The Pablo Banila Bandwagon hahaha

Brought to everyone's attention by my multiply pal, doc carlos (carabaopower), I really did not know anything about this Pablo Banila Person until today. Out of curiosity, I discovered that he has frequented my multiply site as well with his countless multiply accounts. 

This is hilarious really hahaha. A quick checking out of his website (pablobanila.com) hints that he is some sort of a literary talent -slash- deviant and probably a student of Philippine Science High School in Quezon City.

Myriads of girls (and boys) have likewise been (stalked) by this Pablo Banila person and what is even more amazing is the fact that he has had more than 2 articles about him in our National Dailies. hahaha

I really don't mind him lurking in my site, after all, my entries are open for everyone in the worldwide web to visit.  he probably gets his kicks that way - either that or he's created some sort of a web crawler/phishing machine/ bot that can browse through multiply accounts over and over countless times per day.

here is the article that's come up in the inquirer about him. hahaha

Who in the world is Pablo Banila? 

By Bianca Consunji
Philippine Daily Inquirer

Last updated 20:36:00 10/31/2008

HE began as a series of mysterious avatars popping up on my Multiply viewing history. He didn’t bother me at first, because I was used to friendly strangers visiting my site. But when he began visiting on an almost daily basis—and under different usernames, although with the same avatar—I started to wonder who in the world was Pablo Banila.

Visits to his websites offered no clue. His avatar showed a creepy-looking guy with matted chin-length hair (think Severus Snape from Harry Potter) and a flashing sign that read, “Pablo Banila has a crush on you! That’s why he visited your website!”

That would have been almost flattering had I not already known that he had visited the websites of at least a hundred other people—all under different usernames and the same annoying avatar. He also has a dotcom, www.pablobanila.com, but it offers no clues, only rambling passages of text and close-up photos of himself.

People started complaining. “Please get a life, you pervert,” wrote one girl in her blog, after listing down his many usernames—pablobanila, ppaabblloobanila, rainbowinmycoffee, carrotperfume, laughingmankuze, edwardward, blackbetweenthestars, theblackbetweenthestars, etc. People left similar comments on that entry, saying, “OMG he viewed me too!” or “He views mine too, it’s so creepy!”

Others chimed in, “He views me every other day, more often than I check my own Multiply site,” while guys posted nervous comments like, “He checks me out too, and I’m a boy.”

So far, his visits to sites have been harmless (all he does is view homepages; he doesn’t leave comments), but creepy—there’s just no other word for it. Attempts to discover his identity have so far been futile. But identity aside, what everyone wants to know is, how does he find time to check out all those Multiply pages?

Is Pablo Banila actually a team of high school kids with nothing better to do?

Is Pablo Banila actually a group of college students doing a psychology research project for their thesis?

Is Pablo Banila a new Internet virus?

Is Pablo Banila actually just the government looking for suspected terrorists by combing through the pages of unsuspecting Multiply users?

Is Pablo Banila merely the victim of pranksters who are out to get him?

Or is Pablo Banila just really a sad person with no friends and nothing better to do?

In any case, Multiply users are waiting for an answer. But until then, Pablo Banila continues to stalk our websites—and our nightmares.

E-mail the author at biancaconsunji@yahoo.com

=======

update:update:update

edit delete reply miguel8088 wrote today at 7:08 PM hahah Genius, hats off to you Pablo Banila, great execution of a social experiment, well thought of indeed hahaha.

edit delete reply miguel8088 wrote today at 7:07 PM aha! and I think Pablo Banila does make sense in this retort after all, haha I lifted this in another multiply blog entry where he's replied. hahahaha reply edwardward wrote on Sep 27 As I have patiently cleared before, again and again: I am exploiting the concept of a "viewing history" as a problem of function. Public domain is public domain. If they feel harassed in any way it was because I keep exercising my right to view their public profile, AND they harbor an irrational fear and irritation against my scarecrow headshot LOL founded by a notoriety based on a shallow social validation. People read about accusations, libels, and death threats against me written in my very guestbook. As the "wisdom of crowds" would send lemmings to their final swimming lesson so does it lead human beings into biases. I am hated in exactly the same way other human beings discriminate Blacks, Muslims, and homosexuals. Interestingly, most of my most passionate haters honestly believed that I had a crush on them until I opened up a guestbook. They found out it wasn't only them. Most of them are kids who are not allowed to have a Multiply account in the first place. Wait until EVERYBODY exploits this method of "advertising" (: It turns out I'm the first one to execute a classic prank in a Biblical scale (100 million accounts viewed, worldwide). ~Pablo Banila is the next Slavoj Zizek

edit delete reply miguel8088 wrote today at 6:52 PM, edited today at 6:53 PM here's a reply i posted in one of frighteningly numerous blog entriess about mr. banila: miguel8088 wrote today at 6:49 PM Right on hhahhaha. after all the none of these people whom he allegedly stalked have their accounts set at limited viewing only by private contacts. Ergo: it's a free world. As far as i know, pablo banila, annoying as it may seem, has not committed any crime. if he adds you up, you always have the choice to ignore him. if you're freaked out because he's lurking at your postings (that's free for the entire world to view anyway), then maybe you should restrict access to your posts. just a thought hehe.  this guy, is a deviant, I guess, but hey, that's his personal choice after all.

Volvo S60 2008 Review

2008 Volvo S60

Posted on 08.14.2007 00:00 by Simona Alina

The Volvo S60 was launched in autumn 2000 as a somewhat smaller sedan than the Volvo S80. The design brief was to create a car with the same basic lines and safety as the S80 model, but in a more compact body and with a sportier profile. 

Design Four-door sedan. The Volvo S60 has a sloping roof line, swept-back C-posts and short rear section - a combination of sedan and coupedesign that gives the car its sporty appearance. In order to further emphasise the S60 model’s sporty profile, the nose section has been extended, the haunches are more pronounced and the body has a ground-hugging stance. Although the body is compact, the interior offers generous space and comfortable seating for four occupants. However, this is space for a fifth passenger, along with a fifth seat belt and head restraint. One of the reasons for the good interior space is Volvo’s modern powertrain concept, which features transverse engine installation. 2008 Volvo S60 Volvo S60 gets a new exterior colour: the 489 Matt Gold pearl. Discontinued colours are: 465 Cedar Green pearl 469 Lunar Gold pearl 613 Deep Blue   Safety Volvo Cars adopts a holistic view of safety that encompasses both Preventive and Protective safety. Preventive safety is closely linked to the car’s driving properties. The body of the Volvo S60 features immense torsional rigidity and the car has a sturdy chassis, a combination that results in consistent, predictable behaviour on the road (see also under "Powertrain and Chassis"). Volvo Cars has developed various information systems designed to help the driver while on the move. One such system is IDIS (Intelligent Driver Information System), which for instance delays incoming phone calls in complex traffic situations that require the driver’s undivided attention. BLIS - Blind Spot Information System - registers if another vehicle is in the offset rear blind spot alongside the car and alerts the driver via a visual signal. Active Bi-Xenon headlamps - moving headlamp beams that follow the curvature of the road - help maintain the best possible visibility in the dark on twisting roads. 2008 Volvo S60 S60 models intended for the US market are equipped with a tyre pressure control system - TPMS (Tyre Pressure Monitoring System). Protective safety in the Volvo S60 is structured around a network consisting of exterior and interior safety systems that interact with one another to reduce the risk of occupant injury in a collision. The exterior systems have the task of distributing and absorbing incoming collision forces so that the passenger compartment remains as intact and undamaged as possible. The body is therefore built in the form of a metal cage where all the components interact with one another to ensure controlled deformation. The interior safety systems aim to keep the passengers securely in place and also to reduce the risk of serious injury. In order to provide the most effective protection possible, Volvo Cars has developed a number of in-house systems, such as WHIPS (Whiplash Protection System), SIPS (Side Impact Protection System) and IC (Inflatable Curtain). All are fitted as standard in the Volvo S60. What is more, all five seats are equipped with three-point inertia-reel seat belts, belt pre-tensioners and head restraints. The highest possible safety requires that all the car’s occupants always use their seat belts. Powertrain and chassis The engines in the Volvo S60 are five-cylinder, transversely installed in-line units. A five-cylinder engine gives low vibration and smooth operation. Together with large displacement, the five-cylinder configuration provides high torque across a broad rev band, and thus also swift acceleration and excellent driveability within a wide speed range. 2008 Volvo S60 The Volvo S60 T5 is the top model, featuring a turbocharger and a six-speed gearbox. The engine range also includes diesel engines with particle filters, and the environmentally optimised Volvo Bi-Fuel, which can be run on methane or petrol. The chassis, with spring struts at the front and Multilink axle at the rear, is set up for stable, reassuring driving manners and alert steering response. The Multilink rear axle is an independent rear suspension system featuring a number of links and it is designed to offer a good combination of controlled wheel movements and high ride comfort. Some of these links have the task of providing a certain degree of anti-skid steering effect. A long wheelbase and wide track, together with a very torsionally rigid body, contribute to the predictable, controlled driving manners. Volvo’s advanced DSTC (Dynamic Stability and Traction Control) stability-enhancing system is fitted as standard. DSTC cuts in and helps stabilise the car if it registers any tendency to skid. An active chassis with advanced Four-C technology is available as an option. With this system, the chassis settings are adjusted automatically to suit the current driving conditions, thus improving both handling and ride comfort. Two alternative chassis settings are programmed into the system. At the touch of a button, the driver can thus alter the car’s behaviour to suit driving conditions and personal taste. TheVolvo S60 2.5T AWD has Volvo’s electronically controlled All-Wheel Drive system with Instant Traction, for fast and effective distribution of traction even when moving off on a slippery surface. 2008 Volvo S60 The environment The Volvo S60 is designed and equipped to impact as little as possible on the global environment and to offer a clean and healthy interior climate. Petrol engines with low internal friction, efficient combustion and advanced exhaust filtration technology result in low emissions. Energy-efficient diesel engines with particle filters produce low emissions of carbon dioxide and soot particles. Methane-powered Bi-Fuel cars with petrol as the back-up fuel reduce carbon dioxide emissions by 25% compared with petrol-only cars, if the methane is extracted from natural gas. When running on biogas, the net greenhouse effect is instead virtually zero. The engines in the Volvo S60 can be optionally specified with a catalytic radiator coating known as PremAir®. This system converts harmful ground-level ozone into pure oxygen as the car drives. Its benefits are greatest in dense city traffic and in strong sunlight. 2008 Volvo S60 Volvo’s IAQS (Interior Air Quality System) effectively reduces the amount of particles, pollen, gases and certain unpleasant odours in the air entering the cabin. All the textiles and leather upholsteries are certified according to ÖKO-TEX 100, an international standard that ensures that the interior trim is free from allergy-producing and hazardous substances.

Volvo XC70 anyone?

I'm starting to like the xc70, but i dunno if it's too low . . .  this cam in my mail for the diplomatic car sales emailer they send out, this is how I found my car at such a great deal too :D

xc70 - 4x4 and high tech hehe, the werks  

Vote for a Young Pinoy's Work (Glenn Peter Perez) at UK's DCMag Photography Contest

International Photography Competition

Register, and then vote for GLP's entries  here

I'm sure you'll like em.  

DST Time Change

Don Miguel will have a -7 hour time difference from back home in a few hours.

here are the details

Time Zone
Europe/Brussels

Current Date and Time in Europe/Brussels
Sat 25-Oct-2008 10:47 P.M.

Country
Belgium

Daylight Saving Time (DST) in effect?
Yes

Most Recent DST Transition
DST began on Sun 30-Mar-2008 at 02:00:00 A.M. when local clocks were set forward 1 hour

Next Scheduled DST Transition
DST will end on Sun 26-Oct-2008 at 03:00:00 A.M. when local clocks are set backward 1 hour

Don Miguel is

Watching the Global Stock Indices bouncing along the bottom 

I tell ya, this is the best time to be working for government right now.

Raices Familia Ignacio (Caceres, Alcantara, Espana) - Ignacio Family Roots

Ignacio family Background (Caceres, Alcantara, Spain)
Posted by: Rafael L Ignacio Velez Torres Medina (ID *****2625)	Date: December 03, 2007 at 00:14:04
	of 25

To all interested, The Ignacio Family originated in northen Spain (Basco's) and transfer sometime around the 1500's to the area of Alcantaras, mainly the Town of Caceres. Since then it expanded to Portugal and areas near the border with Portugal and Spain, From there it had some relative move to the Caribbean , mainly Puerto Rico and one that reach the Philippines as early as 17oo's.

The oldest Ignacio recorded in the caribbean was bury (sic) in the catatombs, of Iglesia San Agustin in Puert de Tierra, San Juan Puerto Rico sometime around the late 1600's to early 1700's.
There are records of some 2 or 3 cousings reaching as far as Mexico from Puerto Rico in the middle 1700's.

I'm trying to reach all Ignacio'S that think or knows that they might be decendants of the Ignacio's from Alcantaras. Those in general is one clan only and it is consider the largest clan of Ignacio's. We even have a supposed Viceroy in Brazil appointed by the King of Portugal.

1 out of every 7 Belgians is poor - (expatica.be)

1 in 7 Belgians is poor20/10/2008 00:00

Almost 15 percent of the Belgian population is living below the poverty line.

20 October 2008

Brussels - On the International Day for the Eradication of Poverty, central Brussels hosted  a number of events to draw attention to poverty in Belgian society. 

According to European statistics, one in seven Belgians (or almost  15 percent of the Belgian population) is living below the poverty line.

The minimum benefit jobless people are entitled to is currently 711 euros a month. The Flemish association for the fight against poverty wants to have this raised to 860 euros, a 21 percent rise.

"No money for the poor, billions for the banks"

However, the government has promised only a 2 percent rise for next year. State Secretary responsible for the fight against poverty, Jean-Marc Delizée (Francophone Socialist), says the government cannot act immediately.

"My aim is to have nobody living below the poverty line", Mr Delizée explains. "This costs a lot of money though and we will not be able to achieve this goal in one year. I think it will take some years to close the gap, but I will support such a plan year after year."

Anke Hintjes of the Flemish Network for Poverty is disappointed. "They say there is no money, but at the same we see that billions of euros can be found for the banks in a couple of weeks. This is really shocking."

No teeth since a year and a half

Many people living below the poverty threshold can't afford decent housing or basic needs. One woman explained that she has been living without teeth for almost a year and a half. "I simply can't afford new teeth. It's too expensive."

Johnny now has a job, but he used to be homeless. "It was a daily struggle to survive, to find a toilet, something to eat, a dry spot to sleep. Time and again. I was lucky because it happened during summer, but it's even tougher in winter."

Nele says the poor should get more respect from people. "The poor are often stigmatised. They can't do anything, they are lazy, stupid, dirty... But that's not true. They simply don't get a chance."

When is someone considered poor?

In the European Union someone is considered poor when he or she has an income below 860 euros. 

For families with two adults and two children, the poverty threshold has been set at 1,805 euros per month. 

In Belgium, 14.7 percent of the population do not meet these minimum standards. Most at risk are those who have no job (the unemployed or pensioners), people living alone or single-parent families.

[flandersnews.be / Expatica]

Autumn is Here -

I got to Brussels one month short of a year ago. And this site greeted me. The building behind my office, covered in bright red leaves. 

This building had green leaves all of spring and summer and now this.  It's a chameleon of an edifice indeed.

The streets are filled with fallen maple leaves and the nip in the air is turning into frost.

And so my friends, in a month's time, I will be a year in Brussels.

can't wait to be home for Christmas really . . 

Don Miguel's Tuna in Brussels - Proudly Philippine Made

Canned tuna is a staple in my grocery list.  I use lots of tuna for my world famous, Don Miguel, il Signorino Mediterranean Salad, I use tuna for my Tuna-Melt Rice Topping, I use tuna for omelette, etc. 

Anyway, I did my groceries at Delhaize Supermarket, instead of my usual GB by Carrefour haunt, one time, went straight for the aisle where the tuna was, and reached in for several cans of Tuna with the Delhaize Brand, for the best price on the rack.

Part of my work is to protect our country's interests in its Tuna exports. . . and I was so surprised, later that week, to find out that the tuna I bought from Delhaize, was voila!  - made in the Philippines!

Whopeeeeeee!!!! made in the Philippines indeed!

So guys, I'll be doing my Tuna grocery shopping in Delhaize from now on.

Are you there?

are u there

in the offing

of the gloom

are you there

in the mist

of the cold winter noon

are you there

in the twilight

of the summer morn

are you there

An Ode of Gratitude to Ms. Pinky Marquez: The Lady with a Golden Voice and a Golden Heart.

About three or four years ago, my pals and myself were lining up at the ticket booth of the then newer Greenbelt 3 Cinemas.   (Yep, back in Manila, I used to watch movies 2x or 3x a week -- except of course if nothing interesting was showing. Here in Europe, I only watch movies with my expat pals once in a blue moon  because of the prohibitive cost-- but that's another story.)  In front of us in the queue was a beautiful lady who looked familiar and her son.  When it was their turn at the counter, she had what seemed like lots of free movie tickets and it took her a much longer time to finish their business with the ticket lady. My pals and I were growing impatient but said nothing. Until suddenly she turned to me and gave me three tickets. 

I was surprised and embarrased at the same time, I said thank you and offered to pay for the  tickets. She said, no it's okay, you and your friends have enjoy the movie.  And then she and her teener son left happily with a smile. 

I asked my friends, do you know her? I think she looks famous.   One of them answered, "We just got treated to a free movie by Pinky Marquez, Mike."

So here it is.  I'm here to tell my tale and this grand lady's little act of kindness, no matter how belatedly it is.   Ms. Pinky Marquez, Ma'am, Don Miguel Thanks you from the bottom of his heart.   Not only do you have a golden voice, and a pretty face, you also have a wonderful heart.  Muchissimas Gracias!  Thank you very very much all the way from Brussels, Belgium and that one movie night  - Don Miguel, il Signorino.

(If you know Ms. Marquez, or if anyone of her family or close googles her and somehow gets to this entry, please pass the message on for me.)

Blast from the (not so distant) Past -

November 2006 I think or was it 2005?  Wait I was with Chikka 2006, so yes 2005. I was on a business trip in Singapore for the Spanish company i used to represent in South East Asia, Korea and Taiwan. Here I am encoding and translating my purchase orders into spanish before transmittal to Spain at my hotel room at the Peninsula in Singapore around 8:30-9pm before going out to Partay!

I'm bringing this picture to my barber here to show him this IS the haircut i Like.   It's so hard to explain it in french, really.  

Economic Meltdown woes

I logged in to my investment brokerage account today and noticed the beating that my placements took because of the darn crash.   

I was away at the Port of Antwerp all the day and could not run to the bank to sign off cancel orders for the next scheduled placements and all the other scheduled placements for that matter.

But hey, I guess it wasn't wise to cash in at the worst possible day, hopefully today we see some rebounds after the graphs hit rock bottom.  The problem is, no one seems to know where the bottom is and until when it's gonna be on a freefall.

Dang SICAV funds!  

Arrrrrgh

The Bonfire Incident

Ateneo apologizes over bonfire incident 

By Jasmine W. Payo
Philippine Daily Inquirer
First Posted 02:05:00 10/06/2008

MANILA, Philippines—A recent Ateneo bonfire celebration has added fuel to the varsity animosity between the Blue Eagles and the De La Salle University Green Archers, prompting an apology from top officials of the Loyola-based school.

Ateneo de Manila University president Fr. Bienvenido Nebres, SJ, recently apologized to the La Sallian community for an irreverent incident during the bonfire on the Ateneo campus last Sept. 30 to celebrate the UAAP championship won by the Eagles at the expense of the Archers.

Some of the firewood used at the bonfire had the names of the entire La Salle roster bannered by JV Casio, Rico Maierhofer and coach Franz Pumaren.

"Despite our rivalries in sports, we are both committed to Christian values and what was done is certainly a violation of values we share," Nebres said in a letter to De La Salle University System president Br. Armin Luistro, FSC, dated Oct. 2.

As reports and photos of the incident circulated in blogs and online basketball forums, students and alumni from La Salle, and even Ateneo, branded the act distasteful regardless of the rivalry between the two elite squads.

Nebres said none of the school officials "saw it ahead of time, because the wood pile was covered by a tarp against the rain until the time came to light it."

An alumnus already claimed responsibility for "producing the materials" and apologized to Nebres for "the backlash it created."

"Our community accepted [Ateneo's apology]," Br. Bernie Oca, FSC, La Salle's representative to the UAAP board, said Sunday. "We are also awaiting the results of their investigations which they said they will do."

Huge Sigh of Relief: Bail-out Plan Approved by lower House Finally.

House Approves Bailout on Second Try

The House of Representatives gave final approval on Friday to
the $700 billion financial bailout, reversing course to
authorize what may be the most expensive government
intervention in the marketplace in history.

Read More:
http://www.nytimes.com/?emc=na

Nope, I ain't this unlucky (yet)

This picture was supposedly taken in Geneva, I sure hope it won't happen here in Brussels while am here. 

Encore une Fois

Have you ever been to a place and wondered how you got there? I remember distinctly when I was a kid of around 4 or 5 years old back at our old house, seated on my favorite yellow chair, how I'd kinda mark that certain point in time and place in my memory and thought that one day when I'm all grown up, I'd always look back and remember this little kid, seated on this little yellow chair at that exact moment.  I dunno how I came up with that idea, but it  seems like it became a certain time portal for me to always go back to. 

And oh yes I did, I still do.  At certain stages of my life, I've always had that flashback, somehow connecting to that little Don Miguel, seated on that little yellow chair at that point in time.

Sometimes, I wonder how I got here, but then again, life is a complex interconnection of countless crossroads.  Everytime you are at a crossroad you decide which path to take, it's just interesting how it all works  out (or not) and brings you to where you are now.

It's like those "Choose your own Adventure" books back when I was in grade school, (that I and my childhood pals, my friends for life to this day, were crazy for back in the day)  Every decision you took at a page where choices had to be made meant a different ending for the character in the story you are reading.  

"If you say, yes take me to Captain Fish Eye"  go to page 23

"If you try to break loose from the pirates' clutches"  go to page 42

"if you try to pretend to be from another country and speak gibberish" go to page 24

The only difference though is that life has no rewinds, not like those books which, we used to mark with all ten fingers, just to go back to that page where you can choose a different path, and hopefully come to a better, or a more adventurous ending.

So if you've gone this far, and you figure out that "Hey, you're okay today, after all"  you must have been doing the right thing all along.  There are about a dozen right things, and no one thing is the only right choice. Otherwise, you should be in deep shit right now.

So, If you were at  a crossroads of your life, one boring evening, and decided to read this blog entry.  Try to track back quickly, because you really should be doing something else besides reading a bored dude's rumblings.

A LESSON IN TIME (Don Miguel Time)

Forest, Brussels Medieval Market 2008

Incomplete

Whoo
Ooh
Oh yeah yeah
Listen

Bright lights
Fancy restaurants
Everything in this world that a man could want
Got a bank account bigger than the law should allow
Still I'm lonely now

Pretty faces from the covers of the magazines
From their covers to my covers wanna lay with me
Fame and fortune still can't find
Just a grown man runnin out of time

[CHORUS]
Even though it seems I have everything
I don't wanna be a lonely fool
All of the women
All the expensive cars
All of the money don't amount to you
I can make believe I have everything
But I can't pretend that I don't see
That without you girl my life is incomplete

Said without you girl ahh
Listen

Your perfume
Your sexy lingerie
Girl I remember it just like it was on yesterday
A Thursday you told me you had fallen in love
I wasn't sure that I was

It's been a year
Winter summer spring and fall
But bein without you just ain't livin ain't nothing at all
If I could travel back in time
I'd relive the days you were mine

[CHORUS]

Oh yeah that without you girl ahh

I just can't help lovin you
But I loved you much too late
I'd give anything
And everything
To hear you say
That you'll stay

[CHORUS (2x)]

Without ya girl
Wiuthout ya girl my life
Without you girl
My life my life is incomplete
Without you girl
My life is incomplete
Oh yeah
My life is incomplete
Oh yeah yeah
Whoo

Mobwars Help!

Help!  This guy has been attacking me for 9 consecutive times in mobwars!!! aarrrrgh. he stopped when I won the last fight, but left me super wounded.

http://apps.new.facebook.com/mobwars/profile/?user_id=609887324

Dream Last Night

I dreamt of going back to my old high school.  My classmates were still there, they stayed over for college and for some reason they're still there, including my classmate Joey who died when we were in college and a younger kid last named Tumlus.

I asked them why they were still there after all these years and why they never bothered to say Hi to us who went off to college somewhere else.

My dreams just before this part and the one that came right after were so much more to my liking hehe.

Pancit Bihon in Brussels

My colleague and neighbor Marivic and her hubby invited me over for merienda and served okoy and pancit bihon last Sunday.  Yuummmm!

Something was amiss with the bihon though, however perfectly cooked it was.  Calamansi! walang calamansi dito waaaaaaah.

Dreams

I haven't been dreaming for a long time, maybe for years.  But recently, my dormant mind suddenly became creative and I've been having all these dreams every night.  

I should start putting a notebook on my side table and scribble them as soon as I wake up. 

They tend to vanish from memory soon after.  

Magic

Medieval Market at Forest, Brussels

It was National Carless Day in Belgium today, Sunday so I decided to check out Forest's Medieval Market. Got Squishedn in a Busload of People but hey, I survived to tell the tale

No se sabe

No se sabe porque 

ni como

pasaba 

lo que ha pasado

No se sabe porque 

ni por eso

nos dejan estar 

aparte y alejado

No se sabe

hasta cuando

pueden hacer lo mismo

Porque con migo

Ni Mar ni Cielo

Ni nadie

me impide

estar contigo

- Don Miguel, il Signorino

Amazing Chavacano: One of the World's Two Remaining Authentic Spanish Creole Languages

I always knew about Chavacano of Zamboanga  and how it uses Spanish words, but I never really realized how close it was to the Spanish language because I never really heard it spoken nor have I read anything in this language.   As a spanish speaker and a Filipino, I was shocked to view this youtube clip of a TV News Program in Chavacano and understand mostly what they were saying even if I have never been exposed to Chavacano all my life.   (We filipinos speak 127 dialects, and about 7 major languages, depending on our regions.   It is very much alive and well with 600,000 native speakers using it for everyday life.  From what I can tell, it is a language using 80% or more of the spanish vocabulary, but using filipino-based grammar.  Hence, the lack of spanish tenses which are instead expressed in  infinitives or with suffixes and prefixes with the spanish verb, much like how we filipinos, in our other languages and dialects, use our verbs. )

Here is the TV Patrol Zamboanga TV Program. If you are a Spanish speaker, listen to it and see if you can make out what they are reporting about. Chances are you will understand 75% of it.And just for the record, Chavacano is definitely not the Spanish language, just something very very close. 

And yet another weird British Reality TV Show

I was flipping through the Channels of the telly and i caught a wierd bunch of overweight people dressed in 18-19th century innergarmets marching around the estate of a huge English Manor, arms a flapping like penguins and I said WTF??!!!!!!!!!!!

You really have to hand it to the brits to come up with weird shows like these.  I mean really haha.

The Diets That Time Forgot

If you think diets are a recent invention, think again. In this unique historic experiment, nine volunteers spend 24 days testing the weight loss diets and fitness regimes that were popular in the late Victorian and Edwardian periods and the 'roaring' Twenties. 

This six-part series examines which plan works best. Is it the Banting diet, first published in 1863, the 'chew chew' diet of the early 1900s, or the first calorie counting Lulu diet, one of the best selling non-fiction publications of the 1920s?

Series guide Preview episodes from the series

Diets from the past The first diets in history?

Dieters' profiles Get to know the volunteer slimmers

Weird Dream

I was dreaming last night, and i'm struggling to remember all the bits and pieces.   

There was a convention in Luxembourg and I supposedly drove all the way there by my lonesome.  This is kinda conflicting though, because I remember driving all the way there, but I also remember having taken the plane and feeling relieved because I was only travelling for about thirty minutes and the rest of the people had to take the train for 3 hours or so.   There were many other people in the convention and we were all in dark suits.   

And then, a virus started attacking us.  A mind-altering virus that controls the minds of people it affects into something like communal consciousness.   (I think I saw this in a movie before) The virus was transmitted via bodily fluids, a sneeze there, a saliva tainted handshake here, a kiss there, a spit elsewhere.

And then, I remember being trapped in the convention hall.   With everyone, affected people and the still normal people.   The people who were affected still know who they were and we were still able to converse, but we have to watch out for our glasses, handshakes and body contact because they could easily infect us,   Despite their seemingly normal consciousness, they were also being mind-controlled by the virus, and they had some sort of a Global-domination goal in life.  "Spread the Virus, Spread the virus!"   

We the normal ones would talk to them, trick them into letting us out of doors and leaving us alone, but more and more of them came to the scene.   Finally, it was weird because I remember running away from the convention center with my sister.  And I asked her to wash her face on a fountain, just to be sure the guy who almost buzzed her on the cheek wasn't infected.  

Then we had something like a general assembly, wherewe had to negotiate a truce with the virus-infected mob.   I was part of the negotiating team, and I was seated beside a virus infected mild-mannered family man.  The leaders were made to sit on a looooonng table facing everyone -normal and infected.

I think this dream ended in a happy ending, because someone came in with a cure.  Something like an antidote.  

Then I woke up.

Yun lang, sorry for bothering you with such a stupid dream hahaha

I had to let it out. 

My Fortune thanks to an Internet Fortune Teller

Raped by a Donkey

This has been going around for ages in the internet, and I came across this video once again.This guy had to go, and was trying to poop in the open field having only the tall grass for cover. Mr. Macho Donkey smelled the pheromones perhaps and decided to charge, with a monstrous wood.hahah see for yourself, Caveat outdoor poopsterS!!!!!bwaahahahahah

Don Miguel's Celebrity Look Alikes

http://www.myheritage.com/collage

MyHeritage: Celebrity Collage - Family tree researcher - Family search

It's a Sunny Day

 . . . and I dunno what came over me 

but I stepped out and walked to the Church, 

in only a shirt

no jacket, no sweater

it must have felt like 15 degree outside

i forgot summer is over

geeez

welcome to the cold, once again, Don Miguel

MOOOooooooo!!! (Self Explanatory)

20,000 cows removed from Delhi streets -- city officials 

Agence France-Presse
First Posted 22:24:00 09/08/2008

NEW DELHI -- City authorities in Delhi have rounded up 20,000 free-roaming cattle in the past year to improve health and safety standards, officials said Monday.

"Last month alone we caught about 2,000 cows," an official from the Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD), which presented the annual figures to the Delhi High Court last week, told Agence France-Presse.

"We keep catching cows as they are constantly brought into the city," said the official, who declined to be named.

The court has repeatedly ordered Delhi authorities to clear the streets of the animals, which they say pose a threat to traffic as well as a health risk.

Many of the animals belong to dairy farmers who do not have space to house the cattle and thus let them wander at will.

"Our workers and vehicles have been attacked by dairy owners when they try to take the cows away," said the official.

The captured cows are sent to state-run shelters and then auctioned.

The MCD says it is in the process of relocating hundreds of dairies to a site earmarked for the purpose.

Animal welfare activists say the cows -- considered sacred by the Hindus -- live in terrible conditions.

"The courts keep issuing orders for the cows to be removed. But they do not address the problem of these dairies or how cows suffer when on the streets," said N.G Jayasimha, campaigns manager of People for Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA).

The stray cows live off rubbish from open dumps, and often die after eating plastic bags.

"One post-mortem of a cow revealed 14 kilos (31 lbs) of plastic," Jayasimha said.

Cow slaughter is banned in most Indian states, but many captured animals are sent to states where the practice is allowed.

"The dairy, meat and leather industries exploit these animals," said Jayasimha.