23 Dec
To those celebrating Christmas…..
A HAPPY, HAPPY CHRISTMAS TO YOU ALL ! !
Here’s a happy Philippine Christmas song, Kampana ng Simbahan ( Church Bell ) to celebrate the holiest holiday in the country. Peace to all !
Christmas Eve Midnight Mass in the Philippines
And to everyone
12 Dec
Check out these videos. I didn’t know the situation was that bad in the Philippines !
But before that, let me tell you a few facts.
a) The Philippines is 90% Christian, about 85% are Roman Catholics. Only 3% are Muslims.
b) These 3% Muslims are confined in Mindanao, the 3rd largest island in the Philippines, ( the country is comprised of 7, 600 islands ) . The Muslims want to dismember the country by trying to separate Mindanao from the rest of the country……. the Philippines is even smaller than California in terms of area. The fact is , even Mindanao is 90% Christian. However, in the 70’s , they were given an Autonamous political concession in 5 regions, Jolo, Basilan, Lanao del Sur, and 2 others. They can have their own holydays there, but they cannot kill a family member for marrying a non-Muslim or worse, converting to another religion. Their laws are still under the laws of the land.
c) The world doesn’t know this, but the longest Muslim-Christian civil war that is on-going is in the Philippines, more than 40 years, going on 50. It started in 1970 when a group of rebels and terrorists started their reign of terror. Since then , there have been thousands of clashes between the rebels and government forces . Fortunately, the clashes are confined in their area, the 5 autonomous regions. The Philippine soldiers , though ill – equipped compared to other coutries’, are hardened soldiers.
In May, 2017, a group of terrorists, Abu Sayaff ( rebel/criminal/ terrorist / bandit group that kidnap for ransom ) and the Maute group combined their forces and tried to take over Marawi City ( a city in Mindanao that is 98% Muslim, with a population of 200,000 ) and establish a Caliphate, or an Islamic State. Filipinos are like, seriously?
The Philippine soldiers, however , are trained in jungle warfare ,not urban warfare. The terrorists are highly equipped, with seemingly endless ammunitions. This is the soldiers ‘ first time to fight room to room, house to house, alley to narrow alley , building to building, one structure at a time. It is an urban warfare, and a war between snipers. Though the government forces are careful not to involve civilians and hostages ( the terrorists and bandits use women and children as shields ) the government forces finally decided on air firepower to flush the terrorists out . Ground firefight without firepower from above , you see, is painfully slow.
Here’s the video from Philippine Special Forces Command. The government won, of course, but to be honest, nobody won. Marawi City lay in ruins, more than 150 soldiers died, thousands more wounded, more than a thousand terrorists killed ( including foreign terrorists from Indonesia and Malaysia ) and civilians. Guys, I’ve never seen an urban warfare before, not even of videos from Iraq and Syria. I’m sure you haven’t either, so please watch this. Just 8 minutes of your precious time. I’m sure the US Armed Forces and other countries have watched this too. How to, or not how to.
Another one from the embedded media. ( HBO’s Vice ) I find this one more interesting.
I’m speechless.
( ._. “)
What else can I say ? Merry Christmas, folks. Peace to all of you.
9 Dec
Before anything else, I hope you can listen to a cute Philippine Christmas carol. I love listening to this one, though I myself cannot even pronounce the title of this song. Ha ha ha …… Well, Just 2. 08 minutes, folks.
I have been hideously busy, guys, so sorry for not reading any blog for the past few weeks. My work schedule is brutal, and though I am well compensated, working extra hours and going home everyday at 12 midnight can be exhausting.. I work at a dairy company, so you can just imagine the demands for our products during the holiday. And you know, we not only produce for our own company brand, we make for 54 other brands, such as for supermarkets and fast food restaurants. For example , we supply the creamer for McDonalds, even if you see their brand McDonalds on their creamers. It’s the same for other well known stores that have their own ” house brands” . We don’t really expect these massive stores to have their own dairy company, right ? We supply their dairy stuff with their brand, such as …. well, I don’t know if I have to divulge it. Having said that, rest assured we in the laboratory make them safe for you, from raw materials to finished ones…. just pay attention to expiration dates, okay ?
So, what’s going on in the world ? I just saw the news about this North Korean soldier who managed to escape from the Demilitarized zone (DMZ) to South Korea. He was shot 5 times by his North Korean fellow soldiers. Fortunately, he survived. The irony in this is , though he survived from 5 bullet wounds, he might die from malnutrition. The doctors who operated on his stomach were shocked to find massive number of parasites in his stomach, one as long as 11 inches.
Sanctions have been placed on North Korea, and that included supply of fertilizers. China could have supplied their fertilizer needs, but I assume N. Korea decided on ” organic ” fertilizers , such as feces and urine. Cheaper and ” better”, right ? As long as there are people, there will be an endless supply of natural fertilizers. Well, here’s an advice from yours truly, a microbiologist. If you don’t know where that organic lettuce comes from, you better scrub each and every leaf of that lettuce and wash it well. (._.”) Remember Chipotle ? Don’t get me wrong. I fully approve of sustainable organic farming, but it should be disease – free.
And while I’m at it, I advise you to have your kids properly vaccinated.
And please have a water bottle refilled , instead of buying bottled water.
Carefully unwrap the gifts you receive and reuse the wrapper, and keep the boxes and those fancy , glittery gift paper bags for next year. Recycle, recycle, recycle.
California has a very good recycling system. My brother’s engineering company has already built 3 water recycling plants here in California, and the company is presently building a green waste ( from plants , leaves, etc ) recycling plant in Southern California that will provide energy from green wastes.
However, I wish California would lower the cost of solar energy materials. We had a solar water heater installed in our house, and it cost us $ 6,000 for that one .
Remaining water in our drinking glass is poured into a potted plant. We have discarded our sprinkling system a long time ago. We use garden hose .to water the lawn.
Before I say goodbye, please check out my anime/manga / video games blogsite at http://2megaworthitwordpresscomblog.wordpress.com/
Bye and stay green. And HAPPY HOLIDAYS ! MERRY CHRISTMAS !
PS I’ll start reading your blogs now. Cya !
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renxkyoko
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