UNDER WATER PARADISE in the PHILIPPINES

If you watch Discovery Channel or the National Geographic Channel, you probably watched an episode about the Amazon rainforest in South America. The Amazon rainforest is a treasure worth conserving; the variety of life on earth has never been represented as colorful as that by the Amazon rainforest.

Carpenter and fellow researcher Victor Springer of the Smithsonian Institute were the ones who discovered in 2004 that the Philippines, not the Indonesia, was the center of the marine shore fish biodiversity in the world. Carpenter also said that the Passage is one of the most thretened marine areas in the world.

DIVER’S PARADISE

Although there is no commercial fishing in the area, Verde Island Passage is one of the world’s most spectacular areas for aquarium fish. According to Antonio Ramon Ongsiako, a businessmam from Manila who frequents Verde Island, Pulong Bato (a 1.17 hectare fish-rich reef formation off Verde Island and a protected marine sanctuary) is among the world’s best diving spots.

The marine eden is so rich that fishermen can scoop out foot-long eels and tiny shrimps at the water’s edge.

SOURCE OF LIVELIHOOD

Verde Island Passage provides livelihood to local residents. In fact, aquarium fishing has replaced commercial fishing as a means of livelihood for the island’s residents.

The First Philippine Conservation Inc, a private sector foundation, has been educating the residents about how to conserve rather than to exploit Verde Island’s Resources. It has helped displaced fishermen find alternative jobs and educate aquarium fishermen on conservation values.

A HERITAGE TO CONSERVE

Carpenter said also that the area is a marine biodiversity epicenter that represents a nation’s heritage and is a global obligation to protect.

President Gloria Arroyo formed a government task force to ensure the passage’s protection, conservation, and sustainable use. At the National Biodiversity Conference held last 2006 at Verde Island Resort in Sitio Subukin, Verde Islands, Batangas, President Arroyo announced the Verde Island Marine Corridor as a marine sanctuary and protected area.

GROWING UP LEARNING

   

ANESTHESIA: Numbing Man’s Pain

About 150 years ago, surgery was performed without any anesthetics. A patient had to be held down by strong men as he or she battled to escape the pain of the surgeon’s knife. surgeons even resorted to stupefying their patients with alcohol, knocking them unconsciou, or freezing with ice the part to be operated on.

But all of these changed when anesthesia was developed.

the first time an anesthetic was used was on March 30, 1842, in Georgia, United States when Dr. Crawford Long removed a tumor from the neck of James Venable, who first inhaled ether, a colorlss, transparent, and volatile liquid. But Dr. Long did not publish his work until 1848, so the credit of the discovery was given to William Morton, a dentist who demonstrated in public the extraction of a tooth using ether to numb pain.

At about the same time in the United States, nitrous oxide, also known as the “LAUGHING GAS” was also being used as an anesthetic for dental surgery. In Britain, research was being done on the uses of Chloroform to relieve the pain of childbirth.

Without these early attempts in the use of anesthetics, most of today’s surgical operations would not be possible.

Today  there are basically three types of ANESTHESIA: General, Regional and Local Anesthesia. 

With these methods, major operations such as heart transplants, cosmetic surgery, and removal of cancer, are possible without pain.

ARE YOU A COMPUTER ADDICT???

            You feel empty when you are not surfing the Net.You wake up early or stay up late working on the computer. You believe your best friends are those whom you met only online.
            These are all symptoms of a new form of addictionthat has emerged only in recent yaers– COMPUTER ADDICTION. 
 
CAN’T JUST STOP
            The definition of computer addiction is quite fuzzy because the term covers a wide range of addictions. But most experts agree that when you use computer so often that you can’t already do your other activities, and if you unable to stop using the computer despite negative consequences, you are already a COMPUTER ADDICT.

There are those people who are literally addicted to the computer as a physical object. They become addicted to activities performed on the computer, like instant messaging, playing online games, chacking the e-mail, and reading blogs or posts on newsgroups. These activities are collectively referred to as COMPUTER-MEDIATED COMMUNICATION (CMC). On the other hand, computer addiction focused on Internet use is often called INTERNET ADDICTION DISORDER (IAD).

SYPTOMS

As with any addiction, there are also signs in computer addiction. Here is a list of signs and symptoms of computer addiction. Here are the symptoms you have to watch for:

1. You use computer for pleasure, gratification, or relief from stress.
2. You feel irritable and out of control or depressed when you’re not using the computer.
3. You spend increasing amounts of time and money on hardware, software, magazines, and computer-related activities.
4. You neglect work, school, or family obligations.
5. You lie about the amount of time you spent on computer activities.
6. You fail to control your computer use, even if you have tried so many times already.

NEGATIVE EFFECTS

Excessive computer use affects your social, emotional, and physical, well-being. As you spend more and more time on the computer, you spend less and less time for your family and friends, thus relationship begun to suffer.

Using a mouse and a keyboard for many hours everyday may lead to repetitive stress injuries. Sitting at computer desks for a long time causes back problems. Late-night computer sessions cut into sleep time, leading to sleep deprivation.

Someone who spends hours at a computer is obviously not getting any excercise, so computer addiction can indirectly lead to poor overall physical condition and even obesity.

PREVENTIVE TIPS

If you want to get “rehabilitated,” here are some helpful tips:

1. make specific time limits. Set an alarm to go off in 1 hour and end computer time when it rings.
2. Set aside “computer-free” parts of the day. If your computer use starts after dinner and extends into the night, get all computer work done in the morning; don’t touch your computer after dinner.
3. Install software to restrict your access to websites that you visit compulsively. Find a friend that you can trust to keep the passwords for the software so you can circumvent it.
4. Make a list of things you could be accomplishing instead of wasting time on the computer, and post it prominently near your monitor.
5. Enlist family members to help encourage you to limit your use. It might be difficult to stop on your own.
6. Put the computer in high-traffic area of the house. With others looking over your shoulder all the time, you’ll be less likely to overuse the computer. This is especially effective for parents who fear excessive computer use in their children.