Friday – 12 Aug 2011

[smartads] Aklan is a province of the Philippines located in the Western Visayas. Its capital is Kalibo. It is located at the northwest portion of Panay Island, bordering Antique Province to the southwest, and Capiz Province to the east. Aklan faces the Sibuyan Sea and Romblon Province to the north.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aklan_(province)

Useless Knowledge:  When delivering his famous “Farewell Address,” Washington spoke through false teeth that were fashioned from whalebone.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_Washington’s_Farewell_Address

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_Washington

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Baleen

http://boracaylive.com/news/aklan-philippines/

11 Aug – Hits @ 0030 = 883926.

I really don’t have much written down for this post, but let’s see what happens by the time I blah, blah, blah and think up other things along the way.  I’ll try to make it a respectable post but none the less it will only be for this one day.

I got up at 0606, but decided it was too early to be up and I went back to bed.  Next thing I know, it’s 0900.

http://aklanforum.blogspot.com/2010_05_01_archive.html

Mar is suppose to be here at 1000 to take us out to eat at Mang Inasal, the new Filipino BBQ restaurant chain that opened downtown, so I need to get ready.  Of course with Filipino time, he probably won’t be here until at least 1030.

http://wikitravel.org/en/Aklan#b

http://www.aklan.gov.ph/

http://www.aycalifeclub.com/boracay.html/boracay-beaches-philippines-6

Useless Knowledge:  Ivory Soap was originally named P&G White Soap. In 1879, Harley Proctor found the new name during a reading in church of the 45th Psalm: “All thy garments smell of myrrh, and aloes, and cassia, out of ivory palaces, whereby they have made thee glad.”

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ivory_(soap)

http://www.u-s-history.com/pages/h1811.html

http://blog.modernmechanix.com/2008/07/14/harley-procters-floating-soap/

I didn’t do much to get ready.  I had already taken a shower last night, so all I had to do was shave, brush and flush.  All done and ready to go.

http://aklanforum.blogspot.com/2010/10/airport-authority-shelves-plan-to.html

Good thing I got ready early because Mar actually showed up early.  He was here at 0945.  That really caught me off guard.  He showed up here and picked up us, Ramil and a couple of his grandsons, Raven and Reverof.   There were 9 of us all together.  We sat at groups of tables right next to each other.

http://www.batch2006.com/ilo-ilo/visit_aklan.htm

(lots of pictures at above website)

We went to Mang Inasal and it was a little crowded, but not so that we didn’t get a seat.  We went into the party room area, but the air con was not turn on there yet this morning and Ludy didn’t want to stay in there.  That’s okay with me because it was much cooler in the other dining area.  We had to wait for them to clean a table, but that’s okay.

http://corporate.mozcom.com/dot/aklan1.html

I ordered the #2 which was 2 pieces of white meat chicken with unlimited rice.  I was a little worried about the rice being a low grade rice, but it was pretty good.  Good enough that I got a second helping of it.  I got to flirt a little with the young lady that was giving out the extra rice also.  They gave us what they called soup before the meal, but it was nothing but beef bullion.  I didn’t drink mine.  The meal was good, I liked it.  Lita said that her’s was not cooked well, but I don’t eat chicken that is not cooked well and mine was good enough.  We ordered Red Pepsi to drink and when they bring it to you they bring a 1500ml (1 1/2 liter) bottle.  You get a glass (baso) with like 3 or 4 small cubes of ice.  The drink was already nice and cool though, so I didn’t really need the ice.  I drank most of the 1500ml bottle they put on our tables.  There was one other 1500ml on the other tables, but I didn’t get any of that one.  I was going to bring the camera with me, but all the batteries I put in there said the batteries were exhausted.  Three sets of rechargeable batteries that supposedly were being charged.  They were waiting for me outside and I just got pissed off and threw the camera on the bed and two sets of batteries in the trash.  I keep the ones that were in the camera, maybe they could have actually been dead because they have been in the camera for quite a while.

http://www.backpackingphilippines.com/2008_01_01_archive.html

I was in there working on Level 3 of Plants vs Zombies and Lita told J to get the fan.  I stayed around long enough to finish the post though.  There is a thunderstorm brewing outside, so I’ll be turning the computer off for awhile.  I will probably also unplug it, just in case.

I guess I should mention that today is Samar Day.  I’m told it celebrates the day that Samar became a province.  To me it’s just another excuse to have a party.  But what’s wrong with that?  Nothing that’s what.

http://aklan.islandsphilippines.com/tourist-attractions.php

Useless Knowledge:  During World War II, the free-tailed bat caves near San Antonio were guarded closely as part of top-secret Operation X-ray. The U.S. military attempted to train the bats to carry small incendiary bombs and release them in Japanese buildings. During one test, bat bomb carriers escaped and set fire to barracks and a general’s car. The project was later scrapped.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Free-tailed_bat

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bat_bomb

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/San_Antonio

Sorry it’s so short today and it doesn’t look like it will be much longer tomorrow.  Hope it was enough to stick around for.  I’ll add something extra just to make it a little longer.

Salamat, Palaam

Today in Philippine History

11 AUGUST

Imperialist United States soldiers march to Manila

1898 – The camp of Philippine President Emilio Aguinaldo y Famy, which has already seized control of most of the archipelago away from the Spanish colonial forces, finally realizes that the Yankees are preparing to take the city of Manila as Filipino forces besieging Intramuros notice a general movement among American militia units; some three or four months earlier, amidst the Spanish-American War roughly intersecting with a supposed lull in the Philippine Revolution, Bald Eagle Admiral George Dewey forged an“alliance” with Aguinaldo in fighting Spain, with the latter and other imperialist American military and diplomatic officials taking turns in conning the Filipino general into believing that the U.S. was an ally;  the old and the new colonial power would in a few days stage the infamous Mock Battle of Manila designed to falsely show the world that it is the Americans instead of the Filipino revolutionaries that have defeated Spain in the Southeast Asian archipelago; five weeks earlier, Aguinaldo has stupidly ordered his soldiers  “not to interfere” with the American forces which have been entering the country following American officers’ deceptive assurances that the US is in sympathy with the independentist cause of the Filipinos and will honor their independence; within six months, the imperialist United States will invade the Philippines, with the ensuring Philippine-American War (1899-1914) to be latter dubbed by certain historians as the “First Vietnam.”

Photo credit: Filipiniana.net

Interesting Facts:

1. 1,525,000,000 miles of telephone wire a strung across the U.S.
2. 101 Dalmatians and Peter Pan (Wendy) are the only two Disney cartoon features with both parents that are present and don’t die throughout the movie.
3. 111,111,111 x 111,111,111 = 12,345,678,987,654,321
4. 12 newborns will be given to the wrong parents daily.
5. 123,000,000 cars are being driven down the U.S’s highways.
6. 160 cars can drive side by side on the Monumental Axis in Brazil, the world’s widest road.
7. 166,875,000,000 pieces of mail are delivered each year in the U.S.
8. 27% of U.S. male college students believe life is “A meaningless existential hell.”
9. 315 entries in Webster’s Dictionary will be misspelled.
10. 5% of Canadians don’t know the first 7 words of the Canadian anthem, but know the first 9 of the American anthem.
11. 56,000,000 people go to Major League baseball each year.
12. 7% of Americans don’t know the first 9 words of the American anthem, but know the first 7 of the Canadian anthem.
13. 85,000,000 tons of paper are used each year in the U.S.
14. 99% of the solar systems mass is concentrated in the sun.
15. A 10-gallon hat barely holds 6 pints.

More Interesting Facts:

1. A cat has 32 muscles in each ear.
2. A cockroach can live several weeks with its head cut off.
3. A company in Taiwan makes dinnerware out of wheat, so you can eat your plate.
4. A cow produces 200 times more gas a day than a person.
5. A dime has 118 ridges around the edge.
6. A dragonfly has a lifespan of 24 hours.
7. A fully loaded supertanker travelling at normal speed takes a least twenty minutes to stop.
8. A giraffe can clean its ears with its 21-inch tongue.
9. A giraffe can go without water longer than a camel can.
10. A goldfish has a memory span of three seconds.
11. A hard working adult sweats up to 4 gallons per day. Most of the sweat evaporates before a person realizes it’s there.
12. A hedgehog’s heart beats 300 times a minute on average.
13. A hippo can open its mouth wide enough to fit a 4 foot tall child inside.
14. A hummingbird weighs less than a penny.
15. A jellyfish is 95 percent water.