Category: rePosts

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rePost::SuperFreakonomics Book Club: Allie the Escort Answers Your Questions – Freakonomics Blog – NYTimes.com

Nice read.

Q.
Do your parents know about what you do for a living? What was your occupation before you became a call girl? What made you go into this line of work? Was it just the money or was it the flexible hours and the chance to be your own boss? – Dmitri
A.
My parents don’t know about my work, or anything else about my sex life. I was a programmer when I decided to quit my job and become an escort. I was single and meeting people through a popular dating website. Finding someone “special” proved to be difficult, but I did meet many nice men. I had grown up in a repressive small town and I was, at that time, looking to understand my own sexuality. I have never attached my self-worth to some idea of virginity or monogamy, but I still had not really explored many of my desires. I was meeting people living alternative lifestyles, and, as I got to know them, the stereotypes that I had built up started to come apart. During this time I was in my mid-twenties, and I had an active sex life.
One day I decided to enter the occupation of “escort” on an online instant messaging profile. Within seconds I had many responses, and after about a week of talking to a few people, I decided to meet a dentist at a hotel. The experience wasn’t glamorous or nearly as sexy as I thought it might be. However, I came away from the experience thinking, “It wasn’t bad.” I began to think that if I just had one appointment a month, I could pay my car loan with it, and have a little extra money. Eventually, I chose to work as an escort exclusively. At that time, the reason I gave up my programming job was the free time. I was caring for a family member with a serious illness — the free time and money was a huge benefit.
via SuperFreakonomics Book Club: Allie the Escort Answers Your Questions – Freakonomics Blog – NYTimes.com.

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rePost::How Mona Lisa Died – INQUIRER.net, Philippine News for Filipinos

I used to not care that much about the “Population Scare” this is because especially for our country we have tax rates that rival that of the more successful countries and countries that have substantially better social safety net. For me the Philippines problem was the money going into the coffers of the government is not used in a way that would help increase Investment and Capital, money/pork barrel/ira allotments were used for projects that were less helpful to the economic engine of the Philippines.I even defended in a blog post Sen. Manny Villar’s stance that population is not the problem, opportunity is. I believe this because we are doing so little to help people achieve what they can achieve.
What has changed since then to convince me of the importance of RH bill?
Two things:

  • The increasing likelihood that there would be an HIV/AIDS epidemic in the Philippines
  • Studying/Reading the lecture notes of Brad Delong on Industrial Revolution and Malthusian Economics etc.

I’m basically convinced that the Black Death/Wars/Spanish Influenza has helped in increasing the household wealth of Europe. This allowed consumption to rise and thus there was money for what industry produced.This started a virtuous cycle that has produced the stellar growth of world wealth that we enjoy today.
What this means is that I’ve basically given up on any help from the government to increase investment in useful industries and hope that the virtuous cycle of investment, and growth can be jump started by increasing the household wealth available to Filipino households and by creating pressure to increase wages because of a smaller population.
What this means is that people who oppose the RH bill are in essence ok with the status quo.
Anti RH Bill people are ok with double digit unemployment rates.
Anti RH Bill people are ok with us being an OFW nation. (The effects of which are still not truly apparent)
Anti RH Bill people are ok with people getting HIV/AIDS.
The problem is the asymmetry of the supporters. The Pro RH bill people must be heard. They must make themselves heard or the bullying few will get their way!!!

When the House reassembled on January 18, however, RH had disappeared from the Speaker of the House’s list of priority bills. Inquiries by proponents of the bill produced evasive replies from the House leadership. When the House adjourned for the elections on Feb 3, RH was dead. The reason, however, was painfully obvious.
In December, the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines (CBCP) instructed the electorate not to vote for candidates who espoused RH. Alongside this decree had unfolded a massive campaign that involved systematic disinformation about the bill. Among the malicious allegations that were spread was that the bill imposes penalties on parents who do not allow their children to have premarital sex. Another was that the bill promotes the use of abortifacients or methods of contraception that induce abortion.
via How Mona Lisa Died – INQUIRER.net, Philippine News for Filipinos.

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rePost::Millionaire gives away fortune which made him miserable – Telegraph

Some truths need the benefit of time and experience to be apparent.

“My idea is to have nothing left. Absolutely nothing,” he told The Daily Telegraph. “Money is counterproductive – it prevents happiness to come.”
Instead, he will move out of his luxury Alpine retreat into a small wooden hut in the mountains or a simple bedsit in Innsbruck.
His entire proceeds are going to charities he set up in Central and Latin America, but he will not even take a salary from these.
“For a long time I believed that more wealth and luxury automatically meant more happiness,” he said. “I come from a very poor family where the rules were to work more to achieve more material things, and I applied this for many years,” said Mr Rabeder.
But over time, he had another, conflicting feeling.
“More and more I heard the words: ‘Stop what you are doing now – all this luxury and consumerism – and start your real life’,” he said. “I had the feeling I was working as a slave for things that I did not wish for or need.
I have the feeling that there are lot of people doing the same thing.”
via Millionaire gives away fortune which made him miserable – Telegraph.

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Quote:: The Blog: RIP Privacy and Identity Synthesis on the Web::Ben Casnocha

Bottom Line: Young people continue not to care about privacy out the gate. More and more older people view the loss of privacy in a cost-benefit framework and support increased transparency. And “identity synthesis” will drive internet users to require fewer formal online profiles and broader general consistency in how they are portraying themselves on the web.
via Ben Casnocha: The Blog: RIP Privacy and Identity Synthesis on the Web.

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rePost:: How to split up the US::

The map alone is worth the visit. I wonder what the Philippines would look like if analyzed the same way?

How to split up the US
As I’ve been digging deeper into the data I’ve gathered on 210 million public Facebook profiles, I’ve been fascinated by some of the patterns that have emerged. My latest visualization shows the information by location, with connections drawn between places that share friends. For example, a lot of people in LA have friends in San Francisco, so there’s a line between them.
Looking at the network of US cities, it’s been remarkable to see how groups of them form clusters, with strong connections locally but few contacts outside the cluster. For example Columbus, OH and Charleston WV are nearby as the crow flies, but share few connections, with Columbus clearly part of the North, and Charleston tied to the South:
via PeteSearch: How to split up the US.

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Better Political System Please::How to Get Our Democracy Back

Written for USA but still a nice read.  My sanrky side wants to say that: We already have a citizen funded election in the Philippines,  politicians use citizen’s fund in the form of taxes. hehehehe

What would the reform the Congress needs be? At its core, a change that restores institutional integrity. A change that rekindles a reason for America to believe in the central institution of its democracy by removing the dependency that now defines the Fundraising Congress. Two changes would make that removal complete. Achieving just one would have made Obama the most important president in a hundred years.
That one–and first–would be to enact an idea proposed by a Republican (Teddy Roosevelt) a century ago: citizen-funded elections. America won't believe in Congress, and Congress won't deliver on reform, whether from the right or the left, until Congress is no longer dependent upon conservative-with-a-small-c interests–meaning those in the hire of the status quo, keen to protect the status quo against change. So long as the norms support a system in which members sell out for the purpose of raising funds to get re-elected, citizens will continue to believe that money buys results in Congress. So long as citizens believe that, it will.
Citizen-funded elections could come in a number of forms. The most likely is the current bill sponsored in the House by Democrat John Larson and Republican Walter Jones, in the Senate by Democrats Dick Durbin and Arlen Specter. That bill is a hybrid between traditional public funding and small-dollar donations. Under this Fair Elections Now Act (which, by the way, is just about the dumbest moniker for the statute possible, at least if the sponsors hope to avoid Supreme Court invalidation), candidates could opt in to a system that would give them, after clearing certain hurdles, substantial resources to run a campaign. Candidates would also be free to raise as much money as they want in contributions maxed at $100 per citizen.
via How to Get Our Democracy Back.

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rePost:Surest Way To Raising Prosperity:New Rules for the New Economy

In both country and network, the surest route to raising one’s own prosperity is raising the system’s prosperity. The one clear effect of the industrial age is that the prosperity individuals achieve is more closely related to their nation’s prosperity than to their own efforts. Lester Thurow, an MIT economist, has pointed out that enabling the lowest paid to earn more is the best way to raise wages for the highest paid–the theory being that a rising tide lifts all boats. The network economy will only amplify this.
To raise your product, lift the networks it ties into. To raise your company, lift the standards it supports. To raise your country, increase the connections (in quality and quantity) that allow others to prosper.
via New Rules for the New Economy.

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rePost:: Against awards::Stumbling and Mumbling

No sooner have I ignored the Orwell awards than I am invited to nominate myself for a Wincott award. Which invokes the same response – I’m not interested.
For one thing, the criteria for both awards is absurd. The Orwell asks for a sample of 10 pieces, the Wincott for five. For any active blogger, this is just 2-4% of one year’s content. Handing out awards on the basis of such a tiny sample would be like basing Oscars on one scene per movie, or Grammys on a single bar of music.
Which brings me to my bigger gripe. Why should I give a damn about the opinion of people who are prepared to make such absurd judgments? One of the main reasons I blog is precisely as a reaction against the empty suits who think their opinion matters. Anyone who’s read this blog for any time will have gotten bored of me pointing out that the “judgment” of people in authority – or who aspire to authority – is flawed. So why should I want an award from such folk?
via Stumbling and Mumbling: Against awards.

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rePost:: Learn Chinese!::Information Processing

Like any good techie I’m holding out for the technological solution. I’m bettingan auto speech to text/ or translation tool is release and language is would no longer be an issue.

Rather than bumbling along, government and corporate leaders should advance coherent policies for bilingualism. Europe began this process about four centuries ago. Washington moves quickly when military interests dominate. My Arabic-speaking son, Dylan, was offered $20,000 up front to staff intelligence outposts in the Middle East. But Mandarin? What’s the rush? The count of American high school students enrolled in Chinese classes is less than those studying German.
If you think the Arab world today poses a civilizational threat to the West, you are sadly deluded. The US has had its attention focused on the wrong competitors since 9/11.
via Information Processing: Learn Chinese!.

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rePost:: Moore's Law is Crap::Stevey's Blog Rants

Great advice. Read the whole thing.

The Big Choice
We all have to choose how to spend the time we’re given.
If you don’t choose, it just slips right by you. I know. On a trip to Vegas not too long ago, I made a pit stop in a casino restroom, and as I was washing my hands, there was this older guy there, also washing his hands. On a whim, I asked, “Hey man, how old are you?”
His reply? “Seventy-two! I have a son: I remember the day he was born like it was yesterday! I was holding him just like so. Well, guess what, he turned 40 years old just last week! It goes by in a flash! Before long, you’ll be lookin’ at THIS!” He pointed at his wrinkled mug, and concluded his monologue with: “Haw, haw, haw! HAW HAW HAW *cough* *cough* HAW *cough* *hack* HAW HAW HAW HAW HAW!” and walked out. I think I made his day, although I can’t exactly say he made mine.
When you graduate from college (or high school, for that matter), you have a simple choice facing you. You can either keep learning, or you can stop.
There is an almost unbelievably easy heuristic for knowing whether you’re learning. It goes like this: no pain, no gain. Learning is hard. If it’s easy, then you’re coasting; you’re not making yourself better at something fundamentally new that you couldn’t do before.
via Stevey’s Blog Rants: Moore’s Law is Crap.