Stryker bag

I bought this kind of bag as a souvenir gift when I had a chance to travel abroad. Good thing that I kept one for myself.

I did not realize how useful it can be as it is very light yet can hold a lot of things. When empty, it can be worn on the back without being cumbersome. It also has a great potential to be a local souvenir item as its surface lend itself to many design potential.

I don't know how this bag is originally called but I would like to call it a striker bag because it allows the user to carry it along very conveniently.

Am glad that this thing came to me towards the end of the year. This can be a good project to follow next year which begins tomorrow. Now to make this bright idea work, I need to find the right people - designers and sewers especially.

Happy New Year. All the best to everyone. Stay safe and let us pray that we keep our sanity next year.

Ang panganib ng pagmamahal sa bayan

(photo collage - "Bayani", vfg)

Sa araw na ito, ginugunita ng bansa ang pagkitil sa buhay ni Jose Rizal sa pamamagitan ng firing squad dahil sa salang subversion.

Pero sino ngayon ang may paki-alam kung bakit nga ba pinatay ng mga Kastila  si Jose Rizal?

Para sa akin si Rizal at Bonifacio ang pinakamagandang modelo ng marangal at dakilang Pilipino.  Sa panahong hindi pa gaanong buo ang konsepto ng ating bansang Pilipinas ini-alay na nila ang buhay nila para sa bayan.

Pero si Rizal ipinabaril nga ng mga Kastila at si Bonifacio ay ipinatumba naman ng kababayan niyang si Aguinaldo.

Minsan ko na narinig ang biro na hindi raw dapat magmahal sa bayan dahil ito daw ay nakamamatay.

Totoo nga ba ito?

Remembering a coffee house in Jolo

An interesting coffee experience for me was when I had coffee with friends at a coffee house in Jolo. It was before dawn and I just arrived from a long boat trip from Zamboanga City.

Although it was still very early, the coffee house was already getting busy with customers. There was no fancy coffee served there but simply freshly boiled coffee yet it was bracingly good. To accompany your coffee, the servers leave you a tray of simple local eats such as fried bananas or rice cakes. You only pay for what you consume and what you do not touch will be taken back by the servers presumably to be offered to other customers. Not surprising then that a meal here does not cost much and is accessible to more people.

Back in Manila, there are plenty of western style coffee houses to choose from. But going there can burn a hole in your pocket as you pay not only for the coffee and the food but for the plastic ambiance as well.

The Joy of Peace and Quiet

 

May everyone find joy and contentment today and everyday.

 

Made in China Christmas

 

We all know that China is the factory of the world with the ability to produce products very cheaply. But do we really have to import from this country that bullies us and treat us with contempt even non essential items like christmas decors? 

Will our celebrations be less festive if we make do with what we can make by our own creativity and resources? The day we say no to these non essential imports is the day we shed our mentality of slaves - just my opinion..

Sad picture that tells something about us as a people

We take great pride  as Filipinos in achieving world class feats like winning international titles for beauty or brawn. Some of us proudly note that we are among the cleanest people in the world with the habit of frequently taking baths even in the coldest weather. Yet we mindlessly throw away our trash right where we stand as if we take our whole country as nothing more than a big garbage dump.
There must be something wrong with us if we have to put up a sign like this.

 But who will take responsibility for addressing the problem?

Terracing the mountains

Although the rice terraces are supposed to be an ancient achievement of early settlers in the Philippines, the process of terracing the mountains have not really stopped. This I realized when I visited a vegetable farm along the mountain trail in Atok, Benguet.

It is not rice that is being grown here however but vegetables like potatoes and cabbage . What I found troublesome however is the reliance of modern terrace builders on chemicals such as weedicide to help them clean up land faster.

This is one reason why even though vegetables are aplenty in this place, I am wary about consuming a lot of them. Someone even said that at times, you can even taste the pesticide in the vegetables even if they are thoroughly washed.

Hopefully, farmers here can go organic one day.

The Incredible Anti Dengue Invention

Am I the only one who suspect that this vaunted invention of the Department of Science and Technology is a hoax? Even President Aquino was made to claim its success twice in his State of the Nation Address yet the problem of dengue remains.

I tried to talk with some people who had a chance to utilize this contraption and asked them if they found it effective. However the answer I got was that they have no sufficient data to make a conclusion. A barangay chairperson even told me that it was useless.

In any invention, there is supposed to be a key technology that is at the heart of the such an invention. This ovitrap/larvaecide contraption has no such thing. True the idea behind it is that it will attract mosquitoes to lay egg on its larvicide laden container thereby killing the mosquito eggs but this method does not seem to be better than swatting a mosquito with an electric swatter.

Yet someone is now selling this "invention". I hope someone can get to have a closer look at this affair. Something smells fishy here.

Saying thanks thru Lantern of Nations

The Philippines has a unique Christmas symbol in the parols, so this Christmas, in the wake of the catastrophic visit of typhoon Yolanda/Haian, I just thought that it would be a good and decent gesture to say thank you to the countries that came to our aid by putting up parols in grateful recognition of their help. These parols can be called Parol ng Pasasalamat or Lantern of Nations and can even be the start of an annual tradition as a celebration of gratitude to our intenational friends.