When Donovan recognized this trait in Noah, he understood that he could coach the player hard — that Noah’s desire and toughness wouldn’t falter if Donovan pushed him. Early in Noah’s sophomore season, Donovan noticed that his big man lacked his normal energy. Besides his class and practice schedule, Noah had been accepting invitations to talk at elementary schools and do volunteer work at hospitals, acts of generosity that were tiring him out. “You’re in awful shape because you won’t take care of yourself,” Donovan told Noah in front of the team. “You’re not in the condition you were to start the season. All you’re doing is running yourself down, and now you’re not even in shape to play like you need to play.”
via Noah’s Spark «.
Amazon isn’t the problem with capitalism. It’s the solution to our economic ills.
Innovative entrepreneurship is exactly what the American economy desperately needs. You might think that the American innovation system is in great shape because large numbers of highly educated young people are flocking to Silicon Valley to create their own smartphone apps. You’d be wrong. The problem, as Thiel argues, is that although we have large numbers of copycat entrepreneurs, we have very few who are willing to take on the biggest, most difficult challenges. If Amazon weren’t a relentless competitor that threatened the very existence of dozens of hidebound retailers, consumers would endure the same high prices and mediocre service, and shareholders in the various not-Amazons of the world would be sitting pretty. Amazon is the living embodiment of what the mostly forgotten economist Joseph Berliner famously called the “invisible foot” of capitalism.
We’ve all heard of Adam Smith’s “invisible hand” that guides the free market. The invisible foot is the invisible hand’s brutish older brother. It is the force that sees to it that capital gets reallocated from firms that aren’t doing their jobs to firms that are by putting the former out of business. The invisible foot has seen better days. In sector after sector—banking, broadband, and utilities come to mind—large incumbent firms have found new ways to protect themselves from competition, whether through coziness with regulators of sweetheart subsidy deals with politicians on the make to a pathetic lack of imagination among entrepreneurs who refuse to take on the toughest challenges. The sectors that Amazon takes on are the big exception. Instead of damning Amazon, we need to be asking why we don’t have more companies like it.
via Amazon isn’t the problem with capitalism. It’s the solution to our economic ills..
Russell Brand: what monkeys and the Queen taught me about inequality | Culture | The Guardian
We then watched a clip on YouTube where monkeys in adjacent cages in a university laboratory perform the same task for food. Monkey A does the task and gets a grape – delicious. Monkey B, who can see Monkey A, performs the same task and is given cucumber – yuck. Monkey B looks pissed off but eats his cucumber anyway. The experiment is immediately repeated and you can see that Monkey B is agitated when his uptown, up-alphabet neighbour is again given a grape. When he is presented with the cucumber this time, he is furious – he throws it out the cage and rattles the bars. I got angry on his behalf and wanted to give the scientist a cucumber in a less amenable orifice. I also felt a bit pissed off with Monkey A, the grape-guzzling little bastard. I’ve not felt such antipathy towards a primate since that one in Raiders of the Lost Ark with the little waistcoat betrayed Indy.
Slingerland explained, between great frothing gobfuls of munched hazelnut, that this inherent sense of fairness is found in humans everywhere, but that studies show that it’s less pronounced in environments where people are exposed to a lot of marketing. “Capitalist, consumer culture inures us to unfairness,” he said. That made me angry.
via Russell Brand: what monkeys and the Queen taught me about inequality | Culture | The Guardian.
READ: Jennifer's German fiance reacts | ABS-CBN News
No wonder the monster soldier did think he would get away with it. You show him that every day. Your society does. How should a foreigner respect people like Jennifer if your own society doesn’t?
So face your own guilt. And if the death of Jennifer is for one sense. Learn from it. Listen to the gender protests of those who now finally stand up. Open your eyes (to) what is happening around you and make everyone part of your community.
Isn’t one slogan: STAND TOGETHER OLONGAPO? Why don’t you start with those who you do let stand outside from your society?
Aim high Olongapo? What a joke, regarding what (life) you offer to the majority of your own people.
I will try my best to get there as soon as I can, to pay the honor and respect to Jennifer as the Rose of Olongapo, the honor and respect she simply (deserves) for lifetime but never got from society.
via READ: Jennifer’s German fiance reacts | ABS-CBN News.
In Defense of Obama | Rolling Stone
As you can see, there’s a theme running through each of the areas of domestic policy I’ve covered. In each case, Obama delivered less than his supporters wanted, less than the country arguably deserved, but more than his current detractors acknowledge. The extent of his partial success ranges from the pretty good to the not-so-bad to the ugly. Health reform looks pretty good, especially in historical perspective – remember, even Social Security, in its original FDR version, only covered around half the workforce. Financial reform is, I’d argue, not so bad – it’s not the second coming of Glass-Steagall, but there’s a lot more protection against runaway finance than anyone except angry Wall Streeters seems to realize. Economic policy wasn’t enough to avoid a very ugly period of high unemployment, but Obama did at least mitigate the worst.And as far as climate policy goes, there’s reason for hope, but we’ll have to see.Am I damning with faint praise? Not at all. This is what a successful presidency looks like. No president gets to do everything his supporters expected him to. FDR left behind a reformed nation, but one in which the wealthy retained a lot of power and privilege. On the other side, for all his anti-government rhetoric, Reagan left the core institutions of the New Deal and the Great Society in place. I don’t care about the fact that Obama hasn’t lived up to the golden dreams of 2008, and I care even less about his approval rating. I do care that he has, when all is said and done, achieved a lot. That is, as Joe Biden didn’t quite say, a big deal.From The Archives Issue 1220: October 23, 2014
via In Defense of Obama | Rolling Stone.
This Guy Makes Millions Playing Video Games on YouTube – The Atlantic
The YouTube personality with the most subscribers isn’t Justin Bieber (8 million) or Rihanna (12.5 million). That honor goes to a 24-year-old Swede named Felix Kjellberg, better known by his YouTube handle, PewDiePie.
PewDiePie doesn’t sing or dance, no. PewDiePie has made his name—and a fortune—posting videos of himself playing video games. In one November video, for instance, he plays the Xbox Indie game “Techno Kitten Adventure,” helping a feline avatar navigate dangerous terrain filled with unicorns and narwhals, and shrieking in frustration each time his cat crashes into an obstacle.
via This Guy Makes Millions Playing Video Games on YouTube – The Atlantic.
CALCULATOR: How much less income tax would you pay if reform bills are passed? | News | GMA News Online
Angara bill FTW!
Three measures are currently filed in the Senate to lower the income tax rate. How much less would you pay in income taxes if any of the three measures are passed? Check out in the calculator below.
via CALCULATOR: How much less income tax would you pay if reform bills are passed? | News | GMA News Online.
Japan starting to pay price for halfhearted courtship of foreign workers- Nikkei Asian Review
Japan starting to pay price for halfhearted courtship of foreign workers
TOKYO — Immigration is often discussed as a potential solution for shoring up Japan’s aging and shrinking workforce. Yet many say Tokyo is not doing enough to compete with other governments that offer international workers greener pastures.
The demographic math does not look good.
The Cabinet Office in February estimated that in order to stabilize Japan’s population at around 110 million, the nation will need to accept 200,000 immigrants annually as well as raise its birthrate to 2.07. The number of foreign workers stood at 718,000 in 2013, up only 35,000 from the previous year.
International talent is not exactly flocking to Japan; some workers are also leaving the country. Asokaen, a nursing home for seniors who need special care in Itami, Hyogo Prefecture, has seen this firsthand.
Recently, a female Filipino employee in her 30s informed the facility that she had decided to go and work in the U.K. She had been studying to obtain a nursing care license in Japan but the language barrier dissuaded her from continuing. “Japan is losing the global competition to attract skilled workers,” lamented Yukichika Kawahara, who manages the nursing home.
Japan accepts such workers under an economic partnership agreement with the Philippines. Caregivers can come and gain experience while studying for the exam, which they must pass if they want to stay for the long term. In fiscal 2013, through this past March, only 87 Filipino caregivers signed up, less than half the figure for fiscal 2009, when the agreement took effect.
The caregivers make no secret of the reason they prefer to find jobs in places like the U.S., Britain and Canada. Their Facebook pages are awash with comments about the difficulty of passing Japan’s exam.
Despite its growing need for international talent, Japan’s door is barely open. Yes, some foreign individuals can work in the country while studying, but formal working visas are basically reserved for specialists and individuals of Japanese ancestry.
South Korea, in contrast, overhauled its policy regarding foreign workers about a decade ago. Seoul introduced a system that allows companies to hire people of other nationalities when they cannot find South Koreans to fill vacant positions. The system is designed to treat foreigners as an important part of the workforce and allows them to stay for up to nearly 10 years.
via Japan starting to pay price for halfhearted courtship of foreign workers- Nikkei Asian Review.
Binay can kiss his 2016 presidential bid goodbye | The Inbox – Yahoo News Philippines
One interesting information that shows the ties that bind Tiu and the Binays: Tiu is also the CEO, president and chairman of AgriNurture Inc. (ANI), formerly known as Mabuhay 2000 Enterprises Inc., which was identified by Commission on Audit (COA) Commissioner Heidi Mendoza as the supplier of the overpriced hospital beds for the Ospital ng Makati (OsMak) back in 2001 and 2002 when Mrs. Binay was mayor.
via Binay can kiss his 2016 presidential bid goodbye | The Inbox – Yahoo News Philippines.
Revilla P87M deposits found | Inquirer News
BOO YAH!!!
MANILA, Philippines–Justice is catching up with accused plunderer Sen. Bong Revilla, with a forensic investigation into his and his family’s bank transactions from 2006 to 2010 indicating that he received kickbacks from the pork barrel funds he channeled to bogus foundations controlled by Janet Lim-Napoles as exposed by whistle-blower Benhur Luy.
The Anti-Money Laundering Council (AMLC) report on Revilla’s bank transactions involving his Priority Development Assistance Fund (PDAF) also showed discrepancies in his official cash declarations that could indicate “concealment of unexplained wealth”; P87.626-million deposits made in the personal accounts of Revilla, his wife, Cavite Rep. Lani Mercado, and his children, and some of his siblings that tended to confirm his receipt of the kickbacks; and more than P40 million in suspicious funds were poured into a dummy corporation, Nature Concepts Development and Realty Corp., controlled by his wife.
The AMLC said the deposits and withdrawals from the bank accounts of the five foundations corresponded with the names, amounts and dates in the entries made by Luy, Napoles’ finance officer, in his ledger of Napoles’ cash and check disbursements, one of the evidence in the P10-billion pork barrel scam case.
“Considering all the foregoing, there are indications of money laundering scheme using the aforementioned bank accounts. There is, however, a need to conduct further investigation to determine the extent of the subjects’ participation and identify the other monetary instruments that were possibly involved in the laundering scheme,” the AMLC said in a confidential report received by the Office of the Ombudsman on Oct. 8.
via Revilla P87M deposits found | Inquirer News.