'Go Topless Day' and its Raëlian Connection

This past Sunday, August 28, 2016 was International Go Topless Day, and women through out the United States bared their breasts in protest against laws that prohibit women from going topless in public. Compare this to the situation in France where women are being prevented from dressing modestly due to attempted bans on the wearing of burkinis on beaches.

I became aware of a strange twist to this when I read a recent article on sputniknews.com. Sputnik news is reporting that, according to French writer Roger Gonnet, Go Topless Day is not motivated by a support of "women's rights", but is actually a recruitment drive for the UFO cult, Raëlism.

Raëlian priestess and President of GoTopless, Nadine Gary, in an interview, told sfgate.com,"Monotheistic religions are the culprit for the guilt humans feel about their naked body, their sensuality, their sexuality with of course a woman as the ultimate instigator of 'the original sin'".

Is it merely a coincidence that the movement to ban the rather modest swimwear know as birkinis and the movement pushing for women being permitted to go topless in public, both have their origins in France.....as does the Raëlian religious cult.

I'm not saying that the Raëlians are behind the birkini ban, but there is a French connection behind all this.

Merry Christmas from Philippines

Earlier this year, I made a promise to myself that I would do my best to post 366 posts this year (this being leap year). Of course, this means an average of one post per day. I knew there would be days I'd miss, either from my being busy with other things or from lack of inspiration. I'd even need to occasionally write more than two on some days. February was a particularly bad month with only 10 posts. This was finally made up with a whopping 54 posts in May.

Today is August 31 and I should have 244 total posts to stay on average and 31 posts for the month of August. This particular post will be number 241 for the year - number 28 for the month. So, with this posting, I will be only three posts behind. That's a number that can easily be made up.

The real focus of this post is that with the end of August, comes the beginning (tomorrow) of the 'ber' months in Philippines. Years ago, when I first heard of the 'ber', I had no clue what it was. Before we were married, my wife mentioned that the celebration of Christmas begins in Philippines with the 'ber'. She went on to explain that the 'ber' were the months ending in b.e.r.......September, October, November and December.

Starting tomorrow, we will begin hearing Christmas carols being played on T.V., in the shopping centers, and coming through the open windows of our neighbors.

I know many Americans believe the Christmas season begins in December. Some would say that the season actually begins the day after Thanksgiving in November. Most Americans shake their heads in amazement if Christmas decorations are brought out in Walmart before Halloween is over. For those Americans, the 'ber' would take quite a bit of getting used to. But, here in Philippines, it's the normal way and is accepted without any objections, as far as I can tell.

So, with September 1st less than 24 hours away, let me be the first to wish you all a Merry Christmas.

An Email Update

One week ago, I received an email from Google Maps letting me know that the photos I had posted onto Google Maps had received more than 5,000 views. As I've mentioned in a number of posts, this email encouraged me to post more photos taken in Dumaguete and Sibulan.

One week later, I received an email from Google Maps telling me that my photos had been viewed in excess of 10,000 times. 13,961 views, to be precise.

That was yesterday, and today, checking my stats on the site, the number of views for my photos have already risen to almost 17,000.

I'm not sure which amazes me more - an increase of 8,000 views in one week, or the 4,000 view increase in one day. Obviously, the 4,000 in one day is pretty good, but the increase in the total number of uploaded photos is partly responsible for the difference.

I think Google Maps does a good job of posting and giving credit for the images posted. However, as I pointed out in a post Monday, their procedures for adding new location listings leaves a lot to be desired. Some edits are published immediately while others must wait for lengthy review. I don't understand why some edits take longer for approval. There doesn't seem to be a rhyme or reason behind which get approved quickly and which edits don't.

Been-Hurt

When I first read Cal Thomas' review of the 2016 film version of Ben Hur, I was sadly resigned to the thought that it would probably not make it's way to the theater in Dumaguete. I watched the 1959 version as a child - haven't seen it in ages - and though I remember enjoying the movie, I didn't recall too many specific details.

It was Thomas' review of the film which prompted me to download a copy of the novel from Project Gutenberg. I came to learn that the book, written by Lew Wallace in the 1880s, was one of the top best sellers of the 19th century. When I wrote my previous post on Ben Hur, I was 15% into the ebook and remarked that I was more impressed with it than I was with the book which knocked it out of top selling novels, Gone With The Wind.

Now, two weeks later, I'm less impressed with the novel. It's really been a grind reading it. It started out interesting, but now I'm wondering why the 19th century reader was so enamored with Wallace's book. I've told myself that once I've begun reading a book, I'd do my best to finish reading it - no matter how boring it becomes. If I had continued to find Ben Hur worth reading, I would have finished it within a few days. Instead, I'm only 40% through after two weeks. I can't imagine continuing with this for another two weeks. Surely, it will pick up again.

After the release of the 2016 version, reviews for the film have been less than positive. The Wall Street Journal says the film not only bombed, but bombed big, even accusing the filmmakers of portraying "watered down Christianity". Perhaps it's just as well that the film probably won't make it to my local theater.

Today's Photos

My new hobby of adding photos and reviews to Google Maps began with an email from Google Maps informing me that the eight photos I had previously added to the site had been viewed more than 5,000 times. In the six days or so since receiving that email, I've added approximately 550 additional photos to Google Maps.

I mentioned in a post earlier this morning that I'd be going out to day to take photographs. It was these 90 that pushed my photo contributions to over the 500 mark.

All together, I've added photographs for 169 different locations in Philippines - the majority being in Dumaguete and Sibulan, although I have posted photos from a few places on Cebu island.

As it turned out, today was an especially good day for going out and about shooting photos. Today, being a holiday in Philippines, (National Heroes Day) the traffic was fairly light. Of course, it was still early when my son and I started and that certainly helped as well.

I also mentioned in the earlier post that I had recommended nearly thirty additions to Google Maps. At the time of that writing, 15 had been approved with 12 being reviewed. Since then, I was awarded "points" for 10 of those 15. The 12 are still under review, as well as the location of a 7-eleven store which I added after this morning's trek.

Some of my successful, published additions include the Magatas Barangay Hall, the Arbee's Bakeshop in Sibulan, and the Seventh-Day Adventist church, also in Sibulan.

As I stated above, when contacted by Google Maps six days ago, my eight photos had been viewed more than 5,000 times. Since then, my photos (including the new ones posted this week) have been viewed nearly 14,000 times. Besides the highly viewed photos of the parish Church in Sibulan, one of my photos of a hotel in Dumaguete (Check-inn Pension Plaza) has been viewed 340 times in the three days since it was added. Most surprising to me is that my photo of the Ceres Liner bus terminal in Dumaguete has also been viewed an equal number of times in the same three days.

On the lighter side, one of my photos of the Hotel Bee Motel has been viewed about 80 times. The Hotel Honey Bee is one of the rent by the hour, No-Tell Motels written about in another post. Obviously, quite a few couples were interested in finding a place for a tête-à-tête. One has to wonder if viewing this photograph encouraged or discouraged the use of this particular motel.

All my photos uploaded to Google Maps can be seen by clicking here.