A Day Lost

Spain introduced the Gregorian calendar into our country. However, until the year 1845, the Philippine calendar was one day behind that of European time. The reason for this error was that the early Spanish explorers had failed to consider the International Date Line, which runs from the North Pole to the South Pole, passing through the Pacific Ocean near the Midway Islands. When Magellan and other Spanish explorers crossed the line sailing westward to the Philippines, they lost one day. They should have advanced their calenday by one day when they reached the Philippines which they did not. It was Governor General Narciso Claveria who corrected the Philippine calendar. On August 16, 1844, he issued an order proclaiming Tuesday, December 31, 1844, to be Wednesday, January 1, 1845. In other words, he advanced the calendar by one day, so that it would be in accord with world standard time.

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For Your Information...

* Two thirds of the world's population do not normally use chairs. They sit cross-legged in Asia and squat in Africa and South America.

* About a third of our whole life is spent asleep. This seems to be when the body repairs itself. Although the activities in our bodies slow down during sleep, our brain is still active although we do not think consciously. There are two different kinds of sleep and we usually pass from one kind to the other several times in one night. The deepest kind of sleep is non-dreaming.

* Grammar gurus say the following are redundancies: end result, close aproximity, proceed ahead, brief moment and basic fundamentals.

* The human hand is one of the most sensitive regions of the body with the richest supply of nerves.

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Similar yet Different

A muscular child who weighs 100 pounds uses more calories than a flabby 100-pound child with little muscle and lots of fat.

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Three Wars in One

The SecondWorld War was thus begun by Hitler. The first steps towards war, however, were taken not by Germany but by Japan ang Italy. But war need never occured had Britain, France and the United States not been too blind, or too self-centered, or too apathetic to act before it was too late. From the First World War flowed consequences economic, social, psyhological and political which produced Bolshevism and Facism, and later the World Economic Crisis. In this crisis Nazism took hold and the Japanese Shintoists turned again to expansion, but the crisis likewise turned the United States to extreme isolationism, and sapped the will and the morale of Britain and France. The period from 1919 to 1939 is rightl named the inter-war period.

The war was three wars in one. The first was Hitler's war against democracy, represented by Britain and the United States, with Mussolini as his by no means happy lacky. The second was Hitler's war against Bolshevism, again supported, though even mre nominally, by Mussolino. The third was Japan's war for conquest and against democracy, which in Asia wore the guise of imperialism.

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Colorful Festivals in the Philippines

Festivals are a year-round cycle in the Philippines. Every city, town, and barrio has its own fiesta, either in honor of the patron saint or a memorable event in the life of the community, usually celebrated with flourish and fanfare.

Among the most colorful celebrations are the so-called river festivals. A river festival is featured by a garnish fluvial parade along the river of the town or barrio where the celebration is going on. The center of attraction in the parade ia a gaily-decorated pagoda set on big boats. In the pagoda is enshrined the image of the patron saint of the community.

One of the much-awaited river festivals is the feast of Our Lady of Peñafrancia, held every third Sunday of September in Naga City. Throughout the whole week, people from the Bicol provinces and other parts of the country converge at the ancient seat of Nueva Ceceres to celebrate the blessed event in honor of the Bicol region's patron saint. Nine days before the fiesta, the Virgin is transferred from her shrine to the Naga Cathedral where a novena is offered.

Aside from the procession in Naga's main streets, the finale of the week-long festivities is the return trip of the Virgin to her shrine. Placed in a bedecked banca and accompanied by thousands of devotees also riding in colorful bancas, the Virgin is paraded in a fluvial procession along the Naga River.

The Shrine of Our Lady of Peñafrancia used to be a nipa-and-bamboo affair built by Miguel de Cubarrubias, a Spanish priest, in the seventeeth century. The old ermita later on was recontructed. The present church was built more or less in the same place where the first chapel was constructed.

Another big fluvial festival is held on the first and second days of November in Cavite in honor of Our Lady of Solitude of Porta Vaga. It is said that the image of the Virgin was found by some fishermen floating in the sea and surrounded by bright lights. Ever since the picture of the image was brought to Cavite, a nocturnaal fluvial procession from San Roque Church in Cavite City to Cabuco Beach in Caridad along the Manila Bay area has been observed every year on her feast day.

On the shore where the picture of the Virgin was found - it must have come from a galleon wrecked in a storm as it plied the route between Manila and Acapulco - the fisherfolk built makeshift nipa chapel. This was later rebuilt as part of the old Spanish fort that protected the entrance to what was known then as Puerto de Cavite.

Tradition has it that the Virgin has saved fishermen and sailors who pray to her for guidance during stormy nights. There is also a story of several Spanish ships stranded in the shores of the Bicol region. Without food and water for several days, the sailors began to lose hope until one of them who was a devotee of the Blessed Virgin prayed for aid. Joining the devotee in prayer, the other sailors were surprised when a fresh breeze enabled them to proceed to their destination.

The church in Cavite City was destroyed during the war. When the Japanese occupied the city, they placed the image of the Virgin in one corner; but Father Perdo Larena, the parish priest, requested the invaders to allow him to keep the image with him. That was how it was saved from destruction.

In Apalit, Pampanga, the residents hold a river procession on June 29 in honor of Saints Peter and Paul. The colorful event is performed on the Pampanga river as a ritual to bring in more fish to the river.

Similar processions are observed in Bocaue, Bulacan in honor of the feast of the Holy Cross of Wawa; in Taal and Lipa, Batangas, to venerate the miraculous Virgin of Casaysay; in Guagua, Pampanga, in honor of Saint John; in Tacloban, Leyte, honoring an image of the Santo Niño which was believed to have been found by a fisherman in a box out at sea; and in some fishing towns in Rizal and Laguna.

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Complexion: woven together

In the very old days the physiologists dreamed up some funny and fancy fairytales about this world of ours and its make-up. The Greek philosohper Aristotle taught that the earth and ourselves, too, were composed of four substances: First, "fire", which was hot and dry; second "air", which was warm and moist; third the "earth", which he rated cold and water, these were the four "elements," and Aristotle believed that the way they were combined were "woven together" in you gave you your complexion, and the word "complexion" suggest this idea for it is from the Latin com-"together," and plecto, "braid" or "weave". We still use the word in some such fashion when we speak of the political complexion ("quality," "character") of the legislature. Since the varying combinations of these elements were supposed to affect the color, hue, and appearance of the skin, the word finally took on it s modern meaning.

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Filipino Women in the Spanish Period

The position of our women in society, already high during the pre-Spanish period, was further elevated under Spanish rule. Unlike in many Oriental countries and in some Christian countries in Europe, they were never considered as mere chattels and were never used as beasts of burden laboring the fields and on the roads. They were respected by men. If still unmarried, they were strictly chaperoned when they attended dances and other social parties. They had no freedom to study in the universities, to engage in the professions (law, medicine, engineering, etc.), and to mix freely with men. They were, however, permitted by custom and law to engage in business.

The young women were kept in seclusion in home or in school. They were given education in the colegios (colleges) which were exclusive schools for girls and were operated by the nuns. At the colegios they were trained to observe the rigid rules of good mothers. Those young women who had no intention of marrying or who were unfortunate in their romances unusually entered the nunnery and consecrated their lives in the service of God.

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Learning Activities for Your Kids this Summer

Just because school's out doesn't mean your kids' minds are on vacation until June. Try one of these for a little brain teasing.

Fossil hunt: take kids to a nearby lake, brook or wooded area and have them search for fossils. You may be surprised by what they uncover.

Nature walk/Scavenger hunt: supply kids with a list of things to hunt for: maple leaves, dogwood bark, a gray rock, a pinecone. Then let them loose for an allotted period of time. Have a special award waiting for the first one to bring back all the items on the list.

Stargazing: borrow a book on constellations from the library and teach kids how to study the summer skies. Make your own colorful maps. Rent or borrow a telescope.

Rainy-Day Fun

When the outdoors are off-limit, it can be a perfect time for kids to:

Try their hand at baking: with supervision, kids can easily knead bread dough, make drop cookies and decorate cupcakes.

Make a sculpture: help kids make their own play-dough, then let them fo to work. Ingredients: 1 cup flour, 1 cup water, 1/2 cup salt, 1 tablespoon vegetable oil, 1 tablespoon cream of tartar, food coloring. Directions: Mix all ingredients in a saucepan. Cook over medium heat, stirring, until it forms a ball (about five minutes). Cool slightly and knead on countertop until smooth. Store, wrapped tightly in plastic, in refrigerator. The dough (unlike the commercial kind) hardens on standing - great for making permanent treasures.

Build housees out of playing cards: make it a contest to see who can build the highest one without knocking it over.

Decorate T-shirts: paint colorful designs on plain T-shirts or sneakers with fabric paint or markers.

Make hand puppets: out of paper bags, paper plates, fabric scraps, buttons and other odds and ends.

Create jewelry: by stringing macaroni O-shaped cereal and buttons on cotton twine or shoelaces.

Design doll clothes: from leftover fabric scraps.

Make puzzles: from old photographs or magazine pictures. Glue the art to sturdy cardboard and cut it into jigsaw- shaped pieces.

Create stationery: Provide blank paper and evelopes, stickers, press-on letters, ribbons, rubber stamps.

Make cards: for Father's day or Grandma's birthday. Supply construction paper, glitter, markers or crayons.

Visit a museum: Pick one that'll suit your child's interests. Science and nature museums are good bets.

Source: Camp Mom Woman's Day

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Computerized Bike

SAN FRANCISCO engineer Keith Chilcote invented a bike with a computer-controlled automatic transmission. Superficially, Chilcote's 11-speed bicycle doesn't look all that different from most other bikes - except that it has a small computer display on the handlebars. The computer itself, weighing a few ounces, hides beneath the seat. On the hub of the rear wheel is a collection of 64 tiny magnets that are arranged in a ring as big round as a 45-rpm record.

As the wheel turns, the magnets turn with it, passing over a sensor; the rate at which they pass lets the computer determine how fast the wheel is spinning. With so many magnets zipping past, the computer can calculate speed about 120 times a second, allowing the tiniest change to be detected. Comparing this rate with the gear the rider is using, it computes how many revolutions the pedals are making a minute. Human legs pedal most efficiently at 75-rpm; when the computer notices the speed going above or below that, it shifts gears, it slides all the teeth out a little or in a little, forming a new circle with a new circumference. Each tooth can stop at 11 different points along its track.

There are times, however, when a rider wants to pedal faster than 75-rpm - in the final leg of a race, for example. To keep the computer from interfering at such critical moments, Chilcote is developing a pressure sensor for the rear axle. The sensor monitors the force applied to the wear wheel with each pedal push. If the computer detects that the feet are spinning faster than 75-rpm but that pedaling force is nevertheless increasing, it's smart enough to know that the rider probably wants it that way, and it switches to a sprint program. This program allows pedal speed to reach a dervishlike 82 rpm before finally shifting gears.

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Earth Day 2009

Earth Day falls on Wednesday, April 22, 2009: It's a great time to learn about our planet and how to take care of it!

Learning About Acid Rain

Before beginning this experiment, give children background information about acid rain. Explain that acid rain is just rain that has become polluted. The pollution comes from cars, power stations, homes, and factories that burn oil and coal. Sulfur and nitrogen compounds from the oil and coal turn to acids when they mix with air and water vapors. Acid rain affects trees, lakes, and crops. It also corrodes buildings, monuments, and statues contain calcium carbonate. This experiment uses antacid tablets or eggshells - both of which contain calcium carbonate - to represent a building or statue, and vinegar to represent sulfuric and nitric acids.

Equipment: cup, antacid tablet or eggshell, tablespoon measure, and vinegar

Procedure: Place the antacid tablet or eggshell inside the cup. Add one tablespoon of vinegar.

Observations: Have kids describe what happened to the tablet or eggshell when vinegar to the tablet or eggshell when vinegar was poured over it. (The tablet or shell will break down and disintegrate.)

Discussion: What would happen if the materials were left in the sun for a day or two? In what way is vinegar like acid rain? What affects do you think acid rain has on marble statues? Do people contribute to the effects of acid rain? Follow up by asking kids to think of ways to reduce acid rain.

Variation: Repeat the exercise using chalk, chicken bones, or small pieces of marble instead of the antacid tablet or eggshell. How are the reactions similar? How are they different?

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Why Does the Date for Easter Change Every Year

Why does the date for Easter change every year? Have you ever wondered why Easter Sunday can fall anywhere between March 22 and April 25? And why do Eastern Orthodox churches celebrate Easter on a different day than Western churches? These are all good questions with answers that require a bit of explanation. In fact, there are as many misunderstandings about the calculation of Easter dates, as there are reasons for the confusion. What follows is an attempt to clear up at least some of the confusion.

In Western Christianity, Easter is always celebrated on the Sunday immediately following the Paschal Full Moon date of the year. I had previously, and somewhat erroneously stated, "Easter is always celebrated on the Sunday immediately following the first full moon after the vernal (spring) equinox." This statement was true prior to 325 AD; however, over the course of history (beginning in 325 AD with the Council of Nicea), the Western Church decided to established a more standardized system for determining the date of Easter.

In actuality, the date of the Paschal Full Moon is determined from historical tables, and has no correspondence to lunar events.

As Astronomers were able to approximate the dates of all the full moons in future years, the Western Christian Church used these calculations to establish a table of Ecclesiastical Full Moon dates. These dates would determine the Holy Days on the Ecclesiastical calendar.

Though modified slightly from its original form, by 1583 AD the table for determining the Ecclesiastical Full Moon dates was permanently established and has been used ever since to determine the date of Easter. Thus, according to the Ecclesiastical tables, the Paschal Full Moon is the first Ecclesiastical Full Moon date after March 20 (which happened to be the vernal equinox date in 325 AD). So, in Western Christianity, Easter is always celebrated on the Sunday immediately following the Paschal Full Moon.

The Paschal Full Moon can vary as much as two days from the date of the actual full moon, with dates ranging from March 21 to April 18. As a result, Easter dates can range from March 22 through April 25 in Western Christianity.
Historically, western churches used the Gregorian Calendar to calculate the date of Easter and Eastern Orthodox churches used the Julian Calendar. This was partly why the dates were seldom the same.

Easter and its related holidays do not fall on a fixed date in either the Gregorian or Julian calendars, making them movable holidays. The dates, instead, are based on a lunar calendar very similar to the Hebrew Calendar.

While some Eastern Orthodox Churches not only maintain the date of Easter based on the Julian Calendar which was in use during the First Ecumenical Council of Nicea in 325 AD, they also use the actual, astronomical full moon and the actual vernal equinox as observed along the meridian of Jerusalem. This complicates the matter, due to the inaccuracy of the Julian calendar, and the 13 days that have accrued since 325 AD. This means, in order to stay in line with the originally established (325 AD) vernal equinox, Orthodox Easter cannot be celebrated before April 3 (present day Gregorian calendar), which was March 21 in 325 AD.

Additionally, in keeping with the rule established by the First Ecumenical Council of Nicea, the Eastern Orthodox Church adhered to the tradition that Easter must always fall after the Jewish Passover, since the death, burial and Resurrection of Christ happened after the celebration of Passover. Eventually the Orthodox Church came up with an alternative to calculating Easter based on the Gregorian calendar and Passover, and developed a 19-year cycle, as opposed to the Western Church 84-year cycle.

Since the days of early church history, determining the precise date of Easter has been a matter for continued argument. For one, the followers of Christ neglected to record the exact date of Jesus' resurrection. From then on the matter grew increasingly complex.

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Good Friday or Holy Friday

Friday of Holy Week has been traditionally been called Good Friday or Holy Friday. On this day, the church commemorates Jesus’ arrest (since by Jewish customs of counting days from sundown to sundown it was already Friday), his trial, crucifixion and suffering, death, and burial. Since services on this day are to observe Jesus’ death, and since Eucharist is a celebration, there is traditionally no Communion observed on Good Friday. Also, depending on how the services are conducted on this day, all pictures, statutes, and the cross are covered in mourning black, the chancel and altar coverings are replaced with black, and altar candles are extinguished. They are left this way through Saturday, but are always replaced with white before sunrise on Sunday.

There are a variety of services of worship for Good Friday, all aimed at allowing worshippers to experience some sense of the pain, humiliation, and ending in the journey to the cross. The traditional Catholic service for Good Friday was held in mid-afternoon to correspond to the final words of Jesus from the cross (around 3 PM, Matt 27:46-50). However, modern schedules have led many churches to move the service to the evening to allow more people to participate. Usually, a Good Friday service is a series of Scripture readings, a short homily, and a time of meditation and prayer. One traditional use of Scripture is to base the homily or devotional on the Seven Last Words of Jesus as recorded in the Gospel traditions.

Father, forgive them . . . (Luke 23:34)This day you will be with me in paradise (Luke 23:43)Woman, behold your son . . .(John 19:26-27)My God, my God . . . (Matthew 27:46, Mark 15:34)I thirst. (John 19:28)It is finished! (John 19:30)Father into your hands . . . (Luke 23:46)

Some churches use the Stations of the Cross as part of the Good Friday Service. This service uses paintings or banners to represent various scenes from Jesus’ betrayal, arrest, trial, and death, and the worshippers move to the various stations to sing hymns or pray as the story is told . There is a great variety in how this service is conducted, and various traditions use different numbers of stations to tell the story (see The Fourteen Stations of the Cross).

Another common service for Good Friday is Tenebrae (Latin for "shadows" or "darkness"). Sometimes this term is applied generally to all church services on the last three days of Holy week. More specifically, however, it is used of the Service of Darkness or Service of Shadows, usually held in the evening of Good Friday. Again, there are varieties of this service, but it is usually characterized by a series of Scripture readings and meditation done in stages while lights and/or candles are gradually extinguished to symbolize the growing darkness not only of Jesus’ death but of hopelessness in the world without God. The service ends in darkness, sometimes with a final candle, the Christ candle, carried out of the sanctuary, symbolizing the death of Jesus. Often the service concludes with a loud noise symbolizing the closing of Jesus’ tomb (see The Empty Tomb). The worshippers then leave in silence to wait.

Some churches observe communion on Good Friday. However, traditionally Eucharist is not served on Good Friday since it is a celebration of thanksgiving. Good Friday is not a day of celebration but of mourning, both for the death of Jesus and for the sins of the world that his death represents. Yet, although Friday is a solemn time, it is not without its own joy. For while it is important to place the Resurrection against the darkness of Good Friday, likewise the somberness of Good Friday should always be seen with the hope of Resurrection Sunday. As the well- known sermon title vividly illustrates: "It’s Friday. But Sunday’s a’comin’!"

(by Dennis Bratcher)

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Hubble Telescope

Scientists say the Hubble space telescope can see clearly now. Astronauts repaired the space telescope. They also replaced its main camera with a newer one needing less light to take pictures.

One scientist from the American Space Agency, NASA, tried to describe how well the space telescope can see now. He said to imagine that the telescope was in Washington D.C. It would be able to see a very small light in Tokyo and Japan. That is a distance of almost 8,125 miles.

Scientists will use the Hubble space telescope to try to answer several major questions about the universe. These include its size and age. The telescope is named for astronomer Edwin Hubble. his work established that the universe is expanding. By using the Hubble space telescope, scientists hope to learn if the universe will expand forever, or someday fall in on itself.

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Sundial

Materials:

You'll need: A 9" circle of flat materials that can be painted and left outdoors; 4 1/2' SQ. of 1/4" thick wood (sawed in half diagonally to make a triangle); black permanent medium point marker; paint markers or paintbrush and acrylic paint of ant paint that won't wash off outdoors; strong glue; transparent tape; ruler; soft (dark) pencil.

How To Make:

1. Cut this page out of the magazine (or trace the sundial pattern on tracing paper). Scribble over the back of the sundial pattern with the soft pencil.

2. Tape the pattern to the sundial surface with the numbers near the edge. Pencil firmly over the pattern lines (use the ruler as guide), letters and numbers, to transfer them. Be sure to mark line AB for placing the triangle later. Lift off the pattern.

3. Pant the wooden triangle and let it dry completely.

4. Glue one short edge of the trianlge to line AB. The triangles high point should be at A, near the 12.

5. Take the sundial outside at 12:00 noon and place it on flat ground or a level stand where the sun can reach it from all directions.

6. Set the time by turning the dial so that the shadow from the triangle pints directly to 12. Sundials work differently in different latitudes. To make yours completely accurate, check the dial every hour on the hour and pencil in new guidelines where the edge of the shadow falls. (Adjust numbers accordingly).

7. Darken the new lines on the sundial surface with the black marker.

8. Color the numbers and decorate the face of the sundial any way you like. (Though the materials used are weatherproof, it's a good idea to add a plyurethane finih and cover the sundial during heavy rains).

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Napoleon's Exile

On July 15, 1815, ater his defeat at Waterloo, Napoleon surrendered to the British and was exiled to the remote island of St. Helena in the South Atlantic, 1,200 miles off the African coast.

The actual surrender was made to Captain Maitland of the British frigate Bellerophan. Napoleon was transferred to the Northumberland and then taken to St. Helena.

This island is only 10 1/2 miles long and 6 1/2 miles wide. Napoleon had no force at this disposal, as he did on the Mediterranean island of Elba, where he was given sovereignty during his first exile.

He was to spend six years on the island before his death. He frequently quarreled with Sir Hudson Lowe, the Governor, who was very conscientious at thwarting all Napoleon's hopes of escape. He never gave up these attempts,but he also found time to write his memoirs.

He died on May 5, 1821. There were rumors that he had been poisoned, but modern historians and doctors believe it is far more likely that he had cancer of the stomach.

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Coloring With Alcohol-Soluble And Wood Stain

Materials:

1. Alcohol-soluble wood in stain in various colors (gold-yellow, bright red, pure blue, green violet and oak brown are the most important.)

2. Spirit or alcohol (for the mixing of colors and cleaning)

3. Absorbent white paper

4. Broad brushes

5. Plastic covers and newspaper to protect your table.

6. Rubber gloves

How To Make:

Dissolve the wood stains according to the printed instruction on the can and then apply one with even brush strokes to your paper. When you have dissolved and applied several colors side by side, try overlapping them on the paper. This way you will obtain a differentiated scale of colored papers which you are not likely to encounter in stationery stores.

Caution: It is very hard to remove stains; for this reason protect your tables and floors with thick paddings of newspapers or plastic covers. For very young groups it is advisable to stay away from this project because of the unavoidable danger of staining.

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