Maniolas

By Hannah De Castro-Abinuman action craft paper Have you ever noticed how your gadgets have become an integral part of your daily routine? Whether it’s a phone, a tablet, a laptop or a game console, these gadgets are being used daily by people of all ages, and have become so detrimental to one’s way of life, that it seems rather impossible to even survive without it. Even among children, gadgets have been a staple in playing their games, and sometimes even considered as a status symbol! But whatever happened to using one’s imagination? Whatever happened to being able to interact with your playmates, friends and parents or actually use your hands to create or build something? ActionCraft Paper Toy Workshop for Parents and Children, held at the Glendale Adult Center. Although there is nothing wrong with using technology, James Ronald Lo, Co-founder and Chief Creative Officer of Taktyl Studios LLC, noticed that kids nowadays can be too engaged in gadgets. So he thought of a way to use these digital devices and yet still encourage social interaction, creativity and imagination. Recently launched via a Kickstarter campaign, Taktyl Studios introduces a digital app called, “ActionCraft Toy Box,” which is an arts and crafts digital/mobile application that provides users with tools to design and customize their own paper toy action figure.  Users can choose from a variety of templates in order to customize their very own action figure or paper toy. Once the user is satisfied with the look of his character, Read More …

The average road trip is 1300 miles.©Dudarev Mikhail/shutterstock.com (Relaxnews) – According to research from Bridgestone Tires and from Harris Poll, almost nine in 10 US adults will be taking a road trip in excess of 50 miles over the summer and 71% are planning on traveling much further. That’s because the average US road trip, whether it be to visit friends, arrive at a specific destination or is in itself the vacation, is some 1,300 miles. And the idea of being stuck in a car, potentially in a traffic jam for hours on end is most appealing to the Millennial generation. In other words those that only a few years previously were sitting in the back of a vehicle asking their parents “are we there, yet?” every ten minutes. Yet, more than three quarters (79%) of young adults said that they are planning at least one road trip this summer compared with 64% of Generation X respondents and 68% of Baby Boomers. But whatever the age of the respondent, those with children at home were the most likely of all polled to be taking to the road – 82% compared with 66% of respondents without dependent kids. As for the idea that vacationing by car is a way of saving money, Bridgestone found that of the 2000 adults it surveyed, those that said they were hitting the road also aim to save up as much as $1000 per person before the trip starts. When asked, respondents ranked the car as Read More …

Senator Bong Revilla (right) visits his father, former senator Ramon Revilla, Sr., at the St. Luke’s Hospital in Taguig City on Tuesday. Senator Revilla was given a furlough to visit his 88-year old father who was admitted to the hospital for pneumonia and dehydration since Saturday.(MNS Photo) MANILA (Mabuhay) – The Sandiganbayan First Division has allowed Sen. Ramon Bong Revilla Jr. to leave his detention facility for five hours to visit his ailing father, actor and former Senator Ramon Revilla Sr., who remains confined in the hospital. “The court resolves to grant the accused’s motion,” First Division chairman Associate Justice Efren De la Cruz said in open court in a short hearing Tuesday morning. In a minute resolution issued a few hours after the hearing, the First Division gave Revilla’s camp an option to go to St/ Luke’s Medical Center in Taguig City either on Tuesday (July 14) or Wednesday (July 15). The court said Revilla must be transported from Camp Crame to SLMC not earlier than one hour before 3 p.m., which is considered as the starting time of his visit. The court said the senator must leave the hospital not later than 8 p.m. of the same day and must be “brought back immediately to his detention cell at Camp Crame.” The First Division directed PNP officer-in-charge Deputy Director General Leonardo Espina to coordinate with the Sandiganbayan Sheriff and Security Services Division in providing Revilla adequate “personal escorts” and security measures during his visit in hospital. The First Read More …

Senator Chiz Escudero, chair of the Joint Oversight Committee on Public Expenditures, conducts a hearing today on the report of the Development Budget Coordinating Committee on the status and direction of the economic, fiscal and monetary policies of the government. Also in photo is Davao City Representative Isidro Ungab.(MNS photo) MANILA (Mabuhay) – Senator Francis “Chiz” Escudero is urging the government to further streamline state agencies and offices whose functions are “teeming with duplication” to improve the budgeting process and public service delivery. He said the national government should go beyond allocating funds and work harder to plug the loopholes in the budget process that prevent it from delivering basic services to the public in a timely manner. “An audit and analysis of the process of planning and budgeting will reveal the overlapping of functions of some government agencies. The government needs to close the gaps and fix the bottlenecks,” Escudero, chairman of the Senate committee on finance, said in a statement on Tuesday. Some issues within government agencies, such as reporting of field data and jurisdictional conflicts among different offices under one department, he said, impede the swift delivery of basic services. “In the end, project implementation suffers and Filipinos don’t get the services they need and deserve,” said the senator. Escudero also shared the observation of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) that the Philippines needs to improve its unusually complex budgeting system and address the weaknesses in the quality and integrity of the country’s fiscal data, partly reflecting Read More …

This photo is of the Manila NAIA Intl. Airport – Airside (Photo by Jay Solis) MANILA (Mabuhay) – The number of African tourists to the Philippines, and the other way around, is going to increase at a faster rate as a result of the air agreement between Manila and Addis Ababa, the Department of Tourism (DOT) said. The Addis Ababa-to-Manila route would increase foreign arrivals from Africa “faster than what we see in the traditional market,” Tourism Undersecretary Benito Benzon told reporters and guests in a program held for the inaugural flight of Ethiopian Airlines late Thursday. Nearly 10 months after the Philippines and Ethiopia forged an air service agreement, the Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA) welcomed the first commercial flight of Ethiopian Airlines. “For the whole of Africa we’re only talking about 6,000 foreign visitors a year. In the current report that we’re generating, the figures for Ethiopia are not even presented,” Benzon told GMA News Online. The Addis Ababa-to-Manila route is also expected to boost the number of Filipino tourists going to Ethiopia and other African countries. “Ethiopia is the best gateway to the African continent. It’s located in a strategic place. That’s why we were able to increase our route to over 50 destinations in Africa,” Ethiopian Airlines CEO Tewolde Geremariam said. Ethiopia, however, has no embassy in the Philippines. Its nearest embassy is located in South Korea. “We are very serious towards this because it is a means to expedite [visa processing].  A Philippine delegation will Read More …