Friday, August 08, 2008

Learning languages

I really like languages, although I can properly speak only Spanish and English. My natural laziness and the lack of time during past years are the reasons. However, I can manage in some other languages. During last academic course I started again to learn French, and even if I hardly can speak it, at least I can read it. It happens the same with Portuguese. After a year in Barcelona I learnt Catalan as well. I can understand, and even if I make quite many mistakes, I can also speak it.

But now the challenge is really more difficult. Last monday I started my Estonian language lessons -- wow! It's really different from any other language I have studied. Since it is not indo-european (as most of the European languages are, from Greek to Swedish and from Portuguese to Russian) some structures are really difficult to learn (every name has 14 different forms, for instance) and most of the words are completely unfamiliar (so the 'reverse engineering' that I use with Portuguese or French does not work at all).

But Estonian language is beautiful and interesting. It has only a bit more than one million speakers, and out of all the languages in the world, is closely related only to Finnish. Why to learn it, then? well, as a Estonian would say: Miks mitte! (why not!). After all, knowledge never hurt anyone.

After just four lessons I am starting to understand some (few) things, and I can impress my estonian acquaintances. It's really rewarding :) Moreover, I already know by heart some songs in Estonian, as our teacher really likes to sing (Estonians... singing nation, they call themselves :D).

And talking about languages... in less than 4 weeks I will start learning Greek... I hope that my Estonian is good enough by then! Nägemist! (See you!)

Labels: estonia, languages, myself

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Thursday, July 24, 2008

One year older

Yes, my friends, I turned 23 some hours ago... I think I have gone beyond this threshold from which birthdays are a bit depressing, rather than something to celebrate... it was so nice when I was just 17 :D
 
But time goes by so fast that I don't even noticed that this blog is more than 7 months old... and still it's like something quite recent for me. Anyway, I guess I'm not the only one having this feeling, so I don't think it's necessary to explain anything else.
 
This year, I'm having my birthday abroad again. Last year it was in Belgrade (by the way, it was the hottest day in the history of the city since they have any kind of records), and today I'm in Tallinn, enjoying my Estonian adventure. Probably it's easier to celebrate your birthday abroad if you were born in summer!
 
Since I'm not a big friend of phone calls, I'm not expecting any today (besides my parents and some other relatives maybe), but of course I like to receive e-mails (or facebook messages ;)). So thanks to all which remembered the date and dropped me a message, and to all those who will do it during the day ;)
 
PS: For more recent updates, stay tuned in Welcome to Estonia

Labels: myself

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Thursday, July 03, 2008

Stay tuned!

No! I haven't abandoned this blog! But the last couple of weeks have been quite busy indeed, moving from Barcelona to Valladolid and then travelling to Tallinn. A lot of changes in few days, leaving the city in which I stayed for the last year and moving abroad for the whole summer.
 
I won't write very often in this blog during the summer, although I plan to give news from time to time. But I haven't stopped bloggin, I just started a blog, Welcome to Estonia. It's written in Spanish and it's hosted in the website of the local newspaper of Valladolid. My mother suggested me to write my blog there, since sometimes they publish stuff from the blogs in the printed edition (and if it was the case, she would be very proud :D).
 
That's it for today, I guess. Enjoy the summer!

Labels: estonia, myself

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Thursday, June 19, 2008

Summertime

I don't know if it is because of the global climatic change, but the weather has been quite strange this year in Barcelona. I have to say that I haven't felt any big changes during the whole year. Since I moved in September it hasn't been really cold, and it hasn't been really warm either. I bet that the temperatures have been between 16 ºC and 22 ºC at least 90% of the days.

It was also a dry year, very dry. They even had to launch big ships, loaded with water, because there wasn't enough of it for the city. But in May it changed dramatically. In May everybody would expect t-shirts, sunglasses and the first sea baths of the year. Well, it started to rain instead. In few weeks it rained more than it had done the previous 6 or 7 months. The water ships weren't needed anymore.


Barceloneta Beach, Barcelona

However, it seems that the summer arrived yesterday. The weather is getting warmer and warmer, the sun is shining until sunset (around 9 pm), the clothes are getting shorter and the red color of the skin of the Nordic tourists is becoming more intense. As a normal summer should be in Barcelona, the touristic capital of Southern Europe.

And soon, very soon, I'll have to leave. Next Sunday, my Catalan adventure will come to an end. After almost 9 months in Barcelona, it's time to say goodbye... even if I'm sure that I'll come back (at least for a visit!). Few last things to do (including my *last* exam before getting my degree) and on Monday morning I'll wake up in Valladolid again.

Nevermind, next adventures are coming soon. From the 1st of July on, I'll be working in Tallinn. And the 1st of September I'll start a Greek language course in Mytilini, in the Greek island of Lesvos. Sounds interesting, doesn't it? Yes, I know, I should start thinking big. Get a (real) job. Get a (real) life. But... well, let's enjoy a bit more.

Labels: barcelona, myself

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Friday, June 06, 2008

In Change we trust

 
«Change will not come if we wait for some other person or some other time. We are the ones we've been waiting for. We are the change that we seek.»
 
Barack Obama, February 5, 2008.
 
He did it. It looked like an impossible mission few months ago, and it would sound like a joke just few years ago... a black guy, in his forties, with real possibilities of becoming the next President of the United States. Of course, I am talking about Barack Hussein Obama (his name itself sounds like impossible for a President of the USA).
 
A black President... it is this kind of things that you only expect to happen in a movie (I still remember Morgan Freeman performing the role of President in some movie). Hopefully the Americans will vote for change after 8 years of ultra-conservative politics, war, terror and fear. A young man with new ideas, who talks about illusion, hope and change, will possibly become the most important leader in the World. Such a huge step against racism and prejudices.
 
So I bet (and hope) that Obama will be the next President. I have failed in the 2 last elections: I thought Gore would win Bush in 2000 (and he actually got more votes, but all of us remember what happened in Florida) and Kerry would defeat Bush again 4 years ago. But this time it's for good: Obama will mean a new era in the American politics.
 
Maybe you are wondering why I am concerned about this issues, if I'm not (US)American (and I'm not planning to move to the USA at all :)). Well, in our globalised world, the man in charge of the government of the most powerful countries has actual influence over all of us, doesn't he? From the other side of the Atlantic ocean, I also believe in change.

Labels: politics, usa

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Monday, June 02, 2008

Mondays are not for Metaphysics

When I was going to the faculty in the subway this morning, I had the chance to read the free newspaper 20 minutos. Among all the Spanish free newspapers, it's my favourite, for several reasons: 1. It's the most casual (and when you are going to school at 8 AM, that's something nice). 2. It's the only one which has a local edition in Valladolid (not that I can read it in Barcelona, though). 3. It has the best cartoons, with a big differece.
 
And today I found this comic strip starred by Cuttlas, the anti-hero from the Far West:
 


1. Ho, ho, ho
2. Can you recognize me, Cuttlas? I am your evil "I"!
3. Your dark side! Your meanness, your misery! All that nobody could imagine!
4. I am your vanity, your laziness, your greed! — You have already been in other comics
5. I am your complexes, your vices, your lacks, your lies!
6. BAM!
7. I'm sorry, but I'm not feeling metaphysical at all today — I see...
 
I feel identified with Cuttlas today. Seems that Mondays are not the best days for deep philosophical thoughts :)

Labels: fun, myself

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Tuesday, May 27, 2008

About stars and Religion

Today I was attending my Astronomy lessons (almost falling asleep, by the way) and I noticed again that the biggest paradox of the human being is the fact that we are intelligent enough to wonder about the existence of God, but not intelligent enough to find a satisfactory answer. It doesn't mater how hard we try, our intelligence is limited. Explaining the World using 'sacred' books written by humans like you and me centuries ago is pathetic... but there's something that we must admit: we have no idea of what the hell are we doing here... why do we exist?

We have discovered and classified millions of stars, we have discovered galaxies that are so far away that we see them as they were before the dinosaurs existed... but we still don't know anything about 90% of the matter of the Universe (the so called 'dark matter'), well, we don't even know if it's matter! We have sent men to the moon, but we haven't ever seen what is below our feet (we have just managed to scratch the surface of our planet). The sky is not the limit. Our brain is.

Hm... seems that I'm getting way too philosophic. Maybe it is because my exams are starting soon (that's why I am not posting here so often). Or maybe it is because my Catalan adventure is about to finish... who knows.

Labels: myself, religion, science

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Monday, May 19, 2008

The Estonian Tiger Leap

Wow, almost 2 weeks without any new posts! shame on me. To be honest, I didn't feel like writing aything interesting these last days. Besides that, I have been busy with some school stuff.
 
One of the things that kept me busy was a presentation I had to made for the 'Technology and Culture' course. After many thoughts, considering that the presentation should fit into 'how computers have changed our lives' I decided to write about one of the most IT developed countries in Europe, Estonia, and its Tiger Leap project.
 
I framed it in the context of the global evolution towards the Information Society (giving an outline of the economical revolutions, the post-industrial society and the network society), then analysing some facts and figures about the Tiger Leap project and its impact on the present Estonia: advanced mobile services, e-Government, universal wifi coverage, challenging IT sector and so on.
 
I have to say that I'm pretty satisfied with the result of the oral presentation (last Thursday). My skills seem to be still good, 9 months after the Trainers' Camp I took in Estonia (where else :D).
 
So, here is the abstract:
 


In the History of mankind, the biggest advances in the social and economic structures have been closely connected to improvements in the flow of information. The dramatic development of new ways of communication in the last century has shaped a new society in which knowledge is the main productive force. In the last decades, the spreading of electronic-processed information networks --boosted by cheaper, smaller and more powerful devices-- has changed the social habits and relations. In this new society, information technologies (IT) have become the key of the new economy.
 
The little country of Estonia is presented as a good example of these changes. After the independence from the USSR, the economic structures of the young Republic were to be built. The Tiger Leap project was launched in 1996, being its goal to improve the national Education system by using IT. Soon after, this project took also on the task of modernizing private business and public administration. The result is a society which is in the cutting edge of new technologies, with a high e-skilled population, able to use electronic (and even mobile) ID card for various purposes, vote on the Internet or reach free wireless Internet connection all across the country. Estonia has become the playground for new technologies: the IT services of the future in most western countries are part of everyday Estonian life.
 
The outcomes of this daring bid are rather positive since the Estonian economy and living standards have developed more than those of its closest neighbours, which proves again that information is the driving force of our society.
 
I developed a small website about the Tiger Leap project, you can find there the slideshow (powerpoint) and some interesting links about the topic.

Labels: estonia, myself, technology

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Tuesday, May 06, 2008

Supply and demand

(Traducido al castellano en el primer comentario)
 
When you want to become an engineer, you have to study some Economics as well. Not getting very deep into the topic, but getting to know the basic aspects at least. Thus, I know the law of supply and demand: when considering a product, the supply and the demand both fit into curves that relate prices and quantities.
 
It's easy to understand that consumers will demand higher quantities if the prices are lower, and on the other hand, producers will supply higher quantities if the prices are higher. The behavior of consumers and producers is opposite, but both of them meet in a single point of equilibrium. This equilibrium point sets the final quantity that will be released and the final price that the product will have in a stable market.
 
This is the very first lesson in Economics, but if you don't know what I am talking about, just watch this video.
 

 
Of course, it's impossible to fully characterise a market with such a simple rule, there are zillions of unpredictable issues that make Economy to be anything but an exact science. However, the law of supply and demand is useful to understand the general trends of specific markets. As a matter of fact, it's impossible to push against this law forever: if the demand reduces, the prices will fall. Sooner or later, but they will.
 
But it seems that in Spain, the real estate and building companies don't know anything about Economics. Let's talk a bit about this story. In the middle of the 90s, Spain was recovering of a big crisis. After several years of problems, the situation started to improve and the consumption increased. The demand of housing rose, and The Law acted: the prices also increased (if you have any problems understanding why, watch again the video and see what happens when the demand curve arises).
 
There was an important circumstance these years: Spain was preparing to change its old currency (pesetas) into the brand new Euro. And in Spain there was a lot of 'black economy', a lot of money that nobody knew that was there... how to transform all this money in Euros? Well, the prices of housing were rocketing by that time, so... it seemed a great investment indeed! A lot of 'black money' was used to buy apartments and houses all around Spain. Therefore, the demand went even higher, and the rise of prices seemed not to have an end. In around 10 years, prices of housing in Spain increased more than 100%. I already worte about the consequences of all this for 'normal people' in my old blog (in Spanish, check here).
 
I don't want to analyse what happened, because I am not an expert and it's not the point of this post, so I will get directly to the end. Everybody knew that prices were going too high. Everybody knew that normal people with normal salaries couldn't afford a house anymore. Everybody knew that the demand will suddenly decrease, sooner or later. Everybody knew that then, the price of housing would go down (it's The Law!). Everybody knew that a decrease in the price of housing would mean a huge economical crisis, especially in Spain, since building industry was the main driving force of the Economy. But nobody did anything about that.
 
And what happened? Indeed, the demand has stopped. There are thousands of houses and apartments being built (or already built) who nobody wants to buy. To be precise, around 650.000 in the whole Spain, according to this article from the newspaper El País. The housing and real state companies were favoured by The Law during past years. A lot of people became rich selling houses at high prices. The levels of corruption were similar to those in a 3rd world country: local councils (which have the responsibility to allow or deny new buildings) negotiated undercover with building companies, which made lot of politicans to become (illicitly) rich too.
 
Now The Law is against them. All these people is supposed to lose money, the same way they won it. Everything that goes up, falls down... they should already know it! But instead, they are pledging for help. They say that the government should help them. More public roads, more public housing... more money of our taxes, so they can keep getting richer. 'It's a key sector in our Economy', they say. 'Unemployment will arise, otherwise'. Maybe. But 'I prefer my taxes to be spent on paying unemployment benefits rather than keep making those bastards richer and richer'. I didn't say this sentence, my father did — he pays more taxes than I do so he might be more concerned.
 
In the article of El País I mentioned before, the building companies admit that 'there are houses that will be sold only if we decrease prices'. Of course! It's about the Economy, stupid!. This last sentence is not mine, is Bill Clinton's. Maybe the Spanish building companies would need some lessons from him.

Labels: economy, spain

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Wednesday, April 30, 2008

Quotes on science and technology

Since I'm currently busy (and I am always lazy), I don't have so much time to post here, but it has been almost a week since the last post, and it's time to entertain you again :).
 
I want to share with you a small compilation of quotes about science and technology. The selection is totally random: these ones may not be the best, they are just a personal choice. I always 'sign' my e-mails with my name and a quote, and I have just compiled all the ones I have used since I started this 'tradition' (I change the quote every several months). Enjoy.
 
"The laws of nature are constructed in such a way as to make the universe as interesting as possible." — Freeman Dyson.
 
"Go to the edge of the cliff and jump off. Build your wings on the way down." — Ray Bradbury
 
"One man's 'magic' is another man's engineering. 'Supernatural' is a null word." — Robert Heinlein
 
"In science one tries to tell people, in such a way as to be understood by everyone, something that no one ever knew before. But in poetry, it's the exact opposite." – Paul Dirac.
 
"Engineering is the art of modelling materials we do not wholly understand, into shapes we cannot precisely analyse so as to withstand forces we cannot properly assess, in such a way that the public has no reason to suspect the extent of our ignorance." – A. R. Dykes.
 
"Patriotism is the virtue of the vicious" – Oscar Wilde. (Yes, I know, this one is not about technology :))
 
"Any intelligent fool can make things bigger, more complex, and more violent. It takes a touch of genius, and a lot of courage, to move in the opposite direction." – A. Einstein.
 
"For a successful technology, reality must take precedence over public relations, for Nature cannot be fooled." – R. P. Feynman.
 

 
And finally, a quotation from the memoirs of Herbert Hoover, about 'the profession of Engineering':
 
It is a great profession. There is the satisfaction of watching a figment of the imagination emerge through the aid of science to a plan on paper. Then it moves to realization in stone or metal or energy. Then it brings jobs and homes to men. Then it elevates the standards of living and adds to the comforts of life. That is the engineer's high privelege.
The great liability of the engineer compared to men of other professions is that his works are out in the open where all can see them. His acts, step by step, are in hard substance. He cannot bury his mistakes in the grave like the doctors. He cannot argue them into thin air or blame the judge like the lawyers. He cannot, like the architects, cover his failures with trees and vines. He cannot, like the politicians, screen his shortcomings by blaming his opponents and hope that the people will forget. The engineer simply cannot deny that he did it. If his works do not work, he is damned. That is the phantasmagoria that haunts his nights and dogs his days. He comes from the job at the end of the day resolved to calculate it again. He wakes in the night in a cold sweat and puts something on paper that looks silly in the morning. All day he shivers at the thought of the bugs which will inevitably appear to jolt his smooth consummation.
On the other hand, unlike the doctor his is not a life among the weak. Unlike the soldier, destruction is not his purpose. Unlike the lawyer, quarrels are not his daily bread. To the engineer falls the job of clothing the bare bones of science with life, comfort and hope.
No doubt as years go by people forget which engineer did it, even if they ever knew. Or some politician puts his name on it. Or they credit it to some promoter who used other peoples money with which to finance it. But the engineer himself looks back at the unending stream of goodness that flows from his successes with satisfactions that few professions may know. And the verdict of his fellow professionals is all the accolade he wants.
 
Do you want more? Check the best Engineering quotations list I have found so far, courtesy of the University of Bristol.

Labels: science, technology

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