A Love Affair With MV Doulos and Books
We visited MV Doulos last February 12,2007, one of the world’s oldest ship that is still traveling.
MV Doulos was a really a great ship. Imagine it was built in the year 1914, two years younger than the oldest and famous ship, Titanic, but still it is sailing. Being the world’s largest sea traveling bookstore, as what I have learned, it carries around 6,000 books from place to place, across the seas and oceans to reach the different parts of the world.
In their book fair, I was very happy because being a book-lover, I found books that I like. I want to buy all of them but I have no budget. I only bought a crossword puzzle book. I love those science books, yhat are full of information, story books and mystery books that are full of wonderful stories and some have freaky chapters. The answer-question books that was my favorite were there and once I scanned the pages I can’t get my hands off them. I bought a crossword and word find book so that I can learn something while spending my free time. I love word find books. There are many books that I liked to buy but because I have no budget, I bought only one.
I tasted their ice cream, with vanilla flavor. The taste was really delicious, sensational and top notched. The cost is really worth it.
There was a program after we visited the book fair. There were lectures and demonstrations that some of my schoolmates joined. There were games that everyone laughed and had fun.
We had fun while we were on board. They taught lessons about God and people around the world that help voluntarily. They distributed some magazines and as I read them I said to myself that MV Doulos will live longer. Their magazines are full of God's words. Magazines are very ordinary paper materials for us but for them, these are important materials. They use it as paper materials that can help people know about God. Even if they have different religions, they want to share the goodness of God. They believe that God in their different religions, is just one. You can also see in their magazines that they persevered to make it because you can see their beautiful drawings. Their magazines also tells a lesson that being good children of God is like loving people around the world.
After the lecture, I learned that Doulos is not just an ordinary ship. It does not only travel around the world to bring those books. It is also about different races of people that shows harmony and cooperation. From their earnings, they help poor people around the world. They have built charities that adopts homeless people around the world and held feeding programs to feed people. They have helped many people around the continents but they are still helping until now.
Hope that Doulos will come back here in the country so that the next generation would learn a lot of lesson in life.
What do The Stars and the Sky Tell me About Life?
The stars: What’s with them?
“Star light, star bright. First star I have seen tonight. I wish I may I wish I might, that my wish comes true tonight”. Have you heard this? Of course yes, isn’t it? We usually sing this in our kindergarten level or in our first grade. Stars, stars, .and stars… what do they tell about life?
Stars are believed and said to be some kind of magical. They say that they are magical because they make your wishes and dreams come true. They said that if you wish upon a star, particularly a falling star, it will make your wish come true.
In the ancient days, falling stars or comets are said to bring bad luck. They say that these bring curses the land where they would pass. It may cause death of leaders, kings and other royal-blooded people in that nation or a big calamity is coming in the form of natural disasters, diseases, drought, thirst, famine or even a bloody war.
Nowadays, stars are believed to be granter of wishes. I do not know why they evolved or changed in meaning. Stars, like humans, evolve and pass through different stages. They also pass through many difficulties; they undergo phases that pass through the nuclear, atomic or radioactive changes. This reflects on humans, that like a star, they are being molded into better citizens. They tell us that there are times when we undergo many changes in life; from a toddler, to a kid; a kid to a teen and so on. Stars are made to let us remember that people evolve, undergoing changes not only physical, also psychological.
In a form of a joke, you can say that stars are to remind us that we experience aging and we are also buried fifty feet below the ground.
Seriously, stars are to tell us that as a generation passes by, it gives way to a new generation from its own guts. Like humans, blood is passed from generation to generation.
The Sky
Is there anything in the sky that tells you something about life? For me, the clouds tell something about life. It does not only bring precipitation, it also brings something about life.
In the circle of life, as we journey through life, we experience difficulties and get hold of problems but like clouds, we can only get 100% humidity of our problems and not beyond that limit.
Another factor is as clouds appear, they darken the surroundings. It reflects when we are on the dark side of our life. But as the wind blows the clouds away, we can experience again the good weather and the goodness of life. This is also to remind us that we can go through our own problems. Remember, in life, we experience ups and downs, positives and negatives and pros and cons.
Look above you, can you have something that tells about life? Let Neil Armstrong be our inspiration in reaching those heavenly bodies. Remember that he was the first one to land on the moon that the ancient people had think that they could not reach.
On Being Taught By Students
There are many relationships that develop as we go through this broad and far-reaching way of life. We develop many relationships like a relationship with our loved ones, a relationship with our friends and a relationship with our family. Around us there are relationships, too, such as symbiosis, predation, commensalisms and many more.
We as students develop a relationship with our teachers. For recognizing our second moms and dads, I can tell that we learn a lot from them.
What if one day, we switch positions with our teachers? Can we hold all their responsibilities and teach our classmates like what they do.
Here in U. P. every year they celebrate the KYSD or Know Your School Day. I think that this is their celebration that is known in our elementary years as the Teacher’s Day. This is a tribute to our teachers for teaching us and for non-teaching positions a tribute for their service. By this program, we can experience the difficulties and problems of teachers which are mostly their students.
Actually, I should have written “Reflections in Running a School” but I was not able to get my Identification Card as the school librarian. They said that it was a big responsibility of the Student Council if we have positions located at the other side of the school. So, we were considered still as students.
It was Thursday when the Identification Card was distributed. I expected one because I was already received by the school librarian to take her place. Bu unluckily I did not because they were too busy managing the students. They say that if they cross the street they will be prone to danger.
Our first subject that day was Computer. I like computers and want to have one. But I should learn first how to use it before having one. Our student teacher was Rheena. I think she was not too serious at that time. Our next teacher was or should I say our next teachers were a group of teachers. I think that there are too many that time and others do not cooperate because they want other people to do their job. Social Science was a serious subject so everyone should be serious but even the student teachers were not. In our Math, our true teacher was the one who discussed her own lessons. She told us that no one applied to replace her in her subject. That was what happened to our other subject, Home Technology. Same old face, nothing’s change. Just kidding! Also with our Music subject, we had the same teacher. In our English, we were taught by our classmate, Patrice. I think she was a good teacher because she discussed her lessons well. She would also entertain questions from the students. In our Science C, we were also taught by a group of student teachers.
As what I always think each day, learn more and more each day, gain understandings and lessons whoever the teacher is.
That was only the first day. I wonder what will happen tomorrow. What do you think would happen, guys and girls?
Technology's Price
Sure, that new computer models has more functions and that new cellular phone models have more, new cool features. As new models of the gadgets of today are more useful, do you know what happens to the old computer and old cell phone? They become wastes and trashes or as what we call electronic waste.
Experts estimated that there are almost eighty million computers that were junked last year. As what I have read in an internet article, according to the United States Environmental Protection Agency, there were around four million tons of appliances and electronics that were discarded in the year 2000 in the United States alone. Only a few of them were reused to make new models. Most of them were just dumped ending up in landfills and dump sites, and the toxic that they contained, contaminated the environment. Computers and other gadgets contain toxic materials, such as lead and cadmium, which are found in circuit boards; lead oxide and barium in the monitor’s cathode ray tubes or its picture tube; mercury in switches and flat screens; and brominated flame retardants in circuit boards, cables and plastic casings .
Cathode ray tubes contain five to seven pounds of lead that protects the computer users from the radiation. It is beneficial for humans but in a landfill or in a dump site it seeps into the soil to the groundwater, affecting plants, animals, and most of all to human race. When ingested, this can cause hyperactivity, impaired hearing, decreased growth and brain damage and other physical or mental injuries or damages.
Think how much a gadget can affect to the environment. That is only computers, now here are other gadgets that affect the nature.
Aside from the well-known computers, some other appliances that contribute to electronic wastes are televisions, stereo equipments, radios, cameras, and cell phones, kitchen appliances like refrigerators and ovens and CD, Video-CD and DVD players.
The problem of e-waste is a very serious one. With the on growing technology advancement, disposals of big technological appliances also increases. To address this problem, to the most innovative country in the field of technology, major Japanese electronic manufacturers are investing in green electronics. To eliminate toxic chemicals, green electronics produce appliances that use lead-free products. Japan and the European Union have ordered manufacturers to pay for collection and recycling of their old products to new products.
In the Philippines, there are no campaign or government projects for the recycling of electronic waste. Information drive about its danger is of a few number, is lacking or almost absent. Though our country is in step with the rest of the world as far as advances of technology and gadgets are concerned, our efforts in managing electronic wastes are found waiting. When will the government and local officials move, soon? Well it is too late to move soon and they should do it today.
Someone that Changed My Life
How would you deal with a person that is new to you? You think that you know her much as if you met in a very long time. As times and days passed, you became friends and even develop a feeling deep inside yourself. You became even closer friends and it stays longer to know one another.
When I was in my sixth grade in elementary, I had this experience. I already new her when we were in the third grade. She was on the other section so I do not even know her name. After three years, we became classmates. As time run, we became friends and as days passed even closer ones. We shared happy and sad moments. We unfolded our secrets. But one secret I did not told her, she was my crush. Of course, you do not want to destroy your friendship and you will choose it over love. Keeping my feelings for her was a very hard thing to do. Whenever she asks me who my crush is, I would tell her that I had no crushes. But she would not believe me and it takes a very long time to convince her. We would play games. I told it to Louie, my best friend, I told him what happened that day and everything. He laughed at me because he thought I was not serious with my feelings for her. He told me that I have to do my choice with that matter. So I had to do my own choice and I chose friendship over love as I have said a while ago.
On a hot noon, her mother went to our school to see her. I told her mother that she was not around because she went to my classmate's house to do a group project. So her mother told me that I should if I could and if I may accompany her child in going home. Not being busy that day I answered yes. A little while later, I saw her and told her what happened a while ago. She asked if I am not that busy that day and if it is okay for me. I answered her yes and no respectively. During the dismissal, as what I and her mom had agreed, I accompanied her to their house. As we were crossing a street, she held my hand tightly (Oh my God!). She did not let go my hand until we were on the other side of the road. I wanted to jump with all the happiness that I felt in my heart at that time. But I concentrated in keeping her safe in my hands. I asked her what happened and why she held my hand. She answered that she was afraid because she does not know how to cross the street and she was also afraid in having herself in an accident.
As time pass by, I thought that I have deeper feelings for her. In our graduation, I saw her but only in the mass. In our commencement exercises I didn’t see her. She did not attend our Recognition Day. Most of our teachers told us that we are too young to enter the kingdom of love. We just laugh at them.
This girl I am referring too is my ultimate crush in the sixth grade, Flora May.
The Science of Sharing
The study of coexisting, mutually dependent populations of different species basically deals with relationship, interaction and control. All species in a community are related to each other in one way or another. Relationships are products of many interactions that exist between species within the community. Some interactions are simple and some are complex. The quality of such interactions identifies control.
In general, only a few species exert a major controlling influence on the entire community. The control can have either a positive or negative result on other species in the community. One of the relationships that may exist between species in the community is commensalism.
Commensalism exists between two species in a community in which one species benefits from the relationship, and the other is unaffected. The term commensalism is derived from the Latin phrase com mensa which means sharing table. The original meaning describes a second animal utilizing waste food by the first animal to feed for itself. A key idea to remember is that commensalism favors one species over another in such a way that even as the favored species benefits, the other is neither harmed nor helped.
As what I have learned, there are three form of commensalism. They are phoresy, inquilism,and metabiosis.
Phoresy describes a relationship wherein one species uses another for transportation matters. An example of this is the remora benefits from the shark by using the shark as a means of transportation. The remora benefits while the shark is neither benefited nor affected.
In my readings about commensalism, I have learned about inquilism. This so-called inquilism describes the relationship wherein one species use another for housing purposes. The best example is that of birds and trees. There are birds that live on holes found on trees. They do not make the hole themselves so the tree is unaffected. The birds are benefited because they are the provided shelter from the elements. Another example of inquilism is the relationship that exists between an orchid and a tree. The orchid gets neither food nor water from trees. The benefit that the orchid derives is that it uses the tree for its attachment that is like the house or shelter of it. The orchid does not have to depend on the tree for food. It is because it has its own chlorophyll that allows to manufacture or make its own food. However, it needs the tree for support so that it can use its specialized roots to collect moisture in the air. For short, the tree does not benefit from the orchid any way. But the tree is not harmed either.
Metabiosis describes a relationship wherein one species use something that another species is created. This is an indirect kind of relationship. An example is shown by the hermit crab and the snail. When the snail dies, the hermit crab uses the dead snail's shell. The hermit crab does not affect the snail's survival but it benefits from the shell that was left behind.
Studying relationships can be interesting.
Salt: Spice or Vice?
The relevance of food chemistry in our life is exemplified if we consider the food we eat. For example, an egg hardens when cooked because of changes that happens in its chemical structure when exposed to heat.
A kitchen is just like a science laboratory. Let us examine the chemical nature of food and other ingredients found in the kitchen.
Salt is the original additive. Essential for life salt or sodium chloride controls many bod functions. Salt is one of the five taste sensations we can detect with sensors or taste buds on our tongues. In the kitchen, we use salt as a preservative, to help strengthen the dough,and to emphasize the flavors of the food we eat.
Salt preserves food by taking out moisture, thus preventing bacteria to grow. The charge on the sodium and chloride ions in dough and meringues can help bind charged protein molecules, thus making them stronger.
Although salt was once one most precious commodities. Romans can prove this because Roman soldiers are paid a “salary” to buy their salt. Today, salt is a common thing and added to nearly all processed foods, both as a flavor enhancer and as a preservative.
Can you imagine food without salt? Perhaps not. We, Filipinos, crave for food with salty taste. Just look at our menu: bagoong, adobong baboy, tapsilog, roasted pig, crispy pata and many more. But children of today they are getting crazy for junk foods. They want to eat junk foods all the time. Some of us can not eat without patis or toyo. Yes, salt is the spice of our gastronomic life.
It is not bad. We do need salt in our body. Chemically, table salt is nothing but sodium chloride. The sodium part is essential to good health. It helps transport electric charges between nerves and muscles, and maintains the balance of fluid in our body. It is also involved in the proper functioning of the heart. The body need only a small amount of sodium to function properly, about a half gram daily, the equivalent of a quarter teaspoon.
Sodium is present in nearly all plants and animals we consume. Many processed foods contains a large amount of sodium which may come from table salt, vetsin or monosodium glutamate or baking soda or sodium bicarbonate. While sodium is not in itself bad, taking it in excess is. Findings show that people who habitually consume large amount of salt develop hypertension or high blood pressure. Also, people with hypertension can lower their blood pressure if they follow low-sodium diet or intake.
Here is why: Too much sodium causes the body to retain fluids. And too much fluids in the blood stream causes great pressure on the walls of arteries. In some people, this cause dizziness and swelling of the legs.
What can we do to avoid this? Remove the table salt, patis and toyo from the table when you eat. Substitute other herbs and spices for salt in flavoring food. Eat foods low in salt which includes skim milk,fresh fruits, asparagus, broccoli and green beans. Eat less of foods with too much salt, particularly processed foods, such as, cheese,cereals, cured and smoked meats,pickled delicacies, snack foods and etc. Drink plenty of water.
If you can't live with this, I mean without salt, do not tell me I did not warn you.
Bon apetit! Mesdemoiselles et messierus.
Chemistry in Life
Everything that surrounds us is matter. Matter here, matter there, matter is everywhere. In a broad sense, chemistry is the study of matter. It includes the matter's composition, structure, properties, transformation from one form to another, and the energy that accompanies its transformation. The principles of chemistry are therefore needed to understand the nature of matter so that we will be able to deal with them to control them for the improvement of our lives. Biological fuels, radioactive wastes, propellants-all these things have some form of impact or another on our everyday existence. Quite a number of aspects of our existence depend on them , too, and are maybe even threatened by them. The correct phrase should probably be, people make these things threatening to other people, and to organic life in general. Radioactive wastes need no introduction. We are all aware of their destructive effects on the environment. These are proper ways to dispose of these harmful materials, but somehow, there are still who choose to ignore rules and take the easy way out instead, that is, dump wherever it can be dumped, even if it spells environmental degradation. Yet, there are those also who put their talents and conscience into good use, those who would use natural materials than hazardous fossil fuels. Biomass is all-natural, and it is variant, biological fuel, is made from the chemical energy released by plants in photosynthesis. It has long been proposed that we switch that release poisonous substances into the air, to cleaner alternatives that will ensure our health preservation and at the same time, will not compromise the efficiency of our vehicles and countless machinery. We are not there yet, and the road sustainable development is long and winding.
Of course. There is a limit to everything, even environmentalism. Mining should not be condemned, for instance, since this is where like mineral golds acquired. And, besides being lovely to look and awesome to have, gold could also possibly help cure cancer. There is a study that proves that gold is a good cancer killer. However, when mining, the residue or leftovers must be dealt accordingly. It would be a sorry state of affairs if we humans were a hundred percent healthy, but at the cost of wiping out our environment due to poor waste management. And with sickly surroundings, how long do you suppose before we come sickly as well.Chemistry plays an important part in all this. Despite its apparent contributions to human life, we humans take it for granted. A few who are of it abuse it, thus, the foul effects on our surroundings. But, take a closer look at our food. They are the way they are because of chemistry, and it is this exact same science that makes our bodies function, provides us with energy, and even launches ship into outer space.
Chemistry is all-encompassing. Its benefits are myriad, as long as its potential hazards are kept ion check, and more importantly, those wanting to exploit it are kept at bay.
Water, Water Everywhere
Water is everywhere. You see it in rivers, lakes, streams, ponds, springs and oceans. It is a common place or thing to us that perhaps, you haven’t thought of how vital water is for the survival of every little thing in the world.
During our ancestors’ days, rivers and streams provided them with fresh drinking water. They were also provided with fishes or even other aquatic animals that can be eaten. But that was a long time ago. Today, most of the bodies of the water have become polluted. Even those under the ground are contaminated.
What bodies of water do you see in your community? These are probably fresh water bodies such as rivers and streams. Living in these bodies of water are plants and animals that depend each other to survive. They also provide humans and land animals food.
What do you notice about the quality of water in most our rivers, lakes and streams? Can you say that our freshwater is fresh and clean? That’s a big no. Sadly, our careless and irresponsible activities produce too much harmful substances and wastes that contaminate or pollute the environment, including the bodies of water.
Everyday, each one of us generates or releases harmful wastes. When thrown into rivers and lakes, these harmful wastes pollute the waters. When waters are polluted, the animals and plants living in it are affected. It is either their growth retarded or they will just die. Consider this: The plastic bag you throw into the water does not break down easily and therefore remains in the water for a long period of time. It can trap or strangle animals. On the other hand, biodegradable wastes such as leftover food breeds bacteria. These bacteria use up the water oxygen, robbing plants and animals of this precious gas that they need in order to survive. Without oxygen, plants and animals will simply die. Sewage, infectious agents and chemical pollutants poison these organisms. When these organisms die, they will not be able to reproduce and multiply; when they can not reproduce, then the life cycle could no longer continue. This means that animals and plants in this habitat become extinct. What then is left? Bodies of water-that can no longer sustain life.
Harmful wastes, garbage, refuse leftovers, trash. Whatever you call it, wastes does not belong to waters. Both biodegradable and non-biodegradable refuse should not be disposed of properly. How do we do manage waste? We can practice the 3Rs-Reduce the amount if trash you discard by Reusing containers and products, and Recycling as much as possible. By being more careful and responsible, you help continue the cycle in your hands.
But what is more alarming? The more alarming is that bodies of water are beginning to dry up and therefore, water is becoming scarce. If we do not begin using resources wisely and utilize it effectively, our generation and the future generations may not have enough water to keep them alive.
The choice lies in our hands. When will we decide when there’s nothing left? Decide today.
A Sense of Wonder
You wonder. How is it possible? Possible to put billions and billions of transistors into a slice of silicon thinner than a candy wrapper and smaller than a ten-centavo coin, possible to have babies even if they cannot? You wonder how the silicon can perform trillions of calculation per second. Your mind wanders into the factory as you try to imagine the machines and gadgets that made this possible.
Well, because people share your sense of wonder, microchips of this magnitude and power are reality today.
You wonder. Is color real? Is the blue I see the same blue that all the people in the world sees? Is the red that I see on roses the same red that my friend sees? Do colors tell me something around me? You wonder about the rainbow and how the light of the sun dances on the waters of the seas during an exceptionally clear day.
Well, because others that came before you have wondered as much, the science of spectroscopy was born. Now the studies of the heavenly bodies become more precise or more informative and the healing of human bodies made easier.
You wonder. Is there anything other than gas, solid, liquid, plasma and the newest substance, the BEC or the Bose-Einstein Condensate exists in the universe? Now you know that plasma is the fourth state of matter and that it is the state of most matter and in interstellar space. The BEC or the Bose-Einstein Condensate predicted by Albert Einstein and Sthyendra Nath Bose.
Finally you wonder, like so many great minds have before you, whether the atom is really basic building block for the so-called matter. This sense of wonder has led the scientists to build complex or complicated and expensive machines to dissect the very essence of matter. That is how the4y discovered these substance quarks.
Children are often called irritating because they ask a lot of questions. They want to know so many things about this place we live in- the environmental interactions, the space-which include the stars, planets and other heavenly bodies. They do want to know so many things about the world around them. Even they are just children, they have this curiosity. “Why?” is often heard springing out there mouths. A discovery is often punctuated with or by gleeful exclamations and reactions of “That's it.”
The sad thing is that many of us lose this sense of wonder as we grew up, having age. We take for granted or we simply lose the will to wonder. A lucky few number of people, however, never lose this and keep it well into their age. Wondering and thinking are pleasurable daily activities that make them happy and alive.
A sense of wonder is worth keeping and enriching. It’s a treasure that can never be taken away from us. It is a bright flame that will throw a ray of light on dark paths and alleys. With this healthy sense of wonder, we will never ever lose our way.
