Philippine Tarsier

Philippine Tarsier

By: Miguel Acuin

So last time, we talked about the Mantis shrimp, natures idea of a gun-slinging crustacean with an attitude.










Seriously, dont mess with me...

However this post is not focused on the creepy and scary. Today we will give light to the Philippine Tarsier (Tarsius syrichta)

Whatchoo lookin'at?

Endemic to the Philippines, the Philippine Tarsier is a member of the sports the largest eyes for its body size as well as holding the record for the smallest monkey. If there was ever an animal that can stare into your soul, this would be it. Its eyes are so big that is basically built into its skull, meaning that they can't rotate it. Rather than rotating its eyeballs in its head, a special adaptation in their necks allow them to turn their heads 180 degrees, much like an owl does.









A rather disturbing owl

Agile and small, Tarsiers however suffer from a curse that does not allow them to walk. Their body structure only allows them to climb and jump. This means that once a tarsier falls from a tree, it can do nothing but wait for an agonizingly slow death.

Hanging on for dear life

Despite it being one of the most recognizable endemic species in the Philippines, Tarsiers are in danger of extinction as its habitats are being threatened by human development. The locals of Bohol have been very active in introducing tourists to their cherished little monkeys. This helps in raising awareness and provides support in preserving their habitats. The Philippine Tarsier Foundation is an organization that spearheads the campaigns and efforts to save the Philippine Tarsier. The look kinda grows on you, and it actually ends up being kinda cute. So lets save our native little monkey!

References:
http://www.tarsierfoundation.org/the-foundation

Kapekonomiya

Toda, Zachary P.
2011-44965

KAPEKONOMIYA discusses the controversy on the use of land plots in UP. Both sides have been argumented by Ruperto Alonzo and Juy Taguiwalo.

The first speaker, Mr. Alonzo, stated that th privitization of UP services is not new, and that it aims to let UP focus on its academic goals. He had given examples of these establishments, like the food services, plantations outside UP and various other establishments. He then concluded with the UP plan to develop all land assets within the next 15 years.

Ms Taguiwalo, on the other hand, states that UP itself is commercializing education, and therefore, becoming more of a pivate establishment of learning. She presents various stastics, like the number of undergraduates, an the distribution of land for each sector in UP Diliman.

After listening to both sides, I had observed that the first speaker lacked insight, as he had kept on discussing agreements and laws that have been agreed upon that have been more than a few years ago. While it is true that education is important, and that the student must focus on their studies, it does not excuse the fact that changes within UP can and will change the learning environment of UP. Meanwhile, the second speaker, while her dicussion was all over the place, had given recent and reasonable data.

UP Diliman's status as a public domain of learing is slowly slipping, and more and more students are getting aggrevated by this fact. Also considering the latest debacle with STFAP, I would say that it is only a matter of time. Thousands of students depend on its cheap yet high quality of education to improve their lives and their country, and this is only hindering its goals, not aiding it.

The Science of Letting Go

Dana Andrea Veronica C. Mandia

The Science of Letting Go

Have you ever come across the line “no one is the master in the art of letting go?” We also sometimes hear or see the phrase “The art of letting go” anywhere -- on radios, on papers passed by students, on the internet. People write or talk about it.  Well, this actually piqued my interest for quite some time. I may have been over thinking about the topic, and well, brought up a series of complexities regarding the issue. With that comes in the idea of the existence of the “science” of letting go. With the increasing cleavage in the dichotomy of the science-art in almost any topic, does the existence of the “art of letting go” imply that there is some sort of “science of letting go?” Now with that said, let’s delve unto certain situations which call for the act of letting go, and establish the working “paradigm” behind it.

I tried to apply the scientific method in “letting go” and here is the outcome:

• Identify the problem – At first I thought the problem is “Why do people move on?” but I think the right question is, “Why do people have a hard time moving on?” Moving on does not necessarily mean moving on from the past relationships; it may also mean moving on from a career, failure, or hurt. With this, we can formulate the factors that may affect and make moving on hard?
• Hypothesis – We have different cases and the events in our lives vary. I cannot compare how hard it is for me and how hard it is for the other people, but moving on means we lost something or someone – which may mean we cannot have it back. Some things are just gone and if we do not move on, the rate of seeing or picturing ourselves broken is really high. 
• ANALYSIS - In general, what are the stages - or we may call it scientific process- that the people who want to move on goes through?
• DEPRESSION
• Depression is the very first stage for most, if not all, of the people who want to move on. It is a sign where a person does not know what to do and is in complete sadness.
• LOOKING FOR OUTLETS
• An outlet is something that consumes the time of a person subject to moving on and is something used by that person to make him or her forget the things that hurt. A person who is moving on often looks for outlet. After severe depression, a person looks for a way which would make him or her feel better – may it be something good or something bad. 
• DECIDING TO LEAVE THE PAST
• After finding outlets, a person tries to get rid of things – which obviously have sentimental values - that remind him or her of the depression he had. 
• LOOKING FOR “NEW THINGS” IN LIFE
• After getting rid of the old things, moving on requires something that takes the place of the once removed. A person may seek for new friends, hobbies, work, or environment.
• GETTING OVER
• Moving on changes a person’s lifestyle. Signs of getting over may seem kind of weird because of the dramatic changes in a person’s aura.

There are also factors which explain why it is hard to move on.

Factors:

• We cannot accept the fact that something is wrong
• We fool ourselves! We do not accept the fact that we are not okay and that something is wrong within us. It is very hard to move on without accepting the fact that we need to be fixed.
•  Too much attachment 
• As humans we tend to focus on things. We attach ourselves too much and most of the time we are blinded, seeing only the things that we want may put us in a very complicated situation.
• We believe that things will last forever
• We focus our attention on the thing itself and see it subjectively. We do not see what we will be the outcome of our actions years from now.

And here are some tips for moving on:

• See the brighter side of the picture
• In mathematics things are always balanced in an equation. There is always a brighter side in a story.
• Always remember that it is not the end
• In every problem there is a solution. Of all the people on earth that can help you, it is yourself that can build the “you” up again.
• Always remind yourself that you may have lost something but something but it imples that something better will come
• We cannot have everything. Things are there, in our life, for a purpose. If we lost something we should believe that somehow something better will come.

Technologies also help people in their process of moving on. Well, we all know that and we all know how. An example would be that of (if moving on in a relationship) deleting or blocking or mocking that past someone.

The fact that moving on has a process implies that it is scientific and with these things, it shows not only that there is a “science” of moving on but also that moving on is hard and we all know that.

How We Can Now Download Our Houses

On a busy night of searching for research topic inspirations for an architectural major subject, I have stumbled upon an interesting topic being discussed in a YouTube video. The video was a part of a TED Talks program in which, if one is not familiar with it, a person, not necessarily remarkable, decides to share his/her remarkable idea in front of an audience. Thus, TED Talks is a program spreading “ideas worth spreading.”

This particular talk features the designer, Alastair Parvin.  While this profoundly named fellow is educated with a degree in architecture, his line of work delves deeper into the realm of design and idea-formulating, transcending architecture as a field of infrastructure. His view of design generally describes the act of simply forming ideas for several types of problems.

Aptly named “architecture for the people by the people,” his talk on architecture concerns much less about professional architects and more on just everybody else.

In order to understand what his main idea is, one has to be familiar with certain key innovations such as the 3D printer which, if one is not familiar with it, is basically a printer which can create 3D objects in the medium of a plastic not different from what Lego blocks are made of; and the CNC cutting machine which is a machine that can cut out predetermined shapes from wooden panels.

He is part of a project known as WikiHouse, which is an open source place online where people can upload and share designed 3D models of house parts, which other people can download, open and print in their own 3D printers and CNC cutters. This leaves them with sort of like a giant IKEA kit in which they assemble to create whole houses or parts of houses with no professional help. Now if you want a new door, you can find one on the Internet, download it and have it printed for your house! You can literally print a friend a new window frame you found online.

Parvin says that as the 20^th Century brought in the industrial revolution of mass production, this 21st Century idea may bring about the democratization of production. This democratization of production allows for us, the unlicensed, common people usually viewed as consumers to now be the producers and our backyards, the industrial factory. People, welcome to the future of DIY.

TLDR: Instead of having me talk about his idea, why don’t you hear him share it to you himself? He sounds much more exciting than I do! Just click on this link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mlt6kaNjoeI

Post-Script: If this idea goes off well, our next issue would probably be how we could get our hands on a 3D printer or a CNC.

The Science of Happiness

Soul Pancake is a YouTube channel that takes an experimental approach to find out what makes people happier. They have a series of episodes called "The Science of Happiness"

In this episode, "An Experiment in Gratitude", the participants were made to think of an influential person in their life, write a letter for the person they thought of and talk to the person through a phone call and read the letter to them. This experiment showed that showing gratitude increases the "happiness level" of a person. :)

Next time you feel lonely, try it. Because it's proven that showing gratitude increases your happiness :)

Did you find this video interesting? Other episodes can be found here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8o9_TlZyB_Y&list=PLzvRx_johoA_QznlVHjbByQdHZAhWRQzr

Pagyamanin Ang Ating Natitirang Likas na Yaman

Bago pa man dumating ang mga Kastila, napakayaman na ng Pilipinas sa likas na yaman. Sa ngayon, itinuturing ang Pilipinas bilang sentro ng biodiversity sa buong mundo. Maraming iba't ibang species ng hayop at halaman na endemic o sa atin lamang matatagpuan. Kay ganda  talaga ng kalikasan at samu't saring tanawin na makikita sa ating bansa! Ngunit dahil sa pagdami ng tao, ilegal na pagputol ng mga puno, pagmimina, polusyon, poaching at iba pa, unti-unti itong nasisira at nawawala.

Ayon sa DENR, 7.2 hectares na lamang ang natitirang forest area sa ating bansa. At sa lahat ng mga species na endemic sa ating bansa, karamihan sa mga hayop na ito ay endagered na.

Mayroong mga hakbang at proyektong isinasagawa ang DENR para maprotektahan ang ating likas na yaman (hal. Linis Hangin Program, National Greening Program), ngunit ito ay kulang. Dapat maging maalam rin ang mga kabataan at mga mamamayan sa mga isyung may kinalaman sa ating kapaligiran. Dapat tayo mismo ang maging mga tagapangalaga ng ating mga kagubatan at mga natitirang likas na yaman. 

Sana magawa ng ating henerasyon ang magtanim ng maraming puno upang mapalitan ang bawat punong naputol. Sa ganitong paraan, maaaring lumawak pa ang forest area para sa susunod na henerasyon. Dapat maingatan ang mga natitirang kagubatan upang mapagyaman pa ang dami ng iba't ibang species ng mga hayop at halaman.

Sana ay mas maraming Pilipino ang magtulungan upang maprotektahan at mapangalagaan ang natitirang likas na yaman sa ating bansa. Hindi natin dapat ito hayaang masira dahil sa modernisasyon at komersalisasyon. Ito ay sariling atin at dapat nating pagyamanin.

Sanggunian:
Philippine Biodiversity: Status and Threats

http://mea.denr.gov.ph/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=113&Itemid=205

Meraiah Lee
2010-78989
BEEd CA (Eng)

Technology during the Christmas Season

Maxine Camela Sy Sta. Maria
4th year, BS Family Life and Child Development


Smart phones are becoming a really big part of our lives. It's really difficult to leave the house without it, probably because it's used for just about anything: communicating, taking snapshots of memories, checking the time, playing games when bored, going online to check our various social networks, and so much more. There is just so much you can do with a single device. But with the many convenient advantages that come with smart phones are disadvantages that may possibly overweigh the former.

Just recently, a relative approached us 'kids' huddled in the living room. She saw us all looking down at our smart phones busy doing something separately, whether texting, checking out social networks, or playing games. She commented (in Filipino) "grabe talaga kayo, kaya hindi na kayo marunong makipag conversations..tignan mo kaming matatanda kahit paulit-ulit pinapag-usapan namin, marunong kami makipagsocialize ng totoo." She said it in a manner that was suppose to make us laugh. However, instead of laughing, I was bothered, mainly because I knew that what she said was true.

Years from now, when I look back at our many Christmas memories, I do not want to remember us all bent down looking at smart phones or different kinds of gadgets. I want to remember laughter, stories, and huddling over Christmas games. I want to remember gift giving, singing along to carols, and simple conversation-making. Technology has definitely made daily living easier, as it pointed us to the right direction whenever we got lost and chose to consult google maps or as it gave us the correct recipe for a lasagna to serve for the Christmas Noche Buena. It has made life convenient. But it has also made seclusion to the 'real world' convenient as well.

During the Christmas celebrations, I challenge you to leave your gadgets somewhere you will not have access to it. Enjoy your time with family and friends. Make simple conversations. Go back to basics. You will be surprised by how much more fun you will actually have.


Merry christmas! Have a blessed season with your family and friends!

"It's the most wonderful time of the year..."