Dogs Don't Have a Choice

Not only the kids suffer when parents divorce, but the pets as well.

Charlie Sheen was allegedly mistreating the two pugs he and ex-wife Denise Richards owned. When Denise learned about it, she immediately took action to rescue the dogs and took them under her care. Unfortunately, one of the dogs died of malnutrition shortly after being removed from Charlie Sheen's home. (Read about the story here.)

These are pugs were talking about here, and these creatures are so small that they eat so little. If a pug died of malnutrition, clearly he wasn't fed well.

I always tell my friends to take good care of their pets because these pets don't have a choice on who their masters would be. Instead, we humans are the ones who choose them to be our pets. And with getting a pet comes great responsibilities. If you think you can't take the full responsibilities of having a pet, they just don't get one.

And I really hope it's not this cute dog that died.

image: eonline.com

Animals for Fashion

I love how animals, especially dogs, are used in fashion shoots, be it a fashion story or catalogue. I just hope these animals are not in any way harmed, or colored just to have a perfect picture.

Below is Francisco Lachowski with a dog and a rooster for Reserva Catalogue Spring/Summer 2011.

photos: bellazon.com

Myanmar (Burma) Hit By a Magnitude 6.8 Earthquake

A magnitude 6.8 earthquake hit Myanmar (Burma) on Thursday night, March 24, 2011. It was felt as far as 479 miles away in Bangkok, Thailand

The epicenter was reported to be in a relatively rural part of the country that borders on China, Laos, and Thailand.

Unlike the recent earthquake in Japan, the Myanmar earthquake poses very little risk of creating a tsunami because the epicenter is so far inland.

A screenshot from earthquake.usgs.gov:

The Philippine Azkals, who are currently in Yangon, Myanmar for the AFC Challenge Cup group qualifying tournament, were reported to be in the 9th floor of a hotel building when the earth shook. Anton Del Rosario tweeted he even thought it was vertigo. Luckily they are all safe as per report by sportscaster Dyan Castillejo who is currently with the Azkals in Myanmar.

The Azkals were also in Japan during the March 11 earthquake. They spent a number of days there to practice in cold weather before they headed to Mongolia for the second leg of their pre-qualifying match.

As Anton Del Rosario joked in the same tweet, could the earthquake really be following them?

Philippine Azkals vs Palestine - Another Draw

The Philippine Azkals vs. Palestine's The Fighter football match held March 23, 2011 in Myanmar ended in a draw. Neither of the team scored a goal ending the game with a score of 0-0.

Just like the Azkals' first game in the group qualifying tournament of the Asian Football Confederation Challenge Cup against Myanmar's White Angels, the Philippine football team only got 1 point for a draw game, making their total number of points a very low 2.

As of the moment, Palestine is leading with 4 points. They got 3 points for winning against Bangladesh's Bengal Tigers last March 21. Palestine is followed by Philippines with 2 points and Myanmar with 1 point.

But Philippines has only 1 game left, and that's with Bangladesh which is happening on Friday, March 25. If the Azkals win on Friday, they would have a total of 5 points, and that's the highest they could get.

Meanwhile, both Myanmar and Bangladesh have two more games left while Palestine has one.

Let's just hope and pray that the Philippine Azkals win against Bangladesh on Friday. That's the last chance they have.

Tennis - Novak Djokovic-Style

Watch Novak Djokovic play tennis on the wings of a flying airplane for Head Tennis campaign.

The YouTube caption says:

In order to show you their fastest tennis racquet ever, HEAD Tennis has Australian Open winner Novak Djokovic play the fastest tennis game ever. At over 150 mph, Djokovic needs all the power and speed he has to beat the wind drag, with the help of the HEAD Tennis YouTek IG SPEED MP 18/20 racquet, it almost looks easy.

Philippine Azkals vs Myanmar's White Angels Game Ends in a Draw

The Philippine Azkals vs. Myanmar's White Angels match ended in a draw with each team having one goal each.

The game was the first of a series for the group qualifying tournament of the Asian Football Confederation Challenge Cup. The teams in the group are the Philippine Azkals, Myanmar's White Angels, Bangladesh's Bengal Tigers, and Palestine's The Fighters.

It was just sad that the Philippines didn't have any live streaming of the game but internet proved to be very useful as Dyan Castillejo tweeted live from the game in Myanmar.

The first half of the game ended with a 0-0 score but according to Dyan, Myanmar's ball handling was very good that they could get through the Azkals' defense. Myanmar also had so many near goals but thanks to our Goal Keeper Neil Etheridge he prevented Myanmar from scoring.

On the second half of the game, James Younghusband was the first to score at 76th minute. It was almost a winning situation but during the 3-minute extension of the game, Myanmar's White Angels scored making it a draw.

A team needs 6 points in order to qualify. A win equals 3 points, so the Azkals needs 2 wins to qualify. They could've had 3 points already but the game finished in a draw and a draw equals 1 point.

Let's just pray for the Philippine Azkals victory against Palestine's The Fighters on March 23rd and against Bangladesh's Bengal Tigers on the 25th.

Go Azkals!

Magnitude 5.7 Earthquake Hits Luzon

Every netizen was perhaps busy checking Twitter for live updates on the Philippine Azkals and Myanmar's White Angels when a magnitude 5.7 earthquake rocked parts of Luzon including Metro Manila. PhiVolcs said the quake was recorded at 6:37 PM (March 21, 2011) with epicenter at 12 km northeast of Lubang Island in Mindoro

Just a day before, a magnitude 6.9 quake also hit Northern Luzon.

The quake happened almost the same time when James Younghusband scored a goal against Myanmar that every football fan was joking he caused the earthquake. Another joke was that every Filipino cheered and jumped at the same time causing the earth to shake. (The match was a draw, btw, with both teams scoring 1 goal each.)

The earthquake was felt at:

Intensity IV: Manila City; Marikina City; Talisay, Batangas; Tagaytay City;
Intensity III: Quezon City; Alabang; Makati; Taguig; Malabon; Bacoor, Cavite; Lubang Island;San Jose, Mindoro Occidental; Abra de Ilog; Calapan, Mindoro Occidental;
Intensity II: Lucban, Quezon; Plaridel, Bulacan; Cabanatuan City, Nueva Ecija; Baguio City.

A friend of mine, who lives in a high rise condo in Makati immediately Tweeted she panicked and couldn't think of what to do while the building was swaying. But another friend who works at Mall of Asia says she felt it but it was so weak that other people at the mall didn't even know there was an earthquake.

Being in Taguig which was reported to have felt an intensity 3 earthquake, I didn't feel anything while inside our home. I only learned of the quake on Twitter when GMA News tweeted about it.

It's actually a good thing I wasn't inside a high rise building when it happened. I bet I'd also panic and would forget about the earthquake how-to's I'd been taught while being swayed by the building I was in.

I guess there's nothing else we could do at these times of calamities but pray. As I always say, prayers work wonders.

Mongolia Beats Philippine Azkals But Azkals Advances to AFC Qualifiers with 3-2 Aggragate

Mongolia Blue Wolves beat the Philippine Azkals with a 2-1 score on the second leg of the Asian Football Confederation Challenge Cup qualifying stage in Ulaanbaatar a while ago.

Despite the loss, though, the Azkals still wins with an aggregate score of 3-2. The Philippine football team beat Mongolia with a 2-0 score on the first leg of the game held last February in Bacolod City.

Only James Younghusband scored a goal within the first three minutes of the first half in game 2. The goal meant so much to the team because it allowed them to advance to the qualifying game's group stage. Jame's goal also meant so much to the Philippine football history. You could have imagined what happened if he didn't score that first goal.

The Philippine Azkals next games are as follows:

21 March 2011 17:30 PST Myanmar vs. Philippines
23 March 2011 17:30 PST Philippines vs Palestine
25 March 2011 17:30 PST Bangladesh vs Philippines

Winners and runners-up of the group stage directly qualify for the final tournament.

Another SMS Hoax, This Time Regarding the Radiation Leak in Japan

I received text messages regarding the radiation leak at Fukushima nuclear plants and its risks to the neighboring countries of Japan.

The forwarded message reads: "BBC FLASHNEWS: Japan government confirms radiation leak at Fukushima nuclear plants. Asian countries should take necessary precautions. Remain indoors first 24 hours. Close doors and windows. Swab neck skin with Betadine where thyroid area is. Radiation hits thyroid first. Take extra precaution, radiation may hit Philippines starting 4 PM today. Please send to your loved ones."

I disregarded the message knowing how these forwarded messages just aim to scare people. Besides, I was tuned to CNN and keeping updated via Twitter during the time I received the messages.

I still went to the BBC website to verify, though. And there's nothing like that on the site. A news article even says that the health risk of the nuclear accident in Japan is low.

Also, PAGASA says that if the movement of the air coming from Japan is to be the basis, radiation wouldn't reach the Philippines at all. The air is directed towards the USA, specifically the Hawaii. But since radiation is heavy, it would have mixed with the sea water before it even reached the US.

Furthermore, it has never happened that the air from Japan reached the Philippines so there's really nothing to be worried about.

My sister actually called me up instructing me to put alcohol or Betadine on me and my Nanay's neck. She said her sons went home from school with the story of how they went to the clinic to put alcohol on their necks. Funny but her youngest, despite my sister's instruction to stay inside the house, went out to put alcohol on the neck of Kikay, their brown Labrador.

You see, all these forwarded text messages do is scare the people away. Whoever creates these messages has no aim but to really cause pandemonium.

If you receive messages that you know would cause people to panic or get scared, please think twice in forwarding it to others. Make a little research first on how true the forwarded message is. The internet has all the information. All you have to do is Google it, or Bing it depending on what you use, and you'll have access to the truth.

Some blogs, though, are just like these forwarded messages. They also scare. So better go directly to a news website, preferably BBC or CNN, so you'll be sure that the information you get is correct.

13-Foot Tsunami Hits Japan's Northeastern Coast After a Magnitude 8.9 Earthquake

The northeastern cost of Japan was hit by a magnitude 8.9 earthquake Friday. The said earthquake triggered fire and unleashed a 13-foot tsunami that swept buildings, cars, boats, and lots of debris inland.

The video below (uploaded by ABC Action News about 41 minutes ago) shows boats and cars being swept away by a strong current of water.

Several injuries and the death of at least one person were reported in Tokyo, which is several kilometers away, where the buildings shook through the magnitude 8.9 earthquake and the massive aftershocks that followed.

Tsunami warnings are issued for Guam, Philippines, Marshall Islands, Indonesia, Papua New Guinea, Nauru, Micronesia and Hawaii.

Meanwhile, the Philippines' National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council has issued Alert Level 1 in Batanes , Cagayan, Isabela, Quezon, Albay, Sorsogon and some parts of Visayas. Phivolcs says that tsunami generated by quake in Japan will take 4 hrs to reach the Philippines. Tsunami may hit the country between 5-7 PM.

Fortunately, though, Phivolcs announced that the Philippines will not experience earthquake related to today's earthquake in Japan.

Let's all pray for the safety of our brothers in Japan, as well as for the safety of our country. There's nothing more powerful than prayers that will help us in times of disaster such as this.