Rice in News Trend

Rice news in the Philippines is rising since 2006, as seen in this Google Trend Map. I simply typed "rice" and this is what I got. The "Rice" in the past years was about Condoleeza.

Body of Christ. Kukutaok! Kukutaok!

The Bishop of Bicol banned the giving of communion hosts to fighting cocks. That the bishop would issue a statement means that the practice is popular. The punishment is excommunication
Unless you are Elmer, the talking cock of Gerry Alanguilan. Then the punishment is excommunicating the cock. Hey, download Elmer here!

Unholyhours Tackles the Rice Crisis

by queueing to these sites:
1) 30 Years Ago Haiti Grew All the Rice It Needed. What Happened?
The U.S. Role in Haiti's Food Riots

By BILL QUIGLEY

Riots in Haiti over explosive rises in food costs have claimed the lives of six people. There have also been food riots world-wide in Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Cote d'Ivorie, Egypt, Guinea, Mauritania, Mexico, Morocco, Senegal, Uzbekistan and Yemen.

The Economist, which calls the current crisis the silent tsunami, reports that last year wheat prices rose 77% and rice 16%, but since January rice prices have risen 141%. The reasons include rising fuel costs, weather problems, increased demand in China and India, as well as the push to create biofuels from cereal crops. (see comments for the rest)

2) Radical Science can Help

3) My idol Luis Teodoro on rice and crisis: It's an attribute the left everywhere shares. The right may have the money, the power, and the guns, but it's the left that has the brains, the organizational will, and the passion to sustain any fight. That capacity is being demonstrated particularly in Latin America, where leftist and center-left governments have been elected in key countries, among them Bolivia, Paraguay and Venezuela. Vying with that development is the Maoist triumph in the recent elections in Nepal, right here in Asia. What was instrumental in all these instances was the leftist capacity for painstaking organizing, mass education and mobilization, often against near-impossible odds. It helps explain why the Arroyo regime has filed murder charges against and intensified its surveillance of Ocampo and company-- seemingly despite, but actually because, of the crisis over


rice. More on comments

4) Congo has a different crisis. Witches have been going around the country, stealing men's penises. In the Philippines, they get our livers and in Africa, Hmmmmm! SOS PCIJ!

5) The 5th Gathering of the (Anne) Rice Philippines (left) Hmmm. Rice vampires

6) Bad spellers: The 1000 peso note depicts Jose Abad Santos, Vincent Lim, and Josefa Llanes Escoda. On the reverse you can see the rice terasses in Banawe, and some tribal artifacts. You won't come across this note very often, and you shouldn't expect your taxi driver to have change from it.

7) Oo nga naman, why only WHITE rice? Bakit ayaw niyo ng BROWN rice? Kasi mga colonial mentality kayo! Puro lang whitening ang alam niyo. It's beautiful to be dark. Darak is the best.

8) As the bishops insist (including Bishop as*lickers Rene Q. Bas and Antonio Montalvan III), it's corruption not population. Never population, ha! And the population of the Philippines can fit in Makati. Never population, please. Let the Pinoys multiply because Jesus loves the poor. Hey, look at the good side. We will supply the workers in the FUTURE! Condoms are Hell's raincoat. Imagine na lang if former Diosdado Macapagal used a condom, then there would have been no PGMA! And look na lang at the sons of the president. Good people. Shades of PGMA with the combined libido of their parents. Would we allow them to wear condoms. No way.

9) Condoleeza Rice

10) Let them eat cake, as the Americans would now say

Inquirer, Nash wants to Know

He wants to know where Slovania is and when did we discover it and how many mothers do Dr. Arias have?

My Sad Republic April 19: Falling

A 57 year old woman in Tondo killed by falling glass. A 13 year old boy in Novaliches killed by chunk of ice. A 49-year-old farmer from Zamboanga killed by falling coconuts (actually ax, after fighting over falling coconuts) Millions die over PGMA's forever falling ratings.

Things We Didn't Know in 2006

1. Coach travel is the safest form of road transport in the country. More details
2. Saddam Hussein's codename while in US custody in 2004/5 was "Victor". More details
3. Adding milk to tea negates the health-giving effects of a hot brew. More details
4. The word "jaywalking" came from the US slang "jay", a term popular in the early 20th Century meaning a rustic newcomer unfamiliar with city ways. More details
5. Cloudy apple juice is healthier than clear, containing almost double the antioxidants which protect against heart disease and cancer. More details

6. Dishcloths are purged of 99% of their bacteria during two minutes in a microwave. More
7. A haddock's mating call starts as a slow knocking sound, before turning into a quicker hum similar to a small motorcycle revving its engine. More details
9. The people who built Stonehenge lived at an ancient village in Durrington Walls. More
11. Astronauts wear nappies during launch and re-entry because they can't stop what they're doing should they need to urinate. More details
12. Georgic is a punishment dished out to Eton pupils which involves the copying out of hundreds of lines of Latin. More details
14. Antony and Cleopatra were ugly. More details
15. 10% of university work from across the UK is plagiarised. More details
16. Chimpanzees make their own spears for hunting. More details
17. Two cups of spearmint tea a day is thought to control excessive hair growth for women. More
18. Burglar alarms, traffic wardens and crowded buses are good news for home owners, signalling an area is on the up. More details
20. More than half (52%) of smokers haven't told their parents about their habit. More detail
21. Only about half of China's population can speak the national language, Mandarin.More 23. To be found attractive, women should sway their hips and men their shoulders (although researchers call this a "shoulder swagger"). More details
25. Martina Navratilova has spent four years secretly working as an artist. More details
26. Harvesting rhubarb in candlelight helps preserve its flavour. More details
31. There is mobile phone reception from the summit of Mount Everest. More details
32. Anti-Americanism began in Paris in the 18th Century. More details
33. Female employees in India are questioned about their menstrual cycle as part of their appraisal. More details
34. Kryptonite exists. More details
36. A water-tight denial by a politician – as opposed to one that leaves room for later manoeuvre - is known as a Sherman pledge. The other sort is called a non-denial denial. More
37. Spiralling obesity rates are forcing councils to upgrade their crematoria, to take wider coffins. More details
38. Gerry Adams doesn't own a credit card, so gets a friend to download songs from the internet. More details
39. The secret to happiness is accepting misery. More details
40. A new three-bedroom house must have at least 38 plug sockets.More
42. Nearly seven out of 10 (69%) of adults are still in touch with at least one childhood friend.More details
44. Europe has a vodka belt comprising Poland, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Finland, Denmark and Sweden, although the drink is also made in countries such as Britain, France, Italy and Spain. More details
45. Domestic cats can trace their descent to the Middle East. More details
46. Peanuts can be made into diamonds. More details
48. You can be arrested for using someone's wi-fi network without permission. More details
49. CDs were nearly called mini-racks. More details
50. Left-handed people are called sinistral. More details
52. There are 17 surviving versions of the Magna Carta - or 17 Magnae Cartae. More details
53. Renowned atheist Professor Richard Dawkins likes singing Christmas carols. More
57. Sleeping on the job is tolerated in Japanese work culture, as long as you remain upright and obey certain other rules. It's called inemuri.More details
58. The Romans had roadmaps. More details
60. The Queen took her corgi on honeymoon. More details
62. Until the late 1990s, the RAF's nuclear bombs could be activated using a bicycle lock key.More details
63. Cats can be police constables. More details
64. King Tut had buck teeth. More details
67. The brain can turn down its ability to see in order to listen to complex sounds like music.More details
68. Of the waste in UK landfills, 0.1% is plastic carrier bags.More details
70. IP addresses will run out in 2010. More details
71. An ai is a three-toed sloth from South America (and the word that clinched Paul Allan the title of national Scrabble champion). More details
73. UN population projections go as far as 2300.More details
75. CO2 emissions from shipping are twice the level of aviation.More details
76. George Clooney and Pierce Brosnan have had Bell's Palsy - a nerve condition that can result in paralysis on one side of the face.More details
77. Leeches are used as treatment for cauliflower ears. More details
78. Abdelloid rotifer is a pond-dwelling organism that has survived 80 million years without sex. More details
79. Woodwork lessons are known as "resistant materials" in schools. More details
80. Adults use maths skills 14 times daily on average and literacy skills 23 times a day.More
81. The opening bars to the theme tune of Some Mothers Do 'Ave 'Em spelt the title of the series in Morse code. More details
82. The children who sang on Pink Floyd's number one hit Another Brick in the Wall (Pt 2) couldn't appear in the video because they didn't hold Equity cards. More details
85. A 23.8lb baby was born in the US in 1879, but it only survived 11 hours. More details
86. There is a monastery in every village in Burma. More details
87. Relocating crocodiles doesn't work - they come back. More details
88. Deep-voiced men have more children. More details
89. Being born without an ear is called microtia. More details
90. Chickens can be diagnosed with depression. More details
92. Zsa Zsa Gabor is related to Paris Hilton. More details
94. Osama Bin Laden is known to fellow jihadists as Abu Abdullah. More details
96. Bees can detect explosives. More details
98. Prison officers are on average assaulted eight times a day. More details
99. Each slug eats twice its body weight a day. More details
100. Dogs can have two noses. More details

Bhutto's Death Solved

It turned out to be "accumulation of methane," Pakistani police said, echoing their Philippine counterpart.

Salon's Best

The CIA's torture teachers: Psychologists helped the CIA exploit a secret military program to develop brutal interrogation tactics -- likely with the approval of the Bush White House. By Mark Benjamin

Bjørn Lomborg feels a chill: Global warming doesn't faze the infamous author, who argues that polar bears are doing fine and Al Gore is way too hot under the collar. But can the "skeptical environmentalist" back up his rosy views? By Kevin Berger

Why bathroom sex is hot: Larry Craig is the latest politician to get caught with his pants down. So what is the eternal allure of sex in a stall, and does it make you gay?
By James Hannaham

The readers strike back: Massive online feedback has rocked writers and changed journalism forever. This brave new world is filled with beautiful minds and nasty Calibans and everything in between. Its benefits are undeniable. But do they outweigh its insidious effects? By Gary Kamiya

Tinky Winky says bye-bye to Jerry Falwell: The former TV star recalls the trauma of being called gay by the conservative preacher. By King Kaufman

The dark legacy of Carlos Castaneda: The godfather of the New Age led a secretive group of devoted followers in the last decade of his life. His closest "witches" remain missing, and former insiders, offering new details, believe the women took their own lives. By Robert Marshall

It's easy for soldiers to score heroin in Afghanistan: Simultaneously stressed and bored, U.S. soldiers are turning to the widely available drug for a quick escape.
By Shaun McCanna

Plastic bags are killing us: The most ubiquitous consumer item on Earth, the lowly plastic bag is an environmental scourge like none other, sapping the life out of our oceans and thwarting our attempts to recycle it. By Katharine Mieszkowski

The fall of man: For ages, impotent men cowered in shame and submitted their penises to terrible remedies. Yet in time, a new cultural history shows, relief would arise for their private misfortunes. By Laura Miller

The Mormons are coming: Long before Mitt Romney and "Big Love," Mormons were demonized as polygamists, prudes and vampires. But Mormonism just may be the first major world faith since Islam. By Andrew O'Hehir

Inside the Creation Museum: Adam and Eve frolic amid the dinosaurs in the new $27 million museum that demonstrates Darwin has nothing on the Book of Genesis.
By Gordy Slack

"I'm Not There": This dazzling film explores the idea of Bob Dylan, "poet, prophet, outlaw, fake, star of electricity." By Stephanie Zacharek

Around the World in 365 Days

Harper's Yearly:

Eight hundred ninety-nine U.S. troops and 18,610 Iraqi civilians were killed
in the Iraq War. Eighty percent of Iraqis were reporting "attacks nearby" and
it was estimated that 90 percent of Iraq's artists had fled the country or been
killed. Halliburton announced that it would add 13,000 jobs, and President George W.
Bush underwent a colonoscopy. In Venezuela, President Hugo Chavez embraced
President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad of Iran. "Welcome, fighter for just causes,"
said Chavez. Senator Barack Obama was featured shirtless in People Magazine's
Beach Babes issue, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi banned smoking in the Speaker's
Parlor of the Capitol, and Senator Hillary Clinton said that "we want to be able
to continue to export democracy, but we want to deliver it in digestible packages."
Viagra turned 15. Wildfires spread from north of Los Angeles to south of San Diego,
and scientists at New York University were deleting frightening experiences from
the memories of rats. The first Muslim member of Congress took his oath on a Koran
once owned by Thomas Jefferson. Annual sales at Taser International were expected
to reach $90 million.

Drought was driving tens of thousands of snakes into Australian cities,
female koalas in Australia were ignoring males in favor of five-bear lesbian orgies,
and developers were planning to open a Hooters in Dubai. Scientists in London
were working on a gum that suppresses appetite and fights obesity. "Obese people
like chewing," reasoned a researcher. The United States projected that it would emit
19 percent more greenhouse gases in 2020 than it did in 2000, and U.S. pollution
was cited as the reason that the Dutch are now taller than Americans. The United
Arab Emirates beat out the United States to become the world's most wasteful country,
Ford posted a loss of $12.7 billion for 2006 (the largest in its 103-year history
and equivalent to the GDP of Jordan), and General Motors announced it would open a
new research center in Shanghai to develop alternative fuels and vehicles.
Geneticist Craig Venter announced that he had constructed a synthetic chromosome out
of laboratory chemicals, creating the first artificial life form on Earth.
Britney Spears shaved her head, and an appeals court in Washington, D.C., ruled
that the writ of habeas corpus does not apply to prisoners at Guantanamo Bay,
Cuba. The market price for children in India slipped below that of buffalo,
and crystal meth was now available in candy flavors.

Kurt Vonnegut, Norman Mailer, and Boris Yeltsin died. Osama bin Laden turned 50 and the
Senate doubled the bounty on his head to $50 million. Ariel Sharon was still alive.
New stars were hatching near the head of Orion.
Paul Wolfowitz, Karl Rove, Alberto Gonzales, and Tony Blair resigned. "[Blair] was the
worst thing that ever happened to Africa," said Bright Matonga, the deputy information
minister of Zimbabwe. "We hope that the children of Iraq and Afghanistan he is killing
everyday will haunt him for the rest of his life." Reverend Ted Haggard declared himself
"completely heterosexual," and Paris Hilton went to jail. An Irish soldier who won the
Military Cross for single-handedly defeating a Baghdad suicide bomber was facing
a court-martial for auctioning his medal on eBay. Scientists trained dogs to track polar
bear feces, produced talking construction paper, made stem cells out of adult mice,
and linked the upsurge in cat sex to global warming. Mr. Wizard died, as did Mr. Whipple.
Pope Benedict XVI decreed that, by definition, Protestant churches are not churches,
and it was revealed that Mother Teresa, beginning in 1948 and continuing until the
end of her life in 1997, was unable to sense the presence of God. "Repulsed--empty--
no faith--no love--no zeal," she wrote. "Heaven means nothing." Detainees at
Guantanamo Bay complained of "infinite tedium and loneliness," and 20,000 people
marched against the junta in Burma; about 400 monks were pushed away from the house
where pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi was imprisoned.

"Love and kindness," read the monks' yellow banner, "must win over everything."

"Love and kindness must win over everything."

2007: The Stories We Forgot to Tell You

How weird was it? Shilpa Shetty, Bollywood star, victim of racism during the Celebrity Big Brother in UK eventually won. A Cambodian girl last seen tending their carabao was found 19 years later after living in the jungle. Anna Nicole Smith died and lovers and pretenders started fighting for her $1 B estate. A collosal squid weighing almost half a ton was fished off the coast of New Zealand and later in Germany, a giant scorpion claw was fished. 33 Virginia Tech students and teachers shot to death by a lonely South Korean. Kryptonite composed of sodium, lithium, boron, silicate and hydroxide discovered. Superman can not be found. In Sudan, a man was forced to marry a goat but Rose the goat later died. I will not discuss the cause of death. A pet camel killed an Australian woman. In August, the Perseid showers commenced. Again in Sudan, a UK teacher was freed over the hoopla of the teddy bear named Mohammad. After lording it out in the 1990s, Netscape Navigator is finally saying goodbye.