Tubbataha Reef and Chocolate Hills votes Unstoppable!

Our very own Tubbataha Reef and Chocolate Hills is gaining momentum and no one seems to be stopping them. From 15th and 18th place, they are now in 3rd and 5th place!

Please continue to support our national pride, let's maintain our Nature's Wonders on its current rank. Voting is up until December 31, 2008! So we have plenty of time, to vote or to help in promoting the New7Wonders live ranking.

Vote Now!

http://www.new7wonders.com/nature/en/liveranking/

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Next Indiana Jones?

Do you remember the skinny teenager Sam Witwicky (Shia LaBeouf) in the movie Transformers? I remember mentioning in my previous review of Transformers that this kid has potential. well.. he'll be the next Indiana Jones!

Shia LaBeouf played the role Henry Jones III, son of Indiana Jones in the latest movie, Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull. LaBeouf was Spielberg's first and only choice for the role. Harrison Ford (now 66) is too old to continue the sequel, so i guess LaBeouf is bound to continue the legacy of the Joneses.


In the movie, Henry III is the son of Marion Ravenwood (played by Karen Allen), a tough yet charming and smart woman, who was first seen as young tavern owner in Nepal in the first film, Raiders of the Lost Ark. whom Indy had a relationship. It was not known until the latest sequel that he had a son with her.

It's nice to see the continuity from the first movie to the latest sequel.. I'm gonna give it an 8/10 rating. But I'll stay with my feel that Raiders of the Lost Ark as my most favorite movie ever. 10/10!

Uhmm.. well... let's wait for the next sequel.

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Phoenix Spacecraft lands on Mars

The U.S. space agency's Phoenix Mars lander sent a signal to Earth Sunday, indicating it reached the surface of the Red Planet, NASA said on its Web site.

Touchdown came shortly before 8 p.m. EDT, the space agency reported.

Phoenix, equipped with retro-rockets to slow its descent, plunged into Mars's atmosphere 78 miles above the surface at 12,750 mph, and then was traveling about 1.7 times the speed of sound when a parachute was deployed about 7.8 miles above the surface.

The Phoenix's heat shield, which had to withstand temperatures of about 2,600 degrees Fahrenheit during entry, was jettisoned about 15 seconds after the chute opened, NASA said.

Preparations were made to arrange for three Mars orbiting satellites to be in the right place on May 25, 2008, to observe Phoenix as it entered the atmosphere and to monitor it up to one minute after landing. This information will allow for better design for future landers.[15] The projected landing area was an ellipse 100 km by 20 km covering terrain which has been informally named "Green Valley"[16] and contains the largest concentration of water ice outside of the poles.

Phoenix entered the Martian atmosphere at nearly 13,000 miles per hour, and within 7 minutes had to be able to decrease its speed to 5 miles an hour before touching down on the surface. Confirmation of atmospheric entry was received at 4:46 pm PDT (23:46 UTC). Radio signals received at 4:53:44 p.m. PDT confirmed that Phoenix had survived its difficult descent and landed 15 minutes earlier, thus completing a 422 million mile flight from Earth. Radio signals, traveling at the speed of light, took a little over 15 minutes to reach Earth from Mars at the time of Phoenix's landing. The light travel time varies as Earth and Mars change their relative positions during their respective solar orbits. The landing was made on a flat surface, with the lander reporting only 0.25 degree of tilt. Just prior to landing, the craft performed a successful reorientation using its thrusters to allow the solar panels to deploy along an east-west axis to maximize power generation.

Only five of 13 previous attempted Mars landings were successful.

The first images from the Phoenix Lander:

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Tubbataha Reef & Chocolate Hills among the Top 7

As of May 25, 2008, our very own Tubbataha Reef in Palawan, and Chocolate Hills in Bohol is now in the sixth and seventh place in New Seven Wonders of Nature Live Ranking. The 10th place is also from the Philippines: Puerto Princesa Subterranean River.

Please vote now the nominees from the Philippines.

http://www.new7wonders.com/nature/en/liveranking/


Tubbataha Reef

Chocolate Hills

Puerto Princesa Subterranean River

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10-year old Fil-Am World Champion

A Filipino-American boy became this year’s World Sport Stacking champion by clocking a record of 1.86 seconds for the Individual 3-3-3 Stack Division.

Coming all the way this year from Long Meadow Massachusetts was ten year old Steven Purugganan. He came this year after only one and a half years of sport stacking and dominated the tournament taking home many trophies and medals including 1st Place All Around Champion.

Footage from the 2008 WSSA World Sport Stacking Championships. (Video)

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Phoenix Mission to land on Mars (May 25)

Phoenix is scheduled to touch down on the northern icy plains of Mars on May 25. NASA TV will cover landing events. Confirmation of the landing could come as early as 7:53 p.m. EDT (4:53 p.m. PDT).

After a journey of 10-months and more than 400 million miles, Phoenix arrives at the Red Planet just before 8 p.m. EDT this Sunday, beginning its study of water and possible conditions for life in the Martian arctic.

Phoenix Mission:
Phoenix is a robotic spacecraft on a space exploration mission to Mars under the Mars Scout Program. The scientists conducting the mission will use instruments aboard the Phoenix lander to search for environments suitable for microbial life on Mars, and to research the history of water there. Phoenix launched successfully on August 4, 2007, and is scheduled to land on Mars on May 25, 2008. The multi-agency program is headed by the Lunar and Planetary Laboratory at the University of Arizona, under the direction of NASA. The program is a partnership of universities in the United States, Canada, Switzerland, Denmark, Germany and the United Kingdom, NASA, the Canadian Space Agency, and the aerospace industry. Phoenix is planned to land in the planet's water-ice-rich northern polar region and, if this is successful, will use its robotic arm to dig into the Arctic terrain

Launch
Phoenix launched on 4 August 2007, at 5:26:34 am EDT (09:26:34 UTC) on a Delta 7925 launch vehicle from Pad 17-A of the Cape Canaveral Air Force Station. The launch was nominal with no significant anomalies. Mars Phoenix Lander was placed on a trajectory of such precision that its first trajectory course correction burn, performed on 10 August 2007 at 7:30 am EDT (11:30 UTC), was only 18 m/s. The launch took place during a launch window extending from 3 August to 24 August 2007. Due to the small launch window the rescheduled launch of the Dawn mission (originally planned for 7 July) had to stand down and was launched after Phoenix in September. The Delta 7925 was chosen due to its successful launch history, which includes launches of the Spirit and Opportunity Mars Exploration Rovers in 2003 and Mars Pathfinder in 1996.

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New Inventions (Weird)

Mic Sponge - Perfect for bathroom singers

Arm Camera - You don't have to extend your arms with this one

Weight Conscious Belt - Keeps you updated with your waist size

Space Efficient Shoe Box


and this is the coolest, romantic (but weird) new invention ever!

The Double Umbrella

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Animal Partnership (in Crime)

Honeyguide (aka Indicator Bird) loves honey, beeswax and waxworms.. which can be found in a beehive---BUT the bird had no way in getting into the beehive without being mobbed by swarm of bees and getting stung to death.

and.....


Honey Badger (aka Ratel, named as most fearless animal by Guinness World Records) have such great appetite for honey and beeswax, which can be found in beehives---BUT, it is very difficult to find beehives and it requires great effort and risks being eaten too by intruding unknown territories...

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HOWEVER, nature has ways for these two entirely different creatures to forge into alliance...


The two different species has symbiotic relationship to get their common objective.. the Indicator bird is in the one in charge of finding beehives, which is easy to do because of her flying ability,..

as soon as it finds a target, this bird will then guide the Badger to the site---the badger is now in charge of getting the beeswax and honey which is easy to do because of its strong claws and protected by thick fur and skin from bee's sting...

then, after getting what they want, the two will share the loot! Cool!

VIDEO:

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Shooting Stars? Think Again.

Who says that Rocket Scientists are boring?

An Astronaut explaining to university students about everyday life in space.

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About Pinoy Folks

- As the name of this blog says, is an online community in which Filipinos, around world converge and hang out online to exchange ideas, share experiences in our daily lives, read latest news of the Philippines, about Showbiz, Politics, etc.. and as what a real 'Pinoy Tambayan' we can play online games, chat, send greetings, and talk here about anything under the sun.

Our way of linking Pinoys all over the world!

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