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September 2, 2008

How Gyms Really Work

Actually this is how gyms work, they just dropped the pretenses.
thanks to Marginal Revolutions:

from Marginal Revolution by Tyler Cowen

Peter Risager, a loyal MR reader, relays the following to me:

A Danish chain of gyms is now offering membership free of charge, with the only caveat that you have to show up, in order for the membership to be free. If you fail to show up once per week you will be billed the normal monthly membership fee for that month. This should solve the problem with incentives that gym-membership normally carries – there is suddenly a very large (membership is around 85$ per month) incentive to show up each week.

He offers also a link in Danish.

September 2, 2008

Just got a raise, Its not big but in the high inflationary environment we are in coupled with the growing pains of adulthood I’ll take what I can.
I’ve been very vocal with my urging of friends to not change lifestyles after a pay raise and the like. I still remember last saturday when Rain and I somewhat ganged up on Jizelle for her “lifestyle changes”.
We were just doing those things for fun. Its nice (and quite entertaining) to make people conscious of the changes they undergo. Oft times when they are not too mindful of a majority of the moments of their lives people change a lot without realizing it. This happens often enough that the change comes too fast and in a relatively short time we sometimes no longer recognize who we already have become. This is somewhat problematic for people who do not take great pains on being true to themselves at almost all times because sometimes we become or have turned into a something who we (or at least our former selves) do not like.
This is one of the challenges of adulthood trying to find your center what some people call “wal” where we retreat to in times of distress, Where although almost everything around and most definitely about us is changing , this is what stays the same.
I’ve always lived mindfully and have suffered a constant battle within because of this. When lying/lies are the one of the most potent of tools to use against a lot of the pain, doubt , questions, and the tragedies that we encounter losing the capability or at least the knee jerk reaction of not facing reality becomes a stake unto itself.When one can only see too well into ones own lies, One becomes naked to self-examination, and when one sees who we really are we may or may not understand what has become of us.
But the Sorrow of Truth is the Happiness of Reality, For one can only love something when you know that thing, If not know at least have an Idea what the essence of that thing is, and in this place of Sorrow and Happiness one can truly love ones self.
I’ve made my choice and its A choice I’ve long made and have never regretted. I try to live as someone who knows who I am warts and all and have suffered through it. I look at myself in the mirror and do not regret the image that I see. I am who I am by the force of my environment but also by the force of my will.
In The Face Of Changes the one that can change and not change at all is the same person.

August 28, 2008

rePost: ‘Man of mercy’ lost own life saving others

We call them hero but let them fly in not air safe 50 year old planes (maybe more), knowing that the fleet is not safe but because of a lack of anything to replace them insisting they fly to their deaths. We must stop this We call them heroes but we let them die over and over again. They are not only heroes but martyrs Their politicians fly first class whilst their people fly to their graves. What to say, but Sorry For We Did Nothing.
from Philstar here

‘Man of mercy’ lost own life saving others
Thursday, August 28, 2008
Air Force Maj. Manuel Zambrano was known as the “man of mercy” who flew food and medicine to typhoon victims in Eastern Samar and evacuated Filipinos from war-torn Iraq, and he died ferrying troops to the front in Mindanao.
People trapped in floods in Borongan, Eastern Samar clapped their hands when Zambrano successfully landed a C-130 aircraft loaded with food and medicine on an unpaved airstrip five months ago.
The 39-year-old seasoned military pilot also had to fly a C-130 thousands of kilometers into a war zone to rescue Filipino workers after the US invaded Iraq.
Zambrano also ferried Filipino doctors to help typhoon victims in Myanmar.
He flew medicine and a medical team to help tsunami victims in Yogyakarta, Indonesia.
“He died so that others may live,” Air Force chief Lt. Gen. Pedrito Cadungog said.
Last Monday, Zambrano was piloting a C-130 from Davao International Airport when it burst into flames and crashed shortly after takeoff.
The military aircraft had just unloaded Army Scout Rangers from Fort Magsaysay in Nueva Ecija.
Cadungog said while emerging from the aircraft in an airstrip in Borongan, Eastern Samar five months ago, he was moved to see people clapping their hands.

August 28, 2008

rePost: Filipino teachers continue to fly to US for higher pay

A recession bound USA offers probably more opportunities for enrichment than our small country the Philippines. Sad but there are tens of thousands of teachers from the Philippines without work. I remember a conversation I had with the Filipino Couple we had met on the hotel in Thailand a couple of years back. They had two house helps who graduated as Education Majors , or even the feature in a GMA documentary of a Domestic Helper working in Hong Kong who also graduated with a degree in education, or I could go on and on. The problem is not how many teachers our country has but that the best are leaving to educate the young ones of another country. A country that could at least pay them a higher percentage of what they really are worth. That’s modernday international trade for you. Welcome to the Philippines the No Exporter of Human Resources.

Filipino teachers continue to fly to US for higher pay
By Cynthia Balana
Philippine Daily Inquirer
First Posted 17:51:00 08/28/2008
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MANILA, Philippines—More and more competent Filipino teachers are flocking to the United States where they are paid more, according to the Philippine Embassy in Washington.
The embassy, in a statement, said that only last week, 93 Filipino teachers arrived in the US and were welcomed by Philippine Ambassador to Washington Willy Gaa.
The new arrivals attended orientation seminars organized by the embassy where they were also given “practical advice” to ease their transition into a new teaching environment.
The 93 teachers will be teaching special education classes, focusing on Mathematics, Science and English subjects in public schools in Prince George’s County in Maryland.
Gaa said the new recruits followed a group of 115 teachers who were also welcomed by the embassy last July.
The first batch of Filipino teachers moved to Maryland in 2005. As of the fall of 2006, 400 Filipino teachers were already in Baltimore City alone.

August 28, 2008

rePost: One Visayas

I respect the jest that this comment was said, but I don’t know sometimes some joke must be left unsaid.
from Inquirer here do read the whole thing its a short post:

Past Forward
One Visayas
By Jobers Bersales
Cebu Daily News
First Posted 12:44:00 08/28/2008
Antique Gov. Sally Zaldivar-Perez charmed — or maybe I should say outsmarted — the local media last week when, at the presscon following the initial meeting for what will tantamount to be the largest Visayas-wide culture and arts festival early next year. She was asked if this was nothing more than a political vehicle to propel Gov. Gwen Garcia to a national position in 2010. Her answer was an unexpected “Why not?” quickly followed by “I would be happy if this would evolve into a political movement that would eventually make Governor Garcia the Prime Minister of the Federal State of the Visayas.” This left the media stunned, unable to react while Governor Garcia was left shaking her head in bemused denial.

August 28, 2008

rePost: SC studying expansion of ‘writ of amparo’–Chief Justice

This does not bode well. Judging from the effect of the non decriminalization of squatting in creating a mass of people who are said to be professional squatters (which is just another form of extortion) It’s scary the that the Supreme Court is busying itself with things really beyond its grasp instead of dealing with the hundreds maybe thousands of cases needing a speedy resolution.
from INQUIRER News here please do read the whole thing:

SC studying expansion of ‘writ of amparo’–Chief Justice
By Abigail Kwok, Tetch Torres
INQUIRER.net
First Posted 12:07:00 08/28/2008
MANILA, Philippines – (UPDATE 2) The Supreme Court is studying the expansion of the powers of the writ of amparo to cover not only extrajudicial killings and enforced disappearances but also to protect the economic, social, and cultural rights of the poor, Chief Justice Reynato Puno said Thursday.
Puno disclosed this in his speech at the “Kabuhayan, Karapatan, Katarungan,” a forum on Economic, Social, and Cultural Rights: Violations and Remedies at the College of Law of the University of the Philippines in Diliman, Quezon City.
Puno said that in Latin American countries, the writ of amparo also covered other rights in order to protect the poor.
“We are also studying the possibility of widening the coverage of the writ of amparo by providing protection to economic, social, and cultural rights, including protection against demolitions and bringing the judiciary closer to the poor,” Puno said in Filipino.

August 28, 2008

Just Start Just Right Just Write

I have been on a self imposed blog diet. I am supposed to not post in anything for a few days and reasses. That’s why I had a somewhat longish post for my last post. And I think I finally got it.
I’ve been telling friends to start, start anything and the fact is that advice lacks its other half.
It’s not simply “Start, just start anything” , the advise should read “Start and continue for at least two weeks”.
The thing is, at least for me Two Weeks is enough to form a habit. Two Weeks daily is enough to destroy good habits or create new ones. And of course I am referring to blogging but not only to blogging or writing. In most any thing I do If I do something obsessively for one week and enjoy it enough to continue doing it unobsessively for another week its already a habit for me.
How do I know that its a habit for me? Short answer is that when eats at you inside when you are not doing it.
The long answer is that it when doing something obsessively for a even a few days its starts to change you. You if what you do produces at least within hour after effects, you begin to yearn for those stimulants or at least actions/reactions. Then if the action is within power to be done these stimuli results in sating this need. What happens next depends on two things the feedback effect and the longterm effects.
How the Feedback affects habit formation is determined by two things; how strong the sensation/stimuli is , how much of this strength is back propagated soon and how tiresome is it to do the habit. If something is so enjoyable yet is extremely hard to do or is enjoyable yet only after a long period of time , or if something is easy to do and provides feedback instantaneously but is just not that enjoyable; The habit will just not be formed.
The secret is finding the perfect mix of these things and you would would probably be able to form the habit.
Even if an habit is formed early on if it is just not sustainable through a multitude of means or reasons primarily due to scarcity or even worse adverse effects. Actions produce unintended consequences and ones actions now may prevent us from continuing a habit like lack of money , or time or for some activities maybe have helped end what you use to enjoy. Like maybe over fishing a small pond till you eventually leave a population of fish non-existent.
Well the personal part of this post is that I’ve been having this feeling that I am irritating a few people whenever I go about telling them or more accurately urging them to start blogging or writing or do something as a hobby, or do something to enrich their lives , their view or whatever. I get that “just agree” look that people give to those people trying to get them dupe in the lates pyramid/ponzi scheme
(Aside: In a poor country like the Philippines these schemes are a dime a dozen; and I’d bet you would be hard pressed to find anyone who doesn’t know within about two to three degrees of separation someone who has been duped by a ponzi scheme)
(Follow up Aside: In poor countries ponzi schemes or any get rich quick scheme is bound to be effective. Just look at some countries in africa where albinos are being killed because some body parts are said to bring someone great luck. I pray we do not reach that point. )
Continuing… I have all but learned to ignore that look ang continue trying to get them to do something just through a different way because I assume my present stance is just not convincing them. Its what friends do. I I may not be able to help everyone but hell I’m going to try to at least help someone. I may not be very effective in my advocacy but damn it I will try. I grab what I can get, even if its just convincing someone to start updating their resumes, or getting someone to smile more often, I don’t care or more accurately my mind,psyche, heart can take the extra stress so why not.
Just start. Just Right Just Write or Just Do Something Anything.Please. For You. For Me, but Especially For You!

August 25, 2008

Call Center Provincial Expansion and Unintended Consequences!

(March 19, 2008)
I’ve been recently going around call centers recently trying to polish my interview skills.
Because of this I’ve been to a lot of websites, local sites and job fairs where call centers have booths.
A welcome trend is emerging. The trend is the constant trickle of jobs to places outside of the Makati Central Business district, the Ortigas Area, Eastwood Libis Area, Alabang Area that probably comprises the center of the Philippines BPO/IT/Call Center Industry. New sites include (from memory not meant to be comprehensive) Angeles, San Fernando Pampanga, Baguio, Antipolo, Cebu as a region, Subic and Clark.
I can think of reasons that necessitate this (okay I cheated, called some friends who worked in call centers mostly middle managers, not the decision makers but at least in the loop.)
More Permanent Reasons

Lower Cost – Salary
Lower Cost – Rent
Local Government Subsidies

Less Permanent Reasons

Lower Turnover
Smaller Number Of Competitors

In the Philippines the minimum wage is set by the local regional wage boards. The wage boards consist of representative from the government, business and the labor sector. In the Philippines NCR generally has the highest wages followed by neighboring Regions, then followed by Cebu , and Davao. This pattern fluctuates depending on the economic health of a regions, although the NCR has the highest wages by at least 5 percent has been true since I started following the regional wages.
This means that barring tremendous growth in economic activity and productivity the cost advantage of provincial call centers are here to stay. I was actually surprised when I found out that the starting salaries of call centers for the same position had around 40-50% difference. Yes I didn’t mistype, Provincial call centers are paying only half of what they are paying to their NCR agents. Another surprising thing is that even with this difference call center jobs in the province are considered high-paying, because anecdotally only the big companies offer salaries that are equal to the regional minimum wage.
The lower turnover is mainly due to the lack of job mobility, there just isn’t any other to go to. One call center is largely the same as another and with the still small number of call centers outside of NCR and Metro Cebu lower turnover for considerable.
The smaller number of competitors is mainly a function of competition. The best paying, best workplace call centers definitely get the best people to work with, which means that a lot of other call centers have to settle with whats left. Call centers that have provincial sites tend to either pay lower or have less benefits.
The need to reduce cost is mainly due to the overall weakness of the dollar. We must understand that most of these contracts were negotiated during the time when the Peso-Dollar exchange rate was around 55-1 whereas currently (updated as of August 25, 2008) the Peso-Dollar exchange rate is hovering around 45-46 pesos per dollar. For companies that have razor thin margins , the exchange rate is really devastating financially. Moving to places where costs are much lower becomes a necessity especially when it is hard to forecast where the US economy and the Dollar-Peso Exchange rate would be in the near future.
All these factor combine to make provincial expansion a short to long term trend.
Of course if the overall weakness in the US economy continues nobody knows definitively if it would cause a contraction or expansion of Philippine call center industry.
The influx of disposable cash is important because it is transformative in a way, through unintended consequences will be followed up in a different post.
Some Ideas on what local government units or local groups could do to help this process will be followed up in a different post.
Some problems this may possibly cause will be followed up in a different post.