2022 May
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Posted on r/Philippines: How did the MRT's old stored value tickets work?
Haven't ridden the MRT regularly for a long while, I assume these were phased out since may Beep card na.
Specifically, where did they store value? I remember parang thin magnetic (?) card lang sya na parang wala namang chip. And if writeable sya, wouldn't that be insecure, i.e. people might figure out how to change the value of the card.
If there's some kind of centralized database, wouldn't that introduce some kind of network delay for example when the ticket is processed as you leave the station? Mabilis lang maprocess yung ticket e (otherwise, it's a problem during rush hour)
Lol sorry if it's a weird question, baka sakali lang may nakakaalam dito; I remember thinking about this when they were first introduced and I never did get an answer.
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It has been a sad week for the world, something that happens perhaps way too often in the past few years. The World PH: Congress, sitting as the National Board of Canvassers, has proclaimed Bongbong Marcos Jr and Sara Duterte as the winners of the 2022 presidential and vice-presidential elections. Some reactions from one of my group chats: Of course, not everybody is sad. Presumably, his supporters are happy he won, though I've found little evidence of that online. It's more like they're happy Leni lost than BBM winning, and are a bit incensed that she's happily ignoring the noise -
A sobering look at the pendulum swings of the last 30 years in PH politics leading up the Marcos restoration
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Posted on r/Philippines: Around 800k votes was enough to get 2% in the party list elections. There are 859k members of r/Philippines. We should run a party-list in 2025.
Reference: https://ph.rappler.com/elections/2022/races/party-list/results
Actually, the threshold of votes needed should be quite a bit lower, since very few parties got 2%, so I believe they will proportionally parcel out slots to the lower ranked parties.
If everyone on the sub voted for our party list (unlikely), we wouldn't even have to campaign!
Don't ask me what our party-list agenda should be. But I believe marginalized sector naman ang r/PH redditors lol
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The World PH: it has been a very rainy week over here, with the mornings typically hot and the afternoons and evenings with daily showers. Weather agency PAG-ASA has declared the official start of the rainy season, making my daily walks more challenging. At least we are hopefully going to suffer less of the summer heat. Covid isn't even over, but apparently there's a new disease to worry about: Monkeypox. I asked an infectious disease specialist I knew if we should be worried about it and she answered "At this point no. But that's we said about Covid too." So -
A Quote In the river I have seen you Through love age and misery In the river I will find you for you will always be you and i will always be me Gwyn Davies, Legends of Tomorrow S07E12 The World PH/Politics: The elections have come and gone and like it not, we must live with the results. I have written some post-election thoughts here. PH/sports: Some good news though: Last Friday the UP Maroons defeated ADMU in the final game of the UAAP basketball season, ending a 36-year drought. The Maroons last won the championship after the dictatorship fell. -
It has been a difficult week, particularly for supporters of VP Leni Robredo, given the outcome of the election last Monday. It's taken me a few days to gather my thoughts, and even then, some of these ideas may still seem raw and unrefined. Some were also the outcome of numerous conversations with fellow supporters both before and after the elections. Disclaimer: I am of course, not an expert of any kind, and these are just my personal thoughts (some refined by many conversations in the immediate 48-96hrs after the election. So very many active group chats!) Hope and Disappointment
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A Quote A single grain of rice can tip the scale. One man alone can make a difference. -- the emperor, Mulan The World PH/Politics: Elections are tomorrow! Destiny is at hand, one way or another. The Leni/Kiko campaign held their final rally / Miting De Avance last night at Ayala Avenue in Makati, with attendance estimates reaching 800,000 attendees (!!). A lot of people, especially the Leni supporters, have pre-election anxiety. I wrote about my ballot and my final pre-election words here. PH/Covid: Thankfully, cases remain low. A lot of people have been predicting we might have a surge -
PH elections are this coming Monday. Sat down to make my final Elections 2022 ballot decisions today. President and Vice President Back in 2016, I actually (accidentally) abstained the President slot because the choices were so either meh or terrible. This time I don't have that dilemma. Leni Robredo was the clear best choice for VP back in 2016, and she is the clear best choice for President today. The VP vote is a bit closer; despite some age-old issues I actually think Sotto is a defendable choice given how long he has been in government service, but we have -
A whole new month just crept up on us huh. I don't have anything particularly witty to say at the moment. The World Putin's invasion of Ukraine is now in its 10th week. No end in sight. Not sure if it's worth it to continue tracking this here since this may go on for a while. PH/Politics: One week remains until the elections on Monday the 9th. It's the homestretch! There was some kind of Baby Marcos-aligned sortie near our house last night. I briefly considered buying a tomato. I wrote a short note about my thoughts for the last
2022 April
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Last-two-weeks-before-elections thoughts: It's a mistake to look at the large rally attendance numbers or all the #LeniKiko support in our feeds and conclude something like "The surveys must be wrong" or "We are winning"! #philippines #politics
Celebrate the wins, sure, but don't let it spread to overconfidence. Just because the Marcos supporters are less enthusiastic or visible doesn't mean they don't have the numbers. There is still a lot of fight to be fought.
More than the rally attendance numbers (which is driven mostly by people already committed to the cause), the house-to-house and person-to-person campaigning are more impactful, to reach out to the undecideds and to the people on other sides.
And this is something the Marcos side cannot match because it's really hard to defend that choice in person.
I accompanied my mom to the drugstore earlier and she wished she had brought some merch to hand out because all the pharmacists were supporters; I told her it was more important to give out merch and campaign to people who were supporters-to-be.
I remain cautiously optimistic. I still find myself depressed whenever I hear about Marcos supporter nonsense (see a previous tweet). But the energy of the movement brings hope.
(Also the precinct finder tells me that "There is another voter with the same full name as yours in the city/municipality where you are registered." Been trying to contact Comelec, hopefully it can be resolved soon.)
Goes back into my cave
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The World Putin's invasion of Ukraine is now in its 9th week. Russian efforts have been refocused to eastern Ukraine, and Mariupol is about to fall. PH/Politics: VP and current presidential candidate Leni Robredo celebrated her birthday yesterday, and a grand rally was held in Pasay with an estimated over 400,000 attendees. A good number of my friends were there. It's a bit of a phenomenon really. I don't know if she will manage to win the elections, but if she does it's going to be a miracle driven by the people. PH/Politics: The Comelec has released a precinct finder -
Today is Easter Sunday, if you celebrate that kind of thing. It's kind of a good time to start afresh. And maybe also to remember we are already three and a half months into this year, the third of the pandemic. A Quote 'We're all just people.' Nanny blew a cloud of blue smoke at the chimney. 'Everyone's just people.' -- Terry Pratchett in Wyrd Sisters This one felt really poignant to me for some reason. The World Putin's invasion of Ukraine is now in its 8th week. Ukraine has managed to sink a Russian warship. PH/Politics: A bunch of -
Today is Palm Sunday, the first day of Holy Week. When I was growing up, Holy Week was traditionally a quiet time of prayer and reflection; my grandmother would chastise us if we were noisy, especially from Thursday through Saturday. The period feels a lot less sacrosanct in the modern world, either because I'm an adult now or because people usually just take this time to go on vacations or whatnot, or maybe some combination of both. The World Putin's invasion of Ukraine is now in its 7th week. More and more Russian war atrocities are coming to light. PH/Politics: -
It's April! Still the world turns. Sigh. This entry is coming in a day late because I was busy during the weekend. The World Putin's invasion of Ukraine is now in its 6th week. The Russians have withdrawn from the Kyiv region and more of their atrocities have been revealed in their wake. PH/Politics: There was another Comelec-sponsored presidential debate last night, apparently the last one, but I was unable to watch. Sounds like my preferred candidate did well though. PH/Covid: Cases continue to remain low, but we should keep our guard up. Showbusiness: The big news last week was
2022 March
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March is almost done. The summer heat is undeniably here. I am so very tired. A Quote "A single grain of rice can tip the scale. One man may be the difference between victory and defeat." - from "Mulan" (A reminder I need when I feel bad about the current state of the world and PH politics and feel like there's nothing I can do.) The World Putin's invasion of Ukraine is now in its 5th week. Ukranians are fighting back from Kyiv, and Russia has refocused it's effort around the Donbas region, claiming that was the plan all along. -
For a few weeks now, the nearby Santuario which I regularly walk by has had a series of signs/banners/tarps promoting the candidacy of #LeniKiko2022
(Click through for more photos)
(Click photos to view full-size)
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A Quote "We all change, when you think about it, we're all different people all our lives and that's okay, we've got to keep moving, so long as you remember all the people you used to be." - the Eleventh Doctor The World Putin's invasion of Ukraine is now in its 4th week. PH: The first comelec-sponsored presidential debates were last night, with one notable absence. I didn't feel the need to watch the debates this year (unlike in 2016 where I posted live commentary). I feel like the choices are much more clear-cut for this election and watching them -
A Quote "This is a hard mindset to get out of, that the world is best if it prioritizes only your priorities. I promise though that the moment you open yourself up to the idea that a diverse world creates an overall better world because it allows each person to find their own passions, and a world of happy people will create a better overall world for you because that positivity will lead to things that will make you happier (and as a nice side effect, other people are happier)." Mark Rosewater, lead designer for Magic the Gathering The World
