AdSense

Saturday, February 28, 2015

Germany paves way for more Filipino dual citizens starting 2015

DFA PH and German Passports
photo: dfa.gov.ph
Effective December 20, 2014, children born in Germany after January 1, 2000, to parents who, upon said birth, 1) were both foreigners and 2) one parent has stayed in Germany legally for eight years, and 3) the child has grown up in Germany, can now opt for both German citizenship and the citizenship of their parent’s country when they turn 21. Previously, children born to foreign parents had to face the difficult decision of choosing only one citizenship upon reaching 21. For those who were born of Filipino parents, this meant choosing German citizenship over Filipino citizenship.
The amended German citizenship law, the German Nationality Act or StAG, has now abolished the exclusivity rule that obliged children born in Germany of foreigner parents to choose one citizenship over the other citizenship (Optionspflicht). Children born of foreigner (non-German) parents in Germany after January 1, 2000, can now have both citizenships. However, one condition states that they should have grown up in Germany. This means they have been in Germany for eight years or attended a school in Germany for six years, or graduated from school or occupational training in Germany.
The same exemption from the obligation to choose is applicable to those children of foreign parents who were born in Germany between January 1, 1990, and December 31, 1999, and were naturalized, becoming German citizens in the year 2000. For them, they are likewise no longer obliged to choose one from both citizenships and can therefore retain their dual citizenships provided they grew up in Germany.
The changes to the citizenship law will not affect the current rule in the Philippines that children born of mixed marriages (ex. Filipino-German) are entitled to both citizenships (dual citizenship by reason of blood).
Thus, aside from the usual dual Filipino-German citizens, born of mixed Filipino and German parents and who are therefore both Filipinos and German by birth, there is now a newer group of dual Filipino-German citizens. They are those born of Filipino parents, or of a Filipino parent and a non-German parent.
Philippine Ambassador to Germany Melita Sta. Maria-Thomeczek applauded the recent amendments to the German law. Ambassador Thomeczek stated that “the changes to the immigration law are important in ensuring that Germany continues to be an open and multicultural society. It is especially important that Filipino-German youth, many of whom continue to closely identify themselves with the Philippines, are able to stake their claim to their parent’s homeland. No difficult decisions will have to be made—the only decision they will have to think about it is when to renew their Philippine passport!”
creditsource:http://www.gov.ph/2015/02/26/germany-paves-way-for-more-filipino-dual-citizens-starting-2015/
via dfa.gov.phJanuary

International media pounced but missed the point on Orton-Pacquiao issue

 credit/by: | The Underdog 

MANILA, Philippines - Daniel Orton talks to a referee during the match between Kia and Purefoods. (Dante Dennis Diosina Jr./NPPA IMAGES)
Yahoo PH Sports - MANILA, Philippines - Daniel Orton talks to a referee during the match between Kia and Purefoods. (Dante Dennis Diosina Jr./NPPA IMAGES)
Orton cut from Philippine team after insulting Pacquiao
Headlines such as the one above proliferated the Internet Tuesday night and Wednesday morning. Citing quotes from similar sources, their plots were the same.
Because former NBA player Daniel Orton insulted Manny Pacquiao’s basketball ability, he was fired from his spot with the Purefoods Star Hotshots.
It was a catchy headline, a perfect way for basketball writers to join the Floyd Mayweather versus Pacquiao click caravan without veering off topic.
They painted Purefoods as a team so enamored with Pacquiao that they fired their import for insulting the playing coach of the opposing team.
Don’t get me wrong. I also think Orton was out of line with his comments but more than what he said about Pacquiao, I think what he said about the PBA was the bigger cause for the fine.
What irks me with how the U.S. media covered it is how they took away the context of the firing. They zoned in on the Pacquiao part because it was more clickable and basically looked past everything else.
If you browse through all of these articles, you won’t see how Orton scored only six points and grabbed three rebounds in a bad loss to an expansion team.
Even if he was in foul trouble, he still played 19 minutes and many of these were lousy.
No one brought up the fact that Orton absolutely bulldozed his defender late in the fourth quarter for his sixth foul just when KIA was starting to run away with the game. No one mentioned that he went 1-2 in three games in the PBA. Purefoods got the win not because of Orton but because Marc Pingris managed to limit the production of NLEX import Al Thronton.
In fairness to Orton, he was really stuck in a difficult situation. He replaced the beloved Marqus Blakely who won two titles for Purefoods. During Orton’s stint with the team, former import Denzel Bowles was also blatantly expressing his desire to play in the PBA again.
Purefoods fans were never really on Orton’s side because they felt either Blakely or Bowles was better. They turned their backs completely after the loss to KIA. During that game, I tweeted that his performance could cost him his job.
If head coach Tim Cone dropped Orton after that, no one would called him out on it. However, because of Orton’s comments on Pacquiao, it now looks like Cone was looking out for Pacquiao's best interest and not Purefoods'.
Imports like GlobalPort’s CJ Leslie, Alaska’s DJ Covington, and San Miguel Beer’s Ronald Roberts all had better numbers compared to Orton but they were all replaced. Yet, some members of the media zoned in on Orton because of the Pacquiao angle.
I don’t mind this issue making it internationally, but I hoped they could have done more research and put in some effort to paint a complete picture.
The PBA offers so much more in the basketball than just Pacquiao. It sucks that basketball fans from around the world will think of this issue first before they get real a taste of what the league has to offer.
source: https://ph.sports.yahoo.com/blogs/the-underdog/international-media-pounced-but-missed-the-point-on-orton-pacquiao-issue-055818576-nba.html
Note: naomispenny's comment:  Pacquiao is a humble peron and during Oton's words blast Pacquiao remain humble he can give this man a run for his money with one blow to silence him and to remind him (Orton) you are in the Philippines can you hear what you are saying? no way man...if Orton did that to Pacquiao a man with high status in politics and sports then if ORTON STAYED LONGER IN THE PHILIPPINES HE WILL BE EVEN MORE  DISRECPECTFUL  /ARROGANT TO ANYONE WHO ARE LESSER IN LIFE  IN THE FUTURE IF HE HAS THE CHANCE.....ORTON WAS JUST COVERING UP HIS INADEQUACY TO EPRFORM  AND SCORE WELL  TO MAKE HIS TEAM(PUREFOODS) WIN .IT IS THE REAL REASON WHY HAS TO LEAVE NOT BECAUSE HE IS RUDE TO PACQUIAO,

Thursday, February 26, 2015

Major Life decision in Investing

Recently, I've made a major life decision with regards to investment. I have purchased a Variable life insurance from my son who became a Financial Advisor with Sun Life of Canada, Philippines Inc. and I want to share my reason for purchasing it with the hope of convincing my fellow Filipinos that the road to financial freedom is easy, if you know the way of proper investing and if you have someone to help you, in my case, it was my son who helped me. If you do not get an Insurance Policy now, as my son had told me, you will continue to experience the following:

1. You will continue to be taxed for your savings account in the bank which is called the withholding tax and it is a very high 20% of the interest rate. Your Insurance policies are not taxed because the company pays for it from its income.

2. You will continue to experience low interest rates with banks like 1% for Savings account. The 10 year yield of the Balanced Funds from Sun Life is 218%! I was surprised when my son had told me this and that definitely piqued my interest. Imagine. If you had regularly invested Php 12,000 every year during 2004 until 2014, your money now would be somewhere between Php 300,000 to Php 350,000 in comparison to the bank where your Php 10,000 will just gain Php 800 minus the withholding tax and that is for 10 years already!

3. You will not be protected by banks with the amount of money that you put in. If you have a savings account with the bank, you know that you do not have any type of insurance protection for you. While an Insurance Policy, after paying the Initial Premium, automatically protects your family financially in case whatever unexpected event may happen to you.

4. You will not enjoy diversity of your invesment. With banks, you will not be able to choose where your hard earned money will be placed and thus the interest rate is fixed. With the insurance policy, you get to choose on which type of fund you could put it and how much percentage of it will go to that investment. You may place it in Government bonds called the Bonds Fund which has a 97% interest rate from 2004-2014 for the Conservative investor, both the government bonds and in the Philippine Stock market called the balanced funds which has a 218% interest rate from 2004-2014 and the most surprising one is the Equity funds where the money is all placed in the Philippine Stock Market which has a staggering interest rate of 314%!

I'm going to tell you now that if you still want high tax rates from your hard earned money with very low interest rates without any life protection for you and your family and no diversity of your investment, then continue to trust banks. But if you want to get out of your comfort zone and want to grow your money exponentially, then make the same decision I did, invest with Sun Life now.

If you are interested, Mutual Funds start at a minimum of Php 5000 and Variable life insurance at Php 8000 per year. Please do send him an email at vinnoe.m.villanueva@sunlife.com.ph


Tuesday, February 24, 2015

The 10 commandments of Typography


commandments of typography


With millions of beautiful typefaces scattering the Web, we felt it was time to lay down the rules on what makes typography great, and how to use them effectively. From graphic design pros to new creatives, here are our 10 commandments for making the best out of typography.

1. You shall not deform

There are so many font families with several weights and styles, so why do some of you insist on bolding manually?
Screen Shot 2015 02 20 at 5.52.32 PM 730x475 The 10 commandments of typography
If you need something bold or light, choose a font with several weight. Please don’t just add an outline; although this is an easy way to make an existing font bold, you stand the 99 percent chance of damaging the letter design, be it in its counter forms, serifs, endings, or otherwise.
The same rule goes for widths. Some designers will change a font’s width manually to save some space. Instead of deforming the typeface, select something that is already condensed or ultra condensed.
Screen Shot 2015 02 20 at 5.52.05 PM 730x398 The 10 commandments of typography
If you didn’t know, a real small cap has a specific design, it’s not only an uppercase which have been reduced. If you shrink an uppercase to fit with the x-height, you’ll damage contrasts, so choose a font with small caps.

2. No more than two fonts you shall combine

Ideally, combine two fonts, (okay, a maximum of three) and enjoy all their styles and variations to create contrasts.
For example, choose a serif font and a sans serif font and play with weights, italics, small caps etc. Avoid to combine two fonts of the same family, and always remember that contrast is the key.
Screen Shot 2015 02 20 at 5.54.29 PM 730x503 The 10 commandments of typography
You can go with multiple typefaces if you want, but the more you use, the more likely you can lose uniformity. Also it just starts to look rather messy.

3. Too short or too long lines you shall avoid

The lengths of lines considerably influence the reading and the understanding of the word. Short lines will provoque a jerky feel, while extra long lines will strain your eyes.
Too short:
Screen Shot 2015 02 20 at 5.56.37 PM 730x428 The 10 commandments of typography
Too long:
Screen Shot 2015 02 20 at 5.56.54 PM 730x302 The 10 commandments of typography
A simple way to calculate the justification is to use Robert Bringhurst’s method, which is to multiply the font size by 30. So if the font size is 10px, use a justification for 300px or about 65 characters per line.

4. Good rules of composition you shall apply

The automatic justification of a text can generate some composition aberrations. Unequal spaces between words, rhythm problems, unbalanced typographic color… blegh!
Screen Shot 2015 02 20 at 5.59.39 PM 730x525 The 10 commandments of typography
To avoid a mess, you’ll have to adjust some settings to get a better visuals. Justification is about the letters distribution on the lines. You can change the space between words and between letters for easy reading.
Everyone has a preference on what composition looks best, but ideally you want a good amount of white space to relax the eyes. Line breaks are also essential for a good composition as long as they don’t leave too big of a gap. Lastly, watch out for widows and orphans… at least on your computer monitor.

5. Of fake friends you shall beware

Screen Shot 2015 02 20 at 6.03.38 PM 730x202 The 10 commandments of typography
The apostrophe should not be confused with the prime symbol (minute).
The double quote mark should not be confused with the double prime (second).
The ellipsis is not the same as “dot dot dot”!
Check your computer’s keyboard shortcuts to find the easiest way to type them out. Some of these symbols may look the same, but in design, the difference is crucial.

6. Accent marks on uppercases you shall put

Screen Shot 2015 02 20 at 6.05.43 PM 730x381 The 10 commandments of typography
For international languages that contain accent marks, remember to retain them for uppercase letterings. Going without accent marks on uppercase letters is like… well, no accent marks on lowercases. We don’t need a metaphor, we need comprehension!

7. Abbreviations you shall learn

Abbreviation can be practical when it comes to condensing space in graphic designs. Here is a table that shows some English and French practical abbreviations. There are, of course, many others – but these are the ones we personally use often. It helps to stick these abbreviations in place of typing the full world when space is limited.
Screen Shot 2015 02 20 at 6.07.45 PM 730x616 The 10 commandments of typography
And MM. is not for Mickey Mouse but for Messieurs (and so M. for Monsieur).

8. Spaces you shall respect

In French, there is a thin space (espace fine insécable) before every punctuation composed of two exclamation marks (i.e., ?!)
In English, there are no spaces before punctuation. Easy!
Screen Shot 2015 02 20 at 6.09.58 PM 730x348 The 10 commandments of typography

9. Fonts you shall respect

Fonts are like baby animals, rare pearls and protected natural species – you must take care of them and show some r-e-s-p-e-c-t. There are people who spend their days (and often their nights, weekends, family holidays…) to think, draw and make fonts. Good fonts come at a cost because of the valuable time it took to create them.
Fonts are precious, but not in a Gollum way.

10. These fonts you shall never use!

Screen Shot 2015 02 20 at 6.13.49 PM 730x773 The 10 commandments of typography
Just a friendly suggestion..thanks..
source: http://thenextweb.com/dd/2015/02/22/10-commandments-typography

Sunday, February 22, 2015

YouTube Is Launching A Kid-Friendly Video App

credit/by 


YouTube will launch a new, child-friendly version of its service for mobile devices on Monday. USA Today broke details of the news, which we’ve confirmed with sources at the company.
The app will initially be available for Android and in the U.S. only, but the move is telling of the Google-owned company’s ambition to develop its service beyond just being the world’s largest repository of online videos. It already has its ‘Music Key’ service, and an ad-free version is reportedly on its way also.
The kids app will surface content suitable for youngsters, as you’d expect, and TechCrunch understands that it will include a number of parental control features, such as a limiter that restricts the time of each session, and a sound toggle for muting and unmuting videos. The app will ship with content from a range of partners from the entertainment industry, including Jim Henson TV, DreamWorks, National Geographic, and a range of high-profile YouTubers.
In addition to providing access to suitable content, the app will offer curated options to help find videos easily. Dedicated channels and playlists that span TV shows, learning experiences, exploration and music will be available.
youtube for kids app
This app has been a long time coming. (The Information first revealed YouTube’s plans back in March 2014.)
 Vine’s recently launched kids app — which shows child-friendly clips from the short video service — and YouTube’s kids app seems likely to be a hit, particularly among parents.
source: http://techcrunch.com/2015/02/19/youtube-kids/?ncid=rss

Saturday, February 21, 2015

Floyd Mayweather Jr. and Manny Pacquiao Showdown Is Set-Sports of Boxing

credit/By 
Floyd Mayweather Jr. and Manny Pacquiao, widely considered two of the greatest boxers of their generation, have agreed to terms for a bout on May 2 at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas.
The deal was completed after months of speculation, which began in earnest after Pacquiao’s victory against Chris Algieri on Nov. 22. The fighters met at halftime of a Miami Heat basketball game on Jan. 27, fueling interest in the bout.
The fight will be broadcast as part of a joint venture between Showtime Sports and HBO Sports, the exclusive rights holders of Mayweather and Pacquiao. It will be distributed on pay-per-view at a price that is yet to be determined.
Showtime and HBO partnered on a broadcast of this scope once before, for the 2002 heavyweight championship match between Lennox Lewis and Mike Tyson. The framework of that deal was used as a starting point, and many of the final details are expected to be similar. Jim Lampley of HBO and Bobby Czyz, then of Showtime, served as the lead commentators for Lewis-Tyson. Specific details of the production for Mayweather-Pacquiao, including who the announcers will be, are not yet available.
The fight is expected to be, by far, the highest-grossing fight in boxing history. Multiple reports estimate that there would be a 60/40 split in Mayweather's favor.
Fans have long clamored for a meeting between the welterweight superstars while both are still near their prime. Mayweather, who will turn 38 next Tuesday, is 47-0, with 26 knockouts, and Pacquiao, 36, is 57-5-2, with 38 knockouts.
Early in the negotiations, representatives for other venues lobbied to stage the match. One such venue was Cowboys Stadium in Arlington, Tex., which could have accommodated a crowd of more than 100,000. But the MGM Grand has served as something of a home to Mayweather and Pacquiao in recent years, and it quickly became clear that the 16,800-seat arena was the only serious contender to land the fight.
Mayweather’s World Boxing Association and World Boxing Council championships are expected to be at stake in the unification bout, along with Pacquiao’s World Boxing Organization belt. Of more importance, though, is the unofficial title of this era’s greatest pound-for-pound fighter, which many will award to the bout’s winner.
source:http://www.nytimes.com/2015/02/21/sports/floyd-mayweather-manny-pacquiao-showdown-is-set.html?ref=sports&smid%3D=tw-nytsports&_r=0
http://www.nytimes.com/




5 Weird Chocolate Dishes Found In Manila Restaurants That Aren’t Desserts

By EJ dela Vega | looloo iNSIGHTS 

It’s true. Even the mention of the word chocolate conjures up images of chocolate lava cakes, chocolate truffles, chocolate sundaes, chocolate milkshakes, chocolate rainbows and cocoa butterflies… but I digress.
Chocolate in Manila
When we think of chocolate, it’s almost always within the context of dessert. We’re used to chocolate being a meal-ender, seldom as being part of the meal itself. Chocolate’s intrinsic sweetness has charmed many Filipinos into thinking it doesn’t belong in a main course or as appetizers. Many Filipinos, but not all.
A few establishments in Manila have taken the road less traveled by offering more creative interpretations of cocoa, and we hunted them down for you.

“Once You Go Black, You Never Go Back” – Gayuma ni Maria

Considering that a chocolate entrée is already quite foreign to most, this one’s actually one of Gayuma ni Maria’s bestsellers. It’s a chocolate-crusted cream dory with chocolate sauce. “You’ll never want to eat fish any other way” they say.
Their choice of fish actually makes pretty good sense. Dory’s often used as a “blank canvas” of sorts, which means it’d make a good base for the chocolate flavor. Reviews are hit or miss on this one, and it looks like it’s all about the cook on the fish. When ordering, you might want to remind them not to overcook it!

Rogue Chocolate Stout – Craft Pub & Grill

Rogue-Stout-Craft-Pub-Grill
Photo from ttahko.net
Technically, it’s not a dish, but a drink. Yep, chocolate beer. Who says chocolate drinks are just for kids, anyway?
Definitely give this one a try… if you can catch it in stock. The chocolate ale scored an impressive score of 93 on beeradvocate.com (with 3,435 ratings) and a whopping 99 on ratebeer.com (with 2,276 ratings!) for taste and style. Just imagine the kind of bittersweet buzz a few bottles of this ought to give you!

Chocolate Chicharon – Gino’s Brick Oven Pizza

Gino's-Brick-Oven-Pizza
If there was ever an oddball combination of flavors that we never thought we’d see, it’s this. As ifchicharon (pork rinds) wasn’t deadly enough, Gino’s takes the guilty pleasure to a whole new level by dipping them in chocolate. We’ve seen sweet and salty before (look at how popular salted caramel is these days!), but not like this.
Does it work? Maybe! Is it worth a try (and the corresponding caloric intake) just to say that you have? Definitely.
At one point (subject to availability), they also served chocolate-covered bacon and “salami.” Sometimes we forget this is a pizza place!

Chocolate Chicken Wings – Borough

Borough’s chocolate chicken wings are baked, not fried. Ha! As if they’d make the diet-conscious feel better about eating chicken wings and chocolate. I see what you did there, Borough!
These ain’t your typical buffalo-style wings, that’s for sure. They’re coated in cocoa and cinnamon, served with cilantro sour cream, and a little bit of weird on the side. Some people love it, some don’t, and some are just left scratching their heads.

Xocolat Chicken Pasta – Xocolat

Xocolat-Chicken-Pasta
Red sauce, white sauce, and green sauce we’ve seen, but chocolate brown??
Chocolate is clearly not something we see mixed with pasta very often, but Xocolat seems to have pulled it off pretty well. Aside from having the chicken rubbed in cacao before cooking, the entire dish is topped with a generous amount of chocolate shavings.
The dish in particular has gotten a number of pretty good reviews from looloo users, some even suggesting adding a bit of hot sauce and parmesan cheese for an added kick!
Of the 5, which of them would you want to sink your sweet tooth into first? Let us know in the comments section!
yahoo.com

source:https://ph.she.yahoo.com/5-weird-chocolate-dishes-found-050904588.html

Monday, February 16, 2015

Nutella billionaire Ferrero dies

SAD DAY FOR CHOCOLATE. The founder of the Nutella empire and Italy's richest man, Michele Ferrero dies on February 14, 2015. File photo by EPA
The man who founded the Nutella spread, Ferrero Rocher and other chocolates dies on Valentine's Day
SAD DAY FOR CHOCOLATE. The founder of the Nutella empire and Italy's richest man, Michele Ferrero dies on February 14, 2015. File photo by EPA
ROME, Italy – Billionaire Michele Ferrero, who became Italy's richest man with a confectionary empire built on his popular Nutella spread, has died at the age of 89.
Ferrero had been battling illness for several months. He died in Monte Carlo on Saturday, February 14.
"I have learnt with emotion of the passing of Michele Ferrero, a true entrepeneur, known and loved in Italy and abroad," Italian President Sergio Mattarella said in a statement.
"Ferrero was a leading light in Italian business for many years, always managing to stay on trend thanks to his innovative products and his tenacious and cautious work. Italy remembers him with gratitude."
It was Ferrero's father, a small-time pastry maker named Pietro Ferrero, who laid the groundwork for the Nutella recipe.
He famously added hazelnut to the mix to save money on cocoa, which was in short supply after World War II.
But it was Michele Ferrero who turned the paste into the Nutella now known the world over.
The first pot of the addictive mix – whose name is a combination of the English word "nut" and "ella", the Latin suffix for sweet – was made in Alba in northwestern Italy in April 1964.
Ferrero now produces around 365,000 tonnes of Nutella every year in 11 factories around the world. The biggest market is Germany, followed by France and Italy.
The Ferrero group also makes Ferrero Rocher, Mon Cheri and Kinder chocolates and employs more than 22,000 people across the world.
The group had an annual turnover of more than 8 billion euros ($9 billion) in the year to August 2014.
Ferrero and his family are estimated by Forbes to hold Italy's biggest fortune at $23.4 billion, making him the 30th richest man in the world.
Ferrero's son Giovanni became chief executive of the Ferrero group after his older brother Pietro died of a suspected heart attack while cycling in South Africa in 2011.
The company's website carried a picture of Ferrero alongside the words "We are proud of you. Thank you Michele."
The AG news agency reported that a chapel would be built in his honor in Alba. – 
source: http://www.rappler.com/world/regions/europe/84031-nutella-michele-ferrero-death?utm_content=buffer1a5d6&utm_medium=social&utm_source=facebook.com&utm_campaign=buffer

Sunday, February 8, 2015