Morning Walk in Quezon Memorial Circle

I joined a few friends in a morning walk at the Quezon Memorial Circle recently.  Though the place is the resting place of the late President Manuel Luis Quezon, city officials in consultation with the heirs of the deceased decided to turn it into a people's park.  The circle, which used to be a flat piece of land in the middle of the city has been developed into a recreational hub for its citizens.

It is now a hub of activities.  When we were there, there were kids jogging around the park, young people playing volleyball, old people doing calisthenic exercises, and there was even a seminar on the benefits of coconut.

We were there to shoot photos and that's what we did the whole morning.  Here are some of the scenes I captured.

Revisiting the National Museum

I had the chance to see the National Museum again a few weeks ago, and I was pleasantly surprised to learn that they are allowing photography inside.  We were told that like in other similar places, they do not allow flash photography.  Since it was sunny that day, I knew I wouldn't have any problem with the light.

The National Museum houses the award-winning mural of Juan Luna called, "Spoliarium".  It is the first piece that will greet you upon entering the gallery.  It shows the bodies of dead and defeated gladiators being dragged in the dark undergrounds of the colosseum.  It won the gold medal at the Exposición Nacional de Bellas Artes in 1884. The art piece is a metaphor for the colonial rule of Spain in the Philippines and was used as propaganda material by the revolutionaries.

I love this painting and it never fails to impress me every time I see it.  You must see it for yourself to truly appreciate its beauty.  

Inside this hall are other works of Luna as well as those of Hidalgo and other great masters.  Most depict important events in our country's history.

On the other floors of the museum are pieces of sculpture and paintings from the 20th-century Filipino masters.  

On our way out, we passed by the floor where the Philippine Senate used to hold office.  It's there where we realized that the building of the National Museum is itself a work of art. Built during the American Colonial Regime, the hall gives us a glimpse of that time. The ceiling, flooring and even the friezes adorning the walls were real national treasures.

This section of the building is still being repaired and renovated.  I am not sure if it will be open to the public once the repairs are done.

In another gallery, mostly showing more contemporary works of art, I was reprimanded by a security officer for taking pictures.  When I told him that we were informed by the people at the front desk that we could take pictures he said that we are allowed only if we include ourselves in the photograph.  I was dumbfounded actually but I just followed and let it be.

I will still go back to the National Museum in spite that,  It is indeed a repository of our nation's soul.

Not so good Teriyaki Boy Donburi

We had lunch yesterday at Teriyaki Boy at the Promenade in Greenhills Shopping Center.  We were supposed to have Chinese food but at the last minute our father decided he wanted something Japanese.

Donburi is one of my favorite Japanese food so I ordered a Suki Beef Teppan Don.  It's made of thin slices of beef stir-fried in teppanyaki sauce and onions and then placed in a bowl of steamed rice.  A raw egg served as a topping to the dish.  Sounds good, right?

Well, I didn't like it.  First, the dish was on the bland side.  There's something missing in the taste of this dish, a little salt or a little sweetness?  I couldn't tell but the over all taste was not as satisfying as I hoped it would be.  My sister-in-law also complained that the bit has a rancid taste in it.

Then of course there's the beef.  It is not tender even though the slices were thin enough.  It was like the cook forgot about it and somehow cooked it for too long.  Another disappointment was the rice.  It was not soft like the ones in other Japanese restaurants.  It was flaky and honestly, I had a hard time eating it with chopsticks so I had to ask for spoon and fork.

Luckily we ordered for their salmon and kani sashimi which were a lot better than the Donburi and saved our lunch from being a total disaster.

7 Billion and counting

Today marks a milestone in Earth's history.  Today the 7 billionth human being is born somewhere in our blue planet.  According to the United Nations, if he or she happens to be born in Japan, France, the United States or other wealthy nation, that baby will live up 100 years.

How big is 7 billion? According to the National Geographic, don't other counting it out because even if you if you spend just a second for each number, it will still take two centuries to reach that number.  If you take 7 billion steps, it will take you around the globe 133 times!  It's that big.  You may wonder how 7 billion people will fit in this tiny sphere.  Well, someone did try to determine how and by their estimates, if all 7 billion of us stand shoulder to shoulder, we will all fit in the city of Los Angeles.

Here are other interesting tidbits about us 7 billion earthlings:

• 13% of us speak Mandarin as their first language, 5% Spanish and 5% English;
• 19% are Chinese, 17% are Indian and only 4% are American;
• 33% are Christian, 21% Muslim and 13% Hindu;
• 51% of Earth's 7 billion live in Urban areas;
• 82% of us are literates.

We should remember of course that the world population will not stop at 7 billion.  Health improvements resulted in longer life spans, improved survival of mother and child.  Also despite declining fertility rates, about 80 million people are added to the world population every year, roughly equivalent to the entire population of Germany.  If this trend continues, there will be 10 billion people on earth by the end of this century.

Aside from this, the UN has estimated that there are some 3.7 million people that are in their reproductive years.  So expect our population to further grow in the next few decades.  Much of the growth will be in Asia but Africa is fast catching up.  Fertility in the continent is double than that in Asia, so much so that its population will triple by the end of this century.  For example, Germany and Ethiopia has the same population of about 80 million.  But due to differences in fertility rate, Germany which has a fertility rate of 1.4 child per woman will see its population will go down to  75 million.  Ethiopia on the other hand with its 4.6 fertility rate will almost double its population to 145 million.

The task of providing for this 7 billion souls lies in the hands of governments around the world of course.  Part of their work should also be to educate their people on reproductive health and provide the facilities and services for the same.  They need to study and take in to consideration how to make life sustainable for all of us.  The decisions and policies that they will make today will determine the future of 7 billion people.

By the way, by time you finish reading this blog, you will be one of the more than 7 billion people in this rock we call home.

"We are 7 billion people with 7 billion possibilities"

Babatunde Osotimehin

Executive Director, UNFPA

Credits: Data and images used come from reports of the United Nations Population Fund, National Geographic, 7billionactions.org

Nokia Announces the Lumia: First Smartphones Powered by Windows

Nokia unveiled two new smartphones based on its new operating system, Microsoft's  Windows Phone instead of its Symbian or MeetGo software.  Children meet the Lumia 800 and 710, two new smartphones that Nokia hopes would help them get back in the mobile phone scene.

Lumia 800 is obviously the high end model between the two.  It sports a rather curvy design and based on the picture, its 3.7-inch 800x480 AMOLED screen seem to occupy most of its body.  Inside this device is a  1.4 GHz processor, with hardware acceleration and graphics processor.  For those who like snapping their  photos using their phones, the 800 comes with an 8-megapixel camera.  It has a dedicated button to instantly share your photos online.  It has a hefty 16GB internal storage for your photos and music.  

This baby will come in three colors, cyan, magenta and black.  It is now available for pre-order in Europe but will be available in select Asian countries later this year.  Don't jump for joy yet because most likely, the Lumia 800 will not reach our shores until early 2012.

Nokia wanted to bring the Lumia experience to more people in the world so they also introduced a more affordable phone, the Nokia Lumia 710.  Like its higher end sibling, this model comes with the same 1.4 GHz processor, with hardware acceleration and graphics processor as that of the 800.  However, this one comes with 8GB internal storage and a 5-megapixel camera.

Its design is a typical Nokia design.  It comes in two colors: black and white but the removable back cover can be changed to either black, white, cyan, fuchsia, or yellow.   Remember how much fun it was then to change those plastic covers to our preferred colors?  Well it seems Nokia wanted us to experience that again.

Both handsets runs on the lates Windows Phone 7.5 Mango operating system. It will also have apps exclusively available to Nokia Phones and optimized for the Windows Phone operating system.  Among these apps are Nokia Drive, which delivers a full-fledged personal navigation device (PND) with free, turn-by-turn navigation and dedicated in-car-user-interface; and Nokia Music introducing MixRadio, a free, global, mobile music-streaming application that delivers hundreds of channels of locally-relevant music.

The Lumia 710 will be released later this year in some Asian countries.  Just like the Lumia 800, this device could be available in the local market by early 2012.

all images from nokia.com