Tag: April 29, 2006

MARTIAL arts are for oldies, too.

Elderly members of the Santisimo Rosario Parish got free martial arts lessons as the College of Rehabilitation Sciences (CRS) concluded its first tai chi program for senior citizens last April 18.

According to CRS community development coordinator Lucylin Magtoto, the three-month tai chi program, is the newest wellness program and social development project of the College.

“This ongoing community program of CRS aims to maintain good health among elder parishioners,“ Magtoto said.

SINCE the birth of the Central Student Council (CSC) in the early 80’s, there have been several attempts to form a concrete program for student grievances. In 1996, the incumbent CSC created a grievance committee that was unable to resolve any case brought to them. It eventually died a natural death. Three years later, the defunct committee was revived and the Council of Liaisons was born.

Last year, the council launched the Office of the Student General (OSG), another attempt to address student grievances in the University.

PLANET X may not be alone after all at the far end of the solar system, as new pieces of evidence for possible planets “Y” and “Z” arise.

New Horizons, a new spacecraft of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration, is set to probe the Kuiper Belt, a region past Neptune filled with unidentified heavenly bodies, to look for any possible planet.

IF RISING electric bills and fuel costs make you fume and throw a fit, spare the plate. A Thomasian has validated the potential of ceramics to be superconductors of electricity, dispensing the need for costly power sources and conduits.

Jan Arid Jael, an Applied Physics graduate of the College of Science, made a thesis research analyzing the capacity of ceramics to facilitate electricity flow, acting as reliable superconductors.

Not all scientists agree that global warming is as serious as it has been portrayed.

Dr. Carlo Arcilla, a geologist and coordinator of the Science and Society Program of the University of the Philippines College of Science, dismissed former US Vice-President Al Gore’s claims on the causes and effects of global warming as hot-air statements.

“If we are going to say that humans induce global warming through carbon dioxide emissions, then we have to distinguish this from the natural pattern that runs over a long period of time,” Arcilla told the Varsitarian.

WHEN Thomasian and National Hero Jose Rizal wrote The Indolence of the Filipinos, he blamed Filipino laziness on the drudging hot climate, which was yet compounded by fertile lands that cut the need for hard labor.

But with the surge of global warming, the country faces to loose Nature’s boon, further grinding Filipinos under the bull’s yoke.

BIDDING farewell to the University’s 39 retiring faculty members, Rector Fr. Tamerlane Lana, O.P. said that a teacher’s fulfillment is not measured by titles but by teaching well.

“The teaching profession has always been different from other professions especially the corporate world. When a teacher starts as a teacher, he culminates his career as a teacher. The only difference is that he becomes a better teacher in the course of time,” Lana said. “Once a teacher, always a teacher.”

TO AID financially unstable students, the Faculty of Arts and Letters Student Council (ABSC) set up a scholarship program funded by proceeds from fund-raising events.

According to ABSC president Milfen Alvarado, the ABSC Educational Assistance Program aims to help financially unstable but deserving students to pursue their studies.

“I think that it is the best that we could do for the students who (really deserve) to stay in college.” he said.

TO ATTRACT outstanding high school graduates to enroll in any of the engineering courses in the University, the Faculty of Engineering (Engineering) held a Special Orientation for top UST Entrance Test (USTET) qualifiers last March 31 at the Albertus Magnus Auditorium.

According to Engr. Michael Benjamin, Technical Director of the Special Orientation Program, this was the first time that the Faculty as well as the University organized a special orientation. Top 50 USTET qualifiers from each of the engineering courses participated in the event.

A TOP Philippine Economic Scholart recognized a Social Research Center (SRC) study on the alleviation of the country’s economy and curtailment of poverty, SRC director Ernesto Gonzales said.

“Sixto Roxas called me up and discussed with me his article One Nation, Three worlds, published in the Philippine Daily Inquirer last April 2,” Gonzales said. “He was interested with our research since his research is almost the same ours.” Roxas is behind the creation of Money Market and Maximo T. Kalaw Institute for Sustainable Development, an ecological research center.