We kill and make fun of our topnotch scientists, don't we?

I am just one of the hard-working taxpayers in the Philippines and I am disappointed that our national departments can make light of giving a post humus award to the late respected biologist, Leonard Co.

Leonard Co expertise was in plant taxonomy and we are amazed at the many NEW flora species the biologist has uncovered mainly in the remaining forests of the Philippines.

A new rafflesia discovered in Northern Luzun was named in his honor.

Today, December 29, 2012 happens to be Dr. Leonardo Co's birthday!He would have been 58 years old today.


Dr. Co was reportedly killed on the Monday of November 8, 2010 in a crossfire between Army elements and NPA rebels while collecting plant specimens in an Leyte forest.


Further reading explorations:
[1] wikipilipinas

[2] Facebook pages: PNPSCI,Memoriam page for Leonardo Co

[3] Inquirer.net. Top botanist killed in crossfire

Links to images posted in the public interest.

Never accept a culture of violence against women and children!

Our hearts go out to the victim of a very violent gang rape in India. The latest news was that the 23 years old young woman died in a Singaporean hospital. The girl was assaulted in a bus and thrown out by the sidewalk by more than five drunk young men.

India is actually advanced economically and technologically. But the national outrage over the sensational crime, with Indian government policemen against protesters should now bring focus to this aspect of Indian culture of degrading treatment of women.

Women's rights and safety is a universal concern! Let us learn from this sad event.

For more details, see reports of her death[1] and more gruesome details in [2].
Being a woman or a girl in India carries with it a heavy yoke! See [3].


[1] Retuers: India gang-rape victim dies in Singapore hospital

[2]Foxnews, january 4, 2013

[3] Why dont you kill her?

You'd think tap water is dirtier than bottled water?

The water distribution systems in Manila are serviced by the regulated utility companies Maynilad and Manila Water.
The Metro Manila Drinking Water Quality Monitoring Committee(MMDWQMC) in public ads has declared that based on analysis
of water samples at various regulatory sampling points in the respective areas of said water distribution companies.

Based on the results from 541 samples from Manila Water East Zone and 823 samples from West Zone (Maynilad), the following
results show the state of drinking tap water

• 100 % free from disease causing coliforms
  
• 100 % compliance with physical and chemical standards based on examination
  

Both water utility firms surpassed the minimum sampling frequency requirement of the 2007 PNSDW (Philippine National Standards for Drinking Water?) for both microbiological and physico-chemical quality. In comparison, the MMDWQCMC divulged that out of 1053 water refilling stations monitored in Metro Manila for the month of November 2012, only 1036 passed the potability standards set by PNSDW. The above information was gleaned from page 15 of yesterday's December 28 issue of Philstar newspaper.

We would like to suggest that water quality should be INDEPENDENTLY and RANDOMLY confirmed by chemical analytical laboratories of schools or specialized water analysis firms, not only from designated sampling points but from the taps of randomly selected households and commercial food establishments.

Metro Manila residents should breath a sigh of relief that they should not be addicted to buying bottle water for that unfounded "psychological" edge that it is clean and potable.

Help save the environment, tap water is more than clean enough, more than safe enough! We hope it will stay that way, for many years to come. Let us not overfill the planet with plastic bottles.

Philippine Lower House approves RH BILL, the ball is in the SENATE now!

It is good that the lower house or the house of representatives by majority vote approve the House version of the Reproductive Health Bill. But the timing cannot be propitious when this bill comes up to the Senate. Remember this is Christmas Season and the Senate might go in recess into the immediate near future. This is a sad history of the RH bill which has been in gestation for more than ten years!


You can see the names of the 113 congressmen who voted yes or 104 who voted no and three who abstained. It is reported that three congressmen from Cebu were absent during the voting.See Sunstar.com 12/12/2012 issue.




It is a little amusing how the NO votes justified their stand. This graphic by John Dy, shared in fAcebook shows it all(copy and paste on the url bar to view):

https://fbcdn-sphotos-e-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-ash3/546815_436523376412918_124873460_n.jpg

Why Pacquiao lost.

All of the following reasons are just plain hypothetical reasons. We have no proofs to back up most of them.


1. Dirty foot trick of Marquez. Did he or did he not intentionally step on Pacquiao's foot five times to make his foe off-balance? Please watch the video below.


2. Conversion of Pacquiao from a Roman Catholic to a born-again Christian. Even his mother claims that this is the best reason why his son lost!

3. Marquez bulking up using performance enhancement drugs - incredible muscle buildup in one year with the assistance of a tainted conditioning coach.


To be updated.... until this message is removed.