The Many Uses of Charcoal

Dr Abe V Rotor

 The secret of good cooking and tasty food is basically in the fuel used. Pugon made pandesal, charcoal broiled fish, inasal chicken, smoked fish, smoked ham, traditional lechon, steak on charcoal, rice in clay pot - these are examples of indigenous art using wood and charcoal in cooking. This is the secret of the legendary grandmother's pie, so to speak.

Cooking with charcoal brings out the real aroma of food. It does away with smokey and gas smell in food. Charcoal cooks food at a natural pace, which makes food taste better.

Other than being the most practical and popular fuel for cooking, these are other uses of charcoal.

Charcoal is safe and effective deodorizer and dehumidifiers.
Keep a pack of charcoal inside the refrigerator to eliminate food odor, in some cases putrefying smell. Carry in the car a pack of charcoal, artistically kept in a box, to remove odor of sweat, gas, food and molds. A pack of charcoal inside the clothes cabinet, book cabinet, kitchen cabinet, and bedroom will give a clean smell. Use charcoal in clinics and schoolrooms, specially if they are newly painted. Science tells us that charcoal has the unique property of ADSORPTION, that is, it binds substances on its surface. These include fumes of paints, alkali, alcohol, acids, odors of decomposition, and even microscopic particles of carbon, spores of fungi and bacteria.

Powdered charcoal is remedy of scouring in swine.
Simply powder some pieces of wood charcoal and add to regular ration. Repeat until scouring subsides. Charcoal has natural desiccant as well as chemical properties that fight diarrhea. Anti-diarrhea medicine has charcoal as an important ingredient.

Activated charcoal is used in water filtration.
This removes bacteria and odor of drinking water. It is also used in fountain and aquarium filters. (photo)

Charcoal is added to growing medium in plant nurseries.
This is popular among orchid raisers. The idea is for the charcoal to adsorb the excess water, and release it later for the use of the plant.

Charcoal is used as insect repellant.
The practice includes adding powdered incense or resin, then train the smoke on roosting fowls to drive lice and fleas. Leaves of kamias or citrus are burnt on live coals to revive an unconscious person. It is aromatherapy. And this is how old folks fumigate their dwellings.

Today doctors, paramedics and medical centers use Activated Charcoal to –

1. Eliminate toxic by-products that cause anemia in cancer patients.
2. Disinfect and deodorize wounds.
3. Filter toxins from the blood in liver and kidney diseases.
4. Purify blood in transfusions.
5. Cut down on odors for ileostomy and colostomy patients.
6. Treat poisonings and overdoses of aspirin, and other drugs.
7. Treat some forms of dysentery, diarrhea, dyspepsia, and "foot and mouth" disease.
8. Treat poisonous snake, spider and insect bites.

In the US, activated Charcoal is part of the standard equipment on many ambulances, for use in poisonings. Mushroom poisoning, brown recluse spider bites, and snake bites can all be treated with Activated Charcoal. Doctors also use Activated Charcoal to prevent and treat intestinal infections, and as a cleansing and healing agents. Jaundice of the newborn, bee stings, poison ivy reactions, and many other illnesses can be helped with Activated Charcoal.

NOTE: While there are practical remedies using Activated Carbon for common ailments, or as part of local medical formulations, the administration of Activated Carbon to humans should be under the supervision of a medical doctor. The above list serves as a general reference only, details of which may be sourced from different scientific and medical publications, and the Internet.

References:TOTAL HEALTH Newsletter July 1998 Vol. I No. 5
ACTIVATED CHARCOAL - Uses in Modern Natural Healing;
Living with Nature, Volume 3

Old calendars don't die - only their dates

20 calendar images saved from the bin. 

Verses by Dr Abe V Rotor

Photos enhanced with Adobe Photoshop 

A loving pair, a mother and child,

every mother’s dream and father’s pride

An angel comes down to earth

disguised in song and mirth.

Beauty, thou art in sophistication queer,

lost in a myriad of love and tinge of fear.

By a wishing well deep in thought,

                                         blossoming of youth that girls sought.                                                                                                                                                                

Regal in Oriental custom in Western setting,

Oh, how we mix beauty with every little thing.

Love wakes up like flower in the morning,

bees buzzing and butterflies fluttering.

A girl no longer, her doll in the shelf,

strange this new life to know herself.

Fantasy land, all creatures are one,

children in make believe and fun.

 

A pair of hornbills on the watch, sentry of their world

against human intrusion, even in good faith and word.

 

 A young adventurer sets for the quest;

a bold future, we can only guess.

A ballerina is born, and made, too,

work of gene and practice in a duo.

Nymphs at play sans cares and worries,

envy of children in a thousand stories

In their prime, forever they are,

destined together to one star.

Peacocks in a parlor have lost their color

in lieu of fancy and make-believe valor.

Still life, artists call this subject of art;

True, they’ve ceased to be part of life.

 

These dolls and nymphs are but one

to children they’re second to none.

 

If this painting can deceive the birds to come,

real to the eye, sweet and luscious;

what greater test can beat this masterpiece

but another artist’s own views?

 

Cupid, at long last you’ve shown

this world can’t wait and I’m alone.

Her world’s still, save the waterfall

tumbling, hissing, hiding her call.

Paaralang Bayan sa Himpapawid (People's School-on-Air) Phase II enters 10th year.

Tandem with School-on- Blog boosts worldwide audience
Paaralang Bayan sa Himpapawid (People’s School-on-the-Air)

A Quest for Functional Literacy

(Phase II 2006 - present )

PBH - LNSB (Living with School on Blog) tandem boosts worldwide audience.  

Ka Abe (right) and Ka Melly (2nd from left) with technical staff: Engr. Susan Ayson and Engr Rolly Bumatayo. Not in the photo is Engr Orly Lopez.

Features of PBH:

1. The program’s thrust is functional literary which augments formal learning and general knowledge, and enriches personal and community experience.

2. PBH deals with issues consistent with the attainment of Philippine development objectives and preservation of Filipino values.

3. The program upholds norms and rules in attaining progress, peace and unity, and development of self-respect and dignity. It aims to tap the inner source of strength, and core of community cooperation.

4. PBH creates environmental awareness, teaching ways to maintain environmental balance to all sectors of society, particularly among the masses.

5. The program uses a medium of instruction in Filipino and English (Taglish) and a level of comprehension that cuts through the audience profile – school children, farmers, workers, housewives, out-of-school youth, and professionals alike.

6. PBH follows the format of easy and light lecture-discussion, and an ambiance that encourages direct audience participation. The program covers onsite lessons, interviews, and special events.

7. Reviews are conducted regularly through self-administered tests. Participants send their comments and suggestions to Radyo ng Bayan through the Internet [avrotor.blogspot.com], e-mail, letters and other means.

8. The program pursues continuing research on current issues, and felt needs of listeners, tapping the expertise and resources of experts from various organizations and institutions.

9. PBH lessons are kept on file with PBS-DZRB. Copies in CD may be available at cost upon request to re-echo lessons for schools, organizations and similar purposes.

10. Paaralang Bayan sa Himpapawid is managed by PBS-DZRB, in cooperation with experts and volunteers from different disciplines. It has a tie up with outreach programs of schools, such as UST Graduate School, University of Perpetual Help, St. Paul University System. It works closely with government agencies (e.g. DOST, DA, SSS, LBP, NFA) and 
NGOs such as Agricultural Rural Development Foundation, and Spirulina Philippines.

Ka Abe and Ka Melly. PBH won the Gawad Oscar Florendo Award for Development Communication in radio broadcast

Total Number of Sessions (Net) – 2,500 (Since May 8, 2006)
Total Hours (approximate) – 2000 hours
Average time per session - 30 to 50 Min
Current Schedule – 8 to 9 o’clock evening, Monday to Friday
Website: www.pbs.gov.ph

Topics discussed - Lessons (avrotor.blogspot.com simulcast with School on Blog)
 3,300 lessons available as needed  
Average number lessons per session - 2

General Topics Discussed (Likert Scale: 1 Seldom, 2 occasional, 3 regular 4 often, 5 very often)

1. Current Events 5
2. Science and Technology 4
3. Food and nutrition 5
4. Ecology and Environment 5
5. Agriculture and Food 5
6. Communication and Arts 4-5
7. Humanities and Applied Aesthetics 4-5
8. Morals and Ethics 3-4
9. Practical Tips for everyday living 5
10. Disaster preparedness, response and recovery 4-5
11. Medicine and Healthcare 4
12. Education and training 4
13. Economics and entrepreneurship 3-4
14. Family and Society 4-5
15. Biology and related life sciences 4-5
16. Culture and Tradition 4
17. Industry and agribusiness 4
18. Personality development 3-4
19. Politics and Religion 2
20. Lighter side of life 3-4
NOTE: These topics support the thrust of the new curriculum and the trend to revive liberal arts worldwide. 
  Audience participation
1. Internet access to lessons (DZRB-PBH and LNSB (Living with nature-School on Blog) simulcast
2. Comments on Internet Website avrotor.blogspot.com (1750 lessons posted)
PBH participants among visitors and members of blog
3. Internet e-mail – often
4. Telephone and text – often

5. Self-administered Test - Weekly

DZRB: 9203956, 9242620, 9290441
4th Floor, Philippine Information Agency (PIA) Building
Visayas Avenue, QC

Dr Abe V Rotor                     Ms Melly C Tenorio                   Alan Allanigue
Instructor                              Host-moderator                         Manager, DZRB

Update: Living with Nature - School on Blog (Jointly with Paaralang Bayan sa Himpapawid)

Thank you for your continued support in bringing  this  Functional Literacy Program to countless listeners and viewers nationwide and worldwide through this joint Internet and Radio undertaking. 

Living with Nature School on Blog provides lessons to Paaralang Bayan sa Himpapawid (People's School on Air) 738 DZRB AM Band, 8 to 9 Evening Class, Monday to Friday, with Dr Abe V Rotor as radio instructor and Ms Melly C Tenorio as host. The program is aired through the nationwide network of DZRB, and on the Internet by Philippine Broadcasting Service [www, pbs.gov.ph]

As of November 3, 2014 7:49 PM
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Note: Living with Nature is extended to two others blogs by the same author: Naturalism, the Eight sense, and A Naturalist's World - Dr Abe V Rotor. I invite you to visit these two Blogs, using their titles to access them.     

"Go forth and multiply." But how?

 Dr Abe V Rotor

1. Clue: egg mass of a kind of insect.

2. Clue: Pods of the biggest legume in the world

3. Clue: Shellfish in the wild

4. Clue: Mosaic virus of a plant family that can remain 
dormant for as long as 20 years.

5. Clue: Nitrogen-fixing nodules.

6. Clue: immature stage of housefly 

7. Clue: popularly referred to as plant lice living at the axils and
underside of leaves, 

8. Clue: saprophyte, lives on dead wood

9. Clue: pods of wild orchid

10. Clue: flower emerges separately from vegetative phase, emits foul odor to
attract flies to pollinate, scientifically Amorphophallus campanulatus.

Answers:
1. Egg mass of preying mantis, 2. seeds of acacia (dicot), 3. eggs of oyster, 4. mosaic virus of tobacco, Family Solanaceae, 5. Rhizobium bacteria of legumes  6. maggots hatched from eggs of housefly, 7. young of aphids (Aphis maydis or A. gossypii),  8. Ganoderma shelf mushroom by spores 9. seeds of a wild orchid, 10. seeds of pongapong (Amorphophallus campanulatus)

Fly on my little kite

Dr Abe V Rotor

Skillfully crafted kite made of bamboo and Japanese paper.
Entry of Leo Carlo Rotor to a kite-flying contest at UST 2006

Fly on my little kite
Ride on the wings of the wind…
Over plains and dales, 
Reach on to the heights,
Hear the whispers of the treetops,
And the secrets of the clouds.

- Sister Macarius Lacuesta, SPC
Fly on My Little Kite

Watchtower Memorial mural

Dr Abe V Rotor

Marauders from southern Philippines riding on swift gaily vintas were a constant threat in Spanish settlements in Luzon during the 400-year of Spanish regime. Here a watchtower is overrun by the invaders. Ruins of watchtowers are found as far as the Ilocos Region, more than a thousand kilometers from Muslim Mindanao. 

Plaza stage mural, San Juan, La Union. (Photo April 3, 2009)

Watchtower Memorial

Here's an artisan's masterpiece,

     living drama of heroes of old,

relived each passing day in peace

     of a legacy seldom told.

Look again, the painting's telling us,

     the past reminds us forever

of an enemy that is none but us -

     brothers pitted against one another.

Tongue and culture make no difference,

     so with the color of skin and soul,

one nation, one people in convergence,

     into a beautiful world of all. ~

Light from the Old Arch, AVR