LVHS New Website Now Up!

After a long wait, the subdomain for Lupon Vocational HS website has now been configured; The official website URL is http://lvhs.smartschools.ph/.

The Lupon Vocational HS website is now qualified to join the SSP’s Website of the Month Competition. Please support us in our endeavor.

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The Human Lighting Rod

Most of us fear being struck by lighting during electrical storms, but the chances of that happening are, in fact, rather slim. Being struck more than once is even more improbable. For Betty Jo Hudson, however, the odds are more higher. The Winburn Chapel, Mississippi, woman has come to the conclusion that she's a human lightning rod.

Hudson first noticed her electrical affinity when she was a child and lightning struck her in the face. Not long afterward, her parents' home received a powerful electrical jolt and, in 1957, the house was completely destroyed by yet another lightning blast. When the woman married Ernest Hudson, however, the lightning seemed to change the course. Her new home became the focus and was struck three times. Now, even the neighbors were being hit during electrical storms. And lightning has struck trees as well as a water pump in the yard. One bolt even killed the Hudson's dog.

One of the more recent episodes occured when the Hudsons were butter beans on their front porch one summer afternoon. A flash storm passed through, sending the couple scurrying inside. As they huddled together, they heard a horrifying crash: the lightning has devastated the bedroom.

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Underwear Deposit Box

The pitch in Japan is that intimate apparel demands an especially discrete cleaning. At the Men's Clean Koenji Shop, $7.81 buys a key to one of 240 small, mailboxlike compartments. In your compartment you place your dirty underwear, along with a ticket showing you have paid a 78-cent laundry charge for each pair. Mysteriously, by noon of the second day after your visit, your underwear is back in your compartment folded and clean.

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New Corn

Researchers at the International Center for Maize and Wheat Improvement near Mexico City have developed new kinds of corn they say could help feed 50 million more people each year. The corn was designed to grow in soil containing a lot of acid.It will also grow in areas of the world where there is not much rain. The new corn plants will be helpful in the hot wet areas of the world. More than 43 percent of the soil in typical areas is acid. Farmers in that part of the world raise about 180 million acres of corn each year. The new kinds of corn will greatly increase the harvest from the acid soils in Latin America, Asia and Central Africa. The new corn will also help farmers in the areas of the world that do not get much rain. The new kinds of corn will increase the crop production in dry areas by as much as 30 percent. Farmers planting the new corn where growing conditions are excellent will produce a 10-percent larger crop. Farmers may have the new corn seed within three years. The researchers say the new plants produce so much more corn that less forest land will have to be cleared for farming. And, the corn can help feed 50 million more people a year in some of the poorest parts of the world.

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Department Store

The first department store was the Belle Fardiniere, founded in Paris in 1824 by Pierre Parissot. His publicity and sales methods revolutionalized commercial practice. He insisted that his merchandise be sold at "a fixed price for cash," whereas trade had always been based on two main principles: the negotiation of the price between the seller and the buyer, and buying on credit. Harper's Building, designed by the architect John B.Corlies, opened in New York in 1854, followed in 1858 by the Crystal Palace Bazar, the first department store to be opened in London.

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35 DPSA Learning Challenge entries make it to the final cut

Out of the 130 entries submitted by 40 Smart Schools partner high schools, 35 Focus Study entries made it to the final judging of the Doon Po Sa Amin Learning Challenge.

During the pre-final judging, the entries were classified and ranked according to their respective Topic Categories. The top five (5) entries per Topic Category emerged as the finalists for the Best in Topic Category Award.

Winners of the Best in Topic Category Award will vie for the Grand Champion Award and will be invited in the DPSA Awards event to exhibit their works. The DPSA Awards event will be held back-to-back with the SWEEP Innovation & Excellence Awards in one big education event, “me2: Managing Emergencies, Maximizing Education,” on March 12-14, 2009 at SM Megatrade Hall, Ortigas, Mandaluyong City.

Congratulations to the DPSA Learning Challenge finalists!

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Ancient Teeth Found in Vietnam

A team of scientists has discovered almost 70 ancient teeth in the mountains of northeast Vietnam. The teeth are from early humans and human-like creatures.

The teeth are from a time when many human-like creatures were thought to have disappeared from Earth. The scientists found the ancient teeth in Them Khuyan cave. This is near Vietnam's border with China.

In their report, the scientists say some of the teeth found in the cave are from ancient orangutans. Some are from unknown creatures similar to orangutans. And others are from a completely different and unknown groups of ape-like creatures. The scientists also found nine teeth from the early human group known as homo erectus.

Teeth can show if an ancient creature was short or tall. They can tell if the creature ate meat or plants. They cannot tell, however, exactly what the creature looked like.

Professor Tattersall says the creatures whose teeth were found in Tham Khuyen cace did not live there. He says they died in other places. He believes their teeth were carried into the cave by floodwaters. Sadly, he says, the floodwaters did not carry and other remains of the ancient creatures.

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