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ROTD: Do Men Hurt More?

Let’s consider these last two arguments. We all know that women tend to be more expressive about their complaints – you can’t beat ‘em for wailing and gnashing of teeth. But the fact that men act more stoic and complain less doesn’t mean they hurt less. To economists, the relevant standard is willingness to pay, and by this standard new results suggest men hurt more from most harms:
What’s a marriage worth? To an Aussie male, about $32,000. That’s the lump sum Professor Paul Frijters says the man would need to receive out of the blue to make him as happy as his marriage will over his lifetime. An Aussie woman would need much less, about $16,000. But when it comes to divorce, the Aussie male will be so devastated it would be as if he had lost $110,000. An Aussie woman would be less traumatised, feeling as if she had lost only $9000. … The lifetime boost to happiness that flows from a birth – for the mother around $8700, for the father $32,600. … The death of a spouse or child causes a woman $130,900 worth of grief. … It costs a man $627,300.
via Overcoming Bias : Do Men Hurt More?.

Very interesting, must delve into this paper soon.

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rePost::Online news editor named to Pulitzer Prize Board – INQUIRER.net, Philippine News for Filipinos

Online news editor named to Pulitzer Prize Board
Agence France-Presse
First Posted 16:11:00 12/08/2009
WASHINGTON—The Pulitzer Prizes, the most prestigious US journalism awards, announced on Monday that a member of a primarily online news organization had been named to the Pulitzer Board.
The election of Jim VandeHei, 38, the executive editor and co-founder of political website Politico.com, came less than a week after the Pulitzer Board expanded the eligibility of Web-only publications for the awards.
“In many ways, the Pulitzer Board is on the same mission as Politico: to embrace new media while fighting to protect the highest standards for writing, reporting and accuracy,” Politico quoted VandeHei as saying.
via Online news editor named to Pulitzer Prize Board – INQUIRER.net, Philippine News for Filipinos.

Great news for blogging!

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rePost::Charter Cities: Property Reform in Peru

As formal property registration expanded through the late 1990s and the early 2000s, collateral-based lending increased. Newly formal property owners felt secure enough to make improvements to their property. With formal rights, people were free to pursue earnings opportunities away from their property without fear of losing it to another claimant. Panaritis also reports lower levels of child labor and higher levels of school enrollment among families with formal property rights compared to their informal counterparts.
The reforms made made property a tradable asset and gave Peruvians the freedom to use their property in ways that best served their interests. The reform effort was not a simple matter handing out titles under the existing system—it required the creation of a new system for registering property. To this end, the pilot program was key. It allowed reformers and property owners to try and revise the new system, the success of which engendered trust in the pilot participants and sparked enthusiasm for the reforms elsewhere in Peru.
via Charter Cities: Property Reform in Peru.

I’ve been thinking of creating a more personal blog, as long as I haven’t done anything about this plan there would be political stuff and views not related to Passion and Happiness in onthe8spot.com .
I am not anti-poor but squatting is government supported extortion.  The whole apparatus smacks of people rent seeking, from the courts to the enforcement officials.

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Cloud of Atlases by The Editors – The Morning News

Cloud of Atlases
Maps without legends may not be immediately informative, but determining what they represent is extremely fun. If you’re into that kind of thing, THE EDITORS have a game for you.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Rosecrans Baldwin and Andrew Womack are the founding editors of The Morning News.
If you’ve ever picked up an old globe in a thrift store, you already know the sport of trying to determine its age based on where certain borders are demarcated and how territories are designated. And if testing your combined knowledge of history, culture, and cartography sounds like your kind of fun (it’s our kind of fun), you may enjoy what we’ve got in store.
We’ve removed the legends and all other telltale labels from the maps below, and challenge you to guess what each map depicts using only clues contained within the maps: the color-coding, names, landmarks, and whatever else you can detect. Here’s one clue to get you started: None of the maps represent gross national anything.
via Cloud of Atlases by The Editors – The Morning News.

This has been a huge time sink for today. Link surfing wikipedia has always been a weak point.

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rePost::Noynoy Aquino – A Leader in His Own Right « Noypipol's Blog

Noynoy would take an active role that would help in the eventual defeat of the coup plotters. For one, he knew the rapacity, anti-democratic and anti-people character of the coup plotters because during a previous coup, in 1987, he was ambushed by the coup plotters along Malacañang. Noynoy was hit by five bullets and three of his four escorts were killed protecting him. A bullet is still embedded in his neck. Moreover, the coup plotters would want to perpetuate themselves to power, declare Martial Law, and plunge again the people into oppression.
At the height of the 1989 coup, Noynoy would call people close to his father, Ninoy, to assemble a group to help crush the ongoing coup. These are the people whom he could trust and would prove crucial in defeating the rebels.
In the early morning of November 30, Noynoy called me and asked me to organize a group to crush the ongoing coup. I immediately called up Ret. Gen. Salvador Mison, Gen. Pete Navarro, Charlie Avila, Wilo Layug, Lingoy Alcuaz, Gerry Esguerra and Steve Psinakis.
The group met at the office of Gen, Jake Carbonell in Pasig. The group under the leadership of Gen, Mison was given authority by the Palace to recapture Camp Aguinaldo and Camp Crame. The order was given to Gen. Carbonell by Gen. Mison to attack Camp Aguinaldo.
The rest is history as Cory Aquino finished her term peacefully and the people elected Fidel Ramos as the next president.
This single action of Noynoy proved to all that he is a man of action. His decisiveness in taking an active role is worth noting when Philippine democracy was imperiled by forces who are loyal only to themselves and not the freedom and democracy that was hard won by the Filipinos through the peaceful EDSA Revolution.
But what was so interesting is that he did not boast of his role in crushing the coup. He simply hid this information and the nation never knew of his participation. This is the kind of leader that should be emulated by the Filipinos, particularly the youth. A leader that does not boast of his achievement. A leader who can lead in the worst crisis in government. This is Noynoy Aquino. A leader, and worthy to be the son of Ninoy and Cory Aquino.
~ Roy Sangil
via Noynoy Aquino – A Leader in His Own Right « Noypipol’s Blog.

I’ve always had this bias towards people who are more into action rather than self-promotion. Its just although I’ve known people who really wowed me in the action and capability department, it always seems that the showpeople type of person has a lot of the boastful can’t do any thing but promote one’s self.
In this department then Noy now at least can be considered and action man. Although in this respect I’ve more respect for Gordon and Villar. They just have that body of work to fall back on.
Who ever you choose to vote for, keep your eyes and ears open, consider the whole person and all the evidence, examine the counterfactuals and for those who believe , pray! We can’t be blamed for the country we inherited but we will surely be blamed for the country we let our children have.

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VOTD:: How To Play Like Philip Glass


This video made me happy. There is a way that good music just seems to be. Like there is no other way that the notes could have been arranged. The music of Philip Glass never fails to move me and though videos like this in the vein of demystifying Philip Glass’ music may be oft-putting for some, It is not for me. Must practice this when I make time!

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In Memoriam::20th anniversary of Montreal Massacre: We remember : Sciencewomen

20th anniversary of Montreal Massacre: We remember
Category: Alice shares…
Posted on: December 6, 2009 5:22 PM, by Alice
On December 6, 1989, an armed gunman named Marc Lepine entered an engineering classroom at Ecole Polytechnique in Montreal, Quebec. He demanded all 48 men in the class leave the room, lined up all 9 women against a wall, and, shouting “You are all a bunch of [expletive] feminists!”, proceeded to shoot them. He went into the hall and shot 18 more people, mostly at random. He finally shot himself.
He had killed 14 women all together, and injured 9 more women and 4 men.
The women who died could have been anyone. They could have been your friends, your mothers, your sisters, your lovers, your daughters, your neighbors, your students, your teachers, maybe even you.
They were killed because they were women.
Remember those who died in the Montreal Massacre:
Genevieve Bergeron, 21, was a 2nd year scholarship student in civil engineering.
Helene Colgan, 23, was in her final year of mechanical engineering and planned to take her master's degree.
Nathalie Croteau, 23, was in her final year of mechanical engineering.
Barbara Daigneault, 22, was in her final year of mechanical engineering and held a teaching assistantship.
Anne-Marie Edward, 21, was a first year student in chemical engineering.
Maud Haviernick, 29, was a 2nd year student in engineering materials, and a graduate in environmental design.
Barbara Maria Klucznik, 31, was a 2nd year engineering student specializing in engineering materials.
Maryse Laganiere, 25, worked in the budget department of the Polytechnique.
Maryse Leclair, 23, was a 4th year student in engineering materials.
Anne-Marie Lemay, 27, was a 4th year student in mechanical engineering.
Sonia Pelletier, 28, was to graduate the next day in mechanical engineering. She was awarded a degree posthumously.
Michele Richard, 21, was a 2nd year student in engineering materials.
Annie St-Arneault, 23, was a mechanical engineering student.
Annie Turcotte, 21, was a first year student in engineering materials.
Please honour the white ribbon as a symbol of the fight against violence against women.
via 20th anniversary of Montreal Massacre: We remember : Sciencewomen.

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ROTD::Do Working Men Rebel? Insurgency and Unemployment

Do Working Men Rebel? Insurgency and Unemployment in Iraq and the Philippines
Most aid spending by governments seeking to rebuild social and political order is based on an opportunity-cost theory of distracting potential recruits. The logic is that gainfully employed young men are less likely to participate in political violence, implying a positive correlation between unemployment and violence in places with active insurgencies. We test that prediction on insurgencies in Iraq and the Philippines, using survey data on unemployment and two newly- available measures of insurgency: (1) attacks against government and allied forces; and (2) violence that kills civilians. Contrary to the opportunity-cost theory, we find a robust negative correlation between unemployment and attacks against government and allied forces and no significant relationship between unemployment and the rate of insurgent attacks that kill civilians. [Emphasis mine]
via Do Working Men Rebel? Insurgency and Unemployment.

This is discouraging. Please remember that GMA is still an economist and in some accounts a sharp person. Does this mean that keeping people in poverty a viable strategy in minimizing rebellion? It seems to be what the warlords and government are actually doing.

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