Sinigang For The Soul » Photohunt

24th PhotoHunt Theme 148: Bridge(s)

dmeemai — Sat, 07 Feb 2009 09:06:31 +0000

Perhaps the most popular suspension bridge in the world is the Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco, California. Not only known for its aesthetics but in the most unfortunate way has become one of the world’s most popular places to commit suicide. Yes, this bridge has its dark side and over a thousand lives have been taken by it. For 68 years, there’s been a debate to put or not to put a “safety net” in the bridge.

The deck is approximately 245 feet (75 m) above the water. After a fall of approximately four seconds, jumpers hit the water at some 86 miles per hour (138 km/h), which can be fatal. Some of those who survive the impact drown or die of hypothermia in the cold water. (Wiki)

Lethal Beauty, a seven-part series looking at the darker side of the Golden Gate Bridge reached an inescapable conclusion: A suicide barrier would prevent deaths. On October 10, 2008 the Golden Gate Bridge Board of Directors voted 14 to 1 to install a plastic-covered stainless-steel net below the bridge as a suicide deterrent. The net will extend six meters on either side of the bridge and is expected to cost $40–50 million to complete.

Sorry I never meant to touch on such a depressing subject but I couldn’t help not going that direction talking about the Golden Gate Bridge…

Find more photo hunters at PhotoHunt

Copyright © 2012 Sinigang For The Soul. This Feed is for personal non-commercial use only. If you are not reading this material in your news aggregator, the site you are looking at is guilty of copyright infringement. copyright protected feed. Bawal gamitin ng walang pahintulot!88 Salamat po.88 Please contact admin@mysinigang.com so we can take legal action immediately.
Plugin by Taragana

23rd Photohunt Theme 147: “Furry”

dmeemai — Sat, 31 Jan 2009 08:46:40 +0000

Aaaaww men. Wasn’t sure if I wanted to do “Furry” this week for Photohunt because it is just too obvious… and haven’t really been in touch with my creative side lately so I’m thinking what else could be furry? I can’t think of any other but…

I guess we’ll be seeing a lot of furry animals this week– lots and lots of furs!

The best thing about going to animal parks and zoos in the United States is the vast land area the animals occupy. The parks are well kept and well maintained and the animals could freely move around like they are in their own habitat in the wild. My memory of zoos in my childhood growing up in the Philippines was that of animals cramped and caged in a tiny usually grungy and smelly unfinished concrete pens and they look sad and hungry all the time!! Haven’t been in Philippine zoos the last 20 years or so, maybe it’s changed. I hope it’s changed.

The parks all across America are expansive. These photos were taken from the San Diego Animal Park in California where there are more than 3500 animals living comfortably in a 1800 acre or 728 hectare land. Amazing.

Find more photo hunters at PhotoHunt

You can take photos at close range as close as this!

22nd Photohunt Theme 146: “Chipped”

dmeemai — Sat, 24 Jan 2009 09:28:57 +0000

chip: noun, verb, chipped, chipping.
–noun
1. a small, slender piece, as of wood, separated by chopping, cutting, or breaking.
2. a mark or flaw made by the breaking off or gouging out of a small piece.

We bought this 3 feet tall Philippine eagle woodwork in Baguio City, Philippines 5 years ago. This beautiful work of art was carved using only one piece of wood- no glues or seals. The cost? After haggling with the woodcarver, $12!! We thought we were stealing it for the price. What a bargain! This size and kind of work in the US would cost hundreds of dollars!

Well, I was about to find out- this particular find wasn’t such a bargain after all when I decided to flew it with me from the Philippines to the United States! The airline wouldn’t take it at first because it was considered oversized and they said they had no more room for the box (We were at the airport kind of late). I insisted and they gave me a price- a whooping $150.00!! What was I to do? I have placed some of my personal effects along with the eagle on the already sealed box. We didn’t have time to sort it and so I was forced to pay the full amount… If I try to justify it, it is really still cheap compared to how much it costs for something like this here in the US.

However as though that wasn’t enough, the eagle didn’t really have a pleasant 13 hour plane ride as it was probably being thrown around the baggage compartment. The result? the now $162.00 eagle was chipped on its wings and base!! I brought it all way just to be chipped!

So that’s my eagle story right there- chipped and all.

Find more photo hunters at PhotoHunt

21st Photohunt Theme 145: “Hats”

dmeemai — Sat, 17 Jan 2009 06:18:14 +0000

Going to Theme parks is always a lot of fun! Going to the different souvenir stores inside the parks is an enjoyable experience in itself. Disney World stores in Florida is no different! You have plenty of room to goof around without the sales associates bugging you NOT to touch anything or NOT to try on anything!

I don’t usually fall into the “tourist trap” these stores are luring tourists into. I almost never buy anything, just window shop, take photos and play with their items!! Majority of the items sold are things you have totally no use for after buying them. Like these hats, what do you do with them and where do you wear them when you’re not at a theme park??! They’re not cheap either! Hats like these range from $30 to $50.00! How often do you go to a theme park to wear one and would you wear the same hat over and over?! I don’t think so. Unless you collect hats, these huge hats are totally useless. Then again it was a lot of FUN trying them on at that time…

Viva Mexico!

Another way of wearing it…

Find more photo hunters at PhotoHunt

20th Photohunt Theme 144: “Aftermath” of a Blizzard

dmeemai — Sat, 10 Jan 2009 09:10:31 +0000

If you think snow are a lot of fun. Think again! It’s only fun when you’re not doing the shoveling off the pavements and sidewalks in the freezing cold. Enjoyable when you’re not literally digging your car that’s buried in 3 feet of snow! The aftermath of a blizzard or a heavy snow storm is biting. It leaves a pile of mess long after the storm is over… It ain’t a pretty sight! These photos are taken right on our street and driveway!

There’s a car in there somewhere!

Find more photo hunters at PhotoHunt

This is Massachusetts when it’s not being friendly! Every nasty winter I swear I’d leave the East coast and then the irresistible Spring, promise of a warm Summer and beautiful Autumn comes and I swear I won’t leave town! So goes the four season cycle of my life here…

There’s my car!

The smile is only for the photo op…!

19th Photohunt Theme 143: “Hope”

dmeemai — Sat, 03 Jan 2009 05:25:24 +0000

“Hope is necessary in every condition. The miseries of poverty, sickness and captivity would, without this comfort, be insupportable.”

- Samuel Johnson

Happiness is relative.

Find more photo hunters at PhotoHunt

Filipinos in general are among the happiest in Asia. In general studies on poverty in the Philippines, one thing strikes researchers. They claim that the Filipino poor are among the happiest people in Asia if not the world as well. Living a huge part of my life in the Philippines, I’ve seen the worst of human conditions and it is disheartening and devastating. Yet mingling with the so-called poorest of the poor, you don’t see one bit of bitterness or anger in their eyes. They are happy.

Unexplainable as it is, I think that HOPE plays a huge part of it. Dictionary defines hope as “the feeling that what is wanted can be had or that events will turn out for the best,” “to believe, to desire and to trust.” The poor put their hope, faith and trust to each other, to other people, to the government and to God.

I must admit I have opposing feelings toward the poor in general because some of them are that way because they are simply lazy. All they want are dole outs. Teach them to fish and they ignore you. They just want the fish period. Most of them are drunks and gamblers who force their kids to work in the streets, take the money to buy alcohol and drugs and gamble. As though that’s not enough, they beat the heck out of these kids for fun!

Street kids and me | Outside the biggest public market in General Santos City, Philippines | March 2008

Then there are exceptions.

Most of the Philippines’ highly successful entrepreneurs are self-made men and women born in poverty, with hope in their eyes; from very humble beginnings who rise up above the ordinary. There’s so much hope in that. Hope for the poor. Hope may just be an empty word for those who lost it, but to those who have it- it is everything and it makes all the difference. And I see them- hope, in the eyes of these kids…

18th Photohunt Theme 141: “Wide”

dmeemai — Sat, 20 Dec 2008 08:06:21 +0000

US Route 101

to San Francisco bay area leads you straight to the Golden Gate Bridge…

nothing like a “wide” open highway to get you to where you’re going- FAST!

(as in majority of the highways in the US, this is six lanes going to one direction!)

Find more photo hunters at PhotoHunt

17th Photohunt Theme 140: “Favorite”

dmeemai — Sat, 13 Dec 2008 07:42:03 +0000

Hmmm, this is a bit tricky! I could go through every folder on my picture albums and find a favorite! So hard to choose- not fair! LOL.

My solution? Take pix of one of my favorites that’s got almost all my favorites in it! That settles that.

… being away from ‘home’ makes me do things like actually putting a Philippine flag skin on my HP notebook!

Find more photo hunters at PhotoHunt

16th Photohunt Theme 139: “Breakfast”

dmeemai — Sat, 06 Dec 2008 08:09:05 +0000

Breakfast “Hawaiian Style”

Have you ever had rice for breakfast? If you’re of Asian descent, the answer would be a resounding YES! Add, “yeah, what kind of a question is that?! Of course I have had rice for breakfast! Lots of times…” Ok, pardon the question but living in America, I am still getting baffled looks from Westerners who think I’m strange and some kind of a weirdo for eating my bacon, sausage or eggs with RICE for breakfast! They can’t imagine it!!

Well, we Filipinos are huge rice eaters! In the Philippines, we would eat rice in every meal! Even eat rice with anything “fried” as midnight snack! I can not survive without rice. I go crazy when I go without rice for a couple of days! If our house burns down, I swear I’d save my laptop, digital camera and my rice cooker!

Spam, Rice and eggs + Coffee = $6.99

Mcdonald’s. Kuhio Highway. Lihue. Hawaii.

October 2008

I have never, ever seen rice being served anywhere for breakfast (or anytime) in the US- unless it is an Asian fast food or restaurant. Imagine my surprise and joy to find out that rice is almost like a staple in Hawaii!! Everywhere we went, you could order rice!! It wasn’t a special order or anything, it was part of the menu! Rice at Mcdonald’s, seriously what a treat!!

Find more photo hunters at PhotoHunt

Kalapaki Beach Hut. Kuhio Highway. Lihue. Hawaii

Kalapaki #2: two eggs with bacon and rice = $5.95

OR Kalapaki #2: two eggs with Portuguese sausage and hashbrowns= BORING!

Kalapaki #2: two eggs with Portuguese sausage and RICE= RIGHT ON!

If you’ve never had rice for breakfast, try it sometime! You’ll see we breakfast rice-eaters aren’t so strange or weird after all…

Mahalo (Thank you), come again!

15th Photohunt Theme 138: “Metal”

dmeemai — Sat, 29 Nov 2008 07:34:05 +0000

met.al: [met-l] noun, verb, -aled, -al.ing or (especially British) -alled, -al.ling. –noun

1. any of a class of elementary substances, as gold, silver, or copper, all of which are crystalline when solid and many of which are characterized by opacity, ductility, conductivity, and a unique luster when freshly fractured.

“You see metals every day. Aluminum foil is a metal. Gold and silver are metals. If someone asks you whether an element is a metal, metalloid, or non-metal and you don’t know the answer, guess that it’s a metal.”

I chose Chemistry 101 for this week’s theme, that of the purest state of metals categorized under the periodic table of elements. Anybody still remember this from Junior High? We had to memorize the entire table along with its atomic symbol, atomic number and its atomic mass- all 103 at that time (I think!). As of 2006, there are now 117 elements. Glad I’m past memorization and I can just google everything! Yay!

According to this photo:

“Chemical elements (comprising the metals and non-metals) are the building blocks of everything. The Sun and stars, the silicon chips in our computers, and all the cells in our bodies are collection of elements.”

It’s kinda hard to imagine that our bodies are made up of metals, isn’t it? It’s because when we think of metals- we think of hard objects, coins, copper, iron, tin, lead, nickel, cast irons, railroads, bridges, wires, sheet metals, brass, alloys, jewelries, gold and silver, etc!

What’s in our Bodies?

Calcium (Ca), Sodium (Na), Potassium (K), Iron (Fe), Magnesium (Mg), Zinc (Zn), Copper (Cu), Manganese (Mn) are just some of the major elements in the metals category found in our body and yes, even traces of Lithium (Li), Aluminum (Al), Silicon (Si) and Arsenic (As) in the metalloids category.

Find more photo hunters at PhotoHunt

Properties of Metals

“Metals share some common properties. They are lustrous (shiny), malleable (can be hammered), and are good conductors of heat and electricity. These properties result from the ability to easily move the electrons in the outer shells of metal atoms.”

What are the Metals?

“Most elements are metals. There are so many metals, they are divided into groups: alkali metals, alkaline earth metals, and transition metals. The transition metals can be divided into smaller groups, such as the lanthanides and actinides.”

Griffith Observatory . Los Angeles . California

September 2008

Whew, that was some lessons! If you want to refresh your memory some more on the elements, the quoted items and further readings are lifted from here.