Brains & Beauty Agriculture

Yes, “HeArtfully Speaking” is my single phrase of praise of Jerry R Yapo’s first book of essays titled “Artfully Speaking.” This 75-page handy volume of 12 heartworks based on 12 artworks is an original, a good read. Jerry’s book contains 12 essays with 12 art pieces as inspirers of the writer. The titles of the 12 heartpieces are: “Atop A Carabao” (p4) “Elbi Is Home” (p10) “Curve-Spin”   (p16) “Almost There” (p22) “A Dog’s World” (p28) “In Loving Memory” (p36) “A Summa Story Retold” (p42) “The Pilot, The Prince, And The Fox” (p48) “Artfully Speaking” (p54) “Show Openings” (p60) “Vertical Living” (p66) “A Commuter’s Tale” (p72). In the Preface , Jerry says: Writing is my creative space and the essay the most congenial genre in my attempt to make sense of life’s defining moments. Such moments looped together propel our lives in a certain direction. I know the feeling . I have been writing thousands of (digital) essays myself since 2000, with a few extra long ones o

Today, Wednesday, 05 October 2022 (Manila), is “World Teacher’s Day” – and as a teacher, I know that we have not been teaching our farmers rich or poor about natural and man - made disasters . With the Internet, there is absolutely no excuse ! (Images: top from istockphoto.com , bottom from istockphoto.com ) The upper image tells us that up to now, 53 years after scientists of the universities UCLA and Stanford accomplished the first long-distance networking of computers in 1969 ( Jonathan Hodgeback ,   britannica.com ), the actual beginning of the Internet, the world looks at teaching in a mechanical way, not connecting things one to the other, like a field suddenly burning. The Internet came to the Philippines in 1994 ( wikipedia.org ), and the Hilarios got connected sometime in 1997. Considering what I have learned since attending college for my BS Agriculture major in Ag Edu at the University of the Philippines College of Agriculture (UPCA, now UP Los Baños ), g

I am challenging either BBM or Leni Robredo to become the modern liberators of farmers from poverty by reinventing farm equipment – old one pulled by tractor in the image above needs improvement! With funding, I UP Los Baños alumnus will reinvent the rotavator so that it does 3 things simultaneously: (1) cultivates soil, (2) creates organic mulch, and (3) spreads that mulch all over the field – all automatically! This is organic farming so advanced you couldn’t believe it until you see it! The proposed 2-year project, with techno-demos, will be executed at PhilRice Los Baños Station in Laguna, where we have nearby UP Los Baños and IRRI. Engineers from UPLB College of Engineering & Agro-Industrial Technology (CEAT) will be called upon as necessary. (Above, the lower image shows a rotavator behind the tractor at PhilRice Los Baños.) (Tractor+ image from me, 18 April 2018) Reinventing the rotavator is one simple way to transform all of PH Agriculture to solve 2 problems simul

Today, Sunday, 02 Oct 2022 (Manila), on Facebook I see Nelson Posadas’ sharing above. The original tag reads: “Smiling Cures. Holding a smile for 30 seconds, even if you’re not happy, tricks the brain out of depression and boosts the immune system to cure the body of Disease…” Try it now – I did, and I am happier. Smile! Invajy ( Mr Posada’s source) has “150 Smile Quotes About Smiling To Put [A] Smile On Your Face” (30 Sept 2022). S/He says: [A] smile is extremely powerful. Just remember when you come back from work with [off-mood], how your little one’s smile refreshes you and you forget about all other things. And, when you put a smile on your face in reciprocation, it brings a new positivity in the surrounding environment. Smiling reduces stress that your mind, body or soul [feels]. Smiling has countless positive eff