Pues resulta que hace unos días terminé de leer "Blink" de Malcom Gladwell (autor de "The tipping point") . En este caso, "this book is all about those moments when we know something without knowing why"Es ese momento en el que, al primer vistazo, sabemos algo sin saber por qué. Es ese momento en el que, un bombero decide salir pitando de una casa en llamas porque "sabe" que va a haber una explosión. Es ese momento en el que un productor decide apostar por un músico tras escuchar sólo 5 segundos de una canción. "It´s the ability of thinking without thinking"
El libro en cuestión no está mal. Pone varios ejemplos y, entre ellos, está la Kenna... Se trata de un músico con fuertes influencias de U2, David Bowie... La gente que se supone que sabe de esto "sabía" que se trataba de un BUEN MUSICO. Pero tras realizar algunos estudios de mercado resultó que sería difícil que las emisoras pusieran sus canciones porque carecía de audiencia. Su estilo estaba por delante de su tiempo pero, ¿quiere eso decir que no iba a funcionar comercialmente? La respuesta en el libro...
Para terminar, acabo de escuchar su primer disco -New Sacred Cow- y tengo que decir que me no está mal, no señor, no está mal.
Algunas veces uno se pregunta ¿pero qué carajo es esto?. Sinceramente, hemos llegado a un punto en el cual no se si tenemos lo que nos mercemos o es que somos tan conformistas que aceptamos todo tal cual nos viene.
Se me ocurren varios ejemplos y, estoy seguro, que a todos se nos ocurren varias situaciones en las que no nos podemos creer lo que vemos. Y lo simpático es que, frecuentemente, lo más que hacemos es quedarnos ojipláticos y boquiabiertos (en mi caso, además, se me levanta una ceja)
El otro día me encontré en un colegio a la hora de la salida. Resulta que un crío de 7-8 años tiró una bolsa de gusanitos al suelo en el patio y la profesora le dijo que la cogiera. El chaval no sólo se negó y la insultó ("que lo coja tu...") si no que además, en ese momento entró el padre de la "criatura" y amenazó a la profesora con darle "una ostia" porque su niño no tenía porque coger nada del suelo. La pobre profesora se quedó blanca y sin habla. En fin.. a partir de aquí, viendo el crío que puede hacer lo que quiera, ya veo yo lo que va a pasar en clase...
No deseo mal a nadie, pero vamos... dados los valores que le pueden enseñar a la criatura en cuestión, me extrañaría que no acabe maltratando a sus padres cuando crezca un poco.
It seems Coca-cola is gonna launch a new and healthy drink.
You know.... nowadays health rocks and everyday we hear hundred of advices about "don´t drink that", "don´t eat this"...
But the funny thing about this stuff is that Coca-cola is boasting that it will help people to slim. How can be that? Coca-cola´s scientist claims there are studies that probes that a "healthy person" can burn between 60 and 100 calories by consuming 3 cans of Enviga over 24 hours.
At this point I wonder, what does they mean when they say "healthy person"? What it is more, making a simple count, you need about 40 cans to burn a "fabada asturiana". And, I am not pretty sure... but I would say that it is beteer going for a walk as a punishment for gluttony than swallow about 20 litters of Enviga after a "fabada" -besides you could blow up as a globe-
By the way (and what is worse), Coca-cola admits that it tastes not too good!!!! So, let me think...... It slims, it tastes horrible.. ummmmh!
Una amiga mía acaba de abrir su propio blog.
She is from Toronto (they say "Torono").
And.. what can I say about her blog? I think that it is better if you visit it : 3for365.blogspot.com
To say the least, a great example of optimistic and positive thinking!!!
Convoco el concurso que todos estabais esperando. ¿Estilo OT? Que vaaaa, ese está muy visto y todos cantan igual. ¿Estilo Gran Hermano? Que vaaaaa, ese es muy malo y la mitad son gilipollas (y para la otra mitad no tengo adjetivos)
Este es más estilo adivina adivinanza. ¿El premio? Un bocadillo de chorizo con nocilla.
¿Qué es esto?
A) Una planta nuclear.
B) Las oficinas secretas de la TIA.
C) Algo de Hacienda
D) Piso de esos que dan gratis o casi...
TIC, TAC, TIC, TAC....
Y la respuesta es (o sorpresa) "piso de protección oficial"
Lo curioso del asunto es que:
- Está pegado -literal- a un hotel de 4 estrellas
- No pega ni a tiros con los pisos de alrededor
- Y la respuesta es si... en vez de persianas tiene contras de zinc (??!!??!)
Mi conclusión es que si consigues piso de protección o precio tasado en Madrid de alguna forma tiene que cantar... se tiene que notar que "eres pobre".
Pero claro, aquí ahora entra eso de "¿qué es ser pobre?" Analicemos. Cuando estaba buscando piso encontré un "chollo" de 40 millones (ático, 2 habitaciones, menos de 1 año...) La pega era que había que escriturar por 20 millones (osea, pagar 20 en negro) Después me enteré que era de precio tasado y que si el propietario lo vendía estaba obligado a vender - en teoría- por dicho precio. Vaya negocio.. no? Dada esta situación yo me pregunto ¿quién me vendía este piso realmente tenía "derecho" a él?
En este punto, acabo de acordarme de una HIJAPUTA -sorry, pero no hay otra forma de llamarla- que me encontré en la Universidad que era hija de un constructor que "legalmente" se había como emancipado (no me preguntéis cómo?). Bueno, el tema era que gracias a esto de la "emancipación" en la Universidad recibía una beca del estado de 500.000 pelas por año -lo cual implicaba que alquien con problemas económicos de los de verdad se estaba quedando sin beca por temas de presupuesto- Eso sí, estaría "emancipada" pero la MUYHIJAPUTA seguía recibiendo el dinero de papá, tenía un Rover descapotable y para que hablar del duplex que tenía en el centro.
Siguiendo con este razonamiento no me sorprenedería que alguien como esta HIJADEPUTALAGRANPUTA me hubiera ofrecido el "chollo" de los 40 millones.
Joer, mira que hoy me he calentado.... Pero qué carajo!!!. En parte para eso está el Blog.. no?
Pues resulta que hoy he ido al centro (a Sol y demás). No sería una novedad si no llega a ser porque:
1- He ido andando desde casa (había que bajar un poco la cena de Nochevieja)
2- Es la primera vez en 2 años que bajo al centro en Navidad.
Alguno podría decir que mi espíritu navideño brilla por su ausencia. Quizás sea cierto. Pero si "espíritu navideño" es igual a ir al centro de Madrid a sufrir la marabunta y empujones que hay en esta época.... Pues va a ser que no!!
Pero lo simpático es que a mediados de Noviembre los restaurantes del centro ya estaban llenos con "cenas de Navidad". Si es que no tenemos medida :-/
Que cosas.. hace tanto tiempo que no escribo nada que se me hace raro volver a entrar... y esta vez en Spanish!!!!! Si es que....
Varias cosas me vienen a la cabeza. Todas a la vez, claro.
En primer lugar, la respuesta es no. No me ha tocado ni el jodío reintegro ¿Será posible?!!!??? Bueno, a un primo mío de Avilés le ha tocado 4 milloncitos de pesetas y, sinceramente, poco más me habría alegrado si me hubiera tocado a mi. Le van a venir genial. Pero vamos, yo no he visto ná de ná. Por cierto, la duda me embarga... ¿Por qué los teclados numéricos del móvil y de las calculadoras son distintos? ¿Eh?
Y ya puestos. Resulta que me he bajado de Internet la serie Galáctica. Pero no, no es la serie aquella del año 78, si no una de ahora. No está mal. En EEUU ya van por la tercera temporada. Los Cylons siguen siendo malos malísimos y el capitán Adama está interpretado por.. ¿cómo se llamaba... ? Si hombre, el actor este que hizo el papel de "Teniente Castillo". Pues ese.
Por cieto, ¿qué habrá sido de Dirk Benedit? En Galáctica 78 era Apolo, aunque es más conocido por hacer de "Fenix" con el Equipo A. ¡Anda! Resulta que van a hacer una peli de esta serie. Si es que cuando falta imaginación....
Ohhhh!!!! Damn it! I´ve just remenbered I need to go to the ATM to withdraw money to pay the Lottery. Let me see. One from Tele2, 2 from BT, another one with some friends.. besides I have to buy lottery tikets for some of my parents´ friends -and you know that if you buy lottery for someone else you "have"to buy the same number. Just in case. Can you imagine the aftermath if you don´t buy and it tuns out to be "the REAL ONE"So, let me see..... One, two, three, four... Oh my god. I don´t want to keep counting. The amount of money is overwhelming. Don´t think about it, don´t think about it! But, your know what? The last straw is that, every time you go to a restaurant -or whateveryouwant- you are bound to find a (fucking) friend that says "I´m gonna buy that ticket". And, if this is the case, what else can you do besides buying the same ticket? At least, it only happens on Chirstmas!
What is about Asturias that so many people find it appealing?
Otro gallego iluminado independentista y luxista declarado tratando de anexionarse la mitad de Asturias y el Bierzo con su "Mapa comarcal" Por cierto, gran oferta, por 8 euros lo puedes comprar en la web. Lo dicho, en este pais no entran más idiotas.
I was laying on my bed thinking back when I was a child and, sudendly, I remembered "Cancion triste de Hill Street" (what a funny translation! Isn´t it?)
I am sure that you remenber this serie, and what is more, I am pretty sure that you remember this guy:
He had, how can I say?, an odd and uncanny behaviour... He used to grunt and bite criminals!!! His name is Bruce Weitz and, I don´t know if it is your case, but I don´t remember seeing him again in another film, soap opera or whateveryouwant. It seems he has been working in different TV shows, but not as a regular cast, like one episode in Anatomy Grey´s
By the way, when I was looking for information about this guy I found out Frank Furrillo is working in Break Prison. Next time I see it I´ll look for him.
If you smoke and you live in Madrid you are really lucky.
In a nutshell: Madrid allows to smoke in nearly all restaurants and pubs overhelming (o dicho de otra forma, pasándose por los huevos) the national law.
The point that makes the different in Madrid between national bill and "la idea de la Espe" is that from now on restaurants only need a simple screen to separete the smokers room.
So, as I wrote before, if you are a smoker you are really lucky. In fact it doesn´t matter if your partner/collage/friend/neighbour don´t smoke or if they want to eat their chop without breath smoke because there is not gointg to be any different between smokers room and non-smokers room.
And what is worrying is that another "comunidades" could carry out the same idea unbanning smoking in public places.
It is a shame. In fact the national law should be harder. I mean, you should not be allowed to smoke in a restaurant . And if you want to settle a smokers room is ok, but your restaurant should pass a kind of previous exam. Now, thanks to "la Espe", with a screem from IKEA is enough.
Some months ago the XVI International AIDS Conference was settled in Toronto. There was a huge number of different conferences about this issue, not only about medicine but about human behaviour as well.
In a nutshell, this could be the resume:
--> Scientists are pretty pesimistic about the vaccune. In fact, some of them say that it will not be developed until next century. But, how can it be possible? 100 years??!!?? For sure you know that a vaccine is just a weak version of a virus. But, how can you develope a vaccine that has to attack the Human Inmune System? That´s the issue! And even in the case this vaccine works, the AIDS virus tends to mutate frecuenly causing the vaccine to fight it becomes almost ineffective..
--> Scientists are working as well in prevention using the same drugs they use for people that have come down with this disease. The aim is to fight against spreading.
-->Finally, different studies have proved circuncised people are less likely to come down with AIDS. About 2/3 less likely. Mabe it´s because physical issues, maybe because their religion hence their behaviour, but noadays nobody knows nor is able to explain it.
"The fertility rate in the EU is 1.47—well below replacement. By 2010, deaths there are expected to start outnumbering births, so from that point immigration will account for more than all its growth. And that average hides countries that have seen an astonishing collapse in the willingness of their citizens to breed. The fertility rate in ISpain is 1.35, which, without immigration, would cause the number of Spaniards to halve in 42 years."
I know it´s hard to say but the point is that we will need more inmigrants, not fewer.
"Collectively we decided not to have children and, without knowing it, we decided to have immigrants,”
Stressful, isn´t it?
I guess this situation deserves a Mus between tennis and Brasil. Doesn´t it?
I´ve just started to read this book. It looks interesting. It´s a kind of "Lord of the Rings". You know.. magic, elfs, dragon, witches and so on.
The problem is the vocabulary. I have to consult about 5 words per sheet because, altough you can understand the context, sometimes the unknown word is key...
Here you have some examples:
scent, crimson, maroon, twig, tore, falter, nimbly, deer, glen, flaws, porridge, wary, ravine, tan, moist, slate, fetch, hulking, scoop up, farewell and so forth.
Tralaría, tralará.
Pito pito, gorgorio, dónde vas tú tan Bonito.
Pim, pam, pum... Fuera?
This weekend is gonna be hard. I have to make a decission..... I´ll make it and, in less than 5 minutes, I´ll change my mind and, in less than 5 minutes, I´ll change my mind again and, in less than 5 minutes, I´ll think back and make a decission totally diferent and, in less than 5 minutes........
I´m pretty sure somefriends of mine will say "You are stupid.. And if you don´t take that oppportunity I cut your head -to say the least-"
The funny thing is that at the end, I will make my decission 5 minutes before the dead line. As usual.
I´ve just arrived from home. And to be honest, I don´t feel like doing anything. Maybe it´s because is Tuesday, or maybe because I´ve just found out there is something in my live that makes me chew over deep thoughts and that I´m a kind of suspicious person because I tend to be reserved.
Trust in me. .. Everything it´s true. It´s in my horoscope.
Some friends of mime tell me I usally change my mind 3 or 4 times before I make a decision ... Other friends tell me it´s just on the other way... after making a decission I think back and change my mind.. They all say I´m a kind of capricious.
But you know what? IT´S FALSE. I´m not so capricious and it´s not because I´m a only child.
I´m Geminis and it makes me think over past, present and future issues once and once again. That´s all ;-)))
Some people said our future, our fate is written in the stars. ... But the funny thing is that if you look the sky and see the stars (if you can, in Madrid is almost imposible..) you only see the past. You only see things that happened thousands of years ago...
And all this thoughts lead me to Simon Wisenthalt´s old saying: "Wihtout memory, mankind is condemned to repeat the same mistakes"
The Economist is one of my favourite magazines. The point is it´s not just about economy, but about all kind of issues. In September you can find a special report on climate change. A really interesting report.. But, what´s the fuss about?
After reading this report, the conclusion is clear: there is a climate trend but nobody knows for sure what is happening.... No worries, diferent reports offer a wide range of predicted termperature rises, from 1.4º to 5.8º by the end of this century.
But there are some facts that nobody can deny: the relationship between CO2 concentration and the rise of temperatures, the relationship that links Hurricanes and sea-surface temperatures, the changes in the Ocean Stream, glaciars melting and, no doubt about it, the human hand.
Antarctica is one of the main data sources. Scientinsts can look for previous episodes of climate change in the ice core. And it´s a fact that the higher the CO2 concetration, the higher the temperature. Another fact is climate has followed a periodic pattern, but CO2 concetration is higher than never before (more than 300ppm) . And even if you are blind, the pattern is clear... "It´s white and it´s in a bottle".
It´s said that "The nature is wise" and we´ll be able to deal with all these problems. It´s said as well that "we can easily adapt to the environment" But this last quote is tricky. Human being is the only animal that can adapt the environment to suit themselves, the world´s other inhabitants still have to adapt themselves to their environment. And who knows... maybe it´s for this reason that we are not aware about the problem that is on the sly around the corner. And like it or not, if the most pessimistic theory turned out to be real, we could never say that it was out of blue.
Some days ago, I was listening to the radio and, suddenly I saw the future of the Spanish Education System:
The thing is that France is gonna return to the the old days teaching method because almost 15% of the 12 year old children don´t know either how to write or how to read properly.
In other words, they will re-use the old way: "m" with "a" -> "ma"
As you can see, the teaching revolution -that Spain has copied- has been a mess. And I´m sorry, but I have to blame the psychologist and the likes who decided to change dramatically everything because the old ways were "traumatic for the children". Come on!!!! What the hell is that?!?
Jim Carrie´s black sons talking about Pluto
"-Man, how the hell can they call Pluto a planet ? What motherfuckin' planet has an elliptical orbit ? Man, this shit don't make no sense. Motherfucker ! That motherfucker Vince Foster was murdered ! I told you !
(...)
- Shit, yeah, man. You keep fuckin' around, you gonna get that scholarship to Yale taken away from you. Be stuck up there at Stanford with them goddamn sling-blade motherfuckers. Shit, motherfucker, you be lucky to get accepted to Duke gettin' a xxx on your S.A.T.
- Motherfucker, you know I had the flu.
- The flu, my ass. You had a motherfuckin' aneuryusm gettin' a .
- Aneuryusm ? Man, you talkin' some shit now. Now you see, man ? That's probably one of them lvy League sum bitches now."
Such a knowledge in this wise film has blurred my eyes ;-)
"Once a year 1000 remakable people gather in Monterrey, California, to exchange something of incalculable value: Their Ideas"
This is the way all Ted´s videos start. Basically, TED is a non-profit foundation that organized and record conferences. But I´n not talking about simple "talks". The goal is to seek out the most interesting people on earth and let then to share and to spread their ideas.
People like Jimmy Wales (founder of wikipedia), Al Gore, Jeff Bezos, Negroponte, Billy Gates, or Nathan Myrrhvold -Chief Technology Officer at Microsoft speaking about dinosaur sex-, have spoken at TED.
One more point: from www.ted.com you can download any conference for free and everything is legal!!! Nowadays you can´t take this last point for granted ;-)
People usually ask me about my English. "It was worthwhile to be in Canada for 4 months?"
To be honest, sometimes I fell like I have to prove it myself. My time in Canada was great. That´s for sure!!! But what´s about my main goal? Have I reached my "English goals" or have I screwed it up? I guess this is the main reason I want to pass the CAE and I still blog in English (besides the fact if I don´t have any goal in a short-term it would be easy to leave English...)
People say "Why don´t your try TOEFL? Business Schools always ask for a good mark in TOEFL". But you know what? TOEFL piss me off. You have to speak with a computer (puaj!!) By the way, do you know the reason? Because of the Asian people. To pass the old TOEFL you had to study lots of Grammar, writing and listening. And the thing was that Asian people always got high marks... without knowing how to speak!!! That´s the reason why in the new TOEFL you have to speak with the computer. And as I said before, it sucks! If I can´t stand speaking with a voice-mail, how the hell I´m going to speak with a computer that asks me what is my favourite film? No way!!!! :-/
Firstly, after learning the contries and their capitals, politicians decided to change everything (unify Germany, separate Yugoslavia and 
Checoslovaquia...)
Now, suddenly and whitout asking anybody, scientists have decided to quit the label "planet" to Pluton. Come on!! And now, what am I supposed to do? To complain the exam I failed in EGB because I forgot Pluton?
What is gonna be the next? To change the name of the Oceans? Or maybe the Earth is plain...
You know what? I´ve just decided I can neither stand with this change nor accept Pluton is not a planet anymore. So, DON´T LET THEM TO ROBE YOUR PLANET AND WHAT YOU LEARN WHEN YOU WERE A CHILD and shout with me as loud as you can for Pluton´s status:
"Pluton is a planet" "PLUTON IS A PLANET"
Two little things I missed when I was in Vancouver:
- Olive oil.
- El tranvía de Olga Viza.
And things I didn´t miss:
- Gallardon´s buildings, roadworks and the likes.
- Summer Hot.
- Spanish politicians making their best -even in summer-.
- Traffic jams.
- ....
And now the next goal is..... to look for a job. After all this time, when I find it I guess I gonna go through a beautiful "posttraumatic vacation syndrome" ;-)
PD: Y ahora para la piscina, yepa!!
"A civil war is not a war but a sickness", wrote Antoine de Saint-Exupéry.
The thing is every time I go to Chapters I buy a book. In this case about the Spanish Civil War. It´s said that if you want to read a good book about the Spanish Civil War you have to choose English authors. Why? Because it´s supposed they can remain more objetive than the Spanish historians, who could be moved by political interest or suffer lack of neutrality.
The point is this book has good reviews from El Pais, El mundo, ABC.. so I guess it is worth it. The first version of this work was published in 1982 and this new edition has been improved with new documents from the Russian and German archives. I´ve only read the Introduction but I can´t help it quoting this:
" Yet the Spanish Civil War remains one of the few moderm conflicts whose history had been written more effectively by the losers than by the winners"
And if you take into account that the truth is always the first victim of war... Well, as I said before this book can be worth it.
PD: Tambien, manda narices el comprarme un libro de la Guerra Civil en inglés ;-)
Last weekend I went to the theatre to see "An inconvenient truth".
To be honest, I don´t know if the message is too alarming but the thing is that even if only 20% is true, this planet is fucking off.
For this reason I strongly recommend to see this documentary (better in English version). Al Gore has done a really good work and I give him my hand. He has been able to present the issue in a easy way so it´s not neccesary to be a scientist to understand what´s going on... and what is going to happen if we don´t take care of our planet.
This could be the nutsheel:
- There is a direct relationship between CO2 concentration and the Global Warming.
- The higher the CO2 concentration, the higher the temperature and the shorter the winter and autumn.
- If this pace continues on, Artic could be ice free in less than 50 years
- And if this is the case not only the sea level could rise by more than 5 of 6 meters but it could be a dramatically change in the weather because the currents of the oceans could be affected by the new fresh water
- Etc, etc....
It seems I've developed some kind of "tech" allergic reaction. Otherwise I'm not able to cacht the point.
Look all these points:
- When I arrived in Toronto my cellular phone died
- When I arrived in Madrid from Toronto, my ADSL stopped to work.
- During my flight to Vancouver I broke my headphones.
- One week ago my second headphones ended in the botton of one lake
- The last straw was my digital camera. I destoyed the screem during my scramble to Cypress Lake.
- By the way, one month ago I broke my glases as well - I know my glasses are not really a Tech item but...-
So, what am I supposed to do now?
Should I expect my laptop is gonna be ripped in London when I go back to Spain next Friday?
Here I am. New hike with Wanderung... To be exact, it wasn´t a hike but a Scramble. What difference does it make? Scrambling is between hiking and climbing. In other words, is more difficult and the goal is to reach a peak. For example, with this scale Muniellos is a hike and Perdiguero is a scramble. With my own scale I´d say Cypress Peak is "only for fieras".
And what can I say about this scramble? Awesome.
15 k, 1400 meters gain elevation. Only a few minutes were spent in the trees. The route ascends a large boulder slope followed by the fantastic views of all the peaks and glaciers that surround the Squamish River Valley. And I have to say pretty dangerous as well. In fact the guy who organized this scramble strongly advised us to bring a helmet because of the rocks. But the effort was really worthwhile. Do you see the second photo? Cypress Peak is the peak you see on the left.
And you know what? We were 11 people in 3 cars, but to arrive to the botton of this peak we had to ride a big american four-wheel drive vehicle for 15 km (all together at same time) that the organizer put at our disposal. Awesome, isn´t it?.
By the way, I´ve never said before how these hikes end. It´s easy to imagine... in a Pub with a beer in one hand and a hamburguer on the other What did you think? ;-)
PD: No, we didn´t get lost but I broke my camera at the beginning. Well, it seems to work but the screem is dead. In fact, all this pictures were shot my way -this camera hasn´t got visual len- but they look cool.
El libro en cuestión no está mal. Pone varios ejemplos y, entre ellos, está la Kenna... Se trata de un músico con fuertes influencias de U2, David Bowie... La gente que se supone que sabe de esto "sabía" que se trataba de un BUEN MUSICO. Pero tras realizar algunos estudios de mercado resultó que sería difícil que las emisoras pusieran sus canciones porque carecía de audiencia. Su estilo estaba por delante de su tiempo pero, ¿quiere eso decir que no iba a funcionar comercialmente? La respuesta en el libro...
