starshadow_rivaulx | In the news today

Am not really happy with the way the formatting turned out in the last post. Will have to look up the HTML that sets it up properly.

So it was a fairly quiet day, now that all the laundry has been done. I called up the maintenance crew that does all our home repairs, since there's peeling paint on our front gutter that needs to be replaced before the rainy season comes by. I'll probably get the guys to clean out the gutters while I'm at it. Also, the fiberglass roof over the laundry area needs a good going-over with soap and water; although this may possibly be its last year, as the fibers are coming off on the scrubbing brush!

I have two little blocks of cheddar cheese chilling in the fridge. If I remember to do it, I'm going to pour myself a little red wine to go with it. It's the weekend, I may as well feel a little decadent for a while.

Only two things of note today: keeping current with online things and napping. I managed to finish reviewing the online stuff before lunch, then settled down to a very long nap - in spite of the weather - my head went down around two and I was up by five. Just in time for a shower and a cup of decaf before dinner.

Everyone on Twitter has been mentioning the race for followers between Ashton Kutcher's and CNNbrk's accounts. First to hit a million donates mosquito nets to Africa. Apparently CNNbrk lost by a hair. It was fun following it on Twitter - Demi Moore rallying the troops, and the CNN people with a more laid-back attitude about getting more followers. Except for maybe Rick Sanchez, who usually manages to find something to be excited about. *grin*

Now that it's over, it's to be hoped that the two parties involved will donate those mosquito nets, and try to harness all that energy for something important, like maybe micro-financing people caught in the economic crunch. I mean, whoa - two million people, worldwide? That's a lot of people, and if they practice the "tubong lugao" (literally=congee profit, or a very small profit margin multiplied by large volume of purchasers), something interesting might happen.

Or, since money is such a touchy topic, influencing people to do one small thing all at the same time? Something good, anyway.

I'm glad I didn't follow Kutcher's Twitter account, though. There's people complaining they can't unfollow him now that he's won - or even before he won. Oops!

As far as it goes, though, I have fallen totally in love with BackStory on CNN International. I've always been a sucker for behind-the-scenes stories, and what's even more fun, the production staff appears to love communicating with the audience, whether on Twitter (the whole lot posts to the one account) or Facebook. While I continue to love AC360, something in their style has lost me, and I don't make the effort to watch it live like I do for BackStory; which is on at 5AM Manila time, which means 8 times out of 10 I sleep through it, which means, thank God for a DVR! *grin*

Looks like the pirates of Pirate Bay have been sentenced to a year in jail. However, there is an appeal in motion - so we wait for the next chapter in The War on (Digital) Piracy.

Hot news topic of the day: death of newscaster Ted Failon's wife by gunshot wound. Speculation rampant, and media is totally a circus as they cover this story. I mean, even if he is one of your own, ABS-CBN, filming their grief in the ICU is just not done!

And why did the Malacanang Press Secretary have to admonish the media about allowing Failon and his family their time to grieve in private? Where did that come from - I mean, the Office of the President getting in its two bits? Not to mention various Senators and persons piping up about how the police are doing their job.

Admittedly, the way they hauled people off to jail didn't come off very well in the video that I've seen. Especially dragging off Failon's sister-in-law at the door of the funeral home, I think it was. Tsk.

At the rate things are going, the only thing I can really be sure of is that poor Mrs. Failon died of a gunshot wound to the head. Now as to all the other questions that arise, there are at least two investigative agencies involved. Add hysterical relatives, grandstanding politicians, lawyers and tabloid-type media coverage? I seriously doubt there will be any clear explanations for a long time to come.

Mercy on us, but the day has flown. May as well post this up and see what else I can manage before bedtime.