Heftier rollback in diesel, kerosene expected next week

BY MYRNA M. VELASCO

Nov 4, 2023 09:30 AM

  

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AT A GLANCE

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Happy driving days will continue for Filipino consumers next week as oil prices will continue to track downtrend at the domestic pumps, according to the calculation of the oil companies.

Based on the estimates of the industry players, the price of diesel in particular will have a heftier rollback of P1.00 to P1.40 per liter; while gasoline product prices will be trimmed at relatively leaner P0.40 to P0.80 per liter.

For kerosene, which is generally used as a base for aviation fuel and also a key commodity for households and key industries, its price reduction will be P0.80 to P1.20 per liter.

The oil firms will implement their price adjustments on Tuesday (November 7) based on cost swings of the Mean of Platts Singapore (MOPS) index, with integrated impact of foreign exchange rate (forex) fluctuations, market premium as well as biofuel costs.

So far, the MOPS-calculated price reduction across products had been P1.236 per liter for diesel; P1.032 per liter for kerosene; and P0.0643 per liter for gasoline; but the final adjustments will depend largely on the sway of competitive market forces.

Prior to this round of adjustment, a monitoring report of the Department of Energy (DOE) has shown that prices since the start of the year still logged net increases of P14.20 per liter for gasoline; P10.45 per liter for diesel; and P5.04 per liter for kerosene.

As indicated by global experts, the prices of traded fuel commodities were generally on downswing last week as fuel inventories had been on escalation – especially in the United States, signaling a scenario then that the market is well supplied with oil.

Nevertheless, there had been factors which emerged as of end-week trading that affected market sentiments; and that pulled back international benchmark Brent crude prices to the level of $87 per barrel from $84-$85 per barrel most trading days last week.

Market watchers noted that the decision of the US Federal Reserve and Bank of England not to hike interest rates had generally lifted prices by Friday (November 3) trading.

Onward, there are no clear direction yet how oil prices will be taking their stride next week and there are no definitive trend manifesting if the buoyed prices will carry on or if price crash will reign in markets again next week.

As an oil import-dependent country, price rollbacks will always be good news to Filipino consumers because that will take the edge off on household budgets; and will likewise ease inflationary pressures on the economy.
 

Is there a future without the forests?

Security Bank plants 2,000 trees at La Mesa Watershed as part of five-year reforestation commitment

BY MANILA BULLETIN

Nov 3, 2023 07:30 PM

  

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AT A GLANCE

• Notably, 94 percent of the 2,000 malapapaya and lago seedlings planted by SBFI last year survived, surpassing the National Greening Program base rate of 85 percent as validated by the Department of Environment and Natural Resources

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PLANTING THE FUTURE Security Bank employees head to the planting site at La Mesa Watershed hand in hand with ABS-CBN Foundation’s Bantay Kalikasan Program

Security Bank Foundation, Inc. (SBFI), along with 200 dedicated volunteers from the bank, marked the second year of its 10,000-tree, five-year reforestation commitment at La Mesa Watershed. Volunteers trekked three hours to plant 2,000 sandalwood and white lauan seedlings, in partnership with ABS-CBN Foundation’s Bantay Kalikasan Program in its mission to protect the largest rainforest and water source of Metro Manila.

 

Notably, 94 percent of the 2,000 malapapaya and lago seedlings planted by SBFI last year survived, surpassing the National Greening Program base rate of 85 percent as validated by the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR). A quarter of the participants that attended the second year of the tree planting activity were also former participants, displaying a commitment to sustainability as they reused the planting gear kept from last year.  

 

Security Bank’s five-year pledge to reforest La Mesa Watershed encompasses 45 percent of ABS-CBN’s targeted reforestation efforts. Through this initiative, Security Bank helps to curb carbon emissions, prevent floods during rainy seasons, maintain vital water levels during summers, and offer sanctuary to the native wildlife.

 

“Security Bank’s steadfast commitment to this reforestation project plays a pivotal role in advancing ABS-CBN Foundation’s critical mission of maintaining Metro Manila’s water reservoir within safe levels, which is crucial for supporting the day-to-day water consumption of the region,” said Sarah Agcaoili, operations manager of ABS-CBN Foundation. 

 

“We want this activity to serve as a platform for channeling the passion and energy for community development of our employees. We want them to feel and take pride in knowing that they’ve helped reforest the La Mesa Watershed, something they’ll be proud to tell their children or the next generation,” said Melissa Aquino, SBFI trustee and corporate secretary. 

 

SBFI’s projects are made with the bright future of the next generation in mind. Beyond its five-year tree planting pledge, it also champions education. To date, SBFI has donated 715 classrooms to public schools, granted more than 2,000 scholarships, and trained more than 36,000 teachers and principals. www.securitybank.com

LOOK: Miss Universe Philippines Michelle Dee arrives in El Salvador

BY ROBERT REQUINTINA

Nov 4, 2023 01:32 PM 

AT A GLANCE

• Photos of her arrival in El Salvador were uploaded on the Facebook account of Miss Universe Philippines.

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Michelle Dee (Facebook)

Miss Universe Philippines Michelle Dee has arrived safely in El Salvador for the 72nd Miss Universe Competition.

Photos of her arrival in El Salvador were uploaded on the Facebook account of Miss Universe Philippines. The caption read: "Miss Universe Philippines Michelle Marquez Dee wears tailored denim by @_renzreyes as styled by @teamryujishiomitsu, with accessories from @tiffanyandco, bag from Fendi, and shoes from Saint Laurent, for her trip to El Salvador. A look that's fit for a modern queen!"

Michelle, 28, went to Los Angeles, California, before she headed for El Salvador.

Eighty-six candidates will vie for the title of 2023 Miss Universe in El Salvador on Nov. 18 (Nov. 19, Manila time).

Why did the Germans introduce the English language?

 

Brian Collins

PhD in linguistics at U of Queensland (2023)

9,163 followers

539 following

I consider myself to be a linguist and a Slavicist. I am interested in dialects and mutual intelligibility, and I am also a fairly big science fiction fan.

The idea that English is a type of German is one of the biggest misconceptions the general public has about historical linguistics.

English is as much a type of German as German is a type of English. They both share a common ancestor. At the time English evolved from Proto-Germanic, there was no ‘German’ ethnic identity, and speakers of Old High German did not call their language ‘Diutisk’ (the word that evolved into Deutsch). In Old High German, that word meant ‘popular/of the people.’

The German and Germanic label was invented by the Romans as a blanket term to describe the people of Germania (which was not a real country, but a region Romans labelled outside of their borders). After linguists discovered genetic relationships between languages, they called the group of languages comprising English, Scots, Yiddish, High German, Dutch, Danish, Faroese, Icelandic, Elfdalian, Gutnish, Swedish, Nynorsk, Wymysorys, Norwegian Bokmål to name a few, ‘Germanic.’

This does not mean these languages all evolved from German. They could have called them ‘Barbarian’ or ‘Middle European.’ Just because English is a Germanic language, and the word Germanic comes from ‘German,’ does not mean 1. Germanic languages all evolved from German, 2. German is the prototypical Germanic language that is the most Germanic out of them all, or 3. German is the central language of the family and all the others are offshoots.

No one assumes Polish evolved from Russian, or French evolved from Italian. This is because, by sheer coincidence, linguists named the group of languages comprising Polish, Czech, Slovak, Kashubian, Russian, Lemko, Belarussian, Ukrainian, Serbo-croatian, Slovenian, Upper Sorbian, Lower Sorbian, and others ‘Slavic.’ Likewise, they named the group comprising French, Italian, Catalan, Spanish, Portuguese, etc ‘Romance.’

Oh and Linguists do also call them Italic but luckily, the general public doesn’t ever use the word ‘Italic’ so no one gets confused thinking French, Spanish, Catalan, and others all evolved from Italian like they do with Germanic languages.

If I had my way, we’d call Germanic languages ‘Middle European’ or something, that way no one would be confused thinking it is a family comprised of languages that evolved from High German. A subset of the family did evolve from Old and Middle High German, but English didn’t.

In reality, the relationship between English and German is more like this:

Just like humans did not evolve from Chimpanzees, and the Chimpanzees did not evolve from humans, German and English did not evolve from each other.

No one consciously invented or introduced English one day. It evolved when settlers from what is now Germany, the Netherlands, and Denmark landed on an island mostly populated by Celts. Slowly their speech changed from the mainland as children acquired it from a speech community unique to England.

Of course, it still would have evolved into a very different language from modern German had it remained in mainland Europe. Modern Frisian is very different from modern German.

What is the most German word you know?

 

Luise

There is absolutely no doubt about it.

It can only be “Kinderfleischwursttreppe”, that means "children's meat sausage stairs".

Because it is deeply rooted in our culture.

You'll see that in a moment, even if you're scratching your head right now.

I don't know if you went to the butcher with your mother.

I did that every Saturday.

And I liked what the butcher did when he saw me.

He would take a slice of meat sausage( sometimes called mortadella, even though it has nothing to do with Italian mortadella) , rolled it up and handed it to me somehow, usually through my mother's detour.

Because the counter was always so high that it reached even my mother up to chest.

Unreachable for me.

The butcher and I, that was the story of the two royal children who could not come to each other because of the adverse external circumstances.

And this is where the "children's meat sausage staircase" comes into play.

Because children's hands and generous butchers, someone had to solve the problem.

Some supermarkets have put them up now, and it's a nasty thing that people are only now coming up with it.

The child climbs up and can receive his own slice of sausage.

In marketing, you'd call that early customer loyalty.

But we, the people, just call it the "Kinderfleischwursttreppe" .

Some strangers say, this it is the reason why they do not learn German.

Cultural philistines, I just say.

Bon appetit!

How should John Kennedy have said "I am a Berliner" ...

 

Angela Stockton

native Louisvillian

15,582 followers

26 following

 ... in a correct way avoiding to be misunderstood or "Ich bin ein Berliner", as he said, is okay even so? 

Oh no, not that stupid “I am a jelly donut” urban legend again.

Before John F. Kennedy delivered his speech, the final draft was read by Willy Brandt, mayor of West Berlin and future chancellor of West Germany. Brandt was as fluent in English as he was in German, and Kennedy was his guest and leader of West Germany’s most powerful NATO ally. There was no way he would have allowed Kennedy to embarrass himself by using the wrong metaphor in a speech.

The Berlin Wall had been erected shortly before Kennedy visited West Berlin, an island of democracy inside East Germany, which is why Stalin tried to force the United States, France and Britain to move out and leave Berlin entirely Soviet-controlled. (Denied use of railroads and the Autobahn, the United States retaliated with the Berlin Airlift, which continued for more than a year before Stalin finally gave up.)

The Wall made West Berliners feel even more threatened and isolated than they had been since the Airlift years. From the context of Kennedy’s speech, it was perfectly clear to the West Berliners that when he said “Ich bin ein Berliner,” he was saying that all free people of the world identified with them.