The most awaited mini-series, “Nandito AKo” starring David Archuleta, Eula Caballero, and Jasmine Curtis-Smith has finally and officially aired on TV5 today at 9:30 PM (Philippine Time) weeknights.

Josh, a Filipino-American, was born and raised in the Philippines until he was 5 years old when he got separated from his mother, Cara, during a hotel fire. After the incident, he moved and lived in the U.S.A. then became an international singer. Years later, Josh returns to the Philippines to find out what really happened to his mother and also search for the little girl he encountered and befriended during the hotel fire.

The theme song of the mini-soap opera with the same title was originally performed by Ogie Alcasid.

This is not just another Facebook scam circulating on the web targeting a lot of innocent users. 

This is a message purporting to be from Facebook claims that the recipient's Facebook Profile has completed its "100% Gold Status membership" thereby qualifying him or her for an award of $2.5 million.

Based from Hoax-Slayer, Brett Christensen on his website, this message is not from Facebook and the claim that the recipient has been awarded a prize is a lie. The message is an attempt by scammers to trick users into sending them money and personal information. 

On his detailed analysis, this message, which claims to be from the "Facebook Team", informs the recipient that his or her Facebook Profile has just completed its "100% Gold Status membership". Supposedly, the completion of this "Gold Status membership" has qualified the lucky profile owner for a Facebook award of two million five hundred thousand dollars. The message instructs the recipient to contact Facebook's "Executive Secretary" to find out how to claim the prize money. 

However, the message is not from Facebook and the claim that the recipient has been won a $2.5 million award is a lie. In fact, the message is an advance fee scam designed to trick people into handing over their money and personal information to cybercriminals.

Those who fall for the ruse and contact the "Executive Secretary" as instructed will soon be asked to send upfront fees, ostensibly to cover various - entirely imaginary - costs such as insurance, legal and banking expenses. The scammers will insist that these fees cannot be deducted from the cash award, which of course is also entirely imaginary. Often, requests for more fees will continue until the victim runs out of money or at long last realizes that he or she is being conned. The scammers may also trick their hapless victim into divulging a large amount of personal and financial information that may subsequently be used to steal his or her identity. 

While the cover stories for such fraud attempts are many and varied - this example is even more absurd than usual - the underlying scam is the same. People all around the world have lost money to such prize related advance fee scams for decades.  

Reference: Hoax-Slayer by Brett Christensen

Thanks to Hoax-Slayer author, Brett M. Christensen who debunks email hoaxes and exposes internet scams from his website. 

One of the hoaxes revealed was "The Tale of the Racist Airline Passenger" which was posted on this blog entitled "Racist On Board!". 

While the story has recently resurfaced on Facebook, versions of the tale have circulated since at least 1998 and have been set on several different airlines in several countries. There is no evidence that the incident described actually took place on any airline. The tale is almost certainly apocryphal. 

Brett's Detailed Analysis
This story, which is currently circulating vigorously on Facebook, relates an incident in which a racist passenger on a TAM Airlines flight is firmly thwarted by airline staff. When the woman complains about being required to sit beside a black man, staff resolve the issue by moving the black man to a first class seat so that he does not have to sit next to such an unpleasant person, thereby humiliating the racist and eliciting a round of applause from other passengers.

The story is certainly an entertaining one. The idea of such an obnoxious individual being so elegantly and thoroughly put in her place is one that many of us would relish. The story is obviously intended to rely to readers the immorality of racism. And as an anti-racist anecdote, it does a splendid job.

But, while it may be uplifting, it is almost certainly a work of fiction. In fact, dozens of different versions of the story have circulated, by word-of-mouth, email and, more lately, via social media posts for well over a decade. The various versions of the story have been set on many different airlines. The nationality and gender of the racist passenger have also altered many times in different incarnations of the tale. One popular variant, which has circulated continually since 1998, portrays the passenger as a white South African woman en route to Johannesburg via a British Airways flight:On a British Airways flight from Johannesburg, a middle-aged, well-off white South African Lady has found herself sitting next to a black man. She called the cabin crew attendant over to complain about her seating. 

"What seems to be the problem Madam?" asked the attendant. 

"Can't you see?" she said " You've sat me next to a [derogatory term for a black African person]. I can't possibly sit next to this disgusting human. Find me another seat!" 

"Please calm down Madam." the stewardess relied. "The flight is very full today, but I'll tell you what I'll do-I'll go and check to see if we have any seats available in club or first class." The woman cocks a snooty look at the outraged black man beside her (not to mention many of the surrounding passengers). A few minutes later the stewardess returns with the good news, which she delivers to the lady, who cannot help but look at the people around her with a smug and self satisfied grin: "Madam, unfortunately, as I suspected, economy is full. I've spoken to the cabin services director, and club is also full. However, we do have one seat in first class." Before the lady has a chance to answer, the stewardess continues ... "It is most extraordinary to make this kind of upgrade, however, and I have had to get special permission from the captain. But, given the circumstances, the captain felt that it was outrageous that someone be forced to sit next to such an obnoxious person." With which, she turned to the black man sitting next to the woman, and said: "So if you'd like to get your things, sir, I have your seat ready for you..." At which point, apparently the surrounding passengers stood and gave a standing ovation while the black guy walks up to the front of the plane.In some versions of the story the person accosted by the racist passenger is Jewish. In others, he (and yes, it usually seems to be a "he") is Asian. In at least one variant, the story focuses more on class distinction than race, and features a wealthy female passenger who stridently objects to being seated beside an obviously poor and scruffily dressed man. 

It is unclear who originally penned the piece. But it seems doubtful that the incident described ever actually took place in real life.

While the anti-racist message that the story conveys is compelling, some versions may backfire somewhat in that they potentially portray a particular group or nationality in an unfair way. For example, according to Snopes.com, some years ago, a New Zealand cereal company was castigated for including the above South African version of the story in an inserted children's newsletter. Some South African people living in New Zealand felt that the story unfairly portrayed all white South Africans as racists.

The Facebook version of the story calls on users to "share if they are against racism". However, as with similar stories that ask people to share to fight against child abuse or animal cruelty, it is difficult to see how simply sharing will do anything to help. The act of sharing such posts often leaves people with the largely misguided belief that they have actually done something to remedy the specified problem. Unfortunately, racism is still deeply entrenched in many people and societies. Often, racism is exhibited in much more subtle - but equally destructive - forms than the blatant example outlined in the story above. Of course, effectively combating racism in all its insidious forms requires a lot more than sharing a story on Facebook. 

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The lady of soul...Images of a great force...Character & originality... Felt that magic...In, her beautiful mystical soul...Where her smile stays...Lives a beautiful miracle...Hope she finds paradise...

This is my second mail I received from Google Maps stationed in Tokyo, Japan.  The first mail was actually the same I just received yesterday about Finding Nino’s listing on Google Maps.

Yes, you read it right! Finding Nino is now viewable and officially listed on Google Maps.

You might be asking why I signed-up for such listing. Well, everyday, people search on Google Maps for businesses in specific neighbourhoods. And now that I have signed-up for a Google Maps listing, these potential customers who are our readers can find us, too.

Attached on the mail is the instruction on how to activate our listing. The activation was really fast and incredible that it took only one hour for it to be displayed on Google Maps.  Check it yourself! Click here or click on the image below. #

This wall post caught many attentions on Facebook . Racism is still a serious problem across the globe. Together let’s STOP RACISM!

This happened on TAM airlines.

A 50-something year old white woman arrived at her seat and saw that the passenger next to her was a black man.

Visibly furious, she called the air hostess.

"What's the problem, ma?" the hostess asked her

"Can't you see?" the lady said - "I was given a seat next to a black man. I can't seat here next to him. You have to change my seat"

- "Please, calm down, ma" - said the hostess
"Unfortunately, all the seats are occupied, but I'm still going to check if we have any."

The hostess left and returned some minutes later.

"Madam, as I told you, there isn't any empty seat in this class- economy class.
But I spoke to the captain and he confirmed that there isn't any empty seats in the economy class. We only have seats in the first class."

And before the woman said anything, the hostess continued

"Look, it is unusual for our company to allow a passenger from the economy class change to the first class.
However, given the circumstances, the commandant thinks that it would be a scandal to make a passenger travel sat next to an unpleasant person."

And turning to the black man, the hostess said:

"Which means, Sir, if you would be so nice to pack your handbag, we have reserved you a seat in the first class..."

And all the passengers nearby, who were shocked to see the scene started applauding, some standing on their feet."

SHARE IF YOU ARE AGAINST RACISM!

I started to worry and think a lot of things if Pres. Obama will take back all the US firms outsourcing in the Philippines. He said on his annual State of the Union speech on Tuesday evening that  "Tonight, my message to business leaders is simple: Ask yourselves what you can do to bring jobs back to your country, and your country will do everything we can to help you succeed". This is a move that is expected to have an adverse impact on the Philippines' growing outsourcing industry. 

"It's time to stop rewarding businesses that ship jobs overseas, and start rewarding companies that create jobs right here in America," he added.


Obama's proposed tax measures are seen as affecting the Philippine outsourcing industry,  the second largest in the world, which is heavily reliant on US-based companies.

While the US economy is now recovering, Obama blamed outsourcing for weakening it in the first place.  "No, we will not go back to an economy weakened by outsourcing, bad debt, and phony financial profits," he said. 
 
Obama proposed changing the US tax code that currently gives tax breaks to companies that outsource jobs overseas.

"If you're a business that wants to outsource jobs, you shouldn't get a tax deduction for doing it. That money should be used to cover moving expenses for companies like Master Lock that decide to bring jobs home," he said.

The US President said no American company should be allowed to avoid paying taxes by moving jobs and profits overseas.

"From now on, every multinational company should have to pay a basic minimum tax. And every penny should go towards lowering taxes for companies that choose to stay here and hire here," Obama said.

He also proposed giving tax breaks for American manufacturers, especially high-tech firms, that have operations in the US.

"If you're an American manufacturer, you should get a bigger tax cut. If you're a high-tech manufacturer, we should double the tax deduction you get for making products here. And if you want to relocate in a community that was hit hard when a factory left town, you should get help financing a new plant, equipment, or training for new workers," he said.

Obama told Congress to approve these tax reforms and he will sign it "right away."

Many American companies have been outsourcing their call center services to the Philippines and India in recent years, since wages here are much lower than in the US. 

Some Americans blame outsourcing for the lack of job opportunities in the US, which continues to grapple with high unemployment.

The outsourcing industry is one of the bright spots for the Philippine economy. The outsourcing workforce grew about 10% in 2011 to 600,000, according to the Business Processing Association of the Philippines.
Outsourcing was also expected to generate revenues of $11 billion in 2011, up from $8.9 billion in 2010. It is seen to continue growing by at least 15% annually to hit $20 billion by 2016.A part of this article originally appeared on ABS-CBN News Online.

Facebook is the virtual home to more than 800 million active users, so any change to how the network operates is a big deal. And nothing could be bigger for the social hotspot than completely revamping everyone's front-facing profile page, and that is exactly what is happening today. Starting this morning, the new Timeline feature — that up until now has been an optional switch — is now mandatory.

The Timeline differs from the default profile pages we know and love in several ways. Now, rather than showcasing only your most recent posts, your personal front page can be scrolled back months or years at a time. Most importantly, this change can offer visitors a glimpse at your entire social networking past, all the way back to the day that you joined up. The revamp can be both a blessing and a curse for seasoned social networkers, as it can produce a bit of pleasant nostalgia, but also drag up some of your less proud public moments.

Left untouched, your Timeline may remind of you of breakups, job troubles, or even a few unfortunate party photos that you have long since buried. Depending on your settings, these black marks on your digital past could allow new followers — including friends or business associates — to see a side of you that was better kept tucked away.

Privacy is already a hot topic for Facebook users and the network's litany of sharing options can be difficult to navigate, even for the most experienced users. The company isn't oblivious to how the Timeline may drag up some unwanted past events, so a short buffer zone is in place to allow you to modify your online persona before making its new debut. You now have until Tuesday, January 31 to erase any past Facebook scars you'd prefer to hide.

The mandatory Timeline rollout will undoubtedly catch some by surprise, but you don't have to fall victim to the ghosts of past updates. Take some time to review your social networking history and don't hesitate to prune anything that you wouldn't want on the front page of a local newspaper, because as of right now, the clock is ticking. Or, of course, you could always jump ship to Google+ instead. # By Mike Wehner, Tecca 

This article originally appeared on Tecca

“Whizzzzzzzzzz…BANG!” Yes, it’s that time of year again. A time where streets are lit up with bright flamboyant lights, sounds of crackling fireworks can be heard a mile away; smells of freshly baked moon cakes play with our nostrils, and the laughter of jovial people fill the air. No, it’s not Christmas, New Year’s Eve, Thanksgiving, or Labor Day. It’s the Chinese New Year! This is a time where all worries and sorrows are left behind and the only rule is to be merry and celebrate. Each year represents a different animal of the Chinese Zodiac and this New Year is the year of the Dragon. 

Why is the Chinese New Year so awesome? Three reasons: 1) It tells of an amazing origin of the Chinese culture, 2) It is when Chinese cooking and cuisine goes all out, and 3) We celebrate it with our own style and flare. Chinese New Year one of the most amazing holidays known to man and that’s a fact. When we celebrate the Chinese New Year, we are celebrating China’s rich, fascinating, acclaimed culture.

I’m not Chinese by the way but I always love to celebrate the holiday with my family and friends. Chinese New Year would definitely a great holiday for me since our company won’t be operational for two consecutive days which means I can have a good rest and hang around. I might also spend sometimes to develop the entire site. Conversing with my co-authors and editors so that we can come out and share more ideas on how to grow our site is the main important thing that I have in mind now.

Well, we just need to relax and cheerfully celebrate as we welcome the year of the dragon. Join me for fun and adventure during the holiday. Yours truly will have a short coverage in celebrating the holiday here in Singapore so watch out for the next article with exciting photos! Kung hei fat choi!