A few months ago, by accident from a book* I read, I learned of another thirteen-century Franciscan monk. It was suggested that praying to Saint Anthony can help us find lost items.
Incidentally, that book is about how a distraught family found their lost puppy in a remote wooded area. During the searches for its little dog, the family’s ordeal in losing a pet became a community’s challenge. Total strangers offered their unconditional assistance to find the reddish-color dog. A few of the good people whom the family met on scouring the area where their strayed pup was last seen asked the family pray to Saint Anthony. And the story of finding Huck did end well to everyone’s satisfaction.
Not long after I read of Saint Anthony in Huck, I did put what I learned from that book to good use when I misplaced my personal items. I resorted to Saint Anthony on many occasions when I was not able to locate keys, eyeglasses and some other trivial personal articles. And soon after my plead for the patron saint's divine intervention, the lost items reappeared.
The other day at the mall, before heading home, I discovered I had left my favorite jacket behind in the mall. After I exhausted the logic that helped me trace my whereabouts in the busy mall, I remembered to ask Saint Anthony for help. Eureka! By the time I made the beeline the second time to the mall’s Lost and Found department, a beige-color jacket was on the counter there waiting to be returned to its rightful owner. - Ayee
*Janet Elder, Huck, 2010
Monday, December 26, 2011
Thursday, December 22, 2011
Mental Fatigue (II)
Imagine how an average person would fare at his work place if he has not had sufficient sleep to rejuvenate himself after a day’s hard work.
According to Bloomberg News, the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) is making changes in the airline pilots’ work schedules. These changes will make the pilots work less and rest more between flights. Aiming at improving public safety, after the changes are implemented, the airline pilots must have a 10-hour rest period before they are allowed to taking on their next flying assignment. These amendments are to ensure the professionals in the cockpit of a jetliner have at least eight hours of uninterrupted sleep before taking command of their next flight.
I remember in April this year many air-controllers were found snoozing over their control module. But the sky above us does appear to be friendlier after the government stepped in and amended the air-controllers’ inhumane work schedule. Even though the benefits of such changes are hard to quantify, I am sure the FAA’s changes in pilots’ future working condition will have the same positive effect as what the government had done to the air-controllers’ in the past. - Ayee
According to Bloomberg News, the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) is making changes in the airline pilots’ work schedules. These changes will make the pilots work less and rest more between flights. Aiming at improving public safety, after the changes are implemented, the airline pilots must have a 10-hour rest period before they are allowed to taking on their next flying assignment. These amendments are to ensure the professionals in the cockpit of a jetliner have at least eight hours of uninterrupted sleep before taking command of their next flight.
I remember in April this year many air-controllers were found snoozing over their control module. But the sky above us does appear to be friendlier after the government stepped in and amended the air-controllers’ inhumane work schedule. Even though the benefits of such changes are hard to quantify, I am sure the FAA’s changes in pilots’ future working condition will have the same positive effect as what the government had done to the air-controllers’ in the past. - Ayee
Saturday, December 17, 2011
Homes on Wheels (ll)
May be it is becuase the Magic Kingdom is nearby, for the people in Seminole County, Florida, Christmas has come early this year.
Voluntary aids from private citizens to the homeless in Florida brought hope and comfort to many wayward citizens there. Now the parents whom Scott Pelley interviewed in his previous reports on 60 Minutes are no longer unemployed. Their families, including the one lived in a yellow truck, are off the street and have secured living space they can call home. And that little girl who with her two dogs and a cat used to live in her family sedan will also have a real roof under which she can hang Christmas tinsels this year.
Who said there is no Santa Claus? - Ayee
Voluntary aids from private citizens to the homeless in Florida brought hope and comfort to many wayward citizens there. Now the parents whom Scott Pelley interviewed in his previous reports on 60 Minutes are no longer unemployed. Their families, including the one lived in a yellow truck, are off the street and have secured living space they can call home. And that little girl who with her two dogs and a cat used to live in her family sedan will also have a real roof under which she can hang Christmas tinsels this year.
Who said there is no Santa Claus? - Ayee
Tuesday, December 13, 2011
School Uniform
Seeing a teenage girl in a pair of tights in public is no longer a big deal. But what unusual about what I saw on a chilly day are the file of young high school boys cheering a few feet behind the girl in leg-huggers and her cohorts. I am sure the girls in front heard the jeering from these boisterous fellows behind them loud and clear. The tights this girl wore that day were definitely not the normal attires anyone would wear to school.
Perhaps, it is a high time we bring uniform back to all schools.
I remember the days when school uniform was debated in earnest. Unfortunately, freedom of expression and extra clothing costs had tramped over the good senses why uniform is still in vogue in some schools.
The scene of that girl in tights reminds me of the times when all school kids were required to wear uniform to school. They were the times when children did not have to express themselves through the type of clothes they wore.
We have all heard of traditional schools. Wearing school uniform is one of the many rules such schools require of their impressionable pupils. While many kids in schools where students can dress up as they please have floundered, more of their counterparts in traditional schools are flourishing with good behaviors, good grades and bright futures. These kids have certainly expressed themselves well under the plain uniform they proudly wear.
On the cost side of the debates, in these days and ages school uniforms are bargains when we compare the price of a set of basic uniforms to the cost of a pair of specially labeled jeans. Today, young people latch their fashion choices on the whims of their favorite pop star. And we all know how fickle some pop stars are.
It may be a far-fetched notion. I have also thought of having the kids worn uniform to school may lessen bullying in school. Uniform does give us a feeling of affiliation and belonging. This connection may inspire empathy in all of us. Wearing uniform to school can also eliminate the conflicts among kids who have and the kids who have not.
This is why I think all publicly funded grade and high schools should require their students wear the school’s unique uniform to school. - Ayee
Perhaps, it is a high time we bring uniform back to all schools.
I remember the days when school uniform was debated in earnest. Unfortunately, freedom of expression and extra clothing costs had tramped over the good senses why uniform is still in vogue in some schools.
The scene of that girl in tights reminds me of the times when all school kids were required to wear uniform to school. They were the times when children did not have to express themselves through the type of clothes they wore.
We have all heard of traditional schools. Wearing school uniform is one of the many rules such schools require of their impressionable pupils. While many kids in schools where students can dress up as they please have floundered, more of their counterparts in traditional schools are flourishing with good behaviors, good grades and bright futures. These kids have certainly expressed themselves well under the plain uniform they proudly wear.
On the cost side of the debates, in these days and ages school uniforms are bargains when we compare the price of a set of basic uniforms to the cost of a pair of specially labeled jeans. Today, young people latch their fashion choices on the whims of their favorite pop star. And we all know how fickle some pop stars are.
It may be a far-fetched notion. I have also thought of having the kids worn uniform to school may lessen bullying in school. Uniform does give us a feeling of affiliation and belonging. This connection may inspire empathy in all of us. Wearing uniform to school can also eliminate the conflicts among kids who have and the kids who have not.
This is why I think all publicly funded grade and high schools should require their students wear the school’s unique uniform to school. - Ayee
Monday, December 5, 2011
Homes on Wheels
We all know homelessness is not a new problem in America. In the past, the homeless were mostly unemployed single persons. But today’s wayward population consists of many working people who, many of them, are also victims of the housing bubble in America. The country’s working poor toil on their job during the day and slumber in their family car by the night. It is no accident that many children have also become members of this displaced group.
Attributable to the fallouts of the construction boom in central Florida, now one-third of homeless Americans are in Seminole County, Florida. Nine months ago, Scott Pelley of the 60 Minutes shared with us that in Orlando, Florida, many families, who lost their homes through foreclosure, lived either in a one-room motel or the family car. School buses had to reroute. So they could also pick up the kids who no longer lived in their parents’ spacious house in a quite cul-de-sac.
According to Mr. Pelley, in response to his previous report on the plights of the homeless in Florida, generous financial supports for the devastated countrymen in the sunshine state were overwhelming. Nearly $4 million in private donation had since poured into the region. Now through social agencies, many families in Seminole County will soon be moving their four-wheelers from public parking lots to permanent living quarters.
We have all heard of a saying that God helps the people who help themselves.
Last Sunday, on 60 Minuites Mr. Pelley recounted his second visit to the homeless in Florida. This time, the CBS anchor found that by being creative, a few resilent Floridians did manage to receive aids and to secure shelters for the families. In one instance, a family bartered their painting skills for accommodation. In another, a family of three settled down in a med-size u-haul like truck. Last but not lest, a father of three has since secured a gainful employment. - Ayee
Attributable to the fallouts of the construction boom in central Florida, now one-third of homeless Americans are in Seminole County, Florida. Nine months ago, Scott Pelley of the 60 Minutes shared with us that in Orlando, Florida, many families, who lost their homes through foreclosure, lived either in a one-room motel or the family car. School buses had to reroute. So they could also pick up the kids who no longer lived in their parents’ spacious house in a quite cul-de-sac.
According to Mr. Pelley, in response to his previous report on the plights of the homeless in Florida, generous financial supports for the devastated countrymen in the sunshine state were overwhelming. Nearly $4 million in private donation had since poured into the region. Now through social agencies, many families in Seminole County will soon be moving their four-wheelers from public parking lots to permanent living quarters.
We have all heard of a saying that God helps the people who help themselves.
Last Sunday, on 60 Minuites Mr. Pelley recounted his second visit to the homeless in Florida. This time, the CBS anchor found that by being creative, a few resilent Floridians did manage to receive aids and to secure shelters for the families. In one instance, a family bartered their painting skills for accommodation. In another, a family of three settled down in a med-size u-haul like truck. Last but not lest, a father of three has since secured a gainful employment. - Ayee
Saturday, December 3, 2011
To Vaccinate or Not to Vaccinate . . .
Recently, a city-run animal shelter had to put down its entire cat population but one. The untimely death of these well-cared for kitties had sure made me question the effectiveness of the yearly vaccination shots to dogs and cats.
It was reported in the local papers that cats in the shelter were infected with a deadly strain of cat flu viruses. Even though all of them had their annual boosters including the vaccine for calicivirus, one died of the infectious disease. The shelter had to put down the other 25 to contain the cat flu epidemic.
In this case, it looks like the annual calicivirus vaccine had failed to help this group of infected cats. - Ayee
It was reported in the local papers that cats in the shelter were infected with a deadly strain of cat flu viruses. Even though all of them had their annual boosters including the vaccine for calicivirus, one died of the infectious disease. The shelter had to put down the other 25 to contain the cat flu epidemic.
In this case, it looks like the annual calicivirus vaccine had failed to help this group of infected cats. - Ayee
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