VULTURE
If you put a Vulture in a pen that is 6' x 8' and is entirely open at the top, the bird, in spite of its ability to fly, will be an absolute prisoner.
The reason is that a vulture always begins a flight from the ground with a run of 10-12 feet.
Without the space to run, as is its habit, it will not even attempt to fly, but will remain a prisoner for it's lifetime in a small jail with no top.
BAT
The ordinary bat that flies around at night, a remarkably nimble creature in the air, cannot take off from a level place.
If it is placed on the floor or flat ground, all it can do is shuffle about helplessly, and painfully, until it reaches some slight elevation from which it can throw itself into the air.
Then, at once, it takes off like a flash.
THE BUMBLE-BEE
A bumble-bee, if dropped into an open tumbler, will be there until it dies, unless it is taken out.
It never sees the means of escape at the top, but persists in trying to find some way out through the sides near the bottom.
It will seek a way where none exists, until it completely destroys itself.
PEOPLE
In many ways, we are like the vultures, the bats and the bumble-bees.
We struggle about with all our problems and frustrations, never realizing that all we have to do is look up.
Sorrow looks back, worry looks around, but faith looks up.
Live simply, love generously, care deeply, May your troubles be less, your blessings more, and may nothing but happiness come through your door.
Thursday, October 04, 2007
Monday, October 02, 2006
Nature's powerful visit
The typhoon nationally code-named Milenyo that blew into Metro Manila on Thursday, Sept.28, was reportedly the strongest direct hit on the megalopolis in 11 years. The rhythm of our usual city lives continue to be suspended in its aftermath, with tons of debris still being cleared at this writing, and the slow restoration of electric power in ongoing repair of a significant number of damaged transmission towers and power lines.
But let’s be honest – Nature’s powerful visit brought a welcome massive clean-up of Metro Manila’s air and waterways. One especially salutary side effect was the sudden halt of an epidemic of dengue fever. “The strong water current and powerful winds flushed away the breeding ground of the dengue mosquito,” says health secretary Duque, who adds a warning to notoriously short Pinoy memory.
We have two to four weeks, he says, before a new upsurge in dengue cases if we do not start cleaning up now. By the same token, ordinary citizens must be equally vigilant and quick to report the widespread snipping and looting of downed power wires by human rats.
On the third day of Milenyo’s aftermath, we also look back almost fondly at the way another kind of pollution was temporarily suspended by howling winds, banging windows, and falling trees. More than welcome was the sudden simultaneous cease of the rumble of cargo trucks and buses, the ubiquitous falsetto whir of tricycles, and the impatient cacophony of honking jeepney horns. Nature was speaking and we could only listen for dear life.
More, a dispassionate cutting down of everything that stood in the way of winds gusting at 260 kilometers per hour toppled more than vital parts of the electrical grid. To no one’s regret but their sponsors and victims, the winds also went for those commercial billboards lining highways and major avenues – no better censor of excess than that.
For some time now, long-time Manila residents, who care about what our skyline says about the quality of our lives have cast a cold eye on billboard proliferation down major thoroughfares, beginning with EDSA. It was bad enough that they were promoting a blatantly consumerist lifestyle partnered by a mall culture that’s been creating ever more traffic in its hubs. These billboards’ increasing raciness in competition for public attention made them doubly offensive.
Noises were previously made by the Metro Manila Development Authority on their obstruction of traffic flow, on top of danger to life and limb created by the sexier ones. This has just been amplified by the reported determination of Madame Arroyo and Senator Miriam Santiago to finally rid us of such billboards
The hazard they pose in typhoon weather is reportedly the reason for Mrs. Arroyo’s impending executive order to “regulate” them. Senator Santiago goes farther, as usual, “Metro Manila is one of the ugliest and most unsafe capitals in the world because of these giant billboards…(are) a nuisance (that) injure and endanger the safety of others, offend the senses, and obstruct the free passage of public streets and highways.”
This time, we agree with these two ladies, and urge the public to add their own voices in support of immediate dismantling of all remaining commercial billboards. But let’s not stop there. Let’s ask for such dismantling to include self-serving political billboards with no other reason for existence than to build the egos of public officials on all levels. To their consistent insult to public sensibility is added the injury of using public funds to patronize Pinoy intelligence. Enough is enough.
Meanwhile, the rhythm dictated by sudden loss of electricity has been like a sudden retreat back to the 19th century – an unexpected re-measuring of our city lives has just returned us to the true scale of things. Back to basics has always done that. No iced water for drinking? You’ll survive. No TV to channel-surf, no mall, no fully loaded cell phone to escape boredom with? Aha! Now you’re back to your own inner resources, the ones you’d almost forgotten, if you ever knew you had them.
Now’s the chance to remember what really matters in life. In my little neck of the woods, a healthy rhythm of water conservation has suddenly returned to absent-minded household members. In the sudden leisure, the bookshelves are slowly returning to ordered efficiency; a thick pile of snail mail long unattended to is slowly shrinking. My little girl nearly went mad with withdrawal symptoms in the sudden silence of Disney channel, but she was happily drawing by candlelight last night.
The total mess in the garden – with its toppled trees, decimated branches, and thick carpet of green leaves –has made a quick return botany necessary. Which of these are for hauling to the garbage truck for eventual mulching in the city dump, which for drying into kindling for the next powerless emergency, and which for drying and installment as free-form adornment in memory of Milenyo?
It’s painful to read of the fatalities, the consequences to agriculture, infrastructure and the national economy, and to anonymous individual lives in this typhoon. But on the whole, this extended vacation in the 19th century has for a moment suspended superfluous desires and vanities, clearing the way to a healthier rhythm in greater self-awareness away from the addictions of life with electricity.
We really should do this more often.
But let’s be honest – Nature’s powerful visit brought a welcome massive clean-up of Metro Manila’s air and waterways. One especially salutary side effect was the sudden halt of an epidemic of dengue fever. “The strong water current and powerful winds flushed away the breeding ground of the dengue mosquito,” says health secretary Duque, who adds a warning to notoriously short Pinoy memory.
We have two to four weeks, he says, before a new upsurge in dengue cases if we do not start cleaning up now. By the same token, ordinary citizens must be equally vigilant and quick to report the widespread snipping and looting of downed power wires by human rats.
On the third day of Milenyo’s aftermath, we also look back almost fondly at the way another kind of pollution was temporarily suspended by howling winds, banging windows, and falling trees. More than welcome was the sudden simultaneous cease of the rumble of cargo trucks and buses, the ubiquitous falsetto whir of tricycles, and the impatient cacophony of honking jeepney horns. Nature was speaking and we could only listen for dear life.
More, a dispassionate cutting down of everything that stood in the way of winds gusting at 260 kilometers per hour toppled more than vital parts of the electrical grid. To no one’s regret but their sponsors and victims, the winds also went for those commercial billboards lining highways and major avenues – no better censor of excess than that.
For some time now, long-time Manila residents, who care about what our skyline says about the quality of our lives have cast a cold eye on billboard proliferation down major thoroughfares, beginning with EDSA. It was bad enough that they were promoting a blatantly consumerist lifestyle partnered by a mall culture that’s been creating ever more traffic in its hubs. These billboards’ increasing raciness in competition for public attention made them doubly offensive.
Noises were previously made by the Metro Manila Development Authority on their obstruction of traffic flow, on top of danger to life and limb created by the sexier ones. This has just been amplified by the reported determination of Madame Arroyo and Senator Miriam Santiago to finally rid us of such billboards
The hazard they pose in typhoon weather is reportedly the reason for Mrs. Arroyo’s impending executive order to “regulate” them. Senator Santiago goes farther, as usual, “Metro Manila is one of the ugliest and most unsafe capitals in the world because of these giant billboards…(are) a nuisance (that) injure and endanger the safety of others, offend the senses, and obstruct the free passage of public streets and highways.”
This time, we agree with these two ladies, and urge the public to add their own voices in support of immediate dismantling of all remaining commercial billboards. But let’s not stop there. Let’s ask for such dismantling to include self-serving political billboards with no other reason for existence than to build the egos of public officials on all levels. To their consistent insult to public sensibility is added the injury of using public funds to patronize Pinoy intelligence. Enough is enough.
Meanwhile, the rhythm dictated by sudden loss of electricity has been like a sudden retreat back to the 19th century – an unexpected re-measuring of our city lives has just returned us to the true scale of things. Back to basics has always done that. No iced water for drinking? You’ll survive. No TV to channel-surf, no mall, no fully loaded cell phone to escape boredom with? Aha! Now you’re back to your own inner resources, the ones you’d almost forgotten, if you ever knew you had them.
Now’s the chance to remember what really matters in life. In my little neck of the woods, a healthy rhythm of water conservation has suddenly returned to absent-minded household members. In the sudden leisure, the bookshelves are slowly returning to ordered efficiency; a thick pile of snail mail long unattended to is slowly shrinking. My little girl nearly went mad with withdrawal symptoms in the sudden silence of Disney channel, but she was happily drawing by candlelight last night.
The total mess in the garden – with its toppled trees, decimated branches, and thick carpet of green leaves –has made a quick return botany necessary. Which of these are for hauling to the garbage truck for eventual mulching in the city dump, which for drying into kindling for the next powerless emergency, and which for drying and installment as free-form adornment in memory of Milenyo?
It’s painful to read of the fatalities, the consequences to agriculture, infrastructure and the national economy, and to anonymous individual lives in this typhoon. But on the whole, this extended vacation in the 19th century has for a moment suspended superfluous desires and vanities, clearing the way to a healthier rhythm in greater self-awareness away from the addictions of life with electricity.
We really should do this more often.
Saturday, September 23, 2006
Multivitamins in early pregnancy may stave off brain tumors
A recent study suggests women who take multivitamins early in pregnancy could reduce the risk of their child developing a brain tumour – giving further leverage for marketing to this important consumer group.
In the study, which appears in this month's issue of Cancer Epidemiology Biomarkers & Prevention (Vol 15, 1660-1667, September 200), the protective effect of multivitamins early in pregnancy was found to be weakly significant. However, as results were similar to more statistically significant results the Pennsylvania researchers obtained in 1993, they concluded this apparent benefit is unlikely to have occurred by chance.
Doctors already urge pregnant women to take multivitamins containing folic acid early in pregnancy to reduce the risk of neural tube defects such as spina bifida. As such, the finding that a multivitamin could a have anti-cancer properties for babies gives these types of easy-to-take supplements an added boost.
"This current study suggests another possible protective effect for the vitamins," said lead author, Greta Bunin of the Children's Hospital of Philadelphia. "Children whose mothers took multivitamins close to the time of conception seemed less likely to suffer medulloblastoma and primitive neuroectodermal tumours of the brain."
Medulloblastoma is the second most common brain tumour in children, occurring in one in 20,000 children under age six. The tumour appears in the cerebellum, the lower portion of the brain that coordinates movement. Primitive neuroectodermal tumors of the brain (PNET) are similar to medulloblastoma but occur in other parts of the central nervous system.
The collaborative study compared 315 children diagnosed with these tumors before age six to 315 randomly chosen healthy children. The children with cancer were registered with the Children's Oncology Group, an organization of pediatric cancer programs in the US and Canada.
In the periconception period of pregnancy, several months before and after conception, mothers of children with brain tumors were less likely than control mothers to report use of multivitamins (adjusted odds ratio (OR), 0.7; 95% confidence interval (95% CI), 0.4-1.0; P = 0.08).
The researchers found that taking multivitamins later in pregnancy did not significantly reduce a child's risk of medulloblastoma and PNET.
"Our findings suggest that the time close to conception may be a critical period in the development of these tumors," said Dr Bunin.
"However, most women do not yet know they are pregnant at this very early stage. That is why women of reproductive age are advised to take multivitamins to prevent neural tube defects even if they are not trying to get pregnant."
The researchers questioned mothers in a telephone survey. All of the children with cancer were diagnosed between 1991 and 1997.
Which is the reason why everyone should be on multi-vitamin supplements. Even JAMA says so.
LifePak Prenatal is optimal dietary supplementation designed to help meet the basic and specific nutrient requirements for pregnant and lactating women. Available in individual packets for your convenience, LifePak Prenatal supplies pregnant and lactating women with important dietary ingredients to assist in maintaining general wellness.
In the study, which appears in this month's issue of Cancer Epidemiology Biomarkers & Prevention (Vol 15, 1660-1667, September 200), the protective effect of multivitamins early in pregnancy was found to be weakly significant. However, as results were similar to more statistically significant results the Pennsylvania researchers obtained in 1993, they concluded this apparent benefit is unlikely to have occurred by chance.
Doctors already urge pregnant women to take multivitamins containing folic acid early in pregnancy to reduce the risk of neural tube defects such as spina bifida. As such, the finding that a multivitamin could a have anti-cancer properties for babies gives these types of easy-to-take supplements an added boost.
"This current study suggests another possible protective effect for the vitamins," said lead author, Greta Bunin of the Children's Hospital of Philadelphia. "Children whose mothers took multivitamins close to the time of conception seemed less likely to suffer medulloblastoma and primitive neuroectodermal tumours of the brain."
Medulloblastoma is the second most common brain tumour in children, occurring in one in 20,000 children under age six. The tumour appears in the cerebellum, the lower portion of the brain that coordinates movement. Primitive neuroectodermal tumors of the brain (PNET) are similar to medulloblastoma but occur in other parts of the central nervous system.
The collaborative study compared 315 children diagnosed with these tumors before age six to 315 randomly chosen healthy children. The children with cancer were registered with the Children's Oncology Group, an organization of pediatric cancer programs in the US and Canada.
In the periconception period of pregnancy, several months before and after conception, mothers of children with brain tumors were less likely than control mothers to report use of multivitamins (adjusted odds ratio (OR), 0.7; 95% confidence interval (95% CI), 0.4-1.0; P = 0.08).
The researchers found that taking multivitamins later in pregnancy did not significantly reduce a child's risk of medulloblastoma and PNET.
"Our findings suggest that the time close to conception may be a critical period in the development of these tumors," said Dr Bunin.
"However, most women do not yet know they are pregnant at this very early stage. That is why women of reproductive age are advised to take multivitamins to prevent neural tube defects even if they are not trying to get pregnant."
The researchers questioned mothers in a telephone survey. All of the children with cancer were diagnosed between 1991 and 1997.
Which is the reason why everyone should be on multi-vitamin supplements. Even JAMA says so.
LifePak Prenatal is optimal dietary supplementation designed to help meet the basic and specific nutrient requirements for pregnant and lactating women. Available in individual packets for your convenience, LifePak Prenatal supplies pregnant and lactating women with important dietary ingredients to assist in maintaining general wellness.
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