Untwisted Vortex - Living in a Different Land

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Who was the 27th President of the United States?

William Howard Taft The answer to the question, "Who was the 27th President of the United States?" is, of course, William Howard Taft. After doing a cursory search, because my memory isn't what it used to be, I stumbled upon a website that listed Woodrow Wilson as the 27th President. It irked me so much, I had to investigate.

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Japanese Rice Cookers in the Philippines

rice cooker I have a rice cooker in my kitchen, one of many handy kitchen gadgets, that looks very similar to that in the picture. It's the same brand (Zojirushi), but the difference is there's a cradle on the left side for the serving spoon. When I and my wife moved to the Philippines in 2006, we brought our rice cooker with us, so it uses 110 volts instead of the Filipino standard of 220 volts.

When we bought our first electric rice cooker years ago, I joked that my wife was my little Filipino rice cooker and I didn't need an electric one (kind of like being my dishwasher). She wasn't amused and I received a swift kick for that remark.

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Videoke is the Karaoke of the Philippines

WOW Magic Sing Whether you know the difference between videoke and karaoke is only important when used in the context of a discussion. "Videoke" actually means video karaoke and is a contrived combination word, used primarily in the Philippines.

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My Custom Kitchen — Cabinets, Cupboards, Counters and Electricity

modern kitchen The little picture to the left depicts a modern kitchen in a Western home. Unlike the picture, my custom kitchen isn't a modern kitchen. It resembles a modern kitchen, but that's as far as I would go with the word "modern".

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Living in the Philippines

Philippines I was going to start by giving a brief history of the Philippines, but I decided against it. The best way to learn about the Philippines is to read the Wikipedia article on the Philippines. What I'm going to do is to relate some of my own history and thoughts about the Philippines. Please be forewarned, if you're a regular reader, that I've deleted some old articles and recycled some of the information into this one.

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