Ambeth R. Ocampo's Blog, page 46

Timeline photos

Will brave the heat for those willing to do the same this Saturday.
I was last at Dia del Libro in 2019, glad to be back!



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If we are to believe raconteur, Alejandro Roces, the Pinoy term for money, pera, has its origins in 19th century coinage that ca...

If we are to believe raconteur, Alejandro Roces, the Pinoy term for money, pera, has its origins in 19th century coinage that carried the profile of Spanish Queen Isabel II.
Isabel was not well liked and was referred to, behind her back, as La Perra [The Bitch] so our coinage and money became “pera.”
A more plausible etymology is that pera came from “perak” the Malay word for silver.
A statue of Isabel II now stands infront of Puerta Isabel in Intramuros. I find the back more in...

THIS IS A HOT MONTH FOR BOOKS AND BOOK SIGNINGS. It began yesterday in a public conversation with Patricia Evangelista on ...

THIS IS A HOT MONTH FOR BOOKS AND BOOK SIGNINGS.
It began yesterday in a public conversation with Patricia Evangelista on her book "Some People Need Killing" at Ateneo de Manila University. Hers is a fast, gut-wrenching book with a more affordable PH edition.
Mark your calendars. I will be signing books: at the Asian Literary Conference (Friday April 19), at the Dia de Libro at Ayala Triangle, (Saturday April 20) then at the Philippine Book Festival (April 27-28).
No...

My Inquirer column today is on the NBDB readership survey that suggests people are reading less, but then maybe all that is lost...

My Inquirer column today is on the NBDB readership survey that suggests people are reading less, but then maybe all that is lost to print has merely migrated to another form of reading? People today read from smartphones, tablets, laptops, and desktops. Question is what are they reading.
https://opinion.inquirer.net/172885/f...



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FULL CIRCLE. Close to 40 years ago I entered a classroom in De La Salle University for the first time and taught the Life a...

FULL CIRCLE.
Close to 40 years ago I entered a classroom in De La Salle University for the first time and taught the Life and Works of Rizal to an undergrad class of computer science nerds. Little did I know that was the beginning of a teaching life that hopefully touched lives at: UP Diliman, San Beda, City College of Manila, Ateneo de Manila, Sophia University, Tokyo, and the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor.
This year I came full circle and taught a joint MA-PhD online course in t...

My Inquirer column today, "History in a Hurry," is about stray bits of information found in prewar Philippine periodicals. I did...

My Inquirer column today, "History in a Hurry," is about stray bits of information found in prewar Philippine periodicals. I didn't know Rizal's sisters, Saturnina and Narcisa, were fined for gambling.
https://opinion.inquirer.net/172819/h...



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TIKI-TIKI & BERI_BERI. Long before the catchy jingle for "United American Tiki-tiki," there was the prewar product formulate...

TIKI-TIKI & BERI_BERI.
Long before the catchy jingle for "United American Tiki-tiki," there was the prewar product formulated from rice bran by Manuel Zamora (1870-1929) as a cure for beri-beri, a disease caused by Vitamin B deficiency.
As I went over many advertisements for Tiki-tiki in prewar periodicals, I remembered Rizal's correspondence with accounts of cholera epidemics in the Philippines. His family provided details of symptoms and deaths of people they knew and I was surprised ...

When Rizal was treating patients in Dapitan, his nephews often heard him prescribe "Emulsion de Scott." This is foul-tasting cod...

When Rizal was treating patients in Dapitan, his nephews often heard him prescribe "Emulsion de Scott." This is foul-tasting cod liver oil that many children found worse than the disease it was supposed to treat. I found prewar advertisements for Scott's Emulsion in Tagalog and checked it out on Shoppee and Lazada. It is still around but in a more pleasing Orange flavor.



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My Inquirer column today is on the Panciteria Antigua that used to be in Plaza Santa Cruz and the many newspaper ads on it and o...

My Inquirer column today is on the Panciteria Antigua that used to be in Plaza Santa Cruz and the many newspaper ads on it and other prewar panciterias.
https://opinion.inquirer.net/172621/p...



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My favorite of the seven altars of Repose I visited this Holy Week in the ancient Jesuit-founded church of Sts Peter and Paul in...

My favorite of the seven altars of Repose I visited this Holy Week in the ancient Jesuit-founded church of Sts Peter and Paul in Poblacion or Old Makati.



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