So Michelle and I spent the whole morning doing government transactions. She with LTO for her student permit and I with NBI for my clearance. It never ceases to amaze me how much time government transactions waste. And to think we we’re getting useless things. Student permit? Is there any government involvement there? Maybe parts of the proceeds go to transportation infrastructure repair and maintenance. Part because for sure the rest is diverted to dubious uses (like LTO employee bonuses) or even outright graft. NBI clearance? Maybe it is useful but here‘s what I think about the way it is right now. Here’s a thought: To improve the GDP, speed up necessary(?) government transactions and get rid of the unnecessary ones. But then that would mean lesser opportunities for making money.
Month: October 2008
So the company suddenly decided to ask me for an NBI clearance. No sweat, right? NOT! The way things work is that you apply for a clearance, they get your personal details, fingerprint you, then run you through their database, and if your name matches a known person with a “derogatory record” you get a “hit” and getting a clearance is suddenly so much less straightforward.
Wait a minute, name match? Yup, you got that right! If your name say matches that of a known criminal, then your clearance gets delayed from quite some time as they check you further. This can vary from a few days to a month or two. You can just imagine the grief of people with pretty common names.
But why name? Don’t they have a more unique way of identifying people? Like maybe fingerprints?!? I mean that’s why they fingerprint you, right? If there’s a name match, you would think the next thing they’d do is compare fingerprints, right? But apparently that’s still not the case because why would they already call a “hit” on just a name match? Why do they still bother interviewing you and having you sign a written and notarized denial?
Fifteen(!) years ago, I worked with DOST and NBI at preliminary efforts towards an automated fingerprint identification system (AFIS). Guess nothing has changed since. Sadness.
And then I saw the plain and simple all-black Sennheiser MX-160 hanging on the store shelf for P550. Not bad for a respected audio brand. I bought it without even testing.
And I wasn’t disappointed. Remember, this is Sennheiser’s entry-level earphone so you can’t possibly expect mind-blowing bass and spine-tingling clarity like those high-end in-ear earphones. But audio quality is quite obviously better than my Nokia earphones. Sound is reasonably crisp, clear, and very audible. Definitely a good deal.