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Philippines / Asia
WEDNESDAY - SEPTEMBER 26, 2012 - MARIANAS VARIETY NEWS AND VIEWS
Myanmar’s president Philippine official: Marcos clothes have no historic value heads to US for rare visit MANILA (AP) — A Philippine official said Monday that a legendary collection of shoes and other possessions left behind by former first lady Imelda Marcos and her dictator husband when they were ousted by a 1986 “people power” revolt have no historical significance, except for some Philippinemade gowns. Communications Undersecretary Manolo Quezon issued the statement after National Museum officials acknowledged that the collection of Marcos’ clothes and shoes had been neglected for more than two decades and some had been damaged by a monsoon storm last month. Museum officials told The Associated Press on Sunday that termites, storms and neglect damaged part of Mrs. Marcos’ collection of at least 1,220 pairs of shoes and other items while they were stored from 1986 to 2010 at the Malacañang presidential palace and later at the National Museum in Manila. More than 150 cartons of clothes, dress accessories and shoes were transferred to the National Museum for safekeeping two years ago from the riverside palace. They deteriorated further at the museum after the boxes were stored in a padlocked room that was inundated by heavy rains last month because Native Filipino attire called “Barongs” that had been often worn in public of a leak in the ceiling, museum during the two-decade rule of the late strongman Ferdinand Marcos are seen at the National Museum in Manila. AP officials said. The Marcoses fled the PhilipQuezon said the contents of the future generations of Marcos’ boxes have “no historical signifi- dictatorial rule and encourage pines at the climax of an armycance except some of the clothes” them to safeguard the country’s backed “people power” revolt which became a harbinger of made by prominent Philippine cou- democracy. The damaged items in- change in authoritarian regimes turiers. Museum officials clude native see-through worldwide. Mr. Marcos died in said the Philippine-made barong shirts, which exile in Hawaii in 1989 and his gowns might be displayed Marcos often wore in widow and children returned home in public, but they were public ceremonies dur- years later. wary because of the “poing his 20-year rule. AP They left staggering amounts of litically sensitive nature of journalists saw a barong personal belongings, clothes and their provenance.” shirt with a presidential art objects at the palace, including A Philippine historian, Ferdinand seal on top of a box of Imelda Marcos’ shoes which have Michael Xiao Chua, said Marcos 100 shirts which had come to symbolize her extravathe Marcos items are important and should have been reddish stains and a sleeve that gance amid crushing poverty in the Southeast Asian country. displayed to remind current and was nearly torn off.
Rethinking... Continued from page 10 amount of time a subject spent in deep sleep during a nap predicted his or her later performance at recalling a short burst of melodic tones. And researchers at the City University of New York found that short naps helped subjects identify more literal and figurative connections between objects than those who simply stayed awake. Robert Stickgold, a professor of psychiatry at Harvard Medical School, proposes that sleep — including short naps that include deep sleep — offers our brains the chance to decide what new information to keep and what to toss. That could be one reason our dreams are laden with strange plots and characters, a result of the brain’s trying to find connections between what it’s recently learned and what is stored MV 9-26-12.indd 12
in our long-term memory. Rapid eye movement sleep — so named because researchers who discovered this sleep stage were astonished to see the fluttering eyelids of sleeping subjects — is the only phase of sleep during which the brain is as active as it is when we are fully conscious, and seems to offer our brains the best chance to come up with new ideas and hone recently acquired skills. When we awaken, our minds are often better able to make connections that were hidden in the jumble of information. Gradual acceptance of the notion that sequential sleep hours are not essential for high-level job performance has led to increased workplace tolerance for napping and
other alternate daily schedules. Employees at Google, for instance, are offered the chance to nap at work because the company believes it may increase productivity. Thomas Balkin, the head of the department of behavioral biology at the Walter Reed Army Institute of Research, imagines a near future in which military commanders can know how much total sleep an individual soldier has had over a 24-hour time frame thanks to wristwatch-size sleep monitors. After consulting computer models that predict how decision-making abilities decline with fatigue, a soldier could then be ordered to take a nap to prepare for an approaching mission. The cognitive benefit of a
YANGON, Myanmar (AP) — prime minister then under the muchMyanmar’s reformist president left criticized former military junta chief, Monday for New York to tout his Gen. Than Shwe. country’s makeover at the United He is to deliver a speech Thursday Nations and push for an end to to the General Assembly in which sanctions, in the first U.S. visit by he will highlight the reforms his a leader of the former international government has introduced since he pariah since 1966. took office in March 2011, after the Since becoming president last country’s first election in 20 years. year, Thein Sein has overseen widely “This visit is very significant,” praised economic and political said Maj. Zaw Htay, director of the reforms in Myanmar that follow president’s office. almost a half century of military “The president will outline the rule. His trip to attend the U.N. democratic, political and economic General Assembly comes as his reforms he has instituted and he will country enjoys improved relations also explain the challenges that lie with the United States. ahead,” Zaw Htay said. “Myanmar His visit overlaps with one by is rejoining the international comMyanmar’s biggest celebrity, Nobel munity, and President Thein Sein Peace Prize winner Aung San Suu will also call on the international Kyi. The opposition leader’s high- community for cooperation and profile U.S. visit has included a pri- assistance.” vate meeting with Since Suu Kyi President Barack won a parliaObama and standmentary seat in ing ovations at April, the U.S. has awards ceremonormalized dipnies in Washinglomatic relations ton and New York, with Myanmar including at the and allowed U.S. United Nations, companies to start where she worked investing there Thein Sein 40 years ago. again. Last week, On recent trips abroad, Suu the U.S. Treasury announced it was Kyi has been quietly criticized by taking Thein Sein’s name off its the government for upstaging the list of individuals prohibited from president. But her U.S. itinerary doing business or owning property seems aimed at making sure they in America. The administration is don’t cross paths. She is leaving now considering easing the main New York before Thein Sein arrives, plank of its remaining sanctions, a making various stops this week at Ivy ban on imports. League schools on the East Coast Thein Sein is expected to meet before heading to California on her with several other leaders during way home. the U.N. General Assembly, Zaw Thein Sein’s visit is bound to Htay said. He is to meet Friday with attract a smaller spotlight than Suu members of Myanmar’s expatriate Kyi’s, but marks another important community in New York before remoment for Myanmar. turning home, the spokesman said. The Southeast Asian country’s When asked if Myanmar’s govlast leader to make an official visit ernment is concerned that Suu Kyi’s to the United States was authoritar- visit might outshine the president, ian former Prime Minister Ne Win Zaw Htay said, “The president in 1966, when the country was still doesn’t feel uncomfortable or threatcalled Burma. ened by the warm reception Daw Thein Sein attended the U.N. Aung San Suu Kyi received in the General Assembly in 2009, but was U.S.” Daw is a term of respect.
nap could last anywhere from one to three hours, depending on what stage of sleep a person reaches before awakening. Most of us are not fortunate enough to work in office environments that permit, much less smile upon, on-the-job napping. But there are increasing suggestions that greater tolerance for altered sleep schedules might be in our collective interest. Researchers have observed, for example, that long-haul pilots who sleep during flights perform better when maneuvering aircraft through the critical stages of descent and landing. Several Major League Baseball teams have adapted to the demands of a long season by changing their sleep patterns. Fernando Montes, the former strength and conditioning coach for the Texas Rangers, counseled his players to fall asleep with the curtains in their hotel rooms
open so that they would naturally wake up at sunrise no matter what time zone they were in — even if it meant cutting into an eight-hour sleeping block. Once they arrived at the ballpark, Montes would set up a quiet area where they could sleep before the game. Players said that, thanks to this schedule, they felt great both physically and mentally over the long haul. Strategic napping in the Rangers style could benefit us all. No one argues that sleep is not essential. But freeing ourselves from needlessly rigid and quite possibly outdated ideas about what constitutes a good night’s sleep might help put many of us to rest, in a healthy and productive, if not eight-hour long, block. David K. Randall is a senior reporter at Reuters and the author of “Dreamland: Adventures in the Strange Science of Sleep.” (The New York Times) 9/26/12 12:24:29 AM