If you're in the States

Don't forget to put your clocks back one hour - we already did that in Europe last week, so you can do it as well. Trust me, you can.

A 78-piece set of cutlery

Was removed from a woman's stomach, according to The Sun newspaper. Not one of my regular sources of information (their claim to fame is a bare-chested lady on page three). However, the woman who was the subject of the newsitem in the Sun had been swallowing forks and spoons, so had to go under the knife (sigh, I know) to have them removed. It appears she was suffering from a psychological disorder.

A year ago today

All our blogs were being erased from AOL's servers. A few days ago, Yahoo closed down their Geocities websites, but at least they were being archived. Our journals were summarily deleted. Why they could not just be archived as well is beyond me. The result has been a depletion of regular bloggers, if only because a large number of us have moved on to Facebook and a few to Twitter. Others have simply stopped blogging. A great shame, and very poor customer service from AOL.

Anyway, let's not look back in anger, and move forward.

Tomorrow is All Hallows, when we remember those that went before us. Let us keep in thought those who are trying to come to terms with a loss of a loved one, whether this be recently or in the more distant past.

Saturday 31 October

Happy Halloween to all who celebrate. Please keep it nice.

Typhoon Mirinae has barged through the Philippines, and has left 10 people dead in Quezon Province. The storm is currently headed west, away from the archipelago, and will reach Vietnam in a few days' time. Mirinae is the 4th typhoon to hit the Philippines within 2 months. As you know, I monitor tropical cyclones closely. My relays on the Tropical Cyclones blog make for dreary reading, and hide the impact such systems have on people on the ground. The Philippines are squarely in the firing line, and flooding is always the most severe impact that typhoons have there. The website of the Philippine National Disaster Coordinating Committee, which yielded the above casualty figures, reveals what actually happened.

This entry is dedicated to the memory of
Sarah Mae Vargas and Rodrigo Rodriguez, Camarines Norte; hypothermia
- Louie Alano, Catanduanes; Hypothermia
- Flora Estacion, Camarines Norte; Drowning
- Tirso Ramos, Cavite; fell from roof
- Edsel Laviña and Roderico Cabardo, Laguna; drowned
- Marge Taiño and Julieta Zagure, Laguna; pinned under collapsed wall
- Edwin Capayas, Quezon; drowned