Shall we expect a Senate hearing on this?
This is what many netizens have been asking a few months after several nude photos of someone alleged to be celebrity Maui Taylor [real name Maureen Anne Rodriguez Taylor] was leaked on the internet.
The photos, which actually emerged at the height of the Hayden Kho-Katrina Halili scandal, didn't exactly come as a surprise to many given that Taylor has been photographed in the nude as a model and 'bold' actress.
However, the photos didn't seem like publicity stills for an unreleased movie nor pictorial outtakes for a magazine. Grainy and dark, it shows the subject's private parts covered in a whitish, creamy substance akin to shaving cream.
Some of the photos were taken while the subject was asleep, while others show her preening for the camera. One photo even had the subject engaging in oral sex.
Although Taylor had denied the alleged pictures were hers---she even commented on the girl's tattooed and collagen-enhanced breasts as "different" from hers-the pictures have become even more popular of late when rumors came out that Bryan Revilla, son of Sen. Ramon 'Bong' Revilla was the one who took the pictures.
A 'sex video' between the two is now among the hottest topics among netizens.
Taylor and the young Revilla had a brief relationship from years back.
In 2006, Taylor admitted to having made a "private sex video" with Revilla in the radio program "Good Times with DJ Mo." She was quoted to have said that she was confident the video won't reach the public because it's not in Bryan's "character" to wash dirty linen in public---especially if it's his.
Early this week, Taylor reiterated her denial of the photos to writer Dolly Anne Carvajal saying, "I know for sure that Bryan never took nude pics of me."
It was Sen. Revilla who blew the lid on the Kho-Halili sex video scandal. Now, people are asking if he would be as daring in this case, knowing that his son is involved.
Just this May, Taylor was embroiled in a legal brouhaha in Cebu concerning a supposedly "scandalous performance".
Governor Gwen Garcia charged Taylor, along with Jennifer Lee and Paolo Paraiso, for violating Provincial Ordinance 2005-18 or the Women Development Code of Cebu Province, which states that any person or agency that engages in shows depicting women as sex objects in private or in public places for commercial or under scandalous circumstances shall violate women's rights.
The accused entertainers are contesting the charges.
ROME – Scientists have reproduced the Shroud of Turin _ revered as the cloth that covered Jesus in the tomb _ and say the experiment proves the relic was man-made, a group of Italian debunkers claimed Monday.
The shroud bears the figure of a crucified man, complete with blood seeping out of nailed hands and feet, and believers say Christ's image was recorded on the linen fibers at the time of his resurrection.
Scientists have reproduced the shroud using materials and methods that were available in the 14th century, the Italian Committee for Checking Claims on the Paranormal said.
The group said in a statement this is further evidence the shroud is a medieval forgery. In 1988, scientists used radiocarbon dating to determine it was made in the 13th or 14th century.
But the dispute continued because experts couldn't explain how the faint brown discoloration was produced, imprinting on the cloth a negative image centuries before the invention of photography.
Many still believe that the shroud "has unexplainable characteristics that cannot be reproduced by human means," lead scientist Luigi Garlaschelli said in the statement. "The result obtained clearly indicates that this could be done with the use of inexpensive materials and with a quite simple procedure."
The research was funded by the debunking group and by an Italian organization of atheists and agnostics, he said.
Garlaschelli, a professor of chemistry at the University of Pavia, said in an interview with La Repubblica daily that his team used a linen woven with the same technique as the shroud and artificially aged by heating it in an oven and washing it with water.
The cloth was then placed on a student, who wore a mask to reproduce the face, and rubbed with red ochre, a well known pigment at the time. The entire process took a week, Repubblica said.
The shroud is first recorded in history around 1360 in the hands of a French knight _ a late appearance that is one of the reasons why some scientists are skeptical of its authenticity.
Measuring 13 feet (4 meters) long and three feet (one meter) wide, it has suffered severe damage during the centuries, including from fires.
Owned by the Vatican, it is kept locked in a special protective chamber in Turin's cathedral and is rarely shown. The last public display was in 2000, when more than 1 million people turned up to see it, and the next is scheduled for 2010.
The Catholic Church makes no claims about the relic's authenticity, but says it is a powerful symbol of Christ's suffering.
The shroud has been strongly debated within the scientific community. Some researchers claim that patches used in the Middle Ages to repair the cloth after a fire altered the carbon-dating results.
Another study, by the Hebrew University, concluded that pollen and plant images on the shroud showed it originated in the area around Jerusalem sometime before the eighth century.
Garlaschelli told Repubblica he didn't think his research would convince those who have faith in the shroud's authenticity.
"They won't give up," he said. "Those who believe in it will continue to believe."
But still, whether it's a Fake or not what matter's most is the Faith within.
