Tadian is a 4th class municipality which has long been the residence of Kankana-ey, Balangao and Ibontoc. It has an old-world ambiance. The pride of the people are the breathtaking view of sky-scraping mountains which are ideal for hiking. Little houses which are nestled on the terraces look like icings an a cake. They also have verdant fields, falls and rivers with rippling ice-cold water. It is gifted with all the glories of the resources of nature. Mountain Province is truly a sanctuary of God’s greatness, fashioned with beauty beyond comparison.

People live in simplicity. They eat whatever is served in their dining tables. One will be surprised to know that majority of them speak in Iluko and English fluently. Only few have television sets, radio, cell phones and other high-tech gadgets. They don’t have the so called “night life” but they enjoy their lovely nights by strumming their old guitars and caressing their gongs while doing the Eagle dance simultaneous with the choir of the crickets. They are far from hospitals or educational institutions and even in churches. They do not have public utility vehicles so they need to walk whenever they want to go somewhere else. Agriculture is the main industry of the people because of their naturally rich soil.  In short, land is their life but due to these lands, they face numerous tribulations such as issues on land grabbing, damage of natural resources, illegal logging and mining. In a far-flung area like this, one would imagine that wherever he roams, he might be deafened by the solemnity of the place. But this is not the case. They have an unending battle with the military groups which are accusing them as rebels. The eyes of these armed men are glued on them, as if trying to scrutinize every move they make. The native people are naturally simple but they are born fighters since they are not afraid to air their gripes right before the eyes of these men. As they say, they would rather have a meaningful death than a meaningless life.  Despite of their complicated lives, they still go on and on and on.  

I didn’t know that my time travel wouldn’t end up there. I reached another  place which offered things beyond my imagination. The place is known as the Science City of Muñoz, Nueva Ecija. Wonderful scenery was all around. The settlers consist of Kapampangan, Tagalog, Pangasinense and Iluko speakers. From its humble beginning, it  is now recognized as a  center of excellence in the field of agricultural science and technology and continues to produce relevant innovations and breakthroughs. Nueva Ecija is widely referred to as the “Rice Granary, Onion Capital and Milk Capital of the Philippines”. Several areas have mineral deposits such as copper, manganese and gold. Souvenir shops houses their unique products such as the delectable Silvanas, vegetable-flavored pancit and many more. Education is very well established as a major industry in the province since there are multiple tertiary level institutions. One of the leading among those is the Central Luzon State University in Muñoz. It is also known as the breeding ground for geniuses.  Health services is also a notable industry. The Catholic Churches of Nampicuan, Carranglan, and Pantabangan are manifestations that the people are religious and these churches made of bricks are  examples of heritage architecture from the Spanish period.

             The province also showcases tourist spots such as  Dalton Pass, Camp Pangatian, Minalungao Park, General Luna Falls, Mt. Olivet, Gapintalan, Palaspas and Gabaldon Falls, Diamond Park among others. The Philippine Rice Research Institute, Philippine Center for Postharvest Development and Mechanization and the Central Luzon State University are the brains of the province. They are the central station of agricultural experimentation. It is where the ideas of creating solar powered street lights, exclusive products and the agricultural tramline system were conceived.

Nueva Ecija has a beautiful ancient history replete with hidden charms which can be traced back to the priceless treasures excavated from the bowels of the earth.
             The two provinces, Mountain Province and Nueva Ecija, are both rich in agriculture, both have beautiful and hardworking people and both play a very indispensable role in preserving the community to which they belong. Yet the latter is ahead than the former.  Mountain Province continues to face ushering problems. People are hoping that the hopeless situation will pave way for a new and vigorous outlook and nurture  a productive and active atmosphere of unity, peace and progress. On the other hand, Nueva Ecija continues to trudge on the road of development and they  wish that may they further explore their potential for a brighter future.

Image via Wikipedia

Life of Democritus

Democritus was born according to many historians at about 460 BC. According to many later philosophers he was an extraordinary wise man. Democritus’ father was a truly wealthy man, thus Democritus inherited his wealth. He spend most of his wealth on journeys to far lands. He travelled to Asia, and was even said to have reached India and Ethiopia. We know that he wrote on Babylon and Meroe; he must also have visited Egypt.

After returning to his homeland he mostly worked on natural philosophy. He kept on traveling all around Greece to gather knowledge of its culture and philosophy. Along his journeys he created his famous works of philosophy. According to many historians he died at the age of 90, however some historians believe that he possibly lived up to 109 years. Many of Democritus’ works were lost throughout the history, however his most influential atomic theory has reached us.

Democritus meditating:

Image credit

Atomic theory

Democritus is famous for his atomic theory, however he wasn’t the one who pursued the atomistic world view. According to many historians Leucippus was the inventor of the theory. Still Democritus developed and systematized the theory to a greater level.

According to the atomic theory, everything in our universe is made out of tiny physically indivisible particles called atoms. Atoms, according to Demorcitus, come in a variety of shapes and forms. Thus metals are made of solid tight atoms, while waters or gasses are made of soft and light atoms. It’s amazing that Democritus’ atoms are almost identical to molecules and atoms in modern science.

Democritus was also a materialist. He theorized that there’s only matter, made of atoms and void. Atoms by moving and interacting in the void make up everything we see and feel in our universe.

Even now, after more than 2000 years, scientists still are amazed by the wonderful insights of Democritus. It’s wonderful how a simple man only by observing the world and thinking came up with ideas that are so close to the understanding of modern science.

Thanks for reading!

Links:

1) Join Triond and write your own articles

2) Top 10 Science Books

3) Shocking Art

And not only writers, also scientists suffer from this illness. But hear we have that the possibility of falling in ridiculous , not only it has to be welcomed, but it is also necessary.

Thanks to the spontaneous generation theory -that seems today absurd and ridicule- the microscope had never be invented, because this artifact was made in order to prove or reject such theory. The theory not only was refuted but it was totally torn apart, on the other hand; the microscope would not exist without the spontaneous generation theory and that is for sure.

Also, in the Galileo times -who suffered by being put under house arrest, for the crime of telling that the Earth moves- everybody thought that the world was plain, that is why we call “planets” the body’s that orbit stars, instead of calling them “rounded” or “spheroids”. In fact, the word “planet” means plain body.

If the big geniuses of mankind would have stopped in front of the possibility of make themselves ridiculous, we all would still be living in caves, or worst, we were slipping over the branches of trees; only think about the more than two thousand failure attempts of Tomas Alba Edison, trying to put light inside a bubble of glass, and how much he was derided in his time, continuously and systematically.

If Edison would give up under the society pressures of his time, we were not have electric bulbs, film projectors, nothing at all…

But of course, I do not mean with this that everyone should publish the first thing that they think; the knack consists of listening to our hearts, if it says to us to publish our work, then we must publish it, no matter how ridiculous it seems to us; we have to do it even in order to stimulate some body’s disagreement; we never know, maybe the mentioned mister do invent something useful to make his point, something that will never be born if we were afraid of making a fool of ourselves.

So, ridiculousness not only is a thing that deserve to be applauded, because it cheers our lives with it witticisms, but it is also a necessity in order to achieve progress in all the fields of mankind knowledge.

The odyssey of thinking according to paradigms different than the ones already accepted by societies, is a hard path, but it is the only one that can drive us into progress.

(Felipe Antonio Santorelli)

–

Alexander was born in Della, 356 B.C. He is the son of Phillip 2, king of Macedonia, and Oympias, princess of Epirus and daughter of king Neoptolemus. Aristotle had tutor Alexander rhetoric, literature, science, and medicine. Alexander had tamed a Bucephalus as a horse at the age twelve and name the city of Bucephala after his horse had fallen down at Hydaspas River. At the age eighteen, Alexander had led a group of cavalry in the battle of Chaeronea against the two Greek cities-states Athens and Thebes that had helped his father win the battle in 338B.C, which made Philp2 supreme over Greece. The defeat at Chaeronea ended Greek freedom and independence and gained over control of most of the Greek city-states except for Sparta. Phillip 2 planned to have war with Persian after defeating the Greek city- state along the coastline. Then, his father was assassinated in 336B.C, at his daughter’s wedding.

Alexander decides to finish his father’s dreams by conquering the Persian Empire and its wealth, which stretched more than 2000 miles from Egypt to India. One of Alexander first victory against the Persian was at the Granicus River. At Granicus River, Alexander was attacking 40,000 Persians and Greek hoplites with an army of 35,000.He had defeated them with only losing 110 men of his army. Later, Alexander took countries through Asia Minor into Palestine and south to Egypt. He conquered Gordium, Issus, Tryre, Palestine, Gaza, Alexandria, and Memphis during his journey from Macedonia to south of Egypt. At Issus, in northeastern Syria, Alexander had faced king Darius3 main Persian army. The size of Darius’s army was unknown. It said to be about 500,000 men according to ancient tradition.

He had been victorious. On October 1, 331B.C, Alexander had faced the Babylon in the battle of Gaugamela, which there was about one million men he had face in the battle according to ancient tradition and ended with a victory for Alexander. Darius fled away from the battle and then he was killed by two of Alexander generals. Later, Alexander conquered Persepolis, the capital of Persian, which was the down fall of Persian Empire.

When he crossed the Hindu Kush Mountains, It was his fist time encountering soldiers mounted on elephants. Alexander had never lost a single battle in his life. His soldiers refused to go any further because they were tired of the long campaign. So Alexander decides to turn back. When he marched back to Babylon, he decided to plan a new campaign, but he died of a sudden fever in 323 BC.

He wanted to be worshiped as a god. Alexander left his immense empire to the strongest general in his army. There were three generals that had spited up the land that Alexander had conquered. The three generals are Antigon, became king of Macedonia and took control of the Greek city-states, Ptolemy, seized Egypt and established a dynasty and seleuous took most of the Old Persian Empire and became known as Seleucid empire. He had spread the Greek culture to the countries he had conquered. As a result, the Hellenistic civilization had been developed with the mixture of Greek, Persian, Egyptian, and Indian Customs. During his long Campaign, Alexander had founded many cities. Most of them were called Alexandria.

Alexander the Great had made many great accomplishments. Some them were that he defeated Darius3 and controls Anatolia, founded the city of Alexandria in Egypt, ends Persia’s power, occupies Babylon, Susa, and Persepolis, and ruled Southwest Asia. Alexander was known as one of the greatest leader whoever lived.

Our major thing must be put into consideration. In fact, it is the central aspect of excellence and what is that? It must begin from your mind. You must fight failure and mediocrity in your mind before you can fight them in the reality. Vince Lombardi said; “your success in life will be determined more by the depth of commitment to excellence than by any other factor, no matter your chosen field”. Therefore, aspire as much as you can to be the best in your career or any chosen field you are involved. Brain Tracy, one of the foremost American geniuses and a philosopher also said; “no one is smarter than you and no one is better than you. If someone is ahead of you today, it is because he or she is doing something different from you. In other words, it is not impossible for you to achieve excellence in whatever you bargain for. Don”t you ever settle for mediocrity! An average performance is a limited performance.

Develop a passion for excellent performance. If you have not been taking the first position in whatever you’re doing, it is because you have been sleeping for too long. Wake up from Slumber! Performance is the only basis for promotion. Excellence is measured by action. A child who tops his class is not measured by his family background, nor race, nor psyche, but by the result of his performance in the class. And it didn’t just come by; of course it was followed by action principle. Oritson Swelt declared; “make excellence a life rule, to give your best to whatever passes through your hand. Stamp it with your personal character; let superiority be your trade mark”. Therefore develop an unquenchable passion for excellence. Become more committed than ever before to excellent performance. As the saying goes “whatever is what doing at all is worth doing well”. This is because people mind and even pay for excellent work or product or service. The world is full of mediocres, but the people in it appreciate excellent products, services or performance. This is the more reason why you can not afford to be a mediocre for life, so get up and get going. The world is really waiting for you!

HOW TO ATTAIN EXCELLENCE

Excellence is not a post by chance or heritage, it is an art that must be consciously achieved through a conscious and persistent effort. Among others the following stand as a major means through which you attain the position of excellence.

1. Think excellence: Everything in the reality has its thought antecedent; every action is a product of thought. Every battle in life is won or lost in the arena of thought. “As a man thinketh so is he”. Therefore, you must develop the mindset of excellence for you to attain excellence. Infact this is the foundation. Think excellent thoughts always. By the time you think in excellent terms, failure thoughts would not be able to penetrate into you. Your life will always move in the direction of your dominant thought. You must break yourself free from those thoughts that limit you in life. You must emancipate yourself from those thoughts that will not move your life forward; thoughts of poverty, failure, sickness, pain, lack etc. don’t set any limitation in your mind. Don’t be limited in your mind, whatever becomes real in your mind, God will make real in your life. So, fill your mind with thoughts of excellence and success always, then you will always exhibit that in the reality.
2. Read books written by excellent minds.

   Excellent minds are those great people around you that you can really acknowledge. When you read the books written by these people, you will begin to rub mind with them, you will begin to think the way they think, act the way they act; even some of them who have died their books still transform lives for the better, even the generations after them, Like Napoleon Hill, Keneth Hagin, Norman Vincent Peal, (who have died) and others who are still alive like Dr Mylse Munroe, Bishop David Oyedepo, Brain Tracy, Jim Rohn, Dr Robert Schuller Rev Sam Adeyemi, Anthony Robins, Robert Kiyosaki and Dr Mike Murdock and so forth. These people gave been there, they should be able to tell you how to get there. Reading according to research affects your thinking and your thought directly or indirectly affect your performance. So, when you don’t read excellent books how will you have excellent thoughts. Readers are leaders, committed ones are great leaders.

3. Identify your key area of optimum performance. You must be able to identify an area through which you can perform to your best ability and be recognized. Like my humble self, I can sing, write, act on stage do several other things according to my gifted ability, but I found out that writing brings out the best in me much more than other gifted areas because people are being blessed and they always respond positively beyond measure to my writings with great transformation in their lives upon reading my articles or write-ups.
   What I am trying to express here is that’s you must clearly identify one skill that can help you most, then concentrate on it, develop your skill and update your knowledge inline with it.
4. Desire it intensely. This is the core aspect of excellence. What you don’t desire, you don’t get, and even when you get it by serendipity you don’t value nor respect it. You must desire excellence intensely. That is when it can be accepted by your subconscious mind. Then you subconscious mind upon reception can now direct you towards it and then bring it into its physical reality. .

Having said all can you now see that you too can attain the position of excellence in your field of endeavor if you can think in terms of excellence, read books by excellent minds, identify an area at which you can perform at the optimum level and desire it intensely! Nothing can stop you if you can do them without struggling.