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[Last entry: "Easter Sunday"] | THIS WEEK | [Next entry: "Sci-fi weekend."]
April 01: Actor Rico Yan's death was due to bangungot, the scientific explanation being hemorrhagic pancreatitis resulting to cardiac arrest. Also known as "nightmare death", Filipinos attribute the syndrome to going to bed right after a heavy meal but according to research, nutritional problems, congenital defects in the heart, and stress may all be co-factors that contribute to the sudden deaths. Incidentally, Arnold has it that bangungot is exclusive to Southeast Asian males. A former schoolmate met the same fate years ago, as many others who were not as famous as Yan have, but even then bangungot has always been regarded as a folk myth all these years because there really hasn't been any good information campaign on it*. *Ahh, my crystal ball tells me that any one of the award-crazy local ad agencies will capitalize on the situation and at least one full blown 'bangungot campaign' will come out within the year. (I was in the biz long enough to know how their brains work.) Well it's a win-win situation anyway: both audience and advertiser will benefit.
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