tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-91156446058333841382024-03-13T21:16:17.380+01:00X de XavierUnos y ceros. A veces, en el orden adecuado.-Xvhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12954073038736466058noreply@blogger.comBlogger16125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9115644605833384138.post-20434567677149368272011-04-12T21:08:00.004+01:002011-04-12T21:26:30.686+01:00Are we unprofessional?From <a href="http://twitter.com/#!/unclebobmartin">Uncle Bob</a>'s <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Clean-Code-Handbook-Software-Craftsmanship/dp/0132350882"><i>Clean Code</i></a>, discussing the pressures that professionals get to deliver unacceptable quality:<br /><div><blockquote><i>What if you were a doctor and had a patient who demanded that you stop all the silly hand-washing in preparation for surgery because it was taking too much time? Clearly the patient is the boss; and yet the doctor should absolutely refuse to comply. Why? Because the doctor knows more than the patient about the risks of disease and infection. It would be unprofessional for the doctor to comply with the patient.</i></blockquote></div><br />Ouch! What a great metaphor! It really hurts, but it is also a brilliant invitation to get vocal when one needs to get vocal.-Xvhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12954073038736466058noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9115644605833384138.post-23928791191333048602009-10-07T07:19:00.009+01:002009-10-07T08:25:42.636+01:00Bonuses<a href="http://www.mintzberg.org/index.html" title="mintzberg.org">Henry</a> <a href="http://www.economist.com/businessfinance/management/displaystory.cfm?story_id=12918770" title="His profile as a a management guru in The Economist">Mintzberg</a>:<br /><br /><blockquote><span style="font-style:italic;">Executive compensation has become <b>a polite form of thievery</b>, or, if you prefer, legal corruption. Executives get paid extra when the stock price goes up (bonus) and when it goes down (golden parachute); they get paid extra for staying in their job (retention bonus <span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">(...)</span>), and for just doing their job (a bonus for signing a merger <span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">(...)</span>).<br /><br />As for the argument that if you don’t pay the bonuses, you don’t get the right person, I counter that if you do pay the bonuses, you get the wrong person. You get someone who is willing to single him or herself out from everyone else, at the expense of teamwork (...). The CEO, like everyone else in the company, has a job to do and should be paid for doing it. (...)<br /><br />For the sake of sustainable enterprise: Executive bonuses should be eliminated. Period.</span> </blockquote><br /><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">From </span><a href="http://www.mintzberg.org/pdf/execbonus.pdf"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">http://www.mintzberg.org/pdf/execbonus.pdf</span></a>-Xvhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12954073038736466058noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9115644605833384138.post-12317470931025167362009-10-05T09:22:00.006+01:002009-10-05T09:37:07.496+01:00Once things have happened once<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_Frankel">Charles Frankel</a>, in <a href="http://www.amazon.com/High-Foggy-Bottom-Charles-Frankel/dp/0060113383/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=english-books&qid=1254730365&sr=8-1">High on Foggy Bottom; an Outsider's Inside View of the Government</a><br /><blockquote><span style="font-style:italic;">Once things have happened, no matter how accidentally, they will be regarded as manifestations of an unchangeable Higher Reason. For every argument inside government that some jerry-built bureaucratic arrangement should be changed, there are usually twenty arguments to show that it rest's on God's own Logic, an that tampering with it will bring down the heavens.</span></blockquote><br />Likely to be a valid statement also for individuals-Xvhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12954073038736466058noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9115644605833384138.post-46463780555095280922009-02-08T22:19:00.003+01:002009-02-08T22:25:04.774+01:00Brick walls<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/xverges/3264561630/" title="Brick walls by -Xv, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm1.static.flickr.com/249/3264561630_8739cde6fb.jpg" alt="Brick walls" width="400" /></a><br /><blockquote><i>But remember, the brick walls are there for a reason.<br />The brick walls are not there to keep us out.<br />The brick walls are there to give us a chance to show how badly we want something.<br />Because the brick walls are there to stop the people who don't want it badly enough.<br />They're there to stop the other people.</i></blockquote><br /><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Randy_Pausch">Randy Pausch</a>'s <i>Last Lecture - Really Achieving Your Childhood Dreams</i> (<a href="http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=3047771997186190855">video</a> <a href="http://download.srv.cs.cmu.edu/%7Epausch/Randy/pauschlastlecturetranscript.pdf">transcript pdf)</a>-Xvhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12954073038736466058noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9115644605833384138.post-25966814973284914352009-01-28T18:55:00.003+01:002009-01-29T00:53:08.960+01:00Could someone please clone that man?<blockquote>sunlight is said to be the best of disinfectants</blockquote><blockquote>in the face of doubt, openness prevails</blockquote>Lots and lots of organizations, both corporations and public administrations, could learn from these quotes. Taken from a <a title="Freedom of Information Act" href="http://www.whitehouse.gov/the_press_office/FreedomofInformationAct/">memo by Barack Obama for the heads of executive departments and agencies</a>. I bet that my <a href="http://xdexavier.blogspot.com/2008/02/ms-envidia.html">honeymoon phase</a> will be over sooner or later... but, in the meanwhile, would you dear lucky Americans mind cloning several hundred <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/President_of_the_United_States" title="President of the United States">POTUS</a> and sending them all over the place?<br /><br />Yay for transparency!-Xvhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12954073038736466058noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9115644605833384138.post-8997634345899224982008-12-28T01:13:00.003+01:002008-12-28T01:22:51.314+01:00PatienceMemo to self:<br /><blockquote style="font-style: italic;">Do you have the patience to wait<br />till your mud settles and the water is clear?<br />Can you remain unmoving<br />till the right action arises by itself?</blockquote><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Laozi">Lao-Tzu</a> (<a style="font-style: italic;" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Daodejing">Tao Te Ching</a>)<br /><br />Nope. The mud has not settled. Have to wait.-Xvhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12954073038736466058noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9115644605833384138.post-80882686258444050742008-12-07T23:40:00.007+01:002008-12-08T01:37:19.291+01:00Present and in aweFrom <a href="http://dir.salon.com/topics/anne_lamott/">Anne Lamott</a>'s <a href="http://xdexavier.blogspot.com/2007/03/bird-by-bird.html">Bird by Bird</a> (p100):<br /><blockquote>Try walking around with a child who's going, "Wow, wow! Look at that dirty dog! Look at that burned-down house! Look at that red sky!" And the child points and you look, and see, and start going "Wow! Look at huge crazy hedge! Look at that teeny little baby! Look at that scary dark cloud!" I think <span style="font-weight: bold;">this is how we are supposed to be in the world - present an in awe</span>.</blockquote>Some times, like when my kids were very young, or when I'm experiencing some special scenery, this view of the world comes naturally. Others, I'm smart enough to remember to put the inner child in control.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:Little_Red_Riding_Hood_-_Project_Gutenberg_etext_19993.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 219px; height: 320px;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_T679aggANRU/STxqOSrKyiI/AAAAAAAAALY/VF8EYub_N1E/s320/Little_Red_Riding_Hood_-_Project_Gutenberg_etext_19993.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5277209657134991906" border="0" /></a><br />I've spent the <a href="http://xdexavier.blogspot.com/2008/12/resum-executiu.html">last</a> <a href="http://flickr.com/photos/xverges/2977726920/">few</a> weeks walking in the street as if I were the Little Red Riding Hood on synthetic recreational drugs (smile boing-boing-boing smile), and I realized that it had lots to do with the inner child getting in control without asking for permission. This reminded me about Lamott's quote, and, in turn, to remind myself to keep letting the inner child handle the driving wheel.-Xvhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12954073038736466058noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9115644605833384138.post-274204052286106252008-05-22T00:35:00.004+01:002008-05-22T00:46:00.725+01:00Why are we able to answer emails on sunday......but unable to go to the movies on Monday afternoons?<br /><br />Why can't we take the kids to wok if we can take work home?<br /><br />Those are very good questions asked by <a href="http://xdexavier.blogspot.com/2008/05/back-in-ussr.html">Ricardo Semler in his <span style="font-style:italic;">The Seven-Day Weekend</span></a>.-Xvhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12954073038736466058noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9115644605833384138.post-52998532998684628032008-05-01T19:39:00.003+01:002008-05-01T23:58:31.161+01:00Back in the U.S.S.R.<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_Soviet_man"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer;" src="http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/b/b3/Kolkhoznitsa.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><br /><blockquote><span style="font-style: italic;">East Germany may no longer exist, but now we have companies featuring central planning by Troikas, mission statements crafted by apparatchiks, quinquennial planning, no right to choose leaders in companies, no democracy in the workplace, a clear distinction between intelligentsia and peasants (top CEOs make 512 times the median salary and enjoy company 'dachas', jets and limos), and 'state' monitoring (time clocks, dress codes, drug-screening, 'employee assistance' plans, e-mail monitoring, smoking and personal conduct rules, as family-life audits).</span> <span style="font-size:78%;">[1]</span></blockquote>This is not a quote from a labor union leader, an anti-globalization essay or a witty comedian. It's from a proponent of democracy and transparency in the workplace that happens to be <span style="font-style: italic;">a business owner putting his money where his unconventional mouth is</span> <span style="font-size:78%;">[2]</span>: Ricardo Semler, in <a href="http://books.google.co.uk/books?id=_N4CAAAACAAJ&dq=inauthor:Ricardo+inauthor:Semler&ei=5JaLR9XAJJrUswOrpKHQBQ">The Seven-Day Weekend</a> <span style="font-size:78%;">[3]</span>.<br /><br />I loved this book, even if its writing style is not that great. Its main point is showing how Semco, Semler's company is run. When Semler and Clovis Bojikian started changing the traditional command and control ways,<br /><span style="font-style: italic;"><blockquote>"We wanted to demonstrate that the workplace could be a place of satisfaction, not of suffering. Work should be a pleasure, not an obligation. But this wasn’t just some humanitarian thesis. We believed that people working with pleasure could be much more productive.”</blockquote></span>To Semler, <span style="font-style: italic;">it's not about values: it's about competitive advantage</span>.<br /><br />Hurry up and read his book, or take a peek into <a href="http://semco.locaweb.com.br/en/content.asp?content=3">The Semco Way</a> by reading a <a href="http://www.cantanchorus.com/doco/semler3.pdf">1989 article by Semler in the Harvard Business Review</a> or a <a href="http://semco.locaweb.com.br/en/artigos/docs/76.pdf">2006 article about him in Strategy+Business</a>. I'm sure that it will give you lots of food for thought.<br /><span style="font-size:85%;"><br />[1] Soviet/Corpororate parallels quote: It's a funny coincidence that I read this during <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/International_Workers%27_Day">International Workers' Day</a><br />[2] <span style="font-style: italic;">Unconventional mouth</span> quote: by Geoffrey Colvin in a <a href="http://semco.locaweb.com.br/en/artigos/docs/77.pdf">Fortune article</a><br />[3] Even if Semler is a best selling author, I never heard about him until I recently read <a href="http://jaybyjayfresh.com/2008/01/14/governing-the-twitterfolk-shel-israel-disappears-up-own-asshole/">a post by Jon Lister</a>. Thanks so much, Jon!<br /></span>-Xvhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12954073038736466058noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9115644605833384138.post-17111024783558155322008-03-11T10:16:00.004+01:002008-03-11T10:29:33.718+01:00Do Take Notes<a href="http://www.cs.cmu.edu/%7Emblum/research/pdf/grad.html#STUDYING">Manuel Blum</a>:<br /><blockquote> Finite Automata can add but not multiply.<br /> Turing Machines can compute any computable function.<br /> Turing machines are incredibly more powerful than Finite Automata.<br /> Yet the only difference between a FA and a TM is that the TM, unlike the FA, has paper and pencil.<br /> Think about it.<br /> It tells you something about the power of writing.<br /> Without writing, you are reduced to a finite automaton.<br /> With writing you have the extraordinary power of a Turing machine.</blockquote><span style="font-size:85%;">via David Singer's <a href="http://readthisblog.net/2008/03/10/links-for-2008-03-11/">Read This Blog!</a></span>-Xvhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12954073038736466058noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9115644605833384138.post-25831619416466792892007-08-06T09:48:00.000+01:002007-08-06T08:49:07.035+01:00Look up and marvel!<a href="http://www.cloudappreciationsociety.org/manifesto/">The Cloud Appreciation Society Manifiesto</a>:<br /><br /><blockquote><div style="text-align: center;">WE BELIEVE that clouds are unjustly maligned and that life would be immeasurably poorer without them. </div><div style="text-align: center;"><img src="http://www.cloudappreciationsociety.org/images/cloud.gif" alt="cloud" /></div> <div style="text-align: center;">We think that they are Nature’s poetry, and the most egalitarian of her displays, since everyone can have a fantastic view of them.</div><div style="text-align: center;"><img src="http://www.cloudappreciationsociety.org/images/cloud.gif" alt="cloud" /></div> <div style="text-align: center;">We pledge to fight ‘blue-sky thinking’ wherever we find it.<br />Life would be dull if we had to look up at cloudless monotony day after day.</div><div style="text-align: center;"><img src="http://www.cloudappreciationsociety.org/images/cloud.gif" alt="cloud" /></div> <div style="text-align: center;">We seek to remind people that clouds are expressions of the atmosphere’s moods, and can be read like those of a person’s countenance.</div><div style="text-align: center;"><img src="http://www.cloudappreciationsociety.org/images/cloud.gif" alt="cloud" /></div><div style="text-align: center;">Clouds are so commonplace that their beauty is often overlooked.<br />They are for dreamers and their contemplation benefits the soul.<br />Indeed, all who consider the shapes they see in them will save on psychoanalysis bills.</div><div style="text-align: center;"><img src="http://www.cloudappreciationsociety.org/images/cloud.gif" alt="cloud" /></div><div style="text-align: center;">And so we say to all who’ll listen:<br /><span style="font-style: italic;">Look up, marvel at the ephemeral beauty, and live life with your head in the clouds!</span></div></blockquote><br /><br />via the <a href="http://www.neave.com/help/">tips in neave.com</a>: <blockquote>Turn the computer off and read something new. Sit on a park bench and gawp aimlessly at the clouds or stars above you. Smile like an idiot. Count your blessings. Don't worry about the future. Don't think too much. Don't take life too seriously. Don't pay attention to a word I say.</blockquote><br />Besides these good tips, <a href="http://www.neave.com/">neave.com</a> features some great Flash apps worth checking.-Xvhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12954073038736466058noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9115644605833384138.post-67911990866238863872007-08-05T18:30:00.000+01:002007-08-05T17:36:01.182+01:00Menos es más<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Avram_Hershko" title="Wikipedia">Avram Hershko</a>, <a href="http://nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/chemistry/laureates/2004/">Nobel de Química 2004</a>, en <a href="http://www.lavanguardia.es/free/edicionimpresa/20070802/53378925745.html">la Contra de La Vanguardia</a>:<br /><blockquote>No me gustan los grandes laboratorios ni los grandes presupuestos para investigar (...) Como yo no tengo que pagar a mucha gente, <span style="font-weight: bold;">puedo dedicar mi tiempo a investigar y no a buscar el dinero para retribuir a mi equipo</span>.<br /></blockquote><blockquote>Detesto a los <span style="font-style: italic;">sí señor</span>. Para darme la razón siempre, ya me tengo a mí mismo; lo que aprecio es que me lleven la contraria, pero con fundamento; que me hagan pensar... Ésa es la principal virtud de los buenos júniors, que no dan nada por aceptado y que plantean nuevas preguntas a las viejas certidumbres. (...) Que tengan iniciativa; que no esperen a que yo les dé órdenes, sino que me sorprendan con sus propias y nuevas ideas, y que tengan más ganas que yo todavía de investigar. (...) <span style="font-weight: bold;">Necesito preguntas, no que me den la razón</span>.</blockquote><br />Siempre me gusta ver que alguien progresa en algo técnico sin verse forzado a abandonarlo por la gestión. El <a href="http://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Principio_de_Peter" title="Wikipedia">Principio de Peter</a> no siempre se cumple.<br /><br />Equipos pequeños, <a href="http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/7693300/site/newsweek/" title="True Teamwork: Diversity is essential to the success of any endeavor, from scientific research to Broadway musicals.">diversos</a>, con redes sociales extendidas: buenas recetas no sólo para la investigación, sino para cualquier tipo de innovación.-Xvhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12954073038736466058noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9115644605833384138.post-37434384072534144072007-05-26T19:26:00.000+01:002007-05-26T18:28:19.929+01:00La Educación para la Ciudadanía y el filósofo desconcertado<a href="http://wonkapistas.blogspot.com/2007/05/educacin-cvica.html">Wonka y algunos de sus lectores se muestran escépticos sobre la conveniencia y/o la utilidad de la futura asignatura escolar de Educación para la Ciudadanía</a> (EpC). Me pongo a buscar información sobre la EpC para intentar aclarar algunos malentendidos [1], y los mejores recursos que encuentro son<br /><ul><li>para los apresurados: una <a href="http://www.movilizacioneducativa.net/debates.asp?idDebate=116">introducción de José Antonio Marina</a> (JAM) para invitar al debate en <a href="http://www.movilizacioneducativa.net/">movilizacioneducativa.net</a>.</li><li>para aquellos que quieran saber mucho:<a href="http://www.ciudadania.profes.net/"> las páginas del Grupo SM</a> [2], con los contenidos oficiales, revista de prensa, artículo de opinion, informes...</li></ul>Luego me cuelgo con <a href="http://www.movilizacioneducativa.net/proyectos/libro-texto/">las crónicas de JAM sobre su trabajo durante meses escribiendo un libro de texto</a> sobre la Educación para la Ciudadanía, que él preferiría que se llamase Ética. JAM, con evidente disgusto, dedica una parte significativa de ellas a lidiar con la polémica asociada a la asignatura<br /><blockquote><span style="font-style: italic;">por más que intento juzgar con imparcialidad lo que dicen los que se oponen a la asignatura, me parece que están cayendo en un vicio que se extiende peligrosamente en la vida política y social española: juzgar intenciones. Intenciones que, además, no se conocen, sino que se sospechan</span> (<a href="http://pages.citebite.com/e1d7a5j6i1ork">link</a>)<br /></blockquote>¡Y la de palos sorprendentes que recibe la pobre EpC! <a href="http://pages.citebite.com/o1h7k5t7q4nhp">Un editorial de ABC critica que la EpC haga referencias al diálogo y la negociación</a> (claro, ¿para qué intentar que cada generación entienda mejor la necesidad y los mecanismos del diálogo y la negociación si gritos y mamporros han servido desde siempre?).<br /><br />Un <a href="http://www.google.com/search?q=adoctrinamiento+%2B+%22Educaci%C3%B3n+para+la+Ciudadan%C3%ADa%22&btnG=Search">google de adoctrinamiento + "Educación para la Ciudadanía"</a> da casi 40.000 resultados. Respecto a esta suspuesta relación entre la EpC y la "Formación del Espíritu Nacional", JAM <a href="http://pages.citebite.com/m1h7a5b7v2ffk">afirma</a><br /><blockquote style="font-style: italic;"><span style="" id="deepquote_quotetext">Tal como entiendo la asignatura no sólo no es un adoctrinamiento, sino que debe preparar a los alumnos, mediante el desarrollo del conocimiento ético, jurídico, político y económico, y el fomento del pensamiento crítico, para que resistan a todo tipo de adoctrinamiento.</span></blockquote>Los hay que piensan que la escuela debe limitarse a instruir, y que educar es cosa de los padres. Pero <a href="http://pages.citebite.com/e1s7s6u0p2gwg"><span style="font-style: italic;">se transmiten valores por acción o por omisión. Se educa siempre inevitablemente: bien o mal, pero se educa</span></a>.<br /><br /><a href="http://www.googlefight.com/index.php?lang=en_GB&word1=%22educaci%F3n+para+la+ciudadan%EDa%22+religi%F3n&word2=%22educaci%F3n+para+la+ciudadan%EDa%22+%E9tica">Y el lío de la religión</a>, que es el que parece que desconcierta más a JAM. Para intentar entender este lío, es útil <a href="http://pages.citebite.com/r1j7g5q9w1lyy">distinguir entre ética y moral</a>:<br /><blockquote style="font-style: italic;">Moral es el sistema normativo de una sociedad. Hay tantas morales como culturas: católica, protestante, budista, musulmana, confuciana, etc. Entiendo por ética una moral transcultural, universal, pues bien, la EpC no puede ser una moral, en efecto, sino una ética. Y debe reducirse a aquellas cuestiones éticas recogidas en nuestras normas fundamentales. (...) Estas normas éticas –que protegen la libertad de conciencia y, por lo tanto, a las religiones y a sus morales- imponen también unas limitaciones: no pueden aceptarse aquellas normas morales que atenten contra derechos universales.</blockquote>JAM está convencido de que no tiene ninguna dificultad impartir la EpC en clave cristiana y le cuesta entender la fuerte oposición de la jerarquía eclesiástica<br /><blockquote style="font-style: italic;">sería estupendo (...) que las religiones trabajaran –como han hecho a lo largo de la historia- para perfeccionar una ética universal. Una parte importante de esa ética procede de las propuestas de los grandes maestros espirituales. ¿Por qué no intentar que esa influencia cale en un mundo laico? Hans Küng y otros muchos teólogos cristianos están defendiendo esa ética universal. La ética laica no es enemiga de las religiones. Ha sido su gran protectora. No olvidemos que el reconocimiento del derecho a la libertad de conciencia, el derecho de todas las religiones a ser respetadas, no es, ni por esencia ni por historia, un precepto religioso, sino un precepto ético. La religión cristiana rechazó ese principio hasta el Vaticano II, no lo olvidemos.</blockquote>Reconocer esos puntos comunes, esa moral transcultural y universal, que no es lo mismo que relativsmo cultural, es crítico en una sociedad cada vez más diversa:<br /><blockquote><span style="font-style: italic;">¿Tienen siempre los padres derecho a decidir la educación moral de sus hijos? Supongamos que los padres son nazis convencidos y creen que deben educar a sus hijos en la ideología nazi. ¿Debe el Estado respetar esa decisión? ¿Es que los padres tienen una sabiduría instintiva de tal manera que todo lo que ellos decidan sea infalible y respetable? ¿Y si pertenecen a la secta de los adoradores del sol, y deciden suicidarse? ¿Y si admiten la ablación del clítoris? ¿Y si casan a las niñas a los once años, como ocurre en alguna cultura implantadas en España? ¿Y si no se ocupan de su bienestar?</span> (<a href="http://pages.citebite.com/c1u7k5q7y1qqy">link</a>)<br /></blockquote>JAM prepara un libro de texto también para padres: lo espero con ilusión.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">Notas:</span><br /><span style="font-size:85%;">[1] Malentendidos: Josu "<a href="http://www.malaprensa.com/">Malaprensa</a>" Mezo, reclama que el sistema político y la Constitución formen parte del curriculum escolar, y, aunque no sé si con la profundidad que a Josu gustaría, esto <a href="http://pages.citebite.com/w1p7y5x7p6pht">forma</a> <a href="http://pages.citebite.com/r1u7q5h7r7etf">parte</a> de los objetivos de la EpC.<br /><br />[2] Me entusiaman los anuncios de la campaña de SM <a href="http://www.aprenderloestodo.org/">Aprender lo es todo</a>, en particular el d<a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bY5LgC06JgY">el príncipe y el jardinero</a>.<br /></span>-Xvhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12954073038736466058noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9115644605833384138.post-71914425157737354332007-04-29T14:08:00.000+01:002007-04-29T13:13:25.559+01:00Mockingbird Molotov cocktailsI'm not much into poetry, but <a href="http://www.shopliftwindchimes.com/">Rives</a> seems to be monopolizing most of my rainy Sunday morning. Using <a href="http://www.ted.com/index.php/profiles/view/id/13">June Cohen</a>'s words, <span style="font-style: italic;">"on the surface, it's light-hearted, but then he layers in unexpected depth and emotion".<br /><br /></span>Some cool things would happen <a href="http://www.ted.com/talks/view/id/26">if Rives controlled the internet</a>, although I wish there were a transcript because he pushes my English skills a bit too far.<br /><object classid="clsid:d27cdb6e-ae6d-11cf-96b8-444553540000" codebase="http://download.macromedia.com/pub/shockwave/cabs/flash/swflash.cab#version=8,0,0,0" id="VE_Player" align="middle" height="285" width="432"><param name="movie" value="http://static.videoegg.com/ted/flash/loader.swf"><param name="FlashVars" value="bgColor=FFFFFF&file=http://static.videoegg.com/ted/movies/RIVES_high.flv&autoPlay=false&fullscreenURL=http://static.videoegg.com/ted/flash/fullscreen.html&forcePlay=false&logo=&allowFullscreen=true"><param name="quality" value="high"><param name="allowScriptAccess" value="always"><param name="bgcolor" value="#FFFFFF"><param name="scale" value="noscale"><param name="wmode" value="window"><embed src="http://static.videoegg.com/ted/flash/loader.swf" flashvars="bgColor=FFFFFF&file=http://static.videoegg.com/ted/movies/RIVES_high.flv&autoPlay=false&fullscreenURL=http://static.videoegg.com/ted/flash/fullscreen.html&forcePlay=false&logo=&allowFullscreen=true" quality="high" allowscriptaccess="always" bgcolor="#FFFFFF" scale="noscale" wmode="window" name="VE_Player" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" pluginspage="http://www.macromedia.com/go/getflashplayer" align="middle" height="285" width="320"></embed></object><br /><br /><a href="http://www.ted.com/index.php/talks/view/id/108">Mockingbird</a>, including a TED 2006 remix that is not available in this <a href="http://www.shopliftwindchimes.com/mockingbird.html">text version</a>, creates vivid surprising and pretty images on me.<br /><br />But, my favourite, by far, is <span style="font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;">Compliment</span>, in <a href="http://www.shopliftwindchimes.com/compliment.html">text</a> and in <a href="http://www.shopliftwindchimes.com/videos/rivesandjoshua.mov">beatboxer+poet+harmonica video</a>. Mmmm, wait Xavier, that's dangerous stuff to listen to when you are happily and safely uninterested in that kind of love; so lets use a quote by <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_Bernard_Shaw">George Bernand Shaw</a> that I heard in <a href="http://helenfisher.com/">Helen Fisher</a>'s TEDtalk <a href="http://www.ted.com/index.php/talks/view/id/16">The science of love, and the future of women</a>:<br /><blockquote>Love consists in overestimating the differences between one woman and another</blockquote>-Xvhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12954073038736466058noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9115644605833384138.post-39736866650010813612007-04-24T23:38:00.000+01:002007-04-25T11:00:42.924+01:00Healthy urge<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://xkcd.com/c252.html"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px;" src="http://imgs.xkcd.com/comics/escalators.png" alt="" border="0" /></a><br />Or, in <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Calvin_and_Hobbes">Calvin</a>'s <a href="http://www.thebreakfastclubclan.org/graphics/cartoons/cartoons_calvin_and_hobbes_tackle_green_knees%28999x339x256%29.gif">words</a>,<br /><blockquote>If your knees aren't green by the end of the day,<br />you ought to seriously re-examine your life.</blockquote>-Xvhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12954073038736466058noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9115644605833384138.post-8980060557724425382007-03-21T17:39:00.000+01:002007-03-21T17:52:47.885+01:00Book reviewSeen on an Amazon book review:<br /><blockquote>This book is both original and good. The part that is good is not original and the part that is original is not good.</blockquote>I loved it.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">Update:</span> it looks like this is often attributed to <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Samuel_Johnson">Samuel Johnson</a>, but it seems that it is <a href="http://www.samueljohnson.com/apocryph.html#3">not found in any of his works</a>.-Xvhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12954073038736466058noreply@blogger.com0