Wiping Off Ignorance

What concerns occupy the average worker's mind throughout the day? We're asking this question because we've noticed something through all these years of hobnobbing with workers from different parts of our archipelago: small is the world of the ordinary Filipino worker.

There are but a few things that occupy his mind day in and day out, and these usually have something to do with his family, his possessions and the things he wants to acquire. Ask him anything outside of these concerns and perhaps the answer you'll get is a bewildered glance or a blank stare. Ask him about quality at work and he'll most probably frown because he wouldn't know what you're referring to.

Ask him what he knows about the Philippines; he probably won't say anything substantial. He knows much less about other countries--for him, "abroad" means only the United States and Saudi Arabia--and don't wonder if he doesn't even know the ASEAN member states.

He doesn't have much to say either about environmental concern and recycling for these ideas are alien to his mind. He's not even aware of his rights as a worker; how would he be interested at all in anything outside of his little world?

What are the reasons the ordinary Filipino worker's world is so small? Inadequate education in school, at the workplace, in society? A lack of concern from his fellowmen? Is he by nature narrow and shallow?

Let us help the humble worker broaden his knowledge and his horizon, so that he may learn to include in his embrace mankind and the world outside of his family and his needs.

Long Live the Filipino worker!

You can read the Filipino version of this article here.

Taken from Blue Collar magazine

Radiocarbon Dating

a method of dating ORGANIC material up to 8000 years old. There is a small amount of radioactive carbon 14 in the atmosphere which is taken up naturally by plants and animals during life. When the organism dies there is no more uptake of ¹⁴C and it starts to decay, with a HALF-LIFE of 5730 years. A date for the sample is arrived at by comparing the amount of ¹⁴C left with known standards.

Taken from Dictionary of Science

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Radiocarbon dating, or carbon dating, is a radiometric dating method that uses the naturally occurring radioisotope carbon-14 (¹⁴C) to determine the age of carbonaceous materials up to about 58,000 to 62,000 years. Raw, i.e. uncalibrated, radiocarbon ages are usually reported in radiocarbon years "Before Present" (BP), "Present" being defined as AD 1950. Such raw ages can be calibrated to give calendar dates.

One of the most frequent uses of radiocarbon dating is to estimate the age of organic remains from archaeological sites. When plants fix atmospheric carbon dioxide (CO₂) into organic material during photosynthesis they incorporate a quantity of ¹⁴C that approximately matches the level of this isotope in the atmosphere (a small difference occurs because of isotope fractionation, but this is corrected after laboratory analysis). After plants die or they are consumed by other organisms (for example, by humans or other animals) the ¹⁴C fraction of this organic material declines at a fixed exponential rate due to the radioactive decay of ¹⁴C. Comparing the remaining ¹⁴C fraction of a sample to that expected from atmospheric ¹⁴C allows the age of the sample to be estimated.

The technique of radiocarbon dating was developed by Willard Libby and his colleagues at the University of Chicago in 1949. Emilio Segrè asserted in his autobiography that Enrico Fermi suggested the concept to Libby in a seminar at Chicago that year. Libby estimated that the steady state radioactivity concentration of exchangeable carbon-14 would be about 14 disintegrations per minute (dpm) per gram. In 1960, he was awarded the Nobel Prize in chemistry for this work. He first demonstrated the accuracy of radiocarbon dating by accurately estimating the age of wood from an ancient Egyptian royal barge for which the age was known from historical documents.

Taken from Wikipedia

Quasar

one of a number of star-like heavenly bodies which are very distant from Earth and which give out light. They are extremely compact and give out light even though they are vast distances away, up to 10¹⁰ light years.

Taken from Dictionary of Science

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A quasi-stellar radio source (quasar) is a very energetic and distant galaxy with an active galactic nucleus. Quasars were first identified as being high redshift sources of electromagnetic energy, including radio waves and visible light, that were point-like, similar to stars, rather than extended sources similar to galaxies.

While there was initially some controversy over the nature of these objects—as recently as the early 1980s, there was no clear consensus as to their nature—there is now a scientific consensus that a quasar is a compact region in the centre of a massive galaxy surrounding the central supermassive black hole. Its size is 10-10,000 times the Schwarzschild radius of the black hole. The quasar is powered by an accretion disc around the black hole.

Taken from Wikipedia

Breaking Out

Being in show business for 20 years, it was inevitable that Judy Ann reach a point where she would start feeling tired and burned out. That feeling led her down a different path and helped her discover her other passion: her passion for cooking.

The first person she told about it was her fiance, Ryan Agoncillo. They were in Davao, and Judy Ann was sitting at a table, drinking by herself and waiting for Ryan to wrap up his duties as host of Philippine Idol, which was having its regional auditions. Suddenly, Judy Ann started talking about wanting to break out of the rut she was in. Acting had become routine. On most days, she felt like she was coasting along, going from one project to another. She needed a fresh burst of inspiration. "[Sabi ko], 'I want to study, I want to do something aside from acting. I want to divert my attention to something else."

Cooking was something she had always loved. She would often invite friends over to sample her cooking. When she was a child, one of her favorite pastimes was bahay-bahayan; Judy Ann would set up bottles and cans and pretend to cook in a little spot she had chosen for herself beside a warehouse on their property in Antipolo. Those were some of the most blissful days of her childhood. "May lugar ako dun sa tabi ng bodega namin sa bahay. Meron akong arina, may patis, may toyo--may set-up lang ako doon, may little hideout ako, tapos magluluto-luto ako ng dahon."

Cooking school was the answer. But aside from wanting to break out of a rut, she went into cooking to prove a point. Judy Ann never finished college, and that is still one of her biggest frustrations in life. But it wasn't because she didn't want to. At the time, Judy Ann was still not sure about what she wanted to take up in college--Hotel and Restaurant Management, Tourism or Early Childhood Education. "Naisip ko na parang kung pinush ko ang sarili ko na mag-college na hindi ko alam yung course na gusto kong kunin, nagsasayang lang ako ng pera," she offers. "Ako naman kasi ang nagpapaaral sa sarili ko. I cannot afford to go to college, and then find out one day na hindi ko pala gusto yung course ko, sayang naman ang pera, di ba?"

Enrolling in cooking school was her way of squaring the equation. It was also something she was sure she wanted to do; in fact, at that point, she needed to do it. It wasn't a four-year college degree, but at least she would have something to show for herself and prove that showbiz people could do other things besides act. "Gusto ko talaga maging chef. Na-realize ko na marami pa pala akong kayang gawin. Gusto ko lang patunayan sa mga tao na ang mga artista, hindi naman talaga pag-arte lang ang kayang gawin. Ayoko namang nakatunganga sa bahay kasi pag-aartista lang 'yung alam ko, eh wala naman akong natapos."

Once she was set, she started to look for culinary schools. She told her manager Alfie Lorenzo about her plans and asked for permission to lie low on her showbiz commitments. "I had to make a decision. I had to stop working for a while and do this culinary thing para ma-inspire ako ulit at ma-miss ko ang trabaho, na ginawa ko naman. Nagpaalam ako ng three months kay Tito Alfie. Naintindihan naman niya. May konting talak, pero naintindihan niya."

Judy Ann also had to convince herself that the expense would be worth it. "Matagal ko na gustong mag-culinary, hindi ko lang magawa kasi ang mahal. Nag-research ako ng school, eh parang nasasayangan ako sa pera. Sabi nga ni Ryan, bakit ako masasayangan sa pera, eh kung dun naman ako masaya. 'Mababawi mo rin 'yan in the long run kapag naka-graduate ka na.'"

She enrolled at the Center for Asian Culinary Studies and took a Basic and Advanced Cooking Skills course under Chef Gene Gonzales for four months. She received medals for both courses; a silver for the Basic course, and a gold for the Advanced. Now she is saving up to train abroad so she can be certified as a professional chef. Although she closed down her Café Kilimanjaro and Café Karabana, she will still be doing a lot of cooking in their brand-new kitchen once she and Ryan get married.

Taken from Starstudio magazine: Judy Ann Santos special issue

Magellanic Clouds

two separate GALAXIES, detached from the Milky Way, which appear, from the southern hemisphere, as patches of light. The Large Magellanic Cloud is approximately 170,000 LIGHT YEARS away and the Small Magellanic Cloud about 210,000 light years away. They contain a few thousand million stars.

Taken from Dictionary of Science

The Making of a Drama Princess

More than 20 years ago, Judy Ann Santos's acting career got off to a rolling start and it went downhill before it went anywhere -- literally.

The eight-year-old girl wanted nothing more but to be like her idol Julie Vega, the child actress who made people cry in the film Mga Mata Ni Angelita. Why not? After all, she had Julie's round face, soulful black eyes, and the ability to cry on command. And, when she saw how, in a heart-wrenching scene where Vega, who played the blind girl Angelita, had to fall, trip, and roll pell-mell downhill, Judai proved she could do the same. In her home in Antipolo, she looked for a suitable hill and, for hours, did her own Angelita. "Kahit mag-isa ako noon, nakaka-acting ako. Ginugulong ko ang sarili ko sa bundok, kunwari bulag [din] ako."

It was her fondest dream to meet Julie Vega in the flesh, a dream that would be cut short by Vega's tragic death in May 1985 at the age of 16. She had followed Vega closely not because she aspired to be a star but simply because she felt she could do what Vega did onscreen -- and possibly get paid enough to pay her way to school. But nobody really believed Judai's play-acting and daydreaming would ever amount to anything.

It was by pure chance that she landed a role in Kaming Mga Ulila. Nobody planned for her to go and audition; she merely got dragged into it. "yung boarder namin, si Tita Linda, nabasa niya sa diyaryo yung auditions ng Regal. May dinala siya doon na kapitbahay namin. Sumama lang ako sa kanya kasi ihahatid niya ako sa bahay ng Tita ko dahil doon ako magbabakasyon. Tapos nakita lang ako ni Elwood Perez at ni Mother Lily. Tinanong nila si Tita Linda kung puwede na rin akong isama sa audition."

Since they were there, just inches away from landing her first role on TV, Tita Linda felt pressured to motivate the young Judy Ann and make her cry for the talent casters. She resorted to desperate measures. "Yung time na 'yun, yung mga binubulong-bulong sa akin ni Tita Linda, para maiyak ako, yung talagang kinabubuwisitan kong tao, kaya yung iyak ko, totoong-totoo!" Sure enough, she got the role.

Judy Ann is one actress who distinguished herself by her ability to cry on command. From television to the movies, her crying scenes are well-remembered.

It would be Ula, Ang Batang Gubat that would catapult her to fame. But she wasn't thinking that far ahead yet: at the time, Judy Ann had her eye on another prize -- the coveted title role in Ana Luna, a role that had a number of similarities with the one that made Julie Vega famous. It was also about an api-apihan little girl, just like Vega's Anna Liza. Judy Ann auditioned for the part, and was expecting to land it after receiving a tip that the role was already hers and that it was simply a matter of waiting. So she waited. But when days, then weeks, went by with no call, she started to worry. When news finally came out that another young actress had landed the role, Judy Ann was inconsolable. She learned of the news from a TV news broadcast. "Noon, yung TV pa namin, yung babatukan mo para maliwanag, tapos hahawakan mo yung antenna para makakuha ng signal bilang nasa Antipolo ka. Doon ko nalaman na may Ana Luna na, si Margarita Fuentes. Na-depress ako, nalungkot ako, umiyak ako."

Directors Emil Cruz and Argel Joseph, with whom she had worked in Kaming Mga Ulila, came to her rescue by promising to create a new show just for her. "Magiging batang gubat ka," they told her.

Ula, Ang Batang Gubat, which premiered on the old IBC-13 in 1988, was her first title role. Barely 10 years old when she was cast, she threw herself immediately into the role of the young female Tarzan. She asked that swinging vines be put up in their backyard, and would practice going back and forth, from one to the other, for hours each day. She supplemented that with a diet of infant cereal, believing it would make her stronger. "Nagpa-praktis ako sa dalawang baging na 'yon. Palipat-lipat ako," she laughs. "Tapos, since wala kaming pera, ang kinakain ko, Cerelac kasi ang paniwala ko n'ung bata ako, ang Cerelac, nakakatibay ng tuhod."

Judai not only found work but found a new family on the set of Ula. Because she longed for her parents (her mom had to work in Canada after her father left them), the cameramen and directors became instant father figures to her. Sometimes, during set breaks, she'd fall asleep on the lap of a cameraman. "Kaya noon, I'm always looking forward to taping dahil na-ba-baby ako."

At 14, she starred in an afternoon soap called Mara Clara. Though the show aired on ABS-CBN, it was produced by a blocktimer. In the broadcast lingo of that day, that meant being a second-class citizen; the prime spots, the biggest dressing rooms, the stellar billing, these were all reserved for the stars of network-produced shows. These included Claudine Baretto and her contemporaries on Ang TV. Judy Ann and co-star Gladys Reyes did not receive the royal treatment.

One incident made it very clear to Judy Ann exactly where she stood. It started in the morning, when she and Gladys were summoned to the studio for an early-morning call time at 8AM. ABS-CBN then had only two dressing rooms in the old building. When she and Gladys got back to their dressing room after taping, they found their things in the corridor outside, "kasi nandoon na yung mga taga-Ang TV na babae. Eh sikat na sikat yung Ang TV. Nung pumasok kami ni Gladys para mag-CR, biglang tumahimik, hanggang sa paglabas namin. Nung paglabas namin ng pintuan, biglang nagtawanan, so siyempre, ang feeling namin, kami yung pinagtatawanan."

But the worst was yet to come. When ABS-CBN threw a big party to celebrate Christmas and its 40th anniversary, the guests were asked to come in red. Judy Ann didn't have anything she considered suitable, neither did she have the money to have spend for one, so she asked her brother Jeffrey to accompany her to the Greenhills tiangge. She saw some cute cocktail dresses, but all of them were priced out of her reach. Finally, she saw a pair of velvety blue-violet leggings and a red-and-blue polo. She could afford it and still have money left over to buy a pair of high-heeled sandals. When she got to the Coconut Palace, she was refused entry by one of the talent coordinators because she wasn't appropriately dressed. "Sabi ko, may pula naman ako ah, 'yan, di ba pula 'yan? Tapos tinanong ako kung ano daw ba ang show ko sa ABS, sabi ko, Mara Clara po. Tinanong din kung invited daw ako, sabi ko, opo, may nag-page po sa akin."

ABS-CBN parties then were grand affairs with even grander raffle prizes. That evening, the raffle was being presided over by John Estrada and Randy Santiago. Judy Ann still remembers her ticket raffle number: 409 The prize at stake was a 10-cubic foot refrigerator. When her number was drawn, she was ecstatic, got up, and started walking toward the stage with her head held high. It took her a while to get there because the Mara Clara table was at the far end of the room. As she approached the stage, she heard John say, over the microphone, "Sino itong Judy Ann Santos? Ano'ng show nito?" Judy Ann recalls: "Siyempre, nung una, taas-noo ako, pero pag-akyat ko ng stage, bumababa na yung noo ko. Nahihiya na ako kasi parang hindi nila ako kilala, parang hindi nag-e-exist ang show ko. Awang-awa lang ako sa sarili ko." When she got back to her table, her fellow cast members hugged her tightly. "Parang na-hurt sila para sa akin."

At some point, Judy Ann felt this was a dead end road for her. She couldn't see how she could break through the phalanx of the network-supported stars and get accepted into the mainstream. She was proud that she was earning enough to send herself to school but didn't see a future beyond that. "Sabi ko pagnaka-ipon na, pupunta na lang ako sa Canada, kasama ng mommy ko."

But fate had other plans. Mara Clara, the movie, became a surprise hit. Suddenly, overnight it seemed, she became a box office force to reckon with. "Naalala ko, nag-mall tour kami ni Gladys para sa promo ng Mara Clara. Hindi kami makapaniwala. Standing room sa mga sinehan. Pinipilahan kami!" When she came home that night, she could not hold back her tears. She had turned into what she dreamed of becoming since her childhood: a modern-day version of Julie Vega.

ABS-CBN executives took notice; they did not realize they had a gem in their afternoon soap operas. Mara Clara was followed by one teleserye after the other, all of which built her name as an actress to reckon with. For a time, Judy Ann was tagged as the Soap Opera Princess. Her other notable soap series -- then and now -- include Esperanza, Judy Ann Drama Special, Basta't Kasama Kita, Sa Puso Ko Iingatan Ka, Krystala, Sa Piling Mo, Ysabella, the nurserye Habang May Buhay and George and Cecil.

Since then, while many of her contemporaries faded into showbiz oblivion, Judy Ann has done more than 60 movies, an unbroken string of box office hits.

Taken from Starstudio magazine: Judy Ann Santos special issue

Ice Age

the spreading of ice as glaciers over areas that have, before then, been ice-free. Most is known about the last ice age during the Pleistocene geological epoch 2 million years ago. However, geological studies show evidence of earlier ice ages although less is known about these.

Taken from Dictionary of Science

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The general term "ice age" or, more precisely, "glacial age" denotes a geological period of long-term reduction in the temperature of the Earth's surface and atmosphere, resulting in an expansion of continental ice sheets, polar ice sheets and alpine glaciers. An ice age is a natural system. Within a long-term ice age, individual pulses of extra cold climate are termed "glaciations". Glaciologically, ice age implies the presence of extensive ice sheets in the northern and southern hemispheres; by this definition we are still in an ice age (because the Greenland and Antarctic ice sheets still exist).

Taken from Wikipedia