Washing Machine for Shoes

Freshly washed sneakers feel great, but putting them in the clothes washer can damage the machine. So the Japanese have invented a stacked washer and dryer just for sneakers and running shoes. The washer uses vinyl brushes and a special detergent that kills germs, and it does two pairs of adult's shoes or four pairs of children's shoes at a time. One drying cycle takes 20 minutes for footwear of synthetic material and 40 minutes for tennis or high-top canvas shoes. Low heat prevents damage to the soles. An ultraviolet light disinfects.

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Jazz Chant

Here are more samples of Jazz Chants performed by the students of the Lupon Vocational High School Students during the 32nd Founding Anniversay Celebration on February 24, 2009.

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Inventors and Inventions

1. Malpighi, Marcello - 1628-1694, Italian Physiologist, founded microscopic anatomy; first to trace the course of blood through the human body; studied insect anatomy.

2. Newton, Isaac - 1642-1727, British Scientist, invented differential and integral calculus; originated the idea of universal gravitation; worked in optics, developing an improved telescope; formulated the 3 laws of motion.

3. Oersted, Hans Christian - 1777-1851, Danish physicist; founded science of electromagnetism; discovered that a magnetic needle is deflected by electric current; the oersted unit is named for him.

4. Purkinje, Johannes E. - 1787 - 1869, Czech physiologist, discovered ciliary movements in vertebrates and ganglionic bodies in the brain; the Purjinje cell, in brain cortex is named for him.

5. Raman, Sir Chandrasekhara V. - 1888 - 1971, Indian Physicist, Nobel Prize in Physics - 1930, for discovery of frequency changes in light scattered by a fluid medium.

6. Seebeck, Thomas J. - 1770 - 1831, German Physicist; discovered thermoelectricity; developed the thermocouple to measure temperature.

7. Tombaugh, Clyde W. - 1906, US Astronomer; discovered the planet Pluto in the position predicted by Percival Lowell.

8. Urey, Harold Clayton - 1893, U.S. Chemist; Nobel Prize in Chemistry - 1934, for the discovery of deuterium and other radioactive isotopes.

9. Virchow, Rudolf - 1821 - 1902, German pathologist; founded the science of cell pathology.

10. Wilson, Charles T.R. - 1869 - 1959, Scottish Physicist; Nobel Prize in Physics - 1927, for invention of the cloud chamber to trace ionized particles.

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Natural Resources in Deep Sea Vents

Huge raised opening exist in the ocean floor deep under the ocean where no sunlight reaches. They are known as deep sea vents.

Researchers already are studying many kinds of bacteria found near the vents. Some of the bacteria can survive in very hot temperatures well above the boiling point. Such extremely small organisims are known as hyperthermophiles.

Scientists have discovered these organisms contain powerful enzymes. For example, one such enzyme permits scientists to rapidly make million of copies of genetic material from fingerprints. The method had been helpful in solving crimes.

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Foundation of the Christian Church

The Christian Church began in Palestine in the reign of the Roman Emperor Tiberius, At first it seemed to be one of the many movements of religious renewal within Judaism, distinguished by its belief that Jesus of Nazareth, who had recently died and risen again, was the expected Messiah (or divine deliverer of Israel) and would shortly return to complete His work. This Jewish Christianity contributed much to the Church's heritage: its memories of Jesus, methods of worship, communal organization, and moreal seriousness.

Jewish Christianity did not, however, become the dominant influence in the new movement, which was quickly taken up by the Greek-speaking Jews of the Dispersion. (The "Dispersion" is the name given to the scattering of the Jews after the Exile in Babylon). The whole character of the movement was being changed by this extension of memebership in God's people to the Gentile world. Their attempt to mould the spreading Church to their own pattern was resisted by the apostle Paul, himself a Jew of the Dispersion; and their hope of success was ended by the destruction of Jerusalem in A.D. 70. From then onwards Jewish Christianity survived in forms which played only a minor role in the Church's history.

The Christian faith was taken to the Gentile word by innumerable travelers, traders, and officials as well as by the apostles and their helpers. By the middle of the first century there were Christians in Rome and a string of local churches in Greece, Asia Minor, Syria and Cyprus. When Paul was arrested, he was confidently pressing on with plans to visit Spain. There were already well-establishes Churches in Gaul and north Africa in the latter half of the 2nd centrury. Beyond the Roman empire the faith spread to Persia and America.

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A Safari

"Safari" spells "adventure" to most Americans, so the mere announcement of a safari should get alert attention at once. Summer camps and conferences are particularly good places to carry out a safari since an out-of-doors setting is desirable.

Safari means an expedition. The word was brought to Africa by Arab slave traders, and it is now widely used. Detailed safari plans will vary according to the number and average age of your guests, so make your own adaptations of the suggestions that follow.

Of course, your group would not go on a safari like the one here outlined if they were in Africa. This is an Americanized version. However, every activity is based on a custom or tradition of Africa, so through participation much about Africa will be learned.

In many African households men are responsible for supplying the meat and beveraged; the women, the vegetables and fruits from their garderns. Therefore, why not announce this division of responsibility for the food you will have.

If you see individual invitations, you may tie each one to an ear of red corn, an impressive summons in some parts of Africa. Or you can make paper ears of corn, marking the grains with ink and writing your invitation on the back. You may like these words:

A tramp through a jungle where animals roam
And rivers in torrents make rainbows in foam,
That's a safari!
Adventures aplenty with games and a stunt,
And food to revive at the end of a hunt,
That's our safari!
Don't miss it!

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Origin of Blackmail

The origin of the word "blackmail" had nothing to do with the post office as many might think. Mail in this sense was old Anglo Norse term for "rent" or "tribute". During the time of border warfare between England and Scotland, freebooters exorted payment from farmers in exchange for protection and immunity from plunder. As the inhabitants were generally poor, the tribute was made in "blackmail", "that is, grain, meat, or the lowest colnage (copper)", as opposed to "white mail", "which was silver". Eventually the word took on the meaning of any payment extorted by the threat of exposure of an incriminating secret.

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Sneaky Starlings

Some birds shrink their parental duty by leaving their eggs in another's nest to be warmed, hatched, and raised as part of the other's brood. The habit is known as brood parasitism. For the host bird, however, extra chicks can mean an extra burden, and some of its own chicks may starve. Recently, a group of biologists in New Jersey found that one bird species handles the problem by taking out a little insurance.

A parasitic egg often belongs to another species, but some birds can't even trust their own kind. The European starling, Sturnus vulgaris, is a case in point. Males try to cuckold and kill each other, and the females try to lay eggs in each other's nest. The optimal size for a starling's clutch of eggs - the size at which the most offspring hatch and mature - is six.

With more than six eggs there is not enough food to go around, and most or even all the chicks may die. If you start with five and pick up a parasitic egg, you can handle it; if you start with six, and get an extra one, you'll fall over the edge.

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Balagtasan

Violent polemics polluted the air of the middle "20s" over the question: Who originated the balagtasan?

Researches reveal that the balagtasan is the modern counterpart of the ancient duplo, an extemporaneous debate in verse participated in by men called bellaco, and women known as bellaca. The "king" was a sort of judge who meted out "punishment" to those who committed mistakes. The balagtasan, on the other hand, is a modified form of the duplo. Ordinarily, there are two rival poets who, as in debates, defend their side of the question. In its early form, the balagtasan had a lakangdiwa (sort of referee), a Gat-Payo (Honorable Adviser) and a Lakangbini or Gat-ilaw (muse). Later, the Honorable Adviser was dispensed with, and to add color to the event each poet chose his Muse.

In March, 1924, the Tagalog writers met in a convention at the Instituto de Mejures to prepare a program to commemorate the anniversary of the birth of Francisco Balagtas, April 2nd. It was agreed to modernize the old duplo, but a question popped up which balked the conventionalists, to wit, a new name for the modernized duplo. Lope K. Santos claimed that it was Jose N. Sevilla who coined the word balagtasan in honor of Balagtas.

The importance of the balagtasan lies in its effect on Philippine literature. It inspired the Filipinos to appreciate and notice what is genuinely their own. For once, the proud and condescending writers in English and Spanish took notice and even "aped" the balagtasan. The Ilokanos followed the Tagalog in having their own bukanegan (from Pedro Bukaneg, the supposed author of the Ilokano metrical romance Bian ni Lam-ang), while the Pampangos evolved their crissotan (from Crisostomo Soto, the Father of Pampango literature).

Those were the "golden days" of the balagtasan. Today it is definitely dying; its practitioners are limited to the vulgar, illiterate mass of poetlings who, for lack of any poetic gifts, resort to word juggling and peddling around of their unreadable line in order to propagate their names. No wonder the writers in English scoff at them with comtemtuous condescension.

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