From crib to arms to frying pan...

Some horrifying news about children that I read today on the Internet and saw on television:

A seven-month-old infant slipped from the arms of her mother while she was busy cooking. From the mother’s arms to the frying pan, the baby suffered severe burns in her face and body, and is being treated in a hospital. This happened in a province in the Philippines.

A three-year-old boy was allegedly kidnapped from his home by a person who pretended to the househelp that he (or she) was a sibling of the boy’s mother. The parents had left the boy with the househelp while they were out for the day. The househelp was hired by the family only about two months ago. In a later statement to the police, the househelp said that she entrusted the child to the person who had pretended to be the mother’s sibling because that person supposedly just wanted to take the child to a nearby store. Interviewed later on TV news, the kid’s mother was understandably frantic and was tearfully appealing for help for the return of the child. She really looked and sounded devastated because aside from suffering from the kidnapping of her child, she said that she was still grieving from the death of her other child (younger than the missing one) just about a year ago. This happened in a city in the Philippines.

Noynoy, the new President--Charice sings the Anthem

At 12NN, June 30, 2010, the Philippines finally got a new President—Benigno Simeon C.Aquino III, nicknamed Noynoy. He is the son of Ninoy and Cory, the husband-and-wife icons of democracy of the Philippines. He won by a huge margin over his rivals in the May 2010 elections in

the country. With his oath-taking on that day at the historic Rizal Park in Manila, Aquino ended the nine-year reign of Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo who had become, in her last years of office, one of the most unpopular, if not THE most unpopular ever, presidents that the country has ever had. Her pummeling ratings on performance/populari

ty surveys reflected the people's lack of confidence in her as President amid many accusations of corruption against her Administration. Although Filipinos will not see the last of Arroyo because she will now sit in the country’s House of Repres

entatives as a Congresswoman (having run and won a seat in Congress also in the May elections which, undoubtedly, raised eyebrows everywhere), there is a least a collective sigh of relief that she is not the president anymore. (A side story to that is that her move to Congress is suspected of being just a ploy for her to escape corruption charges, and also for her to continue perpetuating herself in power by aiming for the top spot in the House as Speaker, and maybe even more.)

Anyway, the memorable inaugural of Noynoy and also new Vice President Jejomar Binay on June 30 was started by the awesome rendition of “Lupang Hinirang,” the Philippines’s national anthem, sung by Charice. Charice is a talented Filipino singer who has now become an international recording artist, after years of being locally based. What makes Charice’s singing of the Anthem even more memorable is that she sung it the way it should really be sung (as a march tempo). Previous renditions of the Anthem by equally Filipino singers in public events in the country and abroad have raised objections because of changed arrangements and over-acting singing styles that sought attention to the artist and not to the Anthem. The Anthem is a beautiful song whose lyrics seek to fire up every Filipino's love for the beloved country (lupang hinirang). Below is a YouTube clip (from ebsteebee channel) of Charice singing of the Philippines’s national anthem in Noynoy's inaugural.

Google honors 112th Philippines Independence Day

The Philippines's Google page honors the my country's Independence Day today, June 12, by featuring the Philippine flag's colors and symbols on the page's logo, instead of the usual Google logo. Nice, warm gesture, Google. Maraming salamat! (Thanks very much!)

Youngest mobile texter ever!

Indeed, that’s what I’d call the one-and-a-half-year old grandkid of a friend of mine who was toying with her mobile phone at the time that I texted her last Sunday. I got two blank replies from my friend right after I texted her. The replies came seconds apart. And I wondered if the blank messages meant that my friend acknowledged that she got my text, or there was something wrong with her phone, which was unlikely. The next day when I got to talk to my friend, she amusingly recalled that around the time that I texted her, she was talking to her mother-in-law and she did notice through her peripheral vision that her grandkid who was playing on the floor behind here got her phone which was on the back of her seat. But she didn’t mind that because she knew that her phone was locked. But she also recalled that after a while, her grandkid was looking at her from time to time while toying with her phone, while still slumped on the phone. And that must have been the time that the child was “answering” my text. True enough, we confirmed the incident by recalling the time of that moment, which was about 6PM, the time that I texted her.

Aquino-Roxas for President and Vice President, Philippines

Noynoy Aquino and Mar Roxas are my choices for president and vice president in the national elections of the Philippines this May 10, 2010. With all the country's problems and divisions, Filipinos have got to have leaders whom it can trust, respect, love, and, consequently, be inspired with. Aquino and Roxas will be those leaders.

This Friday (May 7), the political party of Aquino and Roxas, the Liberal Party, will hold its grand final meeting rally at 4.30 PM at the the Quezon Memorial Circle in Quezon City. Aquino and Roxas will be joined by their senatorial slate (mnemonic: SLAMAT LORRD), who are:

Sonia Roco
Danny Lim
Neric Acosta
M artin Bautista
A lex Lacson
T G Guingona

Yasmin Busran-Lao
Serge Osmena (guest candidate)
R uffy Biazon
R alph Recto
R isa Hontiveros
Frank Drilon

Trinoma Sbarro Spaghetti with Chicken Parmigiana with button!!!

I wasn’t a fan before of Sbarro, the restaurant that prides itself on fresh Italian cooking. But, recently, I’ve grown to like its spaghetti with tomato sauce and, later, its pizza. But, even more recently, starting on April 7, 2010, I’ve already “unliked” Sbarro. This, after I found a button in its spaghetti with chicken parmigiana, which I took out for lunch from Sbarro’s restaurant in Trinoma Mall, Quezon City, that day. I had made a quick trip to Trinoma to buy an electrical outlet for our house. I arrived at the mall in time for lunch. After some musing on what my taste buds were harping for at that time, I finally decided to have spaghetti and pizza at Sbarro in Trinoma. But since the restaurant was getting crowded at that time, I took out my order to eat it at the fast-food area down below the mall where there were lots more seats.

I'm the type of person who gets really excited when I'm about to eat something that I know or feel will taste good. But my excitement turned to real dismay when when I saw a piece of button on my Sbarro spaghetti after I’ve cut the chicken to pieces and rolled over the noodles in the sauce. The button was rusty-looking or maybe it was rusty—not easy to tell because it was mired in sauce. It was a button that looked the kind that came from a pair of pants, with a small protruding part. I suddenly imagined with fear what would have happened if i had swallowed that button.

I hurriedly put back the spaghetti and pizza in the Sbarro plastic bag and went back to the store. I talked to the manager and showed her the spaghetti with chicken parmigiana with button. I asked for a replacement—of the button—nah, of the spaghetti heheh. She gave me a new spaghetti order, and I told her that her crew should be more careful in giving out orders of food to avoid any accident. She told me that it was hard to trace where the button came from, or in what stage of processing the food that the button came into the picture. Anyway, for me, wherever or however that button came into my spaghetti, all I could think about is what kind of hygienic practices does Sbarro have that a foreign object could have made its way into food that it would sell? And a potentially dangerous object if swallowed, at that. I’m very picky with cleanliness with it comes to my food. Well, Sbarro has just lost a new fan and potentially loyal customer.

Larry the Whale helps out Jodie Nelson in breast cancer fund drive

Here's an interesting fund-raiser story i caught on the web. the link to donate funds for breast cancer is at the end of the article.

California surfer receives whale of an escort during marathon paddle

by: Pete Thomas, GrindTV.com

When Southern California surfer Jodie Nelson set out Sunday to standup-paddle nearly 40 miles from Santa Catalina Island to Dana Point, she hoped it'd inspire her best friend, who has been involved in a long and exhausting struggle with breast cancer, to keep fighting.

Nelson, 34, whose mother and aunt are cancer survivors, also hoped her nine-hour test of endurance would raise money for two cancer charities and heighten awareness about a plight affecting millions of women. What Nelson could not have known was that a 30-foot minke whale would swim alongside her 14-foot board and accompany the surfer as she stood and paddled for two of those nine hours, thus joining the cause. "It was a day that all of us involved will never forget," Nelson said, in reference to Angela Robinson, her best friend, and the rest of a crew aboard an escort boat. Minke whales are not commonly seen off Southern California, and those spotted by boaters are often elusive. So when a mammal Nelson named Larry joined her endeavor to become the first woman to make this long paddle, she took it as a sign. "To me it was a total God thing," the San Clemente resident said. "We prayed at 4 that morning that God would reveal his beauty and creation and nature, and allow me to endure this long trek, so for me it's not such a huge surprise that this happened." Larry did not merely swim close to Nelson. He rolled around repeatedly alongside her and blew bubbles beneath her board. A film crew was on the escort boat and CNN, Fox News and ABC are just some of the networks she says are interested in the story and footage. Alisa Schulman-Janiger, an American Cetacean Society whale researcher, said minke whales can be friendly but added: "This type of quality encounter is highly unusual." Nelson raised only about $6,000 in advance of the paddle, disappoingtingly short of her target of $100,000 for the Keep a Breast Foundation and Boarding for Breast Cancer. A few of her celebrity friends let her down, she said, but when this story reaches a national audience she expects the pool to grow considerably. "I thought, 'I don't need so-and-so,' " she said of a particular celebrity, whom she declined to name. "Because I honestly feel like Larry is going to help us reach the $100,000 mark with our fundraising effort." Larry or no Larry, completing a standup paddle over 39.8 miles of ocean and sharks speaks volumes about Nelson's strength, stamina and determination. Larry took her mind off the task for two magical hours, but her mind never strayed from the cause. "I can't even begin to compare what I did to what cancer patients are going through," she said. "But I wanted to put myself out there in a dangerous and scary, overwhelming situation; something that was big and just to show people that you can win that battle with that big, scary thing called cancer. "I wanted to draw some kind of parallel and just encourage people to keep fighting." Those wanting to help Jodie with her mission can do so via her page on the Keep a Breast Foundation website.

Photo of Jodie and Larry from paddlewithpurpose.com