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Tuesday, November 21, 2023
Is there a specific reason why Germans eat sausages with bread?
Volker Eichener
Most of the time, when we eat Bratwurst, it is just a snack, fast food from a street stand, served on a cardboard tray and eaten with fingers.
The bread serves as a holder. And it compensates for the protein and fat content of the sausage.
Or, when we eat our versions of sandwiches (Butterbrot), the bread stands in the foreground. Bread used to be the main food staple for thousands of years. Historically, the word “bread” simply stands for food. Think of the Last Supper.
To make bread more interesting, you may eat it with butter and a slice of sausage. The Butterbrot is probably Germany’s most-eaten food item, for breakfast, in breaks, sometimes even for dinner.
When we eat sausage as a main dish (what we rarely do as sausage is considered a cheap, simple dish) we usually eat it with hash brown, mashed potatoes or potato salad.
Monday, November 20, 2023
'Filipino kids hit hard by climate change'
LUCKY BOYS Vice President Sara Duterte poses for a photo with two boys during the celebration of World Children’s Day on Sunday, Nov. 19, 2023, at the Quezon City Memorial Circle. PHOTO BY ISMAEL DE JUAN
By Ma. Reina Leanne Tolentino
VICE President and Education Secretary Sara Duterte said climate change has hit Filipino children hard, thus the need to address the crisis.
"This year, let us acknowledge the urgent need to address the climate crisis — a threat that disproportionately impacts children and threatens their prospects. The climate crisis is a child rights crisis that affects children's lives, education and health. And climate change is hitting Filipino kids hard."
She said typhoons cause flooding, landslides and storm surges in high-risk areas, affecting children.
The vice president said the country ranked first in the World Risk Index for 2022.
From 2016 to 2021, about 9.7 million Filipino children were displaced because of climate-change related events.
"These displacements caused increased diseases, respiratory illnesses and long-term mental health issues among children," she said.
"Disasters force children to miss school, affect their learning and their future. In rural communities, where agriculture is the main industry, these calamities generate food shortages and malnutrition," she added.
Duterte said children must be given "meaningful participation" in the fight against climate change.
"As adults, we must commit to walking the talk. We can start by reducing our carbon footprints and living sustainably. We must also promote programs that encourage kids to improve their community's disaster resilience. The upcoming COP28 presents a critical opportunity for the Philippine government to design and implement child-responsive climate action that prioritizes the needs and perspectives of children."
More deaths
Experts earlier warned that more people will die from extreme heat and that without action, the health of humanity "is at grave risk."
The Lancet Countdown, a major annual assessment carried out by leading researchers and institutions, said more common droughts will put millions at risk of starving, mosquitoes spreading farther than ever before will take infectious diseases with them, and health systems will struggle to cope with the burden.
Last year people worldwide were exposed to an average of 86 days of life-threatening temperatures, according to the Lancet Countdown study. Around 60 percent of those days were made more than twice as likely due to climate change, it said.
The number of people over 65 who died from heat rose by 85 percent from 1991-2000 to 2013-2022, it added.
"However, these impacts that we are seeing today could be just an early symptom of a very dangerous future," Lancet Countdown's executive director Marina Romanello said.
Under a scenario in which the world warms by two degrees Celsius by the end of the century — it is currently on track for 2.7 C — annual heat-related deaths were projected to increase 370 percent by 2050. That marks a 4.7-fold increase.
Around 520 million more people will experience moderate or severe food insecurity by mid-century, according to the projections.
And mosquito-borne infectious diseases will continue to spread into new areas. The transmission of dengue would increase by 36 percent under a 2.0 C warming scenario, according to the study.
WITH AFP
PH gov't in talks to send 5 more PH eagles to Mandai Wild Reserve in Singapore
BY ANTONIO COLINA IV
DAVAO CITY – The national government is in talks with Singaporea environment officials to send five additional Philippines eagles to the Bird Paradise in Mandai Wild Reserve in Singapore for “conservation breeding” under another loan program, an official of the Philippine Eagle Foundation (PEF) said.
Dr. Jayson Ibañez, PEF director for Research and Conservation, said the foundation has already pre-identified the birds that will be brought to the Singapore zoo once the agreement is finalized.
He said, however, that it remains unclear as to when the loaning of additional raptors will happen, but added that negotiations are underway.
Ibañez explained that the loan program is going to be part of the efforts to conserve the critically endangered Philippine eagle from extinction.
“Just imagine all our captive birds are in one facility. If a catastrophe happens, all of them will die. That’s what they call ‘all eggs in one basket syndrome. Let’s distribute breeding stocks and spread the risks,” he said.
He said a risk assessment would still have to be undertaken by the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR), PEF, and other wildlife experts to identify the potential risks, including the threats and diseases.
He said that the five birds are all captive-bred, and that they can “tolerate the breeding conditions.”
The Philippine eagle is a species declared critically endangered by the International Union for Conservation of Nature since 1996. To date, the PEF estimated that there are only 392 pairs of Philippine eagles in the wild.
In June 2019, the country sent Philippine Eagles “Geothermica” and “Sambisig” to Jurong Bird Park in Singapore for a 10-year loan program agreement signed by the Philippine government with Wildlife Reserves Singapore to protect the critically endangered raptors from extinction due to calamities and diseases.
However, 19-year-old Geothermica died last September from a fungal infection caused by Aspergillus molds.
“I don’t think there were lapses because Singapore zoo is one of the best facilities… Although it’s sad, we think it should not stop us from exploring cooperative breeding with the help of international partners because we cannot do it alone. There are successful partnerships or models that we can follow,” he said.
Of the five raptors, Ibañez said that four belong to two pairs, and the one male raptor would be paired with Sambisig.
He added that cooperative breeding saved critically endangered birds California condor and bearded vultures from going extinct.
An example to follow
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By Fr. Roy Cimagala
Chaplain
Center for Industrial Technology and Enterprise (CITE)
Talamban, Cebu City
Email: roycimagala@gmail.com
ESPECIALLY when we enjoy a lot of blessings and privileges in our life, and yet also carry with us our share of shameful weaknesses, failures and sins, the example of Zaccheus, the rich chief tax collector who had great love for Christ, (cfr. Lk 19,1-10) should inspire us.
As we read in that gospel narrative, Zaccheus knew well who and how he was with regard to his spiritual and moral life. He had great faith and love for Christ, but given the nature of his work, he also had his dark and ugly part of his life.
The life of Zaccheus resonates with many of us who find ourselves grappling with contrasting features of our life—an abiding, if dormant, faith in God, and a load of weaknesses and sins. We can have both love of God and a certain attraction to evil or concupiscence. What we should do is to follow the example of Zaccheus.
We should not be ashamed of our weaknesses and sins, and instead of letting them be the reason to stay away from God, they should rather urge us to go to God as quickly as possible.
God always forgives. In the book of Ezekiel, we read, “Do you think that I like to see wicked people die? says the Sovereign Lord. Of course not! I want them to turn from their wicked ways and live.” (18,23)
And in the Gospel of St. John, we read, “For God sent the Son into the world, not to condemn the world, but that the world might be saved through him. He who believes in him is not condemned; he who does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only Son of God.” (3,17-18)
And so, we should not stay long feeling guilty, sad, burdened, worried, afraid and ashamed when we commit sins. All we have to do is to ask for forgiveness and the grace of God, so we can start healing our weaknesses that gave an opening to temptations and sins, as well as gaining strength to do more good things.
We have to remember that Christ has already paid the ransom for all our sins. We should just be quick to ask for that ever available mercy of God and move on, atoning for our sins and doing a lot of good things.
Yes, in spite of our weaknesses, failures and sins, we can afford to live a happy, peaceful, hopeful and confident life, because Christ has assured us of divine mercy. In fact, Christian life is such a life.
This mercy of God, of course, is not meant to spoil us. Rather, it is meant to teach us how to repay love with love and to be God-like as we should. There should be an impulse in us to grow better and mature in our spiritual life of love for God and others. Absent this impulse, the only possibility is to get spoiled.
This love is shown when we develop a true and deep spirit of penance. We have to learn to acknowledge our sins and weaknesses and to go to regular confession. We cannot return to the right path unless we first acknowledge our mistakes. We should be man enough to do that, always at the impulse of grace which God never refuses to give.
As we can see, Christian life is truly a happy life. When we are not happy or when we are not at peace and hopeful, it can only mean one thing: we are not yet with Christ!
Sunday, November 19, 2023
Today's Weather, 4 A.M. | Nov. 19, 2023
261 views • Nov 19, 2023 • #TheManilaTimes #WeatherUpdateToday #WeatherForecast
Frankfurter Buchmesse 2023: Why books matter in a time of war & the ongoing assault on truth
Photo by Avee Navarro Tan
ARTMAGEDDON - Igan D’Bayan - The Philippine Star
November 19, 2023
Opening night: The Frankfurt Book Fair or Frankfurter Buchmesse is the largest international trade fair for the book publishing industry, the most important marketplace for book rights, and a venue for cultural exchange among different countries. Writers such as Salman Rushdie, Margaret Atwood, Neil Gaiman, and Paulo Coelho have graced this event.
FRANKFURT, Germany — In one of the strangest plot twists in the most bonkers of timelines we could ever imagine, books are being banned or censored (burned, even) in parts of America, while in Germany, they have just wrapped up the world’s largest trade fair for books: the 75th Frankfurter Buchmesse (FBM). A fair that recognizes the mystifying appeal of a stack of papers glued or sewn together bustling with words exploring histories, creating multiverses, sharing a sea of stories. Oh, how many of us have found comfort in a book — getting lost in Macondo or Yoknapatawpha County, stressing over that rascal Raskolnikov, knowing why Gregor Samsa could not report to work that morning or who exactly “wept at the romance of the streets with their pushcarts full of onions and bad music.” Books were our amulets against school bullies, abusive relatives, and teachers who did not have the capacity to understand us. Books — just like songs by The Animals — offered a way out. We chilled to books before Netflix or Disney shoved Riverdale and The Marvels down our throats. Now, people are glued to their iPhones watching other people lip-sync, do stupid pranks, or stuff food into their gaping maws. Histories are being erased wholesale. Journalists are getting tagged as enemies of the people. George Orwell and Margaret Atwood books get bandied about on Twitter without actually being read. (Don Jr. rails at stuff being “Orwellian” many times, trumped out of his gourd.) It’s like we are in the fifth and final act and still there are more clowns coming out of the clown car. (By the way there was a proposal to ban Anne Frank’s Diary of a Young Girl because — according to a parent — it is “a real downer.”)
At the Frankfurt book fair, on the other hand, German kids and teens lined up to have their favorite authors sign their books. Some dressed up as anime or comic book characters and cavorted on the fairgrounds. (What Filipinos usually do in toy conventions) After the publishers, booksellers, literary agents, and other players from the global publishing industry had their exclusive digs for the first three days at the bookstalls (to negotiate international publishing rights and license fees, to shop for that potential bestseller, etc.), the public swooped in during the weekend. It was glorious to behold. Nothing nerdish or esoteric about reading books in this part of the world. It is rather essential, integral.
But the recent Frankfurter Buchmesse itself was not immune from any controversy. “There is a black cloud above all of us in the world, a dark shadow cast by war,” said the host during opening night of the book fair. “What is the power of books in these difficult times?”
A number of Arab publishing associations pulled out of the fair in protest over its decision to postpone the 2023 LiBeraturpreis award ceremony honoring Berlin-based Palestinian author Adania Shibli. There was an uproar during the speech of Slovenian philosopher Slavoj Zizek as he condemned the decision as scandalous. Zizek also made remarks about the Israeli and Palestinian conflict that irked a number of people in the audience. He was repeatedly interrupted by Uwe Becker, the Anti-Semitism commissioner of the German state of Hesse, who stormed out of the hall, stormed back in, and shouted at Zizek in mid-speech. That, dear readers, escalated quickly.
Thankfully, civility prevailed. It is important to make sure that everyone can be heard, according to Juergen Boos, president and CEO of the Frankfurter Buchmesse GmbH. “I’m glad that somebody interrupted the speech. It (should be allowed). I’m also glad that we listened to the speech to the very end — even though we didn’t like it, or maybe even condemn it.” The way Boos eased the tension down a notch was masterful.
During a crescendo of shelling, the march of fascism, and onslaught of unsettling events, do books still matter? Well, more so than ever.
Claudia Roth, Federal Government Commissioner for Culture and the Media, explained, “I’m convinced that, especially in times like these, reading opens our eyes. It creates understanding across all borders and it teaches us empathy. It is right now that we need the freedom to think of the diversity of books and perspectives — and this is what the Frankfurt Book Fair represents. Reading allows you to experience things you never experienced yourself. It enables you to have new insights and perspectives. With every chapter, with every new page, we can overcome opposites, which sometimes seem irreconcilable in our everyday life. Reading proves every day that despite our differences we can understand each other. That our society is by no means doomed to drift apart.”
She stressed the importance of holding an event such as the Frankfurter Buchmesse. “(Fostering a) diverse publishing landscape in our country is invaluable to our democracy. And this is why the thousands of books presented here every year are good news. Good news for our country, for our society.”
FBM, by tradition, stands for the joy of reading and the fun of stories, but it’s always been very political as well. Boos, who has been the Frankfurter Buchmesse president since 2005, shared how the book fair is completely unique in the world. “And I’m so lucky to be in the middle of it and be involved with it and, to some extent, also to shape it. And it’s a great challenge, sometimes — also it’s shocking, but it’s also very rewarding.”
What the world needs now is a festival of thinkers and readers rather than a congregation of trolls and truthers.
Roth described the book fair as “a marketplace of words.” She asked, “What would be at stake when you no longer trust the word?”
Karin Schmidt-Friderichs, chairwoman of the German Publishers & Booksellers Association, said, “Reading forces us to stop and think.” And with a bang of the hammer, she declared the 75th Frankfurt Book Fair open. It is important to note that the German Book Trade awarded this year’s Peace Prize to Salman Rushdie, joining a list that includes Atwood, Susan Sontag, Amos Oz and Vaclav Havel, among others.
“This is a strong and clear signal against fanaticism,” said Roth, “and for the power of the book, for the power of the free word — and this is exactly what stands for the Frankfurt Book Fair.”
Rushdie mused over the power of books: “When a reader falls in love with a book, it leaves its essence inside him like radioactive fallout in an arable field. And after that there are certain crops that will no longer grow in him, while other stranger, more fantastic growths may occasionally be produced.”
The book fair then is a field of phenomenal fruits.
Quake victims to get P20 million aid from House
Sheila Crisostomo - The Philippine Star
Image from the Facebook page of Sarangani Gov. Rogelio Pacquiao shows a damaged room at the municipal offices of Glan. A magnitude 6.8 quake jolted Sarangani, Davao Occidental the other day, affecting Glan and GenSan.
MANILA, Philippines — The House of Representatives has donated some P20 million in aid and 5,000 food packs to the victims of the 6.8 magnitude earthquake that hit Southern Mindanao last Friday.
Speaker Martin Romualdez and Tingog party-list spearheaded the move in line with the directive of President Marcos for concerned authorities to promptly address the needs of affected families and individuals.
P10 million worth of medical assistance for indigent patients from the Department of Health and another P10 million for individuals in crisis under the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) will be released to the lone districts of Sarangani and South Cotabato, according to House Deputy Secretary General Sofonias Gabonada.
Construction materials will also be sent to the affected residents for the repair and rebuilding of their homes damaged by the earthquake.
Gabonada added that an initial 5,000 relief goods are to be equally divided between the two districts by the Tingog partylist teams.
Romualdez’s office is also closely working with the Department of Public Works and Highways and district lawmakers to facilitate the immediate release of quick response funds (QRF) to rehabilitate the affected public structures like bridges and school buildings.
DSWD assistance
Meanwhile, some P1.47 billion worth of food and non-food items have been allocated by the DSWD for the victims of the earthquake.
According to DSWD Secretary Rex Gatchallian, the agency has enough stockpiles of these supplies “as well as standby funds that could be readily used to augment the resources of the local government units (LGUs)” affected by the quake.
Some P14.2 million QRFs are also ready to be utilized from the DSWD field offices in Northern Mindanao, Davao and Soccsksargen, where the tremors were felt, according to DSWD spokesperson Assistant Secretary Rommel Lopez.
Lopez said the DSWD’s Central Office has P29.16 million in QRFs, which the department can also use to assist victims.
The DSWD also has 140,000 family food packs and non-food items on standby in the affected regions, Lopez said.
Aside from the provision of resource augmentation, the field offices of DSWD are also assisting the affected LGUs in helping injured individuals and in assessing damage.
Gatchalian added that in Soccsksargen, DSWD regional director Loreto Cabaya had already handed over P10,000 in financial aid to each of the families of those killed in the earthquake.
“All our field offices in the earthquake-hit areas are in constant communication with the LGUs and are ready to provide food, non-food and cash assistance for their affected constituents,” Gatchalian said.
The Philippine Red Cross (PRC) has also mobilized its emergency medical services teams in the affected areas.
PRC chairman Richard Gordon said their volunteers have given first aid to people injured in the earthquake.
Citing reports from the PRC’s Davao del Sur chapter, Gordon said the earthquakes caused power outages in Digos City as well as the collapse of ceilings of malls in Koronadal and General Santos cities, and a high school in Sarangani. — Emmanuel Tupas
Saturday, November 18, 2023
Getting ready for Christmas: Think local
Nov 18, 2023 03:16 AM
As a popular song goes, “it’s beginning to look a lot like Christmas!”
Along the main roads, there are pockets of traffic slowdown where local government unit personnel are putting up Christmas décor. At the commercial centers, the fairy lights already twinkle above traffic-clogged streets. Shopping malls are decked with everything about the season – Santa Claus, Christmas Belen, angels, reindeers, colorful fully-decked trees. The Festival of Lights has started at the Ayala Triangle Gardens and in the Ayala Malls, the light shows have begun. Christmas Tree lighting events are happening all over the metro.
It is time to think local. Buy local products for gifts. Check first if there are food and gift products from entrepreneurs in your community or workplace before buying goods online. It will not only support the small businesses in your area, it will create jobs for neighbors.
Think local also for holiday trips. Choose a local destination from the many tourist spots we have in our country. Boracay, Siargao, Cebu, Palawan, Negros, Batanes, Vigan, Laoag, Pagudpud, Baguio, Sagada, Banaue, Clark, Subic – and many more to explore. The jobs created by more local tourist traffic will give significant support to thousands of families. That can support a child’s education, needed medical procedure, small business venture, or house repair work.
Our local airports are preparing for the influx of passengers who come home for the holidays. At the Bureau of Immigration (BI), a two-month ban on leave of absence for its personnel posted in the country's international airports has been imposed from Nov. 15 by Commissioner Norman Tansingco.
“We have to see to it that our counters at the airports are fully manned during the holidays when there is a tremendous volume of international passengers arriving and departing at the airports,” he said.
The ban applies to immigration personnel assigned at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA) and other international airports like those in Clark, Mactan, Davao, Kalibo and in Zamboanga.
Meanwhile, the Department of Trade and Industry personnel has been making the rounds of public markets to check on food products to protect the public from overpricing and products not safe for human consumption.
As decorating for the holidays is the major activity everywhere, households are reminded to check electrical lights for safety. After being stored for a year, it’s best to check the product for loose wires and the integrity of its connections.
For those who are buying new lights, the DTI through the Bureau of Philippine Standards recommends Christmas lights that bear the Philippine Standard (PS) mark or the Import Commodity Clearance (ICC) sticker.
Christians prepare for the celebration of the reason for the season – the birth of Jesus Christ. Church calendars will be full of activities leading to Christmas Day, many of those are gift-giving to the poor. Private organizations and NGOs will need more people to spread the joy of the season to the members of the community. It’s good to volunteer your time and talent.
Take more time to prepare for the happiest season of the year.
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