problem with uploading pictures

There seems to be a problem with uploading picture in blogspot but not with wordpress. I thought this was because of my slow connection which is still dial-up but when I opened my new wordpress site, lifeliners, olavides.wordpress, I can load pictures easily.. so this past few days, I have been blogging at wordpress, my picture feature blog.

Be Aware Of What Fish You Eat - Part 2

On my March 2 post I warned about the kind of fish we buy in the market... Today, we got this news from ABS-CBN interactive ----



Puffer fish kills 1, downs 10 others

One person died while 10 others were hospitalized after reportedly eating puffer fish in Cebu province, ABS-CBN Regional Network Group reported Monday.

The report said the incident happened around 4 p.m. in Madrilejos town.

According to Mayor Salvador de la Fuente, the victims are from Sitio Romblon in Barangay Malobago.

Puffer fish (also known as Tetraodontidae) is classified as the second most poisonous in the world. Its skin and certain internal organs are highly toxic to humans.

Air Tank in SCUBA Diving

These pictures of SCUBA ( Self-Contained Underwater Breathing Apparatus ) tanks I took at Dakak Dive Shop in Dapitan, Zamboanga del Norte. There were no diving activities when I went there but I met Mr. Paul Jalosjos, the in-house Dive Master. It was pleasant meeting him and talked about his dive experiences and the dive industry in Philippines which is not so good in this part of the country inspite of the fact that they have one of the best dive spot in the country. He attributed this partly because only foreigners are into this sports and few pinoys are certified divers. This prompted me to research on this.. probably next time.

Well now, for the scuba tank commonly used in recreational dive is made of aluminum and holds 80 cubic feet of air compressed into an area of the tank which is 2 feet high and 6 inches in diameter. Please take note that it is compressed air and not oxygen as many think it is. The compressed air is almost the same as the air we breathe on tierra firma. The standard tank is filled with 2000 to 3000 psi ( pounds per square inch ) of air pressure. The usual dive time I have with 3000 psi is 45 minutes with only 100 psi remaining when I surfaced. Currently, Nitrox, a mixture of nitrogen and oxygen, prolongs bottom time but you take another PADI nitrox course that will teach you the advantages and limitations of Nitrox. As to the double tank, it usually used for extended dive time but is now rarely used, it is too cumbersome.

Be Aware of What Fish You Eat !!! ( Awat ta tits, Butete Kang Daku!!!)

"Awat ta tits !!! Butete kang Daku" , - in English, " You can't fool me, you're a big blowfish"...
A week ago, we went to Dapitan, Zamboanga del Norte, for our monthly medical mission in a nearby barangay of Sibutad, and the day after, our group went on a side trip to Dakak Park and Beach Resort and also did some pasalubong hunting in Dapitan
Public Market. My wife bought some dried fish which she said was cheap compared to prices in our city and that it is quiet fresh and meaty. That's the picture above which is around 1 kilo at 100 pesos per kilo. The next day my wife cooked some for breakfast and it really looked delicious with its meaty part and I ate some dipped in spicy vinegar, also my wife took some big portion and loudly proclaiming that it was really good.. But my son took noticed of the fins and rightly blurted out that's a puffer fish!!!!. Well, we stopped eating and hence the picture...I just don't know what species of puffer fish this is considering that there are 120 species of puffer that live mostly in tropical seas.. It is commonly called butete, tikong in Cebu area, is abundant in Philippine seas. They are aptly named because of their defensive action of inflating themselves with water or air when threatened to make difficult for predator to swallow. Their toxin called tetrodotoxin is mostly located in the liver, testes,ovaries and eggs. The Japanese consider this as a delicacy and even have licensing for chef for preparing this.
Symptoms of tetrodotoxin poisoning is said to occur within fifteen minutes to several hours after eating the puffer fish. Feeling like floating, nausea, vomiting and stomach pain is experienced, lips would feel numb or itchy. Now, this dried fish is in the freezer awaiting further research, meantime, I will have to be content with the familiar dried fish sold in our city..the safest is the fish called "bolinao" which is fondly called "lansang", nails in English..By the way, which is safer to eat, a puffer or a nail???