Yearly Archives: 2014

Film and TV, Human Interest, International, LGBT, Politics, The Media, Travel

AND YOUR NEW MISS UNIVERSE IS …

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imageLas Vegas, Nevada (The Adobo Chronicles) –  Jenna Talackova, the 23-year-old woman who forced Donald Trump and his Miss Universe Canada pageant to end its ban on transgender contestants, fell short of the national title last year. But reports from Miss Universe Pageant franchise holders from all over the world are reporting that they have seen an influx of transgender contestant applications this year. Trump is reportedly considering lifting the transgender ban worldwide.

In the Philippines, Brazil, Venezuela and Mexico, aspiring beauty queens are  getting nervous about stiffer competition they are likely to face from transgender contestants. These countries have each had a fair share of international beauty pageant titles, including Miss Universe.

Even Russia, host of last year’s pageant, seemed  open to lifting the transgender ban despite the Putin government’s strict laws against homosexuality.

Transgender people are slowly but surely making their mark in the arts, sports, business and politics, not to mention being poised to be the face of what many people are calling the “next major civil rights movement,” as proven by this week’s  Time magazine cover.

Will the next Miss Universe be  transgender? First, write to Donald Trump and express your support for this long overdue change in the pageant’s discriminatory  policy.

Viva! Mabuhay!  

Food, Health & Medicine, Human Interest, International

STUDY: 70 PERCENT OF THE WORLD’S POPULATION REMAINS THIN

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imageLondon, Great Britain (The Adobo Chronicles) –  Almost a third of the world is now fat, and no country has been able to curb obesity rates in the last three decades, according to a new global analysis.

Researchers found more than 2 billion people – or 3o percent of the world’s population – are now overweight or obese. “It’s pretty grim,” said Christopher Murray of the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation at the University of Washington, who led the study. He and colleagues reviewed more than 1,700 studies covering 188 countries from 1980 to 2013. “When we realized that not a single country has had a significant decline in obesity, that tells you how hard a challenge this is.”

The good news is that 7o percent of the world’s population is still thin. Murray said there was a strong link between income and obesity; as people get richer, their waistlines also tend to start bulging.

The study then concluded that in order to maintain the “thin-ness” of the world’s population, governments and private employers need to keep incomes low.

The new report was paid for by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and published online Thursday in the journal, Lancet.

Good news for the world’s low-income population!

Business, Human Interest, International, Technology

FARMVILLE IS BACK WITH A VENGEANCE, SEEKS TO CRUSH CANDY CRUSH

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farmvilleSan Francisco, California (The Adobo Chronicles) – FarmVille is poised to make a huge comeback after it lost its number one spot in social network games to Candy Crush.

FarmVille is a farming simulation social network game developed by San Francisco-based Zynga in 2009.  Its gameplay involves various aspects of farm management such as plowing land, planting, growing, and harvesting crops, harvesting trees and raising livestock.

Acknowledging that just like traditional agriculture, FarmVille has become antiquated, Zynga said it was time for the popular game to keep up with modern technology, advanced business practices and raging environmental issues. Zynga said that it will start rolling out FarmVille 3 on June 1.

Asked by The Adobo Chronicles what is new with FarmVille 3, a spokesperson for Zynga said that instead of using outdated farm tools and methods, the all-new FarmVille will utilize tractors, generators, high-tech silos, chemical fertilizers, GMOs, greenhouses, computerized irrigation systems, video surveillance systems to watch over livestock, among other things.

“We don’t want to give away everything,” the spokesperson said, “our customers should just check it out for themselves.”

Watch out Candy Crush. FarmVille is out to get you!