Fourth storm enters RP

THE state weather bureau said the low pressure spotted off Catanduanes intensified into a cyclone, bringing heavy rains to some parts of Luzon, Visayas and Mindanao.

Prisco Nilo, director of the Philippine Atmospheric Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration (Pagasa), said tropical depression “Domeng” will cross Northern Luzon.

Pagasa said that as of 4 p.m. Tuesday, Domeng was spotted at 570 kilometers east northeast of Catanduanes and has maximum sustained winds of 45 kilometers per hour (kph).

The new weather disturbance is also moving west northwest at seven kph but no storm signal was raised as of this posting.

Earlier, Pag-asa said that about 13 to 15 tropical storms are expected to enter the Philippine area of responsibility this year, with three coming from August alone.

Meantime, the state weather bureau is also monitoring another low pressure area estimated at 950 kilometers east northeast of Basco, Batanes.

On July 13, the overnight onslaught of tropical storm Basyang (international name: Conson) ravaged communities, property and claimed lives.

Last July 21, strong winds and heavy rains due to a low pressure which later became storm ‘Caloy’ triggered flashfloods in Dingalan, Aurora.

The flashfloods also prompted authorities to evacuate 105 families and declare a state of calamity in the area.

Meantime, Pagasa’s 5 p.m. bulletin Tuesday disclosed that Central and Southern Luzon, Visayas and Mindanao will experience mostly cloudy skies with scattered rainshowers and thunderstorms.

The rest of Luzon will be partly cloudy to cloudy with isolated rainshowers or thunderstorms mostly in the afternoon or evening.

In Metro Manila, Pagasa’s extended weather forecast indicated that cloudy skies with rainshowers and thunderstorms for Wednesday and Thursday, with temperatures ranging from 24 to 31 degrees Celsius.

Moderate to strong winds blowing from the northwest will prevail over the northern and eastern section of Luzon and the coastal waters along this area will be moderate to rough.

Light to moderate winds blowing from the northwest to west will prevail over the rest of Luzon and Visayas and from the northwest to southwest over Mindanao with slight to moderate seas.

Tips in Storing Fresh Tomatoes

Tomatoes can be kept field fresh for a period of three weeks without using cold storage
One economical alternative is to use the Evaporative Cooling and Modified Atmospheric Packaging (MAP) Technologywhich prolongs the storage life of fresh tomatoes under ordinary condition using coco coir dust, polyethylene (PE) plastic packaging and a suitable crate or container.

Tomatoes to be stored must be green, firm and free from injury and mechanical damage to maximize the benefits of this technology. Otherwise, storage period will be shorter than what is expected.

Steps:

1. Wash the tomatoes in water with chlorox (1 tablespoon of chlorox for every 1 liter of water) to disinfect the fruits from pathogenic microorganisms.
2. Dry the tomatoes and pack in PE bags with 2 pinpricks per kilogram of tomatoes.
3. Moisten the coir dust with chlorox-mixed water and line the base of the container with this.
4. Place the packed tomatoes in the middle and cover with moist coir dust. It is recommended that a kilo of coir dust be used per kilo of tomatoes.

How does this technology work for tomato plants? The PE bag modifies the tomato surrounding by decreasing oxygen and increasing carbon dioxide. These delay ripening and discoloration of the peel, reduce weight loss and moisture loss, and reduce in injuries from chilling. The cooling effect of moist coir dust, on one hand, also delays ripening of tomato.

Calcium Supplements Could Increase Risk of Heart Attack

Supplements of calcium, which is usually consumed by elder people with osteoporosis (bone loss), is associated with an increased risk of heart attack. This is the results of a study in theBritish Medical Journal published last July.

The result showed that reassessment is required for the role of calcium supplements in osteoporosis management. Calcium supplements are commonly prescribed for bone health, but the experiment has recently mentioned that these supplements can increase the risk of heart attack (myocardial infarction) and cardiovascular events in healthy older women.

The research was led by Dr Ian Reid, professor of medicine at the University of Auckland, New Zealand, and  his colleagues from the University of Aberdeen, UK, and from Dartmouth Medical School in the United States.

The international research team that analyzed results from 11 randomized controlled trials of calcium supplementation intake (without addition of vitamin D), involving 12 000 patients.

Researchers found that calcium supplementation is associated with about 30 percent increased risk of heart attacks. They also found that calcium intake increases the risk ofstroke and death although this increased risk is smaller and insignificant.

Previous studies have shown that high intake of calicum does not increase cardiovascular risk.

They conclude, given the modest benefits of calcium supplements for bone density and prevent fractures, reassessment of the role of calcium supplements in osteoporosis management is required.

How to open office 2007 files into Office 2003

Today tip will help you to resolve the compatibility issues between the Office 2003 and Office 2007. Because all programs in office 2003 used the old file extensions for its different programs.  For example Word 2003 saved files with extension .doc, Excel 2003 with .xls and PowerPoint with .ppt. but on the other office 2007 used the new file extensions for its different programs.  For example Word 2007 saved files with extension .docx, Excel 2007 with .xlsx and PowerPoint with .pptx. Now the problem is that when you will try to open office 2007 files into office 2003 and you will not open the file due to compatibility issues between both office versions.  Microsoft provides a free compatibility pack to convert office 2007 documents to the office 2003 format. There are many third party free converter are available but here we are using Microsoft office compatibility pack.

Follow the given steps to download free Microsoft compatibility pack and install it.

To use this feature, you will need to be logged into your computer with administrative rights.

Visit the following link to download the Microsoft compatibility pack:

http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyId=941b3470-3ae9-4aee-8f43-c6bb74cd1466&displaylang=en

Legazpi City to privatize Lignon Hill view deck

Legazpi City (2 August) -- The increasing rate of tourist arrival in this city continuous as the local government here remains relentless in pursuing developments for local tourism industry with the Mayon Volcano, budding Embarcadero lifestyle mall, and Lignon Hill on the frontline.

Mayor Geraldine Rosal averred that the surge of local tourism is gaining more grounds to propel the city's budding economy, now with the private sector will be involved the development of one of these icons in the city's tourists attraction.

Rosal elaborated that private firm JEDI Property Management, Inc. apparently won the bidding to operate view deck portion on top of Lignon Hill after the Provincial Government of Albay has already authorized the City Government of Legazpi to lease the area and ensuring a reasonable return of investments or stable income pursuant to a Memorandum of Agreement dated October 16, 2006.

In the agreement, JEDI will pay the city government P40,000 monthly for the first year of operations, P42,000 for the second and third year, and P44,000 for the fourth until the sixth year.

JEDI, further, will hire their own workers for the maintenance ad cleanliness of all walkways of the said place.

Rosal, meanwhile, said that the privatization of a portion of Ligñon Hill is more advantageous to the city government as it will no longer spend for the maintenance and improvement of the place, adding that the rentals will also be used for other local tourism projects in the area. (LGU Legazpi)

Tips in Planting Hybrid Rice

Here are a few helpful tips in planting hybrid rice:

1.     Seed and Seedbed preparation - for every 2 kg of seeds, prepare 40 m2 seedbed. Each bed must be about 1m wide, of any length, and raised to a height of 4 to 5 cm. Soak the seeds for about 12 to 24 hours in clean water until these have swelled. Some seeds will float. Do not remove them. Change the water every 5 to 6 hours. Then drain the water and incubate them for 24 to 36 hours until a white dot comes out from the seeds. After preparing the seedbed, apply 1 to 1.5 bags of organic materials for every 40 m2 seedbed. Once the seedbed is prepared, sow 20 kg of pre-germinated hybrid seeds at a rate of 50g for every square meter.

2.     Transplanting - this method only requires 20 kg of hybrid rice seeds per hectare. Transplant 21 to 25 day-old seedlings at 1 to 2 seedings/hill. Plant at a distance of 20 cm x 20 cm during wet season. Replant missing hills within 7 days after transplanting.

3.     Irrigation - maintain soil saturation within 1 week after transplanting. Gradually raise the water level to about 2 to 3 cm at tillering stage. Later, achieve 3 to 5 cm water depth every irrigation time until 1 to 2 weeks before harvest. Drain standing water(if any) 1 week before the expected harvest for easy harvesting and grain quality preservation.

4.     Fertilizer application - for basal, apply 4 to 6 bags of 14-14-14 depending on the results of soil analysis or minus one element technique. If K is deficient in a sandy loam soil, apply half bag of muriate of potash (0-0-60) at panicle initiation. If both N and K are needed at panicle initiation, apply 2 bags of 17-0-17 per hectare. Otherwise, apply N and K fertilizer separately. Spray 0-0-60 for three times starting at 50% heading then every other day at a rate of 2 kg/ha per tank load of knapsack. Twelve tank loads of knapsack sprayer will be used in a hectare of ricefield. A total of 6 kg 0-0-60 will be used for the entire spraying time.

5.     Harvesting - harvest the crop when 80 to 85% of the grains are clear, firm and straw-colored even if the rest are still in hard dough stage.

3 Types of Teenagers Who Are Vulnerable to Hypertension

High blood pressure is generally regarded as a problem of adults. But teens also can experience this condition. Therefore you should know what causes rise in blood pressure on teenagers.

According to Mayoclinic, hypertension in adolescents are most often caused due to heart and kidney problems.

But now the causes can vary, although it can not be identified more clearly. Because various risk factors can contribute to developing this condition.

Dr. Muntner, an epidemiologist in New Orleans reported in the Journal of the American Medical Association that high blood pressure or hypertensionin adolescents has increased from 1 percent to 5 percent between 1989 to 2002.

Three are at least three types teenagers who are vulnerable to hypertension:

1. Teens who have family with hypertension
High blood pressure does tend to be influenced by family descendants. Therefore, if parents or grandparents have hypertension, the risk factor will be higher.

2. Obese Teens
Being overweight or obese can lead to hypertension because it requires more tissues to carry blood, oxygen and nutrients.

Because the blood volume increases, the pressure on the artery wall also increased. Today more and more teenagers do less physical activity that causes obesity.

3. Teenagers with poor eating habits
Most teens have bad diets and rarely wants to eat healthy and balanced diet. Teenagers prefer junk food or foods.

Hormonal changes that occur in adolescents also influences the risk of high blood pressure. The existing hormonal changes includes a surge in testosterone and estrogen sex hormones. However, the effects of these hormonal changes are not yet fully understood.