Mi Choza De Nipa

Super El Niño, Killer AI, and Ten Feet of Horse Manure

2026-10-02T20:00:00.000+08:00

Super El Niño, Killer AI, and Ten Feet of Horse Manure

Why history makes me skeptical of both doom and utopia.

Every generation seems to get its own prediction of doom.

Today, we hear warnings that a Super El Niño may bring devastating floods, droughts, heat waves, and economic disruption around the world. The risks are real, and organizations such as NOAA and the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) have warned that a very strong El Niño can significantly disrupt global weather patterns. [noaa.gov], [wmo.int]

At the same time, headlines are circulating about artificial intelligence. Some AI researchers have publicly expressed concern that future superintelligent AI systems could pose existential risks to humanity within the coming decade. Evan Hubinger, Alignment Science Lead at Anthropic, recently stated his personal belief that there is greater than a 10% chance AI could "kill all humans" within the next decade if the alignment problem remains unsolved. [cbsnews.com], [forbes.com]

From horse-drawn carriages to artificial intelligence, history reminds us that the future rarely unfolds the way we expect.

When people encounter predictions like these, they often react in one of two ways:

Panic.
Dismiss everything as nonsense.

I think both reactions miss an important lesson from history.

The Horse Manure Problem

One of my favorite historical anecdotes comes from the late nineteenth century.

As cities grew, transportation depended heavily on horses. More people meant more horses. More horses meant more manure.

Some observers looked at the trends and concluded that cities such as London would eventually be buried under mountains of horse manure. Although the exact numbers often repeated online are debated, the underlying concern was genuine: urban planners faced a growing sanitation problem caused by the expanding use of horses.

The logic seemed sound.

If there are twice as many people, there will be roughly twice as many horses.

If there are twice as many horses, there will be roughly twice as much manure.

Project that into the future and the city becomes unlivable.

The prediction failed.

Not because people became better at handling manure.

It failed because the entire premise changed.

The automobile arrived.

Electric trams spread.

Urban infrastructure evolved.

The future did not continue in a straight line.

The Problem with Straight-Line Forecasting

Many predictions assume that today's reality will simply become more intense tomorrow.

This is often true for a short period.

It is rarely true over decades.

History is filled with examples:

In the 1950s, many expected fleets of flying cars.
In the 1990s, people imagined the internet primarily as a collection of static web pages.
Around Y2K, some imagined computer failures would cripple modern civilization.
Today, some imagine AI becoming either humanity's greatest servant or its executioner.

Reality usually takes a different path.

The future is not merely an extension of the present.

It is often a complete reorganization of the present.

Does That Mean We Should Ignore Warnings?

Not at all.

The danger of extreme predictions is not that they identify risks.

The danger is when we mistake risk assessments for prophecies.

Consider El Niño.

Scientists monitor ocean temperatures, atmospheric conditions, and climate patterns to estimate the probability of extreme weather events. Their forecasts are not declarations of destiny. They are warnings about increased risk. [noaa.gov], [wmo.int]

The same principle applies to AI.

When AI safety researchers discuss existential risk, they are usually not claiming that humanity is definitely doomed. They are highlighting scenarios that deserve careful study and preparation. In fact, many of the concerns focus on hypothetical future systems capable of self-improvement and autonomy that do not exist today. [thegrio.com], [cbsnews.com]

The existence of a risk does not guarantee the outcome.

What History Suggests

If history teaches us anything, it is that humans are surprisingly adaptable.

Over the last few decades alone, humanity has navigated:

SARS
The 2008 financial crisis
Major natural disasters
Global pandemics
Rapid technological disruption

Each event exposed vulnerabilities.

Each event also revealed resilience.

People adjusted.

Organizations adapted.

Technology evolved.

Policies changed.

Life continued.

None of this means future challenges will be easy.

Only that it is unwise to underestimate humanity's ability to respond.

A Systems Administrator's View

As someone who works in technology, I often think of these issues in operational terms.

Imagine a critical production server.

An engineer reports that the server has a 10% chance of catastrophic failure within the next year.

A professional response is not panic.

Nor is it dismissal.

Instead, you:

Monitor the system.
Strengthen controls.
Improve backups.
Test recovery procedures.
Develop contingency plans.

You take the warning seriously.

You simply do not assume the failure is inevitable.

Perhaps that is the right way to think about both climate risks and AI risks.

Final Thoughts

The horse manure prediction was not foolish.

It was based on the best information available at the time.

Its failure was a reminder that innovation, adaptation, and unforeseen developments can dramatically alter the future.

Today, forecasts about Super El Niño and advanced AI deserve attention. The risks are real. Experts should continue studying them. Governments, businesses, and communities should prepare accordingly. [wmo.int], [noaa.gov], [cbsnews.com], [forbes.com]

But history encourages humility.

The future has a long record of surprising both the optimists and the pessimists.

Perhaps the wisest position is neither fear nor complacency.

It is informed caution.

After all, the people worrying about horse manure never saw the automobile coming.

And there is a good chance that some of today's most confident predictions will one day look just as quaint.

When the Whole Community Was Our Orchard

2026-09-04T20:00:00.000+08:00

When the Whole Community Was Our Orchard

The other night, my wife and I found ourselves remembering the fruits of our childhood.

One name brought out another. Camachile. Tieza. Pomelo. Guyabano. Guava. Abyang. Mango. Aratiles. Balimbing. Kaimito. Duhat. Siniguelas. Mabolo. Mulberry. Sampalok. Pias.

Soon, we were no longer merely naming fruits. We were rebuilding an entire community as it once appeared—with tall trees beside houses, branches extending over open land, seasonal fruits hanging within sight and children who knew exactly where to find them.

Decades later, many of those trees are gone.

More houses now occupy the spaces where they once grew. Families expanded, land became more valuable, and open areas were gradually claimed for new homes. The change was understandable, perhaps even unavoidable.

Yet every new structure seemed to take the place of a tree, a patch of ground or a small corner where something edible had once grown freely.

Only after returning did we realize how much had disappeared.

An orchard without fences

We never called our community an orchard.

There were no entrance gates, organized rows or signs identifying the trees. Nobody handed us a basket and invited us to pick fruit. The trees were simply part of the neighbourhood.

A camachile tree might grow in one place, its curling pods holding soft white or pinkish flesh around shiny black seeds. Somewhere else stood a guava, pomelo or guyabano tree. Mango trees rose above roofs and offered shade long before their fruits were ready.

Aratiles grew almost anywhere. Their small red fruits were easy to overlook from a distance, but children knew how to spot the ripe ones. Kaimito waited behind glossy leaves, while balimbing hung like little lanterns with five distinct ridges.

When duhat season came, the trees could be extraordinarily generous. The fruits arrived in such abundance that purple-stained fingers and tongues seemed to become part of the season.

Siniguelas had its own following. Some fruits were eaten while still firm and sharply flavoured; others were allowed to soften and sweeten.

No single person had planted all these trees for us. Together, however, they formed a community orchard without fences.

The fruits known by local names

Some fruits were known to us by names that may never have appeared in our schoolbooks.

There was abyang, borne in clusters by a palm. Each fruit was around the size of a marble. Its outer portion was so thick that it seemed to occupy almost half the fruit, leaving only a small amount of flesh inside. Sometimes that flesh was bitter.

We ate it anyway.

Perhaps that small act says something about childhood. A fruit did not have to be perfectly sweet, seedless or convenient. It only had to be there, growing within reach and recognized by the other children.

There was also tieza, another name carrying the language of the community that used it. Local names held practical knowledge: where a plant grew, when it fruited, what it tasted like and whether it was worth climbing for.

These names deserve to be remembered even when their scientific identities are uncertain. A local name is not an inferior name. It is a vessel carrying a community’s relationship with a plant.

When such a name disappears, we lose more than a word.

The branch filled with fruit

One remembered tree produced fruits in clusters. They began green, turned red and finally became black when ripe.

We climbed the tree and reached for the branches carrying the heaviest bunches. Sometimes, instead of picking the fruits individually, we broke off the whole fruiting branch and brought it down.

Today, that sounds careless. A gardener would think about the health and future shape of the tree. Children thought only about the fruit in front of them.

The tree appeared so tall and productive that we could not imagine our small harvest making any difference. It seemed permanent, as many things do in childhood.

Now, remembering how few such trees remain, permanence no longer feels certain.

Mulberries were also part of the local landscape. Their fruits changed colour as they ripened, and a tree in season could tempt children and birds alike.

Long before I grew mulberries on a high-rise balcony, they were already part of the remembered abundance of home.

Sourness in a bowl

Not every childhood fruit was sweet.

One of the most memorable was a small yellow fruit, about the size of a marble. It had deep ridges and looked like a miniature beefsteak tomato. Inside was a small seed surrounded by flesh so sour that eating it became almost a test of endurance.

It was likely karmay, also known as star gooseberry.

We placed the fruits in a bowl, sprinkled them with salt and shook them together. The salt drew out some of the juice and spread the sourness over every surface.

Then we ate.

We continued until our mouths could hardly tolerate another one. Nobody had to organize a sour-fruit challenge for us. We had already invented our own.

The pleasure was partly in the flavour and partly in sharing the experience. One person reached for another fruit, so everyone else did the same. The sourness made us wince, but the bowl continued to empty.

That memory would be difficult to reproduce with fruit selected for uniform sweetness and sold inside a sealed package. Its flavour belonged to the tree, the season, the salt and the company gathered around the bowl.

The trees that supplied the sourness

Sourness did not always come from a packet or bottle. It grew on trees.

Sampalok was eaten at almost every stage. The unripe fruit was very sour, but that did not prevent us from eating it raw. As it matured, the pulp became sour-sweet. Some varieties were remarkably sweet, with hardly any sharpness remaining.

The trees varied, too. Some grew much taller than others.

The fruit was only part of what sampalok provided. Its tender leaves could be boiled with a goat’s head or other portions to make sinampalukan, giving the dish its characteristic natural sourness.

Then there was pias, known elsewhere as kamias or bilimbi.

Its elongated green fruits emerged in clusters directly from the trunk and larger branches. Each fruit was only about four or five centimetres long, yet it carried tremendous sourness.

Pias could be used to flavour fish, soups and other dishes requiring acidity. It was also something children might dare to eat raw, especially when salt was available.

These trees were not merely sources of seasonal snacks. They were part of the community kitchen. One tree could offer a childhood treat, a souring ingredient and the defining flavour of a family dish.

The tall mabolo tree

Then there was mabolo.

The tree grew tall, and its large fruits wore reddish skin that we peeled away. Inside were large seeds surrounded by edible flesh. To a child looking up from the ground, some of those fruits seemed almost as large as pomelos.

Mabolo had a character unlike the polished imported fruits that appeared in stores.

In our community, it was sometimes eaten because people believed it helped remove intestinal worms. We also ate it on ordinary days, without waiting for a particular reason.

That deworming use belongs to the traditional health knowledge of the community. It is best remembered as a household practice rather than presented as proven medical treatment.

What can be stated more confidently is that mabolo is a nourishing fruit containing fibre and several vitamins and minerals.

We did not discuss it in those terms then. We did not talk about dietary fibre, micronutrients or plant compounds.

We ate mabolo because it grew there, because our elders regarded it as useful and because it was part of life.

We did not need Christmas pears

Imported fruits felt special because they were unfamiliar.

Pears, for example, were fruits we usually encountered around Christmas. Their rarity gave them a certain prestige. They arrived from somewhere else, often carefully packed and displayed as part of the holiday season.

But rarity and distance do not automatically make a fruit more nourishing.

We already had mangoes, guavas, pomelos, guyabano, aratiles, duhat, siniguelas, kaimito, balimbing, mabolo and many others. Together, these local fruits contributed fibre and a wide range of vitamins, minerals and natural plant compounds to everyday diets.

No single fruit supplied everything the body needed, and fruit alone did not sustain the community’s health. Our nourishment also came from vegetables, rice, fish, root crops and other foods.

Still, the diversity of locally available produce made an important contribution. We did not need to wait for an imported pear to receive the benefits of eating fruit.

Our own trees were already laden with nourishment.

They were not lesser fruits or substitutes for something better. They belonged to our climate, our soil, our seasons and our tables.

They were enough.

The abundance we thought would remain

As children, we did not think much about ownership, land conversion or conservation.

We knew which trees bore fruit and which branches could support our weight. We knew when duhat was in season, where aratiles could be found and how much salt to put into a bowl of karmay.

We knew that some fruits would be sweet, some sour and some slightly bitter.

What we did not know was that the landscape itself could change.

A vacant space became a house. Another house followed. Old trees were cut because their roots, shade or falling leaves no longer fitted the new arrangement. Some died without being replaced. Children stopped learning the local names because the plants attached to those names were no longer around.

The disappearance was gradual. No single day marked the end of the community orchard.

One simply returned after decades and noticed the absences.

The camachile was no longer in its old place. The tall mabolo could not be found. The open land had narrowed. Branches once heavy with seasonal fruit had been replaced by roofs, walls and concrete.

The community was still there, but its edible landscape had grown quieter.

What the trees gave us

Those trees gave us more than vitamins and minerals.

They gave children reasons to go outdoors. They taught us to observe colour and ripeness. A green fruit was not ready. A red one was getting close. A black one needed to be reached before the birds found it.

They taught patience, even if we did not always practise it.

They gave us flavours that were not standardized: sweetness mixed with tartness, bitterness hiding inside a small palm fruit, or sourness strong enough to make everyone around a bowl react at once.

They also gave us a kind of shared wealth. A fruiting tree could feed more than the household beside it. Its branches extended into the visual and social life of the neighbourhood. Everyone knew when it was in season.

The abundance was partly in the number of trees. It was also in the knowledge shared by the people living among them.

Content with what grew around us

We did not have every fruit in the world.

Strawberries did not grow freely in our community. Pears and certain other imported fruits appeared mainly during Christmas. They attracted attention because they came from somewhere distant.

But we had mangoesStrawberries did not grow freely in our community. Pears and certain other imported fruits appeared mainly during Christmas. They attracted attention because they came from somewhere distant.

. We had guavas, pomelos and guyabano. We had aratiles, kaimito and balimbing. We had duhat in astonishing abundance when its season arrived. We had siniguelas, camachile, tieza, abyang, mabolo, sampalok, pias and mulberries.

Some were sweet. Some were sour. Some were bitter, yet we ate them anyway.

We climbed for them, gathered them, shook them with salt and shared them. We ate what was ripe and waited for the next tree to enter its season.

We did not think of our community as an orchard.

We simply thought of it as home.

For what grew around us was enough.

We were content—and we were happy.

🇵🇭 Pax Silica in the Philippines: Who Gains, Who Pays, and What the Documents Actually Say

2026-08-14T20:00:00.000+08:00

🇵🇭 Pax Silica in the Philippines: Who Gains, Who Pays, and What the Documents Actually Say

When a project promises billions of dollars in investment, hundreds of thousands of jobs, advanced technology and a place for the Philippines in the global artificial-intelligence economy, it is tempting to call it progress before the first building has risen.

It is equally tempting to condemn it immediately as another foreign intrusion.

Neither response is sufficient.

Pax Silica must be examined according to what has actually been signed, what remains under negotiation, what the Philippine government promises, what foreign partners openly expect to receive—and what Filipino communities may be required to sacrifice.

The truth is neither a government press release nor a protest slogan. But when the documented benefits, risks and obligations are unequal, neutrality must not become an excuse for silence.

This article reflects publicly available information as of August 8, 2026. Because the binding framework and project agreements remain under negotiation, important terms may still change.

What Is Pax Silica?

Pax Silica is a United States-led international economic-security initiative launched in December 2025.

Its purpose is to build a trusted supply-chain network among participating countries covering:

Critical minerals
Semiconductors and electronics
Artificial-intelligence infrastructure
Advanced manufacturing
Energy
Logistics
Data and computing infrastructure

The Philippines signed the Pax Silica Declaration on April 16, 2026, becoming its thirteenth signatory at the time.

The declaration expresses broad commitments to cooperation, secure supply chains, private investment, technological development and economic security. Philippine officials have described it as non-binding.

That distinction is crucial.

The declaration does not by itself constitute a completed investment contract for the proposed Philippine industrial zone. The arrangements governing land, investors, incentives, infrastructure, environmental responsibility, personnel and legal jurisdiction are still being developed.

Pax Silica in the Philippines therefore involves two related but different matters:

The international initiative that the Philippines has already joined.
The proposed industrial hub in New Clark City whose binding operating terms have not yet been finalized.

Confusing the declaration with the unfinished project agreement makes the undertaking appear more settled than it actually is.

The Proposed Philippine Hub

The United States and the Philippines have announced plans to establish an approximately 4,000-acre, or 1,620-hectare, Economic Security Zone in New Clark City, Tarlac.

It would form part of the Luzon Economic Corridor, a wider Philippine-US-Japan initiative connecting Subic Bay, Clark, Metro Manila and Batangas through transportation, logistics, energy and industrial infrastructure.

The US State Department described the proposed zone as a staging point for allied manufacturing and for increasing production of inputs vital to American supply chains.

That wording deserves attention.

The project is promoted in the Philippines as a source of investment, technology, employment and industrial development. From the American perspective, it is also intended to secure materials and manufactured inputs required by the United States and its partners.

Those objectives are not automatically incompatible. A fair economic partnership can benefit everyone involved.

But the benefits are not automatically equal.

What Has the Philippines Offered?

An April 2026 BCDA proposal letter identified the 4,000-acre site and proposed establishing a Pax Silica Coordination Office.

According to the publicly reported contents of the proposal:

The first two years of the lease would be rent-free as a Philippine in-kind contribution.
Rental rates beginning in the third year remained subject to negotiation.
The precise boundaries and operating terms would be settled in a supplemental agreement.
Personnel arrangements would have to remain consistent with Philippine law.
When the agreement ended without renewal, the property and permanent improvements would revert to the Philippine government.

These are proposed terms, not necessarily the final agreement.

The two rent-free years may be defended as a development incentive while investors construct facilities that are not yet earning revenue. Nevertheless, the public must know the monetary value of the concession, who receives it and what enforceable investment is required in return.

A government contribution is not free merely because no cash is handed over. Land use, foregone rent, roads, utilities, tax incentives and administrative support all have value.

The Government’s Economic Projections

BCDA has presented enormous estimates for the project at full development:

Approximately US$10 billion in initial investment
Possible eventual investment of US$40 billion to US$70 billion
Between 130,000 and 190,000 direct jobs
Between 500,000 and 800,000 indirect and induced jobs
Approximately ₱60 billion in lease income over 25 years
Between ₱68 billion and ₱75 billion in potential annual withholding taxes
As much as US$200 billion in exports
A possible contribution equivalent to around 10 percent of Philippine gross domestic product

These are extraordinary numbers.

But they are projections, not secured results.

As of August 8, 2026, no publicly available final agreement identifies enough committed investors, factories, capital expenditures or binding employment obligations to establish that these outcomes will occur.

Some employment estimates are based on multiplier effects. The largest figures therefore include jobs expected to arise through construction, suppliers, transport, services and increased consumer spending—not only people directly employed inside the zone.

Economic modeling is a legitimate planning tool. But projections must not be reported as accomplished facts.

“Could create” is not the same as “will create.”

The Genuine Economic Opportunity

The Philippines already has a substantial semiconductor and electronics industry. Filipino workers have long been involved in semiconductor assembly, testing and packaging.

These activities provide employment and export income, but they generally capture less value than:

Semiconductor research and development
Chip design
Wafer fabrication
Advanced-material production
Semiconductor-equipment manufacturing
Intellectual-property ownership
Senior engineering and technology management

Pax Silica could help the Philippines move upward in this value chain.

It could create better-paid work for Filipino engineers, scientists, technicians, programmers and manufacturing specialists. It could help domestic suppliers enter more advanced industries and give highly trained Filipinos a reason to build their careers at home.

The government also argues that Philippine critical minerals could be processed locally instead of being exported mainly in raw or partly processed form.

That is potentially a significant advantage.

But bringing a foreign-owned processing plant into the Philippines does not automatically give Filipinos control of the technology, products or profits.

If foreign companies retain the patents, research, management and highest-value functions while the Philippines provides land, minerals, electricity, water and comparatively inexpensive labor, the country may remain near the lower end of the value chain—only on a larger scale.

Manufacturing Hub or Data-Center Hub?

Official descriptions have not been completely consistent regarding data centers.

In July 2026, Department of Trade and Industry Undersecretary Ceferino Rodolfo said:

“This is not about building a data center here in the Philippines. This is about manufacturing components.”

However, the Board of Investments’ own Pax Silica information page refers to the role of “AI, data centers, and advanced manufacturing.” Other government descriptions have also included data centers among the possible industries.

Officials may mean that manufacturing will be the main activity while some data infrastructure will also be constructed.

But this cannot remain vague.

A semiconductor assembly plant, a wafer-fabrication facility, a mineral-processing plant and a hyperscale AI data center have very different requirements. Their water use, electricity demand, pollution risks and employment potential cannot be discussed as though they were interchangeable.

Before the final agreement is signed, the government must disclose:

Which industries are actually being invited
How many major facilities are contemplated
Whether hyperscale AI data centers are included
What each facility will consume
How many permanent jobs each will realistically create
Which companies will receive tax, land, power or water incentives

The Electricity Question

A potential power requirement of up to 3 gigawatts has been discussed for a fully developed hub.

A gigawatt measures power demand or generating capacity. It is not electricity consumed “per day.” Three gigawatts would be equivalent to the output of several large power plants and would represent a substantial addition to demand on the Luzon grid.

It remains unclear whether this is a firm engineering requirement, an upper-limit scenario or an estimate based on a particular mix of factories and data centers.

The Philippines already has some of the region’s most expensive electricity. Adding highly power-intensive industries without first constructing adequate generation and transmission capacity could:

Increase competition for existing electricity
Put upward pressure on consumer rates
Increase the risk of shortages
Require expensive grid expansion
Increase dependence on coal or imported gas
Shift infrastructure costs to ordinary consumers

The project’s electricity will not appear from nowhere.

The public must know what new generation will be required, who will finance it, what fuels it will use and whether households will subsidize the necessary transmission and grid upgrades.

Filipino consumers must not be required to accept higher electricity bills so foreign investors can receive reliable and preferential industrial power.

The Water Question

A full-scale hub has also been associated with possible demand of approximately 130 million liters of water per day.

Semiconductor manufacturing can require large amounts of ultra-pure water. Certain data-center cooling systems are water-intensive. Mineral processing may add further demand.

BCDA says the project will avoid relying primarily on groundwater. It proposes collecting rainwater through dams, reservoirs or impounding facilities, with possible surplus water shared with nearby communities.

That is a potentially useful proposal. It is not yet proof of adequate year-round supply.

The required studies must answer:

How much rainfall can realistically be captured?
What happens during El Niño or an extended drought?
Will rivers or watersheds used by farmers be affected?
How much industrial water will be recycled?
What chemicals will enter the wastewater?
Where will treated wastewater be discharged?
Who will pay for the water infrastructure?
Who receives priority when water becomes scarce?

A reservoir may help surrounding communities. It may also alter downstream flows, affect farms, fragment habitat or submerge land.

The word “rainwater” does not make a large industrial water system environmentally harmless.

Mining: Keeping the Value—or Keeping the Damage?

The Philippines has deposits of nickel, copper, chromite, cobalt and other minerals used in electronics, batteries, energy systems and advanced manufacturing.

The government says Pax Silica will help the country move away from exporting raw minerals by creating domestic processing industries.

That could create jobs and retain more economic value.

It could also expand the environmental footprint of mining and refining:

Forest loss and habitat destruction
Soil erosion and river sedimentation
Acid mine drainage
Heavy-metal contamination
Tailings and hazardous waste
High water and energy consumption
Carbon emissions from refining and smelting
Damage to farms, fisheries and community water sources

The processing facilities may be built in New Clark City, while the mines supplying them operate in other provinces. A clean-looking industrial zone in Tarlac could therefore depend on environmental damage borne by distant communities.

Environmental accounting must follow the supply chain from extraction to finished component. It cannot stop at the boundary of the economic zone.

What Indonesia Actually Did With Its Nickel

Indonesia provides one of the clearest examples of both the promise and danger of mineral “downstreaming.”

A misleading version circulating online says Indonesia banned nickel mining because China refused to build smelters locally.

That is not what happened.

Indonesia continued mining nickel. What it banned was the export of unprocessed nickel ore.

The Indonesian government first imposed restrictions in 2014, temporarily relaxed part of the policy, and fully reinstated its raw-ore export ban in January 2020.

Its message to foreign buyers was effectively:

If you want Indonesian nickel, you must process it in Indonesia.

China did not refuse.

Chinese companies responded by investing heavily in Indonesian smelters, refineries, industrial parks and battery-material facilities. Chinese capital and technology became central to the rapid expansion of Indonesia’s nickel-processing industry.

Indonesia’s policy was therefore not the result of China rejecting local smelting. It was a deliberate national strategy that used control of the mineral resource to compel companies to build processing capacity inside Indonesia.

Why the Philippines Became a Leading Nickel-Ore Supplier

When Indonesia stopped exporting raw nickel ore, Chinese smelters still required feedstock.

The Philippines consequently became China’s largest foreign supplier of nickel ore and one of the world’s leading exporters of unprocessed nickel.

This does not mean the Philippines overtook Indonesia as the world’s largest nickel producer or holder of nickel resources. Indonesia remains the dominant global producer.

The Philippines became especially important as a supplier of raw ore because Indonesia had withdrawn its own raw ore from the international market.

The contrast is revealing:

Indonesia	Philippines
Continued mining nickel	Continued mining nickel
Prohibited raw-ore exports	Continued exporting much of its raw ore
Required processing inside Indonesia	Sent much of its ore abroad for processing
Attracted foreign smelters and refineries	Became a major supplier to foreign smelters
Captured more processing and export value	Captured mainly mining and raw-export value

This is precisely the economic weakness Pax Silica claims it can correct.

The Indonesian Success

Indonesia’s policy attracted enormous foreign investment and rapidly expanded domestic smelting.

Its nickel export earnings rose dramatically as it moved from selling raw ore toward selling processed nickel products. Indonesia became the world’s largest producer of mined and refined nickel and established itself as a major part of the global electric-vehicle supply chain.

Indonesia demonstrated an important principle:

A country possessing a valuable natural resource can use access to that resource as bargaining power.

Instead of simply asking foreign companies to process nickel locally, Indonesia made domestic processing a condition of access to its ore.

The Philippines has discussed a similar ban on exports of raw nickel, but the proposed prohibition was removed from legislation in 2025 following industry opposition.

Pax Silica is now being presented as another route toward local processing—one based on attracting investors through an international partnership rather than compelling downstream investment through an export ban.

Whether that produces equivalent bargaining power is uncertain.

The Indonesian Warning

Indonesia’s experience is not an uncomplicated success.

Although processing takes place on Indonesian soil, Chinese-linked companies control a large portion of the country’s nickel-processing capacity. Chinese firms brought the capital, smelting technology, management networks and access to downstream markets.

Indonesia retained more physical processing and export value, but it also created a new dependence.

Instead of depending mainly upon foreign buyers of raw ore, it became heavily dependent upon foreign-owned processing industries operating within Indonesia.

The environmental costs have also been severe.

Reports and studies have documented:

Extensive deforestation
Damage to coastal and marine ecosystems
Pollution affecting nearby communities
Large industrial parks powered substantially by coal
High greenhouse-gas emissions
Hazardous working conditions
Land conflicts and pressure on Indigenous communities
Rapid extraction encouraged by expanding processing capacity

Local processing can therefore produce more national income while also accelerating environmental destruction.

A mineral does not become environmentally clean simply because it will be used in an electric vehicle, renewable-energy system or artificial-intelligence facility.

The Lesson for Pax Silica

The Philippines should learn from both sides of Indonesia’s experience.

The country should not remain merely a supplier of raw minerals. Exporting low-value ore while importing high-value technology is a poor long-term industrial strategy.

But the alternative must not be limited to this:

Filipino minerals are mined and processed in the Philippines, but the factories, technology, decisions and profits remain under foreign control.

The better objective is:

Minerals are responsibly extracted and processed in the Philippines while Filipino skills, industries, ownership, technology and public revenue grow with them.

Pax Silica must therefore answer questions that go beyond the physical location of the factories:

Who will own the processing facilities?
Who owns the technology?
Who owns the patents and resulting intellectual property?
Will Filipino companies hold meaningful equity?
Will Filipino engineers eventually manage and design the processes?
Where will profits be recorded and taxed?
Who controls production during a geopolitical crisis?
Are processed minerals reserved for foreign supply chains?
Will the Philippines develop its own downstream industries?
Who will pay for environmental damage and mine rehabilitation?

A foreign-owned smelter standing on Philippine soil is not automatically a Filipino industry.

Physical location is not the same as national control.

New Clark City, Farmers and the Aeta

The most serious humanitarian issue concerns farmers and Aeta communities in and around New Clark City.

BCDA says the proposed site is public land titled to the authority. It maintains that no registered Certificate of Ancestral Domain Title covers the designated area and denies claims that tens of thousands of people will be displaced by Pax Silica itself.

Community advocates present a different account.

Disputes involving Aeta occupation, farming and displacement in the wider New Clark City development existed years before Pax Silica was proposed. Some Aeta families maintain that their ancestors occupied and used these lands long before contemporary government titles and development plans.

This raises an important legal and moral point:

The absence of a completed ancestral-domain title does not necessarily prove the absence of ancestral occupation or Indigenous rights.

The Indigenous Peoples’ Rights Act recognizes rights arising from native title. Ancestral occupation does not begin only when the government completes a Certificate of Ancestral Domain Title.

The process must establish transparently:

Which Indigenous communities traditionally occupied or used the land
Whether ancestral-domain claims are pending
How affected farmers and households were counted
Whether customary or informal land users were excluded
Whether free, prior and informed consent is required
What consultations have occurred
What compensation and relocation are being offered
Whether replacement livelihoods are permanent and culturally appropriate

A factory job is not automatically equivalent to a farm, ancestral landscape or independent livelihood.

“Urban farming” cannot simply be declared an adequate substitute for land, culture, community and food security.

Environmental Compliance Is Necessary—but Not Sufficient

BCDA says the project will comply with Philippine environmental law and that its components will obtain Environmental Compliance Certificates.

That is necessary.

But an Environmental Compliance Certificate does not mean a project has no harmful effects. It means impacts have been evaluated and conditions imposed for their management.

The government must require a cumulative environmental assessment of the entire development—not only separate studies for individual factories, roads, reservoirs, transmission lines, power plants and mines.

Examining each component separately can hide the combined effect on:

Water
Electricity
Air quality
Waste generation
Traffic
Biodiversity
Agricultural land
Indigenous communities
Surrounding towns
Mineral-producing provinces

The Indonesian experience makes this cumulative assessment even more important. Building more processing capacity can stimulate more extraction, producing environmental consequences far beyond the industrial zone itself.

The 99-Year Lease

Foreign investors may qualify for land leases lasting up to 99 years under Republic Act No. 12252, the amended Investors’ Lease Act.

A lease does not legally transfer Philippine ownership or sovereignty.

But 99 years is several generations. It can give a lessee practical control over land long after the officials who approved the agreement—and the citizens who first debated it—are gone.

Every major lease should include:

Public disclosure of the complete agreement
Identification of the true beneficial owners
Definite investment and construction deadlines
Use-it-or-lose-it provisions
Limits on transfer and speculative subleasing
Periodic performance reviews
Local employment and training obligations
Environmental restoration bonds
Liability for contamination and abandonment
Government access for inspection and law enforcement
Termination rights for serious violations
Reversion of land and improvements to the Philippines
No exemption from Philippine law

The land must not be controlled for generations on the basis of promises that investors are never legally required to fulfill.

Diplomatic Immunity: What Was Said, Denied and Rejected

The question of diplomatic immunity has caused understandable alarm.

In May 2026, BCDA President Joshua Bingcang told reporters that the United States had requested that the proposed zone operate under American law with diplomatic immunity for US personnel. Bingcang said the Philippines rejected the request.

US Undersecretary of State Jacob Helberg subsequently disputed that characterization. He said the United States had not sought diplomatic immunity and that remarks concerning legal certainty for investors had been taken out of context.

These accounts conflict.

The published Pax Silica Declaration and BCDA proposal letter do not grant diplomatic immunity or place the zone under American law. Philippine officials have continued to insist that no immunity will be granted and that the zone will remain under Philippine jurisdiction.

Therefore, it would be inaccurate to say diplomatic immunity has been granted.

But it would also be inaccurate to pretend the issue never arose. The head of BCDA publicly described it as an American request, while the American official denied requesting it.

The final agreement must state unmistakably that every investor, official, contractor and worker inside the zone remains subject to Philippine criminal, civil, labor, tax and environmental law.

No commercial investment requires an enclave beyond the reach of Philippine courts and regulators.

Why the Former US Bases Cannot Be Left Out

For many Filipinos, the combination of American strategic interests, immunity, foreign control and a 99-year lease will revive memories of the former US military bases.

That reaction is neither irrational nor irrelevant.

Clark originated as Fort Stotsenburg in 1903 during the American colonial period. Except during the Japanese occupation, the United States used Clark for most of the twentieth century until 1991.

The wider Clark military reservation and later development areas extended across a large Central Luzon landscape associated with what are now Angeles, Mabalacat, Porac, Capas and Bamban.

This was not empty land without a human history.

Research has recorded repeated displacement of Aeta communities from traditional lands around Clark. Communities surrounding the bases also lived with social, environmental and jurisdictional consequences that were not shared equally with those benefiting from American military power.

On September 16, 1991, the Philippine Senate voted 12–11 against a proposed treaty extending the American military presence. That historic vote led to the end of the permanent US bases arrangement.

Pax Silica is not a military-bases treaty.

The proposed zone is not officially a foreign military installation, and no published agreement makes it American territory.

But the project stands within a landscape already shaped by American military use, base conversion, Indigenous displacement and national disputes over sovereignty.

History does not prove that Pax Silica will repeat the bases.

It proves that extraordinary scrutiny is justified.

The Historical Parallel—and Its Limits

Calling Pax Silica “another American military base” would go beyond the existing evidence.

The more accurate parallel is this:

Both the former bases and Pax Silica involve a powerful foreign country seeking long-term strategic benefits from a large area of Philippine land.

The former bases provided military projection. Pax Silica seeks secure minerals, technology inputs and allied manufacturing capacity.

Economic security is not the same as military occupation. But neither is it politically neutral. The United States openly describes economic security as national security.

The Philippines must therefore determine whether participation strengthens its industrial independence or makes it more dependent on foreign governments and corporations.

Who Clearly Benefits?

The United States has openly described the zone as a way to increase production of inputs vital to American supply chains.

The United States and other participating countries may gain:

Secure access to critical minerals and electronic components
Manufacturing capacity outside China
A trusted production location in Southeast Asia
Greater resilience against geopolitical disruption
Opportunities for their technology companies
Influence over semiconductor and AI supply chains
A stronger strategic position in the Indo-Pacific

These are not hidden motives. They are part of the initiative’s declared purpose.

Partner countries are acting in their own national interests.

The Philippines must do the same.

The essential question is whether the country receives a fair and durable share—or carries the most extractive and resource-intensive parts of the arrangement while the highest-value benefits flow elsewhere.

What Must Be Guaranteed for Filipinos?

Pax Silica can become advantageous if the final agreements guarantee that:

High-value research, engineering, design and manufacturing occur in the Philippines.
Filipino workers receive funded training.
Filipino companies gain meaningful supply contracts and equity opportunities.
Technology transfer is measurable and enforceable.
Philippine institutions develop intellectual property and technical expertise.
Local processing retains substantial value and tax revenue in the country.
Mining and refining follow strict environmental and community protections.
New power and water capacity is built before industrial demand arrives.
Investors pay the true cost of the infrastructure and resources they consume.
Households and farms retain priority access to essential water and electricity.
Indigenous rights and free, prior and informed consent are respected.
Farmers and affected communities receive fair compensation and lasting livelihoods.
Environmental studies cover cumulative and supply-chain effects.
Tax and land incentives are transparent and conditional on performance.
Long leases contain enforceable public-interest safeguards.
Everyone inside the zone remains subject to Philippine law.
Employment and revenue projections are independently reviewed.
Contracts and environmental reports are available to the public.

Without these protections, the Philippines could repeat a familiar arrangement:

The country provides the land.

Philippine mines provide the minerals.

Filipino communities carry the disruption.

Filipino consumers compete for water and electricity.

Filipino workers perform the production work.

Foreign companies retain the technology, strategic control and largest profits.

That would not be technological independence. It would be resource dependency dressed for the AI age.

Is Pax Silica Good or Bad for the Philippines?

As of August 8, 2026, the final answer has not yet been determined.

Pax Silica is not inherently evil. It offers a genuine opportunity to develop higher-value industries, create skilled employment and strengthen Philippine technological capacity.

But it is not automatically good merely because its presentation contains the words AI, semiconductors, investment and hundreds of thousands of jobs.

Indonesia proved that a resource-rich country can use its minerals to compel local processing.

It also proved that local processing can remain foreign-controlled and can multiply environmental destruction.

The strategic benefits sought by the United States and other partner countries are already clearly defined: secure supply chains, access to materials and additional allied manufacturing capacity.

The Philippine benefits remain dependent on contracts still being negotiated, investments not yet fully committed and safeguards not yet scientifically demonstrated.

The government must not ask the public to trust the project first and read the binding details later. The details are precisely where the national interest will either be protected or surrendered.

Pax Silica should not be rejected merely because foreigners will benefit.

It should not be accepted merely because officials promise that Filipinos will benefit too.

It should proceed only when the evidence and contracts demonstrate that the Philippines will not merely host the project, provide its resources and carry its risks—but will own a meaningful part of the knowledge, industry and prosperity it creates.

The Philippines is not simply a location on someone else’s supply-chain map.

It is our land, our water, our energy, our minerals, our workforce and our future.

The burden of proof belongs to those asking the Filipino people to commit them for the next 99 years.

References

Board of Investments, Philippines. “Pax Silica Declaration,” signed April 16, 2026.
Read the signed declaration
Board of Investments, Philippines. “Discussion on Pax Silica and the AI-Native Industrial Acceleration Hub.”
Official information page and documents
United States Department of State. “Pax Silica.”
Official initiative page
United States Department of State. “The United States and the Philippines Launch Plans for 4,000-Acre Economic Security Zone,” April 16, 2026.
Archived official release
Philippine News Agency. “PH Joins US-led Pax Silica; Plan for Industrial Hub in Luzon Unveiled,” April 17, 2026.
Read the report
Reuters. “Philippines, US to Build Industrial Hub to Strengthen Supply Chain Security,” April 17, 2026.
Read the report
Reuters. “US, Philippines to Reach Deal on Economic Security Zone,” May 21, 2026.
Read the report
Philstar.com. “US Official Says Immunity for Pax Silica Clark Hub ‘Taken Out of Context,’” May 26, 2026.
Read the conflicting accounts
Philstar.com. “Pax Silica Investors May Lease New Clark Land for 99 Years—BCDA,” July 24, 2026.
Read the report
GMA News. “Explainer: What Is Pax Silica and Why Are People Worried?” July 22, 2026.
Read the explainer
Philippine News Agency. “Planned Pax Silica Project Heeds National, International Laws: BCDA,” July 23, 2026.
Read the report
International Energy Agency. “Prohibition of the Export of Nickel Ore.”
Read the Indonesian policy summary
Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. “How Indonesia Used Chinese Industrial Investments to Turn Nickel Into the New Gold,” April 2023.
Read the analysis
US Geological Survey. “Nickel Statistics and Information.”
View official nickel data
Associated Press. “Indonesia Tightens Control on Nickel as the US and China Scramble for Critical Minerals,” 2026.
Read the report
World Bank. “Export Ban and Domestic Value Added in Indonesia.”
View the policy analysis
Bases Conversion and Development Authority. “New Clark City Will Be the Most Inclusive and Sustainable City in the Country,” July 8, 2019.
Read BCDA’s position
UST Law Review. “New Clark City: Built on the Shadows of Our Ancestors,” September 24, 2020.
Read the discussion
Al Jazeera. “A Filipino Tribe Fights to Stay as a ‘Smart City’ Rises on a Former US Base,” December 30, 2025.
Read the report
Philippine Social Science Council. “The Impact of the United States Military Bases on the Aetas.”
Read the historical research
Philippine Studies/Ateneo de Manila University. “The Historic Senate Vote of 16 September 1991.”
Read the historical study
Republic Act No. 8371. Indigenous Peoples’ Rights Act of 1997.
Read the law
Republic Act No. 12252. Amended Investors’ Lease Act, September 3, 2025.
Read the law
Presidential Decree No. 1586. Philippine Environmental Impact Statement System.
Read the law

The Scent That Led Me Back to the Fishpond

2026-08-07T20:00:00.000+08:00

The Scent That Led Me Back to the Fishpond

This morning, I harvested a couple of tender tips from my green Malabar spinach.

I did not need scissors. I held a stem between my thumb and finger and pinched. It yielded easily—a quiet little snap that told me the shoot was young enough for the kitchen.

Then came the smell.

It was green, earthy and strangely familiar. For a moment, I was no longer standing beside my balcony garden in Singapore. That scent had opened a door, and through it I found myself back in Pangasinan, beside the fishponds of my childhood.

I remembered a plant we called balangbang.

The vegetable beside the water

Balangbang grew along the sides of fishponds, close enough for some of its leaves to touch the water. It was not planted in neat rows. Nobody had to prepare a garden bed for it, buy a packet of seeds or draw up a feeding schedule.

It simply grew where land and water met.

Its young green growth could be gathered and brought home. The tender portions were made into atsara—not quite the cold cucumber pickle that the word “pickle” may suggest to Western readers, but a distinctly local preparation.

The balangbang was sautéed with onion and garlic. Strong local vinegar supplied a bold sourness that made the mouth come alive. Ginger or chili could be added for heat. The result was sharp, savoury and spicy: a humble vegetable transformed into something memorable.

It tasted very good with rice. More importantly, it tasted of home.

Only many years later did I learn that our balangbang was likely the mangrove leather fern, commonly known elsewhere in the Philippines as pagaypay, palaypay, lagolo or pakong-laut. It is probably Acrostichum aureum, a fern naturally associated with mangroves, tidal streams, brackish wetlands and fishpond margins.

The scientific name was never necessary when we were children. We knew where the plant grew, which parts were tender and how they were prepared. That was knowledge of another kind—passed from one household to another and from one generation to the next.

Two plants, one remembered scent

Malabar spinach and balangbang are not close botanical relatives.

Malabar spinach, Basella alba, is a fleshy tropical vine. It climbs eagerly, producing soft stems and thick green leaves. Balangbang is a fern whose long fronds rise from wet ground near ponds, streams and mangrove areas.

One reaches upward by twining around a support. The other rises from the muddy edges of the water.

Yet the young growth of one reminded me immediately of the other.

Perhaps it was the fresh scent released when I pinched the Malabar stem. Perhaps it was the tenderness of the shoot in my hand. Memory does not always return through photographs or carefully preserved objects. Sometimes it travels through an aroma so ordinary that we do not realize we have carried it for decades.

One small harvest was enough to bring back a fishpond, a familiar vegetable and the flavours of a family meal.

Different places at the table

Although the aroma connected them in my memory, I prefer to prepare the two vegetables differently.

For Malabar spinach, simplicity is enough. I like the tender tips steamed, allowing their mild green flavour and soft texture to remain recognizable. They can also be used as a garnish or added near the end of cooking a mung bean dish. The leaves soften readily, while their natural mucilage lends a gentle body to the broth.

Balangbang belonged to another preparation. Its character came alive with onion, garlic, vinegar and heat. That was the atsara I remembered—bright, sour and assertive.

The plants may meet in memory, but each deserves its own place in the kitchen.

Nourishment without grand claims

Malabar spinach is valued as a leafy vegetable that provides fibre and a variety of micronutrients and plant compounds. Depending on growing conditions and preparation, its leaves can contribute carotenoids, vitamin C, folate, calcium and iron to the diet.

Far less detailed nutritional information is readily available for balangbang. We do know that the tender young shoots of Acrostichum aureum have traditionally been eaten as a vegetable in the Philippines and elsewhere in Southeast Asia. That traditional use is important, but it is better not to turn a cherished local food into another exaggerated “superfood.”

Neither plant needs extravagant health promises to earn its place at the table.

Their value lies in something both simpler and greater: they are fresh vegetables, gathered young and prepared as part of a varied local diet. One now grows in a pot on my balcony. The other once grew freely beside the fishponds.

When the landscape was the marketplace

Looking back, I realize how unusual that childhood food environment was.

At the time, it did not seem unusual at all.

Vegetables could be gathered from the edges of fishponds. Freshwater fish came from ponds and rivers. Other food came from the sea. The community lived within reach of several natural food sources, each shaped by a different kind of water.

The river offered one abundance. The fishpond offered another. Beyond them, the sea supplied its own.

Food did not always begin in a shop, wrapped in plastic and marked with a price. It could begin with someone walking beside the water, noticing which shoots were tender. It could arrive with a neighbour’s catch, a family harvest or something gathered from land that everyone knew how to read.

The resources may have seemed endless then. Of course, no natural resource is truly without limit. Rivers can become polluted. Fishponds can disappear. Wetlands can be filled, and useful plants can vanish when the places supporting them are changed.

But the feeling of abundance was real.

It came not only from how much food was available, but from how much the community knew. People recognized edible plants. They understood the seasons and the waters. They knew what could be gathered, what should be left to grow and how each ingredient could be prepared.

Abundance was partly a gift of the landscape—and partly a gift of shared knowledge.

What younger generations may not recognize

To younger readers, a vegetable growing unattended beside a fishpond may sound like a novelty. Food today is more likely to be encountered first on a supermarket shelf, in a restaurant or through a photograph on a screen.

That convenience has its advantages. But something can also be lost when food becomes separated from its place of origin.

A local name such as balangbang contains more than the identity of a plant. It holds a habitat, a cooking method, a flavour and a community memory. When the name disappears, an entire chain of knowledge may begin to disappear with it.

Older readers may recognize this feeling. Perhaps their remembered plant had another name. Perhaps it grew beside a rice field, along a riverbank, behind a house or on the edge of a forest. Perhaps its scent can still return them to a particular kitchen and to people who are no longer seated there.

The details differ, but the journey is the same.

A balcony vine and a bridge to home

My Malabar spinach grows far from those Pangasinan fishponds. It lives in a pot, trained around a support on a high-rise balcony. I water it, guide its vines and decide which tender tips to harvest.

It is not balangbang. It will not become balangbang even if I prepare it with the same vinegar, onion and garlic.

But on this particular morning, it became a bridge.

The tender stem yielded beneath my thumb. Its scent rose into the air, and suddenly distance and time seemed smaller. The balcony opened onto a remembered fishpond. A present-day harvest found its way into a childhood kitchen.

That is one of the quiet gifts of growing food.

A plant nourishes us when we eat it. Sometimes, before it even reaches the cooking pot, it nourishes something else: our connection to a place, a people and a way of life we once thought would always be there.

All it took was a pair of tender green tips—and one familiar scent.

Learning AOSP, Balcony Growing, And Now -- Hydroponics!

2026-01-14T20:00:00.020+08:00

14-Jan-2026

So for those years when I was quiet, or not writing anything, life is going on.

2020, it was the pandemic. I was hired back by my first company here in Singapore, and I stayed for another 3 years. It was around the 3rd quarter of the 3rd year that I got a message from one of my former colleagues who asked if I want to be doing PROMIS again. We worked together back in 1997 in ADI Philippines doing, guess what? Yes, PROMIS. So our past experiences going back full circle. Work, that is.

I thought about it, the skillset is familiar, and we're good at it, so I thought about the financial side. There's an increment which is considerable. I did not expect that amount, really. Which I learned afterwards that my full work experience was considered, which is at least 3 decades. Around 17 years was on doing PROMIS. So yeap, that gave me some leverage to catapult my base pay.

And that additional amount was needed. Praise God for his wisdom! At the right time, I was offered a job with an increase that was going to be a big help. Kids continue studying, taking higher education, kids leaving the nest and going independent, trying out life on their own. This disrupts the economy at home. And with an extra buffer, that minimized the impact of all these happenings.

So now I find that I have some extra time on hand with my new job, so I was doing a couple of things, then I focused on learning AOSP. Went on for at least a year. Then one time, while working from home, I happened to look out the balcony, and oh, the overgrown plants! Well, mewife has been telling me now and then to upkeep my plants, or altogether throw them away. The gardener that I am would just ignore that command. And on days when I'm not around, mewife would take the scissors and trim down the plants. I'd find them with less leaves and stems when I come back, say nothing, then grow them back again. Or, here's the good part, when she sees a pot that she likes, she'll ask me to move it in the house to a spot that she thinks is going to look nice, add to her interior decoration.

This time, I saw many things. Tomato growing but not fruting. I mean I have 5 or 6 tomato plants in one pot. Chili have long stems, but no fruits. The same thing. Many chili plants in one pot. What's worse, I thought that inter-cropping would be beneficial. Just that I am doing it wrong. Why is that? I mixed plants in a pot. And this is not only one pot. I have several pots that has lime and chili, ginger and chili, lime and tomato, and chili and tomato, etc. A mess? Yes, a mess!

Then I thought about it. Searched about it. I even used chatgpt.com to check why. Oh, I have used chatgpt.com when I got serious with my AOSP self-study, as I moved from app development to system development. In the long run, I wanted to be doing the OS that runs the Android phone, not simply developing apps. So I resorted to free chatgpt.com when searching the web yielded different results that did not help in setting up my laptop for AOSP development. That requires Unix, or Linux, specifically I used Ubuntu Linux 2022. The latest version then was 2024, 2025, and they just aren't suitable for doing AOSP development.

Done with the dual-booting of my laptop, installing all necessary dependencies, etc., etc., and vacations and all, then my focus shifted.

I looked out at the balcony, and thought about it. Is there anything that can be done to make these fruiting plants and ornamental plants grow, and grow healthily, productively, not simply survive, or grow vegetatively? And chatgpt.com replied resoundingly, 'Yes!'

That started me first 'killing' the plants that are already past being productive, specifically the tomatoes. And separating the plants, lime plants to their own pots, chili plants to their own pots, Hami melon plants to their own pots, taking out other plants from the ginger pot, pothos, fern, rubber tree, corn plant -- everything -- to their very own pots, and the hard part -- thinning down my plants!

I'm very sentimental. I can grow plants so easily and I find it hard to let go. But for the betterment of me and my plants, some things simply have to go. And away they went. From around 30 or so pots, I removed a lot, and ended up with 20 pots. I have a lot of snake plants and pothos, so these are most reduced. I packed the snake plants dense and ended up with just 2 pots, with pothos the most getting reduced. I cut up into small pieces all the plant parts that were taken out, roots to tip, and put them all in the emptied pots and covered them in soil. Hopefully, in time, they will have been composted so they will serve a new purpose.

And what do you know? One of the snake plant pots came up nice and clean and lovely. I guess you already know what's gonna follow. Yes, mewife, she told me to bring it in. That's a winning favor, and also, clearing up more space in the balcony. That pot is quite big, and it sat nicely next to the black fridge. Surprisingly enough, which is a confirmation for the snake plant's physiology or genetics, they need heat to survive, not the sun, but heat. After a month or so, new shoots came up, very whitish green, giving the snake plant a pretty appearance next to the black fridge.

A pot of snake plants beside the fridge.

For a while, my train of thought was broken here, I was writing this post, then we had to go out, to my daughter's school. Today is O Level results and we had to go to school to support her. Well, she passed, and she got accepted in her Early Admission Exercise (EAE) application to Ngee Ann Polytechnic. Which means she is assured of her slot in the school for her college education. And after three years, on to her degree course of her liking.

So after the separation of the plants, to each its own pot, and placed according to sun requirement, and watered as per plant requirement, the response and improvement was immediately visible. Fertilizer feeding was now introduced. Before, I just watered anyhow. I even have plates under the pots to collect excess water. Like, well, all these plants need water, and water excessively I did. Even for fertilizers, I just applied when I feel like it, and excessively, too! No method, no knowledge, nothing.

When I asked that question, "Can these plants improve?", I searched and researched. Specific to the plants that I have. What's with the sudden interest in doing all these? I kept on seeing hydroponics, and I got interested. But I don't want to just jump on this bandwagon. Nothing new actually, but hydroponics and aeroponics have been ongoing for years now. And it seems to be the future of farming. Which now includes producing for your own consumption. So there's the appeal (to me) at least.

So there's improvement after the separation of the plants into their own pots. They also were placed in full sun, or sun and shade locations. The leaves got less and less burn. And the plates under the pots were removed to drain our excess water. That was all in November of last year. And when December came, and we planned for a holiday of more than 2 weeks, I thought about auto-irrigation.

I have tried the passive device, the stake type, which is driven into the soil, with the other end stuck with a bottle of water. What can I say? Forget about that. It's almost useless, water spilled out without control and running out in hours. From that experience before, I now focused on solar-powered auto-irrigation, and yes, there were kits that are not so expensive. So I got 2, one for the ornamental group, and another for the fruiting plants. Tried them and they worked. So I have peace of mind by the time we walked out the door and into the airport.

Before that date, where I already saw improvements on the soil-based potted plants, adding only the auto-irrigation device to take care of watering the plants while I'm away, I have started my first hydroponics system. When I knew our flight date, I estimated the dates, and I said that the hydroponics can be started. Which I did. Sow seeds to hardening, that takes about 10 to 14 days. Since I'm able to get the seeds within that window, I started seed sowing, to hardening. And a day before flight, I transferred the plants to the full Kratky system. I hit the pH to just a very nice value: 5.5. Window says it should be 5.5 to 6.5. Everything in order, we went on vacation.

Fast forward to 17 days later. Auto-irrigation did its job. Plants are okay, and leaves were growing and I have a greener balcony. How about the hydroponics? Well, I sowed J lettuce and xiao pai chai (pak choy, or pechay). Today, the lettuce are growing tall. Even the pak choy. Which confirms that the nutrient solution was correctly formulated.

I have continued my study, observation, search and research, video watching in YouTube, and for what I am learning, I am documenting. I have also started my own documentation channel in YouTube, just like most growers, and even a new blog as the learning is tremendous. See them here:

LeChaim Farm YouTube Channel

LeChaim Farm Blog

J Lettuce and Xiao Pai Chai growing in my first Kratky hydroponics.

Lettuce harvest is due in 3 days, Pak choys in another 10 days. But unlike most growers who dispose of their produce after 45 days, leaves, roots and all, I will do a harvest-regrow-harvest-retire process for the lettuce plants. They retire when they start growing flowers. The 45 days is on the leaves, not on the plant. What to know more, read my blog. We learn and grow together.

I am targetting for my next project, and this is an experiment, as the plants will be grown on soil and using hydroponics kit -- strawberries. Yes, strawberries! I have done some research, and there are growers who also sell seedlings, and what I have found is a good one: Australian Tioga Strawberries!

I've written a long post already. I'll stop here.

Till then!

After A Long Time...

2025-12-12T20:00:00.002+08:00

It is now December 2025.

For a long time, I have not written anything on this blog, after I posted a copy of 'Mi Ultimo Adios', partly as I am currently brushing up on my Spanish. Really, only now I appreciate the depth of how Jose Rizal has learned, and not only Spanish, but in totality, 26 languages, and as per details in history book, usually served as interpreter for fellow passengers when traveling.

Not to mention that the vernacular in my childhood town is steeped in Spanish, just like in Zamboanga, where Spanish was interspersed, married with the local tongue, creating a unique dialect.

So what has been happening lately? What's going on?

Kids grow up, they leave the next. As one saying goes:

There are only two lasting bequests we can hope to give our children. One of these is roots, the other, wings.
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

That is not always easy, I mean, as a parent. Kids have a more dynamic and flowing energy, but adults tend to be more lethargic and phelgmatic, not easily welcoming and adapting to changes. But life happens.

It is just fortunate that some children are younger than the others. We still have somebody around.

And yes, we look forward to the 'nietos y nietas'!

And for our own future, to see how life will unfold, by God's grace and mercy, would we be granted many more years ahead of us, to plan and to go on, busy with something, few or many, to keep us going, moving, even though slowly, doing things to keep our aging bodies still agile and functioning. Otherwise, we waste away immobile.

I have been a planter since my childhood days, I remember going around the plot of land we were taking care of with my mother, planting different kinds of ornamental plants as hedges, and getting the satisfaction of seeing them grow into woody fences, green, yellow, red, orange, you name it -- a plethora of colors rising from the ground! That was like 50 years ago, and my parents have moved on. Blessed be their memory. They live on in their sons and daughter, in their grand children and great grand children. And so on.

I've learned a lot more things from then on. And I thought that planting was simply that -- take a seed and put it on the ground, water, et voila! Not so. Just like people, plants have needs, basic requirements, and then there are specifics. So I've learned. Even the water itself, there has to be a certain acidity for plants to thrive, so I've gathered from all those Youtube videos that I have been watching lately, and even the nutrients that's supplied to different stages of the plants growth. So it is with people.

I guess I am being nostalgic. Hey, it's not that long ago already, just a couple of months only, but rearing children, how they are treated, goes by age. And when they move out...

Why did I ever bring up my childhood memory of planting? Oh, I know. Right now, I'm just so engaged with learning all about hydroponics. Although it is not a new thing, it is to me. And well, as I'v e said, I thought planting is very simple. It is not. Nothing is simple about planting. Or growing. You have to have enough of basic knowledge, and on to learning more if you want to push through with planting, growing.

For example, I've had a number of potted plants in the balcony, a 2m x 3m space where I can put my plants. Would you belive it? I would throw in seeds of all kinds into 1 pot! I'm just happy that they germinate and grow! But no, as I have learned lately, and I hope it's not too late, that plants have their own water requirements, nutrients needs, soil type, and even on water, the nutrients for growing, flowering and fruting plants are not the same! There's also the pH (5.5 - 6.5), EC (1.5, 1.5, 2.0 to 2.2) and 3rd of the trio is TDS. I've learned all these lately.

I'm a sentimental person, and I hate to disturb and uproot my plants, but to 'correct' the worng I have done, disruptive actions I have to take. Most helpful to me is ChatGPT, another thing that I am learning, so I made use of the free version, then when I needed to have images, I had to switch to a 1-month trial Plus license. If you are a heavy user, you can go for the Plus Pro version.

So from there, I asked a lot of questions about plants, those that I have currently, those that I plan to grow, my plan for the future, God-willing, that I'd be putting up my own hydroponics at my backyard, for personal consumption, then to small-scale production, and so on.

I'm imagining that when all my hair has turn grey, I'd be strolling around the greeneries, and on school holidays, ¡mis nietos y nietas irán a visitar a su abuelo y abuela! ¡Estupenda!

Telling the next generation stories of their ascendants will give them a good grasp, strong roots, and how their own parents, our children, made it in their lives, carved their own niches, and succeeded. That will inspire them to go and do it on their own -- wings! Well, you wouldn't know how far you've gone if you don't know where you have begun, and you won't be going anywhere without wings. So both are important: roots and wings.

It took some time after I separated each kind of plant, putting similar types into one pot or two, which is the first step to making it right with my plants. Then watering is adjusted, and even the nutrients itself, which I never applied, or I should say, using pellets, I haphazardly used without any schedule at all, or even the amount used, and removing the pot pans so water don't get stuck under the pots. I thought that was helping the plants, leaving water stuck at the pot's bottom, but no! Then there is also removing suckers, tendrils, leaves, those that don't matter. So nutrients all go into those that do.

And now, each plant in its own pot, its own watering schedule, its own nutrient, and did it work? Yes!

On top of that, I've also bought a very cheap hydroponics kit, just so I can have a feel of what hydroponic growing is all about. Going through all the information and gleaning all that knowledge from the YouTube videos without putting them into action is like reading Arnold Schwarzenegger's body-building book and not lifting a single plate of weight. And yes, experimenting is good! Normal process is sowing in a different medium, then transferring and hardening, and then finally, on to the system itself. Cocopeat is the usual medium, but my kit came with foam. So I'll make do with that. I tried the 2-step method, sowing then hardening, but with 2 cups, I tried direct sowing into the system itself. So many things to do!

I hope all these experiments and tests work out well. Nonetheless, even when they do not, I will keep on. I will keep on trying and doing, until I get what's right for my own specific target. What do I intend to do differently? I will use all natural means. No dependence on electricity. No, that doesn't mean no electricity used, but it will be solar-powered. The supply of nutrients will be nature-powered, sun-driven, which will not be affected by power failures.

I'm considering ram pump design and Heron's Faountain, to name at least 2.

This is the very reason why the farm or garden I envision will carry 'hydroponics + engineering'.

Then, I will be creating my own YouTube channel. I'd have to start, take the frist step, complete the thousand miles, and go beyond. I will go back to my roots, and take my new flight from there.

Till then!

Mi Último Adiós

2024-05-24T12:07:00.005+08:00

Mi Último Adiós

original version by José Rizal

Adiós, Patria adorada, región del sol querida,

Perla del mar de oriente, nuestro perdido Edén!

A darte voy alegre la triste mustia vida,

Y fuera más brillante, más fresca, más florida,

También por ti la diera, la diera por tu bien.

En campos de batalla, luchando con delirio,

Otros te dan sus vidas sin dudas, sin pesar;

El sitio nada importa, ciprés, laurel o lirio,

Cadalso o campo abierto, combate o cruel martirio,

Lo mismo es si lo piden la patria y el hogar.

Yo muero cuando veo que el cielo se colora

Y al fin anuncia el día tras lóbrego capuz;

si grana necesitas para teñir tu aurora,

Vierte la sangre mía, derrámala en buen hora

Y dórela un reflejo de su naciente luz.

Mis sueños cuando apenas muchacho adolescente,

Mis sueños cuando joven ya lleno de vigor,

Fueron el verte un día, joya del mar de oriente,

Secos los negros ojos, alta la tersa frente,

Sin ceño, sin arrugas, sin manchas de rubor.

Ensueño de mi vida, mi ardiente vivo anhelo,

¡Salud te grita el alma que pronto va a partir!

¡Salud! Ah, que es hermoso caer por darte vuelo,

Morir por darte vida, morir bajo tu cielo,

Y en tu encantada tierra la eternidad dormir.

Si sobre mi sepulcro vieres brotar un día

Entre la espesa yerba sencilla, humilde flor,

Acércala a tus labios y besa al alma mía,

Y sienta yo en mi frente bajo la tumba fría,

De tu ternura el soplo, de tu hálito el calor.

Deja a la luna verme con luz tranquila y suave,

Deja que el alba envíe su resplandor fugaz,

Deja gemir al viento con su murmullo grave,

Y si desciende y posa sobre mi cruz un ave,

Deja que el ave entone su cántico de paz.

Deja que el sol, ardiendo, las lluvias evapore

Y al cielo tornen puras, con mi clamor en pos;

Deja que un ser amigo mi fin temprano llore

Y en las serenas tardes cuando por mí alguien ore,

¡Ora también, oh Patria, por mi descanso a Dios!

Ora por todos cuantos murieron sin ventura,

Por cuantos padecieron tormentos sin igual,

Por nuestras pobres madres que gimen su amargura;

Por huérfanos y viudas, por presos en tortura

Y ora por ti que veas tu redención final.

Y cuando en noche oscura se envuelva el cementerio

Y solos sólo muertos queden velando allí,

No turbes su reposo, no turbes el misterio,

Tal vez accordes oigas de cítara o salterio,

Soy yo, querida Patria, yo que te canto a ti.

Y cuando ya mi tumba de todos olvidada

No tenga cruz ni piedra que marquen su lugar,

Deja que la are el hombre, la esparza con la azada,

Y mis cenizas, antes que vuelvan a la nada,

El polvo de tu alfombra que vayan a formar.

Entonces nada importa me pongas en olvido.

Tu atmósfera, tu espacio, tus valles cruzaré.

Vibrante y limpia nota seré para tu oído,

Aroma, luz, colores, rumor, canto, gemido,

Constante repitiendo la esencia de mi fe.

Mi patria idolatrada, dolor de mis dolores,

Querida Filipinas, oye el postrer adiós.

Ahí te dejo todo, mis padres, mis amores.

Voy donde no hay esclavos, verdugos ni opresores,

Donde la fe no mata, donde el que reina es Dios.

Adiós, padres y hermanos, trozos del alma mía,

Amigos de la infancia en el perdido hogar,

Dar gracias que descanso del fatigoso día;

Adiós, dulce extranjera, mi amiga, mi alegría,

Adiós, queridos seres, morir es descansar.

-----

English translation/version here

Wikipidea article here

Commentary: Weighing yourself regularly can help you lose weight but isn’t good for everyone

2020-04-24T00:30:00.000+08:00

NEWCASTLE: For some, jumping on the scales is a daily or weekly ritual; while others haven’t seen a set of scales for years. Some may still be scarred by memories of being weighed in public with results broadcast to all.

So, is it helpful to weigh yourself? And if so, how often should you do it?

Studies show self-weighing may help with weight loss, especially for men, say two Australian researchers.

For adults carrying excess weight and who are trying to manage their weight, the answer is yes: Weighing yourself regularly can help you lose more weight initially, and keep it off.

But for adolescents or those who have experienced disordered eating, it’s best to keep the scales out of sight.

MEN RESPOND BETTER TO WEIGH-INS

Most studies have investigated the impact of self-weighing along with other weight-loss strategies such as a low-calorie diet.

These studies show self-weighing is an inexpensive technique that may help with weight loss and maintenance, particularly for men, who often respond well to structured “weigh-ins”.

Only one study has investigated the use of self-weighing as the sole weight-loss strategy. This US research study invited 162 adults who were wanting to lose weight to a single educational weight-loss seminar.

Half of the people were instructed to weigh themselves daily and got visual feedback on their weight change over two years. The other half were not asked to weigh themselves daily, until the second year.

During year one, men in the daily self-weighing group lost more weight than the control group, but women did not. The average number of times people weighed themselves a week was four.

In the second year, men in the daily self-weighing group maintained their weight loss. Those in the control group, who had now started daily weighing, lost weight, while the women stayed the same.

Having regular weigh-ins with a health professional can also help. A review of more than 11,000 overweight people attending a weight management programme in GP clinics in Israel found those who had regular weigh-ins with the nurse or dietitian were more likely to lose more than 5 per cent of their body weight.

This amount of weight loss is associated with a major reduction in the risk of developing type 2 diabetes.

WEEKLY SELF-WEIGHING

A review of 24 randomised controlled trials found there was no difference in weight loss between those who weighed themselves daily versus weekly.

No matter what other features the weight-loss programme includes, the key to better results appears to be regular self-weighing, which means at least weekly.

Making yourself “accountable” for weigh-ins either by having a set day to weigh-in or joining a weight loss programme can help you lose more weight.

Another important point is that not weighing yourself regularly when you are on a weight-loss diet is a risk factor for weight gain.

SELF-WEIGHING CAN BE HARMFUL

But we don't recommend regular weighing for adolescents. Research suggests it doesn’t help with weight management and can negatively impact on young people’s mental health, especially for girls.

A 10-year study of the relationship between self-weighing, weight status and psychological outcomes of almost 2,000 teens in the US found that self-weighing had no helpful impact on weight or BMI.

Research suggests regular weighing can negatively impact on young people’s mental health, especially for girls

However, it was associated with weight concerns, poor self-esteem and trying to lose weight though unhealthy methods such as excessive fasting.

Over the 10 years, more frequent weighing was associated with a decrease in body satisfaction and self-esteem, and an increase in weight concerns and depression in the young women.

For young men, with the exception of weight concerns, there were no significant relationships between self-weighing and other variables.

An increased frequency of self-weighing throughout the high school years may flag the need to investigate an adolescent’s overall well-being and psychological health.

Self-weighing can also affect the self-esteem and psychological well-being of adults, especially women. This is of particular concern for those with eating disorders, as weighing frequency can be associated with greater severity of eating disorders.

For some people, self-weighing could be the key to losing or keeping weight off, while for others, it may do harm. So consider your life stage, pre-existing health conditions and your mental well-being when deciding whether regular weighing is worth it for you.

Clare Collins and Rebecca Williams are both affiliated with the Priority Research Centre for Physical Activity and Nutrition at the University of Newcastle, New South Wales. This article first appeared on The Conversation.

Source: CNA/nr

Taken from this article:
Commentary: Weighing yourself regularly can help you lose weight but isn’t good for everyone

Commentary: Let's exercise ownership over our health, not wait for illness to set in

2020-04-17T00:30:00.000+08:00

SINGAPORE: It has arguably never been easier to choose healthy options.

We know what we should be eating, drinking and doing to keep fit, and the food and sports industries have responded with a raft of new products for every taste from reduced fat muffins to hundreds of calorie-burning classes for every interest and ability level.

Chronic diseases in Singapore are on the rise, but there's actions Singaporeans can easily take today to have a healthier heart, says one observer.

Even the fast food industry has jumped on the bandwagon.

Yet chronic diseases are still on the rise in Singapore.

In just one generation, Asia has gone from having one of the lowest rates of heart disease in the world, to one of the highest.

And this trend is showing no signs of abating. According to the World Bank, half of all global cases of heart disease will be concentrated in Asia by 2030.

And it’s not just heart disease that’s on the rise. There are countless other statistics that all make for equally grim reading about a host of other chronic conditions too.

This should be enough to shock us into action but the Philips Future Health Index (FHI) suggests that we’re still not taking this seriously enough.

While the Government and the private sector have their roles to play in tackling this problem, individuals must take more responsibility for their own health too.

Although most chronic conditions can be prevented through lifestyle changes, it seems that lack of education – for both healthcare providers and patients – is one of the biggest barriers.

BRAVE NEW WORLD

With recent innovations in consumer technology, we are on the cusp of a brave new world where everyday appliances can not only encourage healthier habits, but can also collect relevant data to provide an early warning signal about the onset of illnesses.

Examples include smartphone-based glucose monitors for diabetics, to the potential in the near future for smart toothbrushes that can be used to detect an oncoming cold by spotting changes in saliva.

However, all of this data is only beneficial if patients know how to interpret and apply it.

But the FHI findings show that Singapore isn’t quite there yet.

We spoke to more than 33,000 people and healthcare professionals across the world and found that, although the majority of Singaporeans recognise the benefits of connected care technology, as many as 35 per cent of those already using it do not understand how to interpret the results.

This mirrors an international challenge that many other developed nations are grappling with. At a time when shopping, banking and even dating online are commonplace, it seems people have generally been slower to embrace digitalisation in healthcare.

Public education campaigns and training, particularly for higher-risk groups like the elderly, can go some way towards addressing this.

Health and consumer technology organisations also have an important role to play in designing healthcare technologies to be more affordable and accessible to a wider audience beyond early adopters, while the Government can encourage innovation in this field through subsidies, business incentives and incubator schemes.

However, none of this will make a difference unless individuals change their own attitudes towards healthcare.

ILLNESS AS TREATMENT

We are accustomed to thinking about healthcare as treating an illness - you wait until you’re unwell before going to the doctor and then popping a pill until you feel better.

Many people are also in denial, thinking that serious medical conditions will never happen to them.

For Singapore to beat chronic diseases, this attitude will need to fundamentally change. While this won’t happen overnight, we urgently need to move towards a healthcare system – and society - that prioritises prevention over cure.

The Ministry of Health’s latest announcement that it will become compulsory for all healthcare providers to upload data to the National Electronic Health Record is a huge step in the right direction. Particularly as our research finds that as many as 25 per cent of Singaporeans don’t feel that they have any ownership of their own medical records.

However, individuals ultimately need to take on more personal responsibility for monitoring, managing and maintaining their own health than they currently are. And this needs to happen at every life stage, rather than being kick-started by the onset of illness.

Given the technology that we have readily available today, not to mention the innovations that are set to become mainstream in the near future, there is no reason why healthcare shouldn’t become part of our daily lives.

Cardiovascular diseases, and other lifestyle-related chronic conditions, are claiming far too many lives.

It’s time for us to be a much smarter nation when it comes to healthcare, and to use the technology that we have at our disposal to tackle this killer problem.

Ivy Lai is country manager at Philips Singapore.

Source: CNA/sl

Taken from this article:
Commentary: Let's exercise ownership over our health, not wait for illness to set in

What is 'social distancing' and how to do it right

2020-04-10T07:35:00.000+08:00

On Sunday (Mar 15), the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommended against any gatherings of 50 or more people over the next eight weeks, in an effort to contain the coronavirus pandemic. Many public schools, libraries, universities, places of worship, and sporting and cultural institutions have also shut down for at least the next few weeks. These measures are an attempt to enforce distance between people, a proven way to slow pandemics.

Experts have also been urging people to practise voluntary “social distancing.” The term has been trending on Twitter, with even President Trump endorsing it on Saturday.

Answers to your most common questions about the best practises for stemming the tide of the coronavirus pandemic.

Still, people all over the United States have been out in large numbers at restaurants, bars and even sporting events, suggesting more than a little confusion around what social distancing is and who should be practising it.

This is deeply worrying, experts said, because even those who become only mildly ill – and maybe even those who never even know they are infected – can propel the exponential movement of the virus through the population.

They emphasised that it’s important for everyone to practice social distancing, not just those considered to be at high risk or who are seriously ill.

“These are not normal times, this is not a drill,” said Dr Jeanne Marrazzo, director of infectious diseases at the University of Alabama in Birmingham. “We have never been through anything like this before.”

What exactly is social distancing? We asked experts for practical guidance.

WHAT IS SOCIAL DISTANCING?

Put simply, the idea is to maintain a distance between you and other people – in this case, at least six feet.

That also means minimizing contact with people. Avoid public transportation whenever possible, limit non-essential travel, work from home and skip social gatherings – and definitely do not go to crowded bars and sporting arenas.

“Every single reduction in the number of contacts you have per day with relatives, with friends, co-workers, in school will have a significant impact on the ability of the virus to spread in the population,” said Dr Gerardo Chowell, chair of population health sciences at Georgia State University.

This strategy saved thousands of lives both during the Spanish flu pandemic of 1918 and, more recently, in Mexico City during the 2009 flu pandemic.

I’M YOUNG AND DON’T HAVE ANY RISK FACTORS. CAN I CONTINUE TO SOCIALISE?

Please don’t. There is no question that older people and those with underlying health conditions are most vulnerable to the virus, but young people are by no means immune.

And there is a greater public health imperative. Even people who show only mild symptoms can pass the virus to many, many others – particularly in the early course of the infection, before they even realize they are sick. So you might keep the chain of infection going right to your own older or high-risk relatives. You may also contribute to the number of people infected, causing the pandemic to grow rapidly and overwhelm the health care system.

If you ignore the guidance on social distancing, you will essentially put yourself and everyone else at much higher risk.

Experts acknowledged that social distancing is tough, especially for young people who are used to gathering in groups. But even cutting down the number of gatherings, and the number of people in any group, will help.

CAN I LEAVE MY HOUSE?

Absolutely. The experts were unanimous in their answer to this question.

It’s ok to go outdoors for fresh air and exercise – to walk your dog, go for a hike or ride your bicycle, for example. The point is not to remain indoors, but to avoid being in close contact with people.

You may also need to leave the house for medicines or other essential resources. But there are things you can do to keep yourself and others safe during and after these excursions.

When you do leave your home, wipe down any surfaces you come into contact with, disinfect your hands with an alcohol-based sanitiser and avoid touching your face. Above all, frequently wash your hands – especially whenever you come in from outside, before you eat or before you’re in contact with the very old or very young.

CAN I GO TO THE SUPERMARKET?

Yes. But buy as much as you can at a time in order to minimise the number of trips, and pick a time when the store is least likely to be crowded.

When you do go, be aware that any surface inside the store may be contaminated. Use a disinfecting wipe to clean the handle of the grocery cart, for example. Experts did not recommend wearing gloves, but if you do use them, make sure you don’t touch your face until you have removed the gloves.

Dr Caitlin Rivers, an epidemiologist at Johns Hopkins University, recommends stowing your cellphone in an inaccessible place so that you don’t absent-mindedly reach for it while shopping. “That could be a transmission opportunity,” she said.

If it’s a long shopping trip, you may want to bring hand sanitiser with you and disinfect your hands in between. And when you get home, Dr Rivers said, wash your hands right away.

Those at high risk may want to avoid even these outings if they can help it, especially if they live in densely populated areas.

Dr Marrazzo said her mother is an “incredibly healthy” 93-year-old who usually drives herself to the store, but she said she has asked her mother not to go out during this time, because “the risks are too great given the age-related mortality we’re seeing.”

CAN I GO OUT TO DINNER AT A RESTAURANT?

Some countries have closed down restaurants and bars for the next few weeks, but there is no specific nationwide guidance yet on this in the US beyond the CDC’s recommendation against gatherings of more than 50 people.

Before New York City announced it would be shutting down restaurants and bars, they were supposed to be operating at half capacity to maintain social distancing and soften the economic impact. But in small restaurants, that may still mean you’re too close to other diners. It’s also not possible to maintain true social distance from the people preparing or serving the food.

In general, avoid going out to restaurants, Dr Marrazzo said, but, “If you’re going to go, go to some place that you trust.” Choose spacious restaurants and ones where the staff members likely practice good hygiene. Better yet, opt for takeout. If you’re concerned for the restaurant’s financial future, ask about purchasing gift certificates you can redeem later.

CAN FAMILY COME TO VISIT?

That depends on who is in your family and how healthy they are.

“Certainly, sick family should not visit,” said Dr Marrazzo. “If you have vulnerable people in your family, or who are very old, then limit in-person contact.”

But if everyone in the family is young and healthy, then some careful interaction in small groups is probably ok. “The smaller the gathering, the healthier the people are to start with, the lower the risk of the situation is going to be,” she said.

At the same time, you don’t want family members to feel isolated or not have the support of loved ones, so check in with them by phone or plan activities to do with them on video.

CAN I TAKE MY KIDS TO THE PLAYGROUND?

That depends. If your children have any illness, even if it’s not related to the coronavirus, keep them at home.

If they seem healthy and desperately need to burn energy, outdoor activities such as bike rides are generally ok. But “people, especially in higher-risk areas, may want to think twice about trips to high-traffic public areas like the playground,” said Dr Neha Chaudhary, a psychiatrist at Harvard Medical School.

Kids also tend to touch their mouths, noses and faces constantly, so parks or playgrounds with few kids and few contaminated surfaces are ideal. Take hand sanitiser with you and clean any surfaces with disinfecting wipes before they play.

Serious illness from this virus in kids is rare, so the kids themselves might be safe. “That doesn’t mean they can’t come home and give it to Grandma,” said Dr Marazzo.

So kids should wash their hands often, especially before they come into contact with older or high-risk family members.

I’M SCARED TO FEEL ALONE. IS THERE ANYTHING I CAN DO TO MAKE THIS EASIER?

It’s a scary and uncertain time. Staying in touch with family and friends is more important than ever, because we are biologically hard-wired to seek each other out when we are stressed, said Dr Jonathan Kanter, director for the Center for Science of Social connection at the University of Washington in Seattle.

Dr Kanter said he was particularly worried about the long-term impact of social isolation on both the sick and the healthy. The absence of physical touch can have a profound impact on our stress levels, he said, and make us feel under threat.

He said even imagining a warm embrace from a loved one can calm the body’s fight-or-flight response.

In the meantime, we are lucky enough to have technologies at hand that can maintain social connections. “It’s important to note that social distancing does not mean social isolation,” Dr Chaudhary said.

She suggested people stay connected via social media, chat and video. Be creative: Schedule dinners with friends over FaceTime, participate in online game nights, plan to watch television shows at the same time, enroll in remote learning classes. It’s especially important to reach out to those who are sick or to high-risk people who are self-isolating. “A phone call with a voice is better than text, and a video chat is better than a telephone call,” Dr Kanter said.

HOW LONG WILL WE NEED TO PRACTICE SOCIAL DISTANCING?

That is a big unknown, experts said. A lot will depend on how well the social distancing measures in place work and how much we can slow the pandemic down. But prepare to hunker down for at least a month, and possibly much longer.

In Seattle, the recommendations on social distancing have continued to escalate with the number of infections and deaths, and as the health system has become increasingly strained.

“For now, it’s probably indefinite,” Dr Marrazzo said. “We’re in uncharted territory.”

By Apoorva Mandavilli © The New York Times

Taken from this article:
What is 'social distancing' and how to do it right

If sitting is bad for our health, should we be squatting more instead?

2020-04-03T00:30:00.000+08:00

If you are sitting down to read this article, you may be doing your resting wrong, according to a fascinating new study of hunter-gatherer tribespeople and how they idle. The study finds that hunter-gatherers tend to lounge about during the day almost as much as those of us in the developed world. But their approach to inactivity is distinctive, involving no chairs and plenty of squatting.

This difference could have implications for our metabolic and heart health and also raises questions about how and why our style of sitting seems to be so unhealthy.

Our bodies may be evolutionarily adapted to continual muscular activity, something we don’t achieve with chairs.

It is something of a paradox that inactivity is associated with ill health in so much of the world. Rest, after all, seems as if it should be good for us. But study after study links more time spent sitting with increased risks for poor cholesterol profiles, heart disease, diabetes and other conditions, even among people who exercise.

This enigma – that sitting seems to contribute to sickness – began to interest a group of scientists who long have worked with and studied modern hunter-gatherers, hoping to better understand the evolutionary context of physical activity in human development.

In some of their past research, these scientists had shown that members of the Hadza tribe in Tanzania are quite physically active, devoting several hours a day to activities like following game or tugging up tubers. They also have enviable cardiovascular and metabolic health, with low blood pressures and healthy cholesterol profiles throughout their lives.

But several hours of physical activity a day leave multiple waking hours open, and the researchers began to wonder recently whether the ways in which the Hadza spend their downtime might be contributing somehow to their well-being.

So, for the new study, which was published March 9 in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, the researchers first asked 28 Hadza tribesmen and tribeswomen, ranging in age from 18 to 61, to wear activity trackers for about a week. The trackers, worn on the tribespeople’s thighs, would measure how much time they spent moving and still.

And it turned out they often were still. As in the earlier research, the new measurements showed that, on average, the men and women were in motion daily for about two or three hours, but also inactive for another 10 hours.

That amount of inactivity “almost perfectly matches” the levels seen in studies of men and women in the developed world, says David Raichlen, a professor of human evolution at the University of Southern California in Los Angeles, and lead co-author of the new study.

But unlike most of us, the Hadza do not loll in chairs. So, the researchers set out next to quantify how, instead, the tribespeople rest. Taking extensive, observational notes in one of the tribe’s camps every hour for several days, the researchers found that, in their off-hours, the Hadza would often sit on the ground, but also frequently squatted, spending almost 20per cent of their inactive time with knees bent and bottoms off the ground.

Finally, to determine what this approach to resting might mean for legs and muscles, the scientists asked several tribespeople to sit, walk and squat while wearing sensors that chart muscular contractions. When the tribespeople squatted, their readouts pinged, indicating that their leg muscles were contracting far more than when they sat, and almost 40 per cent as often as during walks. (The researchers did not compare squatting and standing, but believe that squatting requires more muscular activity than standing does.)

Such variations in muscular activity could have meaningful health implications, Raichlen says. In past research with animals, he says, when muscles were immobilized with casts or other contrivances and did not contract, the tissues produced less of certain enzymes that break down fats, leading to build-ups of cholesterol and other markers of cardiovascular problems in the animals.

In other words, resting in chairs with our legs inert, as most of us do for most of our days, most likely contributes to our risks for the kinds of health problems that are so rare among the Hadza.

It also may widen the mismatch between our comfy modern world and our evolutionary physiology, says Brian Wood, a professor of anthropology and evolutionary biology at the University of California, Los Angeles, and the senior co-author of the new study.

The Hadza data suggest that, even at rest, our bodies “are probably adapted to consistent muscular activity,” he says, which we do not achieve in chairs.

This study is a snapshot of only one portion of the Hadza people’s lifestyle at one point in time, though. It cannot show that their squatting causes their metabolic health, only that the two are linked. It also does not tease out the effects of their frequent physical activity from those of their resting, and it did not consider their diets and body composition.

But the findings are suggestive, Wood says. “We are not advocating for a hunter-gatherer lifestyle,” he said, “but we should know our evolutionary history.” He also added that we should consider how that history might influence our health.

Raichlen agrees. “Basically, what this study underscores is that most of us need to rethink the amount of time we rest with little muscle activity,” he says, and, if office scrutiny allows, casually stand and, perhaps, squat at times.

By Gretchen Reynolds © The New York Times

Taken from this article:
If sitting is bad for our health, should we be squatting more instead?

Falling sick because of poor sleep? Add this to your bedtime routine for deep recuperative slumber

2020-03-27T00:30:00.000+08:00

Blue light. Pressing deadlines. The constant buzz of a phone that doesn’t want to stay off. In a 2018 survey conducted by market research firm YouGov, only 48 per cent of the Singaporeans surveyed had the recommended amount of rest, and three quarters woke up at least once in their sleep.

Whatever the reason for poor sleep, the effects are undeniably telling. As one of the pillars of health, sleep deprivation can lead to depression, high blood pressure and a compromised immunity, making one more susceptible to falling sick.

MegRhythm Good-Night Steam Patch aims to activate your relaxation point at the base of your neck to lull you into dreamland. Brought to you by MegRhythm.

EASING INTO DEEP RELAXATION

Your body isn’t a machine, and it doesn’t have an ‘off’ switch to flick at your will. Remember how important it is to warm up before going full swing into a sporting activity? The same applies to sleep.

The UK Mental Health Foundation stresses the importance of relaxing before sleep. Adding a pre-sleep routine not only helps to programme the body chemically, but may also aid in deep relaxation physically.

WARMING UP TO RESTFUL SLEEP

The MegRhythm range of wellness products is targeted at alleviating the stress of busy urbanites. For restful sleep, the MegRhythm Good-Night Steam Patch is a handy tool to add to your bedtime routine.

Designed and developed with state-of-the-art technology in Japan, this self-warming steam patch releases a soothing and comfortable 40-degrees-celsius steam heat for about 30 minutes to help you relax.

Activate the heat mechanism by opening the pouch and place the slim and flexible patch – available in lavender-scented and unscented options – at the base of your neck. As this area is especially sensitive to heat, it is a prime spot to fully absorb the therapeutic steam and warmth for physical muscle relaxation.

The routine also gives you time to pause and calm an overactive mind. Read a book. Indulge in a pampering skincare ritual. Or watch your favourite programme on TV. Let the heat patch do its magic while you blissfully unwind.

REJUVENATE WITH THE WORLD

This year, World Sleep Day is celebrated on March 13. Organised by the World Sleep Society, it’s a celebration of sleep and a reminder to all to prioritise sleep for the sake of both our physical and mental well-being.

As the world struggles with global health concerns, our health and immunity have never been more important. Introduce MegRhythm Good-Night Steam Patch to your bedtime ritual and achieve the deep sleep you so crave and deserve.

A good night’s sleep is only a click away. Get a free sample of MegRhythm Good-Night Steam Patch at bit.ly/MGNPSampling.

Taken from this article:
Falling sick because of poor sleep? Add this to your bedtime routine for deep recuperative slumber

Living with birthmarks: What are the ones you can and cannot remove

2020-03-20T00:30:00.000+08:00

Whether it's a mole, a pot-wine stain or a Mongolian spot that looks like a perpetual bruise, a birthmark defines its owner.

Marilyn Monroe's and Cindy Crawford's face would look remiss without their moles. The collective sighs of K-pop fans might be somewhat diminished without the heart-shaped mark that sits under the right eye of Jay (formerly known as Jin Hwan) from iKON. And might fans be a little less inclined to swoon over BTOB's Ilhoon without his row of five moles that has been dubbed the Ilhoon Constellation?

It's all good if you've made peace with your birthmark. But what if the mole, brown patch or red bump on your face affects your self-confidence and how others treat you? CNA Lifestyle finds out from the experts what can be done.

We may never know. But what we do know is that birthmarks elicit strong reactions from their owners as well as those around them. Canadian professional dancer Cassandra Naud, 25, who was born with a large, hairy birthmark on her right cheek, is determined to keep it as part of her identity. This, despite years of bullying in school and being told to Photoshop her photos by casting agents.

WHY DO BIRTHMARKS DEVELOP?

Whether you opt to remove or embrace it as part of your identity, a birthmark can still be misunderstood in this day and age. For one, painting the walls while pregnant will not create babies with birthmarks.

"Birthmarks are caused by the defective movement of cells during foetal development," said Dr Lucinda Tan, a dermatologist with the National Skin Centre, a member of the National Healthcare Group. "However, we do not fully understand the reason why some babies have birthmarks and some do not."

Contrary to popular belief, there is nothing that pregnant women can do to prevent birthmarks on their babies, said Dr Kelvin Chua from SL Clinic. "Birthmarks cannot be prevented as there isn’t a specific cause to its occurrence," he said.

DIFFERENT TYPES OF BIRTHMARKS

While there is no one ethnic group in Singapore that is more susceptible to birthmarks, Dr Chua said that Mongolian spots tend to occur more amongst Asians than Caucasians. Vascular birthmarks also tend to appear more on the face and neck regions, he added.

"We treat a good number of patients for Mongolian and cafe-au-lait spots. That can be attributed to these being the two most common birthmarks here in Asia," he said. But whether they are moles or a brown patch, birthmarks can be categorised as either vascular or pigmented.

VASCULAR BIRTHMARKS

"These skin discolourations are caused by blood vessels that aren’t formed normally. They can appear in children during pregnancy or shortly after birth," said Dr Chua. Here, he lists the common types of vascular birthmarks and ranks them in order of ease of treatment, from the easiest to the most difficult:

Salmon patch or nevus simplex

Flat, and pinkish or red in colour, the patch typically does not have a definitive border. Salmon patches are commonly found at the nape of the neck, forehead or on the eyelids. Some are not immediately apparent and only become noticeable in a change of temperature or when a child starts crying, said Dr Chua.

Port-wine stain or nevus flammeus

A flat patch of purple or dark red skin, it is often large, and usually has well-defined borders. A port-wine stain typically appears on one side of the face or neck, and is common amongst newborns, said Dr Chua.

"Port-wine stains can darken and thicken with time, and may result in eye complications if located near the eyes," said Dr Tan.

Haemangioma

It is a raised, bright red spot that sits on the skin, and is normally soft and compressible to touch. It is sometimes called strawberry haemangioma as it looks like the fruit. But haemangiomas can also occur under the skin, according to the American Academy of Dermatology Association (AADA). These deep versions can look bluish-purple and make the skin swell and bulge. If you had either version as a baby, it is probably shrunk and flattened by age 10, said the association.

According to Dr Chua, haemangiomas typically appear on the face, scalp, chest or back. "In rare cases, a haemangioma can grow to a size or in a location that interferes with vital organs that can be associated with life-threatening complications," he said.

For instance, haemangiomas may ulcerate and cause bleeding at the site or lead to breathing problems if they are found near the mouth or neck, said Dr Tan. If a haemangioma is located near the eye, visual issues may arise.

PIGMENTED BIRTHMARKS

These present-at-birth skin spots are marked by pigment in the skin tissue. Dr Chua ranks these common pigmented birthmarks in order of ease of treatment:

Mongolian spot

This flat birthmark looks like a bruise and is typically found in colours ranging from blue to grey. It can be spotted on babies' backs or bottoms.

Congenital mole

Moles are usually small, round brown spots that are no bigger than the size of a pencil eraser, according to the AADA. They can be pink, skin-coloured or black. Some are flat and smooth; others are slightly raised like a bump. Moles can be found anywhere on the face and body. Though usually benign, it has a slightly higher chance of becoming cancerous, depending on the size, said Dr Chua.

Cafe-au-lait spot

This marking can take on the colour of milky coffee, typically in those who are fair. It can also appear in a darker shade than the surrounding skin in those with darker complexion, said Dr Chua. "Cafe-au-lait spots are mainly harmless, though they have a slight potential of developing into neurofibromatosis, which may become cancerous," said Dr Chua.

Becker's nevi

This birthmark occurs predominantly in men, and is characterised by a well-defined patch of darker and thickened skin with excessive hair on the torso or upper arm. There are exceptions, such as Brazilian model Mariana Mendes' case - a woman with a Becker's nevi on her face.

WHAT YOU CAN DO ABOUT BIRTHMARKS

The considerations to take into account when deciding on the treatment options include the birthmark's category (vascular or pigmented), size and location, said Dr Chua. He uses corticosteroids, chemotherapy, surgery and laser therapy to lighten both kinds of birthmarks. Laser and surgery are the most common options. However, he warns that surgery comes with a high risk of scarring and is generally reserved for more severe or life-threatening birthmarks.

To treat vascular birthmarks, Dr Tan has used pulsed dye lasers for ulcerated haemangiomas and port-wine stains. But when it comes to pigmented birthmarks, Dr Tan advises to leave them alone and monitor for changes that suggest cancer. Some birthmarks, such as Mongolian spots and certain haemangiomas, resolve on their own and do not require treatments, she said.

But there may be instances when treatment is preferred over letting Nature take its course. "Infantile haemangiomas do resolve on their own given time, but they may leave scarring without treatment. They resolve faster with lower risk of permanent scarring with treatment," said Dr Tan.

TREATMENT SUCCESS

There are a few factors that determine the outcome of the treatment. "As a rule of thumb, the larger the birthmark, the more challenging it is to treat it, said Dr Chua. "A large surface area entails a longer downtime, and increased complexity owing to the fact that other vital organs may be affected, such as the eyes."

Also, most vascular birthmarks are relatively easier to treat than pigmented birthmarks – with the exception of haemangiomas, said Dr Chua.

Where the birthmark is located is also crucial. "Skin on different areas of the body varies in terms of thickness, responsiveness to treatments, scarring potential and more," said Dr Chua. "For example, skin on the face and neck is thinner and more responsive to laser therapy, and thus, easier to treat. It also has a relatively lower propensity to scar."

That said, doctors cannot guarantee the complete removal of a birthmark. "Most treatments, with the exception of surgery, can only reduce the appearance of birthmarks. Even with surgery, a relapse can occur after removal," said Dr Chua.

Taken from this article:
Living with birthmarks: What are the ones you can and cannot remove

Good Hygiene Counts In Wild

2015-07-09T20:30:00.001+08:00

BY NATALIE ANGIER

Northern flickers have a poor division of domestic labor.

Among these tawny, 30-centimeter woodpeckers with downcurving bills, the male flickers are more industrious housekeepers than their mates, according to a new report on their sanitation habits in the journal Animal Behavior.

Researchers already knew that flickers, like many woodpeckers are a sex role reversed species. The fathers spend more time incubating the eggs and feeding the young than do the mothers. Now scientists have found that the males’ parental zeal also extends to nest hygiene: when a chick makes waste, Dad is the one who usually picks up the unwanted presentation and disposes of it far from home.

“It takes away microbes, removes smells that might alert predators, and makes the whole nest much cleaner,” said Elizabeth Gow, a postdoctoral fellow at the University of British Columbia and an author on the new report. “It’s an important aspect of parental care that we often forget about.”

The new work reflects a growing interest in what might be called animal sanitation studies-the exploration of how, why and under what conditions different species will seek to stay clean, stave off decay and formally dispose of the excreted and expired. Nature may be wild, but that doesn’t mean anything goes anywhere, and many animals follow strict rules for separating metabolic ingress and egress, and avoiding contamination.

Researchers have identified honeybee undertakers that specialize in removing corpses from the hive, and they have located dedicated underground toilet chambers of African mole rats.

Among chimpanzees, hygiene often serves as a major driver of cultural evolution, and primatologists have found that different populations of the ape are marked by distinctive grooming styles. The chimpanzees in the Tai Forest of Ivory Coast will pick a tick or other parasite from a companion’s fur and then squash it against their forearms.

Chimpanzees in the Budongo Forest of Uganda prefer to dainty place the fruits of grooming on a leaf for inspection, to decide whether the dislodged bloodsuckers are safe to eat, or should be smashed and tossed. Budongo males, those fastidious charmers, will also use leaves as “napkins,” to wipe their penises clean after sex.

Serious sanitation work can be time-consuming and dangerous, as the new study of flickers revealed. Baby woodpeckers deposit their waste in fecal sacs, the mess contained in a gelatinous outer coating “like a water balloon,” Dr. Gow said. “It makes for easier removal from the nest.”

The little birds can be prodigious sac factories. Where human parents may change 50 to 80 diapers a week, flicker parents remove the same number of fecal sacs a day, each time venturing some 90 meters from the nest and risking exposure to predators like hawks.

Dr. Gow determined that father flickers performed about 60 percent of the sanitation runs, spent up to an hour a day on the task and, in the event of the untimely death of a mate, were happy to let the sacs stack up. “When they’re really strained,” Dr. Gow said, “and the option are remove fecal sacs or feed the kids, they’ll feed the kids.”

Good hygiene is a matter of context. Luigi Pontieri of the Centre for Social Evolution at Copenhagen University and his colleagues study the pharaoh ant.

Unlike most ants, pharaoh ants don’t build structured nests or defend territory. “They’ll live wherever they can, in places other ants avoid,” Dr. Pontieri said. “They’ll live in trash, in layers of old food, in electric plugs, between the pages of books. You can even find a colony inside a mealworm, which they ate their way into.”

Sometimes, Dr. Pontieri said, “it can be really disgusting to work with these ants.”

Delving into the secrets of the ant’s capacity to stay healthy no matter where they roam, the researchers discovered that the insects seemed to resist disease in part through a kind of vaccination program.

As the researchers reported in the journal PLOS One, when the ants were given a choice between nesting in clean soil or soil littered with the corpses of pharaoh ants killed by fungal disease, the living ants chose to nest with the fouled fallen.

Uninfected cadavers didn’t hold the same appeal; the pharaoh ants wanted dead comrades with spores.

We think the ants were actively seeking small doses of the pathogen,” Dr. Pontieri said. “It might be a way of getting immunized against a disease that could kill them.”

Yet stable property can have its benefits. Gene E. Robinson, a professor of neurology and entomology at the University of Illinois, said that when formerly free-living honeybees first “took the show indoors” by constructing thermally controlled hives, they gained the power to coddle their young but faced new challenges of hygiene.

“Dead bees that once dropped harmlessly to the ground could now accumulate in the hive,” Dr. Robinson said.

The social insects solved the problem by establishing a tiny corps of undertakers: bees in late middle age and of a particular genotype that has yet to be decoded.

African mole rats build lavatories. When one toilet chamber is too full, said Chris G.Faulkes of Queen Mary University of London, the workers will “backfill it, seal it up and make a new one.”

Like its human equivalent, a mole rat toilet chamber is also a place to primp, and a freshly relieved animal will mark its recent visit with a touch of anogenital fluid daubed on the bathroom floor.

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Taken from TODAY Saturday Edition, The New York Times International Weekly, July 4, 2015

Questions of Taste Over Chocolate Deities

2015-03-26T23:36:00.003+08:00

How to See Yourself As You Really Are (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

It could be something religious, or simply a matter of taste... I leave the decision to you.
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By ANDY NEWMAN

As religious question go, it is a relatively small one. But inevitably, it must be asked: Is it O.K.to eat a chocolate statuette of your favorite holy figure?

The matter arose at Bond Street Chocolate, a boutique in Manhattan that traffics in detailed figurines of Jesus, Moses, the Buddha and the elephant-headed Hindu god Ganesh.

Last month, an organization called Universal Society of Hinduism issued a demand: “Upset Hindus urge withdrawal of Lord Ganesh-shaped edible chocolate.”

The owner of the store, Lynda Stern, was puzzled. For more than five years, she has been selling the gold-dusted Ganesh and his shelfmates, beside passion fruit bonbons and chocolate- coated wasabi peas, with barely a whiff of controversy.

In the news release, the society’s president, Rajan Zed, wrote that Ganesh, the remover of obstacles, was “highly revered in Hinduism and was meant to be worshiped in temples or home shrines and not to be eaten casually.”

But Ms. Stern, whose nearly eight-centimeter-tall Ganesh sells for $15, has no intension of desisting.

“All spiritual icons are treated equally in my shop,” she said, “with honor and respect to the religion.”

But whether the statues offend the devout depends on whom you ask.

“We Hindus look at the universe as eternal and god almighty as one,” said Uma Mysorekar, president of the Hindu Temple Society of North America in New York. “So we would not say that the lord resides only in that little piece of chocolate. It’s more like when they eat it, the lord comes back to us-he is within us.”

The store’s Divine Collection also includes a 10-centimeter –high Virgin of Guadalupe. The Reverend Santiago Rubio, pastor of the Church of Our Lady of Guadalupe in New York, was not pleased to hear this.

“We consider statues and images as sacred objects that help connect with the divine or the supernatural, “he said. “So to transform them into merchandise, candy to eat, I don’t think it’s the best way to go.”

But a spokesman for the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of New York, Joseph Zwilling, recalled a Catholic organization’s dinner at which guests were given white chocolate Virgin Marys.

“I don’t think there’s anything inherently sacrilegious about it,” Mr.Zwilling said, speaking about Ms. Stern’s Jesus treat, which is cast from a dashboard ornament. “It’s the intention of the person making it that matters.”

Ms. Stern said that an article about the chocolate statuettes appeared in 2009, she got a call from a representative of a Buddhist community in Chinatown who threatened a boycott of the store. She chose to ignore it-“That’s not my demographic, “she said-and it ended there.

Since then, she said, her figurines had been purchased “non-ironically” by many religious customers.

Hun Lye, a Tibetan Buddhist lama who last year helped make a sand mandala at the Asia Society in Manhattan to demonstrate impermanence, said that an ancient Buddhist text, “A Guide to the Bodhisattva Way of Life,” “says that those who get upset when the Buddha is being insulted should not call themselves disciples of the Buddha.”

“It’s the Dalai Lama’s favorite text,” he said. “But probably you wouldn’t see the Dalai Lama buying the statue and chomping on it.”

Taken from TODAY Saturday Edition, The New York Times International Weekly, March 21, 2015

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Need anything for body cleansing?

Growing Up to be More Than One Thing

2015-03-19T23:26:00.001+08:00

English: A "Golden False Acacia" in the Swiss Garden at Old Warden. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Is this something like the same tree that adapts to the changing season? Far out? Ahh... just read on...
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DEBORAH STRANGE

As the pursuit of multiple professions and passions has become the norm, people juggle multiple identities.

Kevin Gleeson, for instance, is a graphic artist for the New York Police Department, where he designs banners and materials for news conferences. He usually wears a jacket, tie and his long hair pulled into a ponytail. But one day, when he was called to the commissioner’s office unexpectedly, he wore pink pants and his hair undone. Mr. Gleeson was dressed as his alter-ego, a Keith Richards impersonator.

“They call me the Keith-iest Keith,” Mr. Gleeson told The New York Times while preparing to play with the Stony Rollers, a Rolling Stones tribute band.

Mr. Gleeson has been performing Keith Richards’s music for more than 40 years. Now in his mid-50s, his life is not much like that of the more famous Rolling Stone – he has been sober for 28 years, and he seems to know everyone in the police department – but he is not ready to give up his night job.

For Thomas Tessier, an admissions officer at Stanford University’s online high school, his other job, as a workout instructor at Barry’s Boot camp in San Francisco, is attuned to another side of his personality.

“Stanford is interactive and I meet people, but I can’t get on a microphone and make snarky comments about Britney Spears and stomp around,” he told The Times.

“It’s different.”

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Ever wondered how to be 'more intelligent'?
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In boarding school, he coached lacrosse and cross-country, and he worked at a wine bar.

“The standard question, ‘What do you want to do when you grow up?,’ it doesn’t exist anymore,” Mr.Tessier said. “As somebody whose job it is to ask people this it’s like…” He shrugged. “There’s a million answers.”

Brittany Bronson teaches English at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, but earns part of her living as a waitress. She sometimes feels the stigma of being a blue-collar worker, she wrote in The Times. But her identity goes beyond her restaurant job, and the same is true for her colleagues, who have real estate licenses, artistic abilities, freelance projects and families.

“If my students can imagine the possibility that choosing to work with their hands does not automatically exclude them from being people who critically examine the world around them, I will feel I’ve done something worthwhile,” she wrote in The Times.

Identity for Mariam Ghani, a visual artist in New York, bridges multiple cultures. Her mother is Lebanese, and her father is President Ashraf Ghani of Afghanistan.

In February, she opened a show, “Like Water From a Stone,” which explores her diverse world. She collaborated on a piece with her father to examine Afghanistan’s history as a cycle: reform, revolt, collapse, recovery.

“Mariam, like most of us, is many different things at once,” said Ramzi Kassem, a professor at the City University of New York who has worked with Ms. Ghani. “This project, by design, is many different things over time: a video installation, archiving dimension, radio component, art installation.”

Ms. Ghani taught classes in Kabul and shot a short film in Norway. She also speaks seven languages.

“I grew up very much in between cultures, and that’s the position I work from as an artist,” she told The Times. “I think the place I identify most with is the border.”

Taken from TODAY Saturday Edition, The New York Times International Weekly, March 14, 2015

Porn and Young People

2015-03-07T08:54:00.003+08:00

Sexual Addiction and Compulsivity: The Journal of Treatment and Prevention (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Scholars Are Unsure of the Effects of Exposure to Online Sex

DAVID SEGAL

Starting late last year, Internet service providers in Britain made “family-friendly filters,” which block X-rated websites, the default for costumers. Now any account holder who wants to view adult material needs to actively opt in – effectively raising a hand to say, “Bring on the naughty.”

The initiative, which was conceived and very publicly promoted by the government, is intended to prevent what Prime Minister David Cameron called the corrosion of childhood, which, he argued in a speech last year, happens when children are exposed to pornography. In the same speech, he seemed to toss teenagers into the group in need of protection, referring to “young people who think it’s normal to send pornographic material as a prelude to dating.”

And here is where the topic starts to get very murky. It turns out that the research suggesting that teenagers and pornography are a hazardous mix is far from definitive. In fact, many of the most comprehensive reports on this subject come to conclusions that amount to “we can’t say for sure” shrugs. One of the most recent was produced by the office of the Children’s Commissioner for England. In May, the commissioner released a report titled “Basically…porn is everywhere,” which examined 276 research papers on teenagers and pornography.

The researchers found a link between exposure to pornography and risky behavior, such as unprotected sex or sex at a young age. But little could be said about that link. “Causal relationship” between pornography and risky behavior “could not be established,” the researchers concluded. It’s no surprise that those engaging in risky behavior have viewed pornography online. Just about every teenager has.

American scholars have come to nearly identical conclusions. “By the end we looked at 40 to 50 studies,” said Eric Owens, an assistant professor at West Chester University in Pennsylvania and an author of “The Impact of Internet Pornography on Adolescents: A Review of the Research,” published in Sexual Addiction and Compulsivity: The Journal of Treatment and Prevention. “And it became, ‘O.K., this one tells us A, this one tells us B.’ To some degree we threw up our hands and said, there is no conclusion to be drawn here.”

The absence of definitive answers in this realm seems bizarre, at least initially. An entire generation has grown up with easy access to images and films. And ready availability is just part of it. A lot of online pornography is violent. Much of it merely demonstrates the breadth of sexual appetites out there. Who knew that watching fully clad women try to drive cars out of mud and snow would count as a fetish? It does, apparently, as carstuckgirls.com proves.

Ethics prevent academics from conducting the ideal study. The ideal study, say academics, would round up a group of teenagers who had never viewed online pornography, then provide them with a steady dose of it for two or three months. At the end, they would be quizzed to see whether their attitudes or actions had changed. There would be tests for both mental and physical effects.

Exposing them to sexually explicit material is against the law, which means no university would approve of such a study. What if it turned out that pornography is harmful?
Video now streams efficiently to tablets and mobile phones, which has been true only for the last few years. Any study that looked at online pornography before these technologies emerged would understate the sheer quantity of X-rated material that a teenager can view, as well as where and when that viewing may occur.

This is not to say that the vast body of research in this area is without lessons. Jochen Peter and Patti M. Valkenburg in the Netherlands found, as Mr. Peter put it, that “when teens watch more porn they tend to be more dissatisfied with their sexual lives. This effect is not really a strong effect, though. And teens with more sexual experience didn’t show this effect at all.”

The pair also found that adolescents who watch more porn than their typical peers are generally less averse to casual sex.

Miranda Horvath, one of the lead researchers behind the Children’s Commissioner report, says that the most revealing part of the research came during an improvised debate, where a group of teenagers – ages 16 to 18, both girls and boys – was divided into two camps. One was instructed to argue that pornography had an impact on them, the other that pornography did not.

The pro-impact camp did not lack for fodder.

“They said it had an impact on their body image, on what young people think sex should be like, what they could expect from sex,” said Ms. Horvath, a professor of psychology at Middlesex University in London. “They talked about how if you see things in pornography, you might think it’s something you should be doing and go and do it.”

The no-impact camp could not fill up its allotted 15 minutes. After a couple of minutes, the person chosen to speak turned to the rest of the team and asked, “What else should I say?”

Neuroscience tells us that young minds tend to respond to emotionally charged material in ways that adults don’t. Given that pornography is emotionally charged, it would be shocking if it had no impact.

That may be why every academic I spoke to offered cautionary advice.

Rory Reid, a research psychologist and assistant professor at the University of California, Los Angeles, said: “I have a son and I don’t want him getting his information about human sexuality from Internet porn because the vast majority of such material contains fraudulent messages about sex.”

Many teenagers will insist they know the difference between pornography and real sex, in the same way that they know “World of Warcraft” isn’t an actual world. But researchers say it’s a bad idea to hope that young people intuit what is fake about pornography.

“One of our recommendations is that children should be taught about relationships and sex at a young age,” Professor Horvath said.” If we start teaching kids about equality and respect when they are 5 or 6 years old, by the time they encounter porn in their teens, they will be able to pick out and see the lack of respect and emotion that porn gives us. They’ll be better equipped to deal with what they are being presented with.”

At a minimum, researchers believe a parent-teenager conversation about sexuality and pornography is a good idea. Putting a computer in a child’s room without any limits on what can be viewed, Professor Reid said, is like tossing a teenager the keys to a car and saying: “Go learn how to drive. Have fun.”

Taken from TODAY Saturday Edition, The New York Times International Weekly, April 12, 2014

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Is there anything that can make man live forever, physically at least?

The Case for Letting Children Have Freedom

2015-02-05T22:00:00.002+08:00

English: Times Square (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

BY JANE E. BRODY

Lenore Skenazy, a New York City mother of two, earned the nickname “America’s Worst Mom” after reporting in a newspaper column that she had allowed her younger son, then 9, to ride the subway alone.

The criticism she endured, including a threat of arrest for child endangerment, intensified her desire to encourage parents to give their children the freedom they need to develop self-confidence and resilience.

One result was the publication in 2009 of her book “Free Range Kids: How to Raise Safe, Self-Reliant Children (Without Going Nuts With Worry).” A second results is the Free Range Kids Project and a 13-part TV series, “World’s Worst Mom.” In it, Ms. Skenazy rescues children from parents’ overprotectiveness by guiding the children through a sequence of once-forbidden activities and showing the parents how well the children do.

Parents who subscribe to Ms.Skenazy’s approach include Danielle and Alexander Meitiv in Washington. The couple made news recently after allowing their children – Rafi, 10, and Dvora, 6 – to walk home alone from a local park. The children were stopped by the police, and the family is now under investigation by a social agency.

In the first episode of “World’s Worst Mom,” 10-year-old Sam’s mother won’t let him ride a bike (“she’s afraid I’ll fall and get hurt”), cut up his own meat (“ Mom thinks I’ll cut my fingers off”) or play “rough sports” like skating. The plea from a stressed-out, thwarted Sam: “I just want to do things by myself.”

In an interview, Ms. Skenazy said, “Having been brainwashed by all the stories we hear, there’s a prevailing fear that any time you’re not directly supervising your child, you’re putting the child in danger.” The publicity given to crimes has created an exaggerated fear of the dangers children face if left to navigate and play on their own.

But Peter Gray, a psychologists at Boston College, said: “The actual rate of strangers abducting or molesting children is very small. It’s more likely to happen at the hands of a relative or family friend. The statistics show no increase in childhood dangers. If anything, there’s been a decrease.”

Experts say there is no more crime against children by strangers today – and probably significantly less –than when I was growing up in the 1940s and ‘50s, a time when I walked to school alone and played outdoors with friends unsupervised by adults. “The world is not perfect – it never was – but we used to trust our children in it, and they learned to be resourceful,” Ms.Skenazy said. “The message these anxious parents are giving to their children is ‘I love you, but I don’t believe you’re as competent as I am.’”

Dr.Gray, author of “Free to Learn: Why Unleashing the Instinct to Play Will Make Our Children Happier, More Self-Reliant, and Better Students for Life,” said, “If children are not allowed to take routine risks, they’ll be less likely to be able to handle real risks when they do occur.”

His college’s counseling office has seen a doubling in emergency calls in the last five years, “mainly for problems kids used to solve on their own,” like being called a bad name by a roommate.

In the past, children made up their own games and acquired important skills in the process. “In pickup games,” Dr. Gray said, “children make the rules, negotiate, and figure out what’s fair to keep everyone happy. They develop creativity, empathy and the ability to read the minds of other players.”

Dr. Gray links the rise in childhood depression and anxiety to the decline in free play among young children. “Young people today are less likely to have a sense of control over their own lives and more likely to feel they are the victims of circumstances,” he said.

Children today spend many more hours indoors than in years past, which in part accounts for the rise in childhood obesity and Type 2 diabetes. As Ms. Skenazy put it, “if parents truly believe children must be supervised every second of the day, then they can’t walk to school, play in the park, or wake up Saturday morning, get on their bikes and go have an adventure.”

Taken from TODAY Saturday Edition, The New York Times International Weekly, January 31, 2015

Movie Date Night Can Act as Therapy

2015-01-25T15:01:00.002+08:00

I for one would say that the movie date night is having the factor of the couple being together, doing something together, which is very much against today's techonology found in smartphones or similar devices - very much anti-social to begin with...
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BY TARA PARKER-POPE

One of the great divides in male-female relationships is the “chick flick” – a movie like “Terms of Endearment” or “The Notebook” that often leaves women in tears and men bored. But a new study shows that sappy movies can actually help strengthen real relationships.

A University of Rochester study found that couples who watched and talked about issues raised in movies like “Steel Magnolias “and “Love Story” were less likely to divorce or separate than couples in a control group.

Surprisingly, the “Love Story” intervention was as effective at keeping couples together as two intensive therapist-led methods: The CARE method focuses on acceptance and empathy in couples counseling, while PREP is centered on a specific communication style that couples use to resolve issues. The researchers wanted a third option that allowed couples to interact without intensive counseling.

They came up with the movie intervention, assigning couples to watch five movies and to take part in guided discussions afterward. They chose movies that show couples at highs and lows in their relationships. A fourth group received no counselling or self-help assignments and served as a control group.

Going into the study, the researchers expected that the CARE and PREP methods would have a pronounced effect on relationships and that the movie intervention might result in some mild improvements to relationship quality. To the researchers’’ surprise, the movie intervention worked just as well as both of the established therapy methods in reducing divorce and separation.

Among 174 couples studied, those who received marriage counselling or took part in the movie intervention were half as likely to divorce or separate after three years compared with couples in the control group. The divorce or separation rate was 11 percent in the intervention groups, compared with 24 percent in the control group.

The findings were published in the December issue of The Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology.

Ronald D. Rogge, an associate professor of psychology at the University of Rochester and the lead author of the study, and his colleagues have since been recruiting couples to study the effect of the movie intervention on different relationships, including long-married and same-sex couples. Megan Clifton, a 27-year-old student in Knoxville, Tennessee, has lived with her boyfriend for nearly two years. She says the two have “great communication,” but she opted to try the movie intervention.

While watching “Date Night” with Tina Fey and Steve Carell, the couple laughed at the scene in which the husband fails to close drawers and cabinet doors. “He leaves cabinet doors open all the time, and I become the nagging girlfriend and he shuts down a little,” Ms. Clifton said.

“When we were watching the movie, I said ‘That’s you!’ and it was humorous,” Ms. Clifton said. “We ended up laughing about it, and it has helped us look at our relationship and our problems in a humorous way.”

Further research is needed to validate the movie method. One flaw of the study is that the control group was not randomized.

But Dr. Rogge, summing up the value he sees in the movie method, said, “I believe it’s the depth of the discussions that follow each movie and how much effort and time and introspection couples put into those discussions that will predict how well they do going forward.”

Taken from The New York Times International Weekly, TODAY Saturday Edition, March 8, 2014

Childhood ‘Disorder‘ Inspires Questions

2015-01-10T15:49:00.001+08:00

Published by the American Psychiatric Association, the DSM-IV-TR provides a common language and standard criteria for the classification of mental disorders. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

BY ALAN SCHWARZ

With millions of children having received a diagnosis of attention deficit hyperactivity disorders, there is concern that the condition is over-treated with prescription medications.

Yet now some figures in mental health are claiming to have identified a new disorder that could vastly expand the ranks of young people treated for attention problems. Called sluggish cognitive tempo, the condition is said to be characterized by lethargy, daydreaming and slow mental processing.

Experts pushing for more research into sluggish cognitive tempo say it is gaining momentum toward recognition as a legitimate disorder – and, as such, a candidate for pharmacological treatment.

The Journal of Abnormal Child Psychology devoted 136 pages of its January issue to papers describing the illness, with the lead paper claiming the question of its existence “seems to be laid to rest as of this issue.” The psychologist Russell Barkley of the Medical University of South Carolina has claimed in research papers and lectures that sluggish cognitive tempo “has become new attention disorder.”

Keith Mc Burnett, a professor of psychiatry at the University of California, San Francisco, said: “When you start talking about things like daydreaming, mind-wandering, those types of behaviors, someone who has a son or daughter who does this excessively says, ‘I know about this from my own experience.’ They know what you’re talking about.”

Yet some experts, including Dr. McBurnett, say there is no consensus on the new disorder’s symptoms, let alone scientific validity. They warn that the concept’s promotion without vastly more scientific rigor could expose children to unwarranted diagnoses and prescription medications.

“We’re seeing a fad in evolution: Just as A.D.H.D. has been the diagnosis du jour for 15 years or so, this is the beginning of another,” said Dr. Allen Frances of Duke University in North Carolina. “This is a public health experiment on millions of kids.”

Though the concept of sluggish cognitive tempo, or S.C.T., has been researched since the 1980s, it has not been recognized in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, used by the American Psychiatric Association.

Steve S. Lee, an associate professor of Psychology at the University of California, Los Angeles, said he was conflicted over the psychology journal’s emphasis on sluggish cognitive tempo. He expressed concern that A.D.H.D. had already grown to encompass too many children with common youthful behavior, or whose problems are derived from inadequate sleep, a different learning disability or other sources.

About two-thirds of children with an A.D.H.D. diagnosis take medication that quells impulsiveness and inattention but carries risks for insomnia, appetite suppression and, for teenagers and adults, abuse.

“The scientist part of me says we need to pursue knowledge, but we know that people will start saying their kids have it, and doctors will start diagnosing it and prescribing for it long before we know whether it’s real,” Dr. Lee said. “A.D.H.D. has become a public health, societal question, and it’s a fair question to ask of S.C.T. We better pump the brakes more diligently.”

Taken from TODAY Saturday Edition, April 26, 2014

Phantom Tunes Shed Light on the Brain

2014-12-16T22:22:00.000+08:00

BY CARL ZIMMER

In 2011, a 66-year old retired math teacher walked into a London neurological clinic hoping to get some answers. A few years earlier, she explained to the doctors, she had heard someone playing a piano outside her house. But then she realized there was no piano.

The phantom piano played longer and longer melodies, like passages from Rachmaninov’s Piano Concerto number 2 in C minor, her doctors recount in a recent study in the journal Cortex. By the time the woman – to whom the doctors refer only by her first name, Sylvia – came to the clinic, the music had become her nearly constant companion.

People with such musical hallucinations usually are psychologically normal – except for the songs they are sure someone is playing.

Scientists were able to compare Sylvia’s brain activity when she was experiencing hallucinations that were both quiet and loud – something that had never been done before. By comparing the two states, they found important clues to how the brain generates these illusions – clues that may also shed light on how our minds make sense of the world.

The study was based on a simple idea. Sometimes people with musical hallucinations say that hearing real music can quiet the imaginary tunes.

It turned out that Sylvia found that music by Bach sometimes eased her hallucinations. When Sukhbinder Kumar, a staff scientist at Newcastle University in England and one of the study’s co-authors, measured the effect, he found a consistent pattern: Once the Bach stopped, Sylvia had seconds of relief from the hallucinations. Then the hallucinatory piano returned, reaching full strength about a minute and a half after the Bach ended.

For the experiment, Sylvia put on earphones and sat with her head in a scanner that detects the magnetic field produced by the brain. On the day of the study, she was hearing selections from Gilbert and Sullivan’s “H.M.S. Pinafore.”

Every few minutes the scientists switched to Bach for 30 seconds, to tamp down the hallucination. When the real music stopped, Sylvia used a keyboard to rate the strength of her hallucinations while the scanner recorded her brain activity.

Dr. Kumar and his colleagues found that a few regions of Sylvia’s brain consistently produced stronger brain waves when the hallucinations were louder.

It turned out that they are regions that we all use when we listen to music. One region becomes active when we perceive pitch, for example.

Dr. Kumar argues that these results support a theory developed by Karl Friston of the Wellcome Trust Center for Neuroimaging. (Dr. Friston is a co-author of the new study.) Dr. Friston has proposed that our brains are prediction-generating machines.

Our brains, Dr. Friston argues, generate predictions about what is going to happen next, using past experiences as a guide. When we hear a sound, particularly music, our brains guess at what it is and predict what it will sound like in the next instant. If the prediction is wrong, our brains quickly recognize that we are hearing something else and make a new prediction.

Scientists have long known that people with musical hallucinations often have at least some hearing loss. Sylvia, for example, needed hearing aids after getting a viral infection two decades ago. Dr. Kumar’s theory could explain why some people with hearing loss develop musical hallucinations. With fewer auditory signals entering the brain, their error detection becomes weaker. If the music-processing brain regions make faulty prediction, those predictions only grow stronger until they feel like reality. “There is nothing from the senses to constrain them,” Dr. Kumar said.

Dr. Kumar and his colleagues are now using their experimental method on more people with musical hallucinations. If the theory holds up, it could explain why real music provides relief for musical hallucinations: The incoming sounds reveal the brain’s prediction errors. And it may also explain why people are prone to hallucinate music.

“Music is more predictable,” said Dr. Kumar. “That makes it more likely as a phenomenon for hallucinations.”

Taken from TODAY Saturday Edition, March 8, 2014

Lessons in How to Age With Wisdom

2014-12-11T22:03:00.000+08:00

Septagram illustrating disciplines which comprise cognitive science (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

BY PHYLLIS KORKKI

Since ancient times, the elusive concept of wisdom has figured prominently in philosophical and religious texts. The question remains compelling: What is wisdom, and how does it play out in individual lives?

Vivian Clayton, a geriatric neuro psychologist in Orinda, California, developed a definition of wisdom in the 1970s that has served as a foundation for research on the subject ever since. After scouring ancient texts, she found that most people described as wise were decision makers. So she asked a group of law students, law professors and retired judges to name the characteristics of a wise person. She determined that wisdom consists of three key components: cognition, reflection and compassion.

Research shows that cognitive functioning slows as people age. But a recent study in Topics in Cognitive Science pointed out that older people have much more information in their brains than younger ones, and the quality of the information in the older brain is more nuanced.

According to Dr. Clayton, one must take time to gain insights and perspectives from one’s cognitive knowledge to be wise. Then one can use those insights to understand and help others.

Monika Ardelt, an associate professor at the University of Florida, felt a need to expand on studies of old age because of research showing that satisfaction late in life consists of things like maintaining physical and mental health, volunteering and having positive relationships with others. But this isn’t always possible. Wisdom, she has found, is what can help even severely impaired people find meaning, contentment and acceptance in life.

She developed a scale consisting of 39 questions aimed at measuring three dimensions of wisdom. People responding to statements on Professor Ardelt’s wisdom scale were not told they were being measured for wisdom. Respondents later answered question about hypothetical challenges, and those who showed evidence of high wisdom were also more likely to have better coping skills.

An impediment to wisdom is thinking, “I can’t stand who I am now because I’m not who I used to be,” said Isabella S. Bick, a psychotherapist who, at 81, still practices part time in Sharon, Connecticut. She has aging clients who are upset by a perceived worsening of their looks, sexual performance and abilities. For them, an acceptance of aging is necessary for growth, but “it’s not a resigned acceptance; it’s an embracing acceptance,” she said.

Professor Ardelt’s research shows that when people in nursing homes score high on her wisdom scale, they also report a greater sense of well-being. “If things are really bad, it’s good to be wise,” she said.

Wisdom is characterized by a “reduction in self-centeredness,” Professor Ardelt said. Wise people try to understand situations from multiple perspectives, and they show tolerance as a result.

Daniel Goleman, author of “Emotional Intelligence,” said an important sign of wisdom was “generativity,” a term used by the psychologist Erick Erikson, who developed an influential theory on stages of the human life span. Generativity means giving back without needing anything in return, Dr.Goleman said.

He interviewed Mr. Erikson, along with his wife, Joan, in the late 1980s, when both were in their 80s. Mr. Erikson’s theory of human development had initially included eight stages, from infancy to old age. When the Eriksons themselves reached old age, though, they found a need to add a ninth stage of development, one in which wisdom plays a crucial role. “They depict an old age in which one has enough conviction in one’s own completeness to ward off the despair that gradual physical disintegration can too easily bring,” Dr.Goleman said.

“Even the simple activities of daily living may present difficulty and conflict,” Joan Erikson wrote in an expanded version of her husband’s book, “The Life Cycle Completed.”

The book adds: “One must join in the process of adaption. With whatever tact and wisdom we can muster, disabilities must be accepted with lightness and humor.”

Taken from TODAY Saturday Edition, March 29, 2014

Parent-Child Journeys Present a Few Pitfalls

2014-11-13T22:32:00.000+08:00

"Under the horse chestnut tree", 1 print : drypoint and aquatint, color ; (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

There's a time to teach, to show, to model... and then a time to let go...
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TOM BRADY

The parent-child bond is fraught with emotional and physical trials every step of the way. But what happens to the parent nearing those final days of nurturing?

Madeline Levine spent her career as a psychologist and a writer – and mother – with the belief that her job was to prepare her three sons to live independently and enthusiastically move into adulthood.

But now that the youngest of her three sons is out of college, and the older two are doing just what she wanted for them all along, her reaction surprised her.

“How odd that I should be blindsided by a sense of loss as my sons move fully into lives of their own,” she wrote in The Times.

“Some part of me must have known that each move toward independence – from zipping a jacket to hanging out at the mall to driving a car – meant not only that my sons were more capable, but also that I was less necessary,” Ms. Levine wrote. “And I meet this reality with far more ambivalence than I had anticipated.”

For those in the process of coaching their children on the path toward a meaningful life, the best advice may be that less is more. That’s the evidence from several recent studies that indicate the more parents are involved in their children’s lives – the more helicopter parenting they do – the less responsible children are likely to be, The Times reported.

A paper published in February in the American Sociological Review found that the more money parents spend on their child’s college education, the worse grades the child earns.

A separate study published the same month in the Journal of Child and Family Studies reported that the more parents are involved in schoolwork and selection of coursework, the less satisfied college student feel.

“It seems that certain forms of help can dilute recipients’ sense of accountability for their own success,” Eli J. Finkel and Grainne M. Fitzsimmons wrote. “The college student might think: If Mom and Dad are always around to solve my problems, why spend three straight nights in the library during finals rather than hanging out with my friends?”

Sometimes it’s the children’s actions that can do harm, especially when toddlers are acting out.

Parents routinely suffer concussions, chipped teeth, corneal abrasions, nasal fractures, cut lips and other
Injuries from the aggressive actions of their young children, The Times reported. More than one mother has had an earlobe torn when her baby has grabbed and yanked a dangling earring.

When Sarah Rosengarten was whacked across the face with a toy metal car by her 2-year-old son Carter Roberts, she wound up at the emergency room, where doctors diagnosed a hairline fracture of the jaw.

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Can I look as young as my children?
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“Children,” Ms. Rosengarten, 27, told The Times, “can be dangerous.”

The most daring of parents are willing to tread into that most perilous of territories – their children’s dating lives.

Barbara Weisberg, 64, inspired the development of The JMon.com, a Jewish matchmaking site and one of several Web sites that have arisen to cater to parents, because she thought her own children were missing out.

“They maybe were looking superficially for attraction and they were not looking deep enough to see everything that encompasses a person,” Mrs. Weisberg, who has been married for nearly 40 years and lives in Kentucky, told The Times.

One night, her son Brad allowed her to review online matches for him and she made a list of candidates who she felt would promise a love connection.

But Mrs. Weisberg understands there are limits on how far a parent can and should go in trying to identity a mate for their children. She told The Times: “People have to settle down when they’re ready to.”

Taken from TODAY Saturday Edition, July 6, 2013

Wanting Privacy, Posting Anyway

2014-11-11T23:12:00.005+08:00

Facebook logo Español: Logotipo de Facebook Français : Logo de Facebook Tiếng Việt: Logo Facebook (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

BY KATE MURPHY

Imagine a world suddenly devoid of doors. The controlling authorities say if you aren’t doing anything wrong, then you shouldn’t mind. That’s essentially the state of affairs on the Internet. There is no privacy.

Increasingly, people are coming to understand how their online data might be used against them. You might not get a job, a loan or a date because of an indiscreet tweet. But less obvious is the psychic toll.

“With all the focus on the legal aspects of privacy and the impact on global trade there’s been little discussion of why you want privacy and why it’s intrinsically important to you as an individual,” said Adam Joinson of the University of the West of England in Bristol.

Perhaps that’s because there is no agreement over what constitutes private information. It varies among cultures, genders and individuals. Moreover, it’s hard to argue for the value of privacy when people eagerly share so much personal information.

But the history of privacy is one of status. Those who are institutionalized for criminal behavior or ill health, children and the impoverished have less privacy than those who are upstanding, healthy, mature and wealthy.

“The implication is that if you don’t have it, you haven’t earned the right or aren’t capable or trustworthy,” said Christena Nippert-Eng of the Illinois Institute of Technology in Chicago.

So it’s not surprising that privacy research in both online and offline environments has shown that just the perception, let alone the reality, of being watched results in feelings of low self-esteem, depression and anxiety. Whether observed by a supervisor at work or Facebook friends, people are inclined to conform and demonstrate less individuality. Their performance of tasks suffers and they have elevated levels of stress hormones.

A three-year German study ending in 2012 showed that the more people disclosed about themselves on social media, the more privacy they said they desired. The lead author of the study, Sabine Trepte of the University of Hohenheim in Stuttgart, said the paradox indicated participants’ dissatisfaction with what they got in return for giving away so much about themselves.

“It’s a bad deal because what they get is mainly informational support like maybe a tip for a restaurant or link to an article,” she said. “What they don’t get is the kind of emotional and instrumental support that leads to well-being, like a shoulder to cry on or someone who will sit by your bedside at the hospital.”

And yet, she added, they continued to participate because they were afraid of being left out judged by others as unplugged and unengaged losers. So the cycle continued.

“There’s also this idea in our society that if I just embarrass myself enough I can be the next Snooki or Kardashian,” said Anita L. Allen, a professor of law and philosophy at the University of Pennsylvania Law School. “There’s a real financial incentive to not care and give it all up.”

The problem is that if you reveal everything about yourself or it’s discoverable with a Google search, you may be diminished in your capacity for intimacy. This goes back to social penetration theory, one of the most cited and experimentally validated explanations of human connection. Developed by Irwin Altman and Dalmas A. Taylor in the 1970s, the theory holds that relationships develop through gradual and mutual self-disclosure of increasingly private and sensitive personal information.

“Building and maintaining an enduring, intimate relationship is a process of privacy regulation,” said Dr. Altman, now an emeritus professor of psychology at the University of Utah. “It’s about opening and closing boundaries to maintain individual identity but also demonstrate unity with another, and if there are violations then the relationship is threatened.”

Thought of another way, information about yourself is like currency. The amount you spend on a person signifies how much you value the relationship. And that person compensates you in kind. That’s why it feels like theft when someone tells your secrets or data miners piece together your personal history –using your browsing habits, online purchases and social networks – and sell it. And it’s also why if you’re profligate with information about yourself, you have precious little to offer someone really special.

“I have to say, too, there’s a certain kind of vanity and self-absorption reflected in giving up everything about one’s self,” Professor Allen said.” To think that somehow everything you do needs to be shared online is conceited and false.”

But privacy researchers said they are starting to see signs of a backlash. People are beginning to exercise a bit more reserve online or are otherwise engaging in subversive tactics to thwart data miners. Such small acts of defiance might include setting up multiple fake identities, using a virtual private network to shield their browsing behavior and not “liking” anything on Facebook or following anyone on Twitter, making their social networks and preferences harder to track.

Professor Nippert-Eng said, “When people want privacy there’s often this idea that, ‘Oh, they are hiding something dirty,’ but they are really just trying to hold onto themselves.”

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Taken from TODAY Saturday Edition, November 1, 2014

How to read a man?

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Was it a wrinkle-free picture you used in your profile?

Loneliness Can Hurt More Than the Heart

2014-10-29T22:32:00.002+08:00

Cover via Amazon

JANE E. BRODY

I now know why I gained more than 13 kilograms in my early 20s: I was lonely. I had left for school and a job in the Upper Midwest and I knew no one. I filled my lonely nights and days with food, especially candy, cookies and ice cream. I could not rein in my eating until I returned to New York and my family, and began dating my future husband.

Loneliness, says John T. Cacioppo, an award-winning psychologist at the University of Chicago, undermines people’s ability to self-regulate. In one experiment he cites, participants made to feel socially disconnected ate many more cookies than those made to feel socially accepted.

In a real-life study of a middle-aged and older adults in the Chicago area, Dr. Cacioppo and colleagues found that those who scored high on the University of California, Los Angeles, Loneliness Scale, a widely used assessment, ate more fatty foods than those who scored low.

“Is it any wonder that we turn to ice cream or other fatty foods when we’re sitting at home feeling all alone in the world?” Dr. Cacioppo said in his well-documented book, “Loneliness,” written with William Patrick.

He said lonely individuals tend to do whatever they can to make themselves feel better, if only for the moment. They may overeat, drink too much, smoke, speed or engage in indiscriminate sex.

A review of research published in 1988 found that “social isolation is on a par with high blood pressure, obesity, lack of exercise or smoking as a risk factor for illness and early death,” Dr. Cacioppo wrote.

Even without the presence of unwholesome behaviors, Dr. Cacioppo and others have shown that loneliness can impair health by raising levels of stress hormones and increasing inflammation. The damage can be widespread, affecting every bodily system and brain function.

Lisa Jaremka of Ohio State University reported in January that people who are lonely have higher levels of antibodies to certain herpes viruses, indicating more activated viruses in their system. In another study, she found higher levels of inflammation-inducing substances in the blood of lonely people.

Chronic inflammation has been linked to heart disease, arthritis, Type 2 diabetes, and even suicide attempts, Dr. Jaremka noted.

Loneliness has also been linked to cognitive decline. A Dutch study published last year in The Journal of Neurology, Neurosurgery & Psychiatry found that participants who reported feeling lonely – regardless of how many friends and family surrounded them – were more likely to develop dementia than those who lived on their own but were not lonely.

The Dutch study suggests that how people perceive their situation may have a stronger impact on health than whether they live alone and lack social connections. Divorced people have reported feeling lonelier in a bad marriage than they do being single. And people who live alone may still have a large network of friends and family that helps to keep loneliness at bay.

People are fundamentally social beings who require meaningful connections with others to maximize health and well-being. Dr. Cacioppo suggests reaching out to others with “random acts of kindness”: doing something that helps them physically or emotionally, maybe something as simple as complimenting a stranger‘s outfit or helping an old person cross the street.

“What’s required,” he wrote, “is to step outside the pain of our own situation long enough to ‘feed’ others. Real change begins with doing.”

Taken from TODAY, Saturday Edition, June 1, 2013

Mi Choza De Nipa

Super El Niño, Killer AI, and Ten Feet of Horse Manure

Super El Niño, Killer AI, and Ten Feet of Horse Manure

The Horse Manure Problem

The Problem with Straight-Line Forecasting

Does That Mean We Should Ignore Warnings?

What History Suggests

A Systems Administrator's View

Final Thoughts

When the Whole Community Was Our Orchard

When the Whole Community Was Our Orchard

An orchard without fences

The fruits known by local names

The branch filled with fruit

Sourness in a bowl

The trees that supplied the sourness

The tall mabolo tree

We did not need Christmas pears

The abundance we thought would remain

What the trees gave us

Content with what grew around us

🇵🇭 Pax Silica in the Philippines: Who Gains, Who Pays, and What the Documents Actually Say

🇵🇭 Pax Silica in the Philippines: Who Gains, Who Pays, and What the Documents Actually Say

What Is Pax Silica?

The Proposed Philippine Hub

What Has the Philippines Offered?

The Government’s Economic Projections

The Genuine Economic Opportunity

Manufacturing Hub or Data-Center Hub?

The Electricity Question

The Water Question

Mining: Keeping the Value—or Keeping the Damage?

What Indonesia Actually Did With Its Nickel

Why the Philippines Became a Leading Nickel-Ore Supplier

The Indonesian Success

The Indonesian Warning

The Lesson for Pax Silica

New Clark City, Farmers and the Aeta

Environmental Compliance Is Necessary—but Not Sufficient

The 99-Year Lease

Diplomatic Immunity: What Was Said, Denied and Rejected

Why the Former US Bases Cannot Be Left Out

The Historical Parallel—and Its Limits

Who Clearly Benefits?

What Must Be Guaranteed for Filipinos?

Is Pax Silica Good or Bad for the Philippines?

References

The Scent That Led Me Back to the Fishpond

The Scent That Led Me Back to the Fishpond

The vegetable beside the water

Two plants, one remembered scent

Different places at the table

Nourishment without grand claims

When the landscape was the marketplace

What younger generations may not recognize

A balcony vine and a bridge to home

Learning AOSP, Balcony Growing, And Now -- Hydroponics!

After A Long Time...

Mi Último Adiós

Commentary: Weighing yourself regularly can help you lose weight but isn’t good for everyone

Commentary: Let's exercise ownership over our health, not wait for illness to set in

What is 'social distancing' and how to do it right

If sitting is bad for our health, should we be squatting more instead?

Falling sick because of poor sleep? Add this to your bedtime routine for deep recuperative slumber

Living with birthmarks: What are the ones you can and cannot remove

Good Hygiene Counts In Wild

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