Global Warming in the Garden in Three Views

Paintings by Dr Abe V Rotor

Garden in bloom is a response to drought and soaring heat, a survival mechanism 
of  species to produce progenies before they succmb to such extreme condition. 
(Acrylic on wood, AVR 2015)

The garden in glorious bloom is deceiving,
     and deceiving is beauty, too;
yet true beauty is ephemeral and fleeting,
     leaving behind a barren view.
  

Imprint of the scorching sun on a mossy wall (acrylic on wood, AVR 2015)

The scorching sun leaves its face on a garden wall,
     leaving traces of spring in early fall.

A dying pond's resting place in acrylic AVR 2015 

Gone is the pond but its bare bottom
     of detritus matter;
where once Nymphaea bloomed
    on its crystal water.

Folk Wisdom: Five tips about the table egg

Dr Abe V Rotor
Immerse eggs immediately in tap water after boiling
Submerge whole eggs for at least five minutes or until the eggs cool off.  This technique enhances removing the shell easy and clean. By the way, don't overboil. This is indicated by the  yolk. which turns dark on the outside advancing to the center.  The albumin loses its white color.  Overcooked eggs are carcinogenic. .       
 

Brown eggs are preferred over white eggs

 Brown eggs come from native fowls that subsist mainly on farm products. They are very resistant to the elements and diseases that they simply grow on the range. White eggs on the other hand, come from commercial poultry farms and are highly dependent on antibiotics and formulated feeds. Another advantage of brown eggs is that they have thicker shells. Besides, their yolk is brighter yellow as compared to that of white eggs.

Preference to natural, and organically grown, food is gaining popularity worldwide. It is because many ailments, from allergy to cancer, are traced to the kinds of food we eat. Many kinds of allergies have evolved from genetically engineered food, for which they have gained the reputation of Frankenfood, after the novel, Frankenstein by Mary Shelley, published in 1818.

Simple test of freshness of eggs
Immerse eggs in water.  Those that float or don't sttle at the bottom are stale. Discard.  Fresh eggs lie of their side at the bottom, while those that tend to stand on end are not. The air space gets bigger the older the egg gets.
  . 

Salted egg with fresh ripe tomato 

Bored with monotonous breakfast? Looking for a side dish?

Serve red eggs with fresh juicy red tomato. It's easy to prepare.  Just have a ready supply of red eggs and ripe tomatoes in the refrigerator. Lycopene, carotine and xantophyll in tomato  promote good health. Check the quality of the red egg.  Discard those showing discoloration and trace of unpleasant smell. 

Make salted eggs at home

Making salted eggs is an old technology, and most likely originated in China.

Here is an easy-to-follow procedure, the old folks’ way.

•  Mix 12 cups of clay and 4 cups of salt, adding water gradually until they are well blended.
•  Apply a layer of this mixture at the bottom of a palayok or banga.
•  Coat each egg with the mixture.
•  Arrange the coated eggs in layers, giving a space of 3 to 5 cm in between them.
•  Add the extra mixture of clay and salt on top, cover the container with banana leaves, and keep the setup in a safe and cool place.
• Try one egg after 15 days by cooking below boiling point for 15 minutes.  If not salty enough, extend storing period.
• Color eggs if desired. 

 Eggshell seed bed 
This is for your home garden.  Save whole eggshells as seedling bed of pechay, mustard, cucumber, tomato, pepper, and the like.  When ready the seedling is transplanted with the eggshell intact.  Just crack it to let the roots grow freely and reach out for water and soil nutrients in the new place wherre it has been transplanted.  .   

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TRIVIA:
"Gibba" keeps rice longer from spoilage
 Whatever is the explanation why rice cooked in a pot previously heated with a pinch of salt will not spoil fast is beyond scientific explanation. Yet it is common knowledge in the rural area.

This is what housewives do. The call the process “gibba,” literary, to heat at extreme temperature like firing clay in a furnace. Put a pinch of salt in the cooking pot - clay pot, heat until the salt disappears. Cook rice as usual in the pot. This will prevent rice from getting spoiled in a short time.

Another technique using salt is to place a pinch of it on the cover while the rice is boiling. This is shorten cooking time. (Lesson from Miss Veny Rotor of San Vicente, Ilocos Sur, supported by Tinong Viernes, April 8, 2009).

Respite with Nature

Dr Abe V Rotor

Respite with Nature in acrylic (24" x 48") AV Rotor 2015
When city living becomes prosaic and dull in the midst of so-called progress measured by affluence; when the good life doesn't bring genuine freedom and happiness - have a respite with Nature;

When you have reached the peak of your career, but you're not in good health and cheerful disposition in life; when in the midst of company you feel all alone and a stranger;  have a respite with Nature;

When you are overtaken by grief and loneliness, stranded on the low ebb of life, rise up and continue on living, and when you shall have coped up with the pace of change, slow down, look back and  have a respite with Nature;

When responsibility and accountability demand your decision and action, and the consequences are the potential hallmark of your career and person, take it as a precious challenge, but first, have a respite with Nature;

When your prayers are getting fewer, so with the answers you expected, or prayers you cry out in times of distress; when hopelessness dims your faith not only towards your Creator but your fellowmen - have a respite with Nature;

When warned of the consequences of environmental degradation, like global warming and pollution, you look up to global policies and programs,  then ask what an individual like yourself can do - have a respite with Nature;

When you don't see fireflies anymore, when neon lights subdue the stars, sunset comes early and fades away unnoticed; when you don't hear birds that accompany spring, see kites in the summer sky - have a respite with Nature;

When you can hardly differentiate natural from cosmetic beauty, function from aesthetics, work from play, ethics from morals, rich from wealthy, humor from wit, important from urgent, it's time for a retreat with Nature;

When you can find love and care in the wilderness, unity in the diversity of creation, music and poetry by a living stream, science in a dewdrop, miracle in a blade of grass - rejoice and thank Nature;

When you aim to "catch the biggest fish" in your lifetime, you are blest and ageless like in Hemingway's The Old Man and the Sea; and having caught one but receiving no trophy, found the biggest fish of all - Peace of Mind with Nature. ~
  
A pair of parrots; and a pair of hornbills (kalaw)

A cottage in the forest; fishing as a pastime

Admiring People - A Self-evaluation

In memory of Professor Rey Redroche, colleague in media and academe, and friend
Practical Exercise on Admiring People 
"Tell me the people you admire and I'll tell you who you are." 
Dr Abe V Rotor 

1. 
   

More than the definition given by most dictionaries, there is something deeper when we admire somebody.  It is a way of saying thank you, in silent gratitude.  It is modeling a person whose character has influenced us.  It is bringing back values in deference to ethics and morals, through a person (e.g., Nelson Mandela as an epitome of leadership), or a thing (e.g., Statue of Liberty). Or a significant event like the end of the Cold War. 

Author joins senior faculty members of St Paul University during a retreat at Angels Hill, Tagaytay.  From left, Prof Rey Pedroche, Dr Sel Cabigan, the author, and Dr Manny Martinez.  Admiring people is categorized into four levels, namely: 

• Admiring is emulating
• Admiring is sharing,  
• Admiring is natural and spontaneous  
• Admiring is formative (it can be improved)  

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ad·mire

ədˈmī(ə)r/ verb = regard (an object, quality, or person) with respect or warm approval. Example: "I admire your courage" 

Synonyms:

esteem, approve of, respect, think highly of, rate highly, hold in high regard, applaud, praise, commend, acclaim

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In this exercise we will focus on admiring people. Admiring is perhaps the most positive expression a person can offer.  It may be as simple as a prayer, or candid as a citation. It is emulation; it is inspiration. We live with it everyday the whole of our rational life. When we admire, our thoughts turn positive, our pulse slows down, our face shines a smile that emanates from deep inside. Because admiration comes from the heart and soul. Which is its true proof and measure.

Here is an exercise you can conduct in your class, among your peers, or in an outreach group in your community.  You can start at home. 

Procedure

With a piece of paper, ask your audience to write the names of ten persons (real), whom they most admire. This will take ten minutes.  Conduct the exercise in complete silence. Because it is an individual exercise conferring should be avoided. You may provide a suitable music background, such as Mozart music; it is therapeutic (Mozart Effect). It is conducive to reflection and analysis.  

Stop reading this article and work on the exercise.

Can you identify who these persons are? (Answer below) Bonus of one point each.  Add to your score.

Analysis 

There are five levels to which you classify the people you listed.

• great men and women, living and dead  - 5
• successful persons in their respective fields  - 4
• members of the family, other relatives - 3
• friends and colleagues - 2 
• personalities, characters, in the entertainment world - 1 

Classify each person accordingly and give his or her due score. Get the total. 

Rating 
41 - 50   You are intelligent, idealistic, optimistic, success-conscious. Admiring is emulating
31 - 40   You are also success-conscious, friendly, loving and lovable. Admiring is sharing,  
21 - 30   You are OK; you belong to the 60 percent in a population. You can get well in life and with people. Admiring is spontaneous  
20 and below You need to review what you admire in people, and what people admire in you.  Admiring is formative (it can be improved)  
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Among the most admired people of the world are Bill Gates (US, Microsoft Chairman), Vladimir Putin (Russia president), and Sachin Tendulkar (India, Cricket Player) - Sample of a survey by YouGov from 14,000 people from 13 nations whom they looked up to most. Time January 10, 2014
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Photos
Nelson Mandela (top)
James Reuter and Albert Einstein (left and right, respectively)

Test on Global Warming, True or False, 25 items)

Global warming is the concern of each and everyone of us. 
Dr Abe V Rotor
Paaralang Bayan sa Himpapawid with Ms Melly C Tenorio
738 DZRB AM, 8 to 9 pm, Monday to Friday

 Depiction of Global Warming, painting in acrylic by AV Rotor

1. Biofuels are healthy to the environment and economy especially in underdeveloped countries.

2. It is wise to store carbon waste such as from CO2 emission and coal waste deep into the earth; anyway fossil fuels have been kept the bowels of the earth for millions of years.

3. Methane has higher impact in global warming than CO2 emission, which means that animal husbandry is a major generator of global heat.

4. Greenwashing is the practice pf making environmental promises favoring hype over substance, a disparaging term usually applied to corporations such as automakers that tout new hybrids but still peddle gas-guzzling SUBS and lobby against increased-mileage requirement.

5. The ozone hole is getting bigger above the equator because of increasing heat while the ozone above the poles remains intact.

6. The hottest in household energy savings is the replacement of conventional incandescent light bulb with Compact Fluorescent Light bulb (CFL)

7. Compact Fluorescent Light bulbs may cost 2 or 3 times more than conventional light bulbs but consume only one-fourth of electricity; besides they last very much longer.

8. Planting trees, scientists tell us, is not a wise measure to curb global warming, because trees absorb the heat of the sun.

9. It is the light of the sun – not its heat – that is used to covert water and CO2 during photosynthesis to produce sugar and O2.

10. The US alone contributes 50 percent of the total annual CO2 output which is 32 billion tons.

11. The ozone hole is getting bigger above the equator because of increasing heat while the ozone above the poles remains intact.

12. China’s economy has been growing steadily at an average rate of 10 percent in the last decade, thanks to its fast growing industrialization.

13. Today’s CO2 in the atmosphere which is 379 ppm in 2005 is higher than anytime in the past 650,000 years.

14. Of the 12 warmest years on record, 11 occurred in the last 20 years, mainly from 1995 to 2004.

15. There is a new law in Japan that at least 20 percent of rooftops of buildings are made green in the like of a high rise garden – similar to what we can aeroponics.

16. Total water on earth as ice and glacier is around 2 percent.

17. Chlorine, methane, ammonia, hydrogen sulfide contribute to acid rain. Acid rain and global warming have no connection to each other.

18. Asia is the last region to clean up its cities – Orientals are not as meticulously clean as Americans and Europeans.

19. It is now accepted unanimously that industrialization is the culprit of global warming.

20. Global warming has something to do with the disturbance of the tectonic plates leading to more frequent and stronger earthquakes, tsunamis and volcanic eruption.

21. The effects of global warming are the concern of governments and big corporations because they have the power and resources to curb its effect. We, ordinary citizens, are but by-standers, but we should be willing to abide by the rules they set.

22. Penguins and white bears are drowning in the Arctic region because of the melting of ice.

23. Converting corn into ethanol requires more energy in the process than the net energy output/ produce.

24. The name Rachel Carson rings every time we talk about pollution, a subject in her book, “Silent Spring”.

25. An Inconvenient Truth is based on Earth in the Balance: Ecology and the Human Spirit , an international bestseller written by Al Gore, former vice president of the US.

Our living planet, once a Paradise, can be restored by no one but each and everyone of us.  

Test Global Warming ANSWERS:1F (competition with food and nutrition),1T, 2F, 3T, 4T, 5F, 6T, 7T, 8F, 9T, 10F (one-fourth, 11T, 12T, 13T, 14T, 15T, 16T - 1.90. Of the total freshwater (2 %), glacier and ice make up 78.19 %, 20.58 %groundwater, and 0.82% rivers and lakes, soil 0.41%; 17F, 18F, 19F (There are doubting Thomases.), 20T, 21F (It's a concern of every citizen of the world.), 22F(Penguins are found at the Antarctic), 23T(We have yet to perfect the technology; ethanol from sugarcane is more efficient.), 24T(Pesticides killed the birds that herald spring.), 25T.

RATING
24 – 25 outstanding
20 – 23 very good
16 – 19 good
12 – 15 pass
Below 11 - Listen to Paaralang Bayan sa Himpapawid and do more research.