Tuesday, August 30, 2016

Asking for a Raise

Dr Abe V. Rotor
Living with Nature School on Blog
Paaralang Bayan sa Himpapawid with Ms Melly C Tenorio
738 DZRB AM Band, 8 to 9 evening class, Monday to Friday

Here is a story about Pedro and Jose which 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.

“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. It was Jose who promptly rose from his seat to attend to the visitor at the gate. After a while he returned and reported.

“The 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 not need his offer at 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.

Thanks for the drawing, from Simple People, Internet

Sunday, August 28, 2016

As you aspiring to be a journalist?

Dr Abe V Rotor

This article is dedicated to the father and pillar of Philippine
journalism: Teodoro or "Ka Doroy" Valencia (center). His
column Over a Cup of Coffee shaped the thinking of his
readers, and influenced the decisions of leaders in his time.  

Like "Ka Doroy" an aspiring journalist must -
1.      Be inquisitive
2.      Be constant in his purpose
3.      Be fair and balanced
4.      Be genuinely interested in people
5.      Seek the truth
6.      Be resourceful
7.      Have guts
8.      Master his grammar
9.      Know his medium
10.    Read, read and read.

Above all, he must be God-fearing, compassionate, and true to his country and fellowmen. And uphold journalism as a profession and institution. 

Based on the lecture by Dr Abe V Rotor on journalism, UST Faculty of Arts and Letters


Spolarium and the Gods

Dr Abe V Rotor
Living with Nature School on Blog
Paaralang Bayan sa Himpapawid (People's School-on-Air) with Ms Melly C Tenorio
738 DZRB AM Band, 8 to 9 evening class, Monday to Friday

Spolarium by Juan Luna, National Museum Manila
Spolarium - how well meant,
and remembered in Juan Luna's vision -
the Gladiators, whose death and surrender
brought ruin to a great nation
and rebirth of another.

In Iliad and Odyssey
the gods bestow on men honor
the lives of those in another Kingdom,
just once and nothing more,
leading mortals to doom.~

Thursday, August 25, 2016

Be vigilant! Don't be a victim of unscrupulous trade practices.

Dr Abe V Rotor 
Living with Nature - School on Blog [avrotor.blogspot.com]
Paaralang Bayan sa Himpapawid with Ms Melly C Tenorio
738 DZRB AM 8 to 9 Evening Class, Monday to Friday 


 Wa-is, coming from the word wise, is the local parlance to describe a person who puts one over his fellowmen. It is taking advantage of others of their situation,


Be sure you know what goes into your coffee. It may be adulterated with ipil-ipil seeds. Likewise, chocolate may contain road dust as filler. Papaya seeds mixed with black pepper is not uncommon. Peanut butter comes from broken and immature seeds; bagoong and patis from unsold fish at the end of the day.

1. Coffee may be adulterated with ipil-ipil (Leucaena glauca) seeds. The seeds contain mimosin that retards growth and causes baldness.

2. Broken and inferior peanut is ground into peanut butter. It is high in aflatoxin which causes cirrhosis and cancer. Healthy nuts are sold whole peanut.

3. It is the culled piglets (bansot) that are made into lechon. The robust ones are grown for meat.




4. Papaya seeds are mixed with black pepper. They look similar.

5. Inferior quality fruits such as strawberry, orange and mango are made into jam and puree.

6. Ordinary milkfish (bangos) is passed on as prized Bonoan bangus from Dagupan. The lower tail of Bonoan bangos is shorter than the other tail.


7. Unscrupulous traders add water and salt to bagoong and patis to increase their volume.

8. Premium grade fruits are arranged on top of kaing (basket); inside are of inferior grade.

Generic medicine is all right if guaranteed by DOH. Branded medicine is expensive, and capitalizes on its brand.

9. Ordinary rice is mixed with premium rice, and passed on as premium grade.

10. Cabbage grown on the lowlands of Ilocos is brought up to Baguio and passed on as Baguio cabbage which commands a higher price.

11. Before a large animal like cow is sold to the auction market it is first bathed with patis to make its body to swell and appear fat. This is a malpractice observed in Padre Garcia, Batangas, the biggest animal auction market in the Philippines.

12. Tomatoes are forced to ripe when price is high, This is done by uprooting the whole plant laden with fruits and hang it upside down until all the fruits, including the immature ones, are "ripe."

13. Immediately after the Chernobyl nuclear accident fallout-tainted milk found its way to the Philippines. The huge shipment was impounded pending investigation. When the investigation was over, to the surprise of not everyone, milk was gone. To the amazement of housewives - powdered milk and polvoron became so suddenly cheap!




14. Double dead is not a new term. This is meat from already dead animals - poultry and livestock sold clandestinely. It is prevalent during foot-and-mouth epidemic for livestock, and corriza for poultry, usually in the summer months.

How do you if an egg is fresh? Immerse in water. Fresh egg settles on its side at the bottom.
15. Check expiration date, also date of manufacture. If there is none - erased or altered - don't buy the commodity. This is specially true to canned goods, bakery products, and other perishable products. Check date of harvesting or slaughter for fresh items. There may be frozen food long overdue for disposal.

16. The most rampant trade malpractice is short selling. Watch out those weighing scales on the sidewalk. You pay for three kilos lanzones when the actual weight is only two. Translate this to bigger volumes.

17. Frozen dressed chicken? After thawing, it shrank by a quarter. So with fish. Sometimes water is injected before freezing.

18. Formalin is added to ice water to preserve fish. Any trace of formalin is enough warning. But not so many people can detect it.

19. Kalamay sa ba-o. How do we know if it's really filled? This is where trust of a suki comes in.

20. Food coloring makes food and drink attractive and inviting. Many food dyes are carcinogenic.

21. Over packaging (e.g. tupig is wrapped with layers of banana leaves, so with carabao cheese, puto and the like. Too much and elaborate packaging is part of selling strategy. It makes the item real expensive.



The cost of mineral water is 70 percent for the container, and 30 percent for the content. Which makes it the most expensive water in the world! It’s even more expensive than premium gasoline.

22. Davao pomelo, Zambales mango, Laguna lanzones,

23. Nakatikim ka na ba ng kinse aƱos? (Referring to a 15-year old wine). It's a lie; a viable business can't let money sleep that long. And how about the hidden indecency of the message? Would you patronize the product?

24. Made in USA, Made in Japan, But the components of the appliance are made in China. German Design, but locally made. "USA" Translation: Deer

25. Dilution = More Profit, in shampoo, washing detergents, softdrink, fruit juice, whiskey, brandy, rubbing alcohol, perfume, gurgle. We may be buying "water" and least of the product.

26. Fillers in toothpaste, detergents, cosmetics, etc. Breaded fried chicken, fish to make them look bigger - and cheaper.

27. Sale! Sale! Be aware of the original price, and find out if it's really sale.

28. Advance payments. Payment-in-kind. Wholesale price, factory price (really?),
No exchange no return. The customer is always right. I mean, the right of the customer.

29. Smuggled? contraband (guns)? Stolen? Regulated (drugs)? Fenced? The customer must know the law. Ignorance is no excuse. Don't fall victim of illegal activities.

30. Book Cover Syndrome. We are in an age of aesthetic design. Of beautiful facade. Of first impression. Of idol endorsers, of the "in" thing. "Contemporary" means now; tradition is passe. Futurism (Lady Gaga), gender insensitive (Charice).

Don't fall into the tender trap of consumerism. Impulse buying, psychological appetite. Restraint, restraint.

These and many more practices attest to the negative traits of some Filipinos - and other nationalities as well. It is by knowing these unscrupulous trade practices that we are forewarned. "To be forewarned is to be forearmed."
     

Wednesday, August 24, 2016

Landscape Paintings and Poetry


Dr Abe V Rotor

 
All in a day's work and play, AVR

Going home at the end of day the sweetest hour;
all creatures heed to Nature's call;
Humblest indeed our prayer of thanksgiving
as the curtain begins to fall.    
A valley of peace and bounty,  AVR

Not a valley of lament, of sorrowful state,
and never to surrender to death;
it all depends who makes life to such fate,
believing to his last breath. 
  
Rivulets to streams comb the hills, AVR

 The beginning of the great Nile lies somewhere
on the glaciers of Mount Kilimanjaro;
Hemingway wrote in the like of an idea untold, 
 emerging, converging, to be true.
 
Downstream, AVR 

I was lost in the middle of a forest 
hidden by fog to its crest;
trees blocked my path, my sight;
t'was a stream I owe my life.


Cliff, AVR

A watchtower of my ancestors I revisited; 
once green and sacred,
now bare and empty, I found it instead,
a history of the dead.  

Angling and loafing, AVR

The fish I caught may be small and few,  
 but I am happiest though;
more than the flowing stream that I knew
many great ideas grew. 
Sitting Boat AVR

Wonder the fisherman at sundown,
his boat  by the bay sits;
to sea the whole night he's bound,  
while the world sleeps
Rainforest sentinel AVR

Stately and colorful like a king,
the cockatoo is lord of the realm;
greet and he will echo your call,
and will follow to the screen.

Sunday, August 21, 2016

Home, Sweet Home - 50 Ways

"Home provides gives us the sense of belonging and comfort. Home takes the cold out of the body and spirit."
Dr Abe V Rotor
Living with Nature School on Blog
Paaralang Bayan sa Himpapawid (School-on-air) with Ms Melly C Tenorio
DZRB 738 KHz AM Band, 8 to 9 o'clock in the evening,
Monday to Friday www.pbs.gov.ph

Home on the Farm in acrylic by the author, 1999  
Here is a beautiful poem to start the lesson. In the movie, The King and I, Anna the English teacher sang the theme of the song, Home Sweet Home. It was typical in her time when Europeans left their homes and became pioneers in the New World, which was to become the United States of America. Others found the Orient, and for Teacher Anna, it was a special arrangement for her to serve the King of Siam (Thailand) as tutor to his  children.


Home Sweet Home
John Howard Payne
Music by Henry Rowley Bishop (1786-1855)
(Arranged for the violin and piano by Henry Farmer)


‘Mid pleasures and palaces though we may roam,
Be it ever so humble, there’s no place like home;
A charm from the sky seems to hallow us there,
Which seek through the world, is ne’er met with elsewhere.
Home, Home, sweet, sweet Home!

An exile from home, splendor dazzles in vain;
O, give me my lowly thatched cottage again!
The birds singingly gaily, that came to my call –
Give me them – and the peace of mind, dearer than all.
Home, Home sweet, sweet Home.
There’s no place like Home! There’s no place like Home!


There are 101 definitions of home. Here is a short list, compliled from our radio audience and website visitors.

1. Home is a roof for everyone, residents and guests.
2. Home is a wall with large windows that let the sun and the breeze in.
3. Home is where fish in the aquarium sparkle in the morning’s sun.
4. Home is a baby smiling, of children playing.
5. Home is a faithful husband and wife.
6. Home is a “place for everything and everything in its place,” but not always.
7. Home is dad and mom waiting for us from school.
8. Home is a workshop for hobbies and inventions.
9. Home is where our dog lies on the doormat waiting for its master.
10. Home is a litter of puppies and kittens.
11. Home is a rooster crowing, nature’s alarm clock.
12. Home is a house lizard’s crispy announcement of a guest coming.
13. Home is a frog croaking in the rain.
14. Home is a safari of wildlife – from insects to migratory birds.
15. Home is a warm embrace of a cat.
16. Home is a cup of coffee, a sip of wine, a newspaper.
17. Home is a warm bath, a cold shower, a bath tub.
18. Home is National Geographic, Time Magazine, Daily Inquirer.
19. Home is ripe tomato, succulent radish, dangling stringbeans,
20. Home is a brooding mother hen in her nest.
21. Home is fresh eggs everyday.
22. Home is the sound of birds and crickets.
23. Home is the sweet smell of flowers, falling leaves, swaying branches in the wind.
24. Home is the sweet smell of the earth after the first rain in May.
25. Home is a singing cicada in the tree.
26. Home is a swarming of gamugamo in the evening.
27. Home is a sala too small for so many friends.
28. Home is a cabinet of books, a study table, a computer.
29. Home is Beethoven, Mozart, Abelardo, Santiago.
30. Home is Charlotte Church, Josh Groban, Sharon Cuneta.
31. Home is Amorsolo. Picasso, Van Gogh.
32. Home is potpourri of appetizing recipes, of the proverbial grandmother apple pie.
33. Home is pinakbet, lechon, karekare, suman, bibingka.
34. Home is a garden of roses, a grass lawn to lie on.
35. Home is an herbarium of plants, a gene bank.
36. Home is home for biodiversity, a living museum.
37. Home is doing repair that has no end.
38. Home is disposing old newspapers, bottles, metal scraps, used clothes.
39. Home is a midnight candle before an exam.
40. Home is a shoulder, a pillow, to cry on.
41. Home is Noche Buena.
42. Home is fireworks on New Year.
43. Home is general cleaning on weekends.
44. Home is a soft bed that soothes tired nerves and muscles.
45. Home is a fire place, a hearth, which takes the cold out of the body and spirit.
46. Home is a Prodigal Son returning, Good Samaritan.
47. Home is a round table where thanksgiving prayer is said.
48. Home is laughter and music, prose and poetry.
49. Home is forgiving, rejoicing, celebrating.
50. Home is angelus and rosary hour.

To sum it all, Home is Home Sweet Home.~

Friday, August 19, 2016

Dita, the tallest tree in Manila, a living sentry that reminds us, "Only God can make a tree."

It is home of insects and reptiles, foothold of orchids, ferns and lianas, abode of birds that celebrate life with their young and beautiful songs.  
Dr Abe V Rotor 


Dita (Alstonia scholaris) the biggest member of the Apocynaceae family stands overlooking the sprawling UST campus and its environs,

Older than most structures except the main building, it rises with the tower cross, sharing the lofty height  from afar, on the front and back.  

Scarred by war and by fire it is a veteran of events in history, witness to the university's many activities and celebrations, . 

While graduates pass through the Arch of the Centuries, this tree stands firm and proud; it is a sentry, a guardian, and a symbol, too.  

Its crown is the biggest umbrella on the campus, filtering the sun, the dust and rain; it captures carbon and gives off oxygen in turn.   

It captures the fog into morning mist, and makes a rainbow with the showers, and cushions the sun set into gentle breeze and subdued gray.   

It does not respond to autumn even if other trees lose their leaves and gain a new crown; instead it retains its canopy green. 

It is home of insects and reptiles, foothold of orchids, ferns and lianas, abode of birds that celebrate life with their young and beautiful songs.   

And when it is winter in cold countries, it is time for its pods to mature, popping out myriads of tiny lints like parachutes that float in the air. 

And children run after them like snowflakes, and wish like wishing upon a star -  and strangely lints daintily fall into their palms.  

The dita wakes up earlier than anyone else on the campus, sings with the carillon, and joins the whispers and laughter on the campus.

The day ends just like any day, the campus sleeps - and there stands a silhouette that reminds us, "Only God can make a tree." ~   

   

Thursday, August 18, 2016

Are mosses and lichens Nature's compass in the forest?

If so, then this is a survival tool when one gets lost in a tropical rainforest.

Dr Abe V Rotor  
Living with Nature School on Blog
Paaralang Bayan sa Himpapawid (People's School-on-Air) with Ms Melly C Tenorio
738 DZRB AM Band, 8 to 9 evening class Monday to Friday

Lichen and moss on trees.  On-the-spot painting by the author in
acrylic, La Union Botanical Garden, AVR 2003


I know birds and insects,
by your weird look (reffering to the moss and lichen) would turn away,
but not the lost and weary;

living crust, callous and cankerous,
surreptitiously coy and shy,
creatures just pass you by;

made of fungus and alga symbionts
living as one in harmony,
classical model of unity;

so with the moss creeping on a host tree,
growing freely with pride,
though less on the sheltered side;

nature's compass for all seasons,
as the earth on its tilted axis
both prefer to grow on the northeast;

for many lost souls in the green prison
find freedom at long last;
bless you benevolent living crusts. ~

NOTE:  In the northern hemisphere moss prefers to grow on the north side, while lichen on the south side of tree trunks and rocks in a forest. This pattern is the opposite in the southern hemisphere. 

The underlying reason is traced to the tilting of the earth that results in differential sunlight exposure.  Certain scientists believe that moss is favored by less sunlight and more supply of water. Whereas lichen - a symbiosis of algae (photosynthetic) and fungi (saprophytic) - is favored with more sunlight and moderate moisture. Hence the pattern as claimed.

My view is that, this rule may not hold true in all cases.  In fact it is my observation that both moss and lichen have the tendency to grow as one community - together with their host tree, other organisms notwithstanding.  They are appreciably more abundant on the north side of trees in the northern hemisphere. Moss and lichen share a kind of mutualistic relationship that discourages direct competition.

This is a good research for biology and ecology, particularly in the graduate school. Or, why don't you work on it  and share your findings in your school and community.  

Are mosses and lichens Nature's compass in the forest?
Bedroom is where we spend a third of our life.  Maintain it properly.
Dr Abe V Rotor
Living with Nature - School on Blog
Paaralang Bayan sa Himpapawid with Ms Melly C Tenorio
738 DZRB AM 8 to 9 Evening Class, Monday to Friday
Typical Bedroom.  Can you identify it features? (Follow the numbers)


The bedroom is where we spend one third of our life resting and finding recourse from the stressful world outside.

It is a shell call our own. It is where we truly exercise authority over things private and personal, things we are prevented for one reason or another to do in the presence of people.

It is a special place, exclusive and intimate, to submit ourselves to two primordial needs of man, which is Maslow's Herarchy of Needs, are referred to as biological needs attached to survival of any species - rest and sex. It is therefore the sanctuary of two functions of living things: rejuvenation and reproduction.

But too often, the bedroom is one of the neglected places in the home. If not, it "misused and abused."

The one place we least expect to find dirt in is under our bed.

Here clouds of talc powder settle down, particles slowly crumble from paper, paint, plastic, clothes and foam as they slowly disintegrate. Flakes that fall off daily from our skin and hair attract countless mites that co-habit with us in our room. Wiping and sweeping often miss them stuck in corners and crevices.

We sneeze as if struck by an allergy. Our nostrils clog and we mistake our misery for colds. Our sleep is shallow and disturbed. When humidity is high our room smells musky. Imagine how bad the smell is for those who are bed smokers.

Many of us are living in this kind of room. While we can hide dirt under the rug, we cannot hide the dirt under our bed.

Allergy-proofing the bedroom
  • Keep pets out.
  • Encase sleeping place
  • Clean sheets with lots of heat
  • Run your air through filter
  • Banish the blinds
  • Steer clear of soft seats
  • Filter the vents
  • Pluck pillows and comforters wisely
  • Stow gewgaws away
  • Wash away the pollen
  • Debunk the mites
  • Give Teddy a bath

Simplify and organize your bedroom

1. Have a general cleaning in your room, say one weekend in March to coincide with springtime. It is best to take the bed out so that you can expose it under the sun for at least two hours. This will drive out all the mites, bedbugs and other vermin. Scrub, beat if it is foam, and vacuum it, if necessary. Clean the room walls and ceiling with warm water and mild detergent. As for the floor, scrub and polish it.

2. Simplify and organize your room. The fewer things we have in our room the better. Take out those books, magazines, and old newspapers. Remove unneeded cosmetics and medicine. Keep no food in the bedroom. Dispose of those racks and shelves that tend to accumulate dust. And keep that computer out of your room. You can have a TV, radio, study table, and a few of your “favorite things”. Try not to make your room into a collector’s showcase of figurines, dolls, posters, mementos, etc.

3. Next, clean the apparador or closet. You are likely to encounter another pest there – the silverfish (Lepisma saccharina). This is an insect that eats on old clothes and paper. It is a most primitive of all insects, and perhaps the most resistant. If your barong (Filipino formal shirt) bears some poke holes, it is likely the work of this pest. The silverfish likes starchy materials, and natural fiber.

Other tenants in your room are the fungi. Fungi live on old materials, especially under humid conditions. They are the moldy growth on your shoes, bags, at the edge of the mirror, on top of cosmetic cream, on the armchairs. They cause buni, an-an, and athlete’s foot. Because they cannot produce their food by photosynthesis, unlike the plants, they have to become saprophytes (nature’s scavengers), subsisting on almost anything, including the lens of the camera.

4. The number one enemy of fungi is sunlight. Allow sunlight to penetrate into your room as much as possible. Do not store moist materials, especially clothes in your room. Expose fungi-prone materials like shoes and bags to the sun by bringing them out, or letting the sunshine in. Open the case and click your camera directly toward the sun if you intend not to use it for sometime.

5. Your room should be clean, cool and dry. Air conditioning is good, but a room that allows natural ventilation and sunlight is best. The ideal kind of room is one integrated with the outdoors where one step leads to the garden and to nature, which is the essence of the American bungalow architecture. Here the confluence is not only defined by aesthetics, but by spiritual communion.

It should be a room where we can find time to meditate. Away from the maddening crowd, we seek refuge from the fast pace of life outside. Here is a poem for meditation.
 
Dust in My Room

 
Alone in my room, I wrote and wrote:
The door was locked, my meal was cold;
With clumsy hands, my pen dropped,
On all fours I groped in the dark.

There to a curb, it rolled and rolled.
Into a mat of dust and web.
Whence I found, a tale untold
Of my life like the tide in ebb.

Words flowed, like a river on rush,
To be weaned, yearning to be free;
Chronicler, vanguard too, oh dust,
 

Like lost jewels in the blue sea.

Our health is greatly influenced by our room, the place we rest our tired bodies, where we keep ourselves away from the rigors of work. This is where we spend half of our lifetime. 


It is the very core of Home Sweet Home.
~~~

Wednesday, August 17, 2016

Goodbye, Sandcastle, Goodbye


 Dr Abe V Rotor
 Living with Nature School on Blog
Paaralang Bayan sa Himpapawid (People's School-on-Air) with Ms Melly C Tenorio
738 DZRB AM Band, 8 to 9 evening class, Monday to Friday

 Morong Bataan April 27, 2014

Goodbye, sandcastle, goodbye, 
my childhood shall be no more     
as the tides and lapping waves
sweep memories on the shore. 

Nessa the Child and Oscar the Fish


Dr Abe V Rotor
Living with Nature School on Blog
Paaralang Bayan sa Himpapawid (People's School-on-Air) with Ms Melly C Tenorio
738 DZRB AM Band, 8 to 9 evening class, Monday to Friday
 
 

 
 At home in Lagro, QC 

That's the way innocence works -
        ephemeral to behold;
time is of the essence but once
        and reigns only in childhood,
       
when barriers are bridged and crossed,
        in the diversity of the world,
and to spread love to all creatures,
        the very young and the old;

praise what it means years ahead
        this child and the living word
unspoken, a kiss of innocence
       that promises accord. ~