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Arc de Triomphe (Paris, France) - a detailed study

May 12, 2016, 2:59 pm
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Dr Abe V Rotor
Author (left) with co-worker NFA Director Nestor Zamora, 1976
View of the Arc's vault 
 

 



Napoleonic Wars in four sections, occupying the two columns on the Eastern and Western fronts. Photos (bigger) at the left were taken by the author in 1976. Counterpart photos from the Internet)

Reliefs of the Battles of Alexandria (1778, and Austerlitz (1803)
 (From Internet)

Imposing view of the Arc de Triompe on Champs Elysee, now Place Charles de Gaulle 
 
Colorized aerial photo of the Arc, Southern side 1921 (Internet)
 
 
Aerial views of the Arc and its surroundings.
Tomb of the Unknown Soldier beneath the Arc.

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Test on Global Warming, True or False, 25 items

May 13, 2016, 6:19 am
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 Dr Abe V. Rotor

 Global Warming in acrylic by the author

Answers and rating are found at the end of the test.

1. Biofuels are healthy to the environment and economy especially in underdeveloped countries.

2. It is wise to store carbon waste such as from CO2 emission and coal waste deep into the earth; anyway fossil fuels have been kept in the bowels of the earth for millions of years.

3. Methane has higher impact in global warming than CO2 emission, which means that animal husbandry is a major generator of global heat.

4. Greenwashing is the practice of making environmental promises favoring hype over substance, a disparaging term usually applied to corporations such as automakers that tout new hybrids but still peddle gas-guzzling SUBS and lobby against increased-mileage requirement.

5. The ozone hole is getting bigger above the equator because of increasing heat while the ozone above the poles remains intact.

6. The hottest in household energy savings is the replacement of conventional incandescent light bulb with Compact Fluorescent Light bulb (CFL)

7. Compact Fluorescent Lightbulbs may cost 2 or 3 times more than conventional light bulbs but consume only one-fourth of electricity; besides they last very much longer.

8. Planting trees, scientists tell us, is not a wise measure to curb global warming, because trees absorb the heat of the sun.

9. It is the light of the sun – not its heat – that is used to covert water and CO2 during photosynthesis to produce sugar and O2.

10. The US alone contributes 50 percent of the total annual CO2 output which is 32 billion tons.

11. The ozone hole is getting bigger above the equator because of increasing heat while the ozone above the poles remains intact.

12. China’s economy has been growing steadily at an average rate of 10 percent in the last decade, thanks to its fast growing industrialization.

13. Today’s CO2 in the atmosphere which is 379 ppm in 2005 is higher than anytime in the past 650,000 years.

14. Of the 12 warmest years on record, 11 occurred in the last 20 years, mainly from 1995 to 2004.

15. There is a new law in Japan that at least 20 percent of rooftops of buildings are made green in the like of a high rise garden – similar to what we can aeroponics.

16. Total water on earth as ice and glacier is around 2 percent.

17. Chlorine, methane, ammonia, hydrogen sulfide contribute to acid rain. Acid rain and global warming have no connection to each other.

18. Asia is the last region to clean up its cities – Orientals are not as meticulously clean as Americans and Europeans.


19. It is now accepted unanimously that industrialization is the culprit of global warming.

20. Global warming has something to do with the disturbance of the tectonic plates leading to more frequent and stronger earthquakes, tsunamis and volcanic eruption.

21. The effects of global warming are the concern of governments and big corporations because they have the power and resources to curb its effect. We, ordinary citizens, are but by-standers, but we should be willing to abide by the rules they set.

22. Penguins and white bears are drowning in the Arctic region because of the melting of ice.

23. Converting corn into ethanol requires more energy in the process than the net energy output/ produce.

24. The name Rachel Carson rings every time we talk about pollution, a subject in her book, “Silent Spring”.

25. An Inconvenient Truth is based on Earth in the Balance: Ecology and the Human Spirit , an international bestseller written by Al Gore, former vice president of the US.

Global Warming Posters (From The Internet)





ANSWERS:1F (competition with food and nutrition),1T, 2F, 3T, 4T, 5F, 6T, 7T, 8F, 9T, 10F (one-fourth, 11T, 12T, 13T, 14T, 15T, 16T - 1.90. Of the total freshwater (2 %), glacier and ice make up 78.19 %, 20.58 %groundwater, and 0.82% rivers and lakes, soil 0.41%; 17F, 18F, 19F (There are doubting Thomases.), 20T, 21F (It's a concern of every citizen of the world.), 22F(Penguins are found at the Antarctic), 23T(We have yet to perfect the technology; ethanol from sugarcane is more efficient.), 24T(Pesticides killed the birds that herald spring.), 25T.

RATING
24 – 25 outstanding
20 – 23 very good
16 – 19 good
12 – 15 pass
Below 11 - Listen more to Paaralang Bayan sa Himpapawid and research.
Posted by avrotor at 3:00 PM
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May 13, 2016, 12:21 pm
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 The Versatile Beetle - Source of Delightful Ideas
Dr Abe V Rotor

Male coconut beetle (Oryctes rhinoceros)sporting three
sharp, elongated horns like the Triceratops, hence it is
commonly referred to as rhinoceros beetle.

Beetles comprise nearly a quarter of all the described species on Earth. Over 350,000 species are known worldwide. They are the most varied in size and shape, color and design, and many species are grotesque, they can pass for aliens. There is virtually no place without beetles, and they can survive the passing of seasons by hibernation oraestivation in extreme cases.

But what is amazing is that the beetle is perhaps the most copied insect among inventors, architects, soldiers and school children. It is a source of other delightful ideas about food, games, art, love, and a lot more. Let's take these examples.
  • The famous Beetle - Volkwagen, and subsequent car models, are basically modeled as beetle-on-wheels.
  • The armored car and the war tank like the German Panzer, are built almost invincible to conventional weapons, and could negotiate rough terrains as the beetle does.
  • The dome of cathedrals (St Peter's basilica) and sports arena (Roman Colosseum, modern sports complex) are shaped like the ladybug or the tortoise beetle. The dome is the distinguishing structure of Baroque and Gothic churches designed for strength and function, as well as beauty.
  • The submarine, from its prototype Nautilus in Jules Verne's novel, Twenty Thousand Leagues under the Sea, to the U-Boat in World War II, are tough yet sleek like the beetle.
  • The fuselage of modern airplanes is as solid and compact as the body of the beetle. (Airbus, Boeing 747) that as many as 500 passengers can be accommodated. The adjustable nose of the Concorde was patterned after the beetle's telescopic body segments.
  • Which led to the invention of retractable ramp ways, telescopes, wall divisions, blinds, doors, hose and a hundred-and-one household and industrial articles.
  • Farm equipment (corn sheller, rice thresher, cone type rice mill) , and kitchenware (pressure cookers and ovens), owe their efficiency and durability to the structural design of the beetle.
  • Fighter planes such as the Stealth combined the aerodynamic features of beetles and lepidopterans (moths). So with racing cars.
  • The lining of furniture and cars is like the inner wings of the beetle (lower photo), while the tough cover of delicate instruments (watches, camera) are like the outer wings (elytra) of the beetle which are built to withstand shook, pressure and the elements.
  • The concept of the lighthouse came from the firefly, which is actually a beetle, so with the insect's mating signal. Blinkers of ships, tall buildings, airplanes, in war zone and camps, are traced to the blinking of the firefly.
  • Yet the efficiency of the firefly's lamp can never be equaled - not even with our most advanced lamps. The more intriguing fact is its bioluminescence, which is light emitted directly from a living body. How glow worms light the deep caves is still a mystery.
  • The Egyptians regarded the Scarabid beetle sacred to the level of worshiping it. The ladybug beetle is enshrined in children books, and idolized in cartoons and animaes.
    I still remember this beautiful stanza which tells us how the ladybug got black spots on its wings.
"Ladybug, ladybug,
Where have you been?
Your house is on fire,
And your children are in."
  • The most colorful insects second to the lepidopterans are beetles. While they can't produce sensible music but geek...geek...geek, or occasional clicking, a band named the Beatles have yet to be equaled in popularity. Though spelled differently the beetle-like hairdo of the band members is definitely a beetle-shape.
  • On the other hand, the beetle is associated with vice. Gladiator beetles are reared like fighting cocks in some parts of the world particularly in Asia. When we were children we played with June beetles in a tug-of-war contest and bet on them. Male stag beetles fight reminds us of the knights in armor in the Middle Ages.
  • The most dreadful thought about beetles is that they foretell of death. Actually it is the powder post beetle and the deathwatch beetle that this superstitious belief is alluded to. They bore tunnels in wood and in old furniture and in the silence of a dark night you can hear them knocking, sometimes grating like whispering. Their knocking is actually coded love call, and differs according to species and time of the year.
  • But what only few people know is that the beetle is nature's miner, such as the leaf miner of coconut. The powder post beetle (Anobium punctatum) tunnels into dead wood, bring out the debris to the tunnel's entrance just like what our miners do.
  • The beetles may hold the secret of man's quest for long life. Some furniture beetles can outlive their kindly host without being aware of their presence ensconced in unsuspecting tunnels almost invisible to the eye.
  • Now the ultimate scare. Beetle bury the dead! A whole carcass of a rodent would disappear overnight at the site of its death. Examine the soil down under. The carrion beetle is nature's gravedigger (sepulturero) - and joined by other insects, by bacteria and fungi, the cycle of converting the dead into its inorganic components is completed. Otherwise, the world would be one huge pile of dead bodies - and if not recycled, the world would be deprived of new life.
  • But the beetles are perhaps the ultimate model of dedication when it comes to love, and they are very passionate, too. Lovemaking may last for hours. The male dung beetle for one, makes a perfect ball out of animal dung much heavier and bigger compared to its size. The tedious task of taking it to a suitable mate begins, traversing a considerable distance. This swain offers his dowry to a would-be bride. She examines it. On approval, she accepts him, oviposits several eggs into it where her offspring will carry on the next generation.
  • Among the most loved exotic food come from the larvae of the beetle called grub. U-ok in felled logs is a giant grub of the long-horned beetle of kapok, two inches long, round and plump, full of "baby fat." It is gathered by local folks, roasted or steamed in banana leaves. Sauteed abal-abal (Ilk) or salagubang (Tag) - Leucopholis irrorata - is a delicacy among Ilocanos and in many parts of the world. They swarm in May and June at the onset of habagat or monsoon.
Yet this insect is perhaps the most notorious pest, causing unimaginable loss in crops, stored products, wood, fabric, chemicals - and even metals like lead, prompting man to defend himself against the very creature that gave him ideas of many inventions, and models of thoughts.

Overall, the beetle is the most endearing insect to man. They are great pollinators, without them we would not have enough flowers, fruits and vegetables. The living world will starve as well. They provide a major link in the food chain, without them ecosystems would collapse. And the firefly is the most beautiful insect - if not among other creatures - because it lifts man's awe and admiration next to the stars. ~

Female coconut beetle (Oryctes rhinocerus).

Beetles have two pairs of wings: the inner pair is designed for flying, while the outer wings are primarily to cover the soft abdomen and delicate wings. Beetles comprise the biggest order of insects - Coleoptera (Coleo - sheath, leathery; pteros - wings).

Living with Nature 3, AVR All Rights Reserved 2010
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A Wonderful World of Transition

May 14, 2016, 2:45 am
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A Wonderful World of Transition  
Babies to Toddlers 
Dr Abe V Rotor 
Living with Nature - School on Blog [avrotor.blogspot.com]
Paaralang Bayan sa Himpapawid (People's School-on-Air) with Ms Melly C Tenorio
738 DZRB AM Band, 8 to 9 evening class, Monday to Friday [www.pbs.gov.ph]
It's Dreamland, where fairies and gnomes roam 
in a garden, among flowers and butterflies;  
dwarves sitting on toadstool, nymphs singing,
Oh, how we all wish childhood never dies. 

  Mannequin is almost real in pictures and on TV screen; 
 let a child touch it to overcome the Thomasic syndrome, 
and to grow out early from fantasy into the real world,
 where innocence, like clay, is molded into its true form.      


Wonder why a honeybee visits the water;
why stars come down;
swim with wings, fly with fins don't matter,
stars and sun are one.    

 
 Fly on balloon into the sky;
no, you're not living in cartoon;
let time bring you to the real world, 
don't hurry up too soon. 

 Learn to eat and drink the grownups' way,
imitate Mommy, shh... don't cry; 
it's biological, like birdlings in their nest do 
until they have wings to fly.  
 
It's a boat
No, it's a ship; 
 it's a pool,
No, it's the sea
with your daddy.
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Giant Squid: Creature of the Deep

May 14, 2016, 3:40 am
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Dr Abe V Rotor
 Living with Nature - School on Blog [avrotor.blogspot.com]
Paaralang Bayan sa Himpapawid (People's School-on-Air) with Ms Melly C Tenorio
738 DZRB AM Band, 8 to 9 evening class, Monday to Friday [www.pbs.gov.ph]

   

Nearly six kilos, and 1.5 meters long, this giant squid was flushed out of the deep off the coast of Pasacao, Camarines Sur, following a mild earthquake that shook the area. It is one of several others,  some weighing more than ten kilos. Their tough and thick skin protects them from extreme pressure at hundreds of meters on the ocean floor where few creatures can tolerate. Here they prey on deep fish and marine organisms such as crustaceans and other mollusks.  They rid of the sea of aging and injured organisms as sharks do on the surface of the sea. 

In Jules Verne's novel, Twenty Thousand Leagues under the Sea, the giant sea monster is an octopus, so huge it nearly wrecked the prototype submarine Nautilus of Captain Nemo. High voltage electricity are applied to release the monster's crushing grip.

In John Steinbeck's less popular book, "Where have all the sardines gone?" there is a photo of a giant squid washed ashore along San Francisco, California.  From the looks of the B and W photograph the creature could weigh half a ton. This is not an isolated case; several specimens were caught or discovered as carcasses in many parts of the world. 

Just after the tsunami that occurred in the Indian Ocean in the early part of this century, my son Marlo and I saw two giant squids being sold in a wet market in Fairview, QC. They are twice bigger than the specimen shown in the photo. 

Indeed monsters lurk in the dark, deep ocean.  And considering the fact that the earth's surface is three-fourth ocean with an average depth of nearly four kilometers, plunging to more than twelve kilometers in Marianas and Philippine Deep, there are indeed countless of unimaginable monsters down there.  They continue to build legends that became part of mythology, fiction stories, and lately, scientific discoveries.~          
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Giant Lapu-lapu (Kugtong)

May 14, 2016, 3:42 am
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Dr Abe V Rotor
Living with Nature - School on Blog [avrotor.blogspot.com]
Paaralang Bayan sa Himpapawid (People's School-on-Air) with Ms Melly C Tenorio
738 DZRB AM Band, 8 to 9 evening class, Monday to Friday [www.pbs.gov.ph]

Isaw two giant lapu-lapu or kugtong in Sablayan Occidental Mindoro caught by local fishermen sometime in 1982. I had been hearing kugtong since childhood, a threat to fishermen and picnickers because it could swallow a whole human being, and here with my own eyes the kugtong in Lola Basiang’s story is true after all. 

So huge are these overgrown lapu-lapu that two men could hardly carry one of them with a bamboo pole on their shoulders. A third man had to lift its tail from the ground as they inched their way to a waiting vehicle. 

I examined the fish; its body is coarse and shaggy, covered with seaweeds and tiny mollusks, and had lost all semblance of the favorite lapulapu on our dining table. But this makes a perfect camouflage that suits the predatory habit of this benthic fish.

There is a story about a kugtong that lived under the old pier of San Fernando, La Union. For a long time the strange fish was feared by the residents and many animals around had mysteriously disappeared. Then the local fishermen decided to catch it with a big hook luring the fish with a live pig as bait. The fish took it and struggled until it was finally subdued. It was hauled by many men and if the story is accurate it took a six-by-six truck to transport it.

There are giants in the deep. After the tsunami in 2004 that hit the Indian Ocean, by coincidence I saw giant squids measuring 3 feet long being sold at the SM Fairview supermarket. I surmise that these were flushed out from their deep dwellings and landed in the fisherman’s net when the calamity struck. I remember the giant squid that almost sank Captain Nemo’s submarine in Jules Verne’s Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea.

This giant Lapu-lapu makes the rest of the catch minuscule to its huge size. (Internet photo) 

By the way, only the female lapu-lapu grows into a kugtong; the male remains small and becomes attached for life on the female's body. Also, there has been no authentic case reported about a kugtong swallowing a whole human being. The kugtong however zealously guards its territory from any trespasser. ~

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Angelus comes early

May 14, 2016, 9:56 am
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Dr Abe V Rotor

 
Sugar mill in Batangas 2015

Angelus comes early with the dying sun
       buried in the gloomy sky;
I hear prayer in dirge of a different tune -
       is mankind about to die?

I hear Mother Earth moaning, begging,
       to stop the carnage in pain;
stop the dark plumes, the devil wind,
       and the world going insane. ~
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A Night of Music in a Garden

May 14, 2016, 8:45 pm
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Dr Abe V Rotor

What makes a garden an ideal place for the relaxation may miss the eye. Beyond the beauty of flowers of diversity of life forms in its collections, and the comfort coolness it brings to a tired soul, there is still one more thing a nature lover must not miss: a night of a music, courtesy of nature’s miniature musicians.

I refer to these principle singers, the cricket (Acheta domesticus and gryllus sp.) and the long-horned grasshopper or katydid (Microcentrum rhombifolium), all belonging to a large group, order Orthoptera, which the grasshopper is a typical member. 

Long Horned Grasshopper or Katydid (Phaneroptera furcifera)

Since childhood I have always been fascinated by insect music. Stealthily, in many attempts, I tried to look for the singer; but no getting nearer to the source of the music.
The singer abruptly stopped. I learned later that these insects are ventriloquists and a slight turn of their wings or bodies would deceive the hunter, but not until finally succeeded in pinning down with a flashlight a Caruso in the middle of his performance.
He is well hidden behind a leaf, brown to black, compact and sturdy, nearly two inches long, with a long tail and a pair of antennae. His front wings are raised 45 degrees above his abdomen on which the hind wings are folded. This is the cricket’s fiddling position. Now he rubs the two leathery wings against each other in a back and forth motions, a process called stridulating, which inspired man to invent the violin. On closer examination the base of the front in lined with sharp edge, the scrapper, while the ventral side has a file like ridge, the file, which represents the bow of the violin.
And what about the stereoscopic sound effect? A pair of tympana, which are drum-like organs found at the base of the front tibia, are actually ears which, together with the raised wings, serve as resonator, sending the sound to as far as a mile away on a still night.

 Field Cricket (Acheta bimaculata)
 
 Now let us analyze the music produced or is it only a sound, mistaken for some music qualities? A sound produced by a single stroke called pulse. Each pulse is composed of a number of individual tooth strokes of the scraper and file. Pulse rate is from four to five per second, but on warm summer night the rate becomes faster; thus, cricket are not only watchdogs (they stop when they sense an intruder), they are also indicator of temperature – and perhaps the coming of bad weather. It is for these reasons, other than their music, that the Chinese and the Japanese love them as pets.

 The pulses of cricket are relatively musical; that is, they can usually be assigned a definite pitch, varying from 1,500 to 10,000 hertz, depending on the species. Those of the long-horned grasshopper or katydid are more noise like; that is, the contain a wide band of frequencies, including clicking and lapsing, and cannot be assigned to a definite pitch. The monotony of its sound must have led to the coining of the insect’s name, katydid-katydid-katydid…
There are three musical pieces the cricket play. Calling songs are clear crisp, and loud, which, of course, suit the intention when a female comes around and nudges the singing male, his music becomes soft and romantic, lasting for many minute to hours, and he forgets his role of warning of an intruder or telling coming of storm. Anyone who is love- struck is like that. But worse is yet to come all of a sudden, this vanguard falls silent as he takes the bride. And when another suitor is around, this valentine takes a fighting stance and sings the Bastille, songs designed for a battle.
I came across studies on insect music. I began to take interest, imitating it with the violin. It is impossible and the audiospectrogram tells why. These illustrations help us understand the content of the insect’s sound or music. Biologically, only the members of the same species understand one another. No two species can communicate vis-à-vis this auditory means. This is one area in development biology, which has not been fully explored. How did this mechanism of species communication evolve? With computers today, can it been explored as an alternative and safe means of controlling destructive species?
As the garden meets sunrise with fluttering butterflies, so does it enter the night with an array of concerto and orchestra music, and the garden becomes a place for meditation. I say that the music produced by this insect –whatever is its interpretation-is a sound of peace and a chant of praise for life itself. when the Paulinians have gone home and the office are closed, I usually spend hours waiting for my color-coding time at the SPCQ garden. The chores of the day vanish easily, and I find the evening so relaxing that I do not complain of the traffic on my way home.
The great Charles Darwin himself expressed his deep feelings for these nights musicians in his book, “Cricket at the Heart”. He said , I love it for the many times I have heardit, and the many thoughts its harmless music has given me.”

Carulos Linneaus was more affected by these insects. He kept them to send him to sleep. Japanese children delight in collecting them, as American children trap fireflies. Caged crickets are sold in shops. Haven’t I found a battery- operated caged cricket lately? Computer age! Poet David McCord laments, “ The cricket’s gone. We only hear machinery.”
As for me, I still find peace with these humble companions in the night. ~
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Lawin (Philippine Hawk) is alive on a backboard

May 15, 2016, 1:13 am
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 Dr Abe V Rotor
Lawin (Philippine Hawk} in acrylic on basketball backboard (48" x 36"). 

I captured in painting this raptor on a backboard,
his wings spread and poised to play the game
with the kids, symbol of reverence for life,
and love for all creation, the principal aim.

I hear the kids amiably talking to the bird
in a language they understand each other;
the bird is orphan no more in their game
with every score in his favor and honor.~

Note: Now and then, a couple or a family of lawin, hovers over Lagro to the delight of its residents to watch this endangered species in full view.  The habitat of lawin is the watershed of the La Mesa reservoir adjacent to the subdivision. It is to this bird that the emblem of a neighborhood basketball team is adapted, thus creating awareness of the bird's present condition and importance.  
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Lighting up the Workplace Increases Efficiency

May 15, 2016, 3:15 pm
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In Memory of the late Secretary Arturo Tanco, Department of Agriculture (ca. 1971-75). This is one of his favorite motivating anecdotes on the importance of "bridging the gap" between management and workers in an industry, or any organization for that matter.  

Dr Abe V Rotor
Living with Nature - School on Blog
Paaralang Bayan sa Himpapawid with Ms Melly C Tenorio 
738KHzAM 8-9 evening class Mon to Fri

Assembly line of conventional radio. (Internet photo)

The scene is a factory that assembles radio. Workers are lined up putting the parts together section by section until the units are completed, tested, packed and shipped out.

Market demand of the product has been favorable, so that management thought of increasing production. 

But management has not been satisfied with the efficiency of the workers,and recommended that they be replaced with better ones. 

But the supervisor told the manager, “Why don’t we give our workers a chance?”

So the company hired a consultant. 

After inspecting the workplace he reported that the cause of low output is poor lighting condition. Management promptly responded by increasing the lighting level.

Surprise! Output significantly increased.

Inspired by the result, management further increased the lighting level. And output also increased.

Puzzled, the consultant instructed that the lighting be reduced to the first level, without the knowledge of the workers.  

Surprisingly work efficiency remained high. 

So what is the underlying reason? 

It is because the workers began to feel important.  The concern of management gave them a sense of importance. ~
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Pheromone keeps baby asleep.

May 15, 2016, 3:26 pm
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How can you attend to your chore while your baby is sleeping? Now and then he wakes up and interrupts your work.

And now you are leaving him asleep. How can you enhance his deep sleep while you are not around.

Dr Abe V Rotor 

This is an old folk remedy.

If the mother of a sleeping child leaves the house, she places the clothes she last worn beside the sleeping child so that he remains in deep sleep. This is true with a babysitting father, or sibling of the child.

This is pheromones in action. Pheromones are chemical signals for bonding in the animal world, and among humans. Like the queen bee that keeps its colony intact through pheromones, so we are attracted by a similar odor, although of a less specific one. Pheromones contribute largely to the success of animals to live in groups like flock of birds, schools of fish, pride of lions, herd of cattle, and the like.

For us humans, the success of relationship is largely contributed by pheromones such as in courtship and marriage, in office organizations, team work in sports, partnership in business. Pheromones helps in building friendship, confidence, and attractions sometimes respecting no bounds and rules. This biological phenomenon has not been studied very well.

But in olden days human pheromone from the skin secretion of warriors after emerging from successful battle was gathered and made into ointment. The ointment it was believed keeps the spirit of soldiers high, boosts courage, and stimulates sexual desire. It also had medicinal properties probably from hormones the body produced under extreme condition.

Idolized Greek and Roman warriors must have made a fortune out of their pheromones.

Generally people become compatible through smell. There's a saying, "Pareho ang kemistri, namin," (Our chemistry is common).  ... And they live happily ever after.

Pheromones are left in clothes and other belongings, so that a baby may remain fast asleep as if he were in his mother’s or father’s arms.

Try this old practice and you will increase your work output while babysitting.

x x x
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Atop the Eiffel Tower over Paris, France 1976

May 15, 2016, 8:34 pm
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 Dr Abe V Rotor 
Photos taken by the author indicated
 
Author on the second deck with co-worker at NFA, Director Nestor Zamora (right).






Perspective view of the tower.View of the tower from the second deck
 
 Bust of Eiffel beneath the tower named after him. (AVR)
 
  Statue of Napoleon, builder of the Arc d'Triomphe (AVR).  Note image of the Arc through the Tower.
 
  Panoramic views from the second deck of the tower. I took 
these photos from the second level on a clear day, July 1,1976
 
US soldiers view the Eiffel which survived WW II, on the 
liberation  of France from the Nazis, 1944. Hitler's  instruction 
to destroy the tower was disobeyed by his own officers.
 
 Eiffel Tower displays one of the most celebrated New Year 
celebrations in the world,
 
 View from the base reveals the four massive legs of the tower
leading to the first and second levels which explain its 
durability to weight and height (100 meters), and resistance 
to wind pressure, indeed an engineering feat to this day. 

 
 

Stages in the construction of the tower by the company led by Gustave Eiffel from whom the tower was to be named. It tooked more than two years to complete just in time with the World Exposition in 1889.

 
The original lift is likened to a hybrid elevator and escalator. 
 It took the passengers to the first and second levels.  The third 
and upper limits were accessible only by a long winding staircase.  
 
The tower is regally bathed in with the colors of the French flag, exuding
the nationalistic spirit of the French people.  In fact the tower's inauguration
marked the 100 years anniversary of the French Revolution whose trilogy
 - Egalite', Liberte', Fraternite'  ignited the birth of independent nations, 
among them The United States of America. The trilogy became guidibg 
principles of the US constitution, and constitutions of free countries as well, 
which include the Philippines. By the way, the Statue of Liberty in New York 
was erected as a symbol of friendship between the two countries. 
 
 
The Eiffel Tower is the most popular place for  promenade in Paris.  
The tower is also the most visited tower in the world with an
average eight million tourists every year. 
 
Poster of the World Exposition in 1889 in Paris, showing themassive Eiffel tower. Despite objections and criticisms to contruct the tower, Eiffel and group backed by the French government pushed through with the propect - with the condition that it was to be dismantled after the affair. The opposition proved to be wrong, and the tower became a permanent landmark.  At least 30 replicas of the Eiffel are found in different parts of the world, including Nevada. Today Eiffel is distinctly French - the nation and the people.

 

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Triticale: A Cross of Wheat and Rye

May 16, 2016, 6:44 pm
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 Triticale may be a saving crop for mankind facing the consequences of global warming - desertification, more frequent and severe force majeure. It has to prove its tolerance to the effects of acid rain and other forms of pollution. It has yet to break the barrier of human indifference. ~


Dr Abe V Rotor 
 Living with Nature - School on Blog [avrotor.blogspot.com]
Paaralang Bayan sa Himpapawid (People's School-on-Air) with Ms Melly C Tenorio
738 DZRB AM Band, 8 to 9 evening class, Monday to Friday [www.pbs.gov.ph]

In nature, freaks are not extraordinary.  Take the case of Zebronky, a cross of zebra and donkey); Peapple (pear x apple).  And now, triticale (wheat x rye), scientifically Triticum (genus of wheat) and Secale(genus of rye).

The author inspecting a Triticale field  La Trinidad, Benguet. 1975, 

No, these are not products of genetic engineering as we know today - the tinkering of the genetic properties on the DNA level, meaning splicing genic materials of one species and inserting it into the DNA of another species, irrespective of their places in the "phylogenetic tree", the classification of living things into five kingdoms: plants, animals, fungi, protists, monerans. An product example of this new science of genetic engineering is the controversial BtCorn which carries permanently an implanted bacterium gene (Kingdom Monera) into the corn plant (Kingdom Plantae).

In the case of Triticale, the cross seriously started in the fifties through the conventional method of hybridization but involving of two different but related species (both are cereals under Family Poaceae, formerly Graminae), and that their genomes were found to be highly compatible as to allow conventional crossing, wheat as the female and rye as the male (pollen). 

But what's the underlying objective to cross wheat with rye?

The two crops are staple food where they are naturally adapted. With the expansion of population and human settlements, agriculture is not only exploring new crops and improving the performance of old crops, but combining desirable traits by combining genes to form varieties, combining genetic lines to form hybrids, but combining species to form a new species (orcultivar, to indicate the objective of the research, that is, for agriculture). It is man-assisted speciation - the birth of new species.

Wheat, the third most important cereal in the world after corn and rice, has a narrower adaptability range in the field compared to that of its cousin, the rye. Rye is resistant and can tolerate conditons wheat and other crops cannot. 

A Triticale field in Canada

So, goes the long research to enhance their, first in Poland where it started, then to Russia and other parts of Europe, then to Canada (University of Manitoba) where vast lands await for its commercial cultivation. 

Here in the Philippines, I had the opportunity to study the new crop as well.  Triticale crop stand (see photo above) in the Cordillera where the sub-climate is semi-temprate, was very promising.  The Bureau of Plant Industry in La Trinidad, Benguet, demonstrated the successful project, although its pilot production outside the experimental field was held back in deference to local wheat production which soon became commercialized as alternative to second rice cropping (palagad, October to January). (Visit in this Blog, Yes, We can Grow Wheat in the Philippines).   

Triticale carries gluten (a complex protein responsible in leavening of bread) which it inherited from wheat - and this remains a concern of people who suffer of gluten intolerance and allergic reaction. Nutritional values however can compare with those of wheat. 


Wheat, rye and triticale compared. Triticale is significantly aergerthan wheat.
 
How about the physical characteristics of the grain or kernel?  Triticale kernels are bigger (see photo) and this poses a problem in grain milling and other aspects in flour production. One thing triticale brought to forage deficit regions is its important as animal feeds, forage or supplement. 


Bread products from triticale

Rye is known for its high tolerance to drought and other meteorological conditions.  It thrives in poor soil and with less agronomic care. 

But has science and technology succeeded in making triticale suitable crop assuring farmers of its genetic stability, so that they are not tied up - like hybrid corn and GMO crops - and not to depend on corporations for their seed requirements, tools and market? Has the grain industry accepted triticale as a bona fide commodity in the world's cereal industry?  

These questions challenge the leaders of the grain industry - locally and globally. Such  challenges are posed as well, against the radical, ecologically destructive approach in crop improvement by genetic engineering. If we can create a crop free from genetic pollution (GMOs pollute natural gene pools), then mankind would have no fear of taking food that leaves residues of doubt and uncertainty that destroy peace of mind. Above all, mankind would free itself from guilty in destroying the balance of the environment.

Triticale is yet to become a saving crop for mankind facing the consequences of global warming  - desertification, more frequent and severe force majeure.  It is yet to prove its tolerance to the effects of acid rain and other forms of pollution. 

It has yet to break the barrier of human indifference. ~   

Top Triticale producers 2914:(million metric tons):  Poland 5.2, Germany 3.0, Belgium 2.1, France 2.0, Russia, 0.7, China 0.5, Hungary 0.5, Spain. 0.4. Lithuania 0.4, and Austria 0.3; world total 17.1 million MT

























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We can grow wheat in the Philippines.

May 17, 2016, 1:20 am
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Dr Abe V Rotor
Living with Nature School on Blog
Paaralang Bayan sa Himpapawid with Ms Melly C Tenorio
738 DZRB AM Band, 8 to 9 evening class, Monday to Friday

Bread baked from locally grown wheat is at par with that of US wheat in all aspects from leavening to taste and nutrition.



Wheat grain somewhat resembles the shape and form of coffee bean. Whole wheat contains high protein, nearly twice that of rice. Wheat flower resembles that of most grains, including rice, barley and rye.

Threshing wheat by hand, similar to rice. Threshing is much easier, and wheat stalk is kinder to the hand. The hay has higher nutrient value than rice, and is easier for animals to digest.
Author's son Marlo, then 5 years old, takes pride in displaying a freshly harvested wheat from a farmer's field.

A wheat field in early flowering stage in San Vicente, Ilocos Sur

Closeup of standing crop under different levels of fertilizer application.


Everytime we eat pandesal, a unique and distinctly Filipino kind of bun, we take one step pro-Western. Economicswise, that is. Let me explain.

Pandesal as poor man's food is fallacy

The mother material - whole wheat grain - is imported from the United States by big companies which grouped themselves into the Philippine Association of Flour Millers, Inc. PAFMI mills the grain into flour and sell it to local bakers. The bran, the by-product of milling called pollard is an important ingredient of poultry and animal feeds. To augment this, the group also imports feed wheat.

Actually PAFMI and PAFMI (Philippine Association of Feed Millers) are one. They produced wheat flour for bakery products, mainly pandesal (70 per cent of all bakery products). They formulate feeds from pollard and from feed wheat and dominate the local feed industry. They produce poultry, meat and meat products through their local contractors called integrators. And they directly import hotdog, hamburger, dairy products, and the like.

Here is a scenario for the pandesal consumer. Wheat comes from the prairies of North American covering the Dakotas, Kansas, Minnesota, Missouri and a dozen more States, adjolining Canada. A state may be bigger than the Philippines in land area. The American farmer who cultivates hundreds, if not thousands, of acres using airplane and railway systems, plants his wheat either before winter (the germinated seed remains dormant or overwinters), or in the spring. Thus, when we import, we specify winter or spring wheat.

Generally spring hard wheat is preferred for pandesal, although it is more costly. We import the premium wheat, the best in the world. Just to make pandesal! The soft type of wheat (varieties with less of the leavening substance called gluten), is made into cakes, pastries and crackers. There is also the durum wheat or pasta, which is made into macaroni or spaghetti, also by the PAFMI members. They make those ready-in-two minutes and instant noodles, pancit canton, mami, soups, etc.

Now, where is my pandesal? Either it is shrinking or taking new shapes, or both. There are various versions of pandesal, with different product presentation and prices. That is why pandesal can not be standardized, and much more, socialized. How could it be a poor man’s breakfast? Where is the control button?

In the seventies wheat importation was in the hands of the National Grains Authority. It was decreed under PD 4 by the president, then President Ferdinand Marcos.

PAFMI and PAFMIL members received their allocations from NGA to mill and sell the products. The revenues were used to build warehouses and other post harvest facilities. NGA generated its own corporate funds, mainly from wheat importation, which was used to subsidize the small rice and corn farmers, and in carrying out the country's food self-sufficiency program. We soon became self-suffiency in rice and corn, and eventually the Philippines became a net rice exporter starting in 1975 and continued on to the early eighties. This was the golden era of the grain industry in the country.

The scenario has changed since the transfer of wheat importation into the hands of the private sector, principally PAFMI and PAFMIL. (Only rice was kept exclusively under direct government importation and control.) The wheat grain goes to the giant bins and mill complexes of the PAFMI/L members concentrated in Metro Manila, others in Cebu and Mindanao. It is safe to estimate that the total value of wheat and corn imported annually is between $10 to $20 billion, increasing at least 5 percent each year. One can imagine the staggering figure if we include feed wheat and pollard, fish meal and soyabean meal which are also important feed ingredients.
..........................................................................................

 Let's take pork and beans as an example for analysis. At one time, white bean was tried in Mindanao. It did not grow true to type, because it is a temperate crop. So we continued to import the white bean, one hundred percent.

Tropical countries, like the Philippines, import white bean which is a temperate crop. The tin can is imported, made from iron ore the subject country earlier exported. Likewise the paper label and packaging materials are imported, made from pulp wood and minerals also exported by the subject country. In short we export the raw materials and import the finished products.

How about the tiny pork? It is produced locally but the corn used as feed came from Thailand. Comparatively it is cheaper to import corn than to cultivate it here. The tin can and label are also imported.
........................................................................................... 

Analogously, it is cheaper to import rice than to grow it here. No wonder the government imported on the average one million metric tons of rice yearly under the three previous administrations - and is likely that the present is going to do the same. And to think that the sources are Vietnam, a war-torn country, and Thailand which used to send its scientists and students to study rice production in UP and IRRI at Los Baños.

Now where is the pandesal? At one time before the EDSA Revolution, our farmers had started planting local wheat varieties developed by the Institute of Plant Breeding at UPLB. The variety Trigo 2 was for cakes and pastries, while Trigo 1 was for pandesal. Farmer cooperators in the Ilocos region, Central Luzon, Southern Tagalog, and also in the Visayas and Mindanao planted wheat on their ricefield as second crop under a packaged program initiated by DA, NFA, PCARRD and UPLB and other state universities.

But all these ended up after the Edsa Revolution.

Yes, we can grow wheat successfully in the Philippines. A further proof is that during the Spanish period, farmers in Cagayan down to Batangas were growing a wheat known as Cagayan Wheat. The local wheat was even shipped through the Galleon Trade. Cagayan wheat was mentioned in an autobiography of a Frenchmen, de Gironierre, “Half a Century in the Philippines.”

Wheat production and consumption scenarios

As wheat farmer he gets a good average yield, as high as 3.11MT per hectare, higher than world’s average - comparatively profitable with other cash crops after rice. He uses the same farm (second crop after the rice season), same tools and equipment like irrigation, same techniques like fertilization, and post harvest processes. With the government support he is assured of both market and price of his produce. He produces also wheat bran and hay for his livestock, which are better than those of rice. With these he can raise poultry and livestock.

To the average consumer, locally grown wheat can be made into arroz caldo, poridge, wheat cakes - other than the conventional pandesal, pandebara, pandelemon padecoco, cakes and pastries. Now he can eat more than the average per capita level (10.3 to 12 kg per year), because local wheat becomes more affordable, especially so that wheat comes in various preparations, including rice-wheat mix.

In this case he gets more protein - as high as 12 percent for whole wheat, 8 to 9 percent for regular flour. Rice has barely half protein level. He gets 75 percent starch, so with rice. But he gets gluten, the substance that makes wheat, and only wheat, naturally leavening. He gets also high crude fiber, oil, minerals and vitamins.

Wheat adapts to our fertile soil and under our beautiful sky with the loving, faithful toiling hands of our farmers. Wheat can be part of our dining table, of our children’s baon, of our farm animals feed, of our fiesta’s merriment, and not only in hamburger and pandesal. We can call pandesal under a bona fide Pilipino name.~


Triticale - a cross between wheat (Triticum) and rye (Secale) - was successfully grown on the Benguet in the seventies.

As a rule, triticale combines the high yield potential and good grain quality of wheat with the disease and environmental tolerance (including soil conditions) of rye. It is grown mostly for forage or fodder although some triticale-based foods can be purchased at health food stores or are to be found in some breakfast cereals, bread and other food products such as cookies, pasta, and pizza dough. The protein content is higher than that of wheat although the gluten in fraction is less. The grain has also been stated to have higher levels of lysine than wheat. As a feed grain, triticale is already well established and of high economic importance. (Internet)
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Let's Save our Children from the Tender Trap of Consumerism

May 17, 2016, 1:53 pm
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Our senses are held captive: sight, sound, smell, touch. It's difficult to know real from psychological hunger. Good and fancy clothing. Durable and throw away gadget. Urgent from necessary. Pretty from beautiful. Love from care.

Dr Abe V Rotor
                                
Children's party in a fast food playground. 

We went shopping as a family.  Carlo our youngest was keen at many things, the city kinder that he was. "Mahal ba eto, Mama?" (Is this expensive, Mama?). This became his expression, the dawn when a child begins to weigh his own pleasure and the cost of it.
             
              Restaurant on Boracay Beach 

But how many kids today are destined on a path of roses capitalism has planted alongside profit, and more profit? How can we brace ourselves from the powerful marketing force that sweeps our children to a world of want over and above the world of need? Imagine $12 billion annual cost to ignite this force, and this is in the US alone, albeit the emerging economies around the world. 

High cost of consumerism


Consumer language has evolved lately out of passion to buy, like bilmoko (ibili mo ako - Buy me.), a kid's expression beginning at post-toddler age. Gustokoto ("I like this," in commanding tone. 
    
    Not far across push Boracay Beach

And when asked what made a kid buy fancy ball pens bearing cartoon characters, he simply quipped, "Wala lang." (None at all.) 
On the receiving end billions of dollars are generated with kids influencing their parents, school endorsing products and services, media riding on children's show - it's a kid's world.  We are pampering them too far out with our hard-earned money, and extending their dependency, when at their age in older societies, their counterpart would have found independence and accepted responsibility.    

Media is largely to blame - multimedia, from billboard to Internet. Media is littered, polluting the field of information and entertainment. You can't drive through Edsa with clear head.  Billboards block the sky; they roll on with buses on your route. Give your name to the Internet and you'll gain world wide popularity, because you are a potential client or customer. My son Marlo, even if he didn't smoke, received cigarette promo cards beautifully crafted when advertising of cigarette was totally banned. My daughter found herself an automatic member of clubs endorsing children's products, with special discount. There are a variety of  clubs for teenagers, from fashion to magazines, and you just find their invitation in the mailbox or on their e-mail.       

Our senses are held captive: sight, sound, smell, touch.  It's difficult to know real from psychological hunger. Good and fancy clothing. Durable and throw away gadget. Urgent from necessary. Pretty from beautiful.  Love from care. 

Let us save our children from the tender trap of consumerism *
1. Lead by example
Do what you say. Easier said than done. These are adages that should be put to practice. We cannot teach frugality when our kids see us frivolous. Austerity is sacrifice.  It means more savings, less waste, optimized use of resources. Austerity is a virtue.   
2. Encourage critical thinking
"Advertisement is  Genie from Alladin's lamp. He is not real," says a retired corporate manager. I used to tell my kids, "Don't believe in everything you see or hear. And don't be a Guinea pig of new products in the market." Guide your children to  investigate and asses before making decisions. How many times have we been misled by the art of selling. Some end up holding an empty bag - victims of unscrupulous deals.  
3. Supervise with sensitivity 
Sit with your child with the computer as you would watch together a TV program.  Or when he was younger, would sit on your lap while you read for him.  Bedtime stories make our children happy not by the story alone but our presence, our bonding, our goodnight kiss and prayer. Until they are responsible to make correct judgment, parents make the board of censors for healthy information and entertainment.  
4. Say No without guilt
Maybe is often our answer to our kids when it comes to less serious matters, or things no one can answer. But on matters of importance we have to be firm with our children, with a yes or no answer.   Don't keep them long as fence sitters otherwise they just jump by themselves into the greener side, so to speak.  When we say No, it's final.  But the gravity of our position should be based on strong sense of values and security.  "No, don't ride a motorcycle. No, don't drive.  You are too young for that." It is the condition that makes our child understand and accept our position.  It removes our guilt and reinforces our being guardians. 
5. Offer Alternatives  
Actually this means discovering our children's talents, and developing them into hobbies. Hobbies prevent habits. "Cooking is a hobby, eating is a habit," I usually differentiate the two in this analogy. "Listening to music and playing a musical instrument, is a hobby.  But listening to music alone may fall short of the definition of hobby.  Hobby is progressive, it is self-challenging, it is shifting the mind to the creative part of the brain. It is learning through curiosity and imagination.  And the most important of all is that, through hobby you are a maker (Homo faber), not a mere consumer.  You make kites instead of buying them.  Your toys are your invention, not one you buy and never understand how it works.  And in your frustration end up destroying it with screwdriver.

But the best alternative is outdoor life. Consumerism thrives best with indoor children. They want to create a world in their walled domain. But the outdoor child goes out to the world, to Nature, and he finds contentment in the countless things nature provides him free - clean water and air,  mountains as high rise, waterfall as fountains, pebbles as marvels, river as swimming pool, moon and stars as neon lights.  And he learns to live a contented life with the least amenities. 

Athenian Syndome

Good Life reminds us of the Athenian Syndrome during the time of Socrates, the father of Philosophy, and the "conscience" of the most powerful city state at the crowing glory of Greece. He found out that the citizens seemed not to know the difference between moral and immoral.  And do we know it today?  And here is a  third element of morality - amorality.  If we find it difficult to understand what morality is all about, can we know what is ethical and what is not? What is good and evil? 

A child devouring a fried chicken may be an amoral act.  We know that in a hungry world, a chicken has the equivalent food value of the grains it ate to attain its size, which could have been food for five hungry children for not only a single meal.  When we buy our children clothes just for fashion or fancy we imagine children who have nothing decent to wear in school. When we waste water, food, electricity, and other valuable things because we simply have so much of them, the other side of the globe could have shared them.   

These are basic to our children's formative years. We have to educate them well, not to be wasteful, to keep the environment clean, and in the future to raise families of their own with  assurance of  their welfare.  We cannot entrust our children to media. We cannot trust one institution to fill in the gap of another. We cannot leave our children in the nursery or kinder school. Religious education cannot guarantee righteousness, the community of healthy integration. 

Malling a new culture 
"Nagmall ka na ba?" has become more of a measure of lifestyle, rather than necessity or leisure. Mall is a growing institution of the middle class, and with the increasing young, and senior citizens. Many mall goers were once traditional customers of Divisoria (bagsakan - wholesale), Quiapo and Baclaran (pilgrimage sites) and countless tiangge and alipapa (flea markets).  
Historically, in here informal economy reigns and why not? You can make bargains (tawad, baratilyo), establish patronage (suki),  join rummage (ukay ukay). Just don't be outsmarted  (naisahan, nalamangan). And if you have a sari-sari (corner store) of your own, outsource here and you are comfortable with 20 to 35 percent ROI (Return of Investment). Or if you are an enterprising employee in your organization, you can be an entrepreneur as well. 

That's why customers still flock these centers where tradition exudes quaintness to shopping, where the peso is more elastic, goods and services virtually unlimited. We still get  from  Divisoria supplies for our home industry at wholesale. Now and them we join the pilgrimage in Quiapo or Baclaran and pick up some items from makeshift stalls. Don't miss, lechon in  La Loma, fish in Navotas, fruits in NLEX interchange in Balintawak. Name it all - these informal economies - tell the mall to take the back seat.    
Puerto Princesa, Palawan 

But as people leave the countryside, towns grow into cities, shopping has indeed evolved  into an institution all over the world, courting everyone to go to the mall regularly, say a weekend.  To the younger generations it means much, much more -  dating, promenading, eating, playing, cooling off summer, rendezvous (tagpuan).  The mall is like a ganglion physiologically. All roads lead to Rome, analogously applies today in our postmodern world,
  
If this is the Good Life our children are looking up to,  I am afraid they are likely to be the next victims.  Let's save them from the tender trap of consumerism, the handmaid of capitalism.~
 Kuya Center for Street Children in Quezon City, These children, among millions of other deprived children around the world, find new hope to fight poverty and homelessness with the help of philanthropists.   

*Reference: Living with Nature Series AVRotor; Marketing to Innocents,by Gabrielle Bauer Reader's Digest July 2005.
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Saga and Tragedy of Three Trees

May 18, 2016, 2:48 am
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Dr Abe V Rotor
 Living with Nature - School on Blog [avrotor.blogspot.com]
Paaralang Bayan sa Himpapawid (People's School-on-Air) with Ms Melly C Tenorio
738 DZRB AM Band, 8 to 9 evening class, Monday to Friday [www.pbs.gov.ph]
Three big trees growing up together reached the prime of their lives. They belong to different species and families but fate brought them to one place.

One is the biggest legume of earth. Leguminous plants are known for their high food value.

The second is the source of the best wood on earth, sending the oak to the back seat.

The third is the most popular medicine for common ailments in the world, especially colds.

Three Trees in acrylic, AVR
 
How lucky we are! They said in a chorus, singing with the passing wind and chirping of birds and sound of busy feet below and around them.

For half a century or so, they stood through seasons and events, in favorable weather and force majeure. They have many common things they share to humans and the environment. They …
  • Provide shade to passersby
  • Cool the surroundings day and night
  • Buffer loud noise and unpleasant sound
  • Tame strong wind into breeze
  • Catch the rain and store it in the ground
  • Filter dusts and particulates
  • Shields radiation from sun and space, fallout and radioactive materials
  • Capture low-lying clouds with the water vapor they transpire to fall as rain
  • Condense fog and mist into dewdrops
  • Provide food and shelter to many organisms
  • Produce Oxygen, byproduct of photosynthesis
  • Fertilize the soil, make litter of compost
  • Provide a wildlife sanctuary
  • Create artistic theme and subject
  • Harbor in the imagination myths and legends
Individually, they started comparing themselves. Well, self-centeredness is a not only among humans, but trees and other organisms as well. The Acacia (Samanea saman) was the first to talk about itself. It…
  • Harbors Rhizobium bacteria in its roots that convert Nitrogen into Nitrate
  • Nitrate makes it self-fertilizing, and benefactor of this life-giving substance to other plants
  • Being deciduous, forms a litter of leaves to become compost and food of decomposers
  • Produces sugar-rich pods for goats and other animals
  • Blooms in summer and breaks the dull and dry view of the landscape
  • Provides home to many tenant organisms, and inn to transient one
  • Harbors on its spongy limbs orchids, ferns, lichen and mosses
  • Produces materials for many kinds of wooden crafts
  • Is used by the faithful on Lenten Season in preparing the stations of the cross.
The Narra (Pterocarpus indicus) talked with a sense of pride being the country’s national tree. It is indigenous, unlike the acacia whose origin is Mexico, and the Eucalyptus from Australia where the Koala Bear resides. It…

  • Has a majestic baroque profile, singly or collectively few trees can match
  • Forms whole forest called Dipterocarp Forest, adopted from its family Dipterocarpaceae
  • Gives the best wood in the world for furniture, construction and wood crafts
  • Has a substance in its bark that cures diabetes and other diseases
  • Blooms profusely in summer with golden flowers falling into confetti with the wind
  • Gives a feeling of affluence to owners of finished products from its wood
  • Is the most protected by law, but still carries the old fear that destroyed its forebears and kin
The Eucalyptus (Eucalyptus globulus) may look lanky and frail with flimsy crown, but is an Eiffel to most trees. Its branches droop like on a cloth line, and sway with the wind in cantabile. It …
  • Produces in its leaves volatile oil rich in menthol
  • Fills in the immediate surroundings with pleasant fresh smell
  • Is Nature’s aroma therapy, it serves as bronco-dilator
  • Wakes up the unconscious, relieves vertigo
  • Drives away flies and mosquitoes
  • Smudges fruit trees, inducing them to flower and set fruits
  • Home to the Koala and other organisms
  • Provides good lumber for construction and furniture
So the three trees continued to live on for many more years. They could reach a hundred years. Their relatives in the forest could live longer. Soon their trunks and limbs become so massive they became apple to the eye of the loggers.

Just as they feared, the fearsome chainsaw broke the still morning air.~

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Books written by Dr Abe V Rotor

May 18, 2016, 3:01 am
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Dr Abe V Rotor 
Living with Nature - School on Blog Paaralang Bayan sa Himpapawid (People's School-on-Air) with Ms Melly C Tenorio 738 DZRB AM Band, 8 to 9 evening class, Monday to Friday [www.pbs.gov.ph]
Winner of National Book Award 2007, Living with Nature in Our Times, 
a sequel to The Living with Nature Handbook [Winner of Gintong Aklat 
 (Golden Book) Award 2003)
 book, Philippine Literature Today: A Travelogue Approach (co-authors Kristine Molina-Doria and Abercio V Rotor, C & E Publishing Co.) aims at guiding students, in the light of present day trends, to trace back the foundation of literature’s basic tenets and principles and preserve its integrity and true essence.  Four pillars of Philippine literature stand sentinel to help the students answer the question “Quo vadis?” To where are we heading for? 

Four great Filipinos are acclaimed vanguards of Philippine Literature. The cover of the book, conceptualized and made by artist Leo Carlo R Rotor, depicts the theme of the book - travelogue in literature with these heroes.   Jose Rizal on politico-socio-cultural subjects, including ecological, Rizal being an environmentalist while in exile in Dapitan, Misamis Oriental, Mindanao; Francisco Baltazar or Balagtas on drama and performing arts in general, fiction novels and plays, evolving into stage show and cinema; Severino Reyes or Lola Basyang on mythology, children’s stories, komiks, and a wealth of cartoons and other animations and Leona Florentino, the Philippines’ Elizabeth Browning, Ella Wilcox, Emily Bronte et al, epitomizes the enduring classical literature. 
 "The humanities hold the greatest treasure of mankind."  Co-authored with Dr Kristine Molina-Doria, the book, in summary, makes Humanities, a basic 3-unit subject in college, interesting and attractive to students. The book is distinct from conventional textbooks by being experiential in approach - meaning, on-site, hands-on, and encompassing of the various schools of art - old, new and postmodern.  Learning is further enhanced by viewing an accompanying compact disc (CD), and by having easy access to a wide range of references principally from the authors' works on Facebook and Blog. [avrotor.blogspot.com] It is a publication of C&E, one of the country's biggest publishers and distributors of books. Launched in February this year it is now adapted by several colleges and universities.
"'Do unto the land as you would the land do unto you. Treat the land with request, if not with reverence.' xxx The tree is taken to represent the environment. Each poem and each painting is like a leaf of a tree each revealing a little of the many marvels of this unique creation. Each poem and each painting is a plea on behalf of this new vision and of this new ethics." (Excerpt from the Message by Dr. Armando F. De Jesus, Ph.D. former Dean, Faculty of Arts and Letters, UST 2010)

"What makes this poetry collection specially significant is its ecological slant which gives it an added dimension rarely attributed to other poetry collections.xxx to “get out of the house” and bond with nature. It is a departure from the usual stale air of solitariness and narcissism which permeates most poetry today. Every poem indeed becomes a “flower in disguise” using the poet’s own words." (Excerpt from the Foreword by the late Ophelia A. Dimalanta, Ph.D. Director, Center for Creative Writing and Studies, UST).

The book contains 170 poems and verses with accompanying photographs and images, 190 pp, in easy reading font, Times New Roman, bold type. 
Published by University of Santo Tomas, launched 2008 Manila International Book Fair, SMX Mall of Asia, 220 pp. "The book is a compendium of indigenous technical knowledge complemented with modern scientific thinking. The narratives offer an exploration into the world of ethno-science covering a wide range of practical interest from climate to agriculture; medicine to food and nutrition..: (Excerpt of Foreword by Dr Lilian J Sison, dean UST Graduate School).

" For the science educator and communicator, here is a handy volume to help you reach the popular consciousness. You will find here more than ample number of examples for making connections between lived experience and scientific information." (Dr Florentino H Hornedo, UNESCO Commissioner)
Winner of the Gintong Aklat Award 2003 by the Book Publishers Association of the Philippines. The book has 30 chapters (189 pp),divided into four parts, a practical guide on how one can get closer to nature, the key to a healthy and happy life. Second printing, 2008.

"Once upon a time, nature was pristine, undefiled, and unspoiled. We used to live in a dreamlike world of tropical virgin forests, and purer hidden springs, calm ponds, and serene lakes with majestic purple mountains, crowned with canopied trees. That was when people took only what they needed, caught only what they ate, and lived only in constant touch with a provident earth." (excerpt from the Introduction by Dr Anselmo Set Cabigan, professor, St Paul University QC and former director of the National Food Authority)
A Sequel to the Living with Nature Handbook (312 pp), it was launched at the Philippine International Book Fair. It won the 2006 National Book Award by the National Book Development Board jointly with The Manila Book Circle and the National Commission for the Culture and the Arts. Published by UST Publishing House, the book has 35 chapters divided into four parts. The book can be aptly described in this verse.

"Nature shares her bounty in many ways:
He who works or he who prays,
Who patiently waits or gleefully plays;
He's worthy of the same grace."

The principal author is Dr. Belen L Tangco who wrote the verses and prayers. Each verse or prayer is accompanied by an appropriate painting by AV Rotor. Full color and handy, it is useful as a prayer book and reference in the Humanities.

"Indeed, God speaks to us in the little details of nature - through the trees and the flowers, in the drip of rain, in the blow of the wind. He speaks to us in all of His Creation..." (Excerpt from the Foreword by Fr Tamelane R Lana, UST Rector)

A coffee table book, full color, published by Megabooks in 1995. It was dedicated and presented to the Holy Father on his visit to the Philippines by the late Jaime Cardinal Sin, Sister Teresita Bayona SPC, and Fr. James B Reuter, SJ.

" Doctor A.V. Rotor is an extraordinary man - scientist, painter, musician, photographer, poet. With these verses he becomes something more than an artist. He is an apostle - trying, in his own gentle way, to bring man to God. and God to man, through beauty." (Message by Fr James B Reuter, SJ)
A compilation of 18 essays about life and living, 216 pages. Published by UST in 2000 with the Preface written by Fr. Jose Antonio Aureada, regent of the Graduate School.

"What is considered a religion of disconnection betrays man's inability to see sensuality through divinity and divinity through sensuality... It was Victor Frankl, a Jewish psychotherapist-philosopher, who popularized logotherapy, a word of Greek origin which literally means healing through meaning. Dr Abe. the poet-musician-painter-scientist rolled into one, reminds us of the Franklian inspired principle: The unheard cry for meaning if only well-heeded in all aspects of life - from the least significant to the extremely necessary, from the most commonplace to the phenomenally sublime - can only restore authenticity back to living life beautifully."
The book is in full color, 75 pages, written by a very young student of then St Paul College QC. In the words of Sr Mary Sarah Manapol in the Foreword, "Viva is a youthful poetess who thinks and writes about pain and loss, friendship, joy and love, music and the arts, nature, math and literature, war and piece - these belie her age of 17 summers."

Dr AV Rotor as co-author, provided the photographs and paintings that fits harmoniously with the poems. More than this, he encouraged the young poetess to write her first book which was launched on her debut. Here is a verse from an anonymous admirer.

"After reading Light of Dawn, 
How can I live without poetry and art?
From the love that I shall find, 
Shall not my heart depart."
Poems, poems, poems, 72 pages, a handy book, colored and black and white, published by Megabooks 2000. The late secretary of justice Sedfrey A Ordonez wrote in the Foreword "... it is inescapable that after reading his poetry and after examining his paintings which accompany his verses one is led to the conclusion that the man who created the multi-disciplinary tour de force is a Renaissance man, one who reveals his reverence for nature by means of music, verse, and painting."
"The authors have embarked on this task of providing people with more information about the many uses of some plants. While herbal plants have long been recognized because of their nutritional and medicinal qualities, their other uses are not fully exploited... May we continue to promote alternative medicine... The prices of medicine and health products remain unaffordable to most of our countrymen and herbal plants are the best alternative as most of these have been proven to be effective." (Excerpt from the message of Dr Juan M Flavier, former senator and secretary of health)

A Giraffe Book, it contains 72 verses, mainly four-liners, each verse accompanied by a photograph or painting. Most of the photos were taken by students in the Humanities at then St Paul College QC. The school president wrote the Foreword, an excerpt of which reads as follows:

"It takes deep reflection to arouse one's inner child to take notice of the undistinguished buds, hyacinth, date palms... and it takes a trusting, affirming, and enlightened teacher-artist to lead and inspire..."
Peacemaking in Asia (350 pp), contains papers presented in the 7th General Assembly of different religions in Asia held at UST in 2008. The proceedings were compiled, edited and published into a book, by AVR, now in circulation among participating religions.  Copies are available at the Interfaith Center, TARC Building, UST. 

NOTE: Available at the University of Santo Tomas Publishing House, Espana corner P Noval, Manila at special discount for a package of books: The Living with Nature Handbook; Living with Nature in Our Times; Light from the Old Arch, and Living with Folk Wisdom. Please call 406-1611 local 8252/8278). Selected books are also available at National Book Store branches. for C&E publishing (Humanities Today), please call 9295088




AVR receives first copy of Don't Cut the Trees, Don't from UST Fr Vice-Rector, and Secretary General


 Philippine literature greats, among them Sedfrey Ordoñez, Ophelia Dimalanta, Larry Francisco, Jose Garcia Villa 
 AVR with Ka Melly Tenorio sitted co-hot of Paaralang Bayan sa Himpapawid, co-authors Dr Felipe Briana and Dr Kristine Molina Doria, and Mrs Cecille Rotor (in yellow) at DZRB radio station.
AVR with veteran journalist Larry Henares, and Mrs Cecille Rotor 
 With the late Fr James Reuter SJ, author, dramatist, spiritual adviser, at age 94.
With Bishop Bacani at the international book fair. Pasay City MM
With Senator Edgardo Angara, author of National Book Development Board, sponsor of the annual National Book Awards.  AVR won the National Book Award for Science for 2007 
 
AVR views award-winning books at Yuchengco Museum, Makati
AVR with Dr Alfredo Co., internationally acclaimed author, and the late 
Michelene Manalastas, former director  of the UST Publishing House 
 
 With nationally famous authors Abdon Balde and Isagani Cruz, National Book Awards 2008

1 comments:
Ariel Sotelo Tabag said...
Nagadu gayamen a libroyo, Manong! Lugay, lugay!
June 28, 2011 8:30 AM 
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Markus and Friends by a Stream

May 21, 2016, 9:06 am
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Mural by Dr Abe V Rotor
 Living with Nature - School on Blog [avrotor.blogspot.com]
Paaralang Bayan sa Himpapawid (People's School-on-Air) with Ms Melly C Tenorio
738 DZRB AM Band, 8 to 9 evening class, Monday to Friday [www.pbs.gov.ph]

Markus 1 (in stroller), with friends at home in Lagro QC, 2016

Flow gently, sweetly with the breeze
and sing with the little children;
whisper with the rocks and trees,
make every creature their friend.

Sing the songs of the forest deities,  
the cheerful crickets and birds,
lullaby of Mozart, chorus of Liszt:
“grow and be happy,” they urge. ~

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Excellence is next to Perfection

May 21, 2016, 9:13 am
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 Dr. Abe V Rotor
 Living with Nature - School on Blog [avrotor.blogspot.com]
Paaralang Bayan sa Himpapawid (People's School-on-Air) with Ms Melly C Tenorio
738 DZRB AM Band, 8 to 9 evening class, Monday to Friday [www.pbs.gov.ph]

In response to several requests, I am writing down this third part of Excellence.  The first and second part are posted in this blog. 

Leonardo da Vinci's Vitruvian man, circa 1490 is also called the Canon of Proportions or Proportions of Man. The drawing is based on the correlations of ideal human proportions with geometry described by the ancient Roman architect Vitruvius who described the human figure as being the principal source of proportion among the Classical Orders of architecture.
1."There is more to life than increasing speed." (Mahatma Gandhi)
"Haste makes waste,"  Stop-look-listen, has saved many lives. "He who runs fast cannot see the countryside.""Who walks fast gets a stabbing wound.""Stop before you reach deadend." These are some lessons I learned early from my dad.
I remember a story about a trader driving a cart loaded with coconuts for the market.
"How can I get there quickly?" he asked an old man on his way.
"Just go slow." quipped the old man.

"Foolish old man," he muttered and galloped on the dirt road.  The nuts spilled and rolled, he had to stop now and then to retrieve his nuts.  He reached the market late.

 2. We do not stop playing because we are old; we grow old because we stop playing.
Novelist Ernest Hemingway's favorite photo is one showing him kicking an empty can on the road, football style.

The lost pilot in Antoine de Saint-Exupery's novelette, The Little Prince, found company with a  "little prince"  in the desert while trying to repair his plane.  The child turned out to the little child in oneself, the one who never grows old, who never loses hope and idealism. It is this child that enabled him to go back to civilization.

3. Whatever we possess becomes of double value when we share it with others. 

And if that possession is more than its material value such happiness or love or compassion, it does not only double but will multiply every time we share it with others.  Good deeds defy mathematical law. Kindness, in fact is the highest wisdom. (Talmud)

What makes Gone with the Wind an all-time top grosser is its superb portrayal of human frailties that continue to haunt us.

4."Although the world is very full of suffering, it is also full of the overcoming of it."Helen Keller)  
Helen Keller was blind since infancy.  She rose to fame to become one of the world's greatest women - author, teacher, philosopher - and proved that no infirmity in a person can prevent him or her to live fully and be of service to others. 

Many great men and women were able to overcome their own limitations.  Beethoven was totally deaf when he wrote his musical masterpieces. Claude Monet was losing his sight when his painted Water Lilies, his ultimate masterpiece in huge murals. We know of people around us who succeeded in life in spite of their sufferings.  Suffering to them  could be the compelling reason for success.  They took the least trodden path of life that is most challenging, yet the most rewarding. 

5. Anyone who stops learning is old, whether this happens at twenty or at eighty.
People struggle to learn to earn, to earn to learn, but the most difficult is to learn to learn.
If we do not open the door to knowledge, the world closes and leaves us behind. 

6. In three words I can sum up everything I've learned about life. It goes on. (Robert Frost) In fact it is Frost's theme in many of his poems such as Stopping by the Woods on a Snowy Evening, which ends with this stanza. 

                                          The woods are lovely dark and deep,
                                                  But I have promises to keep,
                                          And miles to go before I sleep, 
                                               and miles to go before I sleep. 

7.  "From the errors of others a wise man corrects his own." Publilus Syrus
This is not often the case.  Developing countries follow the path of industrialization of advanced country and commit the same mistakes. There are more broken families today than before, and in fact, increasing.  

8. When opportunity knocks, some people are in the backyard looking for four-leaf clovers.
Many people take the four-lobed clover leaf as a symbol of good luck like marrying a rich guy, winning the Lotto's jackpot, stumbling on a gold mine. Mother luck is one-in-a-million chance, a castle in the sky, a wish come true in a falling star.

Luck is opportunity you take by the horn, so to speak. it is the fruit of labor.  Or one we read on a jeepney, "Katas ng pawis," a reward from perspiration.  Or "Katas ng Saudi" (Oversea's earning)   
I pulled a joke on my students in a field lecture, "Whoever can pick an unfolded leaf of makahiya (Mimosa) will find his or her wish come true." Meantime I took a rest under a tree.   
                                                           Mimosa pudica (makahiya)

9. To some people truth is not only stranger than fiction, but it's a total stranger. 
A survey revealed that more and more Americans believe the Holy Bible as fiction. Others, to the extreme, detached themselves from organized religions.  They call themselves nones.  

I remember a story of two friends. One said, "I don't belief in a God." Evidently he is an atheist.
"Oh, I see!" quipped the other, as they continued walking on the golf range.

The sky was heavy.  Suddenly a bolt of lightning cracked nearby. The atheist automatically crossed himself and mentioned God.   

"I thought you don't believe in God." 
"Reflex action, lang yan."~


Ignorance is false reflection of truth. (UST Fountain of Knowledge)
10. Nothing makes an argument more interesting than ignorance.
A debate may go on and on in the name of justice and honesty and love, ad infinitum. And quite often, ignorance hides under the skirt of Motherhood Statements where no one appears to be wrong. And truth becomes more difficult to find.

Argument for the sake of finding the truth tells us why Socrates, the father of philosophy and the most revered citizen of Athens in "the glory that was Greece"  was condemned to die.   Why Aesop, father of fables - moralism in animal stories - was pushed to his death from a cliff?    Ignorance is truly dangerous. the enemy of truth. It is not falsehood. ~
In the list of the world's best political novels are Tolstoy's War and Peace and Rizal's Noli Me Tangere. Excellence has its own time and often accompanies a great idea whose time has yet to come.
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Chicken soup (tinola) is best for convalescent.

May 22, 2016, 6:08 am
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Dr Abe V Rotor
Living with Nature - School on Blog [avrotor.blogspot.com]
Paaralang Bayan sa Himpapawid (People's School-on-Air) with Ms Melly C Tenorio
738 DZRB AM Band, 8 to 9 evening class, Monday to Friday [www.pbs.gov.ph]
Typical tinola with green papaya and young leaves of pepper.
Acknowledgment: recipes.trulyfilipino.com/.../tinolang_manok.jpg


True. However, there are specifications of the kind of chicken to be served. 

First, it must be native chicken. Karurayan is the term in Ilocos for a pure white native chicken which does not bear any trace of color on its feathers. It is preferably a female, dumalaga or fryer, meaning it has not yet reached reproductive stage. It is neither fat nor thin.

Usually the herbolario chooses one from a number of recommended specimens. He then instructs and supervises the household the way the karurayan is dressed, cut, cooked into tinola (stew) and served to the convalescent. He does not ask for any fee for his services, but then he takes home one or two of the specimens that did not pass the specifications.

Chicken soup as a convalescent food is recognized in many parts of the world. Because of its popularity, chicken soup has become associated with healing, not only of the body – but the soul as well. In fact there is a series of books under the common title Chicken Soup - for the Woman’s Soul, Surviving Soul, Mother’s Soul, Unsinkable Soul, Writer’s Soul, etc. 

Of course, this is exaggeration.  Nonetheless it strengthens our faith that this lowly descendant of the dinosaurs (Archeopterex) that once walked the earth of its panacean magic.

Try chicken soup to perk you up in these trying times. But first, be sure your chicken does not carry antibiotic residues, and should not be one that is genetically engineered (GMO). 

By the way, I was a participant in the rituals made by the herbolario I related. I was then a farmhand and I was tasked to get the karurayan. Our flock failed the test, but I found two dumalaga with few colored feathers. I plucked out the colored feathers and presented the birds to Ka Pepe. They passed the criteria. 

Three days after, I asked my convalescing dad how he was doing. “I’m fine, I’m fine, now.” He assured me with a big smile.~

Living with Folk Wisdom, AV Rotor (UST Publishing House) 2007
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