I felt so bad after reading a report about the vice president of the United States of American accidentally shooting a friend during a hunting spree.
The report was carried by the Philippine Daily Inquirer on February 16 and it said the incident occurred “on Saturday.” So the hunting must have taken place on February 11, a weekend day, a nice day to “relax.”
The report said Vice President Dick Cheney accidentally shot and wounded a companion during a weekend quail hunting trip at ranch in a Texas, spraying the fellow hunter in the face and chest with a shotgun pellets.

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We have heard of birds “colliding” with airplanes and we are well aware of the dangers posed by these curious creatures to aviation.
Funny how even small flying animals can create chaos up there where supposedly there’s no traffic and no traffic enforcers. Okay, let me correct myself, there’s air traffic and of course, there are air traffic enforcers. But how do they deal with pesky little birds (and the big ones, too) which think that the air space is their territory and who further think that the planes and choppers are invading their territory?
Speaker Jose de Venecia did experience such birdy problem last Saturday (February 11) when, from Dagupan City, he went to Zambales to be the ninong (principal witness) during the mass wedding in an Aeta community there.
Just before he and his companions boarded the borrowed helicopter that will bring them to the Aeta settlement village in Paete, San Narciso, the chopper’s pilot fidgeted around the engine.
He saw a bird there, the pilot told the Speaker. But finding no bird, he flew the chopper.
But some tweak tweak (or twit! twit!) sounds coming from the engine forced the pilot to land the chopper at the Clark Airport where the engine was inspected. There was no bird there, not even a dead one.
So the chopper proceeded to Zambales.
If there was really a bird at the engine, it could have endangered the lives of the passengers, including de Venecia’s, the fourth most powerful person in the country. And the bird could have been killed, too.
Maybe it flew away somewhere between Pangasinan and Clark, one of the passengers said. Or maybe the pilot was imagining?
 
But a reality struck that birds, especially in these parts where they fly far and free,  do pose danger to aviation.
 

 
 
 
Sports is a field I never ventured in. I do some exercise now and then and I love reading about physical fitness. But I’m no physical fitness buff.

 
Even writing about sports is something I shy away from. I always believe sports writing is a special way of writing that I have not mastered.

 
But here I am – covering the Private Schools Athletic Association national games in Lingayen.  I argued and argued with my bureau chief about the coverage of the games. But he was adamant. He has that much faith in me. Bless him.

 
So instead of writing about nature and environment and everything nice, I will be writing about sports events this week – you know, athletics, swimming, basketball, badminton, the likes.

 
These stories may or may not be posted here. It all depends, really, Depends on what?  I don’t know. All I know is as of now, I’m  trying to master the art of sports writing. 

What’s taking the authorities to move the barge full of coal from Agno waters? 

It is already one and a half months since LCT Fishner owned by Asian Shipping Corporation grounded off Macaboboni village in this town. But the barge is still there. Authorities – Philippine Coast Guard, the Department of Environment and Natural Resources, the local police – have been “visiting” the “accident site” and investigated what happened yet seemingly they are helpless. 

Of course, the owners of the barge may be losing money each day the barge is grounded, but is it doing to float and sail the barge away fast? 

I was informed that some 300 cubic meters of coals have been spilled from the barge and this could wreak havoc on the marine environment. What if the 4,564 metric tons of coal carried by the barge all spilled over to the sea? 

Is coal spill less disastrous than oil spill? 

Calling on environmental activists out there! 

(a story on the grounded barge was posted on this blog earlier)

With more people decorating their homes or offices with aquarium, ornamental fishes are becoming a good business to plunge into.  
Certainly, there is a big business potential for aquarium fishes both locally and abroad because the country lacks production and that pet shops have to import exotic fishes from other countries.
According to Westly Rosario, chief of the Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources- National Integrated Fisheries and Development Center (BFAR-NIFDC) in Dagupan City, there are only 15 commercial-scale producers of ornamental fishes in the Philippines, and the production is not even enough to penetrate the export market.  
“There is a certain volume to be reached, but the ornamental fish raisers do not produce enough and are not organized to meet the volume,” Rosario explained. 
The NIFDC is willing to extend technical assistance to persons interested in the production of aquarium fishes, and even sells breeders at a cost much lower than the pet shops.  

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That was a good decision not to burn the computers of 51 video-karera slot machines confiscated by the Dagupan City police.
 
It has been the practice of the police to burn whatever it has confiscated – marijuana, slot machines, etc.
 
But on Thursday morning, the city police, led by Sr. Supt. Alan Purisima and Supt. Edgar Basbas, dismantled the machines and removed the computers inside. Then,  they angrily bashed the computers to pieces.
 
The machines’ boxes are easy to dispose of. They are made of wood and can easily be used as firewood especially during these times when cooking gas are way above the reach of the poor people.
 
“We will just give the wood to poor residents,” Basbas said.
 
But what do they with the computers? These surely have toxic materials. I heard somewhere that computers have mini gold particles. But “mining” these may not be worth it because the gold are so minuscule. And they do have toxic things that could be hazardous to health if the “mining” procedure is not properly done. Worse,  the machines will continue to pose threat to health if these are not disposed of properly.
 
For sure, the city police will just dump these bashed computers in the city’s dumping sites, wherever these are. 
 
But I hope that while they cleanse the city of illegal machines like video-karera slot machines, they will also be responsible enough in disposing of the already useless machines.