Posts matching tags 'philippines'
2008/3/20
Health authorities in the Philippines have warned devout Catholics taking part in Easter crucifixion rituals to get tetanus shots before they flagellate and/or crucify themselves, and to practice good hygiene:
In the hot and dusty atmosphere, officials warn, using unhygienic whips to make deep cuts in the body could lead to tetanus and other infections.
And they advise that the nails used to fix people to crosses must be properly disinfected first. Often people soak the nails in alcohol throughout the year.
In the northern city of San Fernando alone there will be three separate improvised Golgothas - the biblical name for the hill where Jesus was crucified.
2005/2/14
The War On Copying heats up in the Philippines, with anti-terrorism police in Manila searching subway passengers and confiscating all optical media, just in case it contains pirated movies or evil, evil MP3s.
He says that it's a new policy of theirs, imposed, if I understand correctly, by the VRB, to curb piracy. They're supposed to confiscate all recordable discs and especially obviously pirated purchases (which by the way could land you in jail for at least six months if you're caught selling them, but what the hey). So recordable discs including those that come from the workplace and are legit? I ask them, with an eyebrow raised. And he says flatly, yes, because, you know, how can we ever be sure?
(via bOING bOING)
2004/8/13
Four people in the Philippine province of Palawan have been arrested for murdering a wedding guest, and serving his roasted remains at the reception: (via darwin)
Farm laborer Eladio Baule, his son Gerard Baule and nephews Sabtuary Pequi and Johnny Buyot allegedly killed the victim, Benjie Ganay, on July 17 after Ganay accidentally touched Eladio Baule's daughter's bottom during her wedding party, Bacuel said. The four suspects, who were drunk at the time, then set fire to Ganay's body and Bacuel said the aroma of roasting flesh may have tempted the group to eat parts of the burnt body.
(Which translates, essentially, as "seemed like a good idea at the time".)
The crime was only discovered about eight days later, after the two nephews confessed to the police who originally found their accounts too shocking to believe. The nephews insist that they did not take part in the murder but were only forced to eat parts of the body.
2000/4/9
In the Philippines, mobile phone text messaging has taken off in a big way. Now the government and phone companies are very worried about the system being used to spread false rumours and rude jokes about the president. So much so that the phone companies have taken out full-page ads urging restraint. (BBC News)