Photo of the Day (12.23.08)

by Grant Martin on

Having nice weather this Christmas? Yeah, me neither. If you’ve ventured even close to an airport or a newscast in the last week you probably know that 3/4 of the country is buried under snow right now and that flights and passengers are in chaos.

In case you happen to be one of those poor souls stuck at the airport this Tuesday afternoon, I thought I would give you something to take your mind off the weather. This shot, taken by StrudelMonkey in Boracay, Philippines, depicts the exact polar opposite of where I am right now, and where I’m sure many of us want to be. Close your eyes, don’t think about that screaming child in the row across from you and pretend its 80 degrees outside. Isn’t that nice?

Have any cool photos you’d like to share with the world? Add them to the Gadling Pool on Flickr, and it might be chosen as our Photo of the Day.

Cultural Delicacies: Dogs (and cats!)

by Brenda Yun on

It is not uncommon for people to eat dog meat in parts of China, Korea, and the Philippines. Historically, in times of famine people in France and Germany ate dogs too. As a pet lover, I can’t bear the thought, but I know this practice is more far-reaching than meets the eye. Earlier this year, Honolulu experienced its own case of dog-eating men who stole, killed, and ate a couple’s beloved poi dog.

When traveling in third world countries and observing the poor treatment of street dogs, it is easier to understand the apathy that most possess for canines. I think it’s acceptable, too, that in desperate times people take desperate measures to stay alive. It’s unfathomable, however, that people would knowingly steal a pet for consumption. It doesn’t matter where you are or what your culinary practices are.
Complicating canine consumption with feline consumption and you now have a serious case on your hands. This is exactly the latest news coming from China: cat owners are now scared to leave their cats alone now because they disappear. People steal domestic cats now, killing them, and selling them for $1.32 per pound (the same price for lamb). Pet owners in China are speaking up. It appears even the Chinese are developing a conscience nowadays.

The eating of dog meat — or cat meat, for that matter — is a cultural practice that Westerners may never come to accept or understand. Maybe one day we can all be green-eating, tree-hugging consumers in a free world.

Vitamin beer, aka responsible drinking Filipino-style

by Iva Skoch on

You have to hand it to the Filipino inventor Virgilio “Billy” L. Malang for creating an invention that has a widespread appeal. He has created a type of beer, which is Vitamin B complex-fortified and makes a promise to “take some of the guilt out of drinking” by replacing the essential Vitamin B which is lost when excessive amounts of alcohol are consumed. Mind you, this is the same guy who has published a book, called “Sex Every Minute.” I don’t think he’s got a patent on that, though.

Malang says that he believes the invention will be popular because beer is the national weakness of the Philippines. A Kirin Research Institute study ranked the Philippines as the 5th highest beer consumer in Asia, after China, Japan, South Korea and Thailand, with an average of nearly 20 liters (45 pints) of beer per person per year.

It has not been marketed yet, but Vitamin Beer already won a gold medal at the European Union-sponsored Genius-Europe competition at the Budapest Fair Center in Hungary in May 2004 and bagged the Romanian Ministry Education and Research Cup among 1,000 inventions by 540 inventors from 46 countries, Philippine Daily Inquirer reports.

This is interesting because I have lived under the impression that there is a lot of Vitamin B in every beer, that is why beer is supposed to be good for you. Or it could just be something my dad tells my my mom to make her feel better.

Man Shot Dead for Bad Singing

by Justin Glow on

Okay, in the United States we get shot for honking at someone to let them know the light as turned green. But in Asia, where karaoke is big business, you can get shot for singing out of tune.

Midway through his song, a homeless man in a karaoke bar in San Mateo town, Rizal, Philippines, was warned by a bouncer that his singing was out of tune. “As [he] ignored his comments and continued singing,” the AP reports, “[the bouncer] pulled out his revolver and shot him in the chest.”

The AP story goes on to mention that violence in karaoke bars is not uncommon, and in the capital of the Philippines, Manila, the song “My Way” by Frank Sinatra has been taken off of most karaoke playlists due to it’s violence-inciting abilities. The song was “found to be the cause of fights and even deaths when patrons sang out of tune.” Seriously.

Double Tall Skim Catpooccino To Go

by Iva Skoch on

If you’re a coffee lover, maybe you’ll want to make a special flight on Japan Airlines to buy “the rarest coffee in the world“: civet coffee. But this specialty brew is sold only in business class, to the tune of $600 for 100 grams.

You’re not going to find this in any Starbucks. Your other options for getting the coffee are limited: if you’re not heading to Japan, a single coffee shop in Vienna sells the beans. If you’re really adventurous, maybe you can sniff out the source directly: the Philippines. An environmentalist husband and wife team, named Reyes, has made a multi-million-dollar business out of its harvest. Non-coffee drinkers themselves, they accidentally stumbled into the civet’s special gift while doing conservation work on sugar palm trees outside of Manila in 2003.

What makes the coffee so rare? It’s made from the droppings of the civet cat. Apparently, this nocturnal, ferret-like cat eats sugar palm fruit and coffee cherries. (Oh, and you can catch SARS from it too.) The coffee bean is not digested, but ferments in its digestive system and is excreted, much to the delight of locals, who collect the ready-to-roast beans, but try to keep the origin secret. The roasted beans give off a “sweet chocolatey aroma” and produce a “strong and earthy” brew.

Ah, I can just imagine the aroma!