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Author Archive for Benj Espina

Benjamin Espina is a medical student with a lot of passions but unfortunately, not a lot of time in his hands. Aside from the challenge that is med school, Benj is also a collegiate debater, a frontman for his metal band and an athlete. He has been blogging on and off for the past four years and is also affiliated with Blog Tutorials, also under the Splashpress Network. His personal blog can be viewed here at Atheista.net

American Idol Update: From 20 to 16

Feb 29 2008

Posted by Benj as Entertainment

Four more contestants were eliminated as American Idol revealed the names of the hopefuls with the lowest number of votes for their Top20 performances. The theme for this week's shows were music from the 70s. Thursday's results show saw former Making The Band semifinalist Jason Yeager and Robbie Carrico leave the competition from the boys' side while a somewhat shocker of an elimination had Alaina Whitaker and Alexandrea Lushington leave the  girls' side. Interestingly, all four received minimal airtime prior to the semifinals week so they all came into the public voting round at a very big  disadvantage. ...

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Prince Harry Gets Pulled Out

Feb 29 2008

Posted by Benj as Announcements

Just mere hours after news of his secret deployment leaked the mainstream media, Prince Harry - the second son of the late Princess Diana and Prince Charles --- was pulled out of his military detachment amid concerns for his safety. Though only being all of 23 years, the British royal has been serving in the front lines at the province of Helmand for the past 10 months. The deployment was supposedly subject to a news blackout but for some reason or another, foreign media chose to breach that agreement. Since the Prince's presence would have given ...

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American Idol Update: The First Cut

Feb 21 2008

Posted by Benj as Entertainment

After two nights of performances featuring from the 1960s, American  Idol saw the elimination of the first four contestant off its roster of 24 semi-finalists. After millions of votes from all across America, Garret Haley and Colton Berry were eliminated on the guys' side while Amy Davis and Joanne Borgella were eliminated from the girls' side. Seventeen year-old Garret Haley from Elida, Ohio failed to wow judges  with his performance of Neil Sedaka's 'Breaking Up His Hard To Do'. Haley has drawn comparisons to Leif Garret and Peter Frampton due to his shaggy blond hair. Not faring much better is another ...

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Edwards Is Quitting

Feb 01 2008

Posted by Benj as In the News

John Edwards was clearly an also-ran in this presidential campaign. With the Democratic base revitalized on the tails of two groundbreaking and charismatic candidates. The potential to elect the nation's first woman president in Hillary Clinton has always been intriguing while the incessant rockstar-worship that Barack Obama has been getting has definitely ignited a fire under the idealist youth who support the Democratic Party. This sort of fanfare leaves John Edwards, a former senator from the State of North Carolina and John Kerry's running and losing mate during the last general elections a stale commodity being sold ...

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Order In The Animal World!

Jan 31 2008

Posted by Benj as In the News

_44392414_shrew_416.jpg Yup, order is in fact needed in the realm of animals for a new peculiar creature has recently been added to the growing list of animals. The mountains of Tanzania was the fitting venue for the discovery as scientists from California Academy of Sciences documented the existence of a previously unknown species of giant elephant shrew or sengi. The newest member of Class Mammalia - Rhynochocyon udzungwensis - is the size of a cat and curiously looks like a cross between a small antelope and a small anteater. The animal has delicate thin legs and a flexible snout, ...

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The Blades Won’t Cut It

Jan 14 2008

Posted by Benj as In the News

Oscar Pistorius is an inspiration to those who know him. As you would see in the picture, he is the fastest man ... on no legs. Pistorius is the current world record holder for double amputees on the sprint events (100m, 200m and 400m) and he has been dominating the Paralympics for quite some time now. He has done these feats through the use of carbon fiber transtibial artificial limbs or simply "cheetah blades". If you compare his record times with the winning times during the last Olympics (yes, the REAL Olympics), his clocking will only be off ...

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No Money For Elections?

Jan 09 2008

Posted by Benj as In the News

Controversy has always been linked with the Western African country of Liberia. After dominating world headlines with the ouster and eventual exile of dictator and human rights violator Charles Taylor back in 2003, the nation has been struggling to find its footing amidst the shifting political and economic forces in the region. In 2004, Liberians elected Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf as president. There was much hope in Johnson-Sirleaf's presidency - her term marks the end of 14 bloody years of civil wars and she's also the daughter of the first indigenous Liberian to be elected into government. Coupled with her ...

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Tibetan Tourism Booms

Dec 17 2007

Posted by Benj as News, Travel

Thanks in large part to the spanking new high-altitude train route  that makes it possible to travel all the way to Tibet in one trip, tourism statistics  for the Chinese territory is now soaring at eye-popping levels. The revenue from tourism has jumped precipitously and significantly to over 650 million USD this year - up 73% from the figures of the past year. Interestingly, this has caused a lot of concern regarding the issue of inward migration and possible environmental degradation that could then be the undoing of the place that many consider to be the 'roof of the world'. Before ...

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‘A New Day’ Comes To A Close

Dec 15 2007

Posted by Benj as Entertainment

After 717 shows since March 2003, Canadian singer Celine Dion's Las Vegas Show 'A New Day' finally comes to an end at Caesar's Palace. The show's run was meant to start much earlier into the new millennium but Dion had to push the date back after knowing she was pregnant. After giving birth and after the construction of a spanking new theater specially designed for the dimensions needed for the performances in the show. The artist best known for popularizing the motion picture's Titanic theme song ("My Heart Will Go On"), signed a 100 million USD deal with Caesar's Palace ...

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Want A Healthy Heart? Eat Onions!

Nov 04 2007

Posted by Benj as Health Features

If you want to keep your heart healthy, a hearty serving onions could go a long way. According to recent study at the Institute of Food Research, eating a meal rich in flavinoids (a compound found in onions) can reduce the early signs of heart disease. The team focused on the effects of the substance quercetin - a flavinoid that is abundant in onions, tea, apples and red wine. The process that leads to atherosclerosis (the narrowing of blood vessels) has been been proven to be addressed by the intake of flavinoids. Chronic inflammation has been comprehensively been taken cared of. In studies ...

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    How To Give Haiti Your Help

    The earthquake that hit Haiti is one of the worst in history, and we are all witnesses to the suffering that the people of this country are going through. Even though you and I may be worlds away from Haiti, there are many ways by which we can help. For sure, you have [...]

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    How To Save Money When Grocery Shopping

    Shopping for groceries is one of the things my family looks forward to every weekend. We usually go grocery shopping at one of those really big supermarkets that have everything from sugar to televisions to sofa sets.
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    Savings Or Pay Off Credit Card Debt?

    Like many young people, I never thought I would find myself facing serious credit card debt. In my early twenties, I told myself that I would never fall into any debt trap. I had heard so many horror stories, and I just knew I would not live out one of those.
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    Duggars Introduce Newest Baby

    The whole Duggar family is no stranger to the limelight. They have been featured on TV, magazines, newspapers and every member of the family is used to the coverage. Last year, Michelle and Jim Bob Duggar announced that they were expecting their 19th child. Naturally, they were once again exposed to publicity.
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    Weirdest Hotels: When You’re Up For Something Different

    Tired of the same old routine when you travel? Feel like doing something totally different from what you normally do? Then why not check out the world’s weirdest hotels! Either you’ll have the time of your life, or you’ll be wanting to stick to the same old stuff.
    Propeller Island City Lodge, Berlin
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    Get Your Kids Into The Olympic Bandwagon

    We’re right smack in the middle of the Winter Olympics. Have your kids gotten into the spirit of it all yet? It saddens me that today, some kids would rather play sports via the PlayStation (or any other gaming console) than actually go outdoors and kick some butt. With the Winter Olympics [...]

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    How To Create Your Own Disaster Emergency Kit

    Every house has a first aid kit. That is basic knowledge. But do you have an emergency kit that will help keep you alive just in case you experience a natural disaster? At this point, many families in the Philippines are creating their own disaster emergency kits, if they haven’t got one [...]

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