Reproductive Health Bill

a thousand lies
a thousand truths
none of which matters
because i will die
before i even get a chance
to be born

2012-01-01T02:13:00+08:00

Note to future self: adjust quantity when forced to substitute cake flour when making bechamel sauce.

___
2012-01-01T02:16:00+08:00

Hobby Programmer Inventory

Not quite comprehensive, but reasonably covers most tools available to me.

xubuntu 10.04 (because it is LTS)
// only default games that I don't play anyway, would get distracted otherwise
// don't know how to use about half of the applications I have which is sad

firefox (on release update channel; currently 7.0.1)
 [addons]
  noscript
  // removed a few default whitelist entries; blacklist mode--allow as needed
  adblock plus
  // without any default lists; for blocking annoying elements which are not necessarily ads
  reminderfox
  // has quick timer function that I use for the "fluffy waiting time" after unplugging rice cooker
  tagmarks
  // stagnated development, but has proven remarkably useful ever since firefox 2!
  tagmarks modifier
  // limited myself to 8 icons for ease of use
 [plugins]
  shockwave flash 10.3 r181
  // which was a pain to find and learn to install

chromium
// recently installed from repository so it's not the latest build; haven't figured how to get opera yet

google
// other search engines are okay, but I don't want to load a whole portal when I'm just doing a quick search

facebook
// other social networks are mostly redundant; haven't tried google plus yet

[free webhosts]
 1 attached with free domain name
 1 failing to serve for some weeks now
 1 in beta, a cloud computing platform
 1 for hosting facebook apps
 1 abandoned personal wiki

[tutorials for web coding]
 w3schools
 howtocreate.co.uk
 stackoverflow

[general info]
 stackexchange
 // many questions, even more answers
 wikipedia
 // not always reliable, but entries normally has external references worth checking
 wiktionary
 // sometimes you need a dictionary instead of an encyclopedia
 howstuffworks
 // whenever I have enough patience to jump through hoops; the presentation is good though

Google App Engine looks promising, but I don't know go!, java, or python.  Not yet and honestly, I don't know if I ever will.  Need to relearn proper xhtml (dhtml and html5, too), javascript, and css.  Made the mistake of settling for quirksmode due to lack of research and laziness.  Should also learn more php.  After relearning javascript, should learn jQuery.

Senior Citizens' Discount and e-VAT

In the Philippines, where we try to love, honor, and respect our elders, senior citizens are given a 20% discount on most goods and services.
Expanded Value Added Tax is a 12% tax on consumers which simply means that aside from being taxed for earning money, we also get taxed for spending it.

Anyway, to avoid confusing easily disgruntled customers, it was eventually mandated that the actual selling price (ASP), the price with e-VAT, be displayed on shops instead of the base selling price (BSP), the price without e-VAT.  This makes more sense--less mental math for the budget conscious.

ASP = Base Selling Price plus e-VAT
ASP = ( 100% of BSP ) + ( 12% of BSP )
ASP = ( 100% + 12% ) of BSP

ASP = 112% of BSP

Prior to e-VAT exemption, senior citizens were only getting a net discount of 8%.

oldSCDP = Actual Selling Price minus senior citizens' discount

oldSCDP = ( 112% of BSP ) - ( 20% of BSP )
oldSCDP = ( 112% - 20% ) of BSP

oldSCDP = 92% of BSP

Fortunately, senior citizens are no longer burdened with e-VAT, allowing them to fully enjoy their 20% discount!

newSCDP = BSP minus senior citizen's discount

newSCDP = ( 100% of BSP ) - ( 20% of BSP )
newSCDP = ( 100% - 20% ) of BSP

newSCDP = 80% of BSP

However, the display price, the actual selling price (ASP), normally would already have e-VAT incorporated.

ASP = 1.12 x BSP
1.12 x BSP = ASP
BSP x 1.12 = ASP

BSP = ASP / 1.12

Note that multiplying the actual selling price by 0.88 is a "wrong cut", not a shortcut.  We divide the actual selling price by 1.12 to get the base selling price.

newSCDP = 0.8 x BSP
newSCDP = 0.8 x ( ASP / 1.12 )

newSCDP = 0.714285714 x ASP

That last line suddenly makes it seem overly complicated.  Not inherently obvious, but that's actually just a five over seven decimal fraction.

5 / 7 = 0.714285714

newSCDP = ASP x 5 / 7

To summarize, to get the senior citizen's discounted price from an e-VAT inclusive display price, multiply by five, then divide by seven.  That's four fewer keytaps on the calculator.