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Tuesday, January 27, 2009

Animal Heroes

Lou the mule is being hailed as a hero for saving the life of his owner in McMinnville, Tenn. Jolene Solomon, 63, says she stepped outside her home on New Year's Day to see why Lou was braying and saw that her house was in flames. It burned to the ground, but she and Lou are safe.

Buddy the German shepherd proved Sept. 10 that he truly was "man's best friend." The pooch called 911 in order to help owner Joe Stalnaker, an Arizona man who was having a seizure. Police arrived at Stalnaker's home and he was taken to the hospital.


Bandit the dog is considered hero for saving the life of his owner -- Courtney. One summer day when she was out in the garden looking for frogs, she bent down to look at what looked like a frog, but it was a curled up SNAKE! Instantly, she ran to the house. Bandit was whining. Once she reached the porch, Bandit had jumped and took the snakebite. Actually, Bandit has done this twice to her grandma. For Courtney, that’s a true act of heroism.

If you have a lived experience of being saved by an animal, do share it in this blog. Let us start counting these animals hailed as Heroes.

Tuesday, January 20, 2009

World's Oldest Superhero, the Phantom


MOST historians consider The Phantom as the first masked hero to appear in a comic strip. The Phantom was created by comic creator Lee Falk (April 28,1911 - March 13, 1999) and first debuted in a newspaper strip in 1936. Lee literally wrote his comic strips from 1934 to the last days of his life, when in hospital he tore off his oxygen mask to dictate his stories. Falk's original stories were set in the dark African Congo of the 1930's, fighting headhunters, pirates and other villains of the time. Falk's character, like his bat-winged counterpart, used superstition against his enemies. Villains believed him to be a ghost thanks to a costume inspired by a mythical African spirit.

The Phantom is an American adventure comic strip that began with a daily newspaper strip on February 17, 1936, followed by a color Sunday strip on May 28, 1939; both are still running as of 2009.

While the Phantom is not the first fictional costumed crimefighter, he is the first to wear the skintight costume that has become a hallmark of comic book superheroes, and the first to wear a mask with no visible pupils, another superhero standard
The publisher Moonstone is bringing the character up-to-date and targeting a more mature audience than previous decades will breathe new life into a character that although often overlooked, influenced much of the comic industry we know today.

In the beginning The Phantom had been a half-drowned sailor, flung ashore on the terrible, blood-drenched Bengalla coast after pirates burned his ship and slaughtered his mates. The gentle Bandar pygmies, taking him to be a sea god of ancient prophecy, nursed him back to fitness and became his everlasting friends -- as the castaway faced his destiny, donned costume and mask and was reborn as the first of the Phantoms, scourge of predators everywhere.
"I swear to devote my life to the destruction of piracy, greed, cruelty and injustice!" he cried as he formally took "The Oath of the Skull" by firelight. "And my sons and their sons shall follow me!"
And in time there was a son. In time that son begat another, and thereafter that son begat again. After a while, there arose a dynasty of Phantoms, one after another, born into the legend then reared and rigorously drilled in the disciplines and the duties.
Through the generations these eerily identical jungle lords have prowled an evil world in the cloaks of many identities, and none today but the Bandar and a handful of other secret souls know that all are not one and the same.
The modern Phantom is the 21st of the line. Since Feb. 17, 1936, he has been the law in his dangerous part of the world, a one-man police force, a silent avenger who appears and vanishes like lightning. His home is the fearsome "Skull Cave," deep in the heart of his jungle. His only intimates have been the faithful Bandar, his great white horse Hero, his savage gray wolf Devil, and his lovely American sweetheart Diana Palmer. Even the men of the Jungle Patrol, the paramilitary peacekeeping squad an ancestor had organized some years ago, have never seen the face of their mysterious commander in chief.
From thieves and smugglers to cut-throat harbor rats to crazed dictators seeking to enslave free men, all have met the Phantom over 60 thrilling years, and all have tasted his wrath. Always changing with the whirlwind times around him, he has increasingly come to function as something of a United Nations troubleshooter-at-large, a shadowy trench-coated figure slipping in and out of modern Third World political intrigue.
But never far from the Phantom's stage are the great emperors and brigands of yore, in the shining tales of his 20 heroic forebears, recounted in the epic Phantom Chronicles. In more than 60 years of daily newspaper stories and 58 years of Sunday-only yarns, "Phantom" creator Lee Falk has meticulously fleshed out the most minute details of a fabulous dynastic pageant, illuminating the lives of the Phantoms of old whose blood courses through the veins of the modern Ghost Who Walks. Many of them have swashbuckled their way through the famous newspaper comic strip in grand flashback sequences -- one early Phantom is known to have married Christopher Columbus' granddaughter; another is known to have married Shakespeare's niece; still another took a Mongol princess as his bride.
The fifth Phantom crossed swords with the pirate Blackbeard in the early 1600s. The 13th Phantom traveled to the young United States and fought alongside Jean Lafitte in the War of 1812. The 16th appears to have put in some time as a Wild West cowboy.
And succession is assured.
The current Phantom and Diana Palmer were wed in 1977, and today their scrappy young son, Kit, is in training to someday take the sacred "Oath of the Skull" and become the 22nd Phantom.

Wednesday, January 14, 2009

World's Youngest Superhero


Meet the World's Youngest Superhero -- Pajama Sam. The youngest caped crusader who embarks on four different adventures. The first one, "Pajama Sam In: No Need To Hide When It's Dark Outside." Young as he was, Sam was afraid of the dark. To conquer his fear of darkness, he enters the "Land of Darkness" through his closet hoping to capture Darkness and find his lost possessions (his "Pajama Sam mask", his lunch-box, and his flashlight) which have been confiscated during a Customs inspection at the beginning of the adventure. The entire adventure creeps in the night and at the end of the his journey, Sam is no longer afraid of the dark.

Sam's second adventure is "Pajama Sam: Thunder and Lightning Aren't so Frightening." In this episode, Sam takes on a mission to help Thunder and Lightning fix the foul weather machines and confront his fear of lightning bolts and loud kabooms! To rise above his fear, Sam sets his foot into his attic to confront his fears. At the doorstep, Sam meets the World Wide Weather (WWW) that is in amok. He must bring stability back to weather everywhere. To help Sam in this journey, he will meet collection of comical friends, including a snowman, a forklift, talking office supplies, a velocimometer and some familiar faces from the past. The one-of-a-kind wind bottling plant, snowflake factory, WWW luncheonette, Chairman of the Board's Board Room and many more fantastic places fill the story with breathtaking adventures.

His third adventure, Pajama Sam: You Are What You Eat
From Your Head to Your Feet. The story introduces kids to the concept of general nutrition and food groups in a fun, engaging way by interacting with various talking fruits, vegetables and sweets. Designed to help kids ages 3 to 8 problem solve, think strategically and make decisions. The setting is at MopTop Island where the sweets and fats are dramatically increasing their numbers and threatening to take control. A Peace Conference has been called to work out a compromise between all the food groups, but four of the six Delegates have not arrived at the Food Pyramid. In this adventure, kids help Pajama Sam find the missing delegates, put a stop to the sticky quarrels, fix a few problems, bring peace to MopTop Island and still make it home in time for dinner

His last adventure sets off in search of his lost comic book. He searches for lost socks in Agitator Lake, rounds up dust bunnies at the Dust Bunny Corral, explores the Spilled Soda Swamp and much more. In the end, Sam finds his comic book and realizes that life would not be so rough if he put away his stuff!

All adventures encourage learning, discovery and interactive fun. Throughout the story, kids meet lots of interesting new friends and tackle fun challenges that will inspire them to solve problems in creative and flexible ways. They can play again and again because new puzzles and new locations await each time kids play.
Kids, join Pajama Sam on his serial adventures and explore an interactive environment full of quirky animated characters, including boats, bridges, pianos and a wishing well. Use your logic and memory to solve problems, and play in a game show that asks geography and science questions. Have fun!

Wednesday, January 7, 2009

The Hero in the Mob Wars Insider

The "Insider" in Mob Wars is an enticing character in the game. The Mob Wars Insider gets a 10% faster regeneration speeds for income, health, energy, and stamina and two favor points per level-up instead of one. Likewise, it removes the ad at the top of the screen and all the benefits last for 31 days from the time of activation. There is even a promise that any new benefit in the future will be automatically take effect in the game.

There are other regular players who have tried this benefit and were getting four attribute points upon leveling up instead of three. I guessed there were different phases in the game when these claims were taking place. I got the opportunity to try the "insider" at level 80. Half of the 100 favors I used was coming from the Christmas bonus in the game. Thank you to whoever thought of that seasoned reward. If not for that bonus, I would have waited to reach level 100 to get 100 equivalent favor points unless one buys favor points through Spare Change, Social Gold, Mobill cash pay now, Zong and Paybycash.com. Is buying favor points a wise move to do? In a classic game of power and dominance, any means to advance or take the lead makes it a necessary plan to win the game.

The game explains that when you reach a certain level, The Godfather may offer to promote you to insider man. This is designed to give higher level players a chance to both support Mob Wars and speed up gameplay a bit. The 10% increased in the gameplay is dependent on which character -- Insomiac, Tycoon and Bulletproof -- you choose at the start of the game. At level 80, I was surprised to see the new job that required "acquire illegal weapons" and 10 tactical shotgun which a player can get by doing "Drug Smuggling by Sea". I was not paying attention to this because I was so allured to doing the "Great Train Robbery" where you can make as much as two to four thousand million cash. To make the scenario even more challenging, I could not even purchase the tactical shotgun using the favor points because at this level the available special weapon is now AK-47 Grenade Launcher. To move forward in the game, I chose the "Insider" path which gives a 10% regenerating speed for income, health, energy, and stamina. With this minimal speed, I engaged in buying more properties to support my upkeep and more fight to level up and gain more favor points so that when I complete the needed points, I exchanged the same for full energy which, in turn, I use to do "Drug Smuggling by Sea". At level 94, I now have seven tactical shotguns. By the time I reach level 105, I should be able to complete the required special weapons to do "Illegal Weapons Smuggling".

It make take an interval of five to receive the tactical shotgun when you do the "Drug Smuggling by Sea". I explore other possibilities of expediting the process of getting the special weapon. Like buying one per old weapons like Crowbar, Baseball bat, Colt 1911, 44 Magnum, Pump-Action Shotgun, Tommy Gun and Assault Rifle. I guess it is working because the interval went down to three jobs.

The Hero in the Mob Wars Insider is not someone who emerges as an all-knowing mob agent but simply a 10% stronger in generating income, health, energy, and stamina and one favor point higher when leveling-up. Having this advantage helps a mob to do more jobs that can deliver remarkable results and defies comparison. The mob becomes an Insider Hero if he accomplishes the very purpose of entering the "insider" path which is to recover the 10 tactical shotguns. The challenge is on . . . wait till I get to level 105.

Thursday, January 1, 2009

"What kind of Superhero are you?"

Nowadays, there are a lot of quizzes plying round the express lane of the web, telling you, "Do you want to know what kind of superhero are you?" The questions revolve around the scenes of engaging in a ultimate quest, traveling with chosen friends, carrying a magical weapon, fighting a gargantuan beast, protecting people, meeting a princess, possessing healing powers and endowed with super human strength and abilities. Another interesting question you may encounter is, "what kind of powers would you have?" To name a few coveted powers and abilities: Clairvoyance, Cryokinesis, Dream Manipulation, Empathic Mimicry, Enhanced Hearing, Enhanced Strength, Eidetic memory, X-ray Vision, Flight, Healing, Heat vision, Induced Radioactivity, Intuitive Aptitude, Invisibility, Mental Manipulation, Persuasion, Phasing, Pyrokinesis, Rapid Cell Regeneration, Space-Time Manipulation, Technopathy, Telekinesis, Telepathy, telescopic vision (seeing great, even interstellar distances), microscopic vision (seeing small things, even subatomic particles).

The question presupposed an individual as a superhero. Making everyone a superhero. Once in our wildest imagination, we thought of ourselves as a superhero. An experience that would likely to take place when were still kids. The most celebrated superhero back then was Superman the Man of Steel. I remembered wearing a shirt with Superman Logo three to four times a week. (I got a couple of them). Recently, I was tempted to buy a blue shirt with Superman logo, but I changed my mind and opted to get a dozen of baby bottle cleaner soap with one extra for free. I felt like more a superhero for choosing to buy things for my son than satisfying my caprice. I guess, we do not need to do superhuman feat nor put once like in danger to become superhero. We can be superhero by doing the small acts of goodness, kindness, generosity and service. So the next time you go to a supermarket and see those small tin cans that says "Help ... ", "Support ...", drop some loose coins or better some small bills that way you can help support a cause. When you get home, give some sweet hugs, kisses and pats on the back to your love ones. Share a moment of laughter with your friends especially those who have not drawn a smile at the start of this year. Write thank you note or send a letter to an old friend whom you have not heard for quite sometime. Say some compliments like "you look great today", a sincere "thank you for a wonderful meal". Spend time to listen to stories of your friends. We can have a long list of doing simple things in life that can make us a "superhero." Start now and infect others to become One of Us.