A Filipino was declared the 2009 CNN Hero of the Year! His name is Efren Peñaflorida. I watched the short video clip with Peñaflorida tonight as CNN reported the winner during the ceremony at the Kodak Theater in Hollywood Saturday night. Congrats!

Efren Peñaflorida won the 2009 CNN Hero of the Year award through online voting (and I voted for this guy last week). According to CNN, Peñaflorida received 2.75 million online votes, the highest among the 10 finalists. He was honored for his “Kariton Klassroom”, which brings education to poor Filipino children.

Not the Philippines — thank God! According to the latest Corruption Perceptions Index (CPI), the Philippines, in fact, improved slightly, moving 2 places up from 141 last year to 139 this 2009. But still this is seen as way down below the ranks when compared to other Asia-Pacific countries. Among the 32 countries/territories in the region, the Philippines ranks 24th, with a score of 2.4 out of 10. The lower the score, the more it reflects perceptions of rampant corruption. The country is still lagging behind Singapore (no. 2 in the region), Brunei (7), Malaysia (11), Thailand (14), Vietnam (22), and Indonesia (19). Singapore is also ranked the no. 3 least corrupt country in the world.

Globally, among 180 countries surveyed, the top 10 most corrupt countries in the world based from the Corruption Perceptions Index 2009 are:

So what if Pres. Obama bows to Japanese Emperor Akihito during their first meeting?  What’s the big deal America? Obama is showing a sign of U.S. weakness — is a very silly reasoning! What about Bill Clinton who bowed to Emperor Akihito in 1994?

Shhh, Obama told me he did it for respect of the Emperor and a gesture of diplomacy. So shut up Obama haters!

Video: Barack Obama bows to Japan’s Emperor Akihito

From popular news sites to blogs, people are writing about the Carrie Prejean sextape video. Is there really a Carrie Prejean sextape video that is free for download online? The answer, NO! It is not out there. Not on the net!

I am writing this because if you try searching for the video using the keywords “Carrie Prejean sextape video,” you will end up with Google results showing links directed to virus-infected sites. There are many of them. Please be aware that once your PC is infected with the virus or malware, it is very likely that your personal information could be stolen and used by the phishers.

You still have time tonight. Go to the nearest Whataburger store and get your free burgers! From 5 p.m. to 8 p.m. tonight, November 10, the Texas-based Whataburger will give a free hamburger to customers decked out in orange.

I always make it a point to donate my old (and sometimes new) clothes to the Goodwill store. Goodwill is a thrift shop with a collection of all things used and cheap. Goodwill Store in Brookings, SD is located beside the Dollar store.

I have this vanity for clothes. Whenever I go shopping, which happens very often, I never fail to buy a shirt or two. And that must be paired with new jeans or pants. Just a couple of weeks ago, I spent too much on winter clothes that sometimes I think it is excessive. But I never regret buying things for myself. If, for some reasons, I decide not to wear them anymore, I always share them to the needy. The two bags I donated today at the Goodwill store included T-shirts, sweat shirts, long and short pants, and even new coats that I bought 2 months ago but were unused.

I was browsing TV channels tonight and happened to land on the KESD public channel with the Worldfocus broadcast. Worldfocus featured a short clip of the US-Philippines relationship, which they described as a love-hate relationship.

Watch the video below. This is so short a clip that I don’t think it is enough to describe how we Filipinos share friendship with the Americans.

There is no stopping for H1N1 (aka swine flu) fury spreading across the university campus. Few days ago, I have heard that one person from our GISCE department has been infected by the H1N1 virus. He went to the Health Center for check-up and was confirmed positive of the deadly flu strain. It is more likely that in the coming days more cases will be spotted.

Many people from the center are also getting sick. It may just be a regular flu and not H1N1, but it is just scary to hear people sneezing and coughing all the time because you really don’t know what the sickness is.