Pistachio Crisis is My Crisis

It's my favorite nut of all time, I even eat this flavor of ice cream and cakes for cryin out loud.There is a huge problem with it now because of salmonella, which they say is laced about it.

The result for the food tests in pistachio products will be released anytime next week. BFAD has been heading this endeavor and I will be one of them guys craving for it now so it is a huge thing for me.

Up unitl now, the recall for products with this ingredient specifically Setton pistachio of Terra Bella from the US is being held for the same reason. I wonder if the middle eastern ones have them too.Health Secretary Francisco Duque said he has made his people in BFAD go overtime for testing local brands of pistachio products since monday where there would be a 6 day incubation period needed to test if this has affected our supply.

He strongly suggested not to eat it for the meantime. This is just making me suffer a lot! AW!

Working with Fiber Optic Cables

I've been slaving these past few years configuring Cable and DSL Internet connections for home and small business offices in the US and elsewhere in the globe. There are also other types I configure for common users such as satellite connections, microwave and fiber optic modules that would make ordinary people squirm a little every time the geek in me utter technical jargon for breakfast. I know how it feels and difficult it was when most switches, L1 and L2 Routers do not work as advertised and only to find out that the problems would be traced with the fiber optic cables that have breakages. It just would be arduous to check the line manually like the last time I did it for a multinational company. It would have been easier to just have it replaced immediately but thinking about the cost per feet of this material it would not be economically appropriate. The GBIC devices used to connect these switches to other SOHO and Network devices are also pricey so if there are times that it could not be replaced anymore because the warranty expired, most consumers would not dish out money for it and rather buy a new "more advanced one" instead.


I also had to work the 50 meter LC to lc multimode Duplex Patch Cable they bought for another site and have the logistics set up for that. I'm confident that I could get that to work if they had the right firmware but the one I sent them previously seem to have bounced the initial electronic mail address they gave me. The secondary one went through so we had the manageable switches updated then POOF! We have network and Internet connection working smoothly. I have not checked the status of that since I'm in a different department now, but I'm glad that worked in spite of using other brands in the network. I was afraid it would not be able to do it since the design on the GBIC connectors is proprietary with ours.

I wonder if I could take a peek at that case number I have in my notepad with the help of some of my peers who still are in that account. I fervently hope he did not have problems anymore because that was really a hard one to resolve. Lucky me they bought TCA Fiber Optic, CAT5 and CAT6 Network Cables. The mileage would definitely tell us what its worth.

The Presidential Chopper Crash

I am shocked about this news I heard about premier government officials who was initially reported lost with a chopper off Benguet province but are now being declared dead by the hour since it was reported to have crashed along the mountains yesterday afternoon. The cause was bad weather and initially they were only doing ocular inspection of a project that was meant to be seen the day after by Philippine President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo. They were supposed to be the head party but after this particular incident, I guess there would not be anymore flights soon.

Now there are 8 recovered bodies from the crash site. Ifugao Governor Teodoro Baguilat, Jr. said that this is the death toll confirmed and according to Tinoc, Ifugao Mayor Lopez Tugong.

Baguilat said that there are no details where specifically their bodies were found as the Bell 412 wreckage was seen in his municipality. He added that tommorrow they would be able to identify the victims with the help of forensic experts. Search operations will still continue until the last one is found. They are still trying to see if there are going to be survivors but chances seem a little low now since they found the bodies. Because it is already hard to go in that location and it is already night time the priority is to at least get the bodies transported to the municipal and have them examined. Some of the bodies were burned beyond recognition. This is just really sad news.

These are high ranking officials from Malacanang and it is sad that this had to happen. It was about 4PM when they left Loakan Airport in Baguio. I have a question though, how air worthy are our aircrafts? What if Arroyo was the one in the chopper? That would just be really dangerous! The last time there was contact with the chopper was around 5 PM where the crew reported zero visibility in their area. Oh my, let's pray for them!

Play All You Want!

There have been obvious need for safeguarding the copyrights of artists all over the world and this includes our country the Philippines. Billions worth of pirated software, audio and video pilfered the streets of Manila and that does not discount those who are also in the malls. The favorite past time of everyone at this side of the world is window shopping. It even coined a term "MALLING" which we treat as an adjective for going to malls, stores and establishments. That is one unique culture trait as you may know but if they continue to be the number one consumer of these illegally produced DVD and Cd's then the need to put a stop to it is vital so the music and movie industry would not get hurt in the long run. They would not be able to get a single centavo off honorariums which they earn off.

Good thing there are web sites and companies like Kerchoonz that we can go to if we want our works of art be given recognition. They pay the actual artist even if we listen to their music free. That in my dictionary is better that going the hard way, piracy is a perennial problem in this side of the world. If I remember it correctly, there were about 3 buy bust operations that was held in provinces a few minutes outside Manila and the actual value of the machines were 3 million each. This does not include the raw material for the DVD and CD which costs around 2 million dollars. This may have destroyed the hopes of artists to earn their living and a lot of people from the film industry may lose their jobs if that continued operation. I might sign up our band in this site too so we can get the ball rolling with our music. This is just great because they pay their dues to artists and it would really be a big help to a so called dying industry. It is in Beta right now, but it would be great if everyone checked it out!