Happy Halloween from BBC Earth!

Indeed, Life is Scary.

Google's Halloween Treat

If there's an upcoming event or holiday, Google really never fails in celebrating it with their own Google Doodle. This Halloween 2010, Google features Scooby Doo in their Doodle section and it is really timing in this kind of occasion.

Scooby Doo is a cartoon created for Hanna-Barbera Productions by writers Joe Ruby and Ken Spears. The show features a talking dog, Scooby Doo and it includes four teenagers or young adults: Fred "Freddie" Jones, Daphne Blake, Velma Dinkley, and Norville "Shaggy" Rogers. These five characters drive around in the Mystery Machine van, solving mysteries by exposing seemingly otherworldly ghosts and monsters as flesh and blood crooks. After showing several seasons, they called themselves, "Mystery Inc."

Halloween (or Hallowe'en) is annual holiday observed on October 31, primarily in the United States, Canada, Ireland and the United Kingdom. Commonly Halloween activities include trick-or-treating, wearing costumer and attending costume parties, visiting haunted attractions, carving jack-o'-lanterns, telling ghost stories and watching horror films. 

Here in the Philippines, we also celebrate it by having some Halloween costume parties and events, trick-or-treating is also acknowledged by different companies here for their employees's children, telling ghost stories, different TV stations feature ghost stories as well and also, a new horror film is also available for us. Indeed, Halloween is already been part of our holiday unlike before. 

My Little Sister's Graduation

Yesterday, it was my little sister's, Nicole, graduation. She earned the degree in Bachelor of Science in Hotel, Restaurant & Institutional Management in De La Salle-College of Saint Benilde and she chose the Toursim track. She is the youngest in our family and I guess my parents can take a rest from here because all of their children already earned a college degree. 

Usually, when you are studying in a school for college that is kinda popular, the commencement exercise takes place in Philippine International Convention Center (PICC) in Manila. I also experienced having the same experience with my sister when I earned my degree in Bachelor of Science in Civil Engineering in University of Santo Tomas and yes, I earned this last March 2007.


It's like a flash back when I graduated in college but right now, I was the one who is taking pictures for my sister. Back then, she was the one who took pictures for my graduation rites. 


I guess, time really flies so fast. 

My sister, Nicole A. Bringas.

With our Dad.

With our Mom.

With our parents.

Me and my Little Sister. 

Too bad, our elder sister can't join us in our little sister's graduation. This was also the same issue with my graduation that happened three years ago. We do understand why she can't join us because she has already a family. 


Again, congratulation to my little sister, Nicole. 


Welcome to the unemployed world. ツ

IMORTAL: Mga Pangitain ni Jethro

Hindi naman halata na avid viewer ako ng IMORTAL. Hehe! Simula ng mapanood ko ang episode tungkol sa blog ni Jethro (ginagampanan ni Dino Imperial) ay ginamit ko na agad si Google. Kanina sa episode ng IMORTAL eh pinakita ang blog title ni Jethro.

Pero laging bitin naman ang mga eksena at next week, magiging lobo na si Angel Locsin bilang Lia pero hindi na puting lobo. Kung hindi isang kulay brown na parang madungis lang na puting lobo. Hehe! Pero exciting pa rin kasi magiging lobo na siya. Eh si John Lloyd Cruz kaya bilang Mateo, kelan kaya siya magiging bampira? Hmmmm... 

Click here for the blog, Mga Pangitain ni Jethro.

My New Layout!

I really wanted to change or update my blogger theme for the longest time. I have been checking for a nice blogger theme for a couple of weeks but wasn't able to find one. And at last, I found one that feels like me when I saw it and thanks to Theme Craft  for creating a theme like this and Theme Craft called it, Multichrome.

I am not sure if I am going to add more gadgets for my blog but I am pretty sure that there will still be some finishing touches for my blog. I decided have a screenshot for my blog and let'see when will I change my blogger theme again. 

Visible Screenshot of my blog. c/o Webpage Screenshot

All page screenshot by Webpage Screenshot.

Map of Non-Monogamy

This is so complicated. I guess I will stick on being a monogamous person! 

10 Most Facebook Addicted Countries

MSN is my homepage for my Internet Explorer and of course, I usually check if there's an interesting story and saw this article. Facebook is already been part of my life and I check my account everyday. 


Facebook is a social network and service launched in February 2004 . As of August 2010, there are 540 million active users around the world. So, here is the ranking for the 10 Most Facebook Addicted Countries. 

10. Canada - with estimated Facebook users of 14 million

8. Turkey - (tie) with Monthly Facebook visitors of 16 million

8. Mexico - (tie) with Monthly Facebook visitors of 16 million

7. Germany - with Monthly Facebook visitors of 19 million

5. India - (tie) with Monthly Facebook visitors of 23 million

5. France - (tie) with Monthly Facebook visitors of 23 million

3. Italy - (tie) with Monthly Facebook visitors of 26 million

3. Indonesia - (tie) with Monthly Facebook visitors of 26 million

2. United Kingdom - with Monthly Facebook visitors of 28 million 

1. United States - with Monthly Facebook visitors of 140 million

So, I wonder when will the Philippines included in this list. Let's see in the future.


Click here for the full article, 10 Most Facebook Addicted Countries. 

10 Steps for a Smoother Barangay & SK Elections

Happy 1st Global Oneness Day!

What is Oneness?

Oneness is more than a beautiful word. Science increasingly shows it is our true nature – that life is a unified whole with multiple dimensions, each complementing the other.

Beyond that, Oneness is the key to peace.

Peace efforts will continue to fail until people embrace humanity’s Oneness, veteran U.N. envoy Anwarul K. Chowdhury, the leading emissary of the U.N. Culture of Peace initiative, said May 20, 2010, on receiving a worldwide appeal to the world body to declare an annual Global Oneness Day recognizing humanity’s inner unity, originally conceived by Humanity’s Team.

“I believe that unless we have that sense of solidarity among the peoples of the world, all our efforts of peace and security will go nowhere,” said  Chowdhury, a former undersecretary-general and high representative of the United Nations.

Chowdhury also encouraged Humanity’s Team,  which delivered the petition to the United Nations and sees Oneness as embracing God and all life, to work together with other groups to  declare a Global Oneness Day, even before the United Nations takes action.

Which is why we declared 24 October 2010 as the first Global Oneness Day – a day intended to inspire awareness, appreciation and celebration of life’s  underlying Oneness in the same way that Earth Day is intended to inspire awareness, appreciation and celebration of the earth’s natural environment.

And like Earth Day, Global Oneness Day invites people to bring Oneness into their lives in practical ways, not just conceptually.

These practical demonstrations of Oneness will give people tangible, experiential proof that living in Oneness works. This will, in turn, encourage us all to expand our hopes, beliefs and behaviors so that, a generation from now, humanity will finally realize a dream it has had since time immemorial of a world living in peace, harmony and happiness.

Click here to get some ideas about what you can do to celebrate Global Oneness Day and to learn about Global Oneness Day events around the world!

Tigers could be extinct within 12 years: WWF

A captive Sumatran tiger roams through its enclosure
at Jakarta's Ragunan Zoo. Tigers could become
extinct within 12 years but a top level meeting in
Russia next month could help reverse the decline,
according to the WWF nature conservation body.
(AFP/File/Romeo Gacad) 

Thu Oct 21, 12:07 pm ET

STOCKHOLM (AFP) – Tigers could become extinct within 12 years but a top level meeting in Russia next month could help reverse the decline, nature conservation body WWF said on Thursday.

"The worse scenario is that the tiger could be gone when the next year of the tiger comes along, in 12 years," said Ola Jennersten, head of the international nature conservation programme at WWF Sweden.

The organisation is leading a global campaign to attempt to double the number of tigers by 2022, when the next Chinese calendar year of the tiger comes around.

WWF said that in the last century, illegal hunting, a shrinking habitat and the trade of tiger parts used in oriental medicine had sent the number of the big cats worldwide plunging 97 percent to around just 3,200 tigers today.

"Despite the gloomy figures, the situation is more hopeful than ever," Jennersten said, praising a political initiative of 13 'tiger states' and different bodies set to meet in Russia on November 21-24 in a bid to halt possible extinction of the species.

"This will be achieved through increased political involvement, focus on the tiger landscapes that have the greatest chance of long term retention of the tiger, and increased control of tiger trade," he said.

Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin, who in the past years has made a big show of his love for nature, publicly kissing animals and engaging in a string of stunts involving wildlife including tigers, is expected to attend the summit in Saint Petersburg.

WWF said some 1,800 tigers live in India, Nepal, Bhutan and Bangladesh, 450 live in Sumatra, 400 in Malaysia, 350 are spread throughout southeast Asia and around 450 live in the wild in Russia.

The New 500 Philippine Peso Bill?

Currently, we have this 500 peso bill with the face of former Senator Benigno "Ninoy" Aquino Jr.

After former President Corazon "Cory" Aquino died last August 2009, a lot of people suggested to replace our current 500 peso bill into this.

Just a while ago when I am browsing my Twitter account and checking some tweets, someone posted the copy of this bill. I checked it and it was different from the previous one. As you can see, former Senator Ninoy Aquino is still here with his wife, former Philippine President Cory Aquino, with their son, President Benigno "Noynoy" Aquino III, and their daughter, Kris Aquino at the right top. Also, you can see Former Philippine President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo on the left side with the sign that she is praying.

I don't have any answers why they customized this 500 peso bill but I guess it is just for fun and no malign intention. 

"It Gets Better" (Broadway sings for the Trevor Project)

Yesterday, when the Spirit Day is about to end, another young gay man committed suicide, his name is Corey Jackson. This brings a sad news for the whole LGBTQ community because another life has taken away.

In my own little ways, I am supporting the Anti-Gay Bullying through my blog, Twitter and Facebook account. After watching this video by the Broadway cast for the Trevor Project, I know that "It Gets Better" if we are here to support them. Being HOMOSEXUAL is NOT A DISEASE and we don't need a CURE for it. We just need ACCEPTANCE and EQUAL RIGHTS.

This video really uplifts my spirit and the pain will just go away, not now but eventually. So we really need to be a fighter, a fighter for our own rights.

It gets better, better, better

The pain will let up, let up, let up

If you fall just get up, get up, get up

Ohh, cause there's another way

It gets better, better, better

The world gets lighter, lighter, lighter

So be a fighter, fighter, fighter

Ohh, just live to see that day

Yeah, live to see that day (that day)

Live to see that day

For more information, please visit http://www.itgetsbetterproject.com/

I support #SpiritDay!

Though I am not American, still the 6 recent suicides due to gay abuse made me realize that it has to stop. In my own little ways, I am supporting the #SpiritDay and that is today, 10/20/10. 


I am wearing a purple shirt today and together with my purple camera, I took some picture of myself though is kinda blurred because I only use my laptop's webcam. Here's the sample:

I'm wearing a purple shirt together with my purple camera.

WHAT IS SPIRIT DAY?

The idea behind Spirit Day, first created by teenager Brittany McMillan earlier this month, is a simple one, not dissimilar to the idea of "Spirit Week" held in many high schools, and can be summed up in three words: Everyone Rally Together.

Spirit Day honors the teenagers who had taken their own lives in recent weeks. But just as importantly, it's also a way to show the hundreds of thousands of LGBT youth who face the same pressures and bullying, that there is a vast community of people who support them.

Purple symbolizes 'spirit' on the rainbow flag, a symbol for LGBT Pride that was created by Gilbert Baker in 1978.

As one of the event's Facebook pages says: "This event is not a seminar nor is it a rally. There is NO meeting place. All you have to do is wear purple." 

Wearing purple on October 20 is a simple way to show the world that you stand by these courageous young people and a simple way to stand UP to the bullies. Remember those lives we've tragically lost, and show your solidarity with those who are still fighting. 'Go Purple' today! 

WEAR PURPLE ON OCTOBER 20 FOR SPIRIT DAY!

For more information about GLAAD's Spirit Day, visit http://www.glaad.org/spiritday

It Gets Better

"We need you!" - Margaret Cho

This is her message for the bullied teens by helping bullied LGBTQ youth in committing suicide. In her video for the "It Gets Better" campaign, she shares that she was bullied so often as a teenager and also wanted to take her own life many times.

Cho concludes her message by asking teens to "stay with us. We love you so much."

Expansive Hoover Dam Bridge Opens

The 1,900-foot-long structure is the seventh highest bridge in the world.

Sun Oct 17, 2010 11:45 AM ET 
Content provided by Steve Friess, AFP

America's greatest technological achievement,
the Hoover Dam, now has a soaring
companion piece, a massive looming bridge
held up by the longest arch in the Western
Hemisphere. Wikimedia Commons

THE GIST

• The bridge cost $240 million to build and involved 1,200 laborers and 300 engineers.
• The Mike O'Callaghan-Pat Tillman Memorial Bridge is now the seventh highest in the world.

America's greatest technological achievement, the Hoover Dam, now has a soaring companion piece, a massive looming bridge held up by the longest arch in the Western Hemisphere.

The Mike O'Callaghan-Pat Tillman Memorial Bridge, which opened this month and connects the U.S. states of Arizona and Nevada, spans the vast chasm 890 feet above the Colorado River that is controlled by the dam.

The striking 1,900-foot-long structure, which reroutes traffic off of the two-lane road atop the dam, will improve traffic in the region and help protect the dam from terrorist threats, officials said.

It is the seventh highest bridge in the world, behind four in China, one in Papua New Guinea and one in Colorado.

"The Hoover Dam is the greatest civil engineering achievement in America's history," said bypass bridge project manager Dave Zanatell with the Federal Highway Administration.

"Our goal was not to outdo or outshine it. Our goal was to, in a respectful way, do something that would be great for our generation and that would stand besides Hoover Dam in a respectful and quality way that would become a part of Hoover's legacy."

The $240 million bridge was built in five years by 1,200 laborers and 300 engineers.

It could not have arrived at a better moment for a nation and region whose psyche has been pummeled by a prolonged, devastating recession.

Just as the Hoover Dam was built in the heart of the Great Depression and was seen as an example of the nation's can-do spirit, some hope this project can provide some uplift.

The dam and bridge are "two engineering wonders constructed at times when our country was looking at itself and wondering what the future held," said Colleen Dwyer of the Bureau of Reclamation, which manages the dam.

"We're looking at what can be done even at these worst of times to make these wonderful structures come to be, to create something new and different which enables America to keep moving ahead. That's the parallel."

The bridge's dimensions are staggering: at 1,050 feet, its support arch is the longest arch in the Western Hemisphere, holding up a roadway that leans on 300-foot-long concrete pillars, some of the tallest in the world.

It contains 16 million pounds of steel, 30,000 cubic yards of concrete and two million feet of cable.

The idea of the bridge originated in the 1960s because the top of the Hoover Dam has been a narrow two-lane road that is the fastest route from Arizona to Las Vegas and then the Pacific Northwest and Canada.

Access to the dam from each direction is a treacherously winding route, but massive semi-trucks and passenger vehicles shared and navigated it for decades.

During the day, when thousands of tourists flock to the dam from Las Vegas, about 30 miles away, the interaction between traffic and pedestrians has been resulted in three times as many accidents as on a normal road, Zanatell said.

After the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks, the federal government feared a terrorist with a truck bomb could attack the dam, potentially flooding the region and disrupting water and power supplies to several states.

Semi-trucks were banned from bridge, forced to take route to Las Vegas that is more than 40 miles longer.

In addition to driving on it, tourists will be able to park in a designated lot on the Nevada side and climb stairs to walk the bridge, which has a sidewalk on the side facing the dam.

The retaining wall is 54 inches high, so pedestrians can snap photos from a spectacular vantage point.

"It makes me feel good as an American," said Jerry Couden, a residential general contractor from Milford, Conn., who, like millions of Vegas tourists each year, made the 30 miles drive southeast.

"Look what we did then (building the dam) and now look at what this is. It's a tremendous feat. It is cool to see."

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Source: http://news.discovery.com/tech/zooms/hoover-dam-bridge.html

5 Reasons To Have Sex For Your Health

By Leigh Doyle


See why love-making is the best medicine

Photo By Getty Images

We've heard that sex can boost your mood and lower your blood pressure, but Dr. David McKenzie, a Vancouver-based clinical sexologist, and Ottawa-based sexologist Sue McGarvie, recently shared a few unexpected reasons why you should get frisky at least twice a week. As if orgasms weren't enough!

#1 FEWER COLDS
A study from Wilkes University in Wilkes-Barre, Pa., found that regular sex releases an antibody called immunoglobulin A (IgA), which can protect against colds and infections. If you're already sick, it's worth a romp to reduce some symptoms. "The adrenaline released during sex clears sinus congestion, too," says McKenzie.

#2 LOOK YOUNGER
Post-coital flushed cheeks will give you a radiant glow and so will semen, says McGarvie. "Prostaglandins in semen help the skin look radiant." These are a type of hormone that delay aging in skin and are linked to reducing wrinkles.

#3 BYE BYE CRAMPS
Sex floods your body with endorphins and corticosteroids, says McGarvie. The combination has an analgaesic effect that lowers your pain threshold and alleviates PMS cramps, headaches, and general body pain.

#4 STRONGER BONES
Orgasms release testosterone, a hormone linked to increased bone density, which is key to keeping osteoporosis at bay. "Plus the physical activity from a more vigorous session can help strengthen bones and muscles too," says McGarvie.

#5 SWEET SLEEP
After an orgasm there is a surge of oxytocin, says McKenzie and that helps your body slip into a relaxed and stress-free state. Oxytocin promotes quality sleep - this explains why your guy is asleep before he hits the pillow.

Information is current as of the original date of publication.




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Source: http://lifestyle.ca.msn.com/health-fitness/health/rogers-article.aspx?cp-documentid=25872377

Not repeating mistakes is a form of progress.

World's longest tunnel breaks down Swiss Alpine barrier

AFP - Saturday, October 16

Photo by Agence France Presse

SEDRUN, Switzerland (AFP) - – A giant drilling machine punched its way through a final section of Alpine rock on Friday to complete the world's longest tunnel, after 15 years of sometimes lethal construction work.

In a stage-managed breakthrough, attended by some 200 dignitaries, 30 kilometres (20 miles) inside the tunnel and broadcast live on Swiss television, engineers from both sides shook hands after the bore had pummeled through the final 1.5 metres (five feet) of rock.

"Here, in the heart of the Swiss Alps, one of the biggest environmental projects on the continent has become reality," said Swiss Transport Minister Moritz Leuenberger.

Tunnel workers paid tribute to their colleagues who had died on the construction site with a minute's silence as the names of the eight victims were read out during an emotional ceremony for the breakthrough.

"Workers, thank you, thank you, thank you. We have not only built a tunnel, we have written history," said Luzi Gruber of the construction company Implenia.

The 57-kilometre (35.4-mile) high-speed rail link, which will open in 2017, will form the lynchpin of a new rail network between northern and southeastern Europe and help ease congestion and pollution in the Swiss Alps.

It is the third tunnel to be built through the snowbound St. Gotthard area but it is much the longest and three kilometres longer than a rail link between two Japanese islands, the current record holder at 53.8 kilometres.

"The myth of the Gotthard has been broken for a third time. Our forefathers struggled from the Middle Ages onwards to make this mountain passable," Peter Fueglistaler, director of the Federal Transport office, told journalists gathered for the final breakthrough.

Passengers will ultimately be able to speed from the Italian city of Milan to Zurich in less than three hours and further north into Germany, cutting the journey time by an hour.

Once completed, around 300 trains should be able to speed through the Gotthard's twin tubes every day, at up to 250 kilometres per hour (155 mph) for passenger trains.

The 9.8-billion Swiss franc (7.0-billion euro, 9.8-billion dollar) tunnel, which is 9.5 metres in diameter, is also the fruit of strong popular environmental concern about pollution in the Swiss Alps.

Switzerland nonetheless struggled to convince sceptical European neighbours to support the ambitious and costly transalpine rail plans. But Swiss voters helped force the issue in 1994 by supporting a ban on heavy trucks driving across the Alps -- including the expanding flow of transiting EU goods traffic.

A nationwide poll published on Wednesday suggested that sentiment is undimmed, with two thirds supporting a ban on truck traffic through the Gotthard road tunnel and moving it on to rail.

But a senior Swiss official warned the full benefit of the rail tunnel can only be realised if Germany and Italy complete complementary infrastructure.

"For a noticeable amount of freight to be shifted from road to rail, our neighbouring countries Germany and Italy will have to fulfill their contractual obligation to extend access routes," said Peter Fueglistaler, director of the government's Federal Transport Office.

In recent years, Austria, France and Italy have set in motion two similar rail tunnel projects through the eastern and western Alps, which are both planned to exceed 50 kilometres in length in the 2020s.

Apart from the economic and environmental implications, the spotlight was on more than 2,000 tunnel workers, especially following the rescue of Chile's trapped miners.

The builders, who have blasted and bored through 13 million cubic metres (460 million cubic feet) of rock, were feted at a celebration just above the breakthrough point in the mist-bound village of Sedrun.

As the two tunnels became one, tunnelers unfurled a Swiss flag to a thunder of applause.

One of the first to make it through, Hubert Baer, told the crowd: "It's a wonderful feeling, it's an honour to have participated in the construction of the longest rail tunnel in the world."

Scene: Santa Barbara stands watch over world's longest tunnel


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Source: http://ph.news.yahoo.com/afp/20101016/tts-switzerland-transport-tunnel-rail-en-c1b2fc3.html