First Part: Functional Literacy, "A Camilo Osias Story"

First Part: Functional Literacy, "A Camilo Osias Story"

Dr Abe V Rotor

Here is a story about Pedro and Jose I read in the elementary.
One day Pedro approached his boss and complained why his partner Jose is receiving a higher pay when both of them have the same nature of work.

RARE 1924 CAMILO OSIAS THE PHILIPPINE READERS

“Ah, Pedro,” sighed the boss with a sheepish smile. “You will come to know the reason.”

Just then the doorbell rang. “Pedro, please find out who is at the gate.”

After some time, Pedro returned, “Someone is looking for you, sir.”

“Ask who he is.” Pedro went to the gate again, and reported back.

“He is a certain Mr. Carlos, sir.”

“Ask him what he wants.” Pedro went to the gate for the third again, and then returned.

“I did not get it well, sir. But he said he sells home appliances…promotion, something like that. He would like to meet the manager.”

“Tell him we do not need appliances.”

The next day the doorbell rang again. This time, both Pedro and Jose were in the office of their boss. Jose promptly rose from his seat to attend to the visitor at the gate. After a while he returned and reported back.

“Our visitor is an insurance agent, sir. He was offering insurance for our building, and knowing that it is already covered, I told him we do need his offer for the moment. He gave me his business card.” Jose handed the card and excused himself for another call.

“Now you understand,” said the boss to Pedro with a sheepish smile.
_______

About Camilo Osias

Camilo Osias (March 23, 1889 – May 20, 1976) was born in Balaoan, La Union. He was noted as one of the senate presidents of the Philippines, a nationalist leader who worked for Philippine independence and sovereignty, and is remembered as an educator, politician and writer who produced works such as The Filipino Way of Life, the Philippine Readers, and Jose Rizal, His Life and Times – a biographical work on Rizal. He also wrote a wide variety of articles with themes ranging from the nation to personal life and day to day living in the Philippines.

He edited the series Philippine Readers (known as Osias Readers) for primary intermediate schools. He translated in English Rizal’s famous novels Noli Me Tangere (1956) and El Filibusterismo (1957). He also wrote numerous books and essays on Rizal, education, religion, and the Filipino Way of Life.

Dr. Osias believed that education should secure for every person the fullest measure of freedom, efficiency, and happiness. Efficiency, he demands that one must be able to cooperate with the other members of the society to promote common good.

He also advocated that the educational system must contribute towards the achievement of the goals of education by inculcating their minds and hearts of the youth the value of preserving the patrimony of the country promoting the general welfare of he people.

Dr. Osias’ suggestions to Philippine schools:

• Preserve the solidarity of Filipino; 
• Maintain the unity of the Philippines; 
• Work out a proper equilibrium in economic order; 
• Develop social justice; 
• Observe the merit system in government service; 
• Promote peace and national defense; 
• Uphold the inalienable rights of life, property, liberty, and happiness; 
• Keep in their prestige majesty the fundamental freedom, especially freedom of speech, freedom of press, freedom of peace and assembly, and freedom of worship; 
• Conserve the principle of equality; 
• Hold high the ideals of religion; 
• Keep over aloft the torch of education, and 
• Make democracy a living and functional reality. 

Internet, Wikipedia

Third Part:: Functional Literacy in the Cyber Age

Laptop computer, and its versions, a must in college, office and in the home.

Dr Abe V Rotor

Today, to have a credit card or an ATM card is no easy task; much more if you have both. One must acquire mastery in their uses, and basic knowledge in accounting. But these are only tools used in countless transactions that include electronic marketing, now a booming industry. It is “armchair marketing” whereby all you need is watch the merchandise on TV and dial the number for your order.

• If there is e-marketing, there is also e-learning, that is on-line or distance education using the computer and other media. Here is a chance of increasing the level of literacy for those who failed to complete basic education, and those who aspire to learn more or even earn a degree. But first, one should have basic communication skills before he is admitted into the program.

• Medicines are no longer as simple as they were a generation ago, even if we have a law to label them generically, that is, to include the active principle in universal language. Prescriptions alone are difficult to follow, much more in understanding the mode of action and effects of the medicine. Paracetamol or Alaxan, is there a difference? I know of Cortal during my time. They are all to relieve headache, but why not take Ponstan or simply Aspirin?

• Appliances for the home and office are no longer as simple as switching on and switching off. How do we set the controls for temperature, timing, carbon dioxide level, fire alarm, light intensity? How about operating a camera monitor, microwave oven, automatic dish-washing machine? And we have not yet mentioned attending to their regular maintenance.

• A chauffeur or driver, one hired by a family or an executive is required to know basic mechanics as a requirement in proper car maintenance. For his part too, he must learns the cardinal rules of human relations - courteous, respectful, diplomatic in many ways, yet on the other hand, secures the family or his boss from danger, a security guard, and an intelligence agent of sort.

• I have a friend who, like me, belongs to the so-called “old school. This is his confession. “I will e-mail you,” his insurance agent said, “as soon as I get to office.” My friend didn’t understand a thing about e-mail, he is computer illiterate. “May I get you e-mail address?” continued his agent. Still my friend said nothing. “Well, if you don’t remember it now, just text me. Okay?” “How stupid I felt,” my friend confessed to the point of embarrassment. “I guess you need to enroll in a crash program.” I said. He did.

• Opening a Blog on the Internet, is not that easy. But my daughter who was then taking up graduate studies in Information Technology, assured me. “You can do it, Papa.”

I almost gave up. Rather Anna nearly gave up hope teaching a sixty-sixer. Today my Blog is without any added item or two a day. Lately, I realized I haven’t tapped the newer features of the computer. For example, it says, “You can make money in your Blog.” I didn’t know I can compose music and play it on the Blog.” How about if I sing?"

My Blog says, “Certainly.” The next time I knew it, I already had a host of followers. Today I have more than 1,500 posted topics in my School on Blog - in just two years. I requested Anna, “Please unclog my blog.”

“Papa, you are already famous worldwide!” ~

Home, Sweet Home with Nature, AVR (Book Manuscript)

Native genes are our ultimate recourse if "modified" genes fail - and they are likely to fail

Native genes are our ultimate recourse if "modified" genes fail - and they are likely to fail

Dr Abe V Rotor

Living with Nature - School on Blog 

Native pineapple (Ananas comosus) of Thailand. Like our native pineapple,  it is resistant to tropical conditions and it needs little care. Native genes are the ultimate recourse when "modified genes" fail - and are likely to fail because they are detached from the natural biological world, and cannot survive without man's care and attention.   

When we consider a plant - or animal - for that matter as wild, and we want to domesticate it, all we have to do is introduce it to a place, or live where its abounds. We propagate it, "fence" to protect and claim it to be our own. This is the concept of early domestication in the Golden Crescent, somewhere between the Tigris-Euphrates Rivers in Syria - the birth place of agriculture. 

Science and technology did more than that. Other than identifying the useful species, and selecting the best members of those species as stock, we have altered  their genes through controlled breeding, thus creating varieties (plants), breeds (animals), and strains (protists, like bacteria) This is the concept of modern agriculture.

Came commercialization of agriculture to meet market demands - domestic and foreign - which necessitated intensive and extensive farming, using more inputs like fertilizer, pesticide, and irrigation on one hand, and expanding to new horizons covering the whole profile of the landscape on the other.  From lowland, and upland, to hills and mountains, and down to the swamplands, estuaries, and sea.        

Not satisfied, we now combine genes across species, in fact across phyla, divisions and kingdoms, producing GMOs (genetically Modified Organisms), like Bt Corn (corn with spliced gene of Bacillus thuringiensis bacteria.  There are thousands and thousands of genetic engineering applied experiments among organisms today, including cloning of animals, including the human being. This is the concept of genetic engineering, the controversial and most recent green revolution.

The trend today is to go back to the original concept.  Save the native genes because they are attuned to evolution through which they successfully passed, and in fact, have been shaped by evolution itself. 

Thai native corn.  The Philippines has been importing corn from Thailand rather than producing it for our needs.  Thailand does not produce BtCorn, unlike us. Our average corn production is among the lowest in the world, in most cases, less than one ton per hectare.   

The native vegetables need no chemicals, energy cost. They are geared to meet the food and nutritional needs of the producer, his family and community. Malunggay, saluyot, amaranth, alukong, katuray, native squash, ampalaya and the like - they grow with the seasons spontaneously.  No seeding, no cultivation - virtually no human intervention.

Native rice is grown over a wide range from mountain terraces to marshes, requiring little care and attention, in hundred of varieties and cultivars from which we select according to our needs and taste, and sufficiency to fill our home granaries. No, not with the IRRI varieties, the japonica, the long grain varieties - they are too expensive to grow, and very susceptible to pest and environmental factors.  

Why pineapple is expensive is because we changed the native with imported 
ones which are dependent on pesticides, fertilizers, tractors, airplanes and railroads. Why chicken is expensive is because we have vastly changed its genes, its feeds, its housing, and they way it is is eaten.  A whole chicken per person, deprives the food supply of one hundred poor people.

Why we have tungro disease of rice, virus of papaya, galls in santol, borer of atis, rust of coffee, mosaic of tobacco, anthracnose of mango, and many more.  We have introduced foreign varieties susceptible to unfavorable local conditions. Worst we have introduced their pests and diseases to attack our local varieties,
We have crossed their genes with our local gene pool, thereby transmitting their
susceptibility genetically.     

I still prefer tinola cooked with native chicken, "solo" or native green papaya, siling labuyo or native red pepper tops, native luya or ginger, with native black pepper or paminta.  And cooked in clay pot, on clay stove and with firewood. A fine idea that fits into the concept of Small is Beautiful ("Economics as if People Mattered.") by EC Schumacher)
Thailand's native cassava (Manihot utilissima) a source of biogas, an alternative fuel to replace gradually fossil fuel. Brazil is the top alcogas producer from sugarcane and cassava.

The native gene pool is human's ultimate recourse for survival, as imagined in "The Day After Tomorrow", in the aftermath of super typhoons Yolanda, Pablo and Ondoy in the Philippines, super hurricanes Katrina and Sandy in the US.  After another 9-11 attack (this time nuclear, God forbid), in the event that deadly diseases become epidemic - and pandemic. 

And in dealing with the biggest problem of postmodern living  - how to live with life.~  

Big Bang - the Origin of Life

Dr Abe V Rotor

Big Bang (19" x 23") painting by the author 2012

Once upon a distant past, a proto mass 

     of converging gases, too huge 

to hold on in space exploded -

     the Big Bang like a centrifuge.  

Born the universe and galaxies

     in countless numbers expanding,

countless more, orphans in space,

     our known world but a sibling.

Were this true - life so little do we know

     today from its very spawn; 

move over Oparin, move over Darwin, 

     theories past and our own  ~

Wild Pigeon

Dr Abe V Rotor

Marlo, Tikob Lake, Tiaong Quezon

You cannot be free if man is your master,
even if he feeds you and shelters you,
for you belong to a flock and the sky;
be a friend then to a young heart, fill it 
with joy and link your world with his own.

Light in the Woods 1995, Megabooks

Giant Cranefly

Dr Abe V Rotor

Crane Fly (Tipula sp), Family Tipulidae, Order Diptera

This is a rare specimen I caught at home. It is a very curious one, although it a relative of the mosquito. It has the size several times bigger than the ordinary cranefly we often called daddy-long-legs.

The cranefly undergoes four stages - egg, larva called maggot, pupa and adult. The maggot feeds on crops and pasture grass but it inflicts little damage. The adults emerge and swarm in the evening. They have queer body structure and movement. Craneflies are clumsy fliers, mainly because they have only one pair of wings. That is why they are classified Diptera - two wings. The pair of hindwings are reduced into halteres or balancers which look like stubs or knobs.

When at rest, craneflies shake continuously in all directions that they become virtually invisible to their enemies. This unique mechanism has not been fully studied.

If you can detect a cranefly, you must have a third eye.~

How to catch frogs

Dr Abe V Rotor 
Palakang Bukid (Rana vitigera)

It was fun to trap frogs when I was a kid. At harvest time I would dig holes in the ricefield around one and one-half feet deep. The frogs seek shelter in these holes because they need water and a cool place. Insects that fall into the hole attract them and become their prey.

Early in the morning I would make my rounds, harvesting the trapped frogs in each hole. The frog is skinned, its entrails removed, and cooked with tomato, onion, and achuete (Bixa orellana). Frogs make a favorite dish, especially among Ilocanos.

x x x

Traces of Art Movements are Alive in Today's Paintings

Dr Abe V Rotor 

Living with Nature School on Blog [avrotor.blogspot.com]

These representative paintings are the works of amateurs at the University of Santo Tomas. They provide a keyhole view on the trend of painting with reference to certain schools or movements in the midst of computer art and advertisements. They are footprints of Monet's Impressionism, Van Gogh's Expressionism, Salvador Dali's Surrealism, Picasso's Abstractionism, among others, but the question remains, "Quo vbadis?" (Where is the art of painting heading for?)

                        

Impressionistic autumn in the stillness of Monet;
where have all the creatures gone, pray.

Nature and Nurture are but one,
unity and harmony under the sun;
naturalism of Amorsolo,
Seurat and Cezanne

  

Quartet annonymous, music unknown,

artists incognito in the silence of song. 

impressionism with a touch of surrealism.  

 

Likeness of Van Gogh,
tortured soul seeking 
escape from the self; 
Oh, art, let go, let go.

 

Matisse, Chagall, Joya,
masters of abstract art
and countless sworn -
artists and zealots as well.

                       

Paul Cezanne's cubism,
light and shadow
and colors in prism.

Speak of friendship or loneliness,
boredom or eagerness,
captured best with the brush
more than the lens. 

                    

Artists insist in their art and craft,
little for a living, fullest in the heart.

Acknowledgement: The author failed to include the identities of the artists who made these paintings. Sincere gratitude is accorded them for sharing their talents in the readers of this article.

Mimicking Nature by Means of Transforms

Dr Abe V Rotor 

Living with Nature School on Blog 

Anna at the Museum of Natural History, UPLB Mt Makiling, Laguna

If I were given wings, 

I would rather be a butterfly,

and flutter from flower to flower;

sipping the nectar of youth, 

the Pierian Spring,

'til it runs dry.  

When does smoking begin, when does it end?

with the young and the old, and in between,

a lifetime, or a life deserted at the bend,

pleasurable, insatiable it could have been.  

Author at the Museum of Natural History

Anatomy of a tree Joyce Kilmer failed to see,

in his Only God can Make a Tree;

faith we embrace and not probe its mystery

keeps the peace of the world and thee. 

Arthropods - highest in diversity:

if appendages are survival trends,

why did human become a biped

and left his four-legged friends?

Reptiles, descendants of giants, 

annelids lost their appendages;

limbs to fins in fish, wings in birds,

by unseen hand through the ages.

Plate-like structure made of chitin in Arthropods, hence, "joined legs"

50 Kinds of Phobia - A Checklist for Self-Analysis

We are Living in Parallel Worlds:  The World of Phobia
Dr Abe V Rotor
Living with Nature - School on Blog

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It's a different world you enter into when you are gripped by anxiety, tension and fear, sometimes to the point of panic.  You find yourself surrounded by walls.  You don't only feel as prisoner, you are in a coffin. You must  escape!  You must get out! You are suffering of claustrophobia. 

The world of phobias is virtually endless. A beautiful place may turn out to be a torture chamber (ecclesiophobia - fear of the church), a beautiful relationship becomes a bondage (gamophobia or fear of marriage).  Persistent phobias may graduate into syndrome.  Imagine yourself in a world where you are in constant fear of anything, everything, without any  known cause (panphobia), and worst, if that constant fear is the fear of death (thanatophobia)  
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Imagine yourself being surrounded by different kinds of merchandise like in this sari-sari store, and people milling around plus the typical irritating noise typical in a market . Is this a case of claustrophobia? Or much more? And yet vendors get used to it - and even love their work and make it a lifetime livelihood. So what is phobia?

Everyone of us has phobias, a term that has become very common nowadays. 

The truth is that many of our fears are not actually phobias. Thus a phobia may be regarded as a psychological phenomenon, personality problem, or simply anxiety, shyness, distraught. It could be the result of discrimination, prejudice, after-effect of say, a horror movie, and inability to adjust to a new situation.

Actually there are 1001 cause-and-effect cases that are attributed to phobias, and many of them are just invented terms. There is no end to the list which in the first place are not all supported by scientific evidences. 

If our world is full of phobias how come we still can manage to go on with life? And find it beautiful? Psychologists say we have the ability to rise above uncertainties and fears associated with things and events unfamiliar and strange. Our rationality and high intelligence help us in facing and overcoming them - and even forget them afterwards. This is the wonder of human will and determination.


Is there a term for phobia to cats? Cats are second to the dog as man's best friend. It is ironical that these animals are the cause of phobia, something parents and our values have to correct early with our children.

In the scientific aspect a phobia (from the Greek for fear or morbid fear) is an irrational, intense and persistent fear of certain situations, activities, things, animals, or people. The main symptom of this disorder is the excessive and unreasonable desire to avoid the feared stimulus. Phobias are generally caused by an event recorded and labeled in the brain as deadly or dangerous. Thus whenever a specific situation is approached again (and again) the body reacts as if the event were happening repeatedly afterward. In which case there is need of medical, psychiatric, or spiritual advise.

Go over this list and mark those that are applicable to you, and rate them as mild or serious. In this way you will be able to assess your fears and overcome them, on your own effort, or with professional help. There are really many phobias beyond this list. No one knows really, and if alleged phobia is an accepted term and condition. This is the consequence of living in a postmodern world.

1. acrophobia – heights
2. agarophobia – open space
3. agyrophobia or dromophobia – crossing the street
4. amaxophobia – riding in a car
5. ambulophobia – walking
6. aviophobia – fear of flying
7. androphobia – men
8. gamophobia – marriage
9. ecclesiophobia – church
10. gerascophobia – growing old
11. thanatophobia – fear of death.
12. thermophobia – fear of heat.
13. tokophobia – fear of childbirth.
14. hagiophobia – saints and holy things
15. anthophobia - flowers
16. aviophobia, aviatophobia – fear of flying.
17. hydrophobia - water (a positive sign of a mad dog)Below are some examples:
18. chemophobia – prejudice against artificial substances in favor of "natural" substances.
19. ephebiphobia – fear or dislike of youth or adolescents.
20. homophobia – fear or dislike of homosexuals or homosexuality.
21. xenophobia – fear or dislike of strangers or the unknown.
22. agoraphobia – fear of places or events where escape is impossible
23. agraphobia – fear of sexual abuse.
24. algophobia – fear of pain.
25. agyrophobia – fear of crossing roads.
26. anthropophobia – fear of people or being in a company, a form of social phobia.
27. arachnophobia – fear of spiders.
28. atychiphobia – fear of failure
29. claustrophobia – fear of having no escape and being closed in.
30. dentophobia, odontophobia – fear of dentists and dental procedures
31. disposophobia, better known as "compulsive hoarding" – the fear of getting rid of or losing things.
32. dysmorphophobia, or body dysmorphic disorder – a phobic obsession with a real or imaginary body defect.
33. genophobia, coitophobia – fear of sexual intercourse.
34. gerascophobia – fear of growing old or aging.
35. gerontophobia – fear of growing old, or a hatred or fear of the elderly
36. glossophobia – fear of speaking in public or of trying to speak.
37. gynophobia – fear of women.
38. hemophobia, haemophobia – fear of blood.
39. spectrophobia – fear of mirrors and one's own reflections.
40. nostophobia - fear of returning home
41. nyctophobia, achluophobia -   fear of darkness.
42. lygophobia, scotophobia – also fear of darkness.
43. paraskavedekatriaphobia, paraskevidekatriaphobia, friggatriskaidekaphobia – fear of Friday the 13th.
44. scolionophobia – fear of school.
45. phasmophobia – fear of ghosts, spectres or phantasms.
46. philophobia - fear of love
47. phobophobia – fear of having a phobia.
48. pyrophobia – fear of fire.
49. sociophobia – fear of people or social situations.
50. Panphobia – fear of everything or constant fear of an unknown cause. ~

After finishing this exercise, proceed to the next post: Anxiety, Phobia and Depression

NOTE: The terms mentioned here are not all recognized scientifically.  Many are not found in the dictionary. Most of these are classified psychological. Other phobias are non-psychological, fictional, jocular, biological, or simply arising from our relationships with the environment, animals and the like. Pause and reflect. Make a list of the phobias you have identified from this list and from other sources. Resolve to overcome them and live a happier and healthier life. You can do it!

References: Time magazine, Wikipedia

Smallest Plaza in the World for a Great Man - Dr Jose P Rizal

Happy 156th birthday to our national hero!
June 19, 2017
Dr Abe V Rotor

A rare photograph of Rizal in Europe in a fencing outfit. (Internet)

 

Jose Rizal monument towers over the “world’s smallest plaza,” 

at a crossroad in Guimaras Island, photos by AVR

                       This one for the Book of Guinness,

     Smallest Plaza means big,

big to a remote tiny island,

     to simple folks and toiling breed.  

It's for being remembered here, 

     the proof of greatness indeed;

more than marble and pylons high,

   our great hero is revered. ~

An Invitation to my Creator: "Please, come and have some rest."

"When lakes and rivers dry, and the sky no longer blue;
as cities grow, land fills with waste, air no longer fresh;
I pick my paint brush and colors, say a prayer or two,
and invite my Creator to come and have some rest." AVR

Mural and Verse by Dr Abe V Rotor 

Wall mural and pond, at home, QC AVR 2010

The walls I painted hills and valleys and forests, 

towering to the roof I painted blue, clouds rising, 

birds flying in flock to meet the rising sun, as fresh

as the morning air, chirping sweet songs, circling;

And below a dozen pako fish wake in the golden 

reflection of morning, eager for food and company;

I wonder if ever they feel the confines of a den,

for I have faithfully copied Rousseau's scenery.  

Dream no more I said to myself, of Paradise Regained -

It is here, in the very core of being next to the heart

and soul, this Phrygian landscape with touch of bane,

the essence of contrition and amendment for my part.

For nothing is unforgivable, that Sin inherited by us

from our ancestors - we're doomed, deprived of heaven

on earth. No! the gifts the Creator have been passed

onward, and here I created a piece of that lost Eden.

Here I see God across the wall, and above my head,

His harmonious creation over land, across the sea,

I am part of the cycle of life everyday, even in bed,

as seasons come and go, here I feel always free.

When lakes and rivers dry, and the sky no longer blue;

as cities grow, land fills with wastes, air no longer fresh;

I pick my paint  brush and colors, say a prayer or two,

and invite my Creator to come and have some rest." ~    

NOTE:  These fish locally known as pako' have now grown to nearly three kilos each  in  this garden pond starting as fry some eight years . They are related to the fearsome piranha, but are gentle and tame on the contrary. They subsist of commercial dog food and occasional vegetables like alugbati and kangkong.