Population Control

From Human nature: Science, technology, and life.

"A birth dearth is forcing Singapore to promote sex. The birth rate there is 30 percent below what's needed to replace the population. One big reason: Economic pressure makes Singaporeans work so hard, they have no time or energy for sex. The government warns that if births don't increase, the country will need more immigrants. So, it's promoting sex therapy, loosening its control of porn, and offering benefits to working moms. Optimistic liberal view: Nature 1, Repression 0. Pessimistic liberal view: Capitalism 1, Nature 0. Cynical liberal view: Xenophobia 1, Prudery 0. "

The Honorable FLORENCIO B. ABAD: Secretary

Office of the President Website - The Cabinet - The Honorable FLORENCIO B. ABAD



I thought Butch Abad resigned from the cabinet last July 2005. :)

Furl copy for posterity.

update:

Dinky Soliman
Cesar Purisima
Emilia Boncodin
Rene Villa

Updated Oct 31, 2007 to include a screenshot of the page

Proclamation No. 1169

From the Personnel Management Association of the Philippines

"November 30, 2006 shall be a working day, while December 1, 2006 shall be a non-working holiday throughout the country."

This is getting to be a yearly ritual. I don't like it, I feel it disrespects Andres Bonifacio. The guy died for our country. The least we can do is celebrate his holiday on the day it's supposed to be celebrated.

The Philippines in pictures

Was searching for articles on Philippine elections when I came upon this page full of pictures from the Philippines from the mid 80's. This page will help remind people why we kicked out the Marcoses in the first place.

Free/Open Source Software (FOSS) Act of 2006

A bill, sponsored by Bayan Muna Representative Teddy Casino entitled

"PROMOTING THE DEVELOPMENT AND USE OF FREE/OPEN SOURCE SOFTWARE (FOSS) IN THE PHILIPPINES, AMENDING RA 3019 OTHERWISE KNOWN AS THE “INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY CODE OF THE PHILIPPINES”, PROVIDING PENALTIES THEREOF, AND FOR OTHER PURPOSES"

can be found here

I have not yet read the bill, will try to read it tonight but the explanatory note is interesting :), the first line borrows liberally from Marx

"A spectre is haunting the global software giants – the spectre of Free/Open Source Software (FOSS)."

Chess Makes Kids Smarter

"On 42 Friday afternoons, after school, Christiaen taught chess to 20 boys randomly selected from a group of 40. The other 20 were the control group, the one that would be compared. He did his best to keep these students ignorant of their experimental function.

In testing after these two years, the chess group scored somewhat better than the control group on several of Piaget’s tests for cognitive development. More of a dif­ference, however, was evident in their regular school testing! In the school testing, the chess group did significantly better in both the fifth grade tests and (somewhat less so) in the sixth grade tests."

Of course the article comes from a chess site and the study was done in the 70's. :)

read more | digg story

The Condom - Single Most Important Environmental Innovation

"Condoms aren't solar powered or reusable or even recyclable, but they've made the environmental revolution possible. As simple birth control continues its spread across the globe, it leaves behind happier healthier societies with significantly less impact on the planet. That is the power of true innovation."

read more | digg story

Bading si Doogie Howser

Crush na crush pa naman ng misis ko si doogie. :)

"Neil Patrick Harris is gay – and wants to quell recent reports that he had denied it."

read more | digg story

The Need for Sex Education

LiveScience.com - Social Pressure, Not Health Warnings Influence Sexual Behavior

"Young people often decide if they should use a condom by whether they perceive their sexual partners as “clean” or “unclean.” "

The problem of course is no one can really be sure.

Saturday the 14th

It's still Friday the 13th in the US and the Washington Times has this article (via slashdot)

"...It's double-13 Friday. All the numbers in the numerical notation -- 10/13/2006 -- add up to 13 as well, giving great pause to the superstitious.

The phenomenon hasn't happened in 476 years, said Heinrich Hemme, a physicist at Germany's University of Aachen who crunched the numbers to find that the double-whammy last occurred Jan. 13, 1520. "

I really like Philadelphia's haunted express where they

"...ask riders to walk under a ladder, break a mirror, step on a sidewalk crack and confront a black cat before embarking tonight, spokeswoman Leslie Bari said.

"Guests will have the opportunity to challenge superstition," she said."

Nothing unlucky happened to me yesterday, and I was waiting in anticipation. :)