Maniolas

Keith Urban: The cool American Idol judge works out with wife Nicole Kidman in a gym near their Nashville home.   Sheep are generally calm, serene, and gentle. They are said to be mild-mannered, shy, sympathetic, amicable, good-hearted, and just. The calmness of sheep makes them less stressed, which has positive effects on their health and well-being. It was also observed that sheep love fresh and organic produce. Intrigued, I looked into the health and lifestyle of seven US celebrities born in the Year of the Sheep (2015 is the Year of the Wood Sheep). Fire Sheep (1907, 1967) according to www.chinahighlights.com are “amicable, frank and honest, always making everything clean and tidy, and are seldom disliked by others. They are always ready to help their friends, disregarding their own personal gains or losses, so they are very popular. As far as marriage is concerned, they are not suited to getting married early on.” • Vin Diesel (born July 18, 1967 in New York) is best known for his role as Riddick in The Chronicles of Riddick trilogy from 2001 to 2013 and as Dominic Toretto in The Fast and The Furious film series from 2001 to the present. He also acts as producer in both film franchises. Men’s Health UK wrote “Via his Facebook page — third in popularity behind Michael Jackson’s and Barack Obama’s — Diesel keeps in regular contact with people in every corner of the world, delivering his thoughts on love, peace, and energy. Diesel stresses Read More …

Senators Aquilino Pimentel III and Antonio Trillanes IV talk to reporters during the inspection of the alleged overpriced Makati Science High School Building on Saturday, Nov. 15, 2014.(MNS photo) MANILA (Mabuhay) – Senator Aquilino “Koko” Pimentel III on Thursday cautioned the Philippine Coconut Authority (PCA) against advocating the use of a banned toxin to arrest the coconut infestation known as “cocolisap”. Pimentel issued the warning as Starkle, considered a “super toxin” banned abroad, is being reportedly advocated yet again by a local syndicate to justify a P170 million anti-cocolisap project. “Scientific evidence should be presented to back up the claims of the Starkle lobby that it is effective and safe for use to arrest the cocolisap infestation in the country,” Pimentel said. The entry of Starkle was stopped last year due to widespread protest by coconut farmers, who feared that the controversial toxin would endanger their livelihood instead of taming the pest. Pimentel disclosed that, at 54 hot spots or highly infested areas in the country, the pilot use of Starkle proved to be a dud, as the infestation was effectively neutralized, instead, by a non-toxic and cheaper organic solution. Pimentel said marginal farmers face the grim prospects of losing their livelihood because foreign coconut buyers are very critical against the use of banned chemicals in the exported products. He said he favored the use of the non-toxic, organic solution to protect the multi-million-peso coconut industry that provides livelihood to hundreds of thousands of rural workers, especially in Mindanao. (MNS)

THE LOCAL stock barometer crept to its 15th record high for 2015 on Monday on selective buying by cash-awash investors. Rising for the seventh straight session, the Philippine Stock Exchange index added 0.68 points or 0.01 percent to close at 7,826.07. A new intra-day peak was also hit on 7,854.80, the 13th of such milestone for the year. The PSEi traded in the red for most of the day but firmed up in late trade. Dealers said there was just too much liquidity keeping stock prices at high levels. With many stocks hitting “overbought” levels, trading was mixed across counters, with the financial, property and mining/oil counters keeping the index afloat and making up for the slack in the industrial, holding firm and services counters. Despite the PSEi’s modest rise, market breadth was negative as there were more decliners (105) than advancers (81). Value turnover for the day amounted to P5.45 billion. The PSEi was led higher by RLC (+3.11 percent) and MPI (+1.98 percent) while ALI, Metrobank, BDO, BPI, ICTSI and DMCI also contributed gains. Outside of the PSEi, notable gainers were Unioil (+11.54 percent) and IS (+20.6 percent) which surged in relatively heavy volume. On the other hand, URC, EDC, AC, PLDT, SMIC, Jollibee and FGEN curbed the PSEi’s rise. Outside of PSEi, tech stock Xurpas was down by 3.34 percent. Across the region, stock markets were mostly buoyant on news of a bail-out package for debt-strapped Greece. Local stock brokerage DA Market Securities said indicators were pointing Read More …

Patricia Arquette accepts the award for best actress in a supporting role for “Boyhood” at the Oscars on Sunday, Feb. 22, 2015, at the Dolby Theatre in Los Angeles. John Shearer/Invision/AP LOS ANGELES — Meryl Streep cheered, pointed and shouted “Yes! Yes! Yes!” as Patricia Arquette ended her Oscar acceptance speech with a call for wage equality for women. Arquette, who won best actress for portraying the mother in “Boyhood,” had just beaten Streep out for the award and had read a long list of thank-yous and thrown in a plug for GiveLove.com, which advocates for ecological sanitation, when she changed themes. “To every woman who gave birth to every taxpayer and citizen in this nation: We have fought for everybody else’s equal rights. It’s our time to have wage equality in the U.S.,” she said. The call to action, which seemed to take the audience by surprise, had many people on their feet and cheering. “Made my night,” Streep told Arquette backstage.”

What is success to you? This is a question I often ask in my seminars. This gets the participants thinking. It is a very simple question, yet many find it profound and hard to answer. Many people want to be successful, but they have not taken the time to identify and settle the things that would constitute success for them. Maybe, success is a moving target. Real successful people never arrive at the stage where they would consider themselves successful because they keep on moving higher. Now, here is an exercise I want you to do. Think of the five most successful people you know. These are people you interact with and not familiar faces you see in websites, TV or magazines. Then list down qualities that you think make them successful. Then ask them if they would consider themselves successful or not. Business ( Article MRec ), pagematch: 1, sectionmatch: 1 Now that you have listed the five most successful people you know, this time I want you to think of the five happiest people you know. Would the five people in your success list be the same five people in your happiness list? Is the point clear? The popular view is that success deals with possessions and achievements. In a way, it is. But it is illogical to equate success as being happy. Happiness is a state of being. I may be wrong, but if you look at the people who are in your happy list, it is Read More …