2013 BEST WOMEN TENNIS PLAYERS IN THE WORLD

The 8 best women tennis players (singles and doubles) in the world gathered to compete for the 2013 TEB BNP Paribas WTA Championship which kicked of today in the Turkish capital, Istanbul.

The first year-ending WTA championship tournament was held in Houston, Texas in 1971 and was won by Billie Jean King of the U.S., Martina Navratilova won the tournament 8 times, more than any other woman tennis player. Navratilova, initially representing Czechoslovakia, played under the flag of the United States in later tournaments.

Learning Curve Theory - An Effective Management Tool

The Learning Curve

Many definitions have been given to describe the learning curve theory. Although most, if not all delineations are closely similar, their interpretations would provide clearly the same essence on the subject. 

A learning curve can be defined as a graphical representation of the changing rate of learning of an average person for a given work activity, whether physical or mental. Typically, the increase in retention of information is sharpest after the initial efforts, and then gradually evens out, meaning that less and less new information is retained after each repetition of the process. To put it simply, a learning curve is a graphical representation of the increase of learning (vertical axis) with experience (horizontal axis). 

See graph below:

The learning curve can also represent at a glance the initial complexity of learning a certain work activity and, to an extent, how much there is to learn after initial familiarity.

The UAAP HOOP WARS

Courtesy of humblebola.com

There is no doubt that the 76th UAAP basketball championship contested by the University of Santo Tomas UST and De La Salle University (DLSU) is one for the sports history books. The 3-game series between the DLSU Green Archers and the UST Growling Tigers displayed the best of Philippine collegiate basketball.

Although I have not personally watched the games being thousand miles away from the MOA Arena, the screaming sports headlines in the Philippine national dailies told it all. With UST winning the first game and DLSU fighting back in the second game, with the third and deciding game was one that was expectedly entertaining and explosive and considered to be  “anybody’s ballgame”. 

After a classic Game 3, only one team remained “standing” though.  After trailing by 15 points in the mid-third quarter of the highly emotional and spectacular game, the DLSU Green Archers captured the much coveted UAAP men’s basketball with a score of 71-69, before more than 23,000 basketball fanatics at the MOA Arena. What was theatrical was the fact that DLSU won the blockbuster final game by only 2 points and this after an overtime play after the regulation period with both teams having identical scores. 

Are Regrets Quantifiable?

Courtesy of en.hcht.org

Before I deal with the substance of the subject, it would be appropriate to have a common understanding of the term regret through its definition. As defined by Wikipedia, “regret is a negative conscious and emotional reaction to personal past acts and behaviors. Regret is often expressed by the term "sorry." Regret is often a feeling of sadness, shame, embarrassment, depression, annoyance, or guilt, after one acts in a manner and later wishes not to have done so.

Wikipedia further explains that “regret is distinct from guilt, which is a deeply emotional form of regret; one which may be difficult to comprehend in an objective or conceptual way. It is also distinct from remorse, which is a more direct and emotional form of regret over a past action that is considered by society to be hurtful, shameful, or violent. Unlike regret, it includes a strong element of desire for apology to others rather than an internal reflection on one's actions, and may be expressed (sincerely or not) in order to reduce the punishment one receives.”

“Quo Vadis” Philippines ? - A Frightful Forethought Of The Future

As I finished reading Ricardo Saludo’s  column “The Mounting Pile of Aquinomalies” in the Manila Times issue of  Oct. 3, 2013, I was overwhelmed with ambivalent reactions, that of anxiety and exasperation. 

  

In the initial part of his article Mr Saludo stated; “Believe it or not, the Aquino administration has surpassed its predecessor in corruption. Between pork barrel trebling under President Benigno Aquino III to about P25 billion a year, his unaudited, unlegislated and unprecedented releases under the so-called Disbursement Acceleration Program (DAP, P137 billion as of October 1), and smuggling hitting nearly $20 billion or some P860 billion a year, plus undiminished jueteng, these ‘Aquinomalies’ may already swell to over P200 billion a year.”

A Dysfunctional Philippine Government

For the past few weeks, the incessant and appalling anomalies in the Philippine Legislature has reached its apex after the bombshell expose’ of the Priority Development Assistance Fund (PDAF) scam popularly known as the “pork barrel” fund. By now, the spiraling effect of the far-reaching and irreparable glitches of the people’s money rip-off had created a dysfunctional Philippine government.