Living in the City

Question : What's the common denominator of all these major financial houses based in different parts of the globe? Answer : No Cash but bailed out. Rationale : All for the sake of a stable global economic environment. 1. Bradford & Bingley plc (LSE: BB.) is a British bank, with its headquarters in the West Yorkshire town of Bingley. It is listed on the London Stock Exchange and is a constituent of the FTSE 250 Index. It has been confirmed that the troubled bank is to be be nationalized by the British Government in part. The Spanish bank Grupo Santander will acquire all of Bradford & Bingley's £20billion savings business. 2. Fortis (Euronext: FORA, Euronext: FORB, LuxSE: FOR) is a banking, insurance, and investment management company, and is the 20th largest business in the world by revenue. The Benelux countries are Fortis' home base and its strength. Fortis' banking operations include network (retail), commercial, and merchant banking; its insurance products...

Many people attribute the United States' current financial troubles to Wall Street. True or not, it would be wise perhaps to find out more about Wall Street. I started to feed my curiosity by asking certain questions: 1. Is Wall Street really a street? From Wikipedia: Wall Street is a street in lower Manhattan, New York City, USA. It runs east from Broadway downhill to South Street on the East River, through the historical center of the Financial District. Wall Street was the first permanent home of the New York Stock Exchange; over time Wall Street became the name of the surrounding geographic neighborhood. Wall Street is also shorthand (or a metonym) for "influential financial interests" in the U.S. as well as for the financial industry in the New York City area. Wall Street, more than anything, represents financial and economic power. To Americans, Wall Street can sometimes represent elitism and power politics and cut-throat capitalism, but it also stirs feelings ...

Danny of GH Feverish launched a contest that shall award a whooping $1000. I guess that's U.S. dollars. Now, that's what you call a PRIZE. Not that I am underestimating other blog contests. It is just that this particular one is so a money maker. Wonderful. Awesome. I should win something by just making those descriptions. Anyway, I hope you out there reading this would take a chance. Even if you do not need the dough - if only for the exhilaration. Why not? See Danny's post about this contest here . Here are the details of the contest in compliance with contest rule that I post it in my blog. Prize: $1,000 cash Launch Date: September 18, 2008 Contest Ends: November 18, 2008 Entity to Draw Winners: Random.org Ways to earn points in order to qualify and join: * Subscribe to the RSS Feed of GH Feverish (required; 1 entry) * Comment on the contest post (required; 1 entry) * Digg, Technorati, Stumble or Reddit the contest post (1 entry per site) * Blog abou...

Happy Anniversary to blogging from scratch. In celebration of this milestone, the $125 anniversary bash contest is being launched. Total cash at stake is of course US$125 as the name of the contest indicate. And since I am in a roll here, I am joining this contest. After all, I really want to win, not one but as many as I can. I think this is another one worth joining. See the contest rules in full here . Hope to win? Here's how. Earn your points by: 1. Subscribing to blog RSS feeds by mail (+1) - REQUIRED - (Done) 2. Writing a post about this contest with all sponsors links (+3)(Doing it now) 3. Place the 125x125 banner on my sidebar (+5)- Later after I am through with this post. 4. Stumble any post (+1 each)( Will do) 5. Comment on any post (+3 each)(Will do) NOW, I gotta hurry. Here's what we can win: 1st prize * $50 Cash from Blogging From Scratch (Paypal only) * 1000 Entrecard Credits from Dota Hero * 1000 Entrecard Credits from Ragnarok Guide 2nd prize * $35 Ca...

Here's another contest I am joining not only because the prizes are bigger but because the site owner, Jake is generous and bold as well to test his theory that throwing a comment competition will help increase the number of his backlinks. Succeed or not, in the end, it may be money well spent. Contest rules as I understand it: 1. I earn a point for 1 comment. 2. I also earn 5 points by referencing his website in a post on my blog with a link 3. I get 10 points by posting a single post in my blog which exclusively talks about this competition. Furthermore, "spamming will not be tolerated and will be deleted. Commenting is highly encouraged so unless it is blatant spam or a +1 or something along those lines it will be a valid comment. Talking back and forth with each other is acceptable, talking to yourself is not." The prizes I might get to win: 1st place - $200 USD 2nd Place - $25 USD 3rd Place - $15 USD 4th Place - $10 USD 5th Place - $1.37 USD I hope this is paya...

Yes, the deadline is on the 30th of September, that's too soon for comfort. But I am still joining workoutiq's contest . Who knows, I might just win something. I hope I win $50 in PayPal cash and 1,000 EntreCard credits. The rules are not complicated. I think we've all had the chance to join blog contests. I just need to: * Subscribe to the workoutiq blog via RSS feed or email and * Send email to: denis@workoutiq.com, so that he has my email address in case he needs to notify me when I win. * Write a post about the contest here in my blog. That's it. A winner will be picked on September 30th and perhaps an announcement a day or two after. Wish me luck or else you can still join. Why not?

I need to laugh early today, so I post this picture from this site . No Viagra please!!!

I did not know that Kate Moss, that 'waifish' but very famous British model can actually paint. And would you believe her painting medium is her own lipstick? This is her first. And guess what it shall be sold soon by Scotland based auction house Lyon and Turnbull . Estimated to be up for grabs between the cost of 30,000 to 40,000 pounds. It is a self-portrait done in 2005-2006 and contains Kate Moss' "own lip prints and stain of her former boyfriend' Pete Doherty's blood". See the full news article here . Kate Moss, bearing a child like face and who's 'been linked before to my favorite Johnny Depp, has appeared in more than 300 magazine covers and worked with the world's top fashion designers like Gucci, Dolce & Gabbana, Louis Vuitton, Versace, Calvin Klein, Roberto Cavalli, Chanel, Missoni, Dior, Yves Saint-Laurent, Burberry, and Stella McCartney. In recent years, she has however, received bad press due to her alleged drug h...

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A poem.. Ang kalimitan kaganapan sa mundo ay pera-pera lang. Konti na lang siguro Ang di nasisislaw sa pera sa panahon ngayon. Kasi mahirap walang pera. Di mo mababayaran utang mo. Di ka makakain ng tama at husto. Di ka makabibili ng gamot mo. Wala kang pera sa bangko. Mababa tingin sayo ng tao, kahit malapit sa buhay mo. Kailan ba ako nagluho? Di ko matandaan. Basta at may pera sila inaalala. Tulad ng nanay ko Di ko masyado pino-problema pera. Sana lang kung walang kailangan bayaran. Okey lang kahit walang personal assets, Pero pano pag dumating na si kamatayan. Ma-momoroblema pa sila. Paano ka ipalilibing? Walang ipon. Mangungutang pa sila? Ah sa SSS may 20,000 yata dun. Arkila na lang ng ataol. Pa-cremate para di pa magastos. Bahala na siguro sila. Patay ka na. Di ka na dapat mag problema.

I saw this thing on TV last night. A website that provides free conversion of any photo or image from your computer and converts them into a 0's and 1's thing, much like the way photomosaic works. Text image is a much simpler function, though. Just take a look here .

I would have wanted to nominate durano lawayan's blog in this year's Philippine Blogging Awards . Unfortunately, I just found out about the contest today through a feed from Pinoy Money Talk or PMT . Talk about ill-timing. (Mine). Durano's blog could have easily qualified in the best blog or single blog post divisions. Either way, he could have given other Filipino bloggers a serious run for their money. Swell. :-( Maybe next year.

This is a post about the Police Memorial Day in Marikina City. Every month of September the Marikina City government commemorates the death of police officers who die in the gallant performance of their duties. It has been a program spearheaded by the Marikina Civic Action Team, to serve as an inspiration to Marikina's men in uniform in promoting 'peace and order with dedication and and excellence'. Under this program, policemen who die performing gallant service are buried in a special memorial site donated by the Loyola Memorial Park , also in Marikina. The act serves to boost the morale of the local police force, 'recognizing their strengths and sacrifices' , for the good of the community. I have been privileged to participate in the preparation of the first ever Souvenir Program for the Police Memorial Day . And within those pages lie a fitting tribute written by one of the Marikina Civic Action Team (CAT) members. The article entitled, "On Hallowed Gr...

I was recently invited to join supremeph and though quite a bit hesistant I accepted to join. Why not? This is one type of org I haven't tried. I am sure members will be mostly gen x, y and z's. While I am of the antiquated variety, this should be a good venue to stay in touch with the young so I can stay young myself by association. Am I trying hard? :-) Now they are launching this big event. And I quote: "Hey Supremos! On Friday, Sept. 19, at Embassy at The Fort, we are holding the first ever Supreme to the Extreme Awards. We're giving recognition to people who have shaped the pop culture landscape by changing how the game is played. Over 15 awards are at stake. From Comeback of the Year to pop’s Best Love Team; from Best Blogger to Televisionaries — we’ve got it all covered. The nominees: The mix bag of icons that makes us Supreme. We’ve got KC Concepcion, Gabby Concepcion, Annabelle Rama, Richard Gutierrez, Raymond Gutierrez, Ruffa Gutierrez, Mark Nicdao, Bryanb...

I came across Yogi's weblog and I must say that the topics posted are as varied as you can have. The blog is practically about sports and travel, including posts on art, education, tamil movies and film news, health care, general news, product reviews, software, technology, and about wallpapers. But, I love his review on milk ads though, compiling them in a single space which delighted me because I love milk and milk is incontestably a healthy drink especially the non-fat kind. Through this post I was able to kind of evaluate which were the better copies for a 'drink milk ad' campaign. Yet, I think it was hard to choose. All the milk ads gave clear messages surrounding the concept that milk is undoubtedly good for the body -- and celebrity or not it has been and shall always be an excellent health beverage. If only for this, I sure am happy I found Yogi's blog. Cheers!

I have been busy visiting a lot of sites. So far I have visited some of my blog catalog and bloglog friends which I haven't been to since I got isolated almost 2 months ago. I enjoyed every minute of it. It looks like I am on track again. I wish it would stay this way for a long time. Time to put my laws of attraction to practice. I must also admit that I noticed that if I do a good number of entrecard drops my site stats improve as well. But I am still trying to better organize how to do this. I downloaded ec bar recently and yes, it somehow eased the job a little bit, especially if the connection is excellent. If only I have enough blogging resources like computer access and free time. That's okey. I am counting my blessings every single day. Cheers! PS I still have to do my technorati, stumble and perhaps get serious about my twitter account, including my face book and multiply accounts. I wish myself luck :-)

If you are interested in studying up to help you increase your links, then this is the site to go. It provides comprehensive information on why there is a need to build links, talks about tips towards successful link-building, techniques, the tools, and forums all about link building. So if I got you interested, read up and maybe you can tell us all about - in a condensed format.

Money Online recently launched his own contest . The prize? $10 + 2,000 EC credits and an ad spot on his site! Complete List of Prizes: 1. one (1) 2,000 EC credits + $10 + 1 month 125 x 125 ad widget on his sidebar 2. three (3) 500 EC credits + 2 weeks 125 x 125 ad widget again on his sidebar Money Online Contest Rules: 1. You need to subscribe to his blog's RSS via email (a pre-requisite for everything that follows after this, otherwise your entries won't be counted) - You earn 5 entries 2. Make a Comment about the contest in his blog - 1 entry 3. Promote the contest in your blog (5 entries) The post should contain the following: a) a link to this site and to this contest b) details of the contest (prizes, due dates, etc) c) advice on how money online can improve his PR and a general comment about his blog. Then post a link. Contest deadline: September 23, 2008, 12:00MN, Philippine time. Winners, which will be chosen via raffle draw and will be announced on September 25...

Bloganol's blog has served his friends and readers well with lots of freebie templates, blogger hacks and blog monetizing tips. And what do you know? He recently launched a contest to increase readers, his backlinks and blog comments. Of course, all contests have rules to help you win and so here they are: 1. Write a post about this contest in your blog 2. Subscribe to its RSS Feed via Email. 3. Leave a comment on his post Everyone is invited to participate in the contest.The name of the winner shall be published within the last week of September 2008. The prize will be given to the winner within a week after the result is published. All the names of participants will be published at the results page. To recap: Contest URL: Bloganol Prizes: $25 plus 1,000 Entrecard Credits Deadline: September 30, 2008

Success Biz for All is holding a contest worthy of joining. I guess in its effort to make site readers and subscribers happy, this contest was launched. To start, the blog is a good source of informative tips on search engine optimization, link build-up, and how to earn money from your blogs. I decided to join this contest because I am currently in that mode. Been searching for contests to join. I would like to test the power of the laws of attraction. I am positive I will win one or two, perhaps? This should be it. Contest URL: SuccessBiz4All Prizes: 1st prize - USD $50 + $30 Amazon.com gift card 2nd prize - USD $30 + $20 Amazon.com gift card 3rd prize - USD $10 + $10 Amazon.com gift card Contest deadline is September 15, 2008.

Crunch Now: Subscribe To Win $1000.00 Cash From Crunch Now

Crunch Now is celebrating its anniversary on September 10, 2008. A lucky winner will win $1000. Enter the contest by simply subscribing to his RSS feed via email. You can also post about it just the way I am doing it here now. If you get lucky you might just win even US$1000 although it seems it's almost the deadline. Contest URL : Crunch Now Prize: US$1000 Deadline: September 10, 2008 Please consider subscribing to my feed as well. Thanks and Cheers!

I seldom talk about politics especially those about other countries. So this is one time I am going to touch about the subject because I found this interesting site which gives a comprehensive information about campaign contributions particularly in the United States. Why be interested at all in the U.S. elections? I really am not. But just now, meaning today only, and because it talks about some of my favorite celebs' contributions. And after all, haven't we been considered as the "small, brown brothers", of the Americans for the longest time? Or are we not anymore? Futhermore, I am a bit of a sucker for celebrity news, especially the ones I admire and like. :-) Okey. So here goes: My favorite celeb contributors to Barack Obama's Campaign kitty are: 1. Mark Wahlberg 2. Denzel Washington 3. Reese Witherspoon 4. Renee Zellwegger 5. Robin Williams 6. Martin Sheen 7. Carly Simon 8. Will Smith 9. James Spader 10.Meryll Streep 11. Barbara Streisand 12. Charlize Ther...

Yes I am kind of back in the blogging world. After almost two months of hiatus I hope to stay for good and as often as I can. My hiatus if I can call it that was really just about my Manhattan Transfer . Doesn't that sound like a band or a singing group in the 70's? or was that the 80's? Anyway, from Cambridge, we are now here in Manhattan. From Massachusetts to New York. Just kidding. These are the names of the streets in the village where we live. Yup, we are in the same community. Just a much smaller place and lots more of "dwelling issues", such as: 1. Drainage - rain water plus drainage water combined causes a havoc in the "system?" Large amounts of water flow chokes the so called system. Heck!!! I referred this immediately to Marikina City's Engineering, as well as Health and Sanitation units (stink)but they said we should fix it up first with the property owner. Ooohkayyyy! 2. Drainage Stink - every morning we get to inhale this oh so rancid ...

My son was asking me the other day if I didn't mind a 9 inch laptop screen. I asked him why and he said he, "was just thinking." And then he gave me sales promotional flyer for Aspire One from Acer. He says he is very much tempted, lured if you will about getting me this Aspire One. "A quick rundown of specs show that it runs on an Intel Atom 1.6GHz processor and comes with 1GB RAM, 8GB SSD, Wi-Fi (b/g), 1.3-megapixel webcam, and multi-card reader. Even though the international release states that an 80GB version running on Windows XP is available, the Linux variant was the only one unveiled locally. RAM is expandable, but Acer will only allow you to replace one module as the other standard 512MB RAM is soldered on the unit". SRP is PhP18800.00. "On the other hand, Dell is said to be ready to ship the cheapest Dell mini-notebook priced at just $299, making it one of the cheapest 'sub-notebooks' or ultraportable notebooks around. It is expected to h...