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Children's Art Workshop: Painting and Drama

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"I am what my brush and colors take me, 
to where the boundless world that be." avr
Dr Abe V Rotor
Living with Nature School on Blog

Children's Art Workshop: Painting and Drama
Of Brush and Colors

I am what my brush and colors take me, 
    to where the boundless world that be;
beyond the sky or in the depth of the sea 
    beyond the boundaries of what I see.   

Art Workshop 

To each his or her own now, and time to waste,
     if idleness in art means any less;
and growing up a matter of chase and haste,
     heed not, for the clay is still fresh.
Children's Art Exhibit

It's open house to view our children's art;
    Amazing!  And who wouldn't agree?
For the young fills something on our part,  
    We who were once talented and free.
Ribbon Cutting on Exhibit Day

Ritual we may say, or just ceremony,
     Cheap on today's print or TV;
It's all about money and personality.
     Save the young while still early.
Early Masterpieces 

When is pride humility?
Showing to the world beauty,
Handmade, and telling it good
As a good child really should.
Deities of Nature - A Drama Skit

Good spirits - they are deities of Nature,
     in forests, rivers, lakes and seas,
keepers of our land, air and water pure,
     night and day, at ease and peace.  
Best Artist Award

Single out the best, make them meek,
     with medals to wear and  keep;
that others may also strive to seek,
     what they have failed to reap.
Art Instructor
 (Author as organizer and art instructor)

Give me your children's gifted hands
     to hold the brush this summer;
and paint the glowing rainbow's bands
     that bring in a sudden shower;
make the canvas come alive from the sands
     of time, to a beautiful flower.
(Children's Summer Art Workshop, Filinvest Homes QC, 1996)
Workshop Graduation 

It's not an end, but a beginning,
From one chapter after another;
For life has no end or beginning,
In one's own lifetime to another.~


Photography: Happy Faces, Pleasant Views

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Learn outside the school to where Nature is the teacher,
the greatest teacher of all.

Dr Abe V Rotor
UST Arts and Letters Photography Review: Happy Faces, Pleasant Views


Floridablanca, Pampanga



Summer is vacation everyday,
and any time is spring;
autumn is just romantic
and winter - if any - is brief;
such is life the greatest art
for the young and happy heart.

Manaoag, Pangasinan


Mingle with the gods and angels under the sun
while childhood and innocence are one.


DZRB radio station, PIA Visayas Ave QC


Confidence and smile - they go on air, too;
invisible they are, yet have wings
that carry the spoken word
and melodious sound,
to the mind, heart and soul.


At home, Lagro QC

Capture in colors and hues,
light and shadow, object and views;
imagination, more than thought -
it is dream that you sought.

At home, San Vicente, Ilocos Sur


Real wealth in bounty and praise,
nature's gift of grace.

Mall of Asia, MM


Forever young - yes, you are,
as young as your heart and mind,
with things that make children
children and hold back the time.


A harvest of guyabano, at home Lagro QC

Remnant of bat or bird, fruits are sweeter;
such is man's fate by his lesser sense,
yet accepts it part of life and game
by competition and evolution.

Parks and Wildlife Center QC


Learn outside the school;
away from shop and mall,
to where Nature is the teacher
the greatest teacher of all.
Dr Anselmo S Cabigan, scientist and professor, with rare bamboo, Lipa Batangas


Teach in situ where Nature is,
where learning is at ease;
teach with wisdom of old,
and learners take what is told.


UST campus, Manila


Loitering is idleness in disguise;
it's keeping with one's pace, too;
for the mind hangs up sometimes,
like the computer, must reset anew.


Atop a guava tree, Floridablanca, Pampanga


Grownups deny childhood,
it comes spontaneously,
surreptitiously -
and innocently.
Anna, Mall of Asia MM


Oh, little brother, little sister,
tell me, who is who,
in the world of animae,
and that of grownups, too.


Anna with parakeets, Safari World, Bangkok Thailand


They come when they're hungry
by two or three;
they come when they like to play,
or seek company.


UST campus Manila


Photography the latest fad
subjects from real to toy;
in takes one into freedom
to find simple joy.


Coed, UST campus, Manila


It matters little if called Doña Aurora
or Doña Trining,
or mythical Medusa transformed;
she is the star shining. ~

Bansiong Repulleza - Master Kite Maker (San Vicente Ilocos Sur Series)

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La Golondrina, the Grandest Kite

Published in Humanities Today; An Experiential Approach, by Molina-Doria K and AV Rotor (textbook for Kto12, C and E Publishing Co), pp 39-47 

Dr Abe V Rotor

Living with Nature School on Blog

                                                Flying Kites in acrylic, detail of mural by AVRotor 2002

Kites have always fascinated me ever since I was a child. And I found out that the most beautiful of them all is La Golondrina, the swallow. 


Thanks to Manong Bansiong Repulleza, nephew of Basang my auntie-yaya. He made the most beautiful and the biggest kite in town. Remote and small a town San Vicente is, we had the reputation in the neighboring towns for our best kites, pieces of furniture and wooden saints.

Manong Bansiong made different kites: sinang gola, agila, kayyang,  – in the likes of a bull, a bird with outstretched wings, or a maiden in colorful, flowing dress.  He had many other designs. His kites were known for their strength, stability, beauty, and agility. In competitions his kites always won. And we kids in our time regarded him our hero. That’s why he was the most popular person in town come kite flying season when the grains in the field turn golden in the sun and the cold wind from the north starts blowing.

It’s hard to wait when you anticipate something exciting. You wish it were  happening today. “It’s now burr…,” we would jokingly refer to the “ber” months, when the Siberian cold wind begins to be felt.  It is the north wind that flies our kites.  Kids that we were, insisted that kite flying starts as early in September.

But our folks would say rice harvest will not be good if kites are flown before the grains are full. They got angry at us for not heeding them.  Of course old folks are superstitious. But in college I learned that it’s not the kite that causes poor harvest; it is the early arrival of amihan.  Dry and cool wind affects the setting of grains, and prevents rain to fall.

“Can you make me a La Golondrina?” I found myself asking Manong Bansiong one afternoon.

Without being asked, I described my subject with the confidence of a story teller. The master of the art just nodded as if he knew everything, and he did not interrupt me. Real experts, like good teachers are like that; they give chance to amateurs to say their piece.  

La Golondrina has a slender streamlined body, and long pointed wings, which allow great maneuverability and endurance, as well as easy gliding. Her body shape allows efficient flight. Her wings have nine primary feathers each, while the tail has twelve feathers and may be deeply forked, somewhat indented. And with a sweeping hand I demonstrated how long the tail feathers are.  “Yes, the tail increases maneuverability, and serves as adornment.” Manong Bansiong added.

As a child, I love to watch swallows in flight. And there is something special about them because I discovered their nesting ground in Caniao, a  watershed on the Western slopes of the Cordillera range that feed the wells and springs, fill the ponds and make the streams flow, and waterfalls tumble down  into the Banaoang River. I saw the birds comb the surface of the water for flying insects, or just for sheer fun gliding along this meandering river that flows like a huge serpent into the vast South China Sea. 

But Caniao had a more practical significance; it was the source of free flowing water from the faucet, even with the distance of some thirty kilometers way from the reservoir. So abundant was water that our gardens and backyards were always green throughout the year. Our wells never dried up.

Even in summer it was convenient to fetch water by hand or by a makeshift lever made of bamboo, we called babatwagan, to draw out water from the well.  In the rainy season, ground water overflows and merge with the stream and low lying fields, and sometimes, fish are lured into these wells and get trapped. That explains the presence of the  bulan-bulan fish, a local relative of the aruwana,  in some wells.  It is a fish that grows to nearly a meter long and makes the well its home until it dies some years later.   

Oh, what a beautiful sight when you look into the well at midday.  And at night when the moon is directly shining above you can see the moon and the fish together in the dark bottom of the well. This is how the fish got its name. And old folks said the water is kept clean and sweet by the bulan-bulan.  I learned later in college this is true because the fish feed on morsels and insects falling into the well.  It also checks the growth algae and plankton, thus maintaining a favorable level of dissolved oxygen.

If I were to ask Manong Bansiong another kite to make, surely it would be a bulan-bulan. I could imagine it swimming in the sky. And what a perfect pair with the quarter moon!      

But the swallow was my dream kite.

Swallows roost on big trees in Caniao and one particular bird came up close and posed to us picnickers. She seemed unafraid and even sang a beautiful melody. I was reminded of my first musical piece in violin, La Golondrina.  It’s a plaintive musical piece which if you close your eyes while playing it, the swallows come by flock, the bird presenting themselves singly or in groups circling, rising and falling seemingly defying gravity.  They split the rays of the sun into rainbow, their wings acting as a prism. I liked to hear their melodious calls, neither sonorous nor rough, which is just perfect on the higher octave on the violin.  And the cadence goes with long stroke of the bow.   

I stalked to have a good look at the singer as one would like to get close to the characters on stage, but on sensing my closeness, she took off into the sky and soared like a kite in the wind. How swift, how graceful and agile she flew as if she commanded the wind, and not the other way around.  

I compared La Golondrina with the kites I have seen in our place. There is the dragon that looks fierce and moves stealthily before striking.  There is the eagle that is too common to most of us kids; we used to figure on one side of the dollar and Philippine peso. A castle kite is not supposed to move around and should remain fixed in the sky; a sudden gust of wind can cause it fall like a castle under siege. A lady kite finds dancing difficult in strong wind, and would easily fall down when the wind momentarily stops.  A clown kite cannot make tricks, and change its expressions as a real clown does.  

But my La Golondrina is versatile; she could soar up and down like a jet plane with the least effort, then turns sideways, repeating the same as if she were performing on a stage.  But how could one look beautiful while struggling vainly for freedom. But I would say she was just courting the viewer to train his sight to a place only she could tell – somewhere too far and too high. 

Actually La Golondrina is a difficult design of a kite to make. But Manong Basiong was a real expert. He won’t back out at any kind of kite especially if it were intended for a contest. And he always wanted his kites to win.

“When will the contest be?” He asked me in our dialect.

With that statement and a kindly smile I knew Manong Bansiong would make my La Golondrina.

“Yehay!” I could not help keep it a secret and soon everyone in town came to know of my secret and began anticipating the big event.

The day of the contest came. There were many kites from our town and nearby towns. Vigan, the capital of the province had the most entries and the biggest kites at that. As we expected these kites resembling airplanes, eagles and dragons, were huge and colorful at that, and soon they were dominating the sky. But my confidence did not sag. I looked at Manong Bansiong. He nodded with confidence.

Our turn came. La Golondrina appeared unique. She was not really very big. All eyes were on her now. I asked my brother Eugene to help me carry her across the field while Manong Bansiong loosened  the string.

“Farther … some more,” he signaled. “Stop.” He held the string, paused, looked around, and whistled a few notes. It is a technique in kite flying. Release the kite at the moment a strong breeze comes. We waited for the precious wind.

Then it came. It was a gust of wind that came all the way from the North. It is the wind of amihan, the season we harvest our rice crop, when farmers build haystacks (mandala) that look like giant mushrooms dotting the landscape. Mandala and kite with golden fields at the background makes a favorite subject in painting landscapes.  Rural landscape is the favorite subject of our own national artist, Fernando Amorsolo, whose masterpieces of rustic scenes could rival those of impressionist Vincent van Gogh, classical Rembrandt and Corot, and the romantic Millet. Many local stages or entablado have backdrops of such rural scenes. And many zarzuelas were presented during town fiestas with this background.  Kite flying was also a season to catch dalag, hito, ar-aro trapped in receding ponds and basins of ricefields where we played kites. And we had slingshots to target maya birds that are pest to standing crops and to the mandala.

“Steady now,” Manong Bansiong shouted, and Eugene and I raised La Golondrina and held it there. We held our breath, and waited for the signal.  “Now!”

La Golondrina took off strong and determined.  She soared above our heads, above the nearby trees, above the church steeple. Our town mates, gang mates and classmates rallied. They followed her ascent, and clapped, coaching her to the top of their voices. “Up, up. Go up some more! More! More!” She mingled with the other kites, bowing here and there, sometimes flying close to the dragon or eagle, or to the airplane kite bowing in some kind of greeting.

Manong Bansiong let the string glide on his hand, making a crispy whistling sound as our kite continued to rise. The wind favored her flight.  Now it was higher than any other kite. It appeared the smallest of them, and one won’t be able to recognize her if he did not see her first on the ground. Beyond the horizon, stood like a wall the blue-green Cordillera range, the home of this beautiful bird.  I could estimate the direction where Caniao possibly lay.  It was right straight to where the wind was blowing.

La Golondrina hovered steadily like a duchess in the blue sky. I wondered at how she looked at us down below. I just imagined we were also just specks on the ground, and if my T-shirt were not red, she would not be able to distinguish me from the spectators.

Then the unexpected happened. The string snapped! La Golondrina was adrift.

She was flying free, and there was not indication she was coming down. Instead, she went farther up, riding on the updraft that joined the wind blowing from the sea to the mountains. Everyone fell silent. All eyes were focused on her, winking from glare. Soon it was but a dot in the sky. La Golondrina was lost.

Manong Bansiong rolled the remaining string back into its string cage. “She didn’t get much string.” He muttered.

My first impulse was to run to where she would most likely land. “No,” he said, catching me on the shoulder.  I was left alone.  All the kids had joined the chase.

I remained dumbfounded, agape at the wide, wide sky. Time stood still. There was a deafening silence. Nothing seemed to move. Not even the other kites in the sky.

La Golondrina was swallowed up by clouds heading for the mountains, as it often does in October, momentarily becoming part of its top like a veil or a blanket. During amihan the cloud is high, a characteristic of stratus clouds  because of the cool and dry wind that carries it.  It is the wind on which migrating birds from the North ride on as they go down South.  It is in summer when they return. But for birds of La Golondrina’s kind, it is time to go home to nest and to rear their young. Here new flocks are built, old flocks grow in size, or flocks simply merged.

With that thought, I said, “She’s going home.”

Manong Bansiong nodded in submission to the fate of his master craft. He was sad; I could see his eyes moist.  Eugene had just come back panting, brushing away weeds and dusts, nurturing some scratches and cuts. He had given up the chase together with our gang mates, and those who knew something about kite flying. Everyone talked about how they crossed the fields, climbed over fences, forge streams and even climbed trees to get better view of the route of the lost kite.

But no one knew where exactly had La Golondrina landed. We soon forgot all about the contest as we sadly prepared to go home. The plaza was empty now. It was already dark.

That night I dreamed I found La Golondrina in Caniao, hanging on a dead branch where I once saw her as a bird. She was all in tatters now.  But she was still as restless as the wind, the wind that made her alive in the sky.  How different she was from the once beautiful and dainty kite La Golondrina. But at least she had reached home at last, so I thought.

I found the spring had dried up. The stream had shrunk into a rivulet, painfully skirting the rocks and levees downstream. The stones were no longer living, because they were no longer green with algae and moss. There were no more rock pools on which a Narcissus would look at all day.  There was no Pierian Spring anymore, and the Sylphids were no longer around.  

Nor was the mountain green, and blue in the distance. The view below spread out clear and empty, orphaned from the watershed.  There were now farms and huts over the landscape from which smoke rose to meet the setting sun. 

I waited for the beautiful song I once heard.  There was none. In the  stillness of the coming dusk, the sweep of the wind on the cogon grass made an eerie sound.

Manong Bansiong did not make kites anymore since then. He died when I was in Manila studying.  A simple cross was all that marked his grave, and weeds were growing around it.  I plucked one that had a beautiful flower.  If he were still alive I would ask him, “Can you make a weed flower kite?”

I plucked the petals one by one, reliving the memory of a great kite maker.

Times changed. Kites are now an endangered art. Kids are more interested with other playthings. They have remote controlled toys and other electronic gadgets. They would rather stay indoors and watch TV and play Computer games for hours into the wee hours. The young generation appears to be more serious in their studies than we were then. They seldom go out to the fields. Rivers and forests are full of danger. No, their parents won’t allow them to go to these places. And where have the forests and rivers gone in the first place? 

Many children moved with their parents to the city, and more and more children are born there. Forget flying kites.  Not even in open spaces; it is too dangerous.

It consoles me to see a kite flying around, whether it is made of simple T-frame or plastic. Or one made in China. How different are kites today from the kites we had before.

When I reached the age Manong Bansiong was as kite maker, I also found joy in making kites for children. I am not as good as my mentor though. One time Leo Carlo, my youngest son, was taking part in a kite flying competition at the University of Santo Tomas.  He asked, “Can you help me make a kite, papa?”

I felt young all of a sudden.  The child in me I realized is alive. I recalled The Little Prince novel of Antoine de Saint Exupery’.  I was lost in the desert and I found a little prince – the child in me, innocent, idealistic, fearless and true to the world. He made me survive the ordeals in the desert of life.

So, Leo Carlo and I -  were me and Manong Bansiong then – fifty years ago. 

Oh, how time flies, we say, and it seems it was only yesterday.   
               
I helped my son re-create La Golondrina. The craft is still fresh in my mind and I was able to trace it easily step by step in making a replica of a lost thing.  When you have lost a thing you really love, it’s not easy to forget it.  And to forget it would lose the essence of that love itself.  It is memory that bridges love, a mentor with his pupil, like the great Greek philosophers.  The kite made a bridge for Leo Carlo, my son and me, his generation and mine.   

Leo Carlo carried his kite proudly among other kites, many of them – the dragon, the dancing lady, the castle, the airplane – and dashed across the football field with Marlo, his brother assisting him. And I, at the other end, held the string. We waited for the old friendly wind.
 Kite flying winning team led by Leo Carlo (right) UST 2006
Then it came, it came all the way from the North, and La Golondrina rode on it proud and dainty, resurrecting through time and space, flew above our heads, above the trees, above the grandstand, above the chapel and the tall buildings, and up into the blue sky.

I saw Caniao at the back of my mind, its water full and flowing.  Below is the meandering Banaoang River reaching out to the sea, and in the distance lies the blue green Cordillera.  There is a familiar tree, on its branch sat a beautiful bird. ~

10 Ancient Egyptian and Philippine Superstitious Beliefs in Common

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Researched and compiled by Dr be V Rotor

1. Ancient Egyptians believed that a cat has nine lives. They go further than that, Egyptians cats considered sacred animals.

2. Owl is a bird that brings bad news for the one who sees or hears this bird.

3. Leaving footwear upside down is just really wrong. Ancient Egyptians believed that doing so would insult the gods.

4. Many Egyptians believe that hearing the sound of crows or ravens, especially during the day, means something bad will happen, even the sight of them is considered unpleasant.

5. Leaving scissors open is bad luck. Many Egyptians believe that hearing the sound of crows or ravens, especially during the day, means something bad will happen, even the sight of them is considered unpleasant.

6. Throwing salt over your shoulder leads to great cooking. Also originally from ancient Egypt, there's the belief that throwing salt over your left shoulder before you cook will fend off evil and make your food better.

7. Ancient Egyptians believed that if you wake up someone suddenly their soul could separate from their body, that's why it's still seen as a bad sign if you're woken up suddenly.

8. An ancient Egyptians superstition that has turned into a joke in modern Egypt is that knocking on wood will fend off bad luck as ancient Egyptian believed evil spirits lived inside trees.

9. If your ear hurts, someone is badmouthing you. Also an old superstition that has become a common joke is that if your ear is hurting you or if you get a cut on your arms or fingers, then that means someone is talking about you and what they're saying is not pretty.

10. While Western superstitions consider walking under a ladder a sign of bad luck, ancient Egyptians believed ladders could help them climb to heaven, it's still seen by some as a sign of fortune.~

Life is a River Flowing

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Mural and Poem by Dr Abe V Rotor
Nature Mural by AVR 2005

Life is a river flowing,
its source the sky and dream;
clouds rising, falling as rain,
and running downstream.

Life is a river flowing,
from mountain to sea;
the bounty of the living,
kingdom and the free.

Life is a river flowing,
nature's free energy,
prime mover of the living
world of synergy.

Life is a river flowing
incessantly through
fields and plains and ravine,
all year through.

Life is a river flowing,
flowing with laughter,
whispering, hissing, roaring,
more so in summer.

Life is a river flowing
to a sweet union -
the spirit and nature rising
to every occasion.~

SAVE RICE: Let's Cut Down Rice Loss and Consumption

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In support to the government's campaign to reduce rice loss and consumption 

Dr Abe V Rotor
Living with Nature - School on Blog
I am presenting this article in response to the present problem of low rice buffer stock of the National Food Authority. The supply of government rice stock is crucial in augmenting rice supply in maintaining affordable price level in the market.
A typical rice threshing scene
While our national goal is self-sufficiency in rice by increasing yield and hectarage, we must at the same time reduce rice loss in the field, in processing, and on the dining table on one hand, and reduce rice consumption through various food substitutes, on the other.  .
The second aspect is how we can reduce our consumption of rice in the light of recurrent production shortage, and increasing price without necessarily depriving ourselves of energy and nutrients.

Rice is lost in three stages.
1. Field loss in production mainly to pest and force majeure runs up to 50 percent of potential harvest. In many cases, it is total crop failure.

2. Gains in rice production may be negated by huge postharvest loss mainly due to lack of facilities and improper processing. Postharvest loss ranges from 10 to 37 percent of total harvest. If we can only reduce Postharvest loss to the low level of 10 percent, we would be self-siufficient in rice. Philippine rice importation in 2014 was 1.2 million metric tons worth at least one-half billion dollars.


3. Nutritional loss incurred during food preparation, cooking and poor eating habits is likewise high (no quantified figure but significant).


Yes, we can reduce postharvest loss?

Postharvest loss can be reduced during the following activities:

1. Threshing - Use improved thresher, thresh on time and do not plant easy-shattering varieties.


2. Drying - Sundry properly, use mechanical dryers is sun drying is not feasible.


3. Milling - Use mill types/model with high milling recovery. Mill grains, which are properly dried. Do not mix different varieties.


4. Handling and transport - Use good sacks, transport properly and on time.


5. Storage - Keep pest away and moisture low. Store properly and dispose on time.


Rice Weevil (Sitophilus oryza)

Let's Develop Substitutes to Reduce Pressure on Rice
Low production together with devaluation of our peso and spiraling world market price of the commodity have caused the price of rice to shoot up to as much as 100 percent in the last five years, and it is going to increase further. This view leads us to believe that we can institute or strengthen agricultural reforms and programs. One area to focus our attention is the development of rice substitutes such as other cereals, rootcrops, and legumes.

Aside from direct substitution, the increase in the uptake of fruits and vegetables, meat and fish would lead to a reduction in rice consumption, not to mention its valuable contribution to nutrition, thus the improvement of health.


Corn as a whole tops all rice substitutes, other than the fact that 20 percent (14 million) of our population depends on corn as staple.


In urban areas the most popular rice substitutes are noodle products, followed by pandesal and other wheat products. In rural areas, sweet potato (Ipomea batatas) and cassava (Manihot esculenta) top the list of rootcrops.


Among the legumes, mungo (Phaseolus radiatus) is best known. Generally, consumers of these products are unaware that they are doing a favor to the rice industry, particular during the lean months.


The development of these substitute products on the part of the farmers is beneficial. It will definitely boost diversified farming, and consequently income on the farni4 A program based on this alternative is definitely necessary both in the short and long term, particularly if the focus is the development of indigenous products.


Nature's gleaners.  
With farm animals and fowls around there's little waste on the farm. In fact, what is considered as waste becomes profit. 

Here are some facts about rice to consider:
1. Per capita consumption of rice is from 95 to 130, Metro Manila and Ilocos Region, respectively. National average is close to 100 kg per person.

2. Daily calorie supply per capita is 2,357. Rice supplies 38% of it.


3. With a total of rice eating Filipinos of 87 million, our total rice requirement is 13 million MT. Today's production is less than 12 million MT.


4. Our total rice area is shrinking, even as land use policy regulates non-agricultural land use, such as settlements and industry.


5. Farmlands are becoming marginal due to poor management.


6. Agrarian program, since it was promulgated 50 years ago, remains a social and political issue, instead of being a catalyst of growth and development.
 
Quaintness of harvestime time.  Paintings by Fernando Amorsolo (lefdt), and Cesar Buenaventura

7. Farming remains in the hands of farmers who are on the average 58 years old, with low formal education, and with very little personal savings.

8. There are less and less students taking up agriculture. Not even 10 percent of agriculture graduates go into farming.


9. There is need to define clearly our agricultural policy on rice self-sufficiency. In the seventies and eighties, the Philippines became one of the world's exporters of rice, as a result of a successful food production program. We were also self-sufficient in most basic food items.


10. Investment in agriculture is very low, priority is in industry. It should be the other way around, as many countries realized lately.~


----------------------------------------------------
A Review
* International Day for the Eradication of Poverty

17 October 2015 Theme: Building a sustainable future: Coming together to end poverty and discrimination
"On this day we recommit to think, decide and act together against extreme poverty -- and plan for a world where no-one is left behind. Our aim must be prosperity for all, not just a few." Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon

The International Day for the Eradication of Poverty has been observed every year since 1993, to promote awareness of the need to eradicate poverty and destitution in all countries.


This year, the International Day for the Eradication of Poverty holds particular significance because it will be the first observance following the formal adoption of the Sustainable Development Goals by the General Assembly of the United Nations. Within this new development framework, designed to replace and carry forward the aims of the Millennium Development Goals, all countries committed to “ending poverty in all its forms and dimensions.”

NOTE: This article is a reprint, same title and author and in the same website/blog
In observance of World Food Day October 16, 2015
The official ceremony will commemorate FAO’s 70the Anniversary and address the theme for World Food Day 2015, “Social Protection and Agriculture: Breaking the Cycle of Rural Poverty”, and how this links with the UN theme for Expo 2015, “The Zero Hunger Challenge · United for a sustainable world”. (The 2014 Theme: Family Farming: Feeding the World, Caring for the Earth)

Highlights of the ceremony will include the official presentation of the Milan Charter to the UN Secretary-General, a manifesto that engages all citizens in the fight against undernourishment, malnutrition and waste, while promoting equal access to natural resources and sustainability. The Milan Urban Food Policy Pact, where Mayors worldwide commit to coordinating international food policies, is another important legacy document that will be presented. In addition to the keynote speakers, the Heads of IFAD and WFP will speak during the ceremony and guests will hear a few words from Pope Francis.*
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International Year of Soils 2015, Day of celebration: December 5
"We now have adequate platforms to raise awareness on the importance of healthy soils and to advocate for sustainable soil management. Let us use them." Jose Graziano da Silva, FAO Director-General.

Part 2 - SAVE RICE: Let's Promote Rice Substitutes and Supplements

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In response to current spiraling price of rice in the market. The truth is, we are not producing enough rice in the Philippines. Historically for about three decades now, we have been importing rice mainly from Thailand and Vietnam, ironically whose agriculturists studied agriculture in UPLB and IRRI, other schools and institutions in our country notwithstanding. Our deficit is on the average ten percent of annual consumption.
Dr Abe V Rotor
Living with Nature - School on Blog

A family picnic - simplicity and joy. Who needs expensive food?
A. Direct Substitutes
1. Corn - As staple, green corn (corn-on-the cob), and corn products (corn flour, flakes, pop, etc)

2. Rootcrops - Sweet potato, Irish potato, cassava, gabi, arrowroot, ubi, tugui, water chestnut.

3. Legumes - Mungbean, white bean, cowpea, pigeon pea, garden pea, winged bean, peanut, lima bean, soybean, black bean.
4. Wheat - Noodles, pasta (macaroni and spaghetti), pandesal, other baked wheat products.

NOTE: We import 100% of our wheat requirement, mainly from the US. Indigenous substitutes are preferable.

B. Indirect Substitutes

1. Fruits - Consumption of fruits such is banana. mango, and the like, result in significant caloric intake1

2. Vegetables - A variety of local vegetables assures a year round supply. Vegetable provides the mass of food intake, mainly for its fiber, an important health factor next to vitamins and minerals it provides the body.

3. Meat products - Our poultry and livestock industry if well developed, can provide these products at affordable prices. Ninety percent (90%) of our animal industry lies in the hand of farmers and backyard raisers.

4. Fish and fish products - Freshwater and marine fishes Improvement of 9ur fish and aquatic industry' will likewise result in more supply at affordable prices.

5. Oil and others products - Oil from coconut and fat-rich substitutes are packed with energy. In short1 they are high-powered fuels of the body. Other products are nuts (cashew, pili, and peanut), seaweeds, and wild food plants.

6. Energy or Calorie Boosters - Other than staple and supplementary foods that we take regularly, the body now and then requires an immediate and ready source of energy. We call these energy or calorie boosters, Modern life style, particularly in cities, has led to modified eating and drinking habits which are dependent on these boosters. Sugar and alcohol are the two main boosters.
  • Softdrinks - Today softdrinks come in many kinds:carbonated and non-carbonated, juices, concentrates, etc. But the basic ingredient is sucrose or cane sugar.
  • Coffee and Cocoa - It is seldom that coffee and cocoa, the world's most important beverages arc not served sweet. The caloric value lies mainly in the sugar that is added.
  • Beer and alcohol - Heavy drinkers are light eaters. Beer contains 3 to 5 percent alcohol, while distilled commercial wine contains between 30 to 40 percent alcohol. The high caloric value of alcohol explains why drinkers can afford to miss a meal.
Consumption Pattern

1. It is natural that physical work requires more energy than non-physical work. Office workers eat less rice.
Author inspects rice crop ready to harvest.  San Ildefonso, Ilocos Sur  2. Residents in cities eat less rice than those in the provinces. Metro Manila residents consume around 95 kg of rice a year. In the Ilocos provinces the average consumption is 130 kg. The second highest rice consumers come from Central Luzon and Cagayan Valley. Two factors explain why, namely, physical work and eating habit.

3. The lowest rice eating regions are of course in the Visayas and Mindanao where corn is a staple crop.

4. A shift from corn to rice has been noted when there is shortfall in corn production.

5. Likewise, rice is a "filler" where there is lack of viand. The feeling of fullness is in the amount of rice we ate.



6. Filipinos, rich or poor are very discriminating. Poor quality rice is an affront to status of living. 
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Planting Rice is Never Fun
Obviously this folk song is not encouraging, especially to young who are fun seekers.  

This is a well-known Philippine folk song on planting rice and the lyrics go something like this: 
Rice by National rtist, Fernando Amorsolo

Magtanim ay ‘di biro
Maghapong nakayuko
‘Di man lang makatayo
‘Di man lang makaupo.
Planting 
The English version:

Planting rice is never fun,
Bending over ’til the set of sun.
Cannot sit, cannot stand,
Plant the seedlings all by hand.


And a literal translation:

Planting rice is not a joke
Just bending all day long
You can’t even stand up
You can’t even sit down. ~

LIFE IS BEAUTIFUL - but whose life?

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Dr Abe V Rotor


 “Life is beautiful,” has become too common an expression, as if the easy access to material progress defines the meaning of this expression – affluent living with Money, Money, Money. 

Can money buy true happiness which is the foundation of a beautiful life?

Janus image the way we live our lives

This is the question.  If this were true, then the happiest people on earth are the millionaires, nay billionaires, because they can buy almost everything for themselves. Travel, high rise buildings, palatial homes,  flashy cars, state-of-the art fashion, pleasure beyond Epicurean limit, personalized services, name it and you too, can have it, if you belong to this singular world of the wealthy.

The fact is, they are perhaps among  the most unhappy people on earth based on the standard of real happiness – peace of mind. He who does not enjoy a continuing peace of mind is always fighting the biggest enemy of one’s life – himself.  His revolting conscience.  No one can truly claim happiness who is bothered by his own conscience.  Night and day, hour after hour, while trying to get sleep, struggling to relax frayed nerves, wrestling between good and evil thoughts, desiring in amassing more wealth, zealously guarding his wealth from other greedy people, keeping up with the Joneses, - and in his Narcissistic view ignores the marginalized, the less fortunate, whom ones wealth could help alleviate their plight with compassion, love and care - or just simply, concern that gives a sense of belonging and importance .

 If this is so, then “Life is beautiful” is an equation: excessive living of a few deprives others, the great majority, of decent living.

When a teacher was asked what she feels earning but a measly fraction of millionaire’s  daily income, she simply quipped with a radiant smile. “I have wealth enough. I am happy to think that the lessons I teach children will be their investment.”  This is the essence of vocation.  Living a beautiful life is selflessness, in contrast with “buying happiness with money.”
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LIFE IS BEAUTIFUL (La Vita et ella) - the Movie, shows life as a comedy alone has no true meaning, unless it finds meaning to the point of extreme sacrifice - death if necessary, but for a cause
A gentle Jewish-Italian waiter, Guido Orefice (Roberto Benigni), meets Dora (Nicoletta Braschi), a pretty schoolteacher, and wins her over with his charm and humor. Eventually they marry and have a son, Giosue (Giorgio Cantarini). Their happiness is abruptly halted, however, when Guido and Giosue are separated from Dora and taken to a concentration camp. Determined to shelter his son from the horrors of his surroundings, Guido convinces Giosue that their time in the camp is merely a game.
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 Simple folks on the other hand find happiness in one-thousand-and-one ways. A housewife dutifully attending  to her chores, fisher folks coming back at dawn with good or fair catch, farmers building haystacks from bountiful harvest, craftsmen displaying their art, the young promenading in moonlit, a whole community settling down for the night in peace and quiet, and rousing at daybreak in rustic rhythm of country life. Indeed, all these make a BEAUTIFUL LIFE shared collectively.

Wouldn’t living the beautiful life passive, devoid to challenge and adventure? If this were so, then the world would simply settle down, yawning, complacent, yet abiding.
Dayaw festival, Philippines  
 Wonder if there weren’t the kind of Archimedes who discovered buoyancy in a bathtub and running down the street “:Eureka! Eureka!” Would there be anything else more exciting than putting a huge universe into an equation E=mc2.  Look at the electrified face of the genius Einstein. Darwin could have dropped his controversial theory on evolution in lieu insults that he was a descendant of a monkey. There is a movie, A BEAUTIFUL LIFE about the unsettling life of a “mad” scientist even by his colleagues in the academe. At the end he triumphed with his ideas that shook contemporary economics and for this he was award the Nobel Prize.
Family bonding is number one source of collective happiness

What kind of life do artists have? Imagine Abelardo putting down his pen after composing “Mutya ng Pasig,” and listening it from a diva for the first time.  Santiago writing  the finale of “Anak Dalita,”  Amorsolo resting under a mango tree after putting the final touches of his on-the-spot painting of Planting Rice. Life must be indeed beautiful to these pioneers, and what it makes it really so is because they changed the world. 


 LIFE IS BEAUTIFUL indeed in many ways. It’s all up for us to live that life.

The New Wave of Daring Scientists

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The New Wave of Daring Scientists  
“I am enough of an artist to draw freely upon my imagination. Imagination is more important than knowledge. Knowledge is limited. Imagination encircles the world.”  - Albert Einstein 

Dr Abe V Rotor
School on Blog 

Let's shift our mind from the old timers  Darwin, Newton, Linnaeus,Mendel et al  to younger, daring scientists of today.  They question authority instinctively.  It may yet become in my belief, a new field in which we expand our concept of freedom, freedom to question dogmatic principles  set by authorities in science  who are unquestionably  long revered and respected.  Let us cite the most daring scientific innovations"at the edge."   

1. Neurobiology. Brain cells do regenerate.  nd they gro from stem cells, which means that brain cells are not only replaced, but they are capable of differentiation.  The man behind this is am 49-year old neurobiologist, Fred Gage (RIGHT PHOTO), of the Salk Institute for Biological Studies in La Jolla, California.  Cell growth can be harness to treat everything from epilepsy to stress and depression. Does this also mean that we have actual control in the development of our mental faculties?  Will this finding explain why there are late bloomers, and why some people in some stages of their life do change.  We are looking at a new field of psychology, an evolution of the mind, heretofore unexplained.   

2. Re-birth of Theoretical Physics.  This involves knitting together the theory of Quantum Mechanics , which deals with the universe  in its smallest scale. It also involve Einstein's General Theory of Relativity, known as String Theory, proposed by a 31-year old native of Buenos Aries, Juan Martin Maldacena. 
   3. Combinatorial Chemistry.  Peter Schulz, 44 (LEFT PHOTO), of the Genomics Institute of Novartis, has succeeded in inventing 80 new amino acids which he uses to make proteins  seen nowhere in nature.  He is also working on an artificial bacterium with two extra bases of its DNA and five unnatural amino acids in its protein.  He asks, "What would life look like of God worked on the seventh day and made a few more amino acids?"   

4. Exobiology. The new field that is known as astro- or exobiology studies how life could form elsewhere in the universe.  "And why not?" says Sherry Cady, 43, a geologist at Portland State University who studied bacterial micro fossils in hot springs.  "Microbes could live  and fossilize in so punishing a place like like a scalding hot spring." Sh believes that it is not only in outer space to meet alien life forms, but there are plenty of them here on earth. 


5. Astrophysics.  The universe is expanding even faster, suggesting the existence of the anti-gravity force first proposed, the abandoned by Einstein.  Adam Reiss, then 25 in 1995, joined prestigious scientists to measure what was expected would be a post-Big Bang cosmic slowdown.  To Reiss' surprise instead of slowing down, the universe is speeding up. which seems to imply that there is force acting against gravity.   

6. Circuit Biology. With the computer it is now possible to simulate how cells work - not as individual cells - but as a whole circuit of billions of cells controlled by enzymes and other regulatory processes.  The pioneer is a 33-year old Adam Arkin of University of California.  He is developing a program called bio/SPICE that he hopes will do for the cell what SPICE did for one chip.  His first targets are simple bacteria.  

It may be recalled that some of the best ideas cam from scientists who were viewed as crackpots, but were ultimately vindicated.  Among them is Subrahmanyan Chandrasdekthar who suggested in 1930 the existence of Black Holes.  He won the Nobel Prize for it in 1983. 


In the field of geophysics, Alfred Wegener proposed in 1912, Continental Drift Theory, now called plate tectonics. 

In the field of Neurology, Stanley Pusiner (LEFT PHOTO)posited infectious proteins called prions to explain diseases in "mad cow" family.  He was criticize in the eighties  but won a Nobel Prize in 1997.  

The impact of these discoveries and innovations may not be fully appreciated for decades - if not longer, But then how long did it take the world to recognize and benefit from the works of Galileo, Mendel, Darwin, et al

Reference: Light from the Old Arch - By AV Rotor, UST Publishing House 2001

“Farming is a way of living,” Key to basic self-sufficiency and happy life

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The better farmer is the entrepreneur who grew up with farming and pursued training in technology and farm management, and has gain the confidence and skills in transforming the traditional concept of a farm into an agribusiness. 
In Memory of Dean Felix D Maramba, author of Farm Management in the Philippines 
 Dr Abe V Rotor

Farming is a way of living,” says the dean of farm management in the Philippines, Dean Felix D. Maramba, quoting Eugene Devenport who said that farming is not only a business, but a mode of life. “Sometimes the business is the prominent feature, so successful that life seems to run on one long sweet song. Sometimes the business runs so low that life is a bitter struggle.”

The farm and the family home is intertwined; in fact they are one. Anything that affects the farm as a business also directly affects as a home. The farm operator is the head of the household and the bulk of the farm work is done by the members of the family. The farmer is the farmer 24 hours a days, on weekdays as well as on Sundays and Holidays.

The children are brought up in close contact with nature. They develop an appreciation of the manifestations of the Creator through living things and their order. The farm boy does not have to wait until he is grown up before he can work and share family responsibilities. He is brought up early in the family business. In this way he will learn the value of industry and a sense of proprietorship early in life. The work habits and resourcefulness developed by farm children are kept throughout their lives.

This old school of Dean Maramba may not be the model progressive farmers are looking for today, but definitely the better farmer is the entrepreneur who grew up with farming and pursued training in technology and farm management, and has gain the confidence and skills in transforming the traditional concept of a farm into an agribusiness and therefore, he has a better chance in dealing with the complexities of world of the agriculture and business.

Make the correct decisions in farming.

Farming is no easy task. It is full of decisions - decisions based on socio-economic principles, and guided by rules of conduct and natural laws and of society. These are 10 guidelines in decision making.

1. Surplus labor resources of typically large rural families should be directed to labor-intensive projects, such as integrated farming.

2. Hillside or upland agriculture requires the cultivation of permanent crops, preferably through mixed cropping, such as intercropping of coconuts with orchard trees and annual crops.

3. Coastal and river swamplands should be preserved as wildlife sanctuaries, and should be managed as an ecosystem, rather than an agricultural venture.

4. Wastes can be recycled and converted into raw materials of another enterprise. Farm wastes and byproducts of processing can be processed biologically into methane, organic fertilizer, and biomass for vermiculture.

5. Productivity of small farms can be increased through pyramidal or storey farming. Batangas and Cavite farmers are well known for storied multiple cropping.

6. Poor soils can be rehabilitated through natural farming, such as green manuring, crop rotation and use of organic fertilizers, all integrated in the farming system. Corn-peanut, rice-mungo are popular models of crop rotations.



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Let’s aim at unifying agriculture and ecology into agro-ecology. This is what practical farming is all about. 
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7. Cottage industries are built on agriculture, guided by profitability and practical technology. It is time to look at the many agro-industries, from food processing to handicrafts.

8. Tri-commodity farming maximizes utilization of resources, such as having an orchard, planting field crops, and raising fish and livestock on one farm.

9. Cooperative farming is the solution to economics of scale, these to include multipurpose and marketing cooperatives of farmers and entrepreneurs.

10. Since the number of days devoted to farming is only one-­third of the whole year, livelihood outside of farming should be developed. Like a sari-sari store, a small farm cannot afford to have too many hands. Other opportunities should be tapped outside of farming by other members of the family.

Always go for natural food

The rule of thumb is that, it is always preferred to eat foods grown under natural conditions than those grown with the use of chemicals. These are criteria to know if a food is natural?

·It must be fresh, or freshly packed
·It must be free from pests and diseases
·There are no harmful chemicals and artificial additives, including antibiotics residues.
·Food must not be tainted with radiation
·Natural food excludes the so-called junk food.
·It has been processed by natural means such as blast freezing, sun drying and the like.
·Packaging materials are safe to human health, animals and the environment.
·It meets standard organoloeptic test (taste test) and nutritional value requirements.

There are many kinds of vegetables you can choose for backyard and homelot gardening.

Pahiyas 

A festival of fruits and vegetables, Lucban, Quezon (Pahiyas May 15)

There are many vegetables to choose from: leafy – malungay, talbos (kalabasa, kamote, sayote), kangkong,; Stem – asparagus, bamboo shoot; flower– katuray, squash flower, cauliflower, broccoli, himbaba-o (alokong); fruit – ampalaya, squash, cucumber, green corn, sayote, tomato, eggplant, green papaya, pepper; root – Gabi, kamote, ube, tugui, ginger, onion, garlic, carrot, radish; seed – patani, sitao, white bean, black bean, cowpea, green pea, chick pea, pigeon pea, peanut, linga (sesame), paminta (black pepper) 

Malunggay is the most popular tree vegetable in the tropic. In the province no home is without this small tree at the backyard or in a vacant lot. The leaves, flowers, juvenile pods and young fruits of Moringa oleifera (Family Moringaceae) go well with fish, meat, shrimp, mushroom, and the like. It is one plant that does not need agronomic attention, not even weeding and fertilization, much less chemical spraying. You simply plant an arms length cutting or two, in some corner or along the fence and there it grows into a tree that can give you a ready supply of vegetables yearound. What nutrients do we get from malunggay?


Pineapple farm, Silang Cavite 

Here is a comparison of the food value of the fresh leaves and young fruits, respectively, in percent. (Marañon and Hermano, Useful Plants of the Philippines)

· Proteins 7.30 7.29
· Carbohydrates 11.04 2.61
· Fats 1.10 0.16
· Crude Fiber 1.75 0.76
· Phosphorus (P2 O 5) 0.24 0.19
· Calcium (CaO) 0.72 0.01
· Iron (Fe2O3) 0.108 0.0005

Owing to these properties and other uses, rural folks regard malunggay a “miracle tree.” Take for other uses. The root has a taste somewhat like that of horse-radish, and in India it is eaten as a substitute to it. Ben oil extracted from the seed is used for salad and culinary purposes, and also as illuminant. Mature seeds have antibacterial and floucculants properties that render drinking water safe and clear.

From these data, it is no wonder malunggay is highly recommended by doctors and nutritionists for both children and adults, particularly to nursing mothers and the convalescents.

Get the best from your favorite fruits

1. Be keen with the appearance, smell, feel – and even sound – of the fruit before harvesting or buying it. There’s no substitute to taste test.though. Develop your skills on these fruits: mango, musk melon, soursop or guyabano and its relative, sugar apple or atis. Also try on caimito, chico, siniguelas, and such rare fruit as sapote.
2. To ripen fruits, rub table salt on the cut stem (peduncle). Salt does not only facilitate ripening, it also protects the fruit from fungi and bacteria that cause it to rot. You can use the rice box-dispenser to ripen chico, caimito, avocado, tomato, and the like. Wrap the fruits loosely with two or three layers of newspaper before placing them inside the box. As the fruits ripen they exude ethylene gas that hastens ripening.

3. Bigger fruits are always generally preferred. Not always. Native chico is sweeter and more aromatic than the ponderosa chico. Big lanzones have large seeds. Bicol or Formosa pineapple, although not juicier, is sweeter than the Hawaiian variety. Of course we always pick up the biggest mango, nangka, caimito, watermelon, cantaloupe, atis, guyabano, and the like.

4. There are vegetables that are eaten as fruit or prepared into juice. Examples are carrot, tomato, green corn, and sweet green pea. Asparagus juice, anyone? Try a variety of ways in serving your favorite fruits. nangka ice cream, fruit cocktail in pineapple boat, avocado cake, guava wine. Enjoy the abundance of your favorite fruits, consult the fruit season calendar.

Engage in cottage industries, such as home made coconut virgin oil.

The price of this “miracle cure” has soared and there is now a proliferation of commercial brands of virgin coconut oil in the market. The old folks show have been doing this for a long time. One such person is Mrs. Gloria Reyes of Candelaria (Quezon) who makes virgin coconut oil. This is the step-by-step process.

1. Get twenty (20) husked, healthy, and mature nuts. They should not show any sign of spoilage or germination. Shake each nut and listen to the distinct sound of its water splashing. If you can hear it, discard the particular nut.

2. Split each nut with a bolo, gathering the water in the process. Discard any nut at the slightest sign of defect, such as those with cracked shell and oily water, discolored meat, presence of a developing endosperm (para). Rely on a keen sense of smell.

3. With the use of an electric-driven grating machine, grate the only the white part of the meat. Do not include the dark outer layer of the meat.

4. Squeeze the grated meat using muslin cloth or linen to separate the milk (gata) from the meal (sapal). Gather the milk in wide-mouth bottles (liter or gallon size).

5. Cover the jars with dry linen and keep them undisturbed for 3 to 5 hours in a dry, dark and cool corner.

6. Carefully remove the floating froth, then harvest the layer of oil and place it in a new glass jar. Discard the water at the bottom. It may be used as feed ingredient for chicken and animals.

7. Repeat the operation three to four times, until the oil obtained is crystal clear. Now this is the final product – home made virgin coconut oil.

Virgin coconut oil is a product of cold process of oil extraction, as compared with the traditional method of using heat. In the latter coconut milk is brought to boiling, evaporating the water content in the process, and obtaining a crusty by-product called latik. The products of both processes have many uses, from ointment and lubrication to cooking and food additive. There is one difference though, virgin coconut oil is richer with vitamins and enzymes - which are otherwise minimized or lost in the traditional method.

Get rid of waste by utilizing them. 


Agricultural byproducts make good animal feeds, as follows:

· Rice straw, corn stovers and sugarcane tops, the most common crop residues in the tropics, contain high digestible nutrients, and provide 50% of the total ration of cattle and carabaos.

· Rice bran and corn bran are the most abundant general purpose feed that provides 80 percent of nutritional needs of poultry, hogs and livestock, especially when mixed with copra meal which is richer in protein than imported wheat bran (pollard).

· Cane molasses is high in calorie value. Alternative supplemental feeds are kamote vines for hogs and pineapple pulp and leaves for cattle.

Here is a simple feed formula for cattle: Copra meal 56.5 kg; rice bran (kiskisan or second class cono bran) 25kg; molasses 15kg; Urea (commercial fertilizer grade, 45%N) 2.0kg; salt 1.0kg; and bone meal 0.5kg. Weight gain of a two-year old Batangas cattle breed fed with this formulation is 0.56 kg on the average,

These are byproducts which have potential feed value: These are byproducts or wastes in the processing of oil, starch, fish, meat, fruit and vegetables. The abundance of agricultural by-products offers ready and cheap feed substitutes with these advantages.

It cut down on feed costs,
reduces the volume on imported feed materials,
provides cheaper source of animal protein,
provides employment and livelihood, and
keeps the environment clean and in proper balance.

Protect nature through environment-friendly technology.



Organic farming using Farm residues like rice hull. 

One example is the use of rice hull ash to protects mungbeans from bean weevil. Burnt rice hull (ipa) contains silica crystals that are microscopic glass shards capable of penetrating into the conjunctiva of the bean weevil, Callosobruchus maculatus. Once lodged, the crystal causes more damage as the insect moves and struggles, resulting in infection and desiccation, and ultimately death.

This is the finding of Ethel Niña Catahan in her masteral thesis in biology at the University of Santo Tomas. Catahan tested two types of rice hull ash, One is partly carbonized (black ash) and the other oven-burned (white ash). Both were applied independently in very small amount as either mixed with the beans or as protectant placed at the mouth of the container. In both preparations and methods, mungbeans – and other beans and cereals, for that matter – can be stored for as long as six months without being destroyed by this Coleopterous insect.

The bean weevil is a cosmopolitan insect whose grub lives inside the bean, eating the whole content and leaving only the seed cover at the end of its life cycle. When it is about to emerge the female lays eggs for the next generation. Whole stocks of beans may be rendered unfit not only for human consumption, but for animal feeds as well. It is because the insect leaves a characteristic odor that comes from the insect’s droppings and due to fungal growth that accompanies infestation.

Rice is substitute, and a better one, to wheat flour. 

Of all alternative flour products to substitute wheat flour, it is rice flour that is acclaimed to be the best for the following reasons:

· Rice has many indigenous uses from suman to bihon (local noodle), aside from its being a staple food of Filipinos and most Asians.
· In making leavened products, rice can be compared with wheat, with today’s leavening agents and techniques.

· Rice is more digestible than wheat. Gluten in wheat is hard to digest and can cause a degenerative disease which is common to Americans and Europeans.

· Rice is affordable and available everywhere, principally on the farm and in households.

Other alternative flour substitutes are those from native crops which are made into various preparations - corn starch (maja), ube (halaya), gabi (binagol), and tugui’ (ginatan), cassava (cassava cake and sago).

Lastly, the local rice industry is the mainstay of our agriculture. Patronizing it is the greatest incentive to production and it saves the country of precious dollar that would otherwise be spent on imported wheat. ~




The Sport of Fishing: the biggest fish to catch is "Peace of Mind"

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"Through years of fishing I have counted the blessings of this sport by good health and peace of mind - my biggest catch ever." AVR

Dr Abe V Rotor
Living with Nature - School on Blog 


Saturday 4:00 am
A hurried coffee anticipates your thoughts in the anchored boat. The shore wakes up very early with returning night fishermen. You receive “Lucky fishing” more casually than “Bon Voyage.”

5:00 am
You anchor at 10 to 30 fathoms, your companion calculates by sixth sense. Your other companion: absolute silence. By now the fish stirs to dawn and appetite. Cast your line.

5:30 am
The fish bites. The line jerks and grows taut. Tug to drive the hook in and pull but give a little line if he goes for a wild run. Ready the scoop net, and land him in. Probably your heart jumped with a seven-pound bite, a five-pound pull, but you get only a two-pound grouper or sea trout.

6:00 am
Your second or third catch, your partner’s fourth or twelfth. And he is not unusually excited. The sea is creaseless now except for ripples of small fishes chased by larger species. Occasionally a game fish stirs or a tortoise, which feeds of drifting weeds, pops its head out and lets a heavy sigh. Flying fishes playfully glide and splash in kaleidoscope colors. You squint at the early sun.

8:00 am
You try trawling. Your partner checks bearing for distance and location and idles the engine. Your line dangles far and you hold it firm as your boat makes the rounds. You feel a tug, give an arm’s length or two of line to allow the fish to take a big bite. When the fight begins, your companion instinctively pulls the boat to a stop and you continue pulling. Play with wit. It’s dorado, carelessly strong and fast. Tire him first for easier landing.

10:00 am
The sun beats on your Mexican-rim hat and old long sleeve. You reach for cold drinks and sandwich. You see boats, perhaps a dozen, each to its own. Fishing is a highly individual sport.

11;00 am
You return and dock in. Tie your catch through the gill. Feel the weight of the bunch at your heart’s content. Somewhere around the corner men talk about the big fish that got away.

11:30
It is time to cook your catch. Broiled fish and sinigang are best for a family picnic on a weekend.

It is unthinkable that a fisherman dares to be alone at sea, aware that his life is being dependent on a defenseless frail craft. Yet freedom and love for adventure dominate all dangers, as if by going to sea he satisfies an ancient craving.

Here he seeks contemplation to break a prosaic life style. Or escape heavy social demands. The fishing line, like a communication wire, carries messages outside of convention and even rational matters. It connects two worlds – the deep and modern man. The game is primitive but it is played with fair rules.

Ernest Hemingway’s character in The Old Man and the Sea dramatizes the ritual. To wit.

“He felt neither strain nor weight, and he held the line tightly. Then it came again. This time it was a tentative pull, neither solid nor heavy, and he knew exactly what it was. One hundred fathoms – down a marlin was eating the sardine that covered the point and the shank of the hook. He was happy, feeling the gentle pulling, and then, he felt something, hard and unbelievably heavy. It was the weight of the fish and he let the line slip down, down, down, unrolling off the first of the two reserve coils. As it went down, slipping lightly through the old man’s fingers, he still could feel the great weight, though the pressure of his thumb and finger were already almost imperceptible…”

Much is said of great men who were fishermen in leisure, or in deep thoughts. Darwin and Newton changed the history of the world with their discoveries. The greatest Teacher who ever lived was a fisherman. Ideas are the greatest catch.

Through the years of fishing, or casting, and occasional big time fishing, I have counted the blessing of the sport not by my average or biggest catch, but by good health, better insight of personal values, and brighter outlook in life.

I believe that our faculties are sharpened by meditative moments through which we subconsciously sooner or later, find ourselves with more resolve to the assigned task of daily living. Incubation of ideas is like building a structure. It takes place during contemplative moments. Why many decisions are put off until after well-spent weekend?

Fishing reminds us of humility. I was boasting of my first catch. Later, I realized it cannot even qualify for an amateur’s record. Didn’t I laugh at a fisherman who hauled a chunk of coral he believed to be a big fish? The day after that, I came home empty handed and nearly lost my life at sea and he was so sorry to hear about the incident.

Millions over the world enjoy this lifetime sport. “Once a fisherman, a fisherman forever,” so goes the saying.

When the rivers and brooks run with fresh upstream water, the ponds full, and where freshwater meets the sea, or after a tempest, or during new moon, go find your fish.

Although luck plays a good part, yet experience and knowledge are no substitute. Nobody though, becomes perfect at fishing there is always something new to learn, and often it is the sixth sense that works better.

Harmony with Nature, the key to peace of mind and happiness, is probably the ultimate in fishing. Isaac Walton, father of this sport, lives with his song:

In these flowery mead would be,
These crystal streams would solace me;
To whose harmonious bubbling noise,
I with my angle would rejoice.” ~

The author's long time fishing companion, the late Melecio Martinez, proudly shows a rich catch to a curious boy - who, too, may find someday fishing a meditative sport.

Nature loves an playful companion.

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Nature loves an playful companion.  
Dr Abe V Rotor
 A "natural" research station for Ruby, a graduate student
 in marine biology and phycology from the University 
of Santo Tomas.  Mabini Batangas c. 1990 

Field research is tedious, but find time to relax;

      it involves a lot on concentration, 
but remember the brain works best when at ease,
      and that knowledge needs incubation;
research is a game, and a hobby too, be happy;
      Nature loves a playful companion. ~    

Part 1 - Hypochondria or imagined illness: Are you a hypochondriac?

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Dr Abe V Rotor 

Chances are,  you may be suffering of hypochondriasis, a condition you are unduly alarmed about any physical or psychological symptoms you detect, no matter how minor the symptom may be. You are convinced that you have, or are about to be diagnosed with, as serious illness.

I have a friend of my age, built and lineage diagnosed of cancer.  Suddenly I felt my breathing difficult. It took months after his funeral that I was not suffering of the same disease.  But what an anxiety I underwent! 

In another incident a religious sister, an aunt of mine, called on the phone, "Abe I am here in the hospital." She had pneumonia. "Will you play the violin for me?" On the phone I played On Wings of Song by  Mendelssohn. My wife held the phone close. "I'm going to sleep now." Auntie Madre never woke up.

Such an experience leaves behind anxiety you think you are vulnerable to a simple cold becoming deadly pneumonia. To date, two decades after, a lingering cough could bring back the residue of that fear.  

So I developed the habit to go to the library for health references, or bought books about the subject.  Beginning in my sixties, I began using the Internet for self diagnosis and treatment. 

I have a mole becoming bigger in area, though not raised, I looked for signs of skin cancer.  Heartburn and early symptoms of heart attack have similarities. Angina! I panic. Blood rushes and elevates blood pressure.  I must go to the hospital. Nearing a hospital all signs and symptoms suddenly disappear. "You are tired." The doctor would say and gives you tranquilizer. Nurses and attendants look at each other. 

Now hear this.  A fellow journalist and I drove through heavily traffic in downtown Manila and finally reached the editorial desk beating the deadline for submission of articles. Whew! It was summer noontime. We took a quick lunch.  All of a sudden I had palpitation.  I had my BP taken in a nearby clinic. 180 over 100!  We rushed to an emergency hospital. The doctor asked what I ate. Yes, Vetsin or MSG in noodles, I recalled.  I was thinking of a good friend who died of vetsin overdose right in his parked car.  The doctor gave me anti-histamine shot and assured my condition is not anaphylaxis or fatal allergy.

Fill in my shoes.  What comes to mind when dining in a Chinese restaurant, in adding magic cubes in your cooking? On discovering you have taken canned goods beyond expiry date?  On getting intoxicated with attendant symptoms you think you are going to die?  What if you suddenly feel dizzy and you are alone in the house.  

Hypochondriacs are self made. Their anxieties are persistent, in fact commutative. Particularly in our present post modern age with computers and other handy gadgets available at fingertips for consultation. Too much knowledge is even worse than limited knowledge as we imagine ourselves victims caught in the middle of a pool and are going to drown.

"A little learning is a dangerous thing," says the poet Alexander Pope in his Essay on Criticism. But knowledge is also dangerous when we have knowledge far beyond our need and station in life, say another critic. "This can make for great unhappiness. In our day and age we tend to evaluate things in terms of the pleasure we receive from it. And idle curiosity can be followed to just as destructive effect as an unregulated appetite for food."

Yes, we equate our feelings with comfort, ease, pleasure and even idleness, these we mistake as the ingredients of The Good Life.  Hypochondriacs are very sensitive people with Narcissistic syndrome. Truly, many things we relate our thoughts and feelings as ailments and diseases are false alarms to the extent that we annoy doctors who would rather treat real patients. We waste their time and energy, as such deprive many patients of treatment.  

Hypochondriacs don't harm just themselves, they clog the whole healthcare system, says Time ( How to Heal a Hypochondriac by MD Lemonick).  Although they account for only about 6 percent of the patients who visit doctors every year, they tend to burden their physicians with frequent visits  that take up inordinate amounts of time. According to one estimate  hypochondria racks up some 20 billion dollars a year in wasted medical resources in the US alone. And the problem is escalating with the proliferation of medical information and the Internet worldwide on one hand, and the increasing tension and stress in daily living, often leading to depression. Depression is the advance state of anxiety that inevitably needs medical treatment. At this point we no longer treat hypochondria as an ordinary problem - it is grave medical condition with deep social implication. ~

Forest Stream

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"... bred from the sky, tempered by wind, cloaked with green, home of life..."
Dr Abe V Rotor
Forest Stream Mural in acrylic, 2009, AVRotor.  Author's residence, San Vicente, Ilocos Sur  

Children ask who made you, from where you came, to where you go;
you're too naive to be true, until you are weaned to be free
from hidden springs and aquifers among the rocks and trees;
sweeping down to the fields, rest in lakes, and flow to the sea -
you are bred from the sky, tempered by wind, cloaked with green,
home of life, source of power, bless you and the hands unseen. ~

50 Verses for Meditation

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"Who sees silver lining of clouds dark and bold
seeks not at rainbow's end its pot of gold." avr

Dr Abe V Rotor
Read verses with pipe in music of Meditation (From the Thais) by Massenet, or any appropriate meditative music. 
 
1. When the skies cry and tears fall,
The grass is greener, so with the soul.

2. The rain pelts on the faces of children
Turned heavenward. Look my brethren.


Adventure in nature. Girl before a wall mural by the author.


3. Walks he alone in the rain singing,
Whether the wind's cool or the sun peeping.

4. If I'm responsible for what I tame,
Would I have a choice of only the lame?

5. A gentle breeze came through a lid;
Where's the window when the wall's solid?

6. Pray, but if Thor holds back the lightning bolts,
We may not have mushroom and the jolts.

7. Hush! Suddenly the world became still;
Gone is the lark or the raven on the sill.

8. Saxon wall, each turret a guard-
Now empty, lonely is war afterward.

9. Radial symmetry starts from the center,
That balances an outside force to enter.

10. What good is a lamp at the ledge?
Wait 'til the day reaches its edge.

11. In seeing our past we find little to share,
If the past is the present we're living in.

12. In abstract art you lose reality;
How then can I paint truth and beauty?




13. Brick wall, brick roof, brick stair,
Glisten in the rain, dull in summer air.

14.What's essential can't be seen by the eye
Like the faith of Keller and Captain Bligh.

15. Similar is rainbow and moth in flight
When you see them against the light.

16. From respite in summer fallow,
The fields start a season anew.

17. From green to gold the grains become
As they store the power of the sun.

18. Not all sand dunes for sure
Ends up on empty shore.

19. One little smoke tells the difference,
Like a faint pulse is life's reference.

20. It's collective memory that I'm a part
To write my life's story when I depart.

21. Lost time, lost opportunity and lost gain,
like passing wind that may not come again.

22. Who sees silver lining of clouds dark and bold
seeks not at rainbow's end a pot of gold.

23. A clenched fist softens under a blue sky
like high waves, after tempest, die.

24. When a flock of wild geese takes into the air
a leader must get ahead to break the barrier.

25. Even to a strong man, a little danger may create
the impression he's small or the problem is great.

26. In the doldrums or during sudden gusts,
the ship is much safer with a bare mast.

27. Wind, current, and keel make a perfect trio
only if they have one direction to follow.

28. You really can't tell where a sailboat goes
without keel, but to where the wind blows.

29. The sound of a yes may be deep or hollow,
and knowing it only by its own echo.

30. Walk, don't run, to see better and to know
the countryside, Mother Nature and Thou.~

31. We do not have the time, indeed an alibi
to indolence and loafing, letting time pass by.

32. As we undervalue ourselves, so do others
undervalue us. Lo, to us all little brothers.

33. Self-doubt at the start is often necessary
to seek perfection of the trade we carry.

34. What is more mean than envy or indolence
but the two themselves riding on insolence.

35. The worst kind of persecution occurs in the mind,
that of the body we can often undermine.

36. How seldom, if at all, do we weigh our neighbors
the way we weigh ourselves with the same favors?

37. Friendship that we share to others multiplies
our compassion and love where happiness lies.

38. Evil is evil indeed - so with its mirror,
while goodness builds on goodness in store.

39. That others may learn and soon trust you,
show them you're trustworthy, kind and true.

40. Kindness and gladness, these however small
are never, never put to waste at all.

41. Beauty seen once breaks a heart,
Wait for the image to depart.


42. Being right and reasonable;
Black or white, and measurable.

A make believe adventure in nature. Wall mural by the author. 


43. She's coy who speaks soft and light;
Smoke first before fire ignites.

44. Every promise you can't keep
Drags you into a deeper pit.

45. To endure pain of hatred,
A leader’s wisdom is dared.

46. Make believe prosperity;
Sound of vessel when empty.

47. Take from the ant or stork,
Patience is silence at work.

48. Good wine grows mellow with age;
Good man grows into a sage.

49. He finds reason for living
Who sees a new beginning.

50. Beauty builds upon beauty,
Ad infinitum to eternity. ~



Living with Folk Wisdom - 50 Useful Trivia and Practical Tips (Test, 50 items True or False)

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True or False: To catch a live monkey, bore a hole into a green coconut (buko) just enough for the monkey's hand to enter, scoop the soft flesh and make a firm fistful of the harvest, thus trapping its hand. Then it is time to subdue the bewildered animal.

Dr  Abe V. Rotor
Living with Nature - School on Blog

Lesson: How rich is your knowledge handed down by old folks? How relevant is   traditional knowledge today? These items may be looked upon as science or superstition, so that separating the grain from the chaff is important. Reprint of previous post by popular request. (edited) 

This lesson was given to school teachers undergoing special training program at UST Graduate School sponsored by DECS and DOST.

1. A child around 5 years old is ready for school if he passes the “touch your opposite your ear” test.

2. Añil or azul makes white clothes whiter. Añil is made from Indigo plant which is also used by farmers as green manure.

3. Of all the banana varieties the leaves of latundan and lakatan are the best for food wrapper.

4. For school children the circumference of the neck is twice the waistline – ideally.

5. Diamond is real if it scratches glass. 

6. Leaves of Madre de Cacao or kakawate is used to hasten the ripening of fruits.

7. Salt is applied on the butt end (peduncle) of mango, chico, atis and the like, to hasten ripening. .

8. More fish are caught in the sea during full moon.

9. Mungo seeds that remain hard after cooking are seeds which were immature when harvested.

10. Oranges with indented bottom are sweeter; elongated lansones is sweeter than rounded ones.

11. Don't stir rice while cooking, otherwise it results in uneven cooking. 

12. During thunder and lightning nitrogen gas is combined with Oxygen to form nitrate (NO3) which is vital to plant growth and development. 

13. When planting on sloping land be sure that the rows follow the contour of the field to minimize erosion and siltation.

14. Burying fruits in ash, sand or sawdust delays ripening.

15. Corn harvest increases by decapitating the standing crop (detasseling). 

16. You can count with the finger the macapuno trees in a coconut grove, and if you find one, not all the nuts of that tree are macapuno.

17. Farm animals grow faster with melodious music, like Mozart's composition, so with certain plants.

18. Bad gums can lead to hearty attack.

19. A candidate of heart attack is known by his features, like being bald, having a big tummy.

20. An unconscious person is revived by pressing his base of his foot thumb.

21. This is a test for fresh egg. When immersed in water it lies at the bottom on its side.

22. Pruning enhances survival of seedlings and cuttings, pruning stimulate flowering and fruiting.

23. It is true that raining while the sun is out breeds insects.

24. Jackfruit or nangka may bear fruits under the ground. 

25. Light trapping of insects, such as gamu-gamo (winged termite),  is effective and practical.

26. Old folks on the farm are more familiar with wild food plants than today’s agriculturists. 

27. Old folks use garlic and red pepper (siling labuyo) to control common insect pests.

28. Pinag-aasawa ang kalabasa (pollination) to insure fruit formation.

29. Carabao’s milk is more nutritious than cow’s milk. 

30. Chopped banana stalk makes a cold pack substitute.

31. Corn silk tea is good for the kidney.

32. The elbow, rather than the finger, is ideal to test a tepid bath for the baby.

33. Ethnic music in the rural area is part of a wholesome life, it is also therapeutic. 

34. Fly maggots heal deep wounds, a medical practice, before the advent of antibiotics.

35. Contrary to common belief, guava seeds don't cause appendicitis.

36. Gulat ang gamut sa sinok. Jolting the patient stops his hiccup.

37. In the absence of vinegar or any medication, urine is immediately applied on wound caused by sea urchin.

38. Ipil-ipil seed is used by old folk to expel ascaris worms (bulate sa tiyan), just by pounding around 5 mature seeds and mixing it with syrup. 

39. Ipon or dulong is the a favorite delicacy of Ilocanos, quite often eating it raw.

40. It’s strange but true, “When dust gets into your eyes, blow your nose.”

41. Kamote or sweet potato builds as much gas (flatulence). 

42. Lead (Pb) poisoning can be obtained unknowingly from paints, prints, dyes, because lead is an excellent fixer.

43. Lead poisoning was common among the Romans when they changed their drinking bronze vessels into lead alloys.

44. A mother should read, sing and talk to her baby in the in the womb from the time of conception. Pregnant mothers should also have a happy and positive disposition.

45. Mothers should not do heavy work for 40 days after childbirth.

46. Pansit-pansitan or Piperonia pellucida relieves arthritis.


47. To catching a live monkey, bore a whole on a green coconut (buko) just enough for its hand to enter. It will gather the soft flesh and make a firm grip, thus trapping its hand. Then it is time to subdue the bewildered animal.

48. The female seahorse turns over her eggs to her partner after mating and frees herself from "babysitting".

49. Dogs eat grass for self-medication, so with parrots eating clay.

50. A brown grasshopper in summer turns green in the rainy season. ~

ALL ITEMS ARE TRUE.  

45-50  OUTSTANDING
40-44   Very Good
31- 39  Good
21- 30  Average
20 and Below  Visit this Blog more often
  
REFERENCE:  Living with Folk Wisdom, 2008, by AVRotor (UST Publising House, Manila). Acknowledgement: Internet photos. 

Corporate Culture - Some Personal Impressions.

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 Corporate Culture – Neo-Colonial Capitalism
 Dr Abe V Rotor 

     For many years in my youth I worked in a government organization that evolved three times. I am referring to the National Food Authority. First it was Rice and Corn Administration (RCA), the National Grains Authority (NGA), and the National Food Authority (NFA).

      In its transformation I worked with the “old guards” and the “young turks,” young people chosen for their outstanding performance in the academe and in the industry.  I belonged to the middle group, the so called technocrats in the likes of Bong Tangco, then the minister of Agriculture, JD Drilon the founder of agribusiness in the Philippines, Paeng Salas the chief architect of the country’s food self-sufficiency program, Catoy Fronda, the brain and brawn of the implementing council of Malacañang’s food production, National Food and Agriculture Council (NFAC), and Jess Tanchangco, a party man who transformed NGA into a giant government corporation annexing Food Terminal Inc, Grainscor, Naphire, and Quedan.  

     Belonging to middle management gave me access to both policies and programs of the agency.  And when I was assigned regional director, I learned how program addresses itself to the needs of the field, and how the field interprets a program into projects.

     In 1989, exactly twenty years with the government, I left and joined the academe as a professor.

     What is corporate culture? Japan is the most cited example, second to the US, when it comes to describing a culture that is shaped by a company’s vision and mission, and incorporated in its objectives.  That is why employees are made to fully understand, nearly to the point of indoctrination, the company’s VMO.  In fact conferences and seminars continue to instill this culture.  Continuing education is needed both as refresher and orientation of new programs and developments, particularly to new members.

     We had our corporate logo, motto, day, uniform, and while we looked alike inside the office we appeared distinct from other organizations outside. “NFA, yan,” gave an chin-up feeling. In the same way that we would find our models from other organizations.  “SMC yata, yan,” “Taga-Meralco sila.”  “Sa DA siya.” And our admiration rises when we meet an UN man, or a DBP consultant.  One time the NGA played host to Miss Universe contest in Manila. For a particular occasion it was also putting our best foot forward, honing our social and organizational talents.

     The idea of a corporate culture is good.  I have been a part of this select world myself which without such experience I would not be as prepared as I am now in my retirement age.  In short, it provided a strong foundation to the later part of life, particularly those like me, who left the organization very much earlier than retirement age.  Well, for those who opted to remain to compulsory retirement age, the advantage is more of the retirement security.

    But what makes corporate culture controversial?

    Let us look into the following aspects:

1.     Exclusivism– A number of corporations – governmental or private, local and multinational – tend to isolate themselves from the general circulation and therefore from the community.
2.     Elitism– There is a feeling or superiority developed by members of top corporations. And because of the many benefits they derive, this feeling may develop into elitism.
3.     Bandwagon – Corporations tend to become doctrinaire, under the, “Follow the leader principle, so that individual decisions are subordinate to the company’s direction. Human rights, particularly on the exercise of freedom (e.g. to vote, to worship, to assembly), may remain mute even outside the organization’s umbrella.

4.     Homogeneity – While conformity may be good in instilling discipline and loyalty, the lack of diversity may be in the long run more dangerous. Diversity of ideas may mean introducing reform.  Confucian advantage lies in the diversity of age range and relationships.

5.     Reputation -  There is a saying, “Tell me your company, and I’ll tell you who you are.” One interpretation of this comment is that our character is reflected by the reputation of the company to which we belong. The big three – Caltex, Petron, and Shell – do not enjoy a good reputation for allegedly ridging fuel prices always to their advantage. Their insensitivity to the public has been the subject of bitter criticism.   I remember at one time an employee was apparently trying to hide her uniform.

6.     Dinosaur Syndrome– And yet there are people who stand big because their company is a giant.  It is standing side by side with a big brother. This people earn a lot, they have separated themselves from their class. Because they have reached this stage, they have somehow become insensitive to criticism.  In fact they seem to belong to another world. We do not feel they are members of the community, and may not know them at all. “That beautiful house is owned by Mr. X who works with Intel Computers.”


7.     Marx Dialectics - Corporate culture wedges people into classes – not only economic, but social and psychological – which leads us to believe that corporate culture is the hidden fuel of revolution. Dialectic Materialism, according to Marx, is a cycle as long as society is alienated by isolation, apathy, poverty, abuse of power, subjugation, many of which are products to socio-economic inequity.   

To be continued...

12 Tips in Harvesting Fruits and Vegetables

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Pineapple is ready for harvest when the "eyes" are filled, and the base of the fruit becomes yellow advancing upward.
 
Dr Abe V Rotor
Living with Nature School on Blog

Fruits and vegetables are highly perishable. Here is list of do's and don'ts in harvesting, in order to reduce loss and enhance quality. 

1. Fruits like mango, avocado, chico, caimito and guava should be harvested with a picking pole with a catching bag. 

 Siniguelas: Ready-to-pick fruits are shiny, well formed and purplish.  
 Sampalok or tamarind: Pods are dull brown, well formed.  Press rind if loose and open. Semi-ripe (manibalang) and fully ripe brown (kalanakang, Ilk) are eaten directly, or made into jelly or jam.
 
 Sapote: Ready to pick fruit are full and rounded, with tinge of brown or purple. 
Shrinks as it ripens. 
Guyabano:  The fruit is harvested green, it ripens in two to three days. 

Pastel drawing by Anna Christina Rotor

2. Harvest pechay, mustard, lettuce, cauliflower, with sharp knife close to the root and trim at the same time. Uprooting is tedious and may predispose the harvest to early deterioration.   

3. Harvest green corn, melon, pineapple and the like, in the morning, they are sweeter.  They have lower sugar content in the afternoon.   

4. Avoid harvesting leafy vegetables early in the morning, they are brittle, and easily break and rot.  Allow them to get supple and the dewdrops to evaporate.   

5. Harvest root and tuber crops (e.g. radish, carrot) when they are large enough or at marketable size. When over mature the pith is hard and even dry. 

6. Harvest onions, garlic and potato when the top begins to dry out, spreads out and topples. 

7. Do not let yam (sinkamas) and ginger to over stay in the field, otherwise they become tough and fibrous. 

8. Harvest lettuce, pechay and mustard before they flower.

9. For cabbage, the head should be well formed, if cracked it is over mature.  Cauliflower head is well formed, clean white or cream. 

10. Harvest papaya, as soon as 10 to 15 percent of the fruit's surface is yellow to yellow orange.

11. Pineapple is ready for harvest when the "eyes" are filled, and the base of the fruit becomes yellow advancing upward.  

12. Apply the simple thumbnail test on the following:

  • Sweetcorn exudes milky sap
  • Okra snaps easily at the tip
  • Upo, patola, cucumber easily give way and exude sap
  • Cowpea, sitao, batao, sigarillas snap easily
  • Squash when fully mature does not give way
  • Chico, sampalok - scrape lightly, immature if green 

Answers to Self-Administered Test on Teachers and Teaching:- True or False, 50 Items

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 Test on Teachers and Teaching 
Nodding your head means approval, but it could also mean at the same time sign of respect. 
Dr Abe V Rotor

1. The Anecdote, a form of story telling, is Christ’s powerful teaching tool. (False, parable)

2. For effective teachers what is most important is the substance and its delivery through verbal means. Kinesics or body language contributes about 10 percent of teaching effectiveness. (False, higher value)

3. Folding arms across chest may be understood as competitive attitude or even resistance to change. It should not be used often in teaching. (True: maton attitude has no place in the classroom.)

4. Scratching your head whether you are a teacher or student may be understood as embarrassment or insult. (True. This is a mannerism outside the classroom)

5. Body tilted forward means that to get attention, so that the speaker must have to make himself clearer and to talk louder – or explain further. (True. Give the favor or benefit of the doubt.)

6. Extending arms out in front with palms up should never be used by teachers, more so by students because it violates humility. (False, this is a good gesture – just do it with respect.)

7. Covering your face and tapping the table is a reaction of one who is embarrassed. (False – impatience, too which does not go with good manners)

8. There are teachers who wag a finger. It means blaming and warning the students at the same time. (True, avoid as much as possible.)

9. Handshake with a smile is a genuine expression of recognition, which teachers must used often on the right occasion. (True, but be genuine with your intentions – not the politician’s way. )

10. Humanities and Science must go together in teaching. This requires the use of both the left brain which is creativity and the right brain which is for logic or reason. (False, brain lobes interchanged)

11. Handwriting is a mirror of your personality. This means that a person who is good in classical writing style has a better personality than one who is poor with this style of writing. (False)

12. Never allow your students to critique you as their teacher inside the classroom. Confront them after class. (False, be open to them even in the classroom.)

13. AJA is the acronym of a useful guide in making decisions and acting on the decisions properly. It means Action Judgment and Analysis. (False. Analysis first)

14. Tell your child to change wet clothes immediately to prevent colds. In the absence, of dry clothes or towellete, it’s all right to place newspaper under the wet clothes to absorb perspiration and keep the back warm. (False, newspaper contains chemicals, like lead.)

15. Be like the Greeks, specially Demosthenes, and practice talking before the mirror. Tape your voice and listen to it. Get an expert to critique you on how you talk in front of people. (True, always aim at self improvement.)

16. As a teacher aim at developing a low pitch, and high volume of your voice - like a radio announcer. (False, whether you are male or female, and other factors – level of students)

17. These two should go together always: articulation and logic. (True)

18. Tempo is the speed of talking, while Rhythm places emphasis on different words and the cadence of speech. (True)

19. Non-verbal messages are transmitted through human actions and behaviors rather than through words. These occur mostly face-to-face. The impact of each component is as follows: Facial – 25%; Vocal or Verbal – 75% (False 55% and 45%, respectively)

20. When you are angry the pitch of your voice goes up. This is but natural and students will understand. In fact this is one way you should instill discipline in the classroom. (False. Generally an angry voice is of a higher pitch. That’s why we say to an angry person, “Don’t raise your voice.” True, there are some who, if angry talk with a lower pitch, oftentimes aloud and exaggerated. It speaks of fine social grace to be able to maintain the pitch and volume of our voice even when we are angry.)

21. When posing for a photograph, relax your shoulders. (True. You will be surprised on how relaxed the muscles of your jaw, cheek, and forehead become, radiating to your nape and torso and then to your arms and legs. Use this technique when you are in for a stage fright or nervousness in a conference. It even induces you to sleep.)

22. Dr. Albert Schweitzer was great English explorer and teacher-missionary in Africa who became famous for his philosophy “reverence for life.” (True. He was one of the last great explorers to bring knowledge, peace and Christianity into the Dark Continent.)

23. We are all teachers in our own rights – parent to children, elders to the young ones, extension worker to farmers, broadcasters to audience. (True)

24. Mother Teresa’s example of service to the “poorest of the poor” is a model of a true teacher. We have a Mother Teresa Awardee Filipina in the person of Sis Eva Fidela Maamo, who is also a Ramon Magsaysay Awardee for Community Development . (True.)

25. The Enhancers of teaching are the requisites or “musts” for the attainment of teaching expertise; while the Essentials are teaching practices and behaviors contributory to teaching expertise. (False, other way around)

26. Subject matter expertise means thorough/excellent knowledge of content, being up-to-date with the latest developments in their fields; knowledge of the interrelationships among the structural elements or concepts of the subject matter. (True)

27. Knowledge of the relationship of the lesson with other courses is good but not necessary in effective. (False)

28. Classroom Management Expertise is the ability of the teacher to efficient handle routine activities and time management – All expert teachers manage classroom routine and time efficiently. The teacher is familiar with the names of his students, and knows who is absent, who is a fast or slow learner. (True)

29. More than half of the experts (58%) do not check attendance because the students are properly monitored and absenteeism does not pose a problem. Classes start and end on time. The teacher employs different ways of maximizing class time, such as the use of OHP, and other instructional devises, including handouts. (True)

30.Maintenance of students’ on-task behavior - 92% of the experts use this enhancer. They use socialization techniques, encourage students to recite, motivate, and check their progress. There is never a dull moment in the classroom for an expert teacher. (True)

31. 90% of the expert teachers use varied teaching strategies. The expert teachers demonstrate facility in the use of varied instructional strategies, demonstrate knowledge of different teaching strategies, adopt group dynamics, and are particular in instructional clarity. They have the ability to simplify and clearly present lessons. (True)

32. Use of varied teaching strategies –The expert teachers employ other than lecture and recitation, song and movement, role-playing, pantomime, choral; reading visual imagery, concept mapping, brainstorming, contest, simulation, oral debate, cooperative learning etc. depending on the needs of the subject. (True)

33. All the expert teachers are very fluent, articulate and have good voice quality, like a DJ. They use English, and Pilipino often. (False)

34. The expert teacher spots and readily identifies students who experience learning difficulties. Thus he makes provisions to encourage students, or to prevent the occurrence of learning difficulties, as may be the case. Sensitivity to students’ learning problems/difficulties. (True)

35. Classroom humor – Filipinos are fond of humor, but not even one-half of the expert teachers could ignite laughter in class through jokes and anecdotes. (False)

36. Jonathan Swift is a popular novelist and poet, as well as a teacher, mainly for his trilogy of “The Travels of Gulliver.” the third and last travel of the kindly doctor is the world of the spirits and of the dead. (True)

37. Generally, the less intelligent a person is, the more he is sensitive and most likely affected by psychological/emotional problems. (False)

38. Homo sapiens mean “thinking man” while Homo faber is “playing man.” (False, faber is man, the maker.)

39. Beliefs, perceptions and views originate and are naturally produced by a local community, thus called communal property. Among these works are Iliad, Odyssey and Lam-ang. (True)

40. Traditional wisdom and ethno-science still no longer flourish in Philippine traditional cultural communities, because they are regarded as "superstition" and "works of the devil". (False. They are much felt and visible in rural communities.)

41. For the science educator and communicator, the trend of research is towards the unknown, and must bear away from tradition and the past for these have very little scientific bases. (False, they are as important as prospective research)

42. Globalization, along with information and communication in hi-tech form, very much affects the cultures of peoples and nations in the world today. The global market regime continues to erode the cultural rights of local communities. This is the trend that is happening throughout in the world. (True)

43. Our ancestors were a happier lot than us today. They had more time for themselves and their family, and more things to share with their community. They lived healthier lives and were endowed - more than we are - with the good life brought about by the bounty and beauty of nature?  (True)

44. Modern music makes a wholesome life; it is therapy. It is unlike ethnic music. (False)

45. Village folks sing or hum as they attend to their chores; they have songs when rowing the boat, songs when planting, songs of praise at sunrise, songs while walking up and down the trail, etc. Seldom is there an activity without music. Even the sounds of nature to them are music. (True)

46. Here is one example of a fallacy that education should correct today: thunder and lightning spawn mushroom because is just one of the ancestral belief handed down to us. (False, it should not be.)

47. Haystacks (mandala) once dotted the rice fields as we once knew when we were schoolchildren, but because they are inefficient for storing harvest and hay they have become obsolete. (False, the mandala is an engineering feat, and an efficient system of grain storage on the farm)

48. By examining the physical characteristics of plants, we can read how nature intended them to be used. This is a belief called Doctrine of Signatures. (False,physical appearance has nothing to do with the curative powers of plants, or animals for that matter. It is true that garlic is an effective respiratory cure, but it is its active ingredients that are responsible for it.

49. Children nursed with formulated infant food prove to be more intelligent as in the case of a girl claimed by a milk company to have an IQ higher than that of Galileo. (False)

50. Breastfeeding allows longer spacing of children; it’s nature’s way to allow the baby to be weaned properly, and the mother to recover fully before having the next child. This is only an unfounded claim of a group fighting the multi-national companies’ claim on the superiority of their infant food products. (False, mother’s milk is still the best; this is indeed nature’s way of family planning.) ~

Self-Test for Hypochondria*

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Self-Test for Hypochondria
Researched and organized by Dr Abe V Rotor

Generally we worry about our health at times, but there are some of us who fear of being ill, often so strong, that even when we are in good health, we find it hard to cope with our everyday life.

A hypochondriac is one who lives in fear of having a serious illness, despite medical tests that find nothing wrong about him or her, a somatic symptom disorder, also known as illness anxiety disorder, a condition also been known as hypochondria, or hypochondriasis.


Are you a hypochondriac? 

For each number, rate yourself  that best fits the way you feel.  Add up all scores.  The higher the total, the better the chances that you are a hypochondriac.   
1 - Not at all
2 -  Little bit
3 - Moderately
4 - Quite a bit 
5 - A great deal

1. Do you worry a lot about your health?

2. Do you think there is something seriously wrong with your body?

3. Is it hard for you to forget about yourself and to think about all sorts of other things?

4. If you feel ill and someone tells you that you are looking better, do you become annoyed?

5. Do you find that you are often aware of various things happening in your body?
6. Are you bothered by many pains and aches?

7. Are you afraid of illness?

8. Do you worry about your health more than most people do?

9. Do you get the feeling that people are not taking your illnesses seriously enough?

10. Is it hard for you to believe your doctor when he or she tells you there is nothing for you to worry about?

11. Do you often worry about the possibility that you have a serious illness?

12. If a disease is brought to your attention (through radio, TV, or newspapers or by someone you know), do you worry about getting it yourself?

13. Do you find that you are bothered by many different symptoms?

14. Do you often have the symptoms of a very serious disease?  
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There are no hard-and-fast cutoffs in the Whiteley Index , but people who score between 32 and 55 are generally considered to be hypochondriacs, while those who score between 14 and 28 are generally considered not to be. These numbers are merely indications, however; people suffering from depression also often score high. The best way to find out for certain is to consult a sympathetic physician.
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*Based on the Whiteley Index.The Whiteley Index is a widely used test to find hypochondria. As with all tests the result must be interpreted cautiously. A high score is an indication that you could profit from talking this over with your doctor.
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