Luchesi

23/11/2023

Evening Blooms: A Philippine Jasmine poised to unfurl its delicate fragrant petals.

This is a recent personal submission that has been approved by the Unsplash community.

It's FREE to use and you can download a high-resolution copy by visiting this link: unsplash.com/

Enjoy! 😊

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08/11/2023

Honoring the strength and solidarity forged on the occasion of Typhoon Yolanda's 10th anniversary. 🕊️

👉 Check out the full tweet here:
twitter.com/EarthUncutTV/status/1722030661848940566

02/11/2023

I find it fascinating how our existence threads through the lives of many ancestors across generations in the past hundreds and thousands of years! This All Soul's Day, we honor their enduring legacy, their stories, and their resilience and we are grateful for their part in shaping who we are today. Thank you, ancestors! 🕯🕇💐

31/10/2023

"Camouflaged in canopies of yesterday’s leaves,
the garden I cannot tend.
I was young & fresh, with no fear of thorns.
Now, the sting haunts me & I dare not gaze back
thru rose-tinted glasses
for fear of shattering.
Poisoned by things I thought fine to swallow."

Written by: Violadawnauthor | Seen on X

Image: Rose of Haunts filter, Spooky Stories theme on
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12/10/2023

In the news these days is Israel's ongoing conflict with Hamas, accompanied by distressing video clips circulating on social media. For those of us who have never set foot in the region, it can be challenging to truly grasp the daily reality of this longstanding tension. Drew Binsky, a prominent social media personality of Jewish heritage, provided a valuable perspective when he visited Jerusalem in 2017.

07/09/2023

Wow, Mexico! This is seriously giving me some Queen of the South vibes. Who will be the country's president in 2024, Senator Xóchitl Gálvez or Mexico City Mayor Claudia Sheinbaum? 🇲🇽

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29/08/2023

- Britain's National Air Traffic Service was hit by a technical glitch for several hours yesterday (28th August), causing widespread disruption to flights. Reports say this would continue for some time despite the issue now being fixed.

Remember how the Philippines' air traffic control system ran into problems too this 2023 and in the last 2 mercury retrogrades at that? Perhaps the tech cosmos decided to play a little game once more. Nonetheless, safety remains our compass. 🛰️✨

Here's the official word from NATS (🎥 twitter.com/NATS):

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18/08/2023

UPDATE: Spain won its first title, holding off England 1-0 after Olga Carmona's first-half goal. Bravo España! ⚽️💪🇪🇸
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Exciting moments ahead as Spain and England gear up to face off in the Women's World Cup 2023 finals on 20th August (Sunday)! 🇪🇸⚔️🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿

Admittedly, the energy drain from the Men's World Cup in November-2022 left me a bit out of touch with this one. But if history has taught us anything, it's that the group stage and quarterfinal upsets are just the beginning.

In the end, it's the unyielding strength and teamwork that define the true champions. Can't wait to see who emerges victorious! 🙌⚽

📸: Amelia Lopez (Twitter)

10/08/2023

- The last week of July saw me purchasing an Android phone. 📱✨ Right thereafter, took my annual leave to unwind, explore and be with the fam. Life was a whirlwind of fun and travel, leaving me out of the loop with everything - except for those important weather updates, of course! ☔🌞

Now, back to reality and my daily grind, I thought of adding Twitter to my new gadget. Imagine my surprise when I found out that the familiar blue bird was nowhere to be seen on the Google Playstore. Instead, "X" marks the spot now!

Have you adapted and embraced this change?

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05/07/2023

: "If you are on social media, and you are not learning, not laughing, not being inspired or not networking, then you are using it wrong." ― Germany Kent

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15/06/2023

Back in 2016 while working the socials of Mexican restaurant clients in Colorado, we would often roll promotions during Broncos' games. There hardly was any room to appreciate the Denver Nuggets.

Little did we know, the basketball gods had a different plan in store! The Nuggets have risen from the shadows and claimed a spot in the annals of sporting greatness!

I join in celebrating the Nuggets' hard-earned victory! They remind us that every team, no matter how overlooked, possesses the potential for extraordinary achievements! 🏆

Denver Nuggets 🔨, we salute your remarkable transformation!

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YOUR DENVER NUGGETS ARE THE 2023 NBA CHAMPIONS 🏆

19/05/2023

I've been waging a battle against some uninvited guests in my little green haven - carpenter bees! 🐝 It seems they have decided to turn our tranquil terrace into their own construction zone. They've been boring these perfect little holes into the wooden beams.

So, I sought help on bee-banishing strategies from ChatGPT. I was curious about what it had to say. 💡

ChatGPT stressed that like other bees, carpenter bees also play an important role in pollination.🌸 Yes, they might be causing a buzz with the wooden beams but they also contribute to our ecosystem's beauty and vitality.

As ChatGPT suggested, I should be using non-toxic deterrents like citrus peels and certain essential oils. With 2023 tomorrow (May 20th), I guess I'll have to think of ways to coexist with this kind of bee. I'll probably also look at planting more bee-attracting flowers. Harmony with nature is the key. 🌼🏡

So, here's to celebrating World Bee Day 2023 by appreciating bees' valuable role in our ecosystem, even those cheeky carpenter bees! 🎉

Share your bee-saving stories below and let's create a buzz together! 🐝💚

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10/05/2023

Geoffrey Hinton, the Godfather of AI, says AI is getting scary. Referring to the new generation of large language models (LLMs) like OpenAI’s GPT-4, he says they are a lot more advanced than what he had imagined.

“These things are totally different from us,” he told MIT Technology Review. “Sometimes I think it’s as if aliens had landed and people haven’t realized because they speak very good English.”
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We've seen it time and again --- while technology has the potential to be incredibly useful in various applications (language translation, writing assistance, etc.), there are also concerns about its potential misuse. Creating awareness, ongoing research, and discussions about the ethical use of large language models are necessary to ensure that they are used in a way that benefits society as a whole.

02/05/2023

Hey! I just wanted to share a personal win. Recently, I found out that my work on Unsplash was featured on Buzzfeed and Trello! I wish I have a way of knowing which pics tho.

For those who don't know, Unsplash is a platform that provides free high-resolution photos for use by anyone. As a wanna-be photographer, I'm happy to contribute to this platform. Having my work recognized is always a great feeling. It's a small win, but it means a lot to me.

I'm inviting you to check out my Unsplash profile. You may have use for a photograph or two, or find something useful from other contributors: https://unsplash.com/

While you're at it, share your own personal wins with me! Let's celebrate and support each other in our achievements, big or small.

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26/04/2023

| If ever machines take over the world someday, it's probably because they're so "open to learning".

I was with Open AI's ChatGPT earlier today and asked it for the hit songs of 2006. I wanted to validate the contents of a clip I found. ChatGPT listed Rihanna's "Umbrella" instead of "Unfaithful" --- the clip I found contained the latter. So I asked it to check that bit.

What do you know? It replied that I was absolutely right and even apologized for the error. So does that mean, I've taught it something? 🤓

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19/04/2023

- The "Echidna" | Came across a reference to the in my reading. It's a unique Australian creature - an egg-laying mammal who took its own unique evolutionary path; with interesting protective qualities: thorny spines and the ability to burrow deep in the ground.

🎥: Hoa Nguyen (Twitter)
twitter.com/HoaNguy01811981

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12/04/2023

- "Tiny Beautiful Things" | This new TV series on Hulu is based on Cheryl Strayed's bestselling book of the same title. It follows a woman who reluctantly becomes Dear Sugar; an anonymous and revered advice columnist, even when her own life is falling apart. This exchange from Season 1, Episode 3 hits a bone!
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Dear Sugar,

For people out there who aren't lucky enough to just know, how do you decide whether or not to have kids? I'm 41, I love my life, and I don't really want to give it up. I'm a guy who is happy without kids. But I also could be really happy with kids. I've always pictured myself as a father someday. But now, someday's here. And, uh, I don't feel ready. Can you help me, Sugar?

Signed, Undecided.
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Dear Undecided,

Every life has a sister-ship. A ship that follows the path we could have taken but didn't. On that ship is the person we would've been if we had taken that phantom path, and that person lives a different phantom life than the one you're living now.

So the question is: who do you intend to be?

You believe you could be happy in any scenario, becoming a parent or remaining childless. And you wrote because you want clarity, but there won't be any. At least not yet. There will only be the choice you make and the sure knowledge that that choice, any choice, will contain some loss.

So get out a pen and paper, and make a list. Write down everything you know about your real life and everything that you imagine - about your future life. One is the life you'll have and the other is the sister-life you won't. And you get to decide what to do.

There are certain things I wouldn't know until I became a mom. And certain things I will never know because I became one. Who would I have been without my child the last 16 years? Who would I have met if I had traveled to the corners of the Earth? And where would that have taken me?

I just know the clarity that I'd longed for happened when I held my daughter's body against mine. And in that moment, one life ended and another began. I'll never know the life I didn't choose. And neither will you.

We'll only know that whatever that sister-life was, it was important and beautiful. And not ours. It was the ghost ship that didn't carry us. There is nothing to do but salute her from the shore.

Yours,
Sugar

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05/04/2023

Things are always cooking on Twitter! On April 3rd, users noted that the blue bird logo on its homepage and the loading screen has been replaced with the Shiba Inu (a Japanese dog breed) image associated with Dogecoin. Is this just temporary, I wonder? If it has a sense of permanency, would posts still be called "tweets"? 🤔

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29/03/2023

Yes, the landscape has changed quite significantly particularly if you're in marketing. I'm on Instagram, TikTok and Twitter but no, I haven't heard of "Peanut". Did she say, Peanut?

Did a search and found out there's a Peanut app! Founded in 2017, it's a social networking app for women. It initially found traction connecting women in the earlier stages of their motherhood journey. The network has expanded to support women through other life stages.

How about that, there's always something new to learn --- and join. 🤓

🎥: Sex/Life on Netflix | S2 E3 "Seasons of Love"

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22/03/2023

March 22, 2023 (Wed.) | A colleague based in Bali, Indonesia introduced me to "Nyepi", a Hindu holiday Bali is observing today.

On Nyepi, the whole island shuts down for 24 hours. There is no TV, radio or internet. The streets are off-limits to everyone. The people keep to their houses, villas, or hotels. Even the airport closes for a full day. Planes are rerouted above so as to not disturb the silence below.

This occasion always falls on the day following the dark moon of the spring equinox. It marks the start of a New Year – a day to cleanse the island from the previous year’s misdoings and bad omens, hence establishing a pure and positive year ahead.

It's a very interesting and unique tradition. As my colleague said, it goes naturally with the rhythm of nature and the universe. Personally, I wish Silence Day was a global event.

📸: Photo by Irfan Maulidi on Unsplash
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15/03/2023

Toblerone is one of the most popular chocolates around, agree? I'm partial to its fruit and nut version myself. But have you heard? Toblerone will be removing the Matterhorn (a mountain of the Swiss Alps and a renowned emblem of Switzerland) from its packaging.

Why? Because the company will be moving some production to Slovakia later in 2023. Hence, it will no longer be “Swiss enough” to be called “Swiss milk chocolate” or display recognized Swiss emblems such as the Matterhorn.

Since 2017, Switzerland’s “Swissness” law has protected the prestige and reputation of products claiming an association with Switzerland by requiring certain origin criteria, i.e. 100% domestic production.

Going forward, Toblerone packages will no longer show the Matterhorn image but a stylized and generic mountain, and it will only read “Established in Switzerland in 1908”.

That's our bit of international law for the day. 🤓

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06/03/2023

1) BRP - Barko ng Republika ng Pilipinas
2) USS - United States Ship
3) RFS - Russian Federation Ship

Let's keep the list going. Add more ship 🚢 prefixes that you know in the comments below.

23/02/2023

Happy Birthday to a favorite actress - Emily Blunt! 🎉
Her acting skills are top-notch, and her sense of humor is one of the things that makes her really attractive.

20/02/2023

- Susan Wojcicki, was previously senior vice president for ad products at Google and became the CEO of YouTube in 2014. She will be replaced by her deputy Neal Mohan, a senior advertising and product executive who joined Google in 2008.

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17/02/2023

Happy Birthday Ed Sheeran! Here's to another year of making beautiful music! 🎉🎂🎈

13/02/2023

Love is a verb - show, give, and celebrate love.
Happy Valentine's Day Facebook folks!

13/02/2023

- PsyOps or extra-terrestrial activities?

There have been unusual activities happening over Northern America's skies lately:

- A suspected Chinese spy balloon was seen floating over the US and was shot down on February 4th off the coast of South Carolina. China said it was a weather instrument blown way off course.

- A US fighter aircraft shot down an object threatening airspace over Alaska on Friday (February 10th). The object, reportedly, was flying at an altitude of 40,000 feet and posed a reasonable threat to the safety of civilian flight.

- Another UFO was spotted and shot down in the Northern Canadian territory of Yukon, on February 11th (Saturday).

- A F-16 fighter jet downed an octagon-shaped object over Lake Huron at an altitude of 20,000 feet, on February 12th (Sunday).

What is actually going on? Does the US government know more than they’re telling, or are folks dangerously unaware? What do you think? 🛸👽🤔

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09/02/2023

Happy Birthday to the one and only ✨TOM HIDDLESTON✨!!!

🎥: tmclupin (Twitter)

07/02/2023

We celebrate each life rescued from the rubble of collapsed buildings, an aftermath of the massive earthquakes that shook southern Turkey and northern Syria. This video shows the rescue of a young girl in Syria.

Video credit: raedphotography1/TikTok

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06/02/2023

It's the only song in the 2023 Grammys that I can quickly recall (particularly the rap portion). Then, she dedicated her win to Prince! 💜 Congratulations Lizzo! 👏

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“"About damn time" - accepts the award for record of the year”

25/01/2023

for the Gallant SAF 44

With Presidential Proclamation No.164, President Rodrigo Roa Duterte in 2017, proclaimed every 25th of January as the “National Day of Remembrance for the Gallant SAF 44” to remind fellow Filipinos of the heroism of the SAF 44 and the daily sacrifices of the uniformed servicemen for the continued peace and security of the Philippines.

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19/01/2023

This was a shocker! New Zealand prime minister Jacinda Ardern is stepping down after nearly six years of leadership. I thought of her as a political rock star but in her speech, she said: "I no longer have enough in the tank to do it justice. It’s that simple. ”

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12/01/2023

🔖 Today, January 12, is:

- the anniversary of the 2020 eruption of Taal Volcano (Philippines)

- when a massive 7.0 magnitude earthquake devastated Haiti in 2010

- when the US Congress voted to send troops to expel Iraq from Kuwait in 1991

- the death anniversary of famous English author Agatha Christie (1976)

- and the birthday of Amazon Founder Jeff Bezos (1964).

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10/01/2023

I think this is also why some of us get the joke faster than others or at times, we don't find a joke funny at all. 🤓

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