Giancarlo Angulo's Blog
Need to show this to the mrs.
The overall pattern is clear: those who are less knowledgeable are more likely to buy brand names, presumably because they feel that there is quality difference in doing so. Those who are more knowledgeable are more likely to go with generic equivalents, because they feel comfortable making their own judgements about quality–and then going with the lower price.
via CONVERSABLE ECONOMIST: Why Experts Buy Generic.
Political success for society’s invisible souls is rare. So when US investor Westbrook Partners announced last week that it had withdrawn from evicting families at the New Era estate in East London, it was cause for celebration. Instead of building expensive properties, the company sold its development to Dolphin Square Charitable Foundation, an affordable housing organisation. People who faced skyrocketing rents now have security and hope before Christmas.
British writer and comedian Russell Brand was key to this victory. His support of the campaigners on the ground and on social media led The Independent to describe New Era as “Proof that [his] revolution may actually be working”.
via After New Era, it’s harder than ever to mock Russell Brand as a hypocrite | Antony Loewenstein | Comment is free | The Guardian.
ince the final gavel fell at the Lima climate talks earlier this month, discussions have centred on one question: what did the talks actually accomplish?
After two weeks of intense negotiation, governments settled on a draft text that will hopefully lead to a successful global climate deal in Paris next December. While opinions vary regarding the success or failure of the outcome, there is another story emerging outside the negotiation room.
This year’s conference represented a highly-significant shift in the positive momentum to act on climate change. While negotiators engaged in contentious debates, businesses, non-governmental organisations and local authorities stepped forward to present their own climate initiatives and committed to more action on the ground.
In this shift, renewable energy took centre stage.
According to the Nazca Climate Action portal (named after Peru’s famous geoglyphs), 319 cities and 261 companies are taking action on climate change. Of the 913 total actions recorded so far, 402 relate to energy efficiency and 242 relate to renewable energy.
Private sector initiatives – such as RE100 and the Global Investor Statement on Climate Change – have also emerged to encourage businesses and investors to phase out fossil fuels in favour of renewable energy.
via The switch to renewable power is a battle we cannot afford to lose | Adnan Z. Amin | Environment | The Guardian.
But Schumer’s declaration that Jews and Chinese food are as much a match of necessity as sweet and sour are, is only half the wonton. The circumstances that birthed Jewish Christmas are also deeply historical, sociological, and religious.
The story begins during the halcyon days of the Lower East Side where, as Jennifer 8. Lee, the producer of The Search for General Tso, said, “Jews and Chinese were the two largest non-Christian immigrant groups” at the turn of the century.
So while it’s true that Chinese restaurants were notably open on Sundays and during holidays when other restaurants would be closed, the two groups were linked not only by proximity, but by otherness. Jewish affinity for Chinese food “reveals a lot about immigration history and what it’s like to be outsiders,” she explained.
via Why Do American Jews Eat Chinese Food on Christmas? – The Atlantic.
I have spent about 30 minutes trying to find a video of Miriam Defensor Santiago’s interview where she promised to have herself shot if something happened. Then there is another video interviewing her after and she saying I lied afterwards laughing maniacally.
Then there are the gaffes of senators and lawmakers about one issue and another.
There are the swipes of cabinet officials against other people.
There are the tantrums thrown by Presidents and other public officials.
There are more importantly the public policy speeches of government officials/politicians/ other actors of the political sphere.
The FactCheck.org Philippines is a step towards the Philippines that is uses facts to make decisions. It is a step towards true democracy, not one dominated by the so called bobotante.
If we cannot even take note/archive/make use of things in the public domain what gives us any chance of using the voluminous data that an FOI bill will produce.
The FOI bill must also have a component for keeping into record and transcribing and exposing via the internet all the speeches, interviews, videos produced in local television. This is one of the way that we can make the FOI bill more useful.
Wesley Morris has Norte, the End of History as his film of 2014.
1. Norte, the End of History
Lav Diaz’s contemplation of life after someone else’s death taxis a runway for the first 35 of its 250 majestic minutes. Once it takes off, you can’t believe you’re flying. You don’t want to land. The story, set in the Philippines, of a man wrongly imprisoned for murder, the wife he’s left behind, and the moral rot of the real killer, is like a work of philosophical and spiritual origami — Dostoyevsky with human levitation and mood lighting. The movie roves wastelands; it climbs to heaven. With each passing scene, Diaz finds new ways of compounding the visual and emotional scope of the film, reaching a degree of artistry that provokes an involuntary response. When it ended the first time I saw it, I stood up, with tears in my eyes, and clapped. The second time, I just sat in my seat, awed by what Diaz had achieved, and perplexed as to how. On neither occasion did I feel like I had simply gone to a movie. I had answered the call of God.
via The Top 10 Movies of 2014 «.
In spite of his low survey numbers, Roxas has “worked really hard to serve the nation and has always excelled in all his endeavors long before he became a favorite target of demolition attacks by political foes,” Sarmiento said.
“He has been a congressman, a senator and a member of the Cabinet in different capacities and has excelled in all these positions. He is one of President’s Aquino’s most reliable troubleshooters in nearly all aspects of governance because he is an outstanding problem-solver,” he said.
“Secretary Roxas will be very effective in managing the nation and in pursuing the reforms and programs that were started by President Aquino while Senator Poe can be the rallying figure for our people to unite and work together in building our nation,” he added.
via Liberal Party eyes Roxas-Poe tandem | Inquirer News.
Estrada had nothing but warm words and praise for Roxas, who once served as his trade secretary.
Estrada said Roxas, who was at the event, pushed for e-commerce during his stint as trade chief, paving the way for the business process outsourcing (BPO) boom in the country.
“He created thousands of jobs,” Estrada told a crowd of informal settler families.
But even before anyone could imagine Estrada raising Roxas’ hand in the lead-up to the 2016 elections, the political powerhouse added: “Hindi ako nangangampanya. Nagsasabi lang ako ng totoo (I’m not campaigning here. I’m just telling the truth).”
via Will Erap endorse Roxas in 2016? ‘It depends’.
Get the frick out of your place! Leave your city, your house, your office, and go to an event on that topic. There’s something about being in the proximity of those people that is really powerful. It’s energizing and you get to do what I call, “pitch and catch.” You are able to share some of the ideas that you’ve learned so far and also have them “pitch” some other ideas back and you “catch” those. It’s an opportunity to really take your thinking and understanding and move it forward.
via 3 Steps To Learn Any Topic Quickly — Growth Stacking — Medium.
I think this does not apply to the Filipino youth.
The results of the Monitoring the Future survey, released yearly by the National Institute on Drug Abuse, should be encouraging for any parent concerned about today’s youth.
Kids these days are drinking less: “Since the recent peak rate of 61 percent in 1997, there has been a fairly steady downward march in alcohol use among adolescents,” said Lloyd Johnston, the study’s principal investigator, in a statement. “The proportion of teens reporting any alcohol use in the prior year has fallen by about a third.”
Percent of Teens Who Said They Drank in the Past Year
Olga Khazan
They are taking fewer painkillers. “Past-year use of the opioid pain reliever Vicodin showed a significant five-year drop, with 4.8 percent of 12th graders using Vicodin for non-medical reasons, half of what it was just five years ago, at 9.7 percent,” the study authors write.
In fact, high schoolers are taking less of pretty much all prescription drugs, other than Adderall and other stimulants:
Past Five Year Use of Prescription Drugs Among 12th Graders
University of Michigan 2014 Monitoring the Future Study
What’s more, they’re using less of pretty much every drug.
Here are some highlights from the report:
“The proportion of 12th-graders reporting use of synthetic marijuana [K2 or “spice”] in the prior 12 months has fallen by nearly half. It was 11 percent when first included in the survey in 2011 and was down to 6 percent in 2014.”
“Ecstasy (MDMA) use showed a statistically significant decline in 2014. For the three grades combined use in the prior 12 months dropped from 2.8 percent in 2013 to 2.2 percent in 2014. In 2001, the peak year of use, the rate had reached 6 percent.”
via The Kids Are Alright – The Atlantic.