PREGUNTAVER

In the Philippines, one of the recognized heroes of good governance passed away in a recent plane crash. With plenty of things left to be done, high ranking government officials rushed to his residence and his office to secure his storage cabinets that contain his work files. The guy handles very important matters for the government after all. Let us hope that whoever replaces him will continue his good work.

Watching a History Channel documentary about the Malayan emergency reminds me that the communist insurgency in the Philippines is still an ongoing concern. Dubbed as the longest running Maoist rebellion, the New People’s Army has outlived Maoism in China. Some people though, claim that most of the rebels now are devoid of ideology and are more of a torn to the people in the country side.

If only every musicians friend play the banjo , not only will demand for the instrument increase, more songs will be written with the banjo in mind. Today’s musical landscape will become different and a new generation of sounds will debut. The Banjo is a fine instrument but it is not as popular as other instruments like the guitar or the saxophone. However, I believe that it will only take one popular musician to prominently wield the banjo to make the whole world take greater interest in the product.

To continue my series of posts about security in the highseas , Filipinos serve as the main provider of seafarers and with its abundance of experienced military trained manpower, it can also provide security training and manpower to the shipping vessels. And with proper coordination in the high seas, this security personnel can create a network that will serve to help all vessels (regardless of nationality and company) avoid and if needed, fight pirates.

Padron cigar s are very popular in my area. Its Spanish/Italian sounding name reminds me of the iconic Fidel who’s cigar smoking photos remain popular to this day. Ironically, the great Fidel is said to have stopped smoking a long time ago. I don’t know why but the impression created by his military uniform and matching cigar had become the most popular commercial for Cuban cigars.

My previous post about piracy and protecting the ships from pirates mentioned what an insider stressed in a forum that I attended about a month ago. There is a need to provide human security personnel to safeguard the huge and expensive vessels from fast crafts being operated by pirates. Since Filipinos are known to be the greatest provider of seafarers, it is probably high time for it to also become a source of armed and well trained security personnel. In the Philippines, the military, with its combat experience, can provide training that can possibly be used by private shipping companies.

Yesterday, I looked at some photos of icebergs and was reminded that it won’t be long and there will be nothing left of it. At the rate those things are melting, the earth is faced with the real possibility that the ice will melt and there will be a lot o flooding everywhere. Some people are doing a lot in order to stop the ice melt. They invented low heat emitting television screens and computer monitors and now, there are special types of bulbs with gu24 socket base that are designed to become more environmentally friendly.

I attended a seminar where an American professional spoke about piracy in the high seas. He enumerated procedures that the industry is taking in order to protect the ships and most importantly, he stressed that the best protection is still the hiring of human security personnel. In my opinion, it is not very difficult to protect a ship. A few well placed guards with powerful weapons can hold off any boarding party until international coalition troops get to the scene.

I read in the news that The Royal Canadian Mint will stop circulating pennies as of Feb. 4, 2013 but the one-cent coins “will retain its value indefinitely.” The government said that the production cost is a lot higher than the value of the coin so stopping the production would save a lot of tax payers' money. I guess the coin would still be in circulation and will retain its value. However, if in the future there will be a shortage of pennies, would they be rounding off prices to make transactions a bit more convenient? For example, would a meal that should cost $7.23 would be rounded off to $7.25?