As this is yet ANOTHER continuation, it is still Friday, December 26th, 2008 and it is now 8:08 PM here in the Philippines.
Feuds are a medium factor in the violence that plagues the southern Philippines, with Mindanao of course being the most violent prone of the southern islands.
One would imagine other places to hold that distinction, like Jolo Island, or the Sulu Archipelago, but even if you remove Basilan Island from consideration (governmentally attached to Mindanao) we are still by far the most violent island in a very violent area of an extremely violent nation.
There are places where crime is a factor, but no insurrection like Cebu, and places where there are relatively safe areas like on Luzon Island, which holds the capital of Manila (Shoutouts to Dtergent and Crystal hahaha).
Mindanao has all , crime, insurrection, family feuds and even natural disasters for good seasoning. Right now we are on Mudslide Watch on the island. Eastern Mindanao has been depleted of most jungle and this causes the soil to erode very quickly and then travesties like what took place on Leyte Island are allowed to happen.
Leyte was much more depleted of jungle and in a government elementary school more than 1,000 people were killed when a mudlside covered the building under more than 100 meters of wet mud. Horrible thoughts when I consider that. That must have been hell.
What really gets my blood boiling though is that I hold America more than partly responsible. It is America that fuels the depletion, it is American owned companies or registered companies that deplete this poor nation of what little wealth it has. Such a beautiful place and such rotten lives for most because of the rape of these islands.
Anyway, I better ease off that train of thought or I will be pegged as "subversive" and that can mean as much as death here. As I posted in Gallery, our main market in Poblacion has a large sign deploring "Extra Judicial Execution," yet another fun thing to consider about Mindanao.
Interestingly, I was reading data on Xmas Eve about that issue (Extra Judicial Execution which in this country means Vigilante and/or Paramilitary Killing of Criminals and Political Opponents). Mindanao, amazingly, for the last 2 years, is said to have just one case!!! I actually laughed for a good minute over that one. 1 case? We have had 2 just in San Franz!!! Davao City is famous for them, it is how the mayor ALLEGEDLY came to power.
Anyway, there goes my mouth again.
Getting back to Natural Disasters. Aside from Typhoons, Torrential Rains in Monsoon Season, there are ALOT of earthquakes and usually well over 5 on the Richter Scale, and even volcanic activity to think about. The one thing Mindanao does NOT have is Typhoons. We are out of the Typhoon Belt. We do have all the rest though!
Onto better things...I am considering getting a pet Taysier (Tarsier). The Philippine Taysier is not endangered, although I fear unquantified subspecies are, like the Taysiers here on Mindanao. Scientists have never fully explored this island and indeed roads are very sparse here. Until 8 years ago National Hiway was nothing but a dirt track that was impassable in Monsoon Season.
As more and more of this island is settled things die off. Monkeys were common here just a few years ago but are now hunted out. Plenty of habitat left in 2nd and 3rd Growth Jungle/Forest but too many poor people need protein.
Taysiers are called the "Smallest Monkeys" but in reality they are not monkeys at all. They are on an evolutionary ladder in between monkeys/high primates and lemurs/lower primates in a class of their own.
They have the biggest eyes of any mammal so they look so cute, and are tiny. A full grown male will only be 5 inches, plus a 5 inch tail. I hate their tails which are bald like rat tails except for a tuft at the end.
They are nocturnal and the can jump 3 meters. They also need live insects in their diet and that is the one thing that is pushing me not to get one. Catching live insects will not be easy, depending which ones they eat. Over the course of a 12 to 15 year olifespan a Taysier can eat ALOT.
We are in land cleared from jungle so there are LOTS of bugs, just perhaps not the ones I need for a Taysier. They can eat mealworms but they MIGHT be available in large cities, but never out here!
As long as I respect their nocturnal pattern (I am nocturnal myself at times!), and can catch live insects, I am OK. As I said they are not rare, but they are protected by the govt (a govt that does not even really exist on Mindanao). All things to consider.
Went hunting with Uncle Leo today, I used Dad's 12 gauge which I hate, but it is not really sporting to shoot game with an M16 or Galil, you know?
Galils are Israeli made, and was my first rifle in the army. They are modeled after the AK and in fact use AK receivers ("Receiver" is a piece forward of the "Stock" which is the piece you put your shoulder against).
Great guns, I love them. M16s are OK but in hot weather, and especially in Mid-East desert they jam regularly and one thing you do now want is your piece jamming in a fire fight. We after all never carried pistols (only our Special Forces do). If your M16 jams it is all over. I have an A1 here, and they are OK, after all ALOT better than the old used American pieces they throw at Philippine armed forces. Their M16s are in terrible shape.
Did not kill anything myself, because we only spooked some boar and I do not eat pork anymore, so why kill it? I could have given the meat away but I have a problem with killing an animal if I do not need the protein. Leo bagged one, and is doing alot better since I repaired his Scope. Business is tough on all of us and it is good to unwind.
Rained hard all day, which sucked but I LOVE the rain - just not traipsing through jungle in it. I hate blue skies and sun. Mom, Dad, and Rizza can never understand. "WHY?" Well you try marching 86 kilometers in the sun and see which you prefer in the end.
Rizza whined that we are not having enough time together and in agreement, I stayed put with her the rest of the evening and now she is asleep like everyone else. Sleeping off hangovers (Not Rizza though because I will not allow her to drink after the debacle last spring which I may or naynot talk about in an entry), etc.
Speaking of which. I do not drink, have not since I was about 17 and got very sick from rum and valium (not a great combo kids). Almost an entire pint of rum and 50 mgs of Valium...
I am still keeping my morphine intake low, 400 mgs in 200 mg dosages twice a day 12 hours apart, still morphine IR. Will be buying a ton of the "Jurnista" when it gets to Mindanao. Jurnista is a name brand hydromorphone extended release. I will experiment with the extended release to try and convert it to instant, but with
64 mgs. of hydromorphone (Dilaudid) I am set. I cannot wait!
Pricing might be VERY prohibitive so it might not be my daily med but I will still buy a ton of it. The domestically produced morphine (IRs) are about 45 US per box of 3000 mgs, in 30 mg tabs. The hydromorphone could be extremely expensive as an import.
It is why I do not perfer oxycontin which has been available here for a couple of years in IR form.
The country finally is stocking codeine as well! Not in horrible APAP or caffeine combo form but in good old 30 mg codeine phosphate tabs. ALso getting, amazingly, buprenorphine transdermal patches! I honestly thought that I would never see the day.
I think there are some intellignet folks working in govt after all. They even shelved the death penalty for drugs this year! From 2002 until this past summer you could be executed for 10 grams of poppy seeds! One poor peasant got the death penalty for 4 plants found growing on some jungle he owned, even though they were probably remnants of this country's legal hemp trade from eyars ago!
Things are looking up!
Next entry will be the Blood and Guts Update...
Feuds are a medium factor in the violence that plagues the southern Philippines, with Mindanao of course being the most violent prone of the southern islands.
One would imagine other places to hold that distinction, like Jolo Island, or the Sulu Archipelago, but even if you remove Basilan Island from consideration (governmentally attached to Mindanao) we are still by far the most violent island in a very violent area of an extremely violent nation.
There are places where crime is a factor, but no insurrection like Cebu, and places where there are relatively safe areas like on Luzon Island, which holds the capital of Manila (Shoutouts to Dtergent and Crystal hahaha).
Mindanao has all , crime, insurrection, family feuds and even natural disasters for good seasoning. Right now we are on Mudslide Watch on the island. Eastern Mindanao has been depleted of most jungle and this causes the soil to erode very quickly and then travesties like what took place on Leyte Island are allowed to happen.
Leyte was much more depleted of jungle and in a government elementary school more than 1,000 people were killed when a mudlside covered the building under more than 100 meters of wet mud. Horrible thoughts when I consider that. That must have been hell.
What really gets my blood boiling though is that I hold America more than partly responsible. It is America that fuels the depletion, it is American owned companies or registered companies that deplete this poor nation of what little wealth it has. Such a beautiful place and such rotten lives for most because of the rape of these islands.
Anyway, I better ease off that train of thought or I will be pegged as "subversive" and that can mean as much as death here. As I posted in Gallery, our main market in Poblacion has a large sign deploring "Extra Judicial Execution," yet another fun thing to consider about Mindanao.
Interestingly, I was reading data on Xmas Eve about that issue (Extra Judicial Execution which in this country means Vigilante and/or Paramilitary Killing of Criminals and Political Opponents). Mindanao, amazingly, for the last 2 years, is said to have just one case!!! I actually laughed for a good minute over that one. 1 case? We have had 2 just in San Franz!!! Davao City is famous for them, it is how the mayor ALLEGEDLY came to power.
Anyway, there goes my mouth again.
Getting back to Natural Disasters. Aside from Typhoons, Torrential Rains in Monsoon Season, there are ALOT of earthquakes and usually well over 5 on the Richter Scale, and even volcanic activity to think about. The one thing Mindanao does NOT have is Typhoons. We are out of the Typhoon Belt. We do have all the rest though!
Onto better things...I am considering getting a pet Taysier (Tarsier). The Philippine Taysier is not endangered, although I fear unquantified subspecies are, like the Taysiers here on Mindanao. Scientists have never fully explored this island and indeed roads are very sparse here. Until 8 years ago National Hiway was nothing but a dirt track that was impassable in Monsoon Season.
As more and more of this island is settled things die off. Monkeys were common here just a few years ago but are now hunted out. Plenty of habitat left in 2nd and 3rd Growth Jungle/Forest but too many poor people need protein.
Taysiers are called the "Smallest Monkeys" but in reality they are not monkeys at all. They are on an evolutionary ladder in between monkeys/high primates and lemurs/lower primates in a class of their own.
They have the biggest eyes of any mammal so they look so cute, and are tiny. A full grown male will only be 5 inches, plus a 5 inch tail. I hate their tails which are bald like rat tails except for a tuft at the end.
They are nocturnal and the can jump 3 meters. They also need live insects in their diet and that is the one thing that is pushing me not to get one. Catching live insects will not be easy, depending which ones they eat. Over the course of a 12 to 15 year olifespan a Taysier can eat ALOT.
We are in land cleared from jungle so there are LOTS of bugs, just perhaps not the ones I need for a Taysier. They can eat mealworms but they MIGHT be available in large cities, but never out here!
As long as I respect their nocturnal pattern (I am nocturnal myself at times!), and can catch live insects, I am OK. As I said they are not rare, but they are protected by the govt (a govt that does not even really exist on Mindanao). All things to consider.
Went hunting with Uncle Leo today, I used Dad's 12 gauge which I hate, but it is not really sporting to shoot game with an M16 or Galil, you know?
Galils are Israeli made, and was my first rifle in the army. They are modeled after the AK and in fact use AK receivers ("Receiver" is a piece forward of the "Stock" which is the piece you put your shoulder against).
Great guns, I love them. M16s are OK but in hot weather, and especially in Mid-East desert they jam regularly and one thing you do now want is your piece jamming in a fire fight. We after all never carried pistols (only our Special Forces do). If your M16 jams it is all over. I have an A1 here, and they are OK, after all ALOT better than the old used American pieces they throw at Philippine armed forces. Their M16s are in terrible shape.
Did not kill anything myself, because we only spooked some boar and I do not eat pork anymore, so why kill it? I could have given the meat away but I have a problem with killing an animal if I do not need the protein. Leo bagged one, and is doing alot better since I repaired his Scope. Business is tough on all of us and it is good to unwind.
Rained hard all day, which sucked but I LOVE the rain - just not traipsing through jungle in it. I hate blue skies and sun. Mom, Dad, and Rizza can never understand. "WHY?" Well you try marching 86 kilometers in the sun and see which you prefer in the end.
Rizza whined that we are not having enough time together and in agreement, I stayed put with her the rest of the evening and now she is asleep like everyone else. Sleeping off hangovers (Not Rizza though because I will not allow her to drink after the debacle last spring which I may or naynot talk about in an entry), etc.
Speaking of which. I do not drink, have not since I was about 17 and got very sick from rum and valium (not a great combo kids). Almost an entire pint of rum and 50 mgs of Valium...
I am still keeping my morphine intake low, 400 mgs in 200 mg dosages twice a day 12 hours apart, still morphine IR. Will be buying a ton of the "Jurnista" when it gets to Mindanao. Jurnista is a name brand hydromorphone extended release. I will experiment with the extended release to try and convert it to instant, but with
64 mgs. of hydromorphone (Dilaudid) I am set. I cannot wait!
Pricing might be VERY prohibitive so it might not be my daily med but I will still buy a ton of it. The domestically produced morphine (IRs) are about 45 US per box of 3000 mgs, in 30 mg tabs. The hydromorphone could be extremely expensive as an import.
It is why I do not perfer oxycontin which has been available here for a couple of years in IR form.
The country finally is stocking codeine as well! Not in horrible APAP or caffeine combo form but in good old 30 mg codeine phosphate tabs. ALso getting, amazingly, buprenorphine transdermal patches! I honestly thought that I would never see the day.
I think there are some intellignet folks working in govt after all. They even shelved the death penalty for drugs this year! From 2002 until this past summer you could be executed for 10 grams of poppy seeds! One poor peasant got the death penalty for 4 plants found growing on some jungle he owned, even though they were probably remnants of this country's legal hemp trade from eyars ago!
Things are looking up!
Next entry will be the Blood and Guts Update...