Wednesday, October 28, 2009

Man got paid for 5 years without working a single day


An Illinois man got US$469,000 in paychecks without working for a single day. Anthony Armatys of Palatine, Illinois, pleaded guilty Monday on one count of theft. He accepted a job with Avaya Inc. in September 2002, but later changed his mind. The company's computer system did not remove his name from the payroll. Paychecks were deposited into his bank account until February 2007, when Avaya auditors discovered the mistake.

Could this ever happen in the Philippine government sector? With contractualization of labor, employees are forced to take 6-months contracts, subject to renewal. But there are indeed 15-30 employees, those who show up only on paydays. There are many of these employees especially in the local government sector. In general the government workforce cannot deny that many get paid without working. All they have to do is show up. That is called management.

Tuesday, October 27, 2009

Typhoon Santi to hit RP in 3 days - pray for Bro to spare us again

Exactly one month after the great flood and just two days after declaring that the country would be free from any low pressure area at least in the next two to three days, PAG-ASA announced another weather disturbance is threatening to hit the country within the next three days. The new storm would be named Santi.

Once again, we should pray to Bro for Santi(no) to spare us. As in the telenovela "May Bukas Pa", we should be reminded that miracles don’t just fall from heaven but comes to those who keep their faith.

Monday, October 26, 2009

My women's tennis album 12 - Ana Ivanovic

Ana Ivanovic is the sexiest female tennis player. She won the tennisreporters.net's Sexiest Female Player award for the last four straight years (2005-2008). She is 11th on FHM's 100 Sexiest Women in the World 2009 list. Other testaments to her beauty include the recognition given by The Age newspaper as the best-looking tennis player of all-time. Late last year, she won Die Bild newspaper's reader poll for "most beautiful body" in sport and she was named "best looking" female tennis player by The Globe Mail newspaper. Alexa.com says her website is the most-visited website of any sportswoman.

Ana Ivanovic upskirtAna Ivanovic upskirt
Ana Ivanovic upskirt
Ana Ivanovic upskirtAna Ivanovic upskirt

See also Album 11.

Saturday, October 24, 2009

Climate change spooks weather bureau - Hopeless PAG-ASA VII


Climate change has made weather forecasting doubly hard. The Philippines now have four seasons, dry, very dry, wet, and very wet. The agency hardest hit by climate change is the PAG-ASA. The Philippine weather bureau, long ridiculed for wrong forecasts, continues to suffer setbacks with its weather forecasts. The people don't mind though. We have learned to expect the opposite of their predictions. We continue to prepare for the worst, but often, PAG-ASA's predictions of very bad weather do not come true.

Typhoon Pepeng was supposed to veer away from Luzon. But it came back a number of times, pouring rains that necessitated the opening of dams, causing much destruction of lives and property. Of course, PAG-ASA does not have Doppler radars to determine rain volume, but that's for the rain volume. Is the Doppler also needed to predict the typhoon's path?

Before Pepeng, typhoon Ondoy was not advertised as it was. In many other times, PAG-ASA raised the alarms for impending strong typhoons. Signals were raised, classes were suspended, only for the sun to shine mightily the next day. PAG-ASA is the weather bureau who cried wolf.

With typhoon Ramil, PAG-ASA once again raised the signal and even hinted of a signal no.4. The country, particularly the northern part, prepared for the onslaught and prayed to high heavens to spare the country. The weather gods listened and once again PAG-ASA was red faced. Other weather agencies predicted Ramil will veer away, PAG-ASA expected it to hit us. Kaya ang iba nagsasabing huwag nang umasa sa PAG-ASA - 'wag asa.

But wait, if we want to be spared of a typhoon's wrath, we have just to make PAG-ASA predict a landfall, and the typhoon will go away. This space has been underestimating the value of the agency. PAG-ASA is not hopeless after all. My apologies.

Friday, October 23, 2009

My women's tennis album 11 - Ashley Harkleroad

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