23 Nation Poll: Who Will Lead the World?

A public opinion poll across 23 countries finds that in 20, a majority (17) or a plurality (3) of citizens think it would be mainly positive for Europe to become more influential than the US in world affairs. Currently, Europe is seen as having a mainly positive influence in the world in 22 countries. Among specific major countries, the one most widely viewed as having a positive influence is France—viewed positively in 20 countries. The countries most widely viewed as
having a negative influence are the US (viewed negatively in 15 countries) and Russia (14 countries).
...The only countries where a majority sees this prospect [Europe being the World Leader] as negative are the Philippines (54%), and the US.

Well, that being said, it seems we Filipinos favor the US to lead the world. You think it's because people here know who Brad Pitt who is more than let's say, Jean Reno?

(via J-Walk Blog)

Actor Don Knotts dies at 81

LOS ANGELES, California (AP) -- Don Knotts, who kept generations of TV audiences laughing as bumbling Deputy Barney Fife on "The Andy Griffith Show" and would-be swinger landlord Ralph Furley on "Three's Company," has died. He was 81.

Too bad. Another great comedian has passed on.

Davinci Code Dialogue

TheDaVinciDialogue.com is a website offering informative essays by a broad array of leading Christian scholars, pastors and educators addressing many of the historical and theological issues touched on in The Da Vinci Code. The essay writers represent an eclectic group of experts from Roman Catholic, Orthodox and Protestant traditions. The site was launched on February 9th, 2006.

I wonder how the movie will turn out. Expect the Catholic Church to go fire and brimstone with this.

Cell Gunphone Discovered - Threat to Security?

At first sight it looks like a regular cell phone — same size, same shape, same overall appearance.

But beneath the digital face lies a .22-caliber pistol, a phone gun capable of firing four rounds in quick succession with a touch of the otherwise standard keypad.

The US Department of Homeland Security and the FBI are aware of the device and have instructed baggage screeners to be on the lookout for suspicious mobile phones. This is especially after 9/11.

You think this is 3G enabled? Wonder what the resolution of the camera is...

The Top Ten Sci-Fi Films That Never Existed

So the news came out that the Half Life movie directed by Quentin Tarantino is destined to join the list of the greatest science fiction movies that were never actually filmed. It has damned good company...

Confused? Well, this site enumerates ten sci fi movies that could have been one of the best but went the other way. Think Star Wars I: The Phantom Menace...

Blogs to Riches

...Hauslaib took a good look at Gawker, a gossip site owned by the high-tech publisher Nick Denton. Gawker’s founding writer, Elizabeth Spiers, had pioneered a distinctive online literary style and earned a large following in the Manhattan media world. What really got Hauslaib’s attention, though, was Gawker’s advertising-rate sheet. According to Denton, the site received about 200,000 “page views” a day from readers. The site ran roughly two big ads on each page, and Gawker said that it charged advertisers $6 to $10 for every 1,000 page views—almost the same as a midsize newspaper. There was also a smattering of smaller, one-line text ads bringing in a few hundred bucks daily. Doing a quick bit of math, he figured that the income from Gawker’s ads could top $4,000 a day. The upshot? Nick Denton’s revenues from Gawker were probably at least $1 million a year and might well be cracking $2 million....

It seems the whole blogging community is almost obsessed with profiting from their blogs. It's all search engine optimization and stuff. Well, this article delves on that. This could be useful to for those armchair SEOs.

Once money comes into the picture, it's a sure sign that we've reached the center mark.

Whispers in the Loggia

...he is best known for shocking the media establishment with the stories he's broken -- from the appointment of Archbishop William Levada to the Pope's old job, to internal spats in the hierarchy, impending moves in Rome, and the liturgical translations ICEL didn't want you to see....

Want to know about the ins and outs of what's happening ummm... inside the Vatican? Well, Rocco Palmo seems to have his pulse into the most successful business in the world; saving souls.

Know the goings on inside the Holy See. From the mundane, the trivial, to the earth shaking.

Sue illegal loggers!

THE Integrated Bar of the Philippines should take up the cudgels for the victims of the landslide and consider filing a class suit against illegal loggers whose destruction of the forest cover in Southern Leyte may have contributed to the catastrophe, Senate Minority Leader Aquilino Pimentel Jr. said yesterday.

Sue Illegal Loggers...

Hmmm... if it was illegal should we just ARREST them first?

Arroyo: I'm best person to lead

COUP ATTEMPTS and "sham" people power will be a thing of the past should the country shift to the parliamentary system, according to President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, and by her own reckoning she is the best person to lead the transition..."And let me also make clear: I believe I am the best person to lead this nation through this transition," she said....

Lead the transition... she around six years in her belt and we're still in transition?

Oh you mean change of government. I thought it was a transition from bad to worse...

Earth Hurtles Toward 6.5 Billion

The planet's population is projected to reach 6.5 billion at 7:16 p.m. EST Saturday, according to the U.S. Census Bureau and its World Population Clock.

And to think that number of downloads in iTunes is approaching 1 Billion!

The Bling Generator

The cheapest way to get iced out gangsta gold! Make your own hip hop 3-finger ring image here. Your name or text will be displayed in pure gold and diamonds.

You think I can be inconspicuous with this bling bling on?

(via The Presurfer)

In the Philippines, Coffee is healthy!

I get back to Manila and practically the first thing I see is an ad proclaiming coffee as a health drink. WHAT the. It was so disconcerting, the coffee I'd been drinking shot out of my nose.

According to the ad, coffee contains more antioxidants than anything on earth, plus if you buy their brand you support local coffee farmers, seen in the background picking coffee beans in their pink uniforms (the farmers, not the beans).

Coffee?! Healthy?! It's enough to make me swear off caffeine altogether...

After coming back from Sundance and a brief restover in New York, Jessica Zafra is surprised to see an ad extolling the health benefits of coffee. Just barely a month out of the country and she's experiencing culture shock!

Makes me remember McDonalds ad on pregnant women craving for their products.

Maybe the health benefits can mostly be seen in the fat wallets of these companies...

Blast Rocks Palace

AN explosion rocked Malacañang Monday noon, which according to an investigation by President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo's security was caused by a "chain reaction" of chemicals and not by any improvised explosive device...PSG chief Delfin Bangit had said that there was no breach in security around Malacañang.

Ummm... chemical chain reaction... no breach in security.

The day this becomes truly believable is the day that coffee is healthy for us.

Haunted Places in Philippines

Baguio City - Diplomat Hotel - This was a Seminary during the early 1900, world war 2 came and several priest and nuns were killed some of them beheaded by japanese occupying forces. This was converted into a hotel after the war. In it self it was pretty eerie, big rooms with to king size beds bibles at the side tables and the rooms are dimly lit. Clerks, bell hops, and hotel guest, complain of wailing even during day time, and when night comes, apparitions of headless priest roam the corridors, some even say that they see ghost carrying their heads on a platter. Haunting s are not limited inside the hotel for when you stroll outside the compound you would see neighboring houses with crosses painted on their doors and windows, and are kept shut when darkness falls.

This and tons of other haunted places in the Philippines. If you want to start on a ghost hunting trek this could be one of the sites you'd go to initially. This site covers the haunted places all over the Philippines. It's a cool read specially at night when you're all alone and only the light of your monitor and the sound of your PC fan to keep you company.

I'm just waiting for those Ultra Victims to start haunting that place. The ULTRA Stadium I mean...

Lazy Muncie

In response to Lazy Sunday and Lazy Monday - We have Lazy Muncie

This one I think is better than Lazy Monday.

Oh and if you're wondering who that old guy is, that's Jim Davis of Garfield. I always pictured him as a Jon lookalike.

The Sexiest Filipina Bloggers

Tales from a Former Catholic School Girl: Xenia Maria is one of the first few Philippines bloggers who advocated Safe Sex and also the first filipina to pose topless for Boobie-Thon(a fund raiser for Breast Cancer Research). (Oh and that's her in the image...)

The Pornographic Sofa: Quel is the first filipina blogger to aggregate pornography(an idea she brewed for her Online Writing Class).

Everyone else is doing it, so why can’t I?: Hip, irreverent, chummy, and altogether fun, Ina is a living testament to the urban legend that Catholic school girls are water in the kettle steaming with pent-up desire:

These are just some of the top sexy filipina bloggers featured. I might need a whole day just to browse thru all the oodles and oodles of sexy filipinas blogging away...

Oh alright, I was exaggerating but dang, they're more than a handful. Pardon the pun.

You won't believe who's on CNN

...Jobert, a millionaire Blogger from Philippines, was in stable condition in the intensive care unit of a Corpus Christi hospital Sunday, said Yvonne Wheeler, spokeswoman for the Christus Spohn Health System.

Well not really CNN but it is cool, huh?

COLDPLAY QUIT COLDTURKEY

COLDPLAY are splitting up

Ack! And I like that band too...

PDI on the Separation of Church and Press

In bending over backwards to appease "religious correctness" PDI only ends up dividing Freedom of Religion from Freedom of the Press and separating them from their indivisible source -- the democratic Right of Free Speech and Expression. To believe in God is as sacred a right as to believe in anything else. To express a religious belief by "practicing a religion" is no different than to publish a column to express a private opinion or belief.

In the Philippines, God and Jesus has the power to endorse political candidates. They (HE?) even can jump start a revolution. And also bring down the m*th3rf*ck1ng wrath of ummm... God to anyone who dares oppose them (HIM?).

Of course, this is what the Church says...

Ewww! Don't touch that mouse!

Computer mouses found in cyber cafes have been ranked as the second most bacteria-infested items in a list of commonly touched objects.

I'll take a gander that they haven't checked the computer mouse used by doctors and nurses in the emergency ward of a hospital. That one could be a real killer!

Comics 101

And there came a day, a day unlike any other, when Movie Poop Shoot's mightiest columnists found themselves united in a common goal. On that day, the FOUR HORSEMEN were born--to continue to bring the best in news, history and opinion about all things pop culture! SCOTT TIPTON! CHRIS RYALL! SCOTT BOWDEN! JOSHUA JABCUGA! Through the years, their roster has prospered, but their glory has never been denied! Heed the call, then-- for now, the Horsemen ride!

Comics 101 is now live!

This is going to be a real kickbutt site. Take it from me. I've been a fan of these guys for years...

Top 10 Web Moments of 2005

In December 1990 there was a single web site on the Internet, and by the end of 1991 that figured had jumped to ten. Today there are millions of sites and billions of pages, and the web is a universe unto itself. It's impossible for any one person to keep track of even one percent of the interesting stuff happening on the web, but still we try until our favorites folders are overflowing, our social bookmark sites crash, and our inboxes choke on forwarded links. Occasionally, though, all of that collective interest organizes itself into something more orderly and, for a moment, it seems like everyone on the web is thinking about the same thing. Below are ten moments from the past year that the people who make the web found coolest, most interesting, funniest, and most throught-provoking.

Tom McMahon: The Strategy of Bingo. The Excitement of Chess.

* 1,500,000 hits (aka page views)
* 5,000 posts
* 300 hits per post
* 3 years
* 4.5 posts per day
* 1.5 years avg age of posts (some were posted yesterday, some the first day)
* 200 hits per year for each post, on average
* 900 hits per year for each days worth of posts

You gotta give props to the guy. He's one cool read.

Student finds toilet water cleaner than ice at fast food restaurants

New Tampa, Florida - 12-year-old Jasmine Roberts is a seventh-grade student at Benito Middle School in New Tampa.

When it came time for her to choose a science project, she wondered about the ice in fast food restaurants.

Jasmine Roberts, 7th-grade student:
"My hypothesis was that the fast food restaurants’ ice would contain more bacteria that the fast food restaurants’ toilet water."

So Roberts set out to test her hypothesis, selecting five fast food restaurants, within a ten-mile radius of the University of South Florida.

And that's in the US! I wonder how that would fare here in the Philippines. Someone should do a study...

How to Almost Live on Blogging

In his new book, Google Advertising Tools, Harold Davis addresses the company's keyword advertising program, concentrating on how bloggers can manipulate it to their benefit.

In a recent interview with Wired News, Davis shared some tips for aspiring online publishers.

Here's an excerpt:

WN: What do you need to start a profitable blog?

Davis: You should have at least 100 pages of high-quality content in the can. Blogs are good because they keep content fresh, but that's just a small part of it. Good reference material really draws traffic. On a photography site I run, for example, one piece I wrote on how to convert raw digital photos draws more traffic than 99 percent of my other photo pages.

I blog to relieve stress and to post things I think would be useful to me later on. Getting something on the side is more of an incentive for me than anything else.

Measuremap Googled.

Measure Map helps you understand what people do at your blog, and what influence you are having on the world.

* Easily navigate the numbers that matter
* Track links to see who sends you traffic
* Find out what people do at your site
* Setup is a breeze — it only takes a minute

Ummm... this sounds similar to Google Analytics. Doesn't it? Oh well, I signed up for this too.

Philippine Market Information site

Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada provides information, research and technology, and policies and programs to achieve security of the food system, health of the environment and innovation for growth.

The link brings you to interesting market information about the Philippines. It covers a lot of stuff like Philippine fastfood restaurant info, bottled water info, oh and stuff about the Chicken Egg business in the Philippines.

It's a real time waster if you're into these things.

A Valentine’s Day celebration of the most memorable Hollywood kisses

Quick: Name a great kissing scene in the movies.

I’ve asked that of a lot of people over the last month and while some come up with an answer, most simply furrow their brows, put their hands on their hips, look at the ceiling and say, “Isn’t that funny.” And not just the guys either.

Even I have a hard time recalling a truly memorable movie kiss. And I have spent half my life watching movies.

I know, i know. It takes a brain to recall things...

Philippine Statistics

Welcome to NationMaster.com, a massive central data source and a handy way to graphically compare nations. NationMaster is a vast compilation of data from such sources as the CIA World Factbook, UN, and OECD. Using the form above, you can generate maps and graphs on all kinds of statistics with ease.

If you're into statistics of countries, Nation Master is the site to go to. It's got tons of country stats to drive you into ecstacy.

For example, did you know that the Philippines ranked 4th in kidnapping worldwide?

Or that we're ranked 13th of most McDonald's branches?

And the Philippines ranked 5th in terms of chinese population.

Like I told you, this has stats galore...

Too Much Coffee Man

Ack! Bah! Humbug!

Ooops... wrong holiday

Subscribe to Simply Recipes by Email

Would you like to receive a notification by email when a new recipe or post has been added to Simply Recipes? Just sign up through through the form below or in the upper right-hand sidebar of this site. You can unsubscribe whenever you want, and we promise you that your email address will never be used for anything other than to send you Simply Recipes updates.

Nope. This is not a paid endorsement or ad.

You see, I use the google personalized homepage. And one of the feeds I have there is simply recipes. I just like the site and the recipes posted here. I use to bookmark the ones I like. Now that I can receive them by email, it'l be real easy to file them in my gmail account!

You know what would be true bliss? If The Sassy Lawyer does the same thing for her Pinoy Cook blog. That would be heaven.

Now, if only I would use any of these recipes and cook 'em up. It's been years since I whipped up something in the kitchen...

GILAS: Connecting Philippine Public Schools to the Net

The digital divide in the Philippines is unacceptably wide. Only about 6% of public schools have facilities that give students Internet training and access. Only 39% of the country's 5,443 public high schools have computer equipment platforms that can be wired to the Internet. In contrast, most Philippine private schools provide both access and formal training on the computers and internet-based research for their students...

GILAS aims to deliver

. Internet access for schools with computer labs
- Servers or routers, LAN cards, cables
- Provision of connectivity and unlimited free Internet usage for the first year
. 10 computers and Internet access for schools without computer equipment
. Basic training
- Training for teachers and administrators on networking and resource mobilization
- Formulation of basic curriculum and year-long lesson plan
. Maintenance
The current estimated cost of the project is USD 28 million (HKD 224 million). The current estimate of connecting schools that have existing computer labs is USD 2,000. For schools without computer labs, the estimated total cost is USD 6,000.

Let's all join hands and help out. We're sure to see the fruits of our kindness in a couple of years.

(via INQ7.net)

Joey De Leon defends himself

After the Wowowee Tragedy that happened at ULTRA last week, Text messages came out saying that host, Joey De Leon, of rival noontime show Eat Bulaga made fun of the incident. He supposedly said that it's better to watch their show since no one dies there or something like that.

Talk about wagging the dog.

Well, he came out and defended himself. Very emotionally in fact. He never did anything close or similar to what he was accused of doing. And he did point out three things:

1. He does not present himself as a god who can ease poverty. (He also warned the viewers about self proclaimed "saviors", like that.)
2. There are no raffle tickets in Heaven.
3. People should really look at the reason behind the reason a lot of people where at the ULTRA that day. It would give them a better perspective on things.

Honestly, Joey De Leon is a real smart person. He is not presumptious, pompous or even boisterous. For people to pick on him to sway the attention from the Wowowee Tragedy is really really low.

Oh by the way, after praising Willie Revillame to high heavens, has ABS-CBN News air a report or segment clearing Joey De Leon?

But then again, what good would it do them? I mean, who would benefit most from this false accusation?

I'm just asking...

What is that file?

What is this ?
This is a simple help for you to identify any unknown files on your computer.
While we still do not cover ALL of them, we might have some of the most
requested ones here. You can enter a filename and see if this file is a dangerous trojan,
malware, or simply a standard Windows file.

Really useful site if you want to know what those files that are running in the background.

The 70th Annual Burt Reynolds Day

The MAN. The MYTH. The Mustache.

"Burt Reynolds Day" is a day to celebrate all things Burt Reynolds. Celebrate it however you damn well please. That's the Burt Reynolds way.

Me? I'm planning to watch the Every Which Way movies. Yup. That's the ticket...

Oh wait... That's Clint Eastwood. I meant BJ and the Bear.

Oops... wrong movie again.

Oh well, I'll just watch those Cannonball Run movies.

Oh wait, I don't even own any.

Dang.

(via Yirmumah)