Shaun T. Dy's Business & Economics Perspective Blog

It's annoying that people live with a "sentimental value" in mind. There are a lot of things that some people probably grew up with. As a 1990s child, I grew up on this and that. Some people may remember the good old days with Adobe Photoshop. I remember seeing people use MS Paint, telling them to try Photoshop and teach some basics, and I enjoyed using the program. However, Adobe's monthly subscription model is costly . Why should I pay for PHP 3,000+ for nostalgia? The same can go for tenants. Just because a tenant has been there for at least a decade, doesn't mean that these tenants should be coddled for "sentimental reasons". Why should tenants who have been there for more than ten years, be allowed to stay there, if they're toxic? If I could ditch Adobe after many years, the same would be true for toxic tenants . It's crazy when erring tenants say, "But come on, I've rented your place for more than 10 years." Is it me or are to...

Another practical way to teach Chinese (as a second language) is to connect to real-life situations. Did I already mention one reason why I hated to study Chinese, was that teachers were forced to simply focus on rote memorization more than understanding (read here )? Anyway, I found this photo on Facebook. These are some simple words that all connect to scam. This would make a good lesson for standard Chinese (华语) to learn words that are connected to scam. It would be ideal to do some vocabulary, fill in the blanks, and do a conversational lesson. One example of a conversational lesson (which was called as bon toi in Hokkien) would be like this: Question: What is a phone scam?  Translation: "什么是电话诈骗?" (Pinyin: "Shénme shì diànhuà zhàpiàn?") Answer: A phone scam is where you are offered something too good to be true by a phone call. Translation: "电话诈骗是指有人通过电话向你提供一些好得令人难以置信的东西." (Pinyin: Diànhuà zhàpiàn shì zhǐ yǒurén tōngguò diànhuà xiàng nǐ tígōng yīxiē h...

I haven't posted a Chinese language lesson for some time. As I said, I didn't like Chinese lessons because of the focus on too much memorization  (read here ). I found this photo on Facebook. One of the biggest problems of Chinese education back in my day was that you had to learn Amoy before learning Mandarin. The process itself is a red tape. Why not learn Mandarin being introduced in the language you're most comfortable with? For example, why not teach Mandarin to Filipinos using their language or in English?  HSK Online For starters, here are some measurement units for Chinese mathematics. One problem with Chinese mathematics was that we had to learn Chinese first, before learning it. I'm talking about introducing Chinese to people who have zero background. It would be good to introduce these measurements first before teaching them how to solve problems.  What I find strange is that the Chinese word for meter also means... rice? Yes, funny but true. However, using G...

I found this meme on Facebook. Fortunately, there's already an attribution on the picture. In my case, I prefer to say, "Continuous improvement is better than expecting sudden perfection." It's because perfectionism is lethal, and we're all but human beings. As the midterm elections come in, there are still people who may either be (1) reminiscing that "perfect leader" (ex. Ferdinand E. Marcos Sr., Benigno Simeon C. Aquino III, Rodrigo Roa Duterte, etc.) or (2) still expecting the perfect leader.  It's sad some people still believe in the old lie repeated all over again, "It's not the system that's the problem. It's the people that's the problem." They still wait for this "grand glorious leader". That's why I often joke on Facebook saying, "Why don't you create this perfect leader so I too may follow him to victory!" Of course, there's no perfect leader, and trying to genetically engineer that...

Why did I drop Adobe? It's because the subscription rate is rather ridiculous (read here ). That's why I'd recommend shifting to Affinity Photo for a one-time purchase (that's probably until a super new version comes out). I looked into this video, thinking about how Adobe was once my get-go. I remember recommending Adobe Photoshop to people--whenever I saw people using Microsoft Paint. Adobe Photoshop was the get-go. I often called it "MS Paint but much better."  Eventually, I Googled for "Adobe Photoshop substitutes" and discovered Affinity Photo . True, Affinity Photo can't do animated GIFs . However, one could still draw several frames and get some other program, or an online service to create animated GIFs. I tried Affinity Photo and got convinced that buying it at USD 25.30 (price may increase any time soon). Affinity Photo was learning all over again. However, it was worth relearning since I'm not a professional graphic artist. I just ...

I refuse to comment too much on former president Atty. Rodrigo R. Duterte's arrest. It's better to let due process take place. However, I would like to address the contradiction. Many times, I hear people think that 100% FDI equals violation of sovereignty. People say that I'm an idiot for going against the Filipino First Policy, that I'm selling the Philippines to (insert foreigner), or they act like as if China is the only source of FDI. That's why I wrote a blog entry that open FDI isn't equal to China . What's ironic is that people who say, "100% FDI means giving up sovereignty!" may also be supporting Duterte's arrest in the ICC. Instead of focusing on Duterte's arrest, I would like to think about the irony of practicing Filipino First Policy while wanting the Philippines to return to the International Criminal Court (ICC).  This is a meme I found over on Facebook. Whoever made this meme highlighted the supreme hypocrisy. One could tal...

  It's already bad enough that political expert Richard Heydarian. I'm amazed that Heydarian compared Mindanao's HDI development to Sub-Saharan Africa ?! Finding it on my Facebook feeds just made me think if he truly bothered to do any research. Source: Nestor Necesito I would like to share data from Facebook Netizen, Nestor Necesito :  Representing the west coast of Sub-Saharan Mindanao, I'm Nestor from Zamboanga City, Asia's Latin City and the Sardines Capital of the Philippines! Based on the available data, here's a comparison of the Human Development Index (HDI) for regions in Luzon and Mindanao, along with averages for Southern Europe and Sub-Saharan Africa. Philippine Regions by HDI: - Luzon:   - Top Regions:     1. National Capital Region (NCR):        - 2024: 0.851 (Very High)        - 2019: 0.859 (Very High)     2. Cordillera Administrative Region (CAR):        - 2024: 0.758 (High) ...