Neil Armstrong, the moon and Miss Universe

 NEIL Armstrong, who led the Apollo 11 spacecraft and became the first man to set foot on the moon, has died from complications after heart surgery.

The day  man landed on the moon, Miss Gloria Diaz of the Philippines won the Miss Universe title.  In July 1969, Armstrong commanded the Apollo team, which included Aldrin and pilot Michael Collins, that went to the moon. Armstrong and Aldrin descended to the lunar surface, landing in the dry Sea of Tranquility. Their lunar module touched down with about 30 seconds of fuel remaining. Armstrong radioed their safe arrival back to NASA. "Houston, Tranquility Base here — the Eagle has landed," he said. Seven hours later, he stepped out of the spacecraft and down onto the moon itself, speaking his historic words.

When Gloria Diaz was asked " If the man on the moon should come down to Earth and visit your hometown, what would you do to entertain him?, " the 18-year-old petite Bb. Pilipinas-Universe answered, “Why, I guess I would do for him what I always do. Since he has been away on the moon for so long, he would want a change.”

That, among other winning qualities, helped Gloria Diaz clinch for the Philippines its first ever Miss Universe crown (followed four years later, in 1973, by Margie Moran in Greece). Soon after, US Pres. Richard Nixon came for a visit and he mentioned in his speech, “Americawas conquered the moon but the Philippines conquered the universe.”

Philippines ratifies Maritime Labour Convention 2006

Six years after the Philippines became a signatory on so called international magna carta for seafarers rights, the Philippines has finally ratified the Maritime Labour Convention of 2006 (MLC2006). The Philippine Senate has passed last Monday, August 13, 2012, Senate Resolution 829 or the Resolution Concurring in the Ratification of Maritime Labour Convention, 2006.  making it the thirtieth country to ratify MLC 2006 and  one of the of the first thirty ratifying countries required for the convention to take effect.

With the  ratification by the Philippines  of the MLC 2006 by Philippines     last August 13, 2012  , 30 member States of the International Labour Organization (ILO) have now ratified this important Convention, which sets out minimum standards and fair working conditions for seafarers worldwide. While the first requirement for entry into force of the Convention – coverage of 33 per cent of the world gross tonnage – has already been attained, the ratification by Philippines  is an important step towards achieving the second requirement: 30 ratifying countries.  The MLC,2006 will  soon enter into force in 2012.

 

The convention was already ratified by 30 countries/ states, to wit: Liberia (June 7,2006), Marshall Islands (September 25, 2007 ), Bahamas (February 11,2008), Panama (February 6, 2009), Norway (February 10, 2009) , Bosnia and Herzegovina (January 18, 2010) , Spain (February 4, 2010), Croatia (February 12, 2010) , Bulgaria (April 12, 2010) , Canada (June 15, 2010),Saint Vincent and the Grenadines (November 9, 2010) , Switzerland (February 2, 2011), Gabon (May 12, 2011) Benin (June 13, 2011), and Singapore ( June 15, 2011). Denmark (June 23, 2011) Latvia (August 12, 2011)_ Antigua and Barbuda (August 11, 2011) , the Government of Luxembourg (19 September 2011), Kiribati (24 October 2011) Netherlands (December 2011) Australia (14 December 2011), Tuvalu (February 16, 2012) Saint Kiss and Nevis (February 21, 2012), Togo (March 14, 2012) Poland (May 3, 2012), Palau (May 29, 2012), Sweden (June 12, 2012) Cyprus (July 20, 2012) and Philippines.

Ratification is the formal act by which a state confirms and accepts the provisions of the convention concluded by its representatives. The purpose of ratification is to enable the contracting states to examine the convention more closely and to give them an opportunity to refuse to be bound by it should they find it inimical to their interests. It is for this reason that most treaties/conventions are made subject to the scrutiny and consent of a department of the government other than that which negotiated them. Ratification is generally held to be an executive act, undertaken by the head of the state or of the government, as the case may be, through which the formal acceptance of the treaty is proclaimed.

In the Philippine jurisdiction, the power to ratify is vested in the President and not, as commonly believed, in the legislature. The role of the Senate is limited only to giving or withholding its consent, or concurrence, to the ratification. The MLC 2006 will become valid and effective if concurred in by two-thirds of all the members of the Senate (Section 21, Article VII, 1987 Constitution.) This means it forms part of Philippine law by virtue of transformation. By an act of the legislature, the convention rules may be transformed into Philippine law, to be applied or enforced as part of Philippine law.

The MLC 2006 is an important new Convention that was adopted by the International Labour Conference of the ILO at a maritime session in February 2006 in Geneva, Switzerland. It sets out seafarers’ rights to decent conditions of work and helps to create conditions of fair competition for shipowners. It is intended to be globally applicable, easily understandable, readily updatable and uniformly enforced. The MLC , 2006 has been designed to become a global legal instrument that, once it enters into force, will be the “fourth pillar” of the international regulatory regime for quality shipping, complementing the key Conventions of the International Maritime Organization (IMO) such as the International Convention for the Safety of Life at Sea, 1974, as amended (SOLAS), the International Convention on Standards of Training, Certification and Watchkeeping, 1978, as amended (STCW) and the International Convention for the Prevention of Pollution from Ships, 73/78 (MARPOL). Between 1920 and 1996, a total of 39 Conventions, 29 Recommendations and one Protocol concerning seafarers have been adopted by the ILO.

The MLC contains a comprehensive set of global standards, based on those that are already found in 68 maritime labor instruments. It modernizes the global standards to: (a) set minimum requirements for seafarers to work on a ship; (b) address conditions of employment, accommodation, recreational facilities, food and catering, health protection, medical care, welfare and social security protection; (c) promote compliance by operators and owners of ships by giving governments sufficient flexibility to implement its requirements in a manner best adapted to their individual laws and practices; and (d) strengthen enforcement mechanisms at all levels, including provisions for complaint procedures available to seafarers, shipowners’ supervision of conditions on their ships, the flag States’ jurisdiction and control over their ships, and port State inspections of foreign ships.

The new Convention was perceied to   achieve the aim of near universal ratification because the Convention was adopted by a record vote of 314 in favour and none against (two countries abstained for reasons unrelated to the substance of the Convention), after nearly two weeks of detailed review by over 1,000 participants drawn from 106 countries.

Countries that ratify the Convention will require ship owners to put the standards in place before allowing seafarers aboard. And ratifying countries will have the right to inspect vessels for compliance before port calls are allowed. The Convention gives these countries the right to deny ships that are not compliant from sailing onwards. This applies to ships regardless whether the countries they are registered in have ratified the Convention or not.

The Philippines will definitely be one of the major beneficiaries of this convention. The Philippines is considered as the major supplier of maritime labor globally. Philippine Overseas Employment Administration (POEA) data showed that the deployed Filipino seafarers in 2006 (274,497), 2007 (266,553), 2008 (261,614), 2009 (330,424),  2010 (347,150),  2011 (400,000) brought in  the dollar remittances that have also  been constantly increasing from US$1.9B in 2006, US$2.2B in 2007 , US$3B in 2008, US$3.4B in 2009, US$3.8B in 2010 to S$4.3B in 2011. On the other hand, the Philippines as a flag State has a registered fleet comprising around 1.4% of total world tonnage.

Given the vast Philippine coast line (twice the size of the United States and nearly three times more than China), Filipinos have natural maritime instincts that place them at an advantage over other nationalities. Foreign shipowners are known to prefer Filipino seafarers for equally important qualities: dedication and discipline, industry, flexibility, loyalty, English language fluency, adaptability, positive work attitude, law-abiding, and problem-solving capability.

The Philippines can benefit from ratifying the Convention as a labour supplying state, flag or port state. The maritime labour convention is a good reference point for the Philippine’s formulation of laws and policies responsive to the conditions and contexts of seafarers. Ratification can serve as basis for technical assistance.

As the foremost seafarer-supplying country and a flag State with a registered fleet comprising around 1.4% of total world tonnage, it behooves upon Philippine social partners and stakeholders to determine the passage most beneficial to our national interests. The Philippine government properly ratified MLC2006 in order that it will be one of the thirty ratifying countries required for the convention to take effect

Flip the Frog and Fiddlesticks, first color sound cartoon.

DATELINE: AUGUST 16, 1930: Fiddlesticks  was released on August 16, 1930 as the first color sound cartoon ever produced.

Fiddlesticks is a ground-breaking 1930 animated cartoon film. It was the first animated sound cartoon that was photographed in two-strip Technicolor. It was also Ub Iwerks's first cartoon since he departed from Walt Disney's studio.

This is the first film in the Flip the Frog series. The recording system for this film was the same for Steamboat Willie. Flip is seen dancing on lilypads until he reaches land and dries himself off. He walks to a party, where he performs a dance for the audience, accidentally climbing to a spider web. He also performs a duet with an unnamed mouse on violin (some say it might be Mickey Mouse), and Flip on piano. They perform two songs, which on the first, the mouse starts crying, so does Flip and the piano. The second song makes Flip start hugging the piano, which kicks Flip. The cartoon ends with Flip beating on the piano - he kicks all the piano keys into the air, and they drop onto him

Flip was created by Ub Iwerks, animator for the Walt Disney Studios and a personal friend of Walt Disney in 1930, at the Iwerks Studios. After a series of disputes between the two, Iwerks left Disney and went on to accept an offer from Pat Powers to open a cartoon studio of his own and receive a salary of $300 a week, an offer that Disney couldn't match at the time. Iwerks was to produce new cartoons under Powers's Celebrity Pictures auspices and distributed by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. The first series he was to produce was to feature a character called Tony the Frog, but Iwerks disliked the name and it was subsequently changed to Flip.

Although the short looks to be very much like one of Iwerks's Silly Symphony endeavors, it attracted public attention by being the first color sound cartoon ever produced. The short was produced in two-color Technicolor and is the only Flip cartoon known to have been processed in color. However, some evidence indicates that the second Flip short, Flying Fists, may have been produced in Technicolor as well, and some have speculated that the later Techno-Cracked (1933) may have been photographed in Cinecolor. The Cinecolor process was a new two-strip color process that came out in 1932 and was considered superior to the two-strip Technicolor process. Iwerks would go on to make extensive use of this process with his ComiColor Cartoon series.

The unnamed mouse in the cartoon bears a striking resemblance to Mortimer Mouse, the original concept behind Mickey Mouse, both of whom were first animated by Ub Iwerks.

Basketball in the Olympics and the Philippine team

DATELINE: AUGUST 14, 1936 - The championship for the first basketball competition was held at the Olympic Games in Berlin, Germany. The U.S. defeated Canada, 19-8. The tournament was played between 7 August and 14 August 1936 in Berlin, Germany. 23 nations entered the competition, making basketball the largest tournament of the team sports.The International Basketball Federation, which is the governing body of international basketball, used the 1936 tournament to experiment with outdoor basketball.A total of 199 basketball players from 21 nations competed at the Berlin Games.

It is significant to note that the Philippine Basketball team made a fifth-place finish in the 1936 Summer Olympics, the best performance by a team outside the Americas, Europe and Oceania. the The Basketball Association of the Philippines (BAP) which was also formed in 1936) sent a team nicknamed "the Islanders" that participated in the first Olympic basketball tournament . With the tournament under a single-elimination tournament from the third game onwards, the Philippines won their first three games only to face the United States in their fourth game. The USA doubled the Philippines' score as they advanced to the next round. The Philippines wound up fifth place in the best finish by an Asian team in Olympic basketball history. Philippines defeated  Uruguay for fifth place with the points  33-23. The Philippines finished with a win-loss record of 4-1 and placed 5th overall. The country has participated in  seven Olympic Basketball Tournaments.

 The philippines won a bronze medal that year for athletics by Miguel White for  Men's 400m Hurdles

Men's medals:
Gold medalists	United States
Silver medalists	Canada
Bronze medalists	Mexico

						Philippine Team Roster: Berlin, 8 August 1936. Men's basketball match between Mexico, 3rd, and the Philippines (30-32) at the Games of the XI Olympiad. Credit: IOC/Olympic Museum collections Charles Borck Antonio Carillo Jacinto "Jumping Jack" Ciria Cruz Franco Marquicias Primitivo Martinez Jesus Marzan Amador Obordo Bibiano Ouano Miguel Pardo Ambrosio Padilla John Worrell Fortunato Yambao Head Coach: Dionisio "Chito" Calvo An article narrated the story of the Philippines
						Philippine National Basketball Team In The 1936 Olympics The Philippines participated in the first basketball tournament in the history of the Olympic games during the 1936 Berlin edition where basketball was played outdoors on lawn tennis courts ( which was terribly hampered by a bad rainy weather) and there were still no seats for spectators. Dr. James Naismith, acknowledged as the inventor of the beautiful game of basketball, was present at the Berlin Olympic basketball competitions and handed out the medals to the winning basketball teams. The 1936 Philippine Olympic basketball team, then widely known as the Islanders, was coached by Dionisio Calvo and represented by 6'1" Charles Borck, Jacinto "Jumping Jack" Ciria Cruz, Franco Marquicias, Primitivo Martinez, Jesus Marzan, Amador Obordo, Cebu basketball legend Bibiano Ouano, Ambrosio Padilla (team captain who later became a Senator), and Fortunato Yambao. John Worell was also listed but was unable to play a single basketball match. The Philippine basketball team draw a bye on the first round of the 1936 Olympic basketball competitions so they got right into the second round. Winners of the first round also advanced to the second round while losers play in the first consolation round. Winners in the first consolation round would go on to the second round while losers get eliminated. In the second round, the Philippines defeated first round winner Mexico, 32-30 to advance to the third round while relegating Mexico to the second consolation round. In the third round, The Philippine basketball stars outplayed Estonia, 39-22 advancing to the fourth round and eliminating Estonia. The United States and Peru drew byes in the third round. The Philippine basketball team faced a tough task in the fourth round of the 1936 Olympic basketball competitions as they had to beat the Americans to advance to the next round. The Filipinos however were clobbered, 56-23, thanks to the dominance of 6-foot-8 behemoth Joe Fortenberry. With the loss, the Philippines dropped out of medal contention in the 1936 Olympic basketball event. The United States went on to win the gold medal. Canada got the silver and Mexico, the basketball team that previously lost to the Philippines in the earlier stages won the bronze. In the preliminary matches of the classification stage for 5th to 8th places, The Philippines and Uruguay emerged victorious. Philippines defeated Italy, 32-14 while Uruguay defeated Peru by forfeiture. In the match for 5th place, Philippines defeated Uruguay, 33-23 and claimed the highest finish by any Asian basketball team in the Olympics to date.

Happy Left Handers Day

 DATELINE August 13: Happy Left Handed Day!

No-one has come up with a definitive reason for WHY some people are left-handed, but about 13% of the population around the world are, and it is thought to be genetic - it definitely runs in families.

The way the brain works is incredibly complex, but this simplified explanation will give you some understanding of where our left-hand dominance comes from. The brain is "cross-wired" so that the left hemisphere controls the right handed side of the body and vice-versa and hand dominance is connected with brain dominance on the opposite side - which is why we say that only left-handers are in their right minds

 

The left hemisphere (RIGHT HAND CONTROL) controls Speech, Language, Writing, Logic, Mathematics, Science, this is the LINEAR THINKING MODE.

The right hemisphere (LEFT HAND CONTROL) controls Music, Art, Creativity, Perception, Emotions, Genius, this is the HOLISTIC THINKING MODE

This brain dominance makes left-handers more likely than right handers to be creative and visual thinkers. This is supported by higher percentages of left-handers than normal in certain jobs and professions - music and the arts, media in general.  Left-handers are also generally better at 3-dimensional perception and thinking, leading, for example, to more left-handed architects than normal. Left-handers are also usually pretty good at most ball sports and things involving hand-to-eye co-ordination.

Left Handed trivia:

- Most left-handers draw figures facing to the right.

- There is a high tendency in twins for one to be left-handed

- Stuttering and dyslexia occur more often in left-handers (particularly if they are forced to change their writing hand as a child, like King of England George VI).

 -Left-handers adjust more readily to seeing underwater.

-Left-handers excel particularly in tennis, baseball, swimming and fencing

 -Left-handers usually reach puberty 4 to 5 months after right-handers

-4 of the 5 original designers of the Macintosh computer were left-handed

- 1 in 4 Apollo astronauts were left-handed - 250% more than the normal level.

-Left-handers are generally more intelligent, better looking, imaginative and multi-talented than right handers

Famous Left Handers : Prince William, Marilyn Monroe, Leonardo da Vinci, Jimi Hendrix, Martina Navratilova and Nicole Kidman.

Cleopatra's Suicide

DATELINE August 12, 30 BC: Cleopatra VII Philopator commited suicide, allegedly by means of an asp (Egyptian Cobra) bite . She is known to history as Cleopatra the last pharaoh of Ancient Egypt. In most depictions in literature and other media, Cleopatra is portrayed as a great beauty, and her successive conquests of the world's most powerful men are taken as proof of her aesthetic and sexual appeal.Cleopatra was said to have used her beauty to gain power, seducing rival rulers Julius Caesar and Mark Antony.

It is commonly known that the iconic beauty relied on minerals from the Dead Sea, her utmost beauty secret that lent radiance to her already regal appeal. Cleopatra herself went to great lengths to convert the Dead Sea into her very own natural spa, as the minerals further enhanced her looks. Dead Sea mud, in particular, contains minerals like zinc, magnesium, and potassium that are beneficial in developing healthy skin cells and eliminating bacteria and excess oil.

 

 The Death of Cleopatra (Spanish: La Muerte de Cleopatra), also known simply as Cleopatra, is an 1881 painting made by the Filipino painter Juan Luna. The famous painting was a silver medalist or second prize winne during the 1881 National Exposition of Fine Arts in Madrid (Exposicion Nacional de Bellas Artes). The 1881 Madrid painting contest was Luna's first art exposition.Because of the exposure, Luna received a pension scholarship at the Ayuntamiento de Manila. After the painting competition, Luna sold it for 5,000 Spanish pesetas,the highest price for a painting at the time.As Luna's "graduation work", The Death of Cleopatra was acquired by the Spanish government for one thousand duros.

Fraternity and the Culture of violence

(Article originally published in Yahoo News  )

The death of San Beda Law student Marc Andrei Marcos due to hazing once again causes pain and  frustration to many who can't  understand why fraternities have to be brutal and violent in the screening of their members.

Raymund Narag, a  member of Scintilla Juris fraternity when he was studying at the University of the Philippines, was imprisoned for almost seven years in connection with the death of another  fratman, Dennis Venturina of Sigma Rho, during a rumble at the U.P in 1994.

He has written several articles posted in his blog (www.raymundnarag.wordpress.com)  which he shares to the public for a better understanding of what he calls "the brotherhood".

Hopefully, these senseless deaths  would stop.

The introduction of  one of Narag's articles, titled "My Honor," gives a glimpse  of how his life had been turned upside down by the tragedy:

"I will graduate with honors. This April 20 and 21, 2002, the UP National College of Public Administration and Governance (NCPAG) and the University of the Philippines will confer upon me my bachelor's degree Cum Laude. I will march tall and proud together with other graduates seven years younger than my batch.

"I should have graduated April 27, 1995. Unfortunately, just three days before the commencement exercises, a warrant of arrest was issued against me. I was allegedly part of a youthful brawl that caused the death of a young promising man. Together with other 10 other accused, I voluntarily surrendered to police authorities and submitted myself to the courts. Instead of a diploma, I showed my parents the papers taking me away from their custody and placing me under detention. Instead of marching to the stage with the applause of friends and relatives, I dragged my feet to the prison cell. My parents figuratively died. My family uprooted.

"I languished in jail for six years, nine months and four days. I endured the full length of a criminal prosecution, or more appropriately, persecution. I patiently waited for the day of freedom, counting the days, weeks, months, and years as they come one by one. I silently bore the humiliation of getting out of the cells with handcuffs. I chivalrously let go the love of my life when she asked a time out because she had been too pressured to defend our situation. I accepted my fate peacefully— knowing that there is a reason for everything."

Raymund E. NaragIn his article, The Brotherhood", Narag said, "the fraternity system has become a big black hole that sucks these young promising men to their graves. The fraternity as an institution, despite its noble and lofty ideals, has degenerated into becoming a barbaric gang. Internally, its organizational structure has become so hierarchically feudal, with the head becoming the law and the members losing their individuality. Externally, it has imbibed the culture of the tribesmen and treats other tribes as an unforgivable "enemy".

More excerpts: "The seeds of violence are sown into the heart of a frat man the moment he enters the fraternity. The rites of passage required before an applicant can be considered a "brother" is a ritual replete with physical and psychological violence. By testing the mettle through pain and humiliation, the new members are inducted to become blood brothers.

"The physical violence impinged on frat member during initiations becomes the rational for the acceptability of the other forms of violence. The members accept the violence as a normal practice. "

Narag said discussed the Code of Silence among frat members that makes difficult making accountable those responsible for the death of the those young men due to hazing.

"The fraternities anchor their strength on secrecy. Like the Sicilian code of omerta, fraternity members are bound to keep the secrets from the non-members. They have codes and symbols the frat members alone can understand. They know if there are problems in campus by mere signs posted in conspicuous places. They have a different set of communicating, like inverting the spelling of words, so that ordinary conversations cannot be decoded by non-members.

"The code of silence reinforces the feeling of elitism. The fraternities are worlds of their own. They are sovereign in their existence. They have their own myths, conceptualization of themselves and worldviews. Save perhaps to their alumni association, they do not recognize any authority aside from the head of the fraternity."

Narag said "Not all frat members however share the inclination or penchant for rumble and violence. In a fraternity there are more cool heads than hotheads. Perhaps in every ten members, there could be eight cool heads and only two hot heads. However, the cool heads are the silent majority in the fraternity. They seldom speak during meetings and are not elected during frat elections. Their opinions and views on how to run the affairs of the fraternity are not properly and openly articulated. The cool heads have no identity in the frat. They are lost in the multitude. They do not know each other. They do not even know that they exist. Their longing for peace is gobbled up by the voice of the hotheads."

He encouraged  victims to  speak now.

" The victims are not mere accidents. They are flesh and blood who would carry the bitter experience throughout their lives. They should break the code of silence and voice their concern over the growing barbarism of the institution that they belong. The victims should speak saying that all those who ever held a paddle and lead pipe are all guilty to the fate that had befallen them. The victims must initiate the voice: the enemy here is not the "other" fraternity, the enemy is ourselves. The culprit is the culture of violence that engulfs the fraternity system."

He  ended his article with "Here is the first voice."