Why, many formerly trusting followers of horoscopes may be asking, was this colossal event ( the Asian Tsunami) not presaged in the stars? Or, failing that, in someone's palm, crystal ball, tea leaves or chicken's entrails? How, in the circumstances, are they to carry on believing? If an event such as this can go unpredicted by leading, professional astrologers, could it mean the whole edifice of astrology is an abject superstition? That the constellations are not, as previously advertised, heavenly guides to life on Earth, but as indifferent, and as meaningless as "a patch of curiously shaped damp on the bathroom ceiling" (as Richard Dawkins once, unforgettably put it) ...
Monday, January 17, 2005
Guardian Unlimited | The Guardian | By Jupiter, the astrologers missed a trick
Guardian Unlimited | The Guardian | By Jupiter, the astrologers missed a trick
Wednesday, January 12, 2005
The Manila Times Internet Edition | BUSINESS > Not in the labor force!
The Manila Times Internet Edition | BUSINESS > Not in the labor force!
I don't know if the Manila Times have an online achive, but I think this article deserves to be archived for reference
LABOREM EXERCENS
By Rene E. Ofreneo
Not in the labor force!
If you are 25 years old, an AB philosophy graduate and has given up on the challenge of looking for a job because you could not find any in the last three years, what will you tell a job surveyor from the National Statistics Office who is asking if you are employed or unemployed?
Most likely, you will answer: pagod na ako, hindi na ako naghahanap ng trabaho. And most likely too, the NSO enumerator will not include you in the ranks of the employed or in the “unemployed” category. You will be lumped in the large statistical concept called “not in the labor force”—those of working age (15 years old and above), not working and not looking for any work.
In the October 2004 NSO survey, as many as 18 million, or one-third of the 54 million total working-age population, were classified as not in the labor force (NILF).
The NILF Filipinos have no luxury of looking for any work because they are supposed to be doing full-time housekeeping, schooling or recuperating from infirmity or disability.
But is housekeeping really a full-time preoccupation these days? Maybe for a few thousand elite housewives. Working to make both ends meet is a universal necessity for both husbands and wives.
As to schooling, how many students of working age can devote full-time attention to schooling without thinking of work? At the most, they cannot be more than three million at any given time, for most of the student-enrollees in the Philippines are elementary and secondary pupils, below 15 years old.
As to the disabled and sickly, we do not have any clear statistical indicators. However, they cannot be more than the full-time students of working age.
The point is that the NILF hides many underutilized human resources and reduces the unemployment/underemployment figures.
In the October 2004 survey, the unemployed was estimated to be 3.9 million, or 10.9 percent of the labor force, and the underemployed (the employed seeking additional work), 5.4 million, or 16.9 percent of the 35.6-million-strong labor force. The joke among the labor economists is that if the government wants to reduce the unemployment figure, all it has to do is put some of the unemployed into the category not in the labor force.
Which is what some are probably trying to do by introducing the so-called “ILO Concept.” According to the NSO, the ILO Concept defines the unemployed as without work, seeking work and available for work. In contrast, the traditional NSO Concept defines the unemployed as without work and seeking work, with the latter criterion relaxed a bit to include those “not looking for work because of the belief that no work was available, or because of temporary illness/disability, bad weather, pending job application or waiting for job interview.”
By adopting the “stricter” ILO Concept, the unemployment situation changes dramatically. Instead of 3.8 million unemployed, the country only had 2.4 million as of October 2004. Through a change in unemployment concepts, 1.4 million unemployed Filipinos disappeared from the statistics, swallowed by the NILF category which expanded by the same number, thus rising from 18 to 19.4 million! Instead of a double-digit unemployment figure, we now have only 7.1-percent unemployment rate—the lowest since the martial law days!
But who are we kidding by fudging the unemployment and underemployment statistics? How can we have a more realistic assessment of unemployment/underemployment and a more scientific education-manpower development planning if we try to “prettify” the employment outlook?
I don't know if the Manila Times have an online achive, but I think this article deserves to be archived for reference
LABOREM EXERCENS
By Rene E. Ofreneo
Not in the labor force!
If you are 25 years old, an AB philosophy graduate and has given up on the challenge of looking for a job because you could not find any in the last three years, what will you tell a job surveyor from the National Statistics Office who is asking if you are employed or unemployed?
Most likely, you will answer: pagod na ako, hindi na ako naghahanap ng trabaho. And most likely too, the NSO enumerator will not include you in the ranks of the employed or in the “unemployed” category. You will be lumped in the large statistical concept called “not in the labor force”—those of working age (15 years old and above), not working and not looking for any work.
In the October 2004 NSO survey, as many as 18 million, or one-third of the 54 million total working-age population, were classified as not in the labor force (NILF).
The NILF Filipinos have no luxury of looking for any work because they are supposed to be doing full-time housekeeping, schooling or recuperating from infirmity or disability.
But is housekeeping really a full-time preoccupation these days? Maybe for a few thousand elite housewives. Working to make both ends meet is a universal necessity for both husbands and wives.
As to schooling, how many students of working age can devote full-time attention to schooling without thinking of work? At the most, they cannot be more than three million at any given time, for most of the student-enrollees in the Philippines are elementary and secondary pupils, below 15 years old.
As to the disabled and sickly, we do not have any clear statistical indicators. However, they cannot be more than the full-time students of working age.
The point is that the NILF hides many underutilized human resources and reduces the unemployment/underemployment figures.
In the October 2004 survey, the unemployed was estimated to be 3.9 million, or 10.9 percent of the labor force, and the underemployed (the employed seeking additional work), 5.4 million, or 16.9 percent of the 35.6-million-strong labor force. The joke among the labor economists is that if the government wants to reduce the unemployment figure, all it has to do is put some of the unemployed into the category not in the labor force.
Which is what some are probably trying to do by introducing the so-called “ILO Concept.” According to the NSO, the ILO Concept defines the unemployed as without work, seeking work and available for work. In contrast, the traditional NSO Concept defines the unemployed as without work and seeking work, with the latter criterion relaxed a bit to include those “not looking for work because of the belief that no work was available, or because of temporary illness/disability, bad weather, pending job application or waiting for job interview.”
By adopting the “stricter” ILO Concept, the unemployment situation changes dramatically. Instead of 3.8 million unemployed, the country only had 2.4 million as of October 2004. Through a change in unemployment concepts, 1.4 million unemployed Filipinos disappeared from the statistics, swallowed by the NILF category which expanded by the same number, thus rising from 18 to 19.4 million! Instead of a double-digit unemployment figure, we now have only 7.1-percent unemployment rate—the lowest since the martial law days!
But who are we kidding by fudging the unemployment and underemployment statistics? How can we have a more realistic assessment of unemployment/underemployment and a more scientific education-manpower development planning if we try to “prettify” the employment outlook?
Tuesday, December 28, 2004
For that Healthy Glow, Drink Radiation! - Popular Science
For that Healthy Glow, Drink Radiation! - Popular Science
"A century ago radioactivity was new, exciting and good for you—at least if you believed the people selling radium pendants for rheumatism, all-natural radon water for vigor, uranium blankets for arthritis and thorium-laced medicine for digestion (you don't even want to know about the radioactive suppositories)."Click the link for a very intresting read
Tuesday, December 14, 2004
FPJ - Da King
Today, December 14, 2004, Fernando Poe Jr., the person in the middle of the issue (the Philippines Presidential campaign and the allegations of cheating) that made me create this blog, has died.
I, like many Filipinos, watched his movies and idolized his persona, I remember watching his movies, watching how as a regular guy he held up truth, justice and the Filipino way against invading japanese, criminal syndicates, american thugs, and he always got the girl.
He will always be remembered
I, like many Filipinos, watched his movies and idolized his persona, I remember watching his movies, watching how as a regular guy he held up truth, justice and the Filipino way against invading japanese, criminal syndicates, american thugs, and he always got the girl.
He will always be remembered
Monday, December 13, 2004
What I Like About Scrooge - In praise of misers. By Steven E. Landsburg
What I Like About Scrooge - In praise of misers. By Steven E. Landsburg
This is interesting, I have never thought about scrooge in this fashion -
"In this whole world, there is nobody more generous than the miser—the man who could deplete the world's resources but chooses not to. The only difference between miserliness and philanthropy is that the philanthropist serves a favored few while the miser spreads his largess far and wide."
This is interesting, I have never thought about scrooge in this fashion -
"In this whole world, there is nobody more generous than the miser—the man who could deplete the world's resources but chooses not to. The only difference between miserliness and philanthropy is that the philanthropist serves a favored few while the miser spreads his largess far and wide."
Friday, December 10, 2004
Thursday, November 18, 2004
Baloney Detection Kit
With all the brouhaha about Faye and her story, i thought it would be a good idea for us to review Carl Sagan's "Baloney Detection Kit" which should at least give us some inkling if or when we are facing deception. The links below reproduce the links faithfullly and they also link to addtional reading if you wan them.
Operation Clambake
http://www1.tpgi.com.au/users/tps-seti/baloney.html
Skeptics.com
Carlsagan.com
Operation Clambake
http://www1.tpgi.com.au/users/tps-seti/baloney.html
Skeptics.com
Carlsagan.com
Tuesday, November 02, 2004
The Philippine Chess Team
I forgot to mention that the Philippine Team to the Chess Olympiad had again exceeded expectations and was tied with several other countries in 12-19 places with 32 points. The Philippines was seeded 40th.
Congrtulations to the members of the team:
Eugenio Torre
Rogelio Antonio
Mark Paragua
Jayson Gonzales
Emmanuel Senador
Darwin Laylo
Congrtulations to the members of the team:
Eugenio Torre
Rogelio Antonio
Mark Paragua
Jayson Gonzales
Emmanuel Senador
Darwin Laylo
Faye the Conquering Hero
A new e-mail is spreading through the Philippines. It is about the heroism of a youg girl named Faye who despite being abandoned by her father, despite not having enough money, despite being ignored by the Philippine government, was able to travel to Indonesia and Australia to win the "Mathematics for the Young Asians" and the "Intercontinental Science Quiz Net" respectively beating competition from the Japanese, the Germans, the Americans etc.
Unfortunately, the e-mail being disseminated lacks any kind of detail that can be used to verify the story. The competitions, the little girl supposedly won, cannot be found on the internet. The story seems to be too good to believe, and when that happens it usually is.
Unless new details that can verify this story surfaces, I think that we should consider this story with a large grain of salt, it is inspiring if true but it can make you want to puke on the people who would try to manipulate the emotions of Filpinos with this kind of stunt when this story is proven to be false.
Update (10-18-2004)
The Philippine Daily Inquirer ran two follow up stories on Faye last Saturday and Sunday (November 13 and 14) which established that the story circulating among Filipinos about Faye is untrue.
Unfortunately, the e-mail being disseminated lacks any kind of detail that can be used to verify the story. The competitions, the little girl supposedly won, cannot be found on the internet. The story seems to be too good to believe, and when that happens it usually is.
Unless new details that can verify this story surfaces, I think that we should consider this story with a large grain of salt, it is inspiring if true but it can make you want to puke on the people who would try to manipulate the emotions of Filpinos with this kind of stunt when this story is proven to be false.
Update (10-18-2004)
The Philippine Daily Inquirer ran two follow up stories on Faye last Saturday and Sunday (November 13 and 14) which established that the story circulating among Filipinos about Faye is untrue.
Wednesday, October 20, 2004
Some thoughts on blogging
Ang hirap pa lang mag maintain ng blog. Nung sinimulan ko itong blog na ito akala ko ang dami-dami kong gustong isulat, pero pagkatapos ng isang linggo, wala na akong maisip. Parang napaka-trivial ng mga naiisip ko para isulat dito.
Anyway, wala namang magbabasa nito kundi ako so ok lang siguro na yung pinaka trivial na detalye ng buhay ko ay mailagay dito.
Anyway, wala namang magbabasa nito kundi ako so ok lang siguro na yung pinaka trivial na detalye ng buhay ko ay mailagay dito.
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