Typhoon Ruby.

Tropical storm "Hagupit" is headed our way and is expected to hit Philippines sometime Saturday. According to PAGASA Deputy Administrator Dr. Landrico Dalida, Jr.,there is a 75% chance that the storm will hit land, and 25% of it changing track and heading northward.

Once the storm enters the Philippine Area of Responsibility (PAR) it will be referred to as typhoon Ruby. Indications are that Ruby will be a "super" typhoon with maximum sustained winds of 160 kph, and gusts of up to 190 kph.

Forty-four provinces were declared critical areas by the National Disaster Risk Reduction & Management Council (NDRRMC) and the Philippine Atmospheric, Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration(PAGASA). While the province I live in (Negros Oriental) is listed among the 44 critical provinces, the province in most danger is Eastern Samar where typhoon Yolanda - AKA Haiyan - caused extensive damage last year.

We're getting prepared. We've stocked up on the essentials - bottled water, rice, canned food and LP gas. We're hoping that our worst problem will be disruption of electricity. Even with the strong winds and rain, the house, which is built from concrete blocks, should be OK. God willing, we won't experience flooding in our area.

Of course, in today's world, we can't talk about typhoons - super or otherwise - without mention of climate change. A German think-tank, Germanwatch, announced from Lima, Peru that "Philippines, Cambodia and India were most affected by extreme weather events in 2013."

“We all remember the images of the catastrophic Typhoon Haiyan, which wiped out entire regions and took the lives of more than 6000,” said Sönke Kreft, author of the study and Team Leader for International Climate Policy at Germanwatch. “It was the most severe tropical storm ever to make landfall."

In Climate Change circles, super typhoons, such as Yolanda and Ruby, are called "extreme weather events". While I make no claims to be a scientist, it's difficult to imagine that these "extreme weather events" are not brought about by climate change. The questions that remain are, how much of this climate activity is caused by humans and what can we do about it?

There was a good deal of chin wagging and patting on backs after China and the US pledged last month to cut greenhouse gas emissions. Now, the Chinese maintain "that progress is likely to be stymied by differences between the developed and developing world - with the US the main culprit".

I'm not putting much hope in humans being able to deal with this.

Dana Milbank: On Ferguson, Obama is Mostly Thoughts and Little Action

For those among us who enjoy it when Liberals attack Obama - Dana Milbank: On Ferguson, Obama is mostly thoughts and little action.

Sorry, BigPulpit.......

I'm sorry, BigPulpit.com, but, Anal is not what I look for in News.

Spider Photo.

A photo of a spider that has made it's home outside our house.

Grumpy Cat's Worst Christmas Ever.

We had heard rumors that there might be a "super typhoon" headed our way, so I took to the Internet to check various websites for any reliable information. After going to a weather website, a typhoon update website and three Filipino news sites, I've concluded that the rumor had no truth behind it. I couldn't find anything related to any sort of typhoon - super or otherwise - headed toward us in the foreseeable future.

While on the abs-cbnnews website, I thought I'd check out the latest news in Philippines.

One story that caught my attention was Swiss arrested for trafficking, child abuse. I like to keep up to date on stories involving foreigners here.Before coming to Philippines the first time, I never expected that there would be so many Germans, Swiss and Australians living in the country.

The article linked to above is rather short, so I'll post it here :

"By Jessee Atienza, ABS-CBN News Central Visayas
Posted at 11/30/2014 1:34 PM | Updated as of 12/01/2014 12:21 AM

CEBU – A Swiss national was arrested Saturday in Sta. Fe, Bantayan island in Cebu by the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) for his alleged involvement in human trafficking and child abuse.
The suspect was identified as Walter Hauck, who has been residing in Barangay Talisay for two years, having settled there after his retirement.
A joint operation by the NBI, the Children's Legal Bureau and the Provincial Women's Commission (PWC) led to the rescue of five minors from Hauck's residence.
Heda Largo, a consultant of the PWC, said there were some sex toys found inside Hauck's house.
The five minors are now in the custody of the Department of Social Welfare and Development where they will undergo legal processes.
Huck is being detained at the NBI Region 7 office, where he will undergo further investigation. He is expected to be presented to the media on Monday".

Further into the website, I found another article concerning the Swiss, though not those in Philippines:
Swiss urged to stop eating cats on Christmas day.

Surely, I thought, this can't be a real story. Perhaps it was just some Filipino working for ABS-CBN getting back at the Swiss because of the despicable actions of the Swiss national in Sta. Fe, Bantayan. I can't imagine that the Swiss actually eats cats on Christmas Day.

Taking to Google, I found this link:
Animal rights group calls for new law - to stop Swiss eating CATS on Christmas Day.

It's hard to imagine that I had never heard anything about the Swiss tradition of eating dogs and cats.

The story has even made it's way to the bbc.co.uk website, which says:

" 'Around three percent of the Swiss secretly eat cat or dog,' said Tomi Tomek, founder and president of animal protection group SOS Chats Noiraigue.
Cat appears on traditional Christmas menus in some areas of Switzerland.
It is often cooked for the festive season in a similar way to rabbit - with white wine and garlic.
'We especially see it in the regions of Lucerne, Appenzell, Jura and in the canton of Bern,' said Tomek.
Dog meat goes mostly into making sausages and a fatty remedy for rheumatism".

On 29 November 2014, Lifetime  released a made for TV movie, "Grumpy Cat's Worst Christmas Ever". I haven't seen the movie, but I'm curious to see if Grumpy Cat spends any part of Christmas in Switzerland.