A nice idea from LarimdaME, fd and Daniel P. G. in the Flickr Badge group. Instead of uploading my photo at Flickr, I instead copied the generated badge.jpg and added my photo using Photoshop.
Click here for the Badge Maker.
The president has already broken her silence and made her admission last night that the female voice on the so called Gloriagate tapes wherein she was discussing last year’s presidential election results with a senior election commission official was hers. That admission was long delayed: 22 days since it was first broadcast by a local radio station followed by a deafening silence on the president’s part and within the span of those days, calls for her resignation and snap elections were being thrown and shouted as transcripts, CD copies (both original and manipulated) as well as mobile phone ringtones of the “Hello Garci” (as popularly known) wiretapped conversation flourished in the streets, markets, media and the Internet. Protest marches staged by unlikely bedfellows: Friday by the ever persistent militant Left and the opposition composed of losing presidential candidates, FPJ loyalists (even if their idol is dead, still living in the past) and shady opposition figures whose credibilities are also questionable to the supposed Saturday march by the group of retired general Fortunato Abat whose plans are always hastily planned but also hastily cancelled and an impeachment complaint filed by an opposition group’s lawyer (his second time against the same person – he really hates Gloria Arroyo very much).
Now what. Reactions from different quarters range from the predictable scoffs of the opposition and the militants branding it as half truths and still lies (I wonder, if their scripts will ever change) and continuing their call for resignation and snap polls, to the administration allies’ and friends’ praise of statesmanship, to the ordinary man’s indifference.
What’s next? Lets just wait and see. As a defunct sitcom said: Abangan ang susunod na kabanata (Wait for the next chapter). The next few days would be interesting.
I was raring to go on a collecting trip in Banaue last weekend but a check with the weather forecast seemed not good: Rains until Tuesday. I opted instead to go back to Quezon last Sunday with my friend Ryan hoping to find Pachyrrhynchini. I should confess that the trip with brothers Paul and Jean Siraudeau in North Luzon about 3 weeks ago (haven’t yet blogged about that one) and a visit to Ismael to check his papers and collection made a great impression on me and the realization that there really is a great need to know the extent of this great curculionid tribe in the Philippines.
We started out at around 0400H but arrived at ER in Atimonan about 0930H. While we passed by another way, not the park entrance, it proved to be very difficult and a guide was necessary as we traversed the side of the mountain leading to Pinagbanderahan. This meant trekking on a steep slope and passing over sharp (razor sharp by the way) and slippery rocks, humid, hot and dark jungle but, thank god, no mosquitos bit me. When we reached the peak, we were only able to collect a few species of Metapocyrtus and one Pseudapocyrtus and nothing else. There were buprestids flying but were just hard to reach. Around 15 minutes of reaching that area, it just started to drizzle then rained and rained and rained very hard. We had no option but to go down and hiked the trail and road until we reached the park’s entrance.
Except for a few specimens as consolation, this trip was just tiring, kind of difficult and very wet. No Pachyrrnynchus at all.
Specimens that I got that I prepared last night for drying:
A beautiful Tricondyla sp. with a bluish sheen (will be sent to Fabio Cassola for identification but will be returned to me), Oberea sp. and Euryphagus sp.
Metapocyrtus sp. 1 (female and male), Pseudapocyrtus sp., Metapocyrtus sp. 2 and 3
Metapocyrtus sp. 4 (female and male) and 5 (female and male) and Curculionid species 1 & 2.
While there was no Pachyrrhynchus sp. found, 5 different but almost similar Metapocyrtus sp. was quite interesting. One other thing, these were killed in ethyl acetate, a recommended procedure which makes these very soft and pliable. I was quite suprised that these beetles were not difficult to mount unlike those fixed in alcohol that makes it sclerotized and difficult to position.
Hurray! Summit Media has brought to the country and published the Philippine edition of the popular men’s monthly lifestyle magazine Mens Health. At only P120.00 its a very much affordable mag to the P400 - P500 US edition that has been sold for a few years now in magazine stands. What’s more, its tailored fit for the Filipino male. Articles on fitness, useful tips, fashion as well as the obligatory sex is delivered monthly.
Too bad, I wasn’t able to get the May launch edition. But I can find it somewhere here in Metro Manila.
First started out as a novel by Douglas Adams and broadcast by the BBC starting 1978. Besides the radio show, there were also comic strips and TV show versions and now, the movie. Well, I was not really expecting anything about this film but pure curiousity as I’ve heard about the title being discussed years and years ago when I was still in high school. As far as I can remember, it was about a computer game. Anyway…
I should confess that I was confused at times, didn’t understand some scenes but overall, it was funny, lines were witty and there were cheesy moments. Maybe one should read the book and familiarize oneself with the whole HG2G (its abbreviation) culture in order to fully grasp the storyline and appreciate it for what generations upon generations of followers have been enjoying.
A second viewing should be in order.
But I really can’t help but compare the character Zaphod Beeblebrox, the president of the galaxy to Virgin Atlantic’s Richard Branson. Just too many similarities 
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