Wombat

This large, pudgy mammal is a marsupial, or pouched animal, found in Australia and on scattered islands nearby. Like other marsupials, wombats give birth to tiny, undeveloped young that crawl into pouches on their mothers' bellies. A wombat baby remains in its mother's pouch for about five months before emerging. Even after it leaves the pouch, the young animal will frequently crawl back in to nurse or to escape danger. By about seven months of age, a young wombat can care for itself.

Wombats use their claws to dig burrows in open grasslands and eucalyptus forests. They live in these burrows, which can become extensive tunnel-and-chamber complexes. Common wombats are solitary and inhabit their own burrows, while other species may be more social and live together in larger burrow groups called colonies.

Wombats are nocturnal and emerge to feed at night on grasses, roots, and bark. They have rodentlike incisors that never stop growing and are gnawed down on some of their tougher vegetarian fare.

The field and pasture damage caused by wombat burrowing can be a destructive nuisance to ranchers and farmers. Wombats have been hunted for this behavior, as well as for their fur and simply for sport. Some species (the northern hairy-nosed wombats) are now critically endangered, while others (the common or coarse-haired wombat) are still hunted as vermin. Space for all wombats is at a premium as farm and ranch lands increasingly replace natural space.

source: NatGeo

Eating Sand

Apparently there is someone out there who not only eats sand, but considers it a delicacy. Not much is known about this woman, other than she lives in a Russian village and every day she goes out, fills her bucket with sand and…eats it. You can see from the pics that she likes her sand very much.

source: OddityCentral

Wordless Wednesdays: April 7, 2009

It has been a year. :(

FEU-IN BATCH 2009
Soar high, classmates.

Resident Evil Afterlife - Official Trailer

No Difference. A Lenten Special.

 Last Holy Monday, we went to this free Healing Recollection in San Juan Gymnasium in welcome of the Holy Week. It was ill attended at first but there was an increase in the number of people as the day went on, about half were Senior Citizens.

I was not really keen on doing the uber cheesy song-and-synchronized-dance worship routine fit for grandmothers and children alike (I prefer rocking out with Hillsong) and was cringing like crazy for most of the day but it ended pretty well. I was so amused by the last priest because it was believed by many followers that he can heal all kinds of illnesses. Testimonials of his supernatural ability told by ordinary people who got through extraordinary trials preceded his talk so it was no wonder how sought after he was once he got onstage.

After his lecture, while preparing for the Holy Mass, he was talking with members of the audience, some people decided to come up to him and have his Healing Hands upon their wretched vital organs. And since it is a Healing Recollection, ( and most people took that pretty literally) mayhem ensued. 

Said priest almost didn't make it to the back of the auditorium intact. Grandmothers were touching and tugging at his priesthood like their lives depended on it.

It was surreal.

Anyways, after the mass, they hosed down the crowd with holy water to make them feel all holy and deter them from jumping on the stage. Father stayed on the platform until some people decided to leave the premises then when the backup guards arrived, he also made his escape route still with throngs of faithful followers following his wake.

I watched in awe and incredulity at the scene before me. It reminded me of the rock concert events all around the globe and found almost no difference. I almost half expected Father to do a Bon Jovi power chord and jump off the stage and do a mosh pit performance.

How ironic that grandmothers in the prime of their lives and hormonal teenagers behave similarly when faced with the same kind of Idol-driven stimulus. But quite frankly, I'm more afraid of reckless grandmothers than prepubescent ones.

Election Flavored Drinks

Last Thursday, I stopped over a mall on my way home to grab a Watermelon shake from the nearest Frutas stand I could find to because I was in the verge of convulsing from the blistering heat of the tanghaling tapat sun.  I was surprised to see the presidential-candidates-cartoon-driven posters of Frutas supporting a juicy election or whatever it is they're trying to uphold. I was amused by the drawings but thought it was a limited edition cups and my shake wouldn't be in one but I was pleasantly surprised to see Chinese-looking Green Gibo containing my Watermelon refreshment.

I thought the caricatures were pretty cute especially Erap who looks like an old baby. Gibo's way too Oriental, Noynoy's decent with his perpetual "L" sign which a lot of people (especially not from the country) may associated with the universal sign of "Loser" and Villar is nauseatingly Orange. Hate Orange.

The lack of the other candidates cups were obvious from the start, especially Gordon being kicked out of the list of the front runners of the race.

But look, 711 has their version too. And yes, the Transformer people are probably jumping for joy, although Villanueva's 5 Million worshippers are still probably shaking their heads.

I know there are more than 5 candidates for presidency, but let's face it, these are the people who has more than 20 percent chance of winning the election. As for who I am going to vote for, am still stuck contemplating between Aquino and Gordon. Gibo must first break free from the administration to get my vote. Estrada should wake himself from his drunken stupor and slurred speech first before running for office and Villar should live, together with his kin, sa Dagat ng Basura and never bother us again.

As for the other candidates... who are they again?

Plants Vs. Zombies Game Review

When I first heard of a game involving planting various kinds of greenery to ward off brain-eating monsters, I thought it was a time-wasting endeavor only for children with half-formed cognitive abilities a wide definition of the word "fun".

I now fully admit that I had made a mistake.

Within three days of playing the game via a downloaded copy of the program from the Internet, I finished all the levels in the Adventure section and was still hungry for more.

For some reason, the strategic demands of the game stimulated more neurons that I ever thought it could. There is something about the different kinds of plants with their corresponding powers that kept the game interesting and repeatable for many rounds in the future. The different species of the feared, yet oftentimes comical, Creatures of Doom made it more challenging to players of all ages.

Lastly, like a cherry on top of an ice cream sundae, the hilarious music video of a Sunflower singing a catchy original song about, what else, plants and zombies made me laugh out loud like it was the Harapan Vice-Presidential Debate all over again. I was so amused by the video that I felt like all those wasted time in front of the computer playing the game was all worth it.

And good news, you don't have to battle forces of the undead to watch said video. In fact, I have it right here.

Ain't that grand?

Keep those Sunflowers blooming. :)