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Below is a Christmas Reflection of my good friend Fides Bagasao. The foto below was taken on Christmas Day when she accompanied me at Incheon International Airport and bade me goodbye. From 100NCD40 I traveled around several countries in Asia these past weeks :Cabanatuan City and Metro Manila in Philippines, Phnom Penh in Cambodia, Bangkok in Thailand ,Taipei (airport ) in Taiwan, and then Seoul, South Korea. In each of these places, pretty Christmas trees ,decorated with balls and blinking lights, made me reflect on the Christmas trees and décor I have seen in these different cities , on past Christmases and what Christmas means for me at this period in my life, that I am overseas and living in Seoul, South Korea. First, was the Christmas tree in my youngest brother Vicky and Helen my sister -in-law’s home in Cabanatuan, Nueva Ecija.. The Christmas tree was set up right before All Saints Day ,probably in middle of October 2008. The tree was green and tall and had local materials to

Kagabi nanood ako ng concert para sa selebrasyon ng 60th Anniversary ng Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Humanga ako sa mga bulag na nag-perform ng drums. Bagamat hindi sila nakakakita matalas naman ang kanilang kakayahan tumugtog ng drums. Subalit gawa ng kanilang kapansanan hindi nila nararanasan na tumangkilik ng ibang bagay tulad ng ganda ng isang larawan o kaya malasin at danasin ang kapayapaan dulot ng magandang tanawin. Kung kaya't malaking pasalamat nating mga litratista na kaya nating tangkilikin ang magagandang bagay o kaya i-capture ang mga larawan na nagdudulot sa atin ng kasiyahan.

Message on the 60th Anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights by the Laureates of the Gwang... Publish at Scribd or explore others: Activism Politics universal declaratio the may 18 memorial

Below are the video messages on the occasion of the 60th Anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights taken from the website of The May 18 Memorial Foundation. The message came from Gwangju Prize for Human Rights 2008 winner Mr. Muneer Malik of Pakistan and 2007 winner Dr. Lenin Raghuvanshi of India. Good day ladies and gentlemen! While commemorating the Anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights we must at the same time ask ourselves whether up to the passage of 60 years since the declaration; distinction of color, creed, sex, religious or social origin still impede the realization of the rights and freedom enshrined in the declaration? The answer unfortunately yes they do. The gap between the rich and the poor and the developed and underdeveloped has only grown larger. Half of humanity comprising of women remain the victim of gender bias. They are by and large stereotyped to subordinate roles that deny them the right to realize their full potential in the

"He's too fast. Stop the fight... that's it? . . . The foregoing 30 second decision making/exchange between Nacho Beristain and 10-times world champion Oscar de La Hoya translated from Spanish to English sealed the victory of Manny Pacquiao on their "Dream Match". Just on the first round of the fight you can see the agility, speed, and preparedness of Manny Pacquiao, debunking the opinion that he will lose the match against de la Hoya (weight/height/breadth/reach, etc). On to the 2nd and 3rd round saw some good exchange of punches, but the succeeding round you would wonder if de La Hoya was in for the fight. It seems he made himself a punching bag. He never threw his fist and arms. None of his signature boxing style was ever put to display. So with a left eye closing his coach and trainers decided to end the fight. That was at the 8 round of the supposed to be 12-round fight. For this Manny is likened by the announcer to a revered boxing figure - Henry Armstrong

My attention was caught with the headline among others in the list at yahoo. Reading through it I found that the woman is Filipina who went to the States on a visa to meet her future husband whom she met on the net. But it ended very tragically... Woman swept to sea during proposal on Oregon coast NESKOWIN, Ore. – A romantic marriage proposal on the Oregon coast turned deadly for the bride-to-be when a wave swept her out to sea. Scott Napper had taken 22-year-old Leafil Alforque to Proposal Rock near Neskowin Beach to pop the question at a place that got its name from couples ready to marry. Napper and Alforque had been dating since they met on the Internet in 2005. But Alforque had arrived in Oregon on a visa from the Philippines just three days before the fateful trip to the coast. Napper said the tide had receded around Proposal Rock on Saturday when the couple began to walk to it. He planned to propose and give her the ring he carried in his pocket. About 10 feet from the rock, a

I've seen nuffnang among bloggers with entrecard from Malaysia and some pinoys too. And the internet ad company is now in the Philippines. I've came to know this months back but am really very slow at picking up on ads. I have signed up with several ad schemes only to neglect and give up on them. So this is another attempt. So dear readers, bear with me please. Let's see if I can really earn from blogging like other bloggers. Considering myself more of a blog romantic more than a blog pragmatic, I try again to be pragmatic this time. Good thing I got a nice job that brings food to the table. What I like with these ad though - it forces and excites me to write but what I don't like is their requirements of writing with their feed sentences and titles. It is fine with me to mention their required phrases but: let me compose and create my own sentences, please. Anyway am not sure for how long I will be able to sustain, but, well... give it a try. There's an ongoing pro

Fight HIV! BE INFORMED! rESourCES: http://www.thebody.com/index.html http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/AIDS www.nida.nih.gov/ AIDS.gov

From Shelfari,  I was lead to bookmooch where I  came to learn about postcrossing . Definitely postcard is something that I would want to collect and receive. Tatay (father) as a seaman would send us those beautiful postcards of countries where they dock, an admiration that keeps me dreaming and aiming to visit those cities where he had been. Especially Greece, since the owners of the ships he work were mostly Greek shipping magnates.  I also liked so much those postcards he purchased from Japan, which we still keep up to now, those pagodas and other landmarks where very interesting, well flickr and CNN were  not in existence then. So I signed up for postcrossing.  “send a postcard and receive a postcard back from a random person somewhere in the world!” About the project   The goal of this project is to allow people to receive postcards from all over the world, for free. Well, almost free! The main idea is that: if you send a postcard, you will receive at least one back from a random

I first saw the issue blogged at Entrecard and was lead to the link of TechCrunch . I went through the comment section of TechCrunch blog and found a very interesting exchange. So are bloggers becoming cyber-paparazzi, with the photo caption below? I believe in the freedom of speech and I do subscribe with responsible writing. But the case here is that the blogger as differentiated with the the mainstream media is writing about her personal opinion and experience. But it is so happen t hat she blogged about a public figure so she suffered from what she blogged and got kicked-out from her job. Well I think if mainstream media or even tabloid (as opposed to social media) was on the scene he could have landed in the papers. But it was a blogger who got the scoop. I am definitely biased for the rights of the bloggers. The internet should be kept as an open space, a space for free speech, a democratic space. Bloggers should know the consequence of their actions but they should not be perse

Last night (27 November), before proceeding to our English conversation session, Sobin and I had dinner at a vegetarian buffet resto, one of her fave places to keep herself healthy. She was introduced to me by my beautiful "Korean agent" Eunyoung. Then we learned that it was a year ago when she made her first exhibition in NY. Below are some of the reviews of her works. So for that historic occasion I asked her to sign for me a postcard of her art exhibit last year. The photo link as of writing still unavailable... (still waiting for twitxr to post it - or my mobile phone company is lazy enough to send it again... ughhh,,,). Sobin is hoping to go back to NY for a year of art residency. I wish her all the luck. Indeed her art works need to be noticed by the art community and seen by a global audience. Watch the lady-dragon! her lady and dragon painting conquers the world... Here is a video-animation of her works found from her website : (Click image to view) Sobin Park: Beaut

I visited Collin Campbell blog for his comments and found this thingy so I checked it out for myself. Very interesting though. So, Typealyzer says my blog is INTP - The Thinkers : The logical and analytical type. They are especially attuned to difficult creative and intellectual challenges and always look for something more complex to dig into. They are great at finding subtle connections between things and imagine far-reaching implications. They enjoy working with complex things using a lot of concepts and imaginative models of reality. Since they are not very good at seeing and understanding the needs of other people, they might come across as arrogant, impatient and insensitive to people that need some time to understand what they are talking about. About Typealyzer.com is developed by the happy people @ prfekt.se. FAQ How does it work? For a long period of time, we have been training our system to recognize texts that characterize the different types. The system, typealyzer, can

Another from my email box forwarded with subject: AMERICA in CRISIS: Another modern day "Nostradamus" . Hope this will not happen. Nostradamus predicted ages ago that "the great and poerful nation from the west will fall not from without (military invasion), but rather from within (financially) . Celente Predicts Revolution, Food Riots, Tax Rebellions By 2012 Trend forecaster, renowned for being accurate in the past, says that America will cease to be a developed nation within 4 years, crisis will be "worse than the great depression" The man who predicted the 1987 stock market crash and the fall of the Soviet Union is now forecasting revolution in America, food riots and tax rebellions - all within four years, while cautioning that putting food on the table will be a more pressing concern than buying Christmas gifts by 2012. Gerald Celente, the CEO of Trends Research Institute , is renowned for his accuracy in predicting future world and economic events, which

From wikipedia : At about 7:30 local time on December 7, 2007 (2230 UTC on 6 December 2007), a crane barge owned by Samsung Heavy Industries being towed by a tug collided with the anchored Hong Kong registered crude carrier Hebei Spirit (Chinese: 河北精神號), carrying 260,000 tonnes (290,000 short tons) of crude oil. The incident occurred near the Port of Daesan on the Yellow Sea coast of Taean County. The barge was floating free after the cable linking it to the tug snapped in the rough seas. Although no casualties were reported, the collision punctured three of the five tanks aboard the Hebei Spirit and resulted in the leaking of some 10,800 tonnes (11,900 short tons) of oil.[4][5] The remaining oil from the damaged tanks was pumped into the undamaged tanks and the holes were sealed.[6][7] The spill occurred near Mallipo Beach (in Taean County), considered one of South Korea's most beautiful and popular beaches.[8] The region affected by the spill is home to one of Asia's largest

Yesterday it rained, a harbinger of season's change. In some parts of Korea it was already snowing. Then at 10 PM when I opened the window to check, lo and behold white soft little cottons where falling from the sky. Finally Ria's (intern from Indonesia) wish is now fulfilled, to experience snow... Well am not sure if this will be the first and the last. Climate Change - like last year the precipitation was very little compared to that of 2005 heavy snow storm and snowing. Below are the photos I took in our district Sangmu and the 518 Park: View Album Get your own

Last summer I chance upon this interaction of nature. A nurturing flower giving all its essence to the butterfly, bee and ant. And so I watched them with pleasure, amazed with their wonderful co-existence. If only more humans could be like the flower - selfless, egoless and viceless... such is the beauty of a flower worthy of adoration... View Album Get your own

Autumn is my favorite season here in Korea, since I came from the Tropics, summer is the best season in that part of the world especially it is time for fiestas or celebrations and trip to beaches. Here's the link to my opera foto album documenting Autumn for two years. Although I have not taken good shots for this year though compared to last year. The fotos though have lower pixel quality compared to the original. http://my.opera.com/peterahon/albums/ Enjoy Autumn while it lasts... winter is coming... So I enjoy listening to this Autumn Leaves rendition of Eva Cassidy.

I don't have an entry again for Litratong Pinoy so I will be posting this advert that I received from my mail box, message sent from my Flickr acount. I created a group at Flickr Manila, Aking Manila but have not updated or contributed to the group lately. I hope litratista at LP can join this. Please check their rules at: www.immunizers.com.ph You've been sent a Flickr Mail from jandentonchua: ------------------------------------------------------------ :: Immunizers Travel Shots Photo Contest Hi! I saw that you are one of the administrators of the Manila, Aking Manila group and I would like to invite you and your members to join a digital photography competition! Our company, Immunizers, is hosting “Give Us Your Best Shot!,” our 1st Travel Shots Photo Contest which aims to create an awareness for vaccine preventable diseases (VPDs) relevant in traveling. There are 3 categories and each top photo per category can win P10,000. :) There are two easy ways to join: 1. You can go

Altsean-Burma has released a briefer titled “13 years is too long: Free Daw Suu now!” On 24 October, Daw Aung San Suu Kyi will mark her 13th year in detention. Yet, she remains committed to a peaceful, political solution that is needed now more than ever for the people of Burma. It is imperative that Burma’s neighbors and allies such China, India and ASEAN renew and strengthen efforts to secure the immediate and unconditional release of Daw Aung San Suu Kyi and her colleagues. As the Burmese military junta’s gross mismanagement and oppression further entrenches Burma as a failed state, it is in the region’s interests that durable solutions are achieved. This briefer profiles the experiences of Daw Aung San Suu Kyi and some of the 178 other women prisoners of conscience known to be incarcerated in intolerable conditions in Burma’s prisons for their political activities and leadership. The briefer is available at: http://www.altsean.org/ Reports/13years.php Related posting:

I went to the bookstore yesterday and found a rack dedicated to pepero, nice boxes of beautiful sweets, mostly chocolate coated sticks. Every November 11 is Pepero day. It is one of Korea's many unique special day, well a bit commercialize but anyway I consider it saying thank you to female colleagues by giving them box of pepero. Check wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pepero_Day (Click to listen to a Podcast) source - http://www.koreanclass101.com/2007/11/12/culture-class-3-pepero-day/

Butterfly sipping nectar from a red flower... (thanks to morning angel for naming the flower for me - beautiful zinnia, as she calls it) View Album Get your own

This one another from my email box - wow celebration here in Korea, fantastic, wish I could go but it was so short notice... Have fun Democrats of the world - in Korea specifically! THE CELEBRATION CONTINUES THIS SATURDAY HBC ORANGE TREE 8:30..... I look at this man we have just elected the next President of the United States …this visionary, this thinker, this dreamer, this community organizer, this idealist, this statesman, this diplomat, this leader…and I think to myself, Are we this lucky? Are we really this lucky? And it's finally beginning to sink in…yes we are. Because yes we did. Thank you members of Democrats Abroad . Thank you Obama supporters. There are countless ways you have contributed to this historic campaign. You have done so with your hearts, your pocketbooks, your voices, and yes, with your votes. And so, as President Barack Hussein Obama said in his poignant acceptance speech , this victory is truly for you. And now, it's time to cele