Living with Nature - School on Blog by Dr. Abercio V. Rotor

Ancestral Home

2012-02-14T18:31:00.000-08:00

Batungan, a natural rock formation in Mandaon, Masbate.

I entered the heart of this living rock,
hollow and eerie;
bats and other creatures lurk in the dark;
it's a scary story.

Years after I visited this scene once more,
and stayed longer;
I saw shadows moving in the rock's core;
it's a story to wonder.

It speaks of an allegory and history,
where man was born,
when man lived a simple life and free,
happy and at home.

Murals: Scenes from the Bible

2012-02-13T05:37:00.000-08:00

Abe V Rotor

My family and I had the opportunity to view these beautiful murals in a prayer room inside the huge Agoo cathedral in La Union. Painted on the concrete walls some ten feet high the murals recreate some scenes of the bible surrounding the visiting pilgrims in prayers.

I stood with awe and admiration to both the art and its message. It was travelogue sort of in time and place. And looking closely at the murals, they must have been the work of a single artist influenced greatly by the old school as shown by his faithful reproduction of biblical figures, the colors which reminded me of Rembrandt and Goya. Could it be that the blurred lines were also an influence of Da Vinci's style? The pleating of the robes and dresses is unmistakably El Greco's sans foreshortening effect because the place had a rather low ceiling. I could sense in them quaintness from Amorsolo and passion from Luna. The local artist - whoever he is - must have been very knowledgeable in his art and sense of history and religion.

Maybe I have my bias of elevating these murals to the level of a masterpiece. More so because I found them in a fast deteriorating state being exposed to the elements. Moisture from the concrete wall has destroyed much of their original colors and fine details. In fact the paints are peeling off, and lime water is seeping through the cracks and drying up into crusts over sensitive parts. Ironically works of art when endangered are perceived with concern and in effect become more precious . Remember the hieroglyphics inside the pharoahs' tomb in Egypt? The cave paintings in Lascaux, France? And similarly the cave paintings and engravings in Montalban, Rizal? No less than the Last Supper by Da Vinci and the Sistine Chapel ceiling murals by Michelangelo faced even greater problems. Fortunately they were restored in time and today they stand out among the most popular paintings in the world.

They say time is the greatest test of an art. It is patient and cruel in a way. But it gives us time to heed its distress call for artists and patrons of art themselves to come to the rescue. This is how classics are made.

If you go up north this Lenten season, find time to visit (Bisita Iglesia) at Agoo Cathedral and see these beautiful murals.

These scenes are based on the Old Testament. The murals
are indeed old. They could be as old as the original Agoo
church on which the present cathedral was built.

Where have all the classics gone?

2012-02-13T05:21:00.000-08:00

Dr Abe V Rotor

St Paul Novitiate ruins circa 1949

St Paul University QC, then a Novitiate of the Sisters of St Paul of Chartres, was occupied by the Japanese during the second world war and served as a garrison. The main building was burned down before liberation. A war memorial stands on the campus to signify this inglorious part of Philippine history.

But, like a Phoenix bird rising from the ashes, the ruin transformed into a school, now a member of a university system.

Here the finer side of life - the antithesis of war, is shown through the arts - music and drama.

Group Violin Rendition

School String Orchestra

Shakespearean Drama

NOTE: These photos were provided by Sister Sarah Manapol, SPC, and were enhanced by today's computer editing.

Part 1: Destruction of Santo Domingo Church in Intramuros, Manila during World War II

2012-02-13T02:19:00.001-08:00

Dr Abe V Rotor
Professor, University of Santo Tomas

Acknowledgment: These photographs (Parts 1 and 2) are part of a collection of Professor Alice C Villadolid, an internationally known journalist, author and professor. I wish to express my deepest gratitude to Prof Villadolid for providing these photographs for my research and writing.

The Santo Domingo Church, Intramuros, was the
headquarters for the Dominican Order of the Philippines.

Aftermath of the war - total destruction of the historic and legendary church, and the old buildings of the University of Santo Tomas which were adjacent to the church. The plaza named after the theologian Santo Tomas, has been preserved as a historic landmark. Both the church and the university have been relocated to their present sites. UST has just celebrated its 400th anniversary (1611-2011)

Part 2: Destruction of Santo Domingo Church and Plaza Santo Tomas, Intramuros, Manila, Philippines during World War II

2012-02-13T01:42:00.000-08:00

Plaza Santo Tomas. Note monument of founder Fr Miguel Benavides. It now stands at the present site of the university,
From the collection of Prof Alice C Villadolid

Captured Moments of Joy in Photographs

2012-02-12T05:08:00.001-08:00

Abe V Rotor

Moments of joy, moments of sadness;
they come like a moving wheel
every day, all the time in our lives,
on the road of trial and will.

Moments of joy, moments of loneliness,
they come like a rolling cloud
in light and shadow, bright and gray,
fall as rain and clear the shroud.

Moments of joy, moments of suffering,
they come together in ease and strain;
nostalgia the happiest state of mind,
sweet is sweeter after pain. ~

Posing with a baby elephant, Thailand

Wild pigeon (bato-bato), pangaw (Ilk)

Philippine Hawk, Avilon Zoo San Mateo

Taking pride of ones craft.

Apple mangoes, Don Antopnio Subd, Diliman QC

Floating lotus flowers, Thailand

Baby rabbits

Bronze sea lion, Thailand

Prize catch to market - siriw

Fruit cart, Darwin, Australia

Vegetable market, MM

Fish sauce (patis) for sale in a wet market, MM

First to see dragon fruit. Origin: Vietnam

Friendly owl. Avilon Zoo, San Mateo, Rizal

Bunny at home, QC

Garland of Dioscorea, relative of the ubi, at home QC

Listening to the sea with tambuli shell, MM

How superstitious are you?

2012-02-11T06:59:00.000-08:00

Abe V Rotor Old folks attach superstition to a faint full moon as bleak times
ahead, viewed from St Paul Cathedral, Vigan, Ilocos Sur.

Apparition of a headless lady, Virac Catanduanes, 4 o'clock pm, Oct 20, 2011

We don't believe in superstition, of course, because what we believe in needs a basis, or must have an inference to something logical.

But there are superstitious beliefs which, for one reason or another, come true. And they come when least expected. Or things happen first, then we search for a superstitious thing to which we attribute the event.

In short, superstition mystifies us and links our living world with the unknown, with fantasy,and the supernatural. And with our faith.

Do you believe in the following?

1. Forgo your trip when a black cat crosses your path – it is bad luck.

2. Don’t clean the house at night, more so, if you sweep the dirt out of the door. You drive good luck away, (Lalabas ang suwerte.)

3. If you get lost in the wilderness, reverse your shirt, so that you will be able find your way back.

4. Tikbalang (Filipino version of a centaur) comes out when it is raining while the sun is out.

5. Three persons in a picture means the one at the middle will die.

6. A mole (taling) on the sole indicates the person is a wanderer (gala’).

7. A mole located along the path of tears means the person is going to be widowed, or a widower.

8. Bride must never try her bridal gown before the wedding; the ceremony might not push through.

9. Don’t hang on the window; you court bad luck.

10. Itchy palm means you are going to have money.

Rating: 6-10 You are undeniably superstitious
1-5 You are superstitious sometimes or influenced by superstitious people.

Crocodile in the sky, sign of prevalent graft and corruption, 2009

Cave is home of ghosts and spirits, Virac , Catanduanes.
Author with Prof Manrico Masagca (left).

Reviving the Do-it-Yourself Culture

2012-02-10T21:22:00.000-08:00

Reviving the Do-it-Yourself Culture

Home made food products

Musical instrument repair

Practical tool

Dr Abe V Rotor

Picture a man-in-the-house. Name the many roles he plays. Or she plays.

He wears an overall, a baseball cap, a pair of working gloves, and eye protector. A tool harness around his waist hang some basic tools and materials, like screwdriver and pliers. And with today's portable mechanized tools, he can weld, paint, make toys, assemble cabinets, repair and redesign almost anything in the house, garage and garden.

Welcome back to the do-it-yourself culture.

A. Parts and fixtures of the house most often need fixing.
1. Lights
2. Roof
3. Wall
4. Window
5. Gate and doors
6. Wall and table clock
7. Door knob and locks
8. Bookshelves and cabinets
9. Fence
10. Garage
11. Chair, bench and table
12. Playground fixtures
13. Working area
14. Façade, veranda
15. Garden
16. Sidewalk and path walk
17. Doghouse
18. Glass pane, skylight
19. Floor
20. Stairs

B. Major causes of damage, or reasons to renovate
1. Termite and fungus
2. Typhoon
3. Heat and cold
4. Obsolescence
5. Wear and tear
6. Defective make or construction
7. Poor/substandard materials
8. Expanding family/Children have grown up
9. Business/office
10. Retirement home
11. Kids’ home (children and grandchildren)
12. Refurbish, remodel, decorate
13. Accident caused/accident prevention
14. Energy conservation
15. Simplify and organize
16. Healthier environment
17. Global warming, pollution
18. Laws and regulation
19. Taste, aesthetics
20. Modernize

C. Common tools and equipment
1. Handy tools: saw, hammer, chisel, crowbar, cutter, tucker, puncher, file, metal saw
2. Cutting tools: bolo and knives, saw (keyhole, crosscut, miter)
3. Metal shear, scissor, sinsil (concrete chisel), cutters, pliers, cutter pliers
4. Plumbing tools
5. Car and garage tools
6. Kitchen tools
7. Grinder and sharpener
8. Solder, glue gun,
9. Riveter
10. Gardening tools
11. Welding
12. Electrical
13. Electronic tools
14. Mechanized tool: drill, planer, sander
15. Finishing: air compressor and painting
16. Sewing machine
17. Crowbar, spade, rake, spading fork
18. Wheel burrow, portable cart
19. Ladder
20. Measuring tools: meter, tape, plumb bob. try square, lever

Accessory tools and equipment
1. Tool cabinet
2. Working bench
3. Working table
4. Tool bag/box
5. Safety Devices
6. Fire extinguisher
7. First Aid
8. Exhaust fan
9. Organizer

D. Skills and Training
1. Vocational Courses
2. Elementary Industrial Arts
3. Hobby
4. Entrepreneurial
5. Books and catalogs
6. Shows and exhibits
7. Malls and hardware
8. Growing up with tools
9. Learn from the expert
10. Apprenticeship
11. Clubs and associations
12. Modeling (sand table, school project)
13. Lecture-Workshops
14. Self-study and practice
15. Internet

E. Advantages and benefits
1. Wholesome hobby and pastime
2. Teaching children the culture of do-it-yourself
3. Hones talents, creativity
4. Savings
5. Earning and profits
6. Aesthetics and ergonomics
7. Safety and convenience
8. Health and exercise
9. Recycling, repair, restore
10. “Skill is a lifetime, a heritage.”

Any man or woman in the house who can pass the proficiency test of do-it-yourself deserves the titles man-of-all-trades and man-for-all-seasons.

NOTE: Lesson on Paaralang Bayan sa Himpapawid (school-on-air) DZRB 738 KHz AM 8 to 9 pm Monday to Friday [www.pbs.gov.ph]

x x x

Monday with Saint Paul, the Apostle

2012-02-09T23:50:00.000-08:00

Dr Abe V Rotor

One Monday I visited Saint Paul with inquiries I seldom asked before;

Fifteen years I served him, a teacher of this school, keeper of a museum;

Time has changed the world, global is its effect - would St Paul tell me

More of the ways of the world to give life a meaning? So I assume.

"Tell me where Damascus Road is where you heard God speak;

Tell me how you crossed the Mediterranean in a storm and survive;

Tell me how you carried the Word amongst unbelievers and Pharisees;

Tell me how you faced death yet keep alive your faith and noble pride.

"Tell me where have the Gentiles you converted and followers gone;

Tell me how you wrote the scriptures that gave the bible a wider view;

Tell me how man can become a saint and a saint to become man;

Tell me how to reach heaven without striving to be a martyr like you."

The sun rose high, sending reflection of gray clouds on giant glass panes;

The pavement is bare, the marble floor a mirage, yet empty as the sea;

High rise the buildings are - towers and spires, proud symbols of power;

In the deep silence, I heard the same words, "Why do you persecute me." ~

Convergence in Nature - Meditation

2012-02-09T17:38:00.001-08:00

Painting and Verse by Abe V Rotor

Convergence in Nature, (30" x 70") AVR 2012

One may find where land, water and sky meet:
peace and turbulence,
light and darkness,
order and chaos,
love and hate,
joy and sorrow,
hope and despair,
life and death.

Another may find where land, water and heaven meet:

turbulence and peace,

darkness and light
chaos and order,
hate and love,
sorrow and joy,
despair and hope,
death and new life. ~

Painting: Courtesy of Dr Rene and Marilyn Makilan, USA, on the occasion of their visit with Shekinah, and Ronnie Rotor, to the Philippines, 2012.

Four-Seasons-in-One

2012-02-09T15:51:00.001-08:00

by Abe V Rotor

Four-Seasons-in-One, acrylic, AVR 2012

I love the seasons, I want them all at the same time:
spring, summer, autumn, winter - rolled into one;
for I can't wait each coming, or the trouble to find;
one sitting before the canvas and everything's done.

So in my life, seasons crowd in, knowing not which one
comes in the morning or evening, at work or play;
I lost track of Vivaldi's Four Seasons, and the bond
of creation that brings all together to pray.

The artist in me called, there's order in every thing -
the seasons come and go, never growing old;
each with rhyme and rhythm, the meter of living,
renewing hope, keeping faith, humbling the bold.~

Classics - Timelessness is the Essence

2012-02-09T06:31:00.000-08:00

Abe V Rotor

Plato, Greek philosopher and pupil of Socrates,
challenges man with the concept of a perfect society,
in his discourse, "The Republic." Today, anything
that pertains to man's aim for the ideal is associated
with his philosophy, such as Platonic Love.

Confucius, the greatest teacher of the Orient.
His teachings on love and piety, filial respect,
and human dignity continue to guide man and
society to live in peace and harmony.

Venus de Milo, made by an unknown Greek
sculptor, elevates the essence of beauty to the
level of philosophy, keeping beauty alive through
various human experiences, and preserving the
mystery that kindles its flame.

Michelangelo, the greatest artist of the Renaissance,
takes human imagination to a realm where the
temporal and the spiritual worlds are linked in
reverence to an Omnipotent Being through his
immortal paintings and murals (Sistine Chapel) and
sculptures (Pieta, David), among other works.

Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, a respected 18th
century Cambridge professor and writer. Evangeline
or the Tale of Acadie, and Song of Hiawatha,
rank among the world's most loved literary works
depicting a hybrid of classicism and romanticism,
and transcending contemporary values as reflected
in his poem The Arrow and the Song.

Dr. Jose Rizal, national hero of the Philippines,
wrote Noli Me Tangere and El Filibusterismo that
ignited Philippine Revolution that consequently
liberated the country from 400 years of Spanish rule.
Noli and Fili rank with the world's most influential
novels led by War and Peace by Leo Tolstoy, Don
Quijote by Miquel de Cervantes, Uncle Tom's Cabin
by Harriet Stowe, and Les Miserables by Victor Hugo.

Classics never die, timelessness
their essence, like a tempered sword
in war and peace, brings silence
through wisdom in deed and word.

Suggested exercise: Add to these examples, other world's classics,
citing their contribution to the world in their time and ours today .

Floriculture: Flower Arrangement

2012-02-09T06:21:00.001-08:00

Abe V Rotor

Flower arrangement is an art. The Japanese call it Ikebana. Filipinos are among the best floriculturists in the world. You encounter the art in many occasions: parties, graduation, weddings, church offerings, corsage and leis, wakes, or simply arranging flowers for the home. .

There is a flower arrangement for every occasion, but the primordial guide is Nature herself. Just look around in the garden, orchard, along hedges, on the meadow, in the forest. There are 1001 models of flower arrangement - and holistic views that make us realize flower arrangement is just part of the whole aesthetic scenery that we are recreating.

Natural arrangement of flowers of white lily. Note series based on sequence
of maturity of flowers to keep pollinators to visit the flowers regularly.

The flowers of this pond lily are arranged on a common branching stalk.

A typical flower arrangement with a central attraction, top view.

A typical man-heaven-and-earth flower
arrangement for the dining table.

Flower arrangement around a colorful bowl.

Lightning is Nature’s Primordial Invention

2012-02-08T06:28:00.000-08:00

Abe V Rotor

Lightning is Nature's quick-fix agent converting inert atmospheric Nitrogen into soluble Nitrate compounds that fertilize soil and water, and nourish plants, other autotrophs, and saprophytes principally the mushrooms such as these specimens shown in the following photographs.

Shelf mushroom; Auricularia (tainga ng daga)

Dung mushroom

Oyster mushroom; stinkhorn

All over the globe lightning strikes at one point or another

incessantly night and day, in good or bad weather.

The atmosphere and earth meet in deafening thunder

that accompanies a spark of a thousand atomic bombs

enough to light a city for days if captured and stored.

In the process chemistry combines nitrogen with oxygen,

one-to-three in proportion to form nitrates in tons

and tons in a single bolt, becoming negatively charge

and soluble, riding on the rain to descend to earth.

Nitrate the free radical ion joins a positive ion and forms

combinations of compounds that nourish plants and all

all photosynthetic organisms, and the saprophytes, too

- the mushrooms and their kin of Kingdom Mycophyta.

Wonder the hills and mountains turn green soon after

the first rain in May or even only a shower in April;

afterward the whole landscape builds into a realm

of emerald green as the sky sends boundless energy.

Electrical energy transforms into chemical energy

passing from the inorganic to the organic world, thence

through the living world - the food chain and web,

food pyramid, there into the ecosystems and biomes,

finally to the biosphere that make the earth full of life.

Mysterious are nature's ways, the sun's energy

transforming into electrical energy through lightning,

henceforth building proteins, the building blocks

of all living things, great or small, as they grow and die,

and into the next cycle the process is the same -

ad infinitum. ~

Light in the Forest

2012-02-08T02:47:00.000-08:00

Mural by Abe V Rotor

Morning in the Forest Mural, 5' x 10'

Where have all the murals gone?

2012-02-08T01:14:00.001-08:00

Dr Abe V Rotor

Backyard Garden as Ecological Sanctuary

2012-02-08T00:54:00.000-08:00

Paaralang Bayan sa Himpapawid DZRB 738 AM, 8 to 9 Evening Class
Monday to Thursday, Dr. Abe V. Rotor and Ms. Melly Tenorio,

Pangasius fish

Other Topics: Importance of a garden pond. You believe in the Doctrine of Signatures

Our homelot nearly equivalent to a typical subdivision residential lot lies just across the watershed of La Mesa dam, the source of water for the population of Metro Manila.

Everyday birds from the watershed come to our garden. They perch on the trees singing melodious songs for hours. They are a gentle alarm clock and at sunset draw out the tension of the day and put it to rest. For some 25 years now with the children spending their childhood and adolescence, memories come spontaneously alive at nature’s presence. We look for nature, but nature comes to you, too. We can make the backyard a sanctuary of living things. It becomes a corner of Eden so to speak, in the inner eyes of the English poet John Milton, in the soul searching music of Beethoven, and in the quasi-spiritual reverence for life of John Muir and Also Leopold.

What makes an ecological garden? Here are some guidelines.

Let nature do the arranging of the plants – their kinds, growing habits, seasonal occurrence, and niches. This principle must prevail over our plan to make the garden Italian or Japanese in which man dictates the plan of the garden.

The garden serves three important functions.

• Cooling effect. A 10-year old acacia tree for example, has the capacity to provide the cooling power of ten 10Hp air conditioning units. Trees make a huge umbrella that protects us from heat stroke.

• Windbreak. Trees, especially if planted in group or rows, and in combination of other plants, can withstand the strength of strong wind.

• Sound barrier. Foliage serves as acoustic, absorbing echoes, and filtering unwanted sound waves, and resonating the good ones like in an amphitheater.

• Dust filter. Plants eliminate particles in the air with their leaves trapping and moistening them with transpired water, thus sending them back to the soil.

• Radiation filter. Plants serve as buffer against ultraviolet rays as well as cosmic rays. So with other forms of radiation, visible and invisible, that are harmful to health and environment.

• Color filter. Plants act like a giant prism, but unlike the lens, colors are pooled into a common color - green – the coolest of all colors, neutral and soothing to the eyes and other senses.

A garden is not a garden if it does not smell like one. Ilang-ilang exudes sweet scent throughout the year. It is sweetest in early morning and evening, and a soft breeze spreads the scent in the neighborhood. The best scents in the garden come from Eucalyptus, binunga (samat), pandan mabango, sweet basil, roses, rosal, dama de noche, and of course, sampaguita.

One day I found leisure watching a spider span a huge web. It is a giant spider called Haring Gagamba working of a tapestry. I remember the story of the Irish hero, Robert The Bruce, watch a spider making a web. The spider failed in several attempts to construct the primary frame. It gave the downhearted hero the heart to win back the crown.

In the garden, there are unceasing battles between and among living things. . Birds eat on caterpillar, frogs have their fill on flies, dragonflies hover and devour flying gnats, spiders entrap grasshoppers, preying mantis prey on unwary insects. I have observed hantik or green tree ants (Oecepalla smaragdina) build nest in the upper branches of talisay. Their colony is closely knit and their nest is an architectural wonder. The green leaves are sewed together by the workers stroking the larvae to secrete a sticky substance that dries like paper. The larva is actually carried by an adult like a tube of epoxy as other workers hold the leaves to be sewed together. These ants attack as an army that even a caterpillar is subdued in an instant and sooner or later cut into pieces which the ants carry to their nest to feed the colony.

Yet in the same spot ants and termites live together. It is a demonstration on how two different niches work, bounded by biological rules. The ant colony stays above ground to up the foliage, while the termites in an anthill called punso. Yes, the termites – they are an engineering genius. They build their mound at the foot of the big talisay tree – then, when dug out move to another place overnight, and when we think they are no longer there, it is likely that they are virtually sleeping with us inside the house. And true, we discovered a colony of termite in an apparador, and another in a roof beam. It is here that man turns against a destructive organism.

Plants kill other plants to maintain their boundaries. They abort germinating seeds even of their kind that become threat to their existence. Allelopathy is a phenomenon plants harm one another, in order to enhance success in competition for sunlight, nutrients, water and space. Plants secrete chemicals in their roots, stems, and leaves. To illustrate, we have a ten-year old malunggay that is slowly being choked by coconut and binuga tree (Macaranga tenarius). All the cultivars of mayana I planted were lost, due to inter competition, and then they were overrun by carabao grass. Ube (Dioscorea alata) takes advantage with its viny habit virtually leaping out into space, its leaves covering much of the trees and wall, then after rainy season it all disappears leaving but a five-kilo tuber ensconced in the soft earth and mulch.

But wonder what those plants are clinging on the trunk of trees. These are epiphytes, a relationship called commensalisms. The epiphytes benefit from their tree host. They gain foothold and elevation to reach sunlight without harming their host. We have a talisay tree that carries on its trunk a cluster of native orchid that blooms with a dangling inflorescence appearing like giant leis.
Lest a garden is misunderstood as purely aesthetic and ecological. One coconut tree can provide an ample supply of walis tingting, sweets, coconut milk (gata), husk for the orchids, firewood, and buko, but we love this tree of life most whenever birds build their nest on top and unfold a primitive sense of family love and care.

At night bats come and gather the ripe fleshy fruits of talisay (Terminalia catappa), and would accidentally drop a fruit or two hitting the roof of our house, and if we are not aware of the cause, we would attribute it to a prankster – or a spirit who wants to disturb our sleep.

Do you believe in spontaneous generation? Saluyot, amaranth, kamkamote, Portulaca – these and other wild growing vegetables pop out of the ground following the first heavy rains in May, and believe it, after two weeks they are ready for the kitchen. Their succulent leaves and stems are rich in vitamins and minerals. But we do not gather the plants entirely; we simply trim down the leaves leaving the plant to reach maturity. How these wild species survive the dry months is a proof of their sturdiness which guided their successful evolution.

How high can a tree reach? Well, our ilang-ilang grew and grew and grew, and then one day a strong wind decapitated it. Then the upper branches dried up one by one until the tree has but a bunch of low branches. We know that there is always limit to growth, and the very same factors that favored it also created its liabilities. I am reminded of the syndrome of bigness whether it be an animal or tree or business. We call this Dinosaur Syndrome.

The Importance of a Garden Pond

Are you aware that having a pond to complement your garden is beneficial for you and members of your family? This is so because a pond represents an ecosystem. As such it has the basic features of a functioning ecological unit.

The pond is a field laboratory for microbiology. Plankton organisms are revealed under the microscope. In their diversity, a whole new world unfolds- a world man did not know before Anton van Leewenhoek introduced the science of microscopy sometime in the 17th century.
There are monerans and protists, the world’s oldest- yet simplest- organisms. It is a wonder why these organisms did not evolve and develop into complex organisms like the plants and animals we know- and why they are ensconced in a confined environment such as a pond.
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The microcosm of the ocean is the pond; it is like “seeing the world in a grain of sand.” And for the eons of time and generations these organisms have passed through, it is like “holding eternity in the palm of the hand.” Thus the pond is the representation of our biological world, manifesting how little we know of God’s immense wisdom contained in a drop of water that teems with myriads of micro-organisms.
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Anyone who takes time to sit by the pond could lose his thoughts in the larger realm of nature and the countryside. Cattail and umbrella plants rise among the floating water lilies, whose pink to purple flowers break the monotony of the pondscape. But the centerpiece of the pond is a community of white-flowered lotus or purple flowered Nymphaea..

From the deep green water, one may be surprised to see a school of colorful carp and tilapia, stirring at the slightest hint of company and food. Their graceful movement creates gentle waves and soft lapping sounds against the shore line. To an observant eye, small fish like Poecilia and rainbow fish form small schools that inhabit the edges of the pond and its tiny islets and coves formed by aquatic plants and stone. These tiny fish are always mindful about staying out of the path of their large counterpart. Other than small insects that fall into the water, they subsist on the latter’s morsels.

At the bottom of the pond lies the harmless, independent janitor fish known for their role of eating crust of algae and scum. That is why they are important in keeping aquariums and ponds clean. In the process, they convert organic matter into detritus, the pond’s natural fertilizer, and are the source of sediments that accumulate and become a foothold of aquatic plants. Seldom to these helpful creatures rise to the surface, but if you want to see these shy, docile fish, peer into the water on a clear day when the sun is directly above, and you will find them lying prostrate at the bottom, like sunken ship on a sea floor.

The pond relieves tension. When you need to relax, observe the turtles basking in the morning sun, stretching their neck and appendages. Or watch those cooling off on a hot day, their nostrils and carapace protruding out of the water. Nearby, a toad might patiently sit on a leaf pad, sheepishly eyeing an unwary insect for its next meal, its long tongue coiled like spring, ready to strike like lasso.

Bees buzz from flowers to flower, while dragonflies - red, green and brown - hover prettily above the water as they search for a suitable place to lay eggs that will hatch into aquatic nymphs that feed on mosquito wrigglers and Daphnia. Strung on leaves and stalks are spider webs glistening with dewdrops. These resemble strings of diamonds that will soon turn into nearly invisible death traps for the hoppers, mosquitoes and flies that stray into them. Frogs are permanent residents in a small pond, singing at the onset of rain and exchange love calls throughout the breeding season. They remain quiet in summer as they aestivate and wait for the rains to come again.

Kataba or canal fish (Poecillia) thrives without any care, as long as there is water, living on plankton and insects that fall into the pond or attracted by a nearby vigil light. Whenever there is stagnant pools around, I put a pair of these mosquito-eating fish and that solve the possibility of malaria or dengue to occur in our the place. Our pond serves as kataba nursery of sort; we give relatives, friends and students who wish to grow kataba in their own aquarium or pond.

The green water in the pond is a good hunting ground for microscopic flora and fauna. With a microscope on hand I have discovered a lot of planktons, many of which are unfamiliar. The green color is made up of millions of one-celled green algae which constitute the pasture of zooplankton organisms. They are the autotrophs, the base of the food pyramid in a pond ecosystem.

Would a backyard fill in the vacuum created by our wanton destruction of natural resources, the rape of our forests, the draining of swamps, the conversion of mangrove to fisheries? Or the gross negligence in keeping our lakes and rivers full and clean – or at least for having nature to take care of them? I doubt. But the little Eden each one of us make in our backyards would collectively recreate little by little that bigger Paradise we lost, when and to what extent we can only surmise and struggle with will and resolve. It is our little contribution in regaining the Lost Paradise. xxx

Trivia: By examining the physical characteristics of plants we can read how nature intended them to be used. This is not true.

This is a belief called Doctrine of Signatures, which was popular during the Middle Ages. Liverworts (Riccia and Marchantia) which resemble the shape of liver are effective for liver diseases. The shapes of eggplant and avocado suggest fertility and aphrodisiac value. Apple and mango resemble the heart and are therefore good when it comes to matters of love. Kidney beans are good for the kidney, but the truth is that it has high uric acid content. The garlic plant has a hollow stem so that it would be of benefit in afflictions of the windpipe, hence used in all types of respiratory disorders such as cough, colds, catarrh, asthma and bronchial problems.

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. ~

Sweet, Sweet Memories

2012-02-06T16:56:00.000-08:00

Abe V Rotor

Century old mango trees, San Luis, Batangas

Whoever planted these trees I may not know,
yet know his thoughts and dreams;
for the trees carry on long after he is gone,
a world of many realms.

Frolicking in a river, Bohol

Turn back the hands of time I beg,

when the rivers and streams flow,

whisper and shine deep from their bed,

of stones like gems in the glow.

Turn back old age to happy childhood

when there were no airplanes and cities;

when tall trees are enough to behold

the faces of clouds and the deities.

For childhood is the saintly phase of life

though raucous in frolic and in game;

who cares about rules knowing no strife,

that makes grownups sad and ashame? ~

Sled kiddie ride. Bantay, Ilocos Sur

It's a ride to the moon and among the stars,
in air castle and fantasy;
It's a ride through time and into the future,
child to man, man to reality.

Sunken pier, Santo Domingo, Ilocos Sur

Enigma of the sea before us in the sea urchin;
so vast to be seen in a specimen;

enlarging on the contrary what is and had been
that makes knowledge indeed a gem.

Modern Don Quijote before the wind mill. Bangui, Ilocos Norte

Wind mill and sail - prime movers in union:
muscle of living,
wing to freedom;
And man may choose to be a fool with vision:
invent and discover,
travel and conquer;
Or lose himself in the crowd into oblivion.

Anna at the Twin Falls, Pagudpud, Ilocos Norte

Rage, rage, rage,
and I shall be calm.
Be calm and I shall rage.
Rage, rage, rage!

Kid Leo and his kid, at home, circa 1982;
20 years after.

Don't believe in the troll,
instead believe in a lovely kid
growing up with its master,
to test their bond its bid.~

Biggest Bell - Santa Monica, Capiz

2012-02-06T16:52:00.000-08:00

Abe V Rotor

The big antique bell, measures 7 feet in height, 5 feet in diameter, and 10.4 tons in weight. It is surrounded by eight smaller bells that are sounded in coded pattern depending on the church occasion.

Author stands beside the replica of the biggest bell in Southeast Asia and third world's biggest. The original bell hangs atop the Sta Monica church belfry (lower photo). The faithful respond to its call with respect, to as far as eight kilometers away, like their ancestors did for generations. Roxas City, Capiz

Old Santa Monica church's interior garden

Details: engravings, scar of war, hanger, bell's interior and thickness

"Nothing is far from God."

- Saint Monica

Feast Day - August 27th

Patron of Wives and Abuse Victims

Sta. Monica church was built in 1774, it is considered one of the oldest churches in the country and can be found in Panay, Capiz. Declared as a National Landmark by the National Historical Institute in 1997, its architecture is majestic Baroque.

The grand structure of the church is made of coral stone, shaped into Latin cross with one large central altar and four lateral ones. Each lateral altar, stunningly gilded with retablos of hardwood, supports artistically-made polychrome religious statues.

Atop the five-storey belfry of the church hangs the Dakung Ligganay (big bell), which is believed to be the biggest bell in Southeast Asia, and third in the world. The bell was cast using 70 sacks of coins by Don Juan Reina to honor God and the Virgin of Consolacion in 1878. (Mystical Capiz, by Ma Glaiza Lee)

For whom the bell tolls but for thee,

when born to when you shall leave,

and in between silence takes you free

into what life is and what you believe,

yet not being alone in this cruel world,

but finding it sane in Heaven's bid.

Acknowledgment: Very Rev Msgr Benjamin F Advincula, PC

Episcopal Vicar for the Clergy, Archdiocese of Capiz; Santa Monica Parish; and Museo de Santa Monica curator and staff.

Tunnel Windows to Heaven

2012-02-06T16:50:00.000-08:00

Abe V Rotor

Daybreak, I ask what lies beyond the wall, and a whisper

came through, what goes in there.

And the view

I see is the same though,

yet a vine across the window

is calling, hello!

Walls, walls, walls, I complain.

Windows, windows the sun and wind in refrain.

One window is blocked

with the machine of a clock

that had long stopped.

Tic-tac-tic-tac-tic-tac

Here's one bright morning, ah, but another game,

yet a holy name I hear to learn to say, Amen.

I see heaven through a keyhole,

and myself whole;

I wish to reach it, but the key isn't mine

And neither time.

Acknowledgment: Santa Monica church; Rev Msgr Benjamin Advincula

Episcopal Vicar for the Clergy, Archdiocese of Capiz,

and Parish Priest of Santa Monica

Museo de Santa Monica, Roxas City, Capiz

2012-02-06T16:47:00.000-08:00

Abe V Rotor

The museum is housed in a renovated convent beside the old church.

Church of Sta Monica originally built in the 17th century

National Historical Marker. The old church itself is a museum.

Memorabilia

Centuries-old relics and icons

Gasera, oil lamps

Altar made of carved and molded silver plate

Mediogori Mother and Child icon

Blessed Sacrament

Relics and carved wooden table-chest

Original altar piece

St. Augustine

Author pays respect to the dead Christ; sacred garments (above)

Map of the Province of Panay

Sta Monica, tabenacle, halo of gold and silver

German accordion; Microphone, WWII

Acknowledgment: Very Rev Msgr Benjamin F Advincula, PC

Episcopal Vicar for the Clergy, Archdiocese of Capiz; Santa Monica Parish; and Museo de Santa Monica curator and staff; Rev Msgr Vicente F Kilata, Rev Fr Vic Bendico, Fr Anthony Bautista, Fr Mark Granflor, Fr Nonoy Abalajon, Fr Noel Abalajon, Fr Robert Alba, Bro Ray Bofill et al

Bannawag - the International Ilokano Magazine

2012-02-06T05:43:00.000-08:00

Abe V Rotor
Managing Editor Cles B Rambaud and the author at the editorial
office of Bannawag, Manila Bulletin Bldg., Intramuros, Manila

Bannawag (Iloko word meaning "dawn") is a Philippine weekly magazine published in the Philippines by Liwayway Publications Inc. It contains serialized novels/comics, short stories, poetry, essays, news features, entertainment news and articles, among others, that are written in Ilokano, a language common in the northern regions of the Philippines.

Bannawag has been acknowledged as one foundation of the existence of contemporary Iloko literature. It is through the Bannawag that every Ilokano writer has proved his mettle by publishing his first Iloko short story, poetry, or essay, and thereafter his succeeding works, in its pages. The magazine is also instrumental in the establishment of GUMIL Filipina, the umbrella organization of Ilokano writers in the Philippines and in other countries.

History

Bannawag magazine was conceived in 1934 when Magdaleno A Abaya of Candon, Ilocos Sur, who was then a member of the editorial staff of the Graphic magazine, an English weekly published by the Roces Publications. Don Ramos Roces, the owner-publisher of Graphic magazine and other vernacular magazines which included Liwayway, Bisaya, and Hiligaynon, scoffed at the idea when Abaya presented a proposal to put a magazine for Ilocanos.

But Abaya did not lose hope until Don Ramos gave his consent-with condition that the first issues were only for a try-out, that after one or two months without improvement in the sales, it will be stopped. Abaya was elated and hurried to find willing companions to help him run the magazine. In the end, he was able to persuade Mauro Peña to be the magazine's assistant and news editor, Francisco Fuentecilla of Zambales as assistant and news editor,; and Benjamin Gray, also of Candon, Ilocos Sur, as proofreader. Thus, Bannawag or "Dawn," or the Iloko equivalent of Liwayway, was born.

Bannawag's first issue on November 3, 1934 had a production run of 10,000 copies with a selling price of PHP 0.10 per copy. The magazine was an instant success beyond the belief of Don Ramon, and he allowed the continued publication of the magazine.

During the Second World War, the combined U.S. and Philippine Commonwealth ground troops to fought by the Japanese Imperial forces led by General Tomoyuki Yamashita around the fall the battles started the liberation in Northern Luzon in 1945.

When Roces Publications was sold to Brig. Hans M Menzi in 1966, the name was changed to Liwayway Publishing, Inc. Thirty nine years later, in 2005, the publication of Bannawag was transferred to Manila Bulletin Publishing Corporation. Clesencio B Rambaud, Prudencio Gar, Padios and Juan Al, Asuncion were tasked to man Bannawag. However, Padios migrated to Canada in October 2006 and Ariel S Tabag of Sta Teresita, Cagayan was recruited to fill in the vacancy.

New Bannawag

Bannawag underwent significant metamorphosis when its publication when taken over by the Manila Bulletin, from its content, color, quality of paper used, page layout, and other aspects to keep up with the needs of the times. These changes made the magazine more prestigious in its tasks in bringing entertainment, information, and inspiration to millions of readers in the language spoken by hardly Ilocanos and in depicting the different aspects of the Ilocano character.

Recently, it was picked up by the Department of Education as one of the important references of the educational system in Ilocano-speaking areas in the country.

Present

Bannawag has gone a long way from its 10-centavo cost for each edition in the 1930s and is moving vigorously to live up the past as an important part of today and tomorrow's dream of the Ilocanos. Bannawag celebrated its Diamond Anniversary on November 3, 2009. ~

Acknowledgment: Wikipedia, Bannawag Magazine editorial staff

Paliiwem No Kasano nga Agasan ti Ayup ti Bagina (Observe the self-healing power of animals) - a lesson in Ilocano

2012-02-06T05:13:00.000-08:00

Abe V Rotor
Reprint from Okay ka Apong: Dagiti Tawid nga Sirib ken Adal, ni Dr Abe V Rotor, Bannawag Magazine

Ammo ti aso nga agasan iti bagina. Dilpatanna iti sugatna, ket aginana a nabayag iti maysa a nalamiis a lugar. Saan a mangmangan (fasting) inggana't makaungar.

Esteria da apong nga adda dagiti ayup a maagasanda ti bagbagida.

• Dalusan dagiti aso, ugsa, baka, ken kapadada ti sugatda babaen ti panangkunnot wenno panangdilpadilpatda iti sugatda. Addaan iti natural nga antibiotioko ti katayda. Nakadidillaw met nga ipainitda dagiti sugatda. Adda met sumagmamano nga ayup kas iti baot’ talon a mangtapkal iti sugatda iti tutot ti kayo (resin/gum).

• Naipakdawyan kadagiti manok ken billit ti mangamloy kadagiti dutdotda tapno maurnos, tapno maduktalanda no adda ‘parasite’ (ulmog, kuton, kdp.) ken dadduma pay a rugit.

• Regular ti panagdigos dagiti animal ken tumatayab. Agduduma ketdi ti panagdigosda— danum, init (panagpainit, panagpabilag), pitak (nuang ken baboy a netib), ken uray tapok.

• No masugatan ti orangutan wenno gorilia, padasenna a pagsardengen ti panagdarana babaen dagiti imana. Ken kabaelanna ti agsapul iti umisu a bulbulong a pangtapalna.

• Adda met dagiti oso nga agdigos iti napudot a sulfur.

• Ti lobo a tinukkaw ti karasaen, mangtilmon iti snakeroot.

• Bayat ti panagtutudo, pakanen ti atap a pabo dagiti annakna kadagiti bulbulong dagiti pagrekado a mulmula.

• Ti aggurigor nga animal, mangbirok iti napariir, nalinong a disso iti asideg ti dan-aw ket agyan dita a siuulimek, sagpaminsan a mangan ken naynay ti yiinumna.

• Kasapulan dagiti babbai a billit ti apog (lime) iti panangbukelda iti ukis ti itlogda. Gagangay laeng ngarud no makakitatayo kadagiti taraken a billit nga agtuktuktok iti cuttlebone (tulang ti laki).

• No agsakit wenno nasugatan, gagangay nga usaren dagiti atap nga ayup ti duogan a remedio ti nakaparsuaan: agas, angin, ken naan-anay a panaginana. Naamiris daytoy ti tao ket natignay wenno nainspirar iti panangipakatna iti arte ti natural a panagagas (natural healing). Agingga iti agdama, adu a mangngagas (kaaduanna dagiti erbolario) ti mangar-aramat iti wagas dagiti ayup iti panangagasda iti bagbagida.

Toad (Bufo marinus) - maturog ti uneg ti ringgat wenno kueba bayat ti panagtikag wenno panaglamiis ti tiempo

Nakakitakayon iti burtong iti bulong? Dayta a burtong ti awaganda apong iti kanser dagiti mula.
Masansan a kapten daytoy a kanser ti bulong ti santol, gawed, dapdap, ken dadduma pay. Agpapada dagitoy a kapten ti nasao a kanser iti uray ania a bangir ti bulong. Iti uneg dagitoy a tumor, sibibiag dagiti nagbabassit a ‘parasite’. Agbiag ken umaduda. Agingga a dagiti “annakda”, umakarda iti sabsabali pay a bulong, ken uray dagiti sanga. Umadu nga umadu agingga nga agregregen dagiti bulong ti kayo, ket no awanen dagiti bulong daytoy, agbisin agingga a matay.

Daytoy ti makagapu iti panagpukaw dagiti dapdap iti adu a paset ti pagilian.
Adda met ketdi usar dagiti burtong. Mabalin a maaramid a diubos ti burtong a partuat ti

Homopterans iti sumagmamano a kita ti kaktus.
Ngem kaaduanna a makadidigra kadagiti mula ta bumassit ti maibunga wenno produksion dagitoy, wenno patayenna pay ti mismo a mula.

Pagsayaatanna, maisupadi iti pammati ti kaaduan, saan a makaapektar daytoy burtong dagiti mula kadagiti animal ken tao.—O

Happy Faces, Pleasant Views

2012-02-02T17:56:00.000-08:00

Abe V Rotor 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.

Death of Privacy - Watch out you are being watched!

2012-02-02T16:45:00.000-08:00

Dr. Abe V. Rotor and Ms. Melly Tenorio
DZRB 738 AM Paaralang Bayan sa Himpapawid
Monday to Friday, 9 to 10 Evening Class

Transmission tower - eye in the sky

“Someone is watching your every move – at the bank, on the Internet, even walking down the street. Our right to be left alone has disappeared, bit by bit, in Little Brotherly steps.” Say Time magazine in a special issue on The Death of Privacy. We are headed for an even wired unregulated, over intrusive privacy-deprived planet. Privacy is dying.

Our letters are no longer private on e-mail dispatch. ID are also for time record, entry pass, emergencies, discounts. We carry USP (removable disc) which contains a library of information indistinguishable whether for private or public consumption. And who cares, if you too, get access to the same unsolicited materials?

Don’t forget to lock up your personal computer; even then, be sure no one knows your PIN (personal identification number). One moment every it contains is copied without your knowing it. For hackers it worst; you can’t keep your own files anymore.

Go to the mall, drop at the Post Office, pick up grocery, visit an ITM. Waiting for a ride, speeding on a highway, practicing in a gym, promenading? Anything you do, even in your rented bedroom, someone is looking at you through the electronic eye, a n-generation of the conventional camera, complete with sounds, and special effects, versatility likened to Hubs telescope or Skylab’s.

In fact your organs are monitored on TV during diagnosis, more so during operation. I saw my kidney bombarded by laser. “Oh, you are awake,” my doctor was surprised. “See, the stone is gone, the fragments are being flushed out.” It’s me I was seeing. I don’t know if I passed out afterward that.

Cell phone. Yes, it’s a magnificent invention. You can be at any place at anytime. And with modern hybrids, you send and receive information to whomever without full control. That is why clever people make a dummy of them and hide their reality. This is your Second Person, your avatar, your clone, but you are soon to be discovered, and little by little your second person becomes your first person – you.

Good if it’s the real you as you would like put your best foot forward, so to speak. Somebody did some anatomical experiment, putting your face on another body, doing a thing you don’t like in a place your find impossible to be, attired differently, if at all. And your dignity? “Oh, it’s not me,” you deny, but it’s your face people see. And this monster runs on the wire and soon you find yourself an international figure (disfigure). You are lost.

Melly asked me if it’s all right to have a digital ID system. Why not, who does not have one nowadays? Even a kinder child has one around the neck; college students enter the school premises by swiping their ID to show their face and number on the monitor, otherwise you are trapped and questioned. Remember terrorists are also in white.

But the worst and ultimate loss of privacy is in having a Personal Gene Map. Since HGP (Human Genome Project was launched and published, there will come a time each of us will be wearing a mini disc that contains the map of our chromosomes and their corresponding genes, and each gene carrying a specific trait from the color of your hair to your temperament. In short, genetic cartography reveals all our traits which doctor, insurance companies, prospective employers and spouses are, and likely, to know. “Will the map also show loyalty, infidelity?” asked Melly. I was speechless. I was nodding my head in disbelief. Why not? Hasn’t holism been re-defined by science and technology. Now what chromosome or chromosomes, and what gene or genes can we view the so-called inner self – conscience? God, where is the soul to be found?

How are you spied on?

Bank machines – Every time you use an automated teller; the bank records the time, date and location of your transaction.

Prescription drugs – If you use your company health insurance to purchase drugs, your employer may have access to the details.

Browsing on the web – Many sites tag visitors with magic cookies that record what you’re looking at and when you have been surfing.

Cellular telephone – Your calls can be intercepted and your access numbers cribbed by eavesdroppers with police scanners.

Credit cards – Everything you charge is in a database that police, among others, can look at.

Registering to Vote – Voter registration records are publis and online – if computerized. They typically list your address and birth date.

Making a phone call – The phone company does not need a court order to note the number you’re calling – or who is calling you.

Supermarket scanners – Many grocery stores let you register for discount coupons that are used to track what you purchase.

Sweepstakes – In the US these are bonanzas for marketers. Every time you enter one, you add an electronic brushstroke to your digital portrait.

Satellites – Commercial satellites are coming online that are eagle-eyed enough to spot you – and maybe a companion – in a hot tub.

Electronic tools – In many places, drivers can pay tolls electronically with passes that tip off your whereabouts.

Surveillance cameras – They’re in banks, federal office buildings, 7-elevens, even houses of worship; New Yorkers are on camera up to 20 times a day. How about us in Metro Manila?

Mail-order transactions – Many companies, including mail-order houses and publishers, sell lists of their customers. Why do you think you’re getting those catalogs?

Sending e-mail – In offices, E-mail is considered part of your work. Your employer is allowed is allowed to read it – and many bosses do.

1. Protect Yourself
2. Just say no to telemarketers. Say, “I don’t take phone solicitations.”
3. Consider removing your name from many direct-mail and telemarketing lists.
4. Pay cash whenever possible.
5. Be wary about buying mail order.
6. Give your Social Security number only when required by law.
7. Think twice before filling warranty cards or entering sweepstakes.
8. Be careful when using “free blood pressure clinics.”
9. Avoid leaving footprints on the Net.
10. Surf the Web anonymously.

If you can make it, disarm yourself of any electronic device on a weekend, and stay home. Take a vacation away from electronic devices. It could be the best way of restoring a part of your privacy. Set on mailbox, if not switch off, your cell phone to enjoy your weekend or vacation.

Assignment: List down in what ways, and other means, you can preserve or restore your privacy. ~

2012-01-30T06:03:00.001-08:00

Convergence

2012-01-30T06:03:00.000-08:00

Painting and Poem by Abe V Rotor

Convergence in acrylic (65" x 32"), AVR 2012

Assignment: Write a verse for this painting.

Mount Makiling - Ideal for Nature Study

2012-01-29T20:32:00.001-08:00

Abe V Rotor

2012 Signs - Prelude to the Mayan Prophesy

2012-01-29T03:54:00.000-08:00

Abe V Rotor

Hanging cross on a topless belfry. Once the
most massive standing Spanish tower in the
Philippines, it lost its crown to earthquake
in the sixties. Bacarra, Ilocos Norte 2009

Defiant smoke belching bus plies along Commonwealth
Avenue QC, a blatant disregard to law, and indifference to
public order and decency. This bus, among thousands of
smoke belching vehicles, is supposed to have passed gas
emission test prescribed by LTO (Land Transportation Office)

Neo colonial building modeled after Greco-Roman
architecture of the Renaissance and introduced by
the Americans during the Commonwealth era gives
way to modernization, Paco, Metro Manila

Razed by fire, this building remained an empty shell for a
long time as people everyday pass by. Intramuros, Manila

"Time overtakes all,
structures crumble,
dreams dim;
acceptance its kindness;
forgetting its end."

Vigan, Ilocos Sur

Drought survivor, field kangkong, gropes over parched
earth caused by El Niño phenomenon. Photo by Nilo
Manalunsong, National Food Authority

Receding shoreline is caused by rising sea level and
more frequent tidal waves brought about by global
warming. Morong, Rizal

Death to all living things, a reminder of Armageddon.
A sand model, St Paul University Museum QC

Dead barnacles bleached and subsequently dislodged from
their rocky foothold as a result of increasing temperature
of sea water mainly attributed to global warming.
Sto. Domingo, Ilocos Sur

City ablaze (Ho Chi Minh, then Saigon capital of Vietnam)
is depicted in this mural painting. Photo 2006

Good Friday sunset. Gray and red sunset is sign of inclement
weather - and true to the prediction of old folks, it ushered the
start of the current El Niño plaguing the country and other parts
of the world. Photo taken at San Vicente Ilocos Sur, April 2009

Sugar mill chimney emits tremendous amount
of heat and carbon dioxide, as well as other
pollutants, an eerie night scene, Calatagan,
Batangas 2007

This dead kamachili tree provided shade and
edible fruits for some fifty years or so until a
barangay road was built beside it necessitating
pruning of its limbs that subsequently led to
its demise. Sagpat, Bantay, Ilocos Sur 2010

Disturbing Street Scenes

2012-01-28T21:47:00.000-08:00

Abe V Rotor

Here are photos taken with a palm size camera from the front seat of a passenger car. Write down the caption of each photo as you would imagine yourself to be the photographer.
Share your thoughts and feelings with others. Come up with advocacy to make our world a better place to live in.

(1)
(2)(3)
(4)
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(7)
(8)
(10)
(11)(12)
(13)
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(17)
(18)
(19)(20)
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(22)(23)(24)
(25)
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(27)

Amihan - Siberian High

2012-01-28T21:46:00.000-08:00

Painting and Verse by Abe V Rotor

Midas touches all – from the grains to the sun sinking,
And the grains become beads of jewels, heavy, gleaming,
In October Amihan where children with kites meet,
Bringing all life together in retreat.

Music is the rustling of the grains, and the singing
Of the harvesters and flocks of maya birds flying,
While haystacks, like giant mushrooms, grow big and tall,
Living symbols of Good Life for all.

Of all the seasons, Amihan creates the greatest view,
When the colors of the rainbow come sweetly low.
Vivaldi, Rembrandt and Amorsolo – they were touched-
Their hearts, their lives, their art. ~

Spirit of the Tree

2012-01-28T04:54:00.000-08:00

Abe V Rotor

Call the kapre, dwende, tikbalang
to scare or just for fun;
the goddess Maria Makiling,
and Helios, the sun.
I imagine the world without them -
without them around:

Children wouldn't be home before dark;
and dogs at night wouldn't bark?

Why sunflowers always face the sun,
and go to sleep when gone;

trespassers, beware, take the road instead,
unless you hold the labyrinth's thread;

over the hills and valleys thunder rolls
when angry Thor growls,

and mushrooms spontaneously appear
breaking the ground like spear;

phosphorescence fascinates us,
even after the fire has turned to ash;

look up, they’re but one - fireflies and stars,
fireflies are the missing stars;

holiest the altar of nature unspoiled,
where logging was foiled,

where the kapre lives in big trees,
and scares with a sudden breeze;

paddies sigh, bamboos creak and whisper,
unseen - creatures or not – slither.

The world is alive with tales and legends;
untrue yet true, for they are a twin;
and if you pass by a tree, stop and listen
to the spirit that throbs within.~

Leaning Pisa Tree

2012-01-27T19:01:00.001-08:00

Abe V Rotor
The Leaning Fire Tree

Fire tree (Delonix regia,) Family Caesalpinaceae.

At first glance the road and tree are tilting toward each other - which only shows the extent of the "Living Pisa" phenomenon. The tree is found near the junction of Regalado and Fairview avenue going to SM Fairview in Quezon City.

Actually there are thousands of leaning trees in Metro Manila that are pruned to keep them from touching power lines and communication cables running overhead. These are actually the few survivors, but sooner or later they too, will give in to the consequences of deprivation and the law of gravity. ~

The Leaning Fire Tree

Fire tree, burn and speak with rage,
before your flowers become your wreath;
burn the whole day through to its edge,
but never die with the sunset. ~

Forces of Nature Models

2012-01-27T15:56:00.000-08:00

Abe V Rotor and Melly C Tenorio
Paaralang Bayan sa Himpapawid
738 DZRB AM 8-9 evening Mon to Fri
Forces of Nature Models, murals by AVR, 2010.

Model A: Cyclic Force of Nature

Model B: Non-cyclic Force of Nature

Nature is alive. She doesn’t sleep. She can only rest like fallowing, aestivation, hibernation. She is as gentle as breeze and rough like a storm at sea. She is discreet like alpha radiation, silent as a dormant volcano, suddenly waking up.

So with living things. They reproduce, form populations, reach a climax level and establish a niche. Populations interact, they compete. There is diversity. Balance of Nature is built this way and is always dynamic.

There are two general models to illustrate the forces of nature: cyclic and the non-cyclic, as shown in these paintings.

Model A: Cyclic Force of Nature
Model B: Non-cyclic Force of Nature

Every thing in the universe is governed by these two models. So on Planet Earth, in the living and non-living world, in our lives, the march of seasons, in the life cycle of organisms - they follow the concentric model, characterized by repetition as if it is a plantilla .

The second model is best shown by the relationship of matter and energy, by Einstein's formula of E=mc2. It is clearly illustrated in the duality of metabolism – anabolism (constructive) and catabolism (destructive), photosynthesis and respiration, respectively. The classical application of the second model in the transformation of energy from one form to another.

Distinct as these models may appear, the forces of nature are not fixed. There is gradual or sudden transformation from one model to another, from A to B and vice versa. This how is Nature’s healing power can be explained.

For example a typhoon disrupts the balance of an ecosystem, such as a forest (A to B). Trees are felled by strong wind, epiphytes and lianas as brought down by the death of their host trees, nesting birds are driven off. So with myriads of tenants in the forest. All these disruptions represent A.

As the swath of destruction across the forest heals – saplings take over the space of the fallen trees through the years, little by little the former residents return. In fact there are new ones that emerge. Food chains are restored. And food chains form interrelationships to form food webs and food pyramids. We call this process homeostasis (B to A). Then the forest once more becomes a balanced ecosystem (A).

The typhoon that caused such destruction follows also a pattern.

A typhoon by the way starts as a low pressure area. This is caused by differential heating of the atmosphere and surface of the earth by the sun, and in effect creates wind. Cold air is heavier than warm air, so that warm air rises and a low pressure is formed. Now the cold air moves in toward the low pressure area (Boyle’s Law), in the process develops into wind. Because of the nature of the rotation of the earth the wind also rotates, counterclockwise above the equator, and clockwise in the southern hemisphere. As the wind gains momentum it becomes into a cyclone or typhoon. Or hurricane in the South Pacific. Or a tornado. All these represent Model A.

What happens when the typhoon hits land? It slows down, dissipates by transferring its energy on structures of the land, on settlements and farms and forests. (A to B)

Nature is always alive. She doesn’t sleep. She can only rest like fallowing, aestivation, hibernation. She is as gentle as the breeze and rough like a storm at sea. She is discreet like mild radiation or bold like volcanic eruption.

But even volcanic eruption (B) is necessary. Lava fertilizes the surroundings, varies the topography of the land, in fact creates islands and atolls, which become symbols of peace and beauty of Nature (A). ~

Exercise: Here is a list of phenomena and events. Classify each one according to the two models and explain.

Hurricane Katrina
Jogging
Higad season
Migration of birds and animals
Oil spill at Gulp of Mexico
Earthquake in Haiti
The Great Recession
Birth and death of stars
Rise and fall of the Roman Empire
Pasig River before and now
Cloning
Speciation
Desertification
H1N1 pandemic 2009
Adolescence and senility
Chernobyl incident and aftermath
Muro-ami
Liposuction
Atomic bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki
Cancer

This lesson is recommended as a research paper or project in school. It allows student to choose the specific topic, and to work either individually or as a team. ~

Enigmatic Aphid - Master of Survival

2012-01-27T05:34:00.000-08:00

Abe V Rotor

A colony of aphids (Aphis gossypii) on cabbage

By sheer number, you're statistically stable,
ruled by the multiplication table.

Ensconced in your host's leaves and flower,
you're safe from predator and sprayer.

Generations, one after another, under a roof,
your offspring in all stages the proof.

Winged, the males fly to visit other colonies
to share and bring in new genes.

Parasitic by habit, yet you spare your host
from untimely demise at all cost.

But when food supply threatens your colony,
your young is forced to mature early

By the mysterious process of paedogenesis;
and sexless parthenogenesis.

And by symbiosis with the fierce red ant,
food you give, protection its grant.

No other creature I know can you be compared,
your kind I think, will be spared

The morning after, from the Armageddon,
when the earth is barren and alone.

And life after people, you are likely a survivor,
all because Nature is in your favor . ~

Talisay: Tree of Death and Rebirth

2012-01-26T06:02:00.000-08:00

Photos and Verse by Abe V Rotor
Talisay or Umbrella Tree (Terminalia catappa) loses its entire crown during the amihan (cold month). The cooler the wind coming from Siberia, the redder the leaves become before falling off the tree.

I wait for a gust of wind
to shake you up and make you
a skeleton in the blue sky;
your nakedness is also mine
in the passage of time.

One by one your noble death
is proclaimed, each leaf a page,
falling in peace and dignity;
dying to tell the world the story
of the greatest mystery. ~

DORMANCY: Hibernation and Aestivation - Survival Adaptations of Organisms

2012-01-25T16:36:00.000-08:00

Abe V Rotor

Ant colony on the move to safe ground, sensing the coming of the rainy season.

The lichen is a classical example in the art of dormancy. The lichen shown here belongs to the foliose type. Lichens are made up of algae and a fungi living in symbiosis, which explains their superb ability to withstand extreme environmental conditions - except pollution.

Frangipani or kalachuchi remains leafless in summer, then

bursts with flowers. It regains its foliage come rainy season.

"Sleep, so called, is a thing which makes man weep,
And yet a third of life is passed in sleep."
- Lord Byron, Don Juan

Who is not fascinated by the first heavy rain in May, the start of the monsoon season or habagat? The fields come alive, transformed from scorched landscape into vast greenery. What brings about this sudden transformation?

Rainwater breaks the dormancy of seeds lying in the ground. It wakes up the sleeping little plant in a poem, The Little Plant, we learned in the elementary.

In the heart of a seed,
Buried deep so deep.
A tiny plant,
Lay fast asleep.
"Wake," said the sunshine,
"And creep to the light."
"Wake," said the voice,
Of the raindrops bright.
The little plant heard
And it rose to see,
What the wonderful,
Outside world might be.

Seeds of many annual plants like saluyot (Corchorus olitorius) and wild Amaranthus wake up to the rain. The same stimulus touches dormant buds like a magic wand, and in a short time become new and fresh crowns of trees that had been in deciduous state. Tubers and corms come alive simultaneously with tillers and stolons and take their first peep above ground. Bulbs send out their first shoots. There is rejuvenation everywhere.

Thunder and lightning accompany rain and send old folks to hunt for mushrooms the day after. There is scientific explanation to this, although much of the mystery remains. Lightning directly fixes atmospheric nitrogen into nitrate (NO3), which being soluble, is brought down by rain. It is then absorbed by plants, protists - and fungi to which mushrooms belong. How is dormancy of fungi explained? Is it the same as in green plants?

Basically, it is. While plants photosynthesize their food in the presence of sunlight, fungi on the other hand are saprophytic, and draw energy from decomposition of organic matter. But the conditions that break dormancy is the same – the supply of nitrates and other nutrients, sufficient water, suitable foothold and substrate, and favorable temperature. The mycelia of fungi which appear as white, threadlike mass may remain dormant, then springs to life, rapidly spreading all over its growing medium until it is time to produce fruiting bodies, which are the mushrooms.

Dormancy of Seeds

Seeds are masters of the art of dormancy – the temporary stoppage of life processes. Nature has precisely made dormancy as a means of adaptation, and adaptation is a means of survival. Adaptation is the key to fitness defined in Charles Darwin’s law of natural selection. The failure of seeds to grow immediately after maturity – even though conditions of the environment may be favorable – is generally an advantage of many plants.

This phenomenon is demonstrated by plants which are highly sensitive to photoperiodism. These are classified as short-day and long-day species and varieties. For example, the traditional rice variety, wagwag, produces grains only during the short-day period, usually in the last quarter. If it is planted late and does not have chance to mature within the period, it will remain in its vegetable stage and will flower only in October in the following year.

Many desert plants exhibit superb resistance to punishing heat and dryness. They produce seeds that lay dormant in the hot desert soil for as long as there is no rain. Then, when rain finally comes, these seeds sprout immediately, grow and mature as fast as water in the soil is lost. Before the desert reverts to its arid condition, the plants have completed their life cycle, and their seeds once more lie dormant waiting as long as they could for the next unpredictable rain.

Many seeds of cereals and other annual remain dormant for a few days to some weeks under natural condition. However at the International Rice Research Institute (IRRI) in Los Baños, the seeds of about 100,000 rice cultivars kept in the institute’s Germplasm Bank can remain viable for 20 years. It is necessary to germinate the seeds before they lose viability to replace the gene collection.

A colony of dormant Drynaria fern clings on an acacia tree.

This epiphyte, relative of the mistletoe, takes advantage over its host in its deciduous state.

Most farm crop seeds are probably dead after 25 years, even under favorable storage conditions. The alleged germination of seeds after prolonged storage in ancient tombs is known to be a myth. I had a chance to examine some authentic seeds recovered from a pharaoh’s tomb at the Egyptian Museum in Cairo. The seeds were highly carbonized and have completely lost their viability. There are however, seeds of some plants in the wild that retain their vitality for 50 years or more. Dry arctic lupine seeds found buried in lemming burrows under 10 to 20 feet of frozen soil in the Yukon Territory in Canada, were able to germinate. Their assumed age is older than that of the Great Pyramid of Giza.

Vernalization – Overwintering of Crops

Local yam or singkamas sends out shoots after a long
dormancy, which coincides with the rainy season.

Dandelion, other than being dehiscent, is disseminated by
wind. The seed remains dormant in its new home as it
wait for the habagat season.

The term vernalization was first introduced by my professor in Plant Physiology in the late fifties. The technology had just began to revolutionize farming in countries where winter is long and harsh. Formerly in these areas, it was almost impossible to grow wheat and other crops because of the very short growing season. Even if planting is done in early spring, by the time the grains start to mature, frost has already set in.

The Russians found out that by pre-germinating wheat seeds and keeping them safe and healthy during the long winter, the young seedlings will resume growth immediately as the snow thaws. Much time is saved for the crop to grow, while its life cycle is significantly shortened. Before the winter sets in, the crop is already harvested.

Thousands of hectares have been placed under cultivation following this procedure. Seeds of wheat, oats and barley are planted in late autumn. They germinate and remain dormant under snow for the whole winter (overwintering), then resume growth in spring and harvested at the end of the short summer. Researches on the application of vernalization have successfully made other crops adapted to this kind of environment. Former wastelands in Siberia and Northern Canada are now productive farmlands.

Breaking the Dormancy of Wildlife Species

Aestivating snails, crustaceans and frogs ensconced in the bottom of rice fields are similarly liberated by the monsoon rains. Together with hito and dalag which aestivate in mud like the lungfish, they stir with the first contact with rain water, wiggling out to freedom in the flooded fields where they resume active life – growing, mating and reproducing – and migrating while the monsoon persists and whole fields are one contiguous lake.

These are biological feats that feed man’s fantasy to live long and postpone death.
1. The African lungfish buries in mud up to two feet deep in order to escape extreme drought and heat in the desert. It curls into a ball and seals its chamber with its own mucus secretion and there it aestivates for as long as four years in the absence of rain.

2. Garter snakes survive the long Canadian winter while remaining in burrows, or in extreme cases, encrust in ice. They are liberated only when the ice thaws in spring, and soon resume their normal activities. They grow, mate and reproduce before they hibernate again come next winter.

3. Snakes and other reptiles easily go for long periods without food. Snakes have been kept alive without food for almost two years. A python in captivity has been observed to go without food for a period of 13 months. Frogs can fast for 16 months and fishes for 20 months; land tortoise for a year and salamander for one and one-half years.

4. The most popular mammals that hibernate is the bear. Sustained by large amounts of stored fat, it sleeps in the entire winter in its den. Its normal body temperature remains the same in spite of its heartbeat reduced from 40 to 10 times per minute. Beware, a sleeping bear may be provoked at the slightest disturbance.

5. Bats in hibernation hang in caves, eat nothing, their hearts feebly beating and their breathing scarcely imperceptible. Through collective body heat the colony survives extreme cold and long winter.

Fasting – Mechanism for Survival

After its fill, an iguana can fast for several days.

Hairy caterpillar prepares for final molting, enters pupal stage, and emerges into moth.

Fasting is a means of meeting exigencies of life. It is one of nature’s best methods of dealing with physiological problems. Take the hibernating bear, the aestivating crocodile, the sick elephant, the wounded dog – these fast in order to meet the problems before them. Fasting is indeed a very useful means of adaptation.

But how long can animals abstain from food? Let us look into these examples.

1. There were dogs that remained alive for 38 days without food. The longest survival record is 117 days.

2. Rats may survive after 5 to 6 days. Guinea pigs may last for 7 to 8 days without food, while rabbits can live for 15 days under strict fasting.

3. Spiders undergo incredible fasting, spinning webs daily from substances generated by their bodies. Spiders have been observed to exist without food for 17 months.

4. Unicellular organisms such as amoebae and paramecia can exist without food from 4 to 24 days. As a result they undergo diminution in size.

5. The larvae of a beetle, Trogoderma tarsale, that infest cereals can live for as long as five years without food.

6. The condor, like all other vultures, is capable of fasting for days. It gorges itself however, when it finds food.

7. Scorpions are known to have starved for 368 days.

8. A freshwater fish, Amia calva, can fast for 20 months.

9. Ticks can exist in an active state for as long as four years without eating anything.

10. A boa constrictor may remain inactive for months after a full meal. So with the anaconda in the Amazon jungle.

Deeper mystery shrouds our knowledge of Dormancy

It is practice to irradiate potato and onion before they are stored in order to retard sprouting. If radiation does not kill the embryo how does it induce dormancy?

Locusts may suddenly group and coalesce into a swarm. Like birds and other animals, migration is an adaptive mechanism to escape extreme conditions of the environment. Are these organisms not equipped with the gene for dormancy?

Deciduousness (complete shedding of leaves) of certain trees like the narra, occurs periodically but not necessarily jibed with the dormancy period. In fact some trees are even more luxuriant when other plants are dormant. We have little knowledge about the biological clock that dictates dormancy among different species of organisms.

Episodes of the Red Tide phenomenon caused by dinoflagellates, such as Pyrodinium, Peridinium, and Gonyaulax, are unpredictable. What predispose these organisms to bloom? How do they stay dormant in between seasons of occurrence?

This leads us to the epidemic cycles of certain human diseases. How do influenza viruses stay “alive” during off-season? What made H1N1 virus (swine flu) spread into pandemic in so short a time? When will its virulence subside?

How does HIV remain passive in an HIV positive patient? Bubonic plague devastated medieval Europe in three major waves killing one-third of the population. How do we explain alternate virulence and dormancy of the causal organism?

What really induce flowering? How does potassium nitrate induce flowering of mango during off-season? Why is it that old folk cut notches on the trunk of trees that are “lazy” to bloom? Then for whatever reason, the wounded trees come alive with flowers and fruits.

As I was writing this article, some birds came flying by and perched on a nearby talisay tree singing melodious songs that herald a new season - amihan. The Siberian winds have arrived. In the Northern hemisphere it is time for hibernation, in the South hemisphere it is aestivation. For many birds and animals, it is time for migration.

Except for humans, all living things take heed of Nature’s call. ~

Countless organisms take refuge at the bottom of this drought
stricken pond, ready to resurface upon the arrival of rain.

2012-01-25T04:05:00.000-08:00

Claude Monet's The Water Lilies Mural

2012-01-24T17:08:00.000-08:00

Abe V Rotor

Claude Monet's masterpiece (1923); closeup. Monet continued to paint in
old age even with failing eyesight. Nymphaea waterlilies became his favorite
subject which he repeatedly painted in the same impressionistic style, for
which he is regarded one of the pioneers of impressionism as a movement
that revolutionized art toward the end of the 18th century.

Failing eyesight like failing heart
is keener, sturdier
in the remaining hour, at sunset,
ever eager, fiercer.

Failing eyesight like coming home
down the road or river,
finds meaning to life in a masterpiece,
that lives forever. ~

Claude Monet worked on twelve large canvas, The Water Lilies while his eyesight was already failing. Monet donated them to France, installed in an architectural space designed specifically for them at the museum of the Orangerie in Paris.

Beware of the Higad! (Tussock Moth Caterpillar)

2012-01-24T15:02:00.000-08:00

Abe V Rotor

We call it samrid in Ilocano, higad in Tagalog and Pilipino. It is perhaps the most avoided insect next to the putakti or paper wasp. Unlike the latter, the injury one gets by contact with this spiny caterpillars is far reaching - it can spread to other parts of the body. Thus the rule is: Never rub - not even touch, the affected area. If feasible, light a candle, train the drops on the embedded spines, allow to solidify, then lift off. In this way the spines are pulled out without much damage. Apply vinegar to neutralize the alkaline chemical substance. Taking a bath without vinegar treatment will only spread the minute Neptune spear. There are people who are extremely allergic to higad that they need immediate medical treatment with antihistamine drug.

Tussock moth caterpillars are passive and tend to group together. Before they enter pupal stage they descend from their host tree, hide in crevices, and other suitable places where they will later emerge as moths.

Tussock moth caterpillars in three stages (instars), pupa (left, scantily covered with cocoon thread), molted skin (lower left), and frass or waste (right).

Snowy tussock moth mimic the color and pattern of its host tree, and growing lichens.

Tussock moth - a master of camouflage. It can adjust to the color and pattern of its environment.

First aid: Train melted candle over embedded bristles, then carefully peel off. Apply vinegar on the affected area to dissolve remaining bristles. Do not rub.

NOTE: Skin castings of higad can inflict considerable injury. Eliminate castings by burning or burying, just as caterpillars are disposed off. Higad may inflict the same injury on pets. Regular smudging (smoke emitted by burning dead leaves) can effectively reduced higad population. Household insecticide spray can help. Community control using chemicals needs expert's assistance.

Taming the Dragon Fruit

2012-01-24T05:25:00.000-08:00

Return of Ipil-Ipil Shows Nature’s Healing Process

2012-01-23T12:35:00.000-08:00

Psylla, a minute Homopteran, destroyed

ipil-ipil plantations all over the country.

Abe V Rotor

Ipil-ipil (Leucaena glauca), the miracle tree in the sixties and seventies has provided Filipinos much hope for cheap wood, fuel, paper, board, feeds, compost, and in reclaiming our denuded forests and wastelands.

The Department of Agriculture came up with a “litany” on the miracles about this tree. Ipil-ipil as a new source of dendrothermal power; ipil-pil for high-protein component feed for poultry, piggery and livestock; ipil-ipil as construction material, scaffolding, pole, furniture, toothpick, matchstick – to name a few.

Ipil-ipil can be used in the manufacture of organic fertilizer to reduce our dependence on imported chemical fertilizer. It is also used for rip-rapping, terracing and strip cropping to save our lands from erosion and desertification. It is an excellent source of firewood and charcoal for many homes.

Ipil-Ipil “Gold Rush”

The ipil-ipil fever spread throughout the country that no home lot or farm was virtually without this leguminous tree. Plantations sprouted. As a biologist I know that there are nitrogen-fixing bacteria (Rhizobia) which reside in its roots, adding to the fertility of the soil. With the tree continuously shedding off its leaves, there is free mulch with which to conserve water and control weeds choking the plants intercropped with the tree. Along levees four to six rows of ipil-ipil could effectively serve as windbreak, buffering strong winds and filtering the sand and dust that affect sensitive field and garden crops.

As Forest Wood Substitute

Because the wood is white, soft, and uniform grained, many entrepreneurs tried making toys and decorations such as fans, spin tops, picture frames, knife handles out of it. Since it is easy and fast to grow, it helps in conserving forest trees. This means we can spare harvesting our forests’ reserve. We can keep our narra, almaciga, apitong, and mahogany that are considered rare. Ipil-ipil is also a good substitute of acacia, a favorite of woodcarvers.

Because of its success as a plantation crop in Hawaii and Peru, we did not only import its technology, we introduced its varieties into the country, in favor of our own native variety which is small. In fact one would consider it a mere shrub which happens to be growing in places where no other plants grow, usually on scrubby and inclined slopes, wasteland where only the sturdy talahib and bamboo grow. The early uses for native ipil-ipil are firewood and bean poles.

On closer look the secret of success of the native variety is its tap root system. Few trees can grow on rock with their penetrating deep through cracks in order to reach deep-seated water. In the process, they pry off the rock itself helping in weathering it. And if it is adobe rock, the locked up nutrients are released as soil formation progresses. One drawback of the native variety however, is its high mimosin content.

Mimosin as Pesticide

“Don’t allow the goats to browse too much on ipil-ipil,” my father used to remind me on the farm. I would then secure the rope that restrains the animals feeding in the open. Years later I found out that the warning is based on the fact that mimosin causes poor growth (bansot) and falling of hairs in animals. I believe that early balding is one of the effects of drinking coffee clandestinely mixed with ipil-ipil seeds.

Initial experiments show that mimosin can be made into pesticide against weeds, insects and pathogenic fungi. It has been also observed that it repels insects such as flies and mosquitoes.

Re-vegetation of Corrigidor Island with Ipil-ipil

Our native ipil-ipil is perhaps the first plant used for rehabilitating wastelands in the countryside. Immediately after the war, sacks of native ipil-ipil seeds were air dropped on Corrigidor island at the onset of the rainy season. The project facilitated the re-vegetation of the war-torn island, and prevented it from further destruction, this time from the ravages of erosion.

What Wiped Out Ipil-ipil?

With the introduction of Hawaiian and Peruvian ipil-ipil varieties, the expected performance level in terms of fast growth, adaptation and yield were achieved. This stimulus caused universal acceptance of the new crop, creating a new field in agriculture: dendrothermal (or firewood) farming.

But the boom was short lived. Nobody knew that the foreign varieties also carried with them a deadly pest – the leafhopper of the genus Psylla of the Family Psyllidae, Order Homoptera, the same group of insects that are the scourge of many agricultural crops, such as the tungro leafhopper, aphids, scale insects and mealybug.

Cause of Widespread Infestation

In biology, natural enemies control a pest. If the enemies are not around, the pest multiplies rapidly. Despite quarantine procedures, the Peruvian and Hawaiian varieties carried the Psylla insect from their port of origin. Unlike in their native countries abroad, this pest while here, lost all natural predators. Thus the insect began to multiply to epidemic proportions. Thousands of trees, and plantations, succumbed to the pest.

This is how the pest attacks. First, it establishes a foothold on the young leaves and shoots, where it builds a colony. Being highly prolific the colony can explode into thousands of insects inside of a few weeks, nurtured in all stages of development by the virtually endless supply of nutrients from the growing tree.

The final blow comes when the insect drains the tree sap dry, stopping the growth of healthy shoots to replace the dying ones. Interestingly the bigger the tree is the more it is prone to attack and eventual starvation.

Homopterans are among the most adaptable of all insects. They are very small, reproduce rapidly and can adopt through seasons through alternate tree hosts. Having studied their unusual reproductive development, I have found that when stressed for food or due to a harsh environment, they can shorten their life cycle to accelerate reproduction. Under extreme conditions they either lay eggs prematurely or directly bear young. Sometimes nymphs can reproduce. Biologists call this phenomenon paedogenesis.

Abandonment of Ipil-ipil Projects

In the late 1970s many farms of ipil-ipil were laid waste by the insect. Owners cut down the trees prematurely. Tree, after tree, was felled not by the ax but by the ravages of the pest. But our own native ipil-ipil stood healthy, a proof of genetic resistance of the indigenous variety.

Poecillia or Kataba - Nature's biological agent against mosquitoes

2012-01-22T16:20:00.000-08:00

By Abe V Rotor

This fish is also called by other names like tora-tora in Marilao, and talundi in Bocaue and San Miguel. It is relative of the molly and guppy, which are favorite aquarium pets.

Kataba lives in the wild. It is abundant on the Pasig River, its tributaries up to Laguna Bay. Because it frequents polluted esteros and canals, it is also called canal fish. It is omnivorous, feeding on algae (lumot), decomposing matter, but prefers aquatic organisms. It is so voracious that it can eat nearly the equivalence of its body weight, its belly distended for which it got its name bubuntis or bubundat. It preys on kiti-kiti (mosquito wrigglers), and other aquatic insects and plankton organisms, thus serving as valuable biological agent in checking malaria and dengue which are transmitted by mosquitoes.

Dr. Grace M. Cruz of Bulacan State University studied the larvivorous characteristics of kataba, known as Poecillia latipinna, in a dissertation she defended for a Ph.D. degree at the UST Graduate School in 1998 and found out that six kinds of insects comprise its regular food along ther Marilao River in Bulacan. Other than mosquito wrigglers it feeds on leafhoppers (Nepothettix apicales), aphids (Aphis gossypii and A maydis), gamu-gamu or midges and red ants (Solenopsis geminata), a finding which confirms kataba is a farmer’s friend.

On the other hand, kataba is a voracious predator of other aquatic organisms, which include eggs and fry of valuable fish species, nymphs of dragonflies and damselflies which are themselves predators of kiti-kiti. There are few studies about this resilient fish and we do not even know if they are of any commercial value as human food.

Aquarium shops sell kataba to feed aruana and other predatory fish pets. Kataba is fished from rivers and lakes - and esteros, for this purpose, but the demand has greatly declined because the hobby of keeping aquarium fish is no longer popular.

One way to get rid of mosquitoes is to introduce kataba in stagnant water and waterlogged areas. It is Nature's biological agent against mosquitoes and mosquito-borne diseases. Kataba makes a good project in biology, particularly on the following aspects:

Life cycle
Feeding range
Salinity resistance
Pollution resistance
Pollution control
Species diversity
Food chain study in the ecosystem
Breeding experiments

x x x

Haring Gagamba

2012-01-21T19:50:00.001-08:00

Abe V Rotor

Requiem to Manta

2012-01-20T19:51:00.000-08:00

Slaughter of a Manta Ray in Batangas

Goodbye Manta, I wish to say with respect,
but I will not;
I would only deceive the world and myself,
if you depart.

Goodbye Manta, I wish to say to others too,
but I will not;
for you do not deserve this dreadful fate -
a bloody bath.

Goodbye Manta, I wish the world to go on,
but I will not;
the chain of all creatures on earth must stay,
and we are a part. ~

Childhood: Reflection of Time Past

2012-01-20T16:04:00.000-08:00

Painting and Verse Abe V Rotor

It is on pristine still water
On the face of a wide blue sky,
Climbing on trees and rocks up high
That we see ourselves in the hands of time;

Through the mist we see children
Of many years back with Mark Twain's
Huckleberry Finn and company
On a meandering river to the sea.

Who is fishing there? Ahoy!
Only the tingling chime answers;
The childhood in us throbs, throbs
With the sweet music of time past. ~

The Violin - Therapeutic Effects of Violin and Nature

2012-01-20T04:58:00.000-08:00

Dr Abe V Rotor

Violin and Nature is an experimental approach to music

Music must be elevated from the level of entertainment and expression of skills to one that brings the listener to a state of catharsis, relieving him of the stresses and tensions of daily living. Music therapy is now recognized as part of alternative medicine. There are musical compositions that bring about the so-called Mozart Effect, named after Amadeus Mozart whose compositions are acclaimed by scientists to be the most therapeutic of all musical compositions, even among his contemporaries in the classical and romantic schools.

This article is the result of a research conducted by the author with his class at the UST Graduate School as respondents to the hypothesis that the combination of Violin and Nature sounds has therapeutic effects to the listener. And if so, how? What aspects of our body physiology, mind, psyche, and spirit are affected? In what ways, and how do we measure such effects?

Cover of tape, later copied into CD. Shorter versions are available:
Violin and Birds, Violin and Waves

Can auditory art be developed by converting word to music, and re-create the sound of nature to accompany it? The idea is to find a compatible blend of science - the prosaic and formal, with humanities - the entertaining, cultural, and the sounds of nature, definitely a rare experience that takes place in the inner vision of the mind. Violin and Nature is a CD recording or 32 extemporaneous popular and semi-classical compositions played on the violin by the author with accompaniment of birds, insects, wind, waterfall and running stream.

People say, “ Relaks lang” or “just do it” as part of daily conversation. Either it is taken as advice or compliment, the message is clear: life today is growing tenser. “ Take it easy” has a reassuring note that everybody must learn to live in a stressful world.

Both the poor and rich are subject to different forms of stress, so with the city and village dweller. Ironically, stress does not spare growing affluence. In fact, it persists invariably throughout life, virtually from womb to tomb.

The idea of dealing with tension or stress is how one is able to reduce it effectively so as to enjoy life and get rid of its complications from headaches to various psychosomatic symptoms- and eventual health problems, if it is not checked on time.

One proposal is the use of therapeutic effects of music and nature, thus the rationale of this experiment that employs the combined soothing sound of the violin, and the harmony of nature.

Music is well known to reduce tension. Pipe-in music increases work efficiency in corporate offices, takes out boredom in otherwise monotonous assignments, and fosters proper attitude and disposition, when correctly applied. In fact, scientists have established the biological basis of music by being able to increase the production efficiency in poultry and livestock with the use of background music. The key is the reduction of stress in the animal. The same result has yet to be established in plants.

A stressful life builds tension in the body. Headache, wakefulness, palpitation, indigestion, trembling and many other symptoms, which wear away the life force, accompany tension. Tired nerves need rest and quiet, as nature needs time to recuperate her exhausted energies.

What is tension? It is the effort that is manifested in the shortening of muscle fibers. Physiologists compare muscle tension with “neuromuscular relaxation” to differentiate popular interpretation of relaxation as amusement, recreation, or hobbies. To be relaxed is the direct physiology opposite of being excited or disturbed.

Neurosis and psychoneurosis are at the same time physiological disturbance, for they are forms of tension disorders. Therefore, the key to treatment lies in relaxation.

Who are victims of tension? Everybody is a candidate. These are models of tensed individuals: the “burnt out” housewife, the tagasalo in the family, the gifted child, the dominant lola, the authoritative patriarch. These persons themselves are not only victims of tension; they spread tension among people around them.

Multitudes long for a better life, but they lack courage and resolution to break away from the power of habit. On the other hand, many escape from the harsh realities of life by taking alcohol and drugs.

Hypothesis

The whole idea of relaxation is in disciplining the body to budget life’s energies, and to immerse oneself to relaxing moods. Music and nature are a great inexhaustible source. Plato and Confucius looked at music as a department of ethics. They saw the correspondence between character of man and music. Great music, they believed, is in harmony with the universe, restoring order to the physical world. Aristotle on the other hand, the greatest naturalist of the ancient world supported the platonic view, which through the Renaissance to the present dominate the concept of great composition. Great music has always been associated with God’s creation.

Nature on the other hand, produces calming effects to the nerve. Sightseeing, picnic and camping are a good break to prosaic city life. Different from ordinary amusements in the park or theater, the countryside is one arena of peace and quiet. Features on TV and print media provide but an alternative scenario. Today “canned” Nature is being introduced in many forms such as traveling planetarium, CD-ROM Nature Series, Ecology Village, and the like, to illustrate the growing concern of people to experience the positive effects of Nature in an urban setting characterized by a stressful modern life.

This experiment is based on the premise that the combined effects of music and Nature help reduce tension in daily living, particularly among working students in the city.

Conceptual Framework

A- Tension tends to dominate the body to relax, resulting in tension build-up in the muscles;
B- Music (violin solos) and Nature’s sounds( birds, running stream etc.) make a composition which provides a rare listening experience in varying intensity; and
C- The experience enhances relaxation, reduces tension and its physiologic effects in the individual.

Methodology

The Violin and Nature recorded in compact disc (CD) was then presented for evaluation to students in Research Methodology at the UST Graduate School on two aspects, namely, the content of the tape and the perception of the respondents. Physiologic response was determined by measuring the pulse rate before and after listening to eight sample compositions from the tape for thirty minutes.

These are as follows:

1. Serenade by Toselli (semi- classical)
2. Meditation, from the Thais by Massenet (classical)
3. Lara’s Theme (sound track of the movie, Dr. Zhivago)
4. Beyond the Sunset (ballad)
5. Paper Roses (popular)
6. A Certain Smile (popular)
7. Fascination (popular dance music)
8. Home on the Range (country song)

Respondents Profile

This is the profile of the 42 respondents, which made up one class in research methodology. They are predominantly female students (81%), employed (86%), with ages from 21 to 29 years old (76%).

Content Analysis

The respondents counted eight tunes or pieces, of which 5 are familiar to them. They identified three non-living sounds (running stream, wind, and waterfall, aside from the violin), and two living sounds (mainly birds).

Physiologic Response

The average pulse rates before and after listening to the tape are 79.47 and 73.29 per minute, respectively, or a difference of 6.18. Statistically, the difference is significant, thus confirming the relaxing effects to the respondents after listening to the CD.

Perception

The ten criteria used in rating the perception of the respondents are ranked as follows, adopting the Likert Scale. Note: A scale of 1 to 5 was used, where 1 is very poor, 2 poor, 3 fair, 4 good, and 5 very good.

Criteria Rating Rank

1. One has the feeling of being
transported to a Nature/Wildlife scene. 4.48 1

2. Listening to the tape creates an aura
of peace and serenity. 4.39 2

3. The composition is soothing to hear,
Has calming effect on the nerves. 4.24 3

4. The composition creates a meditative
mood. 3.95 4

5. It brings reminiscence to the
listener of a past experience. 3.64 5

6. It helps one in trying to
forget his problems. 3.59 6

7. One has the felling of being
transported heavenward, to Cloud 9. 3.55 7

8. There is tendency to sleep while
listening to the composition. 3.52 8

9. It brings about a nostalgic feeling. 3.19 9

10. The composition makes one
sad and melancholic. 2.55 10

Analysis and Interpretation

The means the first three criteria fall between good and very good, while the others, except the 10th, are between fair and good. This finding supports the positive relaxing effects of Violin and Nature.

Conclusion and Recommendation

Listening to Violin and Nature slows down pulse rate significantly, thus reducing tension, and brings the listener closer to a state of relaxation. The effects are measured as based on ten criteria. Topping the scores which are classified Very Good are:

1. One has the feeling of being transported to a Nature /Wildlife Scene;
2. Listening to the tape creates an aura of peace and serenity; and
3. The composition is soothing to hear, and has calming effect on the nerves.

There are six other parameters that support the hypothesis that the CD is relaxing. This is different from its effect of bringing nostalgia, sadness and melancholy that received the lowest scores and rankings.

However, there is need to improve the quality of the compositions, and their recording. It is also recommended that similar evaluation be conducted on other age groups and people of different walks of life who are similarly subject to stressful life and environment.

Spirit of Music

The violin lifts the spirit high,
as the keys strike, in cadence, fly
like birds above and passing by,
while we humans laugh and cry.

I love insects - 12 reasons

2012-01-19T06:21:00.000-08:00

Stinkbug (Nezara viridula)

Dr Abe V Rotor

1. I love insects for their honey, the sweetest sugar in the world, elixir, energy-packed, aphrodisiac, therapeutic, the culinary and confectionery arts it makes;

2. I love insects for their silk no human fabric can equal - cool in summer, warm in winter, velvety to the touch, flowing and free, friendly to the wind and sun, lovely in the night, royal on the throne, smooth to the skin, hypoallergenic, dynamic to fashion and casual wear;

3. I love insects for their shellac, the best varnish that lasts for years, unequaled by synthetic substitutes; their wax, the best lubricant and natural polish that makes the dancing floor alive and schoolrooms happy.

4. I love insects for the resin they produce with certain plants which is used in worships, to bring the faithful to their knees, similarly to calm down fowls on their roost, drive vermin or keep them at bay, pacify and make peace with the unseen spirits;

5. I love insects for the amber, transparent rock originally from resin, which forever entrapped fossils of insects and other organisms, complete with their genes and attendant evidences of natural history, enabling us to read the past, turning back the hands of time in visual imagery;

Long horned grasshopper or katydid (Phaneroptera furcifera) - Nature's violinist (fiddler)

6. I love insects for their crimson dye produced by certain scale insects that made the robes of kings and emperors, and only they were privileged to wear; likewise for their phosphorescence like the wing scales of butterflies that make the most beautiful and expensive paint for cars today;

7. I love insects for their medicinal substances they produce - antibiotics from fly maggot and soldier ants, cantharidin from blister beetle, formic acid for weak heart, bee sting for rheumatism;

8. I love insects as food, high in protein and minerals, elixir and stimulant, not only in times of famine but as exotic food in class restaurants, and on occasions that bring closer bonding among members of communities and cultures;

9. I love insects for all the fruits and vegetables, the multiplication of plants, geographically and seasonally, through their being the world's greatest pollinators; and in effect make the ecosystems wholesome, complete and alive;

10. I love insects for disposing garbage, of bringing back to nature organic compounds into elemental forms ready to be used again by the succeeding generations of living things.

11. I love insects for play, and for lessons in life - how they jump and fly, carry tremendous load which I wish I could, how they practice frugality, patience, fraternity, and how they circle a candle one lonely night and singed into its flame that inspires heroism and martyrdom;

12. I love insects for whatever nature designed them to be, their role in health and sickness, , sorrow and joy, ugliness and beauty, deprivation and abundance, even in life and death, for I have learned that without insects, we humans - so with many other organisms - would not be here on earth.~

Walking Stick

2012-01-19T06:08:00.000-08:00

Earthworm, the Secret of Green Thumb

2012-01-19T05:55:00.000-08:00

Giant Earthworm, and earthworm castings, UST campus Manila

Abe V Rotor

A lazy farmer I’m, lazy is the word,

When every one is busy in this world.

Among them a degenerate annelid,

That does nothing all day but dig.

In the night gleans the lawn of waste

And grinds it into organic paste.

That nourishes all that lives around

And me always on the run.

With no time to farm, yet a farmer;

I’m Rip Van Winkle’s brother.

For I rely on the lightning and rain

That make the field green and golden.

Seasons to fallow the fields in summer

Then wake them up from slumber.

The bees that make flowers into fruits,

The Rhizobium feeding the roots.

The yeast that makes the finest brew

The rainbow’s promise in its view.

The sun the source of light and life

That unburdens a farmer’s strife.

And the earthworm, my farmhand

Takes over below the ground.

A lazy farmer I’m, lazy is the word,

When every one is busy in this world.

And if my friends call me Green Thumb,

It’s the earthworm, true and dumb.

Art of the Caterpillar

2012-01-19T02:36:00.001-08:00

Abe V Rotor

Skeleton of a samat leaf

Caterpillar, when you are gone
two things come to mind:
the butterfly you have become,
and the damage you have done
and left behind.

Art, art, whatever way defined,
the subject on the wall,
or dripping on the floor,
art, art you aren't hard to find
after all. ~

Orchid in Pastel

2012-01-18T14:57:00.000-08:00

Drawing by Anna Rotor, 16

Abe V Rotor

How innocent, how pure the flower
in spring and summer is far beyond;
how innocent, how pure the artist;
together they're in a Garden bound.

What greater joy in communion with nature
than the stillness of mind and heart;
when cares and worries of the world end,
while grownups live in strife and hurt.

So live well and be happy while you may,
while the flower in the sun still shine;
but pastel colors fade and so with age,
so does the Garden lose its prime. ~

Despicable Termite

2012-01-18T14:56:00.003-08:00

Abe V Rotor and Melly C Tenorio
Paaralang Bayan sa Himpapawid
738 DZRB AM, 8-9 evening class, Mon to Fri

Termites scamper from their disturbed nest (punso). Can you identify the workers from the soldiers? Mt Makiling Botanical Garden, UPLB, Laguna

Queen termite and brood. (From the Internet)

Find out from these questions why termites are among the most despised creatures.

Describe how termites "bring down the house."
Why don't we see termites in the open? Where do they live?
Describe their colony. What is the caste system?
How do termites eat wood? How do they lignin and cellulose?
Do termites attack dead wood only? How about living trees? Industrial materials?
Why do termites swarm? When is the usual swarming time?Does swarming signify anything about climate? Season?
How long do termites live? How about the queen? King? How long does an anthill or punso remain active?
What are the ways to control termites at home? Forests? Warehouse?
Where does the termite belong in the animal kingdom? How old is it evolutionarily?
What is the role of termites in the ecosystem? Would the world be any better without termites? ~

A Test on Allergy - Fact or Myth?

2012-01-18T14:56:00.001-08:00

Abe V Rotor and Melly C Tenorio
Paaralang Bayan sa Himpapawid
738 DZRB AM 8-9 evening class, Mon to Fri

"Very few pet owners are allergic to the animals they love." AVR

Allergy to green mussel or tahong is common
specially during Rede Tide. Allergy may be
mistaken for symptoms of Red Tide poisoning.

Don't smell the flowers, you may be allergic to pollen.
More so if the flowers have been sprayed with insecticide,
a common practice in flower farms.

Pollen grains, 50x magnification. Note germinating
pollen grains, a process pollen tube extends to reach
the ovule and effect fertilization. The pollen tube is
the culprit to pollen allergy.

Here are some cases often referred to doctors regarding allergy. Just answer fact or myth to each of the following cases.

1. Children who grow up on the farm are at much lower risk to allergy than children in the city.

2. Infants on the farm have fewer allergies than those who grow up in sterile environments.

3. Children who grow up with a cat in the house are less likely to develop allergies or asthma.

4. Very few pet owners are allergic to the animals they love.

5. Children who have been breastfed are less likely to have allergies.

6. Milk, soy, wheat, egg, peanut, fish and meat comprise the most common food allergies.

7. Most reactions to food are not allergic in nature, but rather intolerance, that is, there is no allergic antibody involved.

8. Babies exposed late to cereal grains have higher risk to cereal allergy, especially wheat.

9. Regular use of “foreign” materials (e.g. nail polish remover, contact lens, metals) can eventually cause sensitivity and reaction to the products.

10. Allergy can induce strong and unwelcome mental and emotional reactions, such as altered perception or inappropriate changes of mood.

Part of paper presented before the *Dr. Arturo B. Rotor Memorial Lecture, 11th Biennial Convention of the Philippine Society of Allergy, Asthma and Immunology, Sofitel Philippine Plaza Hotel, Roxas Blvd, Pasay City. Published in Ad Veritatem, graduate School Research Journal, University of

Are You Allergic? A Quiz (Yes or No)

2012-01-18T14:49:00.000-08:00

Dr Abe V Rotor

Natural resistance to allergy, as well as a host of ailments,
is acquired early in life on the farm. There are more
allergy cases in the city than on the countryside.

There are people who are allergic to bangbansit (Lantana camara).

I invite you to take this test to find out if you are allergic to certain things and how allergic you are. This test is diagnostic and will help you find out what's troubling you - and your loved ones and friends. It would be useful when consulting your family doctor.

Simply add up the number of points that apply to each question to which you answer YES.
1. Do you have hay fever symptoms such as sneezing, watery nasal drainage, and nasal itchiness? (4 pts)
2. Do you have chronic nasal congestion, postnasal drip, or both? (3 pts)
3. Do you have sinus problems – frequent “colds” or headaches? (2 pts)
4. Do your eyes itch, water, get red, or swell? (4 pts)
5. Do you have asthma (wheezing), a tight chest, or a chronic cough? (1 pt)
6. Do you have skin problems such as eczema, hives, or itching? (2 pts)
7. Do you have indigestion, bloating, diarrhea, or constipation? (1 pt)
8. Do you have chronic fatigue or tiredness? (4 pts)
9. Are your symptoms seasonal only – or worse seasonally? (4 pts)
10. Do your symptoms change when you go indoors or outdoors? (3 pts)
11. Are your symptoms worse in parks or grassy areas? (4 pts)
12. Are your symptoms worse in the bedroom, after going to bed, or in the morning when you get up? (2pts)
13.Are your symptoms worse when you come into contact with dust when vacuuming or cleaning around thick carpeting, heavy drapes, and so on? (4 pts)
14. Are your symptoms worse around animals? (2 pts)
15. Do you have any blood relatives with allergies: one or both parents, brothers or sisters, or children? (6 pts)

Alimasag. Crabs are among the common allergenic foods.

SCORES (Are you allergic?)
If you scored less than 7, it’s unlikely you have allergies.
If you scored between 8 and 12, it’s possible you have allergies.
If you scored between 13 to 30, it’s probable you have allergies.
If you scored more than 31, it’s very likely you have allergies.

ALLERGY - The Silent Pandemic

2012-01-18T05:25:00.000-08:00

Allergy from butterflies and flowers

Food allergy.

Dr Abe V Rotor

Our body reacts to substances it can’t tolerate, such as pollen and dust. These environmental antigens or allergens are normally harmless, but the immune system of certain persons views them as harmful. There are many types of allergies, such as skin and food allergies, and many different types of allergic reactions, which can range from skin rash to vomiting and diarrhea.

Evolutionarily our immune system is adapted to combat pathogens – viruses, bacteria, fungi – but modern living and modern medicine have greatly eliminated much of these threats on one hand, and rendered our immune system idle on the other. The immune system isn’t challenged in the same way. Instead of developing to target real threats, such as bacteria, the immune system may dysfunction and begins to trigger allergies.

In fact it has become maverick that it attacks substances, including those secreted by our body, so that by attacking non-harmful substances, it creates more harm, and even death. Thus the hygiene hypothesis explains why there are much more allergy cases in affluent societies than in marginal societies. A case in point is that West Germany where people lived with high standard of living were suffering allergies much, much more than their counterparts living a simple life style in East Germany.

Allergies are a worldwide problem. They are often overlooked by doctors and patients and can lead to serious health problems. It means also needless suffering. Allergies disturbs sleep, adversely affect active life and good disposition. Kids and adults alike are more likely to develop asthma, sinus and ear infections, especially if their allergies go untreated.

Mechanics of Allergy
Here is an example. People who develop allergic rhinitis have an excess of a certain class of antibodies, called IgE, which makes them unusually sensitive to these otherwise harmless substances. All the symptoms of allergic rhinitis are really part of the immune response.
So what really happens in an allergic person? Medically it is explained this way.

“Following the body's first exposure to the allergen, the white blood cells produce antibodies, specifically IgE antibodies, that prepare the immune system for the next encounter with that same allergen. This first exposure to pollen will not produce any outward allergic symptoms, but inside, the IgE antibodies attach themselves to mast cells. Mast cells are cells that can be found in the respiratory system, gastrointestinal tract, and skin.

During the second and subsequent exposures to pollen, this allergen will combine with the IgE antibody and release chemicals, such as histamine, in the mast cells, thus producing the allergy symptoms of a runny nose, watery eyes, and sneezing.” ~

Anaphylaxis - Fatal Allergy

2012-01-18T05:13:00.000-08:00

Reference: Dr R Ansorge R and Dr E Metcalf et al

Anaphylaxis can strike within seconds or minutes of exposure to an allergen. Or it may sneak up slowly, with symptoms delayed up to 2 hours from the time of exposure, Initial symptoms may even disappear, then return full-force within 4 to 12 hours.
••It’s a terrifying feeling, you may become flushed, and your skin may become quite itchy and red. The frightening thing is, you begin to feel you’re having difficulty taking a full breathe, that you are suffocating. As your blood pressure drops, you feel dizzy and sweaty and become pale. You body is not kidding. Anaphylaxis can kill by suffocation.

Anaphylaxis – systemic reaction, during which exposure to an allergen triggers an allergic response throughout the body rather than just near the site.

1. It doesn’t take much to trigger this body-wide allergic response – a single peanut or tiny paper wasp can set off the reaction.

2. During an anaphylactic attack, a rush of chemicals – histamines, leukotrienes, and prostaglandins – is released in an attempt by the body to defend itself. These chemicals are produced by basophiles found in the blood, mast cells found throughout the body, including eyes, noise skin and gastrointestinal tract.

3. Anaphylaxis may affect many organs, such as the throat, lungs, blood vessels, and intestines. Histamine and other chemicals released by the body may produce widespread itching, welts, and hives on your skin.

4. Cause blood vessels to become leaky, resulting in a drop in blood pressure, swelling of the skin, and fluid in your lungs.

5. Bring circulation of your blood and oxygen to a near-standstill as your blood pressure drops.

6. Make it difficult or impossible to breathe as your tongue and throat swell up and your lungs go into asthmatic spasms.

7. Trigger nausea, vomiting, and diarrhea as your gastrointestinal system goes haywire.

Anaphylaxis is an allergic reaction that can trigger reactions all over your body, affecting the various systems in the body

1. Cardiovascular: Light-headedness, feeling faint, loss of consciousness (syncope), heart palpitations.

2. Upper respiratory : nasal congestion, sneezing, difficulty swallowing

3. Lower airway obstruction: coughing, wheezing

4. Skin: welts or hives, swelling of the skin (particularly on face and around lips and tongue), flushing

5. Gastrointestinal: bloating, nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, cramps
6. Elsewhere: metallic taste in the mouth, cramping of the uterus during pregnancy, sudden need to urinate.

Facts about Anaphylaxis
90% of adults didn’t even tell their doctors about their anaphylaxis reactions.

Chances are: If you are have had anaphylaxis in the past, the odds are you will have it again. (from 380 anaphylaxis patients)
25% had just 1 episode
18% had 2 episodes
57 % had 3 or more
Keep a diary of your allergens and avoid them. Weed out your refrigerator, cupboard, drawers. Allergens may appear in an unsuspecting product.

Causes of Anaphylaxis

Food – peanut, shellfish, crustaceans,
Insects – fire ant, honeybee, bugs Drugs – more than ½ million serious allergic reaction occur in hospitals (Penicillin)
Latex – condoms, balloons, gloves
Exercise – eating 3-4 hrs before exercising increases risk
Narcotics
Aspirin
Blood transfusions
Food additives

Other References
•Hampton JK (1991) The Biology of Human Aging, Wm C Brown Publishers 343 pp
•Jacobson E (1964) You Must Relax, McGraw-Hill 270 pp
•Rotor AB (1983) The Men Who Play God: A Collection of Yen Short Stories Ateneo de Manila University Press 147 pp
•Rotor A V (2007) Living With Nature in Our Times, UST Publishing House 318 pp.

Year 2012: Focus on Allergy (Dedicated to the First Filipino Allergist)

2012-01-17T22:10:00.001-08:00

Dr Arturo B Rotor, MD, to whose name a medical condition is named - Rotor Syndrome - the only Filipino discovery in medicine that is recognized internationally and found in medical textbooks. Dr Rotor's ancestry is traced to San Vicente, Ilocos Sur, a town west of Metro Vigan.

Dr. Arturo B Rotor – Man for All Seasons

Dr. Arturo B. Rotor wrote several short stories, many became popular reading materials in high school and college literature, among them Dahong Palay, Twilight’s Convict, The Wound and Scar and Zita. In the waning years of his devoted life as a doctor, he continued to write, an outpouring from a wellspring of rich personal experience. Ateneo de Manila University Press compiled ten of these stories into a handy book with the title, The Men Who Play God. On the back cover is a curious brief description about the author. To wit

In the Philippine Journal of Science, a new orchid, Vanda Merrillii variety Rotorii is described by Dr. Eduardo Quisumbing. In Cecil Loeb’s Practice of Medicine, a new disease, “Rotor’s Syndrome,” is recognized. Both the disease and the flower refer to Arturo B. Rotor and highlight the disparate, often incongruous activities that marked his career.

It is difficult to find words to describe Dr. Rotor’s dedication as a public servant, medical doctor, naturalist and artist.Dr Rotor served as Executive Secretary of the Philippine government-in-exile and member of the Cabinet, first under President Quezon, then President Osmeña. The Second World War was over and heroes deserved their peace. But not to Dr. Rotor. For doctors war goes on in preventing and attending people who are sick, suffering and dying. War in improving the medical profession to help and save them. He sought for the improvement of the medical profession by heading as Director the UP Postgraduate School of Medicine, and surprisingly, by founding a relatively new field of medicine - allergology as a specialty, for which he is remembered today.

The other side of Dr. Rotor’s life was one equally rich and fulfilling through the expression of the wonders of the right brain – as a naturalist, an ardent lover of nature, both the landscape and the garden; and creativity through the auditory art of music, demonstrating mastery of some of the world’s best compositions as a celebrated pianist. (He graduated at the UP Conservatory of Music and UP College of Medicine at the same time.)

Dr. Rotor succeeded in welding together the ingredients of Maslow’s self-actualization that truly make a compleat person and a fulfilled individual. To him this is the highest expression of The Good Life and very rare indeed that medicine, nature and humanities can be rolled into one. I can only see through a keyhole the vast accomplishments of Dr. Rotor, and may never be able to fathom the depth of his thoughts and feelings, even after reading some of his works in The Wound and the Scar, and The Men Who Play God. More so, the genius behind the “Rotor Syndrome,” that would comfortably qualify for a Nobel Prize in medicine. It would be most fitting that a Filipino, with the caliber of Dr., Rotor, be given a posthumous Nobel prize.

Dr. Rotor’ simplicity is reflected in his column, Confidentially Doctor. He wrote to be understood by his readers. He talked of medicine in the language of the common man, functional and practical. He wrote, as he would treat patients in plain language and with confidence of an expert.

Thus Dr. Rotor, the Philosopher tells us that human should be regarded holistically, therefore too, when it comes to attending to his health – body and spirit, psyche and intellect. And we realize that the attributes of a human being is divine. Man the Thinker (Homo sapiens), Man the Maker (Homo faber), Man the Player (Homo ludens) and the Man the Reverent (Homo spiritus). ~

Reference: Dr Arturo B Rotor Memorial Lecture delivered by Dr Abe V Rotor,11^th Biennial Convention, September 6, 2008, Philippine Society of Allergy, Asthma and Immunology

Rotor Syndrome Summary

• Autosomal-recessive condition characterised by a predominantly conjugated hyperbilirubinaemia.
• Patients are generally asymptomatic and jaundice may be an incidental finding.
• Over 50% of the serum bilirubin is conjugated and bilirubinuria is typically present.
• Symptomatically similar to Dubin-Johnson syndrome but the liver is histologically normal.
• A benign condition with a normal life expectancy, and no specific therapy is required.
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The main symptom of Rotor syndrome is jaundice caused by a buildup of a substance known as conjugated bilirubin. Bilirubin is a yellow substance generated in large quantities when the body recycles red blood cells. It is conjugated in the liver to make it soluble in water so that it can be cleared from the body. Although Rotor syndrome is known to be a genetic disorder, it is not known which genes are involved. However, a team of researchers — led by Alfred Schinkel, at The Netherlands Cancer Institute, The Netherlands; and Milan Jirsa, at the Institute for Clinical and Experimental Medicine, Czech Republic — has now linked genetic mutations predicted to cause complete and simultaneous deficiencies of the proteins OATP1B1 and OATP1B3 to Rotor syndrome in 8 families. Detailed analysis in mice identified the underlying mechanism involved. Moreover, further screening of Rotor syndrome families suggested that although complete lack of either OATP1B1 or OATP1B3 alone does not cause Rotor syndrome, it could cause hypersensitivity to certain drugs.###

TITLE: Complete OATP1B1 and OATP1B3 deficiency causes human Rotor syndrome by interrupting conjugated bilirubin reuptake into the liver

Karen Honey
press_releases@the-jci.org
734-546-5242
Journal of Clinical Investigation
Genetic and mechanistic basis for rotor syndrome uncovered

AUTHOR CONTACT:

Alfred H. Schinkel
The Netherlands Cancer Institute, Amsterdam, The Netherlands.
Phone: 31-20-5122046; Fax: 31-20-6961383; E-mail: a.schinkel@nki.nl.

Milan Jirsa,
Institute for Clinical and Experimental Medicine, Prague, Czech Republic.
Phone: 420-261362773; Fax: 420-241721666; E-mail: miji@ikem.cz.

Sepulchral Ground

2012-01-17T18:44:00.000-08:00

Abe V Rotor

Fire red mushrooms, and weed seedlings sprout from the forest floor of Mt Makiling, UPLB Laguna

I am on sacred ground under a cathedral of trees,
reverence is my passport
to enter this sanctuary of nature's seen and unseen
creatures in their fort.

Life is reborn in the wild in seedlings unknown,
its end by fire red fungi;
and all around the cycle of life goes on, unending,
with time passing by.

And all but passersby with a one-way ticket on earth,
pass this sepulchral ground,
where seedlings to fire red mushrooms the forest of life
makes the world go round. ~

To catch a butterfly

2012-01-17T17:20:00.000-08:00

Abe V Rotor

Did the fellow succeed in catching the butterfly? Support your answer.
Please send your answer on the Comment of this Blog.

Make your own calamansi juice stock

2012-01-17T16:00:00.000-08:00

Save, save, save! From carbonated drinks, fruit juice packs, and expensive imported brands.

Most important, save your health from the deleterious effects of additives. Artificial flavors and colors are bad. Worst is aspartame or NutraSweet. They come in other names for artificial sugar. Save yourself and your children from health problems and complications arising from these artificial chemicals.

Save money. One or two calamansi for a glassful of drink has more nutrients than what you get from a jug of carbonated drink. It is probiotic too, which means you are strengthening your immune system. It means supplying the vitamin and mineral needs of your body.

Save time. With a "mother stock" which is actually pure calamansi juice with sugar (1:3), a spoonful of it can be made into instant lemonade, with or without ice. Muscuvado sugar gives a native touch, which many prefer. Other use white sugar for the mother stock, and brown sugar when mixing for drink.

It means patronizing local products, supports farming and ecology. It encourages home gardening. Why, many homes have fruiting calamansi trees in their backyard. A fruiting calamansi is a natural Christmas Tree. Having a fruiting calamansi promotes good neighborhood.

Be practical. Be free. Be innovative. Choose fresh, ripe calamansi at source, or from the market. Do the preparation yourself. Use a squeezer, sieve and kitchen gloves. Use wide mouth glass bottle. Label before placing it in the refrigerator. Put a sign on the door, with Health Tips. And the children will simply love your homemade lemonade.

But moderation - like anything - is the rule. Too much may raise acid level in the stomach. Excess Vitamin C in the body is "waste" - it is not absorbed and used.

Serve your guests. Instead of "run-to-the-cornerstore", simply open the ref and pronto you have drink for everybody. Assure them it ishealthful

nutritious
free of harmful chemicals
a pride to farming and industry
earns, and saves, money
Pinoy-na-Pinoy

Then ask them, Why don't you make calamansi drink at home, too?
It's a campaign with good cause.

Calamansi mother stock is best when freshly made. Its shelf life in the ref is about a week. Do not freeze. Don't use plastic bottle. Use wide mouth glass container. Calamansi provides enterprise opportunities. You can develop your product for the market. Get assistance from DOST and DTI, and successful entrepreneurs.

Trivia: How do you know if the lemonade you are making has the right amount of sugar - even without tasting it?

Answer: If too sweet, the seeds float; if sugar is not enough, seeds settle at the bottle of the glass. Adjust your taste.

Century Old Mango Trees

2012-01-17T06:00:00.001-08:00

Abe V Rotor

Senile mango trees, San Luis, Batangas

A Little Lizard on my Computer

2012-01-15T06:03:00.000-08:00

Abe V Rotor

A little lizard it came innocent as a child,
degenerate from a dragon of myth;
to give me company in the middle of night,
when sweet is the coming of sleep.

A rouser by its antics this four-legged clown
drawn by the cursor it thought a fly,
in the art of a predator smart and mean,
and I, I merely laughed at this fry.

Could it read, could it understand, I wondered,
signals and codes of our own?
and how intriguing, perhaps we are as dumb,
as on the day we were born.

And when I wanted to know more of this odd friend;
it could be a cyber field new and tall -
interconnectedness all in the web world;
hmmm... I just let my heavy eyelids fall. ~

ENTOMOLOGY: Lepidopterans - Moths, Butterflies and Skippers: A Study on Biodiversity

2012-01-15T05:34:00.000-08:00

Abe V Rotor

Moth of cutworm (Prodinia litura) may be mistaken as skipper.

Since I was I child I have been fascinated by the Lepidopterans. The butterflies are the most beautiful of all insects; one moth is considered the biggest insect in the world (Atlas atlas or mariposa has a wing expanse of nearly a foot); and the skipper gives goosebumps because they are believed by old folks as representatives of the world of spirits as night approaches. (Skippers are actually crepuscular, that is, they are active at dusk). Parents used to warn us kids to be home before dark.

One thing about lepidopterans, that many of us are not aware of, is that they all come from caterpillars, the name of their larvae, the counterpart of maggots in flies (Diptera), and grubs in beetles (Coleoptera). Caterpillars is also referred to as worms by farmers. Many are destructive, among them are armyworms and cutworms, corn borers, earworms, tobacco hornworm, rice stemborer, and the spiny tussock caterpillar (higad).

Yet it would be grossly unjust that Lepidopterans escaped from Pandora's Box. Without them there would be less fruits and vegetables. Forests and grasslands would not be as rich in stand as they are. It is because lepidopterans are the most efficient pollinators, equaled only by Hymenopterans (bees, wasps, and ants). They thin out unwanted plants, keeping those resistant ones to carry on their genes to the next generation. They convert organic compounds into their elemental components, the caterpillar acting as a living digester. They are nature's fertilizer manufacturers.

As pollinators the three lepidopterans have divided work hours: butterflies during the day, moths at night, and skippers at dusk and dawn. While they are selective in their nectar food, they have alternative hosts which enable them to tie up with all seasons, and to expand their geographic range of feeding. Curious as a child, I would uncoil their siphon, the counterpart of the tongue of most animals. The siphon works like a softdrinks straw, except that it is retractable and can be readily tucked neatly underneath like garden hose.

Why are lepidopterans so varied? How did the different species evolve? Speciation is a term in evolution - the formation of a new species. But when is a species a new species, and different from its parent stock?

It baffles the mind to know there are millions of species of plants and animals. If the lower forms of life are included, and those living in the forbidding depth of the sea, and those in the past which are known only by their fossils, indeed the biosphere, the living world in which we live in today, is the biggest mystery on earth.

Species evolve into new species, ad infinitum. This is the foundation of diversity. The more diverse the living world is, the more the members can adapt to the changing environment, both in short term and long - and continuing, covering thousands or millions of years. Evolution in general tends to progress towards not only the preservation of a species but also the enhancement of the survival of others, directly and indirectly. And most important, it prepares the formation of new species, which explains the increasing diversity of life forms.

This means that the lepidopterans continue to evolve, so that more and more species and subspecies are likely to be formed. Because this takes a very long time, there is no direct reference to prove that the skipper may have developed from moth and butterfly. Or the moth evolved from skipper and butterfly. But because of certain commonalities in their morphology and physiology they are grouped under one family.

Thus we have the so-called grouping of organisms into different levels beginning at the top as Phylum (animals) or Division (plants). Similarities of members become more pronounced on the level of Order, and much more in the Family. The closest similarities are found on the Genus level. In fact the members may be difficult to differentiate, so that we can only surmise speciation is still going on.

Life on earth is still expanding. It is actually explosion of life forms and number in slow motion. Like the universe expanding in space since the Big Bang, so with life forms expanding in the biosphere. This is the way the Great Maker has intended it to be - through the natural laws that govern dynamic balance and stability called homeostasis.

The lepidopterans provide the ideal specimen to ponder on this great phenomenon. ~

Food, Food, Food Everywhere!

2012-01-13T21:48:00.000-08:00

Abe V Rotor

Epicurean touch among the affluent,
yet clings to the less;
for having the luxury of Bacchus often
is ordinary mess.

And where the culinary magic lies,
immune the chef's taste;
whereupon beyond the hills and seas,
the art passes any test.

Food, food everywhere but not a kind
complete to satiate,
enough or too much; and only he deserves
after a long, long wait.

Paksiw sapatero fish with sukang Iloko

Medium rare roasted pork, hot and spicy

Original kapis shell (Roxas City)

Another shellfish recipe, quickly cooked with tomato, onion and salt.

Crispy pata, deboned

Clam soup (halaan)

Buko (young coconut) juice

Singkamas with sukang Iloko

Dried bangus with atchara

Fresh fruit and vegetable salad, with juice drink

Coffee bun and black coffee

Chicken teriyaki with sesame (linga)

Dory fish fillet and potato fries, and dash of lemon

Tofu topped with onion leek and sauteed garlic

"Black Forest" with peach and cherry

TVP (texturized vegetable protein) and asparagus

Shrimp ukoy

Kare-kare, with banana blossom and pechay

Pancit palabok