guims' Random Thoughts

Amazingly, our graduates did so well in the recent Licensure Examination for Agricultural Engineering. The result really blew me away. I had so much hope for these people, but they had given me more than what I anticipated.

Yesterday must have been a beautiful omen. Earlier in the morning, as I was travelling to the university from the city, I was following behind a car with plate number PRC 351. That PRC characters excited me, since PRC is the initials for Professional Regulation Commission. So what do 351 mean? Well, later in the day, a student texted me saying that 86% of the first time takers passed the exam. So that’s it, 351 (3+5=8, and 5+1=6)!

Not only was the passing percentage was great, we have two topnotchers! Ely Jun Pates ranked FIRST! Another one, Rowen Lacanaria, bagged the FIFTH place! Isn’t that exemplary? Ely was a “home-grown” Agricultural Engineering student, while Rowen was a shifter from another course (Electrical Engineering). It was redemption for Rowen and his colleagues, implying that anyone can really succeed despite past painful struggles. And for Ely, he simply upheld our course and profession, giving much honor to the university and to our department.

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In parties, feasts, meetings, celebration, and almost in every gathering, we drink. Beer. Wine. Rum. Gin. Vodka. Others. All these drink have two things in common – alcohol and danger.

Drinking may be a social skill that everyone is meant to learn. But such thing has limitations and demands responsibility. It may have advantages to our body, but it also has utmost consequences when exploited. Worse, damage may be irreversible. So what are the dangers of drinking? What does long-term drinking do to our body, mind and well-being? How bad are its effects? Here are ten fatal consequences of over drinking alcohol:

1. Cardiovascular system. Alcohol can cause high blood pressure (hypertension) increasing the risk of having a heart attack or stroke. It also weakens heart muscles, which can affect lungs, liver, brain and other body systems and can cause heart failure. In the long run, it can cause the heart to have irregular beating (arrhythmia) and lead to death.

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