Part 1: Yes, you can be a poet! Start writing verses. Here are ten five-liners.

Part 1: Yes, you can be a poet! Start writing verses. Here are ten five-liners.
Abe V Rotor

Get out and write.

1. Foot Bridge

I walked the bridge to its far end and beyond,
And down the river to the sea I cast my pole.
It was a fight I fought, it was no longer game,
And it was neither fish nor dream I caught.

2. Mayon Volcano

Tranquility reigns on her face, rage in her breast,
If beauty exudes best from a spring of force,
I do not wonder at the shyness of a crest,
And the power of a single rose.

3. Artisan

I touched the towering figure and I was touched,
Transported to Gulliver’s land for a moment;
To meet the maker, a simple man from the hills,
Unschooled, yet his burin sings of glorious Greece.

4. Gulliver

Pygmies make giants, for the little man dreams of what he misses.
Humble is he, painstakingly working on his stead,
Until a Genie rises from his hands, mirror of a great soul.
Lo, a pupil I am, doubting my skill, my goal.

5. Children of Nature

Summer’s short, rainy days are long,
And so brief is this imagery;
The young can’t wait, and all along
The scene a blissful memory.

6. A happy lot

For just once the world is mine
With rowdy friends and I,
Happily with a jug of wine,
Words come easy, ‘Aye, Aye!’ ”

7.The other side of progress

Through time, humanity has changed through use
Of its environment for man’s needs through abuse,
From adaptation to modernization,
All in the name of civilization.

8. Youth

Pleasance to you youth, bright as the sun;
The world be at war or be at peace.
Ask not where have all the flowers gone;
Seasons come, and seasons go at ease.

9. Rage

Rage and break, rage and break,
On the cold wall and be free;
Make the sky and the river meet
Under a rainbow by the sea.

10. Drink from my little cup

Rise up from the sea and come down as rain;
rise, rise up and be weaned, to be free;
and if one day the water of the sea is not enough,
drink, drink deep from my little cup.

(Continued)

Part 2: Yes, you can be a poet. Ten verses to study theme, medium and style.

Abe V Rotor

What has this photo do with the verse, Creation?

Develop the verse into a poem. What is your
advocacy or message to your reader?

Creation

How wonderful is creation
when we realize in a minuscule
the universality of the simple
linked to the complex,
where every living thing is part
of life’s interrelating;
like a chain, its strength
shared by each link cooperating.

2. Old Man and Waterfall

He is old now and the cataract is but a spring,
He touches the spring. Where have all the waters gone?
Yes, he sighs with relief, his gaze takes him far away,
And there the last drops of his waterfall meet the sea;
And the sea roars in gladness, roars in a thousand cheers.

3. What makes a man?

What makes a man? Ask not someone who had gone to war,
Chores backbreaking he endured out of childhood sorrow,
Ever patient with the passing and coming of seasons;
Seasoned timber, mind steeled, only to time he yields,
To the young, to the ideal, to a beautiful world.

4. Wisdom comes with age

He who nods when old is wise and deep
Save he by the fireside asleep;
How can the sun reach the hadal depth,
Where the world is cold, where love is dearth?
Hasn’t someone a bit of sun long kept?
Come, come and save the hearth.

5. Freedom

Where the sky and the rivers flow
Under the rainbow by the sea.
Let me flow with thee;
A song I sing along with you
To where the world is free.

6. Learning outside school

Lessons you teach, they don’t find in school,
No words, nor chalk, no talking tall;
Patience, patience, who waits is not a fool,
For his fish whether big or small.
When the sun is up and down -
and up again another time.

7. Brotherhood

Now I know why there is a magic carpet that flies,
For I am witness to a basin with a child,
He made himself a boat, everything he supplied.
Then there are two, three boats, and more,
Filling the pond, the ocean, the world -
Happy children, who, remembering this tale,
Call each other brethren.

8. The man who slept for 20 years

Old Rip van Winkle I’m today,
And longer did I sleep than he;
For too long had I failed to pay
Respect to this land by the sea,
And the treaty of time and me.

9. Seed

Wake up sleeping one;
The soil is fertile, the rain has come,
The fields shall bloom To feed mankind.
Wake up, stir my life, All my intellect, my faith,
That they shall blossom for love as I serve mankind.

10. Ecology Prayer

When my days are done, let me lay down to sleep
on sweet breeze and earth in the shade of trees
I planted in youth and old; and if this were my last,
make, make others live that they carry on the torch,
while my dust falls to where new life begins –
even an atom let me be with you dear Mother Earth. ~

Call of Childhood

Abe V. Rotor

A beautiful world, this scene to the young,
Faces on clouds, kites flying high,
Gleaming proud, resting on the setting sun.
While the trees sing, nests sweetly cry.

If for all the fish and Amihan breeze,
Fields aglow, the call of a songbird -
The clock should come down to hammock’s ease -
Comes a call urging to be heard.

Summer's not enough, transient is the game;
Starts with glee and ends with sigh.
Childhood soon ends, but never its aim,
Not the sky to make the li'l ones cry.

Guardians and mentors - they all before saw
The man, the child of years ago,
Sitting by the pond or climbing a bough,
His kite rising to heaven’s glow. ~

We Can Re-Create the Garden of Eden

We Can Re-Create the Garden of Eden

Dr Abe V Rotor

Arch of the Centuries and Fountain of Knowledge, University of Santo Tomas, Manila

What really make gardens beautiful may draw two schools of thought – Romanticism and Functionalism. But a typical Philippine garden for one does not take side on the issue – it portrays both schools in an integrated, harmonious design patterned after the richest and the most enviable biome on earth – the Tropical Rainforest.

And here are gardens to see - the Sunken Garden of UP Diliman QC at the back of the Oblation, and the UST Botanical Garden along España in downtown Manila. And for more extensive gardens, go to San Fernando La Union Botanical Garden in Cadaclan at the foothills of Cordillera. When picnicking at the Ninoy Aquino Parks and Wildlife Center visit the vegetation along the lakeshore.

There are striking features of a garden. For example at UST, there are man-made waterfalls.  Trace the flow on a meandering rocky stream that ducks under a footbridge before plunging into the depth of a pond, its bottom murky and cool and rich in detritus. Here clams and snails, and other bottom dwellers, mostly decomposers reside, shy from the sun and ensconced in the very food source that settles down. Such is the niche of these sessile, benthos creatures.

A Garden of Algae and Mosses

The running stream at the UP Sunken Garden keeps the environment fresh and cool, lapping on the rocks and sending spray on its banks. Small waterfalls and boulders lay along its path.  Here thick algae and mosses layer after layer form a carpet on which another niche is found - the domain of bryophytes in Lilliputian imagery, or one depicted in the movie, Honey, I Shrunk the Kids.

But the ultimate source of water is the sky, from clouds that gather and grow atop the forest.  Transpiration from trees on one hand and evaporation on the other attract clouds, pulling them down in shower or downpour at anytime of the day or night. It is for this phenomenon that this biome got its name - rainforest.

The garden’s design simulates this condition. The waterfall, streams, a large fountain and a series of ponds maintain high humidity in their environs. High humidity and continuous supply of water are crucial in the formation of multi-storey vegetation and subsequently the presence of a myriad of resident organisms.

An Evolving Ecosystem

It may take years for a new garden to approximate the structure of a typical rainforest. In the process visitors may not be aware of the slow transformation, one sere after another until a climax community is formed, a true measure of it is homeostasis or dynamic balance. The scientific and aesthetic aspects are interesting to study. Inference can be drawn on the viewpoint of ethico-morals that governs man of his role in God’s creation – and the transformation of man himself as one good and faithful steward of the environment.

A botanical garden is thus transforming deliberately like an evolving ecosystem. It is Nature’s laboratory and a playing field of biological diversity.

Drynaria fern on a tree in acrylic AVR

Biological Diversity

1. As a field laboratory the garden demonstrates ecological cycles – invasion, colonization, competition, and emergence of dominant species, as well as seasonal and long-term succession patterns. We may not have the four distinct seasons, but there are tropical trees that demonstrate some temperate characteristics carried by their ancestral genes, such as the deciduousness of narra (Pterocarpus indicus) and talisay (Terminalia catappa) simulating trees in the temperate region that completely lose their leaves at the onset of winter.

2. The garden is a living manifestation of dynamic balance in a changing environment with the organisms constantly adjusting to the demands of the latter, but at the end they also change the environment itself. The transformation process or seres always leads towards homeostasis and the result is the formation of a climax ecological system.

3. As a showcase of natural habitats, the garden adjusts to the development of niches and diversity indices. The garden never sleeps, so to speak. It is an arena and the drama of life goes on and on.

Energy Flow

4. When we look at life, we look at it in the realm of physics and chemistry – the flow of energy through the food chain, food web and their hierarchic order, the food pyramid. The light energy of the sun is transformed into chemical energy by plants through photosynthesis, and is passed on one after another through the links of a chain until the remaining energy reaches the ultimate member – the decomposers that transform organic substances back into inorganic forms so that the next generation of organisms can start all over again. We can  witness this among the residents in the pond, and among insects, arachnids, birds, reptiles, and others that inhabit the garden.

Plant Physiology and Animal Behavior

5. The garden demonstrates physiologic responses of plants - tropisms or reactions to light, touch, and the other elements on one hand, and animal behavior on the other. Why do plants grow tall, while others do not - even if they belong to the same species? Where do toads and frogs hide in summer? How do they survive without food and extreme hot and arid condition?

Dragonflies hover low before a rain. A preying mantis resembles the leaf or flower on which it waits for its prey. These and many more demonstrate intelligence among animals.

6. There are biological indicators of the state of the environment. The garden has a host of these indicators such as lichens and fireflies. The presence of both attest to the pristine condition of the environment and clean of air around. The garden itself is a barometer of El Niño. There are bamboo species that produce flowers at the onset of the cyclical phenomenon.

Balete trees atop a church ruin, Magsingal Museum, Ilocos Sur.

Gene Bank

7. The garden is a sanctuary of wildlife. In spite of the crowded environment and high-rise buildings around, a garden is always with butterflies. Some people say, if you see butterflies there must be a garden nearby. It is because the garden is their natural abode with plants they feed on and rear their young. The ponds and streams are a sanctuary of dragonflies as well, and their waters teem with both phytoplankton and zooplankton that students in biology can study with the use of microscope.

8. As a gene bank, the garden is a depository of biological diversity, providing access to genetic studies, propagation and exchange with other institutions. A garden must aim at expanding its collection of species, even those that are thought to be weeds and volunteer plants. In many ways nature is the principal architect of biodiversity. Birds, water and wind carry seeds into the garden. When we design the garden we follow Nature rules. For example, plants are classified according to water regime, type of growth, sunlight requirement, seasonality, etc.

9. In another article I wrote, I mentioned about the garden as a microcosm of the biosphere, the pond a minuscule of a lake – and now, the new the garden is a replica of the Tropical Rainforest.

10. This miniature replica of a Tropical Rainforest, where living organisms – macroscopic and microscopic – live in a state of unity and harmony is man’s way of redeeming a lost Paradise. There is more than just romanticism and functionalism, not even human imagination can describe it. Indeed we can re-create a Garden of Eden is some little corner of the Earth, the greatest offering we can make to the Creator who gave us the capacity to build it. ~

Environment: Bacteria are getting more and more resistant to antibiotics

Structure of a typical bacterial cell. Photo credit: Biology of Microorganisms Prentice-Hall

Dr Abe V Rotor

When Alexander Fleming discovered antibiotics in the early 19th century, the world rejoiced on this wonder drug that was to become the most effective cure against infection – from skin inflammation to tuberculosis.

What is this wonder drug, antibiotics? Antibiotics refers to any material that destroys or inhibits the growth of pathogens. It may be derived from fungi such as Pennicillin notatum, the mold Fleming accidentally found, to natural substances present in plants such as allicin and aliin in garlic, Allium sativum. Today antibiotics are available in many kinds and brands, many of which have the ending “mycin” like streptomycin and erythromycin.

Antibiotics saved countless lives during the Second World War. It brought hope to patients suffering of then incurable diseases such as venereal diseases, small pox and leprosy.

When antibiotics were first used as chemotherapy following successful experiments against infectious diseases, the problem of creating antibiotic-resistant bacteria was never considered seriously. The fact is that bacteria, like other organisms, have the ability to develop resistance against certain substances, especially if these are repeatedly used. This is the same principle to explain the buildup of immunity of insects to insecticide, thus next time you spray mosquitoes or cockroaches, you `need a higher concentration – or a more potent pesticide.

Biological Specialization

Imagine a population of bacteria crowding an injured tissue. Ideally the application of an antibiotic will wipe out the entire population. But this is not so. In the process there are survivors. These survivors pass on their acquired resistance to their progeny. To eradicate them you need to apply a dose higher that the previous one - or shift to another kind that is more potent. As this is repeated over and over, one can imagine the amount of resistance gained by the bacteria.

Thus we hear doctors prescribing higher dosages, say from 200 to 400 mg per dose, or extending the treatment of the disease. In many occasions doctors prescribe different antibiotics that are purposely more potent. Today we know of “second generation” antibiotics that offer the solution to bacteria, which can no longer be treated, by the antibiotics in the first generation or penicillin group.

Self- Medication Creates Resistant Bacteria

The emergence of resistant microbes is exacerbated by self-medication since many antibiotics are available over the counter. Any symptom of infection, whether viral or bacterial, is immediately confronted with antibiotics.

Wrong. Antibiotics are not effective against viruses. They are designed principally against bacteria. Therefore, influenza cannot be treated with antibiotics; it is the secondary infection by bacteria that the doctor targets when administering antibiotics. And there is a prescribed dosage for it and period of treatment. The condition of the patient at this time makes him prone to bacterial infection that principally attacks the respiratory system.

Media is part to blame for the overuse and misuse of antibiotics.

Imagine an advertisement showing the helplessness of patients who are not attended immediately with antibiotics. A scratch needs antibiotics. Sore eye for whatever is the cause must be treated with antibiotics. Zealousness over sanitation in the office, home, hospitals, includes the use of many kinds of germ-killing compounds and materials. Antibiotics are part of our every life. I overhead some guys taking antibiotics before spending a night in the red district. It is as if the prefix, anti, is an assurance of protection.

Mechanics of Resistance Acquisition

The rapidly increasing incidence of drug resistance is now recognized worldwide as a serious threat to the treatment of life-threatening infections in both humans and animals. Antibiotic resistance can emerge as a result of genetic change and subsequent selection process through the use of anti-microbial drugs. The initial appearance of a resistant bacterium in a susceptible population is often caused by mutation in a single bacterial gene. The frequency of such initial mutation may be low, occurring at a rate of one mutation in a population of several millions.

However, other bacteria can become antibiotic resistant at a much higher frequency merely by acquiring a gene from a bacterium that is already resistant. The genes for resistance can be transmitted or passed on from one organism to another by transformation, conjugation and transduction.

To illustrate, here are the three phases of development of resistant bacteria.

(A)

Mutation of a single gene in one member

of a population of millions of bacteria

(B)

A bacterium can acquire the mutant gene

(C)

The gene for resistance can be transmitted pr passed on from one

organism to another by transformation, conjugation or transduction

By all means let's maintain good health because good health is the most effective and practical assurance against disease. Let us not resort to self-medication, and this includes all kinds of medicine. The necessity of taking antibiotics is determined only by a medical doctor.

Resistant Bacteria in Gastro-intestinal Tract of Meat Eaters

If you are a meat eater, chances are you are harboring bacteria that are resistant to antibiotics.

In her doctoral dissertation at the University of Santo Tomas, Vicky Concepcion Mergal found out that drug-resistant strains of Enterobacter and Escherichia coli found in the gastrointestinal tract is related indirectly to ingestion of meat conditioned to antibiotics, or its combined effect with exposure to medication in cases of infectious diseases. How do we explain this findings?

The respondents in the study of Dr. Mergal are of two categories. One group consists of vegetarians and the other group of non-vegetarians or regular meat eaters. For the first group, the incidence of finding drug-resistant bacteria is very little. But in the second group – the meat eaters – the existence of drug resistant Enterobacter and E. coli is high.

The root cause: overuse of antibiotics in poultry and sivestock

Dr. Mergal’s adviser, Dr. Irineo Dogma, has the explanation why there is higher incidence of bacteria in the gastrointestinal tract of non-vegetarians because of their intake of meat. As a background to this contention, poultry, hogs and livestock are given consistently high ration of antibiotics in their feeds. This is to safeguard the animals from possible outbreak of diseases, which are a threat to business. Imagine a whole ranch wiped out by foot-and-mouth disease, or a battery of chicken with corriza, or a commercial piggery with scouring. Huge investments must therefore be protected with antibiotics even if the animals do not actually need it. It is because they have their own defense mechanism - natural immunity.

Resistance to antibiotics among bacteria is built this way. Repeatedly, more and more of these resistant strains develop, thus necessitating further increase in antibiotic dosage, or change to more potent antibiotics. What happens to the residue of the antibiotics in the body of the animal, or in eggs and milk?

Residual Antibiotics in Bad to Our Health

When we eat the meat, eggs and milk we are introducing into our body the antibiotic residues that our body does not need. In fact, its presence makes our immune system idle, so to speak. In the event that the supply of antibiotic residues stops, we become predisposed to infection and related kinds of disease because of the presence of resistant bacteria in our body. This explains the findings of Dr. Mergal, as well as the puzzling high rate of death due to infection – in spite of antibiotic treatment.

This leads us to recall the term, superbacteria and superbugs. These are the doings of man, his interference with nature, and abuses often in the guise of progress. I have the inkling that nature has its own ways of dealing with the folly and abuses of man, and one of them is the emergence of resistant organisms that threatens man himself. ~

Environment and Health: Perk Up Your Love Life

Environment and Health: 

Perk Up Your Love Life

Dr Abe V Rotor 

Keep tradition alive - it adds quaintness to love life

1. A natural clock governs every person in his system. This is often referred to as biological rhythm. Although there is a general plan on how this internal clocks works, no two persons are tuned in to the same pattern - not even husband and wife. Try to live by your own biorhythms and learn to adjust with those of our partner.

2. Recognize your moods and energies that change with the time of the day and night, with months and seasons.

3. Lovemaking is mutually fulfilling when both partners have synchronized biorhythms. Generally human body is dynamic that it can reset itself daily and adapt to the changes in the environment.

4. The foundation of a full and sustained sex life is made up of proper diet, avoidance of toxic materials and vices, a regular physical exercise regime, positive attitude, adherence to morals and culture norms. Love and sex is a celebration on top of a pyramid built on this foundation.

5. Food, Rest, Exercise and sunlight = Health (FRESH). This formula is easy to remember. Watch out for the food that you take. Eat health foods, and avoid those in the list of Don’t Eat which your family doctor gave you. A vegetarian is healthier and lives longer.

6. There is no substitute to adequate sleep. Maintain a healthy sleeping habit. Take a rest between heavy schedules, and avoid buildup of tension. Relax. Exercise regularly within your natural capacity. Do not over exercise. .

7. Sunlight perks you up, breaks monotony, and takes out the blues in your life. It makes us closer to nature, and takes us to outdoor adventure. All these make a happy love life with your partner.

8. Sexual expression is not restricted to estrus periods or seasons of the year. Humans have the ability to match their sexual desires with their moods and feelings. Hormones influence, but not dictate, sex life.

9. Meaningful spiritual love and emotional feelings multiply the ecstasy of physical pleasure.

10. A woman’s menstrual cycle dictates her sexual moods. They feel sexiest at the midpoint of their menstrual cycle.

11. There are people who are sexier in the morning than at night. There are also those who feel sexier in summer than during cool months, or vice versa.

12. There are times when men become sexier and this is indicated by rapid growth of their beard.

13. Studies show that the most active time for sexual activity is in the evening, but lovemaking at this time is poor since the androgens (love hormones) are low. (They are highest between 8 to 12 a.m., and lowest at 6p.m.) Evening is convenient to most working people. If this is not enough, make up for it during weekends.

14. Reduce meal size as the day progresses and avoid high calorie snacks in the evening. But do not skip breakfast or lunch. Carbohydrates help calm and focus the mind. Protein food boosts mental energy, but avoid fatty foods when you want to be mentally alert.

15. When planning out an active evening, like going to a concert, holding a party, or having a date, reduce your dinner, with protein food preferred over fatty and carbohydrates food. Coffee makes you awake, and drinking may delay your regular bedtime or makes you fall asleep. If you want to wake up refreshed and alert do not take alcohol in the evening before.

16. An enduring and fulfilling love life is one that is shared together by husband and wife. Here are the basic elements essential to a lifelong relationship: trust and confidence, empathy (feeling with the other person), marriage (sex outside marriage cannot remain meaningful and does not usually last).

17. Stay in touch with your creative side. Use your right brain – the seat of creativity – more often. Let your left brain – the seat of reason – rest for a while. Paint, draw, write verses, sing.

18. Sex can become monotonous especially with modern life. Many people find little time to express tender love with sex. They employ a number of ways to vary their sexual expression as not merely satisfying a desire, feeling relieved and exhausted afterward - or just for the sake of giving in to their partner. Many more miss the spiritual element of lovemaking, whereby the act is a means to sustain a passionate emotion from which follow exhilaration, and a great feeling of satisfaction.

19. Share your jokes. Laughing together is a great bonding experience. Start a casual conversation or talk with a joke. Diffuse the electric atmosphere. Break the ice, so to speak with humor.

20. Laugh together. Light up the years. Reinvigorate. You can be young again. It is in the heart. Make up for the lost time you should have been together as a couple. Have a date, perhaps a second honeymoon, now that the children are at their own.

Living with Nature 3, AVR. Reference, Love, Life and Nutrition by B Jensen

Lesson on former Paaralang Bayan sa Himpapawid with Ms Melly C Tenorio
738 DZRB KHz AM Band 8 to 9 evening Monday to Friday

Cockroaches eat on anything - almost.

Abe V Rotor

American cockroach (Periplaneta americana)

Being omnivorous, cockroaches voraciously consume all kinds of materials that are rich in carbohydrates, proteins, fats and oils.

But when these are not available they turn to unlikely food sources like soap, photographic film, clothes, wood and even drugs. In fact they even turn into predators, devouring other insects, and sometimes biting people in their sleep. Their bite often gets swollen and infected. Cockroaches are found in all places where humans live and conduct his trade, commerce and industry. Only rats can be compared with the tenacity of the cockroach.

The cockroach has very powerful digestive enzymes: proteases digest protein, invertase breaks complex sugar, and amylase breaks starches. Its saliva contains powerful enzymes coming from the gastric caeca, while the Malphigian tubules secrete an enzyme that is equally disgusting. It is no wonder that just a single drop of frass (feces) can spoil a whole pot of rice by its obnoxious smell.

By the way there are three most common species that we encounter in the home and public places.

• American cockroach or Periplaneta americana (large, rust red with a yellow band across its thorax),
• German cockroach or Blatta germanica (pale yellow, only one-third the size of the American species) and
• Oriental cockroach or Blatta orientalis (dark brown to black, the biggest and filthiest of all cockroaches.)

Meticulous sanitation is the best way to get rid of cockroaches. To keep their population down, sprinkle carbamate (Sevin) on the kitchen floor, pathways and possible hideout of the pest, preferably before retiring at night. Keep doors and screens properly closed to prevent entry of the insect.

Sweep the dead cockroaches, and leave the powder for another day or two - or until you don't find any dead cockroach in the morning.

Cockroaches are eco-indicators. Their presence speaks of untidy condition of the place. ~