I know it's just a joke, but

don't you think there is truth behind it?

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.

NY Times talking about Galicia

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/09/14/travel/14explorer.html?_r=1&em&oref=slogin

NY Times talking about Galicia

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/09/14/travel/14explorer.html?_r=1&em&oref=slogin

Emily

Even if you don't believe it, my dear Emily has been created by a computer. She is nicer, does not gain weight, does not have stupid super-star caprices, does not age, etc.

Welcome to a new world!

Spain or how we think that we know everything

Recently there has been a lot of "babbling" around the infamous picture of the National Basketball Spanish team mocking the Chinese. As Spaniard, I know that there was no bad intention behind this picture. However, it surprises me how insensitive we are to any other culture.

As someone that is living and working on a highly international place, I'm fully aware of the challenges that cross-cultural interactions have. As soon as I saw the picture, I was shocked. How can we do something like that? For a moment I even forgot that 4 years ago, I could perfectly be doing the same thing. Mocking the eyes of Asian people is considered extremely rude. It's something that shouldn't we done under any circumstances.

I can understand the mistake. What I can not understand is how the Spanish press keeps talking about the issue as a "British campaign to discredit Spain". We screwed it, let's recognize it and move on. Do not blame others for our own faults.

Pi Day

Today is Pi Day, July 22. Pi day is a tradition that started back in 1988 in San Francisco. It is a day to celebrate the number Pi that fascinates to so many people. There are several days accepted as Pi Day:

• March 14 at 1h59 am is the most popular one for being 3.14159
• July 22 is the second one as 22/7 = 3.142

What can I say, if people are willing to celebrate Saint Valentine, Pi Day sounds even more appealing to me.

Manhattanhenge

Known too as the Manhattan Solstice is a semi annual occurrence where the sun perfectly aligned with the streets of New York. The proliferation of glass buildings make the show breath taking with the sun rays reflecting in uncountable windows while following their path from east to west.

It happens twice a year usually in May 28th and July 13th (evenly spaced dates around the Summer Solstice).

iPhone 3G, the hype is back

On September 2007, I wrote this article talking about what was missing on the iPhone. There were three things: 3G vs. EDGE; capacity; GPS; and applications. Clearly I wasn't the only one complaining about it because those exactly are the elements that Apple has change in the second version of the phone. Let's see what is new:

• 3G connection provides 2 - 4x faster page downloads
• aGPS combines phone-tower information with GPS data to give your exact position
• 16 GB of capacity increases the usability of the phone as unique computing platform
• App Store gives the iPhone more than ~500 applications to download including categories that go from games to productivity

I don't like the new plastic back but improves signal reception. More than 4 antennas are included in the device (i.e., EDGE, 3G, GPS, WiFI) what makes having a metal cover hard to justify.

Other than that, the device is basically the same. Minor tweaks were implemented: improved battery, a must requirement for a 3G device; warmer screen (~ 7000 vs ~ 8000 kelvin on the 1st generation); flush headphones jack.

Overall, the iPhone has redefined the concept of mobile computing - maybe it has created the concept and brought it to the mass market. For once, you can have on your pocket a complete computer that does what is supposed to do. Last weekend, we found the closest theater to watch a movie in the middle of the street. It was quick, reliable, on the go.

This is just the beginning, but I'm expecting more things to come. With more than 6 million users around the world now and 4 million more expected before the end of the year, developers will be jumping on the iPhone wagon to get a piece of the cake. Soon we will get a full GPS application (e.g., Tom Tom), maybe a presentation tool, VoIP calls (e.g., Fring, Skype), ....

Post edit:
I've just read that the App Store has received more than 10 million application downloads in the first 3 days with the number of applications rising from 500 to 800 during the same period.

Manifiesto por el castellano

Esto merece el uso de mi lengua nativa. Desde aquí me gustaría pedir a todos que firmaseis el Manifiesto en defensa de nuestra lengua. Olvidemos temas políticos y pongamos todos un poco para defender esta lengua que ha dado al mundo un sinfín de obras únicas de la literatura. Obras que por mérito propio son reconocidas sin comparación a nivel internacional.

No dejemos que el barbarismo localista que asola España, y confunde cultura con política, siga desterrando esta lengua de escuelas, calles, bares, cafés, ...

Estamos en pleno siglo XXI y cada vez más regiones de España viven bajo sistemas políticos que cortan la libertad de expresión. Increible? No por ello menos cierto.

Enlace para adherirse al manifiesto.

Defining innovation

As most of you probably know, Innovation is my true passion. It's great to see what can be done when conventional wisdom is challenged.

The tailor of Singapore

When traveling to Asia, one of the first things I always do is to find a good tailor. Savile Row is still years away, so it's hard to resist the opportunity of getting hand-made, tailor-made suits.

My recent trip to Singapore was a great surprise on this topic. A former partner of my firm was kind enough to suggest some places where he used to get his suits made. Joe Tailoring was my choice and I wasn't disappointed at all.

For some, tailor-made is about getting a copy of a famous suit/dress/shirt/... In my case, it's all about personalization. I want a specific size of the pockets, a specific number of buttons (btw, the ones on the sleeve have to be functional), a particular size of the sleeves, extremely fitted for American standards, etc. The list goes on and on.

Singapore set a new bar in terms of quality and customer satisfaction. If you ever go there, remember to visit Joe Tailoring. They are not a cheap alternative, but the result will completely shock you.

OE OE OE OE OE OE!!!!!

Hoy toca español! Qué alegría!

Comenzaba la tarde mal! El bar al que fuimos estaba lleno de alemanes, no tenía comida y estaba hasta la bandera.

Fieles al estilo Spanish! la mayor parte de la banda llegó tarde y desde allí decidimos tratar de crear ambiente en otro lado.

Acabamos en un restaurante con una gran pantalla. Faltaba algo asi que Caro y Maria se decidaron con una bandera a reclutar espa~noles en la calle. En breve teniamos mas de 30 personas.

Empezo el partido, llego Torres y .... el resto es historia!

Ferrari California - No explanation required!

NY Times: A Goya Tour of Madrid

One of my favorite readings is NY Times travel section on weekends. Today, they are covering a Tour of Madrid center on the figure of Goya. It's really worthy.