A Shocking Tribal Feast

-
The Igorots of The Philippines. Before you condemn me for the contents of this post, remember that what is abhorrent or not permissible in one culture may be the norm in another culture. These people are doing what they have been doing for hundreds of years. Until the early 70s there were still instances of Igorots practicing  headhunting on their enemies. Throughout their history , they were indomitable - neither the Spanish, the Japanese (WWII) nor the Americans could subdue them. Only Christianity was able to change their way of living.
 They eat what they eat to survive. Not for culinary pleasure.
The photos here are from a farewell party held by an Igorot family living in the Cordillera Mountains of Luzon Island, The Philippines, for a member of their family going to Singapore to work (for me). A rare and great occasion for the tribe. The woman going abroad is the daughter of the tribe's Chieftain. So it was a grand occasion. The tribe members came from far corners of the Cordilleras, walking for up to a day over the mountains. Some of the tribe members are still not fully clothed . 
The menu: This is the shocking part. Two whole Cow's head were cooked, as well as a Goat, and a Black dog skewered on a spit and roasted over an open wood fire. There was also meat from a Monitor Lizard. All parts of the animals were eaten, intestines, heart, brain, tongue, ears, snout etc.
Did I eat the dog? Of course not. But yes, I tasted the Cow's head, the Goat's brain and the Monitor Lizard"s tongue.
Like the Sioux tribes of Native Americans, the Igorots are a Nation of 7 major tribes: Apayao, Itneg, Ibaloi, Bontoc, Kalinga, Kakanaey, Ifugao.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Spot Silver Forecast for 27 Oct to 21 Nov 2025

-
Image
 A big Thank You to EODHD.com for the data without which this post could not have been written. The Close of Silver (XAGUSD) as of Friday 24 Oct 2025 is 48.62.The 21 business days ahead forecast for spot investment grade Silver bullion is summarized thus:  10% chance of going below 48.32 50% chance of being 54.33 10% chance of being above 60.80 Methodology We prefer to apply probabilistic quantile forecasting due to the highly unstable situation as the MAGA Man keeps changing his policies almost daily, and even just the words he uses generates  asymetric shocks to the model that renders straight forecasts useless.  Model input variables:  10yr Treasury yield US Dollar Index Spot Gold price S&P500 US Unemployment Rate Methodology Methodology summary (plain-language bullets) Data we used Daily end-of-day prices from EODHD for Silver (XAGUSD) and Gold (XAUUSD). Macro/market context series (Dollar Index, 10-year Treasury yield, S&P 500, unemployment). We rei...
Read more

Markov Regime Switching Model for Risk‑On/Risk‑Off Dashboards of Stock Indices

-
Image
Knowing the market’s current risk state is foundational for portfolio decisions. Basic Markov chain models are a good starting point, but they fall short on three realities of financial data. Using as case study China's CSI300 Index, here’s how our model resolves each one and delivers a robust, reproducible Risk‑On/Risk‑Off signal. 1) Beyond “memoryless”: markets have persistence and aging Problem: Standard Markov chains assume memorylessness—the next state depends only on the current state, not on how long we’ve been there. Markets don’t behave that way; regimes “age” and persistence changes with time. Our solution: We use a hidden semi‑Markov model (HSMM) with explicit duration modeling. Each regime has a duration distribution (e.g., Negative Binomial), and transitions are allowed to depend on time spent in the state. This breaks the memoryless assumption, curbs flicker, and captures realistic regime persistence. 2) Heavy‑tailed, skewed returns are the norm—not Gaussian Problem: ...
Read more