First Garden Wedding at Chateau Du Mer Revisited

While looking at my old pictures in my files, I found the following photos on the first garden wedding at Chateau Du Mer Beach Resort and Conference Center in Boac, Marinduque, Philippines. I am also reposting my write-up of this historic occasion ( being the first garden wedding at the resort) posted on February 2, 2010 in one of my blogs as follows:

The bride with Parents on her Wedding March

The wedding ceremony started with the bride transported by a white horse-drawn open carriage from the nearby beach resort. This reminds me of Cinderilla riding in her golden carriage on her way to the Ball. On her arrival she was met by the groom and her entourage( includes 6 pairs of primary sponsors) at the balcony of the beach house. The groom stayed overnight in the beach house. The wedding ceremony then began with a ballet dance on the bridge, followed by songs, prayers and homily. It lasted for two hours. The wedding vows and ritual ( cord, veil and candle sponsors) is similar to the Roman Catholic Church, except for presentation of gifts to the parents of bride and groom. In addition all the primary sponsors were required to give public advice to the newly weds. The officiating pastor was from the Born Again Christian Church from Manila.

The reception in the hall had a printed program distributed to around 200 guests. It included several musical and dancing exhibition as well as public dancing. Music was provided by a live band of 10 musicians. At the end of the reception 4 hours later, the newly weds spent another hour at the beach house and ocean just relaxing and taking more pictures. There was a videographer and several photographers.

The ceremony ended with the bride and groom riding the open horse-drawn carriage back to the nearby resort where the bride stayed. The next day, I was told, they are flying to Hongkong for their honeymoon. A most memorable and grand wedding event -the first event here at Chateau Du Mer. I hope more garden weddings in the future.

A Face Book Scam Letter in my E-mail Today

I received the following e-mail today! Have you received a similar e-mail recently?

CONGRATULATIONS!...

This is an empowerment program and a way of giving back to 500 fans of Facebook active users as a compensation bonus.

You have been selected randomly as one of our active users eligible to participate in this question and answer program worth $20,000.00 instant deposit in your Bank account.

Answer the question correctly and win an instant deposit of $20,000.00 in your Bank account. To participate click here When I click here is what my PC screen says:

Reported Web Forgery!

This web page at www.estetikstudio.lv has been reported as a web forgery and has been blocked based on your security preferences.

Web forgeries are designed to trick you into revealing personal or financial information by imitating sources you may trust. Entering any information on this web page may result in identity theft or other fraud.

My dear readers, it is very tempting to get caught in this scam. Remember, nothing is FREE!

Biology and Sexual Orientation

Hair Whorl Differences between Gay and Non-gay Men

I posted an article the other day on my discussion with owner of the Filipino grocery store on homosexuality triggered by our mutual love and enjoyment on watching a Pinoy TV drama titled My Husband's Lover. This prompted me to do an Internet search on the biology of sexual orientation. The following is a brief summary of my findings. If you want more detail information on this subject, read the website I have listed on the bottom of this page.

Physiological and Cognitive Differences of Gay versus Non-Gay Men and Lesbians

There are several studies that have found correlations between physiology of people and their sexuality. These studies provide evidence of both physiological(9 items) and cognitive( 2 items) differences between gay men, non-gay men and lesbians. The following are some findings I found interesting. It may be very controversial and not believable to some of you specially if you are homophobic.

Physiological

1.Gay men and straight women have, on average, equally proportioned brain hemispheres. Lesbian women and straight men have, on average, slightly larger right brain hemispheres.

2. Gay men report, on an average, slightly longer and thicker penises than non-gay men.

3. Gay men's brains respond differently to fluoxetine, a selective serotonin reuptake inhibitor.

4. The functioning of the inner ear and the central auditory system in lesbians and bisexual women are more like the functional properties found in men than in non-gay women (the researchers argued this finding was consistent with the prenatal hormonal theory of sexual orientation).

5. Gay and non-gay people's brains respond differently to two putative sex pheromones (AND, found in male armpit secretions, and EST, found in female urine).

6. The amygdala, a region of the brain, is more active in gay men than non-gay men when exposed to sexually arousing material.

7. Finger length ratios between the index and ring fingers may be different between non-gay and lesbian women.

8. A study of over 50 gay men found that about around 23% had counterclockwise hair whorl, as opposed to 8% in the general population. This may correlate with left-handedness.

9. Gay men have increased ridge density in the fingerprints on their left thumbs and pinkies.

Cognitive

The presence of subtle differences in the way gay people and non-gay people process certain kinds of information was suggested from a recent study. Researchers have found that:

1. Gay men and lesbians are more verbally fluent than heterosexuals of the same sex (but two studies did not find this result).

2. Gay men may receive higher scores than non-gay men on tests of object location memory (no difference was found between lesbians and non-gay women).

Reference: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Biology_and_sexual_orientation‎

Remembering September 11, 2001

The Burning Twin Tower of the World Trade Center in New York City, September 11, 2001

Do you remember what were you doing on September 11, twelve years ago? Today is the twelve years anniversary of the most heinous and perverted crime in 21st century in the US- The terrorist bombing of the World Trade Center In New York and the Pentagon in Washington, D.C.

Exactly twelve years ago, I was still working for the Food and Drug Administration (FDA). I remember clearly what I was doing and how I felt afterward that day. Depressed and frustrated that I can not do much of what happened that historic day.

That morning in September 11, 2001, The Office of New Drug Chemistry, Center of New Drugs had a joint meeting with representatives of Pharmaceutical Manufacturers Association (PHARMA) at the Hilton Hotel in Gaithersburg, MD. At about 9:20AM, we received an announcement that the meeting is canceled and we can go home, since the World Trade Center in New York was burning. All of the attendees went to the hotel lobby and the TV was announcing the news. I felt sick, depressed but helpless to see the burning WTC building((see photo above). Later, I learned that the Pentagon in Washington DC was also bombed and another plane crashed in the field somewhere in Southern Pennsylvania. Later I also found out that this United Airline plane was intended for the White House. Had it not been for the courageous heroics of several passengers, the White House would have suffered the same fate as the World Trade Center and the Pentagon.

The most heinous crime of the century produced thousands of burnt victims. Two drugs in my Division, Sulfamylon and Silvadene, approved for the treatment of burns were out of supply.

A chemistry manufacturing supplement has to be approved to manufacture more of these ointments in a new facility. This required a review by the chemist, an inspection of the facility by a field inspector, my approval as the chemistry team leader plus the paper work by the project manager. The drugs are needed immediately, so we have to do an expedited review of the manufacturing supplement. It took us only 12 hours to approve the new facility and the review of the chemistry, manufacturing and control submission. This review normally will take at least one month to three months depending on the availability of the field inspector and the schedule of the review chemist.

In December, 2001, the four members of my review team received a special cash award and recognition award from FDA management for our work on expediting review of two drugs, Sulfamylon and Silvadene.. Of my more than a dozen awards I had, this one was the most appreciated. I felt that I have done my job as a public servant and had helped the victims of the terrorist attack in a timely manner.

The photo above was the first picture I saw on television the morning of September 11, 2001. I will never forget that day as long as I live.

A Mini Family Reunion in Mountain View, California

Thanksgiving and/or Christmas Holidays are still in the horizon. But the Katague and Jambalos clan had an earlier family reunion last September 1. This was during the welcome party for Ella Jambalos Lazarte and her son, Adrian Bernard at her sister's residence (Lanie Jambalos Lazarte-Chalfin) in Mountain View, California.


The David B Katague Family at the Backyard of Alex and Lanie Chalfin of Mountain View, California, September 1, 2013

The Katague and Jambalos Clan

The David B Katague clan with oldest grandson (Ian King) and youngest granddaughter ( Carenna Thompson) Not in the photo are my four other grand children, Elaine King (OSU), Philip Katague (UC Santa Cruz), Alix Katague ( Cornell U) and Marina Katague ( still in high school, but plan on attending medical school). Ian is a junior at Sacramento State University while Carenna is in 5th grade.

In this mini reunion, I learned that health is wealth and that family relationships are things money can not buy. My thanks to Lanie and Alex Chalfin for hosting this reunion. We hope to have a full family reunion this coming Thanksgiving an/or Christmas holidays this year.

An Interesting Afternoon at the Pinoy Grocery Store

Every other Sunday after mass at about noon time, Macrine,(my spouse of 57 years) and I drive to a Filipino grocery store about 10 miles from our residence. In the store we purchase Filipino goods, groceries, cakes and delicacies. We have been doing this for the last 10 years, thus the owner of the store, a pretty Pinay about 45 years old knows us very well. In the store while shopping, the owner and I would talk on subjects about life in the Philippines versus life here in the US.

Yesterday, our topic of conversation touched on the Pinoy TV drama, My Husband's Lover- which is now very popular not only in the Philippines but also all over the world. The show can be seen if you subscribed to cable television(GMA) or via the Internet.

The last two episodes of this drama last week portrayed the subject of military training and the cure of homosexuality. When this episode was broadcasted last week, I immediately wrote a comment that this episode is very unrealistic and as far as I know no one was ever cured of homosexuality no matter how rigorous the mental and physical training in the military. I was however very surprised when the owner of the Pinoy store asked me if homosexuality can be cured by military training as portrayed in the TV drama.

Our friend question aroused my curiosity about the origin, biology and genetic influences of homosexuality, lesbianism and bisexuality. I did some Internet searched and here is a statement from the American Psychological Association website.

“There is no consensus among scientists about the exact reasons that an individual develops a heterosexual, bisexual, gay, or lesbian orientation. Although much research has examined the possible genetic, hormonal, developmental, social, and cultural influences on sexual orientation, no findings have emerged that permit scientists to conclude that sexual orientation is determined by any particular factor or factors. Many think that nature and nurture both play complex roles; most people experience little or no sense of choice about their sexual orientation.”

For more detail discussions on biology and sexual orientation, visit the website as follows: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Biology_and_sexual_orientation