Skip to main content

Cola-nial mentality bashed

FILIPINO painter Antipas “Biboy” Delotavo’s Itak sa Dibdib ni Mang Juan (Bolo on Old Man Juan’s Chest) depicts a glum, wiry old man bowed before a portion of a billboard for a popular softdrink. The brand name has a stretched out capital C about to be stuck like a blood-soaked kukri knife into the man’s chest. That’s brutal vignette. Seething yet subtle visual commentary, too.

Indian photographer Sharad Haksar blew up his snapshot of colorful pitchers lined up in front of a hand pump before a wall painted with an advertising pitch for a soft-drink, “Drink …… The blown up picture was mounted as a billboard in Chennai city in southern India wracked with drought in summer months.

Apparently, it takes seven liters of water to crank out a one liter bottle of the popular softdrink. Which can be outright mass murder of people in drought-prone areas.

On top of that ironic dig at the softdrink multinational, local papers played up news about Indian farmers routinely spraying their fields with the same softdrink as it contains traces of pesticides.

The latest flak is fact: a study of more than 2,500 adults examined by Dr. Katherine L. Tucker and colleagues of Tufts University in Boston links cola consumption to weak bones in women.

Exercising care so as not to hurt corporate pride of global softdrink outfits, Dr. Tucker and company reported that women who consumed cola daily had lower bone mineral density (BMD) in their hips than those who drank less than a serving of cola a month.

We can risk the risque implications. Low BMD ties in with fractures—too fragile hip bones in cola-guzzling females imply that their nether skeletal parts cannot withstand the intense jackhammer vibrations of lovemaking.

That means cola-drinking can be downright ruinous to a woman’s sex life.

The researchers pinpointed the culprit ingredient in cola: phosphoric acid. This acid effects dagdag-bawas in bone mineral density. Phosphoric acid impairs absorption of calcium—the mineral make-up of bones-- and increases excretion of the mineral.

The researchers cited that no evidence was found that occasional cola-drinking can be harmful to bone.

Menfolk can breathe a sigh of relief: researchers pointed out that cola consumption had no effect on bone mineral density in men. Matitigas pa rin ang buto.

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Baka talisay ang kailangan kung mabilis nilalabasan

KAMBAL na hitang nakabukaka ang pahayag—an open statement na hindi pinid at wala nang pasubali o baka masususugan pa. (“Susog” ang salitang ugat na katakam-takam talagang bigkasin dahil kung nanamnamin at hihimas-himasin para bang susong busog ang ibig sabihin.) We’re trying to make sense of a claim we stumbled into about the fruits of an ornamental tree. To wit: “The kernel of Indian almond has shown aphrodisiac activity, it can probably be used in treatment of some forms of sexual inadequacies (premature ejaculation).” For goodness’ sakes, what are those other forms of sexual inadequacies, er, shortages? What’s Indian almond? Higit nating kilala ang Indian almond bilang talisay. Tinatawag ding tropical almond, Java almond, Singapore almond, Pacific almond . Kilala din sa pangalang umbrella tree, badamier, ketapang, huu kwang , at sa mga botanist na mahilig sa boteny tulad ni Ama, Terminalia catappa . Makatas ang hinog na lamukot ng bungang talisay—karaniwang dilaw o namumula ang ku...

ALAMAT NG TAHONG

SAKBIBI ng agam-agam sa kalagayan ng butihing kabiyak-- at kabiyakan, opo-- na nakaratay sa karamdaman, ang pumalaot na mangingisda ay napagawi sa paanan ng dambuhalang Waczim-- isang bathala na nagkakaloob sa sinuman anumang ibulwak ng bibig mula sa bukal ng dibdib. Pangangailangan sa salapi na pambili ng gamot ng kapilas-pusong maysakit ang nakasaklot sa puso ng matandang mangingisda. 'Di kaginsa-ginsa'y bumundol ang kanyang bangka sa paanan ng Waczim. Kagy at umigkas ang katagang kimkim noon sa kanyang dibdib: "Salapi!" Bumuhos ng salapi-- mga butil at gilit ng ginto-- mula papawirin. At halos umapaw sa ginto ang bangka ng nagulantang na mangingisda, walang pagsidlan ang galak, at walang humpay ang pasasalamat sa mga bathala. Nanumbalik ang kalusugan ng kabiyak ng mangingisda. At lumago ang kabuhayan, naging mariwasa ang magkapilas-puso na dating maralita. Nilasing ng kanyang mga dating kalapit-bahay ang mangingisda-- na hindi ikina...

Kuntaw

I T was more than an implement—tough as metal, soft as petal—wielded like lightning to repulse conquerors. Invading Mactan in 1521, Ferdinand Magellan and his men must have thought that their fabled Toledo steel swords would be more than a match more the island’s native defenders—they were dead wrong. The Spaniards never knew what hit them. In the 1900s, American occupation forces in Mindanao particularly in the Sulu islands found themselves under constant harassment from what they called “crazy hermits” or juramentados . The native fighters would fast for days, go through special religious rites, then go forth to storm American garrisons. Even as the .445 caliber pistol was plied out in 1911 to stop seemingly unstoppable fighters, the Americans still never knew what hit them. Looking back with pride at such points in history when their fighting mettle was unleashed in battle, Filipino Muslims, especially the Tausugs of Sulu will, with a little nudge and tug at their patriotic sentimen...