NASB

31 July 1970. The New American Standard Bible (NASB) is finally released to the public 7 years after the New Testament was published, and 69 years after its precursor, the American Standard Version (ASV) was put on the market. According to its producer, the California-based Lockman Foundation, over 58 scholars from various denominations — [...]

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PNP Biofuel

In these desperate times, energy-saving breakthroughs are a welcome news — especially when the news comes from a much ballyhooed institution like the Philippine National Police (PNP) which has long been swamped with charges of corruption, ineptitude, summary executions, and whatever evils their critics could attribute to their muck-splattered image.
This time, it [...]

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God & “Game Ka Na Ba?”

A pastor is the reigning champ in the highly acclaimed ABS-CBN game show Pilipinas, Game Ka Na Ba? ["Philippines, Are You Game?"] now perfectly hosted by Ilonggo actor Edu Manzano.
I have nothing personal against the pastor and do not question his joining GKNB. In the first place, I don’t know him personally. Second, I don’t [...]

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Power and Society

Every social act is an exercise of power; every social relationship is a power equation.
- Amos Hawley, quoted in Charles E. Hurst, Social Inequality: Forms, Causes, and Consequences (Needham Heights, MA: Allyn & Bacon, 2001), 126.

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PGMA’s SoNA 2008: Fashion Show

Bollywood/Hollywood-like characters (a.k.a. lawmakers, their spouses, et al.) wrapped in specially designed apparels self-consciously strutting along the red carpet. Pro-Administration officials issuing the usual spirited display-even-the-padded-KRA (Key Result Areas)-stats defense of PGMA’s annual report. Anti-Administration people acting according to their predictable find-nothing-good-about-this-administration script.
All of these amply illustrated one aspect of the recent SoNA affair: Wardrobe [...]

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Irregular Verbs - According to Some of My Students

Many university students who hadn’t taken the trouble to master the conjugation of irregular verbs in high school often come up with surprising terms that can help set the lighter side of classroom teaching and learning which, I bet my meager salary, would delight George Walker Bush himself. Here’s a list culled from diagnostic tests [...]

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Balbalan Centennial Blog

At the suggestion of Regy Wacas of LGU Balbalan, we created a weblog for the Balbalan Centennial. We will do our best to get the site regularly updated. See initial post/photos @ http://balbalan100.wordpress.com.

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Iglesia Ni Cristo Founded

27 July 1914. Felix Ysagun Manalo officially establishes the Iglesia Ni Cristo (Church of Christ) about nine months after he supposedly received divine revelation to found “the true church.” Earlier, he forsook his Catholic roots and successively became an active member among the Methodists, Disciples of Christ, and, finally, the Seventh-Day Adventists. Among the [...]

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reading a book

Read not to contradict and confute; nor to believe and take for granted; nor to find talk and discourse; but to weigh and consider. Some books are to be tasted, others to be swallowed, and some few to be chewed and digested; that is, some books are to be read only in parts; others [...]

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bookmooch!

Fellow Booksale addicts out there who haven’t signed in with BookMooch, better register now. Lynette Carpio, a colleague who recently introduced me to BM, prided herself on her latest treasure trove of 40 books she received last month and has given away some of her own collections while piling up points in her account. Don’t [...]

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To a Boy in His Daddy’s Jeepney

Take comfort in your sofa by the gear stick, warmed by the sputtering engine.
Snore with the roar of cars, and suck in the colored air that blankets you.
No worries, ‘Tay’s bony hand grips the sooty cloth for your sweaty forehead.
Be glad, soon you’ll be home with Nanay to feast on a lump snatched from the [...]

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And the Last Sentinel Fell

the brown expanse opened into an eternal stretch. swirling sheets of coarse, hot sand and dust endlessly block the searing rays of the red star. most of the time the eye finds its uselessness. yonder, a towering, parched and grainy mountain casts a gloomy patch of shadow over the restless plain beside it. at [...]

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Business Signs/Names/Ads - Pinoy Style

This forwarded email made my day. I added some notes for our non-Filipino readers. Corrections are welcome…
***
Filipinos are funny and creative when it comes to business signs and posters. Here are some examples:
* A parlor in San Juan is named ‘Cut & Face‘
* A wholesaler of balut in Sto.Tomas, Batangas: ‘ Starduck [...]

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Cerularius vs. Humbert

16 July 1054. This day marks the Roman Catholic Church-Eastern Orthodox Church split, an event more popularly known as the “East-West Schism” or “The Great Schism.” On this day, Humbert, the Archbishop of Sicily who was a then a recent appointee of Leo IX, excommunicated Michael I Cerularius, the Constantinople-based Patriarch. The latter would decree [...]

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“To be human is to be free…”

The future is the same for all of us. Nothing keeps one form for long: mountains crumble to become plains and valleys, lakes become reedy marshes. The great ice floes melt, and rivers rise to forested valleys. We are men and women for a time before we rejoin the blown sands of creation. Only once [...]

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Denying Communion to “Pro-Abortion” Lawmakers

“It is the priest’s duty to act against public sinners. If a priest or bishop does not punish a public sinner, it is the priest or bishop who will err.”
So says Apo Arsobispo Oscar Cruz of Pangasinan in relation to the abortion issue. He was quoted in a CBCP online news report on his [...]

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Thinking of Ka Ambo on Cordillera Day

Related Post: “Cordillera Day”

Cordi Day – April 24 or July 15? The Cordillera People’s Alliance (CPA) takes the first date, the Cordillera Bodong Administration (CBA) prefers the second. The former hoists Macli-ing Dulag’s icon, the latter flashes Conrado Balweg’s.
***
Who was Balweg? Let me try to answer the question from four perspectives:

Chadli Molintas Command [...]

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“On Creativity”

The man who follows the crowd will get no further than the crowd. The man who walks alone is likely to find himself in places no one has ever been before.
Creativity in living is not without its attendant difficulties, for peculiarity breeds contempt. And the unfortunate thing about being ahead of your time is when [...]

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Hama Amadou: Another Scammer from Ouagadougou

This guy is not to be confused with the former Prime Minister of the Republic of Niger of the same name. The West African state of Burkina Faso is west of Niger.
FROM THE OFFICE OF MR.HAMA AMADOU.
THE CHIEF AUDITOR INCHARGE,
AFRICAN DEVELOPMENT BANK (ADB).
OUAGADOUGOU BURKINA FASO.
WEST AFRICA.

Dear Partner,

I presumed that all is well with you [...]

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Philippine Independence (2)

04 July 1946. The Philippines gains its political independence from the USA. Some Filipino historians regard this date as the “real” Independence Day and the 12 June 1898 declaration of independence as “fictional” (read Bobby Reyes‘ online article @ bibingka.com).

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