insane iridology

our kasambahay (helper) mentioned to me while watching the morning shows that she went to an iridology clinic recently (they usually advertise during the morning shows). she then recounted that the consultation fee is relatively affordable and that the findings were similar to what she had with a regular clinic. unfortunately, they prescribed her to take food supplements to help her diabetes, which comes to a monthly total of ka-ching P14,000!!! 3 tablets, 3 times a day, so that's roughly P51 per tablet! (of course, claritin retails at around P44, but i don't take claritin 9x a day!)

it's like one of the printer strategies: sell a printer for a low price, then make the kill with the cartridges. that's why a lot of them hate these ink-refilling stations; they lose their incomes there.

these iridology clinics engage in a doubtful practice at best. sure, they were consistent with the findings of a regular clinic, but doesn't that just emphasize the redundancy of the whole thing?

the worst part is that these iridology clinics prey on the lower end of the society spectrum. our kasambahay told us that a fellow patient, upon hearing the price of her prescription, said she was even lucky because this other patient had to get some supplements to the tune of P24,000!!! gosh!!!

mistaken michael

i wanted to write about our kasambahay's (helper's) trip to an iridology clinic, but this item caught my ear during the morning rush with chico & delamar:

michael jackson was apparently caught malling in bahrain wearing, among other things, an abaya. online, the following was mentioned:

Jackson, who has been living in Bahrain since June last year as a guest of the royal family, was spotted at a popular downtown mall wearing a black abaya robe, black gloves, sunglasses and a veil that covered his face.

according to the morning rush report, he was also caught going into the ladies' bathroom and applying make-up, before rushing out, allegedly because he mistook the arabic sign.

now i love a good michael jackson joke like anyone else, but here's a wild thought: what if it wasn't michael jackson? what if it was just an unfortunate woman, a real woman? hmm...

nah.

exit ka ernie

ernie baron passed away this morning.

he was our generation's and abs-cbn's weatherman answer to gma's amado pineda. he became famous for his trademark twang (not the best way to describe it, but it's close) and his bottomless amount of trivia.

over the radio, he would be asked questions regarding everything under the sun. sometimes he would delay answering the questions, presumably for his researchers to hunt for info; but he usually comes up with the answers on the dot. for health queries, he would direct his listeners to take the "cleansing diet", drinking pito-pito tea (made up of seven herbs), and attending the seminars at kamuning road at QC.

he would of course be parodied, most notably by vic sotto in the defunct TVJ, where he would be "ernie barong", with his wacky inventions and barong with the cut at the back (may hati sa likod). i only found out morbidity of the joke on the split back years later; if you were a kid, you'd just think it's weird.

he later made use of his popularity by lending his name to a super-antennae and to a food supplement.

he's such an institution, it's hard to believe he's only 65.

pacquiao's punches

i usually don't watch boxing matches, not even manny pacquiao's. but since manny has been making waves the past few years, and i've only seen glimpses of his victorious fights, i said to myself, sige, i'll watch him this time.

i was expecting more firepower in his punches, but as numerous boxing armchair analysts have said, he's now more restrained and more scientific in his approach. since he still won, it's still good.

i just got pissed off when i saw the first gentleman and his cohort of politicians watching live at las vegas, not mindful of the crassness of watching there using our tax money. my dad, a conservative, mouthing them said "masasaya na naman pilipino, makakalimutan na naman tayo! (the filipinos are happy again, they'll forget us [the politicians]!)" then they take the credit for manny's winning. the nerve.

obvious overstatement

i was reading michael tan's column on chile's new female president, when this item caught my eye:

Until 2004, Chile was one of only three countries in the world without divorce. (If you're wondering, today there are only two: Malta and the Philippines.)

i said last weekend over our office outing that it was five countries, everyone thought i was exaggerating. turns out i even overstated the figure...