Noynoy Aquino announces bid for presidency in 2010
AMITA O. LEGASPI, GMANews.TV
09/09/2009 | 08:22 AM
It’s a go for Sen. Benigno “Noynoy” Aquino III.
Early on Wednesday, he announced that he will run for president in 2010 as standard bearer of the Liberal Party (LP).
“Tatakbo ako sa pagkapangulo sa darating na halalan,” said Noynoy, who made the announcement on the 40th day after the death of his mother, former President Corazon C. Aquino.
He made the announcement at the historic Club Filipino in Greenhills, San Juan, where his famous mother took her oath as president on Feb. 25, 1986 during the final day of the EDSA People Power Revolution.
via Noynoy Aquino announces bid for presidency in 2010 – Nation – GMANews.TV – Official Website of GMA News and Public Affairs – Latest Philippine News.
rePost::Nick Hornby on the liberating effect of MP3 blogs | Music | The Observer
loved this from, chuck’s shared items
Keeping in touch with the things that help us feel alive – music, books, movies, even the theatre, if, mysteriously, you are that way inclined – becomes a battle, and one that many of us lose, as we get older; I don’t think enough of our cultural pundits, people who write about that stuff for a living, fully understand this. It’s one thing to have an opinion on Little Boots remixes if you earn your living hanging about in cyberspace; quite another if you’re a full-time teacher with three kids. My friend’s CD shop performed a valuable service to those whose shopping and browsing and listening time was rationed by circumstance, people who had the occasional five minutes on a Saturday morning to check out, and sometimes even buy, what everyone else was listening to.
via Nick Hornby on the liberating effect of MP3 blogs | Music | The Observer.
rePost::10M Filpinos unemployed—survey – INQUIRER.net, Philippine News for Filipinos
This is bad.
10M Filpinos unemployed—survey
Philippine Daily Inquirer
First Posted 20:14:00 09/08/2009
Filed Under: Economic Indicators, Employment
MANILA, Philippines – An estimated 10 million adult Filipinos who are looking for work (25.9 percent) are unemployed, according to the latest survey by the Social Weather Stations.
The current rate is lower than the record-high 34.2 percent (14 million) posted in February this year, SWS noted in its Second Quarter 2009 Social Weather Survey, which was released Tuesday.
The survey also found that the unemployment rate consisted of 10 percent who were retrenched, 9 percent who resigned or voluntarily left their old jobs, and 6 percent first-time job seekers.
via 10M Filpinos unemployed—survey – INQUIRER.net, Philippine News for Filipinos.
rePost::Men lose their minds speaking to pretty women – Telegraph
Hmm, guilty as charged!!
The research shows men who spend even a few minutes in the company of an attractive woman perform less well in tests designed to measure brain function than those who chat to someone they do not find attractive.
Researchers who carried out the study, published in the Journal of Experimental and Social Psychology, think the reason may be that men use up so much of their brain function or ‘cognitive resources’ trying to impress beautiful women, they have little left for other tasks.
The findings have implications for the performance of men who flirt with women in the workplace, or even exam results in mixed-sex schools.
Women, however, were not affected by chatting to a handsome man.
This may be simply because men are programmed by evolution to think more about mating opportunities.
via Men lose their minds speaking to pretty women – Telegraph.
rePost : : College advice, from people who have been there awhile – Chris Blattman
Read the whole thing:
the quote came from this article from nytimes.
I’ve been lucky with a lot of my friends.For them there really is that thirst for knowledge, The thing is once you’ve had that thirst you never will be sated. Normal work here in the Philippines are in most ways repetitive, and not really intellectually engaging. The secret I believe is going out of your way to find that love for learning that we have within us, and to foster this, automate as much as possible, find ways to maximize the interesting parts of your job and minimize the repetitive boring part.
It’s easy to think that college classes are mainly about preparing you for a job. But remember: this may be the one time in your life when you have a chance to think about the whole of your life, not just your job.
via College advice, from people who have been there awhile – Chris Blattman.
Magnetic Monopoles Detected In A Real Magnet For The First Time
Magnetic Monopoles Detected In A Real Magnet For The First Time
ScienceDaily (Sep. 4, 2009) — Researchers from the Helmholtz-Zentrum Berlin für Materialien und Energie have, in cooperation with colleagues from Dresden, St. Andrews, La Plata and Oxford, for the first time observed magnetic monopoles and how they emerge in a real material.
Magnetic monopoles are hypothetical particles proposed by physicists that carry a single magnetic pole, either a magnetic north pole or south pole. In the material world this is quite exceptional because magnetic particles are usually observed as dipoles, north and south combined. However there are several theories that predict the existence of monopoles. Among others, in 1931 the physicist Paul Dirac was led by his calculations to the conclusion that magnetic monopoles can exist at the end of tubes – called Dirac strings – that carry magnetic field. Until now they have remained undetected.
via Magnetic Monopoles Detected In A Real Magnet For The First Time.
Personal::Sorry I still hate Comcast (Scripting News)
Love and hate have a mathematical relationship: Permalink to this paragraph
hate = love + betrayed Permalink to this paragraph
via Sorry I still hate Comcast (Scripting News).
A phrase has been percolating in my mind for unhealthy chunk of time.
“You’ve crossed the thin line between love and hate”.
long story; don’t ask. just like the similarities between the two.
PS: I use to not understand why people say don’t be callous with the feelings of other people, I probably am a douche, basta damn!
rePost::The poor and the dark skinned have more babies than the rich and the light skinned : Greg Laden's Blog
Because there is no reason to stay ignorant for so long
This falsehood … that poor people are out reproducing rich people … is important and interesting in a number of ways. For one thing, it exposes people’s race-based biases and fears. The anger that is expressed at me when I suggest that this is a falsehood is second only to the anger that results from my stance on gun control.1 I find that fascinating. Another, related reason this is interesting is because it exposes people’s ability to maintain their strongly held beliefs and to base those beliefs on the most tenuous or unrelated information. For instance, people are sure that poor people have more babies than rich people because it is well known that the fertility rate in Nigeria is through the roof and over the top, but that White American Middle Classers are reproducing at a rate that is lower than replacement. However, this comparison is wrong for so many reasons that a rational person hearing the argument must surely feel sorry for the person making it.
via The poor and the dark skinned have more babies than the rich and the light skinned : Greg Laden’s Blog.
rePost:Mexico rePost:Legalizes Drug Possession – NYTimes.com
Mexico Legalizes Drug Possession
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
Published: August 21, 2009
MEXICO CITY (AP) — Mexico enacted a controversial law on Thursday decriminalizing possession of small amounts of marijuana, cocaine, heroin and other drugs while encouraging government-financed treatment for drug dependency free of charge.
The law sets out maximum “personal use” amounts for drugs, also including LSD and methamphetamine. People detained with those quantities will no longer face criminal prosecution; the law goes into effect on Friday.
via Mexico Legalizes Drug Possession – NYTimes.com.
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/08/21/world/americas/21mexico.html?_r=1
Petron and the Healthcare Debate::The public option as a signal – Paul Krugman Blog – NYTimes.com
When petron was a government owned company, they were able to distort the supply curves because they were in essence the regulatory arm of the government. If the outcry was large enough shell and caltex may increase their prices but petron’s price does not move. What’s interesting in the case of the philippines is that petron was sold to foreign interests and afterwards the oil industry was deregulated. Double whammy to the Filipino people. Our government does not have the balls and probably the manpower to effectively police what is in effect price collusions of oil industry players. The solution is string institutions but I guess that is near impossible for us right now. Buy back petron would be second best with the least amount of complications, although where we are going to get the money, I don’t know. Maybe a few of Pres GMA’s entourage could chip in!
The public option as a signal
Look, it is possible to have universal care without a public option; Switzerland does. But there are some good reasons for the prominence of the public option in our debate.
One is substantive: to have a workable system without the public option, you need to have effective regulation of the insurers. Given the realities of our money-dominated politics, you really have to worry whether that can be done — which is a reason to have a more or less automatic mechanism for disciplining the industry.
via The public option as a signal – Paul Krugman Blog – NYTimes.com.