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Status Of Major Dams in Luzon
October 5, 2009

The PAGASA-DOST being the lead Agency in the Flood Forecasting and Warning System for Dam Operation (FFWSDO) informed all the concerned government agencies, local government units the status of the monitored reservoirs in Luzon as of 10:00 AM today.

The Pantabangan Dam continues to spill 150 cubic meters per second (cms), with 2 gates open and a total opening of 3.2 meters. Although the outflow is minimal compared to the carrying capacity of the upper Pampanga river, the municipalities/city in the province of Nueva Ecija that are likely to be affected by the release of Pantabangan dam are: Rizal, Bongabon, Gen. Natividad, Palayan City, Cabanatuan City, and Sta. Rosa.

The reservoir water level (RWL) is now at 220.15 meters above mean sea level (m. AMSL) and is 0.85 meters below the normal level of 221.0 m AMSL. Although light rains still prevail over the watershed, the Pantabangan dam spillways will remain open until the inflow into the reservoir will become stable.

Angat Dam has an elevation of 213.81m. AMSL and its spillway gates are closed since there is no major weather disturbance that threatens the watershed. For Ipo dam, located about 7 kilometers downstream of Angat dam, its present elevation is 100.44 meters (about 0.56 meters from its spilling level of 101 meters). The target areas of Angat/Ipo dams are the municipalities of Bulacan namely: Norzagaray, Angat , San Rafael, Bustos, Baliuag, Pulilan, Plaridel and Hagonoy.

As of 9:00AM today, the Magat dam spillways were closed since TY Pepeng is too far to affect the watershed of Magat. The RWL of Magat is at 190. 93 m. AMSL (about 2.07 meters below the normal high water level of 193.0 m. AMSL. With the passage of TY Pepeng, no major flooding was noted within the target area of Magat dam which include the municipalities of Ramon, San Mateo, Aurora, Cabatuan, Luna, Reina Mercedes, Burgos, Naguilian and Gamu in the province of Isabela.

The Agno river is regulated by three (3) reservoirs namely: Ambuklao and Binga in Benguet and San Roque dam in Pangasinan. During the passage of Typhoon Pepeng, the spillways of Ambuklao and Binga dams were operated due to the moderate to heavy rains in the upper reaches of the watershed resulting in the increase in the RWL of San Roque dam. At present, RWL of San Roque is at 283.99 m. AMSL which is 4.01 meters below the normal level of 288.0 m. AMSL. The light rainfall forecasts for the next 24 hours over the upper Agno river basins and the outflow from Binga dam of 469 cms (3 gates open and total of 3 meters opening) are not sufficient to fill the San Roque dam to its normal level within the next couple of days and therefore will not warrant the operation of its spillways. In the event that San Roque dam will open its spillways, the municipalities that are likely to be affected in Pangasinan are: San Manuel, San Nicolas, Tayug, Sta. Maria, Asingan, Villasis, Alcala, Bautista, Rosales and Bayambang.

All residents along the upper Pampanga river and upper Agno river are advised to take precautionary measures and stay tuned to warnings/advisories from PAGASA. The PAGASA will continue to provide update on the monitored reservoirs until such time that all spillway operations are terminated.

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Angat has been gradually releasing water since Tuesday to stop it from reaching spilling level. Aside from providing 97 percent of the domestic water supply in Metro Manila, it also irrigates about 27,000 hectares of farmlands in Bulacan and facilitates flood control in the province.

Apple Inc. has lost emails of its MobileMe customers’ email accounts and put the blame on a balky server. The email outage was just one several major MobileMe problems in the past two weeks. Before the July 11 kickoff, .Mac service customers complained about a day-long blackout when Apple shifted to MobileMe.

Last week, other users were outraged with problems on synchronization between Macs and PCs, and the iPhone and MobileMe servers.

Visit the Apple MobileMe Mail forum at http://discussions.apple.com/forum.jspa?forumID=960

Since the launch of m.friendster.com, new features are being added. Now you can upload photos directly to your Friendster profile from your mobile phone, you can search all images stored on your phone and quickly send them to Friendster.

Additionally, you can now view and approve comments, and view full profiles on your phone- check it all out at http://m.friendster.com .

Materials:
two-liter soda bottle (empty)

a piece of 3/32″ balsa wood (for the fins)

rubber based cement

a manila folder (for the nose cone)

Construction:

1) Remove the label from the outside of the bottle. Take a cloth and some paint thinner to remove the sticky portion of the label.

2) Decide how many fins you would like. Four fins are easier than three, but if done correctly either way works well. The fin shape is also up to you. See the diagram for the easiest fin shape. Next, trace the fin design out on the balsa wood sheet and cut the desired number of fins out from the sheet. Make sure that the grain of the wood is running parallel to the leading or trailing  edge of the fin. If this is not done, the fin may rip apart in mid flight. Lightly sand the fins so they become smooth.

3) Now, it is time to mount the fins onto the rocket. Take a piece of paper and wrap it around the lower portion of the bottle (near the opening end). Mark the circumference of the bottle where the piece of paper overlaps its self. Remove the paper and measure the distance to the mark that was just made. This will tell you the circumference of the bottle. If you are planning 4 fins, divide the circumference by 4. Use this number to divide the piece of paper into four equal sections and mark the sections. If you are planning for 3 fins, use the same process, but this time divide the piece of paper into 3 sections. Wrap the piece of paper around the bottle as before and secure it with a piece of tape. Take a felt marker and transfer the section marks on the paper to the bottle. These marks designate where the fins are to be placed. Make sure everything is perfectly even, or the rocket will not fly well.

4) Next, take a straight edge (ruler) and draw a line through the mark that was made so you will have a guide-line for fin mounting. Apply a rubber-based cement to the fins, carefully aligning the fins with the straight lines you have just drawn. Press the fins down onto the bottle and use a piece of tape on either side of the fins in order to keep them straight while the glue sets. It is best if only one fin is done at a time and the fin is kept vertical until the glue has set. Make sure all of the fins are perfectly straight.

5) The final step is to cut the manila folder into a cone so that it will fit over the top of the bottle rocket.  This will be the nose cone. Cement the nose cone to the top of the rocket. If you wish, a parachute can be added.

The rocket is now finished. Make sure all glues have dried completely and the fins a securely attached to the rocket before it is flown.

The launcher:

Before the rocket can be flown, a launching device needs to be built.

1) Cut two 2×4 blocks. These blocks should be about six inches long.
2) Cut a 1/2 or 3/4 inch thick piece of wood so that it is about 1 and 1\2 feet long and six inches wide.
3) Using wood screws, screw the 2×4 blocks into the ends of the 1/2 or 3/4 inch thick wood.
4) Take a standard electrical “knock-out” junction box and screw it into the middle of the wood base that was just constructed.
5) Drill a hole into the bottom of the junction box and the wood base so that a #4 test tube stopper with a hole in it will fit.
6) Cut a piece of copper tubing and fit it snuggly into the hole in the test tube stopper.
7) Using a hose clamp, secure the copper tubing to the hose going to the air pump.
Bend a piece of 1/8″ or3/16″ steel into a “U” shape “pull pin” and fit it into the holes on the junction box. Tie a long piece of string to the pull pin.
9) Drill a hole on one side of the launcher so a rain gutter nail (a very long nail) can fit through. This will be the device that secures the launcher to the ground.

Flying the Bottle Rocket:

Now that your rocket your rocket and launcher are built, it is time to fly. Flying bottle rockets is a lot of fun, but you must take safety precautions because it could be dangerous. Before the rocket is even put on the launch pad, make sure that the fins are on securely.  When launching the rocket, make sure that all people, in the area that you are launching the rocket, know that a rocket is about to be launched. When pressurizing the bottle, do not stand over it; the rockets leave the launch pad at speeds over 100 mph. Count down before you pull the pin and stand back at least ten feet from the pad. Keep your eyes on the rocket while it is flying to make sure that the rocket does not hit somebody while it is falling back to earth.

Preparing the Rocket for Flight:
  To fly the rocket, you are going to have to put water into the bottle so it will work properly. After putting some water (2 - 3 cups) into the bottle, place it onto the launch pad and slide the pull pin over the flanges on the nozzle. Then, Turn on the air compressor and pressurize the rocket. For the first flight, we recommend that you only pressurize to about 45 psi (pounds per square inch). After the first flight, we recommend that you do not go past 75 psi, otherwise you may risk the possibility of the bottle exploding. 75 psi will make the bottle rocket fly very high and very fast.

Launching the Rocket:
Make sure everybody is aware a rocket is going to be fired. Then count down from five so that everybody can hear. After one is reached, give a firm pull on the pull-pin line and watch your rocket fly high. Do this as many times as you want or until something is damaged.

Source: NASA website

In 1521, Ferdinand Magellan travelled from Spain to the Philippines and brought with him a wooden cross. This is the cross that was planted in Cebu, known before as Sugbu. The cross symbolizes the colonization of the country in behalf of King Philip II of Spain.

The cross is preserved and encased in tindalo wood, mounted on a concrete pedestal and under the roof of a tiled-roofed kiosk. The roof is adorned with a painting depicting Ferdinand Magellan’s landing in Cebu and the planting of the cross.

To automatically re-index a table without having to write a script for each index in a table, you can use the DBCC command DBCC DBREINDEX.

E.g.:

Table name: Customer

In SQL Server Query Analyzer or any SQL Command Utility, run the following statement:

DBCC DBREINDEX( databasename.tableowner.Customer )

GO

Syntax for DBCC DBREINDEX:

DBCC DBREINDEX(    ‘database.owner.table_name‘  [ , index_name   [ , fillfactor ]   ] )    [ WITH NO_INFOMSGS ]

Ever wondered what applications are there in the iPhone? Here they are:

Phone: 

Make calls, with quick access to recent callers, favorites, and all your contacts. Or dial manually using the numeric keypad. Visual voicemail presents a list of your voicemail messages. Just tap to listen to any message you want, in any order you want.

Mail: 

iPhone works with MobileMe, Microsoft Exchange, and many of the most popular email systems—including Yahoo! Mail, Google email, and AOL—as well as most industry-standard POP3 and IMAP email systems. View PDFs and other attachments within Mail. Save attached photos and graphics to your Camera Roll album.

Safari: 

Browse any website over a cellular data network or over Wi-Fi. Rotate iPhone sideways for widescreen viewing. Double-tap to zoom in or out—Safari automatically fits the webpage column to the iPhone screen for easy reading. Sync bookmarks with Safari on your computer. Add Safari web clips to the Home screen for fast access to favorite websites. Save images from websites to your Photo Library.

iPod: 

Listen to your songs, audiobooks, and podcasts. Watch movies and video podcasts in widescreen. Set your own volume limit for listening comfort.

Text: 

Send and receive SMS text messages with anyone who has an SMS-capable phone. Conversations are saved in an iChat-like presentation, so you can see a history of messages you’ve sent and received.

Calendar: 

View your MobileMe, iCal, Microsoft Entourage, Microsoft Outlook, or Microsoft Exchange calendars. Enter events on iPhone and they get synced back to the calendar on your computer. Set alerts to remind you of events, appointments, and deadlines.

Photos: 

View photos and images transferred from your computer or saved on iPhone. View them in portrait or landscape mode. Zoom in on any photo for a closer look. Watch a slideshow. Email photos, add them to a MobileMe gallery, assign them to contacts, and use them as wallpaper.

Camera: 

Take two-megapixel photos and view them on iPhone, email them, or upload them to your computer. Take a friend’s picture and set iPhone to display it when that person calls you.

YouTube: 

Play videos from YouTube’s online collection.¹ Search for any video, or browse featured, most viewed, most recently updated, and top-rated videos.

Stocks: 

Watch your favorite stocks, updated automatically from the Internet.

Maps: 

See a street map, satellite view, or hybrid view of locations around the world. Zoom in for a closer look. Find and track your current (approximate) location. Get detailed driving directions and see current highway traffic conditions. Find businesses in the area and call with a single tap.

Weather: 

Get current weather conditions and a six-day forecast. Add your favorite cities for a quick weather report anytime.

Clock: 

View the time in cities around the world—create clocks for your favorites. Set one or more alarms. Use the stopwatch, or set a countdown timer.

Calculator: 

Add, subtract, multiply, and divide. Rotate iPhone sideways to use expanded scientific functions.

Notes: 

Jot notes on the go—reminders, grocery lists, brilliant ideas. Send them in email.

Settings: 

Set up accounts and adjust all iPhone settings in one convenient place. Set your ringtone, wallpaper, screen brightness, and settings for network, phone, mail, web, music, video, photos, and more. Set auto-lock and a passcode for security. Restrict access to explicit iTunes content and certain applications. Reset iPhone.

iTunes: 

Search the iTunes Wi-Fi Music Store music catalog, or browse, preview, and purchase new releases, top-ten songs and albums, and more.¹ In select Starbucks locations,³ find out what song is playing in the café, then buy it instantly. Browse, preview, and purchase other songs from featured Starbucks Collections.

App Store: 

Search the App Store for iPhone applications you can purchase or download using your Wi-Fi or cellular data network connection. Read or write your own reviews for your favorite apps. Download and install the application on your Home screen.

Contacts: 

Get contact information synced from MobileMe, Mac OS X Address Book, Yahoo! Address Book, Google Address Book, Windows Address Book (Outlook Express), Microsoft Outlook, or Microsoft Exchange. Search, add, change, or delete contacts, which get synced back to your computer.

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Blasts rocks Bangalore. Eyewitnesses recall horrors of blast…

Click HERE to view the video.

Lani Cochico and Willie Cochico has just recently opened their new business venture in Los Angeles, California. They have acquired a franchise for David’s Salon. David’s Salon is a popular hair and beauty salon in the Philippines.

Visit their salon in L.A. at 132 S.Vermont Avenue, #211, Los Angeles, California, 90004 .

David Charlton is the owner of David’s Salon Group, the most successful international salon in the Philippines.

After attending seminars and workshops in London, David conducted many workshops for the North East Hairdressers Federation. In 1978, he came to Manila to manage the Rever Salon in the Mandarin Oriental Hotel. Over the years David became first a partner and then sole owner, which was when he expanded the Rever Salons to five locations.

By 1989 David realized there was a void in the Philippine market for a salon that would provide high quality hairdressing at very reasonable prices. He opened the first of David’s Salons in New Farmers Market, Araneta Center, Quezon City.

Within the next 4-5 years, David went into partnership with business acquaintances and opened another 13 David’s Salons. Again he took a good look at the industry and saw that there was a nationwide demand for his salons which prompted him to make David Salon partnerships available to the public.

Since then the David’s salon group has expanded to 186 salons operational to date with several more under construction or in the planning stages.

Now, David’s Salon is now in Los Angeles, California!

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