Villar: Choose president based on competence, managerial ability – Nation – GMANews.TV – Official Website of GMA News and Public Affairs – Latest Philippine News

FUCK  YOU Villar, If manegerial ability is what is really needed then I would rather have someone like Bayani or Binay for president. Mr Villar where was your volunteer operations, were you able to mobilize “UNPAID” people to help you? Yes maybe you are a good manager but what we need is a real leader. The verdict is still out on who is the best leader among you presidential wannabees but You must also understand that a leader is only as good as the (UNPAID/UNCOMPENSATED) people who choose to follow him, and in that department you are sorely lacking!

Villar: Choose president based on competence, managerial ability
AMITA O. LEGASPI, GMANews.TV
10/02/2009 | 03:52 PM
In an obvious snipe at his prospective rivals, Sen. Manuel Villar Jr. on Friday urged Filipinos to choose their next president based not just on popularity but on competence and managerial ability.
Speaking at the national convention of public attorneys at the Manila Hotel, he said having good intentions alone is not enough qualification to lead a country that has plenty of problems to deal with.
“Karanasan sa pamamahala, hindi lang malinis na intensyon ang kailangan natin (Experience in governance, not just good intentions, is what this nation needs)” he said.
via Villar: Choose president based on competence, managerial ability – Nation – GMANews.TV – Official Website of GMA News and Public Affairs – Latest Philippine News.

rePost::Three – INQUIRER.net, Philippine News for Filipinos

Damn, lots of relief operations are closing up and we still have 400,000 people in evacuation centers, typhoon pepeng is coming and I don’t know who will deliver food to the evacuees in the middle of the typhoon. I hate to say this but we need to borrow some amphibious vehicles from the US government.
If the Philippine government can’t get it’s act together, I feel that 2010 is really too long a time to wait for the removal of these DAMNED people in power! Tangina Ninyo!
An excerpt of the excellent article by de quiros. Hope you read the whole thing.

Three, indeed to this hour, what government we have is courtesy of the private sector where voluntarism has sprung like wildflowers. That is the bright spot in all this, the light amid the darkness, the blazing sun after the storm. Truly the Filipino rises to his finest self during trying times, the more trying the times, the finer the rising. Or it is in times of disaster that the Filipino ceases to be a disaster, thinking of others first before self.
It’s especially heartening to see the kids go en masse on relief mode. Many of the kids in my neighborhood have done so, teeners who normally while away the holidays playing basketball, flipping rollerblades, and drinking beer in the stores. They’ve enrolled themselves to help without thought of pay, without thought of recompense, without thought of reward. Just the thought of doing something nice for a change, just the thought of doing something to make things better.
It rekindles memories of the July-August floods of 1972, when students also went in droves to places in Greater Manila no longer traversable by land, or indeed outside the metropolis where they were greeted by a greater ravaging. But then there was activism to fuel, or goad, or flagellate the youth to idealism. Well, there was also the prospect of meeting a cool chick or a cool cat while on your best form. Today, there’s just spontaneous goodwill to do the trick. And the prospect of meeting a cool chick or a cool cat while on your best form. The kids come home happy, comparing the welts and bruises on their arms from lifting crates while drinking beer in the stores.
Makes you wonder what on earth you need government for.
via Three – INQUIRER.net, Philippine News for Filipinos.

rePost:: Malaya – The National Newspaper ::

Saang universe ba nabubuhay itong mga ito! Tangina!

LWUA bash called ‘insensitive’
BY JP LOPEZ
THE Local Water Utilities Administration, a government-controlled corporation, held a “lavish” feast for its 36th anniversary Wednesday night, a virtual slap on the face of half a million Filipinos victimized by storm “Ondoy” who are scrounging for relief goods.
President Arroyo arrived at 9 p.m.
Sen. Alan Peter Cayetano said that while most celebrations have been cancelled to donate to victims of Ondoy, the move of LWUA to proceed with its anniversary is the “height of insensitivity.”
“Kawalanghiyaan na ito,” Cayetano said
A source said LWUA ordered 500 reservations for cocktails and 250 reservations for a seven-course dinner buffet from Henry’s Catering Service.
A check with menu showed the catering cost about P200,000 (at P510++, P530++ to P610++ per head).
The celebration, complete with a live band, was held at the LWUA main office on Katipunan avenue, Balara, Quezon City, which was one of the worst hit by Ondoy floods.
The menu consisted of baked mussels with olive oil and garlic as appetizer, “sinigang” soup, and roast pig.
via :: Malaya – The National Newspaper ::.

Opportunity Lost

I botched a Job Exam/Interview last monday.
I could make the excuse that I had less than 3 hours of sleep and my body ached all over and that I cannot concentrate with all the talking happening around me but the real reason is that I wanted to work there and that put pressure on me.
It was a programming exam and the problems were really simple, but being nervous made my mind blank for more than two hours. This was funny because the exam was for 2 hours and I spent about 3.5 hours on the exam.
Damn, I also realized that I have a problem with problem solving. The sheer number of ways that something can be done produces a paradox of choice state for me. I cannot start doing something because knowing the multitude of things , of ways something can be done starts my mind to doing seemingly intractable (at least using my very limited brain power) number of considerations.
This on quiet reflection has always been a problem for me, why I take a very long time to do seemingly simple/straightforward tasks, and why seemingly complex tasks require a minimum of time for me to do. The former because there are just too many ways to do it, the latter because of complexity reduces the possibilities to a point where I can make a decision.
I have to find a way to work around this. This has been holding me back for a very long time.

Wake Me Up When September Ends

This has probably been one of the worst septembers for me and probably .5 to what 10 million people?.

“Wake Me Up When September Ends”
Summer has come and passed
The innocent can never last
wake me up when September ends
like my father’s come to pass
seven years has gone so fast
wake me up when September ends
here comes the rain again
falling from the stars
drenched in my pain again
becoming who we are
as my memory rests
but never forgets what I lost
wake me up when September ends
summer has come and passed
the innocent can never last
wake me up when September ends
ring out the bells again
like we did when spring began
wake me up when September ends
here comes the rain again
falling from the stars
drenched in my pain again
becoming who we are
as my memory rests
but never forgets what I lost
wake me up when September ends
Summer has come and passed
The innocent can never last
wake me up when September ends
like my father’s come to pass
twenty years has gone so fast
wake me up when September ends
wake me up when September ends
wake me up when September ends

from here

rePost::Amid 'The Great Flood,' the kindness of strangers – Nation – GMANews.TV – Official Website of GMA News and Public Affairs – Latest Philippine News

Nice article/story , read the whole thing!

Amid ‘The Great Flood,’ the kindness of strangers
MARK MERUEÑAS, GMANews.TV
10/01/2009 | 04:20 AM
The genius Isaac Newton was more than correct when he posited: for every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction. This was true, even, when what we can now consider “The Great Flood” of Luzon rampaged through the country’s National Capital Region and the neighboring provinces of Rizal, Laguna, and Cavite.
A multitude of flood victims were stranded in the floods, driven out of their homes or trapped in them. But in a robust reaction, countless other people rose to the occasion and tried to to save lives and shelter the lost and helpless, like me.
via Amid ‘The Great Flood,’ the kindness of strangers – Nation – GMANews.TV – Official Website of GMA News and Public Affairs – Latest Philippine News.

rePost::Smartest Guy In The Room

The plaintext version… sorry. — Chris You are smart. No one else knows much. In fact, most people are pretty stupid. Everything except what you’re doing *right now* is stupid. Django is stupid. Zope is stupid. Twisted is stupid. Setuptools is stupid. The GIL is stupid. Pylons is stupid. TurboGears is stupid. Guido is stupid. PJE is stupid. Ruby on Rails is a total hack. And oh my god, all these people in IRC are clearly mentally challenged. Why do they keep arguing with you? I get it: it’s not easy being a genius. So, if you don’t mind, I have a request. Given that it would certainly not tax you professionally, because it’s all so simple and obvious, do you think that you could contribute something to Python or some Python-related project that demonstrates your immense base of knowledge and helps other people? Ah but wait! You have. I’ve seen that one package you keep talking about that you wrote and released six months ago. It has a couple of users, even. But look… uh… oh dear.. this is awkward. I don’t mean to be negative here. But there’s a couple problems. You may be a genius, but at 33% test coverage, you better be almost omniscient. I’m personally not a genius, so I need to rely on something so banal as package test coverage metrics to make decisions about what to use. Look. Let’s be frank. I know you were the smartest guy in your high school class. I realize that in your circle of peers, you are the one who most often actually knows what he’s doing. I get the fact that you like puzzles, and you’re good at solving them. I realize you believe you are hot shit, and a few other people might too. But if I may be so bold, here are some suggestions: – Shut the fuck up. I mean this in the kindest, and gentlest of ways, as maybe a friendly uncle might tell you to “shut the fuck up”. – Work on your capacity to talk with other people without being a complete, utter cock. We’ve already adjusted our expectations, with you being a programmer and all, we realize you’re constitutionally straightforward. But there’s a difference between being straightforward and being a dick. Your profession and your history as “the smartest guy in the room” doesn’t excuse you from displaying basic courtesy. – You don’t need to prove anything to me or anybody else. I could care less. It’s not always about you. – Write some code that works all the time, every time that lots of people find useful. Maintain that code for 5 years. At this point, you will have something to be proud of. Thank you.
via .

rePost::In the Field: Hear from CNN reporters across the globe Blog Archive – Misery in Manila after the floods « – Blogs from CNN.com

The Presidential Palace was partially opened to allow volunteers to pack supplies for affected areas and some food was handed out to those lucky enough to hear about the aid distribution.
But by the time we arrived, hundreds were waiting outside with a growing sense of disappointment, as they realized they had gotten there too late. In reality, the use of a couple of rooms in the museum of the Presidential Palace was nothing more than an attempt to give local TV stations something to film.
With some 2 million people affected by the flooding, it will take more than biscuits and potato chips to get a grip on the storm and flood aftermath.
via In the Field: Hear from CNN reporters across the globe Blog Archive – Misery in Manila after the floods « – Blogs from CNN.com.

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rePost::Kahneman on Happiness

In one recent study examining money’s effect on happiness, Kahneman, and others, have found that people with a relatively high income, although more satisfied with their lives, are barely happier at any given moment than those with a significantly lower income. The age-old myth that money buys happiness needs to be refined, as does the competing myth that wealth does not matter.What he’s found in comparative studies of nations is that both the level of corruption and the degree of trust in society are important predictors of well-being. “Corruption is a measure of trust in society, and trust, it turns out, should be essential to well-being.”
Countries where the level of trust in society is very low have a lot of difficulty thriving economically—so you need a certain level of trust to get moving.
“But even when you look at the Western world where GDP is more or less constant, you find large effects of trust, and that’s why Northern Europe always emerges as the best place to be in the world in terms of well-being research.”
Can this be applied in developing countries? “If there is a way of encouraging increasing trust in society—and that should probably start with trust in institutions—that is going to make a contribution to GDP through the rule of law, respect for property, and so on. It will have an extra contribution to human welfare because happier societies are ones where people trust each other and spend a fair amount of time catering to social needs.”
via Finance & Development, September 2009 – Questioning a Chastened Priesthood.

rePost::Palace to do repacking only; long lines irk Arroyo – INQUIRER.net, Philippine News for Filipinos

Palace to do repacking only; long lines irk Arroyo

And they wonder why everyone who doesn’t benefit from their largess hate them. Didn’t they learn this in politician school. Plastic 101: how to convincingly show fake compassion.  Although if this article wasn’t about the fake president I suspect that this would have been labeled a better press corp please. A Big FU ma’am. I have Nightmares just thinking about how you sleep at night (Do Vampires sleep?).

By Christian V. Esguerra, Gil C. Cabacungan Jr.

Philippine Daily Inquirer

First Posted 03:17:00 09/30/2009

Filed Under: Ondoy, Flood, Disasters & Accidents, Government Aid

MANILA, Philippines—She ordered the Palace thrown open to the common folk, and was annoyed at what she saw.

A long stretch of impoverished Filipinos peeking through the gates of the Kalayaan compound under the intense afternoon heat was the sight that greeted President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo a day after she issued her unprecedented order.

It was apparently the closest that her staff could get to the planned National Relief Operations Center on the Palace grounds to help victims of Tropical Storm “Ondoy” (international codename: Ketsana).

The President beheld the scene when she arrived at Kalayaan Hall at around 1:30 p.m. from a Cabinet meeting in Camp Aguinaldo. Her face turning sour, she ordered the Palace guards to immediately let the people in.

Hermogenes Esperon, Ms Arroyo’s chief of staff, tried to downplay his boss’ annoyance, saying: “She just didn’t want to see the people lined up outside.”

About an hour later, the number of people expecting relief goods swelled to around 500. Many of them were women and kids dressed in tattered clothes and slippers.

An old man in a wheelchair fell in line, at the end of which volunteers distributed nothing more than hamburger buns.

via Palace to do repacking only; long lines irk Arroyo – INQUIRER.net, Philippine News for Filipinos.

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