Sunday, August 26, 2007
How?
I wonder how will I get happiness if I even know what's. There aren't good chances for me. Maybe I have to try something different
Saturday, August 25, 2007
Qanoq-ipit?
Inuugujoq, Qanoq-ipit?
Ajuunngilanga, Fernandimik Chileminngaaneerpunga.
Okay, Takuss
Fernando
Ajuunngilanga, Fernandimik Chileminngaaneerpunga.
Okay, Takuss
Fernando
Rightless in Iran
Being gay in Iran is a tough life: there, all sexual relations that occur outside of a traditional, heterosexual marriage are illegal. If you’re gay you’re very likely to be persecuted, arrested, beaten, tortured and sentenced to a slow death, usually through suffocation or stoning. Furthermore, no civil rights legislation exists in Iran to prohibit discrimination based on sexual orientation and depictions of homosexuality are prohibited in society or in the press. I’m usually pretty careful about judging situations I don’t know much about but with these premises I feel confident about myself when I say that Great Britain is going to commit a big mistake by repatriating Pegah Emambakhsh. Pegah, a forty years old woman, is an Iranian national who sought asylum in the UK in 2005: she is lesbian and she escaped Iran after her lover was arrested, tortured and subsequently sentenced to death by stoning. A few days ago her claim legally failed, due to the absurd fact that she couldn’t show clues of her sexual orientation. Now, the British Ambassador in Rome promises that 'We will not deport Pegah if the woman runs a risk in Iran', , and I hope he’s well aware of what he says because Pegah runs a risk, a supreme risk: death.Go to Spartakism flickr page with images about Pegah and other cases related with gay rights
Wednesday, August 15, 2007
Tuvalu: a country trying to survive
Can you see yourself as an environmental refugee, forced to leave your home, family or country in the name of global warming?The South Pacific island of Tuvalu, the second smallest nation on Earth (10,500 inhabitants), is the first country destined to be wiped out by climate change in the next 50 years. It is one of the world's lowest lying nations, with less than four metres above sea level at its highest point. Last spring, the "king tides" were the highest in memory, swamping 
many of the islands and hastening erosion and the salt-water intrusion that is making soil infertile. Located approximately 1,000 kms north of Fiji, the country is isolated and has nothing to sell to the rest of the world other than the internet domain name ".tv".
Gilliane Le Gallic, a French filmmaker co-produced the film “Trouble in Paradise,” documenting Tuvalu's plight as the first nation destined potentially to be covered by water as results of global warming. Afterwards, she had to get involved in finding solutions. In 2004, she and some partners developed "Small Is Beautiful", a decade-long plan to assist Tuvaluans in surviving as a nation, and if possible, to allow them to remain on their ancestral land.
With sea levels rising twice the average of global rate predicted by the United Nations, there was not time to lose. Tuvalu’s habitants started to get involved in finding solutions by creating “simple, workable models of sustainable development that can be reproduced by others elsewhere," making of the country a powerful symbol and example to the world.
The construction of the first ever biogas digestor on a coral island is complete, using manure from about 60 pigs to produce gas for cooking stoves. Tuvaluans are been trained at the newly opened Tuvalu National Training Centre on renewable energy. Community-wide trash clean-ups have been done and a biodiesel project using copra (coconut palm) is set to begin this fall. Seeds and horticultural training are ongoing to help reduce dependence on imported foods. New solar streetlights, composting toilets and wind projects are also being planned.
More than 4,000 people have already left the islands to live in New Zealand.
many of the islands and hastening erosion and the salt-water intrusion that is making soil infertile. Located approximately 1,000 kms north of Fiji, the country is isolated and has nothing to sell to the rest of the world other than the internet domain name ".tv".Gilliane Le Gallic, a French filmmaker co-produced the film “Trouble in Paradise,” documenting Tuvalu's plight as the first nation destined potentially to be covered by water as results of global warming. Afterwards, she had to get involved in finding solutions. In 2004, she and some partners developed "Small Is Beautiful", a decade-long plan to assist Tuvaluans in surviving as a nation, and if possible, to allow them to remain on their ancestral land.
With sea levels rising twice the average of global rate predicted by the United Nations, there was not time to lose. Tuvalu’s habitants started to get involved in finding solutions by creating “simple, workable models of sustainable development that can be reproduced by others elsewhere," making of the country a powerful symbol and example to the world.
The construction of the first ever biogas digestor on a coral island is complete, using manure from about 60 pigs to produce gas for cooking stoves. Tuvaluans are been trained at the newly opened Tuvalu National Training Centre on renewable energy. Community-wide trash clean-ups have been done and a biodiesel project using copra (coconut palm) is set to begin this fall. Seeds and horticultural training are ongoing to help reduce dependence on imported foods. New solar streetlights, composting toilets and wind projects are also being planned.
More than 4,000 people have already left the islands to live in New Zealand.
Macho men 'not seen as good bet'
Macho men 'not seen as good bet'
Women do not see macho men as a sound bet for a long-term partnership, preferring those with more feminine features, a study suggests.
Men with masculine features like large noses and small eyes were seen as less warm, less faithful and worse parents than more feminine counterparts.
Some 400 British men and women made judgements after viewing
photographs in which the features were subtly altered.
The study appears in the journal Personality and Individual Differences.
SPOT THE MACHO MAN
Lead author Dr Lynda Boothroyd of Durham University said: "This research shows a high amount of agreement between women about what they see, personality-wise, when asked to judge a book by its cover.
"They may well use that impression of someone to decide whether or not to engage with that person. That decision-making process all depends on what a woman is looking for in a relationship at that stage of her life."
Dominant partner
Some 400 British men and women completed the web-based test which put a pair of pictures in front of them.
Participants were asked to judge the faces on the following categories: dominance, ambition, wealth, faithfulness, commitment, parenting and warmth. They did so by clicking on the point of a scale.
The differences were subtle but apparent to the trained eye. The feminine face had more curved eyebrows, an arched forehead and slightly higher cheekbones. He also wore a hint of a smile, as women smile more often than men, the researchers said.
Both the women and the men who took part in the test judged the more feminine more favourably on faithfulness, commitment, parenting and warmth.
The masculine were seen as more dominant, but there was no difference between the two on ambition and wealth.
Dr George Fieldman, a principal lecturer in psychology at Buckingham Chilterns University College, said the findings in many ways "made sense".
"In a modern society physical strength is not a necessity but potentially a threat. A woman may choose a more feminine partner because it may reduce the chance of violence towards her and any offspring they produce.
"This research may have no immediate implications, but it does feed into our understanding of evolutionary psychology and why people make the choices they do."
Women do not see macho men as a sound bet for a long-term partnership, preferring those with more feminine features, a study suggests.
Men with masculine features like large noses and small eyes were seen as less warm, less faithful and worse parents than more feminine counterparts.
Some 400 British men and women made judgements after viewing
photographs in which the features were subtly altered.The study appears in the journal Personality and Individual Differences.
SPOT THE MACHO MAN
Lead author Dr Lynda Boothroyd of Durham University said: "This research shows a high amount of agreement between women about what they see, personality-wise, when asked to judge a book by its cover.
"They may well use that impression of someone to decide whether or not to engage with that person. That decision-making process all depends on what a woman is looking for in a relationship at that stage of her life."
Dominant partner
Some 400 British men and women completed the web-based test which put a pair of pictures in front of them.
Participants were asked to judge the faces on the following categories: dominance, ambition, wealth, faithfulness, commitment, parenting and warmth. They did so by clicking on the point of a scale.
The differences were subtle but apparent to the trained eye. The feminine face had more curved eyebrows, an arched forehead and slightly higher cheekbones. He also wore a hint of a smile, as women smile more often than men, the researchers said.
Both the women and the men who took part in the test judged the more feminine more favourably on faithfulness, commitment, parenting and warmth.
The masculine were seen as more dominant, but there was no difference between the two on ambition and wealth.
Dr George Fieldman, a principal lecturer in psychology at Buckingham Chilterns University College, said the findings in many ways "made sense".
"In a modern society physical strength is not a necessity but potentially a threat. A woman may choose a more feminine partner because it may reduce the chance of violence towards her and any offspring they produce.
"This research may have no immediate implications, but it does feed into our understanding of evolutionary psychology and why people make the choices they do."
Saturday, August 11, 2007
Water, Water Everywhere, but Guilt by the Bottleful
(From www.nytimes.com) Sorry If it's banned to publicate this articles, but it's so good. I love it, and I think it's good people read it.
ON a recent family vacation in Cape Cod, Jenny Pollack, 40, a novelist and public relations associate from Brooklyn, did something she knew she would come to regret. She did it on the spur of the moment. She did it because she felt desperate.
Besides, the giant illuminated Dasani vending machine was just standing there, like a beacon.
So, with her reusable plastic Nalgene bottles dry and her son Charlie working up a thirst in an indoor playground, she broke down and bought a bottle of water. To most people it would be a simple act of self-refreshment, but to Ms. Pollack it was also a minor offense against the planet — think of all the oil used to package, transport and refrigerate that water.
“Something about it felt like a betrayal,” said Ms. Pollack, who otherwise does not consider herself an ardent environmentalist. She said she decided to stop buying water after hearing friends talk about the impact of America’s bottled water habit. And now she is doing what she can to spread the word.
“I’ve pretty much said to every single one of my friends, ‘Can I tell you my spiel about bottled water?’ ”
How unlikely, that at the peak of a sweltering summer, people on playgrounds, in parks, and on beaches are suddenly wondering if an ice-cold bottle of fresh water might be a bad thing.
In the last few months, bottled water — generally considered a benign, even beneficial, product — has been increasingly portrayed as an environmental villain by city leaders, activist groups and the media. The argument centers not on water, but oil. It takes 1.5 million barrels a year just to make the plastic water bottles Americans use, according to the Earth Policy Institute in Washington, plus countless barrels to transport it from as far as Fiji and refrigerate it.
The issue took a major stride into mainstream dialogue earlier this summer, after the mayors of San Francisco, Salt Lake City, Minneapolis and New York began urging people to opt for tap water instead of bottled.
This added momentum to efforts by environmental groups like Corporate Accountability International and Food & Water Watch, which have been lobbying citizens to dump the bottle; environmental organizations had banded together in several states to pressure governments to extend bottle bills to include bottled water. Several prominent restaurateurs, like Alice Waters of Chez Panisse in Berkeley, Calif., made much-publicized moves to drop bottled water from their menus.
AND so people who had come to consider bottled water a great convenience, or even a mark of good taste, are now casting guilty glances at their frosty drinks.
Daphne Domingo Johnson, a life coach who also works for a nonprofit organization in Seattle, said she used to keep a case of bottled water “in my trunk for all times, just because I know the importance of water.” Ms. Johnson, 35, said she thought of reusable plastic Nalgene bottles — recently reborn as urban status symbols — as “just for backpackers or athletes.”
Now, after reading news reports about the debate over bottled water, Ms. Johnson said, the rare bottles she buys feel “like a guilty pleasure.” She helped mount an antibottled water campaign at work, posting fliers trumpeting environmental reasons why people should drink tap water instead of the free Crystal Geyser her employer provides.
She is not alone. In interviews last week with dozens of people on sun-baked streets around the country, former and current bottled water devotees showed a new awareness of the issue’s complexities.
Some have already changed their ways.
Melissa Frawley, 38, a banker in Atlanta, said she recently broke her Evian habit after news reports altered her thinking. Environmentalism, she concluded, “is sometimes an inconvenience to us all, but it is something I think we all need to do.”
Others who had not changed their habits were nevertheless feeling a new sense of guilt.
Barry Eskandani, 31, an administrative assistant in San Francisco who considers himself a connoisseur of water brands, said that lately his fellow Bay Area residents act as if “you just killed their puppy” if you dare throw a bottle in the garbage.
Bottled water has now overtaken coffee and milk in sales nationally, and is catching up with beer. To some, it’s an affordable luxury. To others, a healthy alternative to sugary drinks.
Regardless, many consider it a staple.
Besides, the giant illuminated Dasani vending machine was just standing there, like a beacon.
So, with her reusable plastic Nalgene bottles dry and her son Charlie working up a thirst in an indoor playground, she broke down and bought a bottle of water. To most people it would be a simple act of self-refreshment, but to Ms. Pollack it was also a minor offense against the planet — think of all the oil used to package, transport and refrigerate that water.
“Something about it felt like a betrayal,” said Ms. Pollack, who otherwise does not consider herself an ardent environmentalist. She said she decided to stop buying water after hearing friends talk about the impact of America’s bottled water habit. And now she is doing what she can to spread the word.
“I’ve pretty much said to every single one of my friends, ‘Can I tell you my spiel about bottled water?’ ”
How unlikely, that at the peak of a sweltering summer, people on playgrounds, in parks, and on beaches are suddenly wondering if an ice-cold bottle of fresh water might be a bad thing.
In the last few months, bottled water — generally considered a benign, even beneficial, product — has been increasingly portrayed as an environmental villain by city leaders, activist groups and the media. The argument centers not on water, but oil. It takes 1.5 million barrels a year just to make the plastic water bottles Americans use, according to the Earth Policy Institute in Washington, plus countless barrels to transport it from as far as Fiji and refrigerate it.
The issue took a major stride into mainstream dialogue earlier this summer, after the mayors of San Francisco, Salt Lake City, Minneapolis and New York began urging people to opt for tap water instead of bottled.
This added momentum to efforts by environmental groups like Corporate Accountability International and Food & Water Watch, which have been lobbying citizens to dump the bottle; environmental organizations had banded together in several states to pressure governments to extend bottle bills to include bottled water. Several prominent restaurateurs, like Alice Waters of Chez Panisse in Berkeley, Calif., made much-publicized moves to drop bottled water from their menus.
AND so people who had come to consider bottled water a great convenience, or even a mark of good taste, are now casting guilty glances at their frosty drinks.
Daphne Domingo Johnson, a life coach who also works for a nonprofit organization in Seattle, said she used to keep a case of bottled water “in my trunk for all times, just because I know the importance of water.” Ms. Johnson, 35, said she thought of reusable plastic Nalgene bottles — recently reborn as urban status symbols — as “just for backpackers or athletes.”
Now, after reading news reports about the debate over bottled water, Ms. Johnson said, the rare bottles she buys feel “like a guilty pleasure.” She helped mount an antibottled water campaign at work, posting fliers trumpeting environmental reasons why people should drink tap water instead of the free Crystal Geyser her employer provides.
She is not alone. In interviews last week with dozens of people on sun-baked streets around the country, former and current bottled water devotees showed a new awareness of the issue’s complexities.
Some have already changed their ways.
Melissa Frawley, 38, a banker in Atlanta, said she recently broke her Evian habit after news reports altered her thinking. Environmentalism, she concluded, “is sometimes an inconvenience to us all, but it is something I think we all need to do.”
Others who had not changed their habits were nevertheless feeling a new sense of guilt.
Barry Eskandani, 31, an administrative assistant in San Francisco who considers himself a connoisseur of water brands, said that lately his fellow Bay Area residents act as if “you just killed their puppy” if you dare throw a bottle in the garbage.
Bottled water has now overtaken coffee and milk in sales nationally, and is catching up with beer. To some, it’s an affordable luxury. To others, a healthy alternative to sugary drinks.
Regardless, many consider it a staple.
Over the last 15 years, the bottled water industry has been astonishingly successful in turning a product that once seemed an indulgence into a daily companion. Savvy marketers even managed to recast this mundane product as a talisman of sexiness — Jennifer Aniston is the new face of Glacéau SmartWater.
But the fickleness of fashion may be tilting against the industry.
In preparation for New York Fashion Week this September, Aveda has an agreement with several design labels, including 3.1 Phillip Lim, Rodarte, Temperley London, Thakoon and Marc Bouwer to use recycled aluminum bottles for the water served to models and stylists backstage.
Word is spreading. An editorial on Aug. 1 in The New York Times, “In Praise of Tap Water,” argued against bottled water on the ground that “this country has some of the best public water supplies in the world.” The piece was high on the list of the most e-mailed articles for several days.
And the industry is feeling the heat. Last week, the International Bottled Water Association took out full-page newspaper advertisements urging consumers to recycle, not abandon, their bottles and arguing that “when we drink any beverage, it’s likely to come out of a bottle or a can.”
Some interviewed last week agreed with that viewpoint.
“There are two separate issues — one is water, the other is plastic bottles,” said Paul Pentel, a physician in Minneapolis. “We have been trying to steer people away from the liquid candy — juices, pop and everything else,” he added. “From that standpoint, water is good, and I’m very hesitant to demonize bottled water.”
Indeed, some people wonder why environmentalists have singled out bottled water, and not dish detergent or Wiffle Ball bats.
Jessica Retan, a 22-year-old nanny who lives in Harlem, was sipping from a bottle of Poland Spring in Central Park on a hot Saturday. The waste issue, she said, is “concerning, but there’s Coke, shampoo — a lot of things in addition to water that are bottled in plastic. So I’m curious, why just focus on bottled water?”
Gigi Kellett of Corporate Accountability International’s Think Outside the Bottle campaign said environmental efforts targeting bottled water are a good starting point because water “is something that people can have access to right out of the taps.”
“It’s a way to protect the environment and protect your pocketbook,” she said, adding that most empty bottles end up not in recycling bins but in the garbage.
All that discarded plastic also bothers Barbara Kancelbaum, a freelance writer in Park Slope. “It’s not like the bottles that carry water are worse than bottles carrying Pepsi,” said Ms. Kancelbaum, 42, who was so moved by the sight of overflowing garbage cans in Prospect Park that she posted an antibottled water message on an online bulletin board for local mothers. “The problem is that the water industry has exploded, so that there are many, many more bottles being used than there were before.”
“The solution,” she said, “is not to buy other kinds of drinks. The solution is to bring your own water.”
But even the noblest of intentions can wilt in the heat.
Dave Byers, 65, from Silver Spring, Md., discussed the issue with his wife, Pat, on the steps of the Metropolitan Museum of Art on a 90-degree Saturday. “I think it should be banned, actually,” he said of bottled water.
As he spoke, he and his wife shared a bottle of Poland Spring. They said they felt bad about it, but it was hot. And they could not find a drinking fountain.
“Water is so ubiquitous,” he said, glancing at the bottle. “It seems a little dumb to walk around with a bottle of this.”
But the fickleness of fashion may be tilting against the industry.
In preparation for New York Fashion Week this September, Aveda has an agreement with several design labels, including 3.1 Phillip Lim, Rodarte, Temperley London, Thakoon and Marc Bouwer to use recycled aluminum bottles for the water served to models and stylists backstage.
Word is spreading. An editorial on Aug. 1 in The New York Times, “In Praise of Tap Water,” argued against bottled water on the ground that “this country has some of the best public water supplies in the world.” The piece was high on the list of the most e-mailed articles for several days.
And the industry is feeling the heat. Last week, the International Bottled Water Association took out full-page newspaper advertisements urging consumers to recycle, not abandon, their bottles and arguing that “when we drink any beverage, it’s likely to come out of a bottle or a can.”
Some interviewed last week agreed with that viewpoint.
“There are two separate issues — one is water, the other is plastic bottles,” said Paul Pentel, a physician in Minneapolis. “We have been trying to steer people away from the liquid candy — juices, pop and everything else,” he added. “From that standpoint, water is good, and I’m very hesitant to demonize bottled water.”
Indeed, some people wonder why environmentalists have singled out bottled water, and not dish detergent or Wiffle Ball bats.
Jessica Retan, a 22-year-old nanny who lives in Harlem, was sipping from a bottle of Poland Spring in Central Park on a hot Saturday. The waste issue, she said, is “concerning, but there’s Coke, shampoo — a lot of things in addition to water that are bottled in plastic. So I’m curious, why just focus on bottled water?”
Gigi Kellett of Corporate Accountability International’s Think Outside the Bottle campaign said environmental efforts targeting bottled water are a good starting point because water “is something that people can have access to right out of the taps.”
“It’s a way to protect the environment and protect your pocketbook,” she said, adding that most empty bottles end up not in recycling bins but in the garbage.
All that discarded plastic also bothers Barbara Kancelbaum, a freelance writer in Park Slope. “It’s not like the bottles that carry water are worse than bottles carrying Pepsi,” said Ms. Kancelbaum, 42, who was so moved by the sight of overflowing garbage cans in Prospect Park that she posted an antibottled water message on an online bulletin board for local mothers. “The problem is that the water industry has exploded, so that there are many, many more bottles being used than there were before.”
“The solution,” she said, “is not to buy other kinds of drinks. The solution is to bring your own water.”
But even the noblest of intentions can wilt in the heat.
Dave Byers, 65, from Silver Spring, Md., discussed the issue with his wife, Pat, on the steps of the Metropolitan Museum of Art on a 90-degree Saturday. “I think it should be banned, actually,” he said of bottled water.
As he spoke, he and his wife shared a bottle of Poland Spring. They said they felt bad about it, but it was hot. And they could not find a drinking fountain.
“Water is so ubiquitous,” he said, glancing at the bottle. “It seems a little dumb to walk around with a bottle of this.”
Friday, August 10, 2007
Nicolás Bonafine
Anoche recibí una larga y divertida llamada desde barrio Congreso, Buenos Aires. Se trataba de Nicolás Bonafine... me reí a mares.
Pronto por Baires. Y sí.
Pronto por Baires. Y sí.
Wednesday, August 08, 2007
A really weird day
Today has been a really weird day. At morning I woke up, without sense, before my clock started ringing, wishing break it. Alter that, I got a shower, comfortable and backpainless. However, everything became black again ‘cause I lost my glasses yesterday. Lucky, when I came to my office, they were about my desk waiting for me. They’re good partners. I love ‘em, though in several times I thought they weren’t the right design for me. Anyway, It does not care, really.
Well, now is noon and I passed a very strong rain that wet me enough, and a earthquake that moved with strenght the fifth level where I work. Damn it, sometimos I hate living into a sismical country like this. No easy-going watching how your floor is hitting yourself and moving, without chances of control it. Everybody gets furious, bother, and though it’s normal here, it’s not cool, you know.
Día extraño
Hoy ha sido un día muy extraño. Por la mañana desperté, sin sentido, antes que mi reloj piteara y me diera deseos de destruirlo. Después de eso, me levanté fácilmente, cómodo y sin dolor de espalda.
No obstante, todo se volvió negro nuevamente porque había perdido mis lentes el día anterior. Afortundamente una vez que llegué al trabajo estaban sobre el escritorio esperándome. Tan bien portados que son ellos. Les quiero, aunque en varias ocasiones me arrepentí del modelo que seleccioné. Anyway. Da igual.
Bien, ahora es mediodía y ya pasé una lluvia que me mojó bastante, y un temblor que remeció con fuerza el quinto piso en el que trabajo. Maldición , a veces detesto vivir en un país sísmico como este. Es incómodo ver como el suelo se remueve y saltungea sin poderlo controlar. Todo el mundo se inquieta, y aunque es normal en este lugar del planeta; la incomodidad es gigantesca.
Son las 12.21. Ojalá el día mejore.
No obstante, todo se volvió negro nuevamente porque había perdido mis lentes el día anterior. Afortundamente una vez que llegué al trabajo estaban sobre el escritorio esperándome. Tan bien portados que son ellos. Les quiero, aunque en varias ocasiones me arrepentí del modelo que seleccioné. Anyway. Da igual.
Bien, ahora es mediodía y ya pasé una lluvia que me mojó bastante, y un temblor que remeció con fuerza el quinto piso en el que trabajo. Maldición , a veces detesto vivir en un país sísmico como este. Es incómodo ver como el suelo se remueve y saltungea sin poderlo controlar. Todo el mundo se inquieta, y aunque es normal en este lugar del planeta; la incomodidad es gigantesca.
Son las 12.21. Ojalá el día mejore.
Monday, August 06, 2007
Without, the one
Actually, I feel confussed. I don't have reason to hate myself, but I do. There aren't ways to understand what I'm feeling right now. There're some names like loneliness maybe, but it'd be well consider, as long as I wouldn't have someone next to me. I'm very rounded by friends, family and joy...
So, well... maybe I'm sad 'cause I ain't have the one for fight. The one for kill neurones on tabacco's in...
So, well... maybe I'm sad 'cause I ain't have the one for fight. The one for kill neurones on tabacco's in...
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