Rice problem is top agenda in Arroyo meeting with solons
MANILA, Philippines—President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo and congressional leaders will meet on Tuesday to discuss the skyrocketing prices of food and fuel and identify bills that they intend to push together for immediate passage.
Cerge Remonde, Presidential Management Staff secretary, said the Palace would push for the extension of the Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Law, affordable medicines bill and the exemption of minimum wage earners from the income tax at the Legislative-Executive Development Advisory Council (LEDAC), which convenes Tuesday. Read more
Venezuela axes “The Simpsons” as bad for kids
CARACAS (Reuters) – Venezuela has forced U.S. cartoon “The Simpsons” off its airwaves, calling the show a potentially bad influence on children, and filled its morning slot with reruns of the beach-and-bikini show “Baywatch.”
“The Simpsons” satirical take on a dysfunctional American family had been shown, dubbed into Spanish, on the Televen network at an 11 am slot.
“Today I believe they started broadcasting something else,” said a spokesman at Venezuela’s broadcasting regulator Conatel. “They were infringing many things in the television and radio social responsibility law.”
Conatel said it started proceedings against the morning airing of the show after complaints from viewers.
Televen has replaced the long-running and popular cartoon with “Baywatch Hawaii,” late seasons of the “Baywatch” series that made actress Pamela Anderson a household name.
20th Century Fox Television, which owns “The Simpsons” and is part of News Corp, said it was not immediately able to comment on the decision to pull “The Simpsons.” The long-running show was once criticized by former U.S. President George H. W. Bush but is now a major U.S. cultural reference.
Many Venezuelan television stations fill their schedules with reruns of old U.S. series and Latin American soap-operas.
SSD (Solid State Disk) in laptops: prices still high, will you wait?
If your buying a laptop in 2008 then it’s a good idea to look at SSD (Solid State Disk) options as they have many benefits, but as soon as you add this to a laptop one thing changes right away and that’s price. SSD’s are still a lot of money compared to normal hard drives, maybe they will come down in 2009, but for now expect to pay more money for this little extra.
Earlier today peter reported about the upcoming Toshiba Portege R500 12Q that will come with a 128GB SSD drive and it also features a dual-layer DVD writer, 2GB of DDR2 RAM, 12.1-inch LED-backlit display and a Core 2 Duo ULV U7700 processor. There is no word on price yet, but again we can expect it to be more than it’s competitor with a normal hard drive.
Will consumers make the move to SSD now or will most people wait until the price crashes, I have always been one to buy early on and also one that pays the price for it. While prices have come down a little, this time I am waiting it out and they may be some time yet.
Do you own a laptop with SSD and if not would you wait until the price comes down a lot or pay a premium now?
Light Emitting Wallpaper
Have you ever wanted an alternative lighting solution in your room, well soon this will be possible. This illuminated wallpaper has a clever mix of the graphic and textile.
This Light-Emitting Wallpaper harkens back to recent products exploring digital paper by Miquel Mora. The technology behind this invention has yet to be revelled but should get clarified when it goes on display at the Salone Internazionale del Mobile in Milan.
What do you think of this idea?
Vanilla Ice aka Robert Van Winkle Released from Jail
Vanilla Ice whose real name is Robert Van Winkle has been released from jail following his court appearance on Friday for domestic battery.
County Judge Nancy Perez ordered that Vanilla Ice can have only phone contact with his wife Laura and can visit his two daughters as long as he’s accompanied by his neighbour Frank Morales and that he must check in with a court supervisor by telephone during his release on the misdemeanour charge.
Do you think that he should have been released?
American Idol: Ramiel Malubay Eliminated
After Jasmin Trias and Camile Velasco, another Filipino made it as one of the 24 finalist of American Idol.
The very pretty 20 year old Ramiele Macrowon-Malubay, a native of Miramar, Florida, who once said …
If Jasmin can do it, I can do it!
…freaked out after knowing she is included in the final 24. Ramiel established her attachment with music early at the age 12 when she sang in her cousin’s birthday. The very talented Filipina can also play the piano as well as the guitar which is being taught to her by her sister. Besides singing and playing instruments, she also did some Polynesian Dancing since she was on the first grade.
The “Pinay American Idol” is a huge fan of Regine Velasquez. She said that she really doesn’t want to be famous but instead, represent the Asian community especially the Filipinos in this competition where the whole world is watching.
And guess what, like every Filipino; Ramiele Malubay also tried eating balot (balut)…
The weirdest thing I have ever eaten, balot (balut), It’s like a … I think it’s a duck egg. It’s cooked but there’s a baby inside. … I don’t know, I don’t eat it anymore. But it tastes good if you eat the outside part, instead of the baby inside.
Ramiele stopped nursing school for this season and promised to go back if not chosen to be the next American Idol. Read more
