Barong
Mood:  a-ok
Topic: FYI

The barong, the Filipino alternative to the coat-and-tie, was originally a workingman’s garb, usually made of abaca fiber.  Its origin is traced to the kanggan, the short-sleeved collarless jacket Filipinos wore in pre-Hispanic times.  It is said that during the Spanish period, the barong was worn to set the indios or natives, apart from the Spaniards.  Another story claims that Spanish authorities made the natives wear the barong because it was difficult to conceal weapons under the sheer fabric.  And why no pocket.  Because the poor indio had no money or personal knickknacks to tuck away.

Magna Carta
Mood:  chatty
Topic: FYI
Magna Carta is Latin for 'Great Charte'.  It was a document approved by King John of Runnymede in 1215.  Because of the cruel manner in which he treated the English people and his demand for money to help fight his wars, King John was not popular.  The Barons were particularly against the king because he demanded large payments from them.  Eventually they revolted and drew up an agreement which the king accepted.  This document, the Articles of the Barons, was conerted into a Royal Charter which was sent to the sheriff of every county in the land.  Copmmonly known as the Magna Carta, it had a great influence on hitory and marked the first steps to constitutional government - a government according to law.

Television Service
Mood:  bright
Topic: FYI
The world's first regular TV service was started by the BBC on November 2, 1936.  Transmission ceased in 1939, two days before the outbreak of the Second World War.  They restarted on June 7, 1946, the eve of the Victory parades.  The first person to have his image transmitted by television was William Taynton, a 15 year old London office boy, on October 2, 1925.  John Logie Baird had just succeeded in transmitting a picture of a ventriloquist's dummy from one room to another and wanted a live subject.  Taynto happened to be the first person he saw as he rushed out to the street to find someone.  But the boy was so frightened by all the lights and strange machinery that Baird had to give him some pocket money before he would submit to the experiment. The Philippines' ABS-CBN was Asia's first commercial television broadcaster.  The nucleus of what ABS-CBN would be began in 1946 with Bolinao Electronics Corporation (BEC). BEC was put up by James Lindenberg, an ex-GI and electronics engineer who went into radio equipment assembly and radio broadcasting. At that time, the giant Philippine network was Manila Broadcasting, with DZRH as the top station.  In the 1951, Lindenberg partnered with Antonio Quirino, brother of then President Quirno, in order to try their hand at television broadcasting. In 1952, BEC was renamed as Alto Broadcasting System or ABS. "Alto" was a contraction of Quirino’s and his wife’s first names, Tony and Aleli. Though they had little money and resources, ABS was able to put up its TV tower by July 1953 and import 300 television sets. The initial test broadcasts began on September of the same year. The very first full-blown broadcast, however, was on October 23, 1953, of a party in Tony Quirino's home. The broadcasting channel was known as DZAQ-TV Channel 3.  In turn, on September 24, 1956, the Chronical Broadcasting Network (CBN) was organized. The network was owned by Don Eugenio Lopez Sr. The following year, Don Eugenio acquired ABS from Quirino and Lindenberg. However, it was only on February 1, 1967 that the corporate name was changed to ABS-CBN Broadcasting Corporation.