New coral species discovered

A Filipino marine scientist cite the discovery of at least four new species of coral in the Philippines.

Dr. Edgardo Gomez, University of the Philippines Marine Science Institute (UPMSI) professor emeritus, said the continuous survey of coral reefs conducted in Philippine waters showed “about four to five new records of coral reef.”

“The total number of species of corals is increasing. Particularly, more coral diversity is being discovered,” Gomez said during a press conference on the Coral Triangle Initiative (CTI) Conference held at the Crowne Plaza Hotel Manila in Quezon City yesterday.

He also cited the discovery of a new species of coral called Leptoseris kalayaanensis, which was discovered by marine biologist Dr. Wilfredo Licuanan in the waters off Kalayaan islands in Spratlys a few years ago.

Gomez, who is currently the coordinator of the Center of Excellence for the Philippines and Southeast Asia under the Global Environment Facility/World Bank Coral Reef Targeted Research Program, where he also serves as co-chair of the Restoration and Remediation Working Group, noted there are about two to five metric tons per square kilometer of coral reef damaged annually.

American zoologist Dr. Kent Carpenter said corals are damaged usually because of sedimentation, poor land use, overfishing, and dynamite fishing.
However, Gomez said that with the protection and conservation of remaining coral reefs, about 25 to 30 metric tons per square kilometer of coral reefs yearly will reach its excellent condition.

Filipino students access to free software

Filipino students access to free software

By Lynda B. Valencia

To unlock the country’s college students their creative potential and set them on the path to academic and career success, Microsoft Philippines today launched a software giveaway that provides them access to the latest Microsoft developer and designer tools at no charge.

The Microsoft DreamSpark student program (http://channel8.msdn.com) makes available a broad range of development and design software for download. “Looking at the kind of technology that we have today, we expect to see bigger and better innovation to come, and our students today will play a major role in this,” said Tim Vergel de Dios, Academic Developer Evangelist, Microsoft Philippines. “Microsoft DreamSpark is our way of equipping the next generation of technology leaders with tools that will not only help them improve their skill, but also enable them to make use of technology in life-changing ways that will benefit the community and spur economic growth,” he said.

The program was initially offered to more than 35 million college students in Belgium, China, Finland, France, Germany, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, the U.K. and the U.S. earlier this year. Now, Microsoft DreamSpark is also available to all Filipino student members of the Junior Philippine Computer Society (JPCS), the only national student Information Technology (IT) organization in the country. JPCS is open to all college students who are interested in IT and developing their technical and leadership skills.

The organization currently has over 4,000 members coming from universities and colleges around the country. According to Vergel de Dios, Microsoft partnered with JPCS to ensure that they can reach out to students focusing on technology, design, math, science and engineering. “Expansion of the program to include all tertiary students will continue throughout the coming years,” he said.

The following cutting-edge software will be available to empower students to unlock their ingenuity by building critical skills — Microsoft developer tools, designer tools, and platform resources. “Students today are very technical, and this can be seen in our lifestyle and interests, as well as in what is expected of us when we enter the workplace. Here is an opportunity for students like me to be familiar with the same professional tools that we will be using when we graduate and enter the industry,” said John Paul Sibug, President, Junior Philippine Computer Society (JPCS).

He added,”This gives us a real advantage as we start our careers. Microsoft DreamSpark lets us apply what we’re learning inside the classroom to gain new insights into software design and development. According to an International Data Corporation (IDC) study of the economic impact of IT across 82 countries and regions, technological innovation is a critical economic growth engine and is expected to generate 7.1 million new jobs in the global economy over the next four years. The IT employment base is also expected to grow to 42.5 million people.

On the other hand, John Gantz, chief research officer of IDC, said, “Technology is the ignition key for job growth, economic development and creating sustainable solutions to global problems.” “The emerging economies are forecast to drive over 25 percent of the new IT jobs over the next four years. These jobs will be driven by an evolving, highly skilled labor force,” he said.

Microsoft is working with academic institutions, governments and student associations around the world to ensure the necessary local identity-verification technology infrastructure exists to bring Microsoft DreamSpark to all students.

Story courtesy of PNA

To The Virgin Mary

To The Virgin Mary

Mary, sweet peace, solace dear
Of pained mortal ! You’re the fount
Whence emanates the stream of succour,
That without cease our soil fructifies.

From thy throne, from heaven high,
Kindly hear my sorrowful cry !
And may thy shining veil protect
My voice that rises with rapid flight.

Thou art my Mother, Mary, pure;
Thou’ll be the fortress of my life;
Thou’ll be my guide on this angry sea.
If ferociously vice pursues me,
If in my pains death harasses me,
Help me, and drive away my woes !

This is one of the poem of our national hero Dr. Jose P. Rizal.

Song of Maria Clara

Song Of Maria Clara
Sweet are the hours in one’s own Native Land,
All there is friendly o’er which the sun shines above;
Vivifying is the breeze that wafts over her fields;
Even death is gratifying and more tender is love.

Ardent kissed on a mother’s lips are at play,
On her lap, upon the infant child’s awakening,
The extended arms do seek her neck to entwine,
And the eyes at each other’s glimpse are smiling.

It is sweet to die in one’s own Native Land,
All there is friendly o’er which the sun shines above;
And deathly is the breeze for one without
A country, without a mother and without love.

To Josephine

Rizal dedicated this poem to Josephine Bracken, an Irish
woman who went to Dapitan accompanying a man
seeking Rizal’s services as an ophthamologist.

To Josephine

Josephine, Josephine
Who to these shores have come
Looking for a nest, a home,
Like a wandering swallow;
If your fate is taking you
To Japan, China or Shanghai,
Don’t forget that on these shores
A heart for you beats high.

To the Philippines

Rizal wrote the original sonnet in Spanish

To the Philippines

Aglowing and fair like a houri on high,
Full of grace and pure like the Morn that peeps
When in the sky the clouds are tinted blue,
Of th’ Indian land, a goddess sleeps.

The light foam of the son’rous sea
Doth kiss her feet with loving desire;
The cultured West adores her smile
And the frosty Pole her flow’red attire.

With tenderness, stammering, my Muse
To her ‘midst undines and naiads does sing;
I offer her my fortune and bliss:
Oh, artists! her brow chaste ring
With myrtle green and roses red
And lilies, and extol the Philippines!

Polvoron

Polvoron

Contributed by Miriam Loder

Ingredients

* 1 cup plain flour
* 1 1/2 cup full cream powder milk ( like Nido)
* 1/2 cup sugar ( preperable very fine sugar)
* 1 cup melted butter or half marg. half butter
* 1/2 tsp. salt
* 1/4 cup roasted pinipig

Preparation

* Roast the flour in a wok (slow heat to avoid burning)
* Roast flour until it is slightly brown
* Take it off the heat
* Mix milk, sugar, pinipig, salt and melted butter with the flour
* Bind them together
* Try your molder
* Mold one and if it is still too loose, add more butter to it. make sure that you could pick up the polvoron without it crumbling straight away
* Wrap them with papel de hapon. I don’t know what you call it in USA, but here in U.K., we call it tissue paper from any stationary shop.

Mamon Recipe

Contributed by Virginia Rodriguez

Ingredients

* 6 eggs (separate yolk from white)
* 1 teaspoon cream of tartar
* 1 cup white sugar
* 1 cup cake flour
* 1 teaspoon baking powder
* 1 teaspoon vanilla
* 1/2 cup vegetable oil
* Pam spray to spray mamon molds (you can use regular muffin pans if you don’t have molds)

Preparation

* Sift cake flour and baking powder in a bowl and set aside
* In a separate large bowl, beat egg whites and cream of tartar until very foamy like meringue but not stiff
* Add sugar gradually and continue beating
* Add vanilla and vegetable oil
* Add egg yolks one at a time and continue beating
* Add cake flour and baking powder and continue mixing
* Spray molds or muffin pan Pam spray and pour mixture about 2/3 full
* Bake in preheated 350 degree oven for approximately 12-15 minutes or until golden brown
* You can test for doneness with a toothpick test; that is, when you poke a toothpick in the middle of the mamon and the toothpick comes out clean with no residue, the mamon is done

Source : http://www.duyan.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=91&Itemid=9

Claro M. Recto

Recto

Claro M. Recto
Born: February 8, 1890
Died: August 24, 1960

His elementary education was obtained in Lipa, Batangas. He received a BA degree from Ateneo Municipal de Manila at 19, and at 24, a Master of Law degree from the University of Santo Tomas and was admitted to the bar. Recto served as legal advisor to the Senate in 1916 and later a Batangas representative during 1919 – 1925. He went to the US in 1924 as a member of the Independence Mission. After returning to the Philippines he founded the Democrat Party. Recto became a member of the Senate in 1931 and majority floor leader in 1934. In 1935, he served as president of the Constitutional Convention and President Roosevelt appointed him to the Supreme Court. He left the Supreme Court in 1941 to be re-elected as a senator. During the Japanese occupation, he was a member of President Laurel’s cabinet for which he was branded a collaborator after the war.

Recto was re-elected as a Nationalist in 1949 and again in 1953 as a guest candidate of the Liberal Party. Nationalism resurfaced in the early 1950s and Recto fired the first shot in 1951 with a speech. He claimed the Philippine government allowed the US to continue their dominant pre-war interests in the financial, commercial, and industrial life of the country. For his speeches on the theme of economic and political nationalism, he was branded anti-American. Recto ran for president in 1957 but was defeated by Carlos P. Garcia. He wrote books such as The Law of Belligerent Occupation, Three Years of Enemy Occupation, and several one-act plays in Spanish and also won the Nobel Prize for literature. President Garcia named him ambassador extraordinaire in 1960. He died of a heart attack in Rome, while on a cultural mission to Europe and Latin America.