ISN’T HE just an amazing swimmer, Michael Phelps, winning a total of 16 Olympic medals? That is even more than what a country’s whole batch of athletes could bring home after an olympic event. Only very few people could earn success of such magnitude.

In the Beijing Olympics, he garnered eight gold medals, whoich earned him the record of most number of gold medals won. Here’s what I got from wikipedia about the events he won in Beijing:

A FEW years ago, the horrors of closures of pre-need institutions like CAP traumatized many of us so bad that the affected planholders cursed those companies and decided right there and then to never trust them again.

That’s never gonna happen again once the Senate Bill 2077 or the Philippine Pre-Need Code of 2008 is enacted. With the Senate’s passing this bill, we have something to hope for.

At the end of this post, you may download the primer of the pre-need code.

In an email, Sen. Mar Roxas, who is the author of this bill, said that

“…the code will hold pre-need companies to stricter standards to safeguard the rights of Filipino families, such as concrete measures to protect plan holders; detailed provisions on the securities a pre-need company can invest in; and the percentage of the premiums that should go into the trust fund.

I’VE JUST realized I’m quite into long titles these days.

Well, it’s July 18 on Friday. I’m sure, you have heard a lot about the 8.1 magnitude earthquake that was rumored to hit the Philippines. But let’s have some additional information about the said.

From another forwarded email, I have learned that there really exist doomsday predictions for 2008. But the facts that were circulating few weeks ago were not quite true.

First off, the name of the foreteller is not Juseeleno Nobulega Daroose, as was circulated. Close, but not quite. The name of the person is, reportedly, Jucelino Nobrega da Luz. He is a Brazillian psychic. You might want to confirm the information by Googling it. You”ll find a lot of blogs and news organizations websites discussing the matter.

This man, da Luz, according to online sources did prophesy some destruction for the month of July. Here’s an excerpt

FOUR DAYS after, you can still feel the agony caused by the flood to more than 600 affected families. The following are pictures taken at Purok Maharlika, on the way to our school. According to a friend who works at the Provincial Capitol told me that the flood had caused greater damage in Ladol, a coastal village.

IT HAPPENED again after almost eight years — only, it’s stronger this time.

I thought it wouldn’t rain as hard as it did yesterday. When we arrived from Marbel at about half past three yesterday, the sky was not really dark. After my last class, it started to drizzle. Then the wind started to blow. Soon after, the sky darkened and a heavy downpour followed.

The students who were getting ready to go home started to worry. There were only few vehicles on the school grounds so some of them started walking under the rain out of fear that the rain would not stop until nightfall.

I told my co-teacher that it was the strongest rain I have seen in years. She told me that it was just normal. But I had a gut feeling that if it would last for half an hour more, a flashflood of the same magnitude of the one that took place on November 1, 2000, would hit our town.

I HAVE only watched the news program last night after more than a week of no-TV. And last night, I have heard so much blabbery on the “system loss charge” that Meralco passes on to its consumers. There was this activist who pushes on the complete removal of “system loss charge” from the Meralco bill, which he thinks will significantly reduce power rates nationwide.

So, the problem is the high cost of electricity that is blamed on the other charges collected by Meralco and other distributors. I believe that it is legal to collect such a charge becasue according my readings, there is a law that allows distribution utilities to pass on  to their consumers up to 9.5% of power purchased. But I don’t know how much Meralco charges its consumers for its system loss.

But what exactly is this thing called system loss? The discussion on TV focuses on pilferage or theft of electricity. That is what some groups of activist know that is why they are clamoring for the removal of which in our bill. They are thinking that Meralco charges everyone the cost of electricity stolen by other people.

System loss isn’t just that. It is an inevitable drawback of electric transmission.

A BOMB blast rocked the crowd of people celebrating the culminating activities of Kalilangan Festival, GenSan’s 69th Foundation Anniversary  of at the Oval Plaza, General Santos City, 10:45 last night, Feb 27, 2008, leaving one dead and six injured.

The only fatality was reportedly the suspected bomber.

He was identified by the local authorities as Glenn Octaviano, 27, a resident of nearby city, Koronadal.

The other six injured were Mario Abasilan, Arnel Tinaco, Noel Navarro, Randy Cuevas, Benjie Querin, and Melvin Saranillo.

After the explosion, the festivities continued.

It is a question how the bomber was able to pass through the tight security in the vicinity.