Hahaha When I saw this on Explore, I couldn't resist. Too funny! I love the humor. Don't you?
I love this photo! The pure expression of joy on the child's face is priceless. I can't help but smile, laugh and be amused at the same time. I'm sure this was a hard shot to capture but it was well worth the effort. Nice work.
What do you think?
What is Hunger?
Hunger is more than just an empty stomach. This phrase had the most impact on me while I was browsing the World Food Programme website. This is my blogpost for the Blogger's Unite event for World Hunger: Unite for Hunger and Hope.
I learned from the site that hunger occurs in places hit most recently by natural disasters and war and yet these only account for 8% of the world's hunger. So what does the other 92% account for? Daily undernourishment is much more a leading factor especially in places overrun with poverty.
A person needs to have at least the recommended 2,100 calories to lead a healthy life, these unfortunate people have less. To compensate for the lack of nourishment, their bodies slow down in terms of physical and mental capacities. To quote: "A hungry mind cannot concentrate, a hungry body does not take initiative, a hungry child loses all desire to play and study."
Since they are deprived of nutrition, their immune systems are considerably weak and they are very vulnerable to infections and diseases like diarrhea and measles. Each year, almost 11M children die before reaching the age of five with malnutrition associated with 53% of these deaths. (very alarming numbers) Hunger and malnutrition is a health risk more than AIDS, malaria and tuberculosis combined.
Most of the world’s hungry live in developing countries. According to the latest Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) 2008 statistics, there are 963 million hungry people in the world and 907 million of them are in developing countries. They are distributed like this:
565 million in Asia and the Pacific
230 million in Sub-Saharan Africa
58.4 million in Latin America and the Caribbean
41.6 million in the Near East and North Africa
What can we do to help?
Fill the cup
Monetary donations are most welcome. This campaign aims to gather enough change to fill one red cup..with the ratio of one full red cup feeding a child for a year. You can make donations here.
Free Rice
I read about this, in one of the issues of Reader's Digest last year and I immediately tried it out. It's an online game where the sponsors promise to give 10 grains of rice for each correct answer that a player gains. The longer you play and the more correct answers you put in, the more you donate rice. Try this out, it's mostly a vocabulary game..so you get to learn and help out. Play here.
Food Force
This is a video game which aims to teach children and adults alike about world hunger. You are given several missions to complete, with objectives concerning efforts on ending world hunger. It is set in a format that is patterned to teach kids while they're having fun. Play here.
Spread the Word
There are several banners and badges available on the website that you can put on your blog. These can help spread awareness. If you care, please do put a badge on your site. You can get the badges here.
There are also several walkathons which aim to raise funds to feed the hungry. These programs are usually sponsored by participating companies and are practiced in over 200 countries.
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I hope this blog post helped raise awareness concerning world hunger. Please do your part now and help. For more information, check out the World Food Programme website.
The first thing that came to my mind when I saw this picture was purity and innocence. See it? Oh plus an image of dandelions blowing in the wind.
How about you? What comes to your mind when you see this picture?
This is my customized starbucks tumbler. Being an interior designer, I decided to customize mine by putting a watercolor rendering of an interior scene in it. If you can look sideways, you’ll be able to make out the outline of a classic armchair.
Starbucks has a promo on Earth Day. 40 bucks off the coffee price if I choose to drink it from my own tumbler. Not bad huh? I’d definitely do this not only on earth day but keep it as a permament habit. I always bring my tumbler anyhow. Might as well help save the environment while I’m at it.
Earth Day was originally founded by Senator Gaylord Nelson during the 1970s and it has become an important worldwide practice annually.
What can you do?
Project Switch: Change your light bulbs!
Make the switch from ordinary incandescent lamps to compact fluorescent lamps with the approved energy star rating. Turn off unnecessary lights and appliances.
Drive your car differently.
Keep your car tuned up, watch your idling and turn off your engine when you’re just waiting. This helps in minimizing the production of carbon dioxides in the air.
Your house temperature.
Since it’s summer here in the Philippines and it really is too hot! Best to keep your airconditioning unit well-maintained. At cooler times of the year, it’s better to use an overhead ceiling fan than to turn on the AC. It uses less energy. Better yet, keep the windows wide open and let in the cool breeze.
Tame the Refrigerator monster.
This is probably the biggest energy consumer in the house. Make sure it is also well-maintained. Turning down the thermostat one degree lower can make a big difference. Make sure the door sealants still work.
Plant trees.
They help soak up the carbon dioxide in the air and they provide a cool shade especially in your backyard.
Recycle
Recycle all known non-biodegradable materials that you come across with everyday. Or try to store them in bins where you can drop them off at a recycling plant. Make sure you can re-use one thing at least a few times. I remember there was a coffee shop who once held a contest to hold the record for the most number of re-uses of their paper cups.
Be informed
Be well aware of the environmental issues that plague the earth today and know what actions are being taken against them and find out what you can do to help. You can take a look at some issues here.
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A Billion Acts of Green. If you really want to make your mark in helping the environment, sign your commitment here.
Got this inspiration from my blog theme. Feast your eyes on these creative servings. I’ve scoured the web to find the amazing ones. Mmmmm, makes we wanna crave for a cup of coffee. For info on how to make latte art, click here.
First up is this very cute loading screen. Since it's still in beta mode, it loads longer that anticipated and sometimes you'd get several retry screens. This causes some frustration to players but heck they still can't pry themselves away from pressing that "retry" button.
First you will taken to a character creation screen. The interface is simple enough. Since you don't have any gold yet to buy some expensive facelifts, choose the best free options that suites your taste and click the green checkmark box to proceed.
You are given the basic furniture and equipment that you need to start a restaurant. People will start coming in. If you've already assigned tasks to your staff, they will automatically do their job and your restaurant will start earning gold. Tip: Don't splurge your hard earned earnings yet on decor, you might need the cash to keep you staff well fed.
Aside from managing your restaurant and staff so that you can earn gold and level up, there are other goals you need to accomplish. One is collecting ingredients so that you can make several menu items available in your restaurant.
The menu screen shows you the available dishes that you can make and the necessary ingredients you will need. Once you've acquired the goods, you can now learn the dish. After learning the dish, you can the proceed to level it up. There are awards for levelling up a dish.
My rating is 5 out of 5 stars. Another very good and challenging game. Even though, the game doesn't load properly sometimes and there are long saving times, it's pretty understandable since it's still in beta mode. Give this a try if you're into time management games. The vector graphics is cute enough, the gameplay is very addicting and somehow, just watching your staff and all the people coming and going in your restaurant can be strangely hypnotizing.
The colors themselves were appetizing enough.
It's Good Friday today and for the first time in such a long time, the family is complete here at home on a weekday. When I opened my eyes today, my thoughts went as far back as Christmas last year. During Christmas, we take a four hour car trip going to Quezon Province where most of our relatives are. My dad will usually drive and my mom will sit upfront and me and my sister will be at the back, singing the hours away. While we were driving near Pagsanjan Falls, it suddenly struck me how proud of my parents I am.
Why you ask. Both of my parents didn't come from a rich family. My mom is the daughter of a farmer and my dad is the son of a small-time business man at Lucena city. As with poor families in the province, not everyone is fortunate enough to finish school, much less go to college. Both my parents strived hard to finish college. Both wanted to go to Manila to find better fortune and better living there.
From absolutely nothing, they struggled to give us, their kids, a good home and good schooling. We started out renting an apartment at Sta. Mesa and then moved on to have our own lot and house at Antipolo. We're not rich but we're not poor either. Our home is small but its pretty comfortable. All as a result of hardwork and of juggling 2 jobs each. I graduated from UP, one of the well respected universities here in the Philippines and my sister also graduated from UST another well-known university here.
I now have a pretty good career in Interior Design. I took the board exams right after I graduated and I passed! I guess my workaholic bouts came from them, I never sit idle for too long. I've got that itch to be productive each day. I also want to help in the everyday needs here in the house. I think they did a great job with my upbringing (I think :-P), I graduated at the top of my class and now I'm financially stable. I've bought my own car and saving up to have my own place. I don't do drugs, my friends are not of the wrong kind and I think I have a pretty sensible head in between my shoulders. My sister is continuing her studies to become a doctor and her schooling is getting pretty expensive but still we get by. I help out in ways that I can. I don't want my parents to bear the financial burden on their own.
Looking
back at that car ride, I guess I was seeing my parents in a different
light. We may have had arguments about petty little things but still
we're still one happy family. They'll always back me up wherever or
whatever I choose to do. I will always welcome their guidance. I'm
lucky to have such good parents and I owe a lot to them.
I was so moved when I saw this shot. Perfect for the current mood I am in.
