The Formaldehyde Scare

The formalin issue about the possibility of food tainted with such substances has blown into major proportion, especially at present times. The situation had caused further paranoia among consumers recently. When some years ago, that possibility was denied and considered as kwentong barbero, this time, with hard evidences and substantial testing from BFAD laboratories, it has become eventually as one among our serious concerns.
The main culprit is Mainland China. The country had allegedly been producing and exporting commodities on the global market and rumored to have been adulterated with toxic substances for practical business purposes. Formalin in particular had always been the substance in question. To substantiate the allegations, BFAD conducted its own laboratory and confirmed that the substance has always been a part of the food. Prominent among these products is a famous candy branded as White Rabbit, the soft and vanilla tasted sweet which was one of my favorites during childhood. Then there were assorted biscuits tainted as well. This called the prompt pulling out of these products from the grocery and supermarkets nationwide. Some toothpaste exported from China was banned as well for containing such.
I remember formalin during my college days as a vet student at UP Diliman. The substance was very useful in preserving the cadavers that were used as specimen for the anatomy subjects. But it leaves irritations, itchiness and rashes on our hands considering the thick rubber gloves we also wore then. The odor was also nauseating so sometimes we have to cover our nose and mouth with surgical masks. We could just imagine the consequences of ingesting these substances down from our oral cavity into the esophagus and then through the GI tract. More paranoia would set in after absorption of formalin into the blood then going to different parts of the body specially the kidney and the liver. A small amount might perhaps be lethal and damaging to these organs while more than enough dose would eventually be fatal.
The formaldehyde scare had caused global concerns while taking preventive measures mitigating the occurrence of further exposure. CNN reports that measures
Had been taken by USA by banning some exportation from China. Perhaps the European community would eventually follow suit. Here in the Philippines, media had played a significant role disseminating information and creating awareness among consumers about the food they buy on the market. It has been noted that the BFAD seal is a very essential criteria in selecting foods to buy. And considering the wave of products exported from China and peddled into the streets of Divisoria, Baclaran and other crowded commercial establishments in Metro Manila, the possibility of formaldehyde exposure would not be remote. Vigilance would eventually play a special role among the consumers.

Baywalk Manila Gone Soon

Well not really totally gone soon. At least the promenade will still be around. And from what I heard with the incumbency of former senator Alfredo Lim as the new mayor of Manila, there will be changes including the Baywalk scenario. I knew and expected this will happen sooner or later and knowing that Mayor Lim is such an advocate for moral ascendancy. It is not really that Baywalk is a haven for sinners or prostitutes just like the old Ermita but there were liquors served in many of the kiosks around there and truly business is thriving. Considering the thousand of people strolling along the bay almost everyday most especially on weekends. This will surely be a big blow as far as business for these liquor kiosks. Unless of course there are recourses to transfer them just across Roxas Boulevard or just at the vicinity of the Solaiman Plaza.
Oh well, Ross and I took the opportunity to drop by last Wednesday afternoon. The weather was friendly, wind, and cloudy with overcast skies. It was as if rain will soon be pouring but nevertheless we managed to take some shots of ourselves solo on different parts of the promenade starting from the US embassy up to the Figaro coffee shop. It as if we both have to rush before the new Mayor and his men would start remodeling the bay landscape soon we would be packing our bags with Ross’ camera. Our efforts on that Wednesday afternoon seemed to be a must for both of us because that place had been one of the significant parts of our friendship. Ross and I would be dropping by Baywalk during our initial stages and sometimes on weekends we would be just sitting around there up to the wee hours, as the sun will eventually be peeping on us. Then we hear the call of the magtataho who sold them for only ten pesos for a plastic cup. And not yet contented, we would be proceeding to the coffee kiosks vending breakfast just behind the Sulaiman plaza. That was year 2003.
Things have changed there of course including our routine. We had explored more places to visit just around the vicinity. We had dine at the Aristocrat Restaurant, we had a drink or two at some beer pub along Remedios, we had also savored the noodles of Sylvia’s kitchenette, we had enjoyed the acoustic gigs at the Café Adriatico but we would not miss the coffee of Figaro which we had enjoyed for these past years of visiting the place. Not to be missed too is dinner of seafoods and liempo at Big Mama’s eatery, an open area restaurant also located behind the plaza and patronized by people comprised of locals and tourists who had a knack for lutong bahay servings. For only three to four hours of stay, again we would relish the simple pleasures of life, communing with nature, watching people enjoy the promenade, hearing mass at the Malate church, dinner at Big Mama’s and coffee at Figaro’s.

Post Election Scenarios: Cheers For The Pinoys!

The Pinoy voters had just spoken up. The election results will say it all. Whether proclaimed or not, local or national, the leading candidates vying for their respective positions would perhaps serve as a barometer concerning the progressive attitude of the Pinoy voters becoming evident based on their choices.
Here is a personal analysis, which would be based on election results coming from quick counts conducted by the major TV stations and a small percentage from the independent NAMFREL count based at La Salle Greenhills. I don’t want to pre-empt the final outcome but at this early stage of the counting, my opinion would still hold significant especially now that many of the chosen candidates had been proclaimed winners.
1. Majority on the top twelve of the senatorial candidates is young bloods. The Pinoys saw the need for public servants like Chiz Escudero, Loren Legarda, Kiko Pangilinan, Noynoy Aquino, Allan Cayetano, Ping Lacson and surprises of all surprises, the renegade Antonio Trillanes who was inside a prison while everyone had all the chance to hold campaign sorties all over the nation. They are relatively young minds that the people expect to inject newer perspectives in legislation and whom the people expect to have more than enough energy to answer all the essential needs for our country’s progression.
2. While in the past elections being popular or holding a celebrity status is a guarantee to clinch a public office position, this will not hold true anymore this year. The most noticeable proof is the loss of the very famous boxing champ Manny Pacquiao against the incumbent solon of Gen San Darlene Custodio. Pacquiao had the respect of the world boxing fans at the present times and perhaps he was thinking he would end victorious too in other challenges like in the field of politics. As a candidate for representative of Gen San, his platform seemed shallow as "yes" or "no" servant for his very close ally, GMA. The people perceived this as an insult to their intelligence. They prefer him to be better off as a boxing ambassador. The case of the champ is quite different from the rest of the celebrities like Cesar Montano, Richard Gomez, Anjo Yllana, etc… who thought perhaps that it is quite safe following the footsteps of Bong Revilla, Jinggoy Estrada and Lito Lapid. Unfortunately for them, the pinoy voters got tired and had learned about the futility of popular movie stars as legislators or public officials. But except for some who were successful enough to serve their constituents with the likes of Vilma Santos who will soon be proclaimed the new governor of Batangas province.
The victory of a unknown priest named Father Ed Panlilio AKA Among ED
as the new governor of Pampanga is a very good example that the Pampangos truly desire for genuine change or cleansing for their province. Through the years, they have been under the governance of some shady characters ranging from gambling lords to the corrupt. And the Pampangos had truly changed. They hunger for public servants that would exemplify integrity in the person of a servant of God.
The choice of the Pampangos can reflect the true desire as well of the rest of the Pinoy voters. And this is the earnest desire for true changes in our country. It is about time, it has been long overdue, and the elections this year was a good opportunity for them to speak out. A wave of desire for true changes in the form of choosing the right candidates would sooner or later reach every right thinking Filipino minds. And maybe more of this scenario would manifest in the next elections in the year 2010. CHEERS TO THE PINOY VOTERS !!!

Planet Earth Part 2: "Are We Not Alone?"

I was silently absorbed about what a CNN anchor was announcing just a few days ago. It has something to do with European astronomers discovering what might be an "extrasolar planet" where life could possibly be existing. Whence as before, scientists were focused on studies about the planet Mars as a probable planet where human being could exist, the discovery of the earthlike planet could spawn another recourse in our astronomer’s efforts.
Truly man’s advancements and the continuous exploration of our space for the past 30 years or so had caused as well major alterations in our science subjects. The satellite shuttles launched into space were armed with high tech facilities that were able to capture more new and accurate perspective that had erased what we can now consider as ancient facts about our solar system. During my grade school days, I was made to believe that earth is not flat and we tend to gravitate toward our planet’s center even if it’s round. Further, our basic knowledge then about the solar system is that it consists of a sun, 9 planets and each planet with corresponding satellites or moons, asteroids, meteors, shooting stars, and zillions upon zillions of stars. The Earth had only one moon while the bigger planets like Jupiter and Saturn have many. We cannot even accept the fact that Mars has two moons while we only have one.
What is this new planet all about? Please take note of the following background about the discovery:
"The planet was discovered by the European Southern Observatory's telescope in La Silla, Chile, which has a special instrument that splits light to find wobbles in different wavelengths. Those wobbles can reveal the existence of other worlds.
What they revealed is a planet circling the red dwarf star, Gliese 581. Red dwarfs are low-energy, tiny stars that give off dim red light and last longer than stars like our sun. Until a few years ago, astronomers didn't consider these stars as possible hosts of planets that might sustain life.The discovery of the new planet, named 581 c, is sure to fuel studies of planets circling similar dim stars. About 80 percent of the stars near Earth are red dwarfs."
Here are more suppositions about the planet that were hypothesized by the observers:
The new planet is about 20 years light away in the constellation of Libra
13 days on that planet is about one year in ours.
A person would weigh a lot more there
Temperature is almost the same as Earth, between 32 and 104 degrees
The planet is about 5 times heavier than Earth
Gravity is 1.6 times stronger
There is still doubts about the atmosphere which could possibly be conducive
It could probably full of liquid water which is critical to life
These findings are of course hypothetical at this stage and needs further evaluation and more efforts, logistics, high tech inventions, and definitely time to confirm. What is amazing about all of this is the capability of the satellites and the high tech gadgets that were launched onto space to explore more and more new discoveries that could cause major alterations about man’s knowledge of astronomy. This would of course have a major offshoot as well in everyone’s future. And in case there will truly be another life out there beyond our planet, what would be its form? Could they possibly the same forms that we see on big budget Hollywood movies depicting alien visits coming from extraterrestrial entities. Or perhaps life there is only about to start forming and would have to undergo more years of evolution until eventually they would also be like intelligent and creative human beings who would continue to cause so much impact perhaps not only on their own planet but on the whole unbounded, and timeless macrocosm called universe.

Pan's Labyrinth

I had been dying to see this movie. I got a pirated copy some weeks ago for fifty bucks. Unfortunately, there were no English subtitles I only viewed the first three minutes. Until last Wednesday, April 25, I was able to catch it last full show with Ross at Megamall.
The movie is basically a fantasy movie and with a surreal touch as experienced by the a young Spanish girl named Ofelia, who would be playing the main character. Having a penchant for fairy tale stories, she soon found herself getting in touch with the underworld creatures. Perhaps it was her disappointment with her mother’s new husband, a powerful and arrogant Spanish civil war officer, that forced her to imagine and experience the fairy tale stories as outlet to escape from the harsh reality. Her mother was pregnant while acceding to the cruel husband’s tyrant disposition. The underworld creatures, in the form of fairies and a fawn would promise her to bring her back to her kingdom as their lost princess. The promise was not however served on a silver platter, as she has to accomplish some tasks that would perhaps challenge her discipline and determination. These would lead her to encounter scary underworld creatures like a monster frog underneath an old huge tree where she would retrieve a golden key and a mutant like being with a pair of eye on its pair of palm and from which she would secure a golden knife. In the meantime, and going back to her reality, Ofelia and her mother would continue to suffer from the hands of her stepfather. The story happened post civil war in Spain circa 40’s. The stepfather has his own men and artillery based on the mountains and where they continuously encounter resistance from the guerillas. Eventually, the guerillas would end victorious, kill the stepfather, and recover Ofelia’s baby brother. But her stepfather would also kill Ofelia after stealing her baby brother. The death of Ofelia would reunite her with her fantasy parents who are the king and the queen of the underworld while she being the lost princess. And she would live happily ever after.
Ivana Vasquez, the young Spanish actress who portrayed Ofelia was convincing in truly expressing innocence amidst the overwhelming power displayed by both her underworld experiences and her miseries under the hands of her vicious stepfather. The latter on the other hand, portrayed by the Spanish actor whose name I momentarily slipped from my memory, was a natural villain, his performance creating an impact on the viewers. I wished I would have a turn shooting him at the end of the story.
Not to be missed in recognition are the technical aspects namely the production design, cinematography, special effects, make up and art direction. No wonder it would eventually be cited by the motion picture of America as the best in as far as the technical aspects or as mentioned earlier.
While it may be true that fantasy movies could help a viewer escape from his or her present reality even within two hours of being absorbed, scary movies about monsters and miseries of war devastation makes a viewer thankful and secure. Advances in special effects, animations, make ups, production designs etc… makes a viewer believe further that what they are seeing on screen are the precise imagery even if these are only the movie creator’s perceptions.
By and large, Pan’s Labyrinth is a movie I can recommend to friends especially those with a knack for a film’s technical aspects.

Beating The Scorching Summer Heat

I can’t appreciate summer anymore as an enjoyable season based on observations for the past two or three years. It’s not because I feel awkward wearing summer outfits that would not fit my al most 40-inch belly. Nor going to spend weekend escapades in beaches or pools, which had, been stressful in all aspects including the pocket. Summer nowadays is so punishing you look forward to ending the season as quickly as possible. Last April 17. Manila registered a scorching temperature of 36.8 degrees, the highest so far this year. While the highest recorded in our country’s history was at 42.2 way back year 1969, this possibility of reaching that point seems not remote as extrinsic contributory factors continue to be the cause of unrelenting climate changes. Talk about global warming, former Vice President Al Gore had been outspoken about the dangers of this phenomenon and had been advocating measures that will minimize and prevent its global effects particularly on the climate. In any case, since we have been an acceding recipient of the intense summer heat for the past weeks, we have no other alternative but take preventive measures that will protect us from probable hazards. Consider the following personal advises that I can share:
Drink at least 8 glasses of water a day. This is a very basic measure as more body fluids are lost during summer in the form of sweat. Water would also add coolness inside our body.
Take a bath or shower at least twice in a day. Better still, more than twice as your need will require. It is just unbelievable that sweating becomes evident even without moving your body.
Protect yourself from the sun while outside using hats or umbrellas. If you are male specie and a Pinoy, the practical use of umbrellas not only during the rainy seasons becomes a basic need as a shield. There is nothing to be ashamed about anymore.
Lotions with specific sun block protections would also be a necessity while going to the beach or any summer escapades for that matter. I use petroleum jelly as an additive topical preparation.
Stay indoors most of the day. The heat outside starting from 10 am up to 4 PM is more risk carrying of damaging our skin that could induce aging woes like wrinkles etc…
Save your dark and thick clothes for the cool months while don yourself more with light materials and colors.
Have your hair trimmed or set in styles that would be convenient. Skinheads cut are advisable. Being bald would be much better.
For the rest of the year, consumption of air conditioner units would be more evident during this season. While it could utilize much of your monthly expense budget there will be approaches that could control its use. Of course that would be on a case to case basis.

I assume that many that have read this piece are actually practicing such. Although there could be other advises that I may not yet be cognizant at the moment, I will welcome additional tips that you can share via comments.
Further, cases of hypertension during this season would count to significant numbers so I also advise being cool in every situation and avoid practices that could lead to increased blood level pressure.