tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-262058192024-03-13T06:13:21.415-07:00Everything's CornerJust my opinion about everything, and your comments about everything. Welcome!Eddiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16719417739757760997noreply@blogger.comBlogger355125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-26205819.post-18653119857363672492012-05-01T18:40:00.002-07:002012-05-01T18:41:51.212-07:00European crisis: A resurgence of the extreme right - history repeating?The European Union has been agitated by economic turmoil for several years now, and the panorama does not seem to be improving greatly as time evolves. In fact, it is all the opposite: After Greece, Ireland and Portugal received generous (but insufficient) <a href="http://www.economist.com/blogs/charlemagne/2011/05/greece_and_euro">bailout</a> packages to avoid defaulting, the European Union feared that the worse might still be coming: <a href="http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/g/a/2012/04/19/bloomberg_articlesM2QCG70YHQ0X01-M2QG8.DTL">Italy and Spain</a> are aching financially too, and a package to rescue either of them would be much more expensive than any other bailout conceded to a European nation before.<br />
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The social symptoms of this crisis are persistent and increasing. In Spain, for example, the unemployment rate has reached <a href="http://www.expatica.com/es/news/spanish-news/spain-jobs-fury-fuels-may-day-protests_224564.html">record levels</a>, topping at 24% - higher than any other European country. In Greece, social unrest is a daily happening, and a worrying spike on the <a href="http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/04/28/us-greece-election-suicide-idUSBRE83R08N20120428">suicide rate</a> has been detected in that country. And other traditionally-strong economies, such as Germany and the Netherlands, are considering <a href="http://www.expatica.com/es/news/local_news/Netherlands-risks-eurozone-ridicule_223281.html">austerity</a> measures that could not have been foreseen a few years ago.</div>
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The immediate unhappiness and frustration showed by Europeans are issues to worry about. But perhaps even more worrisome is the potential effect that this frustration is having in the political landscape of Europe, where frustrated citizens are considering far and extreme right as options to overcome their difficulties. Old and new far and extreme right movements and parties are gaining political presence and influence in Europe.</div>
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One of the best examples of this trend is France, where the current presidential elections are dominated by two political figures: On the one hand, the current president, conservative Nicolas Sarkozy. On the other hand, socialist Francois Hollande. According to <a href="http://articles.marketwatch.com/2012-04-22/general/31381412_1_hollande-head-marine-le-pen-european-leaders">previous polls</a>, this does not come as a surprise - it was expected that both Hollande and Sarkozy would face each other on the second round of the elections. What did come as a surprise was that the extreme-right National Front, led by Marine Le Pen, came as a sounding third political force as shown by the first-round results - gathering almost 18% of votes.</div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Photo by globalnetwork.com</td></tr>
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Although Le Pen did not reach the <a href="http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/europe/france/9238590/France-election-Marine-Le-Pen-refuses-to-endorse-Nicolas-Sarkozy-or-Francois-Hollande.html">second-round</a> of elections, the popularity of her movement (founded by her father and notorious xenophobe Jean-Marie Le Pen) reflects that people in France are looking at regretful options to overcome the social discontent. The party represented by Le Pen, the National Front, advocates for radical ultra-nationalist measures to preserve the integrity of France. These <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-12202197">proposed measures</a> include, among others, to cease France's membership to the European Union, to leave the Euro and restore the Franc as the national currency, to reduce immigration to 5% of its current level, and create a new ministry of the interior, immigration and secularism. </div>
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Le Pen's rising popularity, her strong criticism against immigrants in general, her ultra-nationalist policies and ideals, and her ties to her father's ideas (let's not forget that Jean-Marie Le Pen has actively denied the Jewish holocaust during World War II and has blamed other minorities for certain problems in France) reminds a bit the unfortunate times in the first half of the 20th century, where Germany was sunk in crisis and debt, and people were looking turning to blaming their problems to minorities. The result: A rise in popularity of the Nazi party, to the extent that they became the leading political force of Germany in the late 1930's and became the official party of the country, leading Europe into a series of atrocities against minorities (Jews, Gypsies, Slavs, homosexuals, and virtually any person not fitting an '<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aryan_race">aryan</a>' profile). These massacres, in turn, led to a full blown war of global proportions that left Europe and the world as a whole scarred for generations to come, in what became later known as World War II. </div>
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It is also worrisome that these far right extremism is also gaining <a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/geert-wilders-of-the-netherlands-reveals-a-resurgent-far-right-in-europe/2012/04/30/gIQAA9zsrT_story.html">political support</a> outside of France, in other regions of Europe. Countries like Netherlands, Greece, and Finland have also experiences a surge of ultra-nationalism and radical political entities who slowly but surely are conquering terrain in a continent where multiculturalism has been openly admitted to be a <a href="http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/41444364/ns/world_news-europe/t/british-pm-multiculturalism-has-failed/#.T6CPVqtAtLc">failure</a>, and where unhappiness is threatening to shape a whole new mentality that, hopefully, will not fall again in the mistakes from the past.</div>Eddiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16719417739757760997noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-26205819.post-32516721048774901912011-10-06T18:03:00.000-07:002011-10-06T19:12:40.783-07:00Of spring and autumn - and past revolutions<div style="text-align: justify;">This year, the four seasons seem to have brought with them more than just weather changes as they have traditionally done. It looks that the airs of spring and autumn this year have carried a strange scent that has grown in the youth of various countries around the world a sense of frustration against the current world order. It has brought forward a generation that feels that in the future, they will be unable to make a decent living the way we (or better said, up until the generation of the baby-boomers).</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><img src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-4Qm0LMekobM/To5f9e7tNdI/AAAAAAAAAz4/TaYP_swmLYE/s320/protests%2Bny.jpg" style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 264px; height: 191px;" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5660567291531441618" /><div style="text-align: justify;">That way, this year we have experienced the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arab_Spring">Arab Spring</a> and the <a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011/oct/05/occupy-wall-street-new-york-march?newsfeed=true">American Autumn</a>. In between, we have also witnessed demonstrations in other places - such as <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2011_England_riots">London</a>, <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-13437819">Madrid</a>, <a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011/aug/05/chile-student-protests-violence">Santiago</a> and <a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011/aug/04/tel-aviv-tent-city-protesters">Tel Aviv</a>. Some of them have had political interests - like overthrowing the governments in the pursuit of a new political system, as was the case in Tunisia and Egypt (and the NATO-backed civil war in Libya). Some others, looking to change the social system (like the case of Tel Aviv and Santiago), and some others, advocating for a different economic order (like the protests in New York). Youth protests are the trend of the year.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Despite the fact that every protest has been different, all of them seem to converge at the same point: There is a new, massive, and united generation of people who are discontent, and are not being afraid to show their unhappiness with their living conditions - past and future. Students are graduating from universities and are unable to find enough jobs. For those who do find jobs, the cost of living seems to be too overwhelming to sustain with their paycheques: Rents, mortgages, taxes, groceries, and so on, add up to create a cyclical economic burden that a lot of young people -regardless of their educational level- are barely able to cope with. To that, add the unhappiness of having a small percentage of the population controlling most of the wealth and power in societies. Income gaps are expanding.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Sounds familiar? It should. Historically, the mix of unhappy people - small rich and powerful elites - increasing income gap has led to revolution. Take the case of the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/French_Revolution">French Revolution</a> for instance, where King Louis XVI's absolute-monarchy style, a very select elite of powerful and reach people, and a great majority of unhappy French citizens led to the overthrow of the royalty of France - giving birth to the new French Republic that promised a more fair economic and social system under it's three pillars <i>Liberté, Égalité, Fraternité</i></div><div style="text-align: justify;">The only difference between the French Revolution and the current awakenings around the world are the global aspect of the latter. The protests don't seem to demand a change in the system of a single country or region - but it has acquired a global sense that goes according to the current economic trend - globalization. </div><div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">It is undoubtable that these protests are far from done, and that they definitely are a symptom of a great problem of our times. Perhaps, as the demonstrators believe, the current world order is not effective anymore and has already served its purpose for as long as it was effective, and deeper changes are required in order to foster further progress to our civilization. Perhaps something better lies ahead... a more equal and fair future for everybody. So we hope.</div></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" >Photo: Reuters / Hurriyet Daily</span></div>Eddiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16719417739757760997noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-26205819.post-58714399395511801692011-09-05T23:25:00.003-07:002011-09-05T23:25:55.707-07:00Nature of Love (The Golden Rule)<div style="text-align: justify;">It is said that love is of different types: Love for a partner, love for a parent, love for a child, love for the Universe, love for ourselves. Every kind of love is unique, and all of them are of a different breed that cannot be compared to another kind of love because, at the end of the day, all of them are not the same. Isn't love just love?</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">The concept of love, as we know it today, is a mere bastardization created and propagated by the media and the entertainment industries. Because of such wrongful promotion and bastardization, the idea of love in the eyes of the most vulnerable minds has become synonimous of the feeling of butterflies in the stomach, sex, and dependence to a partner. Love has been degraded to a purely physical emotion that people crave to satisfy a need.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Of course, this is where the differentiation of types of love comes into play, as for instance, the love for a child is different in that neither sex nor the butterflies in the stomach are features that appear -although dependence traits still persist-. Likewise, the love for a parent, or for a relative, cannot be the same type of love as the love for a child or for a partner because of unique contexts for each.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Our ancient sages tought us that love is only of a single kind: love is love. As stated by the words of our ancient sages, "love thy neighbour as you love thyself". This well known versicle, also commonly known as 'The Golden Rule', in fact suggests that the love we have for another person not only can, but should, be of the same nature as the love we have for our own self. How is this possible? </div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">The only way in which we can understand all types of loves as one is knowing what love is about. It is necessary to understand that love is not a physical need of our Body; as a matter of fact, love is more intimately connected to our other two levels of existence (Mind and Soul). As such, love is a capacity to which only a deep level of consciousness can grant us access: We can only love someone by bonding to them mentally and spiritually.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">To love someone, then, is to connect to them in Mind and Soul. By doing that connection, it is possible for us to get closer to them and actually being able to feel them in a spiritual sense. We can feel their pains, their happiness, their frustrations, their pleasures and their desires. Likewise, we are able to understand their feelings and to connect with them in a way that we care about their lives, ideas, feelings and thoughts in the same way that we would care about our own life, ideas, feelings and thoughts. We care about them as we care about us: The very nature of The Golden Rule.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">In that regard, loving a life partner is not different than loving a child, or loving a parent, or loving a neighbour, or even loving the Universe. Love is a bond, a connection that allow two separate entities to compliment and support each other, eventually resembling more a single but well reinforced entity aligned towards fulfillment.</div>Eddiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16719417739757760997noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-26205819.post-90015787843260878962011-06-17T21:16:00.000-07:002011-06-18T09:41:01.329-07:00Time as a relative element<div style="text-align: justify;">From our perspective, the fourth physical dimension is straight forward in its strongest sense. It is a straight line that we call time, and we all travel through it in a direction that goes from past to present, from present to future, and from future - deeper into future itself. For everybody and everything in our world, time is a one way journey.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><img src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-KGXLCfV_PW8/TfxZQ2Rl19I/AAAAAAAAAxY/T_T6bKgkU9E/s320/escher_ascending_cropped_1.jpg" style="text-align: justify;float: left; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 10px; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-left: 0px; cursor: pointer; width: 240px; height: 204px; " border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5619464581033613266" /><div style="text-align: justify;">But despite the fact that time (and by consequence, our lives) seem to travel in an unavoidably straight direction, there still appears to be an intimate relation that influences present by our past, our future by our present, and even past by our future. Indeed, it is easy to understand that present and past are directly related because there cannot be a present without a past. Likewise, since present is future's past, the relation between both is akin to that of present and past. But what can we tell about the influence of our future in both in our present and our past? Is there even a influence at all of our future over our past?</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">In our world, and our average understanding of Universe as a whole, that is impossible. Future only happens because past and present have already happened and shaped the direction of said future. But even from a scientific point of view, we acknowledge that our perception and understanding of the Universe is very limited. For instance, Einstein explained that time and space are relative, and both can be bent and altered by each other. Likewise, quantum physics agree in that our potential understanding of the Universe is very restricted, since all we can potentially study and understand from it is whatever we can sense from our 5 physical senses only. There is so much more that surrounds us, which we can't possibly perceive - let alone understand. We are aware of our own inherent human limits, and all of our knowledge, perceptions and understanding will be limited by them in consequence.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">These principles support the theory that the Universe is, in fact, multi-dimensional (as opposed to restricted to the 3 dimensions -height, width, depth- plus the 4th dimension, time, that we can perceive from our perspective). If that is true, then time is a dimension that can be modified from other dimensions beyond our capabilities of understanding, in a way that our past, present and future could be occurring simultaneously, but in different dimensions and in different spaces.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">This knowledge is a wake up call to realize that every single moment in our lives counts. Despite the fact that we seem to have only control over our present, in fact we have also control over our past and future. The decisions we make every second have a repercussion in who we are, and who will we be, and potentially who we were some time before. At the end of the day, time not a straight line and sometime, somewhere, we can find ourselves coming back in it as well. Thus even if we made mistakes in our past, correcting them in the present will also correct our past and will allow for a better future, which will in turn help us fulfill our mission in the Universe.</div>Eddiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16719417739757760997noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-26205819.post-11395227211532451582011-06-06T00:00:00.000-07:002011-06-06T00:04:11.599-07:00Does the body rule the mind, or does the mind rule the body?<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-K_oiGrjSkV8/Tex7dyAgSOI/AAAAAAAAAxQ/XrDvO99dzic/s1600/leonardo.jpg" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img style="float:right; margin:0 0 10px 10px;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 280px; height: 280px;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-K_oiGrjSkV8/Tex7dyAgSOI/AAAAAAAAAxQ/XrDvO99dzic/s320/leonardo.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5614998586994477282" /></a><br /><div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(51, 51, 51); font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; line-height: 16px; ">Ever since I heard "Still Ill" by The Smiths for the first time, I have been wondering whether the body rules the mind or the mind rules the body. Indeed, "does the body rule the mind or does the mind rule the body?" makes for an excellent line in a song, but it is nevertheless a valid dilemma (which, in my opinion, only Morrissey -one of the best, if not the best, lyricists of our time- could have posed so beautifully in a song) that goes beyond a mere timeless song.</span></div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(51, 51, 51); font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; line-height: 16px; "><p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font-size: 11px; line-height: 1.5em; "></p><p style="text-align: justify;margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font-size: 11px; line-height: 1.5em; "> </p><p style="text-align: justify;margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font-size: 11px; line-height: 1.5em; ">This question has a more of a spiritual value than a musical one. It requires, first of all, a definition of what is the body and what is the mind. To put it in simple terms:</p><ul style="list-style-type: square; margin-top: 10px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 10px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 25px; "><li style="text-align: justify;">The body represents all of our physical existence - that is, our physical needs (eating, sleeping, etc.) plus all of the physical stimuli that we perceive through our 5 senses. </li><li style="text-align: justify;">The mind is our connection to the Infinite, the conscience that sets us in a higher level of understanding of the Universe as compared to animals and other living beings. </li></ul><p style="text-align: justify;margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font-size: 11px; line-height: 1.5em; ">Put in those terms, it would appear that the body and the mind are in fact two separate entities, completely independent one from the other. But that could not be a true statement either, since we are a single entity and both our mind and our body are part of ourselves. How, then, do they relate to each other to create a unity in our existence?</p><p style="text-align: justify;margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font-size: 11px; line-height: 1.5em; "> </p><p style="text-align: justify;margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font-size: 11px; line-height: 1.5em; ">The secret lies in the heart. Our heart is the connection between the body and the mind. It is the core that keeps the body alive by pumping blood, oxygen and nutrients to the rest of our body. In turn, our body serves as a vessel to keep our mind (and hence our connection to the Universe) running in our physical world. In turn, the heart is a vessel associated to elemental parts of our consciousness, such as emotions and feelings. The heart is indeed a central piece key of our existence and the one that allow us to be connected between the physical world and the Universe. </p><p style="text-align: justify;margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font-size: 11px; line-height: 1.5em; "> </p><p style="text-align: justify;margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font-size: 11px; line-height: 1.5em; ">In that spirit, the body cannot rule the mind, and the mind cannot rule the body, since they are both separate entities. Each of them have serve completely different purposes in our existence. Yet, they keep us together in mind and body as a single being by connecting one to the other one through the heart, and hence through our feelings and emotions. Then body, heart and mind are three attributes that make us rational beings capable to assimilate our existence in the physical world like the earthly animals, yet able to connect to rationality and a higher spiritual level like no other species on Earth. </p><div><br /></div></span>Eddiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16719417739757760997noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-26205819.post-11345602191865467672011-05-28T18:58:00.001-07:002011-05-28T19:02:04.314-07:00Hidden beauty<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(51, 51, 51); font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; line-height: 16px; ">Funny that we, limited beings, could spend a lifetime looking for goodness in life. We could easily spend every day and every night, every hour and every minute regretting its absence. We could pray every morning and every evening for it to come to us. We could do all that, even though we know it's here by our side, all around us. It has always been here. It has never left. But for us, limited beings, it is easier to ignore the goodness since we take it for granted.</span><div><span class="Apple-style-span"></span><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 11px; line-height: 16px;"><br /></span></span><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(51, 51, 51); font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; line-height: 16px; "><p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font-size: 11px; line-height: 1.5em; "></p><p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font-size: 11px; line-height: 1.5em; "> </p><p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font-size: 11px; line-height: 1.5em; ">For us, it is easier to perceive all the negativity in our life and assimilate it as our own. We get a bittersweet joy from thinking that our life is plagued with problems, even when those problems might not exist and we create an image on them in our mind: Our lives are hard, our lives are boring, our lives are lonely, our lives are empty. This or that person does not accept us as we are, this or that group does not listen to us, someone does not like us, someone rejected us, someone laughed at us and we dare caring about them. We are not smart enough, we are not pretty enough, we are not good enough. Life is full of hardship... All these ideas take precedence over all the goodness in our lives.</p><p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font-size: 11px; line-height: 1.5em; "><br /></p><p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font-size: 11px; line-height: 1.5em; "> </p><p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font-size: 11px; line-height: 1.5em; ">The truth is, goodness is all around us. We have physical goodness in staying healthy, waking up tucked into a warm bed to the light of another day, enjoying a warm shower with clean water and beautiful scents, dressing clean clothes, breathing the fresh air, and perceiving our world by seeing, touching, smelling, tasting and hearing what surrounds us. We get goodness out of the people that care for us, who listen to our thoughts, who are interested in our well being. We have to spiritual goodness in connecting to our soul and to the universe where we live. There is goodness in everything. We just choose to ignore it.</p><p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font-size: 11px; line-height: 1.5em; "><br /></p><p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font-size: 11px; line-height: 1.5em; "> </p><p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font-size: 11px; line-height: 1.5em; ">The secret is that goodness, just like anything else in life, comes in small amounts at a time. Sometimes it slaps us in our face, yet it remains unnoticed to our limited senses. We discard it thinking that there is always something better waiting for us, because goodness is not good enough for us: I deserve a better partner, I deserve a better job, I deserve a better house, I deserve better food and better clothes. If you really do, concentrate on that and when the time is due, it will come into your life. But we live in the present, we live in the here and in the now, and for all the goodness that is here and now with us, we should be grateful.</p><p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font-size: 11px; line-height: 1.5em; "><br /></p><p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font-size: 11px; line-height: 1.5em; "> </p><p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font-size: 11px; line-height: 1.5em; ">So be grateful for every little piece of goodness in your life. It is a gift to you.</p></span></div></div>Eddiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16719417739757760997noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-26205819.post-71252397196671299602011-05-03T22:04:00.001-07:002011-05-03T22:49:01.745-07:00The end of Osama, the joy of a nation?<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-ITv5xgAMfNA/TcDotADOU5I/AAAAAAAAAw8/Hj8yA4Z5gE4/s1600/osama-time-cover-2011-a-p.jpg" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 240px; height: 320px;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-ITv5xgAMfNA/TcDotADOU5I/AAAAAAAAAw8/Hj8yA4Z5gE4/s320/osama-time-cover-2011-a-p.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5602733796254176146" /></a><div style="text-align: justify;">Osama Bin Laden is dead. That is the news that shook the world last Sunday, when the U.S. president, Barack Obama, made a public appearance to inform the world about the end of Osama Bin Laden. The announcement spread around the world in no time, and very soon the images of happy Americans celebrating the killing of Osama were available on the mass media.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">With all that in scene, I couldn't help but to have a flashback to September 11, 2001. The image of the World Trade Center in New York falling down before the unbelieving eyes of the world, while a group of people in the Gaza Strip and West Bank rejoicing reappeared in my mind. The view of people singing, dancing, baking cakes and eating sweets to celebrate the death and destruction of civilians elsewhere was frankly disgusting. How could people cheer such a coward act?</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Back to 2011. The tables are turned around. While in Gaza a spokesman of Hamas <a href="http://ca.news.yahoo.com/hamas-condemns-killing-holy-warrior-bin-laden-110039788.html">condemned</a> the killing of the "holy warrior" (sic) Osama Bin Laden, thousands of Americans poured into the streets to show their joy and excitement about Bin Laden's death. Despite my repulsion towards Osama Bin Laden and all that he represents, I found the celebrations to be ironically resemblant to those Palestinian celebrations of 2001. Why would the death of an individual be celebrated in such a way? Does his death make up for the damage made to the families of those lost during the different terrorist attacks orchestrated by Bin Laden and his organization? Will this end the threat that terrorism has posed against the world in the last decades? Unlikely.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">The elimination of Osama Bin Laden is indeed a hit against terrorism, and should be a reminder that no terror leader is untouchable. But it should not be a matter of joyful celebration: It should be tribute to those victims who lost their lives in acts of terrorism, a bit of the justice that is long due to them.</div>Eddiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16719417739757760997noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-26205819.post-47930148576115821362011-03-12T16:33:00.000-08:002011-03-12T16:50:39.635-08:00Earthquakes, shakes and thoughts<div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div>The tragic earthquake and tsunami that earlier this week shook Japan is a wake up call for us. It is a reminder that we are small and our power limited, when compared to the might of nature. It is also a reminder that we are all here to help one another, and not to fight and dominate over the others.<div><br /></div><div>It is sad that only in moments like these we remember those basic concepts. Last year, it was first Haiti and then Chile who were caught in times of distress after massive earthquakes, and the world united again. A few weeks ago, th</div><div>e city of Christchurch in New Zealand went through a similar ordeal, gathering compassion and solidarity from the nations of the world. Now, it is the Japanese nation who needs from the world's solidarity to repair, wherever possible, the loss and damages caused by the massive earthquake that hit their country. </div><div><br /></div><div>May the recovery be fast and wholesome, and may this episode unite the nations of the world and inspire us to live in peace. My heart, thoughts and sympathies are with the people of Japan.</div><img src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-o6BJ9IJda-8/TXwUrrNtmAI/AAAAAAAAAww/BjaW70Yb5LA/s320/ss-110311-japanQuake-33.ss_full.jpg" style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 212px;" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5583360378599741442" /><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" >Photo by MSNBC</span></div><div><br /></div>Eddiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16719417739757760997noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-26205819.post-5641134370479201002010-10-09T01:07:00.000-07:002010-10-09T01:17:34.082-07:00Growing upHuman relations are not easy. They are not even logical; we are meant to pursue what in essence makes no sense whatsoever. Giving it a second thought, it is clear that human relations are all about either trying to please another party or trying to get other people to please our own desires. And that's about it.<div><br /></div><div>Why does all this comes to mind right now? Well aside from the long period of absence of my blog I have had lately, I have also had the opportunity to analize more in depth people's behaviours. That has proved to be crucial in order to understand why people act the way they do, and what can be done about it.</div><div><br /></div><div>Bottom line, people have a real need to be noticed. No one, ever, enjoy being ignored and considered outside of the 'main circle' of friends within a group. The complexity of the relationships becomes more and more complex when men and women become older and (allegedly) more mature, because the definition of "good" and "desirable" starts to stand away from any sense of reality.</div><div><br /></div><div>My theory is that, with age, people change. But despite the general idea that such changes are positive, I find that people change in order to accommodate themselves in a comfortable social status. A social status that is not too isolated, but it's not very far away either: A social status that will allow you to gain a social rank on your own; but which nevertheless will be hard enough to preserve.</div><div><br /></div><div>And now, my dear people, go figure why men and women were programmed by the default by automatic greeting machines... I might have an idea now</div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div> </div>Eddiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16719417739757760997noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-26205819.post-87219911713358600162010-01-05T15:16:00.000-08:002010-01-05T15:54:43.465-08:00Custom made babies, a great advancement... not<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_I-hQPuhS9AQ/S0PRArKIbqI/AAAAAAAAAwU/3deHPAzqD1c/s1600-h/fig18baby3.5mos.jpg"><img style="float:right; margin:0 0 10px 10px;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 203px; height: 320px;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_I-hQPuhS9AQ/S0PRArKIbqI/AAAAAAAAAwU/3deHPAzqD1c/s320/fig18baby3.5mos.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5423408185799634594" /></a><div style="text-align: justify;">An interesting article titled "<a href="http://singularityhub.com/2009/02/25/designer-babies-like-it-or-not-here-they-come/">Designer Babies - Like it or not, here they come</a>" and dated on February 25, 2009, popped up as a result of a search I made on Google. There, the author debates the multiple benefits that custom-made children have, such as a lesser risk of having babies inheriting conditions from their parents. Currently, it is possible to choose the baby's gender in advance through this "technology", and not long from now, parents will even have the option of choosing the future-to-be-born's hair and eyes color, skin type, and complexion. The article claims that this "era of designer babies is officially here and there is no going back", and it might be right.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Even if this so-called technology is already available (supposedly any couple can currently go and custom-make their child's gender for only $18,400 USD), we should step back behind the hype that this could mean and really think of the consequences of having such a trend becoming mainstream. The issues that immediately come to my mind include:</div><div><ul><li style="text-align: justify;"><b>The disproportion between the amount of boys and girls born each year</b>. See, for instance, the case of China, where currently there is a remarkable amount of men not being able to find partners. And that is just one example. Give certain cultures the option to select beforehand the gender of their babies, and it won't take many generations until the ratio of men and women will be scary.</li><li style="text-align: justify;"><b>The considerable reduction of ethnicities</b>. Let's face it, there are certain stereotypes that people tend to regard as "beautiful". Some parents would not hesitate to choose for their children certain attributes that are not proper of their race or culture. Light colored eyes, white / tanned skin, and blond hair are among other nonsense attributes that individuals would choose for their offspring. That, of course, to the expense of losing continuity on some unique, nice features that other races show too.</li><li style="text-align: justify;">Genetic modification of the human race. We all know, Mother Nature does not spare us when we mess with her. Artificially modifying our genes won't go unnoticed. Eventually, the same modifications that will have reduced the chances of inheriting or developing certain medical conditions in future generations, might also potentially bring new conditions that we can't even imagine. </li></ul><div style="text-align: justify;">As far as I am concerned, there are already available a few technologies that allow to detect the risk of developing diseases in a baby and to take actionable steps to remedy that, if necessary. I don't really see what benefit will create having tailor-made babies, and in my own point of view, I think these practices should be heavily regulated or banned.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">In my particular point of view, I find these new "developments" very far from exhilarating. To me, it looks more like our society, just like Aldous Huxley predicted, is moving towards the mass production of individuals in which people won't be people anymore. They will be more like products.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;">Photo: www.californiaprolife.org</span></div></div>Eddiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16719417739757760997noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-26205819.post-38712578962284216792009-12-30T23:50:00.000-08:002009-12-30T23:58:30.128-08:00One full decade into the 21st century! And the end of the world, v 5.0... ish<div style="text-align: justify;">Seems like yesterday when people were on a frenzy about the imminent, but catastrophic coming of the year 2000. Anybody born before 1991, or even 1992, should remember those awkward behaviours within certain clusters of society in the years between 1997 and 1999. The coming of a new century (and a new millennium), in the minds of a few hordes of individuals, meant that terrible things were coming: </div><ul><li style="text-align: justify;">Computers would collapse because of their inability to tell the difference between 1900 and the year 2000 (the famous Y2K problem), causing a worldwide chaos. Bank savings would be lost, airplanes would not be able to fly, databases would vanish... and so on></li><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><li style="text-align: justify;">Terrible things from the outer space would doom the Earth, for which an amazing surge of sects was witnessed worldwide. Who could forget for instance fellows like "heaven's gate" (whose website still runs, although it -obviously- hasn't been updated since 1997) committing mass suicides to 'save themselves' from the catastrophe?></li> <div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><li style="text-align: justify;">World War III would happen soon.</li><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><li style="text-align: justify;">Maybe not World War III, but Armageddon!<br /></li><li style="text-align: justify;">Gee, even the end of the world was just about to happen!</li></ul><div style="text-align: justify;">Utter nonsense. Fast forward a whole decade, and we can look back to those days and smile to ourselves, knowing that the paranoia created around the year 2000 was simply that: Paranoia. Created because back on the 16th Century, a man named Gregory and who happened to be a Pope, calculated that exactly by that time the year should turn from 1999 to 2000. Not only that, but the world would go from the 20th to the 21st century, and a new millennium would begin.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Is our civilization really beyond that paranoia yet? It is somewhat painful to admit that it might not be the case. Well, it is indeed over for the case of the year 2000 (anybody still believing that the year 2000 did indeed bring chaos and misery upon us should be considered extremely dangerous). But what about the years to come? More specifically, what about the year 2012?</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Before getting any further on the matter, here is a bit of background about the paranoia about the year 2012: The Mayans were, or are, a prominent civilization that, among other things, are credited with putting together the most accurate calendar ever made. Such calendar has proved to be accurate for predicting astronomical phenomena, for measuring beginnings and ends of seasons, years, etcetera. That calendar 'ends' on December 21, 2012: An otherwise unnoticeable event that Hollywood has used to do their business-as-usual, and by the way, to create confusion and panic among the most vulnerable sectors of society.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Whether the Mayan calculations (and for the matter, any other calculations and 'predictions' available) mean that December 21, 2012, will be the 'end of the world', 'the end of an era', 'the Day of Atonement', or whatever not, we won't know for sure. And honestly speaking, it shouldn't be anything to lose sleep about. At the end of the day, everything seems to point out again that this is just part of the constant paranoia that humans have about the end of the world. Or at least the end of the world as we know it. </div><div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">My two cents: Let's sit back and work to be good as a race in the meantime. When the end times have to come -- they will. Imminently. And we, mortal humans, won't be able to do anything to impede that. </div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Happy new year, and let's make from our stay in this world a hell of a time!</div></div>Eddiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16719417739757760997noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-26205819.post-27247407984540851552009-11-10T22:02:00.000-08:002009-11-10T22:03:40.472-08:00Good deeds...?<div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; color: rgb(51, 51, 51); line-height: 14px; ">"What better place than here? What better time than now?"</span></div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; color: rgb(51, 51, 51); line-height: 14px; "><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">That's precisely what I thought when I decided to do a good deed. And that good deed would be charity... helping the needy. Giving food to people who might be struggling to fill their bellies throughout the day. Being compassionate about those who are less fortunate and might even not have a shelter to cover themselves from rain. What can be more self rewarding than the feeling of having helped someone who needed it?</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">With that in mind, while walking through the aisles of a grocery store, I decided to buy two food items, some snacks. But one would be for myself, and the other one would be for a needy person. So I did. I paid for them and placed one of the snacks in the inner pocket of my coat, while I just walked out and had my snack. </div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">It didn't take me too long to find a candidate to be recipient of my spare snack. Two blocks away from the grocery store, I found a man in his 40's (I think), not extremely bad dressed but not very tidied up indeed, asking for spare change. And right across the street... another guy, this one in his early 30's and more or less in the same physical condition, doing the same. Some 20 meters ahead, a third individual with a wildly grown white beard, worn out clothes, and probably in his 50's. Some older, some younger... but all of them in need.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Having this scenario, I entered a dilemma: Under what grounds does one decide to give food to one homeless person, but not the other one across the street? How to choose who needs it more? Should I just stand and observe which one receives coins less often than their counterparts? Or maybe we should just be able to tell by their physical aspect? Is that a reliable indicator? Is the old one always more in need than the young one? Oh well. I came up with so many questions, and with so little answers. </div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Determining what person was in more need was not the only issue. Think about this: how correct is it to give food to one homeless person, while just telling the others that I don't have any spare change? That is quite a tough scenario, especially if those others witnessed how you handed food to a needy guy, just like themselves. Is it more correct (or ethical, if you like) to not give anything to anybody under those conditions? How could I look those people in the eyes and tell them "sorry, I don't have anything to help you with"...? </div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">I ended up giving the spare snack to some needy woman a few blocks further away. She was in her 50's, lacked her front teeth and appeared hungry. But let's face it, she was probably not the only hungry one there. Strangely, I thought that I'd feel alright by giving food to a needy person. But after accomplishing my good deed, the sentiment of fulfillment was not as powerful as I expected. It was very far from that. Not that I felt miserable either, but I could not avoid thinking whether she was indeed the correct choice... and all my questions just kept bouncing all around my head as I kept walking on the streets, finding panhandlers literally in every corner. </div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Moreover, these thoughts can be extrapolated to so many levels...</div></span>Eddiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16719417739757760997noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-26205819.post-90901612697580343012009-06-30T14:24:00.000-07:002009-06-30T15:49:33.825-07:00Honduran "coup d'état"?<div style="text-align: justify;">During the last couple of days, I have been following close the events related to the so-called coup d'état in Honduras, in which President Manuel Zelaya was arrested and forced into exile by the Honduran Army, and Mr. Roberto Micheletti was sworn as new President under the approval of the Parliament.<br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_I-hQPuhS9AQ/SkqVz0zEyRI/AAAAAAAAAwI/7tMWrBgxAPE/s1600-h/celebration+honduras.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; float: right; cursor: pointer; width: 247px; height: 170px;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_I-hQPuhS9AQ/SkqVz0zEyRI/AAAAAAAAAwI/7tMWrBgxAPE/s320/celebration+honduras.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5353255824661989650" border="0" /></a>Indeed, this political crisis in Honduras has received a full coverage from the media around the world, which has been greeted by the international community with less than sympathy. Leaders from around the globe, especially from countries in the Americas, have promptly expressed their disapproval of the "coup d'état", and demanded the restoration of Mr. Zelaya in power. What the international community is ignoring though, is that Mr. Zelaya was arrested and overthrown because he refused to follow the orders issued by the Supreme Court of Honduras, which forbid him of going ahead with a referendum to modify the Constitution in order to reelect himself as President, when the current Constitution clearly prohibits reelection and its promotion, and demands that any public servant incurring on those activities to be removed from their position.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_I-hQPuhS9AQ/SkqUAvKRcaI/AAAAAAAAAwA/2AGaq0hJBSc/s1600-h/zelaya_chavez.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 231px; height: 155px;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_I-hQPuhS9AQ/SkqUAvKRcaI/AAAAAAAAAwA/2AGaq0hJBSc/s320/zelaya_chavez.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5353253847463719330" border="0" /></a>As one could expect, the first leaders to condemn the "coup" were Mr. Zelaya's closest supporters: <a href="http://everythingscorner.blogspot.com/2007/02/populist-latin-american-trio.html">President Hugo Chavez, from Venezuela; President Rafael Correa, from Ecuador, President Evo Morales, from Bolivia, and President Daniel Ortega from Nicaragua</a>. All of which are loyally aligned to Mr. Chavez's ideas to shift Latin America towards socialism and, by the way, to turn their backs to the <span style="font-style: italic;">Empire</span> (a.k.a the United states) and its allies. In fact, Chavez was prompt to threaten the newly formed government of Honduras with a military operation, should his friend and ally Manuel Zelaya not be restored in office.<br /><br />No surprises up to this point. The impressive part comes when President Barack Obama, too, joins Chavez's group to declare the "coup d'état" as illegal. And so do virtually all the regional leaders, even some of the most conservatives and tending less to meddle into foreign affairs: Mexico, Colombia, Brazil, among others. But what everybody is ignoring here, as I previously pointed out, is that President Zelaya violated the national Constitution and the mandates issued by the Supreme Court of his country, which constitutes an abuse of power and hence makes him unfit to rule the country.<br /><br />I seriously doubt that this is a case of coup d'état, as the regional leaders and the media alike have been reporting. This is more a case in which the people decided to overthrow a power-abusive tyrant, in the hopes of restoring real democracy and <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rechtsstaat">Rechtsstaat</a>. I welcome the bravery of the people of Honduras and hope that this transition will bring a bright future to their country.<br /><br /><span style="font-size:78%;">With information from <a href="http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090629/ap_on_re_la_am_ca/lt_honduras_coup">Yahoo! News</a></span><br /><span style="font-size:78%;">Photos by Reuters and ABN, respectively</span><br /></div>Eddiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16719417739757760997noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-26205819.post-91229108600788227422009-04-09T21:23:00.000-07:002009-04-09T21:49:52.785-07:00"Camping weekend" in Italy<div style="text-align: justify;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_I-hQPuhS9AQ/Sd7P1U4hVGI/AAAAAAAAAv4/7FhAqIlQaTE/s1600-h/alg_italy.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; float: right; cursor: pointer; width: 212px; height: 320px;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_I-hQPuhS9AQ/Sd7P1U4hVGI/AAAAAAAAAv4/7FhAqIlQaTE/s320/alg_italy.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5322920324644295778" border="0" /></a>The recent earthquake in the city of L'Aquila, in central Italy, left the town in ruins and 17,000 people lost their homes. The response by the Italian government was prompt, setting tents for the affected people and providing them with food and temporary shelter; an experience that the Italian Prime Minister, Silvio Berlusconi, suggested the homeless inhabitants of L'Aquila should enjoy as a "camping weekend".<br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />This absurd comment, far from injecting positiveness into the public and confidence that the Italian Government is working for the well being of the people of L'Aquila, sparked a wave of criticism towards Berlusconi and raised doubts about the seriousness with which he is handling the aftermath of the devastating earthquake in Italy. It is not rocket science to figure out that the Italian public, and particularly the people directly affected by the earthquake, would not enjoy to have someone making inappropriate comments about their tragedy. And what could be worse than having an Italian leader himself making them?<br /><br />But, as a report that appeared in <a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2009/apr/08/italy-earthquake-berlusconi">The Guardian</a> suggests, the help that the Italian government has provided to the people of L'Aquila is far from feeling as a "camping weekend", especially when as many as 200 people lacked a tent to sleep during the night, which was worsened by the rain and cold conditions in the area. Needless to say, the mood of the people affected by the earthquake does not allow them to enjoy the "camping weekend" at all. Despite Berlusconi's bizarre comments, it is remarkable that the Italian Government has had a fast response to help its citizens in these hard times.<br /><br />My sympathy goes to the people from L'Aquila, wishing that they recover fast from this catastrophe.<br /><br /><span style="font-size:78%;">Photo by AP</span><br /></div>Eddiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16719417739757760997noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-26205819.post-38775556713656287362009-03-09T15:16:00.002-07:002009-03-09T15:37:21.500-07:00Terrell Owens, the newest Buffalo Bill<div style="text-align: justify;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_I-hQPuhS9AQ/SbWZ55-TGvI/AAAAAAAAAvw/CteNbuh-lFg/s1600-h/terrell-owens.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 183px; height: 265px;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_I-hQPuhS9AQ/SbWZ55-TGvI/AAAAAAAAAvw/CteNbuh-lFg/s320/terrell-owens.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5311320555647081202" border="0" /></a>As a Buffalo Bills fan myself, this is some news that I could just not leave out of my blog: Terrell Owens signed a one-year deal with the Bills, in a move that was completely unexpected, and also totally unusual in the traditional modus operandi of the team.<br /><br />How good, or bad, is this radical step taken by the Bills? Terrell Owens is a very talented player, who has made a huge reputation with his performance on the field... and his eccentricities outside. He is famed not only for his outstanding abilities as a tight end, but also for his disciplinary slip ups that have caused some indiscipline in the teams where he has played in the past. And this is definitely a matter of interest for the Bills, who traditionally have had low-profile, young rosters of players who typically keep themselves away from the limelight of disciplinary issues.<br /><br />On the other hand, the Bills' performance as a team has been far from outstanding during the last ten years. The reasons? Nothing has been proved for sure, but I would think there have been several flaws in the game structure planned by the Bills in the last decade. But, although there have been several improvements in the game style utilized by the team (most remarkably during the last season), and even though the current roster is made up by energized and passionate people, a couple of pieces are still lacking from the puzzle to achieve success: I would say those are experience, and steady perseverance. And Terrell Owens is definitely a player that will bring both to the teams' performance during the following season.<br /><br />I welcome the deal signed with Terrell Owens, on a personal title I think his participation with the Bills will definitely boost up the teams' possibilities of (finally) making it to the playoffs, for the first time in about a decade.<br /></div>Eddiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16719417739757760997noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-26205819.post-84185833826989513682009-01-06T15:57:00.000-08:002009-01-06T22:55:45.070-08:00What media don't mention about the Gaza conflict<div style="text-align: justify;">This new year 2009 has started pretty fast. And very hard as well. The news of another conflict in the Middle East is definitely not the kind of news that anybody would expect to start a new year. But, if you ask me, it was just about time until this conflict ignited.<br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_I-hQPuhS9AQ/SWQEy9feqmI/AAAAAAAAAuQ/mXYrKs0Uc90/s1600-h/Qassam.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 240px; height: 157px;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_I-hQPuhS9AQ/SWQEy9feqmI/AAAAAAAAAuQ/mXYrKs0Uc90/s320/Qassam.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5288357135986371170" border="0" /></a>I have heard from different newspapers and other information sources the outrage that the Israeli invasion on Gaza has brought. Thousands of people around the world have demonstrated their disapproval of the operation performed by the Israeli Army (IDF), and most of the media I've seen have clearly put Israel in negative light for its actions. Is this a fair judgment?<br /><br />The bias that the media has against Israel is nothing new. Throughout the years, sources of information have depicted Israel as a repressive State that systematically abuses the rights and freedoms of Palestinians in Gaza and the West Bank. Even though it is not a secret that the current military operation in the Gaza Strip is the result of more than 10 years of daily missiles launched from Gaza into Israel, some people have tagged the current operation as a butchery and a genocide orchestrated against Palestinian civilians by the Israeli Army. Is this an accurate judgment? Here are a few facts that should be considered when making up our minds:<br /></div><ul style="text-align: justify;"><li><span style="font-weight: bold;">Israel is a sovereign, democratic, non-repressive State</span> (Fact: <span style="font-style: italic;">The Israeli population is comprised of Jews, Christians, Muslims, and other minorities. Despite the Jewish majority among Israeli nationals, there are Israeli Christian and Muslim minorities that enjoy full Israeli citizenship, which includes the possession of Israeli identity cards, enjoy freedom of speech, freedom of religion, and right to vote</span>).<br /></li><li><span style="font-weight: bold;">The current operation in Gaza is NOT aimed against Palestinian civilians, as some media have (willingly or unwillingly) reported</span> (Facts: <span style="font-style: italic;">800,000+ leaflets disseminated by the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) to Gaza civilians instructing them to stay away from terrorist and weapons storage sites // 70+ times the IDF warned populated areas before conducting airstrikes</span>).</li><li><span style="font-weight: bold;">The Operation Cast Lead (as the military operation in Gaza has been dubbed) is the result of the ongoing missile attacks made by Hamas against Israeli civilian targets </span>(Facts: <span style="font-style: italic;">10,000+ rockets and mortars fired from Gaza since 2001 // 6,500+ rockets and mortars fired from Gaza since Israel withdrew from Gaza in 2005 // 3,200+ rockets and mortars fired from Gaza in 2008 alone // 28 deaths caused by rockets and mortars fired from Gaza into Israel since 2001. The dead include Israelis, Palestinians and foreign workers</span>).</li><li><span style="font-weight: bold;">Most of the Palestinian casualties during the Operation Cast Lead so far are a result of Hamas using the civilian population as human shields to protect themselves and their weapons across Gaza</span> (Facts:<span style="font-style: italic;"> 3 mosques in Gaza used as weapons, ammunitions and explosives depots that were struck by the Israel Defense Forces during the operation in Gaza. The strikes occurred only at night and never during prayer times, to avoid civilian casualties // 0 -that is, zero- wounded Palestinians allowed by Hamas to cross from Gaza into Egypt for treatment, whereas at least 20 Palestinians, including 2 children, have been evacuated to Israel for medical treatment</span>).</li><li><span style="font-weight: bold;">Hamas has constantly refused to negotiate peace with Israel, ignoring the willingness of the Israeli government and the Palestinian Authority to reach agreements through negotiations. Instead, Hamas believes in the jihad (holy Muslim war) to reach its goals </span>(Facts: <span style="font-style: italic;">In 2005, Israel evacuated 100% proportion of the Gaza Strip and handed it over to the Palestinians // Hamas' charter explicitly calls for the destruction of the State of Israel and the instauration of an Islamic State in the territory that comprises Israel, the West Bank, and Gaza. // Hamas' charter also explicitly considers peace talks and negotiations a waste of time, and considers Jihad as the only path to success</span>)<span style="font-family:Arial;"><em>.</em></span></li></ul><div style="text-align: justify;">Whereas the death of Palestinian civilians must be condemned by all means, it is also true that those casualties cannot be blamed on Israel alone. Hamas has a track record of utilizing civilians to protect their own terrorist interests, and at the end of the day, Palestinians in Gaza elected Hamas as their leadership in early 2006, being clearly aware of Hamas' ideology and modus operandi. Hamas is a terrorist organization, and the world should fight terrorism so we can have the hope of handing a peaceful world to the generations to come...<br /></div><br /><span style="font-size:78%;">With information from The Israel Project and Hamas Charter<br />Photo by AP<br /></span>Eddiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16719417739757760997noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-26205819.post-16625955446056690122008-12-08T22:52:00.000-08:002008-12-08T23:21:57.477-08:00The light at the end of the tunnel?Roughly three weeks have passed since I wrote my last entry in my blog. And believe me, it's not a lack of interest in writing stuff here -- at the end of the day, writing is one of my favorite things to do in life. But there have been other factors that have kept me of writing posts, most notably lack of time and lack of good (i.e. positive) things to write about.<br /><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />Yes, there have been interesting things going on in our world lately. Most of them have not been positive though: A series of despicable terrorist attacks against tourist and religious centers in Mumbai, India, left hundreds of casualties and thousands of injuries. Also, the world economic recession has prompted a wave of layoffs that have left thousands of people around the world without a job. On top of that, the purchasing power of consumers worldwide appears to be reducing more and more everyday, and we are just wondering when will this economic recession come to an end...<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_I-hQPuhS9AQ/ST4cXxLPYEI/AAAAAAAAAuI/T_H7kQuoMXA/s1600-h/medicine.gif"><img style="margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; float: right; cursor: pointer; width: 150px; height: 172px;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_I-hQPuhS9AQ/ST4cXxLPYEI/AAAAAAAAAuI/T_H7kQuoMXA/s320/medicine.gif" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5277687007987851330" border="0" /></a>Even though there is a real scarcity of positive topics to write about recently, from time to time it's possible to hear out there things that really make us remember that ours is a civilization in motion, and that there is always a flip side to all the turmoil that happens at times. This time, it is a news that, if it is true, will bring benefits and hope to thousands, maybe millions, of people who live with HIV.<br /><br />Luc Montagnier, the French scientist who, with the help of a group of collaborators discovered in 1982 the retrovirus guilty of causing HIV in patients, believes that within 5 years there will be a vaccination to treat and prevent HIV available in the markets. According to a <a href="http://technology.sympatico.msn.cbc.ca/News/ContentPosting?newsitemid=hiv-vaccine&feedname=CBC-TECH-SCIENCE-V3&show=False&number=0&showbyline=True&subtitle=&detect=&abc=abc&date=True">note</a> published by CBC news, there are no evident clues as to why would Montagnier set the 5 year timeframe to come up with a treatment and preventive vaccination. But I want to believe that Mr. Montagnier has some inside information, that he knows well the status of all the research done so far surrounding the treatment of HIV, and that his predictions will be correct.<br /><br />It is hard to imagine that the day when the cure for HIV will be available is coming. Too good to feel true, but the fact that my mind cannot currently see that happening does not mean by any means that I am negative or skeptical about Mr. Montagnier predictions. At the end of the day, he is the expert and he knows much more about the topic than I do... and if his thoughts are correct, then mankind will have given another huge leap in 5 years time.<br /><br />Very nice indeed. I would love to hear about the day when the announcement of the cure of cancer and other diseases will be made, if ever. These successes will benefit millions of people around the world, and all the generations to come.<br /><br /><span style="font-size:85%;">With information from CBC news, available <a href="http://technology.sympatico.msn.cbc.ca/News/ContentPosting?newsitemid=hiv-vaccine&feedname=CBC-TECH-SCIENCE-V3&show=False&number=0&showbyline=True&subtitle=&detect=&abc=abc&date=True">here</a>.</span><br /></div>Eddiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16719417739757760997noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-26205819.post-41673481690102297312008-11-18T21:57:00.000-08:002008-11-18T22:33:16.920-08:00XPS or PDF?It is unbelievable how little time I have had lately to post new entries to my blog. But there are good reasons for that: work has kept me busy, contributing to other blogs has also absorbed a little bit of my spare time, and ultimately fixing some issues with financial institutions lately has had its effect on my schedule as well.<br /><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_I-hQPuhS9AQ/SSOzDd4EW6I/AAAAAAAAAuA/ea36KoAkLu4/s1600-h/acrobat+logo.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 128px; height: 128px;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_I-hQPuhS9AQ/SSOzDd4EW6I/AAAAAAAAAuA/ea36KoAkLu4/s320/acrobat+logo.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5270252861094386594" border="0" /></a>And it is precisely about these issues with the financial institutions I want to talk about. Not about the issues themselves -- but rather about some interesting findings I made in order to get them solved. I will start by saying that right now I am on an extended stay in another city for work purposes, and currently I don't have a printer to print out stuff from my computer. Moreover, I don't speak the local language in order to go out to the streets and asking pedestrians about a place where they can print out stuff for me. In the meantime, I still have to pay bills back home, so instead of printing out the receipts of my payments, I thought that it would be easier just to keep copies of my online receipts, and storing them in my computer.<br /><br />Well, of course I am not a computer geek, and there are a lot of things that I don't know about computers. And my surprise was big when I learned that the only way to keep my online receipts stored in my computer was to save them as XPS files, which by the way, I never heard of before. But, since I discovered that it was possible to view those files later using Internet Explorer, I thought that it would do no harm to keep them in such format, and just printing them out whenever I needed them. Later, I found out that XPS is a file format developed by Microsoft, which is designed to keep files in the same way that PDFs work, overall (as I said, I am not very techie, so I won't discuss here any technical specifications or processes of each type of file).<br /><br />The time to utilize those receipts came to me much earlier than I expected, when I had to show them to financial institutions in order to avoid getting charged with unfair interests. So I thought that sending them the online receipts along with instructions to open them with Internet Explorer would be enough for them to get my issue solved as soon as possible. But my surprise would be big when I found out that the bank could not open the files, and they were requesting me to convert to another file format!<br /><br />The natural option to send this kind of information is PDF files. But I wondered whether there was a way to convert XPS files into PDF's? I found in the internet a couple of programs that pretty much converted any type of MS Office document (.doc, .xls, .ppt, etc) to PDF format. However, they were not freeware, and I had no guarantee that they would work on XPS files as well. What to do?<br /><br />After about an hour of doing extensive research through the web, I came across a site that spoke about an utility named <a href="http://www.cutepdf.com/Products/CutePDF/writer.asp">CutePDF writer</a>, which essentially is a freeware program that "installs itself as a printer subsystem", according to its creators. In other words, it is possible to "print" any document that can be printed out from any computer into a PDF file. The interface is not rocket science, in fact everything works exactly in the same way as printing out anything through a regular printer, with the difference that instead of getting a hard copy of the file, you will get a window that will ask you for a folder where to save your new PDF. Amazing!<br /><br />I believe that XPS files work quite well, but their main drawback is that they are virtually unknown among regular, not-so-techie users, such as myself. In the meantime, I believe that PDF's will still be the standard for non-modifiable documents, and CutePDF is about the best way to create such widely used documents... I would dare to say, even better than using Adobe's products themselves.<br /></div>Eddiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16719417739757760997noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-26205819.post-35469906980754431102008-11-05T00:41:00.000-08:002008-11-05T01:07:59.857-08:00President Obama... the wind of change?<div style="text-align: justify;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_I-hQPuhS9AQ/SRFiYMCvwOI/AAAAAAAAAt4/8-bJOpwthmU/s1600-h/obama.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; float: right; cursor: pointer; width: 200px; height: 250px;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_I-hQPuhS9AQ/SRFiYMCvwOI/AAAAAAAAAt4/8-bJOpwthmU/s320/obama.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5265097607061946594" border="0" /></a>This is today's news that is not news anymore: Barack Obama is voted president of the United States.<br /><br />Yes, it is true that Barack Obama becomes the first African American to become President of the United States. I am not sure whether that is necessarily a relevant fact; it might be if we consider it as a proof that minorities in the United States are progressing in terms of holding more relevance in national decisions. However, I don't necessarily see the election of Barack Obama as a reflection of such progress; let's not forget that other African Americans have already held important national positions in the past. For instance, the current Secretary of State, Condolezza Rice, and her predecessor Colin Powell.<br /><br />The election of Barack Obama is in fact relevant for many reasons other than his race. He brings tons of hope to some Americans, who believe that the power of change towards a better future for the nation is in Mr. Obama's hands and ideals. He's also becoming president in times of turmoil, when the U.S. is submerged in the worst economic recession that the country has seen since the Great Depression of 1929. Also, his coming to office will come by the time when U.S. troops are still present in Iraq, in what has proven to be one of the most unpopular wars of all times amongst the U.S. citizens. People trust that Mr. Obama will be that person who will finally direct the country to the path of sustained progress for all.<br /><br />I sincerely hope that Mr. Obama can achieve that. It would be extremely sad if, at the end of the road, he proves to be another populist that comes to power by means of selling people hope without necessarily making that become true. The winds of change appear to finally have hit the US, and let's hope that change works for the best interests of the free world.<br /></div>Eddiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16719417739757760997noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-26205819.post-55358749411999803502008-10-24T02:26:00.000-07:002008-10-24T03:12:27.528-07:00Ironic? The plastic bags case<div style="text-align: justify;">Back in January, I wrote a <a href="http://everythingscorner.blogspot.com/2008/01/plastic-bags-no-more.html">post</a> about activists in city of Vancouver, Canada, trying to convince the local authorities to eventually impose a ban on plastic grocery bags. It is certainly a great idea, as plastic grocery bags have proven to be harmful to the environment (low biodegradability, pollution of waters, etc).<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_I-hQPuhS9AQ/SQGfK4YCggI/AAAAAAAAAiI/Z-3ZgEDl5aQ/s1600-h/plastic+grocery+bag.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 236px; height: 213px;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_I-hQPuhS9AQ/SQGfK4YCggI/AAAAAAAAAiI/Z-3ZgEDl5aQ/s320/plastic+grocery+bag.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5260660849026171394" border="0" /></a>No wonder that this kind of ideas are promoted in a country like Canada, and more specifically from the province of British Columbia, where inhabitants boast about their green practices, such as recycling materials and utilizing cleaner transportation (trolleybuses, bicycles, buses that run with biofuels, and so on). Interestingly, even though lots of British Columbians already own reusable grocery bags and use them routinely, it is still very common to see patrons who prefer to avoid paying CAD$0.99 to buy a reusable bag. Instead, they still choose the standard plastic bags, which stores happily provide for free... and which, of course, won't be reused in most of the cases.<br /><br />Whilst Canada is highly regarded as one of the cleanest countries in terms of green living habits, China is regarded as exactly the opposite. Discharge of industrial waste into rivers, uncontrolled emission of greenhouse gases, and lack of recycling programs in place, are some of the issues that have given China its fame as a non environmentally-friendly country.<br /><br />Now to the ironic part: since June this year, the Chinese authorities have started a campaign to shift the peoples' habits from choosing plastic grocery bags to leaning for reusable types in the very short run. Even though reusable bags are not readily available for purchase everywhere in China (as opposed to what happens in Canada), grocery stores apply a fee to new plastic bags for customers! Of course, the purchase of plastic bags is not mandatory, but it is a standard practice across the country. The result? People are avoiding the use of plastic bags, and they are carrying their groceries in other non-disposable items (such as backpacks). Their strategy is definitely working!<br /><br />The question is: why can they succeesfully put in place these practices in China (a country that traditionally doesn't emphasize a lot the preservation of the environment) in an accelerated fashion, whereas in Canada it is progressing in slow motion...? Just an idea to think about.<br /></div>Eddiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16719417739757760997noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-26205819.post-12462531109613977732008-10-19T07:27:00.000-07:002008-10-19T07:41:49.649-07:00Learning survival Chinese, the hard way!<div style="text-align: justify;">I seldom use my blog to write about personal experiences. However, I will have to make an exception for this post, as my story today is really worth of posting on my site. I think that, other than doing nice dramatic novel, the story reflects the taste of issues of life that some people have to deal with when traveling and living in foreign lands. Enjoy.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_I-hQPuhS9AQ/SPtHElg3MLI/AAAAAAAAAiA/GJSa-EyUuDE/s1600-h/love.gif"><img style="margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; float: right; cursor: pointer;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_I-hQPuhS9AQ/SPtHElg3MLI/AAAAAAAAAiA/GJSa-EyUuDE/s320/love.gif" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5258875134000181426" border="0" /></a>Shanghai, 5:50 am. It's still dark outside. As a result of the jet-lag, I wake up early on a Sunday morning and decide to check my email and checking whether any friends are available for chat prior to taking a shower. If I only knew of how messy would be my first morning in Shanghai...!<br /><br />I send a couple of emails, check my facebook, and surf the web for a bit. At about 6:50 am, I see that it's not that dark in the street anymore, and decide that it's a perfect time to take a shower. Hum... last night, when I took a shower, I remember that for some reason the water heater was not working properly, so it would probably be a good idea to see if I can fix that before having to take another cold shower, just last yesterday. I approach the electric heater, and notice that it's indeed connected, so everything should be working. But hey!! What are those two valves (one blue, one red) below the heater? Maybe they are for turning it on? Let's find out. I'll start by turning the blue one... geez... it's hard... maybe I can try to turn it harder... success!!! I finally moved it... but wait... What the...?!!<br /><br /><i>"Houston... ehh... we've got a problem here!!"</i>. Indeed, I just popped out the valve, and now I have a beautiful fountain inside my apartment, furiously throwing out water and flooding the place! Great! Now, WHAT SHOULD I DO?<br /><br /><b>Step 1:</b> Remain calm. Breathe deep. Now, time to think fast... what to do?<br /><b>Step 2:</b> Try to fix the problem yourself. Well, if popping off the valve started all this problem, just putting the valve back will solve it. But the pressure of the water is so high, that it's just impossible to put it back. The water itself will just push it off forever!<br /><b>Step 3:</b> Shut down the water stream coming from the street!. Great idea!!! Now, where the hell can I find the valve to shut it down...?! No clue!!<br /><b>Step 4:</b> If you can't fix the problem yourself, just ask for help!<br /><br />Okay, so here I go. While my apartment is getting flooded by tens of liters of water per minute, I run out and the first thing that I decide to do is to knock my neighbor's door as loud as possible. No answer. Is anybody living there at least? Who'll know? At the end of the day, yesterday I was so tired after my 12 and a half hour-long flight that I didn't really feel like going out to explore the surroundings here. Big mistake.<br /><br />As no one answers next door, I come back to the apartment to admire the flooding there! Ok, if things are to get screwed up, at least let's try to make the best out of it. I take my whole luggage lying on the floor and throw it outside the apartment before the furious water reaches the area where I left it since the night before. Of course, I didn't have time to close the suitcases properly and make sure that things would remain inside of them, so there you have clothes flying to the hall outside my apartment and making a mess outside. But at least, my luggage was not getting wet.<br /><br />Ok, my stuff is safe for now, but that's not even close to a solution for the problem here. What now? Let's go downstairs and ask for help! Barefoot, but well equipped with my pyjama, my keys, my wallet, and the little booklet of "survival Chinese" phrases, I rush downstairs and run to the entrance of the complex (yes, I live in a complex of 5 buildings) to seek help. I don't find anybody, except for the security guard, who seems to be enjoying a lot his Sunday morning. I enter his office, and take out my Chinese pocket emergency phrasebook to utter some words that let him know that I am in trouble.<br /><br /><i>"Jiu ming a!"</i> ("help!", according to my booklet) I yell, to which the guy leans back on his chair, smiles at me as if he was enjoying seeing my agitation there, and calmly replies something in Chinese (something like <i>"bu duo"</i>, who'll know?), which I assumed meant "I don't understand". I try to give him some keywords that would hopefully make him understand what's the matter. Almost playing charades, I explain <i>"wo de... jia... you shui...!!!"</i> (my... house... has... water). The guy keeps smiling, and he replies something in Chinese that of course I couldn't understand, but from his behavior I assume that he did not get a hint of what was going on. Given my failure to obtain any help from this guy, I just rush to my building, and then up to the apartment, to see if I can make a skype call to my landlord. When I walk inside, unsurprisingly, I find out that the water keeps raising its level, and now it is about to reach the area of my bedroom and bathroom. Isn't that cool.<br /><br />Well, people normally don't enjoy to work on a Sunday morning if it's not absolutely necessary, so the landlord decides that he wants the day off, and the best way to make sure that people won't bother him is to turn off the cellphone. On his end, turning it off proves to be a great success, since he is not bothered by my calls asking for help! On my end, it is just a prolongation of the wet tragicomedy in my apartment.<br /><br />So what other big ideas come to my mind? Well, try knocking another neighbor's door to ask them for help! There is another apartment across the hall on the floor I live in, so hopefully someone will come and give me a helping hand. I rush there, knock the door desperately, and some voice inside says something in Chinese. I ask for help in English, hoping that the person inside is a foreigner and can finally understand that I have little problem to take care of. But my hopes vanish quickly, as after explaining that my place was getting flooded, the same voice replies again in Chinese, saying something that I can't understand, but which clearly suggests that he won't open the door, let alone giving any help.<br /><br />7:00 am. Just about ten minutes, which appear to be more like hours, have passed since the incident began. The flooding, of course, keeps getting worse as time goes by, and I am already in an act of desperation. What else can I do? I have no choice but to rush downstairs again and trying to convince the security guy, who is about the only person around, to come and see by himself what is really going on, which I cannot explain in Chinese. So there I go. Nicely dressed with my colorful pyjama, I run across the yard and find again the security guy leaning on his chair. He looks at me and makes a gesture that I understand like if he was saying "You again?! What the hell do you want?!". Given the fact that he does not understand English whatsoever, I try to come up again with some keyword that picture my case there: <i>"Wo de jia... you shui... qing lai jian!"</i> (my house... has water... please come to see!). Just like before, the guy smirks and replies something like <i>"bu duo"</i>, and then starts talking very long sentences that of course I don't understand. But clearly, he doesn't seem to be interested in coming to see, even though I am waving my hand, signaling him that I want him to come. It looks that body language is also not effective for these matters.<br /><br />Then, the security guy finally gets his rear off the chair and he appears to be eager to do something. <i>"Maybe he did understand this time!!"</i> I thought. He yells something, for which he gets an answer from some guy who was in the backroom of his "office". Then they start making a conversation, replying forth and back to whatever they were saying, until their conversation comes to an end when the two of them start laughing (probably at me!). Again, he starts talking to me something in Chinese, and I just keep saying the words <i>"jia... shui!"</i> (house... water!). The guy heads off the "office", and comes into his washroom, where he turns the knob of his sink to show me the running water. He points at it and says <i>"shui?"</i>, as if he was trying to make sure that I knew what was I saying. I nod, so he goes back into the "office", picks up the phone and calls some number. After his conversation on the phone, he gives me some instructions in Chinese, from which I only understood the words <i>"zheli"</i> (there) and <i>"wu"</i> (five), which I thought might mean that someone would be coming to the building number 5 (which is my building) to take care of my case.<br /><br />I rush back to the entrance of the building to wait for the help to come, but no one appears to be coming in this direction. So I rush up again to see the progress of the flooding, and hopefully to come up with the bright idea that will get me out of my little problem here. When I reach the apartment, naturally, i discover that the water has already reached even the bathroom and bedroom. Of course, water keeps coming, and coming, and coming, and coming...<br /><br />07:05 am. My desperation is extreme. Since no one appears to understand that there was a problem here, I just start yelling <i>"HELP! HELP!"</i> across my floor, hoping that someone, either at my floor or from a nearby floor, will at least be attracted to come out and see why is there someone shouting that early in the morning. Then suddenly, the doors of the elevator open, and a Chinese guy, also dressed in a pyjama and smoking a cigarette comes out. It was the help that the security guy called before (and probably just like you, I have no idea how he knew what floor exactly to come), so I quickly wave my hand so he can walk inside the apartment and see what is going on there. He follows me and sees the beautiful mess that the flooding was causing inside, to which his immediate reply was a lengthy, yet calm <i>"ooooooooooooh!"</i> exclamation. Then, clearly unimpressed by the scenario, he walks out of the apartment, and with his hand signals me to follow him. I do so, and he shows me a little door in the opposite side of the floor, which he opens. Inside, there is a knob that he turns, and as soon as he does so, the sound of the water coming out of the water heater ceases. Then, in a perfect Chinese accompanied by some charades, he explains to me that, whenever I'm ready to resume the water stream into my apartment, I should just turn that knob. I tell him a number of times <i>"Xiexie! xiexie!"</i> (thank you! thank you!), and with all the calm of the world he gets inside the elevator and leaves.<br /><br />I spend the next couple of hours drying up the place. First, I need to "shovel" water with a dustpan into the sink or into the shower, since those are the only sewers in my house. While I am doing that, someone knocks the door of my apartment and, since the door was already open, just walks in and starts talking to me in English (at last!). It is my neighbor, the guy who lives in the apartment next door, where I thought that probably no one lived... another foreigner, this one from England, in China. He sees the mess, asks me about what happened there, and apologizes for not coming out to help before. But at the end of the day, I was feeling good that at least I could talk to someone! We agree to go sometime for a few beers. The rest of the morning I would have to spend it waiting for the landlord to come, bring some people to fix the heater, cleaning up... and who knows what else. But I feel great that the problem is under control now.<br /><br />The morale of this story, is that learning some "survival language" when traveling to a foreign country is crucial. I saw myself in big trouble with this problem, and the desperation of not being able to explain to people what exactly I wanted was utterly frustrating. That's probably the key drawback of living as an expat, and I learned that too quickly in this trip. I am sure that I'll find myself in many other situations in which language barriers will be an issue, so I'd better learn quicker some survival phrases. My recommendation? Instead of learning things like <i>"hello"</i> or <i>"my name is Eddie"</i> in the local language when visiting a foreign place, it is best to learn things like <i>"help!"</i>, <i>"I need a doctor"</i>, <i>"does anybody here speak English?"</i> or <i>"call the police"</i>. I am just learning it the hard way.<br /><br />For now, it is noon, and I still haven't had my shower...</div>Eddiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16719417739757760997noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-26205819.post-43894687307771734062008-10-08T14:10:00.001-07:002008-10-08T14:33:53.448-07:00Go Bills!<div style="text-align: justify;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_I-hQPuhS9AQ/SO0nMLBUeVI/AAAAAAAAAh4/zXFKfunPRJU/s1600-h/bills.gif"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_I-hQPuhS9AQ/SO0nMLBUeVI/AAAAAAAAAh4/zXFKfunPRJU/s320/bills.gif" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5254899430281476434" border="0" /></a>It has been a while since the last time I wrote something about the Buffalo Bills. This doesn't mean, of course, that I don't care about them anymore. In fact, I would like to mention that their performance so far this year has been pleasantly surprising, a 4-0 record to start the season is something that Buffalo wasn't able to achieve since 1992, year in which they reached the Superbowl. Thus, we (the Bills' fans) have some hope that this will be their best season in the last decade. If they manage to reach the playoffs for the first time since 1999, then we can say that their improvement is for real.<br /><br />At the end of the day, it is not a coincidence that the Bills have been having a good season. During the last 3 years, coach Dick Jauron and his staff have been working hard to put together a dynamic team of young players to conform a solid team. The inclusion of quarterback Trent Edwards to the offensive starting lineup has brought more dynamism and accuracy to the passing game, which, along with the receiving capabilities of Lee Evans and James Hardy, make an effective air play for the Bills. But also in the ground, an improved offensive line and the strength and speed of runnerbacks Marshawn Lynch and Fred Jackson have had great results so far.<br /><br />The defensive line is also improved. All of the defensive players have made a great effort to keep Buffalo's defense ranked as one of the top 6 in the league; some outstanding work has been done by Paul Posluszny, Terrence McGee, Jabari Greer, Aaron Schobel, among others. This is a very big difference when compared to the previous couple of seasons, when Buffalo's defense was steadily ranked among the bottom 3 of the league.<br /><br />Of course, last but not least, the special teams have been performing well. This is not uncommon; in fact during the last few seasons, the special teams in Buffalo have had a very high performance under the direction of special teams coordinator Bobby April.<br /><br />This might be the year in which we can witness the long-awaited return of the Buffalo Bills to the elite group of teams contending in the playoffs. Hopefully that will be the case, although it is still early in the season and there's still a long way to go before calling the current year a successful one. But, even if they don't manage to go all the way to the superbowl, at least giving their fans a playoffs ticket for this season would be good for now.<br /><br /></div>Eddiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16719417739757760997noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-26205819.post-12217195149190828652008-09-27T06:10:00.000-07:002008-09-27T14:58:15.410-07:00Winter Olimpics "with glowing hearts"<div style="text-align: justify;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_I-hQPuhS9AQ/SN3KlFaZmCI/AAAAAAAAAhw/6aVx-xxrNP4/s1600-h/van_2010_logo.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 158px; height: 189px;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_I-hQPuhS9AQ/SN3KlFaZmCI/AAAAAAAAAhw/6aVx-xxrNP4/s320/van_2010_logo.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5250575479040743458" border="0" /></a>Almost one year ago, I posted a note in which I praised the <a href="http://everythingscorner.blogspot.com/2007/11/quatchi-miga-and-sumi-honor-of-olympic.html">official mascots of the Vancouver 2010 winter Olympics</a>, even mentioning that the "honor of Olympic mascots are restored". Indeed, I still believe that the VANOC (Vancouver Organizing Committee for the 2010 Olympic and Paralympic winter games) did a good job by choosing Quatchi, Miga and Sumi as the mascots for such event.<br /><br />I also would have liked to praise VANOC for coming up with a cool slogan for the Olympics, but unfortunately, that won't be the case. A <a href="http://www.vancouver2010.com/en/news/news-releases/-/55892/32566/1ri51gz/canadians-to-welcome-the-world.html">press release</a> published in VANOC's website unveils the official slogan for the upcoming winter games: "With glowing hearts".<br /><br />Don't take me wrong, I do believe that "with glowing hearts" is a nice, warm, and catchy slogan that encompasses well the whole spirit of the Olympics. But here's the questionable part: Where did they come up with that line? Well, please find it in the lyrics of the Canadian National Anthem:<br /><br /><span style="font-style: italic;">O Canada! Our home and native land!</span><br /><span style="font-style: italic;">True patriot love in all thy sons command.</span><br /><span style="font-style: italic;"><span style="font-weight: bold;font-size:130%;" >With glowing hearts</span> we see thee rise,</span><br /><span style="font-style: italic;">The True North strong and free!</span><br /><span style="font-style: italic;">From far and wide, O Canada,</span><br /><span style="font-style: italic;">We stand on guard for thee.</span><br /><span style="font-style: italic;">God keep our land glorious and free!</span><br /><span style="font-style: italic;">O Canada, we stand on guard for thee!</span><br /><span style="font-style: italic;">O Canada, we stand on guard for thee!</span><br /><br />I don't think that utilizing a part of a national anthem for commercial purposes is a good idea, no matter what. National anthems, essentially, are patriotic songs that have to be respected. Turning a portion of a national anthem into a commercial slogan is definitely not the best example of respect for a national symbol. It's just as if they were taking a part of a country's national identity and turning it into a pure marketing tool, just as if <span style="font-style: italic;">"with glowing hearts"</span> could eventually be comparable to, for instance, McDonalds' "<span style="font-style: italic;">I'm lovin' it"</span>. That's not alright, but it's just my opinion.<br /><br />However, regardless of what I think about the slogan, VANOC is going ahead with that. I believe that, for the sake of selling more memorabilia and making more profitable the 2010 Olympics, they could have done than just taking a part of a patriotic symbol. But we'll have to give it a chance. I hope it works well.</div>Eddiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16719417739757760997noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-26205819.post-15683617251293798222008-09-19T14:07:00.000-07:002008-09-20T02:06:22.437-07:00Get this right: Melamine and baby formula don't mix<div style="text-align: justify;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_I-hQPuhS9AQ/SNQpaxYfkfI/AAAAAAAAAho/IQ2VQ3a4EKE/s1600-h/tainted+formula+2.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_I-hQPuhS9AQ/SNQpaxYfkfI/AAAAAAAAAho/IQ2VQ3a4EKE/s320/tainted+formula+2.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5247865005702877682" border="0" /></a>In recent days, there have been big bad news about tainted milk powder in China flying around the media. During the last week at least, Chinese parents have been massively rushing their babies into hospitals, as some of them were suffering of serious kidney failures, and some others simply wanted to make sure that their children were healthy. The reason? Some dishonest milk producers who, in order to produce cheaper milk to boost their profits, 'enriched' their products with melamine. Then, the tainted milk was sold to milk powder manufacturers, who utilized it as raw material for consumption products like, for instance, baby formulas, which were later distributed to final consumers through their various distribution channels. Initially, it was thought that a single manufacturer, Sanlu, was responsible for stocking in shelved tainted formula, but after the quality other formula brands in the Chinese market were tested, it was discovered that at least 20 different brands had been selling formulas with melamine.<br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><div style="text-align: justify;"><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div>To have an idea about how bad this is, let's just mention that melamine is a chemical material utilized in the production of glues, floor tiles and flame resistant materials, among others. Of course, melamine is not a compound intended for human or animal consumption, but given its low cost, availability, and (relatively) low toxicity, it has been unethically utilized with the intention of increasing the apparent protein content in foodstuffs.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_I-hQPuhS9AQ/SNQm6IAOYTI/AAAAAAAAAhg/dOBBI3qIKh8/s1600-h/tainted+formula.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; float: right; cursor: pointer; width: 271px; height: 187px;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_I-hQPuhS9AQ/SNQm6IAOYTI/AAAAAAAAAhg/dOBBI3qIKh8/s320/tainted+formula.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5247862245816164658" border="0" /></a>There is an interesting question to ask here: How could anyone dare to willingly poison food that will be later sold to innocent consumers, just for the sake of increasing their profits? Letting aside the financial side of their rationale, wouldn't that go against the very basic ethics of any rational human being? Moreover, as if those questions were not challenging enough, here comes another one that puzzles me even more: Given the fact that, back in 2007, there was in North America a massive recall of <a href="http://www.fda.gov/oc/opacom/hottopics/petfood.html">pet foods</a> made with Chinese ingredients tainted with melamine, how come the Chinese authorities just turned a blind eye on the issue instead of increasing the quality inspections of all foodstuffs produced in their country? Fonterra, a New Zealand-based cooperative that owns 43% of Sanlu's shares, has an answer for that: They know <span style="font-style: italic;">"of no dairy company in the world that tests for a chemical such as melamine that would have to be deliberately mixed in milk"</span>. Too bad that not even that record of tainted pet food didn't prompt food producers or even the government to test for that. Who is responsible for the ultimate quality of the food products then?<br /><br />If you thought that not ensuring the quality of baby food sold in Chinese supermarkets was a condemnable attitude from the authorities, here goes some even more shocking news: According to news reports, there is evidence that the Chinese authorities learned about the melamine case in early August, but kept it in the dark to avoid a public shame during the Olympic games. In the meantime, people kept buying baby formulas, and an increasing number of infants got sick on a daily basis. Was it really worth it to keep such information as a secret? Those poor sick children's parents probably have an answer for that.<br /><br />This is just as disgusting as it can get. A few people who have confessed to deliberately taint milk with melamine have been already arrested in China, but that will hardly repair the damage made to those families that once trusted their products to feed their children. This whole story just proves again that, just as my own personal saying goes, <span style="font-style: italic;">"if you think you've seen the lowest of it all, you'll find out that there's always a new low"</span>. What can be lower that this terrible episode about deliberate poisoning of baby formula? Unfortunately, I'm sure we'll find out, sooner or later.<br /><br />My sympathy goes to those parents who have sick or dead babies as a result of this pathetic chapter of the dairy industry in China.<br /><br /><span style="font-size:78%;">With information from <a href="http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20080919.wmilk19/BNStory/International/home">The Globe and Mail</a> and <a href="http://www.nzherald.co.nz/opinion/news/article.cfm?c_id=466&objectid=10533194">New Zealand Herald</a>.<br />Photos by AP<br /></span></div></div>Eddiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16719417739757760997noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-26205819.post-50102511896072506752008-09-08T17:07:00.000-07:002008-09-09T01:12:46.572-07:00"Let's celebrate our birthdays with... cakes??"<div style="text-align: justify;">I've been told in the past that my curiosity to research about weird topics reaches the freakiest levels at some points. I happened to find out how true that statement is, while preparing a birthday present. Just as I was working on that, I thought that including the image of a birthday cake in the whole thing would be a great idea, but then I backed up and thought: "the birthday cake is an overused way of expressing good wishes for someone's birthday, it lacks all originality... but why is it so popular? and how did people adopt the habit of celebrating birthdays with cakes anyway?". Some big, deep thoughts that I had to reflect upon.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_I-hQPuhS9AQ/SMXO2RWYOpI/AAAAAAAAAhY/Uqos0Hjad0Y/s1600-h/birthday+cake.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 230px; height: 217px;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_I-hQPuhS9AQ/SMXO2RWYOpI/AAAAAAAAAhY/Uqos0Hjad0Y/s320/birthday+cake.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5243824772908333714" border="0" /></a>Yes, there can be no doubt that birthday cakes are a very widespread tradition nowadays, and certainly not a lot of people would care about the origins of that custom or the meaning behind it. But to my surprise, I did some research on the web and I found out that there are people out there who have made some extensive research about (apparently unimportant, yet interesting) topics like this. Here are my results:<br /><br />Historians have two hypotheses about the origins of birthday cakes. One of them is that it all began with ancient Greeks preparing the first cakes and eating them in birthdays, although they were also commonly used to worship the goddess of the Moon, Artemis. They were baked in a round shape to represent the full moon, and then the cakes were decorated with candles to represent the shine of the moon -hence the omipresence round-shaped birthday cakes with candles nowadays. Later, Romans acquired the custom of birthday cakes from Greeks. in the case of Romans, the cakes were prepared for the person celebrating their birthday by close friends and relatives, just as we do in our times. I would presume that the expansion of their empire helped to spread this tradition to many regions.<br /><br />The other hypothesis suggests that the custom began in the Middle Ages in Germany, where people prepared sweet breads, known as <span style="font-style: italic;">Geburtstagorten</span>, with religious shapes to commemorate the birth of a child. Later in the 18th century, the Germans also introduced the custom of placing candles on top of the cakes, but unlike the Greeks, they were not intended to be mere decoration: candles were believed to bring birthday wishes up to God. However, as the use of candles began to spread out to other regions of the world, it gradually lost all religious significance. Then the use of both cakes and candles spread all across Europe, and I would think that it reached other parts of the world (such as America or Africa) with the expansion of colonialism.<br /><br />Well, knowing the history behind birthday cakes and candles is definitely interesting. I am not sure about how useful it is, but as I usually say, <span style="font-style: italic;">'it never does any harm to know a little bit more'</span>. But, while it is true that it is not harmful to know more about birthday cakes now, it is also true that it didn't help a lot to get fresh ideas for the birthday present that I'm currently preparing. So i guess it's time to get back to work for me and make good use of my creativity.<br /><br /><br /><span style="font-size:78%;">With information from Wikipedia, available at <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Birthday_cake">http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Birthday_cake</a></span><br /><br /><span style="font-size:78%;">With information from 'History of Birthday Cake' by Linda Stradley, available at <a href="http://whatscookingamerica.net/History/Cakes/BirthdayCake.htm">http://whatscookingamerica.net/History/Cakes/BirthdayCake.htm</a></span><br /><br /><span style="font-size:78%;">With information from 'The birthday cake: its evolution from a rite of the elite to the right of everyone' by Shirley Cherkasky, available at <a href="http://www.chowdc.org/Papers/Cherkasky2000.html">http://www.chowdc.org/Papers/Cherkasky2000.html</a></span><br /><br /><span style="font-size:78%;">With information from FTD, available at <a href="http://www.ftd.com/content/news_views/global_birthday_traditions.epl">http://www.ftd.com/content/news_views/global_birthday_traditions.epl</a></span><br /></div>Eddiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16719417739757760997noreply@blogger.com4