John Kass says "History could have helped Starbucks foresee revolt".

Starbucks is in the process of closing 600 stores nationwide, while Dunkin' Donuts -- that oh-so-unhip place where you can pay less money, get good coffee, much less attitude, and even a sinful doughnut if you dare -- is opening 500 stores. Draw your own conclusions; I'll go out on a limb and say that the demand for expensive coffee doesn't go above the price of a gallon of gas. Who knew these things were tied together economically?

And then go read about this goofiness, where a hoity-toity coffee house in Washington, D.C. has a set of policies about just exactly how their customers are allowed to order their coffee. One of them is "no ice with espresso". A customer got kinda P.O.'d, and blogged about it. Hilarity ensued.

Links to this ridiculousness can be found in the story; I'm not going to bother reading any more about this than I already have, because those are precious minutes of my life I can never get back.  But I basically agree with the customer in this case.

This is the explanation given by the owner:

At his cafe, Cho explained the policy: "The way we do espresso is different than what people are used to. It's a very exacting technique. ... When you pour it over ice, it creates a certain acidic reaction that makes the drink sour."

In his letter on Murky's site, Cho wrote: "To others reading this I will say that if you don't like the policies, I respectfully recommend that you find some other place that will give you what you want, or select something that we can offer you."

Maybe some customers like it sour. People have different tastes; you can still take their money. In fact, as somebody running a business, the whole idea is to think up more ways to take their money.  I just don't see the problem here.

But, of course, the problem is obvious:  it isn't just coffee for these people, it's a quasi-religion.  There are coffee beliefs, and Thou Shalt Not Disobey Them.

Yes, even if you fork over your hard-earned $4.50, you are still too stupid to make decisions about what you like, so just bend over and take it, and learn to like it!  Oh, and come back soon!

No revelis al teu amic tots els secrets que tinguis. Què saps tu si amb el temps no es transformarà en el teu enemic?

No causis al teu enemic tot el mal que li puguis fer. Què saps tu si amb el temps no es transformarà en el teu amic?

Saadi (1184-1283) Poeta persa

___________________________________________________________________________________________________

He asked three separate questions meant to hound Mickelson into finally admitting "yes, YES, fine, I'll say it: winning this tournament might be a little easier without Tiger here, because, quite frankly, the rest of us are not as good."  And he even wastes extra words, and precious seconds of my life that I'll never get back, noting that Phil wouldn't even say "Tiger".

Oh, good grief.

Well, it probably is true that Tiger Woods is just better than everybody else, but that doesn't matter.  He may go down as the greatest golfer of all time, but that doesn't matter either.  Because it isn't about Tiger Woods.  Since, he, you know ... isn't in the golf tournament.

Yet the media wants to continue yakking away about him.

Phil Mickelson, as a professional golfer, can't afford to buy into the Tiger Woods Cult of Personality that the rest of the media world enjoys so very much.  And any writer covering the frigging British Open, the most storied tournament in the history of golf, should damn well know that.

Let's review.  If you're a professional golfer, your goal is to win the tournament you're playing in that week, not to obsess over a player that is not at the tournament in question, and is out for the rest of the year. You should really not spend a single second of your week even thinking about a golfer who isn't there.  Mental toughness is part of the job as a professional athlete -- the major part, at the highest level -- so if you're smart, you don't take the bait of just any old goofy writer that jams a microphone in your face and asks about some other golfer that isn't even there.

Even if that golfer is Tiger Woods, and even if the writer happens to be right.

I guess the thing that annoys me the most about such stories, though, is the way they are constructed.  The whole story revolves around a game of "gotcha", where the writer baits the athlete, hoping to get him to bite.  What is this, Watergate?

Who do these "journalists" think they're kidding?  Harrassing a great guy like Phil Mickelson, just so you can get a Tiger Woods angle in there?  No thanks, I'm trying to cut down.

Other than that, though, nice story!

El lunes 14 de julio zarpó del Port Vell de Barcelona el IV Crosstalent. A bordo íbamos un buen grupo de inusuales capitaneados por Pere Rosales. La propuesta de "navegar" y su consecuente organización, a cargo de Ferran Pruneda. Tandem in-mejorable!

Cruzamos ideas y opiniones siempre dentro del marco de la creatividad interactiva, desde la estrategia de comunicación, la consultoría de negocio a la experiencia del usuario. Desde el freaky creativo a cómo educar a los clientes. Desde el evidente cambio en publicidad (marca el usuario) a los bloggers; muchos escribiendo y pocos escuchando. Y de los que hablan ¿a quién sigo? De las pocas marcas que escuchan y de los menos clientes que arriesgan por saber -o no- lo que están arriesgando. Y de lo importante, necesario, obligatorio que es ser CURIOSO para poder cambiar y reinterpretar los nuevos medios de comunicación.

El Crosstalent IV fue/es (como todos los crosstalent a los que he asistido, y van 3 con éste) la máxima expresión de networking del bueno, de calidad y de cruce de talentos! De autenticidad, de ganas de compartir  de verdad conocimientos y sin pretensiones, de construir,...

Corto, sí, dos veces corto, por ser un crosstalent y por ir en catamarán. :(

Con esta tripulación es para irse a Formentera, a las Medas (+asequible), a comer choricillos fritos 200% colesterol, y a dónde quiera que nos lleven la próxima vez!

Seguimos construyendo y aportando... IN-USUAL CROSS-TALENT!!,

Algunas FOTOS del IV Crosstalent.

*Música: House of cards (Radiohead).

Gracias a Fernando Barbella por su post en inusual sobre el clip ‘House of Cards’, del álbum “In Rainbows” (Radiohead), he descubierto este maravilloso tema -que es una delicia, por cómo está hecho y por toda la filosofía que lleva embebida en el clip, ahí va mientras miráis una fotos del IV CROSSSTALENT. IN-OLVIDABLE!

It's like a dream come true. A cage match featuring a True American Bad-Ass against a body of elected officials currently enjoying a NINE PERCENT approval rating.

Nine. One less than ten.

Just to amplify on that point ... if you tripled it, you'd still be on the wrong side of 30%.  I think even car salesmen and dentists have higher approval ratings.  President Bush, too.

Actually, after reading the article, it turns out that Chuck just wants to thin out the Congressional herd a little bit. By changing the rules, not by actually fighting 535 people.

Huh.  Well, I guess that could work too.

Photo by Dave
Location: Moab, Utah
Twins: Blue Throated Macaws "Dreadful" and "Gleam"

Thinking about traveling internationally with your blue throated macaw? I was, so like me, think again.

Now, I'm not completely inexperienced with traveling with my parrots. I've done it before, but never with a blue throated macaw who is considered an Appendix 1 to CITES. Half way down the page you will see the scientific name for blue throated macaw which is Ara glaucogularis. CITES goes by all scientific lingo and sometimes blue throated macaws can be mistaken for blue and gold macaws which are known as Ara caninde.

It's important to know the scientific terminology when wanting to travel internationally with your birds.

Also, from easy to hard, appendix III is the easiest, II is the middle ground and I is the hardest to obtain permits for and travel with. The difference between the three is explained more in depth here. If you don't feel like reading it, it basically states that the most endangered animals are on appendix I (animals such as tigers, etc). African Grey parrots are listed on appendix II and birds such as parakeets and Swainson toucans are not on CITES at all.

Information on how to properly import and export species on appendix I: Text of the Convention.

It's hard to say what the exact rules are with traveling with an appendix I species as they change very often so if I were to state specifics with what they are today, they could be different in a couple of days and then this wouldn't be useful at all. Traveling state-to-state is a different story than trying to travel into a different country such as Canada or Mexico, even though they are one the borders of the US (if that is where your residence is).

It can take up to a year to get a permit for your bird to travel with you. For my rose breasted cockatoo it took exactly one year to get her a "pet passport". A pet passport is strictly for people traveling with their appendix II species as pets and pets only. Because you're dealing with an appendix one, it can take even longer but hopefully not!

With an appendix one, you would need a CITES Import permit from the foreign country and CITES Export permit from the United States (or country of residence) I only know this from experience from the US to other countries and Saipan, Northern Mariana Islands to the US (keep in mind the CNMI is a US Commonwealth).

Also, it's good to know where your bird is from and it's entire family history. CITES Appendix I  species that are not CITES Pre-Convention or certified as captive bred by the Division of Scientific Authority are more difficult to obtain CITES permits for. Proof is a huge requirement for processing permits and any other paperwork you may need from CITES for your travels.

Sadly, I could not get my permits in time for Jinx and I had to contact the breeder to get a different baby from another clutch because I'd be gone for 2.5 months (over this summer) good thing I'm dealing with an amazing breeder who has been understanding of my position as well as how the process for CITES applications work. They are not always meeting our own personal deadlines (keep in mind they get tons of requests daily) and luckily, she had her own experience with that! It was pretty hard on me to not be able to get the permits in time for my leave and have to get a different baby, just because I have seen this one grow up from an egg to 1.5 months old. But I will love whichever baby I end up getting and will still call him or her Jinxi.

Tribune sports writer Phil Hersh writes a pretty good blog about Olympic sports called Globetrotting. Even if he does descend into ill-advised political commentary sometimes.

Recently he posted a couple of good items about cycling champion Lance Armstrong and 41-year-old Olympian swimmer Dana Torres, and asked some pretty sensible questions about their ability to outperform others.

Lance Armstrong, for those who don't remember, won the Tour de France seven times in a row (1999-2005). Here's Phil:

... all we know about Lance is he rode during an era when dopers were everywhere in the sport, and he crushed those dopers climb after climb, time trial after time trial, year after year.

And we know that five of his ex-teammates have been involved in doping.

Hey, maybe Armstrong's stunning success was due to some previously unknown benefit from cancer treatment, which gives people super-human strength and endurance. Or maybe, just maybe, not having any testicles gives you more endurance.  You never know.

About Torres:

Torres told Eric Adelson of ESPN the Magazine she was diagnosed as an asthmatic about 18 months ago –- coincidentally, about the time her second comeback began to pick up speed.

Torres told Alan Abrahamson of nbcolympics.com she takes Symbicort, an asthma medicine in which the active ingredient is formoterol, and Proventil, an asthma medicine in which the active ingredient is albuterol.

Athletes are allowed to use both banned substances, which increase lung capacity, in an inhaler as long as they ask for a therapeutic use exemption (so many Olympic athletes applied for anti-asthma drug exemptions at the 2000 and 2004 Summer Games it concerned anti-doping officials, who found 10 percent of those asking in 2004 had no asthma.) But if the amount of albuterol in the system exceeds an established limit, 1000 nanograms per milliliter, it is considered a potential doping violation. And what about athletes who know how to stay just below the limit, say at 990?

The media storyline is that Torres has too much integrity to pretend to have asthma in order to take albuterol and formoterol.  Based on what, I'm not sure; truth be told, an athlete who is clean, or an athlete who knows in advance they will test clean, are both in the same position re: testing.  But in any event, we're supposed to both (a) acknowledge that a 41 year old mother can whup a bunch of 22 year olds in the pool, and (b) assume that nothing untoward is going on there, despite the fact that both common sense and history fly right in the face of such a thing.

I just got done reading "Game of Shadows", about Barry Bonds, Marion Jones, BALCO, and that whole mess.  It's a pretty seamy tale, and one thing that comes through, loud and clear, is that whenever a new record seems too good to be true, or an athlete has unexpected and spectacular success, a healthy dose of suspicion is a good idea.

No considerarem miraculosa cap experiència que poguem tenir, sigui la que sigui, si prèviament matenim una filosofía que exclou el sobrenatural.

Keith J. Cunningham

Diumenge passat el Varidhi em va deixar un DVD d'un 'gurú dels negocis' que, per a ell, era el millor. El DVD, una sessió de formació d'unes 2 hores, amb el títol de "Beating the Odds", versava sobre com muntar un negoci i triomfar-hi.

Un dels punts que deia era que cal tenir perspectiva a llarg termini i que, a l'hora de prendre decisions, ens preguntéssim que "la persona que vull [arribar a] ser, com faria el que estic a punt de fer". És una pregunta poderosa, pq et fa plantejar-te i anar recordant qui vols ser i, a la vegada, et recorda que, per arribar a on vols, has de mantenir un rumb estable, sense tibutejar ni canviar de trajectòria a cada segon.

"Qualsevol cosa que val la pena fer, val la pena fer-la malament"

Keith J. Cunningham

Hi ha moltes idees que vaig estreure d'aquest DVD. Però destacaré l'anterior i aquesta.

Aquí la idea és que quan intentem fer una cosa, no cal que aspirem a la perfecció. Aspirar a la perfecció paral.litza, ja que molts cops no fas res per por a fer-ho imperfectament.

Per tant, qualsevol cosa que val la pena intentar, val la pena equivocar-s'hi. I ja aniràs aprenent.

IV CROSSTALENT: 14 de julio, a las 19:30, Colom (Port Vell)

Vamos a ser la tripulación más ciber de la historia!!

Navegar es la libertad absoluta...

AVANCE DEL TEMARIO

Temas propuestos x Ferran Pruneda:

- La temida crisis debería ser una oportunidad para la interactiva: ¿como afrontarla?
- ¿Como nos condiciona la herencia "publicitaria" al desarrollo del sector interactivo?
- Nuevos perfiles de profesionales

Y reciclados de pasadas ediciones:

- ¿Dónde están los límites de la publicidad en el móvil?
- ¿Tienen futuro las agencias interactivas como tales, o deben presentar servicios on/onff?

Temas propuestos x Pere Rosales:
- ¿Qué temas debería reunir un buen postgrado o máster en interactividad?
- La producción interativa dentro o fuera de la agencia/estudio. Ventajas en inconvenientes.
- ¿Cómo debe ser un equipo interactivo de alto rendimiento? Roles, perfiles y competencias.

12 hours later, he was found, alive and unhurt, in the woods about a mile from his house.

What a miracle. The odds of finding a missing child alive go way down the longer they are missing; I don't remember exactly what they are, but after 12 hours, they can't be very good. I heard about this story on the news Tuesday morning, when they said he'd been missing 11 hours at that point. I thought, "oh no". It sounded like this wouldn't end well. But then this morning, when I went to the Tribune's website, I saw it had a happy ending, and even though I don't know the child, or the family, it brought me great joy.

We confront quite enough bad news; I like to hear something good once in a while.

Of course, I can't imagine the grief and heartache those parents had to endure for all those hours, and the fear in a little three-year-old boy, alone in the woods, all night long. Words fail me. We lost our then-kindergartner at Epcot a few years ago, for 10 minutes or so, and while I try not to freak out about kids getting lost for a few minutes, it was Epcot. Have you seen Epcot? It's very, very big. Lots and lots of people. Who knows what a little kid is going to do in that situation? But our little boy was so smart, and went up to a uniformed security guard, and said "I can't find my parents", and then I saw them walking towards me, and ... well, the sense of relief was indescribable.

So for this one story at least, it's nice to hear everybody is OK.  I like that.

Last year, there was a similar miracle, that I wrote about here.

Kalarippayattu is a martial art originating and practised in Kerala and contiguous parts of neighbouring Tamil Nadu of Southern India. It incorporates strikes, kicks, grappling, martial dance, and weaponry, as well as healing techniques.

Quoi de plus, disons, excitant que de ramener chez soi, sous le regard ébloui des voisins, ces trophées venus d'un autre monde : coraux, objet d'art en ivoire ou en bois précieux, animaux empaillés ou ...vivants, etc.

Mais attention, les douaniers veillent.

Chaque année, les services de douanes de l'aéroport de Bruxelles-National veillent au grain.

Les importations d'espèces animales et végétales protégées, mais aussi de leurs dérivés, sont en effet drastiquement réglementées, car elles mettent en danger la biodiversité planétaire.

Depuis 2003 ont ainsi été saisis à Zaventem quelques 307 objets en ivoire, 238 bracelets en poils d'éléphants, 125 bracelets, portefeuilles, ceintures, chaussures et sacs à main en cuir de crocodile et de serpent, 25 défenses d'éléphants, 15 tortues empaillées auxquels s'ajoutent quantité d'orchidées et de coquillages.

Autant d'espèces qui entrent dans la liste de la Convention sur le commerce international des espèces animales et végétales menacées connue sous le sigle CITES ou encore sous le nom de Convention de Washington, puisque c'est dans cette ville qu'elle a été adoptée en 1973.

La plupart de ces souvenirs litigieux provenaient essentiellement de la République démocratique du Congo et de Thaïlande.

Sans oublier les 10 kilos de caviar originaire de certaines régions de Russie et alentour. Or l'esturgeon est menacé d'extinction à cause du braconnage et est désormais protégé par le label CITES.

Toute infraction entraîne la confiscation de l'objet du délit, mais peut aussi s'accompagner d'une amende plus que dissuasive, voire d'une incarcération.

Comme un touriste averti en vaut deux, le Service Public Fédéral (SPF) Santé, Sécurité de la chaîne alimentaire et Environnement, appuyé par le World Wildlife Fund (WWF) et l'ONG Traffic Europe, mène actuellement campagne sous le slogan "Laissez un avenir à votre souvenir".

Un site internet a été ouvert à l'intention de ceux qui sont tentés par ce genre d'achat.

De plus, un dépliant d'information est distribué massivement en français, néerlandais, allemand et anglais aux vacanciers concernés, à l'aéroport de Zaventem, dans les communes, par le WWF et l'Institut de Médecine tropicale d'Anvers.

A noter qu'une agence de voyages, Connections, s'est associée à la démarche et s'est engagée à informer tous ses clients concernés.

www.votresouvenir.be

www.cites.org/fra/index.shtml

www.wwf.be

www.traffic.org

Le Ligueur n°24

He said the games are too long, and too available, and kinda boring, and people are busy. It's not like it was when he was a kid, when many games weren't on TV at all, and the Saturday afternoon Game of the Week was a huge deal, especially if your hometown team was featured.

Both Awful Announcing and Big League Stew are annoyed.

I'm sort of down the middle on this one. I get what they're saying, and agree with it to a point; it is a bit odd that a lead baseball announcer, who is really also a diplomat for the game, would come out and say such a thing. But let's not shoot the messenger here; I also find it hard to argue with anything he says.

The games are too long. Especially in the American League, which (praise the Lord) I don't watch much of. Who wants to watch baseball, even good baseball, for 3 hours and 35 minutes? I'm from the "more is not always better" school on the length of sports events and movies. Movies should be 90 - 130 minutes long, with very few exceptions. Baseball games are best when pushed along in 2:30 - 3:00. Call me crazy. Punishing me with more is just being self-indulgent, and encourages me to find other things to occupy my mind during the slow times. Though, this doesn't bother me that much, as long as the quality of the baseball is good. I can find the time, if my alternatives are watching marginally interesting TV shows. If the Cubs were a train wreck this year, I'd be finding other things to do, and even cutting the grass might start to sound . And I sometimes listen on the radio while doing other things -- and it's always a treat to listen to Pat Hughes cover a baseball game on the radio.

The games are too available. I have noticed the same "not as special when it's on all the time" type of sentiment. More supply = less demand. Remember Economics 101 in college? Same deal.

The games can be kinda boring. See "too long" and "too available", above.

Some people are too busy. This is not baseball's fault, or Joe Buck's fault. And, maybe I'm not as busy as some. It's summertime, it's supposed to be relaxing. Life is meant to be lived at a slower pace in the summer. It's a law or something. What are all these people doing on summer nights that is so important, that they don't have time to watch a ballgame? Might be time to re-evaluate how you spend your time, eh? Of course, we have no way of knowing if this is even a relevant point to the discussion or not, it's just the ramblings of a couple of guys on the radio. Take it for what it's worth.

But as usual, there is a bigger picture here. I think it's pretty clear to those of us long-time fans that something is definitely missing today, something we remember from "back in the day" when baseball was THE sport. It is still a great sport, and when played well is better than any other, in my view. But something is missing.

What that "something" is, I'm not sure. Probably a combination of different things, that all add up to "just not as interesting to me as it used to be". Things like steroids, and free agency, and idiot unions and owners that shut down a World Series in 1994, and too much coverage on cable. In fact, let's talk about coverage for a moment; today's game coverage is so filled with screen graphics and crawling headlines at the bottom of the screen that you're lucky if you can see the actual game for all the visual noise. In this way, the very coverage of the game itself is telling you to divert your attention to other things. Right now! Talk about your mixed messages. Here's an idea: lose all that crap on the screen. It devalues the game.

Still, baseball is a great game, just not as great as it was, and for this, we can blame the things listed above. So if Joe Buck has the audacity to be honest with us, and tell us what he sees wrong with the game today, and how he remembers it being different, and better, in his youth, maybe we should pause for a moment, ignore who is saying it, and pay attention to the message itself for a few minutes.

Maybe it's true that such criticisms are useless because you can't turn back the clock. And maybe it's true that this kind of thing is more yuppie whining about adulthood not being as special as we remember our youth to be.

I don't know. I just know that Major League Baseball could be the great game it was, with some better leadership, better owners, fewer agents, and fewer crawling headlines and station promos. And to hear the authoritative voice of Joe Buck -- who bugs some people a lot, but doesn't either annoy or excite me one way or the other -- offer his take on it, well, it seems kind of refreshing. For me, at least, people saying what they think is just about always better than being a politician.

The Terracotta Army is a form of funerary art buried with the Emperor of Qin (Qin Shi Huang) in 209-210 BC . Their purpose was to help rule another empire with Shi Huang Di in the afterlife. The were discovered in 1974 by several local farmers near Xi'an, Shaanxi province, China near the Mausoleum of the First Qin Emperor.The figures vary in height (184–197cm - 6ft–6ft 5in), according to their role, the tallest being the Generals. The figures include warriors, chariots, horses, officials, acrobats, strongmen, and musicians. Current estimates are that in the three pits containing the Terracotta Army there were over 8,000 soldiers, 130 chariots with 520 horses and 150 cavalry horses, the majority of which are still buried in the pits.According to the historian Sima Qian (145 BC-90 BC) construction of this mausoleum began in 246 BC and involved 700,000 workers.The terracotta soldiers are life sized,no two are alike. Most researchers believe that each statue is based on an actual soldier of that time.

- Albert Einstein -

Font: Timothy Ferris en el seu article titulat "L'altre Einstein".

The Hawks made the biggest splash on the free agent market Tuesday when they signed two-time All-Star defenseman Brian Campbell to an eight-year, $56.8 million contract and also obtained the top available goaltender in Cristobal Huet, who received a four-year, $22.4 million deal.

These were the top-rated defenseman and goaltender available in free agency; this is the top story at nhl.com today.

Longtime Blackhawks fans are stunned, and ecstatic, because this is the latest message from the new ownership that they want to bring championships home for the fans.

Of course, eight years seems an awfully long contract for a 29 year old like Campbell, but maybe that's what it took in order to get him here. He brings excellent skating, lots of ice time, and passing ability:

"He has ability to move the puck and to skate up ice to get you out of trouble combined with his ability to play lots of minutes—half of the game most of the time," Tallon said of Campbell, who led the league in ice time at 29 minutes 19 seconds per game. "It gives us more foot speed, more creativity [and] more ability to move the puck out of our own end. He has the ability to pass and see the ice. [He can] go from defense to offense in a split second."

Campbell was courted by many teams and chose the Hawks because of his desire to move closer to his family in Strathroy, Ontario, and because he likes the direction the club his heading.

Not sure where Strathroy, Ontario is, but apparently it's, like, a Chicago suburb or something. In Ontario.

The Hawks are hoping Campbell can help improve the power play, too, which has been pretty useless the last few years.

As for the signing of goalie Cristobal Huet, this seems a clear message to No. 1 goalie Nikolai Khabibulin, who is a free agent after the upcoming season, that his perch is tenuous. The Blackhawks already have a young goalie they played a few times last year, Corey Crawford, that was very impressive, and he appears ready for at least backup duty already. So now they have 3 very capable goalies, which protects them from injury, inconsistent play, and pending free agency next off-season. As Tallon says:

"The No. 1 goaltender in this market was Huet and we made a decision … that it's important to make sure we're really good in the net," said Tallon, whose current plan is to keep both goalies. "That goaltending tandem is as good as there is. Without strong goaltending you have no chance."

The 32-year-old Huet appeared in 52 games last season playing for Montreal and Washington. He posted a record of 32-14-6 with a .920 save percentage and four shutouts.

So, the bottom line? The Hawks and their fans now have good reason to expect improvements in their defense, power play, and goaltending, all things that a championship team needs.

ANÓNIMO 1: Tan criticado como es el windows vista, lleva ya vendidas más de 20 millones de copias en el mundo (pongamos unos 200€ por copia, de media, aunque serán más) [...]

ANÓNIMO 2: Sobre esos 20 millones de copias, sin tener en cuenta que el 99% te las meten con equipos nuevos y no puedes rechazarla, me viene a la cabeza una frase:
"Comamos mierda, 20 millones de moscas no pueden estar equivocadas"

Una frase per emmarcar, fruit d'un moment de genialitat espontània que com diu el meu estimat profe de filo, només es dóna en empordanesos (com a exemple en Dalí). Estic desitjant conèixer l'autor de tan sàvia afirmació.

A part d'això he de dir que és convenient mirar-se les dues entrades de l'usuari igor21.
Jo els trobat interessants, tot i que peca una mica de parcialitat i pilotisme, perquè encara que esmenta alguns defectes de l'oncle Bill no els aprofundeix. Molt recomanable també la lectura de la seva segona part, que conté algunes curiositats interessants sobre el ja retirat multimilionari, entre les quals figuren la idea de Henry Ford com a exemple seguit per Bill Gates.

Moltes cròniques dels inicis de Microsoft i Apple circulen per Internet, però jo recomano una pel·lícula molt entretinguda i, en la meva opinió, imprescindible: Piratas de Silicon Valley. Peca d'alguns disbarats històrics però ja fa el fet.

Links:
Yo NO odio a Bill Gates (I)
Yo NO odio a Bill Gates (II)
Piratas de Silicon Valley

- proverbi xinès -

D’un côté, il y a la violence crapuleuse, celle commise pour s’emparer d’un bien, comme le sac ou le téléphone mobile que l’on arrache en frappant sa ­victime. De l’autre, il y a la violence non crapuleuse autant dire la violence gratuite : l’enfant qui se fait agresser à la sortie de l’école pour un regard, pour rien, le conducteur rossé par un automobiliste irascible, la femme battue par son conjoint.

Si les actes crapuleux enregistrent une baisse de plus de 10 % sur les douze derniers mois, avec un peu plus de 100 000 vols avec violence au total, les violences non crapuleuses, en revanche principalement les coups et blessures volontaires , ont encore augmenté de 3,8 % en un an, faisant près de 10 000 victimes supplémentaires, soit un total de 224 000 faits.

Les risques d’agression varient de un à vingt, selon que l’on vit à Marly-le-Roi, dans le 78, ou à Saint-Denis, dans le 93. «Et encore les chiffres de la PJ ne re­prennent-ils que des faits ayant abouti à une plainte», rappelle le sociologue Sebastian Roché. Selon lui, «en devenant de plus en plus violente, la délinquance devient de plus en plus invisible à la statistique poli­cière». Les sondages réalisés auprès des victimes révèlent qu’un tiers de celles qui ont subi des violences ne se signalent pas aux autorités.

Au palmarès des villes qui souffrent, on retrouve sans surprise celles de la banlieue nord de Paris, la Seine-Saint-Denis en tête. Creil, dans l’Oise, affiche un taux de violence particulièrement élevé. À équivalence avec Dreux et Évreux, la ville de Jean-Louis Debré. Dans le sud-est, Nîmes talonne Marseille. La Cité phocéenne se distingue par un taux de vols violents deux fois supérieur à Lyon.

Les violences non crapuleuses, celles qui trahissent, selon le criminologue Alain Bauer, la «dégradation du climat social» se révèlent particulièrement élevées dans le nord et l’est, souvent sur fond de chômage et d’alcoolisme. Auchel, l’une des communes les plus sinistrées du Pas-de-Calais est ainsi la plus violente des villes de province. Et Calais suit de près. À Lille, la ville de Martine Aubry, les agressions gratuites font jeu égal avec les vols violents. La tension rejaillit aussi à Lens, touchée de plein fouet par les violences intrafamiliales, mais aussi à Saint-Dizier, cette ville de Haute-Marne qui fut le théâtre des scènes de guérilla urbaine d’une rare intensité en octobre 2007, quand une cinquantaine de jeunes encagoulés avaient agressé des pompiers et des policiers, brûlant leurs véhicules.

À Grasse, dans les Alpes-Maritimes, le taux d’agression atteint deux fois celui de la moyenne nationale. «Grasse n’est pas la douce ville du parfum qu’on imagine», reconnaît un cadre de la police lo­cale. Selon lui, «la paupérisation de la population, sur fond de difficultés d’intégration, a conduit à une radicalisation des comportements». Un directeur départemental de la sécurité publique le dit : «La violence physique devient, dans la vie de tous les jours, un mode d’expression.»

Reste l’autre bout du classement, celui des villes plus tranquilles. On ne sera pas étonné d’y retrouver nombre de communes du centre de la France. La ministre de l’Intérieur, Michèle Alliot-Marie, aura la satisfaction de constater que sa terre d’élection de Saint-Jean-de-Luz figure parmi les dix villes de la zone police les moins exposées aux violences. On y commet à peine deux agressions pour 1 000 habitants. Guère plus qu’à Marly-le-Roi, ex aequo ou presque avec Neuilly-sur-Seine et Saint-Germain-en-Laye.

Source:lefigaro.fr ]]> http://lakk.wordpress.com/?p=43 Tue, 24 Jun 2008 13:34:07 +0000 lakk http://lakk.wordpress.com/?p=43 L'ANARQUIA TÉ DOS CARES: LA CREADORA I LA DESTRUCTORA. LA DESTRUCTORA FA CAURE IMPERIS I LA CREADORA CONSTRUEIX UN MÓN MILLOR AMB LES RUNES.

V de VENDETTA

Dissabte    21/06 --> MÚSICA Facto, Delafé y Las Flores Azules 19.30
                             La Casa Azul 22.30 - Pl/ Odissea (Maremagnum)
Diss/Diu 21.22/06 --> DANSA  Actuació de la Judith (falta que em digui el dia i l'hora)
Dissabte    28/06 --> TEATRE Obra de la meva Gemma♥ - Cooperativa La Moral
Diumenge    29/06 --> MÚSICA Antònia Font - Cruïlla de Cultures 2008
Div/Diss 18.19/07 --> MÚSICA Festival Summercase - Fòrum
Dissabte    19/07 --> MÚSICA Chambao + Amparanoia - Cruïlla de Cultures 2008
Dilluns     15/09 --> MÚSICA The Wombats - Sala Bikini

Sé que em falten més coses però és que no les recordo i això és el que m'havia apuntat a l'agenda del mòbil. Sí, m'he d'apuntar les cites a l'agenda del mòbil perquè sinó no sé si podria recordar-me'n i sort que alguna gent que em coneix bé m'envia un sms el dia abans de la nostra cita per recordar-m'ho perquè sinó ja imagino una situació del pal:

- Ei, què fas per aquí?! Has quedat amb algú?
- Mmm... ets tonto? Havíem quedat tu i jo.

No sé per què tinc un cap sobre l'espatlla, si no em funciona! Existeix algun Servei tècnic que pugui mirar-s'ho? AJUDA!

Els propers tres dies 19, 20 i 21 de juny el Sónar tornarà a estara entre nosaltres. Com molts ja sabreu, per anar al Sónar no cal ballar, però sí estar atents a les tendències de "Música Avançada i Art Multimèdia" - com ells mateixos es defineixen. Aquest any, i per primer cop, un mateix tema vertebra la major part de les àrees expositives: EL CINEMA.

Els segles XIX i XXI, unids pel Sónar: SonarMàtica recupera en "Future Past Cinema" les joguines òptiques del segle XIX.

Mentre Sonarama -ubicat al Centre d'Art Santa Mònica de Barcelona- investiga en les possibilitats de la llum i el sò com creadores d'espais (i atmòsferes), i les mostres a la carta, els nous llenguatges cinematogràfics derivats d'internet, els videojocs i els videojockeys, SonarMàtica -al Centre de Cultura Contemporànea de Barcelona- fa una revisió al segle XIX per conéixer què queda en aquest segle XXI d'aquells aparells, avui rebutjats, que van ajudar a crear la tecnologia del cinema.

Multimedia. SonarMática 2008
EL CINE MAS ALLÁ DEL CINE

En su 15º aniversario, Sónar 2008 se adentra en una de las aventuras expositivas más trascendentales en la historia del festival: el Cine.

EL CINE MAS ALLÁ DEL CINE constituye un singular viaje al presente y al futuro del cine. Pero un viaje que se inicia en los márgenes del cine, desde mas allá del cine.

+ INFO: www.sonar.es/2008/multimedia

Mount Kailash is the peak in the Gangdise mountains which is part of the Himalayas.The word Kailāśā means "crystal" in Sanskrit.Some traditions also aver that the mountain is Shiva's linga and Lake Manasarowar below is the yoni of His consort. According to one description in the Vishnu Purana, Mount Kailash is the center of the world, its four faces are made of crystal, ruby, gold, and lapis lazuli. It is the pillar of the world; is 84,000 leagues high; is the center of the world mandala; and is located at the heart of six mountain ranges symbolizing a lotus. The four rivers flowing from Kailash then flow to the four quarters of the world and divide the world into four regions.And is considered as a sacred place in four religions—Hinduism, Buddhism, Jainism and Bön faith.In Hindu religion, it is considered to be the abode of Lord Shiva. The mountain lies near Lake Manasarowar and Lake Rakshastal in Tibet.It is considered off limits to climbers in deference to Buddhist and Hindu beliefs.According to Hinduism, Shiva, the destroyer of evil and sorrow, resides at the summit of a legendary mountain named Kailāśā, where he sits in a state of perpetual meditation along with his wife Pārvatī, the daughter of Himalaya. Kubera, the god of wealth was also said to have his abode on or near the mountain.Ther is a story that says that Ravana encountered Lord Shiva at his abode in Kailash. Unknowingly, Ravana attempted to uproot and move the mountain to Sri lanka. Shiva, annoyed by Ravana's arrogance, pressed his little toe on Kailash,pinning him firmly under the same.His ganas informed Ravana of whom he had crossed, upon which Ravana became penitent. He composed and sang songs praising Shiva, and is said to have done so for thousands of years, till Shiva released him from his bondage. Pleased with his bravery and devotion, Shiva gave to him the divine sword Chandrahas ("Moon-blade").The earth is said to have quaked at Ravana's cry of pain when the mountain was pinned on him. Ravana in turn became a lifelong devotee of Lord Shiva. Ravana is said to have composed the "Shiva Tandava Stotra", a hymn to Lord Shiva. some say the marks that go around the mountain is the marks that was left by the rope that was tied around the mountain by Ravana.