Kalapati: May Negosyo ka na May Pet ka pa.

Photographer: Giodeth Xyza

Ang kalapati o kadalasang tinatawag na Pigeon sa ingles ay isang uri ng ibon na miyembro ng Columbidae (doves and pigeons).

Domesticated ang mga ito o ibig sabihin ay maaari natin silang alagaan sa ating bakuran  at ituturing din nilang tirahan ang tirahan natin.

Karamihan sa mga kalapating makikita natin ay "native" at may mga nag-aalaga rin naman ng mga imported type na tinatawag na "racing pigeon."

Ang native type ay kadalasang may taglay na kulay asul, brown, gray at batik ang mga balahibo at may kaliitan ang butas ng ilong. Ang mga racing type naman ay halos puti ang kulay at malalaki ang butas ng ilong--isang palatandaan na itinuro sa akin ng mga sanay na sa pag-aalaga ng kalapati.

Pinaniniwalaan din na mas matatalino ang racing type kaysa sa native. Noon kasi, uso sa mga nag-aalaga ng kalapati ang karera kung saan pipili ka ng pinaka-domesticated upang isali dito.

Ang sistema ng laro, magkasabay na pawawalan ng magkatungali ang kalapati sa malayong lugar at ang kalapati na unang makakabalik sa tirahan ay ang magwawagi.

Noong kabataan ko, nakahiligan naming magpipinsan ang pag-aalaga ng kalapati. Madali kasi silang paramihin at hindi maselan sa pagkain. Nakakatuwa ring pagmasdan na sabay-sabay silang lumilipad sa himpapawid habang umiikot-ikot sa malapit sa ating tahanan. At kapag napaamo mo sila ng tuluyan, maaari mo rin silang hawakan ng hindi natatakot sa 'yo.



Pagpaparami


Kung gusto natin silang paramihin, kailangan mo lang silang gawan ng mga tirahan na may sukat ng mas malaki ng kaunti sa kahon ng sapatos at lagyan ng pinto na kasya lamang sila.

Monogamous at territorial ang mga kalapati kaya sa isang kahon na magagawa mo, isang pares na babae at lalaki lamang ang pwedeng tumira. Kapag nagustuhan nila ang bahay nila, dito na sila magsisimulang bumuo ng kani-kanilang pamilya.

Ang babaeng kalapati ay kayang maglabas ng hanggang dalawang itlog. Kapuwa ang lalaki at babaeng kalapati ang mag-iincubate nito sa loob ng 19 araw. Sa loob lamang ng isa o dalawang buwan ay may mga inakay na kalapati ka na.

May mga natural na kalaban din ang kalapati tulad ng pusa, daga at aso. Kaya mas mabuting ilagay sa mataas na lugar ang kanilang tirahan.


Pagbebenta


Madaling ibenta ang mga kalapati. Noong kabataan ko ay P30.00 lang ang isang pares, ngayon ay pumapatak ng P300.00 to P500.00 ang isang pares.

Mas mahal nag mga racing type at ang mga kalapating kulay puti dahil ito ang kadalasang ginagamit sa mga seremonya ng kasal.

The Adjustment Bureau and Source Code: Newer Than New Movies

The Adjustment Bureau

2011 - A film by George Nolfi.

This Movie stars Matt Damon (The Bourne Series) and Emily Blunt (The Devil Wears Prada). One of the two movies that flushed off my creative thinking while watching it. Unlike the traditional movies where I seem to know what the characters are going to do and say next, this one's utterly different.

I'm not gonna give away details about the movie for every seconds of this movie is worth watching for. Just try watching it yourself and you'll know what I mean.

-oOo-

Source Code

2011. - A movie by Duncan Jones.

Primary characters are Jake Gyllenhaal (Brokeback Mountain) and Michelle Monaghan (Due Date).

The second movie that staged one question "Am I becoming dumbed?" in my mind while watching it.

Yes, the movies had so dumbfounded me that  halfway down the movie, I was beginning to wonder if my age had gotten much of a toll. That no matter how I tried, I failed on my every guess on what next scene was going to yield.

It's but so unusual for me to enjoy the feeling of having to know what the character in the movie is going to do and say next but I find it more alluring to know that I couldn't guess what was going to.

Like The Adjustment Bureau, I'm not going to say anything about this movie. The best thing to watch these movies is to watch them without watching the trailers which gave away so much about them.

-oOo-

To sum it up,  I thought Hollywood movies are going to be recursive.  Sci-fi, war and drama's seem to be like on the repetitive stance. War movies where in Americans always emerge victorious, horror movies that were mixed with love stories and sci-fi movies that awes the viewers with sophisticated and state of the art visual effects. All of which are "New" but seemed "Old" to me.

Now, with these two new movies. I can really say that they are "Newer" than the "New" movies nowadays.

I guess this proves the ingenuity of the Americans when it comes to the aspect of keeping Hollywood from railing off the track. It's a magnificent reality that allows us to expect more of these movies in the future.

Pacquiao for President?

Sa harap ng mga Mexicans, hindi ko alam kung nagbibiro lang ba o hindi ng ihayag ni pinoy ring icon Manny Pacquiao na tatakbo siya sa pagka-presidente sa 2016.


Nito po kasing huling interview sa kanya, tila ba kinabig niya ang nauna na niyang binitiwang pahayag.


Kung totoo man sa kanya ang sinabi niya sa mga mehikano, tila yata hindi naisip ni Manny na may mali sa sinabi niya. Tila kasi lalabas na wala talaga siyang alam sa batas o mahihina ang kukote ng mga advisers na nakapalibot sa kanya.


Ayon po kasi sa Article 7, Section 2 ng Philippine Constitution, maaari lang tumakbo sa pagkapresidente ang isang Filipino kung  hindi siya bababa sa 40 taong gulang. Sa 2016, si Manny Pacquaio ay 37 years old pa lang. Ibig sabihin, hindi siya qualified.


Kung tutuusin po, bagaman  high school drop out si Pacquiao, maari po siyang tumakbo sa pagka-pangulo dahil ang hinihingi lang ng Konstitusyon ay dapat marunong siyang bumasa at sumulat, pinanganak na Filipino at naninirahan sa Pilipinas 10 taon bago ang eleksyon.


Kaya lang, kahit gustuhin man niya, hindi pa maari. He needs to wait.


Para sa mga taong walang tiwala sa kakayahan ni Pacquiao na pamunuan ang Pilipinas bilang presidente, makakahinga po kayo ng maluwag dahil eligible lang siya sa taong 2019 o 2020. 


Sabi nga ng kaibigan ko, "Mahilig palang tumakbo si Pacquiao, bakit hindi na lang siya sumali sa takbuhan? "

Tama nga naman, baka may talent din siya dun. Sa 100-meter dash kaya, pwede?

Tutubi: Kalaban o Kakampi?

Photographer: Eger Deang

Ang tutubi o dragonfly sa ingles ay isang uri ng insekto na nabibilang sa grupo ng Odonata. Sa kabila ng mga paniniwala na ang tutubi ay nangangagat ng tao ay nananatiling harmless ang mga ito sa atin.

Naalala ko pa ng kabataan ko, na halos maubos ang oras namin sa panghuhuli ng tutubi sa mga bukirin. Naging bahagi na ng ating kabataan ang paghanga at paghabol sa kahanga-hangang insektong ito.

Lingid sa kaalaman natin, ang mga delicate na insektong ito ay malaki ang naitutulong sa atin upang makontrol ang mga insektong nagdadala ng mga sakit tulad ng lamok.

Opo, mga kaibigan, kinakain din nila ang mga lamok kabilang na ang mga lamok na nagtataglay ng nakakatakot na dengue.

Bagaman ilang bahagi lang ng populasyon ng mga lamok ang nakakakain nila, mahalaga pa rin ang partisipasyon nila sa biological equilibrium.

Hindi man sila ang sagot sa tuluyang pagkaubos ng mga lamok ay malaki ang naitutulong nila sa pagbawas ng populasyon nito.

Kaya sa tanong na kung ang tutubi ba ay kalaban o kakampi natin? Alam na po siguro natin ang kasagutan.

The Judgmental You

Photographer: Ralp Villaver Cuevo

Most people nowadays seem to have become judgmental. I wonder why?

Is it because it’s much easier to perceive an irrational thought rather than to dwell in a more reasonable thinking?

Seventeen years ago, at the same month and at the same time, I was sitting in front of a 386 computer and staring at a Viewsonic CRT monitor.

That was seventeen years ago. Surprisingly, here I am right now; a bit aged and doing the same thing. Only this time, the Viewsonic wasn’t a CRT anymore but an 18.5 wide-LCD.

I was thinking of how so many things had happened to me during those years. Things that I never thought I could go through with.

People may see me as I am right now but there is so little thing they know about me.

They may know me as a cheerful and always smiling person or it may be the other way around. I’ve been of course, accused of being hot-tempered a couple of times and I never contested to that for it may be or may not be true.

But how people look at me is the same as how most people tend to look at others.

Shallow. That is the right word for it.

The truth is I don’t really care.  People know too little about me that having said that, I’ve learned to disregard their biased observation and dismiss their passive judgmental thinking.

Ironically, those who would often say negative about me did seem to be worse than I did.

I don’t feel sorry for their lack of enthusiasm for digging a deeper sense of understanding rather than go quickly in to saying things which are not of value, but I do feel sorry for their lack of courage to say those things in front of me.

What do they know about me?

Not much.

I have slowly inched my way to where I am right now. It is not the typical thing that you get overnight.

I’ve learned to be patient and came to realization that I should push myself to be self-motivated to do things which I knew others would not care to do for me. And that was not easy.

For instance, they see me type rapidly on keyboard nowadays. I just don’t know why someone feels obliged to comment immediately after that because most of the time I would hear them saying “Ang bilis mo mag-type. Ilang taon ka na sigurong nagpa-practice.”

But did they know that I worked as a typist before? No of course not.

I smile at the idea that most people think I learned to blind-type in school and that how they think I was persistent. It just adds more proof to my view that people tend to quickly judge others by what they see in what you do.

Did I ask to be like that? The answer is segment of yes.

There’s a difference between having to do something because you like it and having to do something because you need it. It’s a matter of a “no-choice” situation.

Back then, I got lucky to have been hired as a typist. Those were the days that work was scarce and job hunting was as difficult as finding needle on the haystack.

But was being a typist an easy job?

Imagine you to be typing more or less 100 pages each day for 6 days a week and earning 115 pesos a day. All other living expenses which include food and clothing must be taken from that as well. How long do you think you could go on with it?

It took me a whole damn year before I realized it was not getting me anywhere anymore.

Whatever came after that was another part of history and I could go on and on but I wouldn’t want to waste your precious time reading about my sad stories.

I was merely trying to point out how I loathed people with shallow minds who were so free enough to stick their noses on other people’s life that they knew so little about.

People who always use their selves as example; people who think they know everything.

Honestly, I don’t hide my dismay when someone says “He should have done this.” Don’t be surprised if you see me walking away from you while you talk about shit before me. I’m just being what I am.

I do believe that one’s assertiveness on what they think about others can be controlled. Although at some point it may not, I still think that we should at least try not to be.

We are living in a bizarre world where they say the fittest are the ones who survive most. If this is true, shouldn’t we be thinking about how we should think and talk about others?

After all, they are still here. It only means that they are as good as you as well.