New Shoes

Hey everyone, check out my new shoes.


Yeeeaaahhh.

10 Philippine-related Wikipedia articles that surprisingly don't exist

You would think-- five years after Wikipedia exploded into our consciousness as the online encyclopedia that has everything-- that by this point there would simply be no more articles to create. Incorrect!

Here are 10 potential articles that somehow slipped through the cracks.

• Rizal Day. National holiday commemorating the anniversary of Jose Rizal's execution. Currently redirects to Jose Rizal.
  

• Expanded Value Added Tax. The centerpiece of President Arroyo's economic reform agenda, both extremely controversial yet praised for averting potential financial disaster.

• Quirino Grandstand. Site of presidential inaugurations, independence day parades, and a bunch of other epic events. Currently redirects to Rizal Park.

• Divisoria. The market district in Manila renowned for its assortment of cheap stuff. Currently redirects to Manila.

• Mr. Chips. Also Chippy, Piattos, Nips, Skyflakes, Cream-O, Dewberry, Cloud 9... The best we have is the long list of products at the Universal Robina article.

• Jollibee Foods Corporation. The current article for Jollibee is a hybrid that interchangably talks about the fast food chain and the company that also owns Chowking, Greenwhich, and Red Ribbon.

• Philippine Health Insurance Corporation. PhilHealth, the government-owned social health insurance provider. Or something like that.

• Social Security System. I hardly have a clue what SSS does, but I know it's important.

• Harry Stonehill. American businessman said to have most every Filipino politician in his pocket in the 1960s, whose name was synonymous with corruption. Read more.

• San Miguel Beer. The beer making company has a 95% market share in the Philippines, yet there's no article on the beer itself. Currently redirects to San Miguel Brewery.
  

Hello Makati

This sure is something, to be able to wake up in the morning and see my workplace from my bedroom window.

Proximity to Chowking

A map of the Philippines showing proximity to the nearest Chowking:

Source: www.chowking.com

There are 376 Chowking restaurants in the Philippines-- that's 1 per 798 sq km, or 1 per 244,635 Filipinos. Nearly half of Chowkings are in Metro Manila: With 175 restaurants, that's 1 per 3.64 sq km, or 1 per 66,019 Filipinos in Metro Manila.

I originally was going to do a map for Jollibee or McDonald's, but they have way more branches. Maybe some other time.

The new big C2 and economies of scale

At the grocery store a few days ago, rising off of the shelves like a torpedo, the new big bottle of C2 caught my eye.

I do not know if this is a new thing, or just new to me. This is 1.5 liters, the same size as a bottle of Pepsi or Coke. Before this the biggest bottle available was 1 liter, and that was only sporadically available.

It's about time we started getting our groceries in larger volumes to save on costs. I feel like such a chump when buying milk in those 1 L cartons, with the knowledge that America buys their milk by the gallon (3.78 L).

One of my favorite principles of economics, which people do not seem to take advantage of as much as they should, is economies of scale, the principle that per-unit cost decreases as output increases. In other words, it's cheaper on a per-unit basis to buy goods in bulk.

The 350 mL bottle of C2 costs P14.25, while 1.5 L bottle of C2 costs P32.25. That means that the 1.5 L bottle is about double the cost, but has more than four times the content.

Buying the 350 mL bottle is essentially paying double what you could be paying. So, yeah. Think about it.