Category: rePosts

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rePost: Dr Doom on the Philippines:RGE – Are There Bright Spots Amid the Global Recession?

Philippines
The Philippines’ stalwart consumers saved the economy from the recessions that plagued its more export-dependent neighbors. Remittances proved surprisingly resilient despite the global economic slowdown as Filipino laborers, especially professional or skilled workers, continued to find strong demand overseas. This was partly due to the government’s diligence in forging new hiring agreements with several countries. Unperturbed remittance growth shielded domestic demand from high unemployment rates at home, which is obscured by the country’s very loose definition of employment. In the meantime, however, dependence on external demand for Filipino labor denotes a lack of progress in developing the local economy. Apart from land grabs by Persian Gulf countries, the Philippines has attracted little foreign investment of the kind needed to create jobs and lift Filipinos out of the poverty that afflicts a third of the country’s 90 million people. (For more, see Philippines 2009 Growth Outlook: A Recession-less Bright Spot in Asia?)
via RGE – Are There Bright Spots Amid the Global Recession?.

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Iglesia ni Cristo to hold huge assemblies – INQUIRER.net, Philippine News for Filipinos

Iglesia ni Cristo to hold huge assemblies
By Dona Pazzibugan
Philippine Daily Inquirer
First Posted 19:48:00 07/23/2009
Filed Under: Churches (organisations), Religions, Anniversaries
MANILA, Philippines—The Iglesia ni Cristo, which is celebrating its 95th anniversary on Monday, announced Thursday it will hold huge religious assemblies in 14 venues around the country and in five sites in four other countries.
Tens of thousands of delegates are expected to congregate at designated venues in each of the regions in the country to celebrate “Iglesia ni Cristo Day,” read a statement issued by the Iglesia ni Cristo.
In Metro Manila, the gatherings will be held at the Araneta Coliseum in Cubao, Quezon City, and at the Rizal Memorial Complex in Manila.
The five-hour special gatherings would begin at 4:30 pm.
Malacañang last month announced July 27 of every year as a special day to commemorate the founding of the Iglesia ni Cristo.
President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo‘s last State of the Nation Address to Congress, which is expected to draw large mass actions, falls on July 27.
The Iglesia ni Cristo said local authorities have issued traffic advisories to avoid congestion on major roads leading to its venues.
In the provinces, delegates will assemble at the following venues: Butuan City Sports Complex in Agusan del Norte; Bicol University Sports Complex and Commencement grounds in Legazpi City, Albay; Cebu Sports Center in Cebu City;
General Santos City Oval Plaza, South Cotabato; Davao Agro-Industrial Institute Football Field in Davao City; Quirino Stadium in Bantay, Ilocos Sur; Central Integrated Terminal in Santiago City, Isabela; Ashton Field Subdivision grounds in Calamba City, Laguna;
Panaad Stadium in Bacolod City, Negros Occidental; Villa del Sol Subdivision-Olongapo-Gapan Road in San Fernando City, Pampanga; Narciso Ramos Sports Center in Lingayen, Pangasinan; and Ipil Sports Complex in Zamboanga City, Zamboanga-Sibugay.
Gatherings will also be held at the Washington Convention Center in Washington, D.C. and HP Pavilion in San Jose, California, USA; Central Hall Westminster in London, UK; Parco Esposizioni Novegro in Milan, Italy; and Hills Center in Sydney, Australia.
The rest of the local congregations in the Philippines which are too far from the announced venues, as well as congregations in countries outside of the US, UK, Italy and Australia will also hold celebratory gatherings in their respective houses of worship simultaneously with the big assemblies.
The Iglesia ni Cristo is an independent Christian religious organization registered with the Philippine government on July 27, 1914.
It was first preached by the late Brother Felix Y. Manalo, its first executive minister, who hailed from Tipas, Taguig City.
Under the present executive minister, Brother Eraño G. Manalo, who assumed overall leadership of the Church during its 49th year of establishment, the Iglesia ni Cristo became global.
Its first local congregation outside the Philippines was organized in Honolulu, Hawaii, USA on July 27, 1968.
At 95, the Iglesia ni Cristo has over 5,400 local congregations (roughly equivalent to parishes) in 90 countries and territories, with a membership composed of 102 nationalities
This weekend, July 25 and 26, Iglesia ni Cristo thanksgiving worship services would be simultaneously conducted by all local congregations
A TV anniversary special will also be aired on Sunday at 8 p.m. over GEMTV-49 and Net-25.
Last Saturday, July 18, the INC through its “Lingap sa Mamamayan” socio-civic program, conducted a health service mission in the village of Maharlika in Taguig City as part of its anniversary celebration.
Around 20,000 residents benefited from the free medical and dental services, vitamins and medicines, and a package of rice and canned goods.
via Iglesia ni Cristo to hold huge assemblies – INQUIRER.net, Philippine News for Filipinos.

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Wanted: A More Walkable City:Why New Yorkers Last Longer — New York Magazine

The urban health penalty, they decided, had inverted itself. The new reality was that living in the suburbs and the country was the killer. In January 2005, Vlahov and his colleagues penned a manifesto they cleverly called “The Urban Health ‘Advantage,’ ” and published it in the Journal of Urban Health. Cities, they posited, were now the healthiest places of all, because their environment conferred subtle advantages—and guided its citizens, often quite unconsciously, to adopt healthier behaviors.
via Why New Yorkers Last Longer — New York Magazine.

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Paradox Of Choice Experiment::Is less always more? : Cognitive Daily

Such a simple but illuminating experiment, click through to find their results!

But is less always more? Most of the studies on number of choices have either given participants a very small or a very large number of options. Does this mean just one choice is the best? Or is there some larger number of choices that is optimal?
To find out, Avni Shah and George Wolford set up a table in a busy corridor at Dartmouth University and asked passersby to help their department select the best pen to order for its supply closet. They varied the number of pens sampled from 2 to 20. Each pen was similarly priced at around $2, and while each pen was different, all were “roller-ball” style pens with black ink.
via Is less always more? : Cognitive Daily.

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The Women's Right To Be Unhappy::Stumbling and Mumbling: Real freedom & unhappiness

This is puzzling, because there can be no doubt that since the 70s women’s real freedom has increased hugely. They have more and better educational and job opportunities, better control over their fertility, are more able to flee bad partnerships and – thanks to technical progress – can spend less time on household chores.
Greater freedom, though, has not brought greater happiness.
via Stumbling and Mumbling: Real freedom & unhappiness.

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Singularity Watch:Stephen Hawking: "Humans Have Entered a New Stage of Evolution"

Although It has taken homo sapiens several million years to evolve from the apes, the useful information in our DNA, has probably changed by only a few million bits. So the rate of biological evolution in humans, Stephen Hawking points out in his Life in the Universe lecture, is about a bit a year.
“By contrast,” Hawking says, “there are about 50,000 new books published in the English language each year, containing of the order of a hundred billion bits of information. Of course, the great majority of this information is garbage, and no use to any form of life. But, even so, the rate at which useful information can be added is millions, if not billions, higher than with DNA.”
via Stephen Hawking: “Humans Have Entered a New Stage of Evolution”.

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rePost: Brave To Pixar: Pixar grants girl’s dying wish with home viewing of 'Up' | pixar, up, movie, home, show, girl, cancer, die, huntington, beach – News – OCRegister.com

Pixar grants girl’s dying wish to see ‘Up’
Company sent DVD so Huntington Beach girl, 10, could watch it.
By ANNIE BURRIS
THE ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER
Comments 45 | Recommend 41
HUNTINGTON BEACH – Colby Curtin, a 10-year-old with a rare form of cancer, was staying alive for one thing – a movie.
From the minute Colby saw the previews to the Disney-Pixar movie Up, she was desperate to see it. Colby had been diagnosed with vascular cancer about three years ago, said her mother, Lisa Curtin, and at the beginning of this month it became apparent that she would die soon and was too ill to be moved to a theater to see the film.
via Pixar grants girl’s dying wish with home viewing of ‘Up’ | pixar, up, movie, home, show, girl, cancer, die, huntington, beach – News – OCRegister.com.

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rePost::The Future Is Here, It Is Just Not Easily Distributed (Iran Edition)

uthor Walter Jon Williams says that he has an unimportant problem toay:
Angel Station: Watching My Uncompleted Novel Go Down in Flames: There is a scene just like this in the novel I’m working on. My whole novel is playing itself out before my very eyes. All its specialness and wonderfulness, coolness and invention is curling up and dying in fire, as if one of the incendiaries from Fahrenheit 451 found it before I could even finish it. The Twitter Revolution in Moldova was bad enough, but at least it didn’t get a lot of coverage over here, and most Americans never heard of Moldova. Iran is different. I feel like all those guys who were working on Cold War novels when the Wall fell.
The parade of demonstrators in Tehran today was nine kilometers long. It’s a People Power revolution fired up by social media— you don’t get a crowd that big by sticking up posters on lamp posts. (Does the use of Twitter in Iran somehow absolve it of totally sucking?) Hackers are also proving useful, by attacking Iranian government web sites. (But be careful, script kiddies of the world— you don’t want to bring the whole system down.)
And he has a recommendation for what you can do to help the people with serious problems:
If you want to turn your computer into a proxy server to help Iranians avoid government roadblocks, “Austin Heap” provides instructions here. Be sure to read the disclaimers. I’d do this myself, but I have to admit that it’s all beyond my competence.
via The Future Is Here, It Is Just Not Easily Distributed (Iran Edition).

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rePost:How To Disappear:FT.com / Magazine – First Person: Frank Ahearn

There are three key steps to disappearing. First, destroy old information about yourself. Call your video store or electricity company and replace your old, correct phone number with a new, invented one. Introduce spelling mistakes into your utility bills. Create a PO Box for your mail. Don’t use your credit cards and the like.
Then, create bogus information to fool private investigators who might be looking for you. Go to one city and apply for an apartment. Rent a car in another one.
The next, final step is the most important one. Move from point A to point B. Create a dummy company to pay your bills. Only use prepaid mobile phones and change them every month. It is nearly impossible to find out where you are unless you make a mistake.
This is the general rule, but some cases are trickier than others. No problem if you are self-employed, but let’s say you’re a bus driver or a teacher. Then your wages will go on your name. I once had to move a lawyer who was threatened by a former client. Lawyers need a licence. She became a legal consultant.
via FT.com / Magazine – First Person: Frank Ahearn.

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True Fans::Offsetting Behaviour: Economics of Scalping: Trent Reznor edition

NIN gets 10% of the available seats for our own pre-sale. We won a tough (and I mean TOUGH) battle to get the best seats. We require you to sign up at our site (for free) to get tickets. We limit the amount you can buy, we print your name on the tickets and we have our own person let you in a separate entrance where we check your ID to match the ticket. We charge you a surcharge that has been less than TicketMaster‘s or Live Nation‘s in all cases so far to pay for the costs of doing this – it’s not a profit center for us. We have essentially stopped scalping by doing these things – because we want true fans to be able to get great seats and not get ripped off by these parasites.
I assure you nobody in the NIN camp supplies or supports the practice of supplying tickets to these re-sellers because it’s not something we morally feel is the right thing to do. We are leaving money on the table here but it’s not always about money.
Being completely honest, it IS something I’ve had to consider. If people are willing to pay a lot of money to sit up front AND ARE GOING TO ANYWAY thanks to the rigged system, why let that money go into the hands of the scalpers? I’m the one busting my ass up there every night. The conclusion really came down to it not feeling like the right thing to do – simple as that.
via Offsetting Behaviour: Economics of Scalping: Trent Reznor edition.

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I’ve been mulling what I like to call as the “great service coalition”. Basically it’s like a club for people who crave great service, who are willing to pay to be served great! It’s about being an extremely shy person and people serving you knowing that.  Simply put tips just don’t work most of the time.  Still thinking about how to implement this, hope I find a way.