The Philippine Atmospheric Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration said it recorded this temperature at the Science Garden in Quezon City at 3 p.m.

Last Tuesday and Wednesday this week, PAGASA had recorded a previous high of 36.2 degrees in Metro Manila.

The temperature may be even hotter in some enclosed places, noting the Science Garden has trees that could at least offer shade.

The hottest temperature for the day was recorded in Cabanatuan in Nueva Ecija, at 37.2 degrees. Cabanatuan had registered 38.1 degrees last Wednesday. The hottest day of the year so far was recorded in Pampanga, at 38.4 degrees.

According to Wikipedia, the origin of the modern French Bulldog breed descends directly from the dogs of the Molossians, an ancient Greek tribe. The dogs were spread throughout the ancient world by Phoenician traders. British Molossian dogs were developed into the Mastiff. A sub-family of the Mastiff were the Bullenbeisser, a type of dog used for bull-baiting.

Blood sports such as bull-baiting were outlawed in England in 1835, leaving these "Bulldogs" unemployed.However, they had been bred for non-sporting reasons since at least 1800, and so their use changed from a sporting breed to a companion breed. Some Bulldogs were crossed with terriers, while others were bred for reduced size. By 1850 the Toy Bulldog had become common in England, and appeared in conformation shows when they began around 1860. These dogs weighed around 16–25 pounds (7.3–11 kg), although classes were also available at dog shows for those that weighed under 12 pounds (5.4 kg).

At the same time, lace workers from Nottingham, displaced by the industrial revolution, began to settle in Normandy, France They brought a variety of dogs with them, including miniature Bulldogs. The dogs became popular in France and a trade in imported small Bulldogs was created, with breeders in England sending over Bulldogs that they considered to be too small, or with faults such as ears that stood up. By 1860, there were few miniature Bulldogs left in England, such was their popularity in France and due to the exploits of specialist dog exporters.

The small Bulldog type gradually became thought of as a breed, and received a name, the Bouledogue Francais. The dogs were highly fashionable and were sought after by society ladies and Parisian prostitutes alike, as well as creatives such as artists, writers and fashion designers.^[4] However, records were not kept of the breed’s development as it diverged further away from its original Bulldog roots. As it changed, terrier and Pug stock may have been brought in to develop traits such as the breed’s long straight ears, and the roundness of their eyes.

Paquito was named after a popular Filipino actor who became popular as an antagonist in local films. Paquito is our pet dog!

Photo credit: Ricky Y. Artigas ( http://www.flickr.com/photos/ricky_artigas )

Binondo Church, also known as Minor Basilica of St. Lorenzo Ruiz , is located in the District of Binondo, Manila, Philippines.

Founded by Dominican priests in 1596 to serve their Chinese converts to Christianity. In 1762, the original building was destroyed by British bombardment. A new granite church was completed on the same site in 1852 however it was greatly damaged during the Second World War, with only the western facade and the octagonal bell tower surviving.

San Lorenzo Ruiz, who was born of a Chinese father and a Filipino mother, trained in this church and afterwards went as a missionary to Japan. He was executed there for refusing to renounce his religion. San Lorenzo Ruiz is the Philippines’ first saint. He was canonized in 1987.

An almost full moon on March 6, 2012. Two days before a full moon, this photo was taken using a 1300mm lens. On March 10, 2012, the moon will appear closest to Earth.

Photo credit: Ricky Y. Artigas (http://www.flickr.com/photos/ricky_artigas/6814780858/)

An orange hue of the sunset photo taken on March 2, 2012 while the sky was blue and cloudy.

Photo credit: Ricky Y. Artigas

According to Wikipedia, the Yellow-vented Bulbul, Pycnonotus goiavier, is a member of the bulbul family of passerine birds. It is resident breeder in southeast Asia from southern Thailand and Cambodia south to Borneo and the Philippines.

It is found in a wide variety of open habitats, but not deep forest. It is one of the most common birds in cultivated areas. They appear to be nomadic, roaming from place to place regularly.

The Yellow-vented Bulbul builds a well-camouflaged but fragile, loose, deep, cup-shaped nest from grass, leaves, roots, vine stems, and twigs. The nest is untidy on the outside, but it is neatly lined with plant fibers. it may be built in a wide range of places from low bushes to high trees. This is a species adapted to humans and may even nest in gardens. The Yellow-vented Bulbul lays 2-5 eggs in February to June.

The Yellow-vented Bulbuls eats berries and small fruits. They also sip nectar, nibble on young shoots, and take some insects.

It was hard to take a photo of this bulbul because it always want to hop from one branch to the next, from one tree to another tree. It was surprising to see that the bird on top of the tree had this yellow patch just before its tail, that is before I researched and found out that it is called a yellow-vented bulbul precisely because of its yellow patch before its tail. And that yellow part is called a bird’s vent.

1. Corporate Meetings
When a team of executives has flown around the world to close a deal, the players often want a record of the happy moment… before it all breaks down. Stay close to the dealmakers and you could be the last one smiling.

2. Dating Portraits
But before the wedding comes the date. Online dating has created a new demand for eye-catching profile photos — and a new market for your portrait skills.

3. Cheating Spouses
The cheats won’t pay but the cheated on will cough up handsomely for images of their partners in the act. Expect long lenses and longer waits in bushes but make the divorce easier and you’ll be able to charge like a lawyer.

4. Wannabe Models/Actors
There’s no shortage of young women (and men) keen to break into showbiz. They all need professional headshots. What they put in their portfolio, you can put in yours.

5. Food
It’s not just recipe books that need images of tasty dishes, foody websites need them and so do some restaurant menus and any diner that markets itself. Snap away, then tuck in.

6. Corporate Executives
It’s not enough for company bosses to do the job, they have to be seen to do the job too. Shooting powerful people is a unique form of portraiture that brings a special challenge… and a special rate too.

7. News
You don’t have to be a staff reporter to get your picture in the press. Many outlets these days use stringers and accept freelance shots. Hit the phones, then hit the streets.

8. Inventory Items For Insurance Companies
Snapping people’s sofas might not be the most thrilling shoots you’ll ever have but it could be among the highest-paying. Talk to an agent.

9. Cars
Showrooms need them and so do auto magazines, workshops and even private dealers. And when the object’s a thing of beauty, taking car photos can be a lot of fun.

10. Annual Reports
Annual reports are one of the biggest markets for photography agencies. The bosses of the companies behind them can be a huge market for you too.

11. Celebrities
There’s always a market for a photo of a star, especially if they’re doing something they shouldn’t. But you can hang around red carpets too. Get a great shot and the papers will buy it.

12. Product Shots
Companies bring out new products all the time. That means they need new pictures all the time. And by a lucky coincidence, photographers need to eat all the time too.

13. Weddings
The bread and butter of any professional photography business. Rates are reasonable, demand is constant and the food makes a nice bonus.

14. High School Photos
Hundreds of people crammed in one space all waiting for you take their pictures… and often paying in advance. It doesn’t get any better than that.

15. Real Estate
When a house is selling for a million-plus, what agent isn’t going to pay a few hundred dollars for pictures that bring in prospects?

16. Bar Mitzvahs
Weddings might be the bread and butter of the photography industry but photographers don’t live on bread alone. There are plenty of other events that photographers can shoot, including bar mitzvahs…

17. Christenings
…christenings, birthdays, anniversaries and lots of other things besides. If an event happens once in a lifetime, people will want it recorded.

18. Children
Children grow up fast so parents want those youthful moments frozen before they’re gone forever. The market is huge and the marketing is easy. Just get your ads around playgrounds and day-care centers.

19. Fashion
Yes, fashion magazines will pay nice sums for runway shots and center spreads, but clothes stores issue catalogs too… and they’re easier to sell to.

20. Exotic Locations
Photography sites are filled with images of beautiful sunsets and golden beaches. What they lack are rainforests and Saharan sandscapes. If you’ve been somewhere strange, your camera could pay for the trip.

21. Exotic Animals
And while you’re there, don’t forget to shoot the wildlife. Finding pictures of sheep and dogs is easy. But good images of elephants, eagles and gorillas in the wild are hard to come by. If you’ve got some, you should be able to get stock sales at the very least.

22. Sports Competitions
There are all sorts of outlets for images of sports meets from the media to the family of the winner. It doesn’t have to be the Superbowl. It just happens to be an event you can attend.

23. Graduations
Completing any course is a big deal, and when they do it, people want their pictures taken. Whether it’s high school, university or beauty school, new graduates will pay you to shoot the start of their new lives.

24. Authors
Ever wondered who shoots the portraits that appear on the back of every book? That’s right… photographers. Get to know publishers and there’s a good chance you’ll get to shoot some writers.

25. Facebook Portraits
We’ve seen that daters and authors need good shots of their faces but Facebook has millions of members, many of whom use the site for business as well as pleasure. Add on LinkedIn, MySpace and everyone else, and you’ve got a huge potential market of people who want to be seen.

26. Money (And Other Stock Images)
There’s no end to the sorts of objects you can sell as stock. Piles of cash is one but just browse the top-sellers at microstock sites for other ideas.

27. Press Conferences
The photojournalist’s standard. Not the most exciting job in the world but an interesting challenge and one that’s often open to anyone who wants in.

28. Theater Performances
Actors need photos for auditions and theaters need images of the performances. Build contacts in the theater world and you should get plenty of encores.

29. Product Prototypes
Not every design gets turned into a product but every prototype needs photos to show potential businesses. Know any engineers?

30. Bands
Musicians have a huge appetite for photos: for album covers, for interviews and for websites, posters and t-shirts. Join up with a group and you might not get the groupies, but you will get plenty of work.

31. Demonstrations
Speech might be free but photography costs money. The media will pay for photos of demonstrations and the organizers often will too.

32. Art Exhibitions
There’s often a photographer at the opening of new art exhibitions, ready to show who was invited and who got to talk to the artist. Make sure you’re the one the artist hired.

33. Pregnancy
Demi Moore broke new ground by putting her extended tummy on a magazine cover. Now almost every pregnant woman wants her time in front of the lens. Any reason it shouldn’t be your lens?

34. New Babies
Do a good job with the pregnancy photos and you should be able to get the new baby photos too.

35. Confirmations
And if you’ve done the pregnancy photos, the new baby photos and the birthday photos, why not the confirmation photos too? Do you see how clients can stay with you for a lifetime?

36. Book Signings
Authors need photographers to put their faces on the back of books; bookstores need photographers to record their authors putting their names inside the books. Talk to the manager.

37. Pets
Pictures of your own pets are always hard to sell, but people will pay handsomely for pictures of their pets. Do work with children and animals!

38. Publicity Events
Grand openings, charity giveaways, competitions and every other kind of publicity event is useless if a photographer isn’t there to record it. Talk to a PR firm.

39. Parades
Bright costumes, big smiles, candy-covered children… there’s plenty for a photographer to shoot when a parade is in town and plenty of people to sell the pictures to, including participants, newspapers and organizers.

40. Festivals
And the same is true of festivals — except that they tend to stand still, letting you shoot at your leisure and from any vantage point you want. The takers though are exactly the same.

41. Art Collections
Art collectors need their pieces documented for insurance companies but also to show friends, to create their own catalogs and to send for appraisal. And who knows, maybe a happy collector will buy your art too…

42. Auction Catalogs
Big auction companies depend on good catalogs for high bids. They even sell them for high prices. You’ll need good insurance but with sales held regularly, you’ll be a winner every time.

43. eBay Items
Of course, you don’t have to get friendly with Sotheby’s to shoot for auctions. Everyone’s on eBay and many of them lack the pictures that bring the sales. Now, there’s a market for photographers.

44. Halloween Parties
When it’s time for a monster party, people spend hours preparing costumes only to be shot with a cheap flash. Find the big bashes and offer to document the outfits.

45. Award Ceremonies
Sure, it would be nice to be official photographer to the Oscars, but there are plenty of industry awards given each year. They pay too.

46. Conferences
Conferences are as much about networking as listening to speeches. What better way to remember who was there — and what they look like — than have a photographer on hand? Make a pitch.

47. Fundraisers
If someone’s paying a lot of money to attend a fundraiser, the organizers should be willing to pay you a little to give the donors a memento. Call a charity and work for a profit.

Photo credit: Ricky Artigas (http://www.flickr.com/photos/ricky_artigas/)

It was the Holy week vacation when we went to the sand dunes of Ilocos Norte. The sand dunes or also called La Paz sand dunes is in Laoag, Ilocos Norte. Around 15 minute drive from where we were staying ( Fort Ilocandia ). The 4×4 jeeps can be rented from some local enthusiasts (call Wilford Cua at +63918 4778877) there for around PHp3500.00. That includes rental of a board if you want to go sand-boarding (don’t forget to wear pants!) and an All-Terrain-Vehicle (ATV).

With its dramatic landscape, the La Paz Sand Dunes was used as a location for the local movies Himala and Panday and for segments of the Hollywood films Mad Max and Born on the Fourth of July.

You will be required to appear personally for your photo and thumb prints so be prepared to spend 2.5 hours at the DFA.