Friendster vs. Facebook..here in da Philippines

I have just succumbed to the proddings of my ka-berk and broke my self-imposed limit on one social networking for the self rule. I believed that being on Friendster was enough and getting on another social site would take too much of my time. I didn't want to leave Friendster as my labor of love was there, my very first blog site, thus two was definitely more than I could handle. But after hearing so much about Facebook on the Net, the television and from friends, I decided to give this Harvard graduate's creation a try. Well, so far so good, I'm enjoying it. Perhaps its in the layouting too but the applications are such that its so user-friendly compared to Friendster. The updates are strategically located in the center of the page and grabs your attention. It also has a better application for finding friends and its "what are you doing now?" feature is really fun. The only downside though is that it has no space for a blog which is what has tied me to Friendster.

So which is better? The jury is still out but judging from the many Facebook converts, the verdict is not that hard to guess.

International Foodie Show Goes to Manila

I just wanted to contribute my two centavos worth of national pride. How? By telling (informing is more apt, kinda lazy today to make a real full-length post about it) you about the Philippine episode of of Anthony Bourdain's cooking show, "No Reservations". Yup, your right, a whole hour is dedicated to showcasing some "gritty but tasty" (his words) Filipino food fare. Perhaps it can entice some of you to make that plannned trip for home if only to savor true-blue Filipino dishes again. One can catch his show on the Travel Channel and its Philippine episode premiered last February 16 in the US. Too bad, cable's not available at my parent's house (some household oversight) so I would have to look for a link on the Internet. Anyway, to read more about it, click here and drool :-).

This One's for the Books

(Photo source)

I don't know if this guy in robes has lost his marbles, is a Weberian fanatic, or has had a particularly most rigid toilet training but this judge's ruling on ownership of stairs in an apartment building is one of the most absurd one I've read all my life. Maybe the judge was trying to be funny but one's thing for sure, if all courts were headed by someone like him, then God help us.

Native Bags

Don't you just find these bags lovely? They are made from indigenous materials such as tikog (the material used for banig) and abaca. You may find these at the Pasalubong Center just beside the Cebu Pacific office at the Tacloban City airport. Grab one and support the local economy. For bulk order, click here to contact suppliers.

Be Wary of Texting and Calling Taxi Drivers

(Photo source)

I just read an article on a newspaper today that get me really disturbed. So disturbed in fact that I just had to make a post about it.

The Philippine Star, a national daily, ran a a story about a Filipino-American, a Harvard law student at that, who got robbed in the taxi he was riding from the airport by the taxi driver no less. It was his first trip here in the Philippines and I'm really sad that it had to happen then. I bet my first thousand dollars on Sponsored Reviews.com( if I ever get to earn that much) that he will think a thousand times before he makes a second trip here.

From that article, I made the following tips for would be travelers, especially those hailing a taxi from the airport:

1. Ride in airport-affiliated taxis only, more so if your all by your lonesome. It might be more expensive but in the long run its definitely worth it;

2. Keenly observe the taxi driver for any suspicious behaviour (e.g. surreptious glances in the rear view mirror) most especially if he starts calling and texting (this is what happened to the hapless Fil-Am of this post), once this happens think fast on how to get off the taxi or at least call someone for help;

3. Have the security guard at the airport take down the license plate, taxi number and ID of the driver, if the cabbie refuses to give his ID, be wary and don't ride his cab (better safe then sorry);

4. Ride only those cabs with the drivers' identification prominently displayed on the front; and

5. Finally, to be truly safe, have someone pick you up at the airport.

Stories like this truly make me sad for it drives away people who would have come to see our beautiful country if not for this bad lemons in our basically friendly basket of hospitable people. I do hope the authorities catch these bandits masquerading as cabbies.

Pay for Blogging?!

Some genius bureaucrat has cooked this "wonderful" idea of charging certain fees for anyone who posts "content" on the Internet. What does this mean? Simple, bloggers will now have to pay a certain amount in order to continue posting. I just hope that this is a bonafide way to generate revenue and not some thinly-disguised ploy at censorship on the world wide web. As for this blogger, it could mean the possibility of closing up soon. Generating some of the posts here in "adventures of waray in the city" already entails some cost which I never recover as this site does not earn ad revenue. To pay fees on top of it all would be too much down the end of a cost-benefit ratio in maintaining this blog. That would really be sad as this blog and its readers has become very much a part of my life. Anyway, let's await and see further developments. News on blogging community has it that today is the start of a series of public hearings at the National Telecommunications Office (the Philippine regulatory body on all wireless communication and information technology) on this proposal.

The "Bees" Beat Them All in the Sinulog

Tribu Buyugan of Abuyog, Leyte with its story of "bees" and their conversion to the "faith of the Holy Child" bagged the grand prize in the free interpretation category of the recent Sinulog Festival of Cebu City.

Apart from getting the judges' nod for their interpretation and choreogrpahy, Tribu Buyugan got the crowd all revved up and won third prize in the street dancing category.

Personally, I have witnessed them perform in the local Leyte Pintados Kasadyaan Festival and I do agree with the judges' choice, their the best and one of the mostest dance contingent in the country.

(Source: Leyte-Samar Daily Express, January 20, 2009)