I love eBooks

As most of you may know, I'm a strong supporter of electronic books. It's been two years since I bought my last paper book. Since then I've read tens of books none of then in paper.

My ebook reader is the Sony PS500, an old model that I'm trying to sell to get the new kindle - due sometime in the near future.

I have to say that after seeing this video, I'm not sure anymore if I will buy the Amazon reader. This ebook looks amazing. Who needs paper anymore?

I'm happy to know that another professor from Columbia is getting a Nobel Price

It was announced in Stockholm that Dr. Martin Chalfie, Chair of Biological Sciences, is sharing this
year's Nobel Prize in Chemistry. Dr. Chalfie joins an impressive list of Nobel laureates on Columbia's faculty in a diversity of fields, from literature and economics to physics and medicine.

He is being honored for discovering the use of the green fluorescent protein to tag individual proteins inside a living cell -- a discovery first published some 14 years ago. Scientists have since used the green fluorescent protein in the study of damaged cells in the process of diseases such as Alzheimer's, genetic disorders and cancers.

I cann't help it. I have to scream it: ARE WE IDIOTS?

I've just read on El Mundo: "Los promotores: 'Antes de bajar los pisos un 30 o 40% los regalo al banco'". The genius that makes such a statement also ask for collaboration from "Comunidades autonomas" to free up terrain to increase construction.

As I said, are we idiots? Let's take 5 seconds to analyze this:

- We have too many houses on the market and nobody can afford them (at least 800,000 new houses are unsold according to last year figures)
-House trading has fallen more than 60% (in the US, the house market is at a 60 year low in terms of trading)
- House prices have fallen for second year in a row in Spain (7% in 2007, > 15% in 2008)
- The real estate bubble is behind the financial crisis

THEREFORE

- We need to build more houses!

Simply brilliant!

I have to clarify all those comments

I never said that all PSOE/Republican voters where uneducated. I said that "they have a strong support in the uneducated base of voters". Let me said it again with different words: among uneducated voters PSOE represents a favored political option. Is that incorrect? I must be wrong but PSOE stand for Partido Socialista Obrero Español. Am I wrong?

A significant amount of Republican voters are well educated, highly sophisticated people; however noboby denies that a significant portion of the supporting base is uneducated americans. Same there back in Spain. Despite the fact that the PSOE has improved their presence in some wealthy regions of Spain, it still has his supporting base rooted in the working class - what is neither bad or good. It's just a fact.

Given this circumstance, political leaders within this party use all kind of word-games to avoid talking about real issues. Relying in topics, stereotypes ... is easier than working and solving problems.

Let's google declarations from ZP & Solbes in the last year: Spain will grow at 2.9%, Spain will grow at 2.5%, Spain will not face any economic downturn, Spain will grow more than 2%, Spain will grow more than 1.1%, Spain will have positive growth, ....

Who cares? Back then, when they started lying about the economy instead of thinking about how they must get ready, the IMF had already explained everybody that the forecast for Spain was at best ~1%. Once again, who cares? This is the political game!

To be clear, I don't think the alternative party has a good answer either, but they are not in charge now.

I've been watching "Spain, on the road again"

http://www.spainontheroadagain.com/

Mario Batali and Gwyneth P. have been traveling around Spain on a gastronomic route. During the last episodes, they have spent some time in Galicia and you can find in the webpage things like the recipe for "Caldo Gallego" or some references to the amazing qualities of the Albarinho or the Tarta de Santiago.

For first time, I have to recognize that I'm feeling a little home sick :-) I'm not an integrist of anything. I'm absolutely open to the beauty, the flavors, the quality of things from other places of the world. That doesn't mean that I do not appreciate the amazing things that Spain can offer. Those are some of my favorites:

1) White wine: it's hard to find a better young white wine than the ones that Galicia produces from Albarinho grape. The closest alternative will be a good Pinot Grigio but it's not quite there in terms of acidity and fruity flavor.

2) Red wine: Ribera del Duero extracts such amazing flavors from the tempranillo grape. It competes with the best Cabs from France and Chiantis from Italy. Great choice if you are looking for full body wines with sophisticades flavors: black fruit, ... They age quite well.

3) Seafood: where can you get better shellfish than in Galicia? I do not know. I have to recognize that San Francisco has a decent offering in terms of fresh shellfish, but it is not the same.

What we lack is the sophistication, the art of presentation and clearly the international marketing. We will get there someday. Maybe, I will help ...

I have to talk about tonight's debate

Today we saw the second debate between Obama and McCain and I can not let pass the opportunity to write something about it.

Once again, seeing both candidates answering questions, I have the feeling that something is clearly wrong with the democratic system.

Obama is not the perfect candidate but he has the ability to answer the questions that were asked. You may like them or not, but he knows what he wants to do.

McCain, on the other side, has no answer for most of the questions. I remember at least two occasions where McCain simply repeated Obama's answer including a couple of stupid comments for the show.

His biggest ideas for this debate were: 1) Using the phrase "my friends" all the time to look as somebody that is close; 2) Talking about his big idea to solve the economic problem - to buy the bad debt from people; 3) Transforming what Obama said into something that doesn't make sense and sound ridiculous.

I have a clear preference to support anybody that thinks about keeping the government role at minimum. However, this time, the republican ticket is simply a joke. McCain has no idea about how to solve the real issue that this country is facing: the economic downturn. Palin is an uneducated vicepresident which only credential is the fact that looks good on TV. Where is the party that Reagan reshaped during the 80s?

I just care about three things during those elections:

1) Who is going to take a reasonable action to solve the economic crisis?
2) Who is going to ensure that every single kid on this country has health insurance?
3) Who is going to guarantee that US will act as a force for good in the world in coordination with other countries and UN (e.g., avoiding catastrophes like Darfour, helping to bring democracy to Afghanistan, controling the access that Iran or North Korea have to nuclear power)?

Obama presents a more adecuate candidate now. Let's hope his advantage keep building.

Off topic note: I found fascinating to observe the similarities between McCain and Zapatero in my home country. Both candidates have a strong support in the uneducated base of voters, therefore they do not build real answers to the real problems of the country. They just go with popular answers and catchy slogans. Zapatero's response to the economic problem that Spain faces is giving money back to the people (400 euros if I recall correctly). McCain's solution to the health care idea is to give people $5000 back every year on tax deductions. Neither of them explained that those initiatives have no real impact on the problem and just aggraveate them by creating a distraction. ZP may be extreme left, McCain may be extreme right, but they are closer than you may believe.