Buridibod with Green Saba and Malunggay

In this Ilocano dish, the shredded green bananas and mashed sweet potatoes thicken the liquid. Serves 4 Prep Time 10 minutes Cooking Time 10 minutes 1 cup camote 2 cups water 1 tablespoon olive oil 1/2 teaspoon garlic, crushed 1 medium red onion 1 cup green saba, shredded 1 cup water 1 cup oyster mushrooms salt and pepper to taste 2 bundles malunggay leaves, washed 1 tablespooon sesame oil 1 Boil camote in 2 cups water for 5 minutes. 2 Drain, then press with a masher or fork until it looks like mashed potatoes. Set aside. 3 In olive oil, sauté garlic, onion, and shredded saba until softened. 4 Set fire to medium heat and add 1 cup water. Simmer for 5 minutes, then add mushrooms. Let it simmer. 5 Add the mashed camote and stir. Stir in dash of salt and pepper. 6 Lastly, add malunggay leaves and sesame oil, and simmer for a few more minutes.

4 Smart Choices For Tough Times

How To Manage Your Money Freaked out by the economy? Smart girl. But, it turns out that showing shopping restraint can go a long way toward calming your nerves. "Not buying something offers an instant, powerful sense of control," says financial expert Jean Chatzky, author of Make Money, Not Excuses. Track your expenses in a spending diary to reveal places you can cut back. And, call your cable company, internet provider, and gym to see if the deals they're giving new cash-strapped customers can be extended to you. How To Manage Your Job In times like these, you need to become indispensable to the higher-ups. For starters, don't just meet a looming deadline--beat it, and make sure the right people know it. "You can be the hardest-working employee in the world, but if your boss isn't aware of it, you won't net any gains," says workplace expert Patty Sias, PhD. So, write emails that underscore achievements: The client meeting went well tells your boss that you're nabbing the company an edge. I'm getting you the report early so you can prepare for the meeting says that you endeavor to make your boss look good. How To Manage Your Health It's no secret that stress can have a detrimental effect on your well-being. "You can be irritable, distracted, and piling on pounds," says Pamela Peeke, MD, author of Body For Life For Women. Fortunately, you can medicate with movement. When you do physical activity--even a vigorous walk--you increase the production of beta endorphins, chemicals that relax you. So, make it a priority to be active every day. How To Manage Your Relationship When your guy is anxious, it's important to play a supportive role--especially if he's so down that he spends every night in front of the TV. "Acknowledge that it's a tough time, but find activities that get you out of depressing routines," suggests Erik A. Fisher, PhD, co-author of The Art Of Managing Everyday Conflict. Even casually discussing your dream jobs while on a cheap date can act as motivation on your quests to achieve them.

Chavez says he'll accept result of Venezuela vote

CARACAS, Venezuela (AP) — President Hugo Chavez's crusade to transform Venezuela into a socialist state, which has bitterly divided the nation, was put to the stiffest electoral test of his nearly 14 years in power on Sunday in a closely fought presidential election. Both camps said turnout was high, with millions of Venezuelans casting ballots. Long lines formed at many polling centers, with queues of hundreds of voters snaking along sidewalks and around blocks in many parts of Caracas. Chavez's challenger, Henrique Capriles, has united the opposition in a contest between two sides that distrust each other so deeply there were concerns whether a close election result would be respected. "We will recognize the results, whatever they are," Chavez told reporters after casting his vote in Caracas. Chavez was greeted at the polling center by American actor Danny Glover and Guatemalan Nobel Peace Prize laureate Rigoberta Menchu. He said he was pleased to see a "massive turnout." The stakes couldn't be higher. If Chavez wins a new six-year term, he gets a free hand to push for an even bigger state role in the economy, further limit dissent and continue to befriend rivals of the United States. With a Capriles win, an abrupt foreign policy shift can be expected, including halting preferential oil deals with allies such as Cuba, along with a loosening of state economic controls and an increase in private investment. A tense transition would likely follow until the January inauguration because Chavez's political machine thoroughly controls the wheels of government. Some Venezuelans were nervous about what might happen if disputes erupt over the election's announced outcome. "There's a little anxiety on one side and also on the other," said Deyanira Duarte, a housewife who voted for Capriles in downtown Caracas. She said she was worried about what could happen if there were a dispute. Others said they were simply pleased to be out backing their candidate. Carlos Julio Silva, a bodyguard employed by a private security company, said whatever his faults, Chavez deserves re-election for helping people with programs including free medical care and public housing. "There is corruption, there's plenty of bureaucracy, but the people have never had a leader who cared about this country," Silva said after voting for Chavez at a school in the Caracas slum of Petare. "That's why the people are going to re-elect Hugo Rafael Chavez Frias." Chavez's critics say the president has inflamed divisions by labeling his opponents "fascists," ''Yankees" and "neo-Nazis," while Chavez backers allege Capriles would halt generous government programs that assist the poor. During Chavez's final rally Thursday in Caracas, he shouted to the crowd: "We're going to give the bourgeoisie a beating!" Reveille blared from sound trucks around the capital to awaken voters on Sunday morning, and the bugle call was later replaced by folk music mixed with a recording of Chavez's voice saying "those who love the homeland come with me." At many polling places, voters started lining up hours before polls opened at dawn. "I'm really tired of all this polarization," said Lissette Garcia, a 39-year-old clothes seller and Capriles supporter who voted Sunday in the affluent Caracas district of Las Mercedes. "I want to reconnect with all my friends who are 'Chavistas.'" Some said they waited in line for more than four hours to vote, while in other areas the lines moved more quickly. Violence flared sporadically during the campaign, including shootings and rock-throwing during rallies and political caravans. Two Capriles supporters were shot to death in the western state of Barinas last weekend. Troops were dispatched across Venezuela to guard thousands of voting centers Sunday. Defense Minister Henry Rangel Silva said as he voted that all had been calm in the morning and he hoped that would continue. He said if any groups try to "disturb order, they should know there is an armed force prepared and equipped and trained... to put down any attempt at disturbances." He didn't identify the groups to which he was referring. Chavez held an impromptu news conference Saturday night, and when asked about the possibility of disputes over the vote, he said he expected both sides to accept the result. He says he has successfully emerged from about a year of cancer treatment. "It's a mature, democratic country where the institutions work, where we have one of the best electoral systems in the world," Chavez told reporters at the presidential palace. But he also said he hoped no one would try to use the vote to play a "destabilizing game." If they do, he said, "we'll be alert to neutralize them." His opponents mounted a noisy protest in Caracas and other major cities on Saturday night, beating pots and pans from the windows of their homes to show displeasure with Chavez — and also their hopes for change. Drivers on downtown streets honked horns, joining the din. The 40-year-old Capriles, a wiry former governor affectionately called "Skinny" by supporters, has infused the opposition with new optimism, and opinion polls pointed to him giving Chavez his closest election. Some recent polls showed Chavez with a lead of about 10 percentage points, while others put the two candidates about even. "Chavez is going to fight until his last breath. He doesn't know how to do anything else," said Antonio Padron, a bank employee backing the president. Padron expressed optimism that the 58-year-old Chavez would win, noting the leader has survived a fight with cancer that has included surgery, chemotherapy and radiation treatment. But Padron predicted a close finish: "It's a tough fight. The opposition has never been this strong." Chavez won the last presidential vote in 2006 with 63 percent of the vote. A former army paratroop commander first elected in 1999, Chavez has presided over an oil boom and has spent billions of dollars on government social programs ranging from cash benefits for single mothers to free education. But he has suffered declining support due to one of the world's highest murder rates, 18 percent inflation, a deteriorating electrical grid and a bloated government accused of endemic corruption and mismanagement. While his support has slipped at home, Chavez has also seen his international influence ebb since he emerged in the mid-2000s as leader of a like-minded club of newly elected Latin American leftist presidents. "I want to tell President Chavez, I want to tell him his cycle is over," Capriles said at his final campaign rally Thursday. Capriles says Chavez has stirred up hatred, hobbled the economy by expropriating private businesses and squandered oil wealth. He criticized Chavez's preferential deals supplying oil to allies, including one that lets Cuba pay with the services of Cuban doctors. "We aren't going to finance the political model that exists in Cuba," Capriles said in a TV interview last week. "But we aren't going to break off relations with Cuba." Chavez accumulated near-absolute power over the past decade thanks to his control of the National Assembly, pliant institutions such as the Central Bank and friendly judges. Gino Caso, an auto mechanic, said he would vote for Capriles because he thought Chavez was power-hungry and out of touch with problems such as crime. He said his son had been robbed, as had neighboring shops. "I don't know what planet he lives on," Caso said, gesturing with hands blackened with grease. "He wants to be like Fidel Castro — end up with everything, take control of the country." Political analyst Ricardo Sucre said he expected the election to show "two halves, more or less even." Regardless of the result, he said, Venezuelans are likely to remain deeply divided by politics for years to come.

'Bangsamoro' OK'd as gov't, MILF forge landmark deal

The "Bangsamoro" will be a new autonomous political entity in the Philippines, President Benigno "Noynoy" Aquino III on Sunday said, as he announced that the government has forged a deal ending the decades-old insurgency of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF). "The ARMM (Autonomous Region of Muslim Mindanao) is a failed experiment. Many of the people continue to feel alienated by the system, and those who feel that there is no way out will continue to articulate their grievances through the barrel of a gun," the President said. "And now, we have forged an agreement that seeks to correct these problems," Aquino said. "This agreement creates a new political entity, it deserves a name that symbolizes and honors the struggles of our forebears in Mindanao. That name will be Bangsamoro," Aquino said. He added that the new deal is seen to pave the way for "final, enduring peace in Mindanao." "It brings all former secessionist groups into the fold; no longer does the Moro Islamic Liberation Front aspire for a separate state," Aquino noted. The announcement came after the latest round of protracted peace talks between the government and the Muslim rebels ended in Malaysia Saturday. There have been 32 rounds of negotiations since 2003, with 13 rounds under the Aquino incumbency. The President, however, noted, that "the Philippines remains one nation and one people," adding that "the Constitution and lawful processes shall govern the transition to the Bangsamoro." "National government will continue to exercise exclusive powers of defense and security, foreign policy, monetary policy and coinage, citizenship, and naturalization," Aquino said. "The Filipinos of Bangsamoro, on the other hand, will be assured a fair and equitable share of taxation, revenues, and the fruits of national patrimony," he added. The new autonomous political entity, Aquino said, will also "enjoy equal protection of laws and access to impartial justice." Peace in Mindanao is still a work in progress, however, the President stressed, adding that "there are still details that both sides must hammer out." "Promises must be kept, institutions must be fixed, and new capacities must be built nationally and regionally in order to effectively administer the Bangsamoro. The citizenry, especially the youth, must be empowered so that new leaders may emerge," the President noted. The pact has yet to be signed, with Aquino adding that details of the newly forged deal will be published online and in national papers in days. "Nakalahad po ang lahat, at wala kaming tangkang magkubli o maglihim (All details will be bared and we have no intention of keeping the public in the dark)," Aquino said. "Sinuri po namin nang maigi ang kasunduang ito; balanse ang ating naabot. Itinatama nito ang mali, at naglalagay ng mga mekanismo (We have scrutinized the agreement; we have achieved a balance. It corrects mistakes and establishes mechanisms)," he added. "Basahin po sana natin ang kasunduang ito hindi bilang 'sila' at 'kami,' kundi bilang nagkakaisang 'tayo' sa ilalim ng bandilang Pilipino (I hope this deal will be appreciated not in terms of 'them' or 'us' but as 'we' under one Filipino banner)," Aquino said.

Brightest Star Explosion in History Reveals Lonely Supernova

The brightest exploding star ever seen with the naked eye in recorded history apparently experienced a quick and lonely death, a new study reveals. The discovery, which centered on a star explosion witnessed in the year 1006, suggests that many similar outbursts leave no companion star to accompany their demise. The most powerful exploding stars in the universeare supernovas, which are bright enough to momentarily outshine their entire galaxies. One type of star explosion, known as a Type 1a supernova, occurs when one star pours enough fuel onto a dying companion star known as a white dwarf to trigger an extraordinary nuclear explosion. The new study centered its sights on the supernova SN 1006, which was seen all over Earth in the spring of 1006 above the southern horizon of the night sky, in the constellation Lupus, just south of Scorpio. At its peak, researchers say the supernova, which exploded about 7,100 light-years away, was about one-quarter the brightness of the moon, luminous enough that people could have read by its light at midnight

Maar Volcanoes: Odd Explosions Beneath Earth Explained

The eruption of a so-called maar-diatreme volcano is short-lived but violent. Magma creeps up through a crack in the Earth's crust and mixes with water, setting off a series of explosions — as many as a few each hour for several weeks. When the action stops, a crater-topped, rock-filled fracture called a diatreme is left behind. Now researchers are proposing a new way to think about how these structures are formed, which could help geologists predict eruptions and find new sources of diamonds. "Previously it was thought that those explosions started at very shallow levels and got progressively deeper," geologist Greg Valentine, a professor at the University at Buffalo in New York, told LiveScience. This old model seemed to explain the shape of a diatreme, which sits like an inverted cone beneath a shallow maar, or crater. But that model didn't match with what geologists were finding at volcanic sites, Valentine said. If the explosions started at shallow levels and moved deeper, shallow rocks would be spewed from the mouth of the volcano first and the deeper rock deposits would pile up on top. At maar sites, however, scientists were finding deep rock fragments mixed mostly with shallow fragments, indicating that explosions occur at essentially every depth throughout the episode. [50 Amazing Volcano Facts] Valentine and James White, an associate professor at the University of Otago in New Zealand, created a new model to account for the apparently more jumbled order of explosions. Their model, published online Sept. 18 by the journal Geology, also shows that individual explosions are relatively small, and shallow explosions are more likely than deep explosions to cause eruptions. The last known maar-diatreme eruption occurred in 1977 in Alaska's remote Aleutian Range, forming two vents known as the Ukinrek Maars. The threats associated with these volcanoes tend to be localized, but they can still be significant, Valentine said. "These volcanoes can send ash deposits into populated areas. They could easily produce the same effects that the one in Iceland did when it disrupted air travel, so what we're trying to do is understand the way they behave," he explained in a statement. In another practical application for the model, Valentine said a better understanding of these volcanoes could help find diamonds. Diatremes are sometimes formed by a type of molten rock known as kimberlite, which has the deepest origins of all magmas on Earth. When this magma cools, it leaves behind rocks dense in crystals, sometimes holding diamonds. This past summer, Valentine and his colleagues in Buffalo simulated maar eruptions, burying and detonating explosives and then examining the craters. He said he is planning similar experiments for next summer to test out his new model.

Calif. gas prices hit all-time high

LOS ANGELES (AP) — It's a record, though just barely. The price of gasoline hit an all-time average high in California of $4.6140 a gallon Saturday, fueled by a reduced supply and a volatile market. The record was set by a fraction of a penny, according to AAA spokesman Michael Green. The previous high was $4.6096 on June 19, 2008. Prices throughout the state were expected to increase for several more days before leveling off, after a temporary reduction in supply triggered a price spike that saw fuming motorists paying $5 or more per gallon in some locations and station owners shutting down pumps in others. AAA's Daily Fuel Gauge report released Saturday said the average price for a gallon of regular unleaded across California rose 12 cents from its Friday mark of about $4.49. Saturday's price was the highest in the nation, with the Golden State leapfrogging Hawaii this week as the state with the most expensive fuel. The average price for a gallon of regular unleaded across California was 47 cents more than a week ago, according to the AAA report. "I seriously thought it was a mistake on the sign when we pulled in," said Nancy Garcia, 34, while filling her Honda Accord at a Chevron station in the Los Angeles neighborhood of Highland Park. She paid $4.65 a gallon for regular grade and said she couldn't afford to fill her tank all the way. When supplies drop, wholesale prices rise. Then distributors and station owners have to pay more to fill up their station's tanks. They then raise their prices based on how much they paid for their current inventory, how much they think they will have to pay for their next shipment, and, how much their competitors are charging. The national average Saturday was about $3.81 a gallon, the highest ever for this time of year. However, gas prices in many other states have started decreasing, which is typical for October. The dramatic surge came after a power outage Monday at a Southern California refinery that reduced supply in an already fragile and volatile market, analysts said, but the refinery came back online Friday and prices were expected to stabilize by next week. Patrick DeHaan, senior petroleum analyst at GasBuddy.com, predicted the average price could peak as high as $4.85. "There is some relief in sight but probably not for a couple of days. Early next week is when we may see some more significant declines ... but at retail prices, prices may climb for the next two to three days before they start to come down," he said. While prices were higher everywhere in California, there were variances Saturday. Chico had the lowest average price at $4.46, according to AAA, while San Luis Obispo was highest at $4.71. Prices averaged $4.67 in San Diego, $4.66 in the Los Angeles area, $4.55 in Fresno and $4.49 in Sacramento. The price of diesel has also increased, adding significant costs for truckers who typically put hundreds of dollars of fuel in their tanks. It's gotten so bad, some truckers may stop driving altogether, said Michael Shaw, spokesman for the California Trucking Association, whose members move 80 percent of the cargo on California's roads each year. "The fluctuation and rapid increase of prices makes it difficult to plan ahead and take on new contracts," he said. "It's difficult to operate in that environment." A web of refinery and transmission problems is to blame, analysts said. The situation is compounded by a California pollution law that requires a special blend of cleaner-burning gasoline from April to October, said Denton Cinquegrana, executive editor of the Oil Price Information Service, which helps AAA compile its price survey. "We use the phrase 'the perfect storm,' and you know what, this current one makes those other perfect storms look like a drizzle. I don't want to scare anyone, but this is a big problem," Cinquegrana said. "Run-outs are happening left and right." Among the recent disruptions, an Aug. 6 fire at a Chevron Corp. refinery in Richmond that left one of the region's largest refineries producing at a reduced capacity, and a Chevron pipeline that moves crude oil to Northern California also was shut down. There was some good news, however. Exxon Mobil Corp. said a refinery in Torrance returned to normal operations Friday after the power failure Monday disrupted production for most of the week. State officials said with the refinery coming back online, prices should start falling. Gasoline inventories in California, however, are still at their lowest point in more than 10 years, a situation made worse by the mandate for the special summer gasoline blend. Few refineries outside the state can make it, meaning there are few outside sources to draw from for help, Cinquegrana said. The California Air Resources Board was reviewing a request from the California Independent Oil Marketers Association for a waiver that would allow gas stations to begin selling winter-blend gasoline before Halloween. Some stations ran out of gas and shut down rather than take the risk of buying gas at soaring prices only to be stuck with a glut of overpriced fuel if prices dropped or if customers refused to absorb the extra cost that would be passed along to them. Mark Mitchell, co-owner of the Coast Oil fuel distributorship in San Jose, told the San Francisco Chronicle that none of the gas stations he serves had shut down, although some station owners had discussed it. When spot prices hit their peak, the stations would need to charge about $4.89 to break even, he said. "We get the gas — it's just at what price?" Mitchell told the newspaper. "You're not going to sell much when it goes up 40 cents in a day." ___