Gas Gap

This is a succeeding post after my previous gas computation.

As of today, the US average price per gallon is $3.880. I did a bit of number crunching with the following assumptions, and this is what I came up with:

Philippine unleaded price per liter: P57.07 (from observation, lower than last post)

Peso-dollar exchange rate: P45.500 = USD1.00 (peso appreciation)

Gallon-liter conversion: 1 US gallon = 3.78541178 liter (well, this doesn't change)

So that’s (P57.57 / P45.500) x 3.78541178 = $4.748 per gallon in the Philippines versus $3.880 per gallon in the US! Wow, the gap's even bigger!

Put it another way, ($3.880 x P45.500) / 3.78541178 = P46.64 per liter in the US versus P57.07 per liter in the Philippines! Sheesh!

Republic's Root Regulation Ratification Relegated? Really?

Hmm, is this press release a trial balloon meant to lull us into complacency, only to find out that our beloved representatives will spring on us a cha-cha surprise? And suggested by no less than bicol's finest, Luis Villafuerte? Really?

Frickin' "Flip-Flop"

Posted on Inquirer.net: Flip-flopping senators over should explain to public--Palace

My knee-jerk reaction:

Do you actually think we're idiots??? You have the gall to say that the Senate's resolution meant to extend the empress's reign? WTF???

Sub-Sophomore Survey!

Freshmen Year Survey!

What section were you?

Block D1!

Who were your seatmates?

I can't remember anymore; has it really been 13 years ago??? I think I usually sat near Jan Chavez or Omer Dizon.

Still remember your English teacher?

Of course! Fr. Alfeo G. Nudas, S.J.

What was your first class?

Math 17, 8:30am, MTh

Who was your crush back then?

This long-haired chinita-tisay girl, pero siniraan ako ng isang kakilala ko who said na binayaran ko sya to find out more about the girl. And that I paid him P20 to do it. And I think her barkada believed it. C'mon… I'm not that underhanded (too torpe to do that) nor that cheap (a tightwad yes, but not cheap)… Hehehe!

Made friends to the higher years?

Not really, just knew some guys who went from the same high school from the upper batches.

Had a boyfriend/girlfriend?

Is bambi reading this? Then no. :-" Hehehe! ;)

How was your class schedule?

My MTh class was ok, it started at 8:30am so no problem taking the bus by then (I'd be riding by 7am). But my TF classes were another thing; I had a 7am CommI class so that meant I had to be hanging by the bus by 5:30am. Fr. Nudas didn't usually end by 8:15, so we'd have to hightail it to the Math Building where Prof. Abis would give us the evil eye… We'd get to her 8:30 class by running, sharing a cab, or hitching with a blockmate with a car; there was no direct Ikot/Toki route from AS to Math building… :(

Made any enemies?

Not really, I just got along with everyone. However, there was this incident where I was hitching a ride when my friend almost parked near the Upsilon peeing area, este parking area. They gave me the stink eye, which only reinforced my love for fraternities (or lack thereof).

Who was your favorite teacher(s)?

Fr. Nudas of course tops the list, but the runners-up are the following:

Gerry de Villa for being a moderate firebrand

Ato Manaloto for being a believer in a department of atheists, and for being lenient with me even while dozing off during his class (and I was seated right next to his desk! Hehehe!)

What sport did you play?

Fencing and aikido. Hmm, I wonder if I can practice my fencing again… Hehehe!

Back then, do you always buy your lunch?

All the time. We would usually go to the Beach House for the P12 barbecue; if I wasn't with my block, I'd eat a slice of pizza at Giacomino's at CASAA :P

Were you a party animal?

I don't think so… hehehe!

Were you well known in your school?

Nope; it's a big school… Hehehe!

Skip classes?

I think once, but if I don’t remember it, then I guess I didn’t skip it; what a dork… :-B

Did you get suspended/expelled?

Neither :P

Can you sing the alma mater song?

Nope; I always thought you can only sing that song twice in your whole college life: during the orientation and during graduation. I can hum it though… ;)

What was your favorite subject?

CommI! I do take a certain pride in Math 17 that I didn’t drop it when almost half of the class did and I still had a high grade; I can't say I loved it though.

What is your school's full name?

University of the Philippines - Diliman

Where did you go most often during breaks?

Beach House, outside the classroom of the next class, and the CS lib, where I had my first dose of this newfangled thing called the Internet (P20 per hour! Then waste the whole hour by waiting for the graphic-filled anime site to load! All on 15.5kbps dial-up! All on Windows 3.1!!!)

If you could go back in time and do it all over, would you?

Of course! I loved the looser structure versus high school and the part that you were exposed to different walks of life (although one can say BA people are typically homogenous, it's still more varied than the HS people you would've spent around a decade of your life with, assuming you all went to the same grade school and high school).

What do you remember most about first year?

1. Meeting friends outside of my previous circle

2. Riding the bus for almost 2 hours each way to get to and from school

3. Getting high grades for the first year (a feat not to be repeated in the succeeding years… hehehe!)

4. Letting go of my old hang-ups ;)

5. Being in awe of Diliman

Aberrant abs-cbnnews.com Absence

Where the heck's the abs-cbnnews.com homepage? Why has it expired? It was there yesterday and it expired last July 28?

Barong Beginnings

A few weeks ago, I came across this article in GMA-TV where there has been decline in tie fashions for the past few years in the US. Being out of the formal corporate getup world for a little over a year insulated me from seeing corporate wear; coming back made me see how suddenly true the non-tie movement has been spreading upwards.

The republic of basketball, bagoong, and balut as a workforce has never been a tie country. But now, this is spreading to the white-collar sector (man, that's a dated phrase). I used to pride myself in wearing a tie every working day (as hinted by my old post), but when I started at my new work, I noticed that my male colleagues were wearing polo barongs more often.

In my first & second jobs, I had two barongs: one short-sleeved linen barong that was a hand-me-down from dad (as most of my fashion sense were), and one was a long-sleeved barong that was tailored from a barong cloth. The cloth was a gift, and it wasn't linen or pina, but a coarser cloth. The short-sleeved barong was still a size too big and the long-sleeved barong was a bit too tight. Needless to say, I didn't wear these barongs often since I wasn’t fond of the fit or material, and especially since our floor was just above the mainframe floor where some of us had to wear bonnets to keep warm.

Going back to my current job, the air-conditioning in the office tries its best, but can't overcome the heat in recent months; even client's offices had their fair share of heat. So I decided to get myself a new linen short-sleeved barong that fit me just right. And then I noticed myself wearing that barong each week, so I bought another one. And another. And another.

Now when we're at clients and there's a meeting of some kind, I pull out the barong. Or when I want to feel snazzy on a Monday, I wear the barong. The barong is much more forgiving on the figure (since my old dress shirts are a wee bit tight and I can't close the top button when I wear my tie). And even if I wear a short-sleeved barong, it still gives an air of formality.

This was the trend that my old bosses were taking from my second job. They were young businessmen who wanted to project an air of professionalism yet wanted to keep fresh, so they used jusi and pina short-sleeved barongs. My classmate from high school also mentioned that one of her bosses in a bank that always wore suits to work for more than ten years has started to wear barongs because of the heat. I also noticed that more "suits" in the CBD have taken to wearing barongs (thus presenting an oxymoronic twist).

I just feel sad though, because I still have a ton of ties in my closet with dress shirts that still make an appearance, although only once or twice a week at most. But I'm glad that I have this set of clothes that make me feel comfortable and still look sharp.

Fuel Fees Frustration

In the mornings, I switch between Unang Hirit & The Today Show to get both the Pinoy & American perspectives on their mornings. Since we have had this gas crisis for some time now, we’ve been seeing news about Americans complaining how high their gas prices have been (as if we don’t rant about it as well). However, as of today, the US average price per gallon is $4.114. I did a bit of number crunching with the following assumptions, and this is what I came up with:

Philippine unleaded price per liter: P59.57 (from observation)
Peso-dollar exchange rate: P45.660 = USD1.00
Gallon-liter conversion: 1 US gallon = 3.78541178 liter

So that’s (P59.57 / P45.660) x 3.78541178 = $4.939 per gallon in the Philippines versus $4.114 per gallon in the US.

Put it another way, ($4.114 x P45.660) / 3.78541178 = P49.62 per liter in the US versus P59.57 per liter in the Philippines.

So what the heck are they whining about? According to Slate, the US has one of the cheapest gas prices around! And here we are, barely a car country, paying for gas through the nose while working ourselves out for the same earnings.

Shameless Shoo-Li

While reading about the quirks and quandary that besets our society, I try to latch on some public figures that feed my idealist tendencies. Unfortunately, these figures eventually succumb to the dark side.

I still remember back in the late 80s that a certain Commissioner of Immigration and Deportation would eat death threats for breakfast and take congressmen to task (whom she would lovingly call “fungus-faced”). Now, she’s at the beck and call of the Empress and when she was caught reneging on her promise to jump off an airplane, she just says she lied (cue in the maniacal laughter).

Or how about our local Dirty Harry who launched a shame campaign against drug dealers and was the darling of the Yellow Queen, but clung on to the Action Hero and did his bidding even when it was against public trust?

The latest one to break my heart was Mr. Shoo-Li of Mongolian Barbecue fame. He used to host a talk show (Mongolian Barbecue) and invited government officials (fake and eventually real ones). He pretended to be a Mongolian and talked with an ethnic Ongpin Chinoy accent. He would discuss issues at hand and make fun of the crassness that passes for our politics. He would be the outsider to the system (like most of us actually) who would make us think why things are what they are.

Mr. Shoo-Li was ably played by Jun Urbano, a noted director. (He based his character on his father’s portrayal of Genghis/Kublai Khan, I forget which.)

I feel betrayed now because there’s a commercial of him saying that change should begin from ground up, since rallies and any complaining against the system is counterproductive. (And then he ends up going to the rally after his sidekick tells him that there’s P500 for him if he joins.)

This is just parroting the Empire’s line, since this absolves the Empire from any responsibility, when in fact, we disobey the rules because we see that our leaders have that much respect for it in the first place. Our leaders’ degree of influence is indicative of how much they follow what is right (oops, please watch out for dripping sarcasm). So the lesson here is that if you want to improve your lot in life like what our leaders have done, either play the game or ship out (the latter of which is a more appealing option to most of us).

Government Gridlock & Gloom

Reading about Senator Pimentel’s proposed federalism change seemed like a good idea at first (as most ideas are), then I noticed something that wasn’t brought up in other forums. He was proposing seven senators per federal state to represent the Federal Senate, which would bring the total number of senators from 24 to 75 (by the way, 75 is not a number divisible by 7, so please clarify where I went wrong with my assumption). At any case, this would bring more chiefs to the table, more politicians messing around with our lives, with all the Indians (pardon the term) running abroad to escape this malady.

It’s crazy enough as it is that there are tons of barangay tanods (neighborhood watchers) in the village level and yet crime is rampant (or at least, not abated). We have the provincial elite wanting to test their chops in the capital and give scraps to their constituents as a token of their magnanimity.

On a related note, we seem to have a shortage of professionals due to these professionals flocking out of the country, skilled professionals which includes accountants, engineers, computer specialists, teachers, construction workers, managers, marketers, researchers, doctors, nurses, laboratory technicians, etc. But we can’t seem to export what we have in abundance: lawyers &/or politicians. I guess they already have it made here (fair or foul), that’s why they won’t leave. Unfortunately, having a system that extols form over substance creates an environment which also emphasizes legality over propriety, and I think this is where lawyers would thrive. We are exporting the talent needed to build a country, yet we cultivate the talent used to create chaos in the country.

Latent Logs

I got into thinking about this after reading an entry from UDC. Basically, here are the dormant blogs that I used to frequent and I wish that would go back online:

VivaGlam! – My high school-college friend’s blog. This was basically a travel log with insights from the work trenches, plus her insights on her beliefs. Entries had become infrequent when she moved into multiply (which also had infrequent posts). I guess this is also part of getting married and managing a household while managing a career… Most recent post: February 10, 2008 (still recent, but there was a gap between September 23, 2007 and February 8, 2008)

Fallacious – My sister’s best friend’s brother’s blog (I just love these relationship connectors… Hehehe!). These are the random philosophical/inane musings of a UP CW Lit major, who is now a call center vampire… That change in lifestyle usually makes them too tired to write that creatively or maybe he’s more involved with actual work. Most recent post: April 1, 2007

Kitty Litter – An officemate sent me this link; it tells of a part-time professor who also works in the print & PR world. I think she went to using Live Journal, haven’t figured out her current site (or if she’s still blogging). Most recent post: April 13, 2007

San Juan Gossip Mills Outlet – Edwin Lacierda’s blog, found it through the same officemate. His legal insights (along with Punzi) are interesting to an ex-lawyer wannabee. I’m sure he’s busy with a host of other issues so he can’t go back to blogging. Weirdly enough, before I saw his mug on TV, I thought he would be as old as Abe Margallo (I still don’t know why). I apologize to Atty. Lacierda, he’s much younger than that… Hehehe! Most recent post: November 13, 2007

Substituted Speculation

I’m currently watching The Explainer rerun right now where Ricky Carandang’s explaining how speculating works on the worldwide market. I think a better local example on how speculation works is when people buy & sell US dollars. In a similar scenario, people with funds would buy US dollars from the Forex stores at the mall or from travelers or OFWs in the hopes of waiting for the US rate to go up. Increasing buying of US dollars would also bring up the price of US dollars since the US dollars demand would go up, creating a bandwagon effect.

Loopy Linking

Something seems to be screwy with mlq3's site for the past couple of days (borrowing mlq3's phrase). Everytime you go to the main blog site, then click on the link to read the full article for the day, you still see the main page (thus preventing you from reading the entire article and even the comments).

Here's what happens normally when you go to www.quezon.ph:




Here's what happens when you click on the "continue reading" link:



Here's what happens when you click on the "comments" link:



Don't take my word for it. Go to the links (or type them independently if you want) and see for yourselves...

Defective DSL

Just came from work today, but during the day I was listening to the radio to check up on the rally and how it was going. Today I’m checking the online news to see what happened.

We have a DSL connection at home, but it keeps on conking out. I’m reduced to using the dial-up, just to catch up.

Hmm, maybe we *do* need a National Broadband Network. Seeing how faulty our current telecoms industry is doing their work, I’m quite sure that this administration, in all its wisdom, can more than outperform our engineers. They were able to find a way to solve the classroom shortage, right? By just changing the denominator to modify the rates?

I’m waiting for virtual tomatoes to be hurled at me any moment now… Hehehe!

Twice for Two Hundred

The President has recently released P200 million to help flood victims in Eastern Samar. That's the same price as the proposed bribe to Secretary Neri. That's 3% of P6.5 billion. P6.5 billion at P50=$1 is $130 million...

To think P200 million can already go a long way into helping those in need, while a whopping 97% goes to the pockets of our esteemed officials??

Coats and Cravats, Caucus at the CBD, and a Could-be Caveat

I remember watching Jun Lozada’s Harapan episode the other night with my dad & sister and saw the latter part. There were some aspects that looks like it may have been staged, like his shirt for example, or the witticisms (i.e. buti pa sila naka-amerikana, ako hindi). Being a businessman and a founder of several businesses, he could afford to wear suits (or in his case, since he now had contact with the outside world but unable to move in it, he could’ve have a nice suit sent over). But I guess someone advised him not to do so (I wouldn’t call them handlers, but more like image advisors).

Regardless of that possible stunt, it did not derail him from veering away from his story one bit. Almost ten high-level leaders fell all over themselves trying to refute his statement (and even getting sucked into the suit argument) but his core story stood firm.

Dad was a bit turned off by those possible stunts, saying he should’ve just stuck to the issue. But I think those possible stunts with his quips even endeared him to more normal folk, since they can relate better to his situation (like a common worker wearing a shirt considered as an undershirt by the upper class and speaking to the suited aristocrat). Although Dad & I both agreed that Jun Lozada’s main story on the commissions was the truth.

Furthermore, General Razon’s excuse that he had to leave a function and his wife underscored the difference between him and Jun Lozada (and the rest of the people). At least Gen. Razon got to attend a function, in a suit, and still leave his wife in a nice place. Jun Lozada (and a whole lot of other people) are forcibly separated from his family, and can’t even attend formal functions in formal suits.

=========================================

I went to the Makati rally out of curiosity and proximity to the new office. I got there when it was around 7pm, so it was winding down. I walked from the Paseo de Roxas side, and I was surprised that the Makati cops didn’t stop me from walking all the way to the stage! I was able to see people I only saw on the paper/TV/internet. I almost bumped elbows with Fr. Robert Reyes, JDV3, Argee Guevarra, Renato Constantino Jr. (he was thinner than I imagined), and saw Conrado de Quiros walking along the Enterprise Center. Unfortunately, I also saw some people trucked in to pad the crowd a bit (they were in a white dump truck eating from the standard white Styrofoam meal packs).

As I headed back to parking (I had to leave early), I was texting my sister that I was around. The cops suddenly asked me to walk to the side (“Boss, patabi lang po”). I thought a car was going to pass through. Then, I saw one of the K-9 cops with a brown Labrador (a common sight in Makati) walking towards an unattended big, black bag near the corner of Dela Rosa & Paseo de Roxas. Thinking it might be a bomb, I walked briskly until I reached the Sycip Salazar building. I looked back to see what happened, and the K-9 was still sniffing it. I guess it wasn’t a bomb since no news came out of it until now.

I wonder if that was part of the administration’s dirty tricks department, trying to scare everyone to throw them off. Or maybe it was just a plain black bag somebody forgot.

(i)skolar survery

Got this one by stalking urbano dela cruz.

UP Survey

Maligayang ika-100 taon, mga Iskolar ng Bayan!

1. Student number?
95-26002. malas dati sa EPN until nag-RVC ako!

2. College?
College of Business Administration (that's why number cruncher)... pero nagustuhan ko rin nung tin-ranslate yung title sa tagalog: Kolehiyo ng Pangasiwaang Kalakal.

3. Ano ang course mo?
Business Administration & Accountancy. wanted to be a lawyer, but chickened out after basic business law. and no, i still don't know why they call it a double-major when the BA & Accounting parts since those weren't the only courses (throw in some Econ, GE, and of course, org!), plus integrated pa yung BA and Accounting

4. Nag-shift ka ba o na-kickout?
di naman, pero kamuntik na akong masipa sa course dahil sa BA 114 where 2.75 yung required grade para ma-retain sa BAA program (and not shift to BA) and kamuntik na akong ma-tres. kaso, ni-recount ko yung first exam ko, umusad ng konti yung grade, tapos naging 2.75! hmm, maybe i should've taken that as a signal that i wasn't really meant to be a hard-core accountant...

5. Saan ka kumuha ng UPCAT?
sa College of Home Economics ("may college pala na ganon!" i remember myself thinking). survived the tests by buying corned beef(?) pandesal sa tabi

6. Favorite GE subject?
Comm I - Fr. Alfeo Nudas... Margaret, are you grieving?

7. Favorite PE?
Aikido!!! use the force luke...

8. Saan ka nag-aabang ng hot guy sa UP?
erm, i'm not out yet... nuninuninu....

hot girls. di na ako lumalayo ng BA... pati taga-Econ nakikita ko tuloy! hehehe!

9. Favorite prof(s)
Solita "Winnie" Monsod (caught me sleeping-not due to boredom, i assure you), Clemente for Marketing (even if i got a 2 while most got 1.75 and above for a 6-unit class), Loriega for BA 99.2 (Basic Accounting 2, first lawyer prof), Cayanan for Finance (expert in finance & still flaming!), of course Fr. Nudas

10. Pinaka-ayaw na GE subject.
Math 17. my first class when i entered UP, almost half the block dropped out (i got a 1.75 out of it though, konting yabang naman! hehehe!)

11. Kumuha ka ba ng Wed or Sat classes?
nope, pero may org work!

12. Nakapag-field trip ka ba?
of course, pero di naman masyadong exotic.

13. Naging CS ka na ba or US sa UP?
nung 1st year to 2nd year, tapos 5th year last sem. pero aliw yung isang sem na may 4.0 ako sa BA 118 (na 6-units) sabay may 1.0 ako sa Econ 190.1 (yet another sign i was in the wrong course...)

14. Ano ang Org/Frat/Soro mo?
org: CBA-RVC (memorized ko pa ba pre-req ng BA 190? limang pre-req na kelangang tandaan sa pintuan!), CBA-CAP (which started my love affair with the corporate world), Aikido Society (until 3rd year BA took that time away), JPIA!!! (j-j-j-j-j-j-j-p-i-a!!!-ang kulto sa BA)
frat: proud to be a barbarian!

15. Saan ka tumatambay palagi?
BA 3rd floor front lobby, BA 3rd floor back lobby, JPIA tambayan

16. Dorm, Boarding house, o Bahay?
bahay, bus mula nichols toll plaza hanggang diliman!

17. Kung walang UPCAT test at malaya kang nakapili ng kurso mo sa UP, ano yun? (Given ang mentality mo nung HS ka)
engineering siguro, pero i watched too many lawyer tv shows, kaya nag-ilusyong mag-abogasya. e good pre-law course daw yung BAA, sabay ok pa na combo yung CPA-lawyer.

18. Sino ang pinaka-una mong nakilala sa UP?
aside from the HS guys, si jan chavez na taga-negros sa math 17

19. First play na napanood mo sa UP?
yung Kangkong 1896

20. Name the 5 most conyo orgs in UP
JMA (peace!) yung AIESEC medyo nawala nung panahon ko...

21. Name 5 of the coolest orgs/frats/soro in UP.
JPIA syempre!!! (dork!), dunno the rest, medyo nakulong na ako sa BA from 3rd year onwards

22. May frat/soro bang nag-recruit sa yo?
Upsilon through my HS friend pero di ko tinuloy

23. Saan ka madalas mag-lunch?
nung 1st 2 years, sa beachhouse (nasaan ba beach non???) & casaa; afterwards sa BA pero nagsara yung caf, kaya paikot-ikot. the best talaga pag lunes => libre lunch sa commeet!!! (unless pag taya committee nyo...)

24. Masaya ba sa UP?
syempre!!!

25. Nakasama ka na ba sa rally?
nope; minsan kasi talaga di ako nag-aagree sa mga nag-rarally, although i do admire them for the ferventness of their beliefs. (in the same manner that i admire zealout preachers; to both, please accept my respect but wag nyo na ako isali! hehehe!)

26. Ilang beses ka bumoto sa Student Council
limang beses kada limang taon; kahit na minsan pare-pareho lang

27. Name at least 5 leftist groups in UP
LFS. Samasa-TMMA / Stand-UP (yung humiwalay sa Samasa), forgot/wasn't aware of the rest

28. Pinangarap mo rin bang mag-laude nung freshman ka?
syempre, dork ako e, tapos andami pang achievers sa course. buti sila, nakamit nila! hehehe!

29. Kanino ka pinaka-patay sa UP?
this very, very, very smart & cute girl na kaklase ko, na out of respect for bambi ay di ko na sasabihin kung sino, not to mention fear for my life... (bambs, di naman tayo nag-abot sa UP non e, tapos nasa Manila ka pa...)

30. Kung di ka UP, anong school ka?
malamang don sa kabilang school sa Katipunan (miriam? how i wish!) o don sa may Taft (sa Main as some of my HS friends would adamantly insist)

31. Paboritong inuman?
not applicable! dork alert!!!

sige. bambi. dikya. swipe. paeng. lobit. taya!

Verifying vouchers

Being back in Makati has forced me to look at other aspects that I have neglected to notice while I was in Manila.

Like the logic of McMoney.

These are the coupons distributed by McDonald’s Philippines at the start of every year offering discounts to certain food items and meals. During their latest ad, it showed a shady deal taking place, with the McMoney being used for payment. Wads of McMoney were also used to pay off the delivery guy. However, in real life one can only use them one coupon for each transaction.

Now I’m not saying that McDonald’s has engaged in misleading advertising, but showing the alternative on TV has got me thinking: why can’t we use multiple coupons per transaction? It’s not like we won’t shell out real money if we use all the coupons, since the coupons only offer a discount. It defeats the purpose of mass producing them and each customer having 3-5 envelopes worth of coupons with around 10 coupons, yet only using them only once per visit.

If McDonald’s want to increase its volume, they should allow multiple coupons each time people eat. Or are they trying to recover the cost with the other non-coupon items per order? What if the customer only orders that specific discounted item, how then will the company recover the cost?

Just a thought experiment.

information systems irritating symptom

Doesn’t it seem that there’s a growing disjoint between personal computing and office computing? Because of the cheapening costs of computing, a significant amount of the emerging labor force are now exposed to the internet, online gaming, windows XP & even Vista, and video telephony (by contacting OFW relatives).

Yet when it comes to business systems, it seems that we’re still firmly stuck in the mid 90s, or even 80s. Isn’t it weird when you logon to windows, you see this screen:

















Only to be exposed to this text-based system for your regular work?


















As late as five years ago, this wouldn’t have mattered, since only a few had exposure to updated operating systems and applications. But now with the democratization of computing, and business systems not catching up, the gap is becoming more pronounced.

Plus, the older generation used to text-based systems don’t handle that directly anymore (being part of management), yet the younger set have to face the older system their superiors faced.

And I wonder how this affects the morale of the knowledge workers who have to face this anachronism day in and day out. It may not be a major factor for quitting, but it may serve as one of Herzberg's hygiene factor which may increase job dissatisfaction (like faulty toilets or poor fringe benefits).

thinking a tad too much

i'm usually the over-analytical person all-around, but sometimes my significant other beats me to it.

bambi & i were hanging out at her sister's house when bambi's niece brought out this souvenir "snowball" from HK Disneyland. it was an aquarium with fishes swimming around and it looked like this:


i then thought, cool, it looked real enough, but the aquarium was an enclosed globe ball, so the fishes weren't real. i then wondered how the fishes moved around. (it moved through magnets)

bambi on the other hand took the biologist approach: wow, look at the fishes! wait, one's a tiger fish and one's a clown fish and one's a freshwater fish while the earlier two are saltwater fishes, so how could freshwater fishes survive with saltwater fishes? but she still didn't arrive at the conclusion that the fishes weren't real.... hehehe!

what was worse was she tried to justify her reasoning by pointing out the following:

• there's an opening at the bottom, maybe you could put food in it? => um, it was for replacement water....
• the opening could be used to pump air in it? => i don't think so; besides, where's the air pump?
• well, there are fishbowls that don't have air pumps => it was an enclosed globe....

by this point we were both laughing our heads off....

instrument tampering & information technology

haven't posted in a while, not too pleased with bean-counting...

anyhoo, check these videos out:

1) a guy doesn't know how to play the instruments suddenly wows us all...



2) middle age tech support. i used to be an abacus repairman a few years back and i was laughing my head off since i remembered not a few abacus users who had these issues. i especially like the part where the user was still clinging on to the old technology... hehehe!



enjoy!!!