Riddles and Jokes for Kids (and Grownups, too)

 Riddles and Jokes for Kids (and Grownups, too)

 Here are some examples. (Acknowledgement with thanks: Jokes to Tell, a pocket book for Children, and Internet for the cartoons)

Researched and Compiled by Dr Abe V Rotor

1. What did one wall say to the other?

I'll meet you at the corner.

2.  What did the stamp say to the envelope?

Stick with me and we'll go places.

3.  What do Alexander the Great and Kermit the Frog have in common?

The same middle name.

4.  What has four legs but can't walk?

A table.

5.  What sort of star is dangerous?

Shooting star.

6. What kind of music does you father like to sing?

Pop music.

7. Can February March?

No.  But April May.

8.  What has two hands, no fingers, stands still snd runs?

A clock. 

9. How can you tell if a Martian is a good gardener? 

All Martians have green thumbs.

10.  What do you call a vampire's dog?

Blood Hound.

11. Doctor, doctor, I feel like a dog.

Then go see a vet. 

12. Doctor, doctor, I keep  thinking I'm a dog.

How long has this been going on?

Ever since I was a pup. 

13. What kind of dress can never be worn?

Address.

14,  What can you serve, but never eat?

A volleyball.

15.  What is always coming but never arrives?

Tomorrow.

16.  What has teeth but cannot eat?

A comb.

17.  What can you hold without touching?

You breath.

18.  What question can you never answer yes to?

Are you asleep?

19.  What goes up and does not come down?

Your age.

20. When things go wrong, what can you always count on?

Your fingers

Disturbing Signs in Our Times

                  Disturbing Signs in Our Times

"Time overtakes all,

structures crumble,

dreams dim;

acceptance its kindness;

forgetting its end." avr

Dr Abe V Rotor

Living with Nature - School on Blog 

avrotor.blogspot.com

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. Photo by the author, 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)

Photo by the author 2006

Neo colonial building modeled after Greco-Roman
architecture of the Renaissance and introduced by
the Americans during the Commonwealth era gives
way to modernization.  AVR 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."

AVR 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.  AVR Morong, Rizal

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

AVR

Dead barnacles bleached and subsequently dislodged from
their rocky foothold as a result of increasing temperature
of sea water mainly attributed to global warming.
Photo by the author 2006. Domingo, Ilocos Sur

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

Photo by the author 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 by the author, 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.  Photo by the author, 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.  

Photo by the author, 2010

Bad Air Days (BAD) in Beijing may extend for weeks and 
even months, and repeated many times over the city, 
one of the densest populated cities in the world - which 
are also suffering of the same dilemma. Respiratory 
diseases and their complications exacerbate loss of 
resources and manpower, degrading the quality 
of life notwithstanding.  (Internet photo)   

 HIV-AIDS victims constitute one of the highest mortality 
rates among modern diseases.  Unabated the virus is 
surreptitiously introduced through promiscuous relationship 
among homosexuals especially men.  This scene is perhaps 
the saddest goodbye between father and son on media.

(Internet photo)

 Loss of playground follows loss of wildlife, loss of
nature park, decent settlement areas. The biggest 
problem of our postmodern society is loss of natural
 environment, exacerbated by improper disposal 
of our own waste. (Internet photo)~

Sketch your way to relaxation

 Sketch your way to relaxation

Self-administered relaxation through drawing

Dr Abe V Rotor

Here is a simple way to free you from the clutches of stress and tension. Recharge with this simple method, instead of taking medicine or using paraphernalia for relaxation.

1. Get a piece of bond paper and a pen, preferably with a felt tip.

2. Find a comfortable place with chair and table.

3. Avoid disturbance, prefer to be alone.

4. Start with the model you think it's easier to do.

5. In either model, start at the center and proceed outward.

6. Do not copy, these are just patterns.

7. Draw spontaneously at your own normal pace.

8. Detach your thoughts from anything. You are in the clouds, so to speak.

9. As you relax, your drawing may go off course. That's good.

10. You don't have to complete your drawing. Give way to more relaxation - and to sleep.

Model A - Flow, let it flow

Model B - Build a labyrinth  

This exercise will help you fight boredom. The ultimate proof that it is effective is that, it induces you to sleep and attain good rest. Why, you can compile your drawings into a workbook and share it to others!

White Doves from the Blue Sky

White Doves from the Blue Sky

Dr Abe V Rotor 

Living with Nature - School on Blog

avrotor.blogspot.com

White Doves from the Blue Sky , closeup of acrylic painting 

by the author 2020.  Twin panelboards of painting, on display 

at the Living with Nature Center, San Vicente, Ilocos Sur

They come in flocks like a swarm in the sky,

     joy to the world, peace they proclaim;

never had I seen in horde before the plague,

     or my poor eyesight had missed them.

Each dove to bring hope to every soul, and I,

     that I may find true meaning in art, 

paint a thousand, nay millions of  white doves 

     arched across the pandemic path. ~

Arch of the Centuries, University of Santo Tomas (Founded 1611)

 Arch of the Centuries, University of Santo Tomas (Founded 1611)

Dr Abe V Rotor

Former Professor, UST

Living with Nature School on Blog 

The Arch of the Centuries was originally erected in 1611 at Intramuros, where UST was originally established. When the university transferred to its present location at Sampaloc, the Arch was also carried piece-by-piece and was re-erected at the present Plaza Intramuros in 1954.

The original Arch which faces the Main Building was the main doorway to the university building before it was destroyed during World War II when it was at 
Intramuros. A newer arch faced España Boulevard, which is a reconstruction of the original arch.

In January 25, 2010, it was declared a National Cultural Treasure, along with the University Main Building, the Central Seminary Building, and the university field, by the National Museum of the Philippines.

Arch of Centuries in Intramuros before and after WW II. 

The Arch contains Doric columns, but is Baroque in its details. The inscription on the arch says "Gateway to the history of the finest breed of Filipinos," a reference to the numerous alumni who have made an impact in Philippine history. On the left pillar of the façade facing España Boulevard is commemorative plaque honoring national hero José Rizal, and on the right pillar is another plaque honoring President Manuel L. Quezon; both being UST alumni.

On the sides at the top of the Arch are panels depicting the life of Saint Thomas Aquinas, the patron saint of the university and of all Catholic educational institutions. (Wikipedia)

The Arch during the Lenten Season.  It is one of the Stations of the Cross.  

The Arch is the most popular vantage point for photography. It is a favorite location for class pictures such as this one. Author is at the middle in dark shirt.    
----------------------------------
The Arch Myth: Superstition has it that once you enter the Arch, you are not allowed to exit before you graduate, or else your stay in the university would be cut short. There had been countless tales of students who dared to break it though none can prove of its validity.

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

Symbolically, the Arch stands brave and strong in inclement weather 
- physical and social - for more than 400 years.  

The Arch gloriously glows with the Christmas spirit during the traditional Paskohan of the University. 

The two faces of the Arch of the Centuries UST  

The original Arch which faces the Main Building was the main doorway to the university building before it was destroyed during World War II when it was at Intramuros (left side). A newer arch faced España Boulevard, which is a reconstruction of the original arch (right).

Acknowledgement: UST Website, Wikipedia, artists and photographers whose works attracted many viewers of this post. 

Biological and Ecological Warfare Started in Ancient Times

Biological and Ecological Warfare 

Started in Ancient Times

Dr Abe V Rotor

                                          Armageddon in acrylic on glass by the author. 

 

Biological and ecological warfare is the most dangerous tool of war, setting aside a Nuclear Armageddon. It is also the oldest form of warfare, as old as the ancient civilizations.

Let's take a look at these historical cases.

• Carthage attacked Pergamum an ancient Ancient Greece city with clay pots filled with venomous snakes.

• The Spartans often burned the grain crops of the Athenians.

• The Mongol Empire once the largest contiguous empire in History of the world in Medieval Times brought bubonic plague (Yersinia pestis) from Central Asia to the Middle East and Europe.

• Bodies of Mongol warriors were used for biological attacks, by flinging with catapult the corpses over castle walls of Theodosia.

• The last known incident of using plague corpses for biological warfare occurred in 1710, when Russian forces attacked Sweden.

• The Black Death, also known as the Black Plague, was a devastating pandemic that first struck Europe in the mid-late-14th century, killing between a third and two thirds of the population in medieval Eurasia. Its spread was natural and deliberate.

• The Mongols wrecked the irrigation works in Mesopotamia which ruined the local economy.

• Siege of castles and forts was to deprive the besieged enemy of food, water and other basic supplies, while the enemy burned the fields, slaughtered the livestock, and looted the villages.

• The spread of diseases across the Atlantic during the European age of exploration did tremendous damage to the indigenous populations of North and South America. These diseases upon the Native Americans were catastrophic, reducing the population of affected tribes by as much as 50-90%.

• The roots of many diseases that killed millions of indigenous peoples in the Americas can be traced back to Eurasians living for millennia in close proximity with domesticated animals. Without long contact with domesticated animals, indigenous Americans had no resistance to plague, measles, tuberculosis, smallpox or most influenza strains. (Attempts by missionaries to provide inoculation to local tribes people were usually met with suspicion, thus leaving the native population completely vulnerable to epidemics.)

• The Spanish conquest of the Aztecs in Mexico and the English predominance in North America might not have succeeded were it not for the devastating effect of diseases previously unknown in the Americas, and against which the local populations had not built up any immunities.

• Starting with George Washington in 1779, the US government used environmental destruction as a military weapon to subdue the Iroquoi Nations of the the Indians.

• The US Army consistently attacked the Indians' natural resources - livestock, orchards and crops - wiping out the Navajos.

• The American Indian culture almost followed the buffalo into extinction. Buffalo Bill killed 4,280 buffaloes in one year. Systematic slaughter between 1850 and 1883 left only a few buffaloes placed under protection as an embarrassed afterthought.

• In 1710, during Queen Anne's War, Iroquois Indian tribes used biological warfare against the British with poisoned water sources with freshly killed animal hides, infecting the water with E.coli and other enteric bacteria.

• During the Seven Years' War in North America between the British and French, the British transmitted smallpox (Variola major and Variola minor) through clothing to Native American tribes to which British victory is accredited.

• The French flooded Holland but was stopped by the militant Dutch.

• The Russians stopped Napoleon by scorching their own earth and deprived the French army with food and shelter.

• In 1834 California smallpox epidemic began at the Russian fort soon after trading ships had left. Blankets were a popular trading item, and the cheapest source of them was second-hand blankets which were often contaminated.

• The Confederate States of America forces shot farm animals in ponds upon which the Union depended for drinking water. This made the water unpleasant to drink, and caused diseases to the enemies.

• During the 1948 Israel War of Independence, the Haganah, a Jewish paramilitary organization in what was then the Palestine from 1920 to 1948, the main precursor for Israel's Defense Forces militia, released Salmonella typhi bacteria into the water supply of the enemies.

• The genocide of six millions Jews during the Second World War with the use of poisonous gas, and other means of chemical and biological warfare remains a sensitive diplomatic issue to this day.

• During WW II, Japan made flea bombs to spread bubonic plague in the US, after successfully testing it in China where thousands died of the pestilence.

• North Korea accused the United States of large-scale field testing of biological weapons, including the use of disease-carrying insects against them during the Korean War (1950-1953).

• The Korean War allegations also stressed that the United States initiated its weaponization efforts with disease vectors in 1953, on plague fleas, EEE-mosquitoes, and yellow fever-mosquitoes.

• At the time of the Korean War the US weaponized one agent, Brucellosis, an infectious disease caused by the Brucella suis bacteria.

• Cuba also accused the US of spreading human and animal diseases on their islands.

• Around 1950 the US Chemical Corps also initiated a program to weaponize Tularemia, an infectious disease caused by the bacterium Francisella, endemic in North America, parts of Europe and Asia. Tularemia was standardized in the 3.4" M143 bursting spherical bomblet.

• The US used Agent Orange to defoliate the jungles of Vietnam and flush out the Vietcong guerrillas. Napalm was used directly on them as well as the citizens.

• Anthrax spores through the mail was controlled by the US Postal Service before it got out of hand.

• Biological warfare was the issue against Saddam Hussein leading to the attack by the US and Britain on Iraq.

• Milosevic's was charged and found guilty before the International Court of Justice where he later died, for a crime of genocide using poisonous gas and other weapons of mass destruction.

There are many other cases of biological and ecological warfare heretofore unreported, or committed in the guise of natural phenomena. And there are countries that continue to research on deadly microorganisms - especially with the breakthrough in genetic engineering - violating the provisions of the 1925 Geneva Convention that prohibits biological warfare in any part of the world.

The world today faces three deadly viral forms that can spread out globally on pandemic proportions. The Avian Flu virus, a hybrid of bird flu virus and human flu virus, has broken the species barriers between man and birds - lately, with pigs. If the new Avian flu virus strikes, scientists predicts it is likely to kill at least 600 million people on its first major attack. Their estimate is based on the 1920s' Spanish flu which killed 100 million people, a ratio of one out of 6 inhabitants of the earth.

The AIDS virus (HIV) continues to infect hundreds of millions of people around the world, with thousands dying every year.

And now the obesity virus (Ad 36) is fast spreading in the United States where one out of five Americans is an obese. Obesity is also an epidemic in other industrialized countries, and in big cities of both developed and developing countries. The obesity virus may be naturally occurring, but it is possible that it is laboratory-triggered.

Let us be on the guard at all times against any form of biological and ecological warfare. ~

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Living with Nature-School on Blog is purely a voluntary effort to help conserve the natural environment, and to bring functional literacy to millions who lack access to formal education, and to augment formal learning and experiential knowledge. - Dr Abercio V Rotor

Armageddon Series 4: Diseases and many forms of human misery are masked by the Good Life.

Armageddon in the Making (A Personal Dissertation) Series 4:

Diseases and many forms of human misery are masked by the Good Life.

Diseases and many forms of human misery are masked by the Good Life. These are surreptitiously spreading around the world causing many complications, untold sufferings, and death. They turn into pandemic as they merge with other diseases – HIV-AIDS, obesity, diabetes, accidents, are becoming common cases.

Dr Abe V Rotor 

                                                    Rainbow over Beijing 

31. The most prevalent poisons in food are man-made, mostly from pesticides, particularly those designed to control pests – insects, fungi, weeds, mites, mollusks, nematodes, etc – which have developed increased resistance and even immunity through years of repeated application.  They persist as residues in food and in the environment, carried on through the food web and food chain, riding far and wide, not only on the life cycles of affected organisms, but on their interacting populations.   

32. The first pesticide of global importance is DDT (deoxy-diphenyl-tetrachloro ethane) introduced in the forties as the final answer to the malaria problem by controlling mosquitoes that spread the disease. Indeed DDT is highly effective not only against mosquitoes but other insects as well that its inventor was awarded the Nobel Prize. It was found out later that its residue is persistent and cumulative, and transferred through the food chain – ultimately reaching man. Although totally banned DDT is still clandestinely manufactured under different brands and names.

33. We exaggerate cleanliness. We use detergents, pesticides, deodorants, air fresh­eners, and cosmetics. My father used to warn us in the family, "We are unwittingly introducing into our bodies materials which may be more harmful than the germs we are trying to control." Rub-on mosquito repellant is carcinogenic, so with Chlorine added to drinking water and swimming pool. Sodium fluoride mistaken for baking powder or wheat flour is extremely harmful, although fluoride used in small amount in toothpaste helps keep our teeth strong and healthy.

34. Many kitchen utensils contain harmful metals. There is little warning, if at all, not to cook food with vinegar in aluminum pots, not to use Antimony- or Cadmium-plated utensils. Plastic containers react with food, specially the acidic ones, microwave oven emits radiation harmful to the body in the long run. In spite of this warning the use of microwave, because of its convenience, has even increased.  Didn’t the Romans suffer of a mysterious disease unknowingly caused by lead (Pb) coming from their  drinking vessels?

35. Many food additives cause of ailments and death: Vetsin or mono-sodium glutamate that retards mental and skeletal growth specially in children. Burglars silence dogs with pandesal containing vetsin. An overdose may lead to death. Unscrupulous vendors use Formalin to extend the shelf life of fish, Nitrate or salitre in meat products, food dyes, Aspartame and saccharine (sugarless sugar) and Olestra (fatless fat). The cheap kind of vinegar is diluted glacial acetic acid, the same kind of acid used in photography and other industrial processing.

36. The first case of mass lead poisoning occurred among the Romans when they changed their cups and vessels from bronze to lead. Today it is estimated that over 400,000 children in the US have an excess of lead in their systems. This cumulative poisoning affects the brain, the nervous system, the blood, and the abdominal system characterized by severe stomach cramps, nausea, vomiting, weakness and confusion combined with decreased alertness. Lead in the bone marrow interferes with the formation of red blood cells as well as damaging existing ones leading to anemia, pallor and weakness, and to a severe extent, delirium, coma and even death. 

37. Rapid economic growth has led to record levels of pollution, producing filthy air rising and spreading over highly industrial centers and densely populated cities. Here power plants, factories and vehicles release pollutants into the air, and as the sun heats up the ground, the polluted air rises. But polluted air cools quickly over water and sinks to the surface and disperses. Without strong wind to clear it away, the pollution mix can build up over time, leading to BAD (bad air days) which can last for several days, and repeated over and over - and can get worse with deteriorating environmental conditions 

38. Bubonic Plague brings to mind the dreaded scourge of mankind in the Middle Ages. Rats are the carriers of this bacterium-caused disease also called the Black Death. It was so deadly that it claimed the lives of at least 100 million people with 25 million in Europe alone. It stopped man’s progress that the period was appropriately described Second Dark Ages, spreading around crowded cities and towns, with the pestilence peaking with climatic upheavals, such as what we know today as the El Nino phenomenon. The bubonic plague appeared in the United States in 1900 and then in India in the late 1970’s. Although modern medicine effectively controlled even before it reached epidemic stages, the threat looms like ghost with huge metropolises and megapolises. 

39. Diseases and many forms of human misery are masked by the Good Life. These are surreptitiously spreading around the world causing many complications, untold sufferings, and death. They turn into pandemic as they merge with other diseases – HIV-AIDS, obesity, diabetes, accidents, are becoming common cases. 

40. On human behavior: “Of all God’s creatures, there is no species more guilt-ridden, confused and self-destructive than man. Fear, remorse and frustration underlie his basic behavior probably as a result of his forbears having been driven out of the Garden of Eden…Man kills not for food, he eats when he is not hungry, he mates in and out of season. His suicidal tendencies are unique. While the lemmings drown themselves as a result of reduced food supplies, man will willingly cultivate cancer of his lungs by smoking poisonous plants, convert his liver into a hobnailed atrophic mass of dead tissues with alcohol, or remove himself from the control of his mind with narcotics…” Arturo B Rotor, MD