Tragedy of the Commons: The case of the shrinking and disappearing "dilis" (anchovies) and "espada" fish.

July 26, 2014, 7:18 pm

≫ Next: Health and Values: Key to a Happy Love Life

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Dr Abe V Rotor

Considered "poor man's food" in the rank of galunggong, pork and beans, and pandesal - this prolific marine fish once the main source of fishmeal for feeds, has spiraled beyond the means of ordinary people.

Espada (bulong-unas Ilk) is another marine fish that is fished in its juvenile stage, similarly with many other species that are over harvested, usually with close-knit fishnets - and without let-up in the absence of strict regulations.

Tragedy of the Commons*

Tragedy of the commons, a term scholarly phrased,
means simply shrinking resources
in the midst of open competition to all in the name
of freedom with whatever process
of acquisition in social Darwinism falsely applied;
at the end, the winner neither the best
nor the vanquished, the passive nor meek, but all -
victims swept by the current of unrest
where the old Malthus' ghost once more roam,
where lost the essence of progress,
and Toffler's ecospasm of economics and ecology
clash and fall from their lofty crest. ~

* The tragedy of the commons is an economics theory by Garrett Hardin, according to which individuals, acting independently and rationally according to each one's self-interest, behave contrary to the whole group's long-term best interests by depleting some common resource. The concept is often cited in connection with sustainable development, meshing economic growth and environmental protection, as well as in the debate over global warming. "Commons" can include the atmosphere, oceans, rivers, fish stocks, national parks, the office refrigerator, and any other shared resource. The tragedy of the commons has particular relevance in analyzing behavior in the fields of economics, evolutionary psychology, anthropology, game theory, politics, taxation, and sociology. Some also see the "tragedy" as an example of emergent behavior, the outcome of individual interactions in a complex system. (Wikipedia)

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Health and Values: Key to a Happy Love Life

July 26, 2014, 7:38 pm

≫ Next: The Backyard as Laboratory and Workshop 4: Papaya Ring Spot Virus (PRSV) - Scourge of Papaya Worldwide.

≪ Previous: Tragedy of the Commons: The case of the shrinking and disappearing "dilis" (anchovies) and "espada" fish.

“When we do not give or receive love in a balanced, harmonious, natural way, deficiencies occur in our innermost being. These deficiencies reveal themselves through many symptoms – depression, loneliness, destructive relationships, weight problems, bitterness, inferiority feelings, workaholism, alcoholism, drug abuse, a critical spirit, violence, sexual abnormalities, and many other forms. I believe we must treat the person on the other end of the symptoms.”

- Dr. Bernard Jensen, Love, Sex and Nutrition

Dr Abe V Rotor

Living with Nature School on Blog

Paaralang Bayan sa Himpapawid with Ms Melly C Tenorio

738 DZRB AM Band, 8 to 9 evening class, Monday to Friday

Here is a practical guide to attain a happy love life.

1. Avoid stress and fatigue, and avoid smoking, alcohol, drugs, and food additives, as these accumulate toxic wastes in the body thus interfering with the body physiology. Avoid exposure to pollutants and chemicals. Poor diet, lack of exercise and nervousness, also interfere with the proper functioning of our brain which diminish sexual vitality. Condition your mind before love making by affirming happy, loving, and caring thoughts. Maintain trust and confidence with your partner. Be calm, patient and kind. Remember that the body responds with what the mind dictates.

2. It is a fact that married people live longer and happier than single or divorced people. Single and divorced people are hospitalized more often, their death rate is twice, and they are more prone to nervous breakdown. Sex stimulates and rejuvenates our glands, particularly the hypothalamus of the brain which is the sex center. Active sex life helps prevent diseases and illnesses, by enhancing natural immunity. Since every part of our body is exercised during lovemaking- from the heart to the nerve endings. Sex is perhaps the best test of vitality and health.

3. There are people who are highly sexual, while others have very little interest in sex. This is human nature and there is no “norm” in this regard. However, good sexual attitudes can be developed. For example, proper advice can help a person overcome an experience that may be the cause of lack of interest in sex. Improvement in health leads to a more positive sex attitude. Recognize that lovemaking is teamwork, that the satisfaction of one can lead to satisfaction of the other. Age is another factor to sexuality. Although younger people are generally more aggressive, there are people in their middle or late age who can maintain the same level of sexual activity. Others become more aggressive in their middle age.

4. Keep your body healthy and attractive. This is the key to natural sexuality. Grooming cultivates natural beauty, irrespective of the color of the skin, shape of nose or eyes, height and built, etc. good health gives the gait in your movement, twinkle in your eyes, shine and flow in your hair, firmness of your muscles. It contributes to good posture. It makes your skin glow and lovable to be touched. It helps develop your personality to become likable and attractive. Magnetic personality, napapalingon, nakakapansin, pogi, sexy, are all related to body beautiful. Remember that natural beauty is a holistic expression, not only external attributes, but of qualities that emanate from within. It is an expression of “a healthy mind in a healthy body”, plus good character and fine culture.

5. Freedom and responsibility are inseparable in the defining sex. This is a simple guideline that governs human sexual behavior.

CONSENTING ADULTS, IN PRIVACY, WITHOUT COERCION OR HARM TO ANYONE, CAN ENGAGE IN ANY KIND OF SEXUAL BEHAVIOR THEY DESIRE.

6. Be aware of the other attendant responsibilities in sex, such as the subject of pregnancy of sexually transmitted diseases. Sex education gives emphasis to responsibility in sex and marriage, particularly among young people.

7. A natural clock governs every person in his system. This is often referred to as biological rhythm. Although there is a general plan on how this internal clocks works, no two persons are tuned in to the same pattern - not even husband and wife. Try to live by your own biorhythms and learn to adjust with those of our partner. Recognize your moods and energies that change with the time of the day and night, with months and seasons. Lovemaking is mutually fulfilling when both partners have synchronized biorhythms. Generally human body is dynamic that it can reset itself daily and adapt to the changes in the environment.

8.Sex can become monotonous especially with modern life. Many people find little time to express tender love with sex. They employ a number of ways to vary their sexual expression as not merely satisfying a desire, feeling relieved and exhausted afterward - or just for the sake of giving in to their partner. Many more miss the spiritual element of lovemaking, whereby the act is a means to sustain a passionate emotion from which follow exhilaration, and a great feeling of satisfaction. Mantra yoga and Karezza are two Oriental lovemaking techniques that help transform an ordinary sex- oriented relationship into a loving, tender and harmonious one, enhancing a love-oriented relationship that bring together body, mind and spirit.

9.Food, Rest, Exercise and sunlight = Health (FRESH). This formula is easy to remember. Watch out for the food that you take. Eat health foods, and avoid those in the list of Don’t Eat which your family doctor gave you. A vegetarian is healthier and lives longer. Remember there is no substitute to adequate sleep. Maintain a healthy sleeping habit. Take a rest between heavy schedules, and avoid buildup of tension. Relax. Exercise regularly within your natural capacity. Do not over exercise. You need sunlight, more so if your are an office worker. Sunlight perks you up, breaks monotony, and takes out the blues in your life. It makes us closer to nature, and takes us to outdoor adventure. All these make a happy love life with your partner.

10.Be aware that of all creatures on earth only humans are endowed with sexual freedom which can be summarized as follows:

1. Sexual expression is not restricted to estrus periods or seasons of the year.

2. Humans have the ability to match their sexual desires with their moods and feelings. Hormones influence, but not dictate, sex life.

3. Humans can choose various sexual positions, instead of being restricted to one as in the case of animals.

4. Meaningful spiritual love and emotional feelings multiply the ecstasy of physical pleasure.

11.Learn to read and understand the sexual cycle. A woman’s menstrual cycle dictates her sexual moods. They feel sexiest at the midpoint of their menstrual cycle. There are people who are sexier in the morning than at night. There are also those who feel sexier in summer than during cool months, or vice versa. There are also times when men become sexier and this is indicated by rapid growth of their beard. Studies show that the most active time for sexual activity is in the evening, but lovemaking at this time is poor since the androgens (love hormones) are low. (They are highest between 8 to 12 a.m., and lowest at 6p.m.) Evening is convenient to most working people. If this is not enough, make up for it during weekends.

12.Reduce meal size as the day progresses and avoid high calorie snacks in the evening. But do not skip breakfast or lunch. Carbohydrates help calm and focus the mind. Protein food boosts mental energy, but avoid fatty foods when you want to be mentally alert. When planning out an active evening, like going to a concert, holding a party, or having a date, reduce your dinner, with protein food preferred over fatty and carbohydrates food. Coffee makes you awake, and drinking may delay your regular bedtime or makes you fall asleep. If you want to wake up refreshed and alert do not take alcohol in the evening before.

13.An enduring and fulfilling love life is one that shared together by husband and wife. Here are the basic elements essential to a lifelong relationship: trust and confidence, empathy (feeling with the older person), marriage (sex outside marriage cannot remain meaningful and does not usually last). Then there are seven virtues of married life, which a couple must mutually uphold at all times.

The seven virtues of married life

• tenderness

• courtesy

• sociability

• understanding

• fairness

• loyalty

• honesty

14.One must free his or her mind from fallacies and myths about sex.

One thousand-and-one myths

• A woman never forgets her first lover.

• Big lips and abundant pubic hair indicates sensuality.

• A woman’s interest in sex is more emotional than physical.

• All women grow to look like their mothers.

• Beautiful women are too narcissistic to enjoy sex.

• Baldness indicates sensuality.

• The size of fingers indicates the size of the sex organ.

• Colored people perform better in bed than white people.

• Small breast indicates less sex desire.

• Religious people do not permit cunnilingus.

. Drugs increase intensity of physical desire and fulfillment.

These and a thousand-and-one myth can effect, and even destroy love life. This is where sex education and counseling comes in.

The foundation of a full and sustained sex life is made up of proper diet, avoidance of toxic materials and vices, a regular physical exercise regime, positive attitude, adherence to morals and culture norms. Love and sex is a celebration on top of a pyramid built on this foundation.~

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The Backyard as Laboratory and Workshop 4: Papaya Ring Spot Virus (PRSV) - Scourge of Papaya Worldwide.

July 26, 2014, 10:11 pm

≫ Next: Fishing Village - Sketch from a Bridge

≪ Previous: Health and Values: Key to a Happy Love Life

There is no stopping the viral scourge of papaya (papaw, pawpaw), wiping out plantation after plantation worldwide - even with attempts through genetic engineering. It's because the virus is not only complex (it infects cucurbits like melon and squash - and other plants), but it persistently mutates into resistant types that invade quarantined areas and overcome transgenic defense. There is one hope every backyard can look up to - the return of the native papaya varieties preserved in their indigenous state.

Dr Abe V Rotor

Living with Nature School on Blog
Paaralang Bayan sa Himpapawid with Ms Melly C Tenorio
738 DZRB AM Band, 8 to 9 evening class, Monday to Friday

Photo of a sick papaya at home in QC. The disease is systemic, that is, the virus resides in the whole system of the plant and infects all tissues from roots to fruits. The leaves are the first to show the symptoms which may be mistaken for iron (Fe) deficiency being chlorotic (lacking in chlorophyll), mosaic, deformed and wrinkled like being scorched by heat and sunlight. Even stunting may be thought of as deficiency symptom of other elements. The plant doesn't die, but remains stunted and exhibits rosette leaf arrangement. Some gardeners even think it is a fancy variety, and by keeping it as ornamental would only exacerbate the spread of the disease by mere physical contact and through biological transmission, particularly by aphids (Myzus persicae) as well as, in my observation though not mentioned in the books, the white fly of the genus Bemesia.

The virulence of PRSV cannot be underestimated, from early infection during seed germination, to later infection at any stage of the plant. Which means that the virus is incipient in the embryo and openly infectious even in the senile age of the tree. As the infected tree faces slow death it becomes a source of viral inoculant in the open field within the range of the vectors, including man. Note the ring spots on the fruit from which the virus got its name. The spots predispose the fruit to secondary infection, leading to bacterial rot and fungal attack. Thus, not only production is gravely affected but the quality of the fruit as well to the point of becoming unfit for human consumption.

My son Marlo (above) harvests a ripening fruit of native papaya we planted in our residence in QC. Note the lanky stand but healthy condition of the tree. The photo at the right (from the Internet) shows a variety apparently immune to the disease like our own. Indigenous varieties have been reported to be resistant if not immune to PRSV, whether it be the P or W biotype - and possibly against the mutants arising from both pathotypes, and other viruses which we may not know. Commercially, the native papaya is of lesser importance, but it can supply the needs of the family and immediate community for ripe papaya (for the table and puree), and green papaya (for tinola and pickles).

The commercialization of the Hawaiian papaya owing to its heavy and early fruiting, and feasibility in large scale production was a boom but at the same time exacerbated the spread of the disease on global proportion. Today, virtually no place is secure and safe from PRSV in spite of strict quarantine laws and regulations.

When I was a farmhand, my dad grew native papaya in our backyard in Ilocos. We harvested only the fruits as they ripen in succession at few days interval. Fruits are sweeter when they are picked ripe. Fruits in the market are ripened with carburo or ethylene gas. They taste flat, the color is dull, and the texture gummy. When we needed green papaya, we would simply thin out the small ones or bansot, and leave the large, healthy fruits to reach full maturity.

By the way, papaya is dioecious. Only the female papaya is cultivated, but a few male trees are spared for pollination. A third gender now and then would arise. The tree bears small fruits hanging on elongated peduncles. The fruits are generally not edible, green or ripe.

Would you guess the productive life span of a native papaya? Five years to ten years of continuous fruiting. And it reaches a height of ten to twenty feet so that harvesting requires a pole with a basket (salukang Ilk). Well, the native papaya is not laden but the fruits though small, are luscious and sweet. As the tree gets older it branches out into two, three or four and the main branches are productive. Branching papaya is more resistant to wind and also to long dry season and pests, which includes the fruit bat (if you don't harvest the ripe fruits ahead of this nocturnal feeder).

Papaya is the only species under the genus Carica, and the only edible species of importance among its five relatives. No wonder when it was orphaned from its non-edible kin, and transported for widespread cultivation, the virus became concentrated in the species, and through repeated and expanded cultivation in other countries, the virus mutated and evolved into more virulent types.

I was in high school in the mid fifties when an agriculturist who trained in Hawaii promoted the Hawaiian papaya to be planted in the Philippines. I bought a packet of seeds which dad and I planted. Indeed our Hawaiian papaya became an "apple to the eye" in our locality. In a short time many backyards had growing Hawaiian papaya trees. And the native papaya was almost forgotten. .

The sixties and seventies brought agricultural technology which revolutionized agriculture. It was a short live green revolution. It was the start of "globalization in farming" where the frontiers of agriculture were not only expanded but diversified in order to meet the expanding market. Agriculture took the helm of development with little consideration on the welfare of the environment. It did not give much importance to environmental degradation, much less rehabilitation. Let me cite these cases to prove my point.

Plantations of Hawaiian and Peruvian ipil-ipil were wiped out by Psylla plant lice, while our native ipil-ipil remained unaffected.
Hawaiian pineapple, so with other foreign varieties, failed to adapt, while our native pineapple called Formosa continued to thrive.
Varieties of rice developed by IRRI ultimately disappeared from farmers' fields, as our native rice varieties returned.
Many corn varieties failed, while our native corn varieties persisted - even if production is low (only around one ton per hectare).
Bangkok santol introduced leaf galls caused by mites that brought its own demise. The pest still persists in its progeny (cross of Bangkok and native santol).
The large Anglo-Nubian goats did not adapt to local conditions, while our local goats live on. So with St Gertrude bullock that gave way to our native stock.
Several trials were made to plant soybean, white bean (for pork and beans), and potato. We failed for the same reason. We cannot tailor the land to the crop.
Foreign varieties of plants and breeds of animals failed top get acclimatized under Philippine condition. All these - and many other introduced crops and animals - failed.

The Native Gene is Our Hope

Let's go back to the native genes,
the unspoiled, pristine gene pool
that developed through thousands,
if not millions of years of evolution.

Genetic engineering is not the answer,
but to harness the old faithful genes -
genes that enhanced our survival
as Homo sapiens,
genes that co-evolved
with those of other organisms.

Co-evolution is the key
to our success as a species.
Technology is not, and never will.
Tinkering with nature, and life itself
ushers the decline and ultimate
demise of mankind. ~
--------------------------------------------------
“The potyvirus Papaya ringspot virus (PRSV) is found throughout the tropics and subtropics. Its P biotype is a devastating pathogen of papaya crops and its W biotype of cucurbits. PRSV-P is thought to arise by mutation from PRSV-W … PRSV may have originated in Asia, particularly in the Indian subcontinent, as PRSV populations there are most diverse and hence have probably been present longest. Our analyses show that mutation, together with local and long-distance movement, contributes to population variation, and also confirms an earlier conclusion that populations of the PRSV-P biotype have evolved on several occasions from PRSV-W populations.”

On the evolution and molecular epidemiology of the potyvirus Papaya ringspot virus

Bateson MF, Lines RE et al, JGV Journal of Virology

--------------------------------------------------

Developments
· Vaccination. Like vaccination technique in humans, the host plant receives a mild strain of PRSV. Resistance is gauged by the delay in the onset of symptoms to reduction in the severity of symptoms. But inoculation of the mild strain also causes pathogenesis, which means that the plant did not gain true resistance.

· Transgenic papaya (Rainbow and SunUp) are claimed to have differential resistance to the Hawaiian strains of PRSV, but such resistance can be eroded by other viral strains found in other countries.

· Pathogen Derived Resistance (PDR) is a technique of inserting a gene fragment from the pathogen into the transgenic crop, leading to two transgenic lines claimed to be resistant to PRSV, but like the “vaccinated” and transgenic "varieties," are sooner or later overtaken by increasing virulence and mutation of PRSV into new strains.

· Deregulation aims at breaking out from world’s objection against GMO. Some countries like US and Japan, import Hawaiian papaya on a very limited scale. Backlash against GMO includes surreptitious destruction of experiments and plantations.

Objection to any type of GMO research rages in most parts of the world as people are “going for natural” food, medicine, clothing, homes, life style, etc. And they look at GMO as a Frankenfood (from the novel Frankenstein, by Mary Shelly).

· Durability of Resistance: Exposure to foreign strains of the virus is a serious risk, as the transgenic Rainbow papayas have been shown to be susceptible to PRSV from Guam, Taiwan and Thailand.

Acknowledgement: Wikipedia

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Fishing Village - Sketch from a Bridge

July 28, 2014, 8:14 pm

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≪ Previous: The Backyard as Laboratory and Workshop 4: Papaya Ring Spot Virus (PRSV) - Scourge of Papaya Worldwide.

Dr Abe V Rotor

Living with Nature School on Blog

Paaralang Bayan sa Himpapawid with Ms Melly C Tenorio

738 DZRB AM Band, 8 to 9 evening class, Monday to Friday

Fishing Village in Catbalogan pastel, by Mario Relampagos, Samar 1986

The art of on-the-spot sketching

lives not in the lens;

artists create, the photographer

loses that divine sense.

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The Disciplinarian

July 28, 2014, 9:49 pm

≫ Next: The Lamp: Symbol of Enlightenment, Righteousness and Wisdom

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Dr Abe V Rotor

We were met by a fellow in T-shirt bearing the name of the retreat center in Tagaytay where we were going to spend a three-day spiritual retreat.

"You are late." he muttered.

View of Tagaytay Ridge Philippines. Photo by the author

It was a gloomy morning. Our laughter in the bus coming from Manila fizzled out, and Lady Silence, the guardian of hollowed ground took over.

"Come with me, everybody." He looked at his watch glinting, knotted his forehead and signaled the way.

We started taking out our things from the bus.

"Leave your things. You can get them later... after the orientation."

We were led to a conference hall.

"Don't sit at the back. Occupy the front seats."

Hush, hush. We cautioned each other.

"During your stay here, observe our house rules." He read each rule slowly and painstakingly.
The fellow must be a disciplinarian, I said in whisper. He stressed the "Don'ts" and cited cases of violations and punishments. He reviewed his "kodigo" with moving finger, then looked at us in the eye.

"If you have questions write them down." He pointed at a suggestion box, "and drop them there."

Just then a kindly lady entered, bowed and greeted us. "Good morning. I hope you had a pleasant trip. Welcome to Heaven's Hill."

The sun was shining through the window. I heard birds in the trees. We returned her greeting courteously and smilingly.

"Thank you, Pedro. Please attend to the things of our guests." ~

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The Lamp: Symbol of Enlightenment, Righteousness and Wisdom

July 29, 2014, 1:24 am

≫ Next: UST-AB Syllabus for Photography for Journalism and Communication Arts

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Dr Abe V Rotor

Living with Nature School on Blog

Paaralang Bayan sa Himpapawid with Ms Melly C Tenorio
738 DZRB AM Band, 8 to 9 evening class, Monday to Friday

I feel honored to be here in St. Paul University Surigao, because it is a sister university of SPU QC where I presently teach. Second, the subject which I am going to take up with you is a favorite subject of mine. It is a revival of an old art – the art of teaching.

Greek philosopher Diogenes holding a lamp at daytime.

It is a revival of the teaching methods of Aristotle, Plato - and the Renaissance when the world realized how important it is to look back in the past. It is looking back at the lamp that enabled our national hero, Dr. Jose Rizal, to write his last masterpiece, the lamp Florence Nightingale held over her patients at the warfront, the lamp that made Scheherazade’s “one thousand and one nights” stories, the lamp a Greek philosopher held high at daylight “searching for an honest man.” Or the lamp fireflies make and glow with the spirit of joy and adventure to a child.

But why do we look back and ponder on a tiny light when the world basks in the sunshine of progress and development, of huge networks of learning, of high technologies in practically all fields of endeavor? I’ll tell you why – and why we teachers must.

But first let me tell a story of a computer enthusiast, who like the modern student today relies greatly on this electronic gadget, doing his school work so conveniently like downloading data for his assignment. So one day he worked on his assigned topic – love.

Florence Nightingale

He printed the word and set the computer to define for him L-O-V-E. Pronto the computer came up with a hundred definitions and in different languages. Remembering his teacher’s instruction to ask, “How does it feel to be in love?” again he set the computer to respond. And you know what?

After several attempts, the computer printed on its screen in big letters, “Sorry, I can not feel.”

Where is that main ingredient of human relations – feeling – today?

• Where is the true feeling between teacher and student?
• Where is the feeling of joy at the end of a teaching day, in spite of how hard the day had been?

Lamp of Aladdin

• Where is that tingling feeling of the student for having recited well in class?
• Where is that feeling in singing the National Anthem, the St. Paul Hymn?
• Where is that feeling Rizal felt when a moth circled the lamp in his prison cell while he wrote, Mi Ultimo Adios?
• Where is that burning desire that drove Michaelangelo to finish single-handedly the mega mural of the Sistine Chapel?
• That drove Vincent Van Gogh to madness – madness the world learned a grave lesson years after?
• That kept Florence Nightingale, the founder of the nursing profession, make her rounds in the hospital in the wee hours of the morning?
• The lamp that strengthened Plato’s resolve to change the way people should think in the light of truth and justice.

Feeling.

There is a song Feelin, and the lyrics ask a lot of questions about human nature changing with the times. I do not think human nature has changed. It is as stable as Nature herself and the natural laws that govern the universe.

What we are saying is that our ways are changing. The conformity of our actions is more with the rules we set rather than the philosophies on which they are founded. It is our quest for want above our needs that has blinded us and benumbed our feelings, that has taken us to the so-called fast lane so that we no longer see objects as they are, but abstracts, that has made us half-humans in the sense that we spend half of our lives dealing with machines – who have no feelings.

What then is modern man? I am afraid we have to review some of our references on the Janus-like character of man, like -

• Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde
• The Prince and the Pauper
• The Princess and the Frog
• The movies Mask, Superman, Batman, Spiderman
• Star Wars, Lord of the Rings, Harry Potter
• Cartoon and animae

The doubling of characters in man has led him away from permanence. Today, the biggest crisis in man is his impermanence. Impermanence in his domicile, nay, his nationality, political party. Affiliation in business and social organizations, and most disturbingly with his marriage and family.

When was the last time you said to yourself – or experienced, the following.

• It’s a weekday for my family and nothing else.
• How I wish I can help my child of his math assignment.
• I’ll teach only this year and will find a more rewarding job after.
• I think it’s time to settle down.
• I want to go to a concert and enjoy the fine art of music.
• Can’t I put all my ideas in a book?
• Panay meeting – can’t we just talk?
• This dizziness, it must be the pressure of my work.
• Maybe I can concentrate on my thesis this time.
• I have not finished reading “Da Vinci Code”.
• This summer I’ll be with my parents.

Here are ways by which we can brighten up our lamp amidst the factors that test our dedication of our profession as teachers.

1. Be yourself. Be natural.
2. Keep on learning
3. Be a model of your family and community
4. Relax
5. Use you faculties fully and wisely

Be Natural

Naturalness is a key to teaching. I saw a film, Natural with then young award-winning Robert Redford as the principal actor. It is a story of a baseball player who became famous. The central theme of his success is his naturalness. Naturalness in pitching, batting - in the sport itself, above all, in his relationship with his team and fans.

Our students can easily sense our sincerity. They shun from us if we are not. They cannot fully express themselves, unless we show our genuine love and care for them. Develop that aura that attracts them, that keeps relationship easy to adapt or adjust.
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“Who dares to teach must never cease to learn.”
- John Cotton Dana
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Be a Model

What I am saying is that a teacher must have more time for himself and for his family. Teaching is an extension of family life. And this is the primordial stimulus that makes your family a model family and you as a model teacher – because you cause the light of the lamp to radiate to others. And it is not only the school that you bring in the light. It is the community because you are also lighting the lamp of others, including the tiny glow in your young students. When they get home, when they interact with their community in whatever capacity they can, even only among their playmates, relatives and neighbors, they are in effect transmitting that light which is also the light of understanding and unity.

Relax

Great achievements are usually products of relaxed minds. Relaxation allows the incubation of thoughts and ideas. Churchill found time to paint during the Second World War. In his relaxed mind he made great decisions saved Great Britain and countless lives. Or take Einstein for instance. His formula which explains the relationship of energy and matter in E=mc2 was drawn out from casually observing moving objects - train, heavenly bodies, marbles. Galileo watched a huge chandelier in a church sway with the breeze and later came up with the principles of pendulum movement.

Darwin studied biology around the world as if he were on a leisure cruise, and summed up his findings that founded the most controversial Theory of Evolution by means of natural selection. An apple fell on Newton’s head when everything was still. Examine closely the parables of Christ. How relaxed the Great Teacher was in telling these stories to the faithful. The lamp shines the brightest when there is no wind. When held high with steady hands and given time to examine things around, views become clearer, and the more certain we are along our way.

Use Your Faculties Fully and Wisely

Our brain is made up of the left hemisphere, the thinking and reasoning part, and the right hemisphere, the seat of creativity and imagination. Together they reveal an enormous capacity of intelligence, which are pictured in eight realms. These are

1. Logic
2. Languages
3. Music
4. Spatial
5. Interpersonal
6. Intrapersonal
7. Kinesthetics
8. Naturalism

From these realms the teacher draws out his best qualities. He explores, decides, adapts, entertains, leads, and stands courageously to lead the young.

Here he sows the seed of knowledge. And in the young the seed grows, and grows, which the educator Henry Adams expresses in this line.

“A teacher affects eternity; he can never tell where his influence stops.”

Keynote to a Seminar-Workshop on Multiple Intelligence in Effective Teaching at St. Paul University, Surigao, April 5-8, 2005.
x x x

↧

UST-AB Syllabus for Photography for Journalism and Communication Arts

July 30, 2014, 12:24 am

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≪ Previous: The Lamp: Symbol of Enlightenment, Righteousness and Wisdom

Course Outline for Discussion July 31, 2014

Dr Abe V Rotor
Faculty of Arts and Letters
University of Santo Tomas

Living with Nature School on Paaralang Bayan sa Himpapawid with Ms Melly C Tenorio

738 DZRB AM Band, 8 to 9 evening class, Monday to Friday

Subject Code and Title: CA 206
Term: One Semester, 3 units

University of Santo Tomas 1611-2011

Description: This course is specifically designed to meet the needs of modern journalism as well as in creative writing, making use of conventional and modern tools and equipment which
include advanced optical and digital inventions.

The course focuses on the application of photography in the various branches and forms of media. It explores the application of photography in publicity and promotions, newspapers and magazines, education, photographic arts and other fields, with emphasis to Philippine situation.

Prerequisites: Basic subjects in communication

Objectives:

A. General Objective: To develop basic skill in the use of the camera – conventional and digital – combined with the development of journalism skills, as tools for effective communication in print, broadcast and the internet.

B. Specific Objectives: Upon completion of this course, the student is expected to be able to

1. appreciate and identify the role and application of photography in the various fields of communication;

2. use the camera, both conventional and digital, effectively and accurately;

3. use photography in creative composition, and other artistic expressions;

4. acquire the facility of choosing the right tools and equipment in photography, including those for editing, processing, organization and presentation;

5. prepare photo releases acceptable principally in Philippine newspapers and magazines;

6. develop discipline and cooperation through group work, adherence to the ethic of journalism; and

7. develop a healthy attitude of learning from experts the advances and movements of photography and journalism.

Modules/Chapters

I. Introduction and course overview

II. Application of photography in media

III. The camera: evolution, types
and models

IV. The story in pictures with the camera

V. “Man behind the machine”
Creativity and communication

VI. Processing and printing
with the Photoshop

VII. Organization, presentation, publication and exhibition

VIII. Applied photography and current issues, prospects

Lessons/Topics

Photography and communication: analysis of the course’s etymology
Photography in news, feature/essays, sports, entertainment and the like.
Operation of a typical types and models optical cameras.
Writing the news and taking photographs
Creativity in photography and writing; compatibility
Photo processing principles and techniques
Presenting photo and story, print and non-print. Know thy viewers, readers.
Current events and relevance to the course
Defining the scope of keywords
Identification and classification of photographs in media
Hands-on with the camera, its parts and accessories
Hands-on exercises in preparing news stories and photos.
Exploring potentials for news with the camera.
Critiquing photographs – what make them good, or what went wrong?
Enlarging and cropping, collage and layout,
Editing and special effects
“Nose for news plus eye for news” in photojournalism
Printed media samples as course references
Photos in media as selected by students,a cursory evaluation
The camera: principal parts and accessories
Models and rules in news writing, photography.
Making documentary films
The camera, processing equipment, and how they work.
Presentation tools and materials: the exhibit board
Adobe Photoshop, scanner and printer.
Tools and equipment (from camera to exhibits) to explore the wide world of photojournalism.

Values

Heightened awareness, experiential relevance
Exposure and awareness of topics.
Skills development; proper care of photo equipment
Objectivity and accuracy in photography
Creativity with the 6th and 8th sense
Creativity in the photolab – patience, reflection, analysis
Aesthetics in action, shaping people’s views and feelings
Concern and Involvement;
Enhancement of learning, discovery and value of service.

References:
1. Photo-Journalism Stylebook (1991) - The Associated Press
2. Creative Photography (1991) – Michael Langford. The Reader’s Digest
3. More Joy of Photography (1988) - The Editors of Eastman Kodak Company
4. Digital Portrait Photography (new) – D. Evans
5. Digital Photography (new), Tom Ang and Michael Beazley
6. The Everything Photography Book (2000), Elliot Khuner and Sonie Weiss
7. Digital Camera 3rd edition, 2003, Dave Johnson
8. Black and White Photography (1988) 3rd edition, Henry Horenstein
9. An Illustrated A to Z Digital Photography (2000), Nigel Atherton and Steve Crabb
10. 100 Ways to Take Better Photographs (1998), Michael Busselle
11. Photographing Your Children (new), John Hedgecoe
12. Underwater Photography (new), Annemarie Danja Kohler
13. Secrets to Great Photographs, Zim Zucherman
14. Nature Photography, Learning from an Expert, Gilles Martin and D Boyard
15. People Shots That Sell, Tracy Tannenbaum and Kate Stevens
16. Beginners Guide to Digital Photography, (new) PC World
17. Close-up Photography, Michael Freeman
18. The Photo Book (1996), Phaidon
19. Complete Idiot’s Guide to Photography like a Pro (1997)
20. Through the Lens, National100 Photographs That Changed the World, Life, 2004
21. The World’s Top Photographers in Landscape (new), Terry Hope
22. Geographic Greatest Photographs, 2004
23. The Essentials of Underwater Photography Manual, Denise Nielsen Tachett and Larry Tachett
24. Portrait Photography, David Wilson
25. Philippine Journalism Handbook (1989), 3rd edition – Jaime Ramirez
26. Journalism for Filipinos (2003) - 3rd Edition, Alito Malinao
27. Handbook of Journalism (1994) Victoria Villanueva Sebastian
28. Light in the Woods, Photographs and Poems (1995), Abercio V. Rotor
29. Sunshine on Raindrops (1996), Abercio V. Rotor
30. Light of Dawn (1998), and Genevieve Andrada and Abercio V. Rotor
31. In His Presence, Praises (2003), Belen Tangco and Abercio V. Rotor
32. Living Thoughts (2005) AV Rotor (manuscript)
37. Rotor AV (2003) Living with Nature Handbook (2 volumes), UST Publishing House

www.photojournalism.org/ - 44k
www.poynter.org/subject.asp?id=29 - 38k
www.fotophile.com/links/photojournalism.htm - 48k
www.blackstar.com/editorial/ - 10k
markhancock.blogspot.com/ - 77k
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Photography - 120k
www.photography.com/ - 32k
www.pinoyphotography.org/ - 60k
photography.nationalgeographic.com/ - 40k
www.photographytips.com/ - 30k
photo.net/ - 24k
www.masters-of-photography.com/ - 14k

Viewings
Dying for the Story, Shattered Glass,Features in Photography
Other references shall be sourced from the Central Library, International Newsmagazines (e.g. Time, Photography),
newspapers, Internet and TV programs National Geographic and Discovery Channels, Internet.

↧

Simple food preparation for enjoyment, health and economy - and other advantages

July 30, 2014, 1:30 am

≫ Next: Rudyard Kipling: "If"

≪ Previous: UST-AB Syllabus for Photography for Journalism and Communication Arts

Dr Abe V Rotor

1. Edible fern salad (Plus red egg, tomato, onion rings and vinegar)

Simplify Food Preparation

1. FRESHNESS: There's no substitute to freshness - fruits picked from the tree, newly harvested vegetables, newly dressed chicken and slaughtered meat.

2. CLEANLINESS: free from contamination, healthy source of crops and animals, strict sanitation and quarantine, free from radiation.
3. SIMPLE PREPARATION: broiled, steamed, boiled, blanched, and the like.
4. AVOID PROCESSED PRODUCTS: canned, hammed, pureed, and the like.
5. HOMEMADE: direct choice and preference of recipes, others
6. ECONOMICAL: less handling, less processing, less advertising.
7. EDUCATIONAL: to children, members of the household and immediate community.
8. PEACE O)F MIND: food security from vetsin (MSG), aspartame, olestra or fatless fat, decaf, enhancers and preservatives, toxin.
9. HEALTH: investment and legacy to children and future generations.
10 PRODUCTIVITY: enjoyment in life and good health = high productivity.
11. BONDING: with family, friends and neighbors
12: VALUES: free from guilt and fear, fulfillment, and confidence,

2. Twin fried eggs over brown rice (onion leaves topping)

3. Halaan shell soup with sili (pepper) tops (thickened with corn starch)

4. Green corn on the cob (Serve with buko or young coconut juice or just water)

5. Nangka served whole

6. Empanada and ukoy (Eating while cooking)

7. Broiled tilapia cum scales (Burnt scale removes fishy taste and smell)

8. Tamales (fish steamed in banana leaves, add tomato, ginger,onion and a dash of salt)

9. Paksiw sapatero fish (Just don't overcook)

10. Arusip or lato (Caulerpa) most popular sea vegetable. (You may add red
tomato and onion)

↧

Rudyard Kipling: "If"

July 31, 2014, 6:35 am

≫ Next: Fusion - The Other Path of Evolution

≪ Previous: Simple food preparation for enjoyment, health and economy - and other advantages

"Yours is the Earth and everything that's in it ...
you'll be a Man, my Son." Rudyard Kipling

Dr Abe V Rotor

There's one thing that summarizes the theme of Kipling's works in general. If you are a child and read Kipling, you are challenged to grow up into a responsible adult - full and ripe, responsible and true - perhaps ahead of your time and that of others. The poem, If, epitomizes a son becoming a man - or a daughter becoming a woman.

Rudyard Kipling (1865-1936)

If

If you can keep your head when all about you
Are losing theirs and blaming it on you,
If you can trust yourself when all men doubt you,
But make allowance for their doubting too;
If you can wait and not be tired of waiting,
Or being lied about, don't deal in lies,
Or being hated, don't give way to hating,
And yet don't look too good, nor talk too wise:

If you can dream - and not make dreams your master;
If you can think - and not make thoughts your aim;
If you can meet with Triumph and Disaster
And treat those two impostors just the same;
If you can bear to hear the truth you've spoken
Twisted by knaves to make a trap for fools,
Or watch the things you gave your life to, broken,
And stoop and build 'em up with worn-out tools:

If you can make one heap of all your winnings
And risk it on one turn of pitch-and-toss,
And lose, and start again at your beginnings
And never breathe a word about your loss;
If you can force your heart and nerve and sinew
To serve your turn long after they are gone,
And so hold on when there is nothing in you
Except the Will which says to them, "Hold on!"

If can talk with crowds and keep your virtue
Or walk with Kings - nor lose the common touch,
If neither foes nor loving friends can hurt you,
If all men count with you, but none too much;
If you can fill the unforgiving minute
With sixty seconds' worth of distance run,
Yours is the Earth and everything that's in it,
And - which is more - you will be a man, my son!

Calamities continue to claim lives and properties, even as previous victims have not yet recovered. Typhoon Yolanda cut a swath of destruction and desolation unprecedented in Philippine history.

War erupted recently on the Gaza Strip at the Israel-Palestine border. Civil war threatens Libya and Egypt as they struggle for democracy after a long period of dictatorship. Racial and religious conflict rock Iraq and Sudan.

Separatist movement in Ukraine aided by Russia may break into civil war. The conflict has claimed innocent civilians including the downing by missile a passing Malaysian commercial airplane that resulted in the death of 298 passengers and crew members.

Terrorism in on the rise in many countries, including the Philippines, principally by the Abu Sayaff. The world is threatened by the breakdown of peace and order on one hand, and the decline of economy, exacerbated by man-induced disasters principally global warming and pollution.

Hard times breeds the Man of the Hour. It awakens the child to become man.

He is the Boy on the Dike who plugged a leak in the dike with his arm in order to save Holland from the engulfing sea.
He is the boy who carried an apple on his head which his father, William Tell, must hit with arrow in order to gain their freedom from the dictator Gessler.
He is the orphan Oliver in Charles Dickens' Oliver Twist, who became a victim of a cruel and unjust society, but was able to rise from his woeful state.
He is the boy in Louis Stevenson's Treasure Island who found a treasure not only of gold and silver, but an immeasurable one - treasure of becoming into real man.

He is our own, an eighteen year old who saved two families before he lost his own life in Pasig during the flood.
They are the two teenagers led by a police officer who heroically ferried 130 victims to safety at the height of the flood in San Jacinto, Pangasinan.
He is the young Rizal, the young Bonifacio, Mabini, del Pilar et al destined to become heroes of their country.

While Kipling glorified the common man - the common soldier in his works (Plain Tales from the Hills, and Soldiers Three), this Nobel Prize winner in Literature equally prodded children to become responsible, as clearly manifested in his Jungle Book, which became a children classic all over the world. His advocacy is also shown in Kim (1901), an adventure book in the Himalayas, which is perhaps his most felicitous work. Other works include The Second Jungle Book (1895), The Seven Seas (1896), Captains Courageous (1897).

What make a child to be a man to Rudyard Kipling are basically the same to Mark Twain, which are early freedom and love of adventure, coupled with discipline and virtuous grooming under a natural setting - Kipling, being the immanent- moralist; and Twain, the liberal sociologist. Twain's characters - Huckleberry Finn and Tom Sawyer, and Mowgli in Kipling's The Jungle Book turned adventurism into heroism in their own right.

There are models of girls-turned-women ahead of their time.

Take the case of Joan of Arc who was then only 16 when she led the French army against the English invaders,
the blind and deaf child who was able to overcome the world of darkness and silence and became one of the most famous women in the world - Helen Keller.
the orphan girl in The Secret Garden by Frances Hodgson Burnett who rebuilt a forgotten garden into a "piece of Paradise,"
the Railway Children by Edith Nesbit who carried on a responsible life while their father was imprisoned for a crime he did not commit.
Lest we forget Heidi by Johanna Spyri, an all time favorite story for girls. Heidi rose from the circumstance of being unwanted to become the light and inspiration to many.

Millions of boys and girls all over the world, if given the same chance and test, are the characters to whom the poem, If of Kipling is addressed to - be it in times of extreme difficulties or peace.

This article is dedicated to the young people who crossed the bridge to adult life through deeds that proved themselves responsible citizens and children of God, heroes notwithstanding, during the calamities. ~

↧

Fusion - The Other Path of Evolution

July 31, 2014, 5:45 pm

≫ Next: Painting with Earth

≪ Previous: Rudyard Kipling: "If"

Dr Abe V Rotor

Sargassum fish cleverly intertwined and camouflaged, exhibiting combined characteristics of plant, animal, and protist, the natural landscape under the sea, notwithstanding. Paintings in acrylic on glass panel by the author, c. 2003

Evolution is when the simple becomes complex,

and the complex into intricate;

yet the intricate to complex, reverting into simple,

when fail the process to replicate.

Evolution is forward and backward through time,

simultaneous, spontaneous;

an explosion of diversity of all kinds imagined,

in chains, webs and continuous.

Evolution is untrodden, unguided, by chance

in a million possibilities beyond

the eye or lens, and probing mind and will,

in the depth of sea, or just around.

Evolution is de-volution, shrinking, thinning -
extinction by nature and by man -
plant-animal fusing, moneran-protist pooling;
prelude to a living world gone. ~

↧

Painting with Earth

July 31, 2014, 5:58 pm

≫ Next: Fantasy Art for Children

≪ Previous: Fusion - The Other Path of Evolution

"As long as our value system continues to unify our well-being from a part organic and a part spiritual, we will find our existence genuine and our uniqueness innate wherein the aesthetics enriches us to appreciate more the enigma of creation as an immortal truth."

- Joannes Paulus T Hernandez

Paintings by Joannes Paulus Tolentino Hernandez

Verses by Dr Abe V Rotor

These are paintings made of local materials, principally earth mixed with paint and applied by hand and brush. These were made by Joannes Paulus Tolentino Hernandez, a student of mine in environmental science at the De La Salle University in Dasmariñas, Cavite, in 2002. I stumbled on these experimental paintings on paper among my old files, and realized how unique they are with the use of earth as medium to express man's submission to nature and a holy spirit.

Plate half full, half empty,

abandoned, morsels spill

for lack of taste or appetite,

hunger far from fill.

what a waste, grace defiled,

sans prayer and will.

Labyrinth in a fish tank

with just a start and end,

in between a maze looms

endless in every bend,

decoying the bold or lonely

to a test to the end.

A subterranean window

with new life's beginning;

it is the return of a lost spring

long in peaceful slumber;

window of a cave dwelling,

after the Armageddon.

A cross, but what does its color tell us,

but blood, precursor of dust and ash?

Arise from the earth once more, oh man!

Would you be a Homo sapiens again?

Or a genie, and no longer his master?

Will you too, be both sane and insane?

"The transformation of energies and the conversion of the inorganic to organic nourishment of photosynthesis is the authentic nature of Genesis from which everything else follows." - Joannes Paulus T Hernandez

↧

Fantasy Art for Children

August 1, 2014, 4:43 am

≫ Next: 12 Ways to Enhance your Personality

≪ Previous: Painting with Earth

Fireworks over the city, what a sight!

Like a thousand fairy eyes in the night.

Dr Abe V Rotor

Calendar art may die and be forgotten after their time. But to some people, a calendar lives on with its art in the imagination of children. Such is the art of "Fuji" in an old calendar. With the diverging trends in art today, I found Fuji's paintings beautifully modern with the ambiance of old and new form and style converging harmoniously. Color beams with light, and light spills into aura or shadow or over a river flowing and sky delightfully exploding.

Children love this kind of paintings, the subject being children with whom they identify themselves. It is as if they are in the painting, or they are performing on stage. They dance, they marvel at fireworks, they catch butterflies and fireflies, climb a stairway to the stars. And for the grownups, they simply wish they can be as happy as children - again.

So tame the bonfire rises into the sky

to court the stars and moon to come down;

round and around all night they go

with songs and laughter through.

A magic tree a giant fan reflecting on a lake

beneath a herd of horses playground;

the north star shines like compass in the sky

from faraway young riders are bound.

Catching butterflies along a stream
silvery in the morning sun;
and flowing down with their dream
and laughter and forever fun.

Flowers and butterflies,
and a stairway to the stars;
a wise fox on the guard
for children never sleep.

Fireworks over the city, what a sight!
Like a thousand fairy eyes in the night.

Acknowledgement: Calendar courtesy of former Senator Butz Aquino, art lover and long time boss and friend.

↧

12 Ways to Enhance your Personality

August 1, 2014, 4:11 pm

≫ Next: The Thinker: What is he telling us?

≪ Previous: Fantasy Art for Children

Dedicated to the late Jesus T Tanchanco, former minister and administrator, National Food Authority (1971-1986)

Dr Abe V Rotor

Living with Nature School on Blog
Paaralang Bayan sa Himpapawid with Ms Melly C Tenorio

738 DZRB AM Band, 8 to 9 evening class, Monday to Friday

1. Live in the present. Live today.

2. Forget the mistakes of yesterday. Yesterday has gone forever.

3. Stop criticizing yourself and stop criticizing others.

4, Yearn for self-improvement.

Dr and Mrs Abe V Rotor exchange pleasantries with former NFA administrator Jesus T Tanchanco (right) during the last homecoming of former NGA-NFA employees in 2012. It was the last meeting with this great man.

5. Hold on to your self-respect by appraising yourself honestly.

6. Learn to listen to others. It helps remove bias from your opinion.

7. If you have a goal, reach for it.

8. If you make a mistake, try again.

9. Don't be timid in conversation.

10. Exercise your imagination creatively to achieve success.

11. Do one thing at a time. Shoot for one goal at a time.

12. Believe in the Providence not for luck but blessings.

From my old files I found this article designed for framing, so that it can serve as a daily personal reminder. Spontaneously I thought of my boss for fifteen long years, the admirable and respectable Jesus T Tanchanco, former administrator of the National Food Authority under the regime of President Ferdinand E Marcos. During his time the Philippines became not only self-sufficient in rice and other major agricultural commodities, but a net exporter as well. The Philippines attained the status as exporter of rice in Tanchanco's time like Thailand and Vietnam today. I realize that the success of a leader - a government official - depends largely on personality which is the embodiment of all qualities of a person.

↧

The Thinker: What is he telling us?

August 1, 2014, 7:35 pm

≫ Next: Teacher's image according to his pupil

≪ Previous: 12 Ways to Enhance your Personality

The Thinker: What is he telling us?

Dr Abe V Rotor

Living with Nature School on Blog

Paaralang Bayan sa Himpapawid with Ms Melly C Tenorio
738 DZRB AM Band, 8 to 9 evening class, Monday to Friday

1. We think clearly about a problem.
2. We think of all possible solutions.
3. We accept the best and act upon it.

The Thinker by Auguste Rodin, famous French sculptor.

Suppose we don't arrive at anything concrete? The problem persists, there is no clear solution, what shall we do?

We forget the problem, temporarily, if it defies solution.
The servo-mechanism within us will do the job for us subconsciously by utilizing the ingredients of our past successes. (M Maltz)

↧

Teacher's image according to his pupil

August 2, 2014, 1:59 pm

≫ Next: Simple food for better health, happier and longer life

≪ Previous: The Thinker: What is he telling us?

Dr Abe V Rotor

Living with Nature School on Blog

Paaralang Bayan sa Himpapawid with Ms Melly C Tenorio
738 DZRB AM Band, 8 to 9 evening class, Monday to Friday

Angela Higwit was only six when she took up art lessons from me. I posed

for a sketch and this is Angela's interpretation.

I did not know I needed a haircut and thorough shave;
I did not know I have a receding chin and forehead,
A little hunchback and calloused elbow I'd rather have;
Large ears and an unsuspecting eye on top of my head.

Such is my image as teacher to the mind of a child;
Imagination is something a mentor can't provide.

↧

Simple food for better health, happier and longer life

August 3, 2014, 6:43 am

≫ Next: Backyard as Laboratory and Workshop 5: Bizarre creatures share our homes

≪ Previous: Teacher's image according to his pupil

Dr Abe V Rotor

Living with Nature School on Blog

Paaralang Bayan sa Himpapawid with Ms Melly C Tenorio
738 DZRB AM Band, 8 to 9 evening class, Monday to Friday

Healthy snack: kamote with panocha, black coffee with muscovado.

Let's go back to the simple food of our ancestors.
They lived happier, healthier and longer.
There are no artificial ingredients in their food,
like aspartame (sugarless sugar),
decaf (coffeeless coffee),
olestra (fatless fat),
MSG or vetsin,
preservatives (salitre)
pesticides (dioxin)
bleachers (sulfite), etc.

They ate natural food like kamote or sweet potato,
muscovado and panocha (pulitipot Ilk) sugar;
drank brewed coffee, natural wine (undistilled).
mineral water from natural source (unbottled).
They ate fruits and vegetables, and less of meat.

They ate food
high in energy,
rich in protein,
less in fat (milk, butter or cheese),
high in vitamins and minerals,
high in digestible fiber, and
rich in natural antibiotics -
all these are locally available,
economically and socially beneficial,
and kind to the environment. ~

↧

Backyard as Laboratory and Workshop 5: Bizarre creatures share our homes

August 3, 2014, 6:07 pm

≫ Next: Do butterflies ever sleep?

≪ Previous: Simple food for better health, happier and longer life

Bagworm, looper or geometrid, giant African snail, balloon frog

Dr Abe V Rotor

Looper or geometrid caterpillar moves by loop-and-stretch, and stands like a cobra on reaching a dead end. When threatened, it feigns dead and mimics its surroundings. Geometrids belong to Order Lepidoptera, Family Geometridae. (from Greek geo 'the earth' and metron 'measure'— refers to the larvae, or inchworms, which appear to "measure the earth" as they move in a looping fashion.

A very large family, it has around 35,000 species of moths. A well-known member is the Peppered Moth, Biston betularia, which has been subject of numerous studies in population genetics. Several other geometer moths are notorious pests. These include Chaisma, Selenia, Scopula and Tetracis Geometrid moths however have butterfly characteristics, like slender abdomen. Typical of moths, they are nocturnal, active at night time. Note specimen crawling on the author's arm. Does the looper cause blister like the higad?

Pagoda Bagworm (Cryotothelea heckmeyeri). It is the larva of a moth belonging to Order Lepidoptera, Family Psychidae. The caterpillar remains ensconced in its bag in its entire larval stage which takes five moultings before it becomes into a cocoon without leaving its bag. The male soon emerges as a winged moth, then into adult. The male moth leaves the bag to find a mate, while the female moth is wingless and has to remain in the bag, receives a mate, deposits her fertilized eggs inside, then falls off to the ground or waiting prey. The bag grows by accretion, that is, the larva adds pieces of leaves on to the bag.

The pagoda is built by adding shingles over the bag, each shingle increases in size as the larva gets bigger. Which of these photos shows the correct position of the insect with its host plant?

Another species of bagworm (Crypthothela fuscescens), builds its bag with dried twig of the uniform sizes. The spent bag simply remains hanging in the plant. Right photo shows an exposed larvae purposely for study.

Giant African snail (Achatina fulica) is the biggest land snail in the Philippines, introduced by the Japanese during WWII, either as supplemental food or biological agent of warfare. This mollusk has developed into a pest of garden and orchard crops.

Can you locate the pair of eyes? You may use a magnifying glass over these photos, or you may zoom in these photos in your computer.

Globular or Balloon Frog (Tukak Bat'og Ilk which means fat bellied)

Uperodon systoma is a small genus of microhylid frogs from South Asia. Their sister taxon is Ramanella of Class Amphibia, Order Anura. The common name of these frogs is globular frogs or balloon frogs in reference to their stout appearance. These medium-sized (maximum snout–vent length 64–76 mm (2.5–3 in) burrowing frogs eat ants and termites. This species is widespread in South Asia, Little is known about the population status of this species. This is a completely fossorial species that buries itself in loose, moist soil.

Specimens have been observed in dry forest areas, plains, home gardens and low-intensity agricultural areas. The adults surface only during the summer monsoons; during the dry months they retreat into the soil. Termites are reportedly the main food of this species. Breeding takes place during the monsoon rains. Males call from the banks of torrents or paddy fields, and eggs are laid in masses which float on the water surface.

The main threats are the loss of suitable habitat to increasing urbanization, and the pollution of both land and wetlands with agrochemicals. There are no reports of this species being utilized, except that it is caught for food like other edible frogs in some parts of the country. What triggers this frog to become enormously bloated like a balloon from which it got its name?

Answer to Trivia:

1. Looper: The caterpillar is smooth and has no poisonous hairs like the higad (tussock moth caterpillar).

2. Pagoda bagworm - The normal position is upside down. The bagworm hangs on the underside of the leaf for protection against direct sunlight and enemies.

3. Giant African snail: The eyes are mounted at the tip of each of the longer antennae like periscope.

4. Balloon frog: It engulfs air until it become distended. This is for self defense since it appears instantly big before its puzzled potential predator. When threatened it wedges itself in its abode like a rock crevice where it is difficult to pry it out. By storing air it can stay under water, or afloat, and it can travel on moving water. Air increases the volume of the frog's mating call which can be heard far and wide.

↧

Do butterflies ever sleep?

August 4, 2014, 1:35 am

≫ Next: 12 Ways to Enhance your Personality

≪ Previous: Backyard as Laboratory and Workshop 5: Bizarre creatures share our homes

Dr Abe V Rotor

Living with Nature School on Blog

Paaralang Bayan sa Himpapawid with Ms Melly C Tenorio

738 DZRB AM Band, 8 to 9 evening class, Monday to Friday

Butterfly by Night and Day by Anna Rotor c. 1996

Do butterflies ever sleep? A child asked me, a grown up.

Yes they do, I answered;

Do butterflies rise from their sleep and play with the moon?

Yes, they do, I answered;

Do butterflies change colors during the day and at night?

Yes, they do, I answered.

Do butterflies ever get lonely and sad - and then - die?

Yes, they do, I answered.

Do butterflies return the next morning and meet the sun?

Yes they do, I answered.

I have been a grown up for so long to know butterflies.~

↧

12 Ways to Enhance your Personality

August 5, 2014, 3:00 am

≫ Next: Painting with Earth

≪ Previous: Do butterflies ever sleep?

Dedicated to the late Jesus T Tanchanco, former minister and administrator, National Food Authority (1971-1986)

Dr Abe V Rotor

Living with Nature School on Blog
Paaralang Bayan sa Himpapawid with Ms Melly C Tenorio

738 DZRB AM Band, 8 to 9 evening class, Monday to Friday

5. Hold on to your self-respect by appraising yourself honestly.

6. Learn to listen to others. It helps remove bias from your opinion.

7. If you have a goal, reach for it.
8. If you make a mistake, try again.

9. Don't be timid in conversation.

10. Exercise your imagination creatively to achieve success.

11. Do one thing at a time. Shoot for one goal at a time.

12. Believe in the Providence not for luck but blessings.

↧

Painting with Earth

August 5, 2014, 3:02 am

≫ Next: UST-AB References: Books by Dr Abe V Rotor

≪ Previous: 12 Ways to Enhance your Personality

- Joannes Paulus T Hernandez

Paintings by Joannes Paulus Tolentino Hernandez

Verses by Dr Abe V Rotor

Living with Nature School on Blog

Paaralang Bayan sa Himpapawid with Ms Melly C Tenorio
738 DZRB AM Band, 8 to 9 evening class, Monday to Friday

Plate half full, half empty,

abandoned, morsels spill

for lack of taste or appetite,

hunger far from fill.

what a waste, grace defiled,

sans prayer and will.

Labyrinth in a fish tank

with just a start and end,

in between a maze looms

endless in every bend,

decoying the bold or lonely

to a test to the end.

A subterranean window

with new life's beginning;

it is the return of a lost spring

long in peaceful slumber;

window of a cave dwelling,

after the Armageddon.

A cross, but what does its color tell us,

but blood, precursor of dust and ash?

Arise from the earth once more, oh man!

Would you be a Homo sapiens again?

Or a genie, and no longer his master?

Will you too, be both sane and insane?

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