in retrospect…

today is the celebration of the International Women’s Day…

to all the women i know, i bow to you today and for all days…

to all mothers, i thank you for your courage in bringing children into this world… for rearing them the best you know how… by standing by your man and working alongside him… by showing the world that you can do what your male counterparts can, sometimes even better… who says you are still the fairer sex?? you can definitely give as much, or more, as you can receive…

to all sisters, i thank you for coping with brothers like me…

and to my wife, i thank you for staying with me during these hard times… i know this is not what you’ve expected, but i am sure this will not last long…

thank you, thank you, thank you…

Happy International Women’s Day to all the women of the world!! today is your day, have a lot of fun!!

Ciao, sweetie…

Tags: [ International Women's Day | IWD | women ]

the Anti-Terrorism Bill or the Human Security Act of 2007 is now final although it is set to be really final 2 months after the May 14 elections… the law, signed today by Gloria Arroyo, is meant to bring the country’s succesful campaign against Abu Sayyaf, Jemaah Islamiya and Al Qaeda cells in the country…

from the Inguirer.net news site:

Earlier on Tuesday, Arroyo said the bill was a “landmark in the battle against evil waged by freedom-loving Filipinos and allies in the world.”

“Our message to the world is to have no safe haven for terrorist in our country,” she said in her speech at the 15th Annual Convention of the Provincial Board Members League of the Philippines at the Century Park Hotel in Manila.

several notable items within the bill are the following:

• suspected terrorists can only be detained a maximum of 3 days,
• a prison term of 40 years if convicted,
• any person wrongfully detained can collect P500K in damages per day of detention, and;
• extraordinary rendition is now banned without court approval

we have yet to see it’s final effects, so let us just wait and hold our comments until we do…

Ciao, sweetie…

HAPPY VALENTINES DAY, everyone!!

don’t do what i wouldn’t do…

now, it is final!! Manny Pacquiao is running for congressman of South Cotabato, as reported in the news last night and confirmed by a news story… and no one, not you or i, can stop him from this, one of his firsts, blunder in politics… expect the following to happen during his term as congressman:

1. people of South Cotabato will be shortchanged because they will have a constantly absent representative in Congress… how can he balance lawmaking, training, and fighting abroad to effectively serve his constituents?? take note: he has to at least be in constant training and in full concentration for at least 2 months prior to a fight… if he happen to have only 2 fights within a given year, that will, at the very least, be a full 5 to 6 months of absence on the floor of Congress… can people who voted for him afford to have an absentee congressman for half of every year?? i don’t think so…

2. very recently, he took his qualifying test to pass high school… bravo!! i say… at least, education is still one of his priorities… but does he think that he can effectively serve simply by being a high school graduate?? who will write his bills and resolutions?? i am sure he will have his own writers particularly for this… but who will argue for these same bills and resolutions on the floor?? will he?? i have doubts that he can… though, for the sake of everyone in his district, he must… for those people who believe in him, enough to give him a position, he should…

3. he will soon be fighting Mexican Jorge Solis sometime in April, at least a full month before the May elections… Solis is virtually an unknown… what will happen if Manny managed to beat him?? it will be said that Manny is a bully trying to fight with a nobody… and if he lose?? this will be very devastating to his career… either way, win or lose, his popularity, and his intention to run for office, will be put to question…

as i’ve said before, he may have the workings of a good [??] politician [is there such a thing??], maybe… but this is not the right time for him to run… there will be other opportunities for him to serve his people, not today… he is young yet, there is no need to rush things… it would even be better if he join volunteer movements, where he can serve the most, and see if he is really cut out for it… non-government institutions, despite its name, is still full of political wranglings and bickerings, that the name becomes a bit of a misnomer… and if he survives that?? then he probably is on his way to becoming a politician…

and if he finds out that he does have the knack for politics, then that’s the time for him to decide to quit boxing, and enter politics… but not before… he cannot serve two kings at the same time, someone said in a boxing forum… and he is right… Manny can’t be both a boxer and a politician at the same time… each demands a bulk share of his time, and i don’t believe he can provide the time needed for each to be satisfied…

please heed what everyone else is saying, Manny, before you completely lose what popularity you have now… because it will not last if you continue travelling this road… and we are not saying this simply because we don’t want you to run, but because we care for you, enough to tell you to stop from committing this blunder…

this will be the last time i’ll be talking about you here… i hope someone you know reads this and show it to you so that somehow, you can be enlightened enough not to go through with this farce… if not, may your family, closest friends [or those who call themselves your friends], your church, your kababayans who see you not as someone who can give them something but someone who can still be a hero, show you that this is not the way to serve… if, indeed, your purpose is to serve…

goodbye, Manny the hero, the person… you will be greatly missed… you’re not welcome, Manny the congressman, the politician, the soon-to-be trapo… tsk tsk tsk…

Ciao, sweetie…

let me ask you some questions: what has tattoos of all manner and in all locations, beautiful women, pierced ears, lips, noses, and in other locations you are not supposed to look, and celebrities got to do with basketball?? what does band instruments and basketballs have in common?? chicks with balls in hand?? rockstars and school PEs?? do i ask too many questions?? am i superman?? [errrr, that one got away, sorry...]

plenty, in fact, if you ask Rock Ed Philippines and the bands who participated in the Rockerpark Series for the first of 2007s last-Monday-of-the-month games… in cooperation with Toby’s, who provided the basketballs being used in the events, and bands like Dicta License, Urbandub, Chicosci, Kjwan, Queso, The Ambassadors, Ciudad, Bagetsafonik, Yuzon Brothers Plus, Hilera, Team Admit One, Team Terno, Sponge Cola, Brigada, and Pupil, rockstars of all ages and makes gathered at the Eastwood Central Plaza yesterday afternoon to participate in a 3-on-3 streetball challenge meant to collect used sports equipment to donate to public school PE programs…

this is one nice way of giving something back to a good cause, and another way of burning off those excess fats, too!!

oh, and before i forget… guys, wanna see some realy beautiful women [of all ages]?? then, i suggest you free up your schedule for next month’s last Monday, and every last Monday after that… you can ogle at bootilicious babes [did i just say that??] like this one at the right, or have your pictures taken with them [but no touching!! some of them are the bandmember's girlfriends... but there's no harm in trying, is there?? ]… they’re free [the picture taking... tsk tsk tsk...], anyway… and i’m sure you’ll have lots of fun watching the games, too!!

another thing, don’t forget to bring used sports gear and equipment, ok?? this’ll be given to kids in public schools, so you’ll be sure to have given something to a worthwhile cause…

click on any of the images for more pictures of this fun event…

Ciao, sweetie…

yey!! i just received my Blog Parteeh! 07 eTicket for the bloggers party set for this Saturday!! yipeee!! **jumps for joy**

…well, not really jumping for joy as my arthritic and rheumatic joints won’t allow them to do that anymore… at least, in spirit i am… hehehe… :d

now, there’s one more thing i have to do… make sure all others will not be able to attend the party so that i get to bring home lots of giveaways!!

this is the 2nd invite i got, after that Pyro World Olympics tickets i won from Abe a few weeks back… nice!!

Ciao, sweetie…

have you heard old people [which include me and the wife...] say the term “panahon pa ni mahoma” everytime they want to say that something is really really old?? well, i did hear someone say that just very recently, and it got me wondering who this Mahoma was… he clearly was a person, but not any person i’ve heard of eversince i first learned my Philippine histories…

and so, i fired up my browser and went to my favorite search engine, Google, entered mahoma and pressed enter…

ok, so there is a specie of a fish in Spain with scientific name Dipturus oxyrinchus with the common name mahoma…. not that…

there is also a Ranch Mahoma in the Dominican Reppublic… moving on…

and finally, there was an Arab named Mahoma who was born in the year 570, which alone qualifies him as the point of comparison when taking about age…

but how did he become part of the local lore of the Philippines?? what was his connection to us?? or us to him??

according to the translated text, Mahoma was born in the year 570 in or near Jordan who, apparently, was the founder of the Islam religion… he was 52 years old when the birth of the Islamic religion took place, and he was remebered as “the man who managed to turn to his creed all the tribes of the Arabic peninsula and transformed to the mercantile republic of Mecca into the spiritual capital of a religious empire.”

so that clearly means the saying panahon pa ni Mahoma came from our Muslim brothers!! Tagalogs then adapted the name Mahoma to signify age!! or did we?? if it was us, why did we not name a person more known [more known to non-Muslims]??

there’s only one answer to all these questions, and that’s the saying started from the Muslims and that we jsut copied it from them… eh?? now, i just have to find my Muslim friend and ask him…

Ciao, sweetie…

thanks to my wife, i have recently acquired the taste for good food and dining, whereas before, i am content on wolfing down any food that looks good to eat, the 7-11 food, or the carinderia fare…

that was why Apples and I put up our own food blog, located at http://www.kubiertos.com/blog, where we blog all of our dining experiences in and out of our home…

but we are not keeping this to ourselves… we also want other people with similar passions to come and register, and blog their own experiences, whether good or bad… this not only serves to show people how happy we are to eat, but also to let them know of where it IS good [or bad] to eat…

only thing needed for you to start blogging right away is to register here and off you go!! what are you waiting for??

Ciao, sweetie…

what has Manny Pacquiao [boxing icon and athlete of the year] and guns have in common??

if you really take a careful look at them, there’s really nothing that can match the one with the other… but apparently, there is…

in today’s evening news, there was an item of Manny P going to the COMELEC… not because he is filling for candidacy in this year’s election [good thing], but rather to file for the gun ban exemption…

and because COMELEC Chair Benjamin Abalos was his former promoter when Abalos was yet the mayor of Mandaluyong City, this exemption will definitely be granted… what do you expect??

and why would Manny need guns?? again, apparently, for his numerous bodyguards…

wait… WHAT?? is he that famous that he’d need bodyguards with guns?? well, yes, he is famous, but i think having burly weightlifters a.k.a. bodyguards with guns to boot is already an overkill… simply the sight of those big brutes alone flexing their huge muscles would scare any wannabe criminal against Manny and family!!

but, hey! to each his own… e yun ang gusto nya e, bakit ba?? pakialam mo??

Ciao, sweetie…

py·ro·tech·nics – noun
1. the art of making fireworks.
2. the use of fireworks for display, military purposes, etc.
3. a display of fireworks.

Apples and I, along with about 10 other bloggers/photography hobbyists and their significant others just came from the World Pyro Olympics show at the Mall of Asia… this was my 1st attempt at shooting something like this, but i learned a lot just with this one show from people who already have experince doing this…

here’s what i learned:

1. when shooting pyro, use the lowest possible ISO setting that you have… if you have ISO 100, better… my setting was ISO 200…

2. use either f8 or f16 aperture…

3. if you have it, use the bulb exposure… this will allow you to keep the shutter open for as long as you like while holding down the shutter… using this technique, you can shoot while the pyro is going up, close the lens with something black [i just used my hand], and open it up again just when the same pyro is about to burst… with this, you can have several bursts in one shot alone… if none, use manual…

4. beforehand [before the start of the show], make sure that you already have the camera focused [or framed]… again, if you have it, focus at infinity so as not worry that your shots will hbe out-of-focus [OOF]…

5. don’t use flash!! this will have no impact on your shots…

6. and most important of all, use a tripod if you have one if you hope to use the longer shutter speeds… i’ve used one, but my shots still have those wiggles…

perhaps, what is foremost of all these is to simply have fun… right?

anyway, here are 2 of my best shots:

nice, no? i am thinking of going back and do it again, just to make sure that i don’t do those same mistakes again [looks at wife]… hehehe… but then again, i think these shots are good enough for a hobbyist like me [wife nods]…

for more pictures of my shots, go here and select the last album…

EDIT: samples using PhotoFlick

thanks Anton for the lessons, and Abe for the tickets…

Ciao, sweetie…