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I very much hope that my next item for this topic will be something positive. (I did, after all, say in my first post here that I wanted to keep try to keep this balanced...) But first, I just have to say a big thank you (NOT!) to the miserable thieving git that picked my pocket in the space of a less than a 2 minutes jeepney ride today. I hope he gets drunk with the 27,000 pesos that were in my wallet and dies a horrible death. OK, OK, stupid, stupid me, I know - riding a jeep with that kind of money in my pocket. But I was only heading to my local supermarket to buy some much needed provisions and I really didn't expect to get robbed on a two minute jeepney ride in broad daylight! And YEAH! YEAH! I can hear the cries of "OH! DON'T YOU HAVE PICK-POCKETS AND THIEVS IN YOUR OWN COUNTRY???" Yes, of course we do! But how come just about every solidly constructed house in this country has iron bars on all of its windows? Clearly, Filipinos don't trust Filipinos not to steal their kitchen frying pans! Nuff said??

The first picture in Gallery > Members Albums > Photography > Life (and death) in the Philippines is a very gruesome photo of some poor dog's head on a barbecue stand. I have already said all that I want to say about this in a separate topic under: Dog Food?, People still eat dogs in the Philippines But, whilst I'm still on the subject of dogs, I'd just like to say that if I had my way, I'd have about 98% of all the dogs in the Philippines safely evacuated to safe and loving homes abroad - where the owners would know how to take care of them. (Wag lang China or Korea; where they also eat dogs...) Keeping man's best friend on a piece of string less than the length of the average man's arm - or in a cage which is big enough only for a rabbit - for it's entire life is NOT the way to keep a dog. When Filipinos know how to look after dogs, they should be allowed to keep a dogs.

Life in the Philippines... What is it like? Well, I'm going to be using this topic to share some of my views, observations and experiences of living in the Philippines. No country is perfect, including the Philippines - but this country does have many, many great things going for it. And the imperfections? Well, I guess I can always do what 10 million Filipinos have themselves done and pack up my bags and leave for good! I'll try to keep my own writings on the topic as balanced as possible but, like the news on TV, when someone rides a bus and they have a smooth journey, it doesn't actually make for a very interesting news storey. It goes without saying that my views and observations will be totally biased and even my experiences will be reported from the standpoint of a middle-aged, white (ex-pat Brit,) single, divorced two times foreigner living in the country as a guest. They couldn't be any other way. But having said that, I am a pretty open-minded kind of person and if anyone has got any contrary views, observations or experiences to report, I will be very happy to hear them! I have also started an album on the Art Forums > Gallery for a collection of photos that relate to this topic. Again, these will inevitably be of things that happen to interest me personally - as a white (ex-pat Brit,) single, divorced two times foreigner living in the country as a guest. The photos can be found at: Art Gallery > Members Albums > Photography > Life (and death) in the Philippines By the way, if any ordinary member would like to post a reply to this topic (or any other, outside of "Members and Guests Advertisements and Links,") they need only send me a pm or an e-mail and I will be very happy to upgrade their membership to "Special Member" status - which will allow them to post in any of these forums (except, of course, Latest Developments at artfreaks.com)

Chemistry Periodic Table Find chemical element facts at: http://www.chemicool.com Chemicool.com offers chemistry forum, tools and more. The Periodic Table, devised in 1869 by Dmitry I. Mendeleyev is a way of presenting all the elements so as to show their similarities and differences. The elements are arranged in increasing order of atomic number(Z) as you go from left to right across the table. The horizontal rows are called periods and the vertical rows, groups. A noble gas is found at the right hand side of each period. There is a progression from metals to non-metals across each period. Elements found in groups (e.g. alkali, halogens) have a similar electronic configuration. The number of electrons in outer shell is the same as the number of the group (e.g. lithium 2