Sunday, January 11, 2009

Ooooopssss!!!

My sister, who is in 4th grade, has an assignment to look for signage errors. I was astonished by the photos she got from the net. DISCLAIMER: This post is not to belittle the establishments having these signage. Neither disparage the capacity of "some" of our countrymen who were not that well-versed in English language (just like me). Here are only few of those erratic signage with mind-boggling content. (LOL).


Whew! I'd rather go swimming.



Hihi they'll bring their biodeta.


Hmmmm...


What??? Then were should we enter? haha


Whew! I'm totally lost... Hmm mabaliktad nga damit ko...


Callling the attention of the fallen objects, beware!Ü


No txt spk pls...


I'm starving with those mouth-watering deli by sandwiche.


yep I'll keep "distans".

ROTTING!!!

Oh! A place of beauty and serenity
A true gift of nature to humanity.
The scent of the flowers that grow wildly
And the music of flowing rivers calms me.

A utopia as everyone wanted to be.
Full of beauty and mystery
Indeed, this is the place...
A place next to perfection and quality.

Through the velvet shadows of the savage beasts unseen,
Turned this paradise into hell.
Voices of the innocent craving for help
Remained soft and never heard.

Beyond the portals of the seen beauty,
Bursting out its extreme putridity.
Give an ear to the grudge of the fairies,
And feel its concord and tranquility.

Who's to blame with this putrefaction?!
Soon! This place will perish...
No more trees, no more flowers,
No more flowing rivers, no more...
BEAST!!!

Sunday, December 28, 2008

Poinsettia


It was very delightful when I saw our poinsettia in our backyard and its leaves were turning red. After a year of being plain and green, this lovely plant boast its beauty. A Christmas plant indeed!

Happy Holidays!!!

One thing I missed during this season is the "Karoling" (Christmas Carol). When I was a kid, we used to go karoling in our village. We are making our homemade instruments like the kalansing and the drums. Come six o'clock in the evening make way for the carolers to scram through the houses, singing different Christmas carols along the streets. After the karoling, we are dividing the money we got. Its quite relieving, reminiscing these treasures of youth. Below is a picture of the kalansing, a homemade drum (made out of a can of milk plus a stick) and later on, a guitar we're using.




Here's a sample of the Christmas Carol medley we used to sing:

Kay sigla ng gabi ang lahat ay kay saya
Nagluto ang ate ng manok na tinola
Sa bahay ng kuya ay merong litsunan pa
Ang bawat tahana'y may handang iba't-iba

Tayo na giliw, magsalo na tayo
Meron na tayong tinapay at keso
Di ba noche buena sa gabing ito?
At bukas ay araw ng pasko.

Sa paskong... darating...
Santa Klaws mo'y ako rin...
Pagkat kayong lahat ay naging masunurin.
Dadalhan... ko kayo...
Ng mansanas at ubas.
May kendi at tsokolate
Peras, kastananyas na marami
Sa araw ng pasko
Wag nang malulumbay
Ipagdiwang ang araw
Habang nabubuhay.

Thank you! Thank You!
Ang babait ninyo!
Thank you!

This is one of the Filipino traditions and a youthful experience that I will always reminisce during this season. Sad to say that, this tradition is deteriorating nowadays. =(

Tuesday, December 16, 2008

Dito sa Veranda

Habang lumalalim ang gabi,
Lalong hindi mapakali
Masilayan lang ang iyong ngiti
Ikaw ay hihintayin anumang sandali.

Kung mga tala lamang ang tanging tanglaw,
At ang gabi'y lalong mapanglaw,
Hinihintay na ikaw ay matanaw
Pagkat sa aking puso, laman ay ikaw.

Dito sa veranda ako ay nakatunghay
Kahit mga mata ay tumatamlay,
Kalaban ma'y antok, diwa ay binubuhay,
'Pag di ka nasilayan, ako'y malulumbay.

Ligaya ka ng buhay ko
Ikaw ang tibok ng aking puso
Matagal nang ramdam ito,
Puso ko'y sadyang binihag mo.

Nagkasya nalang sa pagtingin
Pagkat imposibleng ika'y mapasaakin,
Langit at lupa man ang agwat natin,
Pag-ibig mo'y dinadalangin pa rin.

Nakaupo hanggang bukang-liwayway
Dito sa veranda ako'y nakaantabay
Sa iyong mga ngiti, bati at kaway
Aking pag-asa ay nagkakaron ng kulay.

Dito sa veranda ako'y liligaya
Pagkat dito tayo madalas magkita.
Dito sa veranda kita hihintayin,
Nang ang iyong puso'y mapasaakin.

Dito sa veranda... Ligaya...

An Epitaph for Papa

A man who lived a life of righteousness,
Showed the world nothing but cheer and kindness,
A faithful army of God 'til his last breath
As his legacy remains, we'll do the rest.

How do airplanes fly?

When I was a kid, I wanted to become a pilot. I was so amazed whenever I saw an airplane cruising up in the sky. A lot of questions keep bugging my mind. If it carries passenger, then it may be as huge as a bus, a train or even larger, then how can it fly? Out of curiosity, a lot of children would always ask their parents “How do airplanes fly?” Most of the time, the parents would give a wrong answer, “Airplanes fly because they have engines which makes them fly.” This has been the misconception of a lot of people, I also thought that way before. Yes, it may be a factor, but it is not the reason why airplanes fly.

Now that I am studying about airplanes, I can somehow answer my queries about them. If a child would ask me how airplanes fly, I’ll let him look at a flying bird and ask him how does a bird flies, the very simple answer would be, “Because they have wings.” Same way with an airplane, it flies because of its wings. The engine, whether a propeller or a jet, doesn’t make the airplane fly, it produces thrust but never produces lift.

Take for example a kite. To start flying a kite, the flyer has two options: 1. Run quickly while pulling the kite as it flies up opposing the wind and 2. Let someone throw the kite up in the air as the flyer pulls the string. The pulling of the string accelerates the movement of the kite which generates thrust. This thrust, then, produces lift as it opposes the direction of the wind which pushes the kite upwards. The flyer may then loosen the string to release tension and to increase its altitude, fairly enough to control the stability of the kite. Without enough wind or air, the kite will sink or stall. Like a kite, an airplane also deals with different forces acting on it in order to fly and relies greatly on the relative wind.

Technically Speaking…


In order to understand what makes an airplane fly, he must know the basic concept of the Theory of Flight, particularly about Aerodynamics, which came from the Greek words aerios which means air and dynamis which means force. Thus, aerodynamics is a study of forces and motions of objects through air. There are four aerodynamic forces acting on an airplane during its flight, they are: (A)lift, (B)thrust, (C)weight and (D)drag. These forces were acting perpendicularly along the Center of Gravity (C.G.) of an aircraft. The pilot deals with these forces during flight. See the figure below.



For a level flight, it is assumed that lift is equal to the weight, while the thrust is equal to the drag. In order to climb, lift must be greater than the weight. Hence, lift is directly proportional with the altitude; as lift increases the altitude increases, thus creating a climb. On the other hand, when thrust is greater than the drag, the airplane speeds up; while a decrease in thrust would make the airplane slow down.

Understanding the effects of these forces on the stability and control of an airplane let us now investigate on their nature and how are they produced. To start with; is the weight; the simplest yet the very important factor in flying an aircraft, all of the other forces depend greatly on the weight. It is the gravitational pull of the aircraft towards the center of the earth. In order to fly, a flyer must overcome or overpower the weight of an aircraft. Next is the thrust or the forward force of an airplane. It is produced by the engine or – most of the time – called the powerplant of an airplane. It may be a jet or a propeller. The engine, literally, sucks air from the environment. This air is very massive, such that, it has the power to move the airplane forward. This determines the propulsion system of an airplane. The more power produced by the engine, the more it produces thrust. Next would be the drag or the force that pulls the airplane backwards. We can correlate it with friction. This force can be determined by the structure of an airplane and its design. Any blockage or disturbance of air flowing along the surface of an airplane will produce drag, reacting inversely on the thrust. And lastly is the most vital and very important force is the lift. Without lift, the airplane will not fly. Lift must be greater than the weight of the airplane so that it will ascend. It can be produced by the wings and depends greatly on the wing’s airfoil characteristics and design. The pilot can increase lift by retracting the wing flaps down and increasing the throttle setting, or the thrust, at the same time. This is very important during take-off to lift the airplane off the ground.

This is the basic concept on how airplanes fly. In a very simple, yet factual way, an airplane fly because of the forces acting on it, most especially the lift, which was entailed by the upward force of the wind acting on the airplane’s wings. This action pushes the airplane upwards, which causes it to fly.