/port areas of England
and may have existed in Anglo saxon times.
I'll have to look it up, but some types of these mosquitoes don't survive winter so have to be re introduced to cause epidemics...so climate change does affect epidemics.
----------------------------------------
PlatypusZilla...
---------------------------------
from Queen of hearts:The history of Blue Willow China.
why the pattern was destroyed by the Manchus and later reintroduced from the west
a love story is behind the design...a princess in love with a servant who is being forced to marry a Duke escapes with her lover...
There is a poem called “Old Poem” that narrates the markings on the blue willow china:Two birds flying high,A chinese vessel, sailing by.A bridge with three men, sometimes four,A willow tree, hanging o'er.A Chinese temple, there it stands,Built upon the river sands.An apple tree, with apples on,A crooked fence to end my song.
Via TeaAtTrianon
---------------------------------
Monday, November 04, 2013
Stuff below the fold
China's smog problem.
my comments here.
And if you read the SP story, they mention China is still slowly moving to take over Philippine fishing areas.
------------------------
How the gov't snoops on your emails.
since they've been caught, they'll have to change their ways.
but they aren't the only ones...
Facebook also knows a lot about you.
and of course the identitytheft hackers are busy too.
----------------------------------
First there was a housing bubble, and now there is a carbon bubble.
ALGore is behind the story: One wonders how much money he will make from crashing these stocks...
----------------------------------------
my comments here.
And if you read the SP story, they mention China is still slowly moving to take over Philippine fishing areas.
------------------------
How the gov't snoops on your emails.
since they've been caught, they'll have to change their ways.
but they aren't the only ones...
Facebook also knows a lot about you.
and of course the identitytheft hackers are busy too.
----------------------------------
First there was a housing bubble, and now there is a carbon bubble.
As the danger from climate change intensifies, and as rules on carbon and the introduction of carbon pricing in many parts of the world start to bite, these assets are expected to come under threat, from regulation and from the need to transform the economy on to a low-carbon footing. The "carbon bubble" has been identified by leading thinkers on climate change in recent years, but so far the findings have had little real effect on investor behavior.
ALGore is behind the story: One wonders how much money he will make from crashing these stocks...
----------------------------------------
Sunday, November 03, 2013
Music for download
Well, November is here, so the stores are preparing for Christmas.
Keep an eye on Celtic Christmas podcast webpage for music. Their older podcasts are there to download too.
Keep an eye on Celtic Christmas podcast webpage for music. Their older podcasts are there to download too.
Saturday, November 02, 2013
why it's more fun in the Philippines
Our cemetaries have wifi....
that's in Manila: here Ruby had to facebook her friends via the iPhone internet connection.
which is how I read my email when the internet was down...
that's in Manila: here Ruby had to facebook her friends via the iPhone internet connection.
which is how I read my email when the internet was down...
Factoid of the day
from MyLadyWeb:
LusMor is the name for Spearwort, a plant related to the buttercup that is used on ulcers to heal them.
it is poisonous...
the dictionary says that sometimes the word is used for the digitalis plant, a valuable herb used for failing hearts but which is also poisonous if you take the wrong dose.
As for fairy sickness: The Tolkien professor points out that if you went into the woods, and saw a bright light and strange looking people who kidnapped you, in medieval times you would say you were kidnapped by fairies, but today, it would be called a UFO abduction....
'To bring anyone back from being with the fairies, you should get the leaves of the Lus-mor, and give them to him to drink. And if he only got a little touch from them, and had some complaint in him at the same time, that makes him sick like, that will bring him back. But if he is altogether in the fairies, then it won't bring him back, for he'll know what it is, and he'll refuse to drink it.Headsup TeaAtTrianon
LusMor is the name for Spearwort, a plant related to the buttercup that is used on ulcers to heal them.
it is poisonous...
the dictionary says that sometimes the word is used for the digitalis plant, a valuable herb used for failing hearts but which is also poisonous if you take the wrong dose.
As for fairy sickness: The Tolkien professor points out that if you went into the woods, and saw a bright light and strange looking people who kidnapped you, in medieval times you would say you were kidnapped by fairies, but today, it would be called a UFO abduction....
Friday, November 01, 2013
Family news
Internet just popped back on after a week off line.
Everyone is still cleaning up after the typhoon two weeks ago. We are harvesting rice but much of the local crop is lost or poor quality due to moisture.
Yesterday heavy rain from the edge of another typhoon but no flooding.
Today is All Saint's day: The country shuts down for the weekend so people can go home and visit/clean up the family graves. I went with Lolo yesterday morning before it got hot, and before the rain struck.
Usually the cemetary is crowded, and you can't take a car into the grave area during the holiday, and Lolo is having trouble walking more than 50 feet. Everyone cleans up the trash/dead leaves, repaints the gravesite, picnics and lights candles and says a prayer when visiting. Due to a high water level, the concrete boxes are above ground. We have this type, but Dr. Ito has a canopy over his grave.
Some folks have a canopy to make it easier for visitors, and a few rich families have small chapels...
If you read about folks "living in cemetaries", it is in these chapels (some are two stories high) in places like Manila. Usually the family gives up chasing the folks out and merely pays them a small fee in exchange for "watching" and keeping the site clean.
Everyone is still cleaning up after the typhoon two weeks ago. We are harvesting rice but much of the local crop is lost or poor quality due to moisture.
Yesterday heavy rain from the edge of another typhoon but no flooding.
Today is All Saint's day: The country shuts down for the weekend so people can go home and visit/clean up the family graves. I went with Lolo yesterday morning before it got hot, and before the rain struck.
Usually the cemetary is crowded, and you can't take a car into the grave area during the holiday, and Lolo is having trouble walking more than 50 feet. Everyone cleans up the trash/dead leaves, repaints the gravesite, picnics and lights candles and says a prayer when visiting. Due to a high water level, the concrete boxes are above ground. We have this type, but Dr. Ito has a canopy over his grave.
Some folks have a canopy to make it easier for visitors, and a few rich families have small chapels...
If you read about folks "living in cemetaries", it is in these chapels (some are two stories high) in places like Manila. Usually the family gives up chasing the folks out and merely pays them a small fee in exchange for "watching" and keeping the site clean.
Thursday, October 31, 2013
Saturday, October 26, 2013
Stuff below the fold
While the headlines are fighting about the wonderfulness of Obamacare, the really important news stories are there if you dig around a bit.
================
The "WTF" story of the day number one comes from StrategyPage:
Russian nukes light up America
and the "dog who didn't bark" is ignored by the American press, who didn't notice:
MIT story on internet privacy: linked for later reading.
summary:
----------------------------------
Gateway pundit notes that this page of the Obamacare Spanish website uses a photo of two Asian women.
well, after all, all brown people look alike, don't they?
(/sarcasm)
-----------------------------------------
One reporter wanted some Mexican music to play in the background of a story about Ted Cruz, whose father was a refugee from Cuba.
I suggest maybe he should play this instead.
But hey, all brown people look alike....
-----------------------------------------
if Mirkwood was the forests of central Europe, then the Misty Mountains were... the Alps. TORN discusses here.
====--------------------
another Alp related story: Mont Blanc plane crash jewels found. the crash was in 1966...
but the incident reminded me of the 1956 Spencer Tracy film The Mountain, which was inspired by a similar 1950 plane crash...
-----------------------------------------
the Darwin award of the week goes to North Korea, who are busy hiding their missile sites on a holy volcano on the Chinese border, to keep the Americans from attacking them.
after all, what could go wrong. BBC report on Mt Paektu
Wired report on how to trigger a volcanic eruption.
--------------------------------------------
================
The "WTF" story of the day number one comes from StrategyPage:
Russian nukes light up America
and the "dog who didn't bark" is ignored by the American press, who didn't notice:
---------------------------
In the last two decades the only radioactive material smuggled out of Russia was small quantities and usually low-level stuff unsuitable for a bomb. Most Russian nukes have been disassembled and their nuclear material turned into power-plant fuel. The remaining nuclear weapons are under very tight security and most of their nuclear scientists were given financial and career incentives (paid for by the U.S.) to leave nuclear weapons work behind. Nevertheless, for two decades, breathless news stories of Russian "loose nukes" were a media staple on slow news days. None of those stories ever panned out and that has gone on for so long that “loose nukes in Russia” is no longer considered a viable attention getter.
MIT story on internet privacy: linked for later reading.
summary:
...we must learn how to sabotage the system—perhaps by refusing to self-track at all.and this comes from link:
Gateway pundit notes that this page of the Obamacare Spanish website uses a photo of two Asian women.
well, after all, all brown people look alike, don't they?
(/sarcasm)
-----------------------------------------
One reporter wanted some Mexican music to play in the background of a story about Ted Cruz, whose father was a refugee from Cuba.
I suggest maybe he should play this instead.
But hey, all brown people look alike....
-----------------------------------------
if Mirkwood was the forests of central Europe, then the Misty Mountains were... the Alps. TORN discusses here.
====--------------------
another Alp related story: Mont Blanc plane crash jewels found. the crash was in 1966...
but the incident reminded me of the 1956 Spencer Tracy film The Mountain, which was inspired by a similar 1950 plane crash...
-----------------------------------------
the Darwin award of the week goes to North Korea, who are busy hiding their missile sites on a holy volcano on the Chinese border, to keep the Americans from attacking them.
after all, what could go wrong. BBC report on Mt Paektu
Wired report on how to trigger a volcanic eruption.
--------------------------------------------
Friday, October 25, 2013
The very non politically correct Obamacare joke of the day
You're a sick
senior citizen and the government says there is no nursing
home care available for you.
So what do you
do?
Our plan gives anyone 65 years, or older, a gun (G) and 4 bullets.
You are allowed to
shoot four Politicians.
Of course, this means you'll be sent to prison, where you will receive three meals a day, a roof over your head, central heating and air conditioning and all the health care you need.
Need new teeth? No problem. Need glasses? That's great. Need a new hip, knees, kidney, lungs or heart? They're all covered.
Of course, this means you'll be sent to prison, where you will receive three meals a day, a roof over your head, central heating and air conditioning and all the health care you need.
Need new teeth? No problem. Need glasses? That's great. Need a new hip, knees, kidney, lungs or heart? They're all covered.
As an added bonus, your kids can come and visit you at least as often as they do now.
And who will be paying for all of this?
The same
government that just told you they can't afford for you to
go into a home.
And, you can get rid of 4 useless politicians while you're at it.
Plus, because you are a prisoner, you
And, you can get rid of 4 useless politicians while you're at it.
Plus, because you are a prisoner, you
don't have to pay
any income taxes anymore.
Is this a great country or what?
Is this a great country or what?
your email of the day from Tiamaria...
Backstories in the news
Some bozo associated with the UN is pushing insects as food (recipes here), but in China, cockroaches are used medicinally.
Now the latest fad is to raise American German cockroaches and eat them as medicine.
and they are easy to raise:
Cahokia burnt down 900 years ago and that civilization started declining afterward.
Of course, the climate started changing shortly after that time, which also might have something to do with the decline.
and although recent reports say Jurassic park was nonsense, another report showed that the amber mosquitos do contain blood, but not the blood of T Rex:
Want to read a depressing news article?
Follow the money.
Sigh.
------------------------------------
on a more cheerful note.
Heirs of Durin has lots of screen shots from the next Hobbit film.
Guess they escaped without coats...
------------------------
Now the latest fad is to raise American German cockroaches and eat them as medicine.
and they are easy to raise:
But, he said, farming the bugs is very simple. "Just keep them warm and they are happy."-----------------------------------
Cahokia burnt down 900 years ago and that civilization started declining afterward.
Of course, the climate started changing shortly after that time, which also might have something to do with the decline.
and although recent reports say Jurassic park was nonsense, another report showed that the amber mosquitos do contain blood, but not the blood of T Rex:
Since they bring that up, it’s worth pointing out that the mosquito fossil dates to the Middle Eocene, some 19 million years after non-avian dinosaurs went extinct.-------------------------
Want to read a depressing news article?
Follow the money.
Sigh.
------------------------------------
on a more cheerful note.
Heirs of Durin has lots of screen shots from the next Hobbit film.
Guess they escaped without coats...
------------------------
Stuff around the net
I am still catching up with headlines and news (after ten days without electricity except for a generator, meaning no TV cable and no internet...we had to rely on the Manila Bulletin, which we still get in paper form.), and the headlines continue to be the same old same old.
The most serious one is probably that Obama's policies have upset the Saudis (and the Israelis)... he backs the radical Sunnis and the Shiites, so the stable dictators are upset. Maybe someone in the State Dept needs to read "Animal farm" to realize that removing "dictators" sometimes leads to something worse.
And everyone pretends to be shocked, shocked, that the NSA is spying on the leaders of other countries (as if the Russians and Chinese weren't doing the same thing) and the health care bill needs a new computer system.
But if you complain about anything PC, you are a bigot.
And now, Catholics, Orthodox Jews, Muslims, and Hamurabi's ideas of marriage are bigotry.
And as Uncle Orson found out, if you suggest that traditional forms of marriage are somehow better than promiscuity, you will be boycotted. Miley Cyrus? no problem. Madonna ridiculing Jesus? no problem. Shades of Grey? Seducing teenaged step daughters? No problem. Making drug dealers and mafia hitmen heroes? No problem...
One headline on Drudge says AlGore is blaming the usual bushfires in Australia to global warming, and another article noted that the new guy running Australia is out fighting the fire since he belongs to the local volunteer fire company.
in local news:
The typhoon here hurt us and a lot of local farmers, but the huge and terrible earthquake in Bohol pushed our minor calamity out of the headlines.
Most of the headlines here are about the "pork scandal". Since I don't know who is related to whom, I can't follow it, but PNoy is busy trying to clean house.
Good luck to him, but he is also busy passing laws to please outsiders that no one really cares about: for example: laws that allow casinos (and the associated drug/sex trade problems). And of course, changing laws to conform with the "new morality" pushed by the US State Department, not to conform with local society.
Of course, no one here obeys the law, so it doesn't make much difference, but like the RH bill, which is about population control not about supplying midwives for safe child birth, it seems more to be about pleasing Obama's state department than helping the poor.
Speaking of laws: after the typhoon I was not surprised to see army guys going around in vans helping out, but this week I also have seen them in pairs on motorcycles (one driving, one carrying an M16) patrolling the back streets. Yup. "barangay" elections (local elections) are due.
And next weekend: All Saints day: everyone will travel home to visit their relative's graves. so the whole country will shut down for five days.
The most serious one is probably that Obama's policies have upset the Saudis (and the Israelis)... he backs the radical Sunnis and the Shiites, so the stable dictators are upset. Maybe someone in the State Dept needs to read "Animal farm" to realize that removing "dictators" sometimes leads to something worse.
And everyone pretends to be shocked, shocked, that the NSA is spying on the leaders of other countries (as if the Russians and Chinese weren't doing the same thing) and the health care bill needs a new computer system.
But if you complain about anything PC, you are a bigot.
And now, Catholics, Orthodox Jews, Muslims, and Hamurabi's ideas of marriage are bigotry.
And as Uncle Orson found out, if you suggest that traditional forms of marriage are somehow better than promiscuity, you will be boycotted. Miley Cyrus? no problem. Madonna ridiculing Jesus? no problem. Shades of Grey? Seducing teenaged step daughters? No problem. Making drug dealers and mafia hitmen heroes? No problem...
One headline on Drudge says AlGore is blaming the usual bushfires in Australia to global warming, and another article noted that the new guy running Australia is out fighting the fire since he belongs to the local volunteer fire company.
in local news:
The typhoon here hurt us and a lot of local farmers, but the huge and terrible earthquake in Bohol pushed our minor calamity out of the headlines.
Most of the headlines here are about the "pork scandal". Since I don't know who is related to whom, I can't follow it, but PNoy is busy trying to clean house.
Good luck to him, but he is also busy passing laws to please outsiders that no one really cares about: for example: laws that allow casinos (and the associated drug/sex trade problems). And of course, changing laws to conform with the "new morality" pushed by the US State Department, not to conform with local society.
Of course, no one here obeys the law, so it doesn't make much difference, but like the RH bill, which is about population control not about supplying midwives for safe child birth, it seems more to be about pleasing Obama's state department than helping the poor.
Speaking of laws: after the typhoon I was not surprised to see army guys going around in vans helping out, but this week I also have seen them in pairs on motorcycles (one driving, one carrying an M16) patrolling the back streets. Yup. "barangay" elections (local elections) are due.
And next weekend: All Saints day: everyone will travel home to visit their relative's graves. so the whole country will shut down for five days.
Wednesday, October 23, 2013
family news
Electricity and internet now on
All of us are okay The farm buildings were essentially destroyed as was much of the rice crop (some can be harvested for animal feed but too low quality to sell for human consumption). Our higher fields should be okay though.
The greenhouses/organic veggie project, which had just started to produce crops to sell, was flattened. The roof over the small rice mill and rice drier blew off but we think that the machines are okay. Rice harvest starts this week, and we'll have more news as we harvest to see if the crop survived. The chicken farm is no longer there...luckily the renter had just harvested his last chicken crop and decided to leave, so there were no chickens to bury. So we are going to have to tighten the belt for awhile: Maybe we can just concentrate on organic rice for awhile. electrical wires in town were badly damaged by falling trees, so we have been on generators. We brought the large generator down from the farm, but it broke down after one day, so we survived on the smaller one until it got fixed yesterday...the small generator doesn't run airconditioning, with the air filter and dehumidifier that we need for asthma. and it didn't run the water pump, but it will run lights and fans.... Luckily our roofs in town stayed on, and we are high enough that we didn't get flooded, but we lost the back gate, a couple of trees in the garden, and a lot of windows.
Some of the relatives and help in San Lorenzo were flooded out, and moved into Doy's house until the water level went down.
Chano and Joy got home from Manila before the typhoon hit badly, but Ruby stayed later to see a concert and caught a ride home in the pickup truck (making rice deliveries). the road was flooded at San Miguel, so they pulled over to sleep in a gas station parking lot. Then the water started to rise, and they took refuge first inside the store, then on the roof of the gas station store, and ate a lot of the junk food snacks that the owner told them to grab since the store was being filled quickly with rising water, and climb up onto the roof with others who were stranded there. Ruby, being a young teen, grabbed only her cellphone: no blanket, nor her computer. The good news is that she could call here to say they were okay, but they were out in the rain for five hours.
The eye of the typhoon went through just after midnight; this was the second time I've experienced the eye, but the last one was not a full blown storm. This one was: Lots of smashing and banging and then silence for 15 minutes, along with lightning and light rain, and then suddenly the wind came from the other direction and we were back in the storm.
Lolo, being hard of hearing, slept through the whole thing. He had a case of influenza and is still coughing. Not too sick but when you are 88 any infection is serious. Dr. Danny came to check him.
With the lack of full electricity, we had no water pump, so lived on city water, which thank God was working okay. but that meant carrying buckets of water to flush the toilet, and to wash.
The thin white dog Sophie had six puppies three days after the storm, and another dog is due any day now.
All of us are okay The farm buildings were essentially destroyed as was much of the rice crop (some can be harvested for animal feed but too low quality to sell for human consumption). Our higher fields should be okay though.
The greenhouses/organic veggie project, which had just started to produce crops to sell, was flattened. The roof over the small rice mill and rice drier blew off but we think that the machines are okay. Rice harvest starts this week, and we'll have more news as we harvest to see if the crop survived. The chicken farm is no longer there...luckily the renter had just harvested his last chicken crop and decided to leave, so there were no chickens to bury. So we are going to have to tighten the belt for awhile: Maybe we can just concentrate on organic rice for awhile. electrical wires in town were badly damaged by falling trees, so we have been on generators. We brought the large generator down from the farm, but it broke down after one day, so we survived on the smaller one until it got fixed yesterday...the small generator doesn't run airconditioning, with the air filter and dehumidifier that we need for asthma. and it didn't run the water pump, but it will run lights and fans.... Luckily our roofs in town stayed on, and we are high enough that we didn't get flooded, but we lost the back gate, a couple of trees in the garden, and a lot of windows.
Some of the relatives and help in San Lorenzo were flooded out, and moved into Doy's house until the water level went down.
Chano and Joy got home from Manila before the typhoon hit badly, but Ruby stayed later to see a concert and caught a ride home in the pickup truck (making rice deliveries). the road was flooded at San Miguel, so they pulled over to sleep in a gas station parking lot. Then the water started to rise, and they took refuge first inside the store, then on the roof of the gas station store, and ate a lot of the junk food snacks that the owner told them to grab since the store was being filled quickly with rising water, and climb up onto the roof with others who were stranded there. Ruby, being a young teen, grabbed only her cellphone: no blanket, nor her computer. The good news is that she could call here to say they were okay, but they were out in the rain for five hours.
The eye of the typhoon went through just after midnight; this was the second time I've experienced the eye, but the last one was not a full blown storm. This one was: Lots of smashing and banging and then silence for 15 minutes, along with lightning and light rain, and then suddenly the wind came from the other direction and we were back in the storm.
Lolo, being hard of hearing, slept through the whole thing. He had a case of influenza and is still coughing. Not too sick but when you are 88 any infection is serious. Dr. Danny came to check him.
With the lack of full electricity, we had no water pump, so lived on city water, which thank God was working okay. but that meant carrying buckets of water to flush the toilet, and to wash.
The thin white dog Sophie had six puppies three days after the storm, and another dog is due any day now.
Friday, October 11, 2013
Another day another typhoon
we are up to signal 3 for tonite...
internet is going off and on, but only light rain and no wind so far.
internet is going off and on, but only light rain and no wind so far.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)