Thursday, November 10, 2005

cool information (at least in my oppinion)

Disclaimer: Someone sent me this through e-mail. Actually i have no idea if there is an ounce of truth in it. However it sure makes a good read..

LIFE In the 1500's
The next time you are washing your hands and
complain because the water temperature isn't
just how you like it, think about how things used
to be.

Here are some facts about the 1500's:

Most people got married in June, because they
took their yearly bath in May and still smelled
pretty good by June. However, they were
starting to smell, so brides carried a bouquet
of flowers to hide the body odor. Hence the
custom today of carrying a bouquet when
getting married.

Baths consisted of a big tub filled with hot water.
The man of the house had the privilege of the
nice clean water, then all the other sons and
men, then the women and finally the children!
Last of all the water was so dirty you could
actually lose someone in it. Hence the saying,
" Don't throw the baby out with the bath water."

Houses had thatched roofs-thick straw-piled high,
with no wood underneath. It was the only place
for animals to get warm, so all the cats and other
small animals (mice, bugs) lived in the roof. When
it rained it became slippery and sometimes the
animals would slip off the roof. Hence the saying,
"It's raining cats and dogs."

There was nothing to stop things from falling
into the house. This posed a real problem in
the bedroom where bugs and other droppings
could mess up your nice clean bed. Hence,
a bed with big posts and a sheet hung over
the top afforded some protection. That's how
canopy beds came into existence.

The floor was dirt. Only the wealthy had something
other than dirt. Hence the saying "dirt poor." The
wealthy had slate floors that would get slippery in
the winter when wet, so they spread thresh (straw)
on floor to help keep their footing. As the winter
wore on, they added more thresh until when you
opened the door it would all start slipping outside.
A piece of wood was placed in the entranceway.
Hence the saying a "thresh hold."

(Getting quite an education, aren't you?)

In those old days, they cooked in the kitchen
with a big kettle that always hung over the fire.
Every day they lit the fire and added things to
the pot. They ate mostly vegetables and did
not get much meat. They would eat the stew
for dinner, leaving leftovers in the pot to get
cold start over the next day. Sometimes stew
had food in it that had been there for quite a
while. Hence the rhyme, "Peas porridge hot,
peas porridge cold, peas porridge in the pot
nine days old."

Sometimes they could obtain pork, which made
them feel quite special. When visitors came over,
they would hang up their bacon to show off. It
was a sign of wealth that a man could "bring
home the bacon." They would cut off a little to
share with guests and would all sit around and
"chew the fat."

Those with money had plates made of pewter.
Food with high acid content caused some of
the lead to leach onto the food, causing lead
poisoning death. This happened most often
with tomatoes, so for the next 400 years or so,
tomatoes were considered poisonous.

Bread was divided according to status. Workers
got the burnt bottom of the loaf, the family got the
middle, and guests got the top, or "upper crust."

Lead cups were used to drink ale or whisky.
The combination would sometimes knock the
imbibers out for a couple of days. Someone
walking along the road would take them for
dead and prepare them for burial. They were
laid out on the kitchen table for a couple of days
and the family would gather around and eat
and drink and wait and see if they would wake
up. Hence the custom of holding a "wake."

England is old and small and the local folks
started running out of places to bury people.
So they would dig up coffins and would take
the bones to a "bone-house" and reuse the
grave. When reopening these coffins, 1 out
of 25 coffins were found to have scratch marks
on the inside and they realized they had been
burying people alive. So they would tie a string
on the wrist of the corpse, lead it through the
coffin and up through the ground and tie it to
a bell. Someone would have to sit out in the
graveyard all night (the"graveyard shift") to
listen for the bell; thus, someone could be
"saved by the bell" or was considered a
"dead ringer."

And that's the truth ... Now, whoever said that
History was boring?

Tuesday, November 08, 2005

Hail the proposed Bio-Fuels Act!

For those concerned about the advocacy campaign for clean energy, this might interest you. I made a news item about it so you guys dont have to read through the dilly dallying of the newspapers and internet news sites...

THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES HAS APPROVED A BILL INTENDED TO REPLACE WITHIN FOUR YEARS A TENTH OF NATIONAL GASOLINE CONSUMPTION WITH CHEAP CLEAN FUEL THAT CAN BE PRODUCED FROM THE LIKES OF CANE AND COCONUT.

BUKIDNON REPRESENTATIVE JUAN MIGUEL ZUBIRI, AUTHOR OF THE PROPOSED BIO-FUELS ACT, SAYS THE APPROVAL OF THE BILL BRINGS THE NATION CLOSER TO THE MASS PRODUCTION OF RENEWABLE ENERGY THAT WILL CREATE JOBS, CLEAN THE ENVIRONMENT AND BOOST THE ECONOMY.

HE ESTIMATES THE COUNTRY COULD SAVE UP TO 32 BILLION PESOS IN OIL IMPORT COSTS IF 10 PERCENT OF THE CONSUMED NATIONAL GAS WERE REPLACED WITH ALCOHOL OR ETHYL ALCOHOL.

ZUBIRI NOTES ETHANOL COULD BE EXTRACTED FROM LOCAL PRODUCTS OR WHAT HE CALLS THE 5 Cs- NAMELY CANE, COCONUT, CORN, CAMOTE AND CASSAVA.

Biofuel bill passed in House (November 9, 2005)

its a start, right? i just hope our leaders don't politicize this one too...

Monday, November 07, 2005

How would she feel? HOW?!!

how would a little girl feel if a classmate came on to her and physically manhandled her just because he can?

how would a little girl feel if she is constantly being degradingly stared at and humiliated by the boys in her class just beacuse she is developing physically faster than the girls in her fourth grade class?

how would she feel if she found out that the reason the little boys were acting that way towards her was because they thought she was a special child who just transferred to their school to get special attention? and thus special meant they could get away with it..

how would the little girl aged 9 feel after repeatedly being cornered into an empty classroom by two or three boys to touch her breasts in exchange for the answer to the new assignment which she knows nothing about?

what would she do if there were no adults to tell and if there were they were too busy with the politics amongst themselves to even care?

what if she had been brought up to submit completely to what others tell her to do?

what if all the personal insights and thoughts she had since childhood was constantly being shot down by the people she trusted and thought were her mentors?

would she have the courage to break away?

would she forget the times she told her tale but no one listened?

would she even care to tell it again?

would she have a chance at forgiving or would she retreat to a corner and create for herself an invisible wall to keep the 'intruder' out of her private space?

can she even learn to trust again after the friends she had known simply shrugged off her tale that she had been violated?

and what if she grew to be successful?

would anybody consider it a regrettable incident that she had been molested not by someone older than her but by kids her age when she was young?

or would they consider it fortunate because after all the incident became a "challenge" to her?

would people simply consider it child's play even though the girl never forgot the incident and became frigid eventually in life?

pray tell me just how would she feel?!
These funny human beings are my friends at Jesus First Christian Ministries, TayTay.

we're a mix of the weird, the weirder and the weirdest.. hehe!

Sunday, November 06, 2005

my comment about comments on blogger

i do not understand these online advertisers. it irks me that they check out people's blogs to react to the user's posts and yet the comments make no connection to the post at all. better yet, their statements make no sense at all. and they come all the way from the other side of the planet.

umm, if you advertisers have not noticed yet- you are not my target audience! (or shall i say market?!) STOP posting non-sense comments PLEASE.

is there some type of quota that these people have to meet? ugh!

Saturday, November 05, 2005

Rainbows and Songs About Them

I had the fortunate opportunity yesterday to get a glimpse at a fully arched rainbow. Now, of course i know that there is no pot of gold at either ends of it like they say. But didn't you ever wonder just how fun it could be had it been true?

We would probably be wishing the rain away more often than not.

Anyway, i would like to share one of the very first songs that i memorized as a child and still remember today. If you know it then good for you!

The Rainbow Connection

Why are there so many songs about rainbows
And what's on the other side?
Rainbows are visions, but only illusions,
And rainbows have nothing to hide.

So we've been told and some choose to believe it
I know they're wrong, wait and see.
Someday we'll find it, the rainbow connection,
The lovers, the dreamers and me.

Who said that every wish would be heard and answered
When wished on the morning star?
Somebody thought of that, and someone believed it,
And look what it's done so far.

What's so amazing that keeps us stargazing
And what do we think we might see?
Someday we'll find it, the rainbow connection,
The lovers, the dreamers, and me.

All of us under its spell,
We know that it's probably magic......

Have you been half asleep? And have you heard voices?
I've heard them calling my name....
Is this the sweet sound that calls the young sailors?
The voice might be one and the same

I've heard it too many times to ignore it
It's something that I'm s'posed to be...
Someday we'll find it, the rainbow connection,
The lovers, the dreamers, and me.

Laa, da daa dee da daa daa, La laa la la laa dee daa doo...


haaaay... the age of innocence!!!