WHAT TO DO TO BE PROSPEROUS FOR 2010

There are many things that one can do to welcome prosperity and welfare for 2010. Some of these are the following: 1) clean your house; 2) clean your surroundings; 3)wash yourself, then, calmly and softly pray for year-round blessings; 4) avoid burning anything that would result to crackling sounds; 5) avoid noise; 6) stay away from crowds; 7) get a perfect, restful sleep; and 8) wake-up to a new morning of grand opportunities as you pray before you start doing anything.

Somehow some people would venture to ask, why not do what most are doing like making noises and joining noisy crowds? But, if one is keen to observe year-round the very same people, they all struggle through life because they seemed to have overlooked the essence of the occassion. So, do not miss the chance to do it right.

ORCHIDS PROPAGATION PLANNING

In the previous post, I have indicated my interest to go into orchids embryo culture again. This is my way of propagating the selected orchids to produce seedlings for cut-flowers. So my first consideration was to choose the right stud plants. I got these varieties which produce long-stem dendrobium blooms that could bear as many as four sturdy flower spikes. Therefore, when matured three individually potted dendrobiums can bear a dozen of flower spikes. The petals are thick and could last for a month on a flower vase. As soon as the flowers are matured, that will be when they emit a delicate scent and the stigma produces a sticky white substance, then, I will pollinate them to produce fruits or pods.

The timing for picking-up of pods varies with species. For these particular varieties which I have chosen, fruits will take only a couple of months when the embryos are ready for sowing. So, I still have time to gather the materials I need for my sowing medium, and to prepare a small space where I could work at it in a sterile condition.

ORCHIDS PROPAGATION

The easiest way to increase orchid population is through embryo culture. A simple kitchen and some simple kitchen tools can be turned into a simple laboratory to create thousands of orchid seedling in a short span of time. This is also the simplest and fastest way of increasing the population of plants that are intended for cut-flowers. For more details, you may chat with me at botanist_51@yahoo.com.

An orchid pod contains a minimum of 4 million to 10 million embryos. If you target to sell just the seedlings and earn as much in 4 to 6 months, then, the probability is approximately 99% given the tools.

IN RETROSPECT: PARENTAL VISION

Many times in the past I thought about this concept, but I seemed to just have forgotten all about it. Or it may just have been set aside often. But, this early morning after reading the issues on the rise of poverty level, I recalled the series of observations and studies I did about how people and families live better lives. Indeed why are there more and more people and families living in poverty these days when knowledge and wisdom on the utilization of nature should have been a lot better than a century ago. What are people missing or may have ovelooked in their desire to upgrade standards of living?

Sometimes, the aspirations of parents to give better education to their children completely abandons the nature of livelihood that in fact supported the family. In other words, children are allowed to go into diverse professions, away from the concepts that the family have started grooming. For example, a Chinese family who were a family friend ventured on a small eatery when they bore their first child. In a span of about 16 years, the family grew with 12 children in a row. Their eatery by this time was already a restaurant in the city. After few years, when the children were already starting with their college studies, the family added a small inn for the restaurant. In few years time, the family rented a bigger place for a small hotel and restaurant. The children were always there to assists their parents after school or even before school. The children graduated in college and got their own families. But, they are all working with their parents with what is now one of the biggest and most successful hotel in the city. Most of them lived at the highest level of their own hotel.

In contrary, a family friend neighbor who was a teacher and a tailor had also 12 children. They have sent their children to school and finished college. But, the parents allowed the children to go on their own chosen way. Some went to work overseas. They are all spread out, that only the husband and the wife were left in their old age. They died in poverty. When they got sick, it was their neighbors who lend them some helping hands around. All the children just lived within their meager means.

THINKING

Many I have heard said that it is important to think positive. But, in nature, positive charge repels and repulse another positive and can only attract negative. Many of those who went under water, whose properties sunk , who attempted to rescue had positive thoughts. Apparently, the proponents of positive thoughts became complacent and never became proactive.

In another development, it was revealed that the owner of the Philippine San Roque dam is a Japanese. This shows positive decisions with proactive thoughts that water system would be better with high-end technology and high-end damages when the negative forces is rightly attracted.

Often, sad people attracts happy followers and vice-versa, while neutral people have both the positive and negative people in the vicinity and they are more productive.

UNITED NATIONS AND AFRICA

The advocacy and concern of the United Nations to assists a looming intensified hunger of a multitude of Africans is good. But, how could a very rich country in natural resources not provide for its population or sustain the basic requirements of life? What are their leaders doing? What are the religious groups doing? Since I was small I have heared of the same story.

I was once visited by a friend and his husband a Swede who live abundantly in Africa. They mine gold. Most of their workers they said have AIDS, and have no schooling. But, the land area according to my friend is so vast. They have abundant food. Three large freezers always contain meat from what they slaughter from the wilds. From their perspective, the number one need that they have observed is education. Because other than accidents, robbery for food alone is rampant when in fact people can easily have them from the wilds.

I have an uncle also in South Africa. He is living a good life in the area. My brother-in-law is in North Africa. But, their national leader ensures that people produce their basic needs. They do not sell their olive oil. According to my brother-in-law, they harvest the olives, bring it to the processing plant, leave a portion as a processing fee, and store the oil for family consumption. Similar things they do with the other produce. In their country, you may say no one goes hungry.

The way I view the case now is that, similar to other nations, the chances of even the small time farming in fertile areas have all been gone to commercial owners. So, what the United Nations must do is to encourage governments in the area to delimit commercial ownerships, redistribute the fertile grounds and educate people that they may learn to feed themselves. Giving food, money goodies is superficial. It may augment needs for a day or two. It will never resolve the growing number of people who will go hungry. It will also only intensify the number of beggars in the world.

LOGIC AND REALITY

A while ago, I was talking to some friends about human body-size and lifespan. I said, why should you wonder? Look at the cows and the horses. What do they eat? Grass they said. How long do they live?

These days people prefer grass and fruits of the grass and vines over fruits of trees. So, look at the size of the cow and the horses, and then compare it with the size of a growing number of people including their lifespan. Then I said, look some trees live for centuries. So, what about that . . .!

GRASS FARMING CROPS AND FLOOD

The centuries that saw intensified grass farming with the interest of intensified farm products supply for the intensified population in the market saw options that were ill thought of. Funny, but, true, that indeed most people who thought they were wise leaders landed most of the global population into mire if not submerged under water. In the first place, grass farming have become a trend among them all. Most if not all countries that suffered the most in terms of flooding are those that extensively cultivate grasses like rice, corn, bananas, pineapple, strawberries, and many others.

The roots of grasses are up to half a meter deep in the soil. This is why most swamps thrive in grasslands. Nonetheless, one of the most helpfull grass that best thrives near bodies of fresh water are the bamboos. Bamboos have been found to prevent some soil erosion when planted along river banks. Trees however, are the superior soil containers. Besides its lenghty roots that holds on to meters deep of top soil, trees too consumes and holds in its system plenty of water. Coconut trees which was a major crop in the Philippines up until the 60's exempted the country from major flooding regardless of the intensity of typhoons. Perhaps, grass crops farming logic should be minimized if flooding should be avoided.

JOKER OR ?

After classes, everyone was eager to move down because it was almost 12 noon. I hurried out with my students. I met at the lobby my fellow professor. Along the way, we discussed about the feedback of our dean. She told me to "watch my steps". I thought she was literal, so, I looked down at the steps. The next thing I knew, she was already rolling down the stairs ahead of most of us! Hehehehe!

JOKE

Someone was asking if anyone can recommend a movie to watch that will really scare him away! I told him to get a mirror! Then . . . look at himself! Lol!

GRATITUDE

Thank you Allah! Thank you Allah! Thank you Allah! I could only say thank you Allah for the guidance.

RIO DE JANEIRO IN 2016

The thought of samba, Latin America, tropics, beaches, dances, and softer climate, more amiable atmosphere for sports and socialization ambience, that is Rio de Janeiro. The country got the chance to host one of the biggest globbal event in 2016. The news is indeed refreshing after all the series of stiffening years in the North. I could only imagine the tune of Latin american hum drums driving people into graceful, uninterrupted swaying motions, away from the daily rigors of concern about precision and security. Everyone should be glad of the prospects of a shift to a softer and calmer arena of sports where enthusiasts could just simply glide in and enjoy.

The idea may not really be appreciated by others at the outset considering some other plans. However, chances are high that the benefits will be greater as envisioned by the majority who opted for the idea of a tropical sports competition setting.

INDONESIA

Mr Irwan Firdaus of Associated Press News should check the assets of Indonesia. The country has been exporting crude oil from its vast natural deposit. There is an area featured sometime ago online with continuous mining of gold and some other natural metals. Entrance and exit to the mining site had even been featured to be limited to foreign excavators. It has been the top expoter of good lumber from its vast forest. The country is also a major exporter of coconut meat which eventualluy find its way to China which is used for the canned evaporated and condense milk. In other words, where did all the revenues went?
Remember the G20 conference recently held in North America, one of the big country member representative is Indonesia.

NECK PAIN

In 2004, Aaron G. Filler in his book 'Do You Really Need Back Surgery? A Surgeon's Guide to Neck and Back Pain and How to Choose Your Treatment', Oxford University Press, stated that in pains of the neck, the nerves and the spinal cord are more likely involved. Bone spurs in the neck caused by arthritis and slipped disks are other causes of neck pains. Movement then of the neck may be painful. This kind of disturbances is usually paired with pains in the shoulders, arms and fingers, as well as poor coordination of the hands. Sometimes, numbness of the large toe or the thumb may also be experineced. Treatments like cervical spine manipulation is highly risky. Another cause of neck pain may be an accident that results to 'whiplash' or the tearing apart of some muscles along the spine. Improper healing will usually bring about neck pain. In cases where there is persistence in mixed feelings of pain, the victim should seek for an expert's proper evaluation and sorting out (Filler 14-15).

REHABILITATION? RECONSTRUCTION? WISDOM?

Typhoon 'Ondoy' and the excessive water it brought down to the National Capital region of the Philippines in September 26, 2009 was devastating. Many homes were destroyed. Cars were rolled down by waters like toys. People were flushed down rivers and creeks like insects. Mountain sides eroded bringing downstream so much mud. Roads and bridges were torn down. In the aftermath, affected areas ones more looked like an uncivilized towship of people walking in stockings, boots, socks, and shoes made of clay.

The day before the deluge, I watched tv and saw an actress in her best looks promoting a soap that will soon be aired. The following morning when I open the tv, the same actress was on tv, but this time on top ot the roof of her house with her mum and relatives crying, calling for help and rescue. She is one of the residents in the area that was hardest hit by the flood.

Right after the storm had ravage so much already, people were scrambling on who and how to rescue survivors. Thirty kilometers away from them, I watch in silence over the television and thought, how much more wisdom will those who are again proposing for rehabilitation, and immediate reconstruction input into the areas where they have once touched with their well-publicized intellectual abilities. Lesser damages could have been inflected, had it not been for the excessive conversion of forested areas into housing subdividions.

Indeed viewing the aftermath pictures onscreen, seeing people almost ruined by the sight of their homes and properties destroyed by water and mud is excruciating. But, knowing that most of them are in areas where supposedly fruit trees and crops for the majority who are underprivileged could have been growing, then, the balancing forces of nature must be understood.

If I were to propose, everyday people eat fruit or fruits. In order to rehabilitate and reconstruct with wisdom, each one after eating a fruit, plant the seed. Within one year, one person can produce 365 growing plants. If an area has a thousand population, then the community can produce 365, 000 growing plants in one year. The National Capital region has about 13, 000, 000 million people. So, in a year there would be about 47, 450, 000, 000 growing plants. Trees will bear fruits and become mature in about 3 to 5 years.

SUPERMAN

I was starkingly gloomy three days ago. These was largely due to the ominous barking of dogs all around the neighbors. It kept me thinking for days. I thought fasting was just over. What could be coming? I did not have the interest to post anything. So, I switched on the television just to let pass the kind of boredom I thought I was in. But, to my dismay, there was this news of a deluge plunging many residences into the water. Many houses too submerged as well as people. It was just like at the blink of an eye cities teeming with glitter and pomp gone under water. It was such a scary sight.

There is nothing much I can do... I thought, anyways superman might be there to pick-up those who need to be rescued at the rooftops

AUTOMATED ELECTION

There was an assurance that the Philippine election in 2010 will definitely be automated. Smartmatic won the bidding for the supply of machines. But, the machine that was tried out faltered, like smoking gun as was shown on tv. Yesterday, on the news, some 5 Million voters in the list were removed by comelec.

What is next? The people who are still seated invested already multi-million pesos to cover ads for the television media. . . seems like also automated!

ADSENSE

I decided to write this post because I can not get a clear-cut answer to my problem with my Adsense. I have signed-up for monetization. The page appeared in my post. But, there are no statistical data. I did not get any return mail confirming my registration. So I checked back and attempted to sign-up again. But, for more than 30 times of signing-up nothing turned out except that I was always prompted to encode the ‘catcha’.

In the feedburner, there is a box that says claim your data. Every time I click on it, I was always referred back to log-in. I log-in, and all the same another window appears for log-in.

And why I said no clear-cut answers? A window opens and almost all the content are branched!

I uploaded my post and all I got was a referral ad to 8 electric engineers! hahahahaha! Can we not have an expert for adsence to get it straight here?

FRUIT JUICE, TEA, COFFEE, WINE, AND TOBACCO

Taking fruit juices, tea, coffee, wine, and tobacco the same? All these five items comes from plants. Basically their nature is the same. They may vary at the amount of basic elements that they contain. Some plants are completely devoid of elements that are found in others. Some plants contain substances that are their protective mechanisms against predators. In this way, plants may contain substances which when taken by organisms are harmful to the health. Such content may be called poisons.

Since time immemorial, humankind have richly classifed plants according to usage. This is based on their substance content. Fruit juice like orange is an extract of the sap of orange fruit. Sap are the nutrients from orange plant found in the fruit plus water and essential oil, so it is fluid. Tea and coffee are extracts from dried fruits branches, stems, leaves, and barks of plants. So, the extracts are minus the water contents and some parts of essential oil. Wine is produced from the sap of fruits and fermented to evolve alcohol. Tobacco are crushed, dried leaves of the plant.

I addition to the difference of their nutrient content, preparation for usage are also different. Some people would eat the whole fruit of orange to get the sap. So, they also eat the pulp that is rich in cellulose or carbohydrates. But this form of carbohydrates can not be digested and absorbed in human system.

Instead of eating raw fruits, leaves, barks, and stems of plants, some would dry them out first to release the water and some parts of the essential oil content. From out of the dried parts, tea and coffee is prepared by adding some boiling water. After few minutes, the clear water would turn yellowish to brown indicative that soluble substances are already in water. Some would filter out the the almost colorless cellulose parts. The filtrate is then taken as beverage.

Crushed and dried tobacco leaves are usually rolled into tiny sticks. These are lighted to burn. Smoke is puff from the burning leaves. After sometimes, only ashes are left.

SAMPLE ESSAY BY STEPHEN REID: RATED A (4)

Another rated A essay by Stephen Reid in 1998 is on Western Civilization. The same piece is found in his book 'The Prentice Hall Guide For College Writers, 4th ed", London. He wrote the essay in answer to the following questions: "What was the fifteenth-century view of "science" as described in The Hunchbback? How did this view tend to inhibit Claud Frollo in his experiments in his closet in the cathedral?

The excellent response was written in this essay:

"The fifteenth-century view of "science" was characterized by superstition and heresy. In the Hunchbback of Notre Dame, for example, we see superstition operating when the king's physician stated that a gunshot wound could be cured by the application of a roasted mouse. Claud Frollo, a high ranking church official, had a thirst for knowledge, but unfortunately it pushed beyond the limits of knowledge permitted by the church. When he worked in his closet on the art of alchemy and search for the "Philosopher's Stone" (gold), he was guilty of heresy. Frollo read and mastered the arts and sciences of the university and of the church, and he wanted to know more. he knew that if he pressed into the "Black Arts," the Devil would take his soul. And indeed, the "Devil" of passion did. Frollo felt inhibited because of the many experiments he performed would have made him guilty of heresy and witchcraft in the eyes of the church. And this seemed to be the case in almost anything "new" or out of the ordinary. La Esmeralda, for instance, was declared "guilty" of witchcraft for the training of her goat. Her goat appeared to have been possessed by the Devil himself. When in fact, all the girl was guilty of was training the goat to do a few simple tricks. All in all, the fifteenth-century view of "science" was not one of favor, but of oppression and fear. Thankfully, Renaissance came along!", (Reid 597-598).