Merry Christmas and Happy New Year.
Monday, December 25, 2006
Thursday, November 30, 2006
Improving stats and otherwise
It's been a while since my last post. Tiger Woods won another major slam, putting him closer to Jack Nicklaus' record. Hindi yata talaga tao.
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Manny Pacquiao again won convincingly. As a tribute to the great event, I posted round 3 of his fight versus Morales on YouTube. They shot it down after 106 views, acting on a complaint from HBO saying it is copyright infringement. The last time I checked YouTube, there were still 1,248 videos of the same fight, some with more than 4,000 views. Just my luck to be singled out and threatened with a multi-million dollar lawsuit.
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Philippine life has not improved since. But this delusional government believes otherwise. It says unemployment is down. The government brought unemployment down not by creating more jobs but by not counting the unemployed properly. So if you see lots of tambays on the streets, they may be not working but they are not unemployed. It is a very imaginative unemployment reduction. Unemployment is down by more than 2 pts on a sub-par economic growth (compared to our neighbors) and a very high population growth (again compared to neighbors). How did GMA do with her promise of a million jobs a year, anyway? They are silent on that while they gladly report the new unemployment figures. Perhaps we should ask the government to reveal also the number of 'discouraged' workers who are left out in the counting of the unemployed.
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Manny Pacquiao again won convincingly. As a tribute to the great event, I posted round 3 of his fight versus Morales on YouTube. They shot it down after 106 views, acting on a complaint from HBO saying it is copyright infringement. The last time I checked YouTube, there were still 1,248 videos of the same fight, some with more than 4,000 views. Just my luck to be singled out and threatened with a multi-million dollar lawsuit.
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Philippine life has not improved since. But this delusional government believes otherwise. It says unemployment is down. The government brought unemployment down not by creating more jobs but by not counting the unemployed properly. So if you see lots of tambays on the streets, they may be not working but they are not unemployed. It is a very imaginative unemployment reduction. Unemployment is down by more than 2 pts on a sub-par economic growth (compared to our neighbors) and a very high population growth (again compared to neighbors). How did GMA do with her promise of a million jobs a year, anyway? They are silent on that while they gladly report the new unemployment figures. Perhaps we should ask the government to reveal also the number of 'discouraged' workers who are left out in the counting of the unemployed.
Monday, July 24, 2006
In a zone and SONA
Tiger Woods at 30 won his 11th major (in less than 10 years of tournament play). Nicklaus won his record 18th and last (in 24 years of tournament play) when he was 46. At this rate, Tiger will double Nicklaus’ majors haul before he retires. Tiger once again proves his super human golfing talent. He is an alien. He is not human.
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For a change, this cute government acted fast in declaring no classes and office due to weather conditions on the day of the SONA. I wish they also act this fast on other non-SONA days.
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Hearing the latest SONA, we realize the true state of the nation today and that is - the president doesn’t have anything really good to say about our state today. She cannot embellish the truth more than they have done the past months, as in the redefinition of unemployed and underestimation of imports/balance of trade. So instead of getting flak for lying again through official statistics, she did not present the state of the nation at all. In lieu of the SONA, she presented her plans for the rest of her term.
What’s wrong with plans? All great accomplishments start with good plans, don’t they? Sure they do. But in presenting plans instead of the true state of the nation in a SONA is reveals several things: 1) the true state of the nation is not something to brag about in a SONA; 2) after 5 years in office, she is just starting to plan, we are still in the planning stage; 3) she is in denial about the true state of the nation; 4) she is still in dream state.
In her first SONA, she first articulated her plans through her ‘bangkang papel’ dramatics. Trabaho, edukasyon, sariling tahanan, pagkain. Succeeding SONAs should have mentioned where we have gone from those plans. Had she done that, she would have reported that unemployment is down because she redefined unemployment. More are being educated because she packed each classroom with more than 100 students per day. Hunger/poverty is easing because her statisticians say the basic caloric requirement is available via an unpalatable but cheap diet. More houses are being built not by her but by NGOs.
She cannot ascribe any positive development to her governance without getting criticism from all sectors. And next year is an election year, so even this early she goes on campaign mode, promising infrastructures. Talk is cheap and she can dream, can’t she?
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For a change, this cute government acted fast in declaring no classes and office due to weather conditions on the day of the SONA. I wish they also act this fast on other non-SONA days.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Hearing the latest SONA, we realize the true state of the nation today and that is - the president doesn’t have anything really good to say about our state today. She cannot embellish the truth more than they have done the past months, as in the redefinition of unemployed and underestimation of imports/balance of trade. So instead of getting flak for lying again through official statistics, she did not present the state of the nation at all. In lieu of the SONA, she presented her plans for the rest of her term.
What’s wrong with plans? All great accomplishments start with good plans, don’t they? Sure they do. But in presenting plans instead of the true state of the nation in a SONA is reveals several things: 1) the true state of the nation is not something to brag about in a SONA; 2) after 5 years in office, she is just starting to plan, we are still in the planning stage; 3) she is in denial about the true state of the nation; 4) she is still in dream state.
In her first SONA, she first articulated her plans through her ‘bangkang papel’ dramatics. Trabaho, edukasyon, sariling tahanan, pagkain. Succeeding SONAs should have mentioned where we have gone from those plans. Had she done that, she would have reported that unemployment is down because she redefined unemployment. More are being educated because she packed each classroom with more than 100 students per day. Hunger/poverty is easing because her statisticians say the basic caloric requirement is available via an unpalatable but cheap diet. More houses are being built not by her but by NGOs.
She cannot ascribe any positive development to her governance without getting criticism from all sectors. And next year is an election year, so even this early she goes on campaign mode, promising infrastructures. Talk is cheap and she can dream, can’t she?
Sunday, February 12, 2006
Back to the grind
After the project that required me to report for a daily 8 to 5 grind ended, I had projects that allowed me to stay home and freely schedule my time. There were meetings, presentations, and occasional travels that brought me around region 7 and Batangas. But for the past years I caught the NBA AllStars, SuperBowl, the Grammys and Oscars, and some beauty pageants live on TV.
Now I'm back to a regular daily routine that makes me miss the usual live events on cable. I work with a group that shares common passions - foremost of which is working for an institution for more than 10 hours straight daily, 5 days a week; and still manage to come fresh as daisies the next day. This group routinely pours in long hours what other offices do on a seasonal basis.
This day marks the first full month of working with them. Statistically, my entry raises the group's average age. I hope I also upped the overall job knowledge and experience, if not the average looks (he-he-he, joke lang, officemates in case you're reading this).
The group also shares other passions. Eating is one. But that will be another subject.
Now I'm back to a regular daily routine that makes me miss the usual live events on cable. I work with a group that shares common passions - foremost of which is working for an institution for more than 10 hours straight daily, 5 days a week; and still manage to come fresh as daisies the next day. This group routinely pours in long hours what other offices do on a seasonal basis.
This day marks the first full month of working with them. Statistically, my entry raises the group's average age. I hope I also upped the overall job knowledge and experience, if not the average looks (he-he-he, joke lang, officemates in case you're reading this).
The group also shares other passions. Eating is one. But that will be another subject.
Saturday, February 11, 2006
The eternal sunshine of the spotted mind.
This cute GMA administration is an ever optimistic lot. It never fails to see the silver linings. When the peso was down, it sees increase in demand for the exports, and better life for our OFWs, our fodder in the conflicted Middle East. Never mind that rise in local prices of imports which we are addicted and the brain drain. Our BOP will improve, so she says.
Now that the peso is improving, she is even more upbeat. Suddenly, she forgets her beneficiaries of devaluation. She salivates at the prospects of ratings upgrades. When it does not completely come, she sees it as a challenge, not as a rebuke. What does the rating do for the common Filipino? For GMA, it simply means she can borrow more at better rates. At least in the short run, the ordinary family should have lower prices of imported goods in the local market. Fuel and LPG prices should be down because even oil prices abroad are down after winter. But are they? Can small Filipinos borrow at better rates? That is if they can borrow from anyone at all, if they are not still neck-deep in debt.
Most people do not share GMA's enthusiasm on the stronger peso. The US$100 they get from their family member used to fetch PhP56+, now it's Php51. And still they are paying more for electricity, water, fuel, transport, credit card interests, etc. Tumaas pa rin ang lahat, pwera si GMA at ang kanyang rating.
If this cute administration cannot provide a trickle of its enthusiasm to the poor, it will be extinct sooner than the spotted owl.
Now that the peso is improving, she is even more upbeat. Suddenly, she forgets her beneficiaries of devaluation. She salivates at the prospects of ratings upgrades. When it does not completely come, she sees it as a challenge, not as a rebuke. What does the rating do for the common Filipino? For GMA, it simply means she can borrow more at better rates. At least in the short run, the ordinary family should have lower prices of imported goods in the local market. Fuel and LPG prices should be down because even oil prices abroad are down after winter. But are they? Can small Filipinos borrow at better rates? That is if they can borrow from anyone at all, if they are not still neck-deep in debt.
Most people do not share GMA's enthusiasm on the stronger peso. The US$100 they get from their family member used to fetch PhP56+, now it's Php51. And still they are paying more for electricity, water, fuel, transport, credit card interests, etc. Tumaas pa rin ang lahat, pwera si GMA at ang kanyang rating.
If this cute administration cannot provide a trickle of its enthusiasm to the poor, it will be extinct sooner than the spotted owl.
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