"Dad, how was I born?"

I have two boys who are of an age where they are curious and inquisitive. I am now half-expecting them to ask THE big question anytime soon.

How will I answer it? Should I be straight to the point and bore them with biological terms they can hardly understand? Or should I be creative and indirect by talking about the birds and the bees?

I suspect I will use the latter option above. But, how do I say it in a way my kids can relate to? I have to use words to which my sons can understand.

I did not have to wait long. I got a timely advise from my former university professor in the form of an e-mail. The language it uses is definitely something my kids can understand.

How was I born?

A little boy goes to his father and asks, 'Daddy, how was I born?'

The father answers, 'Well, son, I guess one day you will need to find out anyway!

Your Mom and I first got together in a chat room on Yahoo.

Then I set up a date via e-mail with your Mom and we met at a cyber-cafe.

We sneaked into a secluded room, where your mother agreed to a download from my hard drive.

As soon as I was ready to upload, we discovered that neither one of us had used a firewall!

And since it was too late to hit the delete button, nine months later a little Pop-Up appeared that said:


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'You got Male!'

Vote for Efren Penaflorida as CNN Hero 2009

I have cast my vote for Efren Penaflorida, which I am proud to call my fellow Filipino, as my CNN Hero 2009. Please support Efren with your vote!

Click on the widget above and you will be led on to a CNN webpage showing all nominated heroes. Click on Efren's picture and you will be able to read on his heroic story that is very much worth reflecting on and emulating especially by our youth.

The Philippines national hero Jose Rizal described the youth as the hope of the fatherland. Efren's story makes you still believe in Rizal's words.

Turn back the clock

British Summer Time ended yesterday, which means we have turned back the clock by an hour and goes back to GMT time.

I am now used to the concept of daylight saving time (DST), popularly known in the UK as British Summer Time (BST). I now consciously turn back or move forward (in March when BST starts) all our clocks (including watches and computers) at home a few hours before it effects.

It was not always the case in the past. As a result, we have had embarrassing moments because of BST. Thankfully, as it happens on a Sunday there were only two that I can think of.

One that is still fresh in my mind happened a few years ago when our eldest son was still a baby. As it was a Sunday, we went to church. As usual, we have to rush as we are getting late. But to our amazement, we arrived at a church that was still almost empty save for some elderly parishioners. I thought to myself, this is good at least we have enough time to find a good seat.

As we are about to enter, we were greeted by the elderly parishioners. They were closing the church, they told us. Sensing our confusion, they explained that the Mass was finished a few minutes ago. And in a nice way reminded us that we should have moved our clocks forward by an hour. It was the start of BST!

How my wife and I laughed at our embarrassment as we headed to our local supermarket to buy food instead.

The other experience involved my wife. As a staff nurse, she normally works long shifts on weekends. Once, having forgotten about the time change, she went to work an hour early! As a result, it is now a joke in her ward to remind her of BST as it nears.

My first experience with DST was in 1991 in the Philippines. It was the height of a national power crisis and DST was implemented to save on power. That year, I took summer classes in UP Diliman. It was a very hot summer in Metro Manila (it usually is) and power cuts are regular. Once, I was having a shower and was about to rinse the shampoo off my hair when the scheduled power outage happened! Grrrrrrrr!

On a positive note, Philippine time is now back to 8 hours ahead of UK time. At least, I do not have to stay quite late in the night if I want to call my parents in Bohol first thing in the morning.

Time to change

Photo: BBC

The European Union as a whole uses summer (or daylight saving) time from the last Sunday in March to the last Sunday in October. The change between the two takes place at 01.00 GMT.

In October, just when you get used to it getting dark at around 5.30-6.00pm we change our clocks from following British Summer Time (BST) back to Greenwich Mean Time (GMT). This means it will be dark an hour earlier, and don't we all notice it! It seems as though suddenly the nights are substantially longer.

Subconsciously, many of us will feel winter has dawned. Most of us will be travelling to and from work in darkness, so perhaps it's not surprising that so many people, up to one in every 20 people, suffer from SAD (Seasonal Affective Disorder) during the UK's long winter days. This is a specific type of depression that experts believe is related to a lack of exposure to daylight. It affects people at the same time each year - during autumn and winter.

Read more at BBC Weather.