How accurate are folk measurements?

Dr Abe V Rotor

Old folks would tell a child that the total length of the outstretched arms fingertip to fingertip is equivalent to the height of the person. This is based on the drawing of Leonardo da Vinci. Is this true? What don’t you try it on yourself? They also say that the least shadow you make, the closer it is to noontime. This is of course without reference to the declination of the sun, and the season of the year.

How do you count seconds and minutes without a timepiece? When counting seconds, it is more precise to count, “one-hundred-one, one-hundred-two, one-hundred-three, and so on.” This traditional technique is used today in photography (light exposure, shutter speed), games (swimming and track race), and during emergency (CPR, measuring body temperature, pulse rate). It may be useful in our daily routine (cooking, exercise).

There is no assurance of accuracy in these means of measurement. Take for instance when one says “isang sigarilyo lang ang layo” (it takes a stick of cigarette to reach the place), and the guide has yet to light his cigarette and you have gone a long way. Or somebody says, “It is only at the other side of the mountain.” Which mountain and how many are there?


When is a child ready for school?

In earlier times when there were no nurseries, kindergartens, and preparatory schools, this is the simple way to know when children are ready for Grade 1.

The potential enrollee stands straight before the principal or teacher. He is asked to stretch his right hand across the top his head in order to touch his left ear without tilting his head. He must do the same with his left hand to touch his right ear. If he passes this test without difficulty he is ready for schooling. At this stage the child is around seven years old, the age of reason. He is now in pre-adolescence.~

Dog artist

Dog artist
Dr Abe V Rotor

Kulit at home 2013*

An artist by accident or game,  

      she bears the colors of the sun;

Calmly she lays by a stroller,    

     leaving her art when gone. 

*Kulit passed away a week after this photo was taken.  She was 12 years old. 

"Too many cooks spoil the broth."

The Lighter Side of Human Nature
"Too many cooks spoil the broth."

"Too many cooks spoil the broth."
Adapted from a popular story by Dr Abe V Rotor

A teenage son bought a pair of pants too long for him by two inches, he had to have it cut and sewed. Not having the skill to do it, and even if he did, some one can always accede to his request - he is the bunso (youngest) child in the family and the center of attention and service.

But on this particular day, on this particular hour, every one he approached to shorten his pants said, “Later, after I have finished what I am doing.”

His sister was cooking, his mother ironing clothes, his grandmother feeding the chicken. And when each one had finished her work, it was siesta time.

But remembering her grandson's request, the grandmother took the scissor and cut the pants two inches off, sewed it and left for siesta.

Next, the mother remembered her son's request, took the scissor and cut two inches off, sewed it, then took a nap. The sister suddenly remembered her brother’s request, took the scissor and cut two inches off and sewed. When the teenage son woke up, he tried his new pants, now repaired to his expectation.

But alas, his pair of pants has become into a porontong (half-short half-pants)!

What is the moral of the story? ~

United Nations Parade at UST, 2011 Quadricentennial Grand Celebration (1611-2011)

United Nations Parade at UST, 2011

Quadricentennial Grand Celebration (1611-2011)

Photographs by Abercio V Rotor, PhD

Retired Professor, UST Graduate School and Faculty of Arts and Letters

Can you identify the country each costume represents?

The 2011 United Nations Parade at the University of Santo Tomas (UST) was a highlight of the year-long, grand celebration of the university's 400th founding anniversary (1611–2011). 

Held as part of the Quadricentennial festivities, this vibrant event featured students in cultural attire representing various nations, highlighting the university's 400-year history as the oldest existing institution of higher education in Asia.

The main events, including grand parades, officially centered around January 27, 2011, marking the 400th year of the university's establishment.

 The UN Parade highlighted international unity, cultural diversity, and the global reach of the Dominican institution.

The celebration was honored with a video message from Pope Benedict XVI, recognizing the university's long history and contribution to education.

The 2011 celebrations were a major milestone for UST, which was founded in 1611 by Archbishop Miguel de Benavides, O.P.. AI Overview Internet

Two Roads

Two Roads 

Dr Abe V Rotor

Two Roads: A New Beginning (Acknowledgement:

The Congregational Church of West Medford, Internet)

If two roads lead to but one end,

would the pious take the less trodden?

They say little faith makes neither a saint

no matter which road he would take.~

Ode to a Stream on the Wall

Ode to a Stream on the Wall

Mural by Dr Abe V Rotor


Markus 1 (in stroller), with friends at home in Lagro QC, 2016

Flow gently, sweetly with the breeze
and sing with the little children;
whisper with the rocks and trees,
make every creature their friend.

Sing the songs of the forest deities,
the cheerful crickets and birds,
lullaby of Mozart, chorus of Liszt:
"Grow and be happy,” they urge. ~

Where has the fisherboy gone?

Where has the fisherboy gone? 

Dr Abe V Rotor

By the stream under a tree (wall mural detail) in acrylic by the author

By a stream on a rock ledge many a dream grew with the water flowing, the clouds rising, the breeze whispering in a nearby tree, its shade creating images of art and fantasy.

Hours lazily passed, but how short was a day fishing, from sunrise to noon and back again when the fish would return, the bamboo pole suddenly becoming heavy with a big catch.   

Other boys join the cheer, the louder the bigger the fish was, or fading with a whimper when it got away, and it was always "the big fish that got away," an adage of every fisher folk.

Away from town, away from school, away from home for a while - this freedom in innocence and adventure, the elders would call laziness, stubbornness and aimlessness in growing up.

Boys don't know the difference grownups want them to be, but wait for their own time, when childhood yields to the demands of the world, the world though big is "prison" to grownups. 

They too, were children before - the "man in the boy" comes later when there are no more big fish to catch, the tree has overgrown the rock ledge and other boys are longer around. 

Like birds migrating and returning, season after season in Vivaldi's refrain, and Mozart's lament, life goes on in rhythm, but time couldn't wait, while dreams sought for reality. 

There are many fish in the world, the biggest to catch always a dream - fame, ideas, wealth, sacrifice, honor, popularity - aiming at these to the end, in triumph, surrender or defeat. 

Years later a man in gray hair appeared, he saw a familiar boy fishing, his thoughts seemed far away, his fishing pole bending to his excitement, then snapped - it was the big fish that got away. ~