Naked chicken can’t mate

The featherless chicken developed by scientists of the Rehovot Agronomy Institute in Tel Aviv,Israel has received mixed reviews. Bred from a meaty broiler and a featherless bird, the naked chicken is thought to be genetic engineering’s answer to the costly cooling systems needed to raise fowls in places with hot weather. Without the feathers, preparing the chicken for dinner will be easier.

Yet, others disagree. Feathers are essential natural protection of fowls from changes of weather and infestations of parasites. Constrained in movement, the birds suffer. Without feathers, they become susceptible to skin diseases, mosquito bites, and sunburn. Naked chickens cannot mate because they are clumsy and unable to flap their wings.

Those concerned with the welfare of animals say humans have no business making the chickens ugly. It’s obscene to tinker with genes, produce “frankenfood” for the convenience of the poultry industry. Photo Credits: http://www.nextnature.net; xtywebworks) =0=

15,000 Filipinos in a bid for a Guinness World Record:“Samahan na walang katulad!

It’s superb company whenever relatives, friends, and the family get together for a drink. San Miguel beer is pre-eminent in its popularity. It’s the nation’s leading brew which brings Filipinos together. OO! Samahan na walang katulad! (friendship like no other!)

Be it on a birthday, an anniversary, a graduation, a throw-away party for someone going abroad, a returning OFW’s welcome, a dead man’s wake or a sulking footnote of a love-relationship gone sour, San Miguel beer is arguably our drink that perks up the day. It sets the tone of our celebrations. It brings a lot of delights and sometimes trouble.

San Miguel beer, the popular amber-colored brew, a proud product made in the Philippines, carries mild alcohol which easily knocks out our inhibitions, makes us dreamy, relax, loquacious, and merry. Desirably taken icy-cold to ward off tropical heat in the country, the beer goes well with scrumptious food: pulutan like sisig, chicharon bulaklak, ligo, balut, kinilaw or caldereta. It’s just the perfect bubbly concoction which defines fun in our gatherings.

On September 5, 2008, the city of Manila embarked on a San Miguel beer drinking fest which brought a crowd of more than 15,000 people in Ortigas to start a long celebration, hoping to set a world record. The road from Lourdes Avenue to Julia Vargas became an amazing 603.5-meter-long beer bar, with four concert stages for the fiesta patterned from Germany’s Oktoberfest. PDI (O9/06/08, Natividad, BT)

The beer-fest was mainly for merriment, but strangely unusual, it was attended by 15,000 people. With tinge of self-importance and hubris which commercial organizers thought could topple a record in the Guinness Book, they eyed on making Las Vegas’ distinction of 13,000 people gulping beer at the same time obsolete.

The event was disturbance-free with tight security details in place. It was a successful fun-filled “samahan” like a large gathering of “barkadas” around a pitcher of beer, but an accidental electrocution of 20 workers (causing burn injuries) occured during the dismantling of the props.

One ponders on the event’s undertones, its meanings when the din of merriment has subsided. Can casual beer drinking lead to alcohol dependence and abuse? Is it beneficial for us to win a drinking distinction in the Guinness Book of Records? Where will a whole-scale commercial promotion of drinking bring our nation? What impact does it have on the campaign to control alcoholism in the country? What effect will it have in the next generation?

A disorder characterized by unusual craving for liquor, alcoholism (alcohol dependence) is a problem in the Philippines. Just like in other countries, it’s a major cause of job loss, family fued, car-crash, and accident. The World Health Organization (WHO) estimates about 140 million people in various countries have alcohol dependence and 78% aren’t treated.

MAG-BEER MUNA TAYO! SO GOOD, AYOS ANG KASUNOD!

Alcohol Dependence

“Alcohol dependence increases the risk of liver disease (hepatitis and cirrhosis), dangerously irregular heart rhythms (“holiday heart” syndrome), stomach ulcers, brain damage, stroke and other health problems. In pregnant women who drink alcohol, there is also the danger that the child will develop fetal alcohol syndrome, a cluster of health problems including unusually low birth weight, facial abnormalities, heart defects and learning difficulties.

In most Western countries, including the United States, the lifetime chance of developing alcoholism is about 10% for men and 3% to 5% for women. Although there is strong evidence that at least part of a person’s risk for alcoholism is inherited, having a family history of alcoholism does not guarantee that someone will become an alcoholic. Other lifestyle factors a social setting where alcohol is a regular part, easy availability of alcohol, severe personal problems may be even more important than heredity in determining whether some people develop alcoholism. For those who have a strong family history of alcoholism, a supportive family and healthy friendships often can prevent the illness from starting.”—MensHealth.com =0=
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The Elfin Lady in Red & the Tall Guy of the White House Beside Her

“Come to think of it, isn’t the presence of Ambassador Kenney in Kuala Lumpur an anomaly? The US has never been part of the peace process in the South unlike the OIC, Malaysia and Indonesia.” — MyTy, Philippines (Photo Credit: http://www.sjsu.edu)

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Calle Natong: Naga City’s populist way of naming a street

In earlier days, ill-descript Bagumbayan Interior, in Naga City, Philippines could barely be regarded as a street. It was a short and dusty alley close to Ateneo de Naga University (AdenU) campus. The name gave a hint of a semi-wild location where planks of rickety wood served as elevated platforms—like toy bridges over muddy ditches behind the main road leading to Canaman, Bombon, Quipayo, Magarao, and Calabanga, not far from Universidad de Sta Isabel University (USI) and Camarines Sur National High (CSNHS.)

The unpaved alley’s name stuck for years. No one raised any objection or asked for a law or ordinance to change the village path’s name where zacate grass and snakeheads (talusog) in muddy pools grew wild. Maybe, it’s because Bagumbayan Interior is secluded. The alley with very confusing boundaries had a neutral reputation. There was no major historical meaning in the street unlike the old great Calle Via Gainza, named after Bishop Francisco Gainza, but later renamed as Penafrancia Avenue.

In the 1970’s, ordinary people started calling Bagumbayan Interior “Calle Natong,” a populist reference to the wild taro plants (dasheen bush) which grew aplenty in that marshy locale. We, the few low-brow barangay residents, didn’t object. Calle Natong was just the right name to keep us reminded of our favorite, Bicolano dish, the spicy ginota’an na natong (laing, sinilihan na katnga) when the proverbial green leaves of the dasheen bush got burning hot with bedeviled red peppers (lada,siling labuyo.)

The informal appellation took root and tricycle drivers who rode the peaceful place knew where Calle Natong was. The building of homes much later altered the course of the street and the landscape. It didn’t take long when more people settled in the place, Calle Natong gave way to a more urbane, but unfamiliar name: Seminary Road then later becoming the Mother Francisca Street, perhaps because a convent was there in the area.

These were confusing changes we didn’t understand. Natong which we held dear being our celebrated Bicol regional plant—the source of nourishment of Handiong‘s children, was waylaid on the side. After our street was renamed, Calle Natong, was never the same.=0=

Safety standards required for RP’s first human milk bank

If we have blood banks, why can’t we have milk banks as well? That’s exactly what the launching of the first human milk bank in the Philippines is all about. Some 200 mothers in Makati, Metro Manila lined up in Guadalupe Nueva barangay hall to donate milk for babies whose mothers are unable to give them. The collected milk will be sent to Fabella Memorial Hospital in Manila where a pasteurization machine and freezers are available to preserve milk up to 6 months. ABS-CBN (08/15/08)

The human milk donation project supports Bill 1696 called Expanded Breastfeeding Act,” which encourages the founding of lactation areas in government offices, public and private places to help mothers continue breastfeeding after they resume work after delivery.

“By the beginning of the twenty-first century, human milk feeding was once again the recommended method of infant feeding. Experts recommend breastfeeding exclusively for six months and the introduction of age appropriate foods with breast milk to remain in the diet for two years and beyond. When maternal milk is inadequate or lacking particularly for high risk or premature infants pasteurized donor milk is the next best option. Donor milk banking plays an important role in meeting these recommendations.” —Human Milk Banking Association of North America

The idea of donating milk is a good one. Yet, just like blood, it has safety concerns that must be addressed. Human milk is perishable and care must be followed to keep it fresh while preventing it from spoiling. Since human milk has the potential to transmit diseases and carry maternal medications that can be harmful to the babies, screening of donors by interviews, physical examinations, and laboratory tests are needed.

Newborns particularly those who are born premature, don’t have fully developed disease-fighting immune systems, making them susceptible to milk-borne illnesses. Therefore, there must be standards and safety guidelines to follow for both milk donors and recipients. Taking safety as a priority, the collection, milk-shedding campaign, storage, processing, preservation, and distribution of donated milk must be monitored and regulated. =0=

Related Article: Poured into Kids, Milk and Dairy Products Build Better Bones
BOSTON — There’s new evidence that kids who drink milk and eat other dairy products throughout childhood have stronger bones later in life. full story at:

http://www.medpagetoday.com/Pediatrics/GeneralPediatrics/tb/10553

Health & Politics: casting away some of Balimbing’s bad rap

“This fruit can end your life!” says the email I got last week about balimbing (scientific name: Averrhoa carambola, family: Oxalidaceae, starfruit, bilimbi, carambola.) I thought it’s such an alarmist post that I need to comment. Besides, the exotic edible fruit traditionally carries a bad name in Philippine politics.

Vilified in our native Filipino language because of its curious shape and tarty taste, balimbing is a unique tropical fruit and a butt of jokes. Eaten raw, or used in fruit juices and salads, it’s equated with turn-coatism, flip-flopping, and lack of loyalty that’s common among traitors and politicians. The attractive star-shaped balimbing with its edgy sides and shiny yellow-green skin (fancied by fruit-faddists worldwide,) is therefore maligned and rejected. But the fruit isn’t that bad.

There are of reports though that balimbing harbors a neurotoxin that causes hiccups, seizures, numbness, psycho-motor agitation, confusion, nausea, vomiting, weakness and other neurologic signs and symptoms. With no correlation between the severity and amount ingested, the manifestations typically occur about 30 minutes to 6 hours after eating the fruit. Treatable by dialysis, the manifestations show in patients with impaired renal function, especially among those with renal failure. Because of the yet-to-be-identified toxin, people with failing kidneys, must not eat the fruit. (Nephro Dial Transplant (2003) 18: 120-125.)

Balimbing’s toxicity is ascribed to a suspected neurotoxin that crosses the blood brain barrier and accumulates in the body when not properly excreted in the urine. Without much scientific basis, some say it’s perhaps the oxalic acid content of the fruit that’s causing the trouble. Others theorize that the toxin is a potent inhibitor of the cytochrome p450 pathway in cellular metabolism which bring recall another fruit—this time the grapefruit’s inhibitory effects of certain medications.

However, since its first cultivation and consumption in Sri Lanka, Malaysia, South Pacific, the Philippines, and other parts of Asia, to my knowledge, balimbing is safe to eat by people who aren’t ill. There are limited documented scientific studies from Brazil and Hongkong that the fruit isn’t good for those with renal disease, but normal people can eat it without trouble. =0=

Green Revolution: Only Those Who Plant Can Expect A Harvest

In a little patch of earth in New York City, we plant vegetables. Despite the fleeting good weather in between the seasons, we cultivate a small garden, its size no larger than a car space. The space in the metropolis is limited, but the plants grow fast with less than ordinary care.

At about springtime, our garden bursts into life from its winter hibernation. Creeping squash vines, pepper, and camote sprouts supply us with nutritious greens like what we have in the Philippines. Held in pots and sometimes left hanging by the window we have bulbs of scallion, ginger rhizomes, and a few tendrils of mint and thyme fortified by fertilizers and vitamins. Plump jalapeno peppers, and green potato tops grow outside. The stubby calamansi tree in our living room bears flowers in every branch. The pungent lemon grass (tanglad) serves as our natural décor and insect repellant right on the window.

Our little garden proves luxuriantly prolific in sunny weather. It’s something our kababayans must see and learn from. At harvest time, we get more than enough for our dinner table; the extra harvest that can’t be kept in the refrigerator, we give away to our thankful neighbors.

Planting is a simple solution to food shortage. It’s something we need in the Philippines. Yet I wonder, despite so many of us (14.5 million as of latest count) who go hungry, there’s no government program, national movement, barangay association self-help, school campaign, or bayanihan initiative to rally Filipinos to plant and be productive. Why do we refuse to plant, choose to scrimp on food and accept that we’ve become a noodles republic?

Years before, Imelda Marcos had her green revolution program. Blessed with a year-round of sunny weather, lots of time to spare, and vacant fertile land to till, we could have done just that. But we brushed aside planting as though we never needed it. We neglected agriculture and the poorly-appreciated farmers have left to work for other jobs.

Without us planting in a large scale, it’s embarrassing to complain of hunger. Do we think planting is such a menial and demeaning job that it’s not worth our time? What will we teach our children if we’re too picky about work? Why can’t we understand the dangers of relying on other countries for our food supply that someday we can’t afford? If we don’t plant, what do we want to do with our idle time? What will happen to a country which can’t produce it’s own food?

All over the world, planting for food is a necessity. Domestic production is required just like the green movement that’s needed to counter global warming and climate change. Yet in spite of food shortage and joblessness, we remain seated on the fence. The message hasn’t caught our senses yet—-that only those who plant can expect a harvest. =0=

Hungry Filipinos, Release of 16 Innocent Prisoners And Cholera Death Toll In Mindanao

14.5 million
—-Is the estimated number of Filipinos (representing 2.9 million households) who experienced involuntary hunger between April and June 2008 according to a SWS survey. The occurrence of severe hunger rose to 4.2% which corresponds to about 3.3 million people in 760,000 families.

34—-Of the 67 prisoners attended to by the Justice on Wheels in Caloocan City, Philippines, 34 were released. Nineteen of them finished serving jail time while 16 were found innocent of their crime. The incredibly crowded Caloocan City jail keeps 1,500 prisoners in a facility that’s intended for only 500.

21—Death toll of the cholera outbreak in Sultan Kudarat in Mindanao between July 27 to Aug 6, 2008. Residents became ill in what experts believe to be linked with drinking contaminated water. As of Aug 6, 2008, 147 individuals are suspected to harbor the disease.

10,000—From January to June 2008, the total number of Filipino nurses who took the licensure examination in the United States. The number is 107 shy of the total number of nurses who took the same test in the same period last year. Almost 500,000 students are currently enrolled in nursing in the Philippines today.

20
—-The number of Filipino girls rescued from illegal recruitment by human trafficking syndicates recently. Coming from poor towns in the provinces, the girls are locked up by their recruiters while they wait for assignments abroad as OFWs, mostly in the Middle East as domestic workers. Some of these girls end up being abused by employers and they seek help from the Philippine embassy.

12.2%—-Inflation rate of the Philippines in July 2008. Exceeding the previous inflation rate of 11.4% in June, this is the highest in 16 years. Inflation rate averaged 8.3 percent in the first six months of the year, surpassing the government’s original forecast of 3 to 5 percent for 2008

P2.50-P3.50—-Price of pan de sal this week after a 50 centavo rise. Correspondingly, the price of a loaf bread went up to by P3 and now runs at P50-55/ loaf.

66%—The percentage of Filipinos who are scrimping on food, said Pulse Asia in a survey conducted last June and July 2008 in response to high prices of commodities. The same survey disclosed households consume and spend less on electricity, cell phones, transportation, water, and medicine.

90%—-The percentage of disabled persons who are poor, according to Geraldine Ruiz, president of the Organization of Rehabilitation Agencies. As per World Health Organization (WHO) estimates, 10 to 15% of the Filipino population has some kind of disability.

1,536
—The number of families (with a total of 6,547 individuals) that are displaced due to a new wave instability and chaos perpetrated by the secessionist group MILF in Midsayap and Aleosan towns alone. Burning of houses, destruction of plantations, looting of properties and cattle rustling, among others are the reasons why civilians are forced to leave the troubled spots in Cotabato, Mindanao, Philippines. =0=

Grandma’s Yummy Favorites in the Bicol Kitchen

1. Ginota’an na Natong (Laing) is probably the most popular Bicolano food. It’s made of fresh or dried natong (dasheen bush leaves) bathed in gota (coconut milk.) It’s flavored with pork bits and spiced with superhot siling labuyo(chili,) garlic, ginger and shrimp.

In places like Iriga City, Ginota’an na Natong includes fresh libas leaves which give a tasty sourness to the dish. Ginota’an na Natong, also called Bicol Express, comes in many versions in different Bicol provinces. Green hot peppers, squash, young squash leaves and flowers, curacding (mushrooms,) balatong (string beans,) eggplants, lambo (bamboo shoots,) and langcawas tubers are ready natong susbstitutes.

2. Gulay na Lubi-lubi is a special treat from the tropical forest. The uncommon wild young lubi-lubi leaves are cooked in coconut milk with minched tinapa (smoked fish) and a cube of flavorful roasted dina’ilan (shrimp) from Camarines Norte. Similar gulay can be made from green papaya, jackfruit, marigoso, calunggay or young cassava leaves.

3. Because of environmental conservation, Kinunot, a dish made from sea turtle may recede in the background. That’s because pawikan, the endangered sea turtle is now a protected species like the tiny tabios (sinarapan) fish found in Buhi Lake. When cooked in coconut milk, chili, black pepper, salt and vinegar, sea turtle meat is as yummy as pating (shark) and pagi (stingray.)

4. Tabios, the diminutive endangered fish from Lake Buhi is wrapped in banana leaves, cooked over hot rice, and flavored with lemonsito (calamansi) juice. A yummy alternative is to cook it fried with cornstarch just like ukoy.

5 Sinanglay—tilapia, karpa or puyo (martiniko) fish garnished with chopped onions, ginger, tomatoes, and sour iba (kamias.) The fish is wrapped in fresh dasheen bush leaves and cooked low fire with thick gota (coconut milk) and a dash of hot peppers.

6. Baduya (Sinapot) is very popular with the children. Ripe native bananas dipped in cornstarch are fried. Versions like caling-quing (Bicol camote fries,) tinanok (boiled camote,) and banana/camote cue and linabonan na camote (boiled sweet potato) are excellent meriendas.

7. Sina’sa , common in Rinconada towns like Baao, Nabua, Iriga, Bato, and Buhi is made from charcoal-roasted freshwater fish like puyo (martiniko,) talusog (snakehead) or tilapia. It is garnished with finely chopped tomatoes, ginger, fresh onions, red peppers and a dash of vinegar.

8. Bokayo—young coconut meat, cooked brown with sankaka, sweet caramel prepared from sugar cane.

9. Paksiw na Casili—fresh-water eel (burirawan) cooked in vinegar, ginger, onions, pepper leaves, and black pepper. Paksiw can also be prepared from fish like mirapina, tuna, carpa or tilapia. Frying the eel and fish are good cooking options.

10. Tinuktok na Hito—a soup dish of chopped hito fish and young coconut made into fish balls with garlic, ginger, onions and red peppers; fresh camote tops or breadfruit slices (ogob or og-og.) are added.

11. Piga nin Carpa—carp ovaries and eggs sautéed with ginger, onions, garlic and marigoso (bitter melon.)

12. Adobong Orig—cubed pork meat cooked slowly on its lard with rock salt to taste and black pepper.

13. Tinolang Manok—hot soup of native chicken with lemon grass, fresh green papaya, sayote, calunggay (moringa) and pepper leaves.

14. Ogama—small boiled crabs dipped on salted vinegar, sili ng labuyo (tiny red peppers,) garlic, and onions.

15. Pinuyos—sticky rice with coconut milk and a dash of salt wrapped in banana leaves also called Binugtong. Ibos, a similar version is glutinous rice wrapped in young coconut leaves.

16. Sinabawan na Carabao—hot soup made from young tender carabao or beef meat with taro roots, pechay leaves, cabbage, and red pepper.

17. Lechon—roasted pig of Bicol is usually flavored with rock salt and tamarind leaves. It is served with a brown sarsa (sauce) made of roasted pork liver.

18. Balaw—baby shrimp fries, wrapped in banana leaves, flavored with generous lemonsito (calamansi) juice and cooked over rice.

19. Pancit Bato—noodle dish flavored with chorizo, slices of fish cake, pork or chicken meat, and wrapped in banana leaves.

20. Miswa—hair-thin white noodle soup with hibi (dried baby shrimps) and sliced green patola.

21. Sinugbang Talong—charcoal-cooked barbecued eggplant with a dash of lemonsito (calamansi) juice and salt. Talong can go with fresh garden tomatoes, dina’ilan with lemon.

22. Balaw—shrimp fries sautéed in oil, pork meat, green peppers, and lemon juice. Balaw goes well with blanched camote tops, kangkong, or upo (white squash.)

23. Linubak—boiled green bananas, taro or camoteng cahoy (cassava roots) pounded with grated young coconut, milk, and sugar.

24. Su’so—fresh water spiral black snails or river clams boiled with coconut milk, bamboo or pako (fern shoots,) onions, garlic and ginger.

25. Dila-Dila is sold by itinerant vendors on the street together with suman. It’s made of grounded glutinous rice, deep fried and topped with glazed sugar cane caramel (sankaka.)

Bicol cuisine is mainly dominated by the use of coconut and its derivative products. Scrumptiously hot with fresh siling labuyo and black peppercorns, the native Bicolano food is a fusion of Asian-Polynesian influences as demonstrated by the use of exotic lemon grass and tropical edible plants like dasheen bush, libas, lubi-lubi, kangkong, and calunggay which grow abundantly in the region. =0=

Bare Truth or Fairy Tale? (Is Little Red Riding Hood & The Wolf One And The Same?)

“Because tough choices were made, the global crisis did not catch us helpless and unprepared. Through foresight, grit and political will, we built a shield around our country that has slowed down and somewhat softened the worst effects of the global crisis.

We have the money to care for our people and pay for food when there are shortages; for fuel despite price spikes. Neither we nor anyone else in the world expected this day to come so soon but we prepared for it.”

— State of the Nation Address (SONA,) Pres. Gloria M. Arroyo, 2nd Regular Session of the 14th Congress Republic of the Philippines
28 July 2008

US Marks July 4th With Parades, Fireworks And Hotdogs

“Hallowed be the day,
forever bright its memory
in the heart of the Nation.
Sing to it, poets;
shout to it, freemen;
celebrate it with bonfires,
parades, & triumphant assemblies”

-Daily Alta California, 4 July 1855

Commemorating the adoption of the Declaration of Independence on July 4, 1776, the United States of America celebrates its freedom from the Kingdom of Britain. The historic day is celebrated by Americans all over the country with parades, fireworks, concerts, family reunions, picnics, barbecues, and baseball.

An annual hotdog eating competition in Coney Island New York had Joey Chestnut winning the contest for the second time after downing 59 hotdogs in 10 minutes—an unprecedented tie with Japan’s Takeru Kobayshi (see pictures by Reuters.) A five-dog eat-off tie-breaker failed to bring back the winning streak of Kobayashi, a six –time contest winner.

“On the 232nd anniversary of the adoption of the Declaration of Independence, Boy Scouts in Hartford, Conn., rang a replica of the Liberty Bell, while organizers of the annual New York fireworks display promised the rockets’ red glare would be better than ever.

Near Kissimmee, Fla., a wounded bald eagle, the national bird, was flying free after spending more than two months rehabilitating from a fight with another eagle. It was freed Thursday in Lake Tohopekaliga, the heart of Florida’s eagle country.

In Boston, the 211-year-old USS Constitution, the Navy’s oldest commissioned warship, was the backdrop Friday morning as two dozen people were sworn in as U.S. citizens.

Vice President Dick Cheney greeted the new Americans and later, in a second ceremony, administered the re-enlistment oath to a group of servicemen.” Associated Press (07.04.08, Long, C.) =0=