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hoping all of you are having a great day this Christmas Eve and I will raise a glass this evening to wish all good fortune and good health HUZZAH

 

No longer in J-Mall Mandaue, now in Robinson Galleria Cebu.

 

For those considering enrolling their better half in the Social Security System in the Philippines so that she can avail of the state pension when the time comes (there are other minor benefits but the state pension is by far the most important).
I have read the SSS law (link), and my conclusions are:
1. Yes it makes sense to enroll, if she's not already enrolled (compulsory) because of a paid job, however
2. The way the system works for voluntary members (like a housewife would be) is rather arbitrary, with discretionary rules.
This leads to the following for a partner at age 40:
If you pay the premiums for the maximum "monthly salary credit", currently 13% of 25k a month, but this will rise in 2025 to 15% of 35k a month, so around 5k a month in premiums, then there's basically 4 choices.
a. You can enroll now and pay for let's say 25 years until she turns 65, then she would get 300+1000+50% of the 35k=18,800 peso per month pension.
b. You can do the same but she "retires" at 60 (so pay 20 years). Then she'd get 15,300 a month.
c. She can enroll at age 50 and pay for 10 years, so retire at 60 and get 15,000 a month.
d. She can enroll at age 60 and pay for 5 years, retire at 65 and get the same 15,000 a month.

My conclusion is that under the current law it seems like the most economical plan to start putting 4k a month in a savings account now, then enroll at 50, and pay the premiums for 10 years from the savings account.
The other options are simply not as good.

Obviously they should change the system to a much more gradual change between options, so individuals can't game the system anymore, but it is what it is.

 

Short answer is yes we do
Lets be honest and admit it....What do you take for granted?

The story told of a man who was asked, what's the first thing you do when you wake up?
He replied, I stick my elbows out in both directions!
Why would you do that he was asked......To make sure I'm not in my coffin!!!
Well that might be taking things to extreme...... but just think of the things you take for granted.

 

Just in case you missed it, this short video (1 minute only) showcases the ability of the James Webb telescope in a totally awesome fashion.
The video was released 2 days ago, if you can, watch it on the biggest screen you have available, preferably a large television.
Make sure to set the video quality on youtube to the highest your tv will handle, the higher the better (it's available in 4k), and be utterly amazed.
The nebula the video concentrates on is 2000 lightyears away, so the light in the final picture traveled 2000 years to reach us. In comparison, light needs just one second to travel from the moon to earth, or 8 minutes to reach us from our own sun.

 

Pork Chop stairs I'm talking about, these are a space saving unit and only take up half the room of a traditional stair, 12 treads of 12inch take up 12ft of space, with this type of stair 12 treads of 12inch take up only 6ft, when building my house it was always my view to have it small and easily managed and these stairs were an ideal solution for me and solved a big problem that I never did foresee, I did have the room for a standard stair but Never thought about an overhead steel beam I installed making it not possible, so these PC stairs are a great compromise, they do take a bit of getting used to for an adult??? but children take to them like a Duck to water odd but true. they also have an added advantage over a standard stair, something I did not realise at the time, if you have a cupboard under them it is better than one under a standard stair as you get more headroom, all things considered it was an ideal choice for my situation.

 

a great place to eat because this place simply serves great food. Their promo says "modern european kitchen" and that's what it is - classic german, french and other dishes re-combined, re-interpreted; the chief cook = owner is really ambitious and innovative, you find nowhere else in Dumaguete or maybe in the Philippines a menue card like this! But still every order will fill your stomache, no worries about that. We had a huge piece of chicken breast with Ratatouille (French style mixed vegetables) and Shrimps with another kind of mixed veggies, both excellent. Will definitely try the rest of the menue card. Good choice of usual and unusual drinks. Last but not least a very good, fast and attentive service. A very special place, highly recommended. And if you are in the mood, you can jump into the pool right in the dining area

 

For the time being, there's no obvious conclusion to be drawn about the end of the pandemic, or about the emergence of an endemic state for Covid-19.
There's still new variants emerging (mostly derived from Omicron) that may pose a serious danger in the medium to longer term, and one recent Israeli research paper points to the delta variant not having been totally killed off by Omicron, pointing to the possibility of a future Delta/Omicron recombination.

However, I would say that currently, hopeful signals are showing in many countries.
For example, on a per capita basis (the only way to properly compare between countries), hospital admissions in many countries are on the way down.
Obviously, with testing/reporting down or even "on the way out" in some countries, hospitalisations are becoming a much more accurate indicator for the development of the pandemic than reported case numbers.

View attachment upload_2022-5-7_21-7-7.png

And for those not convinced, here's an undisputable indicator (for the Netherlands only, but there's reason to believe it isn't much different in most European countries). No matter whether people are tested / report to a doctor / report their home test results / are hospitalized, they all still defecate and produce urine.
In the Netherlands there's virtually no-one with a septic tank, every building/home is connected to the public wastewater pipe system.
All 326 wastewater treatment plants in the country test for virus particles 4 times a week, and the results are aggregated and published.

View attachment upload_2022-5-7_21-5-40.png
To me that looks pretty good, and a firm indication that Omicron is on the way out.

Meanwhile, in the Philippines the hospitalization numbers are looking pretty good also:
View attachment upload_2022-5-7_21-23-39.png
And closer to home (our province only):
View attachment upload_2022-5-7_21-25-58.png

All in all, I am rather optimistic at this time.
Which is not to say people should stop wearing masks when in busy places / indoors, always good to be careful, but I hope some of you who may still be scared will find reassurance that things are looking up.