Fresh Ideas

Archive for the ‘Headline’ Category

Congratulations to our very own Manny Pacquiao! We are very proud of you after winning the match between Ricky Hatton on May 2, 2009 at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas, Nevada USA!

It looked like a sparring session only for Manny Pacquiao as he bombarded Ricky Hatton with lightning speed punches that knockout him and ended the fight in the second round.

Pacquiao took the first round easily from Hatton as he put down the Englishman twice. Pacquiao accurately gave out his jabs, hooks and straights in a precise way that it always connected.

Hatton is ineffective in this fight and his speed and strength didn’t match his offensive with Pacquiao. He is constantly clinching with Pacquiao but this didn’t stop the Pacman from connecting his accurate blows. It is clear that Hatton is rushing things up but the Pacman’s counterpunches are very potent.

Hatton went down the first time in the first round through a right hook. He got up but before the first round ended, he went down again.

The vicious left hook of Pacquiao impedes the incoming Hatton and cemented the Englishman in the canvas in the second round. The referee didn’t even bother to count, as Hatton’s body lay stiff straight in the floor as doctors rushed to examined him.

Referee Kenny Bayless declared the fight was over at 2:59 of the second round as Hatton was continually gasping for short heap of breath.

This gave Pacquiao a shot in the junior welterweight division and will surely strike fear on his opponents.

Pacquiao’s coach Freddie Roach predicted that the fight will not last more than three rounds, and indeed the fight was over before the second round ended.

This will be a very bitter blow over the fans of Ricky “The Hitman” Hatton, who were really rooting about their champion.

Manny only weighted 138 pounds compared to 140 pounds for Ricky and Manny Pacquiao with a record of 49-3-2, 37 knockouts earned $12 million for this fight, while Ricky Hatton 45-2 was paid $8 million.

It was also announced the comeback of Floyd Mayweather Jr. and this will surely be a much awaited fight if the negotiation will materialize.

Manny Pacquiao is considered the pound for pound best fighter in the world.

You can really feel Christmas in the air now. The temperature is quite cold even in noontime. Many packed the malls these days to go about their annual Christmas shopping. You will also see different kinds of things being sold in the streets. Just try to check and you might find a really good deal with your money with a little haggling.

Just barely 9 days to go before the celebrated birth of Jesus Christ, the son of God in the Christian world. But of course, there is too much to be said for Christmas and I can fill my whole site on articles for Christmas but for now, I will only tackle famous Filipino traditions, and one of the famous is the Simbang Gabi or Misa de Gallo or midnight mass.

This tradition started in the Spanish colonization era in the Philippines. In Spanish speaking countries, Misa de Gallo is only celebrated at midnight on Christmas Eve, but in the Philippines, this custom starts at dawn on December 16 until December 24 at around 4 to 5 in the morning.

We can also never leave the fact that Simbang Gabi means treating yourself in traditional Filipino delicacies like puto bumbong (a purple colored rice pastry, seasoned with grated coconut and brown sugar) with salabat or ginger tea, bibingka (flour and egg cakes cooked on top and under) and hot cocoa drink being sold by vendors outside the church.

Together with this custom is the traditional “Parol” or Christmas lantern. According to Philippines history, the early farmers took lanterns on their way to the church to celebrate the midnight mass.

The usual shape of these lanterns is star and was inspired by the star on the Nativity of Jesus that guided the three kings or magi to the birthplace.

The usual parols are made of bamboo strips pasted with papel de japon or Japanese paper and illuminated by candle, but now, there are different variations and sometimes the shapes is not anymore like a star and electric Christmas lights illuminates it instead of the usual candle.

Christmas will never be Christmas in the Philippines without these traditions.

Sweet, very sweet indeed! Everyone in the Philippines are ecstatic now because of the fantastic win of Manny Pacquiao over Oscar De La Hoya.

The underdog became victorious at the MGM last Saturday, December 6, 2008 as Manny “Pacman” Pacquiao triumphed over Oscar “Golden Boy” De La Hoya.

The fight was stopped before the start of the ninth round as De La Hoya surrendered.

Actually, I already knew that I’m gonna be missing the fight because I’ll go with my girlfriend to accompany her to her dentist. I’m just lucky that there is a television in the dentist’s clinic and we came just in time when the fight’s gonna start.

It was really exciting watching our own “kababayan” fight with one of the world’s best; however, my excitement just blew away after the lady in the clinic just mentioned that Pacquiao won in the 8^th round according to the news in the radio earlier. The local channel is a bit late in showing the actual fight and if you wanted to watch the fight live, you should be willing to pay because this is a pay-per-view fight.

So, let’s get back to the actual fight. The first round was explosive! The two fighters are exchanging good blows, but it is clearly seen that Pacquiao is leading in punches that connected.

After the second round, we left the clinic, and I insisted that we ride the bus that has a television for us to continue watching the fight. Fortunately, my girlfriend doesn’t have any qualms on this because she too wanted to watch the fight.

As the rounds go by, you will see that this is a lopsided fight and even if you are not a judge and you are not a fan of Pacquiao, you can definitely tell that all of the rounds are his.

Pacquio’s training paid off in all the rounds and before the start of the ninth round, De La Hoya with the left eye nearly shut approached Manny to congratulate him and Referee Weeks stopped the fight.

The biggest fight of Pacquiao’s life is now over. His biggest dream of competing with De La Hoya, the 10-time world champion came to a sweet end in the ninth round. Everyone is saying that Pacquiao couldn’t win this fight and there is a mismatch between these two gladiators but he emerged as the true winner.

Today is Thanksgiving Day in the United States, November 27, 2008. Thanksgiving is celebrated every fourth Thursday of November to commemorate the end of the harvest season, and is considered as an annual American holiday.

I will not talk about the origins of this holiday because you can simply research this on Wikipedia or in any credible site that provides information. I will talk about how American celebrated this holiday.

Thanksgiving are sometimes referred as “Turkey Day” because thanksgiving will not be complete without the roasted turkey on the feast table for Americans together with mashed potatoes, cranberry sauce, pumpkin pie and sweet corn.

Usually, family and friends take days off to celebrate with their loved ones, and this is one of the busiest season because it’s a four-day or five-days weekend vacation spree for everyone.

Parades are usually held on some parts of the country, particularly in New York City where it starts at Macy’s flagship store and parade floats abound the street.

Also, Football takes a good part of the festival because it is usually played in this day and families and friends crammed up in front of the television to watch their favorite team host the game.

And of course, Thanksgiving is the start of the Christmas season shopping. The day after Thanksgiving, which no doubt is Friday is called “Black Friday”, where almost all stores packed their inventory for items for Christmas shopping. Also, this day is still considered a part of the holiday so that people will be given a long holiday off from their everyday work.

I envy Americans for this kind of holiday, which promoted piety and strong family connection. And of course, I will be a hypocrite if I didn’t mention the joy it would bring to me for the long day off this entails. But all in all, everyone benefits in this tradition, common person and businessmen alike.

One of the breaking news today is the plan of a massive layoff of Citigroup Inc. It is estimated that 53,000 jobs will be slashed in order for the company to cut cost and to prevent it from further plunging due to financial losses according to the post on its website.

As of this moment, it is still not clear on what department that the company will slice of its workforce, but there are speculations that it will come from the investment banking and wealth management divisions.

Citigroup, U.S. second largest bank in terms of assets and behind by JP Morgan Chase was hit massively by the credit crisis and lost more than $2.8 billion over the last three quarters.

It is really awful that investors are now wary because the stocks fell nearly 3% in the morning trading in the New York Stock Exchange and in 2 weeks alone, it lost one-third of its value.

There are also speculations that officers in the upper management might not receive hefty bonuses this end of the year and executives might also be affected by the proposed cutbacks.

Congratulations to Barack Obama, as he captured the presidency of the United States. He is now America’s 44^th president!

Young and optimistic, and with an excellent oratory skill, Obama blasted through racial barriers into becoming the first African-American to sit in the Oval Office and won 349 to 147 in the Electoral College. Electoral votes only needed 270 votes to win, but the result was landslide because of his party’s historic campaign.

To the amazement of everyone, Obama won Florida and Ohio, which is critical on the President Bush’s twin victories. Obama also won Colorado, which is the base of religious rights and Virginia, which for 40 years haven’t won any Democrat president.

McCain conceded defeat shortly after 11 p.m. EST, telling supporters outside the Arizona Biltmore Hotel, “The American people have spoken, and they have spoken clearly.”

Obama won California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, the District of Columbia, Florida, Hawaii, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Nevada, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, Ohio, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Virginia, Vermont, Washington and Wisconsin.

McCain won Alabama, Arizona, Arkansas, Idaho, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, Montana, Nebraska, North Dakota, Oklahoma, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, West Virginia and Wyoming.

Actually, the 2008 election has a record turnout rate of 64.1 percent, which is really high.

President-elect Barack Obama will definitely need all the support and help that he can get because of the several burdens he has to carry now that he’s the new driver of this nation: A very big government debt, two failed foreign wars, rising health care cost, an aging society and failed energy policies.

The real question now is, can he do all that he promised on his campaign?

PR: wait… I: wait… L: wait… LD: wait… I: wait… wait… C: wait… SD: wait…

Presidential candidates Barack Obama and John McCain make their final address to voters as election draws near. With one more day until election, these candidates are racing against time to campaign around the country on several more states that are considered as battleground states.

According to several news sources, Obama is leading significantly in the survey, 51 to 43 percent but who knows, no one can never tell in the final stretch.

The chances might be slim for the republican candidate because Obama is leading among African-American, Latinos, blue-collar workers, 18 to 34 year olds, independents, Catholics and suburban voters.

However, McCain is leading among white men and women, 65 year olds and older and evangelicals.

U.S. election is very hot these days, but as you well know, this also has great impact on other countries, more over because of the U.S. financial meltdown.

PR: wait… I: wait… L: wait… LD: wait… I: wait… wait… C: wait… SD: wait…

Halloween in the Philippines is celebrated in the eve of All Saint’s Day, which we all know is October 31. Some of us celebrate and some of us don’t. People who celebrate either go to party on clubs or have their own version of trick or treat. Almost all clubs and restaurants in the metro have their own design for their Halloween treat for customers. Some are spooky and some are just like costume party theme.

I think I should no further explain what is this holiday about, but for all of you concerned, this Halloween original name is All Hallows’ Even and it is an ancient Celtic festival that Irish immigrants in the U.S. brought in the nineteenth century.

In ancient times, Gaels, the ethnic group of Ireland believed that the date Halloween was celebrated, October 31, dissolves the boundary between the living and the dead and the dead is very dangerous during this day, and usually damages crops and causes sickness. This occasion was celebrated with a festival that includes bonfire and costumes with some jack-o’-lanterns, which is a carved pumpkin that resembles a face with candle inside of it and was used to frightened off superstitions.

Halloween for children now are celebrated with trick or treat activities and they usually go to other houses in their villages or subdivisions with costumes and ask for some treats from homeowners just like the usual trick or treat in the U.S. or any other country. Actually, Halloween is an adaptation of the same occasion in the U.S.

Now, watching horror movies in very usual in this date. Some just go to their departed relatives in the cemetery just to be early in the All Saint’s Day rush the next morning.

Some are also taking advantage of this holiday to go out for vacation and many go to their respective provinces to visit their loved ones and their departed ones. However, this year will be a little different because in the previous years where All Saint’s and All Soul’s day was set in weekdays, now in 2008 these holidays are in weekends; therefore there are no special movement of holidays and there will be no long weekend for some of us working.

Travelling in the provinces will be minimal because of the limited days of holidays, which this year is only 2 days considering that this is one of the major holiday that our countrymen go out and meet again long lost relatives and family members in far-flung provinces.

Just like any other holidays in the Philippines, it usually takes time in the preparations. Advertisements runs for weeks, some took months, like in Halloween, as early as September, some are already prep for this occasion. Would you believe it that the Philippines is the only country that has the longest Christmas season in the world. People started preparing for Christmas as early as the “Ber” months begin, meaning September until December. And it does not end there, it usually took until late January and sometimes until early February, and then another occasion will coincide which is Valentines. It is a great season for love and a really great season to burn your wallet and pocket!

Well, for me because I don’t visit anymore my relatives in the province and I only visit my departed loved ones in the metro’s cemetery, then I spare myself of the hassle in waiting in the long line in the bus companies or ship’s pier.

I think I’m going the wrong way, as for the topic’s concern, but hey this is my blog so just try to keep on reading hehehe!

So, for me, I would rather celebrate Halloween with my significant other, partying or just go to a nice resto and spend the night away, spooking each other!

PR: wait… I: wait… L: wait… LD: wait… I: wait… wait… C: wait… SD: wait…

The heat is on!

The U.S. presidential election is nearing. The time is ticking. Its time to hit the polls in November 4, 2008 for the American voting population.

According to the latest New York Times/CBS poll, Democratic Party Barack Obama led 13-points over Republican’s John McCain among voters by 53% – 39%.

This will be the first time in U.S. history that two senators are running against each other, Barack Obama for Illinois John McCain for Arizona and also it is the first time that an African-American is running for the presidency for a major party. Another first time is a woman running for the vice-presidential bid from the Republican party; which is Governor from Alaska Sarah Palin.

Actually, I didn’t follow the campaign news much and I am not that knowledgeable about this matter. I just tried to read what I could when interesting things pop out in the news about the campaign.

I always wanted to write something about the U.S. presidential elections but nothing relevant came to my mind because of so much information regarding the campaign and debates and everything that is going on.

All I can tell you is this race will be tight. It will be fierce. So watch out for some updates.

Â

Â

Â

Amidst the attempt of the United States to prevent a full scale crash in the financial stadium, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) warns of a possible meltdown in world finance.

IMF backed up the plan of the Group of Seven (G-7), the world’s industrialized nations, to try to help stabilize the stock market and take immediate action.

According to news, the government in the United Kingdom would launch its bank rescue on Monday on its four largest banks namely Lloyds, bank of Scotland, Barclays and HBOS with $60.5 billion of support.

In Australia, all deposits on banks, credit unions and building society will be guaranteed by the Australian government for three years.

In Germany, a rescue plan of $549 billion is being prepared including injection of equity capital.

France on its part promised to hold a meeting with European heads to help prevent the market in creating a mass panic and to create a better plan in countering the eminent financial crisis.

IMF chief Dominique Strauss-Kahn warns of a possible meltdown, but then expressed hopes that governments’ actions can help persuade banks in resuming its lending services to stop the spreading problem.

However, financial ministers from the G-7, the United States, Britain, Germany, France, Japan, Canada and Italy could not agree on a concrete measure to help alleviate the problem and unfreeze the credit market and ensures the bank can really raise enough money.

The G-7 also held a meeting with the financial heads of G-20 or the group of emerging nations on Saturday October 11 to effectively communicate what will be the action plan of one country so it does not affect other countries in its region as a whole.